Byron Donalds Recalls Moment in Cracker Barrel Parking Lot 'Where I Gave My Life to Jesus Christ'

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) shared about his faith journey on Sunday and how he gave his life to God while working at a Cracker Barrel restaurant years ago.

Donalds, who is campaigning to become the Republican candidate for governor of Florida and who also received President Donald Trump’s endorsement, recalled how he found God in an unlikely place.

“To you, it’s just a Cracker Barrel parking lot. To me, it’s where I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I was 21 years old. I was working at the Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee after some of the worst years of my life. I’d made mistakes. Real ones,” he wrote:

I grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, raised by a mom who worked hard and didn’t accept excuses. But I made decisions that should have ended my story before it ever really started. By the grace of God, they didn’t. But every day, I was carrying them. One afternoon, a church group came into the restaurant, just back from a revival. I served them their meals like I served any other table. But something happened while I was serving them. I can’t fully explain it to you. The Lord spoke to me. He said, “Stop running from Me.” It knocked me back.

I went to find the table, and they were all gone. I could see through their windows that they were getting on their bus, and I knew deep down that if I let them drive away, I was going to keep running. So I went outside. The last woman, just as she was stepping onto the bus, turned to me and asked, “Are you okay?”

I told her, “No ma’am, I’m not okay.” I told her the Lord was telling me to stop running.

That whole bus emptied out, stood with me in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee, Florida, and prayed over me right there. I gave my life to Christ that day. Right there.

Donalds said since that time, God gave him a wife who shared his faith, three sons, a career, community, and a calling.

“He took a kid from Crown Heights who’d run out of chances and gave him a life that doesn’t make sense apart from grace,” he wrote, adding that God will meet people wherever they are, but, “You just have to stop running.”

Donalds posted a shorter version of the story in 2025 during the controversy surrounding Cracker Barrel’s woke rebranding that was a flop:

Social media users were quick to share their thoughts on Donalds’ post, one person writing, “Man, what an awesome testimony! And a reminder that we need to let our Christian lights shine,” while someone else said, “What a wonderful story of how God is always in control. He whispers in our ear, taps on our shoulders all the time and sometimes we don’t hear his gentle call. You did!! How wonderful. Thank you for sharing.”

Florida’s Voice reported May 18 that Donalds had a commanding lead in the gubernatorial primary, citing a poll from the Public Sentiment Institute.