
Why This ESPN Host Thanks His Pastor ‘Every Day’
By Movieguide® Contributor
ESPN host Stephen A. Smith is reflecting on how he was finally able to forgive his dad — shortly before giving a eulogy at his father’s funeral.
“On the morning of his father’s funeral in 2018, Steven A. Smith decided he’d give an unplanned eulogy. His family members and friends opposed that, he said, because of the pair’s troubled relationship,” Church Leaders reported.
The ESPN host told FOX Nation’s Sean Hannity that he “disagreed with the way his father treated his mother, explaining in the interview ‘what he felt, how he acted, what he said, is nothing compared to what he did to her.'”
Smith added that because of his struggle with dyslexia growing up, his father described him as “broken and unfixable.”
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“’I know what hell looks like, from a mental and emotional standpoint,’ Smith said of his childhood,” Church Leaders continued. “If it weren’t for ‘the grace of God’ and his mother and siblings, he added, ‘I wouldn’t be where I am today.'”
While on his way to the service, Smith called his pastor, A.R. Bernard, who gave him some advice that changed his life.
“I’ve gotta let it out,” Smith told Bernard, the founder of Christian Culture Center. “I can’t let [the funeral] be about [my father] when it should be about my mother” who just died just 14 months prior.
But instead of encouraging him to air his grievances against his dad, Bernard pointed Smith to a passage from Matthew.
“It was about making sure that you understand that the power of forgiveness is the ultimate power,” Smith told Hannity.
When he gave the eulogy, Smith said his father “was not the greatest man in the world,” however, “there had to be something special about him” since his mother loved him the way she had.
He concluded, “I know there is a lot to complain about. But he was my dad. And I loved him.”
Because of what his pastor told him, Smith thanks “my pastor every day for talking to me that morning.”
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