Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Known Legacy Podcast brought to you by Known Legacy Ministries. For more information, go to knownlegacy.org now here's your hosts, Bill and Travis.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to part two of our time with our friend Bill Spencer. Man, we are so excited to have you on again, Bill. Guys, welcome to the Known Legacy podcast. We want to help you wake up, gear up and come alive to who God called you to become. Man, you don't want to miss. If you missed last week's go back, pause this, go back to last week, listen to it. It's going to bless you. But this week, we're excited to even hear some more. So, Travis, good morning. How you doing?
[00:00:35] Speaker C: Good, man. I'm doing really well. If you, if you want to know, last week we talked a lot about Bill and how God woke him up and how that continue.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Not this Bill, the other Bill.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Right. How there's a continual continuation of that waking up to who we are in him, not who we are in ourselves and stuff like that. And this week we're going to kind of unpack, like, okay, so we're. Once they're. Once God wakes you up, you know, then. Then what does it look like? How is he going to gear you up and what does it look like specifically for you to come alive? So I'm very excited about the conversation as always. Thank you guys for checking us out. Whether it's on Facebook, Instagram, or If it's on YouTube, all the things. Greatly appreciate it. If you're listening to a podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. We do this because we believe that God's changing lives, men and women throughout. And so whether you're listening to this the year we record it in 2026 or we're listening to it in the year 2029, it doesn't matter. God is faithful.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: At that point, I'm pretty certain that there will be AI skeletons crushing my skeleton. So it is.
We are not AI. We are legit.
[00:01:31] Speaker C: So as always, info.org if you have any questions, comments, concerns or prayer requests, we'd love to pray for you guys wherever you are and whatever your God has you going through. And finally, if you want information about Bill and some of the ministry that we have through Legacy, go to no legacy.org so, Bill, tell us a little bit about that.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Yes, we got a couple things coming up we'd love you guys to be a part of. Every Thursday morning at 6:45 Central Time, we have a men's adrenaline shot Bible study that's on the phone. I know you have not given me any kind of weird little things this late night.
That's okay. You're fine. You're fine. We'd love you guys to join us. It is a call in study. There's no pressure. We'd love you to just be a part of it. We want to encourage men to understand their value as children of God. And so every week we catch up, we meet, we pray, we talk and we hear truth from God's word. And so that link will be below. We'd love you to be a part of it. If you are feeling right now, man, God, I think you're doing something in my life and you want to really assess where you are. We have a free wake up guide and seven day reset that we have created just for you to just begin the journey or maybe just say, hey, I got to re kickstart what God is doing in my life. It is for you. It's free. There's a download right below. Click the link there. We'd love to have you be a part of it as well as our known legacy brotherhood that we have on Facebook.
[00:02:41] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: That we'd love you to join as well. It's just an encouragement time here prayer, you know, get some prayer requests in and be encouraged by others and as well pick up our book more than you which has a free men's 10 session book study for you, for guys, for your church. We'd love to be a part of that. So check it out. All those links are below.
And father and so excited again about man all that God is doing. And so keep, keep a lookout for us on knownlegacy.org so without further ado,
[00:03:08] Speaker C: Question of the day.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: Question of the day.
[00:03:11] Speaker C: Question of the day is simply this. If money was not an issue and you could do anything you wanted to to impact others, this is not for yourself. So Kyle, I don't want to hear about you buying a boat and sailing around the Caribbean. Okay. But to impact others.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: What would you do?
[00:03:27] Speaker D: Just for the record, I could impact others.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Their economy.
I could impact the with tipping. I could really? Yeah. Fair, fair, fair. I stand corrected. So thank you, Kyle. Our producer in the corner. I appreciate that. So who wants to go first?
[00:03:43] Speaker B: I'll go first. I'll go first. You know, one thing that I'm finding as I do this, as we do this ministry more and more is how many men are lonely.
[00:03:48] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: And one of the visions God has given us is these meetups, these connections. And so if money wasn't an option. I would probably do one in every single city with guys who are a part of Known Legacy right now and just have free opportunities for guys to connect up, go play topgolf, hang out, whatever it is. But I'm finding that every time we do one of those, more guys connect and they feel less alone. And man, you know, we talked about it even on the last podcast that, man, loneliness or the desire for relationships is so important. And so. So if you are an angel donor and want to give us a million dollars, I would love to host those everywhere info at Known Legacy. I'd love to have you do that. That really seriously is what I. Because I'm already doing what I love to do.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Yep. And yeah, it's a good place to be, isn't it?
[00:04:30] Speaker B: It is, it is. So, Travis, what about you, man?
[00:04:32] Speaker C: Okay, so I would.
A little backstory.
So we are passionate about relational development. That's what you're talking about, Bill. Getting guys to connect with each other. And I think the church in a lot of ways has a really good cognitive development is what I talk about, like teaching Bible teaching, understanding the Bible. I think one of the things that we really are missing out is character development and how do we really get into the heart of a guy to help him and develop his character? And so I, as a church planter, I had the opportunity to work with and coach and sometimes journey alongside other church planters. And one of the things I would love to do is free up time and space for a guy to come in for a year and learn the.
