(upbeat music)

- $37.5 million.

When Jason Brown signedwith the St. Louis Rams,

he was the highest paidcenter in NFL history.

Three years later, Jasonwalked away from football

to become a farmer.

Family and friends thought he was crazy.

So why did he do it?

Take a look.

- [Narrator] Jason Brown wasonce the highest paid center

in the NFL.

He had a job most people only dreamed of.

At home, his marriage andfamily were suffering.

At the height of his career,

he walked away from it all,purchased a thousand acre farm

and embraced a life he knew nothing about.

In his book "Centered",Jason shares his story

of leaving behindfootball, fame, and fortune

to feed the hungry.

- Please welcome to "The700 Club" Jason Brown.

Jason, great to have you with us today.

- Good morning, thank you for having me.

- Jason, you didn't reallygrow up with a big dream

of being in the NFL, but it was something.

Football in itself was something that

kind of helped you get someof the other goals you wanted,

just to get off to college,that kind of thing.

So how did the NFL come about for you?

- So the thing is,

is that it was always abusiness decision for me.

I knew that I wanted to take the burden

of paying for collegeaway from my parents.

So at first I tried to earn ascholarship through academics,

until my high school coach,Randy Long, came up to me

and said, "Hey, I need you onmy football team, all right?

And we have a losing team

and you're the biggest guy in school.

I need you protecting my quarterback."

And I said, "Look, coach, I'mjust focused on the academics.

I'm focusing on earnestearning a scholarship."

And he said, "Look, don'tyou know that you can earn

a scholarship playing football?"

And I said, "You can?"

And that opened up the door for me.

And then when I got to college,

I started to realize that, okay,

God has blessed me with someserious talents and gifts

in the sport of playing football,

and my college coach, hesowed the same seed and said,

"Hey, you can be on the fast track.

And I believe you can make it in the NFL."

And then I was like, really?

I mean, I was just, youknow, some country kid

from North Carolina, youknow, not really thinking

that I was going to ridethis wave for that long.

- You know, Jason, it alllooks so good on the outside,

and people look at people like yourself

who've been so successful,

who've had these amazingfinancial contracts

and all the fame andfortune that goes with it,

but there's a price tagfor that, isn't there?

- Oh yeah, theredefinitely is a price tag.

My first year in the NFL as a rookie,

I equated it as beingthrown into the lion's den.

And I had no idea what Iwas getting myself into.

And I know a lot of people judge

these young players thatare, they're 21, 22 years old

that are then handed these big contracts

with millions of dollars, and come on now.

Everyone can think back towhen they're 21, 22 years old.

You're not the wisest in the world, okay?

But yet life is comingat you very, very fast.

And unfortunately, Ididn't have my foundation

and I didn't have my relationship.

It wasn't right with Christ at the time.

- What you did have was awife that you loved very much.

You had family that wasgrowing at that point,

and you realize this wasall taking you somewhere

that you were really uncomfortable with.

How did the farm come to playin the middle of all of that?

- So the big act of faith

really came from an inspirational story

from my older brother,Lunsford Bernard Brown II,

older by seven years.

He served our countryin Iraq and Afghanistan

and he paid the ultimate sacrifice.

He was slain in service, and that really

just pierced my heart to its core

because I saw that my brotherhad lived a life of service.

All right, and even Jesussays, "What greater deed

than a man lay down hislife for his friends?"

Well, my Lord and saviorJesus Christ, he did that,

and my older brother, hepaid that sacrifice as well,

and so it pierced my heart saying,

"Jason, what more can youdo to live a life of service

and to live a life ofloving thy neighbor?"

And when I did that soul searching

and that coming to Jesus moment,

and Jesus, he told me exactlywhat he wanted me to do.

He said, "I want you to feed my sheep.

I want you to take care of my people."

And not just ministering tofolks and sharing with them

the word of God, butliterally feeding his people.

And I said, "All right, God.

What exactly does that look like?"

Well, it looks very much like a farm.

- Wow, and I want tosay you were not someone

who had any experience with farming

and people might know whatwe've talked about in your story

and say, "Well, he had this big contract."

So you buy the thousand acrefarm, but then you say to God,

"God, I want to betotally dependent on you.

I want to have to cometo you for everything."

And boy, God took you at your word.

You were stripped of everythingand left to farm this land.

What did you think when that happened?

- So I was out here on this farm by myself

and I weeped and I cried up to heaven.

I thought God had forsaken me.

I said, "Why would youbring me here to this farm?

And you see that I'm a farmer.

I need seed money, all right?

I need equipment.

I need help."

And God directed me back to him, okay?

We are tied to a kingdom withunlimited resources all right?

We are tied to a God that is so loving

and he wants to bless us as his children.

And so the thing is, I hadto get down on my knees,

and I had to pray for my daily bread.

I had to pray for the resources.

I had to pray for everything.

And that's where the miracle comes in,

that many people think thatthe success that we've had

here at First Fruits Farm,the millions of pounds of food

that we have grown, harvested, and donated

over the past severalyears, that it was all done

by a former professional football player,

that it was all done in myown might, and I told them no.

It's all done by God's glory.

God did it all.

- Want to say those beautiful children

that we were just looking at are yours.

You and Tay have eight children.

Your family is up to yourelbows in farming and using

what God has given youto supply food to people

who don't have any.

Jason Brown's book is called

"Centered: Trading Your Plansfor a Life That Matters"

and it's a great read.

I highly recommend it.

It's available wherever books are sold.

Sure wish we had more time,but Jason, oops, thank you.

What a great thing you're doingand loved reading the book.

Bless you. (laughing)

- Thank you so much.