Faith In The Zone - Noah Martin - 3/17/2024

Full show from Sunday, March 17th, 2024 from the Dononvan & Jorgenson Heating & Cooling studio
Noah Martin: Linebacker at Samford University

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Why do you have it? Showsme? Has always been a mystery on
my life. I've been told I'malone at the end of the nine?
Will only you other? Not quite? Will only navigate it? Vibe goody.
It turns out they're the ones youare looking for all this time.

(00:30):
I'm just a shall I tell youeverybody all about sun the same. Welcome
to Faith in the Zone, ashow about sports and faith and when the
two come together and the lives thatare affected. Faith in the Zone is
brought to you by book Side BaptistChurch. Let's turn it over to Mike

(00:53):
mcgiffren and Pastor Ken Keltner only onthe Big nine twenty at your iHeartRadio app.
Welcome to Faith in the Zone.I'm the Big ninet twenty and your
iHeart Radio aths. I am MikeMcGivern a long Side Pastor Ken Keltner from
Brookside Baptist Church coming from the Diamondand George and he Coolly studios and Pastor

(01:14):
are you doing today? I'm doinggreat. You're not going solo today?
I'm right here with you, man. Aren't you going out of town soon?
I am tomorrow morning early. Yeah. We picked the wrong day,
didn't we? Oh no, Ilove it. I'm glad. I'm excited
about our guests. Well yeah,and you know what, thank you because
friend of yours, Dave One,set this up. And you know you
had told me about a book thathe wrote, Built to Lead, and

(01:38):
you can go on Amazon, Builtto Lead seven Management Rewards Principles for becoming
the Top ten Manager. And Istarted looking at the book. It's really
good. Oh yeah, yeah,I keep giving mine away. I got
to tell Dave, I need anotherbook back, man, because I'm to
send two, or I'll just goon Amazon and byway, no, no,

(01:59):
no, I'll get I'll get himfrom him. So and he was
a pretty good he's pretty good athletehimself in his own right. I don't
know. I mean he was arunning back. So our guest might have
nailed him if he came in trustfulthe video, I saw our guest,
If you moved, he hit youlike he hit everybody, our special guest.
And I was talk spect. I'mnot quite sure I'm talking spack to

(02:21):
this young man. He is NoahMartin. He's a linebacker at Sanford University.
Stanford University is in Birmingham, Alabama, and Noah I watched the huddle
taper you in high school, andthe only smack I can give you is
you took a kickoff back ninety sixyards and got caught at the four.
So I'm a little upset you didn'thave closing speed to get the end zone.

(02:45):
He is, Noah Martin, knowhow you doing today. I'm doing
great. Thank you for having meon the show. And just a quick
comment on that. Yeah, youknow, I just just say I ran
out of gas, you know,just going down the sideline. I thought
I was in, but you know, it is what it is. I
thought I sent my office, sopretty good on the four yard line.
I'll take that. No, Idon't know where the kid who caught you

(03:06):
came from, because you ram pasteverybody and all of a sudden from the
other side of the field. Idon't know what that kid ran inut of
a forty, but it was quickbecause his closing speed. You're running,
you're running away from a couple ofthose guys, and that kid came out
of nowhere to knock you out atthe four. I enjoyed watching that huddle
tape and what I came away fromno is you did a lot of film

(03:29):
work I think in high school,because you're opening step as a middle linebacker,
you got to read things very quickly, and your first step and look
huddle can make even a guy likeme look good. I understand that.
But when you've watched as much huddlefilm, not only football but basketball as
I had, you start looking forsome things. And when I started looking

(03:51):
for is your first step as amiddle linebacker. You were always going in
the right direction and when it wasa drop, if it was a pass,
you seem to understand where the ballwas going. And that that that
shows me that you've either done aton of film work or things come really
natural to you as far as whatyour keys are and where you're supposed to

(04:12):
be. Yeah, you know,and you know, I wish it came
a little bit more naturally to me. Uh you know, not never been
like, you know, the fastestfrom all that, but I did,
you know, just in the highschool and now, you know, especially
film work has been incredibly incredibly importantto me because it can give you that
extra extra stuff that you need,you know, to really help be in

(04:35):
the right position at the right time. You know, you may not you
don't have to be the fastest,but if you know where, if you
know where the play is going,you can be there quicker than a lot
of other people can. And sojust really focusing on that study, that
film study in high school and andthe way my coach is really ingrained it
into my you know, to myhead, that's how important it was really

(04:56):
set me up for college too.And just really being able to understand route
con accepts and formations and what kindof plays we can expect with a give
information really helped me out, youknow. And and as far as talent
goes, that's all God given.And uh, like I said, I
wish I was a jump a littlebit high, run a little bit faster.
But the film study definitely helps makeup that gap. Hey, no,

(05:16):
did you know and and and yougrew up in in Chattanooga and went
to the Baylor School for high school. Did you know in high school that
that the defensive side of the ballis where you wanted to play at the
next level? Because offensively, yeah, you made some plays on the offense
as well. Uh did But didyou know that that that playing linebacker was
was going to be your ticket?You know? I mean ever since middle

(05:42):
school I was playing linebacker. Iwould play linebacker running back. But once
I got to high school, youknow, my opportunities. Actually, my
first time I got to play ina varsity game was was at running back.
I played full back, which isyou know, you could expect a
linebacker to play full back, right, But then kind of from then on,
I played linebacker and I just enjoyed. Uh. I guess you could
say I enjoy hitting people, youknow, in the right circumstance on the

