When Dreams Slip Away, God Brings New Ones: Bryce Kenny & Charlene Tilton
When Dreams Slip Away, God Brings New Ones: Bryce Kenny & Charlene Tilton – Episode #392
Narrator: Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. Life is a tapestry of dreams and aspirations, yet sometimes, despite our best efforts, we fail to see our dreams come to life. In these moments, we might feel engulfed by a sense of loss and disappointment. But we can find solace in a promise from God; when one dream fades, a new one is waiting on the horizon, ready to infuse our lives with renewed hope and purpose.
Bryce Kenny is a professional Monster Jam driver who is known as the Great Clips Mohawk Warrior. Bryce always dreamt of being a professional racer, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was a professional drag racer. Before reaching his dreams, and eventually setting a World Record in 2021 for the fastest speed in a monster truck, Bryce encountered many roadblocks, and felt he was seeing his dream die before it could even begin—but he would eventually realize that God was working to bring a new dream alive, all in His perfect timing. Also featuring a special segment from the Jesus Calling YouTube Channel: an interview with Susie McEntire Eaton talking to actress Charlene Tilton as recorded for our YouTube monthly video series, Jesus Listens: Stories of Prayer!
Bryce Kenny: My name is Bryce Kenny. I’m the driver of the Great Clips Mohawk Warrior Monster Jam Truck and now I am a professional speaker and author and founder of Live Like Warriors, which is my foundation. I have been running around all over the world chasing after a life with Jesus and pursuing His will and purpose for my life, and I’m having a lot of fun doing it.
Motorsports Career
I grew up weed-eating the fenceline of my grandfather’s drag strip in Clay City, Kentucky, and that’s how I would spend all of my summers. And then on the weekends I would drive—at eight years old I was driving our little junior dragster, and I loved it. And so about the time I was thirteen years old, my grandfather sold that drag strip and bought a professional top fuel operation.
And a top fuel dragster are those long, skinny cars that go 300 miles an hour in four seconds. The first time I ever stood behind him driving one of those dragsters, and I felt 10,000 horsepower and I watched my grandfather accelerate in the fastest machine that mankind has, I knew right then and there I had to do it. And so for the next eight years, I watched my grandfather pursue his dreams of driving a top fuel dragster.
So when I got a chance to pursue that, I thought I had already arrived. I was twenty-one years old, I thought, This is what I’m gonna do for the rest of my life. And I utterly failed.
I spent three years in the driver’s seat trying to pursue sponsorship, trying to find the money to go out and do it, and it was during our last Great Recession, so that was 2009, 2010, and it was really hard trying to find people and convince them to give me a couple of million dollars and I would put their company’s name on the side of the race car.
Finally, I went to my grandfather and I said, “If it’s something that God has for me, then there’s not a timestamp on this dream, and I don’t want you to keep it and have this financial burden in the back of your mind. Either sell it, and if it takes me forty years to get back into it, so be it.” And so that was my plan.
I left professional drag racing. I went into a corporate career. I was placing CFOs and CEOs into private equity-backed companies, and I thought, Man, if I have to do this for forty years and create the kind of income to be able to go and get back into motorsports, I’ll do it.
So when Monster Jam called me four years into that job, I had kind of created this “good life,” as I like to call it. I was making really good money and I thought, Man, I don’t want something good to keep me from something great. I went and tested a Monster Jam truck, they took me up to Monster Jam University—by the way, a real place. They gave me a diploma and everything, but after I got out of Monster Jam University, they came to me and they said, “We’ve got a sponsored truck and we have had your name put forward as the driver of this.” And I kept telling them no, because I remember what it looked like to be an ambassador and try to pursue a career in motorsports from my failed attempt in professional drag racing years back.
Well, they kept coming back to me and saying, “I know you told us no, but now you’re a finalist for the truck.” And then they called me another month later and say, “We know that you said to take your name off the list, but you’ve officially been chosen as the driver of this truck. What is it going to take to have you be the driver of the Great Clips Mohawk Warrior?”
And I remember looking around in my garage, on my shop walls, and all of the memories, all the memorabilia that I had up there, everything that meant something to me from basically my life. There were all pictures of my grandfather, right? There were pictures of me in a top fuel dragster. There were these memories from us and these times in racing, and really what it reminded me of in that moment was my platform that I had in motorsports. I knew what I was meant to do because I didn’t have a single picture up of some CEO I had placed, right? And I knew in that moment it’s not that I was called to professional drag racing, it’s that I was called to use the platform of motorsports to impact this world.
