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
[00:00:07] Speaker B: here's your hosts, Bill and Travis.
[00:00:13] Speaker A: Good morning everybody. Welcome to the Known Legacy Podcast. We want you to wake up, gear up and come alive to who God
[00:00:19] Speaker C: called you to become correct.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Travis, good morning. Good to see you, brother.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Good morning, man. It's good to see you. As always. You're checking out Known Legacy Podcast. Thank you guys so much for listening. If you want to give a review, we'd appreciate it, share it, like it, whatever you got.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: 10 out of 5 stars.
[00:00:34] Speaker C: 10 out of 5 stars. YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, you can find us there. Head over to knownlegacy.org for information about Bill, his speaking engagements coming up, opportunities to help out, get connected with other guys as well as get fed and nourished. And you know, if it, if it be on your heart to support this mission and ministry, we'd always appreciate it. There's a donate button there. It's tax deductible. And you know, we're coming under the end of the season and we know those are always hard times, but if it would be so kind to, to think about us and maybe support us, that'd be fantastic.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Correct? Yes, yes. Your, your dollars make an impact in, in all the ministry that we would know in Legacy. So.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: Absolutely. So question of the day before that.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Whoa, whoa, whoa. We got a couple things before that.
I know before we do that. Actually, first thing as before you do that even, hey guys, if you are in a journey of trying to figure out what God wants to do with your life, you're like, man, I don't know where I am. We have a wake up guide and seven day reset that we'd love to give you for free. There's a below as well as man, every Thursday morning at 6:45, we have our, our adrenaline shot Bible study that we would love you to join. You can. It's a call in study and man, there's, there is man, even if you can just come in and listen, we have a lot of guys are like, hey, I'm driving to work. That's why we do this, right? So that we give guys an opportunity to connect all over the country. We'd love you to be a part of that. As well as our known Legacy Brotherhood Facebook page. We'd love you to join that as well, man. And, and also we talked a lot this fall about, about apple cider donuts here in our possession right here we have an apple cider donut. If you see that, that is amazing. Me and Travis cut it. Look at that. Beautiful, Crystallized.
And for those who are in the south, you don't know, we're talking about. All the New Yorkers are like, all the upstaters know it. But yes, we wanted to enjoy this on. On the. On the call or on the phone or on the call.
[00:02:26] Speaker C: It's like a week old, and it's still delicious. It's still so good.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: These are from New York when I was there, so you're welcome.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: We're breaking all the rules. We're eating while doing radio.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:36] Speaker C: This is horrible.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: I know.
[00:02:37] Speaker C: Anyways, question of the day.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Question of the day.
[00:02:45] Speaker C: All right, Bill.
So I had this very odd. So my wife and I got away. We went to Fredericksburg for a few days this week just to reconnect and kind of check in with each other and. Great. It was wonderful. And Monday night, we're there, we're out to eat, and there's a couple walks into the restaurant we're in, and I look at him. I'm like, man, that guy is from Chicago. You just. You can tell a look, right? There's a look. I'm like, that dude is from Chicago. So I. I, being the guy that I am, I just look at him. I was like, hey, you from Chicago?
[00:03:12] Speaker A: Because you're so timid, right?
[00:03:14] Speaker C: My wife was just rolling her eyes.
And he's like, no, I'm from Rockford. I was like, rockford. That's where I grew up. Anyways, long story short, we ended up having all these connections.
His wife used to work for my uncle in the education department there in Rockford.
[00:03:29] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: And it was. It was just this bizarre meaning. So anyways, the question of the day is basically this. What do you miss about your hometown? Like the town that you grew up in? What do you. What do you miss and long for in the hometown?
[00:03:42] Speaker A: I think what I miss is where I lived, they had apple cider donuts. No, I'm just kidding. I already got those. We're good. We're good. I miss the ability to kind of just bike around and do it, because where I live, there was. There was the Mohawk river, and so we could go fishing down there. There were all these fun trails. There were mountains. There were. There were all these things we could do. And there was a lot of history. And so I didn't realize it till I left. You know, it's like, you don't miss it till it's gone. Yes, I miss that. Like, that moment. Sorry. I have sugar all over my mouth now. I miss that moment that those moments are like, I'm gonna get on my bike, I'm gonna go on an adventure and just kind of be. I never said adventure. So I'm not like one like the hobbits. We're going on an adventure. But it's like I really. I did. I did miss that, like, moment of like, we're gonna go out. We might go build a jump. We might go, you know, bike down the street, Might go put off fireworks, might go fishing.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: I miss that. Freedom.
[00:04:34] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Of just doing that, I guess, because here it's hot.
[00:04:37] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Like 9,000 degrees. So I mean, you don't bike here.
