A Year In Man Up Time!

This is Robbie Dilmore from The Christian Car Guy and Kingdom Pursuit, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build a kingdom. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it and share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. It's the Russian nightmare, now the devil's worst nightmare, and your tag team partner, Nikita Kolob. It's time to man up. I'm going to start with reason number one, because of who I have in the studio, and that is none other than the man himself, Stu Epperson Jr. Not to be confused with Stu Epperson Sr., but Jr. is in the studio with me today. Stu, welcome to the Man Up show. It's an honor to be here.

To be not in the ring with you, to be on the show with you is a very good thing, but Nikita Kolob, God bless you. Love what you're doing for the kingdom. I love your program. I listen all the time, and now I'm a guest.

What a treat. Well, and there's a reason you're a guest. I'm going to get to that, why this show is so special. You being the reason there is a Man Up show, and what I mean by that, give our listeners a little bit of quick background, the backdrop on that. It was around April or May of 2020 that I got a random phone call from this guy, Stu Epperson, and he's like, we need to talk.

At least this is the way I remember it. We need to talk, and I'm like, okay, and he goes, I'm going to come down and see you. So he drove all the way down to Kannapolis, North Carolina. Spent three hours at my house. We had lunch together. I made you through a lunch together. Anyway, we had lunch together, and we talked, and you're like, you need a radio show. You need a podcast.

I'm like, okay. In my mind, Stu, I'm thinking, would I even have time to do a radio show and or a podcast? But here we are, which leads me into the second special reason why you're on this show.

We're coming up on, in fact, this show will air on our one year anniversary, already one year, and I can't thank you enough for one, the idea of having a show, but two, making it all happen. And for those who don't know, Stu, I don't even know what your official title is. Do you have an official? I mean, you're not the chairperson. Are you the chairman? Are you the president?

What exactly? Tell our listeners to Truth Radio Network. I'm the chief servant. I'm here to make all your dreams come true and your Russian nightmares come true.

No, you know what? I just absolutely love walking into the building, and when guests are here looking around, just encouraging them and serving them and getting some coffee and bringing people to Jesus. We're all about pointing people to him. So the title that is the most important is Lord Jesus Christ, and we are in sales, he's in management, and that's what I love about you and your program, because we know that millions of people worldwide are into pro wrestling.

And they're into the theatrics and they're into the technique and they're into the fanfare and all the buzz, and what a beautiful way to point them to the King of Kings, to the ultimate Lord of the Rings, the Lord Jesus Christ. Right, and so I get it. Let's just say you're the CSO then. You're the Chief Servant Officer of Truth Radio Network.

So as I was saying, Stu, I love the idea of the CSO, Chief Servant Officer, but there's many other titles that could apply, yes? Well, that's your President, you can call me CEO, you can call me Founder, but ultimately the whole reason I'm here and the whole reason this network exists is to connect people to Christ. So that's why Truth, Jesus said, I am the Truth. Truth is not some feeling or some philosophy or some idea.

Truth is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're here to network, we're here to network, to connect him. We want to get as many radio stations and many programs like yours out on the air so people can hear, because we're taking back the air, because the Prince of the Power of the Air has no power here. We are lifting up Jesus and proclaiming him, so we're trying to network. You know, the greatest network on the planet is the network called the Church, the Body of Christ. And you and I are brothers in Christ, and so we're going to be spending eternity together, this is just a rehearsal, but we're together so that we can network others into this glorious mission of following Jesus, knowing him, and making him known. So everything we're trying to do here, from the Christian Car Guy show, to Truth Talk, to all our shows, to especially Man Up, it's time to Man Up.

It is time to Man Up. That all is about networking, connecting to Jesus. By the way, no one can hear our voices right now.

If their radio or their phone wasn't networked to something, networked to a Wi-Fi connection, networked to an app, connected, networked, hardwired into their car or a computer into a mainframe. And there's algorithms, and all these things are networked together. So we're called Truth Network because we literally want to network people with the truth. We want to introduce people to Jesus Christ.

