Inside a warehouse-sized, 80,000-square-foot commercial building in Livermore, a town just east of Oakland, construction workers are busy preparing a place of worship: the future home of the Well Christian Community Church.
From its humble beginnings in 2003, starting with just 15 families, the church has blossomed to 1,500 members, outgrowing its current home in neighboring Dublin. The Well has expanded through outreach as well; covering five churches in Lima, Peru, as well as churches in Hiroshima, Japan; Concord, Calif.; and Reno, Nevada.
The driving force behind the church’s growth has much to do with its charismatic senior pastor, who most Central Coast residents and football fans older than 30 would recognize by name alone: Napoleon Kaufman.
Once a star running back for Lompoc High School and the Oakland Raiders, Kaufman is now guiding his church to prominence in the Bay Area and beyond. Besides preaching to his burgeoning congregation, Kaufman spreads his message worldwide through Christian radio and TV stations. He speaks at churches all over the country, engaging audiences with an animated style, pacing the stage behind the pulpit, often wearing a wireless headset and holding a Bible.
“I’m loving it,” Kaufman says of his ministry. “It’s just been a tremendous blessing for not just me, but my wife and my kids … to be able to serve our community.”
At 38, Kaufman looks as though he could still play football today, but as a different chapter of his life unfolds, it’s clear he’s come a long way from his days growing up in Lompoc.
Home of the Brave
Born in Kansas City in 1973, Kaufman moved with his mother to his grandmother’s home in Lompoc while still a baby. His grandfather, Sam White, had been stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base and stayed nearby; his grandmother Barbra was the matriarch of the family.
At 8 years old, “Nip”—as he was nicknamed—began playing football, and by 13, he was already drawing notice for his speed.
“I was always faster than the other kids, and by the grace of God I was just gifted,” Kaufman told the Sun. “Pee Wee ball was something I did every year, so people in the town knew me even before I got to high school.”
As talented as he was athletically, Kaufman struggled both in school and socially, finding it difficult to focus on academics.
“I was the type of kid who was very active,” Kaufman said. “It took a lot to get my attention, let’s just say that. I found myself not enjoying school as much growing up.”
As it so happened, his home was just across the street from the Lompoc High football field, and Kaufman would spend time at practices, retrieving kicks and extra points in the end zone. It was there Kaufman first met the man who would become his father figure for the rest of his life: Lompoc High’s former varsity football coach Dick Barrett.
“He was very responsive,” Barrett remembered. “The grandmother and the mother pretty much said I was in charge, and that made it a lot easier, because the kid knew it and I knew it, and the mom and grandma knew it, so we got along really well.”
When Kaufman started at Lompoc High, Barrett taught him remedial English and took “Nip” under his wing, recognizing there was something special in his fleet-footed pupil. Kaufman started running track, where he caught the coach’s attention by winning the league championship in the 100-meter dash.
“When we went up against Arroyo Grande, they thought they’d stack the deck and put in this big guy William Henry, who’d been in the state finals the year before in the hurdles,” Barrett recalled. “They put him up against Napoleon in the league finals, and Napoleon beat him. I knew then he was a pretty special kid to have that kind of poise and the great speed he had.”
Kaufman joined the freshman football team, which lost only one game all season. Barrett brought Kaufman up to varsity as a sophomore, but used him sparingly. The Braves started the year a dreadful 1-6, and Barrett moved Kaufman to tailback. From there, the Braves would win five in a row, closing the season 6-6 and making it to the CIF semifinals.
With Kaufman in the backfield, the Braves became a force, going on to win 33 out of their next 37 games. In his junior year on the track, Kaufman pulled off the improbable, winning the CIF State Championship in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
But football always came first, and in 1989 the Braves went 13-0 and made it to the CIF state championship, where they lost to Junipero Serra High. Kaufman ended the year with an astounding 39 touchdowns.
Over his last two years at Lompoc, Kaufman averaged nine yards per carry and a mind-boggling 70 yards per kickoff return. His senior year, the Braves came out of the chute fast. Kaufman struggled with injuries, but still managed to amass nearly 2,000 rushing yards, leading the Braves to a 13-1 record.
In front of a standing-room-only crowd at Cal Poly, the Braves beat rival Arroyo Grande in the CIF championship, the first football title in school history. Kaufman finished high school as one of the top running backs in the nation—a Parade All-American and the state’s CIF player of the year.
