Working with Common Ground Montgomery in the summer of 2015, Lee Mayhall heard answers to questions that broke his heart.
As he led eight third-grade boys in Bible study in the urban youth ministry, he started asking about their family life.
“Almost all of them, their fathers were not in their lives. The brokenness of their homes really broke my heart, just the things they were saying and how normal it was to them. Some of them called me Dad. I just really hurt because I didn’t want what they see in their lives to be a generational thing that happened over and over again,” said Mayhall, a wide receiver on the University of North Alabama (UNA) football team who completed his senior season in 2015.
“God began to show me what He really means by loving people and He began to give me a burden for the poor and for loving people in the urban community,” he said.
But Mayhall’s heart hasn’t been the only thing broken. During a game in 2014, he broke his right ankle and fibula. By June 2015 he wondered if he would be able to play his senior year.
But Mayhall went from being told that he may never play again to being named a first-team All-American and first-team All-Gulf South Conference (GSC) in 2015.
Making an impact
On the field and off, in the classroom and spiritually, Mayhall has made an impact at UNA.
At the end of the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Mayhall, who is a chemistry major with a 3.97 GPA, was named first-team Capital One Academic All-America. He was the first football player in school history to be named Academic All-America. He also was named Academic All-GSC in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and GSC Commissioner’s Top 10 in 2014.
UNA head football coach Bobby Wallace said, “He is such a great football player and student and obviously he is one of the best in the country to [be named Academic All-America]. It’s a great honor for us to have him selected.
“[Mayhall] is a great leader. He is a great example and great role model for young players. He is an influence and obviously has a great spiritual effect on the players. … You have to walk the walk. You can’t just talk the talk.”
Mayhall’s spiritual impact is driven by his hope.
“There is always hope for something better and that is Christ and being completely redeemed with Him in heaven. I think that is the hope that drives me. I think that it starts with the cross.
“Without being intentional with God, you realize how much you can’t do on your own and how much you fail. … To worship God, that is my sole identity. Nothing else gives me value in life (more than) knowing that,” Mayhall said.
The spring semester of his freshman year at UNA was the turning point. Mayhall realized he was living an “empty life.”
Although he had grown up going to church, he was unsure whether he was a Christian.
When Mayhall came to UNA his goal was “to have as much fun now and then I can settle down and get my relationship back with God when I get out of college.”
That spring Mayhall met Campus Outreach director Michael Cody, who became his spiritual mentor. Cody shared the gospel in a way Mayhall had not heard before.
Mayhall said, “I got super interested in my faith and God has really started a work in me. … He showed me that I was living for myself, for my own personal glories, (for) my comfort and my life was all about me. He started breaking me down and showing me that my hope was not in Him but in this world. He continued to break me down internally and show me who He really was.”
And football has been a platform for Mayhall.
“It’s just a great opportunity to share my faith with [my teammates] because they are my friends. … I feel like I have a love that can connect,” he said.
Cody calls Mayhall “a magnet. … He is an easy guy for guys from a lot of different backgrounds to trust and build a relationship with real quickly. He is able to share Christ with them and has a lot of credibility when he shares Christ because he demonstrates personal love for them.”
Quarterback Jacob Tucker said, “He doesn’t have to say a word to show God’s love. He is able to demonstrate it through his actions and that is what makes him so special.”
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