Super Sunday 2026

All right, all right, I am so excited to introduce to you Irving Fryer, an incredible football player with an amazing history, and I'm so excited for you to get to know him if you don't already. Those of us in older generations will know your name a little bit more than some of the younger generations. Wait a minute. Did you just call me old? Did you just call me old? Let's just say that you- Did you just call me old? Yeah. You are seasoned. You are seasoned, my brother. Oh, you're trying to fix it up now. Calling me out on that. So first of all, you're like one of the guys that as I was growing up, I watched. And I was- He's still calling me old. Well, then at least I'm considering myself older myself. You were talking about the telephones earlier, how they connect to the wall. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was setting up for me and the rotary and all. Yeah, yeah. We're a multi-generational church, so that's what comes with it. Do you serve as old people? Yeah. We don't have any old people. Oh, no. Everybody's young. Yeah, okay.

Everybody's young. Everybody in our church is young, right? So first of all, let's talk about your story. I want to start, you played in the Super Bowl. Yes, I did. Well, when did you play in the Super Bowl? Now they're going to know I'm old. The Bears, Patriots, 1985 Super Bowl. Wow. Yeah. Unfortunately, we set a record in that Super Bowl, getting beat by the most points in the Super Bowl era. It's been surpassed since that time. But I did score the only touchdown in a Super Bowl. I scored the first touchdown by a Patriot in a Super Bowl. Wow. Okay, then. I scored the first touchdown in that game, yeah. Not really to cheer about. When you came into the league, you were the number one overall pick. Yes, sir. Which is an elite class of people that are the number one overall pick in the NFL. And you came into the league, and then you played for how many years? I played for 17 years. Nine years with the Patriots, three years with the Dolphins, three years with the Eagles. That's this green. This is not Packers green. And then two years with what was back then the Redskins. Okay. And so you played that, not very many NFL players played that long.

So that's one of the longest careers. Yes, yes. And especially receivers don't play that long. Yeah, I played when it was dangerous. I mean, the rules were different. When Darrell Stingley, Jack Tatum paralyzed Darrell Stingley. That was in a preseason game. And they were just getting warmed up for the season. And there was no penalty flag thrown on that hit. So it was an illegal hit. So back then, it was a lot more dangerous to go across the middle than it is now. I want everybody to hear your story a little bit from your own mouth. So I'm going to step out here in a second. But what was your favorite highlight in your playing career? Well, there were actually two favorite highlights of mine. As I mentioned, I played or been drafted by the Patriots. And really didn't become the receiver that I eventually became. Because we really didn't throw the ball a whole lot. We were running the ball a whole lot. Changing of coaches and changing of ownership. So there really wasn't a lot of production when I was with the Patriots. I went to the Miami Dolphins. And my second year with the Miami Dolphins. My first year, Dan Marino got hurt. So I'm thinking, I'm a jinx. Because I'm going to go play with Dan Marino. Now he gets hurt. He's never been hurt before. And my first year there, he was out. Second year, he comes back. And the first game of the season is against the Patriots.

I caught, what was it? Five catches, 211 yards, and three touchdowns. All in the second half. Against my former teammates. And then I leave Miami. And I go to Philadelphia. And I think it was the fourth game of that first season. With the Eagles against Miami in Philadelphia. I have four touchdowns against my former teammates. I'm actually the oldest person in NFL history to score four touchdowns in a game. Then we go old again. You said it. So those were my highlights. Of being able to go back. And to show the team prior that I was playing with. Prior. That they made a mistake by letting me go. Uh huh. I think this is a good spot for you. for you to begin to tell your story here with the church. And would you give it up one more time for Irving Fryer as he shares today? What's up, Emmanuel? Come on, put your hands together. Give God a hand clap of praise. For he is good and his mercy endures forever. You kind of heard the good side, some of the good stuff about my life. It had a lot to do with football. But I want to tell you just a portion of my testimony.

