Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson on returning to college and playing for Jesus

trayon Henderson welcome to sports Spectrum sir it's good to see you yeah good to see you too appreciate you yes I appreciate you as well I'm excited to talk to you uh about a lot of things football certainly and some decisions that you've made and the pivots in life but most importantly about your faith in God so let's start with the Lord let's start with Christ who is Christ in the life of trayon Henderson right now uh you know Jesus you know he's my he's my everything man um you know after my injury my sophomore year you know I made that decision to you know give my life to the Lord you know he had me look back over my life and you know realize you know all the bad things you know I've done in my life to sin you know that I've been living in and you know um when I got to know him he led me to his word to get to know him and you know led me to Faith and you know him and ever since I gave my life to him and he he changed my life you know his blood you know the power and his blood that washed away all my sins and all the shame and guilt you know that I've been feeling over the years um and man he he filled me with his perfect love and and he's just been changing my life man turning me away from the sin and you know towards his righteousness and you know helping me every each and every day you know to take on my cross and submit to him and you know submit to his will so so it's it's a blessing man just have have the Lord in my life and it's it's been amazing I love that uh take me to the moment if you have a moment you said it was after you got injured sophomore year obviously not a great year in terms of what you would like to see on the field but somewhere along the lines that leads you to go back to Christ to run towards him can you take me to that moment do you remember that moment yeah so my sophomore um I was actually uh when I was going through my injury that sophomore year I started um um the Bible plans is it's called the Bible plans on the Bible app and um yeah sure and so just trying to find my way with the Lord and um and you know just trying to you know at the same time you know do what I wanted to do out on the field and um it wasn't until you know after you know when I finally decided to get surgery you know been going through a rough season you know trying to get back on the field you know kept going down with my foot injury and then um you know when we had to play Georgia and it was about uh two weeks before the Georgia game you know I was trying to play in that game for my brothers and uh and I told the trainers you know if they give me two good of practice you know I'll be willing to play in a game and um the first week it was going good so far you know I'm starting to um cut off my foot you know run faster and it just man one day I woke up and I wasn't able to um press down on my foot at all you know out of out of nowhere I was just doing good the days before and then that moment you know it's just like man it's just like my foot was just completely messed up after that and um that's when I had surgery and I I remember uh after I had surgery I was sitting down on my bed and you know know um and the Lord just had me like look back you know over the things that I've done in my life you know the the bad things the simple things and you know that moment you know I made some sort of commitment to get to know him you know at that time I didn't know who Jesus was I didn't know what he did you know for for us so um you know when I when I picked up the word and and started to read about who he was man it just like it opened my eyes to see you know how how misleading this world can be and you know who how how has this world been misleading you know me away from what's what's important what's most important and that's getting to know Jesus Christ you know our true Lord and Savior and so man when he you know when I picked up his words and started growing you know in my faith and started growing on my walk with him man he just you know he started to turn my heart away from you know the the false Idols I was serving you know the my simple ways and started my heart started to turn towards him and you know just kept growing kept growing man and he just uh man he just he just keeps changing my life man and you know yeah it's it's so amazing man that's awesome your freshman year on the field was amazing but you just said the word false Idols who were who were some of those false Idols or what were some of those false Idols that you were that you were kind of prioritizing in your life above God yeah you know before before I met the Lord and you know at that at that time you know football football was a false idol you know I was living for football you know money at that time you know before I met the Lord you know living for money living for those things and you know I thought since football was going my way you know nil came out so of course you know um was able to benefit off of that you know and you know that's that's what the world taught me you know if you you work hard you you make money you know that is that is the way it's the American dream you know is what what they call it you know and so I thought I thought I had it all you know I have football it's going my way money you know it's going my way um making a little bit more money than you know I've ever at you know growing up you know didn't didn't grow up with much you know um just watching my mother struggle and you know trying to provide for me and my other two brothers and you know it was hard so you know I was excited to be able to you know um get back to her and you know that's what I've been working for in football you know that was my purpose at at that time before I met the Lord and so when I got all of those things you know and still you know I was still hurting inside you know I was still broken inside you know I man that that money didn't fulfill the love that I was looking for you know that money didn't fulfill the joy that I wanted to have that money didn't fulfill the happiness that I was looking for so you know I was still empty inside you know but when I met Jesus he filled me with the love that I've been looking for in football and money in my family and all and and the woman you know he he he gave me