And that is the greatest thing that could ever happen to someone, because when you encounter Christ, like Nikita Kolov did back in the early 90s, everything changes, because he's the only one that has the power to change anyone. And so that's why we're here, and that's why God put it on my heart 23-some years ago to start the Truth Network. Well, and your family, your dad, because I met you, your dad, Stu Sr., and a lot of your family. I met your cousin recently and are involved in the whole radio industry, yes? A lot of family is involved. There's probably family I don't even know about that's involved.

I hear from you all the time, are you related to him, are you related to him? But as an honor, my uncle Ralph, 1940s, brings home this kit from college. It builds a radio station in the attic. No way. Of the old farmhouse.

No way. And preachers come by with money, and I'm sure a couple of pro racers, I mean Harley Race might have been alive then, I don't know who some of those guys are. Luthaz.

Luthaz for sure would have been alive then. They came by in their tights, and they rambled right there in the living room, and Aunt Gizzard probably played the organ, and Grandpa got out his harmonica. But Uncle Ralph had the radio station going, and that radio station became WPAQ, one of the first stations to stay in North Carolina. But he really got the rest of us involved, you know, not the rest of us, I wasn't quite around then in the 40s, but Dad was there, Mr. Everson. He'll be one of the next interviews. Well, and of course you mentioned a number of the shows, I mean Truth Radio Network has so many, Masculine Journey is another one, right?

I mean there's so many, great guys, Alistair Begg and Greg Laurie and Dr. David Jeremiah, so many amazing men of God, ministers of God, that are on Truth Radio Network. And so it really stood for me, it's just a privilege and an honor. Let me say this too, because it's interesting, again, when you first brought the idea, and in my mind I thought, man, do I have, would I have time to do this? And then I kind of had what I call an aha moment, which is like, because, you know, my prayer has been over the years in my walk with Christ is, Lord, expand my territory, expand my reach, expand my influence, you know, help me reach more people.

I can only be in one place at one time. And then the aha moment was, well, hello, I mean, what better way to reach the world than the radio network through the radio waves, and then of course obviously the podcasting platform now that has exploded. And so I was like, you know, and reaching back out to you, I'm like, okay, this should have been a no-brainer, but I had an aha moment. And so we started recording last year. We launched one year ago.

This is the one year anniversary show. Happy anniversary, my friend. Thank you, Stu.

Well, but thank you for, again, for having the idea and for reaching out. All feet agree, Clemens carpet is where you need to be. With carpet, vinyl, tile and hardwood from the top brands, Clemens carpet does it right from beginning to install. Voted number one by you in the Reader's Choice Awards. Doug, Chad, Benny, Pee-wee and the team at Clemens carpet look forward to seeing and serving you soon.

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DriveCrescent.com. Here we are. Fast forward a year later. I had some really amazing guests and some amazing interviews over this past year. Just a variety of people for those who maybe you haven't tuned in or maybe you haven't listened to the Man Up show. And another segment we do, too, Q&A with Koloff.

Kind of a separate segment we do on the podcast platform where I give people the opportunity, and a lot of times wrestling fans, to ask me questions. And so we've had fun with that. And a brand new announcement.

So actually this is point number three. Thanks to you and the creative idea of David Mamet, the marketing man. We are going to be launching the Man Up Minute, which is literally a 60-second, inspirational, motivational, thought-provoking minute.

Someone on their drive time can just go, man, it makes them think, right? And so what are your thoughts on the Man Up Minute? I love it. I love it. I love the idea of, we can't get enough of you on the weekend. Hey, we need a little snapshot during the week. It's a little minute to win it.

It's a little spark plug, right? I like that. Everyone needs a little challenge. And sometimes our attention spans, especially mine, your minds will drift. Or you're waiting for your next great message or talk show on the Truth Network. But right in between there, you might hear an ad or a promo for the Christian Car Guy show or something else going on. But then you hear a Man Up Minute, like a little devotional. That's what devotionals are. You look at the little devotional books, right?

Yeah. So it's almost like an audio devo that will challenge and encourage people kind of on their journey. And also remind them that, hey, there's a whole power-packed half hour of this waiting for them on Saturday mornings or Saturday afternoon or whatever time your show's on in that particular market. Because we're trying to get your show on a lot of places because you definitely have a message to share. So we're tickled to death to have that.