(06:05):
field. I was gonna ask you, you never shot, at least the
tapes to that I watched, younever shot away from that part of the
game. No, I do.I do love contact, So you know
that I think that fit me well. I think as a running back there
you know, there's some guys thatlike contact, but most of the time
they're trying to make people miss,and that's not really me. I like

(06:27):
the contact, So you know,linebacker sit me a little bit better.
You know. A pastor, hewas a Noah Martin is our special guest
and he is a linebacker at SanfordUniversity located in Birmingham, Alabama, and
he was a three sport athlete inhigh school. He's track and field kid.
He played football. He played basketball. Now listening to him talk,

(06:49):
how many games do you think thisboy filed out in basketball? I bet
a couple. He didn't want thecontact. Yeah, he probably did fail
out a few times, didn't youknow? I did? That's yeah,
you were the enforcer. I was. I was. I was, you
know, maybe a little bit toophysical at times, but you know,

(07:12):
big big kick and roll guy,you know, wasn't a big, big
offensive weapon. I was, youknow, try to be more defensive.
Maybe a little bit too much ofthat football mindset came into play at times.
But you know, I did whatmy coach asked me to do,
and you know, help the teamthe best I could. What little I
could. You know, I betif anybody went after your star player,

(07:34):
coach and looked at you and justgave you a little wink, and you
knew what to take care of.Yeah, yeah, yeah, we were
not gonna let We're gonna We're notgonna let that that big boy and the
other team, like you get chippywith our guards. No, go go
say hello to him, introduce yourselfto him. I loved I coached a
long time on the basketball side ofit. Knowing I love kids like you,

(07:59):
I did when you said, look, I just do what my coach
told me to go do. Goplay defense, you know, get rebounds,
set good picks, you know,tip the ball a little bit and
for somebody. There's very few kidsnowadays that don't want to score twenty a
game. You know, if theycan great. In fact, the last
team I coached, we had akid named Sean on it and he was

(08:20):
probably six' three, really strong, bouncy, and we ended up winning
the state championship, and about threequarters the way throughout the year, he
never talked about scoring anything, andhe goes, you know, Coach,
tonight, I think tonight I'm gonnalook to score a little bit. And
I said, well, don't gocrazy on that. Sean. He went
out and he got eighteen and thegame was over and he came up to

(08:43):
me. He goes, yeah,I proved you I could do that.
Now let me get back to therole you want me to play at.
I said, you got it,keep doing but you get an open look.
He said, no, no,I'm good. Look at the guards
we have. I just want tostay. I want to win a state
championship, coach, and I thinkthe role you got me in, But
this kid. He didn't score alot in practice either, but obviously he

(09:03):
said I'm gonna show you tonight andhe went out got eighteen and then said,
no, I'm good. I don'tneed to score anymore. So what
what was your highest point total inbasketball? Noah, Oh, I think
if I look back, I thinkit was it was actually my senior night,
which pretty cool. Senior night arecenter, you know, I was
a backup center are uh, whichat six foot you know, I mean

(09:24):
killing me down at six foot center, you know, But I our star
center went out, and so Iwas. I was playing start of the
game. I ended up with likeeleven. I think that was my my
highest total. So I'll take thatdouble figures. Yeah, I bet you
had at least ten rebounds too,And and four files. I bet you

(09:45):
had four files that day, fourmaybe three or four our special guest.
Yeah. When I went on huddle, I didn't see any of your basketball
film. No, they didn't needto see that. I didn't need to
see that. He has no Martinlinebacker at Samford University. Hey, we've
got a few minutes in this firstsegment. Can we talk a little bit

(10:07):
about growing up in Chattanooga and howyou ended up getting to Stamford to play
for college football. Yeah, forsure. You know, I grew up
been in Chattanooga my whole life,been in the same house my whole life.
Parents have been there, shoot twentyfive years, so fame area.
You know, grew up, wentto elementary around there, played a little
Pop Warner football, always enjoyed it. Football was always my main focus,

(10:31):
my first love as far as sportsgoes. Played basketball growing up, a
little bit of soccer, not muchof that, you know, mostly football
and basketball. You know, gotsome middle school same thing, football,
basketball, track, and then wasable to go to private school, the
Baylor School. You know, gotblessed. The opportunity and just the coaching

(10:52):
I received there and everything really setme up well for basketball and football,
you know, but really football mostlybecause that's where I kind of excelled in
you know, as you can seefrom huddle on different things. So you
know, had that opportunity which wasamazing and really set me up one for
college, but two for athletics andyou know, in life in general.
And then you know about my sophomoreyear, Uh, some of the offers

(11:15):
kind of started rolling in for football, and then I want to say,
like after my junior years when mostof them came in and then Stamford was
actually the last offer I received.That was like right at the end of
the summer going into my senior seniorseason. And then you know that some
of the coaches comes to a fewgames stuff like that. I just kind

(11:35):
of kept in contact with them,and then actually National Signing Day, the
early signing period in December. Youknow, I was thinking about not signing
right then because I kind of hearda little bit about maybe some offers coming
in late and stuff like that.But then I actually sat down with the

(11:56):
coach that was recruiting me from Stamford, signed early in December, and then
came here. You know, Ihad a few few colleges I was looking
at, and it's really cool,honestly, the coolest story I can think
of, you know, from thatwhole experience. So I was actually looking
to go to Watford, which they'reinto SoCon we play them every year,
and so was looking to go there, and you know, really enjoyed the