[00:04:40] Speaker C: Everything is paved.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: And I'm also 47, and so I don't know if I'm gonna have a chance to jump on my bike and go on an adventure like that. But the adventures are a little different.
[00:04:48] Speaker C: So do me a favor, record your Sarah as you just leave. I'm going on an adventure and see what she says.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: What about you, man? What do you miss about hometown?
[00:04:58] Speaker C: I miss the seasons. I am a sucker for it. In fact, I've. My favorite thing on TV right now is YouTube. We'll have those, like three hour longs, like AI generated jazz music playing.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: Like the leaves falling. Oh, I know.
[00:05:13] Speaker C: I just leave that on. I just stare at it.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Why are we so old?
[00:05:16] Speaker C: My wife's like, what are you doing? I was like, I'm just wishing I was in a different place, but I like it here.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: But I want it to be cold and different weather.
[00:05:26] Speaker C: I just want fall. I just want leaves. I want the smell of burning leaves. I just.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Oh, so good.
[00:05:32] Speaker C: As we sit outside and it's 92 degrees today out in this beautiful backyard. So anyways. Hey, Bill, why don't you introduce us to our guest?
[00:05:39] Speaker A: Yes, this is Randy Simpkins. We are so grateful to have Randy on. And Randy leads a non profit has a really amazing story. I cannot wait for you guys to hear Randy's story. Randy, we are so excited to have you on the known legacy podcast today.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: Well, I'm excited to be here. We. We had a high of 89 yesterday and I think the high Saturday is like 61.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: I know, I can't wait.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Perfect football weather. Yeah, it's gonna be a great game Saturday.
[00:06:07] Speaker C: It's about time. Who. Who's your team?
[00:06:09] Speaker B: I'm a Bulldog fan.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: Georgia.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Good, good. Enjoy.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: All my boys played ball and.
And, and by the way, I'm. I haven't had Lunch yet. So as soon as we're done, I'm. I think I'm going to the donut shop and I'm going to see what they have.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Go get it.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Oh, it's so good.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: And Rockford, that's the home of the Peaches, right?
[00:06:30] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: See, I love that.
[00:06:32] Speaker C: See, you know, League of Their Own. Absolutely. Rockford Peaches, we love.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Every, every time you say it, I think of the Rockford Peaches. Every time.
[00:06:41] Speaker C: I don't know why, but, you know, so it's imprinting.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: It's so good. Well, Randy, what about you? Is there anything about your hometown that you miss?
[00:06:49] Speaker B: I live on this. I live on our 80 acre farm that I grew up on. We were dairy farms.
But I do, I do remember when I was in the military during the first Gulf War on an aircraft carrier.
I really missed being home. And my parents sent me a little VHS tape. This was prior to emails and things like that. They sent me a tape of everybody at church walking in and waving and saying hello and. And my dad sent a video of a cow in the front yard who had a pinched nerve having a calf. He was carrying a five gallon bucket of water to the cow. And all my buddies from the city, they called it fantasy land. So they said that can't be real. Yeah.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Love it.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: I get to live it every day. I love it.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Oh, man, I love it. Oh, it's so good, man. Well, you know, as we connected. Randy, you are the founder of End the Wait. Correct.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: And the weight. And I mean, we're going to hear more about that today. But Randy, I'm a little jealous because Randy has been, you know, he was, he was in a movie called the Way Home, which I'm not jealous about the premise of the movie and having to go through that crazy. But Dean Kane.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: Superman, you know, Clark. Yeah. It's amazing. And I'm like, I'm so, like. I was like, I loved it. It was so good. But man.
Randy, share. Share some of your story because we'd love, we'd love to hear about the past and then we'd love to hear what you're doing now and your challenge to the, to the men who are listening. So share some of your story right now, Randy. We'd love to hear it.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I'll have to say having Dean Cain play me in a movie was kind of wild. John Goodman wasn't available, so we went.
No, you know, I grew up with Christian family and went to church, you know, since birth and. But as a Young adult. I was, I was, I was kind of an introvert and growing up and got bullied a little bit in school. You know, just typical stuff.
As I got a little older as a young adult, I found out I was really good at business and understanding finance and I really enjoyed that. And I sort of, I sort of grew into that role. I became sort of an entrepreneur and I had several companies, three young boys, and even in church, very involved in church. I was a minister of music for 12 years and on all the committees. But in church I was kind of. Well, it was very superficial. I didn't have a relationship with God. You couldn't really see it from the outside, but it was not my priority. God was not my priority in my life at that time.
And, and so like I said, I grew up on a dairy farm and it was, it's 80 acres. We built a house on the same farm that my parents still live on today. And my wife had been trying to talk me into going on vacation because we hadn't been on one since my youngest son was born and he was two and a half years old.
