Buckingham County High School’s varsity football team received a message of guidance and hope from a county native who came back to speak with them Saturday at the school.

That someone was Marcus Oliver, who released his first book July 22 entitled, “I Made it Because of Him: From a Life of Crime to a New Life in Christ.”

He attended the high school back in the late 1980s but left in 1989. He got involved in drugs which led to time in prison.

“I spent seven years in Buckingham, but inside Buckingham cage, you know what I’m saying? The Dillwyn penitentiary,” Oliver said. “But God is so awesome to give me an opportunity to get outside the cage and just witness to folks what He’s done for me. There’s nothing like it, man. I’m just doing this for God, not for me.”

In the moments leading up to the message that he delivered to the Buckingham Knights, he said, “This is something new. I’ve spoken in front of older folks in churches and inmates and different events, but (this is) the first time I ever spoke to kids.”
He indicated that he couldn’t wait to see what the Lord had in store.

Oliver had been invited to speak by Buckingham football coaches after Assistant Coach Mike Edwards showed Head Varsity Coach Josh Wallace a video on Facebook about Oliver.

“We were looking at it together, and we were like, ‘Man, this is awesome. This is a cool story,’” Wallace said. “And then there was a book signing he was having, and I believe (Coach Edwards’) wife was going go to it. And he had suggested, ‘Hey, why don’t we have this guy come up?’ I said, ‘That’s a great idea, Coach.’”

Before going up to speak, Oliver said he just wanted to let the young people know that they can make it, that they can focus on and trust in God, keep things positive, hang with positive people and listen to their mother and father.

He did not shy away from noting some of the difficult parts of his life to those in attendance Saturday.

“I am a convicted felon,” he told them, later adding that he is an ex-drug dealer. “I’ve done seven years in a Buckingham correctional facility. It was hard, but again, I’m glad that I did go to penitentiary because God had to sit me down to (help me) realize that He is God. … and I am so grateful what God has done for me.”

As his book details, God transformed him from a felon to a Christian, a joint-heir with Christ of an incorruptible inheritance in heaven.

Oliver has been out of prison for seven-and-a-half years now, and though earthly blessings are not guaranteed, he has a solid job and a wife.

“Jonathan Falwell at Liberty University has been a great help to me, giving me an opportunity to work there,” Oliver said before his speech Saturday. “… I’ve been working there five years as an admissions counselor.”

He told Saturday’s crowd that he started his book two-and-a-half years ago, though he did not see himself as a natural choice to be a writer.

“God chose me, and I said, ‘God, why did you choose me to write?’” Oliver said. “‘I only have a GED … I can’t spell that good.’ But He said that ‘I am the God of Abraham, I am the God of Jacob, I’m able to do all things.’”

Oliver noted that God helped Moses to speak, which was a key example of Him aiding someone who thought they might not be up to the task.

In searching for what to write about, Oliver said that God told him, “Write about what I’ve done for you.”

And Buckingham’s football players are the latest people to benefit from this story.