Note: Hope Athletics will profile student-athletes from all 22 of its varsity sports throughout the 2015-16 school year and highlighting their pursuits and achievements in the classroom.

Story by Dean Holzwarth and photo by Alan Babbitt

The demands of a three-sport high school athlete kept Hope College junior golfer Alec Breit away from church for a few years.

Breit competed in soccer, basketball and golf at Western Michigan Christian High School in Muskegon. His multiple commitments simply didn't allow the time to stay connected to an aspect of his life that he was involved in from a young age.   

Fast forward to now, and Breit has returned to his roots in ministry.

Breit has been serving an internship for the past year at Victory Point Church in Holland as a ministry leader. He is responsible for organizing and choosing songs while leading worship two Sundays a month. 

He commits nine hours a week to the church, which also includes creating slides and administrative duties.

"It's been pretty awesome," Breit said. "My golf coach hooked me up with the worship leader there and we developed a relationship. He's a great person to work under and I'm growing in a lot of different areas of ministry. 

"I think I'm growing at a faster rate than I would at a bigger church. It's a good size for me. I have a lot of opportunities to use the gifts that God has given me."

The musical side of the church attracted Breit at an early age with the encouragement of his dad, Darren Breit.

"My dad was in a rock band and he got me into the musical aspect of it," said Breit, who plays acoustic guitar and sings. "He got me playing in a worship team when I was 13, and then that opened doors at a different church (Harvest Bible Chapel). When I was 17 or 18 and I took a lead role in worship."

Breit's passion for the church is coupled with another interest.

He is a member of the Hope Entrepreneur Initiative, which employs students to launch their business ideas, while providing faith-based business mentorship.

Breit is a management major at Hope. He also is pursuing minors in ministry and leadership.

First, Breit started a boat detailing company through the Hope Entrepreneur Initiative. "Now I'm in the process of working on a new idea and being employed through that," he said.

Breit said his plans following college are "up in the air". He is intrigued by both professional arenas.

"I'm really torn," he said. "I could see myself going into ministry full-time, but I can also see myself working for a company with strong values that are in line with where I am as an individual with a greater platform to give back to the community. Not just pursuing the business world."

Breit's schedule leave little time for rest, and he has seen both sides of juggling all of his extra-curricular activities.  

"It's really difficult, but I do them for personal growth or to develop my resume," Breit said. "There are negative and positive effects of being involved in so much, but those are the great experiences of being a college student."

Golf, which has been a part of his life since he was walking, serves as an outlet.

"I go straight to golf after classes and do what comes naturally," Breit said. "I have a lot of thinking time on the course. It's a release, but it's an enjoyable thing that keeps me grounded and focused." 

Hope men's golf coach Bob Ebels said Breit stays true to himself and is dedicated in the pursuit of his goals after college. 

"He's happy with who he is and he knows who he is," he said. "There's no question in his mind about the plan he has for his life and that gives him a very good base of comfort to do well academically because he's not vacillating from one to anther."

Ebels believes Breit's calling is ministry.

"I think right now he's deeply in love with being involved in worship leading," Ebels said. "He really enjoys that and he is good at it. God uses him in a very special way that way."