SPEAKER_02 0:00

Here comes a sun do. Here comes the sun that say it's all right.

SPEAKER_04 0:19

Hello, Fortitude audience. I am Heather Kittelson, your host, and I'm sitting here with my co-host, Amos Kittelson. Hello. And today you all are in for a treat. We have John Glasser in the studio with us today. And I am a big, big, big fan. So hello, John.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Hello, Heather. Hello, Amos. I'm so excited to be here. Yes. This freezing, frozen tundra morning in the north.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

It is.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

The hours before negative 22 hits tonight.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

Yep. That is that is cold, my friends.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Warm in here.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

If you don't know what that's like, I would recommend flying here just to get a feel and a taste for it because it burns the skin.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Just makes the food taste so much better.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

It does. I just drink coffee all day long to stay warm. So, John Glasser, uh man, we have been friends for a long time. I want to say that it's it's been at least a decade. And we met through nonprofit work, ministry work in the community. And I now serve on your National Development Committee for Collision, which um I just have always, always been a fan, always been someone who has loved your ministry, loved what you do. I love your bride. She's fabulous, Angie.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

She is.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Um, and the ministry that you guys have created that is changing lives for youth across the nation now is um is where our heart is. And I'm just so proud of you of a as a friend.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

I love being in your life, and I can't wait for our audience to hear just who you are and the things you're up to because God's working through you guys, it like your whole team and you specifically.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Um right back out to you, Heather.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

Yeah. We we we have a lot of energy to when we when we get together. It's true. It's a little electrifying.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

So um I want to jump in and just who are you? Let the audience know who's John? Like right now, in today in 2024, who are you?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Well, for you audience out there, I will try to make it as short and sweet as I can. Um, I am originally a California boy. That's where my parents met, way back in the day in the 60s. And um, you know, they got together and here I am.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

That's how it happens.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

That's how it happens, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Um, but anyway, my dad, my my mom led my dad to Christ, and then she led her parents to Christ, which is really cool and a cool kind of backstory. But they started going to this Baptist church across our street where they lived in California. And uh my dad started helping with the youth ministry and grew the youth ministry from next to nothing to over 300 kids. So the pastor of the church was like, hey, you should go to Bible school. And so he went to Bible college in Tennessee, Tennessee Temple in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But they didn't have a lot of money, and so I was born in a Lutheran hospital across the border of from Chattanooga in Wildwood, Georgia. So that's my backstory. Wow. I'm a Georgia boy via Sacramento, California. All my Cali friends out there that are listening.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

I did not know this about you. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Yeah, and then my dad ended up planting a church after he got done with Bible college in California, in Sacramento, and then to Utah, where my younger brother was born, uh, reaching Mormon people for Christ, and then to Wyoming. So I am a Sacramento, Georgia, Utah, Wyoming boy. Okay. Kind of mix all of those flavors together. Wow. Yeah. So I grew up in Wyoming in a place called Riverton, Wyoming, for all of those Wyoming fans out there.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Love Wyoming. Great, great scenery, not a lot of people. Um, but grew up in uh really close to the Wind River Reservation. So I still have a passion for Native American people and I love them. Got involved in public school back in that day and um discovered that I was a good runner, cross-country, track, et cetera, and had some great coaches and ended up winning the state championship in the 800. I was a 156, 800 runner. Got recruited by a guy named Rich Greeno, who came out to Riverton, Wyoming, and then to Casper, Wyoming for a state track meet. Little short guy always wore uh like a stocking cap that like everybody would recognize him. And he's like, hey son, um, like to recruit you to come to Sioux Falls. I was like, What?

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Yeah, where Sioux?

SPEAKER_00 4:58

I've never even heard that place. I was thinking like, I'm big stuff, so I'm gonna go to Dartmouth College or I'm gonna go to Northern Arizona, I'm gonna be a big track champion. So, but at least my parents instilled in me the financial fortitude, no pun intended, to uh to think through like, oh, well, USF or Sioux Falls College at the time was offering me a really good scholarship. So I chose here instead. And uh at the time my dad was a pastor. I really did not like God because I liked my sin a lot better than God. And uh, so I was like, ooh, it's a Christian college. I don't like that. They're offering me some good money. I'll go there, I'll ignore all the Christian stuff because I don't really like it. I like my sin better. And uh, so anyway, I came here, got my butt handed to me on the track uh field and on the cross country field because we were running against Texas and against other places that had Kenyons. Have you ever seen Kenyans run? Dude, they're awesome, they're amazing, they're so fast. Yeah, like 30 seconds ahead of me. Uh huh. And so all of the pride got depleted. And, you know, there's a there's a way that your sin catches up to you. And like that's what happened my freshman year, 1995. It doesn't not feel that long ago. I feel like I'm still 29.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

