Meet The Team

I could have never imagined the plan God was orchestrating for my life. As a world champion water skier and world record holder in the sport for 18 years, I knew I had a responsibility to God to use my talents for His glory. And over the years, I have tried to be faithful to that responsibility and seize every opportunity God has placed before me.

In August of 2013, however, God opened doors I had never considered walking through–it was the doors of a prison. Going to prison was most certainly not on the top of my agenda; in fact, it wasn’t even on the radar. God, however, had other plans; and He used a former professional boat driver who was doing time in the Miami Federal Prison to draw me into a new world that would soon rock my own.

During my visit with my friend, God began to reveal His heart for the incarcerated. And in that revelation, He broke my heart. He opened my eyes to see what He sees and tenderized my heart to feel what He feels. To God these men weren’t murderers, rapist, thieves, abusers, and drug dealers–they were people. They were fathers and sons and husbands. They were people with great talents who once had great dreams. In that moment, I realized the truth that to God, these men were more than a mere number in a bland jumpsuit–they were lives worth the very life of the King. And more than anything, God wanted to redeem their lives and use them for His glory.

As I drove away and headed home, I wept. I wept over the families that had been torn apart. I wept over the weight of my friend’s guilt and shame, and his struggle of accepting God’s forgiveness. I wept over his fear of not making it out of prison alive. I wept over the stories he shared with me about the men that sat within a stone’s throw from us. “Okay, God, I see it. Now what do you want me do about it?” He would soon answer this prayer. Within months, calls came from the heads of the Chaplaincy Department of The Florida Correctional System requesting my magazine, Victorious Living, to be distributed within Florida Prisons. I became close friends with Murf the Surf and was introduced to Inmate Encounter and have been learning so much on this journey. Without a doubt, God has called me to proclaim freedom to the captives. And with all I have within me, and through the grace and power of my Lord and the help of His servants, I seek to fulfill that call.