When Mike Weaver’s brother died of COVID-19 in 2022, he lost both a lifelong friend and a bandmate—but the story doesn’t end there. Find out more about the brothers’ relationship, ministry, and band, Big Daddy Weave, on this episode of GPS: God. People. Stories. You can connect with us through email at [email protected] or on Billy Graham Radio on Facebook.
so they literally had to call for an
ambulance they came and they took him to
the hospital we never heard from him
again Mike Weaver was stuck in
quarantine with covid-19 when his
younger brother Jay died from the same
virus several states away the situation
was tragic I heard him take his last
breath as exhale over the phone we had
watched him hurt so much in a way that
he wasn’t even telling it and in that
moment there that was the end of all of
was hurt I don’t know what it looked
like when he saw him but I know that
Jesus was
[Music]
there
things
new you make
all
things
new God of
mercy and
love do what only only you can do and
make
all
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things Jay Weaver’s passing could have
been the end of the ministry he and Mike
built with their band Big Daddy Weave
find out more of the brother’s story
including how they began Big Daddy Weave
here on this episode of GPS God people
stories it’s an Outreach Of The Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association I’m Jim
Kirkland Mike’s Rock Solid belief in
Salvation through Jesus Christ gave him
a supernatural peace in the wake of his
brother’s death Billy Graham often
talked about death and what happens to
us after we die if a man die shall he
live again men have asked that question
for centuries they’ve speculated they’ve
analyzed they’ve grasp at every shred of
evidence that points to the
possibilities of a future life if a man
die shall he live again you’ll hear
Billy Graham’s answer to that question a
little later in this episode you can
also learn more about life after death
right now at our website that’s find
peace with god.net it’s a place where
you can ask spiritual questions and
learn more about being a follower of
Jesus Christ that address again is fine
peace with
god.net s God people
stories My Little Brother Jay he was
three and 1 half years younger than I
was we became best friends over time and
then played music together in Big Daddy
Weave for over 20 years this year is 25
years for Big Daddy Weave he passed only
a couple years ago but man he was sort
of the the Hub in the middle of the
wheel in Big Daddy Weave Mike and Jay
Weaver grew up in a Christian Home in
Gulf Breeze Florida a suburb of
Pensacola I remember looking for my dad
on a Saturday and us being like where’s
Dad Mom and he had made a place in his
closet where he would lay on his face
and pray for hours for us prayer would
also become a powerful part of the boys
lives after they started a relationship
with Jesus Christ I remember at 9 years
old the pastor in our little Methodist
Church given a call and then I just felt
compelled you know and I went down I
remember the feeling of his like 5:00
shadow you know his cheek is on my cheek
and he’s saying in my ear what to repeat
you know let’s pray together and I
remember praying a prayer then um and I
do believe that something changed then I
do believe that something started then
as an 11-year-old Mike took an interest
in music when he and his parents visited
a church that used drums in their
worship service I had never seen drums
in a church service before and I
remember going whoa they got Drums this
is different so I’m already a little
more awake now you know and man they
just had beautiful worship that night
afterwards a guest speaker pointed at
Mike asking him to go down to the front
for prayer Mike was terrified I had been
trying to watch HBO through the
scrambles on the TV and I thought the
Lord was about to out me in front of my
parents and that I was surely a dead man
the guy says to me he says man during
this then when we were singing when we
were worshiping the Lord he goes I saw
musical notes written on your face the
Lord is calling you to write songs the
songs are going to take you far away
from your home even to a foreign land
and he said not everybody’s going to
like the songs don’t even give it a
second thought just know that it’s the
Lord calling you to do this going
forward Mike didn’t think too much about
what the guest speaker said he was just
thankful he wasn’t embarrassed in front
of his parents but sure enough a couple
of years later these little ideas just
started showing up as at about the same
time as an interest in playing guitar
and so I got my first guitar I always
had these little keyboards growing up
you know you press go and it’s a little
beat or whatever and so I would just
chase down these little ideas and write
these lyrics that were just kind of
there it felt like and then that was
that was the beginning Jay who was 11 at
the time was the athlete of the family
but Mike always tried to convince him to
play music as well he always made fun of
me the musician or whatever you
know and then one day I finally was just
like Jay you got to do this like I think
you could do this and we got this little
scaled down bass for him Mike helped his
little brother pick out a bass guitar to
learn to play then both the brothers
