Ohio Outfielder Nehemiah Toles Turned Down Division I Baseball Offers and MLB Interest to Preach the Gospel
Fox's 'Deprogrammed' series profiles a former top Ohio high school outfielder who says baseball was his passion, not his purpose. Everything here is his own account.
Fox News profiles a young man who gave up a baseball career to preach, in a story from its "Deprogrammed" series.
The choice. Nehemiah Toles was a star outfielder in Ohio with multiple Division I college offers and Major League scouts watching as he neared high school graduation, Fox reports. He turned all of it down to become a full-time evangelist. "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," he told Fox News Digital.
The turning point. Toles says he grew up in a household of faith, with a pastor father who was moving into evangelism, but thought religion was "corny" as a kid. He says he used baseball as a "coping mechanism" for anxiety and depression that peaked during the 2020 pandemic. He says he went back to church and "felt the presence of God just hit me," and that his anxiety and depression left. Fox describes a championship game in which he was ranked the state's top outfielder, and says his coach told him three Division I coaches had confirmed offers before he touched home plate. His father cried at news of the offers, which Toles says included Yale. That night, he says, he felt God ask: "Is that enough? Was that what you were looking for?"
The decision. Toles says he served at a community event for children in need shortly after the game and found it "something deeper" and "more satisfying" than home runs. He says he then called about half of the Division I coaches and told them he was going into ministry. Counselors, coaches and family pushed back, and he says the pressure made him question the choice before he heard an answer that was clearer than ever: "obedience to me will always be insanity to the world."
Now. Toles runs his own ministry and travels the country preaching to young people, according to Fox.
Note for readers: this is a first-person profile. We have not independently confirmed the offers or the scouting interest, and the Fox piece does not include comment from his coaches or family.