ABOUT Me
My name is Kent Chevalier. I was invited by Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach, Mike Tomlin, to join the staff of Athletes in Action to serve full-time as an NFL Chaplain. To many, this sounds like an amazing opportunity, and it is, but God had to convince me to jump. Keep reading...I'll tell you why.
I was born and raised in the Pittsburgh region. I played football, baseball, and basketball in the Blackhawk School District through my sophomore year of high school when I started making poor decisions that began to lead me down a destructive path.
I decided to transfer to Beaver County Christian School. This was a difficult transition for me, but I now see how God used this time in my life to prepare me for my future. I graduated from BCCS in 1995.
Growing up, my mom worked in the food services at Geneva College. Because of her foresight, I enrolled there and received a free college education. My mom worked so hard to provide this for me.
The summer before I went to college, I had an encounter with God. In a convention center packed with 5,000+ teenagers, I decided to make Jesus the leader of my life, and I have never looked back.
Before classes even started that first semester, I met a girl named Erica. I was at school early working for the football team, and she was on campus early for cheerleading camp.
After dating all four years of college and doing part-time youth ministry together, we married two weeks after graduation (1999) and jumped into full-time youth ministry for 10 years.
After having three daughters, we transitioned into two different ministries. I served on staff with North Way Christian Community as the Wexford Campus Pastor, and Erica came on staff part-time with the Pittsburgh Kids Foundation as their Ministry Coordinator.
In Fall of 2017, I met Vance McDonald, who played for the Steelers and began attending North Way with his family. After several conversations, we formally began A Discipleship Journey with a couple other guys. During that time, Vance introduced me to Coach Mike Tomlin. A month later, he invited me to become the Chaplain of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
When Mike Tomlin offered me the position of Chaplain in July 2019, I thought I was being hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, this was his invitation to join the staff of Athletes in Action, which is the sports ministry of the international missions organization, Cru.
To accept this job offer meant a leap of faith. I would have to raise 100% of our salaries, benefits, and ministry budget. Trusting God, Erica and I did it afraid. We made the jump and became full-time missionaries.
After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Student Ministry from Geneva College and a Master's in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I never would have dreamed that I would be doing what I'm doing now.
For 25 years I have been speaking on stages and across coffee tables, in locker rooms and conference rooms, putting courage into people to overcome whatever is holding them back and helping them do what they think is impossible by simply sharing my story of taking a leap of faith.
I have quite the story to share with you. It's powerful! But it can also be yours. A story of journeying with pain, failure, grief, and uncertainty only to discover the gifts of renewed trust, active waiting, hard work, and my God-given purpose.