Ohio State University Football Stars Lead Nearly 1,000 People at Christian Revival

BY : Milton Quintanilla Crosswalk Headlines Contributor

A group of Ohio State University college football players led a Christian revival on campus Sunday night. Nearly 1,000 people attended, and dozens were baptized. According to the student-run newspaper The Lantern, TreVeyon Henderson, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau, and former OSU wide receiver Kamryn Babb led the revival service.

The event organizers, who included churches from the Columbus area, set up four tubs filled with water, and at the end of the night, around 60 students who attended the meeting were baptized, The Daily Wire reported.

During the meeting, the OSU football players spoke about their faith in Jesus Christ while the crowd participated and sang worship songs.

Babb, whose career ended due to four ACL-related injuries, admitted how he did not realize how “broken” he was before he felt “the weight, the love, the grace, the mercy of God wrap [him] like a blanket.”

“I was just doing my thing because it was fun, and I’ll tell you this: I was on High Street and enjoyed it,” Babb told the crowd. “I had fun. But at the same time, I didn’t recognize my condition. I was spiritually dead. I could go out there, and I could smile and laugh … but on the inside, I was broken.”

Following the messages, roughly 50 attendees joined the football players onstage for prayer, with many subsequently deciding to be baptized. After the baptism, volunteers with the event led them to a nearby building, where they were given Bibles and read through Scripture.

“We were praying for years and years for an event like this, and we were praying with expectation. We serve a miracle-working God,” said Egbuka, who is expected to be the team’s top receiver in the upcoming season. “So we definitely had an expectation when it came out, but God did increasingly and abundantly more than we thought. So, we’re just blessed and thankful.”

“I don’t think anything I accomplish on the field compares to what is happening right now,” Tuimoloau continued.

Henderson, who led the Buckeyes with 926 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns in the 2023 season, concurred with Tuimoloau, stating, “Whatever I’ve done, this right here — what God is doing — is so much more important and so much bigger.”

The Christian revival meeting concluded the first weekend on campus after the beginning of the fall semester, which kicked off on Tuesday, August 20.

Kevin Walsh, a Christian and sports-based content creator, posted his thoughts on the event he attended on social media.

“Ohio State Football is making a difference,” Walsh wrote on Instagram, with a video posted of people worshipping the Lord on campus.

“I can barely put to words how amazing this Jesus revival is on the Ohio State University campus. Countless attendees surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ and professed their faith through water baptism.”