Can I do that? Yes, sir. You know, without a test, there is no testimony, right? Here's what I want to say before I start. Whatever's going on in your life and wherever you are, whatever's happening, good, bad, or indifferent, bittersweet, up or down, highs or lows, understand this. God knows where you are and God knows what you need. And God will be where you are with you. And God will provide what you need. Know that. The God we serve, no matter what's going on in your life, no matter what's happening in your life, God knows and he knows what you need. As you heard, you know, I played football 17 years. When I finished playing ball about three years afterwards, I had been doing TV for those three years, analysts, working for CNNSI and worked for a local station in Philadelphia, ABC, WPVI. Then God spoke, started church. I started church and I'm going to fast forward. He started the church and I started pastoring in my hometown. Things were going well. I'd been involved with a friend of mine, fraternity brother of mine in some businesses. We'll fast forward to 2015. 2015, I get convicted for bank fraud and I go to prison. I've been pastoring at church for almost 12 years, been married, good name in my community back home. And my friend that I had been associated with,

that I knew, done business with for years, ended up doing some fraudulent things and included my mother in that. My mother bought a house from him. He had taken her to fill out applications for loans and multiple applications were approved and those monies went to him and she ended up losing her house. We ended up all going to trial and the state of New Jersey was able to convince a jury of people, one of which slept through the whole doggone trial. Yeah, I'm on trial and this guy's sleeping. Dude, really? Was able to convince a jury of people that I conspired with this guy, that I was the head honcho in this whole thing and I ended up, mama went on probation and I ended up in prison. I got sentenced to five years. I only did eight. One day is too long. I ended up doing eight months. But here's what I want to share with you. During that time of disappointment, during that time of pain, during that time of life turning upside down, I got angry with God. I didn't understand what God was doing because before all this went down,

before the judge actually sentenced me, God had told me, go to trial. This is how I want you to handle this, go to trial. So I went to trial and I was found guilty. And then I was sentenced. And now I'm sitting in a jail cell. And I'm mad at God, mad with God. God, you told me to go to trial. Now I'm sitting in a jail cell. My wife, at the time of 28 years, divorced me. I don't have a house. My kids won't talk to me. My wife divorced me. I don't have any money. I don't have a place to stay. And I'm in prison and you told me to do this. What is going on? Y'all, God knows where you are. And he knows what you need. My first day, that's all I'm gonna say. I wanna share with you my first day in prison. The judge says, Mr. Frye, will you please stand? Mrs. McGee, my mother's name, last name is McGee. Would you please stand? And she sentenced us. Before she sentenced me, she said, Mr. Frye, I would have found you innocent. I'm like, you found me innocent, why you treat me like I'm guilty? Do you know people will say they love you,

but then treat you like they hate you? Y'all know that's never happened to you before? Young people, if that's never happened to you before, keep on living. People will look you in your face and tell you that they love you, but then treat you like they hate you. She sentenced me, they handcuffed me, walked me into the back, down into a cell, took my clothes, took all my belongings, gave me prison clothes. They took me to a room, it was an intake room, it was a large room, where everyone who had been arrested that day, who had been convicted that day, somebody's shaking his head, you know exactly what I'm talking about. He know exactly what I'm talking about. And you might not be, somebody else here might know exactly what I'm talking about too. And somebody who's watching right now, you may know exactly what I'm talking about. But they take you into this intake room, it's everybody who's been arrested and convicted that day. It's a holding place while they wait to process you the next day. Well, for me, along the back wall of that room, there were several bunk beds. There's probably about 50 people in that room and there's only four or five bunk beds,

there's one bathroom, so they all gotta deal with it until the next morning, until they're processed. Well, on the back wall, there were four doors and they were individual cells. They took me and they put me in one of those cells because I was a high profile guy, I belonged to the state, I was in county jail. They needed to make sure I was taken care of. If they wanted to make sure I was taken care of, why didn't they let me go? I'm in the cell, several things took place in that cell. I'm sitting and I know this is wrong and I'm mad with God, so I'm gonna be like Gandhi and I'm not gonna eat. That's what I said to myself. It's funny what kind of conversations you have with yourself when you're locked up. I'm not gonna eat, I'm gonna be like Gandhi. A couple of hours went by and I'm hungry. Can I get some food? And I said to myself, you know what, you don't want, when you leave, when you finally do get out of prison, and mind you, I'm thinking I'm gonna be in prison for five years, I had no idea what the process was. I'm counting, I'm 50, okay, I'll be 55 when I get out of prison. I'm counting the years and I'm saying to myself, well, no, you don't want to, when you are released, you don't want to look like this had

