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.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Known Legacy Podcast. We are excited to help to have you jump on here.
Welcome to the informal Known Legacy podcast where. I don't know what I'm going to say next. I don't know what to do. We want to help you wake up, gear up and come alive to who God called you to become.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Thanks for listening today,
[00:00:32] Speaker C: man. Bill, it's good to see you today. How you doing?
[00:00:34] Speaker B: I'm getting hyped up on caffeine and Jesus.
[00:00:36] Speaker C: I can tell, I can tell. As always, thank you guys so much for checking us out. Whether you listen to a podcast or you're watching the video on YouTube, you can find us on Instagram as well as the Facebooks and as always, infononelegacy.org if you have any questions, comments, concerns or critiques. We'll make sure we put those in the recycle bin right away.
At this point, we're locked in. There's not, there's not much, you know, I got it, I got it. But anyways, I know, Bill, you got a bunch of tools and resources for us that you can find on legacy.org and tell us a little bit about some of those.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Yeah, we have a man our if you're in your journey with the Lord and you're like, I want to know where I'm at and I want to just kind of figure out kind of this, this assessment. We have a wake up guide and seven day reset just for you that we have down there. That we have. It's a free download below in the session notes. We'd love you to click on that and start the journey of challenging yourself to where God's created you to become man. And we also have a every week at 6:45 on Thursday mornings we have our adrenaline shot.
[00:01:35] Speaker C: Adrenaline shot.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: We have our adrenaline shot study.
[00:01:42] Speaker C: Nope, not doing.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Oh, come on.
I'm the luckiest man, man, man on the face.
6:45 on Thursday mornings. It is a great time for you to connect. If you're driving to work, it's a great thing to do. But we want have something in the middle of your week to connect with other guys. And so, man, it is a Bible study. You just call in and would love you to be a part of that. The link will be provided below as well as our known legacy brotherhood on Facebook.
Man, we just want you to be a part of something. So get connected. Get connected with us.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: You're not alone.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: And our book. More than you. Yes, man. It is a. There's a regular copy and there's an audiobook. If you're anything like me. And, like, I just want to listen. Yes. The only problem is it's in my voice. But you are welcome to download that. We'll put the links below it. More than you.
If
[00:02:30] Speaker C: you find you can't fall asleep, download the book
[00:02:32] Speaker B: with my soothing voice.
You're in the ocean and you're floating.
I wish I spoke an English accent.
[00:02:41] Speaker C: Okay, so
[00:02:43] Speaker B: having to do it in the punch bowl.
[00:02:45] Speaker C: So something happened a few weeks ago, and I. I regret it. My family hates it. So I found on YouTube, you have these, like, three and a half, four hour, like, AI generated, like, beautiful scenes with little
[00:02:55] Speaker B: jazz music playing in the
[00:02:55] Speaker C: background. Like, I will wake up in the morning and turn every TV in our house onto one of those and just, like, be in that moment. And my kids hate it. They're like, you're such an old man. I'm like, I know.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: So. So to. To speak into that a little bit. I found this playlist easy Sunday morning. Listen, I promise you, my testosterone has gone up, but I just want to let you know about this.
[00:03:18] Speaker C: It is depleted,
[00:03:19] Speaker B: bro. Me and. Me and my wife were driving yesterday back from, like, just kind of like a little. Little. A little getaway. And. And. And, man, Etta James.
[00:03:28] Speaker C: Oh,
[00:03:28] Speaker B: all of her music's on there. Nice. Did not know how much I was a fan of Etta James. Not just. It wasn't even at. At last. Like, that one didn't come up, but every other. I'm like, girl, she could sing, man. So good. Anyways, welcome back to the known legacy. She get a
[00:03:41] Speaker C: pedicure recently and. Or. I
[00:03:43] Speaker B: was hoping so.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Anyways. Thank you, guys.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Anyway, sorry, guys. Question
[00:03:46] Speaker C: of the day.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Question of the day.
[00:03:48] Speaker C: So we're coming into candy season. We're coming into treat season. We're coming into whatever diet you were on. It's blown up season, if that makes sense,
[00:03:56] Speaker B: at least.
Yes, yes.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: And one of my Achilles heels, as you would say, one of my treats that I find it difficult to pass by are Reese's peanut butter cups.
So the question of the day is simply this.
What is your perfect Reese's peanut butter cup when it comes to chocolate peanut butter balance? Like
[00:04:16] Speaker B: the ratio?
[00:04:17] Speaker C: Yeah, the ratio ratio. What would be. What would be your go to.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: You know, I went first last time. What about you? What about you, Kyle?
[00:04:26] Speaker C: Producer. You're
[00:04:26] Speaker D: going to make me go first?
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:29] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm not the best one to go first, but I'll do it because I don't eat candy. Very rarely toy. You can
[00:04:36] Speaker B: tell that by his answer.
[00:04:38] Speaker D: I mean, if one of the kids picks up something, I might have a bite, but I'm not into it. And plus it's all fake crap now. It's not.
[00:04:48] Speaker C: So it's
[00:04:49] Speaker D: not real anymore.
[00:04:49] Speaker C: We are now looking for a new producer here at Known Legacy. Info at Known Legacy if you want to. So for me it's, it's, it's got to be the Christmas tree. When
[00:04:56] Speaker B: you went and was like
[00:04:59] Speaker C: producer. That's why we're looking for.
[00:05:00] Speaker D: Sorry. So sorry.
[00:05:01] Speaker C: No, I mean it's Christmas. It's Christmas tree. I love the Christmas tree, but I'm a guy. That's got to freeze them. They got to come from the freezer. They've got to be ice cold. I don't like it when they're kind of mushy. When they've been sitting in the car or whatever and they're melting your. I love it. Straight out of the ice box. Did I say ice box?