And so I called Monster Jam right away. And I said, “I’m in.” I made that faith jump and said, “Look, I don’t know what’s on the other side of this jump. I don’t know where I’m going to land here, but I do know, God, that you placed a calling on my life and the circumstances of my life do not change the calling of my life.” And there’s no way that I could have connected those dots to be able to land in Monster Jam, but here I am eight years later pursuing my purpose of using the platform of motorsports to change this world, and I am having more fun than any other human being on planet earth.
“I made that faith jump and said, ‘Look, I don’t know what’s on the other side of this jump. I don’t know where I’m going to land here, but I do know, God, that you placed a calling on my life and the circumstances of my life do not change the calling of my life.’” – Bryce Kenny
The Three Stages of Dreams
I think we’ve made finding our purpose way harder than it is. I want people to begin to understand that your purpose, that God-given dream that you’ve had—maybe you’ve given up on it. Every God-given dream goes through three stages: a birth, a death and a resurrection. And the problem is, most people never make it out of the death stage of their dream, because when life got in the way and everything went down, then they just thought, Oh, man, I guess it wasn’t the will of God. I remember feeling that way when my top fuel drag racing dreams died. I was in that death stage of the dream.
“I want people to begin to understand that your purpose, that God-given dream that you’ve had—maybe you’ve given up on it. Every God given dream goes through three stages: a birth, a death and a resurrection.” – Bryce Kenny
God wants to watch us in the skill sets that He gave us. He gave us passions for a reason and it’s not just to use us, it’s to be in relationship with Him. And knowing that God has to kill our dream at one point so that we don’t believe that it’s us that is going to go out there and accomplish it moving forward. Because I know that this resurrected dream of mine, I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is God who is doing it, not Byrce Kenny, not myself.
“God wants to watch us in the skill sets that He gave us. He gave us passions for a reason and it’s not just to use us, it’s to be in relationship with Him.” – Bryce Kenny
It’s amazing to watch the smiles on the faces of fans. There’s no better joy in the world for me than to know that the Heavenly Father is using me somehow to put those smiles on people’s faces. I’ll never get used to that. And I’ve never had more fun watching God move His hand over an environment that I couldn’t have impacted if it was just myself trying to make it happen.
“There’s no better joy in the world for me than to know that the Heavenly Father is using me somehow to put those smiles on people’s faces. I’ll never get used to that. And I’ve never had more fun watching God move His hand over an environment that I couldn’t have impacted if it was just myself trying to make it happen.” – Bryce Kenny
Imparting Wisdom to Others
The impact that you can have on people’s lives, specifically your family, but also the stuff that you can impart to this world. You cannot give up on that. We need the wisdom of our elders. We need people to step in and help us to see good things in us, and that’s what my grandfather did for me probably more than anything else, because we had a lot of amazing conversations and he showed me a lot of things. But I, at twenty-one years old, I didn’t always know the right questions to ask, either. I believe that the best part of the mentorship that I had with my grandfather is watching him go through hard things and survive them. Because now, here I am in my thirties, and I go through really hard things. I’m married, three kids, full time travel all the time, missing Valentine’s Day dances with my daughter, career negotiations, figuring out how to create this next step, all these unknowns—but I always go back to seeing my grandfather, and I know I’m going to get through hard things as well.
And so my belief is that something good is going to happen today. No matter how bad it is, I know that God is going to take my situation, even the dire situations, and bring something amazing out of it, whether I get to see it now or twenty years from now. And when you operate with that level of faith, you cannot help but act on that belief, and that is what faith truly is. Faith is not belief. People walk around thinking faith is either salvation or faith is belief only. That is not faith. Jesus rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith, not their lack of belief. It was because they did not act on their belief. I want to step out into this world and I believe that God can create, and God can do, and God wants to be intimately involved in my life. He wants to use me.