I do too. I was just watching our basketball game last night with the kids, and I looked to the person next to me and I said, I feel like I could get out there and I could do better than them. And I'm like, I'm 40, a 44-year-old female talking about senior awesome boy. That, but that's mentally, yeah. I don't feel like I'm any older than I'm 18, 20 years old. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah. I mean, the it's a cool part. The Bible says, like, God put eternity into our hearts. So death is next.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

It's there.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

What God intended. Anyway, um, yeah, my pride got crushed on the cross-country field, on the track field. And uh also my sin caught up to me. So I there was one specific night in October 1995 that I went out to the football field, which is now a parking lot, which is great. But anyway, it was a football field, like a practice football field. And at that time, Sioux Falls College was small, didn't have a big football field. And I ended up just kneeling down on my knees and going, God, like if you can save a wretch like me, like amazing grace, um, literally meaning it. It just like this burden of sin just weighs on your shoulders. Yeah. And when God gets your heart and like you don't know how to get rid of it. Um, there's a great book out there, by the way, audience, called Pilgrim's Progress that talks about the burden that Pilgrim, you know, Christian carries. But anyway, that was me.

SPEAKER_04 7:35

John, can I pause you and just ask? When you say sin, yeah, what what what were you doing? What were you doing?

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Yeah, um, yeah. I was doing everything with girls that you shouldn't do. And um, I was cussing and I was um I yeah, literally like I think it's everything that um our our flesh and our nature like wants to do. That's what I was doing and kind of delving in. I wasn't delving into drugs and alcohol because I knew that it would affect my performance. Okay, but really like every action was rooted in pride. It was like, hey, this is all about me, this is about my universe, this is about how I feel, this is what I want, this is everything is I, I, I, I. Like, I want this, I will get it now. I want pleasure, I'm gonna get that now. I want to perform well so that I am seeing good in others' eyes, I want that now. Right. So it was just pride that led to you know, sexual sin and um insecurity as well. Like I it's just funny because pride has a way of masking a lot of like our brokenness. Yeah, and um, God has a way of revealing our brokenness, and really surrender is like this act of admitting, it's kind of like an alcoholic admitting that you're alcoholic. Like, yes, I am an alcoholic. God help me. Yes, yes, I am broken and I am addicted, and I am full of pride that is leading to destructive things versus at that time I would have been like, they're not destructive, they you know this feels good. This they make me feel good. When it doesn't, then it doesn't, right?

unknown 9:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

And it leads to broken relationships and hurting people, and anyway. So yeah, God lifted all of that. The amazing thing about the cross is that um what I couldn't do for myself out of my own pride and achieving my own world and becoming my own God, God came down and had to do for me. So that that was like the first time that I really saw that. The uh the act of Jesus coming in body and like taking all of my junk and brokenness and sin and choices and pride and absorbing them, like through the crown of thorns, all of my addictive behavior, all of my sexual sin, all of my lust of the eyes, the pride of life, the pride of the flesh, like he was absorbing that as the blood dripped into his eyes. And then you just think about the stripes on his back and like all of the flesh being ripped off of his back, and the blood that was pouring out, and the ribs exposed, and like, oh God, like you carried all of my junk on your back. Yeah, so it's not just the act of like here's the nails, and he hung there and he died. Like every single point of blood has a has a purpose. Yeah. So, like, God, like where I was putting my hands and what I was doing with my hands, you absorbed.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

I think the crazy the crazy thought analysis about that is um when you think of the sins of the world to go. Yeah, that's about right. Like, I I think I would probably do that for the sins of the world. And then someone at Cercio said he would do that for just for you. Not just the entire world, but he would do that just for you. Yeah. And that just broke me. You know, that yep, that's love. Because I don't think I would do that for just one person. Like, like let's let's sweeten this deal. Make it a a world.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

I love I love the verse that says, like, for the joy for Amos that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame. Yeah, despising the shame. Like he didn't want to do it. He was like, God, if there's any other way to do this, like please take this cup from me, but not my will, your will be done, which is just this amazing act of like three persons that have their own will, yet one being, God, yeah in three different persons. Yeah. So anyway, gave my life to Jesus, 1995, October. And it wasn't just like, hey, I said a quick prayer and I'm saved. It was a real repentant surrender. God, I I am despised. Like I despise who I am.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

And I actually need you to come and change me. And it wasn't an immediate, like, here you go, John, you are now perfect. It was now like a journey. Here's where the work starts. Where the cross actually has become bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and greater. And now I realize that I am much more of a wicked sinner than when I first got saved. And that's the journey. It's like, oh man, I am actually desperate for Jesus at this point in my life.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

And I think about that moment and knowing what you do today and just the amount of lives you have touched through your obedience in that moment in 95. It's really cool. Thanks so much. Because then you meet Angie and you guys the female and male come together, and like you said, with your parents, whoop. Now there's how many?

SPEAKER_00 12:41

There's three. There's three.

