Chris Whaley

Chris Whaley (born August 7, 1954) is an American author, Southern Baptist pastor and former professional wrestler who competed in Florida using the ring name The Saint.[1] His novel The Masked Saint was turned into a movie in 2016.[2][3][4] He grew up in Auburndale, Florida and graduated from Auburndale High School in 1972.

The Masked Saint won Best Picture at the 2015 International Christian Film Festival.

Wrestling

Whaley was trained by The Great Malenko. In the 1980s Whaley wrestled professionally in Florida and the southeastern states for ten years,[5][6] competing with The Undertaker among others.[7] His last three years he wrestled in Texas with Wild West Wrestling, WCCW and independent shows.

Pastor

Whaley graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic University. Whaley quit professional wrestling and in 1988 studied theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.[5] By 2000, he had become senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Longwood, Florida. Drawing on real-life experiences from both wrestling and his career as a pastor, he wrote the novel The Masked Saint which was published by Morgan James Publishing.[1] In 2013, a movie based on the book was filmed in Sault Ste. Marie.[2] The movie was released by Freestyle on January 8, 2016 in the USA and on January 22, 2016 in Canada.

His first church was Westside Baptist Church in Lake Wales, Florida. He pastored First Baptist Church in Beverly Hills, Florida from 1990 to 2000. His last church was First Baptist Church in Longwood, Florida from 2000 to 2013. He serves on staff now at First Baptist Church of Orlando as the Legacy Adult Pastor.

References
  1. Allen, Bob (August 5, 2010). "Preacher's alter-ego a superhero wrestler in 'The Masked Saint'". The Baptist Standard.
  2. Van der Griend, Blaine (December 9, 2013). "Wrestling and religion mix in upcoming film". SLAM! Wrestling.
  3. Boedeker, Hal (2016-01-06). "Orlando pastor embraces wrestling film". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2017-04-07.
  4. Chang, Justin (2016-01-12). "Film Review: 'The Masked Saint'". Variety. Retrieved 2017-04-07.
  5. "Wrestlers entertain church". TimesDaily. July 5, 1988. p. 5A.
  6. Murray, Vince (October 9, 1991). "Funk takes on Rude as part of benefit card". Ocala Star-Banner. p. 4C (continued from p. 1C).
  7. Stradiotto, Laura (September 17, 2014). "Sudbury Cinefest: From preacher to vigilante". Sudbury Star.


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