Sermon Illustrations
"Remember the Titans": Willingness to Endure Hardship
Remember the Titans, a movie based on the true story of a 1971 Alexandria, Virginia, football team, offers a message of racial reconciliation. Early in the movie, Coach Herman Boone (played by Denzel Washington) takes his race-divided high school team to a two-week football camp. He works the boys hard, both emotionally and physically, trying desperately to build a sense of team. By the last practice, the boys begin to come together.
During this practice, the football team, rigged in full pads and white practice uniforms, line up row by row. They vigorously run in place, focused on their conditioning.
Coach Boone yells, "What are you?"
The team shouts back, "Mobile! Agile! Hostile!"
Boone shouts, "And what is pain?"
"French bread!" the young men reply.
Boone hollers, "What is fatigue?"
They bellow, "Army clothes!"
With all his might, Coach Boone yells, "Will…you…ever…quit?"
The Titans roar, "No, we want some mo’! We want some mo’! We want some mo’!"