SPEAKER_02 0:00

Here comes the Sun Do. Here comes the Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Hello, fortitude audience. Thank you so much for being with us today. My name is Heather Kittleson, and I am sitting with my fabulous husband Amos, who's our co-host. And today in our studio, we have Michael DeYoung from the Iowa area. Um, I am really pumped about this. We don't know each other that well.

unknown 0:41

No.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

We're just this is this is just the beginning of something I feel like is really divine. And so I know that social media has its goods and its bads, but this is one of those things that I believe um I came across your profile and something you had posted, and I was instantly drawn to you and your wife, and did a little bit of stalking on some things that you guys have been involved in and the things God's doing in your life. And I'm just I'm I'm thoroughly blown away. Yeah. So honored to be here. Yeah. And what was even cooler is that you are related to um a dear, dear friend of ours, Paul DeYoung from the Sioux Falls area. And um, when I was sharing a story about coming across your post, he said, Heather, that's my cousin. And I thought, yes, that makes it all that much better. So yeah, thank you for being here. My pleasure. Really excited for our audience to hear your story and what you're up to around the world in the ministry um impact that you're having.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah, excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

I'll turn it over to you. Just fill us in a little bit about who you are and and what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Yes, we live in Iowa, northwest corner of Iowa, and uh married to my wonderful wife Jenna. We have five children. We got our six on the way. And uh so it's a lay flight baby for me, honestly. Prayed and played, planned for this baby, so it's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

And uh, I think it's gonna keep us young. So, you know, the cool thing, you know, there's no quote, but it said, uh, you know, the most important thing you may do in your life is the kids you raise in your home.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

You know, so you think about that, the home front, and you look at America right now, and you look at the you know, the things happening in homes, and I think that's where many struggles come from. So I love the family aspect of it with a wife and kids and just building that home strong. So yeah, love being a dad, love being a husband, and then we're in the business world for many years. So we were in a direct sales company, uh, had a a tanning salon in Okeboji, Iowa, and then uh, you know, really felt the call into ministry later on in life. But in 2019 or 20 went full-time into ministry. So today we pastor a church called Activation Church, uh, work with a fellowship of Christian athletes, which goes into the schools in Northwest Iowa, uh, proclaiming the gospel, which is pretty cool. So we've seen hundreds come to Christ, I mean, in the last six months in the schools alone.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

And then in the church, we could tell stories about that too, and then work with uh ministry too. We birthed called Action 169, which raises awareness for uh trafficking. So we actually send people into strip clubs to reach girls, which is pretty crazy. Like a father-daughter dance. So ministry is kind of our life now, you know, alongside the family. So it's been been incredible.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Wow. You are you're there's there's several local, like Brian, Brian with FCA. Yeah, if you've if you've met him, that a lot of the same sort of ministries we have um that surround us focusing in on the same things, and that's dark. Yeah, like that, you're going into the well.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

That is some really heavy stuff. So um what is what is the your church and your ministry, what does that look like as far as your community and the people that you surround yourself with?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Yeah, the church, the church is incredible. So the church, you know, the the neat thing about the church is we never set out to birth a church. We always had a call, we always thought we were supposed to, but when COVID hit, we came out of a six-day revival actually in Sioux Falls here. And that would have been March of 2020. So then nationwide we've seen churches, you know, begin to close their doors, unfortunately. And uh during that time, you know, the Lord began to speak to us. And I heard it on a Friday morning. I heard build, build, build. My wife started to have dreams of people coming in our house. And the church gave birth, I mean, during the beginning of COVID.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Inside our house. So it was incredible. I mean, we have people coming from all over in our house. I mean, pretty soon we got 20 people there, 30, 40, 50, 60, began to grow, and then we began to get invites to like preach all through the Midwest. And I mean, cornfields, acreages, because the churches were shut down.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Event center. So we probably had 70, 80 different events in those couple years, um, all outside the church, you know, building the church, if that makes sense. And seeing people come to Christ, seeing people come out of sin. I mean, the stories I could tell you are incredible over those years. So the church has developed now, and uh, we have a body of believers, and it's really grown and doing extremely well, but it's become a family, and you begin to see that. You know, the church is it's called to be a family for those that many times don't have family. So the ministry, you know, vision we have, it was based on Ephesians 4, which is, you know, Christ himself is the cornerstone built on the foundation of the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher. And then it says for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry until we all come to the fullness of Christ. So I believe God is like restoring the church these days and uh bringing us back to that biblical Christianity side of it. And that's been exciting. But we're seeing a lot of people come in. I mean, most people, we'll get to this side of it too, but our mission statement is to reach a generation in need of the Father's love. So if you think about brokenness at this level, most people are broken because they're looking for love. Right?

