Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] 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 A. Travis.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Good morning, everyone.
[00:00:17] Speaker C: Good morning.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Or good afternoon if you happen to be listening to this on the drive home from work.
[00:00:23] Speaker C: Yeah, we are. Drive time hosts Travis and Bill and Kyle.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Hello. Known Legacy.
[00:00:30] Speaker C: Known Legacy. Not one.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: But today on the 405, you'll see. No, I'm just kidding.
Thank you guys for checking out Known Legacy. We're happy you're here. As always, you can check us out on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. That's where you can find us. If you would be so kind to share it, that'd be helpful. If you want to review it, that'd be great. We always appreciate five stars but we value your honesty. And if you have any questions, comments or concerns, infoownlegacy is a great place. And as always, you can see Bill's speaking engagements coming up, his book, his audio book, and everything on knownlegacy.org so those are the great places for you guys to go.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: Love it. Love it. So glad to have you guys on today, man. It is another good day.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: It's a great day.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: How are, how is your, how's your week going?
[00:01:17] Speaker B: It's good.
My daughter was in a car accident the other day. What is just a rear ender. Some 23 year old in her daddy's truck, you know, didn't stop quick enough. And so she's got to deal with that and her play that she's in, she's in a play at college and that opens this weekend. So it's, it's a crazy time here at the Heartson house.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Dude. No, that's crazy. It brings up this thing. I was yesterday, me and my wife were looking at baby pictures.
I don't know why we're doing this to ourselves. But you know, Gabe graduates and then she's like, so okay, so like first kid, you know, you make this giant baby book.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
[00:01:56] Speaker C: Second kid is like halfway done and I guess I don't have a third, but everyone said the third is like a box of pictures, correct?
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: So we're now going through to look at. She's gonna redo Lily's baby book and all this kind of stuff.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: And what we have found with our youngest is all of his pictures are with the other kids. There's like no single pictures of him.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: Join the party.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: So like we're already starting to put together pictures for his graduation and we're like there's no pictures of just him. I guess we gotta catch up on this.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: What do we do here? Yeah, no, that's. Oh, I know. We gotta catch up, so.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: All right, gentlemen, so, question for the day.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: Question for the day. You said question for. Try it again.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Question of the day.
[00:02:29] Speaker C: Question of the day.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Thank you, Bill. It's great to have you here.
Is this movie season, it's getting cold. You know, people hanging out at home. You know, we're gonna have those weekends real soon that you just can't go outside because it's too cold or the weather's too bad or whatever else. And if you got a trilogy that you can put on in the early morning and finish that evening, what trilogy are you watching? What movie trilogy are you going to? Because you think it's just the apex. It's phenomenal. It's worth your 12 hour investment.
What do you got?
[00:02:59] Speaker C: What do you got? Kyle?
[00:03:00] Speaker B: Kyle. Oh, it's gonna be me first. Yes.
I'm gonna go with Matrix.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Oh, that's a really good one. But I have a very extreme question. Matrix ending with the third one or that weird fourth one?
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Well, I would end it with the third one.
[00:03:19] Speaker C: Okay, good. Thank you. Thank you. Because I feel like the fourth one is called Matrix the mistake.
[00:03:27] Speaker B: See, that's your new job, Marketing. Marketing for Hollywood.
[00:03:31] Speaker C: Oh, man.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: What I think is a mistake.
[00:03:32] Speaker C: By the way, that was a terrible fourth movie.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:34] Speaker C: I think he just got played because of John Wick. And then they did like Bill and Ted's three.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:39] Speaker C: Which I'm like, stop it. Just stop it. All right. We love you, Keanu.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: Dumb and Dumber three. Come on, stop.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: I mean, come on. Dumb. And we can't get any stupider.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: There's a. There's a lot of bad trilogies out there. So, Bill, what about you? Good call, by the way. Kyle.
[00:03:54] Speaker C: I will say, when it comes to trilogies, the extended versions of either the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: So good.
[00:04:02] Speaker C: And it's like 19 hours.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But it's so beautiful and it's so epic. And I'm actually listening to the Lord of the Rings right now. The entire series online for the next three years, I think, is how long it's gonna take.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: So good.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: It's. The writing is so epic. And he did a good job with it. He did a great job with it. Yeah.
[00:04:19] Speaker C: Peter Jackson did a really good job.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: Peter Jackson.
[00:04:21] Speaker C: What did I say before?
Robert Jackson.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Right.