SPEAKER_04 12:43

Yeah, so you have three kiddos. So talk about your family just a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Yeah. Angie is uh, I mean, if you really want to know about me, you can ask my wife. Yep. Like, hey, tell tell me about John, and she'll reveal all the good things and all the bad things to you. That's the great thing about intimacy with somebody. Is that you really know a person?

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Um, but yeah, we we had Isaac. Shout out to Isaac if you're listening. His birthday is tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Happy birthday, Isaac.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

He is uh he's amazing. He'll be 21 years old. So no drinking alcohol.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

None. Don't do it.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Anyway, Isaac is great. He's an entrepreneur, loves Jesus. Um, is out at Grand Canyon University. We have Eli, who is 18, going on 50. He's an old soul.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

Old soul, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Um, he's at a welding academy in Gillette, Wyoming. So proud of him. He's a great kid. And then Jerica, our 15-year-old, who is a sophomore. I got it wrong the other day, and she told me. Oh, I'm not a junior, I'm a sophomore. Where have you been? Don't fast forward, Dad. Yeah. Sophomore at Sioux Falls Christian. And uh, she's a beautiful, beautiful young woman. And then we have two other ladies in our house. Bria, who is an amazing lady. Um, and just really discovering what God's called her to do. And then we also have another foreign exchange student, Olivia, yeah, who is a senior.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

And where is Bria from again? Because I met her.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

South Sudan.

SPEAKER_04 14:04

South Sudan. She's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:06

She's just, she's a light.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

She is.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

She's a light. Um, and so you, this is not the first time that you've taken in foreign exchange students or or youth. You're like, hey, you don't have a place to go, come live with us. Yes. We got you.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 14:20

That's that is beautiful because that that can add a lot of dynamics to a family.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Right.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

And you just follow God's calling and say, oh, oh, I think God's telling me you're supposed to come live with us.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yeah. Sometimes uh to my detriment, where I'm like, hey, we have an open room. Yeah. I haven't talked to my wife yet, but you are certainly welcome to come. I agree.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Oh man, John. So um I'm so grateful that uh these individuals who may not have families and stuff get the opportunity to experience it at the I mean, just it it's so the level of what you provide with joy and um an example of what marriage should be like and community and family, and uh it's like their lives are forever changed in meeting you. Like I have to admit, when before I met you, what I heard about you, I was like, I that guy is that sounds a little scary. Cause they're like, he is out there, he's he's crazy cool, cake like filled with the Holy Spirit. This guy does things that I've never heard anyone else like and so hearing this, I hadn't stepped into my faith fully yet. So that scared me. I was like, I don't, I don't know if I'm ready to meet this this guy. But when I met you, it was so apparent that anyone that comes around you and gets to experience you, it's it's not normal, and that's awesome, right? Like there's not nothing average about John.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Thanks, Setter. She she says way too much. Not not all of it's true.

SPEAKER_04 15:52

I tried to run from you, but God said no. Um That's funny. So tell me, you guys get married and you have these three beautiful kids. Did did you guys all go to Ukraine together?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

We did, yeah. We um so forever I had this fear of flying. And I I really hate turbulence. So all of our turbulent listening audience that does not like turbulence in airplanes, that's me as well. And I was like, I will never go on a missions trip because I don't want to fly and experience turbulence for hours. I hate that.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Yeah, that sounds awful.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

So I'm like, yep, never gonna go to Ukraine. And so we have a dear friend, Paul Logan, who has a ministry called Arise Ukraine. He's been there for 30 years.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

We met Paul. That was Paul. Sorry, that just hit me.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

We met him at the at the picnic?

SPEAKER_04 16:39

Yeah, it wasn't a picnic, but it it was a beautiful outdoor, three-course meal, um, plate to farm to plate. Was Paul here recently, a few months ago? With his new bride.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:50

Okay, we were sitting at the same table with him amongst like 150 people. We had him at our table.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

So now you know Paul.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

I know Paul.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

And Ross Paul, his wife.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Hey Paul. Yeah, amazing brother. Um called the Ukraine. He's done so much for Ukraine to share the gospel and build churches. And anyway, he he would come to Sioux Falls to do fundraisers, and I would get invited to them. Okay. Because in the nonprofit space, that's what you do is you get invited to a lot of fundraisers. And in our community, we have a lot of fundraisers, and and we have a very generous community. So, anyway, uh, Paul met me and he's like, Hey, would you come to Ukraine? I'm like, nope, I don't want to go to Ukraine. No interest. Uh, I don't want to go flying. Love what you're doing. I will support you. Here's a check. There you go. And that was my that was my response for probably about five years. He was like, Hey, you should come to Ukraine, you should bring your family to Ukraine. Like, why would we do that? Yeah, you're there.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

