The King's Yomen: Adam Bottiglia, Class of 1998

When Adam Bottiglia, Class of 1998, graduated from high school, he had two choices: Study engineering, like his father, or study what his heart truly longed for. The answer, he says, was easy. “If you’re going to study anything your first year out of high school, why study anything but (the Bible)?” he asks.

Adam was no stranger to ministry at 18 years old. He’d found his own unique way to spread God’s Word three years earlier when preparing for a high school talent show. “I knew that if they were going to give me the chance to get up on stage, I was going to preach,” Adam says. But he knew his peers wouldn’t connect with the message unless he made it fun.

It was 1995. Adam’s solution? Yo-yos.

The skit he and a friend performed earned them first place at the talent show, and they eventually became a drama team known as The King’s Yomen — a ministry that Adam still continues with his wife, Crissy, 25 years later.

If water sustains life, then the yo-yo is The King’s Yomen’s well. It’s merely a tool for spreading the larger message of the Word of God.

In the play, a lonely, broken man discovers he has a special talent: yo-yoing. He meets the devil soon after his discovery and makes a deal to use his skill for evil. Once the man realizes what he’s done, he finds Christ and is set free when he learns he can still yo-yo — for the glory of God.

“Think of it as a sermon with a yo-yo mixed in,” Adam explains.

It’s an unusual twist, but one that seems to appeal to all audiences.

Adam says that’s because the toy is completely nonthreatening.

“No one takes the yo-yo seriously at first,” Adam says. “You shouldn’t — it’s a yo-yo.” But, he says, it’s a way for him to win people over, opening up a new avenue for discussion about Jesus Christ. “If people will truly hear me — really listen — when I have a yo-yo, then give it to me.”

Adam started his yo-yo ministry before attending the Bible Institute, and he kept right on going when he arrived on campus. In fact, fellow alumni may remember some of his halftime performances. After graduation, Adam says the training he received launched his ministry even further. Spreading the Word is something he’s never been able to get away from — skit writing is a “constant” for him and Crissy.

The two met in their high school’s youth group and attended the Bible Institute together, where Adam says they “lived and breathed” the Bible. Though they always knew the Bible Institute was an important part of their Christian foundation, Adam says they are just now starting to realize what a truly perfect fit it was.

He explains that the Bible Institute was the first time he’d been in an environment that encouraged the all-encompassing study of the Word — and he loved it. “Everyone else (at the Bible Institute) was on the same page. And still, to this day, when Crissy and I are around fellow alums, we fit in better than anywhere else.”

Maybe that’s because Bible Institute alums understand his mission, from which his biggest takeaway is a lesson in humility. He admits he never set out to have his legacy be tied to a yo-yo — it’s simply what God keeps asking him to do.

“(The yo-yo) has taught me to take whatever opportunity God gives you to minister, even if it’s humiliating,” he says. “I mean, why not put a yo-yo and the Gospel together?”