“The lost will not believe a thing
you say if you don't live it out.”
We had the incredible opportunity to sit with Dylan Novak, better known by his online persona "Celebrity Evangelist". Through his ministry, he has witnessed to over 2,000 people, alongside countless bystanders. Dylan gladly shared stories of encouragement, how to fight discouragement, and the importance of always having an answer to give, all of which you can read below.
Interview by Cody Cooksey and Caroline Gutierrez
March 29, 2026
Looking at your FAQ page on your website, your ministry began with superheroes, but now it's expanded to numerous “people who the world calls celebrities”. What was the expansion process like, and how do you choose who you meet?
That’s a really good question. I’m just a huge superhero pop culture nerd and still am. When I went to my first Comicon, I had seen an interview where I realized that Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane, was an atheist, and that just broke my heart. I was saved when I was eight years old, and very quickly, I had a burden for people's souls, because I realized there's a heaven and there's a hell. I would give out tracts, but the thought never occurred to me sitting there watching Christian Bale play Batman, or Brandon Routh playing Superman, the reality of these actors that I admired and their souls, it had never occurred to me until that moment. I prayed “God, please send somebody to tell Margot about Your Son before it's eternally too late”. God really convicted my heart. “What about you? You're gonna be right in front of her, why not you?” I played Jonah for a while because that doesn't sound fun. I want to go to the show, and do me, and do nothing but what I want to do. I think that's a sad state a lot of Christians are in, because they think that they're prioritizing themselves when really, they're not only disservicing themselves, they're being disobedient to God, because we find our joy in obeying the Lord, and doing what the Lord has called us to do, which we're all to go into the world and preach the Gospel. Most people don't respond to the Gospel immediately. It's a growth, it's a process. So after a lot of conviction from God, I got some tracts from my church and took him to the event. Everybody was receptive, including Margot, and I did that for nine years. Then it became a full time ministry when I realized the great need in Hollywood. I would reference interviews and I still do that. That's a great conversation starter to turn somebody towards spirituality. James Taylor said in an interview “Nobody's come and talk to me about that”. It made me realize, these people are known, but they are forgotten. So how do I determine who I go to, who I don't go to? A lot of prayer, tons of prayer, tons of research, because I don't know if you all have ever been to a Comicom, but at these events, you cannot get to everybody. Unless it is the smallest ma and pa show, it's impossible. We have to determine, and I hate to word it this way, but who's your target? Who are you prioritizing? Again, it's not always somebody saying something. It's just the Holy Spirit leading towards somebody. There's this one person in particular that I'm thinking of from this past week, Ashley Green. She's in the Twilight movies. I asked “why do I feel led to her?” She's been at cons I've been at before. I've researched her several times. I've never felt led until now. There's always that second guessing yourself, like "Do I have some selfish motive?” I know I did. I've never seen Twilight. All I've seen of Twilight is the memes. I went to meet her that Friday, and we had a great conversation, and she shared that she had just finished doing a faith-based film, and everybody on the film set got a personalized Bible except her. She got overlooked. She said “I was really sad because I haven’t read through the Bible in so long, and I’ve been wanting to do it again. It was like God saw my heart, that I wanted to read His word again, and He brought you.” The timing of the filming wrapping and us meeting, that was Holy Spirit led. She had not said anything in an interview that was prolific enough for me to see an open door. Somebody else recently, Eddie Deezen from The Polar Express, he posted about me tonight. I was not going to post about him today, and then my phone was blowing up during church. People are like, "Is this you?” Eddie was like “Hey, I got this Bible last week.” so I was like “oh we're making a ride up tonight and getting people to pray for you." In an interview in 2012, an interviewer said “my research says you're a Scientologist.", and he said, “yes, but I'm not really practicing." He went on to say he was searching for God. He was searching for truth. Through the years, there are always moments where either it goes bad or if I'm on the street looking for somebody at a backstage door and they're either unreceptive or I don't have access to them, and I'm like, "Well, why?" Then down the road God reveals, and will introduce me to somebody, or I will there for somebody else on the street just talking to them. So it's just all God led.