(12:18):
coaches and you know, but justdidn't feel right about committee and yet and
all that, and so I wentto had like a little like Terrier day
which is just kind of like ayou go to campus and you know you
watch uh, we're just kind ofwalking around campus, see see what you
know goes on there. And thenthe Panthers were practicing, so they take
you there unless you watch practice,goes to all the facilities, you know,
just kind of a show you whatcampus is about, show you Wafford

(12:41):
and I didn't. I didn't endup committing that day, didn't feel right,
and I was going to Stanford fora visit the next day. Tempord
hadn't offered yet, but I wasgoing there for a visit and I just
remember the Wafford coach he kind oftold me like we had one they only
had one spot left. They werelooking to sign a couple where there's a
couple of guys bad offered to whowhoever kind of committed first, that's who

(13:01):
they were going to give it to. But I didn't didn't end up signing.
So I went to Sanford and thewafferd coach actually called me before I
got on campus, but I from, hay, I'm at Sanford, as
okay if I call you later.He said, yeah, no problem.
So go around campus, meet withall the coaches and then uh. Lastly,
I met with the head coach,coach Hasher, and then he offered
me, you know, to Sanfordand just actually the visit after seeing campus,

(13:24):
after talking to all the coaches,I I love Samford better than Watford,
you know. And and I don'tknow if too many Watford people are
gonna listen to this, but Isaid that Samford was ten times better than
Watford, you know. Uh,well, we'll keep that under under wraps.
Tried out, but but yeah,so just you know, loved it.
It just was it felt right,felt like home and everything. And

(13:46):
I didn't commit right there, butI had to offer so something like to
think about. But I really feltlike sample was at home. And then
as I was driving back to myback to Chattanooga, actually I called the
Wafford coach back and he told methat they had filled their last spot at
linebacker and that I didn't have aspot there anymore, and they would,
of course, you know, letme know if you need changed. And
that just seemed like God. Itreally just seemed like God working right there

(14:07):
to shut you know, shut onedoor, but open another door, you
know. And so I think thatwas like a huge, huge thing for
me to see that happen, andthen I ended up committing to Stanford a
few days later, like on thatthat Sunday, that weekend or whatever.
But you know, for me,that was like a huge sign to be
able to just really like that.It just showed like God was like puaying
me in the right direction, likewhere I needed to be, you know.

(14:30):
And so you know, my parentsloved the loved the school, loved
the coaches, and so that's howthat's how I ended up here. So
he is He is Noah Martin again. He is a linebacker at Sanford University.
Sanford is located in Birmingham, Alabama. Doing some research pastor for the
show. I read this article andI love this paragraph. He uh,

(14:54):
They're They're going back to play universityat Chattanooga, where he is from.
He said, Do I love thecity that I'm from? Yes? I
do? But do I hate thatschool? I absolutely hate Chattanooga. I
want nothing more than to beat them, especially with the history we have with
Chattanooga. I'm very, very firedup to go to go up there.
For me, it's like a homecominggame. I'm excited to go back to

(15:18):
my hometown. But I want nothingmore than to beat them in front of
their home crowd, and I juststarted laughing. I don't think we should
worry about Walford. I think wegot to worry about what he said about
Chattanooga. And then the next linewas there you go spoke spoken like a
true rivalry. Hey. In thethird segment, we're going to talk a
little bit about you know that thatdisdained for the the college in your hometown,

(15:43):
University of Chattanooga. Reading this article, they didn't he was supposed to
have a visit there. He's supposedto be at a game. They didn't
have a ticket, form didn't havehis name. Then there are some issues
that they had, and I thinkthey paid for it every single season.
But we'll find out in the thirdsegment where you get to a break,
segment two, we'll ask our specialguest Noah Martin for his testimony. Again.

(16:06):
We want to thank Dave Long forthe introduction to such a nice young
man who's willing to give us sometime between classes today and we will ask
him to share his testimony on theother side of the break. This is
Faith in the Zone. I'm theBig nine twenty and your iHeart Radio app
More Now with Faith in the Zonediscover how sports and faith come together.

(16:30):
Faith in the Zone is brought toyou by BIC Automotive. Let's turn it
back over to Mike McGivern and PastorKen Keldner only I'm a Big nine twenty
and your iHeartRadio app. Welcome backto Faith in the Zone. I'm the
Big nine twenty in your iHeart RadioApp. I'm Mike McGivern alongside the head

(16:52):
pastor at Brookside Baptist Church. Comingfrom the Donovan and Jorganson Heating and Cooling
Studios again the largest employee owned hFAC company in the state of Wisconsin.
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(17:15):
for a new HVAC furnace air conditioner, go to Donovan Jorganson dot com.
Our special guest he is Noah Martin. He's a linebacker at Sanford University and
Noah the second segment for us isour favorite. And we always ask our
guests to share their testimony and ifyou would be so kind, yes,

(17:36):
sir, of course, And youknow that's definitely a huge part of my
life. You know, I grewup. My dad's a pastor, been
a pastor, have been involved inministry in my whole life. He was
at the church that we were atfor twenty five years father that he was
the head pastor and for a while, you know, to sort of in
different kind of capacity as a ministrythere has been a missionary. And then

(18:00):
now he's currently at another church thatwe're at right now, and that's Dallas
Bay there and he's the associate pastor. So I've definitely been around church my
whole life, you know, justwhether it's wild church was going on,
or I just was at the church. You know. There'll be times where
I'd have like school would be out, you know, when I was younger,
and so my parents would bring mein just kind of drop me off
in the gym and I would bedoing something, you know to pass the