[00:04:25] Speaker C: Like the sixth member of the Jackson five and son Robert one Two, three.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Easy as abc. I don't know if that's right. I'm probably saying that. Right. Anyways, so for me.
[00:04:37] Speaker C: Yes. What about you?
[00:04:38] Speaker B: I'm gonna break the mold here, and I'm gonna go beyond a trilogy. And I think it really is. It stands the test of time. And it's the entire Harry Potter, you know, all of it. Like, any movie that's on during this time of year, wherever it is, that's. I will stop and I'll just watch and just be reminded of my kids watching it for the first time and all of it. It's so.
[00:05:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Because it is. There's something fun about that. We actually went to the studio in England.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: What?
[00:05:05] Speaker C: Yeah. And I walked on the Great Hall.
Yeah. So they open up. These are. They like, hey, everybody, welcome to the sound set. And all sudden, the big doors open up and you're like, I'm in the Great Hall. This is wild. And so. Yeah. So me and Gabe, when we. When we went to England, such a great group, we used to make this joke about what about if there was, like, a guy who was like, the cleaner, like, Larry Cotter, and he was just like, the guy who mopped up everything. What the heck is going on around here? Things are blowing up.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Him.
[00:05:33] Speaker C: Like, what in the world? Yeah. Anyway. So great, great. I love.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: So what house would you be in?
[00:05:38] Speaker C: Gryffindor.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Everyone wants Gryffindor.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: I know I would be in Gryffindor. Yeah.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: I'd probably be Slytherin.
[00:05:43] Speaker C: And I know people, like, rip it apart. And again, we can't talk about all that. I mean, like, I've looked it up. None of those, like, spells are real, all that kind of stuff. But, man, it's something fun about that. Of even there is the story of good versus evil and even giving your life good versus, if you don't know it now, like, Christology.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. If you haven't watched it at this point, know how it ends.
[00:06:03] Speaker C: You probably Time also talk about the Titanic.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: The boat sinks.
[00:06:06] Speaker C: The boat sinks. That door was just too small.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: All right, a little side note right here. Saw an interesting take on the Titanic. Who the evil. Who the villain is in Titanic. You know who they. Rose.
Rose is the villain in Titanic because she allows him to die. She ruins a marriage, Right?
[00:06:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: And she throws away this. This guy who's been looking for this heart, this gem for his entire life. She, at the end of the movie, just tosses it away like, you are the evil. She's just an evil Person completely narcissistic and evil.
[00:06:37] Speaker C: You're up there with a Jenny from Forrest Gump, right? Jenny and Rose. All right, so anyway, sorry. We do have a guest today. I think he's still on. We're glad to have him on.
Mike. Mike.
Mike Todrick. So glad to have you here.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: That's funny. You guys crack me up.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: Well, thank you. We try to do that for somebody. At least we know we've been successful.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Our wives haven't laughed at us for years. Years. So we're desperate for anyone to just find humor.
[00:07:02] Speaker C: Exactly. We were going to name this idiots on parade, but it didn't have the same fling as the known legacy podcast, so.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: So, Mike, what about.
Go ahead.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: I'm sorry. My wife has seen. Has heard so many of my jokes. Every time I say one, it's like, oh, not that again.
[00:07:15] Speaker C: Yes, yes, exactly.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: I love it. So, Mike, what about you? What's your trilogy that you would say would be worthy of investment?
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Well, I'm gonna break the mold like you did. I'm gonna say Band of Brothers number one.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: Oh, amazing. Amazing.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: And number two would be John Wick. So that says something about my personality, right?
[00:07:39] Speaker C: Well, you're welcome to come on every week now as part of the podcast.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: You have passed the test.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: Oh, man, Ben, I forgot about Band of Brothers because we watched that every year at least once or twice.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: So good.
All of it is so good. These flawed men putting in a possible situation, being faithful and just moving forward.
[00:07:57] Speaker C: I love it. I love it.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: So.
[00:07:58] Speaker C: Well, Mike, please share a little bit about yourself, your story, who you are. Let our listeners and our viewers know who you are. Share a little show. Share a little bit about yourself.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: Man, where do you want me to start, Bill?
[00:08:11] Speaker C: You just start wherever you want to.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: Well, you know, I'm the product of an interesting upbringing, like a lot of guys. Like a lot of guys. You know, I had some damage I carried with me from boyhood perpetrated on me by my father, God rest his soul. I still love him.
