CORNING, Ark. – On the front lawn of First Baptist Church in Corning on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 16 members of the Corning Bobcats football team who recently gave their lives to Christ followed in believer’s baptism.
The baptisms stemmed from a weekly devotional called the Huddle and followed the players’ recent attendance at Fields of Faith in Hoxie.
How it started
Three years ago, then seventh graders Jaggar George and Jackson Jett of the Corning Bobcats football team, along with their moms Brittany George and Blayne Jett, started a weekly breakfast devotional.
The devotional would take place on the Georges’ back porch and was typically on the morning of game day and focused on sports and professional athletes who were known to be believers.
“We continued this throughout the school year for the next three years while they were in junior high. We have affectionately called this group ‘Huddle’ and have become recognized in the community as the Huddle or the Huddle Boys,” Brittany said.
This year, when Jaggar and Jackson’s group moved up to senior high, after much prayer, they decided to expand to include 10th through 12th grade boys.
“This year felt different. We felt an urgency,” Brittany said. “I have always led the Huddle devotions and this year I felt that we needed to go beyond the sports focused devotionals and focus more specifically on Christ.”
Brittany said they saw a great response from the older boys and regularly had 15-20 boys each week, more than half of the football team. They also started a second group that they call the ‘Mini Huddle’ that consists of 12 seventh grade boys, with Blayne leading the lesson.
Each group has been meeting weekly since school started. The older boys meet on Thursday evenings for dinner and a devotional. The younger boys meet on Friday mornings for breakfast and a devotional.
Accepting Christ
Recently, Brittany said they took a group of about 30 boys, a mixture of both Huddle groups, to Fields of Faith in Hoxie. When the invitation was offered at the end of the night, 11 senior high boys and five junior high boys stepped forward to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.
“We met with them and some of the parents a couple nights later to discuss the events of that Wednesday night, baptism, and discipleship. That night the boys expressed a desire to be baptized together, so we started planning and the (Nov. 4 event) began to form,” Brittany said.
Additionally, they had two more senior high boys that did not attend Fields of Faith later accept Christ, and a girlfriend of one of the boys has also since been saved and was baptized this past Sunday at her church.
In total, they have had 19 baptisms that stemmed from Huddle and Fields of Faith.
A night of baptisms
On Nov. 4, the evening started with Brittany explaining to those gathered how they had gotten to that moment – how Huddle started, Fields of Faith and the boys’ readiness to be baptized. She also expressed gratitude for the outpouring of love and support in and from their community.
Jackson opened in prayer which was followed by a song, “Gratitude,” led by part of the FBC worship team. The baptisms followed the first song. Each young man stepped up to the trough one by one.
Following the baptisms, Jaggar prayed for the boys, and they ended the service with the song “Victory in Jesus.” Afterward, a meal was offered to all present in the fellowship hall at the church.
“Tuesday evening (Nov. 4) truly left us speechless. … The atmosphere was spiritual, and Christ’s presence was felt. There was a sense of Christ’s love surrounding everyone there and a sense of gratitude for what we were witnessing,” Brittany said. The certainty of the boys’ hearts was shown on their faces. They were ready for this moment.”
A growing movement
Brittany said she has seen a movement of God among these boys this year.
“Their consistency in coming each week, knowing that they were going to be fed the Word, assured me that they were not just there for the food. I could see the Lord working in some of them more and more from week to week. These boys are proud of their faith and don’t care to show it,” Brittany said, noting visual displays of their faith on the field. “Seeing their bond extend from our original group to nearly the rest of the football team has been humbling and heartwarming to watch and be a part of. We have seen a renewed interest in families to get back in church and getting their own lives right with the Lord.”
Because of the impact these boys have made, Brittany said there are other age groups wanting to start their own devotional groups.
“As we move from football season into basketball season, we look forward to reaching even more young men and inviting them to be a part of what we are doing,” she said. “God is working in them and through them and I think that only further emphasizes that our youth are seeking answers and it is crucial that we feed their desire to know more, learn more, and hopefully then disciple more.”
Brittany said this has truly been the most humbling experience. “Many, many prayers have been answered over the past few weeks and now our prayer for many of these boys has changed to something new,” she shared. “God’s hand has been present in every single aspect of this journey and even when we have felt discouraged and questioned why on different things, God has quickly shown us that He was in control the whole time.”
To view coverage of the event by KAIT News, click here.
2 Responses
I was the girlfriend and I cannot even put in words how proud I am of all these boys and they’ve inspired so many people including me.
Thank you Jesus for these faithful ones who are sharing your word, planting seeds and now seeing the fruit of their labor. Thank you for these young souls saved. Please guide them in their Christian growth, keep them safe and healthy and send encouragement to them each day to let their light shine for you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Amen!