Several football players from Ohio State University led a revival night on Sunday. Between 800 and 1,000 people attended the event.
Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau, and former OSU wide receiver Kamryn Babb led the service, according to The Lantern, a student-run newspaper.
Babb told service attendees that he felt the “weight, the love, the grace, the mercy of God wrap [him] like a blanket” as his Uber driver prayed for him on his way to the John Glenn Columbus International Airport.
“I was just doing my thing because it was fun, and I’ll tell you this: I was on High Street, and I enjoyed it,” Babb said. “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.”
Service attendees later joined the players on stage to pray. Others wanted to be baptized.
Event coordinators then gave Bibles to those baptized.
Although the space was only reserved through 10 p.m., the revival service and baptisms continued until almost 10:30 p.m.
Grayce Banks, a second-year student, said the football players are “role models to so many people.”
“And so, to have them speak out in faith, they’re like, ‘I know these people, like, I see them on TV, and like, here’s the impact they have on my life. Who’s impacting their life?’ And that’s God to them, and that’s Jesus, and that’s the Gospel.”
Egbuka said they had been “praying for years and years for an event like this, and we were praying with expectation – we serve a miracle-working God.” He added that they “definitely had an expectation when it came out, but God did increasingly and abundantly more than we thought. So, we’re just so blessed and thankful.”