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Um, so that's kind of the vision and foundation of our church.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

And are you are you doing the the preaching?

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:14

Do you have a background in ministry?

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Yeah. So we, I shouldn't say a background. Um, I get a story. You know, I get a story you know. That's enough.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

We're familiar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um not that you need a a piece of paper that says you can stand up in front of a crowd. Yeah, I'm really more alluding to just the obedience that you're you're following, you're doing the thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:36

And you don't need a background. So I'm just, but I'm curious about what the, you know, what you what you had done before that to give you the confidence to stand up.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

It's a good question. So in our business years, probably 2011, 12, I did feel a call to go back to school part-time. So I went to Liberty University for biblical biblical studies.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

So that was, you know, in a process going through, and the same month I graduated, it was when we lost our business, which was interesting how you know the Lord planned all that out.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Okay. So your ministry is full, full in. Like people, God is just, it's kind of that whole thing, I believe it the when you build it, they will come. Like if you listen to his call and you follow what he's what he's asking you to do, yeah. The rest is he does. It's like it just happens. It's it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

But that's not your story from your past, which uh you have an incredible story of fortitude. So walk us through that a little bit, if you would, Michael.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah. So that's a I love sharing the testimony that it says in Revelation 12, 11, it says, We defeat the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. So essentially what Christ did on the cross and our testimony. So our testimony is power because when there's people listening on the other end, they say, Hey, I went through that. And then Christ gives hope to break them out of it. So the combination of Christ on the cross and our testimony brings other people to him. So I love sharing that aspect. Um, you know, I grew up in a great Christian home. So I mean, I would say the picture perfect American Christian home, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

So I had two parents, I mean, they loved me. I was the youngest of four children and went to a Christian school, went to church every uh Sunday morning, Sunday night, and had the perfect upbringing, honestly, um, from the outside looking in. And had a busy dad, busy mom, you know, I think in that generation, you go to work, you do the thing, and you know, so always learned, I'm gonna say religion. Yeah, you check the boxes, you do do the catechism, you know, you go to school, but somewhere in my teens, I really sort of veer off and I think about different things that happened at that time. But you know, I think one of the first exposures that probably troubled me the most was um pornography. Yeah, you know, that was probably an early thing. Um, I had a young man twice my age. I can remember when I was young, you know, do some things, never touch me physically, but some stuff that you don't made me take my clothes off. I was I was five, he was 10, and you begin to go through these things which introduce you to pornography. Yeah, and then by the time you're 13, 14, you know, start smoking a little bit, you start doing things. I was probably 16. Um, but it started there, and then it started to venture off in the wrong direction. But high school years were good but bad, if that makes sense. Um, was smoking, then started drinking. You start doing things outside of marriage with your girlfriend, which leads to a wild lifestyle. By the age of 20, I moved up to Sioux Falls, and uh that's where life really honestly got really crazy for me. And you know, started working in a bank and really started to get into the weekend party lifestyle. So I mean the heavy partying, the drinking, the drugs, um, cocaine, I mean meth, steroids, ecstasy, you name it, did it. And uh the life got darker and darker and darker for four to five years there.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Yeah. I can go into that more if you want me to, but um if you if you could just walk us through a little bit of what was going on with you, because you come from this great upbringing.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Um our our stories are really similar. I'm the youngest of four, same thing, about 16. Like I'm listening to you and I'm like, man.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Um and you start saying yes to the things you know you should not be. Yes. And then you start it in it really, really quickly. It's like you know in your heart because you were raised, you were raised as a Christian. And yet you still go down this path, and all of a sudden it's so out of control that when was the moment? Like you were like, wow, what is what what is happening? And I can't control it. It's controlling me.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah. You know, it's interesting because you begin to, you know, religion teaches you to do these things. And I can remember, you know, growing up in a Christian school and getting in trouble. And every time I was brought into the office, it was always behavior modification. So it now no one ever asked me, like, hey, what's your relationship like with Christ? I never heard that question. So no one ever asked, hey, could I pray for you in a Christian school? I never heard that.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Man.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

You know, so you begin to see that, and even within my own home, you know. So it's like, hey, go to church, don't do this, don't do that. Um, but it was never like, hey, where are you out with the Lord? And that was the missing question in my life. And I mean, I can I can get pretty graphic, but I can remember sitting in a in a strip club one night, and I'm sitting with a guy, and uh 21 years old, 22 years old, and I'm telling him about my Christian faith and why I'm a believer, you know, in a sense, and here I am living a lifestyle darker than his.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

And the word actually says that I'm worse off than him. He never even was raised in the ways of the Lord because I was trained up in the ways of the Lord, but I actually didn't know the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

