MILES McPHERSONTitle: Senior pastor, the Rock Church
Age: 51
Philanthropy: Works with his church to donate more than 235,000 hours of community service to the city of San Diego
Education: Attended University of New Haven; master’s of divinity, Azusa Pacific University
Family: Wife, Debbie; three grown children
NFL playing career: Drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, played with Chargers (1982-85)
Former San Diego Charger Miles McPherson’s journey took him from a “lost” life to starting a Christian congregation that now donates about $4 million worth of community service each year.
With an average weekly attendance of 12,525 at its flagship site in Point Loma and satellite campuses in North County, the Rock Church is one of the largest evangelical ministries in the United States. Its members donate more than 235,000 hours of community service to the city of San Diego, with activities such as helping elderly people and children in foster care, cleaning up parks and renovating public buildings.
The Rock’s current theme is “Love Your City,” and this means, says the soft-spoken but ever-energized McPherson, “Every street, every person. We call this ‘pervasive hope.’ It’s an honor to serve the church and the people of San Diego.”
McPherson preaches five sermons every Sunday, culminating with a youth service at 7 p.m. that features a Christian band and personal call-and-response exchanges with the mostly 20-something audience of 2,000 to 3,000 worshippers.
Here is an edited version of a recent conversation with U-T San Diego:
Q: What made you give up drugs and change?
A: When I was playing with the Chargers, I was addicted to cocaine and I was lost. I was smoking marijuana, running around in Mission Valley doing stuff I shouldn’t be doing. Once, on the team’s chartered plane, I was doing cocaine in the bathroom and I just came out and began to read the Gospel standing in the aisle with (linebacker) Ray Preston and (running back) Sherman Smith (now a coach with the Seattle Seahawks).
Sherman and Ray became my role models. I wanted to see if the life in Christ that they were living was real, and it was. I wanted the peace they had, and the relationship with their families that they had. And so one night — I had been doing cocaine all night — I just gave my life to Jesus (at) 5 a.m. April 12, 1984. I never did cocaine again and I never smoked marijuana again. My girlfriend and I got back together that same day and we have been married for 27½ years.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the Rock Church?
A: After 16 years of traveling and speaking, we decided we wanted to have a home base and invest in a group of people that I could be accountable to over time.
Q: How would you counsel young people who do drugs?
A: Two things: The deception in drugs is that they tell the chemicals in their brains to release natural stimulants that we already have. So God has given us this capability. We have it on our own. I also tell them to look at friends who have already done drugs, which is the equivalent of fast-forwarding, because that’s exactly where they are going.
Q: What have been your most gratifying moments?
A: Seeing people who were broken and turning that pain into power of personal change. For example, the heroin addict who now runs a drug rehabilitation home. The cancer patient who now has a cancer-care ministry providing services to cancer patients — medicine, counseling, house cleaning, and food — all for free. The rape victim who now provides services to victims of domestic violence.
Q: Explain the “Love Your City” campaign.
A: It’s to motivate people to go out and bring hope to every street and every person in San Diego. What motivates us is our love for the city.
Q: And “pervasive hope.” What does that mean?
A: For every way that a person can be lost, we want to provide a way that he or she can be found. We want to take hope to people, the very practical hope that Christ provides for us. In a very practical way, we want to tell people “you can.” So if you’re homeless in the street, we want to ask, “How can we help you?” If you’re in foster care, “How can we help you?” If you’re an elder in a convalescent home, “How can we help you?” We want people to think about how God wants to use you to help somebody in San Diego.
Q: Who are the people who have most inspired you, and why?
A: Pastor Mike MacIntosh of Horizon Christian Fellowship in Clairemont. That’s where I first started going to church. I watched how freely and lovingly he gave and blessed people.
Q: If you could wish for one thing to make San Diego a better place, what would that be?
A: I think love. People being kind to one another and finding a way they can do their part to improve the quality of life for someone each day.
Q: How has your idea of giving back changed over time?
A: Over time, I’ve learned how powerful, and what a universal language, giving is. And what a powerful expression of love it really is. And how it’s a bridge to relationships, a very powerful bridge to relationships to people you don’t know.
Q: Where do you get your energy from? Have you always been like that?
A: I have, I have. I work all day, and I come home and I work at night until 11:30 p.m., 12 o’clock, and my wife’s like, “When do you stop?” I always tell her, “I am a machine.” I get off the plane and I think, “What do we do now? I’m ready to go!” I work the whole way home. It comes from God, I tell you. It’s not normal.
Q: Are you still in touch with NFL players?
A: Yes, more now than when I played. We talk about their spiritual lives, their marriages, careers, trouble with drugs and how they can get help from God — same as with the kids!
Q: Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to know.
A: I wake up every day feeling inadequate to do what I do. And undeserving to do what I do. So I pray for strength and to say thank you.
