Plays On Word Radio
An in-depth look at the Word of God, the Plays On Word community, and the Plays - with original music - we perform, that are based on the Word of God. New episodes drop Fridays at 7AM EST! To find out how Plays On Word Theater can perform 'LIVE on YOUR STAGE' and to support this missionary & podcast visit: https://playsonword.org/
Plays On Word Radio
Ep 155: A Coach, A Brother, A Faith That Endures
"Today we look back on our time with our dear brother Vinnie Whitehead. His life touched multitudes of people for eternity. He is now in glory with his Lord, and we look forward to seeing him again."
A good life leaves footprints you can follow in the dark. We remember Arthur “Vinnie” Whitehead — coach, teacher, elder, and friend—and trace the quiet choices that turned classrooms, gyms, and retreats into places where faith took root. Grief is honest here, but hope has the last word. We share the first handshake that felt like a challenge and a welcome, the late-night Bible study with an open door that drew men into Scripture, and the simple ways one person’s courage can become a community’s backbone.
You’ll hear how a high school coach redirected a student from detention to Fellowship of Christian Athletes and changed the arc of a life. We revisit ministry threads that span Calvary Chapel Old Bridge, Crossfields, and local camps, and we include Vinnie’s own testimony—from a religious routine to a living walk with Jesus, through battle and breaking, to a faith rebuilt by steady, verse-by-verse teaching. It’s a picture of discipleship that grows slow and strong: prayer, Scripture, accountability, and service.
This is also a frank look at time. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, relationships need repair, and the Gospel is too good to hoard. We hold sorrow and joy together, anchored by the promise of resurrection and the conviction that a life can preach long after the voice is quiet. If you’ve ever wondered whether small acts matter, this story says yes—welcome the newcomer, open your Bible, keep the door ajar, and finish strong.
If this tribute encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can hear Vinnie’s legacy and meet the hope that carried him. Then tell us: whose faith shaped yours, and how will you pass it on? Let us know here: https://playsonword.dm.networkforgood.com/forms/podcast-reviews
(Please click on the underlined links below.)
Calvary Crossfields interview #1
Calvary Crossfields interview #2
To honor Vinnie’s life and legacy, and in gratitude for the faith and values he lived out, donations in his memory may be made to a ministry close to his heart: Fellowship Of Christian Athletes - New Jersey: https://www.fcanj.org/donate
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Finances were falling apart. It was just a mess, and I remember falling down in my bedroom. And that is going to be hard by myself. That is literally crying. And that's a way to go back because we really want it to leave the whole time.
SPEAKER_00:25 years like that to be up by 25 people for time.
SPEAKER_01:And we look forward to hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we discuss analyzed work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on the 630 today. Let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr., the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.
SPEAKER_02:Amen. Thank you very much, Mr. Josh Taylor and Katie Kenny, for that introduction. Welcome to all of you listening to Plays on Word Radio. We are kicking it in 2026, y'all. Yes. We are moving forward with every single day and every breath that the Lord gives us, man. We are moving forward. And it is it's amazing. It is 2026 right now. I have um I have some sad news for the plays on word family. Um our dear brother, Vinny Whitehead, is now in the direct presence of Jesus. He's in glory. And when I got the news, my heart was broken. And I'm just it's just so bizarre being a Christian. Knowing that when a when a Christian dies, it's so bizarre because you have this just extreme level of sadness and sorrow. Because the person that you knew and loved is not with you around you, you can't just call them on the phone, you can't interact with them, yet you have this overwhelming comfort in the knowledge that you know that this person is positioned or located in a place where they understand greater than we do right now. To see what Vinny's saying right now, to hear what he's what he's hearing right now, uh, to experience what he is experiencing right now, we we have to wait till we get to glory. And what is left behind with us is often something that we we cherish, we hold on to, the memories, the um the experiences, the lessons learned. And um so if if you guys could just remember to keep uh Vinny Whitehead's family uh just in prayer and and our dear brother Cliff, his his his actual physical brother, Cliff Whitehead, both have been on the podcast. Um and uh both are just extreme influences in my life. Um I think about I think about I think about Vinny. I can't believe I'm getting choked up here. I think about Vinny and um my first one of my first experiences at uh at a Calvin Chapel's men's retreat. I roomed with Vinny Whitehead. Alright, so you guys have heard me tell the story a couple times where um where I was scheduled to go on this men's retreat, paid for it and everything. My first men's retreat at Calvary C C O B, Calvary Chapel O Bridge. Good grief. This might have been 2001. 