To tell the truth Strength team shares Gospel of Jesus Christ
By Lisa Rogers
Times Staff Writer

At 6 feet, 280 pounds, Zac Clay's strength is his testimony. Clay played football at UAB and bench presses 450 pounds. He is an assistant football coach at Gadsden High School and pastors a small Baptist church.  He, along with five other Etowah County men, have combined their size and strength with their passion of spreading the word of God to form the Truth Force strength team ministry.

"We are evangelists," Clay said. "It's our purpose to win as many souls to Christ through our testimonies as we can."  During a performance, they break concrete blocks with their bare hands, bend steel rods held in their teeth and one team member - Bubba McConnell - becomes a human cannonball when he propels himself through two two-by-fours.

"We've been hurt, we've had broken bones and we've had stitches," Clay told an assembly of pupils at General Forrest Middle School last week.

The school appearance was a taste of a full performance scheduled that night at Dwight Baptist Church.

A performance is more than just a display of their strength. It's part of the message they hope to share.

"Tough times don't last. Tough people do," Clay told the pupils.

"We want to share some time with you and tell you you can become the best that you can be," he said.

"Everybody in here has something inside them called a seed and that seed is called potential. You can be anything you want to be."

Team members used a weight bar to illustrate troubles teens encounter.

"This bar represents your life," said team member Chris Winningham, an assistant coach at Southside High.

They added weights to each end to represent drugs and alcohol.

"It's not quite as easy now," Winningham said as team member Ben Elrod lifted the weights. "He has a choice at this point. He can get those problems out or add more problems."

Adding more weight, representing gangs and struggles with education, it was virtually impossible to lift.

Winningham, at 6 feet 4 inches and 315 pounds, used his strength to blow air into a rubber hot-water bottle until it burst.

Winningham was a standout athlete at Southside High School and teaches there now.

He has a master's degree in special education.

All team members have full-time jobs or are in school full time and participate in the strength team events at night and on weekends. McConnell is 5 feet 6 inches and weighs 330 pounds. He is a world bench-press champion. He is a wrecker driver.

Elrod is 6 feet 2 inches and weighs 320 pounds and was one of the strongest football players in the state when he played a few years ago at Gadsden High School. He now is a full-time student.

Buck Tucker, a plant worker and former Marine, is 6 feet 1 inch and weighs 240 pound.
Team member Robert Ransaw is 6 feet and weighs 265 pounds. He breaks a 5-foot stack of blocks with his head, Clay said.

"Our philosophy is that the Lord calls us to be fishers of men and this is our bait," Clay said. "People who wouldn't normally come to church might come to see a man run his arm through concrete or bend steel."

All team members are active in their respective churches. "We hold each other accountable in the weight room and in Bible studies," Clay said. "It requires a lot of time and we have to be pretty disciplined. This is what we do in our leisure time. Some people fish and hunt. We do this. But if we change one life, then it's all been worth it."

There is significance of the team name. "We tell kids the world tries to lie to them in many different ways, but we share the truth of Jesus Christ," Clay said.

The group doesn't make any money from the ministry, but asks for offerings at churches to help with expenses.

"We're open to come anywhere, to any denomination," Clay said. Anyone interested in more information about Truth Force can contact Clay at (256) 547-9739.