The only aspect of Dan Naulty’s testimony more astonishing than his miraculous healing from a seven-year battle with Lyme disease is his conversion from a life of drugs and alcohol to a life of service to the living God.
Naulty is now planting Faith Presbyterian Church in Jenison, Michigan, aiming to bring in the unchurched and de-churched in a region that used to be known for its thriving congregations.
Naulty’s spiritual life is inextricably linked to his professional life as a Major League Baseball pitcher. From 1996 to 1999 Naulty pitched for the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees, winning the 1999 World Series with the Yankees.
The ultimate professional high coincided with personal lows for a pitcher who fueled his career with performance-enhancing drugs, amphetamines, and alcohol. The night of the World Series win, Naulty asked his limo driver to stop on the Washington Bridge so Naulty could jump off (the driver ignored him).
Two years earlier, Naulty had entered a church for the first time and heard the gospel preached at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California.
“I was just gripped. Now I see that it was the Spirit of God moving and regenerating me,” Naulty said. “I got right down and scurried to the edge of the stage, eager to do whatever we were going to do.”
When pastor Greg Laurie presented an altar call, Naulty prayed to receive Christ. But he had no clue what the Christian life ought to look like.
When Naulty joined the Yankees in 1999, several players invited him to attend daily devotions where Naulty learned the basics of Christianity, including what the Bible says about gambling, drugs, and fornication, heretofore pillars in Naulty’s life.
After the World Series win, Naulty flew to California for the offseason.
“When the [plane] wheels hit the ground, I was on fire for the Lord. It’s like the Lord flipped a switch,” he said.
Naulty became a sponge for biblical teaching, attending church daily and catching services at multiple churches on Sundays.
Eventually Naulty earned degrees from Denver Seminary and Oxford, where he discovered Reformed theology. When he returned to the states, he had hoped to plant a church among the unchurched in Western Washington. But the chronic illness that had bothered him in England completely incapacitated him in Washington.
Lyme disease took such a toll on Naulty’s health that he endured several hospitalizations for the onset of heart failure. After years of illness the Naultys abandoned their hope of church planting and settled their family near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
But when Naulty found a Michigan doctor to treat his Lyme disease, the treatments worked. Naulty’s health — and hope of pastoring — revived.
The Naultys settled in Jenison, halfway between Grand Rapids and Holland. Naulty said nearly 60% of the town’s population is either de-churched or — like he once was — completely unchurched. Faith Presbyterian Church is an ordinary means of grace church, where the gospel is preached, the sacraments are distributed, and prayer is foundational.
God will do the rest.