Jonathan Davis moved to the Lowcountry in May 1991, three months before his contract began as an assistant football coach at Charleston Southern University. He lived alone and worked for no pay – his wife, Lynette, left behind in New Jersey, worked to support both of them – to pursue his dream in the competitive world of college athletics.

He caught the football bug as a assistant head coach at Holy Cross High School in New Jersey, followed by a graduate assistant position at Temple University. He worked long days and nights hoping to climb the college football ranks and brand his name synonymous with the game.

Football stole his heart and became his identity; wins and losses were the measuring stick; his purpose in life was defined by a slice of brown pigskin held together by eight stitches. The game of football had assumed the place of God in Davis’ life.

“Football was my God,” confessed Davis. “If anything got in the way of football, if anything got in my way of being a head football coach at a major university, whatever that might be, it was going to move out of the way. I was married to football.”

College football has its unwritten rules. To win, you must be focused. No distractions. When Temple learned Davis was married he almost lost the job. When he found out he prepared his wife, Lynette.

“If Notre Dame calls and they say I can’t be married, I’m leaving you,” he told her.

The comment wasn’t some offhanded wisecrack – it was a stone-cold promise. There was no way a relationship, a marriage, was going to stand between Davis and his dream job.

“My wife was devastated,” Davis said. “Our marriage was struggling because of my selfishness, and she showed grace. That was a defining moment in my life. To see her forgive and love and care for me, when I was self-centered … I praise God that he saved me from myself.”

A personal Grace Awakening

Davis was a believer. He sold himself to family, friends and the university as a Christian. But the truth was God was a red-shirt freshman who was praised after a big win or called on as a “good luck charm” during a close game. Davis would reach out to Him when a friend or family member was ill, when He didn’t respond as expected, bitterness took over.

It was 1992 on the University of Alabama at Birmingham football field Davis hit rock bottom.

“I remember it being the lowest point in my coaching career,” he said. “I’d never felt such emptiness. Here I was coaching my heart out – and feeling emptiness. I needed Jesus.”

This was his personal grace awakening. Davis rededicated his life in 1993 and continued to coach at Charleston Southern, but he was certain the Lord was preparing him for something new.

In 1998, Davis was offered a head coaching job at a junior college in Kansas. He turned down the offer. A year later he was offered the job as head football coach and director of athletic ministry at North Greenville, again, he said no thank you.

“Jon, you’ve worked your whole life for this, to be a head coach, what’s going on?” asked Lynette.

Davis said he felt God leading him into ministry.

“God began to slowly wean me out of football,” said Davis. “When God moved in, the Holy Spirit moved in, and I rededicated my life; I was not the same person. My idol was football. God was secondary, not a priority in my life. It just shows you the power of God.”

A verse comes to life

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. – Psalm 71:18

Psalm 71:18 is Jonathan Davis’s life verse. He believes God gave it to him while in seminary. Davis said he didn’t know why, or even what the significance of the verse was – it was just there. In his mind, his thoughts, his prayer.

In December 1997, Davis began pastoring Summit Church and later the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In 2003, he began teaching, adding assistant campus minister duties a year later. This past summer he was promoted to campus minister at Charleston Southern, replacing Clark Carter, who was promoted to dean of students.

“When I said yes that I would do this, it was a Tuesday,” said Davis. “That Tuesday night we baptized 45 people. That’s when I knew God’s hand was in it.

“I don’t know how else to describe the Holy Spirit except like Jesus said in John 3:8, ‘The wind blows where it chooses’ and to see the Holy Spirit just open our eyes and let us experience Him. I can’t imagine anybody that was there (Grace Awakening) not being able to look back at this and it be one of their top five spiritual mile markers in their life.

“To impart and declare the power of God to the next generation is what gives me hope. What we’ve seen with Grace Awakening, God is doing something with this generation. I see the believers in this generation that really want to learn from people that have been there. So, I see my life verse being played out before my eyes, and I just knew that God was in it.”

Fourth and Long

As campus minister, Davis is responsible for leading a campus dominated by young people. He is witnessing to believers and nonbelievers, some are teenagers, others adults. Davis defined his new role as campus minister as all-inclusive.

“Pastoring is not pastoring a church, it’s pastoring a community,” he said. “I’ve taken that mindset to campus, that I’m not just pastoring the ministries on this campus that I’m trying to pastor everybody on this campus, regardless of where they are in their faith, I’m going to try and pastor them. That’s my heart.”

According to Davis, the transition from coach to pastor at CSU was natural. The University’s vision of integrating faith in learning, leading and serving has been gaining momentum.

“There are some strong believers on campus among faculty and staff,” he said. “To see the encouragement on this campus, to see people fired up about God and see this as a ministry and not a job – it inspires me.”

Davis said today’s college students are entering into a season when they “make the biggest decisions of their lives.” Careers, marriage, responsibility, accountability, suddenly life takes a sharp 90-degree turn, an experience Davis is all too familiar with.

“If you’re not careful, when you’re in college it can become a very selfish time because it’s all about what I’m going to do with my life, what I’m doing, who I’m going to be with,” he said. “So, to get people to live outside themselves is the challenge – to see people, instead of being takers become givers. That’s really why I enjoy what I do, and I’m so thankful to the Lord and this University for giving me that opportunity.”