“No matter how bad it is, I know that God is going to take my situation, even the dire situations, and bring something amazing out of it, whether I get to see it now or twenty years from now. And when you operate with that level of faith, you cannot help but act on that belief, and that is what faith truly is.” – Bryce Kenny
Live Like Warriors
I got a message from a family that their little boy was going through cancer treatments, and they said, “Hey, just thought you’d appreciate hearing this. As radiation was causing his hair to fall out, he asked to shave his hair into a mohawk for one day so he could be Mohawk Warrior that day.”
Well, I wear a mohawk if you’re unfamiliar with the truck that I drive. And so he was impersonating me, and my heart just exploded. I had a niece that went through cancer at two years old and thankfully, she’s alive today and it’s awesome, right? Praise God. But I remember thinking, Man, there’s so much downtime in hospital rooms.
And so I asked his family, “What does he do to pass the time?” They said, “Well, actually, he loves Legos.” And I said, “Huh.. well, what if I put a message out here? I’ve got a social media following and a big platform there. What if I just throw out a message and say, ‘Hey, anyone want to send Lego sets?’” Well, within like an hour, I had fifteen Lego sets already bought, purchased, and being shipped to me.
And so for the last eight years, that’s all we’ve been doing. We find a need and we’ve got this massive—I call it the “Warrior Chain” that I’ve put together—and I send out a message and I say, “We’ve got this need. If you want to donate, every dollar goes straight to the need.”
Prayer Reminds Us of God’s Goodness
God wants to be intimately involved in your life. And I know that sometimes you feel as though you’ve been stuck in the death stage, but if you have the courage to sit in prayer, to call upon the Holy Spirit, to fill you with understanding, to fill you with clarity, and ask God to resurrect that dream in your life, and know that the best is truly yet to come and that God is the one that is in control and He still has the creative power that He brought all of this into existence with the spoken word—He still has that same creative power to create the life that you have always believed that God has called you to.
“God is the one that is in control and He still has the creative power that He brought all of this into existence with the spoken word—He still has that same creative power to create the life that you have always believed that God has called you to.” – Bryce Kenny
I believe that the worst mental health issues that most of us face is simply a lack of feeling purpose. When we know why we’re doing things and where we’re going and who God is turning us into, then how crazy would it be to sit back and feel lonely? Because we know that in this world of community and the social dynamic that we’re all enduring and the changes that are going on in this world, when we realize that we’re part of a greater story, then it typically will settle us down long enough to say, “Here I am, God, send me.” not “Here I am God, what’s wrong with me?”
I think prayer becomes so critical to us. It’s always been a critical component to our relationship with Jesus, but it takes us realizing its criticality. It became so critical to me in that death stage of my dream because it was there that I realized, number one, God is still good, and He still speaks creation into our lives today.
I love the Jesus Calling devotional because this was birthed out of the exact process that I’m talking about. Meaning it was birthed in [Sarah Young’s] dream of having it and there was a death stage of her writing and her as an author. And now all of a sudden, God has resurrected that dream in Sarah Young and using that God-given dream to now the millions of people that read through Jesus Calling daily, because it is critical and it’s not about Sarah Young. It’s the fact that she is an example of what God wants to do in each of us individually. And now here we are daily being reminded about the goodness of God through the resurrected dream of Sarah Young and her wanting to impact the kingdom. And daily devotionals are critical. I think it’s one of the simplest ways for us to slow down long enough and just feel God’s pleasure and feeling like we’re entertaining the King. And so I love Jesus Calling. I’m so glad it’s made the impact that it’s had on the world, and I think it’s just getting started.
Jesus Listens, July 6th:
Majestic Jesus,
I need Your Peace each moment in order to accomplish Your purposes in my life. I confess that sometimes I’m tempted to take shortcuts—to reach my goals as quickly as possible. But I’m learning that if the shortcuts involve turning away from Your peaceful Presence, I must choose the longer route.
Lord, please help me to keep walking with You along the path of Peace—enjoying the journey in Your Presence.
In Your worthy Name,
Amen
Narrator: To learn more about Bryce Kenny, visit www.brycekenny.com, and check out his new book, Geared For Life: Making the Shift Into Your Full Potential, available now.
If you’d like to hear more stories about turning your passion into a purpose, check out our interview with Emily Chang.
Inspiration At Your Fingertips
Find inspiration as close as your mobile device with the Jesus Calling App. Available on both Android and Apple, the Jesus Calling app is packed with digital and audio features that make this daily devotional more accessible than ever.
