In the state of Oklahoma, being the starting quarterback at Tulsa’s Jenks High School is like wearing a crown of royalty. Just ask actor/filmmaker Brian Presley, who held the position for three years as a teenager. But, as part of a Christian home, Presley knew his role was about more than football, so he maximized his platform by standing for his faith, even being named the state’s FCA Athlete of the Year as a senior in 1996. Even then he knew he was called to make a difference in the world for Christ.

From a spiritual perspective, my parents raised us according to the Christian norms that were prevalent in the late ’60s, but we never went to church, and I didn’t have an understanding of what it meant to have a relationship with Christ. I had a reasonably good moral compass, but it wasn’t grounded in the truth of Scripture. We sought to do good to others and do the right things, but we were more of what you’d call “happy pagans.”

Ever since Leslie Frazier was born on April 3, 1959, in the midst of many personal and social complexities in the segregated South, life has been a trade-off of big trials and big successes. But in each instance, the truth of Romans 8:28—Frazier’s favorite verse—has been validated. He knows that God truly does work for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose.

He knows because he is living proof.

Although Grace Johnson isn’t balancing on the beam anymore, the former All-American gymnast from the University of Georgia is as close to the sport as she’s ever been. Only now, instead of doing handsprings herself, she’s teaching others. The athletes she now coaches at the Oconee Gymnastics Center in Watkinsville, Georgia, are reaping the benefits of not only high-quality gymnastics training, but also many of the spiritual and life lessons that Johnson learned during her own time on the floor.