Anthony Tolliver Speaks About His Faith

Last year about this time I interviewed Anthony Tolliver, a forward/center who was heading into his senior year at Creighton University, for a sports column that I write for my local Christian newspaper.

Tolliver has since completed his senior year and is currently in camp with the Cleveland Cavaliers. And just a couple of weeks ago, he was drafted in the second round by the Butte Daredevils of the CBA. So, he has a good chance of playing at the professional level this year.

I won't post the entire article I wrote about Tolliver because some of it relates to things that were going on at Creighton, but I thought you might enjoy some of his quotes about his faith, so here's a shortened version of the article:

When Tolliver was 12 years old, he met a friend in middle school and started staying the night at his friend’s house on Saturday nights. His friend’s family went to church every Sunday, so he went too, and the sermons caught his attention.

"Everything that was being said applied to my life," Tolliver said. "I felt like that wasn't a coincidence, so I went up front and got saved. From that day, I'm one hundred percent confident that I'm going to heaven."

By establishing his faith at a young age, he believes it helped to prepare him for the challenges of college life. He's close to Dane Watts—another believer on the team, and that helps him as well. His faith has even helped him to subdue his overly competitive nature when he’s on the court.

"Just to know that even though there might be a crowd of 15,000 people, there's more than just those 15,000 people watching," Tolliver said. "God's watching too."

Tolliver traveled to France in August to play for the Athletes in Action team. Watts and former CU guard Ryan Sears played on the team as well. After games, they had a chance to visit with their opponents to tell them about the saving power of Christ.

"It was a great, great experience," Tolliver said.