Photo provided by Ella Phillips
By: Sydney Leyerle, Bryce Crossman, Brian Weah, Kenzie Ogden, and Kennedy Conger
The IWU Spiritual Formation and Athletics office is preparing to celebrate more baptisms of athletes on April 14.
“Here in the chapel, we’re going to have nine athletes, these nine as of now, say yes to the next spiritual step of baptism,” Dalton Miller, the Resident Athletic Chaplain, said.
Ella Phillips, a freshman who plays on the Softball Team got baptized recently and was one of several IWU athletes getting baptized.
“My grandma got diagnosed with cancer, and she actually had surgery and got it all removed, so that was just a big thing,” Phillips said. “I was leaning towards God a lot for prayer.”
Photo provided by Ella Phillips
Phillips also said she found true friends here at IWU. She found her support and that was another reason why she wanted to get baptized.
“My coach actually was the one who baptized me along with one of my teammates, Becca,” Phillips said.
Both Head Coach of the Softball team, Steve Babinski, and teammate Becca Wyatt have encouraged Phillips to grow not only in athletic ability but in her faith.
“It’s amazing,” Babinski said. “God’s been moving in the softball team. I can speak to that firsthand.”
In Babinski’s 13 years coaching at IWU, he said he has lost track of how many athletes have been baptized. One year, 11 separate players were baptized throughout the season.
Photo by Glen Devitt
“Dr. Lo believes that revival starts with one, and I concur,” Babinski said. “But then he also believed in the influence of athletics on campus and in our community, that God wanted to use athletics to be the catalyst to really reach the counting and starting with the campus.”
Miller said that he wants to encourage other students and athletes on campus to see how God is working in their friends’ lives and that it could be them who gets baptized next.
“Ultimately, we want to be good athletes and good softball players,” Phillips said. “But really, our coaches just want to grow us more in our faith and grow us to be better people, and they really want the best for us.”
Photo provided by Ella Phillips