Not just the cognitive, like, here's how to church plan. Here's some philosophies on it, but more importantly the character stuff, because it's the character stuff that's going to trip you up. It is not the plan and it's not the finances. It's the character stuff. And no one's doing a really good job on that, at least in my tribe, to develop the character. So I would create a. I would create a space for guys and their families to come into town and make it happen. Bill's raising his hand across the table. I'm excited about that.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: Kyle, what about Bill 1.0? I'm Bill, like 7.0.
[00:05:41] Speaker D: Well, the obvious answer would be to help Known Legacy, because I really believe it. But what I would probably. I would do that. But I think what I would do would, if I didn't have to worry about money, I could just pretty much travel around and go to different places and, you know, not only share God's word. But help try to establish some kind of an outreach, like a known legacy.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: And you can use a boat for that too. Just so you know.
[00:06:12] Speaker D: I could use a boat, but it would be, it would be. I think, I think maybe in the US we need a lot more of that right now.
[00:06:19] Speaker C: Yes, I agree with you, but I
[00:06:21] Speaker D: think that's what I would do.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: You know, in fact, I will put in the, in, in the session notes as well. We have a survey because I'm trying to write a new book on this, all this, and there's a survey about loneliness. And right now we're finding that only 36% of guys would say they. Someone really in their corner.
[00:06:35] Speaker C: Golly.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: And I still think that's kind of high.
[00:06:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: You know, most guys, I don't feel like, have someone who's not just playing golf with them or going out drinking or whatever, you know, all this kind of. But they. Someone who's literally cheering them on to become more like Jesus. It's less than 36%. So I agree with you, Kyle. I think the more we could do that, we'll work together. So if our dreams are together, I'll get on your boat, we'll go do this. We can go from port to port and make this happen. So I love it.
[00:06:57] Speaker C: Bill, what about you across the table? Bill 2.0.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Bill 1.0.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Wait, is that me?
[00:07:02] Speaker C: Yes, that's you. That's you. Hey everyone, welcome to our guest. This is part two of the conversation and we're very excited about.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: So Bill Spencer, welcome back to the podcast. Sorry, we never did that.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I love the fact that everybody basically said, do what I'm doing.
[00:07:17] Speaker C: I just keep.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: I mean, that's a settled life, right?
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: And that's my answer.
[00:07:20] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Time, money helped or no consideration, what would I do? Exactly what I'm doing.
[00:07:24] Speaker C: God bless it.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: I just would. Because before that I did what I thought I wanted to do and it led to nowhere, I think they say, right?
[00:07:33] Speaker C: Yep, yep.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: And then woke up and went, okay, wait a minute. What would you do? God, through me, right? If I just handed you the pen, what would you do? Right, Right.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: That.
[00:07:42] Speaker C: Yeah, I love it.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: I do what I do. I gotta follow up on what you said though.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Go for it.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: You said, what percentage of guys said they had somebody in their corner?
[00:07:48] Speaker B: Like the survey that we did, about 35 point, like 8%.
Wow.
That's just an independent survey that we have. We're trying to get over 150 men to do We've got over half of that that have taken that survey and that's what we've got so far.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: So here's a follow up on the break between the podcast recordings. We talked about the fact that the longest running sociological study in the history of the media is the Harvard Study of Adult Development. It started in 1938.
Spun out of that are all kinds of other studies that have run and run and run. And in conjunction with that, Gallup did a survey about the workplace.
And Gallup in this positive likert statement study said, I have a best friend at work. What's your response?
17% of workers in America, 17% said, I have a best friend at work. Because workplace vulnerability is not allowed.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: It's costly.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: And it's got to be even worse now with the remote working that everyone's doing.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: So it's even worse. So no one has a friend anywhere.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Fear facade. Every. Every aspect of the worldly implementation of social media says, put a facade up. Don't be really who you are. Don't do that. Make it look better. And so we look at this fake best version of other people's lives and feel less than self. And so we feel like we have to put a fake version up. And that's on and on.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Everybody knows, well, then that's like, that's 2,500 hours of our year.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Right?
[00:09:15] Speaker B: That is that we're spending not being our true selves, not a community. And that's it yet. Wow.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: So we just did a 10 year impact study on our business group because we started a business group 12 years ago.
[00:09:27] Speaker C: Right.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: With two intentions. Number one, steward our capacity to be in the market space, to generate income, to keep Narrow Gate Lodge, which we'll talk about in a little bit, tuition free. We don't charge tuition to our students.
[00:09:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: So keep that tuition free.
We can do that by generating profit out of the workplace to return back to the nonprofit.
[00:09:49] Speaker C: Love it.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: So it's sustaining. It's eternally sustaining. But really the larger mission was to see if we could actually Matthew Tastes or two make disciples in the market space. Can we do that? Can we do the thing Jesus told us to do?
So we, at the ten year point, we hired this dude. He actually wrote his PhD thesis on our business group and got his doctorate. So I guess he passed and we passed what we found. One of the statements was 83% of our employee base. So 40 something employees, 83% of our employee base said they felt psychologically safe at work. That's huge inverse of Gallup.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: Literally.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: Yes. 17% to 83. Wow.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: The exact number. So it can be done.
[00:10:32] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: It can be done, man. So what would I do? I would make environments where. Where people are allowed to be vulnerable for the sake of failing forward.
