When Sports and Faith Combine: Dr. David Lewis
What began as a coaching role at Huntington University quickly expanded into a broader calling for Dr. David Lewis. After 28 years at Houghton University serving as a women’s soccer coach, campus pastor, and faculty member, he arrived in Huntington expecting to focus primarily on the field. Instead, his background in ministry and athletics naturally led him into the classroom, where he now teaches sports management in the Department of Business.
Lewis’s unique academic background includes degrees in religion and philosophy, as well as Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees. Combined with more than three decades of collegiate coaching experience, that foundation shaped his approach to leadership development. Eventually, it led to the creation of Sports Ministry, a textbook he co-authored to serve as a structured academic resource for professors teaching in the field.
At the center of his teaching is the conviction that sport, much like business, is a powerful platform for influence.
“Sports are a valuable tool that can be used for evil or can be used for good,” Lewis said. “I want to promote using it to build the kingdom of God and to train up new coaches who use biblical principles.”
That perspective is rooted in his own experience. As a high school athlete, Lewis realized that his identity had become tied to performance rather than faith.
“God showed me that my identity was an athlete, not an identity in Christ,” he said.
Instead of stepping away from athletics, he began to see it as something to steward rather than idolize, a mindset that now shapes both his coaching philosophy and classroom instruction.
For Lewis, the most meaningful outcomes are not measured in wins, job titles, or publications, but in people. Former athletes now coach with the same values they once learned. Students carry lessons from sports ministry into business, leadership, and service.
“That’s what discipleship is all about,” he said. “You make disciples who will in turn make disciples.”
Through teaching, coaching, and scholarship, Lewis continues to demonstrate that leadership, whether in sport or business, is ultimately about shaping people, not just outcomes.