the joy that I've been searching for in the game of football and the money he filled me with happiness that you know I was looking for man so he he filled me with everything you know the desires of my heart when my heart was was craving but my heart was needed needing you know Jesus he filled me with it he gave it to me man and that's that's what he promises so and you know he sa he saved my life you know from you know going down that road of Destruction you know he man he saved me and you know he put me on this path of everlasting life the narrow path that he talks about that you know not too many people you know are willing are willing to take man and you know you see so many people go down that that large path of Destruction man but I'm so thankful that you know Jesus man he rescued me from you know he rescued me from that path and put me on his path who are some of the people at Ohio State that helped you grow I mean obviously it's a personal relationship it's you and you and Jesus but there's discipleship and and mentorship and all these things community that are so important in doing this this Christian Life who are some of those people whether they're athletes you know teammates you know mentors Chaplin who were some of those people yeah Fellowship is definitely important you know surrounding myself around brothers in Christ that can help me along my walk with the Lord that can encourage me and um man I remember you know when Cameron bab you know Xavier Johnson Master T those guys when I was playing along alongside of those guys you know those were the you know guys on the team at that time when I was living in the world you know those those guys was on fire for the Lord and you know during that time they were PL seed into our hearts that eventually end up growing and so man it's team you know God has been growing through this team and you know my brother G Scott man uh man he's he's been doing some amazing things on his team you know spreading the word and you know spreading his faith and um EMA you know JT it's a lot of guys like man God it's it's amazing to see how God is growing through this team and more and more teammates even the coaches even to some of the staff you know even the people outside of the Woody man it's just it's crazy man how God is using this team to bring people to him you know closer to him and that's more important wins obviously you want to win and you returned and we'll talk about the decision to come back but it's it's that those are the wins of life right like those are wins that you're going to look back in 20 30 years and be like man how great is our God yeah exactly amazing yeah trayon Henderson's with us here on Sports Spectrum let's go back a little bit so you we were pretty good in high school like dominant as a high school football player is it fair to say that football was everything for you growing up is is that fair to say oh yeah you know at that time you know before I met Jesus like football was everything to me you know at that at that time you know I was so so lost so confused and you know at times you know I would think of myself man who who who am I outside of football and it kind of scared me because I could never answer that question I didn't know who I was outside of football you know but when I met Jesus you know he showed me who I am you know he he showed me who I belong to and that's God the father and that's him so man I I'm just so thankful that he gave me an identity you know he he gave me a purpose to start living my life for him start living my life for the kingdom and not for this world not for football you know not for money not for Woman these things will one day perish but the Lord you know the kingdom the Salvation that he has promised us is forever did you have faith at all when you were growing up like even were you introduced to Jesus ever did you go to church was any of that in in the life of trayon Henderson uh yeah yes you know I went to church you know a couple times you know growing up and I remember you know being there you know sometimes you know you hear the worship music out being there you know clapping along you know I started to I started to enjoy it but at the same time you know I would be in those church services and you know I would never know you know fully understand you know what they were talking about you know when they were preaching the word when they when the pastor was speaking about the Lord you know I would never know as a child because my heart was just so hardened but at at the time you know I just you know one of the you know best things my mother you know has has done for me has took me to church even when I didn't want to go as a child you know she took she still took me to church my grandmother they took me to church man and just you know being able to be introduced to the Lord man is just man that's the best thing that my parents you know could have ever done to me is introduced me to the Lord and so I'm you know I'm thankful you know I'm so I'm so thankful must be really cool to see how they see you now on fire for the Lord that's got to be a pretty neat thing exactly so growing up yeah growing up you know so I knew of God but I never knew God for myself you know I didn't have that personal relationship with the Lord that I have now and so um you know the the relationship is so so much important than just knowing god you know knowing god for yourself and growing that personal relationship with him man that's so important what was last year like for you because that's the First full year that you have a relationship with the Lord and you're still playing football you're still a college student what was last year like kind of living a living life as a follower of Jesus first but still wanting to be great in the game of football yeah so um I definitely felt that you know even you know when the Lord helped me to get back you know he healed me from my injury and helped me to get back on out on the field you know my journey year um you know at the beginning you know still just trying to find my way on the field and growing closer to the Lord you know that was that became my everything you know when I got you know when I got baptized when I got saved and gave my life to the Lord that became my everything but at the same time you know it took some time to uh to um give you know give what