2000 2001 somewhere in that vicinity, maybe 2002. Um and I uh was in a spiritual wrestling match. I mean, really bad. It was it was heavy. Very, very, very heavy. The enemy did not want me going on this men's retreat, interacting with these men of God. And uh it actually was the it was my very first very first men's retreat, like ever. And um the spiritual battle was unbelievable. They launched all kinds of stuff at me. I was I felt like really depressed. Don't know why. I was like, what's wrong with me? What's happening here? Why am I so bummed out? I was bummed out beyond belief. Um, and anytime I thought or mentioned mentioned going to this men's retreat, oh my goodness, just the like the spiritual attacks and uh were coming at me. All in my it was it was the battlefield was in my mind. It wasn't like Hollywood makes it sound, but it was real nonetheless. And um, so I remember talking to my mom about it, she said, you have to go to this men's retreat because you're it's it's such you're you're under such opposition right now. So you so you it's really important for you to go. And she was probably the she was the determining factor of me going on this retreat. So I went down to Sandy Cove, Maryland, and I didn't know a bunch of guys, I only knew a couple guys from CCOB, but I didn't I wasn't very close with them. And guess who I roamed with? I um I roamed with my d why is this so hard for me? My dear brother Vinny Whitehead. And um, yeah. He welcomed me with open arms and said, Come on in, man. And the dude was I I could tell the dude was an athlete, man. I could tell he was an athlete, man. The way he like grabbed my hand and and uh shook my hand, gave me the gave me the game face, man. Shook my hand, looked at me like a like he was John Wayne or something. He said, Welcome, bro. Well, welcome, brother. Come on in. And we walk we went to the room. Yo, and he called, he said, I got the bed. I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch. It was a couch, it wasn't even a pull-out bed. He had the bed, and he said, I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch, man. I man, I respect him for that. And I was his young young knucklehead, and he was like, I got the bed. Vinny Whitehead, man. Oh, what a dude, man. Ay, ay, yeah. Anyway, we uh yeah, we had a fantastic men's retreat for Calvary Chapel Old Bridge, man. And it was uh it was foundational for me in many ways. The Lord really used it to exponentially spiritually bless me. Um yeah, he absolutely blessed me beyond belief at that men's retreat. I couldn't tell you one of the verses we went through. Uh I I couldn't tell you even the theme of it. What I can tell you is that we went back to the room and we had a Bible study, like we started talking scripture. First, it was me, Vinny, and this other kid. I think his name was Jay, I forget his name. I think it was Jay, young dude. And we we had this, we started talking scripture, and we had the door to the hotel, the the whole not hotel, it was Sandy Cove. It is basically a hotel, but the we left the door open. So we're having this conversation. We're getting into scripture, and we have our Bibles out, and we're digging through. And I wasn't as well versed as I am now, but I I had some stuff marked up. And man, we started digging, digging, digging, and going back and forth in the conversations. And a few other guys walked by, and then they they came in the room. Man, we must have had 13, 14 dudes in that room, man, till like three or four o'clock in the morning. Vinny was like, yo, I'm old, man. I need to go to sleep. Vinny was like, I gotta go to sleep. You guys need to cut that out. Yeah, I'm going to sleep. And I think he laid down, man. He just went to sleep. And we continued. We just talked quietly. Low. Almost till the sun came up, man. Just sweet fellowship with brothers digging in the word of God. Nothing like that. I'll never forget that. And me and Finny always had a bond after that, man. I just that dude was just, you know, he was a guy I absolutely looked up to. Is a guy I absolutely look look up to. And uh um a few years later, I end up at Fellowship Chapel in New Jersey, in in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. And I'm going there for I don't know how long. Like a couple months, I'm going there. And I didn't put two and two together. That Cliff Whitehead was related to Vinny Whitehead. And I forget what happened, but there was some kind of event or something. And Vinny came and he said, Oh, yeah, my brother Cliff. And I went, What? It blew my mind. I said, wait a second. Vinny, your brother is Cliff. Cliff is your brother. I couldn't believe it. I love both of them guys, man. Oh my goodness. Both of those guys have made tremendous impacts on my life personally. And it's gone to impact other people. And uh so yeah, fast forward a little bit more, and Vinny ends up as an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Crossfields in Jamesburg, New Jersey. And he was instrumental in bringing plays on, word out, I believe it was 2023. We went out and did uh our Pete play there for them. And um, then we did last year, I think we did Genesis