- Ryan Ries worked hard as the manager

of a professional skateboard team,

and he partied even harder.

For 10 years he traveled theworld living the high life,

until he made an unexpectedtrip that almost took him out.

- [Reporter] From worldclass partier to a man

on a mission, Ryan Rieswas living for himself,

until he almost died.

- One of our team riders found me,

I wasn't responding,they thought I was dead,

like I was on my way out todie, my heart was gonna stop.

- [Reporter] As co-founderof The Whosoevers,

Ryan and his team focus onreaching students overwhelmed

by broken homes, depression,anxiety, self-harm and suicide,

empowering them with hope and helping them

find their true purpose in Christ.

- Please welcome to the show Ryan Ries.

Ryan, it's great to see you.

- Thanks for having me on the show.

- You obviously ran witha pretty wild crowd.

How did you first get into the rave scene?

- When the rave movementfirst started in Hollywood

in the early '90s, my friend just decided

to take me out to one ofthose underground parties.

I went, it was so unique and so different

than anything that was out at that time,

and I just dove right in and experienced

that crazy birth of the ravemovement in Los Angeles.

- At the height of yourcareer, you were the manager

of a pro skateboard team, whatwas life like at that point?

- Yeah, that was interestingbecause I was managing

the number one skateboardteam in the world

and I was also doing largescale music festivals.

So I'd be on tours with bands,

getting them to wear our products.

We were working with the biggest rock

and hip hop bands on the planet,

as well as touring with thenumber one skateboard team.

So it was, I mean, you haveeverything you ever wanted.

You're skating the mostexclusive spots, surfing spots,

seeing the whole world,traveling nine months out

of the year, but I wastrying to numb this pain

from a bad relationship when I was young.

I went through a divorce,I got my wife pregnant

three times, she aborted the kids,

and I was trying to filthis empty void with drugs

and alcohol to numb the painof relationships and careers.

So one side I was living my dream,

but I was like the walkingdead, I was a dead man walking.

I was empty.

- What happened to you in Panama City?

- Basically what happenedis the last skateboard tour

I was on, I did nine days ofcocaine, Xanax and alcohol--

- [Wendy] Nine days of cocaine.

- And alcohol and Xanax, andI OD'd for the third time

in my life, and I alreadylost 16 to 17 friends

to suicide and drugoverdose at this point.

Famous musicians, famous artists,

professional skateboarders.

And I really didn't careif I lived or if I died.

I remember the enemy Satanwould give me thoughts

of me OD'ing in a motel room,

so I thought my destiny was that.

And that happened, I cameout of it the next day.

My parents prayed for mebecause they heard that

that happened to me from a skateboarder--

- [Wendy] So your parents are Christians.

- My parents are Christians,my dad's actually a pastor,

Calvary Chapel in DiamondBar in Los Angeles.

He was one of the guys that came out

of the Jesus people movementin Chuck Smith's church.

So he's there--

- But you're not, at thispoint you're not there yet.

- No, I wanted nothingto do with Christianity.

I didn't want nothing to do with ministry.

I didn't want nothing todo with anything with God.

I wanted the lust of theeye, the pride of life,

the lust of the flesh, Iwanted the things of the world.

- And you actually thoughtyou would go out in a blaze

and OD and that would be it.

- Yeah, I was totally deceived in that,

and that's exactly what happened.

My parents heard about thisencounter, they prayed.

By God's grace I came out of it.

I took a plane home and I remember

I actually stole the bible from the hotel,

it's called the GideonBible, stole the bible.

- You know that's oneof the 10 commandments,

thou shall not steal, right?

- I know, but you knowwhat, stealing that bible

was the best decision of my life.

Not only does it get me free bibles now,

but it changed my life,'cause the bible's the DNA

of Jesus Christ, and itstarted transforming my life.

I remember landing and Ifelt peace for the first time

in my life, in theairplane, in Los Angeles.