[00:05:17] Speaker B: Ice. What is it, 1911?
[00:05:18] Speaker C: I said icebox.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Do you take a horse drawn carriage to the store?
[00:05:23] Speaker C: Back in my day,
[00:05:24] Speaker B: back when I picked up some feed and twine.
[00:05:26] Speaker C: But let's not kid ourselves. They used to be bigger back in the day. Like Reese's. Lock in. Like, I'm done with this. I'm done with this like shrinkflation that we're going through and it's half the size it used to be and it's twice as much. Come on Reese's.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: I like that. If
[00:05:39] Speaker C: anyone's listening, let's do this right. So. But Chris's
[00:05:42] Speaker B: people. Get it together.
[00:05:44] Speaker C: Get it together.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: I think for me it's the, it's the Easter egg.
[00:05:48] Speaker C: Oh,
[00:05:49] Speaker B: yeah. It's kind of good. You take the bite, you feel like you're full, you can have some more.
[00:05:53] Speaker C: It used to be a two bite piece. Now it's
[00:05:56] Speaker B: like a bite in the mouth. Yeah. Maybe that's because I'm a little
[00:06:00] Speaker C: chunky.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Bigger than I used to be. I'm more full of who I used to be. I don't know, what's the word? I'm full of the spirit. I don't know.
[00:06:08] Speaker C: I believe when we were growing up it was husky. It was getting the husky genes.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: Now I'm getting festively plump.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Yes, yes. Anyways, introduce our guest to us,
[00:06:18] Speaker B: Ken Evans from Manhood Journey and father, fatherhood, purpose.
There it is.
[00:06:25] Speaker C: Married to April, 30 plus years. Fantastic. Well done, sir.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Kent, we are so excited to have you on, man.
You know, before that, I wish we had. I kind of wish we record the beginning sometimes. Sometimes.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: A lot of times not, but sometimes,
[00:06:38] Speaker B: yes. But man, I'm already loving. I feel like we found another brother in the battle. And so Ken, what's your answer to that? What is your Reese's peanut butter to chocolate ratio that you would say is the best?
[00:06:49] Speaker E: Well, I would start my answer by saying Bill went full strength on this question because it is candy season. We're recording this pretty close to Halloween. Yep. And he's already got like the haunted house thing going on his deck there. But like behind him it looks like there's a scary guy about to jump out from behind the black tarps. So I appreciate going full in on the question. We do what we can.
[00:07:12] Speaker C: We do what we can.
[00:07:13] Speaker E: That's amazing.
You know, I'll take any ratio except the super tiny ones, the little bitty ones that are like dime sized. I don't like those. Too much chocolate to peanut butter. Yeah, I like, I like the egg. I like the Christmas tree. Big fan. I do love equal
[00:07:26] Speaker C: opportunity candy. Consumer
[00:07:28] Speaker E: equal opportunity. Reese cup eater.
Yeah, for sure.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Eater. I love it. I love it. We're making up words today. Shrinkflation and eater or I love it. It's so good. Well, Kent, tell us a little bit about yourself, man. Your.
As we. As I saw more and more about you, I'm like, I got to get this guy on the podcast. He's doing some, some awesome stuff and so share a little about yourself, your, your journey and then how you started manhood journey and father on purpose.
[00:07:54] Speaker E: You bet. Well, as you guys already mentioned, April, my wife and I earlier this year, we're recording this in late 26.
We celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. So go April for putting up congratulations. She actually gives me a one year contract every year and we just have renewed it 31 years in a row. So I got about nine months left on this one. This is fantastic. And we have five sons. They are ages 24 down to 11 and two of them are married. The oldest and the middle are both married. The 11 year old's marriage.
Say, say it again.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: I said the 11 year old is married. Is that you said?
[00:08:29] Speaker E: You know, we start young in Kentucky.
[00:08:33] Speaker C: Those family reunions,
[00:08:37] Speaker E: the fact that they both have the same last name, we just don't let that be a barrier.
I mean, love, love comes in many Forms. Love comes in many forms.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:08:47] Speaker E: And so.
So we have five boys, and so our oldest is 27.
So about five years into our marriage, we started having boys. And the kind of. This ties into why we started Manhood Journey. We were like, hey, man, we got to teach these guys how to be godly young men. Like, that was our goal. And I'm a junkie for reading. You know, I've read all the men's books, read all the stuff on godly fatherhood and manhood. And we just felt like there was a little bit of a gap in terms of resources for dads, specifically dads, to help their kids know the. The actual Bible.
Yeah. You know, and what I mean by that is you can have like, the gospel of, you know, Ken Evans or the Gospel of John Eldridge or the gospel of, you know, some dead guy long ago and all that's okay, I guess, as long as it points you to the actual gospel. And so our goal was to help our boys know scripture, be able to reason. Actually, from Texas, you guys mentioned you're in the DFW area. One of my favorite books of all time is Teaching to Change Lives by Dr. Howard Hendricks.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:09:44] Speaker E: It's a great book because for dads, and the reason is it helps us understand the paradigm of a teacher is not to transfer information from my head to your head. It's to, in fact, get you to learn how to think.
[00:09:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:58] Speaker E: You learn how to have a thinking machine in your own head. And that really formed me as a young man when I first read that book.
So all that to say, that's why we started Manhood Journey was to help dads with resources to teach their kids the Bible.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: So good.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Love it. I love it. I love it. So what does Manhood Journey consist of? I know you said you. So have you. Do you have some. Some tangible steps that you take every time that you.
That you connect with a guy or share a little bit about. About that. That specific ministry?
