Penton balances football and faith

The senior defensive tackle plans to become a preacher when he's done playing.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Joel Penton stood onstage, looking down at hundreds of college students gathered outdoors for a recent Campus Crusade for Christ meeting.
At 6-feet-5 and 290 pounds, sporting a dark goatee, the Ohio State defensive tackle cut an imposing figure, almost menacing. One could easily picture a thundering voice and fire-and-brimstone speech.
But his first act was to come forward, down several steps, closer to his audience. He wore jeans, tennis shoes and a fleece pullover. And when he spoke, it was not with hubris, but humor.
"I've mastered the art of procrastination," he began. "In fact, this morning, as I was preparing for this speech ... "
Laughter. He had them. They listened attentively as Penton first went on a Jeff Foxworthy-style "You might be a procrastinator" riff. Then he switched deftly to his topic: spiritual procrastination.
"Society teaches us to forget consequences, to live in the here and now," Penton said. "But Christians believe there is more than that. I guarantee you, 100 years from today, the question of whether you have an eternal soul not only will be an important issue, it will be the only issue."
Born to speak
Penton has a natural style, an easy, calm cadence and rhythm. It seems he was born to talk about his faith. And indeed, he believes he was. How else to explain discovering his life's calling at the callow age of 16, as a sophomore at Van Wert High School in western Ohio?
In the seven years since, Penton has become an accomplished and in-demand speaker at youth groups, campus gatherings and churches around the state. His calendar gets busy this time of year. He estimates that he will make several talks a week through the summer. During the football season, he says, he can deliver only one or two talks a month.
Penton will be a fifth-year senior this fall, and he plans to continue speaking full time when his playing days are over.
"He's the most gifted speaker I've ever seen," said Bryan Hawkins, who's been director of Campus Crusade at Ohio State for the past eight years. "He's by far the best talker. He really cares about helping people and impacting them spiritually."
It started in 1999, when Penton had not yet blossomed into the physical force he is today. A lifelong member of the Van Wert United Methodist Church, he had recently become a committed Christian.
"At that point, I was very unathletic," he said. "I enjoyed playing football, but I was not successful at it. I remember really considering what I was going to do as a profession.
"I'd heard someone say, 'Find out what you like to do and get someone to pay you to do it,' and I thought, 'Well, there are two things I like to do. I like to talk to people about God and I like to play football.' At that point in my life, there was no way anyone would ever pay me to go into football, so it looks like I'm going into ministry."
He threw himself into it. He became a Fellowship of Christian Athletes leader in high school, helping organize a teen worship team that traveled the state. Even when his football skills developed and he was recruited to play at Ohio State, he never lost focus on his life's work.
Priorities clear
Penton uses the notoriety of being a Buckeye as a platform to help deliver his message to more people. But at his recent Campus Crusade talk, he made his priorities clear.
"Years and years after this coveted national championship ring turns to dust, I'll be face to face with God," he told his audience, gesturing to the 2002 ring on his finger.
When he arrived at Ohio State, Penton immediately sought out a Campus Crusade meeting, which turned into a serendipitous occasion.
"I go in, and who's leading the college meeting but some good-looking gymnast," Penton said. "And I think, 'Whoa, who is this? I'm going to have to talk to her.' "
In March 2005, he married Bethany Groskopf, a former Ohio State gymnast. Bethany graduated last year and is a nurse at a Children's Hospital.
Lately, Penton has been seeking more church appearances as he tries to figure out exactly what he wants to do after the 2006 season. He's not sure he wants to settle down and be a minister at any one particular church.
"I really have a passion for traveling and speaking and always sharing the Gospel, so I would like to continue that," Penton said. "I don't know if I would associate myself with some sort of organization as their designated person or whether it would be a totally independent ministry."
Penton's hometown minister, Jim Dunaway, has retired from Van Wert United Methodist and is helping out with youth groups at Centerville United Methodist. Penton has made several appearances at Dunaway's new church.
"Joel just has a real sense of maturity about what it is he believes," Dunaway said. "He started preaching at about 18 or 19 years of age, and he had that sense then. He has a maturity that's amazing for a man his age."
Dunaway was there at the beginning, when a 16-year-old decided on his life's work.
"I really felt God had just put my passion in my heart that if I were to do anything but ministry, I'd be taking the easy way out," Penton said. "I just had this deep-down feeling if I don't go into full-time ministry, if I don't spend my entire life, including my vocation, spreading the Gospel and dealing with spiritual things, then I'm taking the easy way out and I'm not doing what God wants me to do."