That's what I would do.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's good.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: That's a good podcast. Boys, man.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: This has already been good. Well, okay, now that you've talked a little bit about your business, would you mind sharing a little more about what narrow gate is? I know there's a lot of facets to it, but would you mind kind of giving us an overview? I know we don't have a ton of time, but we'd love to hear.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: Boom.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Each part and maybe jump into one of those or two of those.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Narrow gate is this dude named Jesus. He said, interview the narrow gate. He said, I am the gate.
Right, yeah. Narrow gate is a guy.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: It's a guy. It's a. It's a metaphor that points us back to, you know, I'm a good shepherd. Was Jesus actually a shepherd? No, but. Right. They're all just ways of Jesus describing who and how he is, because nobody, Nobody comes back to the Father. There are a lot of people that can pursue a God that is edictatorial, oppressive, that. But you can't get to a father without coming through Jesus.
[00:11:33] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: So he's the gate, Right? The gatekeeper.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: I think it's cool. Never mind. I'm going to dive way up. So what is narrow gate?
When Stacy and I had this encounter back in 2002 with God that just crushed our existence, and we said, okay, I get it.
Here's everything. It's all yours. And I'm sorry for claiming that I
[00:11:55] Speaker C: owned it in the first.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: What a stupid thing that was. I'm sorry that we thought we did this.
Will you just take over and do whatever you want?
So, kind of a short story. We were a few months into this experience, and it's getting cold in Nashville, and we have this homeless ministry called Room in the Inn, where all the churches ecumenically come together. They go down to the homeless mission in downtown Nashville, and they'll take 12, 15, 8, 6, whatever guys back to their church building and let them spend the night, cook them dinner, let them spend the night, keep them out from under the bridges, give them a warm place, good meal.
And they said, we need volunteers. And, yeah, we did. We volunteered for everything. We need somebody to, you know, it didn't matter. We were going to be there.
So we volunteered. We cooked dinner. It's a Monday night. We had 12 guys. It's in the fall, so Monday Night Football's on.
[00:12:42] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:12:43] Speaker A: So we had the dinner, and then there was a guy who gave that obligatory little, you know, Jesus speech at the end.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: Gospel message thing, like, yeah, whatever.
[00:12:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: And it's horrible. It's just terrible. I just. Be honest. And everybody's just enduring it because they know the game's starting. And as soon as he said amen, which 11 guys out of the 12 over to the TV to watch the football game?
[00:13:03] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: And one dude sat there.
The reason he didn't get up is because he had cerebral palsy.
His name was Donald Harvell.
[00:13:11] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: He's 42 years old. That day, he had been released from a drug rehabilitation facility.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: They took him down, dropped him off at the homeless mission and gave him a ticket to room in the inn for one night.
That's it. That's what he got.
And he wound up in front of us.
[00:13:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: They told us going in, these are the best con artists in the state of Tennessee, maybe in the world. Don't believe anything they say. Don't buy their story. Don't give them any money. Don't give them your phone. Look, feed them, keep them warm, wake them up, get them back downtown. That's it.
We talked to Donald, and he sang a song, and the lyrics are, I don't know what the future holds and I don't know about today But I know who holds my hand and I know he leads the way. So come what may from day to day I won't ever stray because the Lord he's good to me he has never failed me yet.
[00:14:01] Speaker C: Oh, man.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: This dude was 42 years old, cerebral palsy, Released from a drug addiction facility that day.
Homeless, penniless. He had the clothes on his back. No family, no friends, nowhere to go. And he's saying, the Lord has never failed me yet. And I thought, bro, you are the poster child for what it looks like when God fails somebody. You're it.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: Talk the rest of the night. The next morning we got up. I said, donna, where are you gonna go? I don't know. And he's calm about the whole thing.
So I gave him 20 bucks and I gave him my phone number. And I did everything I wasn't supposed to.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Everything wasn't supposed to.
[00:14:38] Speaker C: I did, man.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: I did and said, look, there's a McDonald's on 12th and Broadway in Nashville. Go to that McDonald's, buy some food. Don't be indigent. I've got meetings this morning because we're still in business at this point. I've got meetings this morning. Call me at this specific time when I've got a break and I only had like a 15 minute window. Go across the street to the Exxon station where there's a pay phone because that was the thing.
Call me up. Donald, did you get anything figured out? No. Long story short, we went down and picked that dude up at 3 o' clock that afternoon because we didn't have a house anymore.
[00:15:12] Speaker C: Right.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: We lived in a house and God had extra bedrooms.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: So we brought him home.
On the way we stopped at Sam's club and bought him some clothes because oh my gosh, this dude stunk, man, he was horrible.
So we bring him home, we burn his clothes, feed him and get to know him. And we fell in love with Donald. And one night, a couple months into this thing, we heard him in the bedroom. Our bedroom was upstairs in a.
That looked into the great room and his bedroom was below us and we could hear him. And he would fall asleep every night, praying and singing.
And he woke up the next morning, said he had a dream that he was back out on the street as a street preacher.
So we called some people and we got him connected to the Teen Challenge Ministry Institute in Jacksonville, Florida. Right. Not Teen Challenge Classic. This is their ministry institute that trains street preachers.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: And we took him down to Jacksonville.
He'd never seen the ocean, so we drove him to the ocean and swung him around sideways in the seat and I took his shoes and socks off because he's.