The next question requires some context. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of the book “Sharing Jesus Without Fear" by Bill Fay. I went to Liberty, and my evangelism professor knew Bill Fay. He actually got him on the phone and got to talk to our evangelism class about different tips and tricks, which was amazing. He talked about how he met John Denver in an airport shortly before he died. He had met his father years before, who made him promise “if you ever come across my son, please tell him the Gospel.”. and so he did. That reminded me of your interaction with Ozzy Osbourne, and how you've met the whole family. Someone encouraged me recently that by sharing the Gospel, you can change lineages, it can change the eternity of a whole family. Have you had any interactions with family members, celebrities, or multi-generational opportunities? What has that been like?
I've been in contact with some family members of different celebrities, some friends most recently, and I don't want to say too much because when I write every post, I write it with the intention that the person I'm posting about reads it. So many times people think they're gonna feel like you're exploiting them. If somebody gets offended by me asking people to pray for them, then the mission's already a fail. That's just a sad reality. I stress to the people that I won't share or repeat anything you say in confidence. If somebody is saying something openly in front of a bunch of people, that's one thing. For example, Eddie pulled me aside, and we had a conversation. He literally turned his back to everybody else. We were just kind of face to face like this. I knew that everything he's saying right now will never be repeated. So that being said, there is a cousin of one celebrity that we recently witnessed to, who gave me a bunch of behind-the-scenes information. This person told how you can go about it, and gave me a bit of their background. He said, "If you can bring up to this person that you know me, even though I'm just Instagram messaging you, that would maybe make them more open to talk to you.” I said to this celebrity, “Hey, your cousin wanted me to give you a hug." That wall came down so fast. He was like, "How in the world do you know my cousin?" and I answered, "Oh, through ministry." Just this past weekend, there was a very close family friend of somebody that I witnessed to who I knew they knew them, and I was like, "Hey, I'm gonna see this person. I know you know them and their family pretty well. Do you have any tips?" They wrote back maybe five paragraphs. I never bring up that information to the person and say, “Hey, I know this about you”, but it helps me be more apathetic. I think we as Christians in general should go into every situation with apathy. We don't know where somebody comes from. We don't know what makes them the way they are. I'm fortunate in my ministry, because people are in the spotlight. I can quickly pinpoint why you're that way, because your whole life has been on display. With some people, it's a generational thing, it's a lineage, and vice versa. There's several famous people who have turned from faith who grew up in Christian households. My dad gave his life to the Lord in 2009, when I was fourteen. It's been really great just seeing the change in him. I saw the man he used to be, and then who he is now. I was old enough to appreciate that, to see the power of the Holy Spirit in his life, and it makes me just stop and think, “How many other people?” There are some actors who have given their life to the Lord, but their other family members are not Christians. So in turn, they feel a burden and responsibility that they have led them away because of what they used to be, but that's who you were before Christ. In Christ, we are a new creation.
What have been some of your favorite interactions, not because of who you met, but because of their response?