(18:25):
time. So I was I wasat church, i want to say,
majority of my life when I wasyounger, you know, and I enjoyed
it. I loved it just beingaround like the church family and everything,
you know. So that's always beena big part of my life, you
know. And so of course,you know, with salvation, that is
a decision I have to make menot being me being at church was not
you know, anywhere near enough youknow for that. And so you know,

(18:48):
I personally made that decision when Iwas nine years old. I made
it, made that in my bedroom. So I you know, when I
was younger, thought, you know, kind of found I under so what
save me? God says, gotbaptized. And then when I was nine,
I would sitting in my bedroomhen Iwas reading. I forget where I
was reading, but I was justkind of like I want to say,
maybe in John but just kind ofreading, like kind of realizing what salvation

(19:14):
meant. And you know that youtruly needed to understand what you were doing
if you're going to ask, youknow, our Lord Jesus to save us,
you know, from our sins,and truly understand like what that meant
and like what he was doing forme and what I was being saved from.
And so I, you know,knelt down and prayed in front of
my bed right there, and thengot baptized again, you know. And

(19:37):
so my dad got to be bothof those, but you know, baptized
me, you know. So thatwas kind of like early childhood getting saved
and everything and then I went touth camp. I want to say,
I was probably about twelve and thenjust got resturants of my salvation, you
know, and I forget what versusthe specifically. I know it's in John,
but it's the one that talks aboutyou know, once you're in my

(19:59):
phone other's hand, no man canpluck you out of his hand. And
so that was just something that like, you know, really stuck with me
and something I think about often.You know, when when you try it,
when the devil kind of gets ahold of you and tries to attempt
you into you know, thinking thatmaybe you know, you aren't saying maybe
whatever, you know, but justunderstand that like once our father has in
his hand, he can't pluck usout. So that, you know,
go into those camps and everything thatwas really big and important in my life,

(20:23):
you know, just kind of growingup, like I said, just
being around the church and everything andso kind of going from there. And
do you want me to keep going? I do. Yeah, I'm enjoying.
I got a comment for you afterwards. Yeah, I'm enjoying listening to
Hey Noah. For us, thisis the best segment and and for for
for a young guy like you.You know, you're good looking kid,

(20:45):
I love playing football. Yeah,obviously doing extremely well in in in your
academics, and yeah, we wouldlove for you to continue down that journey.
Okay, awesome. Well, youknow, so, like I said,
kind of growing up, you know, in middle school, high school
all that, you know, thatwas the pastor of the church by then,
kind of when I got to middleschool earlier years in high school,

(21:08):
and so it was like at thechurch, just some unfortunate circumstances that happened
kind of leading up to my dadbecoming the pastor, you know, just
had to ask the pastor to stepdown, and so he became the interim
pastor. And it's you know,if you ever meet my dad, I
know, mister David Long has it. He could probably say this too.
He's a very like he's a verysocial, outgoing person. Definitely, he's
you know, he's in the rightspot and what it needs to be.

(21:30):
But he definitely enjoyed being able togo out and care for people, you
know, and so when he gotasked, when he got voted in and
asked to be the pastor of thechurch, you know, he definitely enjoyed
that role. And was really focusedon helping the church kind of get through
kind of that Tom. You know, when whenever a pastor steps down,
there's usually people that leave the church, just different things that kind of happened.
You know, I watched him gothrough that, and I definitely have

(21:52):
a lot of respect. You know, he's definitely my hair and have a
lot of respect for him kind ofseeing him go through that, you know,
just that transition. But you know, he knew what, you know,
after those five years, he kindof knew that's not what he wanted.
That was not his ang goal wasto be the had passion of the
church. You know, he reallywould have liked more to have more time
to actually go out and you know, serve with people rather than having to

(22:15):
h stay and like and prepare themessage and stuff like that. That was
more so his calling, and sohe decided to step down from the church
kind of once we got to thattransition phase, stepped down from the church
and actually went into uh miss missionarywork. So he was at called Score
International. I'm not sure if y'allhave ever heard of that, but it's

(22:36):
a mission organization based out of Chattanooga. And so I've been on four or
five trips with them. I thinkit's been. Yeah, it's a five
trips, I believe. I've beenwith them so different different countries and I've
been to five South American countries.And then my dad, he's been shoot
all over the world with them.But you know, so he worked with

(22:56):
them, and he would it's moreso like short term trips that I take,
like a week long trip, maybeten day trips. So he'd been
to like Dominican Republic. I'm thinkinglike maybe Puerto Rico, Colombia, different
Guatemala, few of those countries,and then you know, he's been in
Australia, Romania, he's been,He's been a few different places doing mission
works. So he was doing thatfor a while and that actually happened during

(23:19):
COVID, so that was definitely,you know, kind of a rough time
for our family just with you know, mission work, as he was having
to go out and actually get supportfrom churches and stuff like that. So
for a while we did kind oflive a little bit like a mission family.
It didn't affect us much, youknow, you know, because he
was working very hard and of coursemy mom was working her job, you
know, but definitely a tough time, like just for us and for me,

(23:41):
you know, personally, because atthat time, of course, once
he stepped down from the church,we began looking for a church, you
know, and I've been involved withmy youth group, and I stayed somewhat
involved, but you know, unfortunatelyit did give me an excuse to not
be as connected to the youth group, and you know, of course that's
my fault, you know, notbeing more I guess attached to these could
be more willing to really pursue God, you know, so I kind of