became hooked on music we got into all
kinds of music man we got into Christian
contemporary music and there was a the
sound of every kind of music under that
banner and so from at one point
Christian hip hop to Christian and heavy
metal so there’s kind of an irony to me
that I would be in like Christian adult
contemporary like music after all this
time when Mike graduated high school he
had another deep encounter with the Lord
that would forever change his life it
happened while he was watching the
cartoon movie Prince of Egypt I just
said God I know all this stuff about you
but I want to know you it just Dawn to
me at that moment this guy Moses who was
about to receive this huge call on his
life heard the voice of God and I said I
want to I want to know you for real like
one of these guys in the Bible the year
after Mike graduated high school he
traveled and played music with a
Ministry oriented group when I came back
from that Jay had been really spending a
lot of time and he would he had just
Gran Leaps and Bounds and just an
incredible incredible bass player it was
almost like that
competitive Spirit from his like the
times playing sports he kind of applied
to the base the brothers started playing
together constantly including at church
where Mike was a part-time worship
leader then I wound up going to college
at the University of mobile which is a
great little Baptist School in South
Alabama although Jay wasn’t a student at
the University of mobile he was there a
lot of days he and his brother became
Inseparable and together they started a
band they played music and wrode songs
with their friends which is how they
ended up filling out the rest to the
band the first time we ever had played
music together and we’re just messing
around we have no intent here and
somebody wanders by though on campus and
goes like dude I dig that saxophone in
there like are are you a band and we’re
like well not exactly and they said you
need to put together a set and come open
for this group across campus D we only
been together 15 minutes that’s how the
group unintentionally landed their first
gig in
1998 but still one more thing was needed
they needed a name to put on the concert
flyer if if you’re my size in South
Alabama you are big daddy right and so
my got members from our church there was
a man who actually just has gone to be
with the Lord just in the last week and
he would every Sunday Hey Big Daddy when
I’d get up to lead worship and that I so
I told the guy I said hey tell them that
we’re Big Daddy Weave and the
institution is what I said and I was
just kidding man and so they put that on
it the moral of this entire story is
like when somebody asks you what you
want to call the group like pray and ask
the Lord cuz for the next 25 years you
may be telling the story of what happens
and as Big Daddy Weave continued to play
more shows prayer became an even larger
part of the band we’ve been playing
shows and it looked like worship you
know but at one point the Lord begin to
to take a turn in our shows and we just
begin to see just a move of the Holy
Spirit it started one night when I just
began to hear things from the Lord and I
just begin to share those things not
unlike the guy who said that thing over
me that’s when God began working through
Big Daddy Weave especially Jay God just
really began to encounter him in the
early mornings so Jay began to lead the
charge in praying for people at the
shows every night the brothers witnessed
God working in amazing ways then they
would face what would seem to be an
insurmountable challenge our enemy will
get in any way he can and the way he got
in is with Jay’s health and it was weird
because it was diabetes plus it was not
simply diabetes it was crazy there were
other things that went with it as the
band played more shows and grew
increasingly popular Big Daddy Weave
signed a record deal and headed to
Nashville where Mike met his future wife
it was around that same time that Jay
married his wife Emily and all through
this all the while Jay continued to
struggle with his type 2 diabetes Jay
went to doctor after doctor medication
after their medication and none of it
seemed to fix any of it Jay began to
feel like a science experiment as he was
left with only pieces of a diagnosis it
would be that thing of going in and
being hugely disappointed but then this
turn of seeing Jesus begin to like move
and so he literally just began to
believe I’m just going to trust the Lord
and I believe the Lord’s just going to
heal me although it wasn’t easy Jay
fought the enemy and continued in his
faith he was praying over people every
night but his health continued to worsen
he had a high pain tolerance but he
couldn’t hide the issues with his health
especially when he got an infection I
saw him sitting in this wheelchair and
he just literally just cried from the
pain and I was like oh my Lord I said
Jason we’re calling them right now when
Jay went to the hospital doctors told
him they needed to amputate his foot
Mike decided to cancel an industry event
to be with his brother but Jay said
uh-uh he said you don’t know who Jesus
wants to speak to and I remember I’m
like
literally I’m like crying like leaving
but I couldn’t do anything there and so
I did what he said at the awards show
Mike received a call from Jay’s wife