“I had to become more of a leader because those seniors were gone,” Kaufman said. “The bull’s-eye was on my back, and we just went out there and won state and the CIF championship. Man, we lost it one year and came right back and took it. We beat Arroyo Grande. Those are memories that will always stick with me.”
‘The fastest man in the state’
After the game, Barrett stepped down as the team’s football coach to spend more time with his family, but he never lost touch with his star player. To this day, Barrett says he’s never seen anyone like Kaufman, before or since.
“It’s humorous to see people compare him when they’ve got some guy that gets yards or something like that,” Barrett said. “He could’ve gained so many more yards. We blew so many people out we didn’t want to risk injury. … As it was, he’s still in the state record books.”
The national media attention Kaufman received, Barrett said, made “Nip” a source of pride to local youth, a pied piper who always took time to sign autographs and talk with students who packed the stadium to watch him play.
With Barrett’s help, Kaufman was able to pass his SATs and bump his grade point average up enough to get into college with a full-ride scholarship.
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“It wasn’t until Coach Barrett took me under his wing and started showing me the value of getting an education that I said, ‘I can do something with my life; I can get a scholarship, I can go to another city, and the only way I can do that is to buckle down and start doing what I’m supposed to do in the classroom,’” Kaufman said. “With the support system I had, I was able to do that.”
Kaufman graduated from Lompoc in 1991, with his pick of the litter from numerous Division I colleges. He chose the University of Washington, which boasted an up-and-coming football program and allowed him to stay fairly close to home.
On the field, it was apparent right away he’d made the right choice. His freshman year, the Huskies went undefeated, winning the NCAA National Championship by beating the University of Michigan in the 1992 Rose Bowl.
“It was just crazy, because here [I am] as a young man and I’m just a freshman and I’m experiencing college football on its highest level,” Kaufman said. “A lot of the things kids dream about my freshman year I got to experience. National Championship, Rose Bowl, great team, you name it.”
But the good times didn’t last long. The school was soon investigated for violating NCAA rules and put on probation, barring the Huskies from participating in postseason games during Kaufman’s junior and senior years. Though the team kept winning games, Kaufman considered transferring or leaving
for the NFL.
In the end, Kaufman decided to stay for his senior year, a decision that pleased his former coach Barrett, who would travel to games to watch him play. With the extra year to work on his game, Kaufman blossomed into a Heisman Trophy candidate as a senior, until a toe injury ended his hopes. Despite missing games, he still finished as one of the top runners in the country and ended his college career as the Huskies’ all-time rushing leader.
Oakland and a new path
On Draft Day 1995, Kaufman’s decision to stay his senior season paid off, literally, with his first round selection by the newly relocated Oakland Raiders. Kaufman heard the news in his Seattle apartment. There was no big fanfare or family present, only his agent and a representative from the Dallas Cowboys.
“It was crazy,” Kaufman said. “All my life I’ve been a Raider fan, so getting a call from an organization you’ve always followed … was just amazing. I almost went into a state of shock when they said they were going to take me in the first round.”
Happy to stay on the West Coast near his family and friends, Kaufman said his adjustment to the pros wasn’t too extreme. He was fast and able to avoid a lot of the transition pains most players experience.
As a pro, Kaufman made a name for himself right away, leading the NFL in yards per carry in his second year. In his third season, Kaufman took over the reins as the Raiders’ starting running back, playing all 16 games. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards, good enough for sixth best in the league.
Seemingly on top of the world with all his successes, Kaufman wasn’t satisfied. He felt something was missing, a purpose beyond football. With help from his Raiders teammate, Jerone Davidson, a devout Christian, Kaufman begin taking steps toward what would become the next phase of his life.
“After a while, I just started realizing that my passions were changing,” Kaufman explained. “I’ve always been passionate about football, and I still am to some degree … but I started to realize that my greater passion was people, and serving God by touching people with the gospel.”
Kaufman wasted little time in making his leap of faith. During offseasons, he’d travel to different churches, spreading his “Crucified with Christ” message. Kaufman said the experience “changed everything” and gave him a renewed perspective on life and his career.
“A lot of people are playing for the applause of people,” Kaufman explained. “Christ helped me to see that you’ve got to learn to do what you do for an audience of one. Other people are going to be blessed by it, but the applause of men really cannot drive you. That really was liberating for me.”