You got it covered, Paul.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Yeah, there's Christian people there. Why do I need to come? I don't I don't want to go to Ukraine. Anyway, so we had a um after seven years of working in our nonprofit, we give people a sabbatical, and um we decided, hey, instead of resting on our sabbatical, let's do the crazy thing and let's go to Ukraine. Yeah. So, all right, let's go to Ukraine for two months. So, yeah, we two months. Two months. Yeah. Okay. So we we flew our three kids. Part of that was in Greece as well, which was really cool, and I can talk about that.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

But and they're little, they're little because 2016. They're a little kids.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Yep, yeah, Jerica's a little girl, and Eli's a boy, you know, they're they're little.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

So we are a little bit crazy and flew all of us together to Ukraine, which the turbulence was okay. Like, what's really cool about flying and hating turbulence is that you pray. And if you pray in a spiritual language, you do that on the plane as well. Yeah. And you're just like, Jesus, please help this plane be safe. God, if you're gonna take me now, Lord, I just pray for this plane and all these people. Save them.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

And then everyone on the plane's like, I I've heard about this guy. He's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Anyway, every time I'm on a plane now. That's so yeah, we we get to Ukraine. Uh, Paul introduces us to everybody, and we just had a really wonderful time. It was during that time that Paul and I developed a really close friendship, and he was rediscovering a fire for discipleship. And uh he challenged me. He's like, I love what you do with collision, I've been following it, I support it. Um, but he's like, you guys really have to ask a question like, how many disciples are you making? Because the command is, you know, go make disciples of all nations, not converts, not raised hands, not, you know, this is how many people said the prayer.

unknown 19:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Or even got baptized. Like, how many are actually disciples that are then making other disciples? And that was very challenging. So he gave me a book by um a Taiwanese pastor who was a missionary in China and had led, I think it was two million people to Jesus within 10 years, and planted like 20,000 churches. And it's called T for Tea, Training for Trainers. So I read this book and uh it was very systematic the way that this guy wrote this book, but it was convicting on like, all right, we do events really well, um, we love students, you know, God's given us uh a ministry with those students and in the schools, being led by those students, and then all of it was very exciting. But I couldn't, I couldn't list like how many of those students actually have a disciple that then has another disciple.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

That they've led to Christ, helped to develop in their relationship, got them in the Word. So it was transformational. That book was transformational, the experience was transformational. And uh, we came back as a family from Ukraine and we shifted everything that we did with collision to all right, we are called to glorify God, to unite and mobilize the local church so that um we would fulfill the Great Commission. Every student wouldn't have that opportunity to hear about Jesus. So yeah, that has shifted that moment in time, 2016, to now. We have been trying and failing a lot on making disciples that multiply. And you mentioned collision, I don't think we've mentioned. I was just gonna go there.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

I mentioned it right away in the beginning. We never touched on it. What year did you start collision?

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yeah, so collision is um just simply um, I'll just explain like what it is and then what our vision is after that. But collision is uh a ministry that trains and empowers the local church to build teams of students and see their schools and mission field. And we help equip them to share the hope of Jesus to transform lives, the gospel. Um when we started, we started with uh Bethany Bruns was her name, an amazing. Girl in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who really wanted to be a missionary. And her dad challenged her. He's like, you know, you go to Lincoln High School. I don't want you to stop going to Lincoln High School and then go on the mission field because you just really want to go. He's like, you have a mission field at Lincoln. Why don't you be faithful with that first? And then God will add the increase. Like he'll he will allow you to be a missionary. So she was filled with faith more than myself at that time. 2008 is when we started, and Bethany really helped us get started at Lincoln High School. She had incredible vision. Um, and it was based in deep prayer. So every movement of God, there's extraordinary prayer that happens as like the foundation for everything. And that was Bethany. And she still is, she's a prayer warrior today, she's an intercessor.

SPEAKER_04 22:51

Um May I just ask, is she one of the 14 Bruns?

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

It's Mariah's sister? Yes. Micah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 22:58

All right. I'm like, that has to come from there's not, I mean, the Bruns family is on fire for Christ and they're fabulous. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

And they're they're a large family. Yes. And uh yeah, when when we started with Bethany, uh, she had this idea of like, hey, let's there's no free breakfast program. The government didn't have that at that time. Why don't we offer one day a week a free breakfast? And we'll provide a free breakfast for every student. We'll section off an area of the cafeteria, we'll feed them breakfast, and then the students will go out and we'll share the gospel. And that's what we did for years.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

So, but you're in the public school and you look at the temperature of what it was like in 2008 compared to now.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

And I mean, just walk through that a little bit because John, you're dealing with the politics of Christ in a public school. You're dealing with so many different nationalities, different religions, different things. And that's that's like a that's a hill and a mountain that a lot of people don't want to climb.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah, for sure. It's uh, you know, it feels a little bit like Rome is burning in people's spirits. It's like, oh my gosh, Rome is burning. What do we do? Let's go hide in our churches. Yeah. And like, let's go, let's go escape there.