So the hypocrisy comes in, um, had a form of godliness, but no power. And then at the age of 26, I went through a breakup with a girl, and uh I had a sister who loved Jesus, she was radical. Um, she was baptized in the Holy Spirit, she was fired up, she loved the Lord, and I called her on that day, it would have been August of 2006, and I mean I was crying, I'm I I was out of it, um, depressed, I mean, coming out of drugs, addiction, all that kind of stuff. And she goes, Mike, I think you're ready. And I said, Ready for what? Like I didn't know what I was ready for. But she goes, a relationship with Christ. And it was at that time, she goes, Let me pray for you. And I looked up that day, August of 06, and for the first time acknowledged the Lord, right? That He's real. And she told me about Christ. And from that day forward, like the Holy Spirit invaded my life, and no one had to tell me how to live anymore. Hey, don't drink, don't smoke, don't do any of that. It's like Christ entered my heart. I walked away from everything immediately. So no treatment, no nothing. I mean, the drinking, the drugs, the addictions. There was a process of transformation for a couple of years, but it was like a Saul to Paul type moment where it was instantaneous. I was knocked off my horse, yeah, blinded, right? Yeah. And Christ began to teach me from that day forward.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Oh, thank you, sister.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

I'm sure she'll listen to this. So I'm sure you've talked to her about that too. Yeah. I think it's really important that we go back and we thank those who listened, listened when God told them you need to reach out. You need. Um, on my day, Amos listened to God's call and thank the Lord He did.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Um the the piece of your story that I that I you've said a couple different times that it's like you're raised in a Christian home, but it's more of religion. You're told what to not what not to do, but you're not really told how to not do it, which is having the the deep-seated relationship with Christ and to have people praying for you. And then also what you're doing today, the ministry of the foundation of family. I've heard you say multiple times that the trauma, and that is exactly what what we are, the the the um restoration, generational restoration, because it is different when you are in a home, when you are taught to have a relationship with Christ and how to do that, and not just going through the mechanics of Sunday church, and then yet you can still go out and party and drink and get wasted and yell at your wife and yell at your husband and all these things. And so that that that piece of understanding is so important, right? Like, and you're doing that.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

And so can you go into a little like after walking that, after seeing that, after knowing that a simple question of, hey, can I can I pray with you? How how is your relationship with Christ? Those questions are so pivotal and we're not asking them enough. And so are you doing that in your ministry and what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Yeah, you know, it's interesting because you begin to read about the born-again experience in the Bible. And Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and he goes, Hey, man, I must be born again. And he goes, What do you mean? He goes, Can I enter the mother's room a second time? And uh, you know, he's like, Aren't you the chief teacher, you know, of all of Israel? And Nicodemus could not understand this born-again moment, but you begin to see that, like you can educate and educate and educate people, but unless they have a supernatural spiritual birth, they never change. So that is the number one message we preach is the born-again message, because that is the moment people change. We did uh an FCA event last uh spring, and uh really just was feeling the anointing to preach and preached on salvation and preached on a born-again moment and preached on Christ. And we had, you know, a whole line of young men coming to Christ. And this uh football player from Northwestern College comes up and he gets born again, gets saved. And I honestly have not talked to the guy since, but there's another guy that was mentoring him, and he told that guy, I don't know what happened that day, but everything in my whole life changed from that day forward. I began to pick up my Bible, began to read my Bible, and life just began to change from that day forth because of the message of Christ, right? Yeah. So when you preach the gospel, you know, repent, therefore, and be converted. Um, give your life to Christ because your life doesn't work without him, you know, there's something that changes when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and he does the work. And uh you even begin to see that with Philip, you know, he's in, you know, this great revival in Samaria, and the Lord sends him to encounter the Ethiopian eunuch and he preaches the gospel, he preaches Christ, he baptizes him, and he moves on. There's no talk about discipleship, which discipleship is extremely important. I'm not saying that, but what I'm talking about is the born-again message needs to be preached, and that is one that changes and transforms people's lives.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Spot on. There's so many times I have people come up and will say, What is it about you? You have like you have a light, or you Amos, he's so kind and he his light. Yeah, and it's it's the Holy Spirit. Well, how do I get that? People, people really genuinely have a hard time understanding how to get it, right? So what would you say to someone who goes, I've prayed, I have, I go to church, I feel like I'm doing all the right things, but I do not have that Holy Spirit of like just authentic joy that comes from what you're explaining.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Yeah, you know, that's uh, you know, we're sealed at the day of our salvation, you know, through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit draws us to salvation. So the minute we confess Christ, you know, the Holy Spirit now is the one who lives in us. But also biblically, there's another time where the Holy Spirit, you know, Paul says in Acts 19, he goes, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And he's at Ephesus and you know, sharing the gospel. This is 21 years after Acts 2. So Paul is at a time when, you know, he's coming to these believers in Ephesus and they go, We haven't even heard there is so much of the Holy Spirit. He goes, Well, then into what were you baptized? And they go, in the baptism of John, which is a baptism of repentance. And then the Bible says that Paul laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. So this is 21 years after Pentecost. So if you really begin to, you know, take it back to the Bible, what it says about the Holy Spirit, there is a different element of when the Holy Spirit comes upon you with power. And you begin to see that all through the book of Acts. And you know, many times the outward sign was they did pray in tongues and they did prophesy. Uh, many people don't like to acknowledge that, but it is in the Bible, and that is the key to victory in life because it was three years after salvation for me, where someone laid hands on me, and I received the Holy Spirit, and I woke up at four in the morning praying in tongues in an unloaded language I never knew how to train myself in, right? And from that day forward, it's like the power of God came upon me to be a bold witness. So the Holy Spirit brings boldness, he brings power, he brings conviction, and he gives you a message that's not your own, it's his message.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:15

