 We all fall and face failures in life. It's what you do after you get up that will change your life and the lives of others. In her 35-year waterski career, world champion Christy Overton-Johnton felt every day. In the midst of her falls and failures, she became one of the most decorated women waterskiers of all times. Holding the world record in women's slalom from 1992 to 2010 and accumulating over 80 professional world titles. In 2013, God used a simple visit with an incarcerated friend to open Christy's eyes to the hopelessness of life behind bars and the need for imprisoned men and women to know the God of second chances. This is her story. This is today's Nashville. This is faith. Christy, I'm so excited that I finally get to sit down with you, that you're here in Nashville. You're here a lot and to share your amazing journey. I love how God brings people together because I met you years ago. So happy to sit down with you. Yeah, I'm excited to be here and we've been talking about this for a long time, so I'm glad I've only happened. A long time. You know, I have to be honest with you. I started Googling you after I found out that you were this world record holder waterskier, which I love because I grew up waterskiing also. But then I started thinking, you know, we had spent some time together and I thought, who is this Christy Johnson? Because you have an amazing story of, you know, 80 titles, world record holder from what? 2010 to? 1992 to 2010. Yes, a lot. A long time. So, and then, you know, I have to tell a story. My husband went down to North Carolina and couldn't find this place that he was supposed to be. And he's like, it's Christy Lake. And the Uber driver said, Christy Lake, everybody knows where Christy Lake is. Let's go back to that time and tell me about you, you know, growing up waterskiing. Yeah, so I was four years old when my father, Parker Overton, decided to share his love of the sport with his daughter. And so we went out on the Pamlico River. I was four years old and he said, baby, when you're ready to go, tell the boat driver, hit it. And so I said, hit it. And off I went. And by the age of five, he was entering me in tournaments. My mom was my boat driver, my coach. We were traveling all over the world. Wait a second. Four years old. Yeah, I didn't have much of a choice, I don't think. Could you swim then and everything? I guess I could. I don't know, but you don't have to know how to swim the ski. You got to like this. Were you scared? I don't remember being scared. I remember it being exciting. I remember always loving the fact that you could learn something new every time you took to the water. So by 13, I turned professional. And so you're talking about Lake Christie. That's in Greenville North, outside of Greenville, North Carolina. My dad knew that I needed a place to train and we had been training on the Pamlico River. So he bought a track of farmland and actually dug a lake and named it Lake Christie. And then my brother's name is Michael so it has two islands in the lake called Michael Island. So we would be out there from the time I was 11 years old and we actually live back in North Carolina now and spend a lot of time at the lake and it's just a blessing to be there. But when you're 11, 12 years old, you just think everybody's got a lake. You know, I didn't quite realize all the sacrifices that my parents were making for me to be the best in the world. And we had a wonderful journey for 35 years. I competed all over the world, met my husband because of water skiing. He wasn't a skier but he had a lake in Orlando and I needed a lake. So that's where we ended up. So as you're training as a young girl, in your mind were you thinking how I want to be a world record holder? What were you thinking? Did you know that you were being trained for championships? You know, my father at the age of four, when I was four or five, he would come and kneel by my bedside at night to say prayers. But he would also cast vision and he would tell these little stories of a little girl named Christie who became the best water skier in the world. So there was never a time in my mind that I didn't see myself as a ski champion, but it was never about going out to beat other people to be the champion. It was about being the best that I could be and that's what he always taught me, was be the best that Christie can be and you'll finish up on top because I had an incredible ability to water ski. I love that you say that when you started water skiing, you fell every single day. Yeah, I tell people I competed 35 years, trained and fell every day because you can't learn something without falling. But in the midst of those falls and failures, I became a world champion and a world record holder for 18 years. And so that just tells me that it's not your falls and failures that keep you from being successful and it's not about perfection. It's about getting up. It's about continuing to say hit it instead of I quit it. And it took you all the way around the world. Tell me about some of those experiences. We skied in Russia. We skied in Singapore. What was it like in Russia? It was cold. It was windy, but it was interesting. And I didn't know that one day I would be back after I competed there. God downloaded a heart I love for the Russian people and to adopt from that area. So I ended up adopting two children and went back not for skiing, but to get my kids. Isn't that amazing? So from Russia, Singapore, Oh, France, Austria, Australia, trained on the River Kwai and Bangkok and just went all over. So where was your faith at this time? I was always a believer. There was never a time that I didn't know that Jesus Christ had died