Jeremiah 29:11 ESV – "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
Junior quarterback
Austin Brenner wasn't going to play a down for Ashland University's football team, had there been a 2020 season before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brenner was injured and unable to play, following two seasons as a starter in 2018 and 2019 in which he was the 2018 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and two-time All-GLIAC (second-team in 2019), and also twice led the conference in punting average.
But to Brenner, none of that is as important as his faith walk and his relationship with Jesus Christ. Which is why he is the Director of Youth Ministry at Southview Grace Brethren Church, just a couple blocks from campus.
Brenner had surgery in the summer, and prior to the football season being officially canceled, he said, "In June, I was just knocked out, laying down, and I was reading a book called 'Kingdom Man,' I just felt like God was saying, 'You need to go volunteer somewhere.' In my mind, knowing that I'm not going to be playing football in the fall…I really just felt like God was telling me to volunteer somewhere. I was going to have a lot of extra time, and without football and without something to compete for, without playing for something, I felt God telling me my purpose was bigger than football.
"A big part of what I felt my ministry was, was on the football field and with my teammates. Pulling out the playing aspect of things, I just really felt like I wanted to do something that has a greater purpose. It's such a God thing the way it worked."
A friend of a friend of Brenner's led him to Southview GBC, and Senior Pastor
Mark Abel.
"We are incredibly blessed for a young man of his character and caliber and his standing within the college setting to be a part of our church," Abel said. "I believe when more and more students get to see him and his heart, that his impact will continue to grow.
"One of the things that I think is so evident within our younger generation is they can sniff a fake pretty quick. But when they see somebody that has a genuine heart and is real in their faith and admits their failures and utilizes their strengths for other people…they stand out. That, in a nutshell, is what Austin brings to the table."
Abel is impressed with Brenner wanting to step outside of the football setting to share his faith and heart with the community at large.
"I was a collegiate athlete, and I never thought about going to a local church and saying, 'Hey, I'll work with the young group.' It's a testimony to his character and desire to serve the Lord," Abel said. "With Austin, you see his effort, his heart, the amount of time he spends thinking about things of the Word, things of the Lord, it speaks volumes."
This winter/spring, Brenner will have a full docket – football practice, classes, his work at the church, and beginning his student teaching stint at Hillsdale High School. It's a daunting schedule to be sure – which is where keeping his mind focused on what's important becomes even more important.
"It's going to be a challenge," Brenner said. "The way I look at it is…this season of my life, God has me doing all of these things. Wherever he has me at that time, I'm just going to try to be as much of a light as I can for Christ – whether I am on the football field, whether I'm in the locker room, whether I am here at the church or whether I'm teaching over at Hillsdale.
"I'm going to take that time and just impact as many people as I can in a way that glorifies Christ through that."
Brenner has two seasons of eligibility left, and is planning on using those in 2021 and 2022.
"God has his own plan for me," he said. "I was planning on playing this fall, playing next fall, and going on with my life (and) teaching. But God had another plan for me. I try to make plans for my life, but God says, 'No, this is what I have for you.' And quite frankly, what He has for me is a million times better than what I had planned."
Abel is looking forward to what Brenner will give to the congregation at Southview GBC in the coming months and years.
"We're looking forward to where he is able to do more here throughout the summer," Abel said. "We're trying to invest in him, as he's investing in young people. I think the sky's the limit."
His stint to date at Southview GBC has strengthened Brenner's belief that his purpose is greater than playing football, winning awards and piling up statistics.
"I think it really kind of solidified the fact that nothing in this world is always going to be there. In two years, I can be done with my career. I can have a career-ending injury. Football can be taken away in a second," he said. "My family…that can be taken away from me in an instant. Jesus is always there, he's always going to be the same. Jesus is my only constant.
"If I live for anything else…and it gets taken away from me, I'm going to be crushed. But having Jesus as No. 1, if something else gets taken away, it continues to give me my purpose in life."
AU
FB/DS
