Zach Duke Speaks About Living For Christ, On And Off The Field

As children and young adults, you are encouraged to have big aspirations for your life, but at what age does dreaming have to stop?  

Zach Duke proved that dreams do not have an age limit as he achieved his newfound goal of playing professional soccer at the age of 34, despite never having played the sport a day in his life.  

Rewinding over a decade, Duke was a student at Liberty University playing as a wide receiver for the football team while pursuing a degree in intercultural studies. Duke’s time at Liberty served as the foundation for a life serving God and living on mission.  

Duke was an accomplished member of the Flames Football team, earning the Rock Royer/Mac Rivera Award in 2011. This award honors the top senior student-athlete each year who lives an exemplary life of faith along with possessing impressive athletic ability.  

 “I ended up winning the highest athletic award for all sports at the end of my senior year … which was a huge, huge honor that I honestly didn’t think I deserved,” Duke said. “But you know, God’s like that sometimes.” 

During his time at Liberty, Duke was dedicated to living a life of faith on and off the football field. In this, he led many of his teammates to faith in Christ. 

“I just committed that my time at Liberty was just going to be for the Lord. Everything I wanted — I wanted to give my everything for the Lord, and so … I started with (a) couple friends,” Duke said.  “We started a Bible study on the football team, and we started seeing players come to faith.” 

Many athletes attend Liberty for the facilities and athletic opportunities rather than making a faith-based decision. Duke, however, saw Williams Stadium as more than just 120 yards of turf; he saw it as a mission field.  

“Even though Liberty is a Christian bubble, being on the football team wasn’t,” Duke said. “I got to live out my mission’s degree on the football team and see my teammates, my family, come to faith, and so that really marked me.” 

Duke said he is greatly inspired by Jerry Falwell Sr. and how he carried out his vision even when it seemed impossible.  

“He saw what others couldn’t see, and so that was really inspirational to me of just the faith that he carried,” Duke said. “And there’s a quote of his that … is with me always. He says that the difference between dreamers and visionaries is that a visionary gets to work. That’s really been my motto.” 

It was also during his time at Liberty that Duke met his wife, Megan, who was a member of a campus worship group, the Sounds of Liberty, that has since joined under the Liberty Worship Collective.  

In the years since graduation, Duke has been a full-time missionary as a church planter. He has traveled to 42 countries to work with a variety of churches.  

Despite using his degree to successfully help plant churches globally, the Lord still had a larger plan for Duke’s life.  

In December 2022, Duke found himself sitting in a coffee shop in Virginia where he had a divine encounter with the Holy Spirit while listening to a podcast called “DadWork.” The guest in this episode challenged men to not accept the status quo but to step up to lead their families to see generational change.  

“I’m sitting there thinking … that’s not me; I’m the opposite of this,” Duke said. “If I look at my life 50 years from now … I don’t like the dad that I’m becoming. I don’t like the husband I’m becoming. I don’t like the man of God I’m becoming.” 

From there, Duke decided to pray a powerful prayer.  

“I just prayed in faith, and that’s one gift that God has given me. I just really trust him,” Duke said. “I really believe him and take him at his Word, … so I said, ‘God, I’m not moving from this seat until you bring the fire back inside of me.’” 

God answered Duke’s prayer, but in a way that was completely unexpected, Duke felt the Lord tell him to start playing soccer, a sport he had never played before.  

“I said, ‘But God, big problem. I’ve never kicked a ball before. I’m really bad,’” Duke said. “And he’s just like, ‘Do you trust me?’”  

That is when the wheels began turning in Duke’s head. He remembered he had a meeting set for the next month with the former FIFA director for South Asia, who runs underground churches through India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka and uses soccer as a vessel. 

Suddenly, Duke began to understand the Lord’s next mission for him.  

“Soccer is probably the greatest access for the Gospel globally. You can get into any closed country for the Gospel,” Duke said. “No one questions soccer coaches, soccer players, and you have immediate influence. I was like ‘Okay God, I get it.’” 

Duke immediately got to work being obedient to the Lord’s commands, choosing to turn his life around and work towards a new goal of playing in the 2026 World Cup. This would not be for his own fame but to advance the Gospel across the nations.  

 “From this moment on, I’m going to train like I’m going to play in the World Cup …” Duke said. “And then I go home from that night, and I tell my wife, Megan, about this, and her faith is exceptional because she’s like, ‘Okay, if you’re going to do this, I’m behind you.’” 

With his wife’s blessing, Duke set out to accomplish this mission.  

“I said, ‘But I’m only going to do this if this is a blessing to you and to our kids and to our future grandkids and great grandkids,” Duke said. “I want to become the man of God that God has called me to be for you (Megan) and for my family.’” 

From that day, Duke’s entire life shifted. He began to track his habits and make goals for himself. He quickly built better habits, leading him to lose 30 pounds and get back into the disciplined routine he had during his college football days.  