And, and so I agreed to go on vacation. We were going to go down to the beach on the Gulf shore for, for about a week. I thought, you know, they can go down on the beach and play and I can sit in the condo and work on a set of plans.
I was not a good husband and I wasn't a good father, although I didn't realize that I wasn't just very, very checked out wrong priorities. But that all changed. March 31st of 2000.
Our two older boys were in school. We're going to pick them up on the way. And we were packing up our minivan, or I was, and my wife was turning off the lights and doing some last minute packing. And she asked me to put our youngest son Joe in the, in the minivan. And he was riding his tricycle in the driveway and, and I thought, oh, he's okay. I'm gonna go back in the house and take care of a couple of emails real quick and then I'll load him up.
And so I was in the house three or four minutes and I came back out and he was gone. That was the popsicle sitting in the driveway and I couldn't find him. I don't know if you guys have kids or if you've lost a child for 15 seconds in a shopping mall or whatever. It only takes a second before you start. You know, your heart goes into your throat.
[00:11:06] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:11:07] Speaker B: Anxiety goes up. And so But I thought, well, he's probably, you know, he probably walked by me into the house or he's somewhere around here so I'll find him real quick. But I didn't started looking around and had to tell my wife, I've lost our son. And that conversation didn't go well. And we both immediately started looking all over. And we called 911 after about 30 minutes, reached out to my family, to my mom, she was home and she called the church and they started praying and they started reaching out to other people and next thing you know we have sheriff's deputy, fire trucks showing up, people lining up on the street coming out to help look. And it was, it was mind boggling the, the ATVs. And then helicopters started showing up and it turned into hours. And I think the worst part one, well, there were a lot of worst parts. But I remember one particular time riding on the four wheeler on the back pasture and looking up on the hillside and you could see it used to be a little golf course, little nine hole golf course beside us there. But there were houses up there and there were people all over the hillside yelling for my son's name and calling out for him. And it really hit me then that he's missing, he's two.
And you know, that turned into hours.
And I remember about four hours into the ordeal I had gotten off by myself in the woods and I just buried my face in the pine straw and I prayed.
I started thinking about all of the experiences, you talk about what you miss about your hometown. I started thinking about all the experiences of his life that I was going to miss out on. I thought about playing ball with him in the yard, watching him play high school football, getting married, having a child. I just pictured a tombstone with his name on it.
And as I was praying, I remember I could remember the imprint of the pine needles in my forehead. I was just pressing down and praying and I said, God, please don't take my son. Give me another chance.
And I thought if I pray hard enough, then I'll just look up and he'll walk out from behind a tree. But that didn't happen.
And slowly over the next little bit, as I continued looking, I walked back towards the house. The sheriff said, hey Randy, we need you to stay around the house just in case we need to ask you questions. We've got hundreds of people, I mean our whole community came out to help look for our son. There were hundreds of people.
And he said, I need you to stay around the house. That was hard to do. Is to stay right here and not go out and look myself. But I lost faith. I thought, he's, he's gone. I'd overheard one of the, one of the deputies talking to someone else and he said, you know, it's been more than a couple hours. These things don't normally turn out well.
Plus our farm is surrounded by swamps. That golf course had the, that used to be a golf course.
It had ponds and streams everywhere and there's coyotes and bobcats all around us.
And I thought, or somebody's taken him and he's just gone.
And about eight hours into the ordeal, there was an older gentleman that lived down the road. He was about, he was early 70s.
I didn't know him, but I knew the family.
They were cattle farmers and we were dairy cattle or dairy, dairy farm. And they went to the city school, we went to the county school a mile apart. So we didn't, didn't really know him well. And his niece had heard on the, on the television about a two year old son just up the road from him missing. And so he had just had a stent put in two months earlier and so he had to have a cane just to walk.
But he and his son Terry came and they joined the search party and they went to the back part of the farm and there was an electric fence across the back part and right behind that was a six strand barbed wire fence and then an old rust barbed wire fence and 20 foot tall privet hedge or privy hedge, it depends on if you live north by 20. But it was, you know, you couldn't see any distance at all. But he told Terry, he said, I used to play in these woods when I was a kid, so help me go through the fence and let's just, let's just go see if we can find him. And they went about 10, 10ft and they went two different directions and they were hollering back and forth at each other and he said, I'm good, Terry. Let's go another 10ft. And then another 10ft and another 10ft and they went about 600 yards down into those deep woods and swampy area.
And they were just about to turn around and Ed heard a dog bark.
Now there was. One of my employees had a dog that he couldn't take care of anymore and he had asked me to take the dog to the pound for him. I didn't want another dog and he didn't have, he was too tender hearted to take it to the pound himself. And turned out I was tender hearted too.
And I hadn't gotten around to taking it to the pound. I thought, well, I'll just do it when we get back from vacation.
