CHRI’s Bill Stevens has a little-known secret that displays God’s power

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Family Radio CHRI’s Bill Stevens has led an eventful life. The 71-year-old saw success in film, music, and business, before taking over as general manager of CHRI. Some would say he had it all, but seven years ago God set him on a path to bring healing he never thought he would know.

As a child, Stevens contracted polio and spent the summer delirious.

“One of my very clear memories was the doctor coming,” he says. “I was lying in bed at home. He asked me to close my eyes and lift my left arm, then my right, then my legs. As far as I was concerned, I was following his instructions. When I opened my eyes, my mom was trying to choke back the tears. It turns out I hadn’t moved at all.”

Stevens eventually recovered, but spending the summer in bed left him scrawny and a bit clumsy. Although he loved sports and was doing well at it, after the polio he just could not keep up.

“He put it on my heart that He wanted to bless me.”

“Polio kicked me out of sports as a kid. So, I focused on music and started bands. I just stayed away from sports all together.”

As he got older, Stevens walked away from his childhood faith, got married, and had kids.

“I think the really big second chance is that I fell away from Christ. I had no relationship with Jesus for years. It wasn’t until we had kids and they were approaching their teens that we realized if we do this on our own it would be a huge mistake.”

The whole family gave their hearts to God and were baptized together. Stevens says he gave the Lord a blank cheque, saying he would go anywhere and do anything. He jokes that, with his background in film, he hoped God would give him control of Disney. Instead he started serving on the board of CHRI. Several years later he was asked to take the role of general manager.

“When I turned 65, I thought, ‘This is retirement age. Lord, what do you want me to do?’” Stevens says. “He put it on my heart that He wanted to bless me in some way that I had never been blessed before. We have had a pretty amazing life with a lot of travel and a lot of success in different areas, so I couldn’t imagine what that would have been.”

“God is giving me a second chance at the one thing I was never able to accomplish.” Photo by LVDphoto.

While he prayed about what God meant, a friend asked, “Have you thought about powerlifting?”

“I’m 65,” Stevens laughed to himself. “Of course I think about it all the time. Then I thought about it.”

Not too long later, he bought weights and outfitted the milk house of his dairy barn. He says he started with an empty bar, but two years later he did his first competition.

“I thought, ‘God is giving me a second chance at the one thing I was never able to accomplish.’ My first competition, I won silver medal and qualified for a national. I won another medal, silver or gold, so I qualified for the British Commonwealth. I went to the Commonwealth and won silver overall, gold for squats, and silver for bench press and deadlift.”

Stevens says when his Team Canada jacket first arrived, he started bawling.

“I’m the kid who got sick and was messed up for a summer, all of a sudden now I’m classified as a world-class athlete? God is so amazing. He has given me that second chance as well.”

“When we open our eyes, we realize we have been given a lot of second chances.” Photo by LVDphoto.

Stevens kept competing, winning medals and setting world records at the Pan Am Games. He just won gold at the nationals and is training for the World Powerlifting Championships, on June 6, 2018.

He says there are two messages he has become passionate about communicating.

“God will give anybody a second chance. Most people, when they open their eyes, will realize they have been given a lot of second chances. That’s His grace. The other thing is just to encourage people as they get older to expect to be able to do great things. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. This [setting records at powerlifting] is superficial compared to what some people do.”