I wanted to do in football and everything else to the Lord you know so um you know it wasn't until my I got injured I think it was my third I was playing against Notre Dame and um I got elbowed in my ribs and end up fracturing my ribs so I went through another injury and at that time you know before the season you know I was thinking that you know I would be three years and out you know cuz that's what a lot of good Juniors do you know they play three years in college and usually they go out their third year so that was my hopes at the time and so still I'm holding on to what I want to do in in football not giving it to the Lord you know but still taking those steps you know drawing closer to the Lord and you know but that injury right there my junior year you know really man that that hardship that the Lord allowed me to go through I'm so thankful because it really opened my eyes to see that that I'm still trying to hold on to my to my life you know that I need to surrender that I need to give up what I want to do you know in this in this game of football that God has blessed me with and I need to give it to the Lord and let his will be done and what he wants you know to be done you know for me in this game of football and so I remember uh I was out for three games and I just remember I think it was like two or three I remember just um that time you know so tempted to do what I did my sophomore year and get back on out on the field you know knowing I'm not ready you know but you know this time you know my junior year I was going through that that hardship with the Lord and leaning on the Lord this time and not on myself and man the Lord carried me through that man he helped me to you know stood firm and you know my faith and you know just trust in him and Trust in his time and trusting that he will help get me you know back out on this um get me back out on the field when he says I'm ready not when I think I'm ready not when no one else think I'm ready when he says I'm ready and I'm so thankful man that I trusted his time and you know it was so hard but he carried me through that and um you know I remember my first game you know coming back you know Wisconsin you know that's when I started to write the scripture on my face 2 Corinthians chap 5:7 you know for I will walk by faith not by sight and because uh that's what I wanted people to understand that you know uh although my situation wasn't looking good you know that I was trusting the Lord you know that I was surrendering to the Lord and you know um following his will you know and and following his plan and man it's it's crazy you know I just remember uh praying before that game and uh I just you know uh long long story short you know I was just praying that you know God give me that he just um give me the strength to give it everything that I got you know I don't I'm not asking him to do good you know I'm just asking for strength to give it everything that I got for his glory and For the Love of my teammate so that's man that injury after I came out of it that's when my purpose for this game you know it started to change like I started to play for the Lord and not myself anymore not anyone else just for the glory of God and so you know I end up having like 27 off purpose yards and the next game was like 208 and you know I just felt better than you know felt better than ever after coming out of that injury man it just felt so good you know just leaning on the Lord and just trusting his plans and allowing him to guide me through the storms you know it's it's amazing what does that look like for you I I want people to understand this too because a lot of people will hear this or maybe there's a clip that will surface or somebody will watch it and they'll say oh wow yeah uh trayon gave his life to the Lord and then he came back and you know he played great and I want people to understand yes that's a strength of yours but can you explain a little bit of why you're surrendering to him does not mean you're G to have 200 yards in a game and three touchdowns it just means you're fully centered in his will can you kind of explain and unpack that because you had a lot of success before Jesus as well just look at your freshman year right so does that make sense what I'm asking kind of explain why you know why centering yourself in Christ has helped you um it it helped me out a lot because it helped me play the game for the right reasons you know I remember just before I met the Lord I was playing a game for the Rong reasons it was to U for me to get the glory for you know others to get the glory and you know I wanted to play you know for the glory of God you know once I Surrender my life to the Lord and after that the Lord open my eyes to help me to see that I need to let go and let him you know do what he wants to do through me and you know he has blessed me with you know the the abilities to play this game and you know he has helped me to put in the work and you know to to do really well and so man it just like having the Lord at the center you know everything that I do man it it helps me out so much man it just um helps me to keep my eyes on him and just trust him you know even even if I don't do good he's always good though if I don't do good on the field God is always good he's always the same he still loves me if my team you know we don't win the Big 10 you know the the robbery game if we don't win the national championship God is always good he's always the same he still loves us and so um man that's that's the thing right there man it's just uh man keep keeping our eyes on the Lord and man trust him you know even when I play this game and things are not going my way keep my eyes on him and you know he just he gues me on the field you know he he Contin to gu me on the field and you know um just help me to humble myself before my teammates and you know whatever whatever player you know God wants me to be that's who I want to be you know whatever teamate got you know whatever role he wants me to play on the team you know that's the role you know I want to play the role that God calls me to play so yeah and that's the thing I think a lot of people don't understand is you know Jesus says I think it's John 16 in this world you will have trouble but take harder I have overcome the world and I think James talks about considering it Joy