And he heard that dog bark and he walked over towards that dog and there was a little dry ditch right there. And he saw the dog sitting there and he looked around a little bit and there was this big oak tree that had blown over in a storm I guess in the past. And there was a huge hole in the ground where the roots were.
And he saw a little two year old boy walking out.
And Joe's just sort of looked at him and he thought to him. So he shared this with me later. He thought, I'm afraid he's going to run off because it was getting later and he would not have survived the night.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: And he thought, I've got to think, what can I say to him so he won't run off. And the two words that came to Ed's mind were tractor and mama, which I don't, I don't think that's fair. But he said, joe, do you want to go ride my tractor? And he said, Joe sort of stopped and looked at him and cocked his head sideways and he said, come on, I'll take you to mama. And Joe just ran up, ran up and he hugged him. And I was back at the house and I was standing on the driveway and a deputy walked by and heard his radio click.
And then I heard him say, we found the boy. We found the boy.
[00:17:29] Speaker C: Stop it.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: And my legs just turned to jello and I fell to the ground and immediately remember the promises that I made the Lord in the woods that day. And I was like, God, I'm changing everything.
You're my, you're my priority. You're my Lord and savior, and I'm yours.
And everything changed that day and about eight years later.
And we kept the dog, by the way.
[00:17:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I would say so. Yeah.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: About eight years later, some filmmakers came to our county to do a movie, a little small ghost story with John Schneider, Bo Duke, and I was county commissioner. So I got to spend the day with them, helping them find some different locations for their movie. And throughout the day, spending time together, they said, you know, you don't seem like a politician. I said, thank you.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: It's nicest compliment I've ever been given.
[00:18:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I was always told never be a politician, a preacher or a referee. And I've been all three. I don't know.
[00:18:33] Speaker C: Glutton for punishment.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Yeah. But he, they asked me how I got involved in politics and I shared the story about what happened and how the entire community, it was a way I could give back to my community and serve after everything they had done for my family.
And I shared about how it changed my priorities, it changed me as a person. It was a means of grace that God brought me back on path.
And so about a year later, they approached me and they said, you know, they, they called me up and they said, you know, we can't get that story about your son's disappearance and how it impacted your life.
We would like to do a movie about your, your son's disappearance and how it changed you. And at first I was really hesitant about it. I didn't really want the whole world to know I was a crappy dad and a bad husband. But the more I thought about it, I thought, I don't own this story. God was the architect of all of this and who am I to not allow him to share that? And so we told him, if you'll do it as it happened, where it happened. So the movie the Way Home was made and Lionsgate released it in 2010, and as you said, it's still on Amazon prime and a bunch of platforms even today, 17 years later and tens of millions of people have seen it and people still reach out to us on social media, even still about how it's impacted them.
[00:19:57] Speaker C: That's an amazing story and praise God that it worked out the way that it did. But I do have a follow up question for you because I'm always intrigued, like after that kind of a traumatic event 17 years later, obviously you and your wife, I would assume, are in a much better place. But that's got to be hard the first few weeks afterwards, the guilt, the shame, the now relationship with your wife who's like, you're the one that let him leave. And how was that, what was that like for you those first few weeks post finding him and having that kind of grace moment?
[00:20:34] Speaker B: You know, it's so interesting, Travis, that you asked that because it was such a different experience for my wife and for myself. Maybe part of that's personality, but she took on a lot of the guilt as a mother, even though it wasn't her fault at all.
She was, you know, embarrassed that people had to come out and help us. She felt that she should have done something different, maybe hold me more accountable. But you know, I was the one that lost him. It was my fault. I was the one that had been in the wrong for a long time.
I, I don't know why, but for me, it Was. It was, it was the opposite of that. It was a light switch moment. I was on fire. I was so excited about having another chance and I was, I was going to do what, what God had called me to do from this day, moving forward. So it took some time in our relationship for our relationship to mend, for her to see that there truly was a change in me.
And that happened over time.
Our relationship really blossomed a few years later. I mean, we had a great relationship from then on. But there was another experience later in life about 10 years ago that really took it to a different level and really that sort of led to. In the wait.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: But yeah, it was a purpose. I had found my purpose. I had found my calling as a father, as a husband. And frankly, I think that's when my call into the ministry started. But I didn't realize for another 16 years.
[00:22:05] Speaker C: So you had mentioned in the wait, tell us a little bit about that.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Yeah. First of all, just so your viewers and listeners will know, it's W a I t, not W e I G H T.
That's good to work on that too. But yeah, so about 10 years later. So around 2015, I'd been asked, well, 2015, I was asked to preach a sermon for the pastor who's going on a mission trip. And I'd never done anything like that. And I certainly got nervous getting in front of people and talking. But I agreed to do it. And something just happened in me when I was sharing Jesus with people from the pulpit and several people said, you need to do this more often. So I started praying about that and you know, God, what does this look like? Am I, you know, are you calling me into the ministry? You know, I couldn't fathom that.
