Tavia Hunt, wife of CEO Clark Hunt, is always up to make a difference, whether she’s chairing a non-profit luncheon or leading the Chiefs Women’s Organization and contributing to missions like MOCSA. This family has consistently demonstrated its commitment to providing for vulnerable families and, in a particularly poignant gesture, supporting Texas flood relief efforts. It’s from this deeply ingrained sense of service and spiritual purpose that a simple, emotional post went out on social media, which is now getting a lot of attention.

It was a digital prayer sent into the ether by Tavia Hunt on her Instagram story. “Please join me in lifting up friend and brother in Christ, @JPokluda,” she said. “He’s currently in the hospital and we’re asking the Lord for complete healing and clear direction for his doctors. Please cry out to Jesus with us – your prayers mean so much. Thank you, faithful prayer warriors!” 

The man at the heart of Tavia Hunt’s public prayer, Jonathan Pokluda, is a lead pastor of a 145-year-old Baptist Church, Harris Creek in Waco, TX. He grew up, and “there was a statue of Michael the Archangel stabbing a demon. So every week, I’d see this reminder that spiritual warfare is real,” but it wasn’t until he was a “hungover” twenty-something in a club, smelling like smoke, that he found his calling.

That moment led him to a deeper spiritual dive and eventually to write his latest book, Your Story Has a Villain, which tackles the very idea of an unseen fight. Pokluda is quick to point out that it’s not the stuff of movies; it’s a quiet, insidious deception. “The Bible says more about spiritual warfare than it does about marriage,” he explains, “And yet, when I was studying theology, I barely heard anyone talk about it.”

The big mistake, he argues, “We’re fascinated by witchcraft, by manifesting, by crystals,” Pokluda says. “But when it comes to actual spiritual warfare, we think it’s something that happens in Africa or Haiti or the Amazon jungle.” It’s believing in them and assuming that knowledge has no real-world implications. His message is a wake-up call to American Christians who have “Normalized things Jesus died for. We’re entertained by things He went to the cross for. We’re desensitized. And that’s by design.”

Talking about his own personal life, Tavia Hunt’s family friend is married to Monica, and both share 3 Kids: Presley, Finley, and Weston. He also has a podcast, “Becoming Something,” where he keeps a long-standing Q&A session on Instagram Live, fields thousands of questions weekly, from dating to career choices and everything in between. Now Hunt’s family is requesting the Chiefs Kingdom to pray for Pokluda, as he battles his poor health in a hospital. 

Besides all these, the thing is, the Kansas City Chiefs are fighting their own kind of battle, too.

Tavia Hunt’s Chiefs battle against the odds

For the first time since 2014, the Chiefs are staring down an 0-2 record, a stunning start to a season that was supposed to be a coronation that even made former player, Mitchell Schwartz, choose rivals over them. After dropping a close one to the Chargers in Week 1, they followed up with a gut-wrenching loss to the Eagles. Patrick Mahomes has thrown for 445 yards, but with only two TDs and a crucial INT in a tight spot, the offense feels out of sorts.

Even the run game led by Mahomes by 123 rushing YDS, anchored by Isiah Pacheco and the recently returned (back in March) Kareem Hunt, both tying at 47 yards (some good news too for Worthy). But for the Hunt family, this is just a game, a notion Tavia Hunt herself said post Super Bowl LIX defeat. “Joy, contentment, and purpose cannot be found in trophies,” she wrote, a truth she’s now living in an entirely new way.

After the Super Bowl loss, Tavia Hunt posted that “We don’t get to take Lombardi trophies or championship rings to Heaven.” She shared scripture about humility and trusting God. It was a beautiful, sobering reminder that for the people in the ownership suite, the game is not the whole story, but the Chiefs’ matchup against a Giants team in Week 3 remains a battle to survive.