Colin Sullivan – Here’s what a passionate believer looks like
Two years ago, just months after returning from his World Race, Colin Sullivan had a fatal accident on a motorcycle. Colin was an amazing young man – not confused about what he believed. He loved Jesus and made that relationship the center of his life.
His experience on the World Race changed him. A teammate described that change, “Knowing Colin at the beginning of the race and seeing him all the way through, and who he became, it’s a testimony to who Jesus is.”
Courage
Because he loved people, he pushed their buttons, wanting to see what was in them and how they would respond. He did that with his squad mates early. “He was the first person to give me feedback. He wasn’t afraid to hurt my feelings. He wasn’t afraid to embarrass himself.”
Another said, “He gave me the feedback and I avoided him for three days…and he still loved me like nothing had happened. I could tell when he looked at me, he didn’t see the feedback he had given; he had already moved past it and was ready to see whatever else I would do. That is a good friend.”
A teammate told the story of ministering with him in a rough part of town with him. A drug dealer walked up to Colin and said, “What do you need?”
Colin looked him right in the eye and turned his inquiry back on him, “No, what do YOU need?” And instead of getting into a fight he said, “Bro I have a story too. Like I’ve walked through this too, and there’s so much more. I love you and I don’t want to see you like this.”
He didn’t back down. The teammate remembers thinking, “If he can do that with so much boldness, then I could do that too.”
Another teammate described where this came from, “Colin – he was a servant of Christ. And he always pushed us to be better. He always pushed us to be more like Christ. If I’m honest, yeah sometimes he pushed my buttons, but it’s because he always loved us so much.”
Passion
He didn’t do things halfway. You always knew where he stood. Colin was a man of passion and, as one of his teammates shared, “very many words.”
A friend noted that Colin wanted to “write a song as though I was in the throne room with the Father.” We can only imagine what it must be like for him to sing that song now face-to-face.
A teammate summarized Colin’s passion, “He was the most amazing man of God I’ve ever met, a man who chased after Scripture and what the Lord desired, a man who was never afraid to say the hard things, a man who loved deeply, a man who was always up for fun.”
“I know that each of us have a little more passion and zeal after knowing Colin. I know he challenged my faith, like, ‘Lord am I going after it like he is, because if not, what am I doing?’ So I’m grateful that I got to have Colin in my life.”
Another teammate summarized what everyone felt about him,”He was the glue of our squad. He was our hype man. He was just always the one to lift our spirits and center us. Knowing his heart, and seeing his passion, plus the determination to actually put the passion to good use has made me know more of Jesus’s heart.”
Colin had decided that his next step would be to go to Ukraine and drive vans loaded with food for those caught in the trauma of war who didn’t have any. When warned about the danger there, he responded, “Yeah, so I have to be ready to sacrifice my life.”
Below are some of the testimonies from those who knew him.
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“I remember thinking, ‘He’s got so many questions’ He’d come up to me constantly during training camp, like ‘Luis, what do you think about this? Like well what does this even mean? Well what about this? What about this?’ I was like ‘Lord this guy’s got so much hunger and thirst, and I know he will be satisfied.’ And every time there would be a country break and I’d talk to him or see him, he would look more and more and more like Jesus, and I was just so proud of him. But not only did I get to walk alongside of him (and I was honored and blessed that the Lord would have me speak into his life and point him back to the Father), but Colin was my friend.” – Luis (his squad leader)
“But I know that each of us have a little more passion and zeal after knowing Colin. I know he challenged my faith, like, ‘Lord am I going after it like he is, because if not, what am I doing?’ So I’m grateful that I got to have Colin in my life.”
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“Every room he was in, all I see is joy, and I was continually amazed by his ability to bring joy and to let it be something that impacted all of us. Like we didn’t just sit there while he was joyous, he filled us with joy also”
“He was reading this ‘Radical’ book literally every day. We had so much time and that was what he chose to do with his time. And every once in a while we’d all be pretty much asleep on the bus (that was our favorite little nap time) and he would just … read a section of it out loud and wait for us to respond as if we were awake to respond and talk about it… Something he really taught me is not only did he pursue the Lord with his whole heart, but it wasn’t just a pursuit for himself… he chose to invite other people into it. He could have easily found wisdom from that book and thought about it and kept it inside, but he’s like ‘I have something that my friends need to hear too, and I wanna share too… So it’s really cool that he cares so much for us that he wants us to know Jesus like he knows Jesus.”
