‘N word made it personal’: Football player turned doctor says Alabama ministry vandalized

Someone broke into the RANSOM property and stole the windows and doors that we were planning to install this upcoming week! I’m highly frustrated because they had packaged items up to come steal more. The N word made it personal. I’ll have to spend some time with God on this one. I try to help with all I have. This property is to help change the life trajectories of college students and kids. This is my life’s mission and passion. I’m the most frustrated at this time. Not going to stop
the mission. Whoever did this didn’t take from me, they took from my kids. Don’t mistake the faith part for weakness. And I realize that law enforcement can’t do anything about this. I’ll figure out a solution.

The founder of an Alabama-based Christian organization took to social media to express his shock and disappointment after he discovered items had been stolen and a racial slur had been spray painted on a property set to become a retreat center once completed.

Dr. Jeremy Towns, a former NFL player and resident at UAB Hospital, is the founder of RANSOM, Radical Athlete and Student Oasis Ministry, focused on spreading the message of Christ on college campuses and in various communities. The vandalism happened on the construction grounds of what the organization calls the RANSOM Retreat Center. In 2021, the organization purchased a 96-acre property with a lake in Dora, according to its website.

Towns posted about the incident on Facebook early Saturday and shared with two short videos showing damage, including the N-word spray painted on the wall of the building’s attached garage. Efforts to reach him for comment weren’t immediately successful late Saturday.

“The N word made it personal. I’ll have to spend some time with God on this one,” Towns said in the Facebook post. According to Towns’ post, someone stole windows and doors that were set to be installed next week.

“This is my life’s mission and passion,” Towns continued. “Whoever did this didn’t take from me, they took from my kids. Don’t mistake the faith part for weakness.”

Towns, a Wenonah High School grad who played college football at Samford, concluded his post with saying that he’d figure out a solution to the problem.

A short time later, Towns made a second post about the situation, stating that he had “flipped his mindset to joy”.

“I gave myself a couple hours to be mad. Then, I flipped my mindset to joy. Why? I’m not an angry person. No one died. No one got hurt,” Towns said in the Facebook post. “[I] talked to God about it and He reminded me that it was my choice to choose Joy! Life can’t whoop me!”

The organization is currently taking tax-deductible gifts via Venmo at @RANSOM-U or CashApp at $RANSOMU.