(24:03):
I kind of not stepped away,but kind of like faded away from really
growing with God during that time,you know, just because as we were
looking through church, you know,we'd be at a different church, you
know, we just kind of findwhere we wanted to be at. You
know. So that was a Iwould say, definitely a challenging time for
my faith, you know. Andthen eventually we did settle at Dallas Bay.
But I still, you know,at that time, we were just

(24:26):
members and he was still working atScore, and so I kind of kept
my distance from these groups. Iwould go, but I would say I'm
a pretty social guy, and Iwasn't very social then you know, just
kind of being new and not reallyknowing anybody, and you know, and
they were accepting and abiding, ofcourse, but I just kind of,
you know, kind of kept myself. And so that was kind of what
led on into on into my freshmanyear of college, you know, and

(24:52):
I would like, I would stilllike do my devotions, you know,
maybe not as faith as I shouldhave, but definitely wasn't growing as close
to God as I had been oras I shouldn't been. You know.
So I go into college and ofcourse this is during COVID, so a
lot of churches are either you know, doing the online services or they're meeting
outside, you know, just kindof whatever. And my dad definitely had
connections in Birmingham, and he encouragedme every week, you know, asking

(25:15):
me what church I was going to, what I was doing, and you
know, I would tell them,ohll I listened to this church and stuff.
And I would listen to, like, you know, the service a
little bit of it, but it'sjust it's not the same as being there.
You know. It be like arecording of a service, you know,
so it's a lot different than beingthere. You know, you miss
that connection that Febliship, that's that'snecessary. You know, you missed a
pure member of the church, youknow, So that was that was something

(25:40):
that I missed, you know,and I'm sure a lot of people missed
during COVID, but there's definitely opportunitiesI had to go get fellowship and I
didn't, you know, and that'ssomething I really regret, you know,
so kind of during that time,wasn't you know, as close to God
as I should have been, LikeI said, you know, would go
to church, but not not asfrequent as often, you know, kind
of let school of sports whatever beingexcuse, you know. So that was

(26:03):
kind of how the first semester ofmy freshman year went. Second semester was
a little bit better. I gotconnected to church here called Shades, and
so it's sad, said Baptist.It's not. It's about maybe ten minutes
from campus, so I would gothere most Sundays. You know. We
ended up playing a spring season forfootball show. Of course, with travel
and stuff like that, you getback late, and I would like to

(26:26):
say I still woke up and wentto church after getting back on one o'clock,
but that didn't happen very often,you know, and you know,
that's unfortunate, you know, becausethat's definitely, like I said, missing
that fellowship. You know, goingtwo weeks without church is not good,
you know, and so that's somethingthat I definitely miss But like I said,
just you know, I know God, and God did go to get
a hold of me, you know, but for the time being, just

(26:48):
kind of was kind of doing myown thing, not as connected, different
little you know, Bible groups,sca, stuff like that, but it
wasn't really like involved as I shouldhave been, you know. So that's
kind of how that whole freshman yearwent. And then when I left campus,
my end of my freshman shore we'retaking exams, okay, so I
I was able to come home early. We had exams the next week,

(27:11):
and so I drove down one day. I just had one exam and a
presentation. I drove down, Idid the presentation, I took the exam,
and I was driving back and theyhad been raining that day, and
so dropping up I fifty nine,you know, done it a million times
and stuff, and probably should havebeen going slower, but roads were slick.
It was ran a little bit,and I ended up hydroplaning. Ended

(27:33):
up like kind of fishing down likespinning around on the highway, went down
into a ditch, truck went airborne, flipped around, you know, just
all you know you can see inthe movies of a car crash. It's
it's what happened, you know,And now I remember everything. You know,
I actually got thrown out of thevehicle, wasn't wearing my seat belt,
which I do wear my seat beltnow, but wasn't then, you
know, it was got thrown outof the vehicle and eventually, you know,

(27:56):
I landed on my landed on myroad and landing on my stomach.
The vehicle stopped, and you know, I was unhurt, you know,
and something that I should have beenhurt. I think I had a little
scratch on my arm, but Iwas able to get up walk. I
was fine. And I know thatis that is a wreck that most people
are lucky who you know, justsurvived, you know, and the fact

(28:17):
that I was unharmed and everything,and that's you know, they didn't even
get an ambulance anything like that.My parents end up picking me up.
There was you know, I cango into that story for a while,
but you know, for times sake, I'll keep it short. But one
thing that was really cool about thatis when I was going, when I
was flipping the vehicle, my dooropened and it actually felt like someone was
like pulled me out of vehicle.Like I felt like I was pulled out

(28:40):
of the vehicle. And I youknow, that's nothing other than God right
there, you know. And sothat moment, that that whole situation,
of course, you know, younever want to get in a wreck,
no one ever wish just that onanybody, But that situation was very necessary
in my life. And how itgot a hold of me and realized like
it just was a you know,it was God getting hold of me,
like I said, just kind ofsent a shockwave, you know, into

(29:02):
my life of just like hey,like that could have been it. You
know, that could have been itfor you. And what would your testimony
say? You know, So thatreally got a hold of me. And
so I you know, when Igot when I got back to campus,
and really that summer kind of waslooking for Okay, how can I take
the next set of my safe whatcan I do? You know? So
I got was more involved with mychurch, became more involved with the with

