CRESTLINE, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—Many gathered on Thursday evening at The Hub in Crestline for an event organized by LifeWise that featured former Ohio State wide receiver, Kamryn Babb.
Joel Penton, founder of LifeWise and former Ohio State defensive lineman, launched the program in 2018 to bring faith-based education to students.
The program is entirely legal under the Supreme Court case Zorach v. Clauson (1952) because it meets the three conditions: the program is held off school property, privately funded, and parent-permitted. Students are not missing core class time; they attend LifeWise during the time allotted for specials during the day. LifeWise also will not begin within a community without the support of three churches and at least fifty signatures.
The Christianity-based education is one that is near and dear to Babb’s heart, as it was only a few years ago that he said Jesus found him in the midst of mental struggles caused by injuries during his time at Ohio State.
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Babb, who played wide receiver and cornerback, showed talent early and sparked his dreams of playing at a higher level.
During his freshman season, he said he played one playoff game, ran the wrong route, and got benched for the rest of the game, but he used that experience as fuel to reach new heights for the rest of his high school career.
In his sophomore year, colleges started taking notice of this kid from St. Louis, and the phone calls began—one of which came from none other than legendary Ohio State coach Urban Meyer himself, even if the phone call was at 5 a.m. or 4 a.m. for Kamryn.
Before he got to college, however, Babb suffered an ACL tear that sidelined him for a while, but Coach Meyer and Ohio State stayed true to Babb, holding faith in his abilities.
Babb arrived at Ohio State, hopeful and excited for the future, only to continue being plagued by ACL tears—five by the end of his time at Ohio State—and not receiving the playing time he had hoped for.
By his third tear, Babb began seeking validation in all the wrong places—girls, drugs, and alcohol—and asked to return home to St. Louis to think about the direction he wanted his life to take.
God, however, had other plans.
“Jesus found me in an Uber with a mentor and brother of mine, Darnell Dees, of Cincinnati, Ohio. He met me after my third ACL. Didn’t know who I was; He just saw a broken kid that was looking for hope in all the wrong places and trying to find it in the validation of football and just life, or whatever society tells you will give you validation,” Babb said. “So, in the Uber, he placed his hand on my knee, and he shared the Gospel with me and prayed over me. In the car, the Holy Spirit met me, and He touched my heart like nobody or nothing else ever has. My time at Ohio State was rough, but Jesus found me in it all, and now my story is completely about sharing His love, His grace, and who He is with whoever will listen.”
In his senior season, after his fifth ACL tear, he was put into the game against Indiana on November 12, 2022, and the quarterback at the time, C.J. Stroud, said, “Let’s get Kam the ball.” The rest is history, as Kam scored the final—and his first and only—touchdown of his career. Once Babb got up, he ran to the back of the endzone, dropped to his knees, and praised God before celebrating with his teammates.
That moment, however, Babb said, paled in comparison to the feeling he experienced in the back of a random Uber on the way to the airport, when Jesus touched his heart and changed his trajectory in life for good.
Since his time at Ohio State, Babb has dedicated himself to spreading the word of Jesus on podcasts, on campus, on social media, and all over the place, helping to create a religious revival on campus. That path led him to The Hub to speak about the importance of Jesus in his life and the value of offering religious education to kids.
“In sharing my story, the goal is to proclaim Jesus. Each of us has an individual story, but I think the beautiful thing is God’s in it all. Hopefully, not just to impact the people that are within LifeWise, but knowing they will go to these different schools and be in front of kids, my goal is to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through me and hopefully touch their hearts. When they go into these places where kids are broken, and there’s anxiety, depression, and all these things thrown on these children, they can point them to the true hope that is Jesus,” Babb said. “LifeWise is important because I think it points young kids to their true purpose and meaning in life. I think each person, from a young age, wants to belong, wants to feel hope, and wants to feel some sort of connection. The answer is, if you feel connected with Jesus, if you know who you are in Jesus, if you know why you’re created, then the rest of it takes care of itself. I think LifeWise creates a pathway for that through presenting a love of not just faith, but even practical things—just being there to love a kid no matter who they are, their backgrounds, or what they’ve been through, but to love them unconditionally. Through that love, I pray and believe that kids will start to see the difference in the way they’re loved by people who follow Jesus, which can lead them to then ask the question, ‘Why are you the way that you are?’ and then that can point them to Christ.”
Sharing the Gospel, for Babb, is important because it reveals something bigger—the meaning of life.
“I think when you look at just the world and when you look at the meaning of life, you can’t find it outside—even love—you can’t find it outside of who Jesus is. As I’ve gotten closer, just reading the Bible and finding Jesus, I’ve realized it’s not truly about religion, but about a relationship. I found Jesus to be the only true and living God. He shows that through His demonstration of becoming a man, suffering for us, putting Himself in a very vulnerable position so that we could have eternal life with God, the Father, and Him. That’s the reason I think we’re created,” Babb said. “I found my purpose in the encounter through that Uber ride. When you find, ‘Okay, this is why I am living, this is why I draw breath—to know Him,’ you just want to share that with everybody else because I am no different than the homeless man or the CEO. We all have one thing in common, and that is sin, and He came to not just heal us, but to deliver us and save us from our sins.”
Having grown up in church, Babb thought he had known Jesus his whole life, but it wasn’t until he was at his lowest that he learned he hadn’t. His life, and his belief, needed a complete overhaul to become who he wanted to be in Christ, and the process wasn’t—and isn’t—always easy.
“Start with a heart that is curious to hear about this guy I’m talking about. I am going to go on the record and say this is no disrespect to anybody else; there are many religions out there. I believe Jesus is truly, He says in His word, He’s the way, the truth, and the life. I believe He is so different because every other person, other religion, or other belief, is trying to find their way to get to God—the dos, the don’ts, just through works. What I found in Jesus is a love that you can’t earn, that you don’t deserve, and no matter how deep you are in your sin or how bad you think you are—we’re all bad, we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God, that’s not even just Christianity—but Jesus puts Himself on a level to where He demonstrates how beautiful, how glorious, and how wonderful God truly is,” Babb said. “So I believe Jesus is God in the flesh, and I think if He truly is who He says that He was, there’s no other way but to God through Him. He wants each and every person to repent, to turn away from themselves, and to turn towards Him. That’s the hope of the Gospel; it’s the good news. With the good news, there was always bad news. I was lost and on my way to hell without Him, but then Jesus—but God—saved me. That’s offered to everybody that will trust and believe in Him.”
“This is a message of encouragement: that you are seen, that you are loved. If you are seeking hope, look nowhere else outside of the Gospels. Go with a curious mind, a curious heart to find this love that I found and watch what God does to your heart because He did it for me, and He changed my heart. He made me, when I was once dead in my sins, now alive in Him, and He wants to do the same for everybody,” Babb said. “That’s my message to the world: repent and trust in Jesus. It’s not going to be easy. In life, there is always suffering, but when we can know that our suffering is not for nothing, that there is hope at the end for us. That’s Jesus Christ in Him.”