when you face Trials of many kinds and I think people will often see giving glory to God in the moments of of celebration in the moments of a win or you know a championship and there's somebody on the biggest pedestal and I hope you win a championship this year and you get to be on the biggest stage and give God all the glory but you're talking about still being able to give him all the glory in the midst of the trouble in the midst of the in the midst of the trials that come your way exactly you know still praising him even if things aren't going you know our way you know still praising God God because he's always good so man that's that's it right there that's yeah January 12th 2024 earlier this year you wrote on Instagram I'm just going to read what you wrote I am nothing without my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I used to be lost until Jesus came into my life and saved me he always comes to my rescue just like he did in this decision if it wasn't for God I wouldn't be making this decision to come back for my senior year but God led me back for a great purpose to do something bigger than me I trust what God is doing in my life I trust where he is leading me this is what God is calling me to do and wherever the Lord leads me by faith I will follow first of all I love that I love what you wrote there but can you kind of unpack how you knew that God was directing your steps to come back to Columbus for another year uh yes that that decision you know making that decision to come back it was It was kind of tough you know because the enemy was definitely um was definitely attacking me in that decision you know when you have to make a decision like that you know a lot of factors try to play its role in it such as you know the money you know where you going to be making the most money at you know where you're going to benefit the most on the field and you know but and so that that definitely you know started to distract me you know um as I was seeking the Lord to help me make this decision and at one point I felt like the Lord was calling me to go to the league and um I felt like that's where he was leading me but you know it's crazy because that's what I wanted that's not what the Lord wanted but you know and the enemy was blinding me from the fact of doing so you know and um man I just kept kept praying you know kept praying kept seeking the Lord you know through his word through prayer and um and eventually like uh I know we had a bowl game like the Lord just open my eyes that he wanted me to play in this bow game you know and um so that's when I made the decision because usually you know players who goes um goes to the uh plan on going into the draft you know usually they don't play the ball game right you know Fel I felt on my heart for some reason that God wanted me to play in this bow game and at this time I didn't understand why I'm like man he wants me to play in this bow game but eventually he wants me to go to the lead after this and so I'm just like man I'm just trust you God you know I don't I'm not going to worry about getting injured or anything like that I'm going just trust the Lord and uh you know when I was down there I spending my time down there at the B site me and my teammate G like man the conversations we was having hours just spending that time in Fellowship hours about the Lord like we were just encouraging encouraging each other on our walk with the Lord and sharpening each other and man just like being at practice is like man like God was just like showing me like this is this is where I need to be and I remember uh but still man wrestling with that decision you know the enemy is still trying to get in the way and trying to confuse me trying to distract me and I remember after we lost I'm just on the bus like man like this is this is it like this is God showing me the sign that he wants me to go to the lead like there's nothing left for me to do here but man um God spoke to my teammate it's just the right time and he said um he said man don't look at don't look at um my decision because I was just telling him about how I felt about my decision and he he was telling me man don't look at you know this decision as man um financially look at it spiritually where could you see yourself growing closer to the Lord and I'm like man like God spoke at just the right time you know I went up to my room and started praying to the Lord I'm like Lord is you know is this is this what you want like is this do you want me to come back another year like is this where you want me to be and um I remember going to church you know the next day you know instead of going to uh training because usually after the time of the both like you go to training I went back to Columbus to still take some time to pray on it and just got away from my phone from everyone else and you know just stop allowing other people to influence get in the way of where God is you know calling me to go stop letting myself and you know getting away and the enemy and just it's just like man me and the Lord you know taking that to uh just pray on it and just spend some time and spend time with the Lord and um allow him to guide my steps and U put on my heart where he wants me to go and I remember going to the church service and it's like man God was that message was just like right for me and I remember getting prayed over uh in in the church service and and at first it took me a while to go get prayed over because I was kind of anxious of what you know there's a lot of people in there but man I felt that the holy spirit is tugging on me that um to go get prayed over it's crazy cuz it's just like I was looking at this one man and at just the right time he was praying over someone else and she and she he or she left and that's when I went and um I got prayed over and man just like God gave me that that that Revelation you know he just he revealed to me in that moment that this is like he wants me to be back here for another year and um and it didn't have anything to do with you know what's what I'm going to you know do on the field or but man it's man my purpose is to be here and continue to lead others to him to continue to grow closer to him you know and man spread his word to others you know and um man lead others to to him to Jesus and into the kingdom man so that's that's been my purpose