Never crossed my mind before. But then about a year later I went. I had been praying about it for some time. About a year later, I was invited to a retreat called Walk to Emmaus. And it's based on, yes, based on Luke, chapter 2419 through 35.
And it's about a four day experience where there's no phone, no watch, and you're just loved by total strangers in ways that you, you could not fathom. And you're alone with God and with those men.
And there's also women's walks and there's young adult walks called Chrysalis. So I went as a participant, reluctantly. My wife wanted me to go, you know, God's calling me to the ministry. I don't need to go to a men's retreat. I know, I know the direction God has me going. But boy, I was wrong. It changed, transformed me. That's where my call into the ministry was affirmed. And on that weekend in the chapel, and then two months after that, I was the lead pastor at a small Methodist church. And I guess I'm more of a Method Baptist.
[00:24:03] Speaker C: We're all a little mutts when it comes to our faith.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: Yes, we are.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm a follower of the gospel. That's it.
[00:24:09] Speaker A: Amen, brother. Amen.
That is exactly it.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Yeah. So you're asking about in the. Wait.
So I've gone back and served. You can go back after you participate in and walk to Emmaus, you can go back and serve. And so I've served Now, I think 37 times over the last 10 years as a spiritual director or head spiritual Director. But in 22, I, I've been a pastor for, at that point, about eight years.
I was given a wonderful opportunity to serve as the Appalachian Trail chaplain, one of two that were appointed. So I was taking a six month sabbatical from work, from church and hiking the trail. I was doing a little YouTube thing so people could follow along and that I had over a thousand subscribers in two weeks, I think, and people were asking me questions. I was sharing my thoughts as I was hiking that lasted about 100 miles and got into North Carolina. A blizzard came and then jury duty and some other things happened at Chur and work and I had to come back off trail and I was real disappointed in that.
Lord, why did these doors open up and now they're closed? I just didn't understand.
But a friend of mine had asked me to serve as her head spiritual director on her walk to Emmaus, which was a women's walk. And I had not served a northwest Georgia women's walk at that time. I turned her down initially because I was going to be gone six months. But since I was back home, I agreed to do it.
And the first morning of the retreat, it was five o' clock in the morning. I went into the kitchen. I wanted to go early because it was a women's walk and I was afraid somebody walk in in their PJs. So I wanted to get to the conference room and plan out my day and do my devotional. And so I'm getting a cup of coffee and the kitchen was sort of U shaped and I heard voices on the other side, other side in the kitchen. They didn't know I was there. And I thought, oh no, I got to get out of here.
[00:26:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: But before I could step out the door, I heard her voice elevate. And it was a lady that was speaking to her daughter and to her mom. And I heard her say, we've got to pray we can find somebody that's O positive that's willing to give up a body part, but how do you ask somebody for a body part?
And I just froze. I knew I was O positive from my time in the military and from blood drives, etc. And I stepped around the corner and I said, hey, I'm O positive. What can I do to help?
And that was my introduction to this massive crisis we have in our country of chronic kidney disease. Her husband was about to be put on the kidney transplant wait list. They were giving him less than a year to live. From the day that I heard he had been on dialysis for a while, and he was advanced stage, and the average weight is six to eight years. So he. Unless he found a donor, he wasn't going to survive. Nearly 100,000 people on the list, 38 million people have chronic kidney disease, and nine out of 10 don't know they have it.
And. And so they were in a desperate mode.
And I started learning about what I could do and how it could help. And I immediately said, well, I'll donate a kidney. Tell me what I need to do, right? So I started going through the process and learning, and it turned out he and I both had had blood transfusions, so that. That means it sort of randomizes your blood. And the hospital in Atlanta told us that there's no. Told me I hadn't met him. I actually met him a week before the transplant, but they said there's no way you'll match because of your blood transfusion, but you can do this thing called a paired kidney exchange. You don't have to match. So you put him down as the potential recipient. Your kidney goes to somebody else that you do match with somewhere in the country, and he'll go to the top of the list, right? And I thought, that's great. That'll save multiple lives. So I started that process of getting tested. I had to lose about 20 pounds.
I lost 12 and rounded up and repented for that. But I went in in August of that year of 22 and did the full day of testing, and. And they checked everything out. No cost, no. You know, and you could turn back at any time. So there was no pressure.
But a couple of days later, the hospital called me up, and they said, look, we've never seen this before in all of our years doing transplants.
And they're one of the top 10 transplant centers in the world.
And they said, it's as if you've had his kidney in your body for the last 54 years.
This is a miracle.
And they said, it's just incredible.
