IAM1259 – Author Shares his Story from Being a Wrestler to a Pastor

Dr. Chris Whaley overcame a lot of obstacles to become a professional wrestler. He wrestled such greats as The Undertaker and The Ultimate Warrior. His book, The Masked Saint documents his transition from pro wrestler to a pastor. His book was made into an award-winning movie of the same title.

• CEO Story: Chris was unfortunate during his childhood, he was in and out of the hospital, up until high school when doctors found out the cause of the problem. Things got better for Chris and graduated College with a passion as a Pastor. While waiting though, for his calling, he entered the world of wrestling from 1978 – 1988 which was his dream. After graduating from seminary, he pastored his first church and wrote a book which was then made into a movie – The Masked Saint.
• Business Service: His Book The Masked Saint tells his true-to-life story of being a wrestler transitioning to a minister.
• Secret Sauce: Standing up for someone helpless to fight and challenge.
• CEO Hack: You can’t undo the past, you’ll learn from it. You overcome the rough spot. You can change your present every day and gain more confidence.
• CEO Nugget: Stress reliever – walking, listening to podcasts, praying, writing, working out.
• CEO Defined: The power to succeed. The power that comes from God that has blessed you with. To be able to be successful and Influence a lot of lives.

Website: www.themaskedsaint.com

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Transcription

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00:20 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

00:44 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, Hello, Hello. This is Gresh from the Imceo podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Doctor Chris Whaley of the Mass Saint. Doctor Chris, it's great to have you on the show.

00:56 – Dr. Chris Whaley

Hey, great, it is just a great honor to be on your show, man. I've been looking at your stuff and you just do some awesome, awesome things, and it's a real honor to be on your show. Thank you.

01:07 – Gresham Harkless

Thank you for being on the show. And I'm super excited that I get the opportunity to interview awesome people. So I get to be an awesome host only because I have awesome guests like yourself. So I wanted to read a little bit more about Doctor Chris so you can hear about some of those awesome things that he's doing. Doctor Chris Whaley overcame a lot of obstacles to become a professional wrestler. He wrestled such greats as the undertaker and the ultimate warrior. His book, the Masked Saint, documents his transition from pro wrestler to pastor, and his book was made into an award-winning movie by the same title. Doctor Chris, super excited to have you on the show again. Are you ready to speak to the Vimeo Community?

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01:41 – Dr. Chris Whaley

I am ready. Ready, ready.

01:44 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's make it happen then. So, to kind of kick everything off, I know I touched on it a little bit, but I wanted to rewind the clock here a little bit more on what I like to call your CEO story. Let's get started. All the awesome work you're doing, you.

01:54 – Dr. Chris Whaley

Know, it started so differently than what it turned out. I guess a lot of things happen like that. You know, as a child, I was constantly in and out of the hospital. In the fourth grade, I had polio and viral encephalitis. I was in the hospital for three months, had to learn to walk all over again, and was unable to play sports as a kid. And finally, they found out what was wrong with me and had a great, wonderful doctor, and he's the one that got me going to the gym, and I just really loved it. And so things began to change for me in high school.

I started putting on weight. I started finally growing, and my wife and I ended up going to college together and graduating together. And when we got out, I was planning to be a pastor, and I was waiting. Of course, when you're 22, or 23 years old, there are not a lot of churches that want a 22 or 23-year-old pastor. And so if you get experience, it's usually as a youth minister. So I'm waiting to serve as a youth minister. And my wife is a high school math teacher, and she's teaching at her alma mater. And I'm working and waiting for a call from a church.

And then one day I got this newspaper, paper ad, and I looked at it, and it said, wanted professional wrestlers. And I got so excited, that I picked it up, took it over to my wife, and looked at this. Look at this. You know, she just kept grading papers and kind of rolled her eyes. And so I packed a bag, and I drove over to Tampa, Florida, and I walked into this gym. There was a guy that I watched growing up, the great Malenko. And so I was trained by the great Malenko. He trained a bunch of guys, some. Some very well-known guys, too. And I started my professional wrestling career in 1978, wrestled from 1978 to 1988. Didn't forget about my calling.

You know, professional wrestling was my dream. Ministry was my calling. And so my last three years, I wrestled in Texas. I was going to a seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and I graduated from the seminary in 1988. And then I went to pastor, my first church. And after I got to my first church, I started handling some things differently than a pastor would. I started handling some things more as a professional wrestler than as a pastor. I became, what you would say, a religious vigilante. I was the. I was the equalizer before Denzel and Queen Latifah.