Age: 51
Philanthropy: Works with his church to donate more than 235,000 hours of community service to the city of San Diego
Education: Attended University of New Haven; master’s of divinity, Azusa Pacific University
Family: Wife, Debbie; three grown children
NFL playing career: Drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, played with Chargers (1982-85)
Former San Diego Charger Miles McPherson’s journey took him from a “lost” life to starting a Christian congregation that now donates about $4 million worth of community service each year.
With an average weekly attendance of 12,525 at its flagship site in Point Loma and satellite campuses in North County, the Rock Church is one of the largest evangelical ministries in the United States. Its members donate more than 235,000 hours of community service to the city of San Diego, with activities such as helping elderly people and children in foster care, cleaning up parks and renovating public buildings.
The Rock’s current theme is “Love Your City,” and this means, says the soft-spoken but ever-energized McPherson, “Every street, every person. We call this ‘pervasive hope.’ It’s an honor to serve the church and the people of San Diego.”
McPherson preaches five sermons every Sunday, culminating with a youth service at 7 p.m. that features a Christian band and personal call-and-response exchanges with the mostly 20-something audience of 2,000 to 3,000 worshippers.
Here is an edited version of a recent conversation with U-T San Diego:
Q: What made you give up drugs and change?
A: When I was playing with the Chargers, I was addicted to cocaine and I was lost. I was smoking marijuana, running around in Mission Valley doing stuff I shouldn’t be doing. Once, on the team’s chartered plane, I was doing cocaine in the bathroom and I just came out and began to read the Gospel standing in the aisle with (linebacker) Ray Preston and (running back) Sherman Smith (now a coach with the Seattle Seahawks).
Sherman and Ray became my role models. I wanted to see if the life in Christ that they were living was real, and it was. I wanted the peace they had, and the relationship with their families that they had. And so one night — I had been doing cocaine all night — I just gave my life to Jesus (at) 5 a.m. April 12, 1984. I never did cocaine again and I never smoked marijuana again. My girlfriend and I got back together that same day and we have been married for 27½ years.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the Rock Church?
A: After 16 years of traveling and speaking, we decided we wanted to have a home base and invest in a group of people that I could be accountable to over time.
Q: How would you counsel young people who do drugs?
A: Two things: The deception in drugs is that they tell the chemicals in their brains to release natural stimulants that we already have. So God has given us this capability. We have it on our own. I also tell them to look at friends who have already done drugs, which is the equivalent of fast-forwarding, because that’s exactly where they are going.
Q: What have been your most gratifying moments?
A: Seeing people who were broken and turning that pain into power of personal change. For example, the heroin addict who now runs a drug rehabilitation home. The cancer patient who now has a cancer-care ministry providing services to cancer patients — medicine, counseling, house cleaning, and food — all for free. The rape victim who now provides services to victims of domestic violence.
Q: Explain the “Love Your City” campaign.
A: It’s to motivate people to go out and bring hope to every street and every person in San Diego. What motivates us is our love for the city.
Q: And “pervasive hope.” What does that mean?
A: For every way that a person can be lost, we want to provide a way that he or she can be found. We want to take hope to people, the very practical hope that Christ provides for us. In a very practical way, we want to tell people “you can.” So if you’re homeless in the street, we want to ask, “How can we help you?” If you’re in foster care, “How can we help you?” If you’re an elder in a convalescent home, “How can we help you?” We want people to think about how God wants to use you to help somebody in San Diego.
Q: Who are the people who have most inspired you, and why?
A: Pastor Mike MacIntosh of Horizon Christian Fellowship in Clairemont. That’s where I first started going to church. I watched how freely and lovingly he gave and blessed people.
Q: If you could wish for one thing to make San Diego a better place, what would that be?
A: I think love. People being kind to one another and finding a way they can do their part to improve the quality of life for someone each day.
Q: How has your idea of giving back changed over time?
A: Over time, I’ve learned how powerful, and what a universal language, giving is. And what a powerful expression of love it really is. And how it’s a bridge to relationships, a very powerful bridge to relationships to people you don’t know.
Q: Where do you get your energy from? Have you always been like that?
A: I have, I have. I work all day, and I come home and I work at night until 11:30 p.m., 12 o’clock, and my wife’s like, “When do you stop?” I always tell her, “I am a machine.” I get off the plane and I think, “What do we do now? I’m ready to go!” I work the whole way home. It comes from God, I tell you. It’s not normal.
Q: Are you still in touch with NFL players?
A: Yes, more now than when I played. We talk about their spiritual lives, their marriages, careers, trouble with drugs and how they can get help from God — same as with the kids!
Q: Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to know.
A: I wake up every day feeling inadequate to do what I do. And undeserving to do what I do. So I pray for strength and to say thank you.