Joe, and then this year I was texting with, we were texting with Vinny. We were he already scheduled, he had a scheduled for Christmas Joe. And so the Christmas was on Thursday, so Monday, and we were doing Christmas Eve at Calvary Chapel Crossfields in Jamesburg. We were doing the Christmas Eve service, but it was gonna be Christmas Joe. It was a special presentation, and so Monday, uh Vinny was taking care of logistics and everything, you know, texting back and forth a little bit, and then um we get there Wednesday, and Vinny says, Yeah, I've been in the hospital since Monday. And I was like, What? Now, let me rewind. I had known since I want to say August or September, uh some no, yeah, July, August, something like that, that he had been battling um, I guess like throat cancer. So I had known that and I had been praying for him. And uh, but I'm like thinking, okay, yeah, all right. Well Vendy's gonna, he's gonna introduce us, and you know, he's things are still on. And he's he said, yeah, he's been in the hospital since Monday. I get this text from him on Wednesday, and I was like, oh my goodness, no. So I I did my best to make sure that we streamed the Christmas Joe service for him. I said, dude, we're gonna make sure we stream it for you. And we did Christmas Joe and did the concert, and then we pray, I we prayed for him at the when we streamed it. And um, you know, it just it was it wasn't the same without him there. Uh, but you know, we have you gotta continue forward, man. You gotta move forward. And uh told him I was praying for him. And uh when we got back, I I I tried to reach out to him, but I have you know didn't really get any texts back from him. The last text I got from him was on, I believe, Christmas Eve. Um and I then I got word from Roy who is on the board of Plays on Word, also on uh he's also uh uh plays, he's one of the musicians that plays with us. He's a bass player, he plays. Um and uh Roy reached out to me. He's also let me just give you the six degrees of Roy Larson. He's also the worship leader at Fellowship Chapel with Pastor Cliff, Vinny's brother. And Roy reached out and said, Hey, um, they're putting Vinny in hospice, man. You can you please um, you know, just can you really lift him up? Lift him up in prayer, and uh Yeah. This is just hard, man. It's hard to see um like somebody that you look up to like as an like an athlete, somebody that's so strong and vigorous. Vinny, one time we were doing a a fellowship of Christian athletes um minicamp that we used to do in Belford, New Jersey, and uh I I was one of the speakers and I spoke and I I spoke and Vinny Vinny I I I basically told these kids um I I told them not to you I told him this story about how celebrating early before you cross the finish line um led to this one guy. He was I don't know, he he was running before he crossed the finish line, he started taunting everybody, and and uh he was way ahead of everybody. He started taunting everybody and started celebrating, and then he tripped and fell. And he couldn't make it, he didn't make it across the finish line. Everybody passed him. And I told the story, and I forget the context I was telling it in. Um it definitely was about Christ or something, about our walk with Christ and finishing strong or something along those lines. And so the kids were at the minicamp. The kids were doing their they had some game or something, and everybody's watching. It's in front of the entire mini camp. And this kid starts celebrating before he crosses the finish. He starts exactly doing exactly what I described. And what happened? He fell down and he lost like the race, and he lost. He did exactly what I had just spoken about. And Vinny was laughing so hard. Vinny laughed so hard that he couldn't believe that what I did, what I what I preached on, was just lived out in front of everybody at the camp. And Vinny was so excited, and he he kind of pushed, he pushed me in my chest, like, can you believe this? And no lie, he launched me about five feet in the air, I felt like. In fact, I think my back is still out of alignment. I mean, he I was like, this guy. It was funny, we were laughing, but I was like, man, my neck is uh I got a stiff neck now. I'm uh I can't believe how hard how hard he just in his laughing he and that's the type of athlete he he is, and it's that's why it's so hard for me because this, you know, somebody that's so vigorous and so strong and just as athletic as Vinny was, is uh as you know, strong as he is, he is even more of a man of God, like his testimony. I had a kid come up to me, this guy, you know, I call him a kid, but he's in his I don't know, 30s, something like that. Young guy, Keswick. And he comes up to me and he says, You know, do you know Vinny Whitehead? I said, Do I know Vinny Whitehead? That's my man. And this was on this tour, this Christmas Joe tour. So, you know, this was, I don't know, three weeks ago, four weeks ago. And uh he says, You know, Vinny White, you know, Vinny Whitehead, he he's responsible for me being in Christ. And I looked at him, I said, Really? I'm not surprised. Tell me about it. And the guy starts telling me how he was at Henry Hudson High School. That's where Vinny was a teacher, a coach, and a teacher. And um he was he's at Henry Hudson High School, and he and and Vinny