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“It was so beautiful to see him learn new skills to honor the Lord with.”
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“We just talked for like 2 hours and for the first time in my life I reconciled with someone in a manner that was glorifying to the Lord, and I’d never experienced somebody with me also wanting to reconcile to just point me directly towards the Lord in the way that he did.”
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Team Leader/Squad Leader… Jason
“Every week and he would ask me the question, ‘How can I be a better person? How can I grow closer to the Lord? How can I love the Lord better?’ and I have seen a man who in the beginning of the race tried to do it on his own will to doin through the Father’s love. Like he has gone from trying to control everything to giving everything to the Father. Even this summer me and Zach hung out with him and Evelyn and he still had that same fire. Talkin’ to him 2 days ago… he had that same fire!”
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“I’m a really shy person, and Colin was the first person, who never made me feel intimidated and always made me feel heard.”
“He was always interceding for everyone. Like every single conversation we had he was always asking, ‘how can I pray for you? how can I be there for you?”
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“When I think of Colin I think of the most supportive person I think I’ve ever met and just passionate person…even from the beginning of Gainesville, I made videos and he’d be like ‘Emma post it! Come on you’ve gotta do it!’ And I’d be like “ah I’m nervous.” And then he’d like share it to all his platforms and be the first comment and he just inspired me so much to go after what I love and go with it with all of me.”
Most changed man on squad
One of biggest inspirations. During worship always on his knees, bowing down. I said, “I want that kind of walk with the Lord.”
He just wanted to love you like Christ did.
You could be the shyest person in the room and he would bring you out of your shell.
Sat squadmate down (who was intimidated by him) and said, “I just want you to know that you are seen and you are so loved.”
Went on a camping trip in Africa. On bus ride up there sitting w/ a buddy listening to a sermon about communion. We bought sprite and red velvet twinkies and he said, “Bro let’s take communion.” Looked over and he was sobbing, “I can’t believe I was worthy of a savior dying for me.” 2 hour walk back and got to talk to each other. He was most changed man on our squad. He said, “I”m a new creation.”
Dad: I’ve experienced intimacy with God a few times. But on this race/journey, I realized I can have intimacy with God anytime.” You got to see that. He brought that home with him.
“We called it Colin 2.0. He was awesome before he went, but he was a man of God when he came home.”
Take that lesson from Colin. You can have intimacy with God anytime. I can hear him saying, “Hey guys, I’m alive.”
Mom, “Thank you for growing with him. I’m so thankful for the time he had with all of you.” He was a better version of himself. Because of Jesus, but also because all of you.”
Evelyn: “early on I was not interested. but he was. wanted a guy who played guitar. then he started playing. in watching him grow. worship like I’ve never seen anyone worship before.
“I will forever think, what would Colin do, because that’s what Jesus would do.”
“A man of very many words. Sometimes loud and sometimes out of tune. a man that I believe all of us can say was a man after God’s own heart, Colin was a light in darkness and a friend that was near whenever you needed him, he was never not available, he always made time to have deep conversations on whatever you needed to talk about and he always had scripture to go with what he was saying.
But Colin was more then a friend to us, he was family, he was our brother, if I had an older brother I’d want it to be him, because Colin was the most amazing man if God I’ve ever met, a man who chased after scripture and what the Lord desired, a man who was never afraid to say the hard things, a man who loved deeply, a man who was always up for fun.
He lived everyday as if he was in the throne room with Christ and now he’s worshiping the father in the most beautiful way, the way he’s been looking forward to. Colin had so many questions that he knew wouldn’t be answered on this earth and now all those questions are being answered. Colin touched all of our lives in very unique and different ways. He will always have a place in each and everyone one of our hearts, and he will never be forgotten, I’m so grateful, that I got to call him friend, brother, family. I just wish I could see his infectious smile one more time. We love you Colin, so much.”
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Life is short. “Teach us to number our days so we’ll apply our hearts to wisdom.”