And I was kind of a.
Kind of the class clown, although I get in trouble quite a bit, and managed to get into college, which surprised everybody, I think, and kind of blew. Kind of blew my opportunity in college by. Because I found out I could chase girls and drink beer. So after the first semester, they told me I could leave, and I went back home. This was in Milwaukee, where I grew up.
And while I was waiting to get into community college, I got drafted.
And when I was drafted, I decided I would go join the military rather than be subject to the draft. So I enlisted in the Air Force, ended up in Vietnam, got out early, tried college again, didn't like that, Enlisted in the army, went back to Vietnam. So the reason I bring all that up is because I had a lot of baggage. After a couple tours in Vietnam, I had PTSD and tried to deal with that by drinking at night and taking Valium during the day. Not a good combination.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:09:38] Speaker A: And had a lot of anger issues and was married and was actually succeeding in business. But I had this issue that I was constantly dealing with and was a lot of severe anger and rage.
And really my behavior probably contributed to my first marriage failing.
And met my wife now of 46 years. Praise God.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Congratulations.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Thank you. And I thought, you know, I thought, well, now that I have a new opportunity with a new woman, everything will change. But what I didn't realize is I still had the same problems.
And I should mention, too, that I attempted suicide about two years after coming back from Vietnam. And God saved me from that. I just never gave him credit.
And I was going through the same things. I was having the same problems. And although I wasn't drinking as much and I stopped taking the Valium, I still had these anger issues and I still had this unresolved trauma.
And I was watching. I was pacing one night because I had a lot of nightmares. I was pacing one night and I happened to flip on the TV at around 2am and the show 700 Club with Pat Robertson was on, which I'd never seen before.
But I was listening as I was pacing and thinking all this stuff through, I heard this person that he was interviewing say, yes, I'm a Vietnam vet, and yes, I'm damaged, but God gave me hope, and I'm a different person now. And that got my attention.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: And I started listening. And he gave essentially a. A message of salvation and said, look, if you want to stop dealing with your demons and you want peace in your life and you want to be sure of where you're going, you have to serve Jesus Christ, and this is how you do it. And so I followed him through a salvation prayer, and with tears coming down on my knees in front of the tv, I got saved that night.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: And I didn't tell my wife because I wasn't quite sure what. What to do with it. But I started reading a little bitty Gideon's Bible, little New Testament Bible that they gave me when I was getting on a plane to go to Vietnam. And I just kept it with me.
And I Started reading that, and my wife. Because we'd usually watch the news or something at night. And my wife looked over me and said, what are you reading? And I said, I'm reading the Bible. And she said, really?
So I didn't. So I didn't know what quite to do. So I was asking God. And I happened to be reading a newspaper, local newspaper, this was up in Minnesota. And I saw an ad for a church that was nearby, Assemblies of God Church. I was raised Catholic, by the way. And you just stopped going and.
And I. It was an Assemblies of God church. I didn't know what that meant, but I called the pastor up in the middle of a. A business day, and I. And a woman answered, and it was his wife, which I found out later. And she said, what can I do for you? I said, I don't know. I need to talk to somebody, because here's what happened to me, and I don't know what to do with it. And she said, how long would it take you to get down here? I said, about 30 minutes.
So I drove down there, and as soon as my foot went over the threshold of that church, the Holy Spirit hit me so hard that I started weeping. I could hardly hold on to the wall. And the pastor came out, man, God is so good. And he said, man, the Holy Spirit's just all over you. Why don't you come in my office and let's talk? So he explained to me exactly what I. What I had done and what it meant and what my next step should be.
So I left there after being invited by him to come that night to church. And of course, my first response was, it's Wednesday. Why are we doing church?
[00:13:22] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: He explained to me, we do Bible study and have worship service. So why don't you bring your wife and your family? And normally my wife and I would take the kids out on Wednesday nights for a. You know, for a inexpensive meal. And so I told her, we're going to go to church tonight. And she was. She was just scratching the head and said, okay, whatever.
And so we went that night, and the pastor did an altar call that night, and my wife got saved.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: That changed everything. So fast forward about five years after I was saved, I got in some trouble, and God brought me through it. And it was at that point, boy, I got saved at 39. And four years later, five years later, it was at that point where I truly understood that Jesus wasn't just my savior, but he became my Lord, you know? You know what I mean?
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: I moved him from savior in my heart to Lord of my life.
