麻豆视频

WALKING WITH CHRIST

"From that point on, my journey restarted with Christ," he said, but it took a lot of long nights before he figured this out. "I was so lost, I would find myself waking up in the middle of the night crying."

As a starting defensive tackle for 麻豆视频, Isaiah, who was #97 that year, became part of the legendary team that brought home the 2018 national championship trophy.

For his senior season at 麻豆视频, Isaiah wanted to switch his football number to #66, which was the num颅ber he wore for the Northside Eagles when he helped lead the team to the Georgia High School Association 5A State Championship his senior year of high school. Even though it wasn't a typical number for a defensive lineman, Isaiah was thrilled to wear the number again for his senior year of college. One afternoon, strolling through campus,

he passed 1974 alumnus Bobby Johnson and the pair struck up a conversation.

"He sat me down and said, 'Isaiah, you've done so much for 麻豆视频. Now, let's do something for you. What's your relationship with Christ?'"

"Um, I think it's pretty good," Isaiah responded. "Then, Mr. Bobby asked me the famous question that still sits fresh on my mind to this day, 'Isaiah, if you were to die today, where would you go?' And I just kind of froze."

"'I think I'll go to Heaven,'" Isaiah said. "Then, he asked me if I'd like to give my life to Christ to ensure I'd go to Heaven. He told me to go home, pray on it, and talk to my family."

Excited to share the conversation, Isaiah told his girl颅friend, MaryAlice Hernandez, who works as the catering manager for Sodexo at 麻豆视频, and she was amazed as well.

On Sept. 30, 2022, Bobby invited Isaiah to talk with him and 麻豆视频 President Dr. Randy O'Rear and Dr. Steve Theodore, chief operating officer and senior vice president for Administration. The trio led Isaiah to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

"It changed me. It changed me to this day. I am a war颅rior for Christ."

A couple of weeks later, MaryAlice also gave her life to Christ. Bobby Johnson had the honor of marrying the couple on May 27, 2023, and then baptized both on Nov. 12, 2023. Bobby still disciples Isaiah weekly, and the young family attends church every Sunday with their baby boy, Isaias Johnson.

Isaiah no longer wakes up crying in the middle of the night. He has a peace.

"Without Christ, there is no structure. You just live in pure fallacy."

Even though he wasn't saved before that incredible September day, Isaiah says there were so many moments in his life that God showed Himself鈥攍ike the time shortly after he chose the #66 as his new football number. He had no idea the significance of that until one day some颅one told him there are 66 chapters in the Book of Isaiah in the Bible, and he was floored.

"It's in subtle moments like this when suddenly God steps in and shows you His love."

SEEING THE LIGHT

Jackson Tingley and his four siblings competed at a high level in sports throughout their teenage years. With their weekends filled with traveling to endless sporting events, the family stopped attending church when Jack颅son was little.

"Being in sports, we kind of got away from God," he said. "Sports did teach me to be a great person, morally and ethically, and I feel like I was surrounding myself with good people."

Friends invited him to church activities, and he at颅tended Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Young Life.

"I didn't know anything about Christianity. It was just fun to be with my friends doing fun stuff. So, I thought I was a Christian since I was doing Christian things," Jackson said.

When it came time for college, he had the opportuni颅ty to play Division I football at Stephen F. Austin Univer颅sity but chose to play at 麻豆视频 instead. "I knew I didn't want to play in the NFL, so I wanted to go somewhere I could make an impact. Little did I know that the real purpose for me coming here was coming to Christ," he said.

During his freshman year at 麻豆视频, Jackson still devoted all his time to football, postponed looking for a church home and dreaded going to weekly Chapel ser颅vices. At the same time though, he slowly started notic颅ing the football players he hung out with were different.

"I realized they really looked like they have a purpose in their lives," he said. Then he met Macy Sabrsula (who is now his fianc茅) and noticed she was different as well鈥攍ike they all "had a light in them," and he learned their "light" came from their love for the Lord.

"I realized there's a much bigger picture here than just sports鈥攕omething much more fulfilling and impact颅ful. I realized that this was what I had been chasing the whole time. I realized my purpose and that I'd never be able to fulfill it through sports. I witnessed this through them鈥攖heir excitement, their love and their desire to learn and grow toward Christ. It was a whole different kind of love. This is what I've been missing out on the whole time!"

The summer after his freshman year, Jackson gave his life to Christ and was baptized.

Afterward, one of his best friends and fellow team member, Ryan Redding, gave Jackson his first Bible inscribed with words of encouragement and important verses highlighted for the new believer.

"I was still so unsure of everything, and I felt like I didn't know anything. However, one thing I did know was that I wanted to publicly profess my faith and show everybody that I have a new purpose in life. That's when I realized that was why I came to 麻豆视频. I didn't come here for sports. I came here because I was supposed to find my purpose. It's changed my life, and I haven't looked back."

