Social media star Jimmy Darts is known for his radical acts of generosity, but many may not realize that Darts’ passion is also driven by his Christian faith.
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The influencer’s new book, Undercover Kindness: Saying Yes to Love, No to Fear, and Embracing the Life-Changing Power of Ordinary Generosity, explores the power of giving and the impact of kindness.
For Dart, this journey began at a young age.
“That’s a pretty crazy story,” he said. “That was long before I was on the Internet or making videos. And that was when I was a kid. When I was 10 years old, at Christmas my parents would say, ‘Jimmy, we’ve got a different kind of present this year.’ And I’m like, “Okay, what is that?” And they say, “We’ll give you $200.” ”
He was understandably excited, but there was a catch. I had to give half of that, or $100, to a stranger. At first Mr. Darts thought the suggestion was preposterous.
“I thought they were crazy,” he said, but said he followed their logic.
Darts recalled driving with her mother in the cold and seeing a homeless man on the side of the road. He immediately tried to give the man money.
“So my mom pulled over and I handed him a $100 bill, and the look in his eyes was just like I saw a kid…get out there, and he was probably getting quarters or middle fingers thrown at him all day long,” Darts said. “But a young child… never expects a $100 bill to come out of his hand.”
He continued, “But in that moment, he felt so loved, and just that interaction that we had… it was really powerful and really shaped my life. I remember the look on that gentleman’s face when I gave him that $100, but I have no idea what he bought that year with the other $100.”
It was a transformative experience for Darts, who wants to encourage other parents to do the same act of generosity with their children. Dart is now a social media star, bringing acts of kindness to strangers.
“I thank the Lord every day that I get to do this,” he said. “It’s really amazing.”
Although he grew up in a Christian household, Darts said he didn’t take his faith seriously until high school.
“I actually… gave my life to Jesus when I was a senior in high school,” Darts said. “I actually just happened to come across a Billy Graham video on YouTube, and he was just like, are you going to live for yourself? Are you going to serve your dreams? Are you going to live to serve others, are you going to live for the kingdom, and are you going to spend eternity with the Lord?”
Darts said the message left him with a deep sense of guilt, which ultimately led him to give his life to Christ.
“This journey of following the Lord has just begun,” he said. “I was making crazy videos on the internet like a partying high school kid, and I said to my pastor, ‘Hey, if you really believe what you’re saying, Jimmy, I’m going to go home and delete everything.’ So I erased my…videos and everything I had done, and I thought, ‘Oh, I want to serve the Lord.'”
That’s where the roots of Dart’s generosity took shape. He said God gave him the idea to ask people for help on video when he didn’t need it and intentionally go out of his way to “change their lives.”
“Then I started saying to strangers at the laundromat at Walmart, ‘Hey, can you give me a few quarters for this? I’m a dollar short on gas,'” he said. “And I gave them $500 if they could help me. And that’s really just the beginning, because these videos are going to be on the internet and people are going to say, ‘How can I get involved? How can I help? And we’ve set up a GoFundMes.’
This earns recipients hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, and Mr. Dart goes on to make viral videos. He hopes to inspire others with his new book, Undercover Kindness, which focuses on good deeds and faith.
“God doesn’t want to spend time with you just once a week,” Darts said. “Yes, let’s go to church. That’s great, but he really wants to be your friend. So much happens in your heart when you develop a friendship with Jesus every day.”
He covers this and much more in this book to help people understand how accepting Jesus can change everything.
“The truth is, it’s an honor to follow Jesus. Your tastes change, you no longer feel obligated to live right, you start wanting to live right,” Darts said. “And I think that’s the biggest heart change that happens through friendship.”
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