Thanks John! I adjusted the code a bit and it works great. Here’s what worked for me in case anyone else has this issue.
$args = array(
'posts_per_page' => -1,
'post_type' => 'events',
'order' => 'ASC',
'meta_query' => array(
array(
'key' => 'display_on_upcoming_events',
'value' => '1',
'compare' => '=='
),
'date_clause' => array(
'key' => 'event_date',
'compare' => 'EXISTS'
),
),
'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
'meta_key' => 'event_date',
);