Jason Brown - Centered: Trading Your Plans for a Life That Matters

A remarkable story in which family, deep self-reflection, and an unshakable belief in a path predestined by God triumph over fortune and comfort. There truly is no testimony without a testa point Jason proves many times over in this wonderfully impactful read.

John Harbaugh, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens

Former NFL player Jason Brown walked away from comfort and familiarity in 2012 to accept a new calling that was out of his comfort zone. As owner of First Fruits Farm in North Carolina, Brown is known today as the Sweet Potato Whisperer. Farming has stretched him and his family yet brought them closer together and benefited countless families in need. The stories Jason shares point to a heavenly Father who loves to bless those who are obedient to His call.

James Robison , founder and president of LIFE Outreach International

This story chronicles the sacrifices, trials, and ultimately the provision, protection, purpose, and blessings that Jason and Tay Brown found as they left wealth and riches to follow Gods call to serve in His kingdom. As Jesus said, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to do this. Their lives offer inspiration to everyone, and this book gives pause and a chance for self-reflection of ones own choices and priorities. Jason and Tay Brown are an inspiration of courage, faith, and commitment to God, family, and community.

John Mahshie, executive director of Veterans Healing Farm

Jason Brown has led a life of commitment! Jason was the heart and soul of our program at UNC. His faith in God and family has secured his lifes journey thru the NFL to a farmer for mankind!

John Bunting, former NFL/college player, coach, and radio/TV analyst

Jason Browns inspiring journey told in Centered is a powerful self-reflection of a life filled with pride, humility, and a series of twists and turns that ultimately drove him and his family to give it all up, only to gain it all back and more, through his dramatic decision to walk by faith and follow Gods confusing and, at times, questionable calling. Centered is real faith at its core, depicting the challenging pressures of todays society as well as its destructive and thinly veiled version of success. Jasons most honest and vulnerable moments turn todays cultural views upside down and thrust readers into questioning the depth of their own faith and personal relationship with God, forcing them to reexamine their own priorities, beliefs, and choices to live with divine purpose.

Chip Paillex, president and founder of Americas Grow-a-Row

Centered is engaging, enlightening, and reflective. Jason tells a very personal storyfrom being bullied as a child in a racially segregated community to becoming the highest paid center in the NFL, then retiring at the height of his career to follow Gods calling for him. His joy and fulfillment from helping others, while overcoming his own despair when his farm was on the verge of bankruptcy, is motivating. This is an excellent read from an inspiring person.

Bubba Cunningham, director of athletics at the University of North Carolina

Jason Browns story is bathed in Scripture, and his journey through faith and obedience is cut straight from the Old Testament. Examples of Job, Joseph, and Daniel all come to mind as Jason rises above worldly success and acts obediently to share Christ with the hurting.

Edward Graham, Samaritans Purse

Jason Browns story is a remarkable testament to living a life that exemplifies the true qualities most of us desire but too often fall short of attaining. At age twenty-seven, at the height of his NFL career filled with prestige, fame, and worldly fortune, he walked away from it all. Jasons rock-solid faith led him to farming and a new life, of abundance and blessings for his family and neighbors in need, well beyond anything he could have imagined.

Joe Lampl, Emmy Awardwinning creator and executive producer of Growing a Greener World and founder of joegardener.com

Be careful what you pray for. The thought crept into my mind as I squinted through the cloud of mayflies and mosquitoes buzzing all around me, biting me, sucking me dry.

I was in the middle of my farm in 2014, mowing fields on an ancient tractor that wheezed and growled as I ran over and cut and crushed the stubborn Carolina growth. Brush hogging, they call it, and the jobs just as tough and ugly as it sounds. The sun beat down on me like a mallet. Sweat ran down my face, turning my shirt as wet as a washcloth. Dust billowed up from the parched ground in angry, empty clouds, the grit coating my clothes, my hat, my skin.

It got inside me too. With each breath, I sucked in Carolina dirt. Every time I blew my nose, black mess came out.