<\/p>\n
Viral social media star Jimmy Darts is known for his radical acts of generosity, but what many might not realize is that Darts\u2019 passion is driven by his Christian faith.<\/p>\n
Listen to the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The influencer\u2019s new book, \u201cUndercover Kindness: Saying Yes to Love, No to Fear, and Embracing the Life-Changing Power of Ordinary Generosity,\u201d explores the power of giving and the impact of kindness.<\/p>\n For Darts, this journey started when he was young.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty crazy story,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was way before I was ever on the internet or making videos. And it was when I was a child. I was 10 years old and my parents for Christmas are [like], \u2018Jimmy, we got a different kind of gift for you this year.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018All right, what\u2019s that?\u2019 And they go, \u2018We got $200 for you.’\u201d<\/p>\n He was naturally excited, but there was a catch: he needed to give half of it \u2014 $100 \u2014 to a stranger. At first, Darts thought the suggestion was insane.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought they were crazy,\u201d he said, noting, though, that he followed through with their logic.<\/p>\n Darts recalled driving with his mom and seeing a homeless man on the side of the road in the cold. He immediately wanted to give the money to the man.<\/p>\n \u201cSo my mom pulls over, I hand him the $100 bill, and, man, the look in his eyes of just seeing a kid \u2026 step out there, and he had probably gotten, you know, quarters thrown at him or middle fingers all day,\u201d Darts said. \u201cBut a little kid \u2026 last thing he\u2019s expecting is a $100 bill to come out of his hands.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cJust, in that moment, he felt so loved and just that exchange I had \u2026 it\u2019s really powerful and shaped my life so much. I remember the look on that gentleman\u2019s face when I gave him that $100, but I have no clue what I bought that year with the other $100.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a transformative experience for Darts, who wants to encourage other parents to set up similar acts of generosity with their kids. Today, Darts is a social media star, bringing his acts of kindness to strangers.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day, [I] thank the Lord that I get to do this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a real blast.\u201d<\/p>\n Darts said he grew up in a Christian home but that he didn\u2019t take his faith seriously until high school.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was a senior in high school is when I actually \u2026 gave my life to Jesus,\u201d Darts. \u201cI stumbled across a Billy Graham video on YouTube, actually. And he just talked about, are you going to live for yourself? You going to serve your dreams? Are you going to live to serve other people, live for the kingdom and have eternity with the Lord?\u201d<\/p>\n Darts said this message left him deeply convicted \u2014 and he ended up giving his life to Christ.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just really started this journey of following the Lord,\u201d he said. \u201cI went from making crazy videos on the internet as like a party high school kid to my pastor saying, \u2018Man, if you really believe what you\u2019re saying, Jimmy, you\u2019ll go home and delete everything.\u2019 So I wiped my \u2026 videos and everything I had done, and I was like, \u2018Man, I want to serve the Lord.’\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s where the roots of Darts\u2019 generosity took form. He said God gave him the idea to ask people for help on video when he didn\u2019t need it and then go out of his way to intentionally \u201cchange their life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when this whole thing started of going up to strangers at laundromats, Walmart, saying, \u2018Hey, could I have a couple quarters for this? I\u2019m short a dollar for gas,’\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when they helped me, I would give them $500, and that would really be just the beginning because these videos would then go on the Internet and people would say, \u2018How can I pitch in? How can I help? And we created GoFundMes.\u201d<\/p>\n This would then bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for recipients \u2014 something Darts has continued as he creates viral videos. He\u2019s hoping to inspire people through his new book, \u201cUndercover Kindness,\u201d which focuses on acts of goodness and faith.<\/p>\n \u201cGod doesn\u2019t want to just hang out with you once a week,\u201d Darts said. \u201cYes, go to church. That\u2019s amazing. But he really wants to be your friend and friendship with Jesus daily is where so many things can happen in your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n He covers this and more in the book, helping people understand how embracing Jesus can change everything.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is, it\u2019s an honor to follow Jesus, and your taste buds change, and you no longer feel obligated to live righteous, but you desire to live righteous,\u201d Darts said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s the biggest heart posture change that friendship happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Viral social media star Jimmy Darts is known for his radical acts of generosity, but what many might not realize is that Darts\u2019 passion is driven by his Christian faith. Listen to the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d The influencer\u2019s new book, \u201cUndercover Kindness: Saying Yes to Love, No to Fear, and Embracing the Life-Changing Power of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1686,1688,1685,1684,1689,1687],"class_list":{"0":"post-9845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jesus","8":"tag-darts","9":"tag-generosity","10":"tag-jimmy","11":"tag-secret","12":"tag-videos","13":"tag-viral"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}