'World's Strongest Redneck' talks about Jesus

Steve McGranahan bends frying pans into tacos for Jesus. As the "World's Strongest Redneck," Steve travels to churches, ministries and secular events to teach uplifting messages while making jokes and performing ridiculous feats of strength. He has appeared on Jay Leno, The 700 Club and is a regular on Country Music Television. The New Man eMagazine recently talked with Steve about his ministry and his faith.

New Man: How did you get into "strongman motivational comedy," as you call it?
McGranahan: One day about three winters ago the Lord woke me up and said, "Come up with a strongman comedy act." So I milled about it for two hours and went back to bed. I didn't do anything about it, but I had trouble sleeping for two weeks after that.

He woke me up again at 3:57 two weeks later and said the same thing. I said, "God this is funny, but I don't know anything about comedy." I had always been a class clown in high school to cover my learning disability of dyslexia, but I had never done comedy. So I started to go to improvs and open-mic sessions and get into this new genre, and people really liked it. I called this friend who knows all about strongmen and asked if anyone had done strongman comedy act. He said one guy tried and he didn't do well. So I thought, Well, I'll give it a shot anyway.

New Man: What kind of jokes do you tell?
McGranahan: Well, I'll give you some examples. Last summer I went down to Florida and went gator hunting. I thought, I've got to write a joke about this. Then I thought, What do you use to hunt gators in Florida? Vegetarians.

It's fun because some jokes are good for churches and others are a bit more edgy and better for different venues. Like this one: There's a new program in California to help prostitutes by getting them to work on farms? It's called "whore-ganics."

That's probably my edgiest joke. And then I do life lessons in between all the jokes.

New Man: What kinds of lessons do you teach?
McGranahan: Take the simple nail. What's the nail made for? It's made to hold two things together. That's what God made laws and commandments for. They teach us how to work together and get along. If you look at the Garden of Eden, it shows how we were designed to live in peace and harmony under God's law. But when you add sin in, people start to use the rules for the wrong reasons. Then I bend the nail into a "U" to show how God's tools can be misused.

In another example, I take a frying pan. I hold a watch up and I say, "What did God give us here on earth that we're not getting anymore?" and I point to my watch. People say "time." Then I slide the watch down the handle of the frying pan. I tell them that in our own strength, we don't have enough time and we can't get our lives on track. But if we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, he'll give us the time and the ability to make it through everything. When we do God's will, we can do something amazing. Then I roll the frying pan up and slip it through the watch, and I say, "We can even make it a redneck hotdog cooker."

New Man: That's amazing! Any more examples?
McGranahan: Sometimes I use a deck of cards. Each card has a meaning. I use an old Bill Anderson song that's about a sailor with a deck of cards in church, and I go through all the Christian meanings of each card, from a 2 to the King. And I ask them, "Did I miss anything?" And they say, "The Jack." And I say, "We can't let Jack (meaning the devil) keep ripping stuff out of our lives." Then I put the Jack card in the front, put all 52 cards in my mouth and rip them all with one hand.

New Man: Which is most strongman thing that you've done?
McGranahan: There's so many of them. Probably picking up the back end of a dumpster by the bumper. I did that when I was about 17 or 18. I've ran 50 miles at once, ran five marathons, dunked a basketball. Catching that gator was pretty cool, too. I've done just about all the world-class feats of strength.

My fan base is 6 years old up to 90. People just love it when you come up to them and start ripping stuff up. I can take a penny unwrapped, put it in my teeth and bend it into a taco. Never seen anyone do that. That one hurts real bad, but my dentist loves me for it.

I've ripped 11 decks of cards in my mouth in about 26 seconds. Did that one on the I've Got a Secret game show. It's amazing what your body can do when you just put your mind to it.

New Man: When did you become a Christian?
McGranahan: I was in college when a roommate came by and I said I was just tired of being tired. He said, "I know what you mean." Then he asked me if I wanted to go to the preacher's house. We went there and it was a real stormy night. Really heavy and dark, unusual for that part of the mountains. The minister asked me if I ever asked God into my heart. I said: "No, but I've heard about it a lot. I've tried to fill that void with drugs, alcohol, sex, sports, anything." I got down and prayed that prayer, and God just lifted millions of weights off me. I was just floating. I walked outside and the storm had passed and it was sunny. I thought this was like my life before and after.

At first I was fired up and ministering to everyone I could. People thought I was a crazy Christian. But later, I started to backslide and things in my life got worse and worse for two years. I even got some diseases. One night I went to a pig pickin' and was drunk and high. I was driving and I got into a head-on collision. One woman in the car, her face was so crushed she needed eight hours of surgery. I got out of the car and cried out to God. But God picked me up after that, cleaned me up, washed me off. Now I've been on Jay Leno twice. It's been a truly blessed life since I gave it all to Him.

New Man: If you could have one thing to say to Christian men, what would you say?
McGranahan: Start "cowboyin'" up with the gifts that you got. Do more with the gifts that you have. We all have gifts. You're a great journalist; I'm the world's strongest redneck; and we're getting together to help people's lives. Let's work together and not let pride get in the way. It's amazing how God places things in men's hearts and we ignore Him

Another things is to give. I love to give. Me and my wife, one year we were giving to nine different ministries. When we first moved up here we didn't have as much and couldn't make our house payments, and the thing I missed the most wasn't any material things; it was giving. If you read Nehemiah 8:10, it says, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Christ said if you give to these people you are giving to Him. Just give. Just love people.