Lance Berkman is just as much of a Christian Warrior as Tim Tebow with his kneeling prayers on the sideline and Jeremy Lin with his Lakewood Church wristbands and name dropping of Jesus in every interview. Only Berkman does not come across as the same type of polarizing figure.

People with different religious views — people with little use for religion whatsoever — are not as turned off by Berkman.

That probably has something to do with the fact that the former Rice University player wields humor as well as he wielded a bat in his bounce back 2011 season. When Berkman's at the microphone, even if he's talking about "the God thing" as he puts it in front of a packed ballroom at the Western Galleria Wednesday morning, you can be sure that he's going to work in some cutting barbs.

"I apologize to any Texas Rangers fans here," Berkman tells the crowd. "You all don't want Dallas to win anything though. We're Houston and we want a championship here . . . I feel like I did my job as a Houstonian."

Berkman — the ex-Houston Astro who still calls the Memorial area home — did as much as anyone to deny Dallas a World Series championship parade. With the Rangers one strike away from the title for the second time in Game 6, with Texas team president Nolan Ryan looking like he was chewing on glass, Berkman delivered a game-tying single.

He kicked Dallas in the shin on the biggest stage of all. For a guy who will forever self identify as a Houstonian, that's no small thrill.

And Berkman's not afraid to share that in a ballroom packed with people aiming to raise $750,000 at breakfast for SpringSpirit Baseball, which founder Kenny Baldwin calls "a Christian ministry" designed to give "kids north of I-10 a chance."

Just because you do good — or even evangelize — doesn't mean you have to be boring. It doesn't bother me that Tebow and Lin talk about Jesus. It bugs me that they're so boring, and uninterested, in talking about anything else.

Berkman will talk about anything. He's anything but a robot. He went to Rice — and he'll remind you of that like anyone else who went to Rice.

"The servants were castigated," Berkman says at one point in telling a Bible story that he feels applies to helping disadvantaged kids. "For those who didn't go to Rice, that means to be scolded."

Even the Rice grads in the room break up at that one.

Shifting seamlessly from Bible verse to Rice attitude . . . that's impressive. Berkman is a world-class ball buster — as anyone who's ever played with him will attest.

The Comebacks

Later in a side media session, when a reporter from a Christian radio station earnestly asks him, "Nicknames, you've had them all — Lancelot, Big Puma, Fat Elvis. Which do you prefer?" Berkman is ready.

"Well, nobody likes to be called fat," he shoots back. "But I'll pretty much answer to anything."

At 36, having won the world championship in St. Louis that he never could get in 12 seasons with the Astros, Berkman comes across as a man who is more than comfortable with his place in the game. He didn't just comeback from a 2010 in which he jokes that the Astros probably "wanted to send me down to the minor leagues." He came back to hit 31 home runs, bat .301 and star in the postseason.

He'll head to spring training Thursday with few worries in tow. So what if he's moving to first base from the outfield? So what if Albert Pujols — the best hitter in baseball — and Tony La Russa — the best strategian — are no longer with the Cardinals?

He'll be there, swinging as hard as ever, looking for one more contract in 2013 (Berkman signed a one-year $12 million deal with St. Louis in the offseason).

For a guy who wondered if he'd ever get a real chance to stick in the big leagues as a young player, this run is even sweeter. But it still won't stop him from joking about the bad moments. Like the time at the Astrodome, while he was in the midst of "riding the Triple A trolley back and forth" that he over excitedly dove way too soon for a Tony Womack slap hit and watched in horror as it bounced eight feet in front of him and back over his head for an inside-the-park home run.

Cue the world-wide humiliation.

"I had a buddy who was running a bicycle riding touring company in France of all places and he called me and is like, 'You'll never believe what the CNN World Play of the Day was,' " Berkman laughs.

How can you not get behind a guy who chooses to tell that story to a crowd of believers just looking to lap up some World Series moments?

All for Tebow Time

​Berkman may have the sense of humor that Tim Tebow could only pray for, but he is a fan of the Denver Broncos quarterback. One who is puzzled by people who dislike Tebow because he's so openly religious.

"It's amazing to think that someone is still controversial to some people 2,000 years after he was such a positive force," Berkman says of Jesus Christ. "If you think about it, they're still talking about three days of Jesus (the time between his crucifixion and resurrection in the Bible). Can you imagine anyone talking about three days in our lives, or in anyone's life, even 30 years from now?

"We're talking 2,000 years. It's amazing to me that Christ is still having such an impact that people want to make talking about him controversial."

Still, Berkman and Tebow are not hanging out, discussing these things. Berkman is close to another controversial athlete though — Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton, who is fighting a well-publicized battle with his own sobriety. Just a day after Hamilton's latest drinking relapse, Berkman appeared with his World Series foe at a Houston area prayer event.

"I have a lot of respect for how honest Josh is about his struggles," says Berkman, who shares an agent with the Ranger. "That means something."

Soon, Berkman is being pulled away by SpringSpirit volunteers who want a photo with their hero, by fans who want to talk about Rice baseball.

"I think they're going to have a good year," Berkman says of the sixth-ranked Owls, who he worked out with in December.

"If they don't get to Omaha (the site of the College World Series) this year I'll be very disappointed," one older Rice fan tells Berkman back, more than a little sternly. "And if they don't win it all, I'll be mildly disappointed."

"Well, it's good to have those type of high expectations," Berkman says, smiling. The World Series champ sticks around to pose for the last of the breakfast stragglers, a warrior character who is in no hurry to move on.

Baseball can wait till tomorrow.