And I held his arm and we walked out into the ocean and he just stood there with tears rolling down his face.
And I brought him back and sat him down in the chair or the seat of the car and I dried his feet off and I put his shoes and socks back on.
We took him over to the dorm and I kissed him on the face and we drove away.
And once again, we were snot bubble crying.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: And we said, God, if you would let us do that for the rest of our existence, we would gladly give up anything that we thought we wanted.
Please. Yeah, took another year.
Took another year in a whole lot of circumstances.
And I met a 19 year old kid who tried to kill himself twice.
His dad at the time was the EVP of Thomas Nelson Publishing, in charge of reference, Spanish, electronic and Bible production.
We were a software company.
[00:17:08] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: At that point in time we'd gotten introduced to him and we were writing all the software that came out of Nelson. So if you got a new Charles Stanley book. And it had a little CD ROM in the back.
[00:17:18] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: We were creating all that stuff. Max Lucado, you said. Right. All that stuff.
His son had tried to kill himself twice.
We dropped off a product and he invited me into his office and he shut the door, and they never shut doors. And he started crying and he said, I'm going to lose my son.
He had gone to Auburn his first semester, come off the rails. He'd been through a year long wilderness recovery program.
Went to Auburn, came off the rails. Had gotten arrested three times.
Was writing about suicide again.
And he said, would you just have lunch with my son? Because he loves the outdoors. And me and Stacy had just come back from a dog sledding trip in Canada.
And he loves computers.
[00:18:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: And you got a software shop.
[00:18:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: So we had lunch with him, with his parents. He hated it.
Walked outside.
Outside his mom and dad's house. He did. And I followed him. I said, dude, do you like living here? He said, no, it sucks.
[00:18:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: And I said, you wanna come stay at the place where we live? It's out in the woods. I won't try to pretend to be your dad. Yeah, you can hang out at our shop, see if you like what we do. He packed a bag and came home with us at the end of that, whatever it was a week or whatever, he went home, he got some more clothes, came back out. Yeah, he was really, really bright. He'd gotten a 0.0 GPA his first semester. He's really bright.
[00:18:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Learn software like the wind.
A buddy of his came to visit who had also gone through this year long wilderness therapy program.
And he was a heroin addict. And he literally scored some heroin, brought it out to our house in the country, shot up and went on the nod to sleep on one of the beds. Woke up and was leaving. It's like, man, obviously things aren't good right now. Adam seems to like it here.
If you ever need a safe place, he left. He called, he apologized and said, nobody has ever treated me that way when I did something that stupid. Could I come back?
[00:19:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: So the two of them moved in.
He was a super talented musician. He was writing a lot of soundtrack stuff for our software company.
We were three, four months into this thing and my wife looked at him one day and said, what do you guys want to do with your life? And they said, if we could figure out a way to start a program for guys like us who have no idea who they are or what they want to do with their life.
And we went, yeah. And they said, would you help? And we went, well, yeah, with our, you know, vast background in psychological therapy.
[00:19:44] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: Behavior modification.
We looked at him, said, well, yeah, but you got to know, if we're going to do this, it's got to have Jesus at the center of it, because I don't think there's any such thing as this without Jesus.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Amen. Amen.
I'm loving this so far. Sorry. I'm like.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: And so the heroin addict dude looked at us and said, yeah, yeah, we thought you'd say that. So here's our plan. We've been through this outdoor wilderness therapy. We know the outdoor stuff. We'll do the outdoor stuff, and you guys do the Jesus stuff. And we went, but, see, it's your program. We got a company to run, right. So you're gonna have to learn this Jesus stuff at some point if you really want this to work.
[00:20:23] Speaker C: Right?
[00:20:24] Speaker A: And they went, fine, whatever. But we don't want to read the Bible.
Okay, that's fine.
[00:20:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: What do you want to do? And I said, well, Stacy and I just finished a book written by this counselor, this psychologist, and it talks about how the human soul is formed. It's a really, really good book. It's in lay terms, so it's easy to understand storytelling. Kind of redneck like us, and da, da, da, da, da. They say, yeah, yeah, we'll read that a couple nights a week. When do you want to start? Well, we might as well start tonight.
Turn out the book was lifetime guarantee by Bill Gillum, Who? Bill and Annabelle were the counselors at Dallas theological seminary for 173 billion years,
[00:21:01] Speaker B: give or take a couple years.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: And in the first four chapters, he presents the Gospel of Jesus.
[00:21:05] Speaker C: Stop it.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: That exchange life theory.
So we read this book.
Took us about a month into it. The heroin addict dude was completely unchurched. He had never been in a church except for a wedding or a funeral in his life.
[00:21:17] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: And about. Well, this was April now.
Sat down one night. We studied every night I could just. Except for the nights that the OC or the Real World was on, because they wanted to watch that.
And he put the book on top of his head, and he went, okay, I get it.
I give up.
[00:21:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: What do I have to do to be a Christian?
And I'm like, well, the fact that you're saying it kind of means you already are. If you want to talk to the guy who can make it happen and make it.
[00:21:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: And the first guy, Adam, how's that our first student was named Adam. Adam looked at Rob, the second guy, and he said, dude, you don't know this, but when we were at this place out in Washington State, this wilderness, I used to kneel down next to your cot at night sometimes.