I think it's a great additional way to touch folks and to reach people. And also we have some sponsors that have been very gracious to help carry both the show and the Man Up Minute. Watching you as a wrestler, which I did and so many thousands of people did, millions of people. So you were a fan. Big time fan. Always.

Yep. Watching the aggression you had. You were aggressive. I was. You got in there. You were a man on a mission.

I was intense. You were not going to, you know, until someone was bleeding or dead or carried out on a on a gurney, you aren't going to relent. I don't care if it was Ricky Steamboat. I don't care if it was Abdullah the Butcher. I don't care if it was the Honky Tonk Man, Dusty Rose, the American Dream, Nature Boy, the Road Warriors. I mean, who else in history is double clothesline, both road warriors, hawk and animal in one moment? I mean, I just like to watch. I can just watch that over and over again.

I forgot about that. But you are a man on a mission, and now it's like you are hunting souls for Christ. You are a man on a mission reaching people for Jesus.

And it's just almost like an apostle Paul. And I know there's the fictitious nature of, I mean, there's a narrative and there's a storyline, and save that for the Q&A and all that. But there's a sense to which people, when they saw you, they picture this guy like, I don't want to be in a dark alley with him unless I'm Ivan and he's like on my team. Unless we're on the same side.

That's exactly right. And so now it's like you're the devil's worst nightmare in that the devil, what he doesn't want, he will, by the way, friends, he'll leave you alone if you simply will not do this one thing. Don't talk about Jesus. Don't bring him up.

Jump around with a social justice, critical race theory, have some fun with some give-back things and some good philanthropic kind of conversations. So he won't mess with you. In fact, he'll encourage that. And I'm not saying that all the social things are bad, but when you start talking about the message of the cross, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, the message of the cross to those who are being saved, it's the power of God. To those who are perishing, it's foolishness. And when you start talking about the message of the cross, the enemy is scared. He doesn't want that to go out.

Why? Because the Word of God doesn't return void, right? It's a seed sown. It's supernatural. It's powerful. It's like that mustard seed that grows into a massive... And so look at just these 12 guys that turned the world upside down.

Why? Because they preached the gospel. Because they were not straight commissioned salesmen, they were great commissioned salesmen, and they went out into all the world. And so with you, you are aggressively bringing people to Jesus. You're inviting them to Christ.

The enemy, that is his worst nightmare. And what you're also doing is you're empowering, enabling, mobilizing people that listen to this program and the beauty of radio and the beauty of media as this message goes out. All kinds of people can listen to us right now without you having to be... You were traveling all over the place. Every night you were going here. You're in Cleveland tonight. You're in Toronto the next night. The next night you're in Boise. You're in Chicago. You're in Madison Avenue the next night. You're like crazy. You can get behind a mic and literally go into people's living rooms and into their cars with the message of Jesus.

On their phone? Yes, and those are out there. Those are a bunch of little Russian nightmares making the Jesus dream come true that you're creating, that you're mobilizing, using this force, the light of Jesus Christ, which is far more powerful than any WrestleMania or any Starrcade 85 or 86 or 87 or any cage match or death match or foreign object. Russian chain match. Don't forget about the Russian chain match. Unbelievable.

Russian chain match. Wow. I am right now too close to the most dangerous man on the planet, the most hated man in the world back in the late 80s, the Russian nightmare himself, Nikita Kolov. But just the power of now leveraging all of that gravitas to bring people to grace, to the grace of God. So that encourages me, brother, and I want to affirm you in that. I know that I'm answering your question a lot longer than you had hoped, but I just want to affirm and confirm that's what we're about, and we don't know how much time until the Lord Jesus Christ splits that sky wide open and returns the return of the king, so we've got to start inviting people to him like what you're doing. Like, we've got to jump on board. Well, I think there's, right, and I think there's, and I appreciate that, and I'm certainly, wow, your words take to heart everything you just said, and there's an obvious sense of urgency in my view and many others who are dialed in. There is a real sense of urgency to what's going on, and we've heard that in the past, but I think if you really pay attention, really pay attention to what's going on, and you're even remotely familiar with end time, last days type prophecy, whether it's the book of Revelation or Daniel, Isaiah.