And that put me on a whole different trajectory. Now I stayed in the business world, but I pursued by prayer and supplication.
God gave me some peace about what I wanted to do. I wanted to help men.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: And so I talked to my pastor about this and he said, yeah, you, you should be doing that because you've got a great story and guys can relate to that.
And so he asked me to speak at a men's convention and the pastor took up an offering as he normally did after. It was like a three night convention. I was on the third night.
And then after the convention was over, he came up to me, he handed me a wad of cash and he said, take this money, start your ministry.
Wow.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: And so that's what I did.
And a friend of mine who had a international ministry called Reformers Unanimous, he gave me a space on Wednesday night and I started meeting with guys. And it grew from two guys to about 30 on a regular basis. And we had a radio show and radio ads and all kinds of stuff. And God really provided and just moved me through. And then when I retired and we left Illinois to come down to Texas, we decided to. I decided, well, I'm going to try to pursue the same thing. So I started calling on local churches and telling them about the ministry.
And I got a lot of kick, I got a lot of resistance.
The usual answer was, hey, we've got a men's ministry.
Somebody had a question, no, no, no, no, you're good.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: You keep on going, keep going.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: So I found a lot of resistance with pastors. And the usual answer was, hey, we've got men's ministry. It's all coverage. So I was a little frustrated and I had retired from another job that I took briefly here in Texas, which just didn't appeal to me.
And I was in.
I was in a cigar shop enjoying a cigar. Yes, I do smoke cigars.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: You're a good man. You're in good company. You're in very, very good company.
[00:16:31] Speaker A: Yeah, it's good to know because you get. I get, you know, you get a lot of weird reactions about that. So the fellow had owned the business, said, hey, Mike, what are you doing now that you're retired? And I said, I haven't really thought about. He said, why don't you come to work for me? So I did go to work from part time. I've been there 10 years. Yeah. And after I'd been there about a year, the Guys. Some of the guys started to ask me, why don't you start a men's ministry? Men's Bible study.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Long story short, I did that on Friday mornings, 8am Central Time.
On Facebook Live, I started doing that. It grew from two guys initially. Now I think we've got 50 plus on the roster and I typically get anywhere from 20 to 20 to 28, 29 people.
[00:17:16] Speaker C: Yeah. Good guys.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: Yeah, thanks. You've been there, Bill.
[00:17:20] Speaker C: I have, yeah. I love those guys.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: So God has really moved me from, you know, from being what I call myself, a dysfunctional Vietnam vet pastor.
Yeah, that kind of wraps it up for me. So I can relate to a lot of what these guys are going through because the ministry I had was all about restoring marriages and getting guys out of pornography and adultery and that really kind of laid the groundwork for everything else. So that's my story. I'm sticking to it.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: That's awesome. I love, love that story. I love the redemption in it and I love the long suffering that you were just faithful in that journey. Saying, man, I still don't have it all figured out, but I'm just going to pursue what God's laid. And kudos to that pastor for seeing the spirit on you and investing in you. And have you had a chance to go back to any of those other churches that maybe were resistant to you and what you were trying to do down here in Texas? And have you had any good follow up conversations with them or is it kind of like, man, that ship has sailed and the guys that want to connect will connect.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, that bridge is burned, Bill. And God just, God just brings me people. I pray about it every, you know, every day and he just brings me people. And so I don't worry about it.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Well, and I think that's what I love about cigar shops. And again, you know, I understand that in our, in our puritan ways in the church, there's, there's vices that we tend to not invest in and cigar can be one of those for some people. But what I appreciate about the cigar shop and about cigars in general is it's the one refuge that guys have that we can sit down and talk. And it doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter your paycheck. You're just in a room that 99% of humanity thinks is horrible.
[00:19:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: Doing an activity that 95% of people think is, is, you know, just disgusting. And it is, it is, you know, but, but there's conversations that will happen there and there's ministry and there's connections there, and guys that will never darken this door frame of a church will. Will begin to open up and have these honest conversations in the cigar shop.
And so the fact that you're deployed missionary into the world through cigar ministry, I think is fantastic.
Do you have any stories about guys that you've been connecting with? And all of a sudden you're like, you see the spirit move in them after months or years of connecting with them at the cigar shop?
[00:19:43] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, absolutely. That's a great question.
I've seen it time and time again. I can think of one particular friend and Bill. You would know him, Marcel.
