Flames Football team chaplain keeps players focused on what matters most

As Director of Spiritual Development for Liberty University’s Football program for the past 21 seasons, Ed Gomes (’76, ’85, ’07) has helped the Flames keep losses and other setbacks in perspective, including the cancellation of Saturday’s Top-25 showdown at Coastal Carolina due to COVID-19 concerns.

“The thing I always try to do is to help our guys understand that No. 1, God is in control, and that No. 2, nothing catches Him by surprise,” Gomes said. “You can’t deny the human element. We wanted to play against Coastal, and we are obviously disappointed because the guys had worked so hard to get where we are today. But on the other hand, we’re grateful that we had the opportunity to play 10 games.”

He challenges his players to develop an attitude of gratitude, and not just around the holidays.

“When we start counting our blessings, we have nothing to complain about,” Gomes said. “Life is full of blessings and life is full of testings. I tell our guys, when you experience the blessings, expect the testings; and when you see the testings, look for the blessings. That’s how life is. James said to count it all joy.”

The 9-1 Flames, ranked No. 21 in this week’s Coaches Poll, remain hopeful with a second-consecutive bowl bid high on their Christmas wish list. Regardless of whether those prayers are answered, Gomes said the Flames have reason to celebrate the season.

“God gave us 10 games and for whatever reason, these types of things  provide opportunities for us to practice what we preach, and to live out God’s Word,” he said. “Coach (Hugh) Freeze talks to our players all the time about giving Him glory, not only when we’re winning, but when things aren’t going the way we want them to go, and this is a classic example. Every week is a challenge. We have something new every week, but when you’ve made yourself available for God to use you, that’s exactly what He does.”

While COVID-19 has limited his contact with team members this season, Gomes has not allowed it to diminish his role as a spiritual leader in the locker room and on the practice and playing fields.

“I’ve been very fortunate because in talking to some of my friends at other universities, they were not allowed to be in the bubble with the teams, to see their players face to face, so a lot of their meetings have been through Zoom,” he said. “Since this (pandemic) first began, I’ve been able to have face-to-face interaction with our players while certainly using all protocols like masks and not getting too close to each other.”

Gomes has led all of the team’s weekly Chapel services at Freeze’s request, rather than rotating in with outside speakers as in seasons past, and has had to make concessions in response to social distancing measures, even in a full-contact sport.

“One of the things I do miss is I’m a hugger. I love to hug our guys,” Gomes said. “Now it’s a fist bump or an arm bump, versus a hug. That’s been the biggest challenge for me because my personality is I want to embrace, I want to give the guys a big hug and tell them I love them.”

His love for the student-athletes at Liberty is exceeded only by his love for his wife of 43 years, Ruth, an assistant professor in the Department of Family & Consumer Sciences, their two children and four grandchildren, and, first and foremost, God, who he committed his life to nearly 50 years ago.

In his job, he uses a training model based on Luke 2:52 that aligns perfectly with Liberty’s mission of Training Champions for Christ.

“We want to use football as a tool to honor and glorify God, and that’s what’s important to Coach Freeze, that’s what’s important to our coaches, that’s what’s important to me,” Gomes said. “That’s what was important to (Liberty founder) Dr. (Jerry) Falwell, who always believed and talked about using sports as a platform and a springboard for evangelism and discipleship.”

Gomes has witnessed firsthand God’s transformation of Liberty’s campus — as well as the Flames’ Football program — over the past 48 years.

“It’s amazing,” Gomes said. “As a student, I heard Dr. Falwell say, ‘One day, we are going to compete on the highest level,’ and that is exactly what we are doing now. To see where God has taken our basketball program, where God has taken our track program, every one of our sports, it’s an absolute testimony of the faith that Dr. Falwell had years ago and to see it happening now is just a tremendous blessing.”

Gomes graduated from Liberty in 1976 with a degree in youth ministry after setting basketball single-season records with 137 steals and 256 assists in his junior season in 1974-75 — records that still stand today. He is also Liberty’s all-time leader with 300 career steals and ranks fifth with 476 assists.

After serving for two years with Life Action Ministries in Michigan, he returned to Lynchburg, Va., in 1980 to pursue a seminary degree through the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (LBTS) in 1985 before spending the next 11 years as a pastor in his hometown of New Bedford, Mass. God called him back to Liberty Mountain in 1996 to serve as dean of commuting students before starting in his current role in January 2001.

Gomes completed his Doctor of Ministry through LBTS (now the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity) in 2007. His dissertation was on spiritual formation, and he has the opportunity to put those principles into practice every day in helping players grow in their relationship with God, using his whole-person approach of developing student-athletes academically, athletically, socially, and spiritually.

“I tell our guys that God has brought them to Liberty more than just to play football or to get a college education. God wants to do something in them so He can do something through them. That’s our prayer,” he said. “My mission, my passion, the thing that wakes me up in the morning is I want to help our young men become intentional about their relationship with God and make an impact on our football team.”

>>LFSN video from Flames Central episode that aired on Friday, Dec. 4; Watch a video of Dr. Gomes’ prayer after the Nov. 7 victory at Virginia Tech.