[00:10:27] Speaker E: Yeah, we have kind of evolved over the last 15 years as we have experimented with what's the best way to accomplish our mission. Our mission is to help a dad become a disciple maker. That's our mission. That hasn't changed at all. Like, even that phrase, it's been around since we started.
The method has gotten a little more wider, if you will, so early. The first thing we did was we built father and son Bible studies. We still have a bunch of those. Like, think six weeks, you and your son, or you and a group of Boys go through, you know, topic of work or the topic of purity or the topic of leadership. And it's designed to be a small group Bible study. You know, four dads, six kids, that kind of thing.
That's our first, very first product. Then we got into, like, me writing books, more like trade books, on topics, things like wisdom, and the most recent one on identity and so forth. So I'm a writer, speaker, teacher. Then we did digital courses. We have a podcast. We have a lot of blog content, a lot of articles, a lot of online sort of delivery model is kind of our primary delivery model. We used to do events. We ended up partnering with an event organization. They took over our events. So we kind of got out of the event business, if you will. So we're primarily a producer of resources for dads, and they come in all kinds of digital forms.
[00:11:40] Speaker C: That's awesome. I love it. So as you've been on this journey now 15 years, what are some of the things that, as your boys grew and mature, the conversations that you were having with your kids when they were, like, preteen versus twenty and about to be married or now are married? What were those conversations? How did you navigate that as a dad? Because, again, we all think we're experts in this. This is the first time any of us have ever done this. And so there's a lot of lessons we learn along the way. Right,
[00:12:05] Speaker E: right, right. I think the main thing, man, and this was a bit formative for me, what I read, who taught me the kind of jobs I had before I did this full time.
I think there's one critical skill that if a dad can get really good at this skill and. Or become, like, a real pro at this skill, it. It serves us really well through every stage of the fathering journey. And that's the ability to ask good questions.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: Yes,
[00:12:34] Speaker E: I, like, just kind of die on that hill, man. Like, and here's sort of what I mean by that.
When your kids are two or six or eight and you say, stop it or get out of the road or don't treat your brother like that, they just take what you say is gospel and they do it or they don't. But still they know what a command is and they obey because you said so.
When they're 10 or 12 or 16, that just doesn't work,
[00:12:56] Speaker C: Right?
[00:12:57] Speaker E: No, frankly. Frankly, listen, not only does it not work, it in fact causes them to learn a type of behavior you want them to get rid of. Yeah, and here's what I mean. Here's what I mean.
Yesterday, at the time of recording this episode, we're recording this on a Thursday.
My Wednesday evening was involving my 15 year old and my 11 year old. One had pulled his shirt, the other had kicked him in the groin. The other had grabbed a sword. True story, right? The other grabbed a sword, bit in the ankle. So he grabbed the sword, whacked him, you know, and here's what my 15 year old said, which made me so stinking happy. It made me so happy.
He said, well, my brother did this and that and such, but I know that doesn't mean I have the right to hit him back.
And listen, listen. I almost could be like, look, I'm ready to go to the grave now. My youngest kids have learned they have agency and they own their choices.
Hallelujah, Jesus. Because if they can understand that so many doors open in their future, the door to being a good husband.
You didn't yell at your wife because she yelled at you. You yelled at your wife because you chose to.
[00:14:10] Speaker C: Right,
[00:14:11] Speaker E: full stop, period.
You didn't scream at your kids because they were rude or hateful. You screamed at your kids because you chose to. Right, full stop, period. Radical ownership. If you learn I own my choices, that comes through the art of asking good questions.
When he did that, did you think you didn't have any other choice or do you know why you chose to kick him? Do you understand why you grabbed the sword and hit him with it? Do you know why?
Because if you can get to that, bro, my work here is done.
[00:14:44] Speaker C: I absolutely love that for so many reasons because I think what I noticed is so we. I live in a very affluent area and I see a lot of parents get stuck in the protect kid rather than prepare and help kids process. And they even have high school kids where mom and dad is still running to the rescue. Prepare, protecting them and trying to rescue them. And it's like, no, no, no way. Earlier in this process, we need to transition from protecting. Make sure you hold my hand when you're walking through the parking lot to preparing them. And I think you're right. Asking great questions and allowing them to wrestle with those questions and not always come up with the right answers is such a huge gift. And the challenge, I think for guys, at least for me, I like to prove to my kid how smart I am. And so I like to answer the question right. I'm like, oh, that's a good question. I should answer it for him instead of saying, no, no, no, no.
The gift is have them sit with it for a while and they May take days to even come up with the answer to the question. But to have them sit with it is such an absolute gift. I love that.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: You know, it feels a lot of times in my own journey and journeys of guys that I've walked with that they're trying to prove.
[00:15:52] Speaker C: Yes. They're
[00:15:53] Speaker B: trying to prove themselves, their value. Like, they've been wounded. And so like you said, like, a lot of guys, I mean, most guys I know carry some, some kind of wound. And so then, then they spend the rest of life trying to, To. To prove that that wound isn't there. Right. And thereby wounding their kids. So I love the, the idea of intentional action. And so what are some physical, tangible, intentional actions that you would, that you would encourage a guy to take in this journey with, with their kids?
[00:16:19] Speaker E: Yeah. Well, I'll go back and say asking great questions, critical life skill. And most dads are terrible at it. And for all the reasons you guys pointed out. And the other reason is our goals are different. Right. In other words, my goal is not to raise kids who think like me. My goal is raise kids who think.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:16:37] Speaker E: And so as long as I'm not, not, you know, I want them to love Jesus, et cetera, but, like, I don't care if they think like me. I care if they, if they can actually think. And so that's one. But the second is knowing God's word. Like, bro, I can't. I can't tell you. I deal with thousands and thousands of dads every year face to face, and I deal with hundreds of thousands on our website and our surveys.
