{"id":1947,"date":"2011-11-15T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T06:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=1947"},"modified":"2011-11-15T09:36:36","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T14:36:36","slug":"nebraska-assistant-ron-brown-leads-powerful-prayer-before-game-at-penn-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/nebraska-assistant-ron-brown-leads-powerful-prayer-before-game-at-penn-state.html","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska assistant Ron Brown leads powerful pregame prayer at Penn State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Click &#8220;Like&#8221; to share this to your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Over the weekend, the spectacle that is college football provided millions of fans with countless thrills, breathtaking plays, last-second heroics and memorable moments that will live on for years to come. But there may not have been a more powerful image than what was observed before one game in particular even kicked off.<\/p>\n<p>At Penn State&#8217;s Beaver Stadium this past Saturday, the majority of players and coaches from both the host team and the visiting Cornhuskers gathered at midfield as Nebraska assistant coach Ron Brown led a 90-second prayer amid a virtually silent crowd of over 105,000 fans. You can watch raw footage of that video below:<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Raw Video: Penn State, Nebraska Pray Before Game\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OuIOReiCmEo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>This act of pregame solidarity would have been an unusual site under the most normal of circumstances, but there was not much normal about this match-up between the Nittany Lions and the first-year members of the Big 10 from Nebraska. Personally, I don&#8217;t care to get into the gory details, but if you don&#8217;t know what I&#8217;m talking about, just Google the words &#8220;Penn State&#8221; and &#8220;scandal&#8221; and you&#8217;ll figure it out pretty quickly. Actually, you might not even need to include the word &#8220;scandal.&#8221; The child abuse allegations that rocked the university and it&#8217;s football program last week has been fodder for relentless media outlets across the board.<\/p>\n<p>But on this day, an unheralded figure stepped forward to help make sense of it all through a heart-felt prayer that players on both sides acknowledged was a chilling moment they will likely never forget.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1961\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1961\" style=\"width: 146px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/256\/2011\/11\/ronbrown.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1961\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/256\/2011\/11\/ronbrown.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1961\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nebraska running backs coach Ron Brown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ron Brown, age 54, is in his second stint at Nebraska and currently serves as the running backs coach. He previously worked under legendary head coach Tom Osborne. In between that time, Brown was the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) state director in Nebraska and continues to be an ardent supporter of the national sports ministry. He writes a monthly column in the organization&#8217;s magazine <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sharingthevictory.com\" target=\"_blank\">Sharing The Victory<\/a>, a publication to which I have been fortunate to contribute over the past several years.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s moments like these in which we are reminded of the truth found in Romans 8:28: &#8220;And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.&#8221; (NIV)<\/p>\n<p>While we may never know the exact truth of what happened in this horrific case (although details will continue to emerge over the next few days and weeks), we can rest assured that somehow, some way, God will work through the situation and draw people closer to Him. And just as importantly, we can know that healing is available for anyone who has been the victim of another person&#8217;s sinful nature. &#8220;The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit,&#8221; David wrote in Psalm 34:18 (ESV)<\/p>\n<p>Be inspired by Coach Brown&#8217;s prayer and take some time to pray for those you know who have suffered through the pain of disease, death, abuse, poverty, hunger, depression, injustice, rejection and all other physical and emotional challenges. But don&#8217;t stop there. Reach out to those people with the kindness, compassion and love that is available to us by virtue of God&#8217;s grace.<\/p>\n<p>And remember, football is never bigger than life. But sometimes football can teach us some pretty significant lessons <em>about<\/em> life if we&#8217;ll sit still long enough to hear God&#8217;s voice speaking in those moments, even through something as simple as a pregame prayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Click &#8220;Like&#8221; to share this to your friends! Over the weekend, the spectacle that is college football provided millions of fans with countless thrills, breathtaking plays, last-second heroics and memorable moments that will live on for years to come. But there may not have been a more powerful image than what was observed before one&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[601,384,519,4,455],"tags":[785,783,786,214,21,782,787,784,781,780,618],"class_list":["post-1947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-coaches","category-football","category-prayer","category-sports-news","category-video","tag-beaver-stadium","tag-child-abuse-scandal","tag-cornhuskers","tag-fca","tag-fellowship-of-christian-athletes","tag-nebraska","tag-nebraska-assistant-leads-prayer-at-penn-state","tag-nittany-lions","tag-penn-state","tag-ron-brown","tag-tom-osborne"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nebraska assistant Ron Brown leads powerful pregame prayer at Penn State - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\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\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/nebraska-assistant-ron-brown-leads-powerful-prayer-before-game-at-penn-state.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nebraska assistant Ron Brown leads powerful pregame prayer at Penn State - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click &#8220;Like&#8221; to share this to your friends! Over the weekend, the spectacle that is college football provided millions of fans with countless thrills, breathtaking plays, last-second heroics and memorable moments that will live on for years to come. But there may not have been a more powerful image than what was observed before one&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/nebraska-assistant-ron-brown-leads-powerful-prayer-before-game-at-penn-state.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-15T06:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-15T14:36:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/files\/2011\/11\/ronbrown.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chad Bonham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nebraska assistant Ron Brown leads powerful pregame prayer at Penn State - Inspiring Athletes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/nebraska-assistant-ron-brown-leads-powerful-prayer-before-game-at-penn-state.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nebraska assistant Ron Brown leads powerful pregame prayer at Penn State - Inspiring Athletes","og_description":"Click &#8220;Like&#8221; to share this to your friends! Over the weekend, the spectacle that is college football provided millions of fans with countless thrills, breathtaking plays, last-second heroics and memorable moments that will live on for years to come. 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith &amp; Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1947"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1965,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1947\/revisions\/1965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}