When I I grew up also in the church, and it was it was called uh we call it called it full gospel.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

So I had people dancing through the aisles, and that it was normal to me in people speaking in tongues.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

And I like you kind of fell off the wagon, so to speak, for many years, traveled the world, and I ended up over in England in a basement in a Sunday night church. And for the first time in 15 years, I heard someone speaking in tongues again. It was instantly recognizable. It's the same language, the same dialect, the same tone, just everything about it I knew in this from a stranger 15 years later on the other side of the world, you know? And that's not something you can just fake. That's not something you can make up. That's a real, that's a real thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Yeah, yeah. Amen to that.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

I live for for stories like that. Like I just love watching God do what he does. And it's through us, if we just allow it, if we allow him to just work through us, it the every single day, you can find his just little things all over the place. You just have to be open, have your eyes open to it. Um, you you experienced it in a in a much bigger fashion, too, which is something I cannot wait. Because I know it's in our future too, but you experienced it in Africa with like 6,000 people coming to Christ. Was that in like this last year?

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Yeah, that would have been June. So June 2023 here.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

So where where did that conversation start before you got to Africa with Jenna? Like, because that's a big decision.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah, that's a that's a wonderful story. So we uh we had a friend from Texas, he's got a ministry called Time to Revive, and it's a gospel sharing ministry. And so you've heard of the the Asbury revival? Okay. So that broke out in a college in uh Kentucky, Kentucky, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay. And uh we felt an instant prompting to go there. So we're on the way down there. My wife is extremely prophetic, and she's like on the way down there, she goes, I feel like we're gonna see someone, and it's gonna be part of our next phase of our journey for life. And I'm like, okay. And she's like, someone we know. And I'm like, okay. So we get down there, we don't see anyone we know. And all of a sudden we're up in the chapel praying at the revival, and I get a wave from a friend in ministry from Texas, and his name is Kyle. And I'm like, okay, I think this is it. He comes up and he begins to share to us. He goes, Hey, we're going to Africa in June. And just out of my heart said, Hey, can we go? And I didn't even want to go to Africa, honestly. Like I had no desire, but it just came out of me. And the Lord began to prepare us to go to Africa to a country called Malawi. So our friend Kyle had a dream that he was actually with the president of Malawi, calling the nation. Repentance, the whole nation. And uh somehow the Lord put him in contact with the president, and we actually got escorted in by the whole government. So it was it was unbelievable. But the government of Malawi, a nation of 22 million people, took us from the south end to the north end, four biggest cities, and brought us through the whole nation with a gospel of repentance crusade. So stadiums, schools, um you name it. So overall, we had over 20,000 come to Christ, 6,000 plus in the schools.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

That is dangerous. Wow. What you did is like that is right? Like that's super dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Well, you know, the center of the Lord's will is the safest place to be.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

You know what I mean? Yeah. So you begin to see that, and you're like, you know, Paul cannot be taken before his time. Um, Jesus could not be taken before his time because Jesus actually got cast out of the synagogue and he knew it wasn't his time, and they were gonna throw him off a cliff, right? He's on the bra of the cliff, and he's like, Ah, it's not my time. He just walks right through him.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

So you begin to see like when God's got his hand on your life and call on your life, like if you go, it's the safest place to be, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