And I would say that, like, if I gave fathers a grade as an overall grade for how well they know scripture, it's like a D minus.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:09] Speaker E: And like, so, for example, I'm not talking about knowing, like, how to spell Rehoboam, or I'm not talking about, like, what all was in the ark of the Covenant, you know, Was it R
[00:17:19] Speaker B: A Y? No kidding. Sorry.
[00:17:22] Speaker E: It's. It's not Bible trivia. It's not. That's not it. It is the capacity to think like God.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Like,
[00:17:29] Speaker E: that's this. It's the capacity to think as God thinks. So for the dad. And I'll give you a modern example, and some guy's gonna go, I thought he was talking about knowing the Bible. Here we go.
Most dads listening to today's show think. And here's how I know this, right? I'm on survey number 7,000 that we've done over the last eight years. So I got all this data.
They think they don't know how to be a godly dad for their children. They think they are under equipped, ill equipped, or the wrong guy to raise their kids.
And if there's a million guys listening to this right now, 900,000, I'm just went, yeah, exactly. That's exactly how I feel.
Well, you are in rebellion to the word of God and I am not going to let you get off today's podcast by letting your feelings drive your life.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: Yeah. That
[00:18:19] Speaker E: is a lie. That is a lie.
Ephesians 2:10 says, you are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. He prepared in advance for you to do so walk in them. Amen. You think God told you that so that he could just watch you fail?
No, he did not. And so here's the issue, here's the issue.
What is that guy's problem?
He has a theology problem.
He has a theology problem. He doesn't understand that God said he is equipped. He said that we have every spiritual blessing, not most, not some, they're not being filled up as we go. We have every spiritual blessing that we need. Therefore, the statement I am an inadequate father for my children is a lie from the pit of hell. What it is, what it means is, here's what it does mean. Am I imperfect? Oh yeah, like it's a Thursday. Like I'm imperfect on a Thursday.
For sure, you're imperfect, but you're not inadequate.
[00:19:25] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:19:25] Speaker E: God said you're adequate. And so for me, I just come back and go, look, dude, the reason you struggle with your insecurity or to be fair with your wound from your seven year old days is not because it wasn't real. I'm not saying it didn't happen. What I'm saying is you've not yet accepted the fact that God said he can overcome all that. It's real, it's there. But God said he wants to give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you so that you can govern your people rightly. That's the people in your own house.
[00:19:52] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. You know, I love that you said that. Ephesians, Ephesians 2:10 is one of my favorite verses.
But it's this idea that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy,
[00:20:01] Speaker E: right?
[00:20:01] Speaker B: And God came to give life and give it abundantly. You know, and you said something really important, guys, you know, statistically, because I love statistics, I love surveys, and I'm finding that we get about 40,000 hours with our Kids, before the world starts speaking loud.
And, I mean, if we can, in like you said in the very beginning, it's like, do it because I said so. What if we twisted that in a very positive way and said, do it because God's word says so? And they're looking at us going, I need the information from dad. Right. We are their superheroes until they're about 11 or 12, if not 13. And may we get to invest that 40,000 hours and go seek God. Seek God. Seek God. And if we can pour it into them that they know that we're not that. Like we said the last one, that we're not the white knight.
[00:20:43] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: That Jesus is the white knight. Right. And that we are a hot mess. And we are doing the same thing. There we are relying on Jesus. Imagine how we would take that authority and go, I don't need to have it all together. I'm leaning. Dad's leaning on something stronger than him. Yep. I need to lean on now. My dad is a hero in this moment, but he's leaning on something stronger than him. Yeah. Imagine if we had a whole world, if we had a whole. A whole generation of men who were rising up going, I don't know all this, but we're gonna figure it out together.
Oh, my gosh, could you imagine? It's
[00:21:15] Speaker E: like, that would be five or 10 years ago. A guy gave me a metaphor on that, and it's really helpful to me, and I hope it's helpful to your audience.
Those six prong plug adapters we use in our home or our office, where you plug your computer into the adapter and you plug the adapter into the wall. You, dad, are the adapter for a season.
For a season.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: Yeah. But
[00:21:37] Speaker E: then your job is to unplug them from you, plug them straight into the source, Jesus himself, so that both of you are plugged into the source.
You don't stay as the intermediary forever. That's not your job. Your job is to strategically unplug them and plug them into the source. I remember when one of my sons, Jeremy, was, I don't know, mid teens. And he came to me and goes, dad, I pretty much only believe the Bible because you and mom believe it. And that's really not good enough for me.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: And
[00:22:08] Speaker E: I'm like. I'm like, yes, that is absolute victory. You know why? Because he came to me to disclose this struggle he was having.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. So
[00:22:20] Speaker E: then. So then I gave him a book. How to why Trust the Bible by Greg Gilbert. It's one of my faves. I love that one. There's a hundred. There's a hundred.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:22:27] Speaker E: Like, it's just one. I happen to have. I threw him the book and said, hey, good for you, man. Read this book, then tell me what you think.
As opposed to locking down and going, well, you're going to hell if you don't.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Yeah, you just shut up and listen. Yeah.
[00:22:41] Speaker E: Settle down. And so for me, that was one of those moments where I went from being the six prong plug adapter and I was plugging my son into the source. Hey, do your own homework. You decide.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: I love it. You know, it's funny, it makes me think about something I did with. With my son with Gabe when he was 13, we did a sword ceremony.