I just started doing those things. And after, you know, a long time, I had a bunch of those stories. I wrote a book called The Mass Saint which documents my transition from pro wrestling to ministry. And then I. The book was, you know, I started getting calls from movie producers. It was made into an award-winning book. I mean, award-winning movie. And I've just been blessed ever since. Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I've been so blessed.

04:55 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that's a phenomenal place to be. I know we were talking about all the blessings and everything. As you know, right before we, hit the record button, all the awesome things. So I love hearing, you know, the journey, you know, that you took, and. But one of the things that kind of stuck out to me that you said, and I wanted to hear a little bit more about that, you said being a pastor was your calling, but a wrestler was your dream. Is that something that you felt like you got a better understanding of as you went throughout your life? And you can understand, like, this is something that I have to go back to because it's my calling versus something I want to kind of try out and live because it's also my dream.

05:29 – Dr. Chris Whaley

Well, my life changed during my freshman year in college. I became a Christian my freshman year, and I was just so overwhelmed with the forgiveness of Goddesse and so overwhelmed with the life change, and I had this burning desire in me. Something was happening inside of me. And I talked to my mentor, pastor, the guy who led me to the Lord, and I just said, I don't know what this is. He said, could it be that God is calling you into the ministry? And then I said, that's it. That's it.

And so my direction at that point was strictly for the ministry. I was going to be a pastor. And then while we were waiting, the dream entered. You know, when I answered that ad, I said, well, I'm going to do this as long as I can, but I'm not going to forget my calling, which is to be a pastor. And so, you know, I. I retired from pro wrestling at the height of my. I mean, I was, like, 33 years old and had a lot of years ahead of me to still be a professional wrestler. But I. I don't say I gave it up. I just, uh, you know, transitioned from my, from my dream to my calling.

06:41 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate that. And so I know you talked about the book and the movie as well, too, about, like, what that covers. Could you tell us, I guess, a little bit more if you haven't touched on or anything you didn't touch on, I should say, about the book and the movie and what we can find out when we listen or watch there?

06:57 – Dr. Chris Whaley

Yeah, the book is on Amazon. You can get it on Amazon cheaper than you can get it on my website. But if you go to my website and you mention that you heard this on Im CEO, I will also send you an eight by ten autograph picture. So if you want to get a signed book with an autographed picture, let me know that you heard me on I am CEO and I'll be glad to do that. The DVD is also available on my website, but it's also available on Amazon, too. I wrote a third, and a second book. It's a Christmas book.

Once you have a book made into a movie, it kind of spoils you. And so when I was going to write another book, I said, what can I write that would have a good chance at also being made into a movie? And my wife and I are just kind of hardcore Hallmark movie people. And especially when the Christmas movies come on, you know, we watch them when they come on at the end of October, all the way through the first week of January. So I had a great idea for a Christmas book. And so I wrote that. It's called Harold's Heavenly Christmas and it's being considered by Hallmark right now a future Hallmark movie.

08:07 – Gresham Harkless

So I wanted to drill down a little bit more. And this might be what you consider to be your secret sauce. The thing you feel kind of sets you apart. I know you touched on, you know, being the vigilante as a preacher and being able to kind of, it sounds like incorporate your, the wrestling experience with everything you've done, you know, from a religious standpoint is, do you feel like that kind of sets you apart and makes you unique and is your secret sauce?

08:31 – Dr. Chris Whaley

Yeah, I don't, I don't know anybody else who's ever done that. You know, we try, we, you know, we all try to do things the right way. I tried to do things the right way, but there are some people, you know, that just don't understand anything but a butt whipping. You know, had a lady who had precious children and she came to church with black eyes. And I just thought, what kind of a man, you know, is going to hit the mother of his children? And, you know, any man that hits a woman, you're a dirtbag. And so, you know, I went to his house and called him out and said, hey, I'd like to see how you do against somebody who's able to fight back instead of, you know, bullying a woman who cannot defend herself. And so that's how it all got started on that.

09:17 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Which are definitely in your book. And I love that. And I think so many times, like, in situations like that, and I appreciate you sharing that story so much. You know, you feel like you're by yourself or you're going through difficult things and sometimes you need somebody to, quote, unquote, wrestle, or fight for you. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO Hackley. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have. But what's something you feel makes you more effective and efficient?

09:42 – Dr. Chris Whaley

Well, you know, I was not a CEO in the sense that some of your guests are. But in another sense, I was. As a pastor, you're where the buck, you know, drops. The pastor is responsible for everything. You deal with a faith-based budget and you just handle all the problems. And. And so I learned some great, great lessons as a senior pastor. One is that you can't undo your past. You learn from it. You overcome the rough spots. And I know that many of your CEOs, every day, they're dealing with something that happened in the past, and you just got to learn from it. You overcome the rough spots and keep going.