That's the reason I asked, because I'll have people say all the time, uh well, I mean, multiple. Why, why, why are you why are you stepping out like this? Like, aren't you nervous? I've had my my 16-year-old son have conversations with me, and he's like, Mom, the more you speak out, the more persecution is gonna happen. Like, I don't want your head to get cut off. That's what he'll and I and I I agree with you, Jacob. I don't either. But if it's my time I'll join that club too. It's my it's my time. We have to be bold in Christ. Yeah. We don't have to be stupid. Yeah. But we have to believe that what everything you just said is exactly we are the safest when we are operating in what God is calling us to do. He is our protection, and we have to believe that and know that. But uh sometimes we can look rather crazy to those who don't understand that.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

When we're acting in bold faith.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Yes, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Promotion, if you look at the ministry of Christ, every time persecution came, promotion came. So every time he was persecuted, the crowds became greater. And, you know, not get too political, but you look at what's going on in our politics, and no matter the persecution that comes against the guy running for office, his crowds are getting bigger. So it's interesting. Wherever you go, you begin to see that biblically, when people are persecuted, the crowds actually get bigger because they're trying to shut down a message for a reason.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Yeah, that is. And in the college you went to the political place, and so I I was listening this morning to a podcast in regards to colleges.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

And um an incredible speaker who is very bold. And um Jim Daly asked what it what it's like, what's the temperature like in the colleges today? And he said it's just so hard.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Because the worldly Christian view, and then just the worldly view, it's like the persecution that he's getting in Christian colleges speaking about Christ is is really hard.

unknown 25:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

And so as you're in schools and colleges and all over, what are you, what are you feeling?

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Yeah. You know, I was sitting down with an athletic director of a Christian college, and uh he made a comment at me and he said, he said, uh universities never become more conservative. He says they always become more liberal, right? So you begin to see like Harvard, it started as a Christian school to send people into the world for Christ, and there's essentially no sign of it left there, right? So you begin to see that where you know you gotta fight in that place to keep the gospel first and foremost. And I love it, honestly, because I work with a lot of coaches, and coaches understand there's a winner and there's a loser. And in the Bible, there's a winner, Christ, and there's a loser who's already defeated the enemy, Satan, right? So in the colleges, I love the athletic departments because I feel like they have that mindset, you know, where they understand there's a winner and there's a loser. And uh Christ has already won the victory. But you know, the atmosphere I feel like in Northwest Iowa is extremely awesome. Like our teachers, our coaches, our kids, I mean, they love the Lord. We had a classroom in Rock Valley, Iowa, and I went in there, it would have been four or five weeks ago, and preached the gospel. And there was a packed room of 67, 60 to 70 kids. The whole room is full. And we had a salvation moment, and uh over 25 hands went up to receive Christ in a classroom during the school day.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Public.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Public. Yeah, and then uh for follow-up, I think 11 came forward and got Bibles. But so I mean, we see this all the time throughout, you know, um, high schools, colleges. So you got us moving. Big time.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

So why why that school versus another school? Because you'll hear from teachers saying, this, the school that I'm at doesn't even allow me to have a my Bible or a verse on my desk. Why is that school not allowing it versus the school you were just in allowing you in? What what's what's the difference?

SPEAKER_00 27:27

So, you know, Paul said we wage war not to get not against flesh and blood, but against principal principalities and powers. And uh so it's a lot of times the administration, what they allow, what they believe, and the freedom side of it. But I mean, if if an administration is serving Christ and they love the Lord, many times it's allowed in. Um, and if they're not, they just don't allow it in.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Like you go out to the West Coast with FCA, and there's some schools you can't get into. So they're doing club school club sports, but around here, I mean, you can get in pretty much anywhere you want to.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Yeah, our school is wonderful for that same. It's we feel very, very fortunate that we have um our our school. Yeah. Also, um, we are having someone on the podcast recording who is had a collision. So I'm sure you're you know John Glasser, you will and he also, it's just wonderful what he's doing because he's he's going across the nation now with collision. And he said it's just schools are starving for the people are just so it's broken. There's a lot of brokenness. There's a lot of kids, and they're our future.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

And if we're not speaking into their lives, who are? And so thank you first off for what you're doing and for following the call to go in into the schools and and work with these athletes because um there's kids who don't don't know the message at all. Um and that blows my mind for some reason. I don't, it's it's when I hear I I've never, I I didn't know this existed. I'm like, yeah, wow, because we're surrounded by it. So I just we can never assume. And I will ask people all the time, do you know the Lord?