And I realized at that moment that at 13, it wasn't 18 anymore. It was 13. He was going to start getting influence from everybody else. Now I'm not saying he didn't. Like, he walked away and was perfect. But I'm saying I had to. I had to do something because I was like, I remember God was like, you need to do. You need to hand him a sword and say, you are a warrior for the. For the glory of God now on your own. And I remember doing that. And there's something crucial, guys, and I guess I'll put this out. If you want to do that ceremony, I can send you those notes. Infoownlegacy. I'd love to have you. Infoownlegacy.org I'd love to have you do that. I can walk you through that. Because, man, to see him go, this is mine. I took ownership of that and kind of move on. Because, guys, there is a point where we hand it off and spend the greatest amount of time with those who are going to cry the most at your funeral.
Take that time right now to say, I want to invest in the ones that matter most. Guys, we can invest in our careers. When our kids are long gone, we can invest in everybody else. Now our brides first. Amazing. We all. And I think you can say this too, we are in a team of. We married way out of our league.
[00:24:04] Speaker C: Yeah. 100%.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: So that. That is a given. But then for us to go, guys, we can choose to speak life. And how we choose to speak life is go. You need to be dependent on the Lord on your own. You need to think. I love that thing about a teacher. Like a teacher is supposed to teach others how to think. Right? Not. Not. Here's what to think.
[00:24:19] Speaker C: Not to regurgitate.
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Yes. But to speak life into that. I love what you're doing. So. So, man, what have you seen God do in the last couple of seasons that have been like, man, this is blowing up. You're saying there's a lot of opportunity. What's going on in manhood Journey right now? And father on purpose, what's going on in your world right now?
[00:24:35] Speaker E: Yeah, like, we started. What year are we in? 2026 right now? Yeah, we started in 2010. We started in 2010. So you go back 16 years and just like ground up, man. Like startup, non profit, you know, had two nickels we could rub together the whole bit.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:24:49] Speaker E: And just kind of kept going.
We
[00:24:53] Speaker B: feel that right now in our ministry.
[00:24:55] Speaker E: I remember telling a friend of mine who was starting his own non profit at one point he goes, man, I had a donor who said he was going to give X and he backed out. And I'm all frustrated. And I just said something kind of like off the cuff. And then after I said it, I was like, dang, that's really true. I said, jeff, you know what, man? Who Journey's been going out of business in six months for 10 years.
And then I. And then I stopped and I was like, golly, that's mathematically accurate. Like, that's actually.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that's encouraging.
[00:25:22] Speaker E: So. So we've lived through that seat. Not lived through. Like it's over. But we. We still don't have, you know, decades of Runway. We're not a college with an endowment. Right. So.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:25:31] Speaker E: But. But here's what I would say early. I'd get an email once every six months from some guy who goes, hey, man, read your blog post, listen to your youversion reading plan or whatever. And it really helped. Thanks a lot.
I get those emails every 72 hours now.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: Praise the Lord.
[00:25:48] Speaker E: Like, for real, like. And I could find one from this week from all over the English speaking world.
South Africa, Australia, England, you name it. Heck, a lot of places that aren't even really English speaking, but people there speak English because we're just not in that many languages just yet. But I get an email every two or three days now from a dad somewhere who says, hey, man, I'm having this trouble with my wife. I'm having this trouble with porn. I'm having this trouble with our finances. I'm having this trouble with whatever. I got one. No joke. You guys are gonna think I'm making this up. I got one about six months ago from a guy whose name is me. Shack. True story. Stop, bro. I can send you the Email. His name's Meshach. And he sent me this email, and he's somewhere in Africa, and he said, hey, my family's falling apart, my marriage, blah, blah, blah. So I just start chatting with him by email about three weeks ago. Six months later, he sends me an email and says, bro, God has turned so much around. Thank you for investing in us, blah, blah. And one of the ways I invest in them is say, find your local church, man. What are you doing emailing a guy 8, 000 miles away? But still.
[00:26:51] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:26:51] Speaker E: I'm happy to email you, but get. Get warmer. But my point is, I see more and more dads who are taking their job as disciple maker seriously.
[00:27:03] Speaker B: Yeah. And
[00:27:04] Speaker E: it's been a blessing to watch it happen. I don't. I don't think there's. If you buy a red car, all you see are red cars. Right. It's a reticular activating system. It's not that red cars just came out of the woodwork. It's that you just started noticing. So I'm not pretending God's on the move. Dads are changing. Because that drives me insane when people, they watch a. They watch an industry for a while and go, oh, look what all God's doing. Well, yeah, bro, he's been doing that for 8,000 years. Yeah. Right. He's just. Are now paying attention.
So I'm just now paying close attention to fathers. But having said that, even in my own little world, the ramp up of guys who have said, hey, man, I'm doubling down on discipling my kids, I'm doubling down on my marriage. I'm doubling down on getting my finances in order. It seems like it's accelerating.
[00:27:43] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:27:43] Speaker C: That's awesome. You know, one of the blessings that we have, and I'm sure you experienced this too on your podcast, is being exposed to all of these resources that the spirit is raising up within our generation, within our culture, to be available to guys. Right. We. We don't have. We're not in the. The desert. We have abundant of resources to help men wake up, gear up, and come alive for sure. But we see a lot of guys still hesitating to engage in some of those resources. What would you say to a guy that's like, I know there's an issue. I know there's a problem. I know there's tons of resources out there, but for whatever reason, he's still in the same spot he was six months ago. Yeah. What would you tell. What would you challenge that guy with?
[00:28:23] Speaker E: I would say, get Your crap together. No. Yes.
I'm just kidding.
[00:28:29] Speaker C: Stop. Excuses. But
[00:28:30] Speaker B: seriously, but
[00:28:31] Speaker E: seriously, your belly aching?
