Fired Up for the Lord! ‘Apprentice’ candidate shares testimony
By J. James Estrada (03/14/06)
Dr. Randal Pinket, winner of last seasons The Apprentice, has this biblical quote front and center at his website: "To Whom Much is Given, Much is Expected”. Pinket is an unabashed Christian and he takes his message of peace onto the lecture circuit.
A new The Apprentice season has begun. I personally like “the kid” and the Russian who put the Mensa IQ genius in his place in episode one. Donald Trump was all set to fire this guy until the blond, Summer, spoke when she shouldn’t have. A classic case of less is more.
Before getting too deep into what is now season five of the popular series, I’d thought I’d bring you this reminder from last season: Pinket wasn’t the only Christian on the program. My home state was represented by real estate owner Jennifer Wallen of Anthem, Arizona. Her husband, Jeff, had actually auditioned for the show, but producers asked that Jennifer try out when they saw her photo. What follows is their story.
“Hey, mister, can you buy me a six-pack?” With that question, the life of Jeff Wallen was changed forever. A young man of 14 at the time, Wallen lived with his mom and two siblings in Couer d’Alene, Idaho. His dad was living in Michigan. Five other brothers and sisters were scattered across the country, being old enough to be own their own. Divorce had come to the family because Dad became a Christian while Mom remained steadfast in her Mormon beliefs.
Young Jeff was not expecting the answer he got that day in front of the little convenience store. This was the first time he had ever approached a stranger with this request. The bearded gentlemen on the bike looked somewhat disheveled. He had a far away look, but spoke with a clear voice. “Let me tell you something,” he said sternly. “It was booze and drugs that nearly sent me to jail.”
Jeff looked at the man and started to walk away. “Wait a minute.” The man maneuvered his bike to stop Jeff’s retreat. “I’m telling you the truth. I was probably a little bit older than you, stoned on drugs, man…” Jeff was wondering what he got himself into, but had nowhere to go. He asked the stranger, “Yeah, so what happened?”
“What happened was I was going to kill some guy. Who knows why? I just didn’t like him.” Placing his bike on the ground, he moved closer to Jeff. “One day, I followed the guy into Canada. Come hell or high water, I was going to kill him.”
“So what stopped you?” Jeff stood his ground, but was shaking inside. “Well,” the man answered slowly, “I never got the chance to pull my gun. As I was getting up to where the guy was, suddenly a group of kids, like in their twenties, get up around me and surround me. They started saying stuff like: we know what you’re planning to do. It freaked me out.”
“How did they know,” said a still nervous Jeff. The bearded man looked him straight in the eyes. “They were Christians.”
Jeff says the man then asked him if he wanted to receive Christ into his life. When Jeff said he did, the man asked if he knew anyone who could pray for him. Jeff’s best friend and mother had been witnessing to him for awhile, so yes, he did. “Then go pray with them,” the man said getting back on his bike. “Now.”
Today, Jeff is 34, married and the father of Triston, 4, and Hope, 2. He and wife Jennifer run their own real estate firm in Anthem, Arizona.
Jennifer, 31, is a native of Tennessee. She was a contestant on season four of The Apprentice. The NBC television program features real estate mogul and multi-billionaire Donald Trump conducting a 13 week job interview of some of the best and brightest from around the country. While Jennifer did hear the fateful words, “You’re fired,” her exposure on the highly rated show has given her an opportunity to share her Christian faith.
Saved at the age of nine, Jennifer questioned her relationship with the Lord at a revival in a small Kentucky church. Sixteen at the time, she was unsure how to respond to the preacher’s call that day, “If you were to die today, do you know that you would go to Heaven?” By confessing her confusion at the altar and with the help of the Spirit in that faithful preacher, by the end of the meeting, she was sure. “I know the peace that passes all understanding,” Jennifer says. “I knew it that day and I know it now.”
Several of her fellow contestants on The Apprentice were Christians as well. The ultimate winner, Randall Pinkett, told Jennifer that he lives by the three F’s: Faith, Family and Fun. Good advice that Jennifer carries with her.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” is her favorite verse. “I know I have hidden, unknown strength when I need it,” she says. And did she need it in her early childhood. Her parents divorced when she was six years old. She remembers thinking, “Please Jesus, come soon.” What better way to end the pain she was experiencing? But strength was found, mainly in her Granddad, who lived by the credo, “I’ve never met a stranger.”
Jennifer says he was a “fun-loving entertainer and story-teller. Everybody loved him.” Living just across the Tennessee state line in Kentucky, Granddad was a Mr. Fix-it and one of the first television repairmen. He was also there to “fix” little Jennifer’s broken heart and “repair” her faith in people. Jennifer learned the lesson of caring for others watching Granddad do odds and ends for widows and be there for anyone who was in need. “He was a big giver,” Jennifer concluded.
“I love and adore my Mom,” Jennifer says. Mom helped instill a love for children. When Jennifer became Miss Murray State University in 1993, the next dream was to become Miss America. The dream did not materialize, but the desire to be a role model for young girls has come to pass. Most of Jennifer’s fan mail from her Apprentice appearance comes from young teens seeking advice about being a Christian leader in tough business environments. Jennifer is only too willing to answer every letter.
Together, the Wallen’s started Hot Realty in Anthem. The town has only recently has risen from the desert just north of Phoenix and has proven to be a model community. The business opportunity came at the right time in this high growth area.
Jeff and Jennifer hold to the belief that “church” is an everyday event. Their primary giftings consist in the area of service. Jennifer says her “use me” outlook comes from her Granddad. “You need something done; I’ll give it a try!” She loves taking “leaps of faith.”
Speaking of which, they hope to achieve financial independence that will allow them to enter the mission field full-time by 2009. Jeff has worked with YWAM and sees his calling to the youth around the world. Jennifer calls her husband “spontaneously courageous” and “a risk taker.”
In this vein, Jeff also plans to publish a book of testimonies from everyday Christians to every day Christians. He sees a daily commentary format that incorporates various themes to which readers can find themselves and gain hope. After all, it was a testimony that caused him to make his decision for Christ. (If you’d like to contribute a story to this project, please send to jjamesestrada@gmail.com)..
The day he was told to seek out someone for prayer, he knocked on the door of his friend Sherwin. Sherwin and his “little Filipino mother” were upstairs neighbors to the family. Every night Jeff tucked himself into his sleeping bag (“We were dirt poor, I slept on the floor”); he would hear the two through the ceiling praying. When the man on the bike said to get prayer, he knew where to go.
“Sherwin,” he said, “I’m here to receive prayer to become a Christian.” “Mom!” was Sherwin’s excited response. From the top of the stairs, Jeff heard these words in a thick accent, “Praise God, Praise God, for He is faithful.”
Copyright 2006 J. James Estrada
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