[00:22:04] Speaker C: Stop it.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: And pray for you.
Rob became a believer and Adam came home.
That was April 14, 2004.
And that started Narrowgate, because it was their idea.
And we exist to do one thing.
Make disciples. Yes, that's it. That's the only thing. And we do it by asking two questions. Who are you? And why are you here?
That's it. Because if you get who are you? We did that exercise in the last one. Then you can work toward. Okay, if that's who I am, then why does God have me in this world?
[00:22:39] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: I know this podcast where these guys say that you should, you know, wake up and come on.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Sounds like a really good one.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: We should probably listen to that one.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Hot, Hot Messes who Need Jesus. That's about it.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: This one guy's got a beautiful wife named Sarah.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Yes. Extremely beautiful.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: Hey, hey, hey. I have a beautiful wife.
My wife Tara is stunning.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: Oh, no, you did not marry Sarah and Tara. You did not do that.
[00:23:00] Speaker B: I did.
[00:23:00] Speaker C: We did. We did.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: We're actually going to change this to the Married out of Our League podcast, but we just didn't know if it had the same flavor.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I already started that club.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Exactly. We are chairman right there. That's it, right there, man. Well done.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: S.
Okay, so since then, 650 guys have come to live in our house.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:23:17] Speaker A: We don't charge tuition.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Eight months chasing these two questions. It's got a lot of structure to it.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: The bottom line is, if you know a guy who's searching for those two, look, he didn't have to be a believer. We have six criteria that we're looking for. So openness to faith. Not a believer. Just open to the discussion.
Openness to faith, desire to change, receptivity to feedback, learning orientation, tenacity and discipline and authenticity. That's what we're looking for. And we know how to screen for it.
[00:23:46] Speaker C: Correct? Correct.
[00:23:47] Speaker A: Because that second dude that moved in our house, his dad founded what was at one time the largest leadership training and hiring practice training organization in the world.
[00:23:56] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: 1100 employees in 27 countries.
[00:23:58] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: And he watched his son transform.
And in one year, his oldest sister became a believer, his mom became a believer, his youngest sister became a believer, and his dad became a believer. His dad watched for a couple more years and said, I can help. Yeah, I can teach you how to find the students you're looking for. We went from a 40% graduation success rate to a 90th percentile graduation rate because we know who we're looking for.
[00:24:27] Speaker C: Okay, so a thread I want to pull that has nothing to do. Well, it does, because you have two examples. Adam and the other gentleman who had
[00:24:34] Speaker A: Rob, by the way. Let's finish the story, then pull the thread. Rob is now the senior pastor of a 3,000 member church in middle Tennessee. And he's married, he's got four kids, and he's absolutely thriving, Praise Jesus. And he was a heroin addict.
[00:24:44] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: Okay. So there you go.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:24:46] Speaker C: So both of them had successful dads.
[00:24:48] Speaker D: Huge.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: And yet the blessing from dad wasn't being passed on to the sons.
It maybe was, but it was not being embraced in the language that the son needed it at that time.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Dude, these guys love their kids with all their heart.
They did the best they could.
Their kids just hadn't met Jesus yet.
You know, we tell parents sometimes train up a child in the way they should go when they're old. They won't depart from it. I looked at Phil, that's Adam's dad. I looked at Phil so many times and said, you know, the only thing is, Adam just wasn't old yet. We didn't tell him anything different than Phil told him.
[00:25:22] Speaker C: Right.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: Nothing. Just did it in a different environment and he had to become that young man.
[00:25:27] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Or that father that talked about it's maturation, it's God's time, God's way. If Romans 8, 28 and 29 is true, if everything does work together for the good purpose of forming us into the image of Jesus.
[00:25:39] Speaker C: Right.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: That takes time. And everybody's got to walk the path they've got to walk.
[00:25:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: So had they passed the blessing as best they could in the way that they could, in the way that they were. They didn't do anything wrong. They love their kids with all their. They would have lived or died for their kids.
[00:25:54] Speaker C: Right.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: They just had to walk this path.
[00:25:56] Speaker C: What I appreciate about that and what you're saying is it gives hope and freedom to dads that maybe have kids that have wandered or in struggling and so many times, we will. We will take that back on us and think that's a reflection of us and somehow we failed, somehow we're less than. Or somehow we have. We. We've created this problem. When in truth, what you're saying is like, God is with them and for them and Loving them. And he's on this journey with them. And so trust God and the Spirit to awaken them at the right time.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
I worked on a cruise ship for a short season. I've done so many things.
[00:26:27] Speaker C: Of course you did. Why wouldn't you work on a cruise?
[00:26:29] Speaker A: And I made friends with the chief engineer, the guy who ran the engine. His name was Nikos Kalimakis. This lettered up old Greek sailor. Yeah, yeah, right. What a name.
Right? And I was standing on the bridge one night with Nikos, which I'm not supposed to be there, but he's a four striper, so who's going to tell him no?
And we're looking out the window and I noticed there were these like. Like 4 inch tall red numbers that read it. Like 265.2, 265.3, 265.4, 265.5. And I said, is that like a trip odometer or something for the ship?
And he went, no.
Explicative, explicative.