for my sins. But I like to tell people I was like a water skier that believed in the power of the boat. I'd even picked up the rope, the lifeline and got connected through my faith in Jesus Christ. I sat on a spiritual dock for decades. And it wasn't until my mid 20s when skiing was actually taken away from me because of some major medical issues that I had. And for the first time, I couldn't be a skier. And the first time I realized my whole identity is wrapped up into this thing that I'm doing. And at that point, I finally surrendered my life to the Lord, my skiing to the Lord and realized I needed a relationship. He was Savior for many, many years, but he was not my Lord. And when I made him my Lord, it changed everything. So what happened after that? He took me on some adventures. So did you completely give up skiing though? No. I was always afraid if I had followed God, I'd have to give up everything that I loved. I think a lot of people think that. All he wanted to do was use the things he had given me an ability to do to use my passions and desires. I love coaching people, working with people. I love sharing experiences with people. And then he took that platform and all those trophies that, you know, if they don't have eternal purpose, all they are is a trophy on a shelf. It's just a paycheck at a tournament that you spend within a week. And when you give it to God, he takes it and he turns it into something that has purpose. And that's what he did with water skiing. I love that. And you went from water skiing and then you were coaching. You do a lot here in Nashville with the youth and we're going to talk about that in a little bit. But from water skiing, he took you to prison. He took you to prison. We're going to talk about that when we get back. Christy, you were talking about how God took you out of the water and you struggled with what am I going to do. He took you down a different path, didn't he? Right. Yes. When I retired from water skiing towards the last year or two of my career, I realized that God was wanting me to use the platform of water skiing to minister to people. How old were you at this time? I was in the mid-20s and early 30s is really when the ministry aspect of my life started. But all those years on ESPN, I would stand up and I'd say, I want to give God the credit for this victory. But the Lord challenged me. He says, all these years you've told people that you were giving me thanks, but you've never once introduced me and how they could know the one that you give thanks to. And so I realized I was so afraid of my friends, who reject me, that I had kept my faith. They knew I was a Christian, but I didn't share anything about Christ with them. I just kind of gave them the glory for the victory. And so as I grew in my relationship with the Lord, I started using water sports to connect with people at the events. We would hold church services all across the world. And it was just such an interesting experience. And all these Christians from different denominations came together and it was wonderful. And so then I developed this heart for children and sharing the activities of water sports with these kids. And so we began a ministry called In His Wakes. And we get to come to Nashville and states all over the United States. We were here just recently working with Mercy Multiplied, Nancy Alcorns. We worked with all their houses across the nation. And so that was just what I thought I would do for the rest of my life is travel around speaking and traveling around encouraging people and teaching kids to water ski for the purpose of introducing them to a power source that would never fail. But God had other plans. Let's talk about it. Yeah, so 2013, 10 years into the In His Wakes journey, I was really struggling at that point because I had a name in water sports. I had all these connections. I was using every connection and the name of Christie Overton Johnson to make this ministry a success. And the Lord had to save me from myself and put me in a ministry that I knew absolutely nothing about, something I never saw come in and it was prison ministry. And I asked him recently, I said, like, God, why would you take me from this sport that made sense? And he's like to save you from yourself because he had to put me in a place where I had no name. I had no know how. I didn't know the lay of the land. I didn't have any connections. And the only name I had was the name of Jesus. And that was the only name I needed. And so when I said yes to prison ministry and how that happened is he just, I got an invitation from a professional boat driver who had been incarcerated from seven years to come visit him. And I went and when I was there, God opened my eyes to a sea of people that I'd never considered. And he's like, I want you to go help them get up. Because like we've already talked about, I fell every day. And if there's one thing this water skier knows how to do, it's how to get up. And you can fall for so many reasons. You can fall because of your own mistakes. You can fall because of the conditions or other people. And it doesn't matter because getting up is the same way. Like the same way I could get up. The water is the same way that these incarcerated people could get up in life with God's help. So you started the prison ministry. What was going through your mind? And how did God call you into that? And when did you know that, okay, this is what I'm supposed to do? It happened sitting talking to my friend Bill in a Miami prison. It was a federal prison and I looked around. He's like, I want you to take the message of hit it to these men and women. And the message of hit it is no matter how many times you