I was sitting with my twins, Parker and Paisley, staring at two huge men wrestling in a ring. I was almost certain that their sweat – if one of them got hit hard- would fly off and land right on our laps. We were that close.
That’s right, the girls and I were at a live professional wrestling show.
When Rob Vaughn invited me to go I was just about as skeptical as you probably are now.
“Wrestling!? I thought, “I quit that stuff in the early aughts when it got overly sexualized… why would I want to go to one of those, and with my daughters no less?” But because Rob was the founder of the Christian Wrestling Federation (CWF), so I figured I’d trust him.
He said God was using it to get people saved, like a lot of people.
43 People A Week
Recently on my podcast, Rob told me that in the last twenty-two years CWF has seen 50,000 people get saved. That’s a little over 43 people a week!
The CWF has just about all the elements of WWE: good guys, bad guys, drama, comebacks, etc. The difference is that its mission is to share Jesus.
And it’s working! This crazy idea is actually very successful.
The Drama of the Gospel
I know for some of my readers the CWF is a hard sell. Isn’t it all fake anyway?
Yes, it is scripted and it’s more or less safe for the wrestlers. But if you think about it, is that really any different than the last action movie you watched?
We all agree that film is a great way to share the gospel: the drama, the redemption, the heroes and villains. That’s exactly what Rob is doing with the CWF.
They go into schools, churches, youth groups, and around the world sharing the gospel in a dramatic way. Then they have an alter call.
50,000 people later and it’s still working.
Wrestling With God
I wonder how many people God tried to whisper this crazy idea to before Rob listened.
Rob had been a wrestler before founding CWF, and he was ready to quit. Back then, kids in the crowd were flipping him off. You can only imagine what the so-called ‘grown-ups’ were doing.
Then a friend said, “Have you considered that all the things you hate about the business is exactly why you should start your own?”
Rob heard the whisper: wrestling federation as a ministry. But how could it work?
Rob had no money, no equipment, and no wrestlers. Nothing. But he did have a mission that he thought just might be from God.
In the first show, 700 kids came and 30 were saved. I think I’d call that confirmation.
God’s Got It
Here’s the point: We are so prone to keeping God in our little boxes of what we think He can and cannot do. There are so many ways we think it cannot work:
- I don’t have the money for this.
- Whoever heard of such an idea.
- My community won’t accept something like this.
- I’m not a businessman.
If we really look at what’s behind all the excuses it’s that we think God has a good idea but doesn’t have what it takes to execute it.
God won’t promise you something he doesn’t have the power to perform.
So, what’s the dream God has whispered into your heart? What’s that crazy idea that you think would never work?
Are you willing to consider that God is waiting for you to say yes so that He can do the rest?