Today we spend some time with Tyler Meade and his team as they bring their heart for Christ to the Rockcrawling arena. This is their story.

C4x4 - Tell us a little bit about your backgrounds...just a quick bio, etc.
Tyler – I am 21 and a college student at Philadelphia Biblical University right now majoring in Pastoral Ministries and Bible. I come from a family where no car is left unmodified. My Dad builds and races street rods, my brother races motorcycles (on the track, the crotch rockets), and my mom supports and worries and takes us to the hospital when needed.
I have been into Jeeps since I was 7 when my Dad compared the wrangler to street rods and all the available modifications that I could do to one.
My big Brother (Ryan) got me hooked when I would ride in the back of his lifted XJ when he would hit mud pits and do hill shots, and ever since then I have been hooked.

C4x4 - One visit to your website and it is obvious that you are serious about proclaiming Christ and about doing it in a rock crawler. Of all the things you could have chosen, why this one? Why crawlin'?
Tyler – God gives us all gifts and we are told in the Bible to use our gifts to serve others and proclaim His Name. Christian Crawlers started out as a ministry reaching out to youth groups and letting the kids know that Christians do not just sit inside but they can use their passion and hobbies to share their faith. We also opened up our ministry to 4x4 clubs that had Christians in their club who wanted a service Sunday morning of the trail rides. This was so that they could spend entire weekends with their club instead of needing to leave Saturday night to make it home for service the next morning.
From that a Christian 4x4 club started with all types of 4WD vehicles from all over PA, MD, NJ, DE, NY and a few in the mid west and even so far as the West Coast.
One day someone told me I should compete and I said “okay”. That is how I got into competing, haha. I had never seen a rock crawling competition before my first one and it was an eye opener.
Rock crawling has opened up a lot of opportunities to share my faith with people that I never would have met if I wasn’t competing. I have met a lot of great people, a few who challenged my faith, a few who strengthened my faith, and a couple who showed me how God answers prayers in amazing ways.
Rock crawling is something that I have a passion for, it honestly is the most fun I have ever had and would encourage everyone to at least go on one trail ride to see what they think.

C4x4 - How does your faith affect your involvement in the sport?
Tyler- I pray a lot while I compete, before competitions, before obstacles, during obstacles, after competitions, and while I am in the hotel room or camp ground thinking about everything. My faith in Jesus Christ has given me encouragement, strength, patience (still working on that), and hope. Every event is another opportunity to be a servant and show the love of Christ.
I enjoy talking with spectators and sharing my faith. I am extremely encouraged when talk to spectators or other competitors and I can see God working. In the questions that they ask or one time a spectator was watching with his son and told me after the first day that he will be praying for my spotter and I and will be looking for us the second day. That was the biggest encouragement and honor that I have experienced this season.
As I get to know the other competitors I am able to pray for the more specifically. They are a bunch of great guys that I can look up to and have been able to talk to while staging about Christ. God has been opening up great opportunities in places that I never would have expected.

C4x4 - What events or series are you focusing on?
Tyler – This past season was my rookie season so I went to a mix of W.E.ROCK and UROC events that were the closest to home. With gas prices and constantly breaking things I wasn’t able to go to all the events I really wanted to. But since I was home a lot more I got to spend more time with youth groups sharing about what it is like to compete and be a Christian at the same time. And I also had more time to work a couple jobs to have money for parts and the next competition.
Next season I am planning on running the full W.E.ROCK East series and have been talking to Jeff Daniels about maybe being a driver for the modified class buggy that they are talking about building. I set a goal to make it to nationals next season, and I set an over the top goal to make it to the World Championships which is in Australia. (My parents always taught me to shoot for the stars).

C4x4 - Tell us about your rig, set-up, etc.
Tyler- My competition Jeep is a 1997 Wrangler Sport
D60 Rear / D44 Front – Both locked with Detroits with 4.88 Gears
Rock Krawler X-Factor Long Arm Suspension
PSC Hydro Assist
35x13.5 BFGoodrich Krawlers
Fiberglass hood
Stock 4.0L with a few bolt ons
Stock AX15
Atlas II 3.8:1
And a few other things such as the Currie Anti-rock, winches, Trail Ready Bead locks, remote shut off, cutting brakes, etc.
I also get questioned a lot about why I have a G.I. Joe figure zip tied to my roll cage. That G.I. Joe is my buddy Dan who is in Iraq right now with the Marine Corps fighting for the freedom of those who can’t fight for themselves. Dan is going to be on my cage and at every competition until he comes back home.