fall, as long as you're saying hit it to the right power source. That power source is always there to pick you up. It's got all the power you need. Get connected with it and go. And God's got a different life for you. And so all I did that day in Miami was say yes. And the next week he took all the ministry that I had been doing and he put it in front of department of correction heads and that launched the prison ministry. It wasn't me starting one. God started it. Within how long did that take? A week. A week. A week from my yes. I got a call from the Florida DOC because I lived in Florida for 30 years. And they said, we found this magazine, Victorious Living, that you've been publishing. I've been publishing Victorious Living for two years at that point, not having a clue why. Okay, let's go back. Okay. So you went to the prison and spent time with your friend and then God gave you the vision. Okay, so this is 2013. 2013. Then God took the magazine that he had already had me publishing that was not reaching really anybody. Okay, so this wasn't really related to the prison. The prison, not at all. Okay, so Victorious Living was just a passion you were. He said, tell people's God story. So I started telling him. He put the magazine, some supernatural way, in the hands of the Florida DOC. And then they called me and said, we want this in every prison in the state of Florida. And that's how the prison ministry got started. Amazing. I did nothing but say yes. So we're already writing Victorious Living. And you're telling people's stories. I was ghost writing people's stories. Tell me about some of those stories. Is there somebody in the magazine that just really jumps out? How many years? Well, it's been since 2011. We're quarterly. And so every issue, I think, there'll never be an issue this good. We'll never get stories like this again. And then I'll come across someone, and I just hear their story. And every story is powerful. And so many people think I don't have a story. And I believe that's alive from Satan because the Bible says it's by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies that the enemy is defeated. So every story sticks out to me as a redemption story of God. Who have you done recently? Daryl Strawberry. Daryl Strawberry. Carol Kent, Mike Lindale. But it's not just the famous people. Everybody's just people. And no matter if you grew up in the limelight, if you grew up on the streets, if you grew up with a lake named after you, everybody needs the Lord. And I think that the most powerful stories are just these life transformation. I mean, my new group of people aren't water skiers. My friends are now former murderers, former drug dealers, former mafia and cartel leaders from all around the world that God has taken their life and totally transformed it. And that verse in Corinthians that says, he makes you a new man and a new woman is true. Like, I can't even imagine that they were like that. And that's why I just love these stories because they're powerful and they remind us that God can do anything. You know, we're going to talk about behind the bars and some of the people that you've met when we come back. Christy, God took you behind the prison doors. What was that like? What was the first, you know, when you first went in there and you heard those metal doors close? It was probably the most exciting and nerve-wracking. I wasn't afraid. It was just one of those things like, I knew God had made this happen. I knew God would put me where he wanted me to be. And so I also knew that if he didn't show up, I was in trouble. And so being behind bars has taught me to totally rely on the Lord for words, for the ability to speak life into people, to connect with people because in the natural, I haven't had those experiences. So there really isn't a connection. But through God's anointing on this, He's just knit us together and it's just amazing. So I love it. I come alive when I'm behind bars. So you go to both men and women's prisons? Yeah, our magazine goes into prisons all over the United States. And I have the opportunity to do prison tours just to deliver hope. That's what we do is we deliver the hope of Jesus Christ. We go in and like to say like splash the living water on people and just surround them and flood them with God's word and the hope that it's not over and their life can be redeemed through a relationship with Jesus Christ. And a lot of them do feel like it's over. They do. I mean in the natural there is no reason for hope. It's the darkest place in this world. And yet the light shines the brightest in the darkest places. So I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to minister not just through the magazine, not just through going in and doing prison tours but through tablets. I get to teach the word of God to men and women in a very applicable way and that's just such a passion of mine. Everything is changing, isn't it? Everything's changing. From the magazine, now it's going on the tablets. So it still goes in but there will be a time where it's only going to be digital. We really have a wonderful foothold and place on the tablet systems and it grows consistently. Right now we're on over 600,000 tablets and that's just growing because there's more and more companies coming up and they want these resources because they're delivering that hope. They help the prison facilities when there's hope in there. Facilities change because lives are changing. Communities change. Families change. So we get to really be a part of and not just encouraging the incarcerated population but the wardens and the correctional leaders and that's a place that I really feel like God leading us because it