Chris Wyatt

GodTube.com: If God Had a Website

Chris Wyatt grew up in the pews of his great-grandfather’s church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but the Christian values he learned there soon lost importance in the lights of Hollywood. Six weeks after graduating from the University of Southern California, Chris became the youngest executive producer at CBS.

Slam Dunk, a Saturday morning show about basketball, went into syndication and stayed there for four years. Next came Jam Central, an all-sports program picked up by ESPN. Then Day and Date, a CBS competitor of the Oprah Winfrey Show.

“All told, between the specials,” Chris says, “I’ve done about 2,500 hours of television, reaching 26 million people a week in 76 countries and translated into 32 languages.”

Changing channels
But life in Hollywood was “crazy,” he says. “I was working around the clock and was angry all the time. When you could get out and do something, you had to go to the extremes to do it. I had made it to the top,” he says, but it wasn’t enough.

So Chris abandoned television for the world of dot-coms. However, a sense of failure nagged him, and it was a failed relationship that drove Chris to seek the God he had worshiped in the pews of his great-grandfather’s church.

“I asked God for forgiveness,” he says, “and six weeks later I [left Hollywood].” Chris began working for a Christian company similar to Netflix in Lynchburg, Virginia. “Going from being one of Hollywood’s darlings to living in a 700-square-foot apartment in a few years was quite an eye opener. Looking back on it all, God was preparing me for what lie ahead.”

Uploading something new
What lie ahead was a friendship with Dr. Mike Miller, the executive pastor at First Baptist Dallas, who persuaded Chris to attend Dallas Seminary instead of returning to Hollywood. And it was through their friendship that GodTube was born.

“I’m the old guy and he’s the young guy,” Dr. Miller says. “Churches are generally late to adopt the use of new technology, but it’s a powerful way to advance the gospel—and that’s why I signed up for this.”

The explosion of GodTube—an online video-sharing community like YouTube but with a Christian bent—is due to launch officially this May, but it’s already sparked a flurry of media attention. “From ABC News to Newsweek to Rolling Stone,” Chris says, “the world reaction to GT was not expected. It’s not every day that you’re headed to class and Nightline calls and wants an interview.”

About 16,000 people are registered GodTube users, and the site garners video submissions in languages ranging from Japanese to Italian. Dr. Miller says that believers have criticized the site for promoting a place for Christians to huddle and ignore the world. “But the traffic is about 43 percent international,” Dr. Miller says, “and includes Christians and non-Christians alike.”

“DTS was, and is, the inspiration for GT,” Chris says. “My education is providing the necessary foundation for which to make critical decisions.”

From Hollywood to Dallas, Chris says the biggest lesson he has learned is that his life and work are not about him. “My mother told me that my life is on a bus and I’m not the driver,” he says. “Thankfully, I now know who the driver is and I trust Him.”