Cheering provides witness for Christ

The game of football brings with it several support roles such as the fans cheering in the stands, the band producing energizing music and, of course, the cheerleaders bouncing around the sidelines.
   
Amy Mays, a senior at Phil Campbell High School and member of Mountain View Baptist Church knows the importance of character as a cheerleader.
   
“You always have to remember there are always little eyes watching you in everything you do,” she said. “I hope that I am setting a good example for the little kids. I know a lot of people look up to cheerleaders.”
   
Mays, who has won honors as a cheerleader such as currently serving as co-head of the squad and being selected as an All-County cheerleader in 1999, accepted Christ as a third grader.
   
“Before I got saved I had a lot of questions about being lonely,” she said. “But once I got saved my heart was filled, and I didn’t have any worries.”
   
Nelda Moss, Mays’ cheerleader sponsor, said Mays demonstrates a strong Christian walk and is a leader not only by words but by action. “Amy’s peers look up to her,” Moss said.
   
Mays, who will be participating in the activities surrounding the 2000 Olympics in Australia, also traveled to New York 1999 to cheer in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
   
She holds several pageant titles such as the school’s 1999 Dream Girl.
   
“Most importantly to me I try to live my life so others see God through me,” said Mays, who has been a cheerleader since eighth grade. “Most people know I am going to stand up for what’s right.
   
“My motto in life is I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” she said, noting the Scripture Philippians 4:13. “Being a cheerleader I say I am a ‘can do’ cheerleader and also go with the same motto.”