Brent describes his first involvement with Athletes in Action and how God turned his life around.
I was 25 and dealing cocaine as a bartender at a strip bar on Hastings Street. I knew I had to get out of Vancouver, and my parents were with Salvation Army, so I went to live with them in Regina. I started going to church with them and cleaning up. One day this old guy at our church told me I needed to go to an Athletes in Action planning breakfast. I didn’t know what AIA was, but I was the only athlete in the church. They were getting ready for a Celebration of Champions Grey Cup Breakfast. For the first time, I saw people who were having fun and praying. I went to these planning meetings and saw people having fun, loving the Lord, praying, and having prayers answered. I wanted to be a part of something like that.
The easiest volunteer position I could find in the ministry was arranging housing for visiting athletes. I ended up having a CFL player from Calgary stay with me. We talked that evening, and it was the first time a Christian male was honest with me about his life and struggles. I still had this feeling that I was bad and that God wouldn’t want me, but he explained what grace was and we stayed up all night talking. The next morning, we went to the breakfast and listened to the speakers, and what really stood out to me was that “The God that created the heavens and the earth wants to change you from the inside out.” I’d done all this change in my life but I couldn’t change my heart. I’d stopped doing all these bad things, but the attitude of my heart wasn’t different. I needed God for that. I prayed that day, and said: “God, I don’t know what you want me to do, but whatever it is, I’ll do it.”