Emily the doctors weren’t just going to
have to amputate one foot but both feet
Jay was about to become a double amputee
the weight of that information I
remember that settling on our entire
group which really is like a family
but I remember the strength of the idea
of being in the body of Jesus because
literally when that news landed on us it
felt like all of us were there together
and and we’re holding on to each other
and we’re holding on to that news and
we’re just holding on to Jesus during
the difficult recovery process people
pulled through for Jay by buying him a
bus that would accommodate his electric
wheelchair his wife and three children
were able to travel with him to help him
with his Prosthetics as he began to Rel
learn how to walk and then he went on
the road again with Big Daddy Weave he’s
back out there praying for people again
Jay every day would roll through the
venue in his chair and he would lay
hands on every single seat and he would
pray that the Lord would move in the
life of who’s going to sit in that seat
it was a joy to him it was not an
exercise it was not a something I just
have to power through he would get in
there and he delighted in spending time
with Jesus asking for the will of Jesus
is over the place on one occasion a
former Pastor came to one of their
events which included a discussion time
this man appeared hardened they ended up
learning that at one time this man had
led a youth event and one of the youths
had died on his watch after the show
that man somehow ended up in their
dressing room and started shouting
expletives he didn’t understand why they
weren’t angry at God too all the rest of
us literally back up against the wall
away from this guy and Jay does not miss
a beat he finds a space to turn around
in his chair and he comes to the guy and
Jay goes I get it man when I woke up
this morning and everything on my body
hurt he said my first thought in front
of the Lord was this I have seen you
heal hundreds of complete strangers in
front of me did you forget about me did
I make you mad Jay had this man’s full
attention and he said who am I kidding
is Jesus didn’t do this to me Jesus is
the only way I’m making it through this
day he’s carrying me through this whole
thing that was the answer the man needed
to hear he fell to his knees and whooped
Jay shifts his little electric
wheelchair into high gear and just
closes that Gap the hand where his
fingers are tore up and hurting he puts
on the dude’s head and he just starts
praying he goes God just show him he’s
not a victim show him he’s your son show
him when he walked out on you you never
walked out on him show him that when he
quit believing in you you didn’t stop
believing in him because of that that
you’re with him that you’re for him
right now between sabs the man said I
wish Jesus would heal you while God
wouldn’t heal Jay fully on this Earth
God did display his work in Jay in other
ways I saw God take people’s like
excuses and reason to not believe in him
away when they would watch Jay living
with what he had had lived with and
lived through
you know and it’s it’s it’s really
incredible it’s really incredible that’s
a different kind of Miracle then there’s
the other Miracle of perseverance you
know and being the same guy on the day
when it’s the worst day of your life
because of the Lord’s presence in your
life Jay would persevere all his life
which ended at the beginning of 2022 due
to complications from covid-19 at the
time Mike and his family also had
contracted the nasty virus and were
unable to see Jay in his final days the
next thing I hear is early in the
morning Jay fell and literally he just
couldn’t get up everybody’s dealing with
the lung stuff from Co and his whole
family’s wiped out with it too so they
literally had to call for an ambulance
they came and they took him to the
hospital we never heard from him again
Jay went into the hospital over New
Years when Mike’s family was originally
supposed to visit him for the holiday
Jay had requested not to be put on a
ventilator that decision devastated the
family who kept checking in on him we’re
hanging on for like several days you
know and then we get this word like well
if he’s not if you want to honor that
request then you need to come say
goodbye to him like right now because
Mike and his family were still in
quarantine Jay’s wife Emily called Mike
on the phone so he could have one last
conversation with his little brother and
I’m just listening then kind of emotion
takes over in the room man and people
are crying I just stop start shouting on
the phone I’m like Jay I said dude said
Jason you are I said not by yourself if
you see Jesus anywhere go with him he’s
got us and that was the moment I heard
him take his last breath as exhale over
the phone and just like that Jay was
finally healed in that moment there that
was the end of all of was hurt I don’t
know what it looked like when he saw him
but I know that Jesus was there the
memory of Jay continues to live on
through his family and Big Daddy Weave
he’s an awesome husband awesome dad he’s
an awesome leader to Big Daddy Weave
other than like making a set list or
talking on the microphone there wasn’t a
lot that didn’t come across his plate
you know on his desk you know at some
point he just he loved all of it he
