More than a hobby: Randall Moss, teacher, preacher and powerlifter
Samantha Meyeres, Staff Writer
A soft-spoken but sure man, his kind eyes and gentle nature might not seem the typical traits of someone whose favorite hobby is powerlifting, but that’s exactly where his passion lies.
Randall Moss is the director of the doctor of education degree program at North Greenville University, but on the side he participates in powerlifting competitions.
Powerlifting is a competitive sport that focuses on raw strength, as opposed to the explosive movements seen in Olympic weightlifting. According to USA Powerlifting it “comprises three lifts: the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift. Powerlifting competitions may be comprised of one, two or all three of the lifting disciplines.”
The competitors have three attempts at each lift and there are three judges scoring each one. For the lift to count, at least two of the judges have to give what is called the “white light” meaning the lift is good. In their evaluation of the lift, they are looking for technical execution as well as completion.
USA Powerlifting’s website also states that “athletes are categorized by sex, age and bodyweight. Each competitor is allowed three attempts at each lift, the best lift in each discipline being added to their total. The lifter with the highest total is the winner.”
Moss’ current personal records are a squat of 623 lbs., deadlift of 661 lbs. and a bench press of 420 lbs., but he was not always at that level.
Growing up in rural South Georgia, Moss said he spent a good amount of his childhood staying busy by playing outside and doing sports.
“I was just kind of a naturally strong guy, so I would gravitate towards strength sports,” Moss said.
Throughout the course of middle and high school, he wrestled, played football and ran track and cross country. It wasn’t until 2014, when he was in grad school at Mercer University School of Medicine, that Moss discovered his love for powerlifting.
Moss had grown up hearing about powerlifting because his father was in the Air Force and competed in powerlifting during his time there. Once he was discharged and began his family though, the sport took a spot on the back burner. But when a health scare came in 2014, he decided it was time to pick it up again, and he enlisted his son to join him.
Moss began training with his father and preparing for competition.
He started reading about the competition rules and doing research on the different organizations to get involved in. He found USA Powerlifting, one of the bigger federations, and that was the one he joined.
Moss had his first competition in February of 2015 and he took third place, kicking off what is now going on a decade of competitions.
“I was hooked,” Moss said. “I just fell in love with it. It’s been 10 years now, but I just remember the anticipation, the excitement, the nerves, the energy of meeting people and seeing men and women who were way stronger than me, but also seeing how capable I was at the sport.”
Throughout grad school, Moss trained and competed, creating a unique community through the people he met at the gym.
Although he loves the competition aspect, Moss said his heart was always in it for more than just staying physically fit. He said that he saw training in the gym with guys as an opportunity to have accountability, but also to create a space to talk about life, which led to gospel conversation.
“From the beginning, I saw powerlifting as not only a means to stay healthy and to have fun, but to meet guys and share the gospel. That was kind of always my heart in doing it,” Moss said.
He said that he has had the opportunity to see two of his training buddies come to faith.
The first story he shared was of a man that he met through his children’s school. They connected through school events and he invited him to go running. During the same time, Moss’ wife had reached out and begun meeting up with the man’s wife for coffee and to read the Bible.
The man had grown up a Christian but walked away from his faith as the chaos of life took hold of his adult years. As the man began to train with Moss and also see his wife’s curiosity and eventually commitment to the gospel, Moss said that his friend began to grow closer to God. Moss worked out with him on Tuesdays and Thursdays and afterwards they would read the Bible together.
“Very quickly I saw the Holy Spirit grab his heart and just draw him back,” he said.
The man and his wife began going to Christ Fellowship Northwest, the church that Moss and his family attend, and both gave their lives to the Lord. Moss is an elder at the church and had the opportunity to baptize the man’s wife.
The second story was of a man that Moss met through the gym community. Moss said the man was inspired by the community of guys that he trained with in the gym, people with goals similar to his. Talking while training led to gospel conversations both inside and outside the gym.
“Eventually,” Moss said, “he started coming to church, started connecting with other guys at our church, reading scripture with them, professed faith and was baptized as well.”
Both of the men from these stories are going with Moss to the church that he and around 30 others are planting in Inman, South Carolina, in August of 2025.
Right now, Moss competes once a year at the USA Powerlifting state championship. He said that the busy flow of life makes it difficult to make time to get to competitions, but he is consistently training and said he would like to start competing more frequently.
Even if he’s not competing in the competitions, Moss still volunteers and is even certified to be a referee/judge. He said that he enjoys doing that because it is a way to give back and be a part of the community.
Moss shared that the part he loves most about powerlifting is the process. The ritual of pushing himself in training and sharing that with other people helps him in pursuing his spiritual life.
“Powerlifting keeps me on track to get up early and do hard things and make sacrifices, which makes me more aware of my need for spiritual discipline,” Moss said. “So I’ve been able to pair my physical and spiritual discipline together.”
Powerlifting is a sport you can start competitively as young as 10 years old and do your whole life. Moss encouraged anyone interested in learning more about powerlifting to pursue it. There are multiple federations such as USA Powerlifting, United States Powerlifting Association and Powerlifting America.
Feature image courtesy of Randall Moss
