As a youth David Dise played sports like football, basketball, baseball and racket sports like tennis. However, his favorite sport as a youth was boxing. The problem was, in his hometown of Midlothian, a suburb of Richmond, Virginia there weren’t any boxing gyms. So, as an alternative he started taking American Style Karate at age eighteen.
David was raised in church but as he explains he didn’t stay, “My mom and dad were active but I never really enjoyed it. Once I got ‘old enough’, I stopped going.” It wasn’t until later when he got married that together they chose to fully commit their lives to Christ and live in God’s grace.
From that commitment Dise has grown in his walk with Jesus Christ. Some of the key experiences that have built him spiritually include:
– Pastor Ken Cornett of Midlothian Baptist Church starting a church fellowship in one of his karate schools.
– involvement in the Richmond Emmaus community.
– becoming friends with Christian author and friend Pastor Bill Perkins of Dallas Theological Seminary.
– meeting and working with his Pastor, good friend and spiritual leader Geronimo Aguilar — Pastor G as he is known. David says, “Things have been different and crazy in a good way ever since”.
THE ‘MUSCULAR’ SIDE OF DAVID’S MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY
David’s sports interest of boxing and karate were forerunners to today’s modern Mixed Martial Arts. David describes his background this way, “I started taking karate as an older teen in 198,) which was directly related to my interest in and passion for boxing. The style was American Style Karate — the closest thing that there was to boxing in my neighborhood. I had an affinity for it and became pretty good, pretty fast. God blessed me with having incredible teachers and training partners. I started with Alan Miller, a world rated fighter), then trained with Rodney “Batman” Batiste, a World Champion. Later, I learned from Dan Wilson, known as the trainer of champions. For twenty years I was with Joe Lewis, who is considered the greatest martial arts fighter of all time.”
From 1984 to 2007 Dise owned and operated Virginia Karate Clubs. These clubs achieved such recognition as being one of the top two kickboxing programs in the country and one of the top ten kid’s martial arts programs in the U.S. Dise is a 6th degree black belt under Joe Lewis and serves on the board of advisors of Joe Lewis Fighting Systems.
‘KICK’ IT UP A NOTCH!
In 2010 David started attending the ROC — The Richmond Outreach Center, which was founded by Pastor Geronimo Aguilar in 2001. The ROC was listed by Outreach Magazine as the fastest growing church in America in 2012. Pastor G’s father Phil Aquilar taught him how to do Christian outreach and how to be an accomplished kickboxer too. What happened next was above and beyond what David could have imagined. Dise explains, “I believe God’s timing is perfect. Just when I missed training people the most, and wanted to get back into training fighters, I knew that I also wanted to do it as a ministry. Pastor G made an offer to build a world class fight center if I would run it. I think it took all of about a second to give him my answer. Ever since, we’ve been punching and kicking for Jesus. Our program is called the ROC Fight Club and our motto is Team Jesus.
The ROC is an outreach-based church with over 150 ministries. The ROC Fight Club is just one of those ministries. Pastor G and those at the church believe that people can be reached, their needs met and they can discover a vibrant relationship with God through many vehicles like dance, a motorcycle ministry, a food pantry and visiting with seniors in retirement centers to name just a few. If you have a faith worthy skill and are willing to commit to using that skill to share Jesus with others then the ROC will put you to work. Dise celebrates, “Who else would let me teach people how to punch and kick people in the name of Christ”?!
What exactly do they do at the ROC Fight Club? David outlines their work and mission this way, “We use kickboxing and mixed martial arts as a vehicle to help develop life skills. Primarily we teach and instill winning characteristics like self-discipline, goal setting, self-respect, positive and never-quit attitudes. But most importantly, we use the program as a way to teach children, young adults and even older adults Christian principles and tell them the encouraging message that Jesus died for their sins. It is a great place to pray together.”
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