You know, he started coming to Friday mornings and wasn't saved, wasn't baptized, brought up in what we call a Christian home, but really no relationship with Christ. And I've seen him a get saved and now become a regular attender and a contributor in growing in Christ and sharing and recruiting people back into the environment on Friday mornings. I've seen.
I've seen a lot of guys that really aren't, really are not church.
And so I always, like, Pastor friend of mine said that what I'm doing on Friday is really a parachurch because I have a lot of guys that don't attend any particular church. Then I've seen them grow and I've seen marriages restored and I've seen guys heal from, you know, father wounds, as we call it, and some of those things. So, yeah, I mean, I've seen a lot. God do a lot of remarkable stuff. It's just been amazing. Very, very, very gratifying and honored to be used by that. Like that by God.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: So let's say that there's a guy that you have a chance to connect with and you can tell that there is. There's some of these guys that the spirit is moving, but they don't know how to put all the pieces together. What kind of conversation would you have or what kind of words of encouragement would you have to these guys that are like, I'm not. I'm disillusioned with what currently is going on. I'm not happy with where I'm currently at.
What words of advice would you give to that person as they begin to maybe do that pursuit of God and be in his presence?
[00:21:28] Speaker A: Well, you know, I would start off by trying to find out if they are involved in the church and if so, what's their relationship with Christ. I did. I'm pretty direct in that manner. You know, do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord And Savior, since you say you're to going to church.
So if they say no, that's a great opening because I can tell them, look, why don't you come on Friday mornings? There's no judgment. You'll meet a bunch of great guys. And by the way, you'll get a free cigar. If you're a cigar smoker, you don't have to be, but it helps. And that opens a lot of doors. And I tell them, look, you're going to meet guys that have similar stories, been down the road before you. Some of them are still fighting the fight, and you're just going to get plugged in. And if you just show up one time, I guarantee you come back.
That's pretty much how I do it.
I should say that's. That's how the Lord leads me to do it.
[00:22:17] Speaker C: I love that. And I mean, I've got a question for you. You know how many guys that have walked into the shop that come in on a Friday have experienced church hurt like that, have been a part of a church, but had that kind of like, I'm just not going to go back anymore. How many guys. Can you speak into that a little bit? How many guys have you seen in your journey that have walked through that, that, that kind of pain?
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Probably 30%, Bill. That'd be a rough estimate. Probably 30%.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: And you know, or the other side is they were brought up as Christians, but because of college or because of life, they just stopped going to church. And they don't really have a relationship with the Lord.
[00:22:56] Speaker C: And you end up catching these guys at a place because, I mean, I've been there. And so Mike's got this awesome ministry. If you get a chance, guys, it's Friday mornings in Allen. Well, actually it's in McKinney at Enfuego Cigar Shop. And man, so if you're going, man, I just.
[00:23:12] Speaker B: 121 in Alma.
[00:23:13] Speaker C: 121 and Alma. Yeah. 120. Yeah, there's two of them now. Actually there's five of them or something like. Yeah, in, in, in. In their. McKinney on 121. But the stories that I've heard, there are guys that are like, yeah, I never really went. And what, what I love about Mike and part of why I wanted to get him on here is he calls men out of the ordinary to really see the bigger picture. I mean, there's guys there that I don't think would ever grace a. Or they might grace, you know, you know, the threshold of a church but they would feel completely out.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:45] Speaker C: Mike, what is your philosophy with that? Because I feel like you invite men in.
Where does that come from? Where does that heart come from to say, guys, you're just. You're just here. You're just a part of this journey?
[00:23:56] Speaker A: You know, it comes from my own. My own experiences. You know, I. Like I said, I was brought up Catholic and, you know, went to Catholic school and all that stuff. And then, you know, after.
After military in college, I just didn't go anymore. I just didn't really believe. I believed there was a God, but that was about it. And so you couldn't get me to go to church until somebody gave me the truth. And so my ability to give people the truth and just talk very direct with them about what they're dealing with and how God looks at them and how God really loves them, no matter what they've been through. You know, one of the most profound things that a pastor ever said to me was, you know, God doesn't look at what you did. He looks at who you are.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: So many guys walk around with what they did, and they just can't forgive themselves. So I try to. I spent a lot of time trying to get guys to understand you have to forgive yourself because God forgive you, forgave you first, and you are not what you did.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: That's awesome. Yeah, it makes complete sense. And I think that's where the gospel is so powerful. And I wish more churches were just locked into that gospel message of the forgiveness and the freedom that he gives to you. So let's say there's a guy that is maybe a cigar smoker. Maybe there's some other thing that he's into. And he's like, man, I feel the calling to invest in guys, to give them the gospel message in this community or this setting that he's uniquely called me to. What advice would you give to a guy that maybe is. Is hearing this? He's, like, feeling that stirring of the spirit, like, I've got to create this community someplace for these other guys. What advice would you give for him?