Ozzy Osbourne was really great, just because it went beyond him and beyond his family. It went to his fans, and what that did is it showed me that we are reaching the fan base just as much as we are the rockstar. The algorithm of social media knows you, like if you're a super fan of Ozzy Osbourne, you may like this. During the passing of Ozzy, we got hundreds of emails from people asking questions, asking for material, and some saying that they wanted to get saved. People even called the church, it was great. So Ozzy was great. I have a “Zurg” action figure sitting here, and that reminded me of Toy Story, and so, Wallace Shawn. He played Rex in Toy Story, and he’s in The Princess Bride. Sweetheart of a man. My wife and I met him twice when we were dating, and then a couple years ago. He is a self professing atheist, and both times we've shared the Gospel with him ended with him in tears, giving us a hug, thanking us for caring about him and making him question himself. Another really good one, in the sense that it shows the importance of sharing the Gospel, is comedian Bobby Lee, He shared in an interview with George Janko a couple years ago that he was very anti-Christian, he said “Jesus is too inclusive. It's a pill I'll never swallow, that it's Jesus or no way.” I remember seeing that interview and saying, "Wow, I never want to talk to Bobby.” Be careful saying that, because the Holy Spirit will convict you. He was doing a podcast with Andrew Santino on the “Bad Friends” podcast, very ironically named. Andrew mentioned that he goes to church every week and Bobby got very angry. He said “Well, that tells me everything I need to know about our friendship. You don't want to see me saved. You don't want me to go to heaven. You don't want me to know Jesus.” You've never once invited me to church. You’ve never once said anything.” I've got the video on my page, and I can't disagree with anything he said. Andrew came up with excuses why he hadn’t, and Bobby said it doesn't matter. I think that should be a call to our generation, the same way Penn Jillette, who's an atheist, said, "If you're not out there proselytizing, you don't really believe in what you say you believe.” If you believe there's a heaven and hell, and you're not actively doing something about it, then you don't really believe. I couldn't agree with him more. Very, very rarely do I theologically agree with an atheist. Circling back, I met Bobby in January, and I asked if I could get a quick photo. We took the photo and I said, “Hey, real quick, this is why I came to meet you. I love and care about you, so I got you this gift." I didn't know how quick it would be. Sometimes it's just a quick handoff, and he goes, "Well, I need to see what it is, because, if I'm on stage and I hear my car blow up…” That's fair enough, and so I showed it he goes, “Is that a Christian Bible?” I said yes, and he looked up where his name was embossed. He joked around with the doorman with it for a little bit, and then he goes “Now seriously, why did you get me this?" I told him exactly what I just told you. I saw that interview, and I never wanted to talk to him. Then I saw the interview with Andrew, and I said Bad Friends couldn't be more accurately named. I said “I'm not your friend”, and he goes, “Okay, good, glad we established that.” I told him I don't want to be a bad Christian, and that I had an opportunity to stand in between him and hell, and I wanted to take that. I said, “If you choose to go to hell, I want you to do it over my dead body.” I'm not always that blunt, but sometimes you gotta be. You speak the truth, but you speak it in love. He gave me the biggest hug I've gotten from a celebrity in a very long time, and he said, “This is what Christianity is. You actually believe in what you say you believe. You did something about it, and that is why I might become a Christian one day. I disagree with about 90% of what you said, but you sincerely believe it. You came here with a good heart. and that makes me question. So thank you.”, and he put it in his car and went on. I just think that is a very powerful message within itself to the church, that the lost will not believe a thing you say if you don't live it out. You can say if you don't give your life to Jesus, you're gonna perish for all eternity. Okay, well, what are you doing about it? You can't just be sitting there in the church pews on Sunday going, "Yep, amen.” We have to be the church. We have to go out, be the hands and feet of Christ. There’s a Seinfeld episode where Elaine's boyfriend is a Christian. Jerry is not a believer. Julia Louise-Dreyfus isn't a believer. I know Larry David isn't a believer. All the main writers of that episode are not believers, but that's how they see Christianity. “I'm going to hell, and you don't care.”
You have stated online that the Lord has opened the door for you to meet over 2,000 people and share the Gospel with them, but you only know of one person who has given their life to Christ after talking with you, which is quite a ratio. How do you not get discouraged, and how do you see the Lord encouraging you as you press on towards the upwards call?