Secondly, you can change your presence every day. Every day you can change your present, and you can gain confidence more and more. And just because something didn't work that you tried doesn't mean that you give up. It just means that wasn't the way to do it. You just find another way and you keep going. And every day you're going to get more and more confident as you do that.

10:51 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And what are some of the things, I guess you do to kind of relieve that stress? I know you touched on, you know, how you were able to kind of do that, you know, in your past years are the same things that you do regularly that help you to kind of relieve that stress and of course, be that, that CEO nugget.

11:04 – Dr. Chris Whaley

Yep, got several. You know, my knees are bad. I broke everything. I crushed my ankle, had five knee surgeries, tore both ACLs, and MCl, dislocated hips, broke my pelvis, broke all my ribs, sternum, and collarbones, had both my shoulders, surgically repaired, had neck injuries, and over 100 concussions. And so I can't do things like I used to in the past. So one of my big releases is walking. And I do a walk in the morning, do a walk in the evening.

Sometimes I listen to things like your podcast or listen to something while I'm walking that relieves me of that, or sometimes just praying between, you know, me and God. But I do that. Love to work out. I still have my little mini gym here at the house, so I love to work out. And then I love to write, too. So I've written my third book and looking forward to working to get it published. And so writing, working out, and walking, are my stress.

12:04 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate you sharing that with us. And so I wanted to ask you now my absolute favorite question. You might have already touched on this, but I wanted to ask you for the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're open to different, quote-unquote CEO's on this show. So, Doctor Chris, what does being a CEO mean to you?

12:19 – Dr. Chris Whaley

To me, being a CEO means that you have some unbelievable power. I don't mean power in the sense of holding power over people, but I mean, you have an unbelievable power to either succeed or to fail. And if you want to succeed, then you're going to have to have some great power. And you get that power from, you know, your experiences from the past, the present and all. You get that power from that. But also for me for me, that power comes with a closer walk with God. You know, he, he wrote a book, he gave us the Bible and it just has some unbelievable wisdom in it. I try to read a chapter of Proverbs every day.

There are 31 chapters, so you could read one chapter a day for a month, you know, so you always want to learn, which continues to help. You have that power that you're going to need to succeed. So you're a lifelong learner and dealing with some unbelievable power that God has blessed you with. To be able to be a success and to influence a lot of lives, whether that's with your business or whatever, you're still going to affect a lot of lives. You have to continue to reach and recharge that power every day. And I hope you have a source for that. Like I.

13:38 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that perspective and that definition and truly appreciate that. Doctor Chris. And I, of course, appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best they can get a hold of you. Find out about the movie, the book, and all the awesome things that you're working on.

13:57 – Dr. Chris Whaley

You know, I don't know how this relates to you or to anybody listening, but I know that somebody is listening who's dealing with failure. And I just want you to know that failure is not final. A passage in the Bible is found in Jeremiah 18 6, where God told Jeremiah the prophet to go to the potter's house. He wanted to teach him a lesson. And when he got to the potter's house, he saw him working with clay and he was making a vessel on a wheel.

And when he got through, it just had a lot of flaws and so the potter took the clay and he squished it back together, and he put it back on the wheel, and he made it into a new vessel. And then God said to Jeremiah, he said, cannot I do with you as the potter has done with the clay? Or as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand? So that was my story. You know, when I. When I came to God, my life was just full of flaws. And I made so many mistakes.

God squished me back together and put me back on the wheel and made that same piece of clay, with all the flaws into a new vessel that could be very useful. So to whoever's listening, I just want to encourage you, don't ever, ever give up. Get back on the wheel. Let God make you into a new vessel and let him change your life. And I hope, hope that was okay to share on your show.

15:18 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. I appreciate you sharing that. And for people that want to get a hold of you, get a copy of the book, what's the best way for them to do that?

15:24 – Dr. Chris Whaley

You can go to my website, which is themassaint.com dot. You can go there. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Twitter. I'm on Lincoln. And I just want to say to Mister Grassh how thankful I am for this opportunity. You are certainly a great up-and-coming rising star. And I hope everybody listening that you'll tell somebody to subscribe to your podcast. And I just hope and pray that it continues to grow and that you continue to reach a lot of lines.

15:58 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate that, Doctor Chris. And to make it even easier, we'll have the links and information in the show notes. Thank you so much for reminding us of that, of course, for doing that as well too. And I think once we lean more into that, we understand that we are God's workmanship, so to speak, that we get that opportunity to make that impact and not do it by ourselves, but do it in alignment with who he is. So thank you so much for doing that again and of course, taking your time out today and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:24 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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