C4x4 - Tell us about your sponsors.
Tyler – I have great sponsors who have been supportive of me through out this season. The good Lord knows that as a rookie I don’t deserve sponsors but He also knew my situation with finances and blessed me with some great sponsors.
-Dan and Jeff from Jeff Daniel’s Jeeps were a huge help in getting my Jeep together while I was still in class last year and working a job and doing a couple ministries. They helped out a lot with getting things together and are a bunch of great guys down in that shop.
-Jeremy from Rock Krawler Suspension really put some faith in me this season. I remember the first question he asked me was “are you any good at driving?” I just laughed because I didn’t know what to say. The suspension he hooked us up with was designed for me I think, the control arms are 2” solid stock. I have launched my Jeep straight up and landed on the control arms and T-case skid and have not broken a single suspension part that they have supplied. Their suspension systems are amazing from my personal experience.
-Jim Epoch from Winchline.com helped us out with synthetic winch lines and spotter ropes. After sponsoring us he ended up starting a chapter of Christian Crawlers out in Washington. The synthetic winch ropes have held up for us and Jim has been a huge encouragement through out this rookie season also.
-BFgoodrich helped us out HUGE with the BFG Krawlers. I love these tires; even though they are not red labels they still stick really well to rocks and seem to do good in mud.
-My Mom, haha that sounds funny but she has helped out a lot. Being a college student and attempting to work a couple jobs she has helped by being a sponsor for spare parts and other things. She really believes in this sport and in my ministry. It is a huge encouragement and she is a great lady.

C4x4 - How has the season been for your team? Any things that really stand out...challenges, victories, carnage?
Tyler- This season… I could tell you days worth of stories. First off, a week before I left for Columbus, OH my spotter tells me that he can’t spot for me anymore. So, as I began to freak out I decided to spend that night praying. The next day I get contacted by Hans Scherer (my current spotter) who met one of my brother’s friends the night before. I told him about my problem and he offered to spot for the Columbus event and came over to look over my Jeep and help with a couple installations.
The first time I met Hans he said “Don’t talk about God around me” that lasted for a couple days before we got into in depth conversations. Over the course of the season he has become a very close friend that I trust with my life and has helped me get through situations that even the announcer thought we were going to roll bad on.
Our season has been filled with a high amount of carnage. 1 smashed up rim, 1 sliced side wall (due to smashed rim), 1 detroit locker, 2 stub shafts in the front axle, 1 hub (we swapped out for drive slugs), 1 electric fan, 1 stock hood, 1 fiberglass hood, and some other small things.
One thing that stands out the most to me this season has been getting to know Hans and the other competitors. This season has opened me up to putting my trust in another person, what has been something that I haven’t been able to do but have been praying for God to help me with. Hans and I get in some crazy situations with our style of going all out in competition but he is incredibly innovative in picking lines and we get through really well. We would be doing a lot better if I had built my Jeep up tougher from the start, but mistakes are made, we will be more prepared next season.
I am a little bummed that I didn’t build my Jeep up correctly but I really didn’t know what I was getting into before my first competition. Before next season I hope to have a D60 front with high steer arms, an automatic, and maybe swap the I6 for a 350.
The biggest victory has been taking a bad situation like the Jellico event and turning it to a positive. In Jellico we ripped the front axle truss on the first obstacle and tore it in half. We were done for the weekend. But, in a situation like that God still was awesome and opened up other opportunities for us to be able to have a good time. I had the chance to watch the mod and super mod classes and take pictures of a lot of the other competitors that hopefully they were able to use.

C4x4 - What do you see for the future? Is this going to be a career or?
Tyler- I would love to make rock crawling a career and maybe find a way to be a chaplain for a sanctioning body perhaps. I would love to see God more present in competition. There has been RFC at a couple events but I would like to see a full time Chaplain on staff. I think it would bring a great presence to the sport
My goal for after my under graduate and seminary schooling is to become a Chaplain in the military serving those who serve our country. Then again God has a plan for everyone and even though I feel as if I know my plan now, I know that a year from now I could be on a completely different path. I would like to be part of a 3 class team (stock-mod, modified, super-mod) that is not just a competition team but also a ministry team. It would be an honor to be able to continue sharing my faith and competing in rock crawling. This past season has been one of the best experiences of my life.

C4x4 - Any closing thoughts?
Tyler- I just would like to take this opportunity to encourage any Christians who have a passion for anything, from rock crawling to surfing to playing with a yo-yo to use your hobbies, passions and talents to share your faith and love for Jesus Christ with others.
If you allow yourself to be used by God He will use you in ways that you never imagined. He will use you to reach people and places you never thought you would have the opportunity to reach and go.
And ALWAYS pray for those around you, for your fellow competitors, for the sanctioning bodies, for the spectators, for everyone. I have seen God answer prayers that I have said for other competitors and a blatant manner that was obvious that God was at work.
Thank you for this opportunity and may the good Lord bless you in all you do.