Well, here's the thing, right? We in a sense, right, we live in the most resource rich era in human history, in a sense. And what I mean by in a sense is the Internet isn't necessarily a good resource, right? I mean there's, there's plenty out there that's a bad resource. And so, but the ability to communicate and you know, we can push out this podcast now and reach a million people overnight for pennies on the dollar, where, you know, 100 years ago we needed a whole studio and NBC and all that. And so our capacity to get an idea from one person to a million is way faster these days, of course, than it's ever been before.
Having said that, I don't know that we have accelerated like God's ability to work in mankind, right? And so,
[00:29:16] Speaker C: yeah,
[00:29:17] Speaker E: so some of that is like, okay, if you, if you think actually we've somehow closed the resource gap because of the modern technology or AI, you, you grossly misunderstand how the Holy Spirit works.
The Holy Spirit is not constrained by gigabits and Internet speed and processing power and electricity and how much water there is or isn't in the reservoir.
That is not what the Holy Spirit is constrained by.
The Holy Spirit gets constrained by our willful disobedience of what we know to be
[00:29:48] Speaker C: true. Yes,
[00:29:49] Speaker E: right. Like, so I heard a guy say it this way.
He said, like, the Holy Spirit, when you become a believer, wants to flow through you at like full volume.
And the, the water pressure, if you will, the water pressure is there. The water pressure is there. You don't make the water go faster.
You don't actually make the water of the Holy Spirit come to your life faster.
But you can step on the hose, you can, you can slow it down.
And if you look through scripture at the places where it says, don't quench the Holy Spirit, what are those things? Right? Known sin in your life, willful disobedience, gossip, you know, those kind of things are the things that, that's us stepping on the hose, that the Holy Spirit's desperately trying to work through our lives.
And so when I look at like the resource world, it's like, wait a minute.
Probably. Probably right. What we need to do is consider.
We need to know God's word. We need to have godly counsel in our lives. We need to eliminate known sin in our lives. I'll give you a story real quick. Story. I don't want to get Too distracted. But a guy who I go to, his name's Jim, lives in Cincinnati, and I go to him with big questions because he's got a big brain and a big heart and a big knowledge of the Bible.
He's brilliant. He's absolutely brilliant.
Two weeks ago, we were at breakfast in Cincinnati and I said, jim, we've gotten two of the largest donations we've ever gotten. Our web traffic is through the roof. Our email list is higher than it's ever been.
Doors are opening relatively quickly for us as a ministry. And then I have a pen in my iPad and I go, what would you be thinking about if you were me?
And here's was Jim's immediate reaction.
He goes, you have an enemy and the better things go for you, the more he's going to attack you.
[00:31:38] Speaker C: Yep. One hundred
[00:31:40] Speaker E: and so for an, for an hour and a half, that was the subject of our breakfast conversation was, okay, so what do I do? So, like, what? And I'm not. It's not that I couldn't imagine anything. I just wanted his wisdom. And he goes, you're going to pray like you've never prayed before.
You're going to praise God more than you've ever praised God before. It says that he inhabits our praises. He inhabits our praises. You're going to confess your sins more than you've ever confessed them before. And he just. That was the subject of our conversation. So, Travis, going back to your question, what resource did I have access to right then? Wisdom, godly counsel, God's word, the Holy Spirit prayer.
I don't think we've gotten more of those in the last 30 years with no, like, social media or the Internet.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:32:33] Speaker E: like, that's all still there. And so, dad, if, if you believe your constraint or if you're, if you're a guy listening to today's show and you think your constraint is you don't have access to resources.
Wow.
That is not the problem. It's not the problem. The problem is your stubborn, stiff necked heart and the fact that you want what you want more than what you want what God wants. And if you can get over that, you're gonna find the floodgates are gonna open for you, bro.
[00:32:59] Speaker C: Dude, fantastic.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: I feel like I want to call this the welcome to the get it Together podcast.
I love this. I love it. So, Kent, you know, every time that we do a podcast, we want a clear call to action. I feel like you just said it, but if you had to say, what is your call to action? If you're looking at the guy. This is your call to action. What would you say to him right now?
[00:33:21] Speaker E: That's a good question.
I would say I. I believe with all of my heart, mind and soul that God's word actually changes us.
Like, in fact, I think I'm going to get to heaven and God's going to show us how words change physical reality.
Because if you don't believe that, then how do you believe this world came into existence? Because God said he created everything by the power of his word.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:55] Speaker E: So therefore words, you know, I'm not name it and claim it guy. I'm not the blabbit. Grab it. Yeah, but there is something too.
Our words have some kind of power in and through and over, you know, situations. And so I believe God's word changes us. And I believe the distance between who you are and who you want to be is most quickly closed by aggressively accelerating your consumption of God's word. Oh,
[00:34:24] Speaker C: so true.
[00:34:25] Speaker E: I just don't. Because here's the thing. Do you need to be a more loving husband? Probably. Do you need to manage your money better? Probably. You need to get off porn. Probably. Like, yes. However, I think the lever, the Obi Wan in the Death Star at the middle, flipping the big switch. Right.
I believe that lever is God's word.
[00:34:44] Speaker C: Yes. Yes.
[00:34:46] Speaker E: When you flip it and repeatedly, all kinds of other things go well for you.
[00:34:51] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:34:52] Speaker E: I become a more. My, my. My wife calls me her Psalm 112 husband. Go read it.
And I'm not sure I'm there. In fact, I'm sure I'm not. However, that's the kind of language we speak. Because that's who I want to be. I want to be the Psalm 112 husband.
[00:35:09] Speaker C: Well, and Jesus even said it in John 15 when he says, just abide. Like, like just abide. Just be connected to me in such a way that I do the pruning. To get that stuff out of your life, don't try it on your own. You're going to fail miserably. Let me do it. And as you abide in me, I'm going to bring life and fruit through you into the people that need it most.