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Well, first of all, talk to me or. Or talk to Bill and, you know, plug into known legacy. That's a good place to start.
And nice plug.
Yeah, you bet. Get some advice. You know, don't just get ahead of God. Pray about it. Be patient, and see what God unveils. You know, God chased me with that ministry for a number of years. I really did resist it for about three years until I was asked to speak at that event. And that changed everything. But so I wasn't in a big hurry. I was just. I just kind of said, well, God, if this is what you want me to do, then I'll do it. But I don't know what else. I don't know what to do. I just felt I needed to do it.
And so I think talking to other people that are involved in ministries like that are involved in helping men.
Iron sharpens iron.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: Right, right, right.
[00:26:28] Speaker C: You know, I think there's. There's a lot of guys that I think that I. We've come across in the last year and a half to two years of guys who are like, yeah, I go to my church. We do a pancake thing once every couple of. Couple of months.
But really.
And what I'm hearing you say, and what I think we really value is that men want to be known guys. If you're out there and you feel like you're on the outs and you feel like, man, I don't have anybody. And I know that we talk about this all the time, but I think it's so important.
God wants you to be known where you are, not in some proverbial. I'll do better next week, and I'll show up. This is not just for your kids. It's not for your wife. The thing I love about what Mike does is he invites the man to lead his family. Right. And I think there's so many guys who just feel as though they don't have what it takes.
And one again, one of the reasons why I want to Mike honor is he calls men to come alive.
[00:27:21] Speaker B: Right.
[00:27:21] Speaker C: And he has a story behind him that's so powerful that. Mike, how many guys do you know right now in your journey that are. That are still struggling with ptsd? That's a huge thing. Do you have a lot of guys in your journey that are battling with PTSD right.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: Right now in. Well, yeah.
Besides people that I know outside of the ministry, there's probably at least 10 that I know are still. Still dealing with it to one degree or another.
And it's all about.
It's all about.
Usually I did something back then that I just can't forgive myself for.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: Right.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: That's the biggest one. And the second one is I can't believe that I'm still alive and I shouldn't be. I should be dead, and that other person should be alive.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: Survival's guilt, man.
[00:28:09] Speaker C: So as we're wrapping up, what is some words you would say to the guy who's like that, who kind of Doesn't. Hasn't shown up. Man is struggling with that. What are some words? If you could grab him for. For five minutes, what would you say to him?
[00:28:22] Speaker A: Say, listen, every. You're not the only person that's going through this or haven't dealt with it. I can give. I would give him my story. I would tell him what changed me. This is who I was.
This is what changed me. This is the way I am now.
I think the most powerful thing we can do in evangelism is just simply make a connection and tell your story.
[00:28:44] Speaker C: That's good.
I think so. And I think that's maybe the. Maybe the big point today is don't underestimate the impact that your story can make on somebody else. Like, you really do have something worth it. And if your struggle is. Whatever your struggle is, bring it. Bring it to the light, man. Find some guys to have accountability and life with, but not just. Not sin. Accountability come alive. Accountability. Right? And that's what I love about what Mike does. And so, guys, again, you can. You can catch up with Mike and catch up with those guys. I mean, we get in there. In fact, that's where Jeff is. Every Friday, Jeff comes in. We just had Jeff on the podcast, and, man, Jeff's part of Jeff's story now is connected to the fruit of. Of Mike's story.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Right?
[00:29:24] Speaker C: And I love that. And, guys, we're made to do life together. So, Mike, thanks for your faithfulness. Thanks for doing this, man.
Man. As we. As we finish up, you know, and any final thoughts before we finish up and go into the fast five? Anything else you'd like you want to share?
[00:29:39] Speaker A: No, I would just say that stop fighting your demons on your own and do what? Do what people like myself have done and just surrender to Christ and he'll take care of those demons, man.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: Love it, love it, love it.
[00:29:54] Speaker C: Well, man, thank you for being on. And honestly, as we finish up, we're jumping into our fast five.
There it is. There it is, Mike. Fast five. We had these five questions. I hope you're. Hope you're ready for a man.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Who.
