Local pastor, Survivor contestant to speak at Chamber luncheon Tuesday

First Baptist Church of Corbin senior pastor Austin Carty, above, will speak about his new position as well as his time as a contestant on the hit reality show Survivor next Tuesday at the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce monthly membership luncheon.

Thirty-four-year-old Austin Carty has an acute appreciation for things many people take for granted.

Plentiful food.

Air conditioning.

Suitable shelter.

Carty, a North Carolina native who arrived in Corbin in early June to take over as Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church, knows what its like to do without the conveniences of modern living. A decade ago, he was one of 16 contestants on the CBS reality show Survivor.

“The question I get the most from people to this day is this one: ‘Is the show real? Is it scripted?” Carty said. “It is most definitely real. It isn’t scripted … It’s a brutal show.”

Carty was part of the cast of Survivor: Panama — Exile Island which aired in 2006 and was principally filmed in the Pearl Islands off the coast of Panama in late 2005. It lasted 39 days. And, if you haven’t seen the show and you are curious, he didn’t win the $1 million top prize. Carty was the eighth contestant voted out. He spent a total of 21 days as part of the game.

Getting on the show turned out to be a bit of serendipity. He had a chance encounter with someone who did casting for Survivor and was asked to audition. Four rounds and interviews along rigorous psychological and physical testing over eight months led to the big payoff … he won the right to starve on an island with no food or clean water, being bitten by bugs and wondering why he said yes in the first place.

“It really is rough,” Carty said. “After the first couple of days, everyone is thinking ‘why in the world did I do this?’ They just give you a pot and a machete and say good luck. After three days, when you haven’t had any water and nothing to eat … those days feel like they are going to never end.”

Before appearing on survivor, Carty was working in the service industry and writing part time. After the show, he spent eight years mostly as a writer and motivational speaker, traveling the country. He authored a book — “High Points and Lows: Life, Faith and Figuring It All Out,” and even spent some time as a high school English teacher. Then, he decided to go to divinity school at Wake Forest University.

Since appearing on the show, Carty said he’s worked hard to be more than just “the guy who was on Survivor.” But, he said the show opened up opportunities for him, and made him view the world and life a little differently than he had before.

“It just kind of helps you recast what your priorities really are and makes you understand in just how many ways we are blessed and how many blessings we have that we don’t even think about,” he said.

One particular part of the show was a transformative experience, he said. On about day 19, he was sent to “Exile Island,” the show’s twist. Each week, one contestant was banished to the island, away from all the others, and given the bare necessities to survive: a machete, flint, a pot and a bucket of non-sanitized water. Carty said he spent 48 hours on Exile Island.

“It rained the entire time … hard, hard rain. We were just sitting there getting dumped on. We had no shelter. It was awful,” Carty said.

At points, he said he felt like things had become unbearable. He couldn’t go on. The cold. The rain. Hunger. No shelter.

“The game itself, even though it is a reality show, it’s designed as a social experiment. It pushes you against a wall and puts you in a place you’ve never been before. You want to quit, but you can’t,” Carty said. “It’s not like you can say a prayer and things magically stop. You start to wonder if it’s ever going to get better. Is there any effect to me praying? But you come to find out you have these reserves of strength that, as both a Christian and pastor, that when given over to God and asking for the presence of God’s spirit you find yourself buoyed amid that darkness … Somehow, through the process, we make it out the other side and we are a different person and a better person for it.”

Carty said that, as a pastor, that’s what he really stresses true faith is about — not about praying and expecting immediate results, but instead seeing that faith that God is with us is comforting.

“It gives us the ability to be the stronger, better people we were designed to become.”

At next Tuesday’s monthly membership luncheon for the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Carty plans to speak in more detail about his Survivor experience and about his new position at First Baptist Church.

He said he sees his time on Survivor as an interesting, brief stretch in his life that he sometimes views in the rearview mirror, but doesn’t dwell on. He viewed the season in which he appeared only when it originally aired on CBS in 2006. His wife has never seen the show.

Carty said some cast members from his season of Survivor were invited back for a reunion show. He was asked to be a part of it. In the past, though, he said he would gladly have gone back on Survivor for another shot at winning the prize.

Now, things are a little different.

“The answer now would be ‘no’ because I’m where I want to be,” Carty said. “I’m very excited about this new chapter in my life. I would not trade getting to be here and be Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church for that, but I will absolutely be watching and rooting some of my friends on to win it.”

Anyone interested in attending Carty’s speech to the Chamber of Commerce is encouraged to RSVP by calling 606-528-6390 or by emailing info@southernkychamber.com. Reservations should be made ASAP because space for this event is limited. The luncheon is held at The Corbin Center for Technology and Community Activities. The event begins at 11:45 a.m.