I mean, you can go right to Zechariah. You can just go right through many of the books of the Bible, and so, yeah, so I have a passion, as you're referencing, Stu, that you might say with the same intensity I applied in the wrestling ring as a believer now, as a Christ follower, and not unlike anything I've ever done, whether it's been football or weightlifting. I mean, I'm the kind of guy, if I'm in, like, yeah, hey, I'm in, I'm, like, all in. Like, I'm not sitting on the sidelines.

I'm not going to be warm on a bench. You know, when you guys provided this opportunity for me, you know, I'm, like, I'm all in. Let's get started.

Let's get rolling. Start recording some shows, and you can edit them later, and, you know, and so, and to your point of the impact that this show has had in one year, in one year, I'm thrilled at the latest count that the podcast has been downloaded into 55 countries. In fact, I just did a recent, just the other day, another podcast with a guy in the UK, so other podcasters, as they've heard the Man Up podcast, I know the Man Up show on Truth Radio, are now reaching out to me and saying, hey, will you be on my podcast? And so, whether it's the UK, Ireland, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia, I mean, I'm doing other interviews all over the world, but it's all connecting. It's all networking. It's all networking, and it's using your opportunity because, you know, you'll be invited to, and I love, you sent me to that website to watch the YouTube of some of the stories of some of the wrestlers, you know, remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a documentary done.

Yeah. But I just love how you're, you know, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, he says, I'm all things to all men, that I might win the more. Now, Paul never said I'm a pro wrestler to pro wrestlers, but the fact is, Jacob wrestled. Paul didn't wrestle, but Jacob did. That's exactly right, but people will come and turn out in big numbers, and Robby, you've seen it, you know, Christian Car Guy has got people that will, you couldn't drag him to church with a hog chain, but you start talking about getting under the hood of a car, you're talking about fuel efficiency, you talk about building up, you know, a 1950 Chevy or whatever, they are suddenly turned on. They're excited, and you use that, and you're using wrestling, and you're on these massive secular platforms, but you're proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, you know, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the ultimate king of the ring. Yeah, which is crazy for me to think back, and I have these conversations all the time, think about how my wrestling career, which, you know, most that probably listen to this show are somewhat familiar with it as well, and if not, go to Koloff.net, read more of the story, buy the book, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption, you'll get all of my story, my life story, but you mentioned Robby and the Christian Car Guy, just recently, one of my favorite guys, I call him a mentor, although I'd never met him in person, was a guy named Jim Rohn, and he was a worldwide motivational speaker, and I just heard this recently, he goes, if you'll change your mindset, he goes, let me take a mechanic, for example, you might think you fix cars, but what if you just tweaked your mindset to not look at it like you fix cars, but you help people arrive at their destination? Oh wow, that's strong, that's really strong.

So you're not saying, I'm not a mechanic who fix cars, I'm a mechanic who helps other people arrive at their destination. Just something as simple as that, there's a teaser for The Man Up Minute right there, I think. That's a great teaser. You know, it's all perspective, you know, the late Howard Hendricks, great man of God, Dallas Theological Seminary professor, author of many books, he was a great professor and he had a student come up to him, one of his better students, who was very, very frustrated and very depressed, and he said, Dr. Hendricks, I gotta do something here, I have to work my way through school, I can't pay for seminary, I have to work, I'm working this plan, it's a big ol' operation, and he's like, there's over 500 people there, and I'm the only Christian, and I'm just on the verge of quitting, I can't take it.