loved all the gear he loved every piece
of sound equipment he loved every little
sparkly twinkly little weird light he
loved he loved all of and he loved our
crew he loved the guys in the band but
he loved he loved our our our crew so
much and even more importantly Jay is
remembered for loving Jesus Jay was an
amazing man I’m telling you he was so
funny he was kind of fearless whether
that meant there was embarrassment in
the future or whatever there’s such a
joy that he had he was three and a half
years younger than I was but he always
functioned like the big brother I looked
up to him in so many ways he just had
that that um the Charisma that
likability that thing would draw you to
him and it was funny and that was fun
but there was a point when all of that
changed and there became a depth that I
saw in him the way he described is that
Jesus started waking him up at about 300
in the morning and he would sit with the
Lord and it changed him he would spend
time in God’s word and it changed him
Jay changed others lives because Jesus
had changed his life in those days after
Jay’s death Mike grieved at the loss of
his brother brother but clung to Jesus
he promises that he Comforts those who
mourn so I don’t have to hold that back
I don’t have to pretend like it doesn’t
hurt with him and I can bring it to him
and when I really do bring it to him he
brings a kind of comfort that is worth
waiting on Jesus has helped Mike through
other seasons of grief including when he
lost his dad to pulmonary fibrosis in
2017 and his mom to cancer less than a
year before Jay’s passing the thing
about going through difficult times is
that the enemy wants to point to
whatever place that is in your story and
tell you that’s the end of your story
that’s a lie Jesus knows when the end of
your story is and by the way for the
believer there’s no end of the story
when we pass from this life that’s the
beginning of the
story in the of Eternity I
have you hold my heart and I’m never
alone one day you’re coming back one day
I’m coming home thank you
Jesus Heaven Chang it
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everything
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everything as Mike Weaver just said your
story doesn’t end when you die if you’re
listening you can know for sure that
you’re going to heaven when you die by
entering a relationship with Jesus
Christ if if you’re ready to give your
life to God go to find peacewithgod.net
or if you’d rather talk with someone
about beginning your relationship with
Jesus Christ there is someone waiting
for you on our 247 prayer line
855255
7729 that’s
855255 pray you’re listening to GPS God
people stories a podcast production of
the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association if a man die shall he live
again men have asked that question for
centuries they’ve speculated they’ve
analyzed they’ve grasped at every shred
of evidence that points to the
possibilities of a future life if a man
die shall he live again Billy Graham the
Bible is filled with life after death
Jesus said I am the resurrection and the
life he believeth in me though he were
dead yet shall he live the Bible says
something about the future of the person
that is in Christ the person that has
come by faith to receive the Savior and
God’s word teaches there is a heaven it
will be a place of righteousness it’ll
be a place of Joy I have the greatest
peace and joy and happiness in my heart
because tonight I know where I’m going
how do you get to heaven you can’t get
there except through Christ you must
come and give yourself the
Christ like Billy Graham you can know
for sure if you’re going to heaven if
you do not know for sure visit our
website find peacewithgod.net and when
you’re there click on begin a
relationship with Jesus the address
again find peacewithgod.net and look for
begin a relationship with Jesus our
guest on this episode of GPS God people
stories is Mike Weaver founding member
of the Christian band Big Daddy Weave to
this day Mike tells others about Jesus
through his music with Big Daddy Weave
and the band continues to pray over
every seat ahead of every show all in
memory of Jay I just want to tell people
whenever we’re somewhere like how do you
know you’re going to go there’s only one
way to get there it’s Jesus you know
receive him today today the day of
salvation the Bible says right putting
all our trust in him all our eggs in his
basket you know what I mean knowing that
when we step through to the other side
that’s the face that we want to see
absolutely we’re thankful Mike Weaver is
continuing to honor his brother’s memory
by sharing the gospel through music and
sharing his story with us we’ll be back
with another person with another story
in just two weeks and every two weeks
thereafter so make sure you’re
subscribed to GPS so you won’t miss a
one I’m Jim Kirkland
and this is GPS God people stories it’s
an Outreach Of The Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association always good
news in the light of
Eternity I have this hope you hold my
heart and I’m never alone one day you’re
coming back one day I’m coming home
thank you
Jesus Heaven changes
everything
everything Heaven changes
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everything
[Music]
everything Heaven changes
everything