MARYSVILLE – When Steve Thompson played football with Joe Namath when the New York Jets won the third Super Bowl in 1968, he obviously wore a helmet.

He wears another type of helmet now, and he encouraged the 200 or so men at the HUGE Men of God retreat Feb. 3 to do the same.

He called it a salvation helmet. It protects the brain from constant attacks from the enemy.

Thompson had a lot of success in football. He starred at Lake Stevens High School, then at the University of Washington. He was a second-round draft pick, 44th overall, in 1968. He played defensive end for the Jets from 1968-70 and 1972-73, then with the Portland Storm in the World Football League in 1974 and the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1975.

He will turn 70 on Feb. 12, and he said, “The best days are ahead” of me. Since 1991 he has been the pastor of the Victory Foursquare Church in Marysville.

Thompson told the men that as long as they keep their helmets on all the time they can line up their thoughts with Christ.

“God can revamp your thinking,” he said, adding you will be able to toss out the lies and survive condemnation.

As an example, Thompson said he used to believe that if he sinned he would be forgiven if he asked for it so there was no consequence for sinning.

“But you reap what you sow,” he said.

As another example, he talked about a sexual addiction he had with prostitutes when he was in New York with the Jets. But he was able to go back there years later and no longer had those feelings.

“I went back into the lion’s den and just laughed,” he said. “I was free.”

The men at the five-week-long Tuesday night series at the Word of Life Church in Marysville came for a variety of reasons.

Nick Watson of Lake Goodwin just moved here from Alaska. He wanted to meet people with similar beliefs. “Church unity is important. We have one united goal. We shouldn’t argue about our differences,” Watson said.

Rich Miller just moved to the area from Oregon and is an evangelist involved in a backpack and street ministry in Shoreline. He brought a homeless person with him. “I get involved in churchy things all the time,” he said.

Mike Gibura moved here recently from Indiana. He said he wasn’t feeling well, but was compelled to attend. He didn’t know what to expect. “I don’t know what to anticipate, but I hope good things happen.”

Following Thompson’s talk, the men met in small groups. James Brooke, the group’s founder and president since 2003, said that’s his favorite part of the series.

“We’re all broken, and wonder who to turn to,” Brooke said. “All humans have flaws. Only God is perfect and consistent.”

For Thomas Pardue of Marysville, he also likes the breakout groups.

“I like to meet new men; hear about other men’s issues,” said Pardue, who met Brooke 10 years ago and has seen HUGE Men of God grow from there. “We feel safe to open up and know we are not alone.”

Pardue said participants range from the highly spiritual to the seeking. “No one is any smarter than anyone else,” he said. “Everybody’s welcome.”

Pardue said he enjoys watching lives change.

“It’s easy for men to withdraw from their families” because of responsibilities in life, he said. “When really the families are often screaming out for help.”

Pardue said some men turn to alcohol, drugs and porn to escape. They withdraw and can lose the people they love the most – their wives and families.

For many of those men, they just need the support of other men.

“The love towards each other is a huge thing,” he said. “HUGE.”

With the group, HUGE stands for Honor God, Unify men, Grow in Christ and Equip disciples.

Like Pardue, Steve Reid also has been involved with HUGE for a few years. He said the annual series is important.

“Men don’t gather well together” anymore, Reid said, citing the decline of men’s organizations like the Eagles and Elks.

Reid said it’s a “huge failing” of men not realizing the “power that’s there” when they meet.

He became involved in HUGE after going through a divorce and losing his business. He figured out: “It’s OK. In all things it is Christ who strengthens me.”

At his church he has helped men’s groups resurface.

“We want to pull the community together and train men to be fathers, community members, to be church members and do God’s work,” he said.