(29:22):
the group, the college group andeverything, and met a lot of really
great people there. And then Ialso started a Bible study with my teammates,
just kind of going through what itmeans to be a man and just
different stuff like that, just somethingareas that I was challenging my life,
just because as I reflected, youknow, where I was at. And
then of course became involved in FCA. I'm now currently a leader there,

(29:45):
one of the student leaders there.And then I actually so I met my
fiancee here you know, through church, met her through church, and then
and through some mutual friends friends aswell, and and we also did a
Bible study together with a group oflike I want to say, sixteen people,
Me and her kind of just colet it with a mix of you
know, guys and girls, youknow, so just different opportunities that once

(30:07):
that kind of event happened, kindof opened my eyes to and I was
really looking forward, you know,for those opportunities. And so, you
know, nextully still been with FCA, have done Bible studies you know,
here and there, just one timeslike when I'm able to and just with
the you know, with schedule,sake and stuff like that. So that
was a huge, huge part ofmy testimony, you know, and I
can't. You know, everything wasn'tsunshine and rainbows after that. You have

(30:30):
your days where the devil gets atyou and everything. And I wish it
would say that, you know,after that moment, everything was perfect.
But you know, I still havestruggles, just like anybody else, you
know. But it's definitely something thatnow that I have those those people around
me, now that I have thosethings that I can you know, go
to and that I get encouraged andI you know, I have support and
you know I've built that support,you know through myself, like with my

(30:52):
devotions and stuff like that. Itdefinitely helps me to you know, lim
at the times that I fall intothose centations and hope really to combat against
that more so than I would have, you know, before that event.
One hundred percent. Amen to that. We're talking to Noah Martin. He
is a linebacker at Samford University.Pastor. Yeah, just a couple of
thoughts. You thank you for sharingyour testimony, Noah. And you know

(31:14):
the aspect of doubts, I think, uh, you know, something smells
to me that folks who have puttheir faith in trust they remember a time
when they when that personal relationship withChrist began and they doubt it. And
then you got people on the otherside, maybe they they say they believe
in God, they they live anywherethey want to live, they never ever
doubt it. And I've always thought, hmmm, that kind of smells to

(31:37):
me. I think I think theenemies behind the uh making believers definitely doubt,
you know, their salvation. Andthen uh, you know, sharing
that that story about that accident.Uh yeah, God definitely got your attention,
meaning he has he didn't it wasn'ttime for you to meet the Lord.
He still has a big job foryou to do, but he wanted
to get your attention, and hehe can get our tension very quickly.

(32:00):
And uh, after after that accidentyou talking, you've you've really, i
would say, stepped it up,you know, as far as your own
walk with God and what you've beenwanting to do in the lives of other
people. So God has his perfectplan right there. Again. Our special
guest is Noah Martin, linebacker atSandford University. My thought on his testimony,

(32:22):
the Lord said, Hey, Matt, okay, I'm gonna catch your
attention because I got You've got alot of work to do yet, and
You're gonna utilize that platform that I'veput you on, and that's exactly what
this young man has done. We'regonna get you a break. This side
of the break. Will continue ourconversation again. He is Noah Martin.
I'm looking at their schedule for nextyear for Yeah, we're gonna talk about

(32:44):
game two a little bit. Youknow what traveling looks like. They're traveling
down to play the Gators. Isthat correct? That is correct. I'm
doing the Gator child. I'm nota big Gator fans now, I'm not.
I'm afer to that one. Wewill continue our conversation with Noah Martin.
This is Faith in the Zone.I'm the Big nine twenty of your

(33:06):
iHeart Radio App. Listen just saywelcome back to Faith in the Zone,
a show about sports and faith andwhen the two come together. Faith in
the Zone is brought to you byDonovan and Jorgensen, Heating and Coulan.

(33:30):
Let's continue with Michael Gibbs and PastorKen Kiltner only on the Big nine twenty
and your iHeartRadio App. Welcome backto Faith in the Zone on the Big
nine twenty in your iHeart Radio Appbody, I'm Mike be given alongside Pastor Ken
Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church and ourguest he is Noah Martin, linebacker Sandford

(33:53):
University. Hey, Pastor, Iso his testimony to me was incredible because
here's a young guy whose dad isa pastor, and he knows, he
knows right from wrong, he knowsthe direction. But when he said,
look, I needed to make thisthis statement of my own right, and

(34:13):
his dad is calling, have youfound a church? Have all the things
that his dad, as a father, we should be doing. And the
Ultimate Father God his attention and said, okay, listen, I'm gonna catch
your attention. I'm gonna pull youout of this car, make sure that
you're healthy. But understand that nowthere's so much more for you to do.
And when he talks about, youknow, getting more involved with the

(34:35):
Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He isthe group leader for the Sanford Office of
Spiritual Life, doing Bible studies withteammates, doing Bible studies with his fiance,
he now he got his attention,and I think Lord is very happy
with what he's doing now. Yeah, and I think Noah that you know,

(34:57):
the Lord has a great plan Imean, he's given you a great
platform. We've had Tony Dungeon before, and he talks about that platform.
And you know, I know you'vegotten some honors, you know, not
only in high school but even incollege for your play on the field.
And and you're coming up right nowthis this is your last season. Is
that correct? Yeah? That isgreat. Yeah, so we'll be we'll