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

And and be how how does that just come out of your mouth? I'm like, because that's what we're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

We're supposed to ask. We're supposed to be bold and say, Hey, do you go to a church? I mean, come. I know people have been broken by the church, a lot of people. That's another conversation of the youth of like, I wasn't accepted.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Man, so just thank you for for doing that. Um, when it comes to your your marriage, you know, I I look at how we just did something that is crazy to people by me leaving my full-time career to go home to focus on the Lord, Amos, and our kids. That's that is now, I mean, that that that takes a lot. We had to readjust a lot of things.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

I don't think that much. Come on.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Well, you're the easiest part. Um, but it's been the most beautiful transition for us, and the fruits of our spirit or the fruits of of the sacrifice are starting to come through now. Um, it was it was it wasn't that wasn't the case right away. But um, in your marriage and in your what can you say? Because has has marriage been great for you all this time? Or what what have you experienced?

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Um Yeah, that's a great question. So my wife and I grew up in you know, very different homes. Um, I grew up in a Christian home. She grew up in a Catholic home. And uh, you know, that side of it, she had a troubled relationship with her father. And uh so you know, she went out searching for love. So when we got married, it was it was tough. We've been married 13 years. I think we've been together 16 total. But we tell people, we share our testimony, the first five, six years were really, really tough.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

And I mean, it was like coming together, we each had a child outside of marriage. And uh then we came together, we had three more, another one on the way. But so we're coming in with some extra stuff we have to work through and then our past or traumas. And she gets born again, gets saved as we're broken up when we're dating, but then we come together with these wounds. And uh, you know, most people need to walk through inner healing with Christ so you can become compatible with each other. But again, my wife was a believer, but she was never in the word, so never really read the word on a consistent basis. She goes, I try to read it, but just didn't understand it.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

And again, then she got hands laid on her and received the Holy Spirit, and that was the shifter for her. So when that happened, honestly, like our marriage went from like oil and water to like oil. So we began to fight a lot, or we used to fight a lot, but once that deeper work with the Lord happened, our fighting stopped. Our relationship just uh began to work. Um, we always loved each other, but we fell in love. That makes sense, and we really began to flow together and we became one flesh. So, you know, in marriage, you know, two people become one, and that happened through God's grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit. But I think about that aspect too, where you know, working with your wife and being around your family for me is the greatest joy ever. And I think for many people, you know, you gotta not saying this is bad, but you got a wife going one way, you got a husband going the other way, and it's almost like they got two ships going to different ports every day. And there's something about in America in our early days, you know, and not saying everyone's got to stay home, but the wife stayed home, raising the kids, in in uh functioning with the husband, and they're building a home together. And I just feel like that's another thing the Lord is you two doing the podcast together. Yeah, yeah, the Lord's joining you together for a work, and my wife and I went to that through that too, and it's it's been awesome in our marriage. So, yeah, we do ministry together. She's just as important, if not more important, in the church aspect that I am. She is extremely gifted, and uh yeah, just an awesome blessing for me, our family, and everything.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

There's a lot of beautiful things that come out of a husband and wife in their sweet spots. And we've talked about that, and I'm grateful that Amos has been so patient because I man, it's just it's it our upbringings, right? Like just what you know, what you've been taught, what you haven't been, it's to no fault of really anybody. It's what it's just what we know and what we do, and um to have a learned spirit and know there might be a different way that to learn those things. It's a really beautiful thing when you step outside of that and you go, I'm not there there it's got it can be done a different way, I think.

SPEAKER_03 33:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

And you start to explore that and you start to get hungry for that.

SPEAKER_04 33:52

And so there's a I think you bur I think you bear too much of that burden thinking that you did all the all the change, but we've both changed and we both returned, and we both have really made it an effort, much like you have, Michael. You had you had to make an effort in your marriage. And how long did it take until things started to click? You said you've been married for 16. You mentioned the you mentioned 13.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

13, together 16. Yeah. Together 16.

SPEAKER_04 34:17

Okay. How long did it take before how long has it been now that it's been clicking?

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Oh shoot, probably it's probably six, seven years that it's really been flowing really good.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Right. Because you threw kids in there too. So throw the kids in there and you got that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 34:32

Yeah. And how so you've got your relationship with your wife? Yeah. How has that looked like and matured and and developed with your kids given the that change from five years and the things changed? How is that how is that manifested in your kids?

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Oh, it's incredible. Like our kids, you know, they all know the Lord at a young age. Um, they hear his voice. I mean, they dream in the night. I mean, they have encounters with the Lord, and because we live it as a couple, and now they're living it too. So there's peace in the home, you know. So the kids are growing up in a household of peace versus dysfunction.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

Um, which is so cool. You know, we had a conversation over Christmas with our kids, and I was doing devotions with them one night, and I said, How do you guys know God is real? And every one of them shared like a sign or a wonder that they've seen happen through our ministry. So, like I'm talking like a healing or I mean something spectacular where they're like they're locked into the faith. And so they've all seen the Lord work beyond just like this historical figure. So they're getting to see the Lord work firsthand um through the ministry, and they're encountering him through relationship, which is really cool. That's amazing. What's what's the age range? Uh, youngest is seven and oldest is 17.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

So you're doing devotions with them on a regular basis at night? How often do you do that?