“I was waking up at 4 a.m. every single day and home from training to see my kids off to school. Then had my normal nine to five job, and I’d use my lunch break to lift. … I eliminated every wasted second in my day,” Duke said. “This is how I know it’s the Lord because I’m not a naturally disciplined person. I didn’t miss a single day in over two years — sick, injured, tired. The Lord just kept waking me up. I just never quit.” 

Duke began his journey by playing for a coed soccer league when he decided to share his workouts and post his story on social media.  

“I started posting, not because I wanted the social media following. Honestly, I still kind of hate it now, but I did it for accountability,” Duke said. “I knew the moment I put that crazy story out there … I was going to be held accountable, … so it was kind of my burn the ships moment where I’m cutting the rope behind me. I’m moving forward.” 

Every step of the process was fear-inducing for Duke. But as he advanced to a more competitive amateur league, he overcame his anxiety by leaning on the Lord for guidance.  

“I was really afraid. But the Lord gave me courage just to do it and do hard things,” Duke said. 

Unexpectedly, his social media accounts began to blow up. This provided more opportunities for Duke as a professional team in Brazil, Nacional Futebol Clube, discovered him. The team offered to bring him out and play with them for a month.  

“I straight up told them, ‘I’m not as good as you think I am,’ and they’re like, ‘We still want you anyway,” Duke said. “And so they paid for all of my expenses for that whole time being there to play with them, which was insane.” 

After that, Duke had the opportunity to play in The Soccer Tournament (TST), the largest 7-on-7 tournament in the world, hosted by ESPN. Duke’s team made it to the final four, gaining even more exposure for his career.  

“Shockingly, he’s never played soccer in his life,” Josh Rolf, elder at Waymaker.Church and Duke’s close friend, said. “I played college soccer at California Baptist University, so I’ve got an idea of the technical and physical aspects of the game, and … it’s not a sport you just pick up.” 

After this, Duke spent the summer of 2024 relying on the Lord to show him where to go next. During this time, he was challenged with waiting.  

“I didn’t know what my next step was, so I just spent a lot of time fasting and praying and listening to the Lord, and he was just being silent, giving me nothing,” Duke said. “I think it takes just as much faith to jump as it takes to wait when the Lord is saying don’t move. … I think when people look at my story, they see boldness, radical jumps, but I think it takes just as much to wait and to trust the Lord in that.” 

In August, Duke felt a tug to call his friend, former professional soccer player, Maurice “Reggie” Edu, so he obeyed.

“I’m like, ‘Okay, Reggie, the Lord told me to call you. I don’t know why, but I think you’re my next step in soccer,’” Duke said. “He was like, ‘Well, I’ll tell you what, why don’t you come out here to LA, train us how to make disciples in my community. And while we’re here, we’ll pray on what to do.’” 

While in Los Angeles, Edu set up a meeting for Duke with the general manager of the Professional USA Indoor Team. Duke shared his story with him, and the general manager was so moved that he offered to let him play in a professional match for Team USA against Mexico.  

“He’s like, ‘Hey, we have a game coming up in a month. How would you feel if I called you up and put you on that roster?’ Like you’ve got to be kidding me, that doesn’t happen.” Duke said. “They put me on the team, but not only did they put me on the team; they played me. I was just shocked.” 

Following that, Duke was invited to go to the Major Arena Soccer League Pro Player Combine in San Diego. There he was drafted by the Empire Strikers, a professional indoor team based in Los Angeles.  

Duke currently plays with the Strikers, where he has been a major influence on the culture of the team, despite being older than most of his teammates.  

“I started when most people retire,” Duke said. “They all respect me so much. I didn’t ask for it. … I’m not doing anything amazing, not anything crazy. They just get to see Jesus consistently in me in the little things every single day.” 

Duke began a Bible study among his teammates where he has seen many of them accept Christ and had the opportunity to baptize several of them. 

“Zach is just naturally a steadfast follower of Jesus. He doesn’t do anything out of a desire to be showy,” Rolf said. “There’s a deep humility within Zach that has drawn me to him as a best friend. I am pushed daily in my walk with the Lord because of who Zach is, and it is just driven from a deep passion for the Lord.” 

Duke views his journey as more than a successful athletic career; he sees it as a test of faith.  

“There’s a few things that I know are absolutely true,” Duke said. “One, it has nothing to do with me. It has very little to do with soccer. I think it has everything to do with faith: Do we believe God is who he says he is?” 

As for his next steps, Duke is waiting to see where the Lord will take him. Whether it is to the 2026 World Cup, or something beyond, Duke trusts God with each step along the way. 

“The Lord has just opened every door, and so I don’t exactly know what’s next,” Duke said. “And if the Lord told me to lay it down tomorrow, I would do that too.” 

White is the sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X.