a negative impact on you, you have to eat. And I heard from other people, when you eat prison food, you gotta eat it fast because it's not very good. So they bring some food and I eat it and I eat it fast. I'm sitting in the cell now on the bunk and I'm thinking to myself, last night I was in my own bed and tonight I'm sleeping on this metal, piece of metal. How quickly things can change. How quickly things can change. Here's the point I want to make. Someone came to my door, there was a small window in the door, you couldn't see me through the window because you couldn't see in, you could only see out. But it was a very small window. And someone came to the side of my door. I don't know his name, I never saw him. I could see just a body, someone standing through the crack of the side of the door. He comes to my door and he says, hey, you in there? And for some reason, I stood up and went to the door and said, yes, I leaned up against the door and I was just, I couldn't see who it was. I knew there was a body on the other side of the door, I could hear his voice and I could see a little bit of him through the crack. He said, first time in? I said, yes. You've never been in before, right? I said, no.

He said, this is what's going to happen. Now mind you, at that time, I didn't know what was going to happen. I was extremely apprehensive, I wasn't scared, but I didn't know what was going to happen. He said, this is what's going to happen. Your first time in, they're going to take you from here, they're going to take you to. to a place called CRAF, that's Central Relocation and Assignment Facility. That is the place where everybody who's convicted of a crime in the state of New Jersey, they have to go there, they process you, and they either keep you there for your sentence, or they send you somewhere else to another prison in the state of New Jersey. They're going to take you to CRAF. You're gonna be at CRAF for a few days, then they're gonna put you before a board of people. That board of people are going to analyze your situation, then they're gonna process. They're gonna ask you, do you wanna stay at CRAF, or do you wanna go to Jones Farm? Tell them you wanna go to Jones Farm. They're gonna send you to Jones Farm. When you get to Jones Farm, this is what it's gonna be like. You're gonna be all right. Just mind your business, and everything is going to be all right.

Mind you, while I was in prison, there were people, obviously, who recognized me. People who knew my name. People who wanted to talk to me and get next to me. These people would always give me advice. They would always tell me what they thought was going to happen, and how I should handle it. Don't you know, everything that the inmates told me was wrong. I didn't realize that what that person on the other side of the door, what they said had resonated with me so deeply that I ended up doing exactly what he said. Because that's exactly what happened in my whole time in prison. How did he know? Don't you know God will send an angel? To help you get through whatever it is you're dealing with. Believers, believe me, that man, you can't tell me any different. You can knock me upside my head, you can drag me out of here. You can't tell me any different. That was an angel sent by God to give me a message to let me know that although you're not all right, everything is going to be all right. I know you're hurting. I know you're in pain.

I know you're disappointed. I know you're mad at me. I know you think I let you down, but I know you're not all right, but I want you to know that everything is going to be all right, because I know where you are, and I know what you need. Hey. And that's my message to you all. Y'all, the whole thing that went down was my fault. I wasn't guilty of what I got convicted of, but I was guilty because I allowed that man to have access to my life and my mother's life. That's my fault. That's my fault, but here's what I want you to know. In Luke 22, Jesus is talking to Simon. He's talking to Peter, and he says, Simon, Simon. He calls Peter Simon. He's talking to Peter like it's his pre-conversion days. Simon, Simon, Satan desires to have you, that he might sift you as wheat, but don't worry about it, because I pray for you that your faith would not fail. Right? Not that you, Peter, wouldn't fail. Not that you, Peter, wouldn't fall. Not that you, Peter, wouldn't make a mistake, but I pray that your faith would not fail,

