CORRECTION (10/29/07): This story misspelled Zach Ferry's name.

Chris Johnson was working his shift at a Dairy Queen on the Boulder Hill late one night in 2005, when everything seemed to be going wrong.

"I was broken up and depressed," Johnson said. "I didn't know if there was a God."

That's when Tennyson McCarty strolled in for a late-night malt.

"It was just before closing, and we were the last two people there," Johnson recalled. "He did some magic tricks for me, and started sharing with me what he believed about Jesus Christ. We started talking, and he was hitting home on a lot of stuff."

A few weeks later, Johnson, who had been living in his truck, moved in with the former University of Colorado football player.

That sort of thing seemed to happen a lot when McCarty was around.

As family members and friends now grieve his death, they say McCarty left a life-changing impression on hundreds of people around the world, through an eclectic life as an athlete-turned-Christian-magician.

McCarty, 32, went missing Oct. 15 and was found dead Oct. 19 in a creek near the Peak to Peak Highway northeast of Peaceful Valley. A cause of death has not been determined.

'Hero' athlete

Born in 1975 to Cleveland and Jacquelyn McCarty, Tennyson grew up with a passion for sports and the outdoors.

Tennyson maintained a 3.8 GPA at Boulder High School, while lettering as a three-year varsity football player. His senior year, after tallying six sacks in a single game, he was named MVP of the 1992 state championship game and honored as Colorado's Defensive Player of the Year.

Tennyson received a football scholarship from the University of Colorado in 1993 and lettered each of his four years playing for head coaches Bill McCartney and Rick Neuheisel.

While playing for the Buffs, Tennyson caught 37 passes for 311 yards and one touchdown in 42 career games. He is most often recognized for his catch from John Hessler to beat Texas A&M in 1995.

He was named first-team Academic All-Big Eight in 1994 and 1995, and first-team Academic All-Big 12 in 1996 and 1997.

"He's a guy who was very smart and athletically talented and devoted to being a student to whatever he was doing," said Eric McCarty, the eldest of Tennyson's six siblings.

Eric McCarty, who serves as CU's director of sports medicine, also lettered at Colorado from 1983 to 1987 as a fullback and linebacker. He said his younger brother looked up to him as a football player, but he also looked up to Tennyson.

"I may have been the hero to (Tennyson), but it was quite apparent as the years went on — as Tennyson matured into a young man — that he became my hero," Eric McCarty said. "He was the guy that was encouraging me in my faith and my family. It's amazing how that can happen."

Tennyson's aspirations to play in the NFL were cut short his senior year by a series of foot injuries.

"His college career was good, but not as good as Tennyson wanted," Eric McCarty said.

Even so, Tennyson maintained a 3.7 GPA as a Buffalo and graduated from CU in 1998 with a degree in kinesiology.

Eric McCarty said his brother initially showed an interest in physical therapy or other medicine, but would end up choosing another path.

'The turning point'

When football didn't work out after school, Tennyson decided instead to take to his spiritual roots.

As a child, Tennyson once went with his father to see evangelist Billy Graham speak at the old Mile High Stadium.

"I think that had an enormous impact on him," said his father, 74-year-old Cleveland McCarty.

Throughout high school, Tennyson became active with Student Venture, a youth ministry in Boulder.

Louisville resident Mike Painter, a longtime McCarty family friend who taught Tennyson's youth group, said a Christian magic show Tennyson attended in 1990 solidified his relationship with the Christian faith.

"That was a turning point for him," Painter said. "He made a personal decision to ask Christ into his life."

Tennyson used to take Painter's son into the CU locker room after games, and the family still has an autographed football from him, Painter said.

"We're in a state of shock," he said. "It's a huge loss for the whole community. You don't replace a guy like that."

After graduating from CU, Tennyson decided to embrace vocational ministry. He earned a master's degree in global arts and leadership from Fuller Seminary and moved to Austin, Texas, to begin his career.

He helped create campus ministries at the University of Texas, Texas State University, Texas A&M and at CU. He also worked with ministry efforts in more than 300 college and high school campuses across the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Haiti and Asia.

Ministry through magic

In 2000, Tennyson befriended Jim Munroe, formerly of Broomfield, who shared his passion for ministry.

Munroe also rekindled Tennyson's childhood fascination with magic and illusion.

"He loved magic," Cleveland McCarty said. "I got him started a little bit, showing him some simple things I knew how to do."

He said Tennyson would often beg to know how the tricks were done, but he refused to divulge his secrets until Tennyson was 22.

"I wouldn't tell him how they worked," said the elder McCarty. "I wanted to keep it a secret. He was so puzzled by it."

After perfecting some illusions in 2000, Tennyson worked with Munroe to form MAZE Ministries, a national traveling ministry that blends performance magic with Christian gospel.

"We encouraged each other to do the magic," Munroe said. "He always had the vision for evangelism, and I continued to help on the magic front."

As the fledgling show gained popularity, Munroe said, "small crowds turned into small audiences, and then small audiences were turning into large audiences."

"Next thing we knew, we did 40 cities with Acquire the Fire last year, including a 10,000-person arena in Toronto," Munroe said.

Earlier this year, MAZE partnered with Campus Crusade for Christ to bring the tour to college campuses.

Munroe said the show was Tennyson's true calling.

"Tennyson — his life is marked by wanting other people to know the power of Jesus Christ," Munroe said. "He felt called by God to share the gospel message, and doors kept opening up constantly for him."

Munroe said his friend's faith ran deeper than anyone else's, and that he shared that passion with everyone he met.

"Tennyson was just the real deal," Munroe said. "His whole life was other people. He would go bail guys out of jail."

Munroe said he isn't sure what will become of the MAZE show without his partner.

"It will be different, if it does continue."

'An answer to a prayer'

Cleveland McCarty said his son had "no foes" and would "fearlessly make friends," making it even more difficult for the family to understand what might have happened to Tennyson alone in the woods.

"We can only imagine him just praying, and for whatever reason, it was time for him to go," said Eric McCarty. "Based on the facts we have from the coroner's office and the sheriff's office, the exact cause of death can't be determined. The most likely explanation is hypothermia."

Boulder County Coroner Tom Faure said laboratory test results and further investigation are not expected to be completed for weeks, but foul play is not suspected.

Among the closest of Tennyson's friends still struggling to understand what happened to him are many assorted roommates Tennyson invited into his Boulder home over the years.

Zack Serry, 22, moved in with Tennyson last summer, after another chance meeting.

Serry said he was selling cell phones when McCarty came browsing through his shop.

"This big, muscular-looking football player guy walked up to me, and I was trying to sell him a phone," Serry said. "In actuality, he was an answer to a prayer. God really put him in my life and he introduced me to Jesus. He had one of the most authentic relationships with God that I've ever seen and known, which was all new for me."

Serry said Tennyson "made himself available to God" all the time, and would stop in his tracks to minister someone in need.

"One night, all of a sudden he started ministering to this one guy," Serry said. "He would take Jesus and take the gospel to areas that were taboo. He really lived his life that way — surrendered to God."

Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at urieh@dailycamera.com or (303) 473-1328.