Users can read Jesus Calling and other Sarah Young devotions—such as Jesus Listens or the new Living Hope devotional, which is available only inside the Jesus Calling app. And users can listen to the Jesus Calling podcast, read the latest blogs and magazine articles—all from one centralized location on their phone.
Get started today for free. Look for the Jesus Calling app in the Apple Store or the Google Play Store.
Narrator: Next up is a special segment of the Jesus Listens: Stories of Prayer video series, as featured on the Jesus Calling YouTube channel. Our host, Susie McEntire-Eaton, speaks with actress Charlene Tilton about how prayer carried her through the tumultuous environment of show business, and through the recent loss of a loved one.
Susie McEntire-Eaton: Welcome to Jesus Listens: Stories of Prayer, I’m Susie McEntire-Eaton. Today, I am just so excited to learn more about a lady who is iconic in the TV world. She was on Freaky Friday, she was on Family Feud, and most of you will remember her by being the niece of the Ewings on Dallas. But a lot of us, like me, have never heard her personal stories of struggle and triumph. So stay tuned as we listen to the wonderful story of Charlene Tilton.
First of all, I just want to welcome you to the podcast, and thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us today. I know you’re very busy. I know you got a lot going on, but I just want to tell you, you look awesome.
Charlene Tilton: Oh, thank you. Are you kidding? Thank you for having me. That’s so kind of you.
Susie: Well, I think I’ve just got some questions, because you know that Reba McEntire is my sister, and I’m very familiar with Hollywood, and a little bit with her and how hard it is to get into Hollywood. And I’m sure it wasn’t any different than when you were trying to crack into the business. Would you just give us a little bit of your background of how you grew up?
Charlene: Well, I was raised in Hollywood, but from the age of five to right before my eighth birthday, I was in foster homes because my mother was institutionalized, because she was mentally ill. And, so for that time, those three years, I was sort of passed around from foster home to foster home.
But then I was reunited with her the week before my eighth birthday. And, you know, God bless her, she tried. She really tried. She had many, many issues, but she tried. But when I grew up there, we lived in Hollywood. And right down the street was Paramount Studios. And then there was the Hollywood sign. And to me it was magic, where I could watch The Brady Bunch and you had this blended family and I’m like, Their house is clean. My mother was a hoarder. Our house was disgusting. She was mentally ill, and there was this family that was nice and loved each other and was normal.
Susie: So you knew right off that Hollywood—I mean, what they portrayed was not real life to you at all?
Charlene: No, but I thought, Oh, things are certainly better when you are on TV.
Susie: I mean, you were right there. What was your first thing that you did?
Charlene: I was in a play at Hollywood High School. I played eight different characters, including a mime. They were small parts. An agent was there and came up to me and asked me if I wanted representation. She said, “You have something. You’re really talented. You want an agent?” And I said, “Of course.”
I needed to get 8×10 pictures, because back in the day, that’s how you know yourself. I didn’t have the money for that, so I took my school picture and had it blown up. And she used that, and she started submitting me, and I got my first job, which was a Walt Disney movie, Freaky Friday. I played Jodie Foster’s friend. That was kind of how I got started. And I was fortunate enough to go on auditions and book parts.
And then the role of Dallas came along, and God really had His hand on my life. I’ve got to tell you, I’ve known that my whole life. I will credit my cast mates in Dallas, all of them, we really became a family. I was seventeen when the show started, and we worked hard, you know, long hours and a lot of responsibility. I had to be professional and I wanted to be, because this is what I wanted to do forever. I wanted to work, and I never thought about the fame aspect. I loved the acting and the working process. They [my castmates] protected me.
“God really had His hand on my life.” – Charlene Tilton
And, you know, back in the 80s, there was a lot of nonsense and shenanigans and things that went on back then. They protected me from it. I wasn’t really that exposed. I was working so hard. And I was very fortunate that I was surrounded by this group of people that had the best work ethic. Their work ethic was stellar, and I learned from them. So I was kind of insulated and surrounded by people that demanded a lot from me, but took care of me, too.
Susie: I mean, that’s a hard age for girls. What kept you from going down the deep end? You’re saying that you didn’t have that much structure at home, a lot of behind the scenes help at home. What helped? What kept you from going down the wrong path?
