S9:E2 | Kary Oberbrunner

Cedarville Stories

Overcoming Rejection

Kary Oberbrunner was an angry kid who questioned God at every turn. But at the age of 12, he accepted Christ and wanted to grow in his faith. However, this didn’t end his doubts and debilitating battle with guilt that drove him to self-harm.

It was a deep dive into the Psalms that started to turn Kary’s life around. The psalmist’s real struggles with faith encouraged him to journal — emptying his pain on the page — something he does to this day.

When it came time to graduate high school, Kary was uncertain about what he wanted to do with his life or if he even wanted to attend college. Somewhat aimless, he decided to follow his high school girlfriend to Grace College, only to break up on their first day as college freshmen.

Broken and confused, he stayed at Grace and with guidance from his peers and professors, he decided to pursue becoming a United States Air Force chaplain. Similar to his broken high school relationship, his dream of becoming a chaplain ended because he was turned away by the Air Force due to an asthma condition.

Still somewhat aimless, Kary graduated from college and soon thereafter earned a master’s degree from Grace Seminary. His theology education led him to become a pastor at a small country church in Ohio.

But Kary felt stagnant. He was bored, so he pursued a doctorate degree and started writing books. His soul was ignited, and he quickly became a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author and the CEO of Igniting Souls Publishing Agency.

Today, Kary continues to feed his entrepreneurial spirit by leading Igniting Souls and Blockchain Life businesses, but he’s also become the Berry Chair of Entrepreneurship for Cedarville’s Robert W. Plaster School of Business.