Y' all just fill in the blank.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: Nico.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Nicos, Nikos Kalimakis. He said, no, it's the compass.
[00:27:15] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: And it went from 0.5 to 0.4. 3 2, 1. 012, 3, 4, 5 2.
It kept course adjusting.
[00:27:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: So I'll ask a question.
Can you build a ship that sells sails truly straight through the ocean?
[00:27:33] Speaker C: Nope.
[00:27:34] Speaker A: Then why would you think you can build a kid that sails straight? So the number of influences in wind and wave and rudder and speed and prop that need to come into a guy's life.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: You started the last episode by saying, who's the dude that you'd like to go back and think he's just one of the waves, one of the tides, one of the currents, one of the poles, one of the winds. It takes so many to get.
[00:27:58] Speaker C: Stop it.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: So good.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: If I can be used as one
[00:28:02] Speaker C: of them,
[00:28:04] Speaker A: the last thing in the world I'll do.
Take credit in that. What God adds. Were you the one that told the waves to come this far? Like, bro, you didn't build the ocean. You didn't even really build the boat.
You're just a piece. You're poema. You're that.
[00:28:19] Speaker B: Ephesians 2000.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: You're just a thread in the woven tapestry that is the great masterpiece of life.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Yeah. One note in the symphony of Jesus.
So good.
[00:28:29] Speaker A: Was it Mother Teresa that said, I'm but a simple pig pen?
I think she said, I'm a pen writing a word in a chapter of the Great story, right? That is God's.
I think it was. She said, that's not it, but just go look it up. It's.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: You know, so. It's so encouraging for the wayward.
The. The parent of the wayward child. That's like, what did I do? They beat themselves up.
[00:28:54] Speaker A: Okay.
Sorry, man. I got it. Would that kid you're talking about, Luke 15, would that kid have ever come back to truly love his father if he had not first been put in with the pigs?
[00:29:05] Speaker C: No, no.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: It was allowed. He was never going to know how good he had it with his dad until he knew how bad he had it outside.
[00:29:12] Speaker D: Right.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: It's why he had to go. Maybe they're not wayward. Maybe they are exactly on the path they're supposed to walk.
[00:29:19] Speaker C: Well, what I love about that story, and I think sometimes we miss, is the brilliance of the dad to stop fighting.
Because, you know, there was tension between the younger son and the dad. There had to be like. And the wisdom of the dad say, it's better for you to go, so here's my inheritance. Here it all is. Take it and go. Because he knew that if he continued that fighting.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:29:38] Speaker C: It never would have been healed.
[00:29:40] Speaker A: And what did he point out to the older brother? You never gave me so much as a kid goat that I might make marry my friends. He said, son, I'm right here with you always, and all I have is yours, y'.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: All.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: If you go back.
When it says, he said, father, give me the portion that falls to me. So he divided to them.
Not him, them. His livelihood. That older son would have got two thirds of the inheritance on the spot. And yet he's accusing his dad of not giving him something interesting.
[00:30:11] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: The dad didn't slap either of kids on the head. He didn't recognize their sin. He simply let them come to an understanding of how good he was.
That's it.
[00:30:22] Speaker C: In this relationship.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: Yeah. The. The encouragement of. Again, the foundation was built that when that kid, when the prodigal son was eating pig slop, he had a vision of what was better. Like my dad. He said, I would even go back, because I don't. He didn't feel worthy. I'll go back as on my dad's hired. Hired hands, because I know his grace is there.
I know that his grace is at least enough for the hired hand for me to be a hired hand. And the dad's like, oh, it's so much more than you even understand. And so you're right. He built a foundation from the beginning, that did not return void. Isaiah talks about that, that the word of the Lord doesn't return void. And I don't think it's just. We're going to open up the book of Romans and start reading it to you. It is the word becomes flesh and we live it and dwell among our kids and go, this is what it looks like that when you walk away, I'm ready for you to come back all day. Oh, dude. So. Oh my gosh. I know we haven't talked about Narrow Gate and we're going to probably have you on again, but the thing I love about this is you have not cared about sharing about your ministry one minute. Right. You've cared about helping men come alive.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: That's all I've talked about is our ministry. Jesus is our ministry, period.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: But, but, but, oh, I love it. But, but I feel like the tangible. You're not like, well, we have our seven parts and which I want. But I love that you're.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Let's just do it real fast. You know, a guy who needs to discover who he is and why he's here in Life. Look up narrowgate.org or nglodge.org fill out an application and send him. Ask a guy this. If you could take eight months and you have no bills to pay, you have nothing to worry about. You have no connect. You get to be isolated, fraternally connected and chase the answer to two questions. Would you take that chance? Would you take that if it was handed to you on a silver platter? Because we don't charge tuition, we take qualified candidates and we make disciples. Then when that's done, if you want to figure out how to integrate that even further, we have another eight month program called Narrow Gate Bridge, which is an active internship where you're not making coffee, you're learning six marketplace competencies like coaching, communication, stewardship, managing work, teamwork, learning. You're managing those week over week for 36 weeks integrated with our business units and the Narrow Gate Lodge program.
That's a year and a half chance. And you get paid for doing that one? Yeah, that's a year and a half chance to discover how to come alive in Christ.
Some of those people join our full time wood, leather and coffee businesses and narrow gate artisans.