I went home, I woke up the next morning,

and I heard this small,still voice singing,

"This is the day the Lord has made,

"I will rejoice and be glad in it."

I haven't heard that songsince I was in Sunday school

when I was like in first grade.

- [Wendy] I love that song.

- And that just showsthat in Psalms it says

that the Word of Godnever comes back void.

Boom, I knew God was real.

- Ryan, how in the world did you wind up

in the Garden of Gethsemane,and what happened to you there?

- I was like, "God, what areyou gonna do with my life?

"I do music festivals, I work with bands,

"I manage a skateboardteam, where do I fit

"into this whole God plan?"

And I was in the Garden of Gethsemane,

I went out there with the leadsinger of P.O.D., my homie,

and I was just in thegarden, I said, "God,

"I don't want my life anymore,I want your will to be done.

"Not my will, thy willbe done," and I prayed

and I said, "God, if you will use my life

"at any capacity, then I'll follow you.

"You just open the doors, if you want me

"to tell my story, then please contact me,

"have someone contact me,"and in Israel the next day

I got a phone call froma pastor from Las Vegas

that heard that I was saved and he says,

"I want you to come shareyour testimony at my church."

And literally, I was like,"God, I was just joking.

"I don't want to be onthe stage, I build stages

"for people to perform, Idon't want to go up and speak."

And I just stepped up, bythat simple step of faith,

like Peter stepping out of the boat,

he didn't know that he'dbe living the impossible,

walking on water unlesshe stepped out by faith.

And yet the other disciples,the 12, or the 11,

were scared to do anything.

- And you were in Israelfor a gig, for a show?

- I was there just to tour the Holy Land--

- Oh, you were there for a tour.

- To see what's up with Jesus.(Wendy laughing)

And I ended up going and doingthat speaking engagement,

and that was the birth ofThe Whosoevers Movement,

without having any name.

- Right, so how longis that, you co-founded

Whosoevers Movement, what is it

and who are The Whosoevers?

- We co-founded it 11 years ago

with the lead singer of the band P.O.D.

When we were in Israel,he says, "I have this idea

"of a name called The Whosoevers.

"I see it like a worldwide movement."

Now, what I do is I help build brands

and all that back endstuff, so I got the name,

we put it together and we starting touring

telling our testimonies after

that speaking engagement in Vegas,

which was done with theguitar player from Korn,

lead singer from P.O.D.,Lacey from Flyleaf,

lead singer, and myself, andthat birthed the movement.

From there we starteddoing music festivals.

We started touring all over the world.

I do a radio show out of L.A.,it's like on 110 stations

from L.A. to New York City,

a live talk show thatpeople could call in.

And now what we're doing is we're touring

the public school system, middle schools

and high schools around the world.

- You can probablyrelate then to Kanye West

and his transformation,what he's going through.

- Yeah, interestinglyenough, I talked to my friend

and he said the other day he was the one

that actually is the guy that pointed him

to go to church andconnected him with his pastor

at church out in L.A.

Yeah, we gotta pray forKanye because Hollywood

and all that's a crazyplace, and there's a lot

of yes men, he needs toget someone that's legit

that can disciple him andhelp him produce fruit

in his life, but it'sauthentic and it's amazing.

- Ryan, today you aremarried, you've got kids,

and there's a whole otherstory, I wish we had more time

to talk about that, but God bless you.

Things are going great for you.

There's your beautiful familyand your wife with you.

- I have triplet daughters.- [Wendy] What?!

- Yeah, because whatgot aborted God ended up

giving me back, the twoidentical twins and a fraternal.

And that's exactly what Ilost in my previous marriage.

So that's all God'sgrace, and I have a boy

that's now two years old.

- A modern day Job.- Two months old.

- A modern day Job, the lastchapter, that's the best.

- Oh yeah yeah.

- Thank you so much.- [Ryan] Thank you.

- What an inspiring story.