Nicholas James Vujicic ( ; born 4 December 1982) is an Australian-American

Christian evangelist Evangelism, or witnessing, is the act of sharing the Christian gospel, the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is typically done with the intention of converting others to Christianity. Evangelism can take several forms, such as personal ...

and

motivational speaker A motivational speaker (or inspirational speaker) is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep ta ...

of Serbian descent. Vujicic has

tetra-amelia syndrome Tetra-amelia syndrome (''tetra-'' + '' amelia''), also called autosomal recessive tetraamelia, is an extremely rare autosomal recessive congenital disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Other areas of the body are also affected b ...

, a condition characterised by the absence of arms and legs.

Early life

Vujicic was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia, in 1982 to Dušanka and Borislav Vujičić, Serbian

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. He was raised

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the populat ...

in his earliest years, but the family later converted to Protestantism. Vujicic's father is a pastor in the

Apostolic Christian Church The Apostolic Christian Church (ACC) is a worldwide Christian denomination from the Anabaptist tradition that practices credobaptism, closed communion, greeting other believers with a holy kiss, a capella worship in some branches (in others, ...

. Vujicic was born with

, a rare disability characterised by the absence of arms and legs. According to Vujicic's autobiography, his mother refused to see him or hold him immediately after his birth; instead, she and her husband left the hospital. He was

bullied Bullying is the use of force, coercion, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...

at school because of his medical condition. At one point, Vujicic attempted to commit suicide by drowning himself in a bathtub, but he was saved. While Vujicic's parents initially struggled with grief and confusion about his condition, they "raised him to look at the bright side of life". Although Vujicic has no arms at all, he can't be called legless: he has one partial foot with two toes which originally were fused. An operation was performed to separate the toes so that he can use them as fingers. Vujicic refers to this foot as his "chicken drumstick". This foot became his "universal limb": he uses it to walk, jump, write, type, swim, surf and skateboard. When Vujicic was 17 years old, he started giving inspirational talks at school and church-sponsored events. Vujicic graduated from

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

at the age of 21 with a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

degree, with a double major in

accountancy Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activities and conveys ...

and financial planning.

Ministry

Vujicic is a Christian and an evangelist. He travels and speaks about his testimony of faith in

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. His ministry is known as Life Without Limbs. As of 2008, the ministry was based in southern California. Vujicic appeared on the ABC television show

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of visual perception, vision, but technically rates an animal's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity depends on optical and neural factors. Optical factors of the eye ...

in 2008. Vujicic starred in the short film '' The Butterfly Circus'' (2009). At the 2010

Method Fest Independent Film Festival The Method Fest Independent Film Festival is an independent film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region ...

, he was awarded Best Actor in a Short Film for his starring performance. Vujicic's first book, ''Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life'', was published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in 2010 and has been translated into 30 languages. Vujicic is opposed to abortion. In 2021, he co-founded ProLife Bank. In 2022, Vujicic launched a new ministry initiative called "Champions for the Brokenhearted". The goal of the project is to "support particular disaffected groups in need".

Personal life

Vujicic married Kanae Miyahara on 12 February 2012. As of 2017, Vujicic and his wife have two sons and two daughters. The family resides in Collin County, Texas. Without any limbs, Vujicic is able to type 43 words per minute on a computer, by using his toes, slightly above the average for non-professional typists.

Books and publications

* ''Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life'' (201; * ''Your Life Without Limits'' (2012); * ''Limitless: Devotions for a Ridiculously Good Life'' (2013); * ''Unstoppable: The Incredible Power of Faith in Action'' (2013); * ''The Power of Unstoppable Faith'' (2014); * ''Stand Strong'' (2015); * ''Love Without Limits'' (2016); * ''Be the Hands and Feet: Living Out God's Love for All His Children'', 13 February 2018;

References

External links