[00:35:29] Speaker E: Hebrews 4, 12 and 13. Right. His word is living and active. Sharper than two edged sword. Yep. To the dividing. The pier. It divides, it pierces, it challenges, it encourages. I just think it does what it says it's going to do
[00:35:38] Speaker C: well. And I think it goes back to what you were talking about earlier is we unknowingly have become disciples of Other guys that follow God. And Jesus in his revolution is like, you don't have to go through someone. There's no intermediary. There is me. Just come to me, follow me, and see what I can do. And I think that's a huge call to action for sure.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: You know, it makes me think of Luke 3 and Jesus getting baptized. And we've talked about this before, but his
[00:36:08] Speaker C: words, God's words.
[00:36:09] Speaker B: Yeah. God could have said anything. He could have been like, this is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is the leader of the world. This is the one who's going to redeem and save everybody. And then what he said was, this is my son, and I'm pleased with him.
[00:36:21] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: And there's something powerful that we'll
[00:36:23] Speaker C: be your father.
[00:36:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And we just go, man, like, I don't. I don't know enough. Yes, you do. Like, yes, you do. Just speak life to your kids. I am proud of you. I am pleased with you. I am. You're my beloved child and I love you. And Jesus, God's like, he put the cookies at the bottom of the shelf. And then I go, I don't know enough. Right.
Are you kidding
[00:36:46] Speaker E: me? And. And Bill, that's the reason why we wrote that. Our next book coming out, the Identity Bucket, because I think a lot of it stems from what we have or don't have in that. In that mental container in our life is when God spoke to Jesus Baptism, one of the very first things he did was he vocally identified him as his son.
[00:37:06] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:37:07] Speaker E: And so, like, when I introduced. I met. I met this morning with. With my pastor and his son, who's in his 20s. The. The son and the pastor is my age. And I went up and said, hey, I'm Ken Evans. And he said, I'm so and so. And I know they are father and son. And so, like, there's an identity component to me meeting the younger guy.
And I. I have him in a context, and the context is he's so and so's son. Got it. Yeah. And that's one of the reasons God did that at the baptism.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: Well, it's. It's so like, guys, if you're out there and you're listening to this, stop for a second.
And there was a story about Kennedy, and Kennedy's son would. Then there's probably. You guys have probably seen this picture where his son is playing under the
[00:37:52] Speaker C: desk.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: The desk,
[00:37:53] Speaker C: yes.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: And you're like, that's what we have. So if you're going, yeah, I don't know enough. I'm God. Where do I start? Know that that's who. That's how we get to run to him, right? This boldness to go, God, I don't know what to say next, but I know what I can do is choose to speak life. And I can do that. And I can say, journey with me through this. Hey, I've not been the dad that I need to be. But you know what? Right now we're going to start, you and me. Yes, I have screwed up, but, man, from this point on, we're going to walk together, you and me, and we're going to start speaking life. I'm going to speak life to you. I'm going to pursue the Lord and I'm going to go God, I'm going to be the example to my son in my brokenness. Yes. Because it's so reachable. I don't know what to do. God, you do help me to figure this out and just move in that way. But we have stalemated ourselves to believing that because we don't appear to have what it takes. Like you said, the word of God is active. I can soak up in that. Yeah. And then when I, when I, when I bump up against my kid, am I spilling out the truth of God's word by what I do, or am I saying, no, I need to have a plan? And I'm like, yeah, that works really well.
So I just, I love your heart towards this brother, man. How can guys get connected to you?
[00:39:00] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:39:02] Speaker E: Yeah. Two easy ways. One is today, go to manhood journey.org two words, manhood journey.org like known legacy. We're just in the fight. We're one warrior in this battle, trying to help men and dads get their resources that they need. What we're going to push you toward is fatherhood stuff. So if you're a 17 year old dude, listen to this man, God bless you and I'm grateful. You may not find as much stuff on our site that warms your heart, but if you're a dad, then that's who we're built for. And then secondly, I would say I've been, I've been pounding this drum now for several years. And that's why we decided to write this book called the Identity Bucket.
You know, hop on Amazon, grab a copy of the book, do us a favor, do us a solid, leave a review. Say, I don't even care if you think the book's terrible. Go ahead. I'll take bad reviews, good reviews. I don't care.
[00:39:46] Speaker B: Leave a five star review, buddy.
[00:39:48] Speaker E: Leave a five star review. As y' all said on one of your episodes, leave 10 stars out of five. I heard that. Yes,
[00:39:52] Speaker C: yes,
[00:39:53] Speaker B: yes, yes.
[00:39:54] Speaker E: So from our vantage point, man, we just want to encourage dads and we want them to know that God loves them. God is for them. He's not against them.
[00:40:04] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:40:04] Speaker E: And that they have a really important job and their job is to represent Christ to the world.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: Man, I wish you were passionate about this.
I love it, man. Guys, make sure you guys. We're going to put those links below both for the book and for manhood journey. Go and buy it. Go and buy a book from Kent. Leave five stars, like immediately before you read it. Yes, I know it's going to speak life in Jesus name. Leave five stars. No. Yes. No. Look, I'm so excited that the Lord keeps bringing us with incredible men.
[00:40:37] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:40:38] Speaker B: I cannot wait to get you back on the podcast. We're super excited. Stay on after this podcast because I want to connect a little bit. But, guys, man, just make sure you know that you have what it takes because of Jesus, because of the blood of Jesus that resides in you, because of the spirit that is indwelling you. You can speak life to your kids today. So turn around, do what you need to now. It's time is short and we don't know how much time that we are, that we are given. Imagine if you decided now and you had a week of life left. You could still be successful as a child of God to speak life into your kids. It's not too late. Go and do it right now. Shut off this, this podcast and start speaking life.