I know there's a few more, I need to update that number. I am constantly encouraged and discouraged at the same time. For example, recently I had an encounter with somebody, it didn't go overly well. It was fine, very surface level. There is that fleshly part of me, which I do feel like is the enemy, just saying, "You're wasting your time, you're wasting your money, you're wasting your efforts for nothing”, and somebody came up to me who recognized the ministry and started sharing, saying, “Because of this ministry, it gave me the encouragement to go talk to my next door neighbor, who ended up coming to church and getting saved.” On the other side of that, one story I always go back to as it's one of my favorites, and it shouldn't be one of my favorites. This just shows how you don't always know who you're talking to. The Bible says God's Word will not return void (Isaiah 55:11). It's hard for us to comprehend that, because so many of us want that. We live in an instant gratification and satisfaction generation. So this story about is Doug Bradley in 2020. He calls himself an “evangelical atheist”, which is very interesting. You spread the message of nothing and hopelessness. I went and all I got was a copy of “The Case For Christ” by Lee Strobel, as well as a letter and some tracts. He debated with me for half an hour. He was very polite. So many Christians will tell me, "There's nobody who genuinely doesn't believe there is a God, they're always just angry at God." That's not true. I genuinely think that Doug does not believe, and he said, "I believe that religion of all kinds, especially Christianity and evangelicalism, have stunted the growth of human development.” It was sad because I think if he had that much excitement for the Gospel, what difference could he make? I say he was very kind. He was not mean. It was just a friendly debate. Well, he held up the line that entire time, and it was a fairly wrong line at this horror show. As he was done, he said, "All right, I'll give you the same platform that you gave me. I'll show you the same courtesy you showed me." Again, that's not always what we see. I took a few minutes to share the Gospel, and why I believe, always be prepared to give a reason for your own (1 Peter 3:15). He said, “Dylan, this your contact info in here?” I said,”Yes, it's in the back of all the material.” He said, "Okay, so if I change my mind, I'll give you a call, but don't wait by the phone.” I walk away, and I'm regrouping and getting ready for the next person, because at these conventions you don't have time to just sit there and process. This guy stepped out of line, and he looked like the last person you would want to approach you. He goes, "Hey, man, do you have more of that Strobel guy stuff?", I was like, "Is he gonna just rip this up in front of me?" I said yes, and he asked for some. I asked if he had any questions and he said, "Nope. Just wanted this." I said, "Okay, if you ever want to get a hold of me, please, let me know. My contact info is in the back.” About a month later, I got a message from him, and he said that he had gotten saved. He was an atheist when he was in line. He said, “I was rooting for Doug, but some of the comments that both of you made, I thought maybe I should read this more. It sounds like the Strobel guy might have actually done some good research.” The last I checked with the guy, he was a worship leader in North Carolina. To me, that really showcased that it's just as much evangelizing to the people around. There are people I know personally who are not famous who have come to Christ through this ministry. To me, that just shows there's always a captive audience at these events. Even with Eddie Deezen posting on his Facebook page the picture of his Bible, it's just amazing to see the people going, "Man, I should read my Bible.” These celebrities have a platform that you and I don't have, and we'll never have. I use Taylor Swift as an extreme example. Swifties will do whatever that woman says for them to do. Just imagine if she gave them a challenge to read the Bible every day. You would have some who turned on her. Absolutely, you would. You would then have a large majority of people reading the Bible, who would listen to her before they'd listen to us. I'm a firm believer that publicity is good publicity. Just like Skeet Ulrich a couple weeks ago, said the weirdest gift he’d ever received was a personalized Bible (from me). I had so many people messaging me, saying I must be so discouraged. I was so excited, because it stayed on his mind all week, that's all he could think about, and because of that, he had a platform there on that panel stage of several hundred people. I went on YouTube and I watched it from several different angles, and it was very interesting. Some people in the crowd were going, "Ewww." Some people said “Huhhh.”, and some people said “That's really sweet." What you start to see more of a result of is that trickle-down effect of the Gospel. It's making other people think. It's starting the conversation, no matter what angle it's coming from. What I've seen