because he already knew that Peter was gonna mess up the very next day. Peter got jacked. Peter jacked it up. He denied Christ three times, and here's what I want you to understand today. In my testimony, y'all, if you had like 17 hours, I could walk you through the whole thing, but we don't have 17. Now, I got 10 more minutes. We all make mistakes. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Listen, Christianity is not about being perfect. It's not. It's about being obedient. It's about being obedient, but because we're human and we're frail, we make mistakes. The Bible says not y'all have sinned, but the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but it's not a matter of whether you sin or not, or even how much you sin. It's a matter of when you. Do fall, Peter, that you don't let your faith fail. When you do fail, when you do make a mistake, you got to hold on to your faith. Y'all, I'm not here today talking to you because I never made a mistake. I'm here talking to you today because when I did fall, I didn't let my faith fall.

Yes, I was angry. You can get angry with God and you can argue with God, you're gonna lose that argument. But that's what we do as humans. But as long as we hold on to our faith and persevere and be a good soldier, God will make a way out of no way. God will answer your prayer. God will take you from the bottom and put you back at the top. God will open a door that no man can shut. God will close doors to protect you that no man can open. God will be God in your life. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Let me end with this story, this illustration that just came to my mind. Thank you, Holy Ghost. There was a pastor whose wife, she had an iPad. And her iPad, it was just cracked, it was broken, it was jacked up. I mean, she showed it to her husband, the pastor, and he's like, man, I never seen nothing like this before. Let me buy you a new iPad. And she goes, no, no, no, I don't wanna replace it. I'm gonna take it to the Apple store and have it repaired. So she takes it to the Apple store and she gives it to one of the employees. He looks at it, he's like, man, I ain't never seen nothing like this before. This is cracked and it's broken and it's been banged up.

It's got chips on the side. But then he says, oh, wait a minute, but you can still use it. The email still work, pages still works. You can still use photos, take pictures with it. It's broken, but it can still be used. I'm not up here in front of you today because I've never gone through a season of brokenness in my life. But when I was broken, God didn't replace me. God repaired me. And listen to me, while you're broken, prayer still works. While you're broken, God's word still works. While you're broken, your faith in God still works. God still answers prayer. God will still do what he said he would do. He'll never leave us, nor will he forsake us. He's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. And what was will be. If God did it before, he'll do it again. Now watch this, and I'm done. I'll be done in a second. I'll give you a couple of my minutes, all right? Because I want to give an invitation for salvation. I know there may be some first time people here right now. Let me do this. There are three parts to salvation. There's the justification, there's the sanctification, there's the glorification. When we give our lives to Christ,

we believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross. We believe that God raised him from the dead. At that moment, God saves us. God's Holy Spirit moves inside of us. We have the power and the presence of God inside of us. And not only that, but God justifies us. God makes us right with him instantaneously. He pardons us of our sins, all right? We're all guilty, but we get pardoned. So God doesn't treat us as though we're guilty. God treats us as though we're innocent. Y'all ought to be shouting because of that right now. We've been justified. And we're in the process right now, the process of progression, which is called sanctification. You're alive, you're saved. We're supposed to be being developed right now in our lives, becoming more and more of who and what God wants us to be by way of the power of his Holy Spirit that's living inside of us. We should be being sanctified, becoming less and less of what we used to be and more and more of what God wants us to be. Let me give you an ocular demonstration because when we're born, we're born walking away from God. You don't have to teach a child how to lie. We come into this world walking away from God. We're walking away from God. Then we have a change of mind. God tugs at our heart and we confess a hope in Jesus Christ

