Near the end of the speech, Brenda brings Zachary out to say hello to the crowd.

"If you have ever felt like life has cheated you, stand up with me," Brenda says. "If you have ever felt disappointed in life, stand with me. If you have ever received a call that changed your life forever, brought you to your knees and took your breath away, look around, we are all in this together, we need each other, we all have a story."

Afterward, many women say they saw themselves in Brenda's story.

"She is just a normal everyday mom raising a family just like everybody," says Sena Hohman, her two daughters accompanying her to the event. "Hearing these stories, you find out she is just like me, with ups and downs in life, with peaks and valleys.

"To be able to see somebody has overcome" what she has, said Judy Gerlitz from Centerville, Virginia, "shows me that I can do it."

Super Bowl champion, philanthropist

When she's offstage, Brenda and Kurt often operate as a team in their faith-based work.

On the recent Friday morning before Brenda addresses the Women of Faith conference, the couple find themselves in a small, bland conference room in downtown Washington.

Kurt takes notes while Brenda's eyes stay fixed on the architect who's briefing them. The topic: plans for a multi-apartment home for developmentally disabled young adults that the Warners want to build in their hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona.

The project is inspired by Zachary, now a 23-year-old high school graduate.

"Zach has probably impacted more people than all of us combined because there is something unique and special and honest about these individuals that see it like it is and call it like they see it," Kurt says.

Zachary lives in a group house in St. Louis. The Warners are modeling the group home they're building in Arizona, called Treasure House, on the St. Louis House concept for independent living for those with special needs.

At the meeting in Washington, Kurt is very much in control, with the architect and a consultant urge the Warners to use Kurt's celebrity to help raise funds. "Leverage your history," the consultant says, looking at Kurt and talking football.

Kurt's story, like Brenda's, includes some letdowns. After going unselected in the 1994 NFL draft as a quarterback out of University of Northern Iowa, Kurt became a Hy-Vee grocery store stock clerk to make money. While stocking shelves, he signed with the Iowa Barnstorms, an Arena Football League team in Des Moines, Iowa. With his big arm and accuracy, he became an AFL star.

After a short stint with NFL Europe, Kurt became the third -tring quarterback for the St. Louis Rams for the 1998 season. In 1999, after an injury to the Rams' starting quarterback, he got his chance. Leading the Rams to a Super Bowl XXXIV victory, Kurt won both the league and Super Bowl MVP award that year.

Kurt Warner drops back to pass in Super Bowl XXXIV, a game his St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans, 23-16.

Brenda was there through all of it, from AFL to NFL. She and Kurt met while Kurt was attending college in Cedar Falls, Iowa, at a country bar where she was taking line dancing classes. She worried he wouldn't be able to handle the fact she was divorced with two kids.

When he showed up the morning after their first date and said he wanted to meet her kids, Brenda says, "I feel in love with him before he fell in love with me."

When Kurt led the Rams to their 1999 Super Bowl victory, not only was Brenda there -- she became part of the story.

Brenda was vocally defensive of her husband when he had a bad game, even calling into radio stations to criticize the Rams coaching staff. That zeal and her on-camera postgame kisses for the star quarterback had some fans calling her the Yoko Ono of football.

Throughout his 12-year NFL career, Kurt was known for both his skill and overt faith. "Well, first things first," Warner told a reporter after his first Super Bowl victory. "I've got to thank my Lord and Savior up above --- thank you, Jesus!"

The interview provided a name for Kurt's foundation, First Things First, which is "dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities." The group raises money, taking advantage of Kurt's NFL connections, and organizes events for ill and developmentally disabled children.

Today, Kurt spends much of his time on such work. It's why he's talking building schematics instead of defensive schemes.

"My retirement isn't quite like what people think about with retirement," Warner says. "I am very busy and have a lot of things that I am active in. It is not a complete 180 from being gone every day to being home every day."

But talking about civil engineering in a drab hotel conference room is a long way from the National Football League. The common thread: Brenda and their religious faith.