Former football player Pruitt returns to Central
So what does an All-American football player like Brian Pruitt do when his college football career ends?
Play professional football, right?
Well, for Pruitt, God had other plans.
Instead, he became a minister.
Pruitt, a 1995 CMU graduate and All-American, entered the draft projected to be selected in the first three rounds.
He was never drafted.
Team after team passed him up because he was dangerous.
This danger, however, had nothing to do with stereotypical problems such as an off the field crime record, a history of drug abuse, an attitude problem or anything else that might keep one of the most talented football players in the nation from being drafted.
He was dangerous because he was found to have a spinal cord that was susceptible to being paralyzed.
"That was God saying, 'That part of your life is over now,'" Pruitt said.
But the part of his life to come was the greatest blessing in his life, he was able to preach God's word.
"I'm working full-time as a pastor and traveling as an evangelist speaking at different youth events," Pruitt said.
He was traveling as a speaker, and when he spoke at the Lincoln Park Assembly of God, he was asked to do a full time youth ministry.
"I spoke here (Lincoln Park) and they mentioned it. It happened to be God, so this is my home," Pruitt said.
Pruitt says his calling came when he was at Central.
"I enjoyed my time at CMU. I was being recruited to lots of colleges and if I could do it all over again I'd do it the same. I met God there. If I wouldn't have come to Central, I would have missed God's call," he said.
God's call began when Pruitt was a freshman and he was academically ineligible to play football.
"Coming out of high school, I had to get eligible. That whole year, God was preparing me, and I fell in love with Jesus. That year I felt God calling me to preach," Pruitt said.
He wasn't even sure he wanted to go back to playing football after that year. However, he felt God calling him back.
"When it comes to God in the sports world, people don't listen to you unless you're in the spotlight. So he said, 'I'll take you there,'" Pruitt said.
Pruitt said he definitely saw God work once he got back into football.
"I don't say this to be boastful, but God used me in college," Pruitt said.
Once his college years ended, he and his wife moved to Detroit and his ministry began.
He has since used many athletic events to spread God's word even though he no longer competes.
He started up a 3-on-3 basketball ministry called The ROCK, which lasted only a year, but Pruitt saw results as it drew about 500 people.
"The ROCK was an awesome event that happened in Saginaw," he said.
"It was a great outreach where we'd present the gospel, and people got saved at the tournament," Pruitt said.
The ROCK didn't last though, due to a lack of support from local churches.
"It somewhat died out because we couldn't get the churches to back us up."
"We wanted the tournament to provide the churches an opportunity to provide the gospel, but we didn't get that commitment, and if we couldn't get the spiritual, we didn't want the physical," Pruitt said.
Recently, though, he got involved with another basketball outreach called "Jammin' The Darkness," along with NBA standouts David Robinson and A.C. Green in Washington, D.C.
Last year, Pruitt began his own football camp.
He joined up with his Christian football buddies and launched the Victory Football Camp.
"I already started the Victory Football Camp," Pruitt said.
"I got Luther Ellis from the Detroit Lions, who is an awesome Christian brother, and I let him know what I had on my heart, and it was basically the ROCK with football," he said.
He thought it was successful and is looking forward to doing it again this year.
Pruitt will be back on Central's campus speaking at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting April 20 in Finch 114.
