VALDOSTA — Everything has fallen into place for John Mark Stephenson.
Stephenson, a three-sport athlete at Valdosta High School last year, had already decided to attend Faulkner University and study ministry, and planned to try out for the Eagles’ baseball team. But then he met the golf coach, and now he will be pitching with a wedge instead of a baseball.
Stephenson has signed a golf scholarship to Faulkner, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in Montgomery, Ala.
“I’m excited. It just got sprung on me,” Stephenson said. “God just opened doors for me. I give all the credit to Him.”
When Stephenson traveled to Faulkner last week, he planned to talk to the school’s baseball coach about playing for the Eagles. But then he met Faulkner golf coach Brent Barker. Barker needed golfers, and had scholarship money to offer. So Stephenson decided to put his mitt back in the closet, and bring out his clubs instead.
“I went there to try out for the baseball team, but then the golf team made me a good offer,” Stephenson said. “(Barker) said he didn’t want to change my decision, but when he offered that scholarship, it wasn’t hard to decide (on golf).”
“He’ll do real well there,” Valdosta High golf coach Ashley Henderson said. “It was a good match for him, because he wanted to go to that school to become a minister, and then they had some golf money for him.”
Stephenson looks forward to playing on Faulkner’s two home courses, a Robert Trent Jones course in nearby Prattville and the Arrowhead Country Club in Montgomery. The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill hosts an LPGA event in November, and has been ranked one of the top 50 courses in the U.S.
Very few athletes play three sports at the AAAAA level. But Stephenson did last year for Valdosta. He pitched for the baseball team. He kicked and punted for the football team. And he was the golf team’s top player.
“It was a great opportunity to play all three sports,” Stephenson said. “It was an awesome experience.”
He played both baseball and golf for Valdosta in the spring. Henderson and VHS baseball coach Bart Shuman agreed to let him play both.
“Coach Shuman let me play both sports, which is real hard to do. He and Coach Henderson were real supportive when I said I wanted to play baseball and golf,” Stephenson said.
“He was a closer, punter, kicker and No. 1 golfer last year. That’s a great year,” Henderson said.
Stephenson actually still has the option of trying to walk on for the baseball team, and the football coach has also talked to him, but says he plans to focus on just one sport in college, at least for now.
Focusing on one sport for the first time, Stephenson believes his golf game will improve.
“Now I can just concentrate on golf, so I can get better,” he said. “Playing two spring sports made it hard to practice a lot. Now I’m just playing golf.”
“His best golf is in front of him, now that he’s concentrating on golf,” Henderson said. “He can play. He can hit it a mile.”
Stephenson will be a ministry major at Faulkner. The devout Christian plans to become a youth minister, and wants to work with kids.
“I want to go into youth ministry,” he said. “I have a great youth minister at my church, Chris Petty. I feel like I have a calling to do that, and that’s a job I think I will like. I love youth ministry. I’ve seen the effect my youth minister has had on my life, and I want to have an effect on others’ lives.”
Stephenson is currently spending three weeks in the Ukraine, doing mission work with a group from the Central Avenue Church of Christ. The group will be holding Bible school for both kids and adults in a country where Christianity is still being reintroduced, after being suppressed during decades of communist rule. The Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union from 1922-91.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a great experience,” he said before departing last Friday. “We’ve been sending people over there, and it struck me that I wanted to go. It’s a different world over there. I hope we can bring kids to Christ.”
Local Sports
Valdosta golfer signs with Faulkner
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VSU teams hosting summer camps