SPEAKER_04 24:14

That's the last thing that we should be doing. Right. We should be heading straight in to help the future generations to know Christ and to love Christ. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

And that's what you're doing. Well, there's all these, I mean, I went to public school and loved it. There's amazing teachers in public school that love the Lord. Um, you interviewed one recently. So um, yeah, the the way I I guess my perspective is like our our students all across America and the world for that matter, they are encountering the world every day. They're dealing with all these issues probably more than we are as adults because we're better able to isolate. There, they're like forced into community. It's kind of like this um smaller picture of the larger city is is our schools. It's like, but what happens is like you force community because you're like, okay, you guys are gonna be around each other eight hours a day. And then you're gonna play sports a lot. So if I'm a believer and I'm a kid, this is how Bethany felt. And I really love the Lord and I want to share him with others, I feel alone and isolated. I don't know any other believers. If they are out there, they're not vocal, they're not, I have no idea. So when we're like, you know what? God loves unity in his body, whether you're a Catholic kid and you love the love Jesus, or you're a Baptist kid and you love Jesus, or whatever flavor or denomination you come from. So this was like this heart of the Holy Spirit to go, I'm gonna breathe on something that allows students, because they have freedom of speech, they have freedom to assemble, they they don't lose their rights when they walk into a school door. Um now they can't be disruptive to curriculum and you know all that stuff, but there's absolutely ways that students can lead um and the churches can empower them. So that's what we are doing is like, yeah, there's a lot of issues, and I those issues have been there since the beginning of time. Yeah. Nothing is new under the sun. That's what Solomon writes.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Where does the where does the rights of the staff, the faculty, end there? They've got a responsibility. Yeah. And they're they have their own lenses and they may feel like they're in a protectionary mode from this type of teaching. Yep. Where does that, how does that balance out?

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Yeah, it's it's really fascinating because I I think they are, I mean, we're we're dealing with like they're on the other side now, some faculty across our country, uh, in indoctrinating or in like evangelizing a different religion. And I can name some of those religions, some of the gods that we've like set up. Um, but it, you know, the rules are for faculty is that you cannot convert a student. Like you can't, um, you can't proselytize the is a secular word that they use. Prosely? Proselytize. Okay. It's a hard word. Try again. Proselytize. Proselytize, say it again. Proselytize. Anyway, they can't proselytize, which means that if you're in a classroom, I you know, I can't be like, here's the gospel of Jesus, here's the three circles, where do you see yourself in this? Yeah. And do you want to pray a prayer to be converted to Jesus?

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Now, what's the staff can't do that?

SPEAKER_00 27:22

They can't do that. What they can do is they can incorporate Christianity into teaching history, because Western history is based on Christianity.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

All of it. Music, hospitals, colleges, based on Christianity.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Like our entire Western world is based on Europe being Christianized. So there's no subject that you can't teach on that you can't incorporate. So you can incorporate it in there. If a student asks you, like, hey, Mr. Kittleson, you seem like a Christian. Are you a Christian? Like, how did you come to know Jesus? Well, let me tell you. This is, you know, 1995, like my story. Here's my story. I can tell my story if somebody asks me, and I can talk about Christ. What I can't do is I can't bring them to a point of decision based upon my story. Does that make sense? But it doesn't mean that I can't share like who I am or what faith I believe in.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

And this is this is across all 50 states in the U.S.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Every state.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Every state is like this.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Yep. That and so anyway, in the 80s, Ronald Reagan signed a law called the Equal Access Law. Equal access law meant that if there is a satanic club, which there are in our city, and many, many, many other cities, they're Satan clubs. So if you allow a Satan club in your school, you also have to allow equal access for a Christian club to exist. Or you want a Wicca club, or you want to, I mean, you name it. You go look at your public schools in your city and you just Google search public schools, go into the schools and look at their clubs. They list their clubs. Wow. You would be fascinated by the different clubs that there are.

SPEAKER_04 28:59

That's something I've never Googled, and I will now. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:03

Do you do you find, John, that once because I I've met a lot of these students that they they just get a fire and they go in and it's like they just there's they're covered in in Christ and protection and uh people start to see that. I mean, just your the golf tournament and the amount of kids that are constantly just shining. That comes a lot from what you have instilled in them. So you teach them the gospel, you teach them how to go and to make disciples and to bring people to Christ, which it it is a it is a pra I mean, yes, it comes natural, but it is a practice. And so you actually equip these beautiful students who love the Lord to have the confidence and knowing that with their will and their purpose is, and they go into the school where it is a battlefield, it's beautiful, but it is a battlefield, just like we were talking. Yep. And they you do breakfasts, you do bagels, you do lunches, you invite people in. You don't, as adults, right? But the kids, yes, these kids are so young and they're leading.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yeah, let me sh let me share one story from from yesterday. So there is a uh I'll I'll try to not say the last names here, but there's a team in Houston at a school named John Foster Dulles High School, and it's one of the most diverse schools in America. Okay. And uh I I met a I met a young lady doing a fundraiser actually at a house and practicing on like a 14-year-old just to show the couple that we're asking for fundraising from, like, what is collision?