is not just a dark place to live but a dark place to work and there's a lot of chaos and I just know that when God comes in there and he shines his light he overcomes that darkness and brings peace. Is there anybody in the prison, man or woman that you met that just really sticks out in your mind? There's so many but I was thinking about that earlier and this lifer named James and James was once on death row and he gave his life to the Lord and the Lord then just began to move him out of the death row into another segment of the population. This man is a lifer but he is a leader and I go in there, I've been able to leadership conferences at his prison and he comes in and you see him ministering to the young guys that come in but for a miracle James will never get out of that correctional system but he's alive. He has purpose. He's flourishing and thriving in the place that he is and when you see that and then I go on the outside it's like okay if James can do that in there I had no excuse but to do that out here is to take the opportunities that God has given us because the reality is we can flourish wherever we are and that's why I love Jeremiah 29-11 God says I know the plans that I have for you but he says that to a people in captivity and so I see James he's flourishing. There's other guys and ladies who truly know the Lord they're alive in those dead places and I believe that I've seen more free people incarcerated physically than sometimes I do on the other side of prison walls because just because we have physical freedom doesn't mean that we are free mentally and emotionally we have a lot of saved people but they're not living in the authority and in the abundant life that Jesus Christ died to give us and so I go in and everybody's like oh what a great work you do but I come out fired up and ready and excited and determined to live my life to the fullest with all the opportunities that God has given me. You know and he wants us to have an abundant life. He does. And to live it to the fullest. I love what you're doing. What about any of the women? Is there anybody that you can think of that you've touched there? Yes, there's one particular lady that served decades behind bars and I met her, her name's Christina right when she came out of prison and she was actually giving her testimony at an event in Arizona and I met her. It was like God just highlighted her and I went over and introduced myself and said I would love to share your story in the magazine. I didn't know that God was highlighting her not just for her story but to come alongside me and to be a production manager for victorious living. Christina had lived on the streets for decades since she was like 11 years old. She had been hopelessly addicted to meth and heroin, lost her children, been incarcerated for decades. She had had her dream as a little girl to be a writer. I didn't know all this at the time when God was highlighting her. I just knew I needed her story and now this woman is traveling all over the United States. She just went to a conference with Carol Kent. She got to interview Carol Kent. I love Carol. Oh, Carol's wonderful. And it's just amazing how God can take a life and restore it and redeem dreams and restore family. She's now a mom to the girls that she lost. And when I see Christina and all that she's overcome because she didn't have a loving family I had. She didn't have lakes named after her. You know, I had Lake Christie. Christina was on the streets but the same God that gave me purpose and peace is the same God that restored everything that she lost and is using her just like he's using me and we get to work together and I learn from her. She teaches me about a world that I'm ministering to that I didn't really understand. And so I just love how God brings people together and he, like you said, he weaved our stories together. He weaved mine and Christina's together and it's a beautiful thing, the body of Christ. And his restoration, redeeming and restoration and the people that God chooses to do his work. Chrissy, what's next for you? Oh, not much grass grows underneath my feet. God, I have to put the brakes on me sometimes. I see so much opportunity in the prison system. Digitally, we just brought on a trauma-informed care counselor who is providing mental health help through the digital tablets. I just noticed this morning, she was the number one female lead on there giving people the tools to overcome substance abuse. The tools to have mental health in a place where, you know, 85% of the incarcerated population have drug addiction problems. That's substance abuse issues. And so it's just wonderful to be able to deliver hope. The gospel of Jesus Christ, also tangible tools developing relationships with national reentry partners. Spanish Christie's launching soon. I call her Spanish Christie. Lady out of Venezuela is lip-syncing. I saw it. It's amazing. I'm like, I speak Spanish. So it's wonderful. Fluently. And now that's going to go on these tablets and reach, because our magazine is bilingual. So now we get to reach the Hispanic population in a way that no one else is doing. I just see us all over the world with this magazine, not for my glory, but for the glory of God. Victorious Living. Victorious Living Magazine.com. Victorious Living Magazine.com. Christie, thank you. Thank you. I love you. I love you too, sweet friend. My friend, do you need the Lord in your life? Do you need restoration? Isaiah 41.10 says, He will give you strength and uphold you with His righteous hand. But if you read a little bit farther in verse 13, He says He will take your right hand and lift you up. Do it today. This is today's Nashville. This is faith.