And so I met him a week before the surgery. The surgery went gray September 30th. They took the kidney out through my belly button. I don't even have a scar. Not one that you see once the hair grew back. And. And then I literally. Guys, I went to the gym seven days after the surgery, and.
[00:28:55] Speaker C: Amazing.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: Probably shouldn't have, but I felt good enough to drive. I wasn't on pain meds, and. And within a month and a half, I felt like I do right now. I felt completely.
And he's doing great.
[00:29:08] Speaker C: Praise God.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: Saved his life. He was weeks away from being taken off the list, so. But I will say this.
And y' all interrupt me if I'm talking too much.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: No, no, no. You're doing. This is great, man. We're just like, are you kidding me? So.
[00:29:23] Speaker C: So phenomenal.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Yeah. So I got to thinking, you know, as other people need to know about this, people just don't know. I mean, I. I had no idea I'd heard about kidney transplants or liver transplants. I sort of put them all in one category. But, no, no one in my family that I knew of had been directly impacted. So.
But I had this passion to tell people about it. And about six weeks after the surgery, pastor friend of mine asked me to come share with this men's group. He said, you know, you weren't supposed to be there. You overheard. You were probably the only person on the planet that would match him that well.
There's so many God things that happened.
Love for you to come share your testimony at our men's breakfast. There's probably about 30 guys will be there.
And so I went and I shared the whole story, my testimony.
And one of the men asked me at the end, did a little Q and A, and he said, you seem fine. Would you do it again? And I don't know why I answered it just like this, but I said, if I had 200 kidneys in my body, I'd do it 199 more times starting tomorrow, because it changes you when you're the vessel through which God gives someone life.
And after that, two guys came up to me after the breakfast was over, and they're like, man, we had no idea.
What do I need to do? I said, to do what? And they said, I want to Donate a kidney. How do I do it? And I was blown away. I said, I don't know. Let me see what I can find out. And then a couple of weeks later, I was invited to speak at a civic club called Kiwanis. And same thing happened. A lady approached me, and there's probably 20 people at that little meeting. And this lady approached and she said, what do I need to do to donate?
And as I was driving home from that Kiwanis club meeting that evening, I got to thinking, I know there's 100,000 people in this country that would do this, but how do you get the word? What's made the difference? How do you get the word out in a way that inspires people? It's not just a pamphlet or a statistic.
And it hit me the way home.
It's been seen by tens of millions of people. So, I mean, for me, it was an immediate thought and is, what if we opened a nonprofit and we took the proceeds from the movie, put it back into the nonprofit, found investors that would do it at a much lower return on investment, found filmmakers that would do it much cheaper because of the calls, and got this movie out in front of 100 million people, which is very doable with a nationwide theatrical release and streaming.
And if we can get this in front of 100 million people, all we need is one out of a thousand to say, I could do what that guy did and we would end the wait.
And then I thought, nah, I'm not that guy anymore. I'm just a local pastor and a ditch digger. I'm not a. I'm not an entrepreneur. So sort of, I sort of put it in my back pocket for a few months, the whole idea. But I mean, it was a. It was a God given vision, and I couldn't let go of it. So I ended up reaching out to. Through someone else, reaching back out to Dean Cain. And I hadn't talked to him and in 12 years, probably.
And I had an opportunity to share our vision, my vision to Dean and to Laurie Beth that played my wife, and both of them immediately. You know, it took a few days of us talking through everything and me explaining what I was thinking.
[00:32:45] Speaker C: Right.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: I spent about three days with Dean and Lori, Beth and Crystal and I.
And he said, nobody's ever done anything like this. You're talking about making a movie whose sole purpose is to save 100,000 lives. I'm all in. But you're gonna raise a lot more money than that than the first movie that we did together. And I Said, you know, I'm not that guy anymore, Dean. I have those kind of resources.
And he said, look, if this is God's vision, he'll provide a path. And sure enough, he did. Within. Within a year or so, we had all the funding we needed to make the movie. We shot it a year ago today. We were filming in Birmingham, Alabama. Dean directed the movie. He was able to call in all of these actors that you know and recognize that we never could have afforded.
And they just all did such an incredible job. And the movie's in post production right now. We're expecting the movie to come out first quarter of 27. So just a few more months.
And along the way, people started reaching out, saying, hey, my son needs a kidney. Can you help? So we started sharing their story, going to their hometowns, people, you know, me sharing. This is my experience as a living donor. And every single time, people have stepped up and praise God. In the last two years of doing this, we've had 19 transplants to already happen, and we have a dozen or so more that are in the process. I think 30 by the end of the year.
And it's been amazing. And then, you know, the chapters that we were now in 10 states that we've started in the wake chapters, so people in local churches and civic clubs can go out and minister to the people in their community that are going through dialysis, that maybe they need a meal or a prayer or just know that somebody cares about them or needs a right. Did you know there's people in dialysis that cannot get on the transplant list because you have to have a support system.
