Chayce
McKinney

I didn't grow up around church. Scripture was something I read with my head, not my heart — interesting, sometimes comforting, but not something I submitted my life to.

My childhood was marked by instability, addiction, mental illness, and abuse. I was passed between parents, family members, and institutions — never staying anywhere long enough to feel safe or known. From a young age, I learned how to survive, how to numb pain, and how to escape.

As I got older, that survival mindset turned into anger, addiction, and self-destruction. Eventually, everything collapsed. My father died. My business fell apart. The things I used to numb my pain were gone, and I was left alone with decades of unresolved trauma, guilt, shame, and anger.

At my lowest moment — when I had nothing left to offer, prove, or pretend — I cried out to Jesus. Not with polished words. Not with bargaining. Just surrender.

Today, my life looks completely different — not because I fixed myself, but because Christ gave me new life. He transformed how I love my wife, how I parent my children, how I see myself, and how I understand purpose. I now serve in several areas of Adult and Youth ministry at The Fountains Fellowship in Crowley, Texas — and I give my life to making sure the next generation does not have to walk as far as I did before they find what I found.

I know what it's like to be around truth but dead inside. I know what it's like to look alive while slowly decaying. And I know — without question — that Jesus is the only cure.