SPEAKER_04 30:46

And so you would just you're talking back and forth with this 14-year-old. Yeah, just okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Discovered that she, you know, these are her godparents, and um, she's in this house living with them, just coming out of a you know, a tougher situation at home. Anyway, so I'm challenging her to do this, and she's like, Yeah, I want to do it. Would you would you train me? Would you work with our church and our youth pastor? And so anyway, we've been training her and we've been training her youth pastor in Houston. So she is messaging me yesterday, hey, uh, so-and-so, you know, on our team, myself and another girl on our team, we're out in the cafeteria today. And we are sharing, and we just want to know like, how do how do we approach this girl that is sitting alone? And so I'm like, all right, you know, this is what you do. You're you're really about building relationships, prayer, care, share. Like you've already prayed for people. You you demonstrate care and love by going up and talking to them and listening to them, asking good questions. And God's gonna give you the ability to share with them the gospel. So, anyway, they uh they both approach this girl, and uh one of the girls texted me, she was like, that was the most awkward thing ever. And then the other girl that initiated is like, oh, it wasn't that awkward. It was great. She was open, she already believed in Jesus, we were able to build a relationship, etc. But the fact that they're like, just place yourself in their shoes when you were 14 years old. Would you have accepted a challenge to share the gospel with 12 people and make three disciples when you were 14?

SPEAKER_04 32:19

I mean not coming from broken. I mean, you think about because I've I've met this individual and she's beautiful and she comes from a lot of brokenness.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 32:29

And in that, you can grow bitter and you can grow into a place of victim being the victim.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 32:36

And start getting into drugs and sex and which is happening.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

But you got a hold of that beautiful soul before tiptoeing into all of that and put Christ in there.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:49

And so it it's just that conversation and being in the right place at the right time where Christ puts you. Um she activated that piece of her, you know. And I I would have done it because I was raised in the church. Like, so to answer your question, yes, I would have done it. But I know there's a lot of kids in her someone like her who would not until it is shown and proven where she gets to taste and see it. And she's like, now I want that for others.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Right.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

So she's she's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

And the crazy thing is her friend who really just came to know Christ in the like the last month, is doing this with her. Even though the friend doesn't have a framework or like, you know, I I think sometimes the issue with our church is that we we limit um who God can use. Uh-huh. It's kind of like, hey, you came to know Christ, you need to sit in church for at least 30 years before you know something, before you can talk to somebody.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Right. No, I don't.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

That's so ridiculous. It's true though. Yeah. It's like, yeah, well, you're not qualified because you don't know as much. And I love the mother duckling principle. You don't have to have to know everything. You just need to, you just need to follow Mother Duck. Like whoever that is, it's like, hey, they've gone down the journey a little bit further than you have. It's called duckling discipleship. It's like, hey, here's Mother Duck. You just need to be one step behind that person.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

It's like, hey, we're discovering some things about Jesus. Who can you share this with?

SPEAKER_04 34:14

So good. We can talk about ours about this. I know. I the discipleship piece is so beautiful because I was just in Acts, and that all comes from the multiplying, right? I think it's in Acts. It's all over the Bible. But I the discipleship, and just there's so many people that don't know what they don't know. And when we live in the world of ministry and we're surrounded by it, we forget that it's probably every other person sitting at that lunch table. So the opportunity of bringing people to Christ is it it's beyond, which is what the vision God gave you. Yeah. Like you're you're in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota area. You've had collisions since 08, is when it when it burst. Yep. So you're you're activating kids all over the Sioux Falls community. It's it's well known. You're in public, you're in private, you're you're I don't homeschooling. I mean, you're just you were everywhere. That's what I remember when I first met you. But you're in the hospital during COVID and you go through a life-transforming moment that I really want to dig into before our time is up, John. So can you go there?

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:22

Okay. Because we're now like you're activated across the the nation now.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Yeah. How many how many schools? How many cities and how many schools?

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Really, um, so our our models shifted, and I'll I'll tell the backstory to this too, but we're really like tracking churches that are now getting into schools. But we would, I would say probably 30 schools so far across the country. Um, but really like we're training and empowering local churches, and we love local churches. So if you're a youth pastor, a pastor, a youth director, like we do digital training with with uh churches all across the country now, and it's so much fun. Yeah. They have such a passion for it.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

What's the what's the the the one thing that most churches don't have that they need that gets them over the edge over the edge, over the hump to get to schools?