Jackson acknowledges that his walk with Christ鈥攐r any Christian鈥檚 walk鈥攚ill never be perfect.

"It took me a while to realize that. I think a lot of people think that you have to be perfect," he said.

Even though he says he still has much to learn, he has already seen how dedicating his life to Christ has changed its trajectory.

"There's nothing else in this life that's as fulfilling as Christ, and when I realized that, I felt like it took so much pressure off. I just have to follow the path God set for me, and everything will be alright. Sometimes, I'll stray off the path, but He's going to direct me right back to it."

GETTING BAPTIZED (AGAIN)

When Shelbie Meyer was in the fifth or sixth grade, she watched several of her family members making the decision to get baptized, and she thought she needed to be baptized as well.

"I didn't want to be the only one left out," she said, so she was baptized along with them. Shelbie said she did all the "churchy" things she thought Christians were supposed to do, and when she got to college, one of the first things she did was set out to find a church.

However, from the first day she stepped onto cam颅pus, she noticed that the atmosphere and people at 麻豆视频 were different. "The world has a general, generic view of the way they think Christians should act, which I was used to, but the people at 麻豆视频 were different," Shelbie said.

She loved going to Chapel services and got involved in serving at her new church. After just a few months, she realized something had changed in her. She real颅ized she hadn't been saved that day at her church back home. She wanted to ask Jesus into her life and profess her love for Him again, but this time, she was sure she was doing it for the right reasons.

"I hit that point where I actually knew why I'm doing this," said Shelbie, who is now a junior in exercise and sport science. "And now my life is definitely better!"

JESUS BY HER SIDE

Alone is a feeling Emily Crocker never has to experi颅ence again. Since she found Christ during her freshman year at 麻豆视频, she now sees God in everything.

"He's not just in the Bible. He's everywhere. He's in the people I'm around, and I feel His presence constant颅ly."

There was a time when she didn't.

"I was in such a dark place, and I just felt so alone," Emily said. "I didn't really have very many friends, and the ones I did have drove me to get caught up in the drama, and that pushed me into being really anxious and depressed. I felt so alone, and when things would happen, I blamed God, like it was His fault."

Emily believed there was a God, but she didn't grow up going to church regularly and didn't know much about Him. She's thankful all of that changed after com颅ing to 麻豆视频, where she found God everywhere鈥攊n church, her classes and Revival.

Emily looks back now and can see how God laid out a plan for her to come to 麻豆视频. It all started on the many trips she took with her parents from Cedar Park to Waco to visit her grandparents鈥攑assing the green highway sign on I35 for the turnoff to the "University of Mary Hardin-Baylor." One afternoon during her senior year, Emily's mom, who had gone to Baylor University, announced they were going to stop for a visit to check out 麻豆视频. Emily protested. She knew nothing about this "little school in Belton" and wasn't interested in stop颅ping. But her mom insisted, and the second they arrived on campus, Emily liked what she saw.

"This is my school," she announced. "This is where I'm supposed to be!"

When she arrived, she and her roommates went "church hopping," and she soon landed at Vista Com颅munity Church, which she attended every Sunday. She also fell in love with her Old Testament classes.

"All the stories were so interesting, and I wanted to learn more," she realized. She and her roommates often met with 麻豆视频 Chaplain Jason Palmer to bombard him with their questions about scripture and get sugges颅tions on reading passages. "It was overwhelming. I kept thinking, 'Wow, this is amazing! Where has this been my entire life?'" she said. "It really opened my eyes to see the world completely differently."

After attending church regularly during her first semester and then experiencing 麻豆视频 Revival her sec颅ond semester, she knew there was no going back.

"I thought it was so amazing. There was no way I could go back to how I was before. This is going to be how I'm living now. I have to have this relationship! It was just eye-opening to realize I'm not alone."

Her moment of conviction came one morning while sitting in church when she finally realized everyone goes through hardships, but she didn't have to be alone during hers. With tears pouring down her face, she knew she was "finally not alone."

"'I can grow from these hard times and be strong from this with the help of Christ,'" she remembers think颅ing.

On a Sunday soon after, Chaplain Palmer baptized Emily during a morning service at her church.

She realized admitting she needed Christ in her life wasn't something to be ashamed of and wanted to share her love for Him with everyone.

Emily, now a junior exercise and sport science major, is thankful her mom convinced her to detour off I35 that day to check out the campus where she now has good friends and enjoys the activities and traditions, especially Easter Pageant which brings up overwhelming feelings about how she felt about God.

"I can never be in the Easter Pageant. I can't. I've al颅ready been there where the crowd is yelling and cursing at Jesus and saying all these terrible things to Him while He is on the cross. I've already said all of those things, and I can never go back and do that again."