story

BRETT

BARLEY

“The Bible is my connection with the Lord. I started reading the Bible 21 years ago. I still read the same verses and I feel like the Lord still speaks to me through them. I pick up the Word and read stuff that I’ve read a thousand times and it still feels new.”

How did you come to know the Lord?

I came to know the Lord when I was 12 years old. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home. When I was 10 or 11 we all hung out as a group at a friend’s house. In Hatteras, there wasn’t much asphalt back then, and this friend has an asphalt driveway and a skate ramp so we’d go there and skate all the time.

One day, these guys Bob & Joey showed up with pizzas and after a skate they had us take a break – it turned out to be a Christian Surfers meeting. They showed up every Saturday and it kind of just happened around me – all of a sudden I was immersed in these Christian Surfers meetings.

By the time I was 12 I didn’t want to miss these meetings – I always wanted to be there on a Saturday night. I liked hearing about Jesus, about what He did for me and I remember thinking: I want this. I want this hope and I want this love.

“I liked hearing about Jesus, about what He did for me and I remember thinking: I want this. I want this hope and I want this love.”

At this big church festival I decided to give my life to the Lord. I decided that I didn’t want to have a life without Jesus. I walked up, gave my heart to the Lord and after that I was 100% in.

The Christian Surfers continued to grow with 40 kids in this little living room and I started going to church. From there on out I just knew: this is my life, I’m not going anywhere. Jesus isn’t going anywhere.

How did your coming to know the Lord impact your family?

My parents split up when I was about 12. My mom moved out and I lived with my dad.He was working two jobs to take care of me and pay the bills so I just always found myself hanging out with a core group of Christian Surfers friends, immersed in the church community. My dad trusted me, he knew that I wasn’t getting into trouble. I think it was special for him to know that I was taken care of. 

I had a buddy, Jason Andre, who was a mentor to me from 13 to 16. I didn’t really have anywhere to go but he would pick me and my two buddies up after school or take us to surf before school. He’d have Bible studies with us before school. Being led like that was a big blessing.

How did your pro-surfing journey begin?

I’ve been in the ocean since I was in diapers. I got my first surfboard from my cousin when I was five. Before I was even 10 I wanted to be a pro-surfer. I watched all the surf movies and read all the surf magazines I could get my hands on. I just loved surfing. By the age of 10, I got my first surf shop sponsor, Fox Water Sports in Buxton.

My best friend and I started doing contests and we had a fun time doing it. I never really won any big events but in those days contests were like the main way that people made a living, so I felt like I had to do them.

Around 16 or 17 I started realising that I would make a semis here or quarters here and there but never win anything. I’d just be at these contests so bummed that I was missing waves at home. 

Jesse Hines started taking me under his wing and let me tag along to shoot water photos. I started getting photos run in magazines. My second season in Hawaii, when I was 18, was a breakout season for me. There were two big swells and I caught some really good waves. All of a sudden, my sponsors were getting emails of all these photos of me at Pipeline.

They were really surprised because I was just a nobody from the East Coast. They started supporting me more and I became the barrel guy. I surfed big Pipeline. Mexico. Got barreled at home. But I still was doing contests and when I was 20 I got into the Volcom Pipe Pro in Hawaii. I got a 10-point ride on my first wave and a 9.67 on my second wave and ended up making the semi-finals. That event basically made my career happen.

YouTube came out when I was 15 and I started an account when I was 16. I started making all these videos and all of a sudden my career turned into a media thing and now that’s my niche.

I feel like I get to do what I wanted to do when I was eight years old and not many people get to say that. I’m so grateful for that.

Have you ever struggled to keep Jesus first when you’re so focused on surfing?

I would say that surfing isn’t as much of a distraction from the Lord as getting caught up with my daily life with family and work is. It’s really easy to wake up in the morning, have coffee with your wife, the kids wake up and you just go straight into getting your day started. We’ve done that plenty.

Getting married young, that has been a big challenge for us: being intentional with making time for the Lord. You get distracted so easily. We both know that day-to-day life is so much better when we’re both spending time with the Lord in the morning. All He desires is to have a relationship with us. It’s the craziest thing that we get to have a part in that.

What does the Bible mean to you?

Everything. The Bible is my connection with the Lord. I started reading the Bible 21 years ago. I still read the same verses and I feel like the Lord still speaks to me through them. I pick up the Word and read stuff that I’ve read a thousand times and it still feels new.

Any other book is just what it is. But when you read the Bible, the verses come alive and the Lord reveals different stuff to different people in different ways through the exact same Scripture. It’s so powerful.

What’s your favourite verse?

My favourite verse came from Bob McBride when we did a Christian Surfer’s snowboard trip. He took a bunch of Hatteras kids to West Virginia snowboarding for the weekend. 

He shared Proverbs 3:5-6, but he twisted the words to make it fun for us. The Scripture reads: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understandings; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will straight your paths.

But Bob would change it to “He will hook you up.” so that really stuck in my head. After that trip it was just running through my head and I never forgot it. That verse stuck with me through life, from when I was praying for my future wife to when I was doubting my career decisions.

What’s freeing about that verse is that you just need to have a relationship with the Lord, without knowing what’s coming. I know that as long as I rely on Him, it’s going to be good. It’ll work out. Even if it’s hard, He’s going to get you through it.

“Love in any shape is work and it’s no different with a relationship with Jesus.“

What advice would you give to aspiring young pro surfers that love Jesus?

Just to make the time. The most important thing is to make time for the Lord every morning. It’s easy to get busy chasing waves or chasing a career or chasing your kids or your wife. It’s so easy to get distracted.

Making time might mean that if everyone’s getting up at 6 to go surf you’ll get up at 5.30 to have a quiet time. If you’re dedicated and spend time with the Lord, it’ll be harder to stumble and feel separated from the Lord, because you’re putting in the effort. Love in any shape is work and it’s no different with a relationship with Jesus.