Struck By Lightning

Hello, this is Will Hardy with ManTalk Radio.

We are all about breaking down the walls of race and denomination. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few minutes. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up.

Welcome back to It's Time to Man Up with Nikita Kolov, The Devil's Nightmare. What a pleasure to have in the studio with me, Brad Kimberlin, today. And Brad and I have become friends over the years.

He's a predominantly a marketplace guy, but in addition to that, though, he is moving into the world of ministry. But I wanted to bring... Brad, I wanted to bring... Welcome to the show, first of all.

Well, thank you, Nikita. And I wanted to bring you in, because I'm just fascinated by your story, you know. You email me some of your backstory, and the more I read it, I was like, okay, I just gotta have Brad on the show.

And so I'm glad you're here today. We're just gonna dive in, if you will, or jump into some of your story. As I was thinking, I was looking at some of my notes and some of what you sent, and I got this at a time of my life when I had no direction. And I'm gonna pause right there and say, for the listeners out there, I think for some of you, maybe many of you, I don't know, Brad's story is gonna be relatable to you. You're gonna be able to relate to his story. If I just paused right there at a time in my life when I had no direction, I mean, I would just stop right there, right at the top of the show, and say, that might be you even right now. You feel like you're listening to this show and go, I don't feel like my life has any direction. Well, by the end of the show and Brad's story, I think you're gonna... I think your eyes will be open.

I'm believing that and praying for that. But it goes on to say, I only looked to make a living for my family. I felt empty and alone. I searched for careers that could be financially rewarding and enjoyable. I struggled after working for a number of large companies that had very little concerns for their customers other than the amount of their checks. So I decided to open my own business.

And so let's just stop right there, Brad. And for our listeners out there, when was that? What time period of your life was that? How long ago was that? Or what time period of your life was that? It was back in 1999.

I just had my first son born. And the company I was working for was just gruesome with the amount of lack of morals that they would put up with just to have an income. Whether it was lying to customers or cheating their technicians, they were all about numbers at any cost. That was kind of the bottom line. Bottom line was numbers. Yeah, that's all that matters. Profit, I'm sure.

Profit, I'm guessing. But in that opening part of your story, you kind of, as you said, you kind of searched for careers and kind of bounced around at a number of large companies. So you kind of found similar things at some of the other ones? Maybe not exactly the same.

Right, right. Not exactly the exact ways, but very similar in the fact that it all came down to just how much money. Customers were a number there.

There was very little concern whether they were young, elderly, handicapped, fixed income, didn't matter. It was all about the technicians had a specific dollar amount that they had to do every day in sales. So they had a quota. They had a quota.

You better meet this quota. That's right. Or else you don't have a job, probably. Yeah, unfortunately. Okay, okay. So you kind of get fed up with that. You're bouncing around, and you make a decision to open your own business.

Sure. Well, the biggest thing is my first son had milk allergies. So his formula was just a strain on us at the time. But I knew I had a plumbing license. I had danced around, really had looked for something away from that field. But with the skills I had and the opportunity to open my own business, I jumped in it and said, okay, it's sink or swim. Had some savings.

But jumped into the business and within three months just was blessed without believing I was blessed. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Koloff here, and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement? The big announcement? Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. Anyway, Facebook. Go look up my new fan page, Nikita Koloff Fans, and like it and follow today.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. You know, I thought I was doing it all. Didn't know how I was doing it. But things were happening in a great way. My family was taken care of. And we just grew.

And the first two years, we just grew exponentially. And it was a surprise. But back in that time, it was all about what I needed. It was everything I did. I was responsible. You were taking credit for it all. I took credit for everything. If the rain come, it was because I did something right. Okay.

All right. So you launch into your own business. And that's a big step. I mean, to go from what you might say somebody working for corporate America and then stepping into the world of becoming, what I say, an entrepreneur and self-employed from being an employee to becoming self-employed is a big step. And as you said, can be a risk.