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Yeah. So uh there's there's a guy named Josiah who's a youth pastor in Highlands Church, and he said it really well. He's like, we we all have the desire to share the gospel and make disciples. Like that's why we exist as a church. That's that's our purpose. But we get so bogged down with programming that when it comes to the practical tools of how do I build relationships with principals? How do I develop relationships from student to student that lead to spiritual conversations, that lead to gospel conversations? Like we're asking our kids to share the gospel all the time, but giving them the practical tools that are actually used, that that's a step for him that was really important that we offered. It's like, hey, let's resource you and actually get to training. I think the missing element for churches is training. So we're we're really good with knowledge, we're not great with training. When I think about training, I think about McDonald's. If you're a 14-year-old kid and you come into McDonald's, they don't just slap a book at you and then lecture you for years. It's like, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna throw you on the register today, your first day. Oh, I don't know what I'm doing. Oh, that's fine. We're just gonna watch you, you're gonna make some mistakes, and then we're gonna tell you how to how to get better. We're gonna show you. So it's this kind of model, assist, watch, and launch. So I would say the biggest gap, whether it's schools, community centers, just evangelism in general, is we're missing, and I think the business community does it really well because they understand how do you train people. That's that's a missing component in the church. And that is discipleship. It's like, hey, come with me, watch me do, and then you insert yourself and do. And I'm gonna watch you do it, and I'm gonna give you some feedback on how to get better. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

And that will that'll pay dividends not just in uh schools, but in congregation and the congregation's friends and families. Yeah. So there's a multiplying effect there as well.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

It's really simple. It it, I mean, Jesus did it. Yeah. He's like, hey, come follow me. You're gonna watch me do it, and now I'm gonna send you out two by two. By the way, they didn't have the Holy Spirit living in them, which is radical.

unknown 38:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

It's like, what? Jesus sent people without the Holy Spirit. Yeah, he did. They weren't saved yet. Hey, go two by two to every village, knock on the door, find a person of peace, preach the kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead. Like, you want me to do what? Yeah. Jesus is crazy. Hey, I'm entrusting people that don't I don't even live in yet to go and preach the kingdom and raise the dead. That's crazy. Crazy. And then Jesus leaves and he's like, hey, it's better that I leave because I'm gonna send the spirit and he's gonna guide you into all truth. So anyway, yeah, this experience in the hospital. I know we only have a few minutes left.

SPEAKER_04 38:47

So it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Take us there. January 15th, 2020. Actually, it started in December, and um, man, not a big, big fan of COVID. I just got it again the third time, and it was a lot better this time. But yeah, it uh it really took me down. It was December of 2020, and uh, it was before, you know, any vaccines or whatever that were out. And uh yeah, I just struggled. I laid in bed, I was lethargic, just no energy. And um, you know, I I did not understand blood clots at that point in my life. I never had a blood clot. So um I remember like my leg was hurting really bad, and I was like limping around and the bottom of my foot hurt. Went to the doctor and I was like, oh yeah, you're fine, you know, take this, take some medicine, get get rid of the pain. And anyway, uh a couple days later, I'm I'm up in bed all night. And if you've ever had a PE or um pulmonary embolism, it's a blood clot in your lung. And that's what I had. So blood clot in my calf, they discovered that later, a blood clot in my lung. It felt like somebody stabbing my chest over and over and over again and my sides. So I initially thought, I'm like, man, maybe I'm having a kidney stone or something. But I would scream out in the night and nobody could hear me because we're all isolated in our own rooms and we sleep with fan noise. Yeah. So I'm screaming, like, this hurts so bad. Ah, help me. So anyway, I wake up the next morning and Angie, who's full of wisdom, she's like, You should probably go to the doctor. Like, oh, I'm fine. I can make it through it. And then I call my mom. Uh, sorry, sorry, Ange. Anyway, my mom's like, you should go to the hospital. Sorry. And anyway, so I went to the hospital. And uh that that was a that was an interesting experience because at that point they had a COVID floor that was like for the people dying. I didn't know that. I was like, hey, we'll send you up there. You'll wait for four hours until somebody finally sees you. And I mean, it was just a nightmare experience in the hospital room, listening to a girl dying from COVID, like right next door. She's screaming her head off. So you can just could imagine like this like kind of hopelessness in the atmosphere. I'm curled up, I've lost probably 20, 30 pounds in a fetal position, and I'm just crying out to God. God, like if you're real, would you reveal yourself to me? And 6 a.m. in the morning, he his presence, uh, which is everywhere, by the way. There's no place that God is not. But I recognize finally his presence, and I would describe it as his presence walked into my room, Jesus' presence, and just wrapped himself around me. Like, I don't know how to describe that. It's almost like a warm blanket that uh penetrates your soul and your body and your mind, everything. And so I'm just kind of this uh, and I'm not I'm not a crier. You can ask Angie, I'm not a crier. And I'm just weeping because the presence of Jesus is so strong. And you know, you initially think when you're outside of that realm, oh, you know, he's gonna ask you about what you did and how many disciples you made and how many salvations you've had, and like, what kind of impact did you make for my kingdom? No, it was Jesus saying, John, I love you. You're my son. I love you, I love you. Just the love of God, like invading my hospital room. So after that, after this wet mess, which is not normal for a dude. So if you're a dude listening, and maybe there's a lot of uh women listening, but if you're a dude, it's okay to like be undone by God. David, the great psalmist, you know, undone before the Lord. So anyway, after I knew, uh I and so we had this dialogue in this presence.

