“Looking back at these ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities that we had,” Tyler said, “we kind of got away with it when it was just us and our wives. And I think they really felt the toll…and then you throw kids in the mix of that, and you start talking about missing, you know, first days of school.”
“When he was home, he was the best dad, truly,” Bethany said. “And I think that’s what was frustrating to me—is because I would see that and I was like, ‘Man, if you could just be here more,’ because he was such a good dad and he was there for our family when he was home.”
“This is not what I signed up for, at all,” Bethany went on to say.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Tyler and Bethany spent more time together than Bethany could ever remember. Unfortunately, unresolved resentment led to conflict. One night, Bethany told Tyler, “I don’t want to do this.”
The couple then separated.
“We were not in a good place,” Tyler said. “I was not the husband to Bethany that I needed to be. I was not the dad to my kids that I needed to be. I was struggling with pornography for a long time.”
“Looking back, the thing that got us through it was not only [our] faith, [which] played a major role, but the community that was around us,” Tyler said, recounting a time when a friend showed up at his house after Tyler was not returning his calls or texts checking up on him. The friend walked in, hugged Tyler, and said, “I’m here for you.”
Recognizing that he hadn’t been a spiritual leader to the family, Bethany recounted Tyler telling her, “I don’t think I’ve really ever had a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
“Hearing him say that kind of put everything in perspective for me,” Bethany recalled. “Because that was kind of the one thing we had been missing in our marriage…Christ was not first in our marriage. Dude Perfect was first in our marriage.”
Bethany added, “That shift alone kind of was the pivot for us moving forward.”
Tyler went on to start a Bible study at his home, which now meets every week, something that Tyler said is “irreplaceable in my walk to have those 11 guys, that we can come together and be vulnerable with and be humble and share wins and losses and all of those things together.”
“Tyler just puts Christ at the center of everything in our family now,” Bethany said. “He’s just a whole new person. I remember telling my mom, ‘I feel like I’m married to a new person, and it’s weird and I’m having to get used to it.’”
Bethany added that Tyler, as well as the other Dude Perfect stars, now take their families into account when making decisions about their commitments and partnerships.
As Tyler continued to spiritually grow, he felt God was calling him to bring his faith into a more prominent role with regard to his public platform. In fact, he felt compelled to begin sharing the gospel message to audiences while on tour with Dude Perfect—something that terrified him.
Despite his trepidation, Tyler committed to sharing his faith. For the past two Dude Perfect tours, he has shared the message of Jesus with every audience.