Yes. So they can't even get on the list. And how hopeless is that?
It doesn't have to be that way. If people are aware, then our volunteers, as we're establishing these chapters, they can reach out and they can just say, hey, to the transplant centers. We'll take care of this person in the days following the transplant. So they have a support system.
And so we've just sort of learned all this along the way. And so now people can watch the movie, read the book, go to inthewait.netwait.net and there's a dropdown where they can begin the journey to be a donor. And it connects to. We've got partnerships with transplant centers all over the country where mentors can walk them through the process. They can turn back at any time. There's no cost associated with it.
People can join as volunteers or coordinators and start up their own chapter. And we minister them through that process and support them all along the way.
And I get a front row seat to this and I don't know why.
It's been amazing. It's just been so humbling to, you know, God, why are you allowing me to be blessed like this?
Miracle after miracle after miracle.
[00:35:59] Speaker C: Praise God. I love the story and typically we have follow up questions, but I mean, the story just stands on its own. And I just can't thank you enough for being a guy who even through tragedy, did not allow bitterness to set in, but allowed God to take that moment, transform you, humble you and do amazing things through you to impact other people.
Typically, we have a call to action. What would you say is your call to action? And I think you've just said it like go to the website.
Think about what would it look like to be a donor?
What would it look like to be someone who just supports, someone who's on dialysis, not just family members, but even strangers, because the need is so great and we can make a real difference with this.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: You know, we'll put a link below for. For end the weight and then go
[00:36:46] Speaker C: see the movie and take your family to go see the movie and take other people to go see the movie. Healthy people, you know, go see the movie.
[00:36:53] Speaker B: There's so many things that happen that I have. I obviously don't have time to share it all but. But Dean told me to write a book about it because, hey, he said the miracle is, is what God has done even since the transplant. So yeah, this is on Amazon.com it's called in the How One Yes, Changed Everything. And it's really just miracle after miracle.
[00:37:12] Speaker C: That's amazing. Yeah.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: And as I was finishing up the book, my two year old son, who is now 29, he called me up and he said, dad, I've been praying about it and I think I want to donate a kidney. And so it was that became one of the latter chapters in the book. But now I need to write a sequel to it because so many things have happened since June. But wow.
Let me just say call to action is not just kidneys.
If God is convicting you to get engaged with something, don't stick your head in the sand and respond to that.
I direct you to first John 3, 17 and 18. You know, if we have things in the world including two kidneys and God's calling us to help someone that's in need, you know, how are we showing his love if we're not doing that? And we do that.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:37:59] Speaker B: Through our words and actions, not I Mean through our actions, not just our words.
[00:38:04] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: So good. So good. This truth is so awesome, Randy. I mean, I'm excited to have you back on again after. After the movie. And like, okay. Kind of the response. We want to keep this constant because there's so many questions I have, and I think you've answered a bunch of them right now in that first step is we're. Our goal is to help men wake up, gear up, and come alive to who God called them to. And so many men don't see the value that they already bring to the world. Like. Like some of it. Like this, you have a kidney. You didn't. You didn't do anything. You just. You're existing. You know what I'm saying? Like, we need you to just exist. Like, but what stewardship is. It's just incredible. Really quick going back to that first time. I remember when we first talked, you said, man, when your son. When you found your son, and it really changed your life and your direction.
How did you see God beforehand? And how did you view him right after that?
Like, what was your. What was your view? What was your vantage point on that? Really quick, Because I think a lot of guys, they don't move because they see God in a certain light.
How did you see him differently in those two moments?
[00:39:04] Speaker B: It's interesting that you say the word light. It reminds me of Plato's allegory of the cave. So it's. You know, these prisoners were in this cave and they saw shadows in the wall. They thought that was their reality until one of the prisoners was freed and he went outside, or he was fighting, forced to go outside, and the light was even painful. But he realized there was this whole other world, and he went back and tried to tell the others, and they rejected it because they couldn't understand that there was a reality so much bigger out there.
That's what it was like for me.
It's just like in. I think it's John 16, where Jesus is telling the disciples right before he's crucified, hours before that, he has overcome the world.
There is the transformation of seeing this huge world of opportunity. It was like it went life. My relationship with God went from like a story that I would read to a story that I was a part of.
It's something that I could be blessed by being a part of every day. And he will show us opportunities to. To in big ways and little ways and even the little ways. You never know when that one pebble in the pond, you don't ever. You never Know what the ripple effects of that going to be? Of that are going to be. You may not even see it on this side of the threshold, but it's just being obedient every day makes a huge difference. I've received such a blessing out of being a donor, and again, I just. I'm blown away by what God's doing through this movement, and I can't wait to see where it ends up.