SPEAKER_00 35:55

You know, we homeschooled for a few years, now they're in the Christian school, but we used to wake up every morning and do like a family devotional time. So we do worship, prayer, go through the word. My wife would lead that most days, but I'd step in some days. Did you say every morning? Every morning we did. Seven days a week? Um, five. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

That was that's during the home school.

SPEAKER_04 36:15

That's like a 10 out of 10 intentional with your kids. Yeah. And how has that paid off? And and what's the been a result of that?

SPEAKER_00 36:24

You know, they uh they know right from wrong. They listen to the Lord's voice. Like I had my five-year-old Sony as five at the time, and uh he came running home one day, and he goes, Mom, mom, mom, this is what I seen in the neighbor's house. And it was pornography, and he ran from it, and he ran home. Um, and I'm like, my goodness, like I wouldn't have done that, you know. I would have the enemy would have just sucked me right in. But it's like he was trained up in the ways of the Lord, and he knows the Lord's voice, and he ran from that. And it was pretty incredible. So I think it's been really fruitful. Um, the Bible says in the last days I'll pour out my spirit, it says, Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Um there's 21 times of recorded dreams in the Bible, and our family were dreamers. So our kids will come upstairs probably three times a week, and they'll get dreams from the Lord, and we'll pray through them and understand you know what he's saying to us. So it's just a whole working of the Holy Spirit through our kids, our family. Um, I mean, they'll get it's incredible. Just so it's been really, really fruitful.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

It's quite the contrast between a family who works the an eight to five plus transit time, and then you've got the stuff in the evenings, and you've got sports and activities and things, and then you've core you've got your obligatory Netflix series that you're watching, right? Because you want to stay up at the office with the latest this and that. Yeah. And it's it's a a huge contrast that you're painting. One that I think our listeners can clearly see sets the tone for someone's life for the rest of their lives, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:18

Like the way the intentionality is so different in how you can speak into those kids in those young, impressionable lives. And they do things like run away from Zen. Yeah. Which there are they're less likely to go through the same path that you did. Yeah. In life, right? Because of that. That's amazing. Thanks for that.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

I gotta tell myself for one thing, real quick. So this is uh my daughter Demi, she's kind of a truth teller, but you guys you've heard of Yellowstone, the series?

SPEAKER_03 38:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Okay, so Yellowstone comes out, we're hearing a lot about it, all that kind of stuff. And so we're like, we'll watch an episode. And anyway, we watch it, and it's like it's kind of almost addicting.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

But it's like not good.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 39:03

You know?

SPEAKER_01 39:03

We haven't watched it, but I mean, people who have binged, binged it.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

Binged it. And it's like, uh, so we don't watch stuff like that, but it's like my wife and I watched it. We're like, ah, we love the mountains, but we're like, let's put the kids downstairs and let's watch an episode. And then we watched another episode, and my daughter comes up and she's 10 years old, and she goes, Dad, you're a hypocrite. And I go, huh? And she goes, I heard the language in that show. And I was like, Oh my goodness, the Lord just like convicted me. But it's interesting because I I'm always obedient to the Lord what he tells me. But I felt like we weren't supposed to watch it. But I watched it and I was like, Oh my goodness, how important it is to listen to the voice of the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

And then I have my 10-year-old daughter, you know, she's not watching what I or she's not listening to what I say, she's watching what I do. So then right away I like repented. I'm like, sorry, Lord, we won't cut that out. We won't watch it again. Um, yeah, so it is interesting when you got kids that it's so important what we model.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

It is. I get called out all the time by my 16-year-old. I mean, like, mom, you said you were gonna, or you you tell me not to, and then you, you know. So it's it's interesting to um it, they're always they're always they're always paying attention.

SPEAKER_04 40:21

We underestimate how much stuff comes from the TV into our kids' lives. Yeah. We just underestimate that. And then a day goes by, a week goes by, a year goes by, and next thing you know, it's been years. And how much time of of ours have they gotten, and how much time of the TV have they gotten? And how much influence, where did most of the majority of that influence come from? Yeah. And as we all know, the TV is not a great source of information. It's drama, it's meant to capture eyes and capture minds. But yet then we we start to materialize that into that's what real life is. I think you would identify some issues with families earlier. And I think that's one of the biggest ones too, is this relaxing of the parental duties of instilling values into our lives and form that out to streaming media. Yeah. Yeah. Are you seeing that as well?

