COLUMBUS, Ohio – As the light faded on a warm summer evening, hundreds of Ohio State University students gathered around a stage in a campus courtyard.
They sang, they clapped, they bowed their heads in prayer – and they sat and listened as the campus’ most revered idols — the football players — gave testimony about their Christian faith.
Senior student Lucas Brill stopped on his way home.
“I saw, like, probably about a thousand people out. Just felt like the whole, the whole courtyard was just flooded with people,” Brill said. “They were just getting all hyped. It was like a locker room, but for Jesus.”
One of the players on the stage was starting running back and campus celebrity TreVeyon Henderson. Henderson has been outspoken about his faith since discovering God after suffering an injury his sophomore year.
“God just started drawing people in and, you know, and we didn’t know it was going to be that many people,” Henderson said.
Then the baptisms began. Student after student was dunked in one of several large tubs on or near the stage. Brill, already a believer but still unbaptized, decided to take the plunge. He emerged from the water to a chorus of claps and cheers from his peers.
More than 50 students were baptized that August night.
Brill didn’t get baptized solely because of the football players’ testimony, but the players did draw him in that night.
“For them to be on a big stage every Saturday and then say that something’s bigger than them, that’s pretty humbling. And I don’t know, it was kind of easy to follow their lead and humble myself,” he said.
Students and players deemed it a revival. The story made national news, including appreciative stories in religious publications and Fox News. Now, as Ohio State University’s football team prepares for the college football playoffs, players like Henderson have a bigger platform to share their Christian beliefs.