and we turn around and we start walking towards the things of God, towards God and his promises, his word, his anointing on our lives. And as I take steps towards God, I become more and more of what he wants me to be. and less of what I used to be. And that's the dispensation of time that we are all in right now because the glorification which happens ultimately is when we're gone and we're not in flesh anymore. We have our spiritual bodies on and we're in the presence of God glorifying God for all of eternity. Good God Almighty! You mean I get to do that? Yeah! But sanctification can't take place if you don't have God in your life. If you've never invited Christ to be Lord of your life. And understand this, in biblical days when you had a Lord, when you called someone Lord, your answer and response to your Lord was never no Lord. It had to always be yes Lord. And I'm gonna tell you this right now. I never would have made it if it had not been for the Lord on my side. I never, I would have lost my mind. I would have given up. I would have quit. I remarried a beautiful girl. Good. The Bible says a man who finds a wife find a good thing. I got a good thing. Y'all can clap sisters. Look at your husband and clap. Shake your head yeah uh-huh. He's right. The best thing that ever happened, you think because I was the first round draft choice, first player taken in the draft in 1984, Pro Bowls and all this stuff, Philly Sports Hall of Fame and money and all that kind of stuff y'all, that's nothing. Nothing. The greatest thing that ever happened to me was on a Friday night. I went to a meeting one night and my heart wasn't right and something got a hold of me. I got saved on a Friday night. That was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, coming into a right relationship. I don't care what anybody says. You see it all the time. People with millions and billions of dollars, they got everything that this world says you need to have to be successful and for people to put you up on a pedestal and they commit suicide. Well they're the most miserable

people in the world, not doing anything for themselves or anybody else. You've got, there's a thirst that we have inside of us that only Jesus can quench. There's a hunger inside of us that only Jesus can satisfy. You've got to have Jesus in your life. You've got to have Jesus. If you don't know, and it's free. It's free. He paid it all. He died on Calvary. He gave his life. His blood covers us. All you have to do is confess with your mouth to Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and thou shalt be saved and God will take it from there. Stop thinking that you got to get it all together to come to Christ. If you, if you could have gotten it all together, you'd have gotten it all together by now. How perfect do I have to be to come stand before a holy God? You can't be perfect. You're covered with flesh. You come as you are, but when you come as you are, you don't stay as you are. This is why I'm here, for this moment right now, for this time right now, to let you know that what God has done for me, he's no respecter of people. He'll do it for you. Whatever bind you're in, whatever trouble you face, whatever predicament has got you perplexed, God can handle it. Turn it over to Jesus and stop worrying about it. So if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you're not here by coincidence. You're not here by accident. God had you here today on purpose so that you can hear this testimony to bring not judgment on you, but to convict you in righteousness, to make you know, to help you to understand and see that you need Jesus. And I'm going to ask everybody to bow your heads, close your eyes, no peeking, no cheating. If you're here with every head bowed and every eye closed, if you're here and your desire, God is, the Holy Spirit is tugging on your heart right now, your desire is to be in a right relationship with God today. Today is your day. Just throw your hand up in the air and put it back down. Just throw it up in the air and put it back down. Throw it up in the air and put it back down. Yes, throw it up in the air and put it back down.

Yes, yes, yes. All over the sanctuary, all over the sanctuary. Anymore? Just throw your hand up and put it back, amen. Amen, amen, amen. Amen, okay. Well listen. With every head bowed, every eye closed, I want you to repeat after me. Those, particularly those of you who raised your hand, repeat after me and then listen. When I say amen, after you've repeated this prayer, and don't repeat it if you don't understand what I'm saying. All right? But if you repeat this prayer, you understand it, I want you to know when we say amen, you're saved. You're saved. And Jesus said, once you're in my hands, no man can pluck you out. Nor can anybody pluck you out of my Father's hands who put you in my hands. And that salvation, the Apostle Paul says, is sealed until the day of redemption when Jesus comes back for his church. You may not feel saved, you may walk out of here, cuss somebody out, you're still saved. Because Satan will try to make you feel as though you're not saved. Salvation is not a feeling. Jesus, it's faith.

Jesus didn't say, feel me, Jesus said, follow me. Regardless of how you feel. So repeat this prayer with me. Dear God, everybody, come on. Dear God, I want to be saved. Your word says, if I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and I believe in my heart that God, you raised him from the dead, that I shall be saved. So right now, God, I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord of my life. And I believe in my heart that God, you raised him from the dead. God, thank you for salvation. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins. Jesus, come into my life and save me. Holy Spirit, I'm open, live in me. Satan, I serve you, notice. I no longer belong to you. I'm a child of God, saved by grace. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen, come on, put your hands together.