SPEAKER_00 41:13

Yeah, I think if you know, when we were young, when I was young, I was born in 1980, but I think Christianity and the world were kind of just blended together. But I think it's getting darker and darker and darker where Christians honestly have to make a choice to come out of the world. You know what I mean? Where you literally have to come out of the world, but then you're sent into the world to preach Christ. So it's teaching number one ourselves and then our children like, hey, we don't live like that. We don't watch that, we do things differently. And I think because of the darkness in the world, it's forcing people to choose you know what side they're gonna be on, what side they're gonna walk on. And uh, so I think it's really, really important.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

What do you mean by come come out of the world?

SPEAKER_00 41:59

That's uh that's uh I mean, you look at the ways of the world right now, and I think about, you know. I mean, the Bible says uh, you know, wide is the way, broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many walk on it, narrow is the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. And uh I used to live in Okaboji for a while, but my friend and I were doing street evangelism back in 2010 or 11, um, down to where I used to hang out downtown Okeboji, right? And uh we pray in a little white church there on the corner. My friend was pastoring it, and we're just praying. We're going out like 11 o'clock at night. And as we're walking down the street, there's the Bible conference there, there's a little white church, there's a school, and then the street is called Broadway. And then you get to the first establishment, it's a strip club, then you got bar after bar after bar after bar. And I'm like, what a picture of the world! You know what I mean? Like, literally, what a picture of the world. Like you got these choices before you get to the Broadway, the path of destruction, um, where you make choices. Like I when I quit, when I came to Christ, it's not about behavior modification, but I quit drinking. Like I I walked away from it. Um, I never picked it up again. I have no desire to. You know, the the word says, you know, do do not be drunk on wine, instead be filled with the spirit. You know, and I think there's a counterculture where people choose the substitute, the counterfeit, and instead of going home and getting the word and praying the Holy Spirit, and they choose the one that's gonna maybe give them instantaneous peace, they believe.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Temporary.

SPEAKER_00 43:37

Temporary. And but the truth is it raises anxiety, you know, substances. So whatever that is, I mean, it could be food. Yeah, I mean, I'm a Christian and and I can replace alcohol with sugar. You know what I mean? Yeah, so it's the comforts of the world that lead into a trap for people. But alcohol's a big one in our culture, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

Huge.

SPEAKER_01 43:57

That's where this all birthed out of. I don't know that you know our full story, but one one time, one day we'll share that with you. Uh the the big piece about the the culture and all of the different um band-aids, temporary relief and all the things, like we are just as guilty of the the the TV and the Netflix and the kids. And um, the most fun that we have as a family is when we shut all that off and we play the raunchy jelly bean game, right? The one where you're what's it called? Uh oh, I can't think. But like that, or life or cards.

SPEAKER_04 44:35

Well, we have to I think we have to explain the raunchy jelly bean game before.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

Um but j uh it's a jelly bean game.

SPEAKER_04 44:41

There's 50-50, or half of them are nice.

SPEAKER_01 44:45

Like rotten sock.

SPEAKER_04 44:46

And then the the other half they looked exactly the same, are really bad flavors. And it's a game you play once and probably never again. But then you introduce other people to it and you watch them play, and it's a lot of fun. That's fun.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

It's really fun the first time.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

Yeah. You never you never play again.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

No. No. Uh so the the the piece of that, I guess I just want to simply say to shut it all off and to sit with one another and have this the laughter and the joy that comes out. I mean, just these last snow days that we've had in different times. It's like our 16-year-old sits and plays games with the with the three youngest girls, and you hear the giggles. And too often we get we lose sight in the busy. We all know this. So we're all guilty of it. But it's what Amos has really helped me with is um to not rely on that stuff. The intentionality, the intentionality and making boundaries for yourself around the good, the goodness in Christ and seeking that versus the worldly way. So coming out of the world, like you were saying, and entering into a place of solitude and peace and joy, which has God written all over it, you know? And it people um just give it a shot. Like I can't say it enough to my audit to that, to our audience of like just shut it off and sit down, read a devotion, have a conversation, get curious, ask questions. Where, you know. And I I sense that that's what you do with your family, hence your 10-year-old calling you out, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They know because you taught them.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

They know. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

Oh, this has been so great, Michael. Thank you so much for for coming just to spend time with us and share your heart with our audience. I know that this is going to touch a lot of a lot of people. So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

Yeah, my pleasure. Been honored to be here with you guys and been fun.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

We'll have you back with Jenna.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

That sounds good. Sound good? Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Michael.

SPEAKER_04 46:37

Thanks. 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_01 46:48

And like and subscribe and also share our podcast as much as possible. Thank you.