On Christmas Day 2020, a depressed teenager walked into a Waffle House in Georgia planning to eat what he believed would be his final meal.
Bryce Crawford had already formed a plan to take his own life. Despite growing up in a Christian home and attending a Christian school, he said he was overwhelmed by crippling anxiety and depression and felt completely hopeless.
While sitting in the restaurant, Crawford struck up a conversation with another man who appeared just as despondent. The man shared that his wife was divorcing him and spoke candidly about love, loss, and failure.
“There’s no growth in a relationship if the love isn’t mutual,” the man said.
Crawford said the moment felt surreal. “Time just stopped,” he recalled. “I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I don’t know God loves me because I haven’t given myself a chance to love Him back.’ It was just supernatural revelation.”
That night, Crawford issued a challenge to Jesus.
“If you’re real, take away my anxiety and depression,” he prayed.
He said both disappeared that day and have never returned.
Crawford recently shared his testimony while speaking with conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey on the Jan. 14 episode of her Relatable podcast, recorded at AmericaFest 2025. Now 22, the street evangelist reflected on his conversion, his approach to gospel-sharing, and how that moment at Waffle House marked the beginning of a completely different life.
Evangelism Isn’t ‘Love-Bombing,’ Says Bryce Crawford
Stuckey asked Crawford why he believes the phrase “Jesus loves you,” while true, is often presented as the entire gospel.
“Yes, Jesus displayed His love on the cross,” Crawford said. “But Jesus talked about hell a lot—and about people being separated from God for eternity because of their sin.”
According to Crawford, the gospel includes both love and justice. Humanity, he explained, “deserves the wrath and justice of God,” and Jesus’ death and resurrection matter because “there has to be a payment for wrong—either with your life or with Jesus’ life.”
Although people cannot defeat sin and death on their own, Crawford said faith in Christ changes everything. Through belief in Jesus, believers are “justified and made right in God’s eyes” and receive eternal life. Rejecting Christ, he added, leads to eternal separation from God—not because God stops loving people, but because He honors their choice.
Crawford said his faith deepened as he became serious about studying Scripture. He described locking himself in his bedroom to read the Bible alongside theological works by Wayne Grudem, C.S. Lewis, and R.C. Sproul.
That growth quickly turned outward.