through this ministry, the biggest fruit, besides the people we do know who have come to Christ in the entertainment world, is the church just being encouraged to use their platform with their neighbor. In the past year, I've talked to and even done short interviews with a few celebrities who have given their life to Christ. I’ve heard them say what brought them to Christ, and how important their ministry is. There’s a rock star who I knew was a born again Christian, Nicko McBrain, the drummer from Iron Maiden. I was sharing my ministry with him and he was like, "Oh, I know you gave a Bible to such and such. She was my friend, she texted me a picture of it.” He said, “Please keep sharing Jesus with my friends, because nobody does with us. The reason I came to Christ was because of my wife, but if it weren't for my wife, I don't know if anybody in my circles would have ever reached me.” Things like that keep us going. My mindset with any ministry is that one soul is worth it all. I say that often because we also live in a generation who loves numbers. We love to impress people. I'm not looking to impress anybody, but my Lord and Savior. The Bible says that the heavens rejoice over one soul who repents (Luke 15:7). For example, it's Easter week, we used to do an Easter egg hunt every year on the Saturday before Easter, and I thought it was a good idea to reach out to the community and invite them to church tomorrow. I've never hated doing the church event more in my life. It was awful. Last year, my wife said, "Let’s not do it this year." I'm a stubborn person. I'm like, "We always do it.", and she asked, "Have you seen any fruit? We've been doing it for six years. Have you seen any fruit? You're going against everything that you say, just because this is what we always do. Why don't we do something else?” So instead, we did a Good Friday service, and that was much more fruitful. As a youth pastor, we are constantly throwing around ideas. How can we bring youth to the community, and how can we evangelize more? I met Jared Padalecki from Supernatural yesterday and he was a really sweet guy. I didn't think I was going to get a photo with Jared because I couldn't miss my flight. So I talked to somebody with the photo ops who actually knew the ministry. They said they love what I do, and I asked, “Do you see fruit behind the scenes?” They said, “Oh, yeah, you get a couple who leave stuff behind, but overall, it started a lot of conversations behind the scenes. Even with workers.” So again, any promotion of the Gospel is good. Jesus is getting talked about behind the scenes. From the workers, to the celebrities, to the handlers, I even had a handler last week go, “I'm Jewish, but I see what you're doing, it's very loving, and it is very compelling and interesting.” I said, "Well, that's exactly what we're going for. Compel people to come to Christ.” I know this ministry is just as much for the “average Joe” as it is for the “celebrity”, but God uses all things. Again, we have seen people give their life to Christ. I'll have entertainment people say, “Please keep telling my friends about Jesus, because no one else is.” That keeps us going.
You have 60 seconds to share the joy of salvation through Christ with someone, through your “Elevator Testimony”. What do you say?
I was searching for joy in life in the things of this world. I thought that music would bring me joy. I thought playing music would bring me happiness. I went down every avenue, and God kept closing the door, and I kept getting mad at God because I thought God wanted me to have what would make me the happiest, what would make my life the best. I was exactly right. That is exactly what God wants. Just like any parent, we don't always see, as children, why our parents do the things that they do. My son doesn't realize why running out on the road is a bad idea on Sunday morning when people are driving up for church. So, I finally decided to give God a chance. I had accepted Jesus when I was eight years old, but I had never fully surrendered my life. I kept certain areas of my life closed off, because I thought I knew what was best. I can't even trust myself to keep my calendar straight without reminders. So why would I trust myself with my eternal life, trying to make God who I want Him to be, and think I know what's best? Once I finally said, “God, whatever it is You want me to do, I'll do. If you want me to tell people about Your Son, dying on the cross so that they can have eternal life, for the rest of my life, that's exactly what I'll do.” Through that, I have received no greater joy in life. than living for my Lord and Savior, who, by obeying my Heavenly Father, opened the door for me to meet my beautiful wife, got me my amazing job at this church, with a youth group of kids that I love very dearly and love discipling, and brought me my two beautiful children, who I thank God for every day. It terrifies me to think of the life I would have lived if I had listened to myself and not God. I pray that you will do the same and trust in Jesus.
How do you choose the materials that you give out?
