Ohio State football players participate in Christian baptism ceremony outside of Curl Market, over 800 gather to observe

Emma Wozniak, Lucy Lawler, Samuel Cipriani, Noah Weiskopf, Nora Igelnik
Mon, 26 Aug 2024 16:19:08 +0000
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More on this event’s timeline, context and relationship with the university’s space standards below. Plus, read comments from involved athletes and attendees.

Between 800-1,000 people congregated to watch Ohio State football players help facilitate a Christian baptism ceremony outside of Curl Market Sunday, with at least 60 attendees being baptized by the end of the night.

Senior running back TreVeyon Henderson, senior defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau, graduate wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, former Buckeyes wide receiver Kamryn Babb and more Ohio State football players helped lead the ceremony, which was jointly hosted by various Christian churches and organizations based in Columbus.

Baptism is a Christian sacrament of initiation that signifies one’s entrance into the religion, according to ActiveChristianity.org. The rite — which symbolizes new life — allows one to publicly identify with the Christian faith and lifestyle, the website states.?

Sunday’s timeline

Two officers with the Ohio State University Police Department — also known as OSUPD — were present when the event began around 7 p.m., but remained on the roughly 200-person crowd’s outer perimeter.

Four tub-sized buckets of water sat near a stage, on which football players stood to deliver testimonies. Over the next nearly two hours, the crowd grew to over 800 people.?

Some of the present players gave spoken testimony about their personal connections with Christianity, Babb being one of them.?

According to previous Lantern reporting, Babb suffered four ACL-related injuries during his time at Ohio State. Babb said during an Uber ride to the John Glenn Columbus International Airport, his driver — a man named Darnell — offered to pray for him; in that moment, Babb said 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 I enjoyed it,” Babb said. “I had fun. But at the same time, I didn’t recognize my condition. I was spiritually dead. I was spiritually dead. I could go out there, and I could smile and laugh. I can go back to the [Woody Hayes Athletic Center], and smile and laugh. But on the inside, I was broken. I was broken.”

Around 8:50 p.m., roughly 50 attendees joined players on the stage and began praying as a group. A few minutes later, baptisms began, with attendees being submerged in the water buckets to complete the baptismal ritual.

Once individuals were baptized, event coordinators led them into the nearby Nosker House, gave them a copy of the Bible and guided them in a scripture reading.

University spokesperson Ben Johnson said the space had been reserved ahead of time, and that the reservation ended at 9:45 p.m.

“Revive Student Organization reserved space for the event, which just ended,” Johnson said around 9:09 p.m. “Public Safety was on hand, as is typical for large gatherings. It was not an official football team event.”

By 9:30 p.m., approximately 50 people had undergone baptisms.?

Around 9:54 p.m., four OSUPD officers arrived on bikes outside of Nosker House and spoke with Babb. The officers instructed him to tell attendees to disperse on behalf of the Office of Student Life, and that the group’s event permit expired at 10 p.m. Event coordinators then displayed a QR code on the onstage TV, encouraging attendees to scan it to stay informed on similar future events.

The university’s space standards state time, place and manner restrictions can be placed on on-campus activities in order to ensure “the University’s mission, administrative functions, or campus-life activities” are not disrupted. Specifically, the rules state noise is restricted Sunday before noon and after 10 p.m.?

At 10:05 p.m., baptisms were still ongoing. By 10:13 p.m., roughly 60 people had been baptized and a huddle of seven-to-eight police officers were gathered nearby, but had not directly intervened with attendees’ activity.

By 10:24 p.m., event coordinators began clearing the stage and buckets while attendees largely cleared out of the area.?

Event context

Grayce Banks — a second-year in psychology and member of Cru at Ohio State, an on-campus Christian ministry — said some present churches and organizations included Cru at Ohio State, 614 Church, 614college, Revive College Church, The Capital Church, Young Life College at OSU and Ohio State Chi Alpha. The aforementioned Ohio State football players had a significant role in coordinating the public event, Banks said.?

“It’s their senior year, so TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka, they were like, ‘You know what, we want to speak out in faith. We want to see what we can do to move on campus, start a revival,’” Banks said. “And so, they came together, and then they brought a bunch of college ministries and churches that they were a part of, and like, are connected with campus, and wanted to come together and really create a massive gathering for people to hear about the Lord and the love he has for everyone.”

Banks said organizers projected 100 baptisms for the event. Additionally, she said the football players’ involvement was intended to inspire curiosity toward the Christian faith on Ohio State’s campus and beyond.?

“You know, these football players, these are role models to so many people,” Banks said. “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.”

Athlete and attendee comments

Tuimoloau said the idea for an on-campus, public demonstration of Christian faith has been developing among him and his teammates since this year’s fall camp.

“It’s one of those visions that the boys had and that I was blessed to be a part of,” Tuimoloau said. “Just being able to allow people to understand that we are more than football players, and there’s more that goes into our [lives] than getting a sack, or getting a touchdown or getting a great catch — just understanding that this is what it’s all about.”

Sunday’s gathering will go down as one of his favorite Ohio State memories, Tuimoloau said.?

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

Henderson agreed.

“Whatever I’ve done man, this right here — what God is doing — is so much more important and so much bigger.”

Egbuka likewise said he viewed this gathering and its large turnout as a great success.

“We were praying for years and years for an event like this, and we were praying with expectation — we serve a miracle-working God,” Egbuka said. “So we definitely had an expectation when it came out, but God did increasingly and abundantly more than what we thought. So, we’re just so blessed and thankful.”

In regard to non-Christian attendees, Egbuka said he is grateful they were there.

“We were just hoping that tonight [they] would come with an open mind and a tender heart and just be able to receive kind of the truth of the Gospel and what Jesus thinks about [them] and that he loves [them],” Egbuka said. “And if that’s all they left with today, then it was a mission success because we just want to let the world know the truth.”

Senior softball infielder Kami Kortokrax was present at the event, and said as a collegiate athlete herself, it was inspiring to see fellow athletes use their platforms in this way.

“It’s just a deeper level,” Kortokrax said. “Everybody knows them as great football players, but it’s way more important for them all now to be known as great Christians.”

Kortokrax said she’s grateful to have been able to witness this gathering, and she thinks it will communicate the importance of faith to the campus community.

“You can’t just walk by, you have to notice it,” Kortokrax said. “People are out there getting baptized, they’ve been prayed over and they want to change their lives and live for God and be saved in him — all of this is a direct impact of what happened tonight.”