Give me some advice, what should I do? Dr. Hendricks backed up and said, he said, you mean to tell me that God has entrusted you with 500 souls to lead to Christ? Get back there as quick as the doors open and clock in, and keep letting your light shine by being an excellent worker, doing everything with all your might, Colossians 3, 23, as unto the Lord and not unto men, and get in there and let your light shine, and lead those people to Christ, what a privilege, what a stewardship. And so it's all perspective, we see obstacles, sure, but we see opportunities, and we also see other people, and this is real important, you always had an Ivan, you always had a Dusty, you always had, whether you were on the good side or the bad side, there's some not-so-good influences, you know, the horsemen, you know, some maybe really good influences, you know, the steamboats and the other, you know, the good guys, but there was always a camaraderie, and that's why, in brothers and sisters in Christ, that's why we've got to encourage each other, like we've got to build each other up, and we've got to speak words of life into one another, and that's the other thing you're doing on Man Up, and that's the other thing you're doing on these Man Up Minutes, you are speaking life, you're speaking God's Word, which never returns void, and I'm thoroughly encouraged by that, because what you're instilling is not fear, but you're instilling the words fear not into people, pointing them to Jesus Christ. That's good, and really, to your point, too, we've got just a couple minutes already, I mean, time just flies on these shows with you speaking some real truth, and I appreciate that, and to have that wrestling platform and to be able to have this format, and then the other with, you know, Lex Luger and I do a camp called Man Camp together. I do a conference on weekends called the Man Up Conference, and to be able to, and what's funny is many of the pastors that have me in, you know, as an evangelist, like yourself, grew up watching wrestling, and so never in a million years have I ever thought, I said this on the interview with the guy in the UK, I go, if I had to summarize my life journey at this point between the radio show, the podcast, what I'm doing there, the wrestling career, football career, children, grandchildren, I mean, it's surreal, and the opportunities God has given me to make an impact in other people's lives, but then also then fellowship together like you're talking about, and using these areas, so I can't thank, again, I just can't thank you enough for one year anniversary, and looking for even greater and better things in year two, three, four, and however far the Lord wants to take this show, and whoever we can reach.

Well, keep doing what you're doing, brother Nikita, and let me affirm this, and let me make a very sobering statement. What you did as a professional wrestler, and people can call it show biz, they can call it cinematic, they can call it whatever, allegory, whatever, but what we saw there was an actual better, truer picture of what the Christian life is than what most comfortable Western Christianity is. Like, when I turn on wrestling, there's going to be blood, there's going to be a battle, there's going to be the Russian nightmare, whether he's off the top ropes, whether he's coming off the middle turnbuckle, whether it's a sickle, whatever it is, but there's an aggressive battle, there's a war going on, and you don't leave that ring unless you've either won or lost, and the Christian life is that. Paul said we wrestle not against flesh and blood, the whole battle, and so what you're doing now in this time is so awesome to see in this season of your life, you're in a different ring, there's a lot more at stake in this ring, there's those souls of men and women, and the battle is even more intense than those days when you took on all those foes in the ring, on the big screen, in the battle, in the Omni in Atlanta, wherever you were wrestling, but now you're summoning an army to follow Jesus and to reach this lost world that needs to hear the gospel of grace, and that's so encouraging to me to see how God's leveraging those skills. Well, and I appreciate it. People ask me all the time, do you still wrestle?

And my immediate response to that is yes, every day. It's just a different opponent. It's not against flesh and blood, as we affectionately call it, the squared circle. It's now spiritual principalities, you quoted Ephesians, spiritual principalities in high places. And Stu Epperson Jr., the man who made this show possible, one year anniversary for the Man Up show, and looking for greater things. Stu, thank you for making this opportunity a possibility and now a reality. Thank you for being on the one year anniversary show with me today. Praise the Lord, and you know what time it is. It's time to man up. It's time to man up, and if you have not yet given your heart to Jesus, you heard the man himself speak. It's time to surrender your heart and your life to Jesus.

Thanks for tuning in to our one year anniversary show. Men, I would like to challenge each of you to consider spending five days with Lex Luger and I at Man Camp, pursuing the heart of God. Ladies, if you're listening, we'll send your men home, better equipped to be men of God, godly husbands and godly fathers. God appeals to you, give them your blessing, and encourage them to sign up today at mancamp.info. Pastors, if you would like to bring Koloff for Christ Ministries and Man Up Conference to your community, go to koloff.org and email me.

Remember this, it's time to man up. We so appreciate our listeners. If you will support this program with a financial gift of any amount, I will send you a personalized copy of my latest book, Nikita, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption. Go to koloff.net, that's koloff.net, koloff.net and make your contribution today. Be sure to check them out today at wsmc1.com because you are number one.