man is just like man living you know following the Lord every day you know following the Lord and you know leading others to him you know trying to be a reflection of Jesus it must have you really excited for this upcoming season too because you feel like you know you're you're following the Lord's plans and not Trey's plans exactly and just like going through that decision like when I was when I felt like God was you know leading me to the lead it didn't feel right at all like is you know at the same time I'm feeling like this is God plan but it didn't feel right and so that's when I understood man when I look back on it look back on that decision it was it was me getting in the way you know it was the enemy you know allowing the enemy to attack me instead of just keeping my eyes on the Lord and you know he made it clear though man I'm so thankful you know when I talk about in my in my post how he rescued me like like he truly rescued me and man he's so he's so you know gracious that he he he could have let me he could have let me just continue to drift off and go off to the lead man and I just man but the Lord is so faithful man he he rescued me and you know led me back onto his right path and you know L me back here and you know just man my relationship is just continuing to grow with the Lord and become stronger you know my faith on my walk with him and you know it's yes man it's it's amazing so let me ask this question sort of a two-parter obviously nobody knows what the future holds you know only God your desire is still to play football as long as you can I would presume but you're also it sounds like you got a desire to follow the lord for the rest of your life so what is that do you even think about what that might look like like to be maybe in a pastor someday or or a role like that or to be in Ministry or to also be a professional running back someday in the NF F true man I'm just you know one day at a time you know one step at a time taking those steps closer to the Lord and just seeing what he has seeing what he has plan for me you know just not looking too far ahead just looking at right you know the right now where the Lord has me at right now and that's you know being able to play this game and um you know I'm just so thankful man I just you know as he continue to bless me and allow me to play this game you know I just want to be be able to give it you know everything that I got you know for his glory and this platform that he has blessed me with you know just continue to use this platform to lead as many people as I can to the Lord man and so you know I'm just continue to let him allow him to guide me and work through me you know for his glory you know I want to continue to decrease you know when people see the Lord you know when people see me you know I want them to see the Lord you know I want them to see you know his his power to to save to transform and man I yes man I just want to let his light shine through me you know to others so people can see Jesus and not me yeah and and honestly when I asked that question I realized you are doing Ministry man like you are in ministry right where you are and then when if you go to the league or if you go somewhere else or you get a job you know in the secular whatever it would be you're you're gonna be in Ministry because you're you're gonna be right where your feet are like you said so I love your answer I love your heart for the gospel my last question what's it what's time with God look like in your life like discipleship Bible like you said the Bible read reading plan that you did um Church pastors mentors teammates what's what's time with God right now looking like for you oh man that's that's something I've been praying on just man the Lord is so much worthy of all of our time you know all of it that's right all of it exactly we give him just a little bit sometimes you know exactly that's that's it right there you know he doesn't ask for it man but he's so so worthy of all of our time man so that's something I've been praying on just man continuing every day man contining to um pick up my word and you know let God speak to my heart and you know continue to spend that time and the secret place and and in the word and prayer you know constantly praying to the Lord you know just throughout my day you know this is this is a relationship you know each day you know we should be you know waking up and just man keeping our eyes on the Lord you know each and every day and just allowing him to guide us you know closer and closer to him you know taking up our cross every day and you know dying to ourselves dying to our will and submitting to God's will you know his way not way and um man like I said it's a relationship man so just that that relationship with with Jesus that's the most important relationship we will have in our life and so man putting putting Jesus before before everything you know you know that's that's what's most important just keeping Jesus you know number one and close to my heart feel like God was doing something when he when he had you grow up in hope well Virginia like there's something about that name hope well that cor correlates with Jesus that's that's pretty I think uhhuh yeah no it's it's amazing you know it's a it's a rough area you know really really small area man but that's the thing now you know that there you know since I've growing up you know I was looking for hope you know I thought the hope you know the way was in football I thought it was in money but the true hope the true hope is in Jesus Christ man and so that's that's what I want to be able to do man and spread that light you know even back to even to my city man spread let God's light you know shine through me on to my city and um give them the hope you know give them the hope that you know I have found that the Lord has led me to find in him in Jesus and you know lead others to put their hope and put you know um put that faith in Jesus so that's cool I love that he is trayon Henderson hey man thank you so much for coming on the show I really appreciate you can't wait to root for you this year and uh can't wait to see where God where God takes you so thanks for joining us I appreciate it thank you hey thanks for watching sports Spectrum here on YouTube you can click our next video or you can check out our website sportspectrum tocom