♪ (Music, Heavy Metal) ♪
(referee) One, Two, Three!
(bell rings) Ding! Ding! Ding!
(hitting floor) Bam!
(Brian Diggs) I'm a
professional wrestler.
My character is
the Deacon of Doom.
(hitting floor) Bam!
I think as a Christian
minister there's always
God work going on.
(collision) Bam!
(Brian Diggs) My name
is Rev. Brian Diggs.
I am an ordained United
Methodist pastor in the
Rocky Mountain Conference of
The United Methodist Church.
♪ (Music) ♪
(attacking) Bam!
(Brian Diggs) What I'm trying
to do is to show that,
you can be a fun person
and be a religious person.
I have several props.
My first prop was... I
called it the Book of Doom,
which is kind of like
the Deacon's Bible.
I would open it up and "A
reading from the book
for First Concussions
or Second Lacerations."
♪ (Music) ♪
(hitting floor) Bam!
(Brian Diggs) I always introduce
myself, "Ladies and gentlemen,
and now for the event
you've all been waiting for.
Tonight the Deacon weighs in at
a heavenly 186 and three-quarter
pounds of body, sculpted
by the angels of heaven.
I am the Deacon of..."
And I hold the mic up and
they all shout out
"Doom." And of course they
boo me after that."
(Woman) Boooo!
(Brian Diggs) I went
through a divorce.
And I'd always been
a pro wrestling fan.
I was gonna do one match.
Kind of a bucket
list kind of thing.
Hang the boots up
and say, "I did it."
Then I had my first match and
I realized that this was
something that I loved.
Not just the action in the ring
or the character development
and the entertainment.
But I really loved
the camaraderie with
my wrestling buddies as well.
(Los Mochis Paco) Deacon,
he's a good guy.
He shows you the right way.
He keeps you on the right path.
(Junior X) I know that I would
love to go and, you know,
like see Deacon preach and
do what he does outside
of the wrestling ring, you know.
(Brian Diggs) When those people
in John, Chapter 6 finally found
the Jesus they were looking for,
they were more surprised than
they ever could have been.
Everybody within the
congregations that I've preached
at or served here in Utah, they
find it (for the most part)
pretty hilarious.
(Woman) You talked about
Jesus and I loved that.
(Brian) Thank you.
(Woman) How bout' that?
(Roberta Schamenski) As a
preacher he was fabulous.
Very inspiring sermon.
you don't expect it...
a pastor to be a professional
wrestler, you know.
Maybe a birdwatcher or a
beekeeper, but not a wrestler.
(hitting guy) Oooh! Aaah!
(Brian Diggs) I haven't had
anybody come up to me and say,
you know, this is un-Christian
or you shouldn't be doing this,
or pastors don't do
this kind of thing.
Generally folks think
it's kind of a fun hobby.
And in fact, many church people
have come to watch me wrestle.
(Topher Mehlhoff) I think
professional wrestling is
a legitimate form of
theater and entertainment.
So I'm cool with it.
(Brian Diggs) You know, I
don't really try to evangelize
with pro wrestling.
At least not in the traditional
sense of evangelization.
(Brian) Loved your
Facebook post, bro.
I was just talking to one
of my friends here
who works here at UCW.
And he actually Facebooked me
and said "Hey, man, I've been
thinking about going to church.
Where should I go?"
(Brian Diggs) I have gone to
the hospital and visited
and prayed with fans.
I think of one man
who's a veteran.
He's in his 80s.
And he was in the hospital,
pretty serious condition.
And his family comes to all the
wrestling shows and so does he.
Visited with him, had
a prayer with him.
It was the day of the show and
he said that he had told the
doctors that he would not
be in the hospital today,
that he was leaving, whether
they liked it or not.
And sure enough that night Mr.
Westerfield was in the crowd
boo-ing me like he always does.
(Brian Diggs) I think one of the
things that I'm most proud of
to be United Methodist is our
history with (besides potlucks),
is our history with service.
Wesley said, "The world is our
parish," and we're gonna reach
out to all kinds of people all
over the world, doing all the
good we can, to all the people
we can, as John Wesley said.
"One of the things that I think
is so important for Christians
in general is to be friends
with non-Christian people,
or people who don't profess
to be a part of any
(quote) "organized"religion.
(woman) Why don't you
go back to C Street!?
(Brian Diggs) You know, one of
the things I always say is
that the wrong question
to be asking is,
"How do we make Jesus
relevant to people?"
In fact, I think we should
turn that upside down and we
should say, "How do we make
ourselves relevant to Jesus?"
Scripturally speaking,
Jesus didn't walk up and
hand out tracts, "Here are the
5 spiritual pathways to...
to have a more successful you as
long as I'm your life."
He said to his disciples,
"Drop your nets.
Follow me.
I'll make you fish for people."
(man) Bow your heads!
(Brian Diggs) Let us pray.
Gracious God, thank
you for this evening.
He gathered a community of
people together who followed
him, who left their old life and
were transformed by his grace.
(fans) cheering
(Steve Neilson) Get
ready to rock and roll.
I'm gonna turn on
the stage lights.
(Brian Diggs) ...and I'll
be the champion that
God has called me to be.
