Voddie

Voddie Baucham is my friend and was the Bible teacher for our Vida Estudiantil International Conference this week. We had not seen each other for almost 20 years, until today when he showed up in Puebla for the conference!



Voddie grew up in the projects of LA. His mother turned Buddist after being abandoned by his father at a young age. Having grown up in the gang and drug infested housing projects under this worldview would be reason enough for Voddie not to be where he is today. But God had a plan for Voddie. Through a long chain of events, he ended up playing football at New Mexico State. I was there during those years and I happened to be working as an AIA rep with many of the sports teams. I called Voddie out of the blue and he agreed to meet with me. After about 5 minutes, I figured out he did not know the Christ of the Bible, but he seemed very open. So we meet two days later in the locker room at the stadium. I asked him what kept him from putting his trust in Christ. This 6’3, 250 lb. tight end on the road to the NFL looked at my and responded with something I did not expect. He simply said, “Fear.” So we looked at a passage in Romans 8:31-38 that deals with fear. Tears began to fill his eyes as he told me about his teenage cousin who was killed earlier. Voddie said, “My cousin never had a chance to accept Christ, but I do.” Later, as he was waiting for our next appointment, Voddie placed his trust in Christ. Today, both his mother and his father are also followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God diverted Voddie’s plans from the NFL. After his year at NMSU, he transferred to Rice University and began sharing his faith with other guys on the team. He would occasionally call me to tell me what God was doing in his life. He later went to seminary and then on to Oxford in England for his doctorate. He has been married for 17 years and currently has three kids and speaks to thousands of people each year. He is known as the evangelist to the intellectuals and is author of the book, “The Ever Loving Truth”.