But you make that jump. And in those first couple of years, you've seen some incredible growth. I know at one point, you came and you go like, I'm going to have to hire some employees. So you're seeing that kind of growth. Yes.

Yes, most definitely. I think I went from just being myself to probably having five people working for me within the first year and a half and wasn't really prepared for the growth. Didn't have the training.

Didn't have the knowledge to handle it. So it was kind of all so it was kind of all seat of the pants. And for the most part, it worked out. But there was days I couldn't explain why it worked out, but it did. Right.

Right. And I know even along this journey, as I said earlier, looking at some of your story, even in the midst of this, because you said, I felt empty. I felt alone.

Fast forward about seven years. And then in your words, it all comes crumbling down and not only the business, but even your marriage all comes crumbling down. I blamed everything else, except I took the credit when things were going right. But when everything started falling apart, it was everybody else's.

Nobody else does that. That's just you. But it put a tremendous strain on my wife and I. We had actually looked at separating at the time and just... Still just had the one boy?

Still just had the one boy. Okay. And we had another one, let's see, getting ready to come on away.

Okay. And so we struggled through that. And in one year, we almost lost everything. We had been a multi-million company.

And in the following year, we dropped to barely making ends meet. Wow. Okay. So it was... And when you say it all come crumbling down, it really did from... It came... We almost closed.

We almost closed the doors because of debt and just low income. Wow. Okay. So at this point, you're... I mean, what's going on? I know you'd said your life up to that point, it really is, in a sense, all been about you and everything that you could do within your own power. And I like... Well, I say I like what you said, but it's like, things are going right. I took the credit when things are going wrong.

It was everybody else's fault. That's right. Exactly. I'll bet you. I'll bet you there's a listener out there that can probably relate to that.

One or two. That has probably either been in that same situation or may even be in it right now, may even be in that situation right now. So things are crumbling apart and then something happens, Jesus steps in and things begin to change. And actually, it was without my knowing. I was not going to church at the time. I knew there was a God. I wasn't following.

I wasn't reading. I don't think I'd ever cracked the Bible since I was eight years old. You used to grow up in church or anything?

As a child, till we were about 12, and then we just fell away from church. Okay. Off doing your thing. Off doing my thing, as I like to say now, is building my testimony.

Okay. But my wife and I got married. It was the last time we were in a church, and we sometimes regretted that.

But I had, I don't want to say it was a come to Jesus moment, but it was definitely eye-opening because there was something else at work other than me. Well, I think you even said in your story, so my testimony started in 2014 on a softball field in Burlington, North Carolina. What happened on that softball field? Well, we'd been playing ball, and almost any time we played ball, we drank heavily. We were just... Like softball league or whatever. Softball league drinking. So we set out and we just played ball all day, all night.

I think we were playing about 1230 in the championship game. And go to swing to bat, and my bicep blew out. And it basically, I didn't even know where the pain was because it felt like I got struck by lightning. I fell to my knees and just, the umpire looked at me and asked if I was okay.

I said, yeah, I just don't know what happened. And then I realized I couldn't lift my arm. And I had to continue playing the game for another full inning with one good arm. And played second base, a pretty active position. But after that, I sent my wife a picture of me in an ace bandage, and she says, yeah, whatever.

I don't believe you're playing ball at one o'clock in the morning. But we went home, got looked at. Doctor told me I was going to have surgery to reattach my bicep. And within just a few days, had that done. First doctor got a little careless. Cut through both my arteries and my arm. And had a tourniquet on my arm, but he sewed me shut before he removed the tourniquet. So once he sewed me shut and released the tourniquet, my forearm, he said, basically exploded. Almost bled out. I flatlined a couple times. Then had to have a vascular surgeon come in and make different repairs of my arm just to save my life. Wow. All from the injury in the softball field.

From a simple injury that should have been an outpatient surgery. So your eyes are open. So I'm just kind of thinking, you're recapping your story at this juncture. Business