(35:21):
be seeing how God will last seasonin college. Yeah, last season in
college. You never know. Yeah, we'll see how he plays against those
gay that Gator speed. We'll seehow that goes. That article that we
that I referenced the first segment,here's the second favorite paragraph, and that's
this is his coach saying about NoahMartin. He said, he shows up

(35:42):
with with his lunch pail and hardhat on each and every day. He's
a tough competitor. He doesn't saya lot, but when he does,
the guys listen to him. Helets his pads do his talking. And
I thought, man, that's perfect, right, exact opposite of me.
I talked a lot, didn't thatcouldn't back any of it, though,
here's a guy who done say muchand back all of that up. Hey,

(36:05):
getting back to that article, andI know that we wanted to spend
a couple of minutes on this thing. So when when when you went for
your official visit or a visit atChattanooga and they brought you to a game,
They didn't have a name tape foryou, they didn't have tickets for
you. You had to wait fora while to even get into the game.
You know at that minute, youwere not staying home, right,

(36:27):
Yeah, I you know. AndI'll try to talk a little bit nicer
than I did in that article,you know, just trying to you don't
you don't want you don't want Chattanoogahave bulletin board. No, you know
that the head coach at Chattanooga isthe best man in my wedding. I
don't know who told you that.I'm just kidding. No, I don't
know any of those guys. I'monly kidding. No, Yeah, I

(36:50):
mean, you know, just kindof you know, for me, it
just fell a little bit you know, disrespectful, regardless you know of who
I am and what you know,stature or I have, whether it's a
five star recruit whatever, you know, just going to the game and being
from Chattanooga, you know, Imean, I know, they knew who
I was, just because I wasfrom the area, you know, to
go to the game and not havea ticket, not have your name tag,

(37:14):
it was just it seemed a littleyou know, kind of like a
s flap in the stace, justlike, oh, oh you're here.
Okay, well you know, we'llfive general quick. So definitely fired me
up a good dait, you know. I mean we didn't stay at the
game very long just because we kindof knew from that point okay, they're
not really looking at me seriously,you know, And so as unfortunate as
that was, you know, itdefinitely being at Sanford gave me a little

(37:37):
bit extra motivation. You know,every time I play them, So have
you had a pretty good game againstthem? Every time? You know,
I would say, so, youknow, they've had our number a few
times, you know, here andthere. Definitely that game there was one
of the better ones I had thatseason. And I think looking back on
this one, I've you know,played them pretty solid. I always played
them hard, I'll say that,regardless of I mean I have I definitely

(38:00):
definitely want to make sure they feelme, you know, when I hit
them, So man, I wouldassume especially that first time that a few
of your your high school teammates showedup, you had some family at the
game, and and that's always aspecial feeling. I would imagine how far
is from where you live now?How far is it to to to Stamford?

(38:23):
Yeah, so to Sanford is abouttwo depending on traffic, about two
and a half hours. Man,So your family could coach see you play
any home game? Right? Oh? Yeah, well they you know,
as often as it is. AndI'm very thankful for this and just kind
of the support that they've had.They have not missed a game, any
of my college games and honestly,any of my high school games. They
have not missed the games. Ican't remember the last time they even missed

(38:45):
a game since I was in middleschool. Man, I love that.
Good for them. I'm really happythat that, you know, they've made
that priority. Do you have brothers, sisters? Two sisters? I'm actually
in the middle, an older sisterwho she lives in Ohio now, and
then I have a younger sister whoshe's that Stamford with me. Man,

(39:06):
are athletes your sisters they were?Yeah? So they both played soccer in
high school and then my younger sisterwas a big basketball player, so both
of them played. Yeah, playedall throughout high school and then my older
sister played I think our senior yearstudent up playing basketball too. So definitely
definitely have some athletes in the family. They have that Noah Martin toughness when

(39:29):
they're on the field. Oh yeah, more than that. You know that
they're tougher than me. Definitely.That definitely not hard nos just kind of
aggressive. Maybe not graceful, butaggressive. And like I said, we'll
do anything, you know, dowhat the coach asked you to do.
Hey, I know, when whenI do some research for the show,
I looked up and you're majoring inaccounting and minoring in Spanish. Is that

(39:52):
correct? That is correct, guesssir man. How are you doing a
grade? Wise? You're taking careof you? Is this in the classroom?
I am well enough, I wouldsay, well enough, so of
course graduate graduating the semester. Butyou know, thankfully, I actually just
finished my internship with the accounting firmand I actually just got a job offer,

(40:15):
so obviously did well enough with gradesand all that to get a job,
so I'll take it. Well.Hey, if you have any trouble
with Spanish. Don't call me becauseI speak bubba Spanish and bubba Spanish is
a little bit like como usta ustead. Yeah all right, but my wife,
my wife majored in Spanish, spenttime in Spain. So if you
need some help with Spanish, Noah, you you got my number. You

(40:37):
can give me a call and I'llget you connected and Kathy will be able
to help you with any Spanish shedid call me or you in a coast
accounting, I can't spell it,but I'm pretty sure I know what it
means. And if I can borrowten bucks from you at the end of
the show, Castro, I thinkhe's not calling me for accounting. Yeah,
don't call me. Kathy takes careof all of our our I tell

(40:59):
I. Tell man, she wasn'twatching our money. We'd both be in
jail. If you want to talkto flex offense in basketball, I'm this
guy. Other than that, I'mnot sure why he'd be calling me.
I can tell you that. Yeah, And if you want to go leadership,
you know, my boys called DaveLong more than they call me about
what they need to do, youknow, finances and what should I do

