His mother became involved in the Catholic Charismatic Movement in the early 1970s and sought to introduce her children to the born again experience.

In 1972, seeking a way out of Grand Rapids, he "made a deal with God" that he would attend prayer meetings with his mother if he could make All-City tailback in football and thus receive a scholarship for college.

[6][7] Woroniecki explains in his Christian testimony that he forgot his deal with God and had a "wild streak", involving himself in alcohol and partying.

[5][8] Woroniecki states that he was known to his teammates as the "Crazy War"[5][6] and says he was arrested the summer of his freshman year for fighting in a bar, just to prove to his peers how tough he was.

[6][9] Woroniecki attended the annual Catholic Charismatic Conference at University of Notre Dame the weekend of June 14, 1974 with his family.

"The grass and goalposts were the same but I was changed" says Woroniecki, adding that he found significance in the recently painted Touchdown Jesus on the library mural right in front of him.

He writes that he could not understand why people like Roger Staubach, a famous Christian athlete, were respected, yet he was rejected, until he read John 12:24 and 25.

[7][9][10] The same year, Woroniecki and his teammates went on to win the NCAA Division II Football Championship for the only time in Central Michigan's history.

While at CMU, Woroniecki met a cheerleader from Detroit, Michigan, Leslie Jean Ochalek (later renamed "Rachel Rebekah").

During his senior year of high school in 1972, Woroniecki began attending Catholic Charismatic prayer meetings, part of his "deal with God.

[10] In his final round of interviews with the Dominican seminary near Chicago, Illinois, Woroniecki was refused immediate admission and decided on a different course of action.

This atmosphere, Woroniecki claims, ultimately compelled him to stand on the campus lawn and preach "the living Jesus" to fellow students and professors when they came out of the chapel.

He confronted classmates over the attitudes of scholastic pride and hypocrisy that he thought to contradict the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

[12] Woroniecki returned to Grand Rapids after graduating from Fuller Seminary in the summer of 1980, where he preached on the streets and at various events while carrying a sign or cross, starting his own ministry called Cornerstone Christian Fellowship.

[17][18][19] To deliver his message, Woroniecki chooses college campuses, large sporting and political events as well as city centers.

[21] Since leaving Grand Rapids 30 years ago, Woroniecki and his family have preached in all 50 U.S. states, Latin America, Europe, Russia and Morocco.

During the summers of 1992 to 1996 he performed in downtown city plazas and centers in places like London, Paris, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rome, Berlin, Budapest, Athens, and Moscow.

[24] During the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games, Woroniecki was reported to have performed with his family outside the various venues using the event to reach the international crowds with his message.

[8][23] In his ministry Woroniecki addresses the Biblical themes of hypocrisy in the institutional system, grace, salvation, forgiveness, hell, judgment, deception and the consequences of sin.

[30][31] Woroniecki cites various Scripture verses in his pamphlets to substantiate his message that only by faith can a man be saved from hell and reconciled to God, a doctrine accepted by most mainstream Christians and defined by Martin Luther as sola fide.

[39] Woroniecki said of this meeting that Andrea seemed slightly intimidated, and that he advised them not to marry quickly, the same advice he gave to other young couples.

[8][20][50] Peter Jennings of World News Tonight reported that Rachel Woroniecki wrote to Rusty and Andrea that they needed to reconcile their marriage.

"A major problem is that people think that by emulating our lifestyle they can have the joy and the love that we have without building a foundation in Jesus Christ."

Woroniecki was quoted by the Grand Rapids Press as saying, "I will gladly sacrifice my reputation if it can spare Andrea from the death penalty and give her a second chance at life.