[00:40:47] Speaker C: Oh, I'm.
[00:40:47] Speaker A: It's so exciting, guys. We're just, like I said, we'll put the link below and kind of man, you know, as we finish up.
Because, Randy, I said that we're going to keep this relationship going on. I hope you're okay with that. You're stuck with us now forever, just so you know.
Well, we. And we appreciate that as we'll have you on again just because you said no, I'm just kidding. No, we are super grateful to have you on, brother. And this is powerful. I just feel like so many guys are like. Like you said, I love it. We. We joke a lot. We say we're just. We're just dumb fishermen, you know, and. And for. For us, you know, we're like, we're just dumb fishermen who don't. Who don't know, you know, the difference or anything like that. But I. I would tell you that. That we. We, you know, as you said, you're just like a ditch digger. Guys, I don't care where you are in your lot in life. This is a great challenge.
Randy would. What I know would say, I'm just a normal guy who just said, God, use me. And so if you're out there today, if you're in your truck, if you're in your car, if you're listening to this while you're mowing the yard, I pray you would stop and just say, God, use me. That's it. And just take the next step. Your words, a lamp to our feet and the light to our path. We just move in this. In this moment to go, God, I'm yours. What do you want to do with me now? What do you want to do with me now? And don't look down the road. Just make it happen. And so, Randy, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for what you've done.
Any final thoughts? I do want to do our fast five with you because there's a couple things in here I really, really love to hear from you, but, man, any final thoughts from you?
[00:42:11] Speaker B: No, I would just say, you know, last. Last. Last Ash Wednesday, I was getting a little Overwhelmed. What if I do something wrong or say something wrong? And God just overwhelmingly told me in that moment, I just need you to be obedient today. You let me worry about tomorrow and the day.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: So good.
So good, so good. Thank you so much, Randy. Well, you know, as we're jumping into. We're going to jump into our series called fast five.
There we go.
And Randy, are you ready for these questions? Sir?
[00:42:41] Speaker B: I don't know what they are, so I hope so.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: Okay, good. Go for it. What's a book you're currently reading?
[00:42:48] Speaker B: And the weight.
[00:42:49] Speaker C: Yes, I love it. Good answer. Good answer.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: And the way. Anyway, what's something you're excited about in this season of life?
[00:42:58] Speaker B: Okay, I'll just be transparent. Georgia's playing Auburn Saturday and I can't wait. They're on a great run.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: That's great. There's nothing wrong with that.
[00:43:05] Speaker C: Nothing wrong with that.
[00:43:07] Speaker A: Those moments matter. That's awesome. All right, number three. If you could pick one decade to go back to, what would it be?
[00:43:16] Speaker B: I grew up in the 80s. That's when I graduated school. So I love the 80s. I love the music and, and. But I don't love the knowledge that I had then. I wish I could with what I know now and man, I would be able to do so much more.
It was for the kingdom, so I love it.
[00:43:35] Speaker C: I love.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: In fact, I told my wife two days ago, I was like, I gotta put on Journey and just listen to the whole album.
[00:43:39] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: So I just. So, so we just. Yeah, So I had to said they listened to the whole. Yeah, it was amazing. So, all right. What is your go to Fast food subway.
[00:43:49] Speaker C: Oh, nice.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: We haven't had a subway. That's awesome.
[00:43:51] Speaker C: No, buy one, get one free foot long.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: I've always been a cold cut combo fan. I have been. That's my. My go to. So. All right. If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
[00:44:05] Speaker B: Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not into your own understanding. And all your ways, all of them, follow him and he will make straight your path.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: Ah, so good. So good, so good. Oh, I love it, Randy. This has been so fruitful, so exciting. I can't wait to. Guys, we're going to put a link below for the way home because there's three different the way homes. We'll put the link in there for the. For this one because this is the best one. I'm just going to be a little bit biased about that. It's the best one. And then we'll also put end the way we'll put the email address or I'm sorry, the address for that. If you want to connect with Randy, infoonelegacy.org, we'd love to connect you to Randy. If you feel like God is tugging in your heart to be a donor or take that step of faith, we would love you to truly pray about that because it really is life changing. If you're like, I have nothing else to offer, you do have a kidney, make it happen. And so Randy, thank you so much for being on today guys. Thank you so much for listening. We are excited. Make sure you check out our stuff at our Adrenaline Shot on Thursdays and our Wake Up Guide and seven Day Reset. We'd love to connect with you guys. Thank you so much. Travis, final thoughts for today.
[00:45:14] Speaker C: God bless you guys.
[00:45:15] Speaker A: Have a great week. Y'. All.
Thanks for listening to the Known Legacy podcast. We'd love to hear from you. So email us your questions or comments to info at nolegacy. Org.