At 27, an age when most NFL players are just reaching the prime of their careers, Kaufman abruptly retired from football to devote his life to his new calling. Because he’d already been preaching during practices to his teammates, the decision wasn’t totally unexpected. However, the news did come as a surprise to his former coach and mentor, Barrett.
“It was kind of an out-of-the-blue thing,” Barrett recalled. “But I told him, ‘If you’re going to do this, this is something you’ve got to stay with. You can’t turn your back. Once you’ve made this commitment, it’s forever.’”
Kaufman joined a Christian church in San Jose, and under the tutelage of its pastor, began the process of becoming an ordained minister. That took the better part of eight years, a labor he compared to the rigors of an NFL training camp.
“I’m studying scripture, I’m praying, I’m developing my relationship with the Lord. I’m going through trials, I’m overcoming trials, I’m being processed and pruned and broken and humbled,” Kaufman said. “I’m going through the process, and then God is getting me prepared for what I’m doing now.”
In 2003, Kaufman founded the Well Christian Community Church in a small chapel in San Ramon. About 150 people attended the first service. Kaufman took a no-nonsense approach to preaching and steadily gained converts by speaking in broad terms to his congregation, applying scripture to their relationships, health, and lifestyles.
“One of the things I really enjoy is seeing people’s lives changed,” Kaufman said. “I literally have people at our church who were addicted to drugs, methamphetamine, alcohol, you name it. There’s not much I haven’t seen. But to see people make a change for the better … that’s the thing I love.”
Any given Sunday
In the seats at the church’s first-ever service was Maria Carrasco, who didn’t know of Kaufman’s background, but was instead drawn by the genial pastor’s “authenticity.” She credits Kaufman’s talks with strengthening her marriage and family and helping her overcome depression.
“He’s always been one to just declare God’s word in its fullness,” Carrasco said. “There’s no watering it down. That’s very attractive.”
Sundays at the Well, she described, are celebrations, as parishioners pack the church with Bibles in hand to hear Kaufman’s twice-daily sermons. Many stay for both sessions, eager to hear a relevant message to their lives.
“There’s always something we’re going to walk away with being encouraged,” Carrasco said. “He wants to see in people the fullness of what God has for them. That’s his desire. If I can teach you how to be all God created you to be, he’s done his job.”
Carrasco eventually left her job with the city of Dublin to join the church’s staff as Kaufman’s assistant. While she said the focus of the church’s ministry is bigger than its pastor, she sees divine guidance working through Kaufman as it continues to grow.
In addition to expanding to cover churches in South America and elsewhere, the Well is also gaining an audience through Kaufman’s radio show Times of Refreshing, heard every weekday on San Francisco station KFAX. His talks are also broadcast on local and international television and the Internet, and he’s made appearances on the widely viewed Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Though he’s no stranger to the public eye, Kaufman said he’s never forgotten the support he received from the Lompoc community, enabling him to get on the straight-and-narrow. Barrett and Kaufman still stay in touch regularly, and at last year’s high school All-Star game between Northern Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, where Barrett served as honorary head coach, Kaufman surprised his mentor by making an appearance at the player luncheon and speaking to both teams.
Kaufman now lives in Pleasanton, just outside Oakland, along with his wife Nicole; sons Napoleon, Jr., Nathanael, and Nehemiah; and daughter Natalia. Several relatives still live in Lompoc, and Kaufman tries to visit at least once a year to watch a Braves football game and meet with old friends. In January, Kaufman preached at Victory Outreach Church and was handed a ceremonial key to the city by Lompoc Mayor John Linn.
While Kaufman plans to help coach Napoleon, Jr., at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland next year, he has no intention of returning to pro football in any capacity—though that doesn’t stop people from asking.
Instead, Kaufman has his hands full running his church and its numerous ministries, which include a community outreach center for local needy families. Seven pastors in Peru also look to Kaufman to help them preach, and Kaufman plans to visit them with members of his church in May.
As he and his congregation await the finishing touches on their new sanctuary, Kaufman sees nothing but open field ahead.
“There’s so much with our church and what we’re doing,” he said. “We’ll just keep on doing what we’re doing, just at a bigger level.”
Contact Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 5, 2012.