caught this kid smoking cigarettes in the bathroom. And what does Vinny do? Vinny doesn't take him to the he doesn't take him to the um uh to the principal's office. Nah, he doesn't take him to detention. He gives him an option. He says, listen, I can take you to the principal's office and you can have detention for like the rest of the year and suspension or whatever. Or you can come with me to to FCA. Fellowship of Christian athletes. Yo, this dude, and that's just what the kid did. The kid went to Fellowship of Christian athletes and heard all about Jesus. Yo, and over and over this this type of story is just reported over and over, man. Vinny Whitehead, and how he took every opportunity to sew into people's lives, man. Like every opportunity to sow into people's lives. And uh I gotta apologize, I'm so emotional about this, but this dude was like in my walk, he's like a really special person. And part of me envies him right now because he knows he knows so much more than I can even comprehend right now. I envy him and what he can see. You know, Paul's like it's far better for me to go, but I I mean I I I want my desire is to go and be with the Lord, man. But I know it's better for me to be here with you guys. So I get that, I understand it. And this one hurts, man. This just hurts. Um I honestly thought we were gonna have a chance to see each other and hang out a little bit, and I didn't know it was so bad. And it's this is another reason why it's important to um take opportunities, man, with people that you know and people maybe maybe you might even be estranged with somebody. And you need to take care of that, man, and uh do the best you can to get it right, because Vinny was here you know, over a week ago. He was here. And now he is in a different location. And uh tomorrow is not guaranteed, is not guaranteed to anybody. And uh we just want to make sure that we are we're right with everybody we can be. And do not assume that we have tomorrow. Because tomorrow uh is not promised to anyone. Now, if you're a believer in Christ, your your tomorrow is promised, absolutely. Your tomorrow is promised, but if you are hesitating on that, you need to handle that. Take care of it. Don't play games. You know, I want to just read this and then I'm gonna get to the main part of our program. I want to read this. This is about my buddy Vinny. He was born in uh Anchorage, Alaska with um on December 3rd, and he he became uh you know, a coach, a teacher. And um he was a baseball guy. In fact, if I'm not I have to go back and listen, but I if I'm not mistaken, Pastor Cliff I think Vinny impacted Pastor Cliff as far as his walk in the Lord. I don't think it was the other way around. I think it was Vinny. Vinny got saved first. That's what I'm saying, man. Like all the connections from this guy. It's amazing. Amazing we're gonna have to have Pastor Cliff back on the on the program. Um I will list in the show notes the where both of these guys have been on the program, Cliff and and Vinny, but uh he was at Henry Hudson High School for 44 years, man, and he was he ran the FCA there, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I was there when Harry Flarity gave him a uh I don't know if it was like a lifetime achievement award or special appreciation award, and Vinny looked up at him like, oh Harry, what are you doing? You got me like he was such a humble, such a humble guy. He was not looking for spotlight, nothing like that. He just wanted to do the Lord's work, man, where he could. Boy did he. Boy did he. Ay, ay, ay. Multiple generations of students have been impacted because of this man of God. So I'm gonna I'm gonna play part of the uh interview we did with our dear brother Vinny Whitehead. This is from 2023. Check it out. How about you, Mr. Whitehead? You know, I don't I don't know if I've all the FCA events we've done together and I've uh all the over the years and stuff, uh, you know, I I don't know if I ever heard how you came to meet Jesus. Maybe I did, but I am kind of forgetful, you guys know. I forget a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_03:So I was brought up in a um Roman Catholic home. My mom was a prayer warrior. She would always drop us off uh to school and then go to church and pray for her boys and her daughter. And uh just her example and my dad's example, he was in the military, he was he made it to colonel in the army. So we had uh discipline in the house, and I just knew my mom was very religious. So that definitely left an impact on me, and looking back, I can tell people that uh praying mom is uh powerful, that God honors praying parents for their kids, even though at the time they might not see a change. So um I went to um Catholic grammar school, Catholic high school, went on to uh Brookdale for a couple years, played baseball, got a partial scholarship to Farming University, where uh for the first time um one of the kids on our dorm floor, um, Jimmy, he shared the gospel with me. I thought he was just studying, and he said he was doing a Bible study, and I never heard anything like that. So I asked him what that was. He started sharing uh with me from the late Great Planet Earth with Al Lindsay, and that just drew me right into late 70s. This is so I graduated college in 1974, so I was down to Furman in 73 and 74.