SPEAKER_04 42:39

You were this you're dying.

SPEAKER_00 42:42

You were dying. Yep, yeah. My oxygen oxygen levels were really low. I did not know that I was dying. I just felt like garbage.

SPEAKER_04 42:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

And really, really bad.

SPEAKER_04 42:52

And then you felt the Lord. You felt the presence.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Yes. And got a dialogue with him. Like, yeah, I mean, I know that he speaks to us, yeah, and I and I do hear him, but it was so intimate. It was like, Jesus, am I gonna make it out of this? Or am I going home? He's like, Nope, you're gonna make it out of this. You'll be fine. And so, anyway, after that, I was like, Okay, good. All right, Lord, I'm not going home today. So, and you know, I wasn't this jovial and joyful, right? A little bit different, but I was like, God, what do you want me to do for the rest of my days? How do you want me to glorify you with the rest of my life? Oh, great question. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:31

I would have had like creation questions.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

You know, you're like, what do you want me to do? That's great. That's a good question. It was just, I don't know, it was a gut reaction, like, God, like, what do you want me to do with the rest of my days? Yeah. Because he had just said, like, you're gonna make it out of this. Okay, I'm not taking you home. So um he showed me, and my eyes were closed. So it wasn't like an open vision where my eyes are open, and I've never had a vision before, ever. I've, you know, I've seen pictures and glimpses and things like that, but I just saw a map of America and I saw horses and riders with torches from North Dakota through Texas, or like the north part of our country, middle of our country through Texas. And then he said, ride east. I was like, great. I have no idea what that means. I know what the horses and riders and torches are, but like, what do you mean, God? So um got out of the hospital, had somebody paint that picture that's hanging in our office now with just amazing, like every people, group, nation, tribe, tongue on horses, young people with torches. And I really see um nothing to do with us or even me, but like Holy Spirit, we're at a tipping point in this country. It's either gonna go really, really bad, and we're gonna become Europe in a spiritual sense of like just deep darkness over the peoples, Isaiah 60. Deep darkness. Um, or there's gonna be in the midst of the deep darkness, a great awakening. And I believe we're at the precipice of a great awakening. And, you know, collision is one of those little spokes in the large wheel that God is weaving all across our country with great ministries everywhere. And that we're all sensing the same thing. Like young people have this hunger for truth. They've been so lied to and inundated with um, I would state it as satanic material and information and just lies about who they are. And you can send freely, you can become whoever you want. Like, and God is raising up a righteous standard right now in the face of like deep darkness. So we look at it sometimes as like Rome is burning, Rome is the sky is falling, the sky is falling. And I just want to encourage your listeners, like, you know, this is the the worst of times and the greatest of all times of our lives. That's exactly how it's the greatest time that I've ever been alive.

SPEAKER_04 45:59

Yeah. Well, there's there's there's a big, like I keep thinking, I'm like, God's doing some really big things. Yes, big. And I can't even comprehend it. And I keep hearing over and over, I do not call the equipped. I equip the called. And you are called and you are being equipped, and you're equipping others, and you are equipping others, and you're the the generation that you're equipping. Man, they are ripe and they are beautiful and they are all in. Amen. They have seen the destruction and they don't want it, they don't want it for their future. Who like I can't imagine being like, well, this is great. I'm good with this. Like, everything's falling apart. Glad I get to grow up in this. Yeah, they're not. They're rebelling against it in a beautiful way. Yes. In a Christ-centered rebellion of for him and for wanting more righteousness.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

I can imagine it's like the Jesus People movement. Yeah. Like the same situation, kind of just drugs, sex, alcohol, LSD, like free whatever. And then at that same moment, we're like from a um, from maybe an older Christian perspective, it's like all hell is breaking loose. What do we do? How do we fix this? And God's like, I've been working this whole time, and I'm actually bringing people to surrender, and I'm calling out a people for myself to worship me.

SPEAKER_04 47:29

Man, it is so fun to be in full-time ministry with you. Every single day is a joy in being in full-time ministry. Amos and I, we know that there is just so much yet to come. And to be able to experience all that together and to watch the miracles happen every single day, John, is an honor to be a part of that with you. Agree. So thank you. Thank you, thank you for having me on all that you're doing. It's it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 47:58

So thank you, John.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

Yeah. Thanks for sharing, John. Thank you so much for listening. We want to change lives through this podcast. And if you want to support this podcast or our guests, please see the links below for our Patreon and giving links.

SPEAKER_04 48:12

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