(41:20):
in this scenario? So you gota great connection there with Dave Long,
so keep that, keep that going. Noah, Yes, sir, he's
been great. Name of his book. Speaking to Dave Long again, thank
you so much for the introduction billto Lead seven Management Reward Principles to become
a top top ten percent manager,and you can go to Amazon to pick

(41:42):
that up. We're going to getto a break again. He's just a
really fun show for us. Here'sa young man who's still in college right.
In fact, we're holding him upright now. He's got to get
to class. But for him tobe able to talk about his testimony,
talk about playing football, talk abouthis just like for the University of Chattanooga.
That's my favorite part of this thing. He is Noah Martin. And

(42:05):
we will get to that last segmentwhere we ask him the question every uniform
he has ever put on, whichone does he pull out, who does
he play against? And why.We'll do that. On the other side
of the break, this is Faithin the Zone. I'm the Big nine
twenty in your iHeart Radio. AppPortions of the following program will prerecorded.
I'm just say back to Faith inthe Zone, brought to you by Donovan

(42:37):
and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling, bI C Automotive and Brookside Baptist Church.
Here's Mike McGivern and Pastor Ken Kelderonly on the Big nine twenty and your
Rheart Radio App. Well, welcomeback to Faith in the Zone. I'm
the Big nine twenty in your iHeartRadio app coming live from the Donovan and
Jorgensen he did in Cooling Studios.Mike McGivern alongside Pastor Ken Keltner Brookside Baptist

(43:01):
Church. You know this show isairing on Saint Patrick's Day. Yeah,
I know that. Yeah, man, I'm one hundred percent Irish. I
know you're Irish. Yeah. Yeah, I don't do any of that anymore.
I don't even eat corn beef anymore. I don't know what happened to
me. Yeah, you're not gonnawear your lime green suit to church on
Sunday. No, No, Iam not one hundred percent one hundred percent

(43:22):
I am not. But hey,when this airs eight to nine on Sunday
mornings, you still have time comingup to Brookside Baptist Church and my wife
and I sit on the right sidein the back. We sit in the
back. His pastors of Baptist minister. He goes along. You know,
I can sneak out. You don'tsneak out. I watch you sneak I

(43:43):
don't sneak out. Our special guestis Noah Martin, linebacker from Samford University,
located in Birmingham, Alabama, anda leading nationally ranked Christian university.
No we love this last question thatwe ask our guests. All the uniforms
you've ever it on your entire life, we put them in a closet.
You pick, you get to pickone uniform out. What uniform do you

(44:06):
pick out to get one more gamewith that team? Who do you play
against? And why? I thinkwe know. I think I think we
know the answer. But going ahead, I think it's a it's definitely a
tough, tough question. I thinkthere's I wish I could say too.
You know, if I would lookback just kind of a couple years ago
and we were making our run inthe playoffs, you know for Stanford,

(44:30):
I definitely wish we could do backup against North Dakota State, you know,
and I wish our quarterback was healthy. A lot of stuff like that,
you know, But I will sayfrom that season, you know,
we did win our conference and gota conference ring, and that is awesome,
you know, And that's something thatI hadn't done before, wondering before
if I could really say something,I really wish I could go back to
and replay again. It would definitelybe back in high school my senior year.

(44:53):
I wish I could go back andplay this NBA Montgomery Bell Academy in
Nashville. You know, we lostin the quarterfinals of the playoffs. It
was like twelve to seven oh andone. That you know, just looking
back and talking with those guys andjust that team, but just as a
special team and just like a specialbond that we had with everyone. And

(45:13):
I really think I believe that ifwe had gone past that game, I
think we would have gone on towin state. We went nine and one
in the regular season, have lostour rivals, and I was really hoping
that if they did, they endup making to the state championship that game,
and I think if if we hadgone past that game, I think
we would have made it to thestate championship against them, and I really
think we would have beat them,you know. So that's one of those

(45:34):
that you know, I don't livein the past. That if I could
suit up one more time, andif I could play with my boys back
in high school, that would definitelybe the game past your gito high school
a lot more than most. That'swhat the answer we get with that question.
And when we talked to Matthew acouple of weeks ago, my son,
Matthew went right back to high schoolbecause of the bond that he had

(45:54):
with your son and that team.And there's something to be said. Yeah,
I coached in the high school ranksfor a really long time. There's
something to be said about that journeythose four years in high school when you're
playing, especially if you're playing withguys that you grew up with and you
played Little League baseball with and andPop Warner football and all of that.

(46:15):
So, Noah, that's what agreat answer. That is your senior year
in high school. He is NoahMartin again, linebacker. I'm now a
Samford University football fan and I can'twait till the football season to watch his
kid play and I will be rootingfor them. Pastor, thank you so
much, Thank Dave Long for thisintroduction. Hey Noah, get to class,

(46:37):
get your homework done. Don't makeme come to Birmingham, Alabama and
yell at you about your grades.Bell Oh not I that's awesome, Pastor.
It's good to see you, seeyou have you on. Noah,
go get Chattanooga, Go get him. We don't like Chattanooga anymore. I
can tell you that this is Faithin the Zone. I'm a Big nine

(46:58):
twenty in your iHeart Radio app.Say you've been listening to Faith in the
Zone, brought to you by BrooksideBaptist Church, thought of it in Jargonson
Heating and Cooling and Bic Automotive.Faith in the Zone airs every Sunday morning
at eight am, only on theBig nine twenty and your iHeartRadio App.