CHRISTIAN HODGES
Christian is a 20-year-old author, speaker, and host of the "AMERICA, DON'T GIVE UP" podcast. At 17, while still recovering from a near-death illness, he penned his first book, America, Don’t Give Up: Your Right to Freedom of Speech. Today he’s a regular Gen Z voice on Fox News and Newsmax, reaching millions with the truth of a biblical worldview.
Christian understands his life calling: be a broken vessel with a convicting voice who leads America closer to Christ. He burns to see his generation set ablaze for King & country.
He regularly speaks on free speech, Christian apologetics, and all issues facing Gen Z– namely, Christian revival, MAHA, declining birth rates, and education on college campuses. Having recently graduated in December 2025 from Liberty University, Christian is pursuing graduate studies in Christian apologetics.
CHRISTIAN’s STORY: Called out of a coma
Five months before Christian Hodges authored his first book and stepped onto the national stage, he battled a medical emergency that very well could have taken his life.
In January 2023, Hodges was living his life as a normal high school senior in Millsboro, Del., and preparing to travel with his classmates on a mission trip to Jamaica. A few days before the trip, he began battling extreme fatigue. This continued up until the night before the trip, when his mother decided that he would have to stay home. Only a couple days after he was supposed to leave, his family found him unresponsive and rushed him to the hospital. After the results of a CAT Scan, MRI, and spinal tap were inconclusive, Hodges was transferred to Nemours Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, Del. An EEG revealed that his brain was swelling, with the doctors eventually concluding that he had viral encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain caused by a virus. In Hodges’ case, the type of virus and how he contracted it remains unknown.
Hodges was in the hospital for nine days, six of which he spent in a coma. He considers waking up on the seventh day to be an answer to the prayers of his family and friends.
On the eighth day of his stay, Hodges was trying to watch a basketball game on television but couldn’t because of his brain fog. He attempted to read his Bible.
“I remember looking at the page. I couldn’t focus on it and I didn’t know what the words were saying. Looking at it gave me a headache. But after I looked at the page, I remember crying out to God two words, the only two words I could find the strength to mutter: ‘I surrender.’ I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the next day after I muttered those two words, I was released from the hospital.”
Hodges went home without any real answers to why he had been sick. And despite all of the different remedies that doctors tried, he said prayer made the difference.
“The only thing that healed me was the prayer,” he said. “People kept praying and God kept listening and answering. I credit my healing to God 100 percent. I don’t think I would be here if it wasn’t for God. I’m fully convinced that if He didn’t love me, He wouldn’t heal me. The good news is if He loves me, there’s no reason to believe he doesn’t love anyone else here on earth or He wouldn’t do the same thing for them if they would just surrender and cry out to Him in prayer and commit it to Him.”
Two days later, Hodges began his final semester at Delmarva Christian High School determined to graduate in the spring and attend college. Facing immediate roadblocks due to residual symptoms, Hodges struggled to keep up with his assignments. It took him a whole month to write the thesis statement for his senior thesis project, but Hodges persisted. After gathering all of the information and interviews he needed, Hodges had a 70-page paper. He continued to add to the paper and even self-published the finished work, “AMERICA, DON’T GIVE UP,” on June 29, one day before his 18th birthday.
Hodges recalled initially struggling to understand why God healed him when others in similar situations were not healed, but later finding peace.
“Now I see that I’m here for Him, I’m here to share the story, and testify what He has done in my life and to glorify Him,” Hodges said.
As Hodges looks to change the world verbally and through his writings, he recognizes the irony that less than a year ago, he could not read or even speak himself.
“(God) took away that ability to speak and to express myself,” Hodges said. “Now He’s given me a voice to protect the ability to express yourself through words and freedom of speech. He’s given me the platform to do so now. It’s not a coincidence whatsoever and I’m grateful for it. It ultimately made me realize how important that ability is and how much we shouldn’t take it for granted every day.”