From Christian Megachurch To Cannabis: The Minister Who Divorced The Pastor's Daughter And Started A Weed Company

Brendon Wilder and his wife Anna are launching a new brand, Highest Intent, in Oklahoma City. The brand combines herbs, mushrooms and cannabis into daily wellness products. It also has a fascinating backstory.

An Elevated Life

Brendon and Anna are originally from Dallas, Texas. They met at a Christian megachurch.

“We had sold our lives to that church,” Brendon says.

“That’s where this story begins, in 2015, when me and Anna, my girlfriend at the time, decided to leave the Christian megachurch. Anna was my girlfriend, but I was married to the Pastor’s daughter at that time – for a few months. If you’ve seen the show ‘Righteous Gemstones,’ which is hilarious, then you can get an idea of the life that I was living,” Brendon reminisces. “I was traveling with a group called ‘The Power Team’ across America, breaking bricks and baseball bats and performing various ‘feats of strength’ for Christ.”

Brendon was also a full-time minister at his childhood church, which he had attended for 15 years.

“I had clung to religion and ‘God’ my whole chaotic life, but for the first time, a faint voice (my subconscious/intuition) finally became loud enough to hear… it was telling me that I needed to trade this controlling and manipulative place for freedom,” Brendon said.

But the move wouldn’t be easy. By then, he had taken his wife and the Pastor’s family name. He knew that leaving the church and religion meant he’d need to restart his entire life - leave his career, his friends and his family all behind.

A Fresh Start

And so he did. Brendon cut ties with his old life.

He got divorced, quit his job, said goodbye to his old friends and changed his last name again. This time, he and Anna picked the surname themselves. They went with a fun one: Wilder.

Upon leaving Christianity and the church in 2015, Brendon discovered weed. Or, as he likes to put it, weed found him.

“I had grown up around cannabis, as my parents grew hydro in their closet when I was a kid… but I also had my own experiences of other harder drugs being used in the household when I was younger,” he discloses. “But- leaving religion meant a complete rewiring of my beliefs, especially including ‘drugs.’ Upon smoking for the first time in the Summer of 2016, I finally felt ‘normal’ for the first time… I felt a weight and stress of 15 years begin to slowly go away.”

Brendon and Anna were sold. Cannabis had become an important part of their lives.

Seeking to make a living off it, they moved to Oregon to become full-time participants in the cannabis industry. “It was clear that the plant and her medicinal qualities had captivated our hearts. It had helped me heal in ways that I didn’t even know I needed to heal. It brings me gratitude, humility and perspective. It does so much for me… I used to pray to a God in the sky to help with things, and he would always be absent. With cannabis, it always shows up. Right where I need it most. This is what sparked our cannabis journey of moving to Oregon.”

The Trip Within The Trip

A few short months after moving to Bend, Oregon, Brendon began to experiment with psilocybin mushrooms “to heal the wounds of trauma, shame and regret.”

“Our love for cannabis, mushrooms and personal wellness has led us to this current point in our lives,” he concludes, sitting at his home in Oklahoma.

“While Oregon had our hearts, my wife and I knew that it was time to begin to spread the great things we’d found with a newer, younger cannabis market.”

After conducting some research, they arrived in Oklahoma, once again moving cross-country.

“Fast-forward 9 months from moving here and we are about to introduce Oklahoma’s medical cannabis patients to a new form of plant medicine that contains herbs, mushrooms and cannabis: Highest Intent.”

More formulas and nationally-available CBD products will follow in 2022. Stay tuned for more on Highest Intent.