Without Risk, There is No Gain: Wyatt's Faith Journey- Part 3
Hi friends! Today is part 3 of Wyatt’s faith journey. God was clearly moving in his life to answer that prayer that Wyatt had lifted up repeatedly. “Lord, I don’t need to be known. I don’t need to be seen. But I’m asking if I can learn from godly men who are making a global impact for Christ.” I believe that is such a beautiful and powerful prayer. Today Wyatt also shares a story of God’s provision at the end that I absolutely love. Enjoy!
I met this guy, Jake Kissick, off an elevator at the conference. He was working with Josh McDowell’s ministry. I had read a lot of Josh’s stuff in college. If you’re not familiar with him, Josh McDowell is one of the OG, Christian apologists. He is up there with Francis Schaeffer and C.S. Lewis. Josh wrote books including, Evidence that Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter. He had set the stage for modern apologetics. Within the last 12 or 15 years, Josh’s research had also expanded outside of apologetics and began to delve into pornography. He was one of the first to do that.
A few years ago, Pornhub got pinned down by the media for connections with human trafficking. The result was a big response calling for the reevaluation of how we viewed pornography and the effects it had on teenagers. Because of my previous struggles, I loved to educate parents about pornography and talk about recovery. It was part of what I felt called to do.
As I talked to Jake, I felt the Holy Spirit’s presence in a way that I had never experienced before. It was like this weight on my chest. It was so crazy and so intense. At the conference, Jake led a breakout session on the effects of porn. When I talked to him afterward, my heart was racing. Thinking about it now, I can still feel it. I had no idea what the Lord was setting up, but I knew I felt the Holy Spirit’s presence. Something was happening.
What came out of that interaction was a potential opportunity to be Josh McDowell’s assistant. To travel with him. I thought, “Whoa, this is crazy. I don’t know what I’m about to do when I graduate college but shoot, I’ll at least pursue it.” So, I did, and then the Lord shut the door on it. It wasn’t the right time. It wasn’t a good fit at that point.
During my senior year at Tiffin, I was part of planting a church. I helped out with their youth and young adults. After college I was given the opportunity to work there. Being at the church allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of what went on behind the scenes and how the church functioned. I was so grateful for that experience. I saw the stress, worry, and logistical juggling that occurred. It gave me insights on the strategy behind how sermons were prepped, and people were discipled. I witnessed that being a pastor was one of the hardest jobs in the world, but also so rewarding.
Pastors were expected to run a church like a business, be a full-time counselor, a researcher in culture, and stay relevant and up to date on what’s going on. They had to have a deep understanding of the Bible and, on top of that, they were expected to be a great communicator, public speaker, friend, spouse, and father or mother. I got to see that in all its beauty and its broken pieces. It’s God’s bride. It’s a broken bride, but it’s a beautiful, beautiful bride.
That year was an incredible experience. It allowed me to step into the shoes of a pastor. It helped me more fully understand what they go through. I knew God was giving me direction toward some type of ministry as I left college, and although I loved teaching, I’m glad God took me out of the spotlight from speaking during that time. I am glad that he pulled me away so I could experience everything that I did.
As my first year at the church was coming to an end, and my contract was finishing, Josh McDowell’s team reached back out to me about a job. At the time, Josh was around 80 something years old and had shared the gospel with almost 50 million people. I was being offered an opportunity to learn from a godly man who had made a global impact for Christ. It was what I had been praying for, so I accepted the job.
Josh’s Ministry was part of Cru, Campus Crusade for Christ. That meant that every staff member had to raise their own support like a missionary. God provided there. In three months, He raised all my funds that were needed for the next couple of years.
Although Josh’s ministry was in Dallas, he lived in the Southern California area in Orange County. I had been hired to be his traveling assistant. He was on the road 300 days a year, so we were always going to be on the go. This made it difficult to find housing. I was not lazy in prep. I wrote letters and emailed as many churches in Orange County as I possibly could. I had a few leads but nothing stuck. I was looking for a host family or some connections to help me, but after months it was still unknown. So, when I flew from Ohio to California, I had no place to stay. I didn’t know what to expect, but there was a really cool God story in all of that.
When I arrived in California, I was driving around in a borrowed car trying to figure out where to go. I was at a red light and saw a church to my right. The sign said Crossline church. In that moment I felt the Holy Spirit telling me, “Go drive up in there.” I decided against it. When the light turned green, I kept on driving. Then I felt this nudge again from the Spirit telling me, “Do a U turn.” For some reason, I did. I drove back to the church, parked the car, and walked in the front office. When I got there, I asked if I could talk to a pastor.
When the pastor came out, I introduced myself. “Hi. I’m Wyatt and I just moved into town.” He told me his name was Kenny Luck. I proceeded to tell him that I was going to be working with Josh McDowell and described how I was going to be involved in that ministry. I explained that I was going to be traveling a lot, so I was looking to make some connections and possibly find a temporary place to stay.
As I was sharing this with him, Kenny’s jaw suddenly dropped. He said, “You’re not going to believe this.” I asked him what he meant. He replied, “I used to do exactly what you’re doing with Josh McDowell 30 years ago.”
Of the thousands of pastors and hundreds of churches in Orange County, the Holy Spirit had told me to go “drive up in there” to the exact one I needed to be at. Kenny and I just started laughing about it. He then invited me to show up the next morning at 6:30AM for a men’s bible study. He said that he would introduce me to some of the guys.
The next day I showed up expecting a small gathering. It was the opposite. It was a full-on production with live streaming at 6:30AM. There were about 120 guys that were all pumped up and high energy in the church. Kenny got up and did his thing. Then at the very end he said, “I have one more thing to add. I met this young man the other day named Wyatt. I’d like to introduce you to him. Wyatt, can you stand up?” I had no idea he was going to do this, so I stood up awkwardly.
Kenny proceeded and said, “Men, Wyatt used to be me 30 years ago.” He explained that I had just moved into town, what I was going to be doing, and what I needed. Then, and I’ll never forget it, Kenny said, “Men, we are the church. Let’s show this brother some California love.” All the guys in the church erupted. In the end, I walked out of there with a list of 6 different people that I could stay with and 6 different cars I could borrow during my time there.
There was no other explanation than it was all God and truly a product of a lot of people’s prayers for me. It was wild. Totally wild.
To be continued.