[00:41:16] Speaker C: Love it.
[00:41:16] Speaker B: Can't love having you on, man. And as we finish up, we have. And before we have our fast five, any final thoughts from you?
[00:41:25] Speaker E: You guys are amazing. I listened to some episodes prepping for today. You had Bill Spencer from Narrowgate on.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Amazing.
[00:41:32] Speaker E: I'm a personal recipient of two different families that I know who sent their kids to narrow Gate.
And bro, just. You guys do great work. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm so happy to be a part of it. If there's any way I can serve y', all, please let me know.
[00:41:47] Speaker C: Sounds awesome.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: You already have, brother. This has been
[00:41:49] Speaker C: amazing.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: So now this leads us into our fast five, which I loved your email and you said, here's a weird. You like that? Yeah, that's it. Let's try that again. One more time in the fast five.
There it is. I love that I've got Stereo on my headphones that go
[00:42:04] Speaker C: drive time moment right now.
[00:42:06] Speaker B: It's so good. It's so good.
So good. Okay, question number one. What is a book you're currently reading?
[00:42:13] Speaker E: The Identity Bucket by Kent Evans. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
[00:42:18] Speaker C: Nice plug, nice plug. Well
[00:42:19] Speaker E: done, well done. I'm actually reading. I'm actually reading the Cross of Christ by John Stott.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: Ooh, that's an older book, isn't it?
[00:42:27] Speaker E: It is, yeah. It was written 30, 40 years ago.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: Yep, yep.
[00:42:31] Speaker E: And I went into AI and said, hey, help me build a book list. Here are my interests, here's what I care about, here's what I
[00:42:37] Speaker B: do
[00:42:37] Speaker E: for a living. I got a hundred books I'm going to read over the next X years. I don't know how many, but this was number one on the list.
[00:42:43] Speaker B: Awesome, awesome, awesome.
[00:42:44] Speaker C: That's awesome.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: All right, number two, what is something you're excited about in this season of life?
[00:42:49] Speaker E: I love doing life with adult kids.
You know, one, two of my boys are married. One's an architect in Chicago. Three different guys, they're coming home. Two of them are coming home this weekend. And for me, it's really fun. Like the whole season of life when your kids are in their 20s. I'm having an absolute blast.
[00:43:05] Speaker B: Isn't it fun? It feels like Christmas every time they come home.
[00:43:07] Speaker C: Yeah, dude,
[00:43:08] Speaker B: it's so good. I love it. I love it. Which is also a blessing that we don't see because some parents don't have that. So praise the Lord for that. That's
[00:43:14] Speaker E: so
[00:43:14] Speaker B: awesome. I love it. I love it. Obviously you've been a failure as a father and so that's really cool if they want to come home.
All right, number three, if you could pick a decade to go back to, what would it be?
[00:43:30] Speaker E: That's a good question.
Clarifying question. Do you mean a decade in like American history or in ever or in my lifetime?
[00:43:36] Speaker B: Ever, ever, ever?
[00:43:39] Speaker E: I would go back to the 50s and it's because I like the music from the 50s. I love, like, I like sock hop, old rock and roll. Chuck. Motown music. Motown, early days. Yeah. I love that musical era and I would go back to it.
[00:43:53] Speaker B: It's funny how music dictates so much of it because I agree, like the 80s, you know, like, you know, journey and yes. REO Speedwagon and all these different well made artists. Yeah. You like stars? Yeah. Okay, we're good. Kyle's shaking his head with approval.
As long as Kyle approves, I really don't care. About anybody else.
[00:44:10] Speaker C: It
[00:44:11] Speaker B: really is. So no. Number four, what is your go to fast food?
[00:44:15] Speaker E: Oh, chick fil. A hundred times out of 100,
[00:44:17] Speaker B: I. I love
[00:44:18] Speaker C: the Lord's chicken.
[00:44:19] Speaker B: It is the Lord's chicken.
I love it because on the email, he's like, all five of my questions will be chick fil A. I'm like, I love it. I love it. Amazing.
I was like, I'm gonna like this guy a lot.
Okay, last one, number five. If you could, if you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
[00:44:40] Speaker E: Listen more than you talk.
[00:44:42] Speaker C: So good.
[00:44:43] Speaker B: It's good.
[00:44:44] Speaker E: Yeah,
[00:44:44] Speaker B: it's good. I'm gonna pause and listen for a second.
Man, Kent, this has been awesome. Thank you, brother. Like we've said before, I cannot wait to spend forever with you, bro, and see all that God's gonna do. Guys, if you are in in any area, go to manhoodjourney.org and and check out what is go what what Kent is doing. Make sure you go and support him. Go and buy his book, man. We are so excited to have you listen to today. Hey, go and check out our book morethanyoubook.com with the either the audio version or the paperback. Man. Check out our wake up guide and seven day reset that is available just for you. It's free. We'll have all the links provided below. Join our Thursday morning men's call in Bible study the adrenaline shot. We'll have the link there and join our Facebook men's brotherhood page. Guys, so grateful to have you on today. Make sure that you know, man, that God is actively pursuing you, is crazy in love with you. Yes. Wants to do great things in and through you. And it's not all the stuff you know, it's who you are in him. And so keep pursuing him. Take the step of faith today, Travis. Final thoughts.
[00:45:50] Speaker C: Find time and sit at his feet.
[00:45:52] Speaker B: Amen, brother. Guys, have a great week. We want to help you wake up here up. Come along.
[00:45:56] 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.
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