It's very sculpted based on someone's belief and personality. I love Tony Nolan. He used to be the tour pastor for WinterJam. He has a great book called “Gasp!”, which is based on Matthew 7, where Jesus said, “Many will say to me that day, Lord, I did many great works in Your Name, I prophesied in Your Name, but I’ll say depart from Me, I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-23). That book is great for both the believer and nonbeliever, because for believers it encourages us to share the Gospel, and for nonbelievers, it begs and compels us to know that we have that relationship with Christ. I cannot be relying on someone else, because obviously these people in Matthew 7 thought they had it together. That book is written very clearly, very bluntly, also with a lot of humor. So if somebody has more of that personality, that's something we love to give. I give out Lee Strobel’s Answer Booklet to almost everybody. It's a very thin pamphlet that covers some of the biggest questions and objections to Christianity. From creationism to the Bible, to God, to Jesus, and pretty much no matter where your belief system is, there's something in there that would address you if you were to look at it with an open heart. A lot of people hate religion. A lot of people just get upset with religious practices. I'm very much in the same camp in a lot of ways. Anytime I give out Jefferson Bethke’s book “Jesus > Religion”, I get some hate comments, and it's just fascinating to me. I have nothing against the church, obviously, but so many people think that because you are pro Jesus and anti-religion, they ask “What do you have against the church?” Nothing, but if you if you were basing your salvation and your walk with God, your walk with Christ, off of working in the church and not a personal relationship with Him, then your Lord and Savior is the church. That's why you see so much deconstruction, because people have put their faith and trust in the church, which is ultimately putting your faith in trust in people who will ultimately always let you down. I experienced that as a teenager. I am very thankful that I realized that it is Christians who are flawed, not Christ. We are to look to Christ, not to Christians. I love to give Jesus > Religion to people who have been hurt by church, who have been hurt by religion, and things like that. Those are the primary things. There's some other material, like for Eddie Deezen, he's a huge Beatles fan, like myself. So that was a really good talking point, and Greg Laurie has a really cool book called “Lennon, Dylan, Alice, and Jesus: The Spiritual Biography of Rock and Roll”. It's stories of rock artists searching for God. Some of them gave their life to Christ, like Alice Cooper. We are to pique the interest of these people. So it's all based off of where they stand spiritually. What questions have they asked, and what is their personality?
What is your life verse?
Oh, that's a good one. Ephesians 4:32 “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” I'll tell you exactly why that's my life verse, and it's very funny. So Tenth Avenue North is one of my favorite Christian bands of all time. I have never not seen them and not cried like a baby. Every time. I have cried on Mike Donehey’s shoulders. I respect him so much. When I met him, I got an album signed, and he wrote Ephesians 4:32. I was not where I needed to be spiritually. Again, I got saved when I was eight, but just because you're saved doesn't mean your walk with Christ is healthy. You can be alive, but be in hospice. That's where I was spiritually. I was in the middle of a lot of church, a lot of hurt from people I thought were friends. I was growing to be very bitter, very angry, and I would just, an obnoxious kid. I hadI just seen so much hurt, and I was letting that consume me. I was letting that anger, that bitterness, become hate, and we all know what hate in someone's heart is, It's equal to murder (1 John 3:15). I see so many people suffering from that, and so when I met Mike, they were promoting their album “The Struggle”. On that album is the song “Losing”, which is my favorite song by them. I remember very clearly the first time I heard it. I was in the car driving to the garbage dump. I was mad at the world, and trying to find some radio station because my classic rock station wasn't coming in, and K-LOVE came through. I remember Mike's first verse, “I can't believe what he said. I can't believe what she said. Don't they know what's wrong?”, and it continues to go, “Father wants you to forgive them. They don't know what they've been doing. I feel like I'm the one losing.” I was like, “Yes. crank that thing up!” That became my theme song. I met Mike, and he was such a sweet guy. I noticed on a couple of my CDs on that album, he wrote Ephesians 4:32. I asked him, “What's Ephesians 4:32?" And he said, "You'll have to look it up." I was like, " Touche." Immediately, I looked it up, and I said "That's not what I wanted to hear. I don't want to forgive people. I want people to feel sorry for me.” Ultimately, that really helped me so, so much. Through that verse, and I remind myself of that constantly, if our Lord and Savior can die on the cross, take on the sins of the world, and look at us and say we were worth it, and say, "I forgive you”. You don't know what you're doing.” Why can't we do the same over something that’s so much less? If we don't have that love in our hearts, how can we compel people to come to Christ? The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us if we have accepted Jesus Christ. I really get worried about how many people have allowed hate to build up such a wall in their life that they can't show love to people and show them that love of Christ.
You can find out more about Dylan Novak and his ministry on Instagram and CELEBRITY EVANGELIST.