Right.
And some people come from the outside,
[00:32:49] Speaker B: which the coffee is incredible by the way.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: They're geeks, man. They're just geek out on coffee. Like they talk. This one has notes of walnut and vanilla and I don't even know what that stuff means, man.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: And we will put links below, guys, for all this stuff. I know you're not asking that, but I'm going to put it below. So make sure you guys go and buy at least one pound of coffee from these guys. I'll put the link below.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Here's the bottom line. I don't care about anything except Christ coming fully alive inside of every person. I don't even care about being evangelistic.
[00:33:17] Speaker C: Right.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: I don't. I don't figure out ways to tell people the story of Jesus.
If I can love the person that's in front of me, regardless, I'm not looking for an outcome. If I can love them so deeply that someday they look at me and go, why?
[00:33:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I've done my job.
[00:33:36] Speaker C: Yep. Yep.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: I've done my job.
If you treat people as if they already are the thing you hope they'll become, it's amazing what happens.
[00:33:44] Speaker C: That's a mic drop right there. And gentlemen, if you're doubting this, please, before we even got on the second part, we had a conversation. And I know that you have a book that your wife was more than willing to give away. And so if you would tell us a little bit about that and then if you want it, info nonlikes.org we'll pass it up the chain and we'll make sure you get one in your hand sooner than later.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: Yeah, There'll be a link in the show notes or I could shout across the backyard to my wife and ask her what the email address is.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: But yes, actually, his. His better half is with us. Silently.
[00:34:14] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: Enduring the heat with us. But, yeah, she.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Yeah. So click the link and we'll send you an identity booklet. There are 170 passages in the New Testament about who you are in Christ. And they change everything when you start to believe them.
[00:34:29] Speaker C: Right.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: When you actually believe. That's. Well, that's not something I have to put on. That's literally who I have become.
[00:34:36] Speaker C: Yes.
I love it. Thank you so much for coming. And being a part of this has been. It's been fantastic.
[00:34:43] Speaker B: Yeah, this has been amazing. I mean, I feel like I'm kind of just sitting here just hearing your heart and the desire to see people come alive.
Man, I'm almost, like, speechless happened.
[00:34:55] Speaker A: We've gone from two dudes in our living room, a heroin addict and a suicide candidate to, let's just call it, 40 employees, 36 students a year in Narrowgate Lodge, and 20 Narrow Gate Bridge. We are directly interconnected to 96 everyday lives that we get to mold into the Image and likeness of Christ. And it's not our goal to keep them.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: Right.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: It's our goal to build them up and then find where God wants to put them. And all we do is push. We've got missionaries in places around the world where we don't talk about. Because they kill missionaries like bad countries.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: Right? Right.
[00:35:34] Speaker A: I've got a dude right now that's working with two x Delta Force guys as a missionary going into the child abusive child abusive gender irrespective child abusive brothels in Thailand, claiming that they're setting up a bachelor party for a buddy wearing body cameras.
[00:36:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:01] Speaker A: So they can capture the footage for the police to go in and rescue these 8 and 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 year old boys and girls.
Like that's the stuff you get killed over.
[00:36:10] Speaker C: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: And they do it because their life is not their own. They've been bought with a price.
I got a guy who's an auto mechanic who has his oldest daughter is a special needs girl and he thinks she's the princess of the world.
[00:36:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: He's a great husband and a great dad.
Don't try to teach a pig out of sing.
[00:36:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:29] Speaker A: Figure out who they're supposed to be and push as hard as you can. Push.
[00:36:35] Speaker C: I love it. I love it.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: I kind of feel like I want to end it with man. What would you.
To wrap it up, what, what would you say is a call to action that we can ask these guys who, who are listening? I think we've already got it, but I'd love to clarify that and say just final thoughts on that. Like, what would you say to the guys listening right now?
[00:36:52] Speaker A: Yeah. So there's a generic call to action. You know, recognize that you have nothing.
Just hand yourself over to Jesus. Anyone who seeks to save his life. Right. We all know that one. Just let him be your life. If you can do that. That starts the journey. But where it goes from there is as individual as every listener you've got on this podcast right now. So I'll say this.
Contact one of you two, send an email and go, where do I go? What do I do? Better yet, contact me if you want to come to Tennessee, hang out with us for a while. We've got tree houses. I wanted to build tree houses. My wife said, okay, if they're female friendly. I said, I don't know what that means. She said, they got to have air conditioning and memory foam mattresses.
[00:37:35] Speaker C: She's a smart woman.
[00:37:36] Speaker A: Plumbing, like working toilets and showers. So we built houses in the Trees. Come stay in a tree house. Cost you nothing.
[00:37:44] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: Eat with us, be with us, learn with us, hang out with us. It is sanctuary where we live. Come encounter God.
We don't want anything.
[00:37:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: Except for you. To come fully alive. That's what we want. So find one of us. If you're really asking the question, find one of us.
[00:38:04] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: Bill. Bill or our other brother, Travis, and say, wait, can we throw Kyle in the.
[00:38:09] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, Kyle's in there.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: And say, help me. I'm lost.
[00:38:13] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: Be 83%.
Be vulnerable. Fail forward.
[00:38:18] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: There's a first step. There's a call to action.
