{"id":20665,"date":"2022-09-07T12:56:22","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T16:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=20665"},"modified":"2022-09-07T12:56:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T16:56:22","slug":"its-just-been-a-blessing-divinity-student-advances-on-american-ninja-warrior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/its-just-been-a-blessing-divinity-student-advances-on-american-ninja-warrior.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s Just Been a Blessing\u2019 Divinity Student Advances on \u2018American Ninja Warrior\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

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America Ninja Warrior \/ Youtube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Josiah Singleton, a graduate student in Divinity at Liberty University<\/a> in Lynchburg, Virginia qualified for the \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d finals, which aired on August 29th<\/sup>. Singleton first competed in \u201cAmerica Ninja Warrior,\u201d which features a series of increasingly difficult obstacles, in the show\u2019s fifth season in 2013. He was most notable during his first run for his Jesus costume but fell on the Jumping Spider course in the first stage. The next year, he made it to Stage 2, succumbing to the Salmon Ladder. For the 2022 season, he made it through all six obstacles in the season\u2019s qualifier round in San Antonio, Texas and then advanced in the semi-finals round in Los Angeles, California, completing 8 out of the 10 obstacles.<\/p>\n

Known as \u201cCountry Boy Ninja\u201d on the show, Singleton didn\u2019t begin with a dream of Ninja stardom. In a 2019 interview with \u201cLiberty Game On\u201d<\/a>, Singleton spoke of his original passion for golf and how that soon became a part of his identity. He came to Liberty University on a golf scholarship, with a dream to compete professionally. As his time went on in Liberty, however, he noted how golf had become the center of his life. His golf game suddenly began to plummet. Singleton soon found himself struggling between his love for God and his identity as a golfer. By the end of sophomore year, he finally gave into God\u2019s call on his life to get into ministry.<\/p>\n

Singleton spoke with WLNI 105.9 FM<\/a> about qualifying for the finals and how he got involved with \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior.\u201d \u201cI wish I had like a really crazy story, but I don\u2019t. I just thought it looked like fun. Oh, that looks cool. I think I\u2019ll just go for it,\u201d he told the hosts. His training started on a playground but now there is a Ninja group that trains together in his area. He revealed that this year had actually been the year he had trained the least, being busy as the student discipleship director at Highland Heights Baptist Church in Rustburg, Virginia. In an interview for the \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior,\u201d he spoke about how Lynchburg is becoming \u201ca hub for ninja.\u201d For the 2022 season, the \u201cLynchburg Loonies,\u201d<\/a> a group of four competitors from the Lynchburg area debuted during the season premiere.<\/p>\n

Singleton was able to qualify for the finals by using his \u201cSafety Pass\u201d during the semi-finals round, which he described as \u201calmost like a mulligan.\u201d During his semi-finals run, Singleton fell on his first attempt on the \u201cDragon Back\u201d obstacle. Using his Safety Pass, he was able to redo his run and completed it in 3 minutes and 36 seconds, which was the 27th<\/sup> fastest time of all the semi-final finalists. Despite the success, Singleton remained most focus on the opportunity the show had given him to speak more about the Lord. \u201cIt\u2019s just been a blessing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The 2022 \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d finale aired Monday night, with 16-year-old Kaden Lebsack winning the $100,000 prize for the second year in a row. Singleton made it to Stage 2 of the finals, wiping out on the Piston Plunge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Josiah Singleton, a graduate student in Divinity at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia qualified for the \u201cAmerican Ninja Warrior\u201d finals, which aired on August 29th. Singleton first competed in \u201cAmerica Ninja Warrior,\u201d which features a series of increasingly difficult obstacles, in the show\u2019s fifth season in 2013. He was most notable during his first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":20668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018It\u2019s Just Been a Blessing\u2019 Divinity Student Advances on \u2018American Ninja Warrior\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Josiah Singleton, a graduate student at Liberty University, excels in the most recent season of American Ninja Warrior.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/its-just-been-a-blessing-divinity-student-advances-on-american-ninja-warrior.html\" 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