Charlene: Well, at that time, my mom had been re-institutionalized again, and instead of going back into foster care, I lived with a friend. The parents let me live there for a while, and I moved around, and then I eventually got my own apartment. The only reason I was able to get my own apartment was because the manager of the apartment building happened to be the sweetest, most lovely lady…
Susie: …somebody that is there to just kind of mentor us as we’re young girls growing up.
You know, it was truly a God thing for you that you’ve been through some hardships in your life. And, I guess most recently is the loss of your fiancé.
Charlene: It was so shocking. I was devastated, my mind was spinning, and I kind of just collapsed and was laying on my couch and drinking and having cigarettes and just kind of lying there. I would leave to walk the dogs, and that was it.
I had these dear, dear friends of mine. I remember coming out of my house and walking the dogs and wearing a sweatshirt. It’s got food all over it. My hair hasn’t been combed, I haven’t showered, I haven’t done makeup, and I’m wearing mismatched clothes. I got the dogs, and my friend Tony, he said, “How are you?” And I go, “Oh my God, Chetty, I’m so depressed.” And he goes, “Well you don’t have to show everybody.”
Susie: Sometimes we just need someone to just shake us, you know, just slap us upside of the head, and say, “Wake up, wake up.” And sometimes we’re so afraid to do that, and yet it can save people’s lives.
Charlene: Well, I know enough. I’m not the smartest tool in the shed, but I do know enough that if you are in depression or anxious or in grief or feeling sorry for yourself, what do you do? You go help somebody else. Because that’s the best thing, you know? That’s psychology 101, but you got to go help somebody else.
“If you are in depression or anxious or in grief or feeling sorry for yourself, what do you do? You go help somebody else. Because that’s the best thing.” – Charlene Tilton
So my friend had been working at this organization called Actors for Autism, and he had asked me several times, “Would you come down and teach the kids and work with the kids?” And I had never known anybody on the autism spectrum, and so I didn’t feel like I was qualified. But I called him up, the first call I made, I said, “David, why don’t I come down there?” He said, “All right, come down tomorrow.” So I did. Took a shower, cut my hair, changed my shirt, went down there. And I have to tell you, it was the greatest thing.
I met this group of people that were on the autism spectrum, but because I didn’t know anybody on the autism spectrum, in my lesson plan, I just kind of saw them. There was a girl, her name was Ox. I said, “Ox, you’ve got a great voice. Why don’t you be the narrator? You do the voiceover.” And this kid, Dominic, kept wanting to boss everybody around. And I told him, “Dominic, why don’t you help me direct this scene? It’d be great.” And then another one was able to do this and that, and I just saw their talents. And before I knew it, we were putting on shows, we were doing scenes, and I ended up spending like eight years with them, working every week. I was so grateful to them because I found it, and yes, and it was amazing.
Susie I just am in awe of and respect for you as what God has done in your life and what a sweet person that you are.
Charlene: It is exactly that, what God has done. I have to tell you, it’s just a blessing to be able to start every day in the Word of God and in prayer, and I have to wake up early to do it. Sometimes I have to fight to find that peace.
“It’s just a blessing to be able to start every day in the Word of God and in prayer.” – Charlene Tilton
Susie: Yes.
Charlene: To be in the presence of God, because in the presence of God is fullness of joy and His perfect peace. And boy oh boy, I can do things so easily distracted, right?
Susie: That’s right. That’s exactly right. Well, thank you for being on the show today. We really, really appreciate you so much.
Charlene: Thank you, ditto. God bless you. All right. Thank you.
Susie: We’re so glad you joined us today on Jesus Listens: Stories of Prayer. We’ll have more stories for you very soon. But until then, please remember that Jesus cares, He listens, and He’s just a prayer away.
Next week: nobigdyl
Next time on the Jesus Calling Podcast, we’ll hear from Christian rapper nobigdyl., who shares how he’s taken leaps of faith all throughout his life and career, and the people who made that possible for him.
nobigdyl.: I think the scary thing about leaps of faith is they can be scary and dangerous when it’s just you. You’re the only one who thinks it’s a good idea, and you just jump off the porch with it. But when you have a supportive group, trust their opinion and second, you give them permission to speak into your life.