SPEAKER_02:That was out there. I I thought that came out in like '76, but uh.
SPEAKER_03:It was a bestseller, I think, for 10 years, the whole decade of the 70s. So the thing when I was growing up, I remember watching uh Wonderful World of Disney, uh Bonanza, and Billy Graham. So Billy Graham was always on, and I don't think he was always on, but we always used to watch him on Sunday, and that was my mom and dad. Really? And they were Catholic, so that was very looking back, that was odd. So I heard the gospel, but never, it never resonated with me. So in um my junior year, which was 1973, I received the Lord and grew gradually over the next uh next 40 years, but I had a struggle with pornography, impurity, and it was about in 40, 45 years old that the Lord really got a hold of me where he broke me. My marriage was falling apart, um finances were falling apart. It was just a mess. And I remember falling down in my bedroom in Asbury Park by myself and just crying, actually literally crying and asking the Lord to go back because Maria wanted to leave the whole thing. So he did that, and he was very faithful. And then over the next 25 years, like Pastor Joe, my first Bible-believing church was uh Calvary Chapel, Old Bridge. Um, but it didn't happen right away quickly. A friend of mine, my other phys ed partner at Henry Hudson, invited me to Calvary Old Bridge when they were in uh uh school. School, so I went there. It was okay, you know, it was fine. But I didn't go back. Church hopped a little bit, went to Ocean Grove every summer just to get fed a few times if I'd like to speak her. But then all that happened where my life was falling apart. So we started going to CCOB, where they're in their current location now. And uh like Pastor Joe said, I think in one year of verse-by-verse Bible study, I learned more than in 28 years of being a Roman Catholic. And a confirmation of that was also I went to a reconciliation with the Catholic Church before I went to Old Bridge, and the priest there, when we did a questions and answers, he basically lied to me, and he said he also said, pointing to the Bible, because I had the Bible, that that book is dead. So that was just a confirmation with the Lord, and uh through the years, um yeah, the Lord's been just very faithful, and I became an elder at Old Bridge for 13 years, and I've been working with Pastor Joe, I guess it's 20 years now, right, Joe? So for 20 years, you know.
SPEAKER_02:So you were FCA, you did a lot, you know, many years of FCA, probably 30 years worth of FCA.
SPEAKER_03:Both in the high school we had a club and all the camps.
SPEAKER_02:I remember the camp we did the camps together, the the what was it, the mini camp, whatever that was.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, the power camp.
SPEAKER_02:The power camp, yeah. So thank yeah thank God for CCOB. You know, there's so many connections, right? Thank God for Lloyd just being faithful to the calling, and then faithful to just, you know, when I think about Lloyd, he he's just rocksteady, just goes through going through the word. All right, amen. No, no nonsense. Let's go through the word. And uh so many people have been have been blessed because a man of God that's called is has been faithful to go through the word. And that's I I assume that's that's what we do here at at uh cross. None of us would be here if we weren't, right, Pastor John? That's true. Amen. Amen. Thank and thank God for the word. Amen. Praise the Lord, man. You know, we our time here is leased. We have such a finite amount of time with each other and uh in this window of life that we have on this planet. And our dear brother Vinny, he look you know, looking at his life and just hearing him there is great. And looking at his life, there is a testimony of looking towards the Lord and a testimony of God's goodness. Um a testimony of uh just wanting to be a man of God, and not just wanting to, but being a man of God, not in his own strength, but in the strength of the Lord. And believe me, our dear brother's coming back. He is coming back. This is we only have to do this once. This first go around, we only have to say goodbye or see you in a little bit. Just one time. But because of the cross of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, we will never have to say goodbye to our loved ones again in glory for all eternity we will spend with the Lord and with each other. This is why it's so important to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people. Absolutely. So, you know what? My prayer is that the life of our dear brother, Arthur Vincent Vinny Whitehead, would inspire you to pursue the Lord with reckless abandon. Just pursue him. Live your life, y'all. Let your light shine like our dear brother Vinny did. Till next week, y'all. May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you.
SPEAKER_01:Give you this program was made possible by the Playson Word family of supporters. To find out more, check out our website at plazonword.org.