[00:30:07] Speaker C: Who do you most admire and why?
[00:30:11] Speaker A: You guys are probably gonna laugh about this, but I thought about this deeply, and I would say my wife.
[00:30:19] Speaker C: That's no laugh there.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: Nope.
Mad props to that.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: She. She has put up with more crap from me and.
And. And has forgiven me of stuff. And she shows me mercy and grace and just takes care of me and. And she's. I admire her more than anybody.
[00:30:38] Speaker C: Oh, man. Dude, that's awesome. We will make sure that we tag her.
Just to let you know, this is what Mike thinks about you. So. Hey, where would you like to go on a vacation?
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Well, it's funny you should say that. We, Kathy and I've been talking about this. My bucket list is to go to see New England in place the first fall.
[00:30:56] Speaker C: Oh, you would love it.
[00:30:58] Speaker A: I would love to get up there and you know, we're kind of. Maybe. We're praying to maybe be able to do it next. Next fall.
[00:31:04] Speaker C: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:31:05] Speaker B: Apple cider donuts.
[00:31:06] Speaker C: Manuts. We just posted that. About that. Apple cider. Apple cider and apple cider donuts. Make sure you get it. So good stuff, man. Where. What are you currently reading right now? Like the Bible and another book. Are you reading anything specific?
[00:31:19] Speaker A: Yeah, well, the Bible, obviously, but I'm also reading a book called the Ezekiel Option.
It's by a guy named Joel Rosenberg. It's a novel, but it's a Christian based novel. It's. It's intriguing because it talks about stuff we're going through right now, you know, as a society. And the other book I'm reading is Killing Sin by Carl Claussen. I tried to read two books at a time. A couple.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: Good for you.
[00:31:45] Speaker C: That's awesome.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:31:46] Speaker C: Killing Sin. I gotta look that one up. That's pretty cool. I gotta check that out.
What is your goal? What is the goal you have for this year?
[00:31:54] Speaker A: I got several.
Improve my scripture memorization because I can, I can, I can paraphrase scripture and I can give you a scripture, but I can't always remember exactly where it is. So I'm working on that. And the other goal I have is to. Is to try to read three books a month.
[00:32:13] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:32:14] Speaker A: And, and do more painting. I'm an artist too. I'd like to be able to do more painting.
[00:32:19] Speaker C: I didn't know you were an artist. That's pretty cool. I'd love to see some of your stuff. You need to bring it to the shop sometime. I'd like to see it.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: There's one in the background. You see it?
[00:32:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:27] Speaker C: That one with the tree?
[00:32:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:29] Speaker C: That's amazing.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: Fantastic.
[00:32:31] Speaker C: That's so cool. Awesome. Okay, last one. What is the most impactful piece of advice you've ever been given?
[00:32:38] Speaker A: My grandmother said, choose your friends carefully because you're going to end up just like that.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: Them wise words. We just had that conversation off air.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: I think that's actually. I think that's First Corinthians, 15 something or other.
[00:32:52] Speaker C: Close enough. I know it's, it's. I know it's there, so I love it.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: Show me your five friends and I'll show you your future.
[00:32:57] Speaker C: Yes. That's it, man. We are the sum of those. So Mike, this has been awesome.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: Again, thank you, Mike.
[00:33:02] Speaker C: Guys, if you are out there and you need a place to be Friday mornings at 8 o' clock in the morning at the Enfuego on Hub, Hub 121, there it is also, they can.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: Also come on Facebook on my Facebook Live page every Friday morning at 8:00am okay, cool.
[00:33:19] Speaker C: We should put that, I'll try to put that, that Facebook link up there as well for people to, to click on and be a part of it. Because I do love that you have that on there. Mike's always sharing some good stuff and so Mike, thank you so much again for being on today.
[00:33:30] Speaker B: Great job.
[00:33:31] Speaker C: We are grateful to have you on and man.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: Our in studio audience.
[00:33:37] Speaker C: We love it. We love it. Guys, thank you so much for checking us out today. Thank you so much. Make sure if you have any questions, comments or concerns infoownlegacy.org Please like and share this with your friends. We believe it's making a difference. We know it's making a difference. We hope it make it. It's making a difference in your, in your life to help you wake up, gear up and come alive.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: Love it. God bless you guys.
[00:33:57] Speaker C: Have a great week.
[00:33:59] 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 info at Nolegacy or.
