Former NFL player Tanner Taula joins Christian Honer on the Athlete Disciples Podcast to share his journey from chasing football, partying, women, and worldly success to discovering his identity and freedom in Jesus Christ.

Tanner grew up without much of a church background and eventually earned a Division I football scholarship. From the outside, he felt like he was living the life he had seen glorified—football, parties, alcohol, women, and success. But God began putting people around him who consistently shared the Gospel, prayed for him, and discipled him. Eventually, the message of Jesus became real to him.

His faith didn’t instantly eliminate every struggle. Tanner shares candidly about battling lust, pornography, temptation, and old habits—and how Scripture, Christian community, and the Holy Spirit helped him realize that he didn’t have to remain enslaved to them.

He also opens up about entering the NFL as an undrafted player with Tampa Bay and feeling like he didn’t belong. Tanner tried to control his anxiety by studying harder, eating right, sleeping right, and preparing perfectly—until he learned to surrender the pressure to God and separate who he was from how he performed on a football field.

Christian and Tanner also study Galatians 3:1–5, discussing faith versus works, relying on the Holy Spirit instead of our own strength, and what it looks like to trust God daily.

Today, Tanner is transitioning out of football, preparing to become a father, pursuing his next career, and continuing to follow Christ through a completely new season of life.