section_path: Ministerial career
section_name: Ministerial career
paragraph_text: Ministerial career
  
  In his youth, Foreman grew up largely without religion in his life. His spiritual change and ministry have been well documented. After a boxing match with heavyweight Jimmy Young, Foreman was in the locker room and suddenly felt that he was dying. Wanting to survive, he prayerfully offered "to devote his boxing prize money to charity" when he heard a voice saying "I don't want your money...I want you." The New York Times reported:
  
  Then a "giant hand" plucked him into consciousness. Foreman found himself on a locker room table, surrounded by friends and staff members. He felt as if he were physically filled with the presence of a dying Christ. He felt his forehead bleed, punctured by a crown of thorns; his wrists, he believed, had been pierced by nails of the cross. "I knew that Jesus Christ was coming alive in me," Foreman said. "I ran into the shower and turned on the water and — hallelujah! — I was born again. I kissed everybody in the dressing room and told them I loved them. That happened in March 1977, and I never have been the same again."
  
  Foreman stated that in this crisis experience, he became a born-again Christian. Following this, HBO boxing commentator Larry Merchant commented that "There was a transformation from a young, hard character who felt a heavyweight champion should carry himself with menace to a very affectionate personality." Foreman was welcomed by members of The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Holiness Pentecostal church on Lone Oak Road in Houston, where he eventually became the pastor in 1980. Under his leadership, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ opened the George Foreman Youth and Community Center to minister to children and adolescents in the area. Foreman declared that "I'm always studying the Bible" and stated that "The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know." Foreman led three church services a week, in which he aimed "to reveal something about the Bible that they didn't know". Foreman opined that "It doesn't matter what you achieve, what you accomplish in this life...The most important thing is to keep your eye on the true prize, and that's serving God."
  
  In his youth, Foreman grew up largely without religion in his life. His spiritual change and ministry have been well documented. After a boxing match with heavyweight Jimmy Young, Foreman was in the locker room and suddenly felt that he was dying. Wanting to survive, he prayerfully offered "to devote his boxing prize money to charity" when he heard a voice saying "I don't want your money...I want you." The New York Times reported:
  
  Then a "giant hand" plucked him into consciousness. Foreman found himself on a locker room table, surrounded by friends and staff members. He felt as if he were physically filled with the presence of a dying Christ. He felt his forehead bleed, punctured by a crown of thorns; his wrists, he believed, had been pierced by nails of the cross. "I knew that Jesus Christ was coming alive in me," Foreman said. "I ran into the shower and turned on the water and — hallelujah! — I was born again. I kissed everybody in the dressing room and told them I loved them. That happened in March 1977, and I never have been the same again."
  
  Foreman stated that in this crisis experience, he became a born-again Christian. Following this, HBO boxing commentator Larry Merchant commented that "There was a transformation from a young, hard character who felt a heavyweight champion should carry himself with menace to a very affectionate personality." Foreman was welcomed by members of The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Holiness Pentecostal church on Lone Oak Road in Houston, where he eventually became the pastor in 1980. Under his leadership, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ opened the George Foreman Youth and Community Center to minister to children and adolescents in the area. Foreman declared that "I'm always studying the Bible" and stated that "The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don't know." Foreman led three church services a week, in which he aimed "to reveal something about the Bible that they didn't know". Foreman opined that "It doesn't matter what you achieve, what you accomplish in this life...The most important thing is to keep your eye on the true prize, and that's serving God."