[00:38:21] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:38:21] Speaker C: Love it. Absolutely love it.
[00:38:23] Speaker B: So good. I mean, I. We're gonna have you on again. There's no choice. You don't have an option with that. We'll just pipe you in. But, man, we are grateful to have you on. This has been a blessing.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: I'm AI.
[00:38:33] Speaker B: You are.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: You did not. And you were making the disclaimer at the front of the show. You did not claim that you're AI.
[00:38:38] Speaker C: That's true.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: Because you said Bill 1.0, which kind of sounds AI.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: Sounds kind of AI.
[00:38:43] Speaker A: I feel like I got thrown under the bus, bro.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: You kind of did.
[00:38:46] Speaker C: He Real flesh and blood.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: I cannot be the 1.0 in this situation.
[00:38:50] Speaker C: I am so glad to have literally
[00:38:51] Speaker A: 7.8 silent guy in the corner.
[00:38:53] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: Who recognize me for the man that I am.
[00:38:56] Speaker B: There it is right there. I love it.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: See? And he still didn't speak. He just.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: Thumbs up. Oh, man. Guys, we will put all these links at the bottom. We will get that link for you, from you, for that, for that. That free identity booklet. The identity booklet. Guys, I hope this has encouraged you. If you have.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: I'll go further.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: Go for it.
[00:39:12] Speaker A: We have a lot of stuff like that. If you really want to chase it. We have a lot of stuff. We teach at Narrow Gate. We've got like nine or 11 books
[00:39:18] Speaker B: or something like that.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: If you say, hey, I found out about you on Known Legacy podcast and send us an email, you can have it. You can have it for free. Matter of fact, I'll throw a bag of coffee in there too. Like, just whatever. Like.
[00:39:30] Speaker C: Awesome. Please, gentlemen, there's no excuses, no reason not to pursue.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. None whatsoever. This has been amazing. You know, I do feel led to pray for the guys who are listening right now, because I just feel like there's a lot of guys to do
[00:39:43] Speaker A: and does it not.
[00:39:44] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a lot of guys. And for you, if you're out there and I don't care where you are in your journey with the Lord, if you are a pastor and your kids have walked away, if you are a just a normal dude who's driving up and down the interstate trying to go to work and be. And be a good person, we're going to pray for you right now. So Father, I just lift up the man listening or the woman who's listening.
Lord, I pray you would destroy the thoughts that are holding them back, Father, as they have expounded grace on their child, as they have loved their child, as they have believed. I have failed so much and I can't believe and that you know that my child is the way that they are, Father. Just like Bill 1.0 said, Lord, that this journey needed to happen and there is purpose and value in it, Lord. Lord, we plan our way, but you direct our steps.
[00:40:33] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: And Lord, your spirit does the leading.
Lord, I pray you would bless the individual listening with peace that passes understanding with a wisdom beyond their years. Just like Acts 1:8 talks about that you have sent the spirit.
That is the power of all of us, Father. Because of. Because of what Christ has done in us and the spirit living in us. May we, Father, be hope to hopeless people.
Remind ourselves, Father, that the story isn't over. That there's no period at the end of a story with a life that is still breathing. Father, you have great words to say to each of us and Lord, we ask that you would use this for your glory that you would spread this to others, Lord, that we would share it in our own journey to be an encouragement that we get in the truth and remind ourselves that we have a God who is stupid crazy in love with us. That for the joy that was set before me endured the cross and Father, I just pray a blessing over narrow gate Father that you would continue to expand its borders. Lord, it doesn't sound like they're trying to spend they don't have a 10 year plan. They have Jesus. Yes and Lord, that's all we need. Yes and Father, may we take that to our own heart and say Father, we just need you.
So Father, use this for your glory.
Bless those who need a blessing, Father, give grace to those who need grace. Give a kick in the pants to those who need a kick in the pants, Father, remind us all that this is all done by your power alone and we ask it in Jesus name.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:41:51] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:41:52] Speaker B: Amen guys, thank you so much for listening today for being a part of this. I pray that you would reach out. I'm literally sitting here with tears in my eyes because I'm like, there's something powerful about what God wants to do in and through your life. Don't forget that.
Whether you're the prodigal son or you're the father of the prodigal or you're the parent of the prodigal Lord, I know the Lord wants to use it. Bill, thank you so much for your willingness to be on the podcast.
And again, you're stuck with us now. I wish that our ministries blended more, but, man, we are so excited. I'm just kidding. But I'm so excited that you're here. Thank you for your willingness and for your wife. Thank you so much for your willingness to say, we're going to do the crazy. And we're. Yeah, we do.
[00:42:33] Speaker C: We do.
[00:42:33] Speaker B: We're in.
[00:42:33] Speaker A: Great.
[00:42:34] Speaker B: She does.
She said, okay, I'm doing this with you. And so I know she's the smarter one in this situation. We haven't heard from her yet. I know that. But. But we are grateful for your ministry. We'll put all the links below. Guys. There's nothing else that really needs to be said but. Travis, any final thoughts from you?
[00:42:48] Speaker C: God bless you guys.
[00:42:49] Speaker B: Guys, have a great week. We'll see you soon.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Known Legacy podcast. We'd love to hear from you. So email us your questions or comments to infonolegacy.org SAM.
