Reids share their faith before a packed house at LDS church in Platte City

Fresh off an 11-5 record in his first season with the Chiefs, it’s safe to say coach Andy Reid and his wife, Tammy, have put their 14 years in Philadelphia behind them and are happy in Kansas City.

However, there is one tradition the Reids brought with them from their old address, something that helps tie them to their community.

“In our church, we try to get out and talk to members of the church and at the same time, anybody in the community that would like to listen about family, faith and football,” Reid said beforehand. “Those are three of our favorite subjects and we just try to share our experiences with people.”

On Saturday night, in front of a packed sanctuary that included Kansas City mayor Sly James, the Reids — who are members of the LDS Church — spoke at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Platte City to do just that.

Saturday’s event marked the second time the Reids have participated in such an event since they arrived in Kansas City, but Tammy says she and her husband have dozens of these under their belt.

“We do have this huge faith and we like to share it, because it’s made our lives better and it makes our lives richer,” Tammy said. “We don’t mind talking about our lives — our lives are an open book.”

Over the course of 90 minutes, they indeed opened up about themselves and covered a number of topics, all of which circled back to the way their faith has been instrumental throughout the years.

There were plenty of laughs shared, too, and Reid made sure of that, particularly when he got into “coach mode” and stood to give a PowerPoint presentation in which he shared his philosophies about life and football.

He even managed to sneak in a little bit of optimism about this year’s Chiefs, mentioning that the second-youngest team in the league last year is now focusing on “finishing” after blowing a 28-point second-half lead in their playoff loss to the Colts in January.

But really, football came second on this night for the Reids, who — as Tammy mentioned several times — are not perfect people but hope to inspire others through their words when possible.

“It’s just an opportunity to share experiences with different people,” Reid said.

This story was originally published April 26, 2014 at 11:23 PM.