RANDALL EMERSON

I have spent my life chasing one question:

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What does it actually look like to follow Jesus?

 

Not simply to attend church…
Not merely to know Scripture…
But to become a man who truly walks with God.

 

I grew up in church. From an early age I served wherever I could,

in worship, drama, ushering, Bible studies, and countless opportunities

to learn what it meant to serve the body of Christ. Those years laid a

foundation, but it was during a young adult ministry called Green

House at Praise Chapel in Huntington Park that God began shaping

the calling that still defines my life today.

 

For four incredible years I had the privilege of discipling more than one

hundred young adults as they discovered Christ and learned what it

meant to follow Him wholeheartedly. That season eventually led my wife,

Nichelle, and I to Hemet, California, where we were sent to pastor what

would become our church family for the next nineteen years.

 

Those nineteen years were some of the greatest gifts of my life.

 

We watched God save lives, restore marriages, heal hearts, raise leaders, and build a church filled with people we came to love deeply. Ministry wasn’t simply something we did, it became our home. Together we celebrated victories, walked through heartbreak, and witnessed miracle after miracle as God faithfully shepherded His people.

 

It was during those years that the Lord radically transformed my own life.

 

Through two separate forty-day water-only fasts, God stripped away layers of pride, fear, ambition, and self-reliance. Those seasons forever changed the way I understood discipleship, surrender, and intimacy with Christ. They also became the birthplace of the books I would eventually write, the messages I would preach, and the ministry God continues to unfold today.

 

As opportunities to preach, teach, and encourage churches began to grow beyond our local congregation, Nichelle and I sensed the Lord leading us into a new season. After nearly two decades of pastoral ministry, we stepped away from leading one local church in order to serve the broader Church.

 

Today my calling is simple:

 

To strengthen pastors.
To encourage leaders.
To disciple believers.
To preach the Gospel.
And to call men and women into deeper communion with Jesus Christ.

 

One of the primary expressions of that calling is Dead Men Collective.

 

The name surprises people, and that’s intentional.

Scripture reminds us that we were “dead in our trespasses and sins” before Christ (Ephesians 2), and that those who belong to Jesus have been crucified with Him so that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20). Following Jesus has always required death before resurrection.

 

Dead Men Collective exists to gather men who are willing to die to themselves so they can truly live for Christ.

 

My passion is to help men move beyond simply believing the Gospel to living it, to become husbands, fathers, leaders, servants, and disciples who carry the character of Jesus into every area of life. Through conferences, retreats, discipleship, practical teaching, books, and biblical community, my desire is to help men discover both purpose and power through surrender.

 

You’ll often see one word connected to my name:

 

Relationist.

 

It’s not found in the dictionary.

 

It’s my word.

 

A relationist believes that Christianity is, before anything else, a relationship with God. Before ministry… before leadership… before gifting… before influence… there is communion. Everything meaningful in the Christian life flows from intimacy with Jesus. Theology matters. Doctrine matters. Mission matters. But none of them flourish apart from relationship with the One they are about.

 

If I could leave one conviction with every person I meet, it would be this:

 

God is not simply looking for people to work for Him.

 

He is looking for people who will walk with Him.

 

Today I have the privilege of traveling to churches, conferences, men’s events, retreats, and leadership gatherings to preach, encourage, and equip the Body of Christ. I also continue to write books and resources designed to help believers move beyond information into transformation.

 

If you’d like to know more of my personal story, the victories, failures, fasts, and the journey God used to reshape my life, you’ll find it in my book, Dead Man Randy.

 

Above every title, accomplishment, or ministry opportunity, I simply want to be known as this:

 

A bondservant of Jesus Christ… helping others discover what it means to walk with Him.

 

Randall Emerson

Bondservant • Relationist

Husband to Nichelle for over twenty-six years.

Father to Erelah, Silas, and Jack.

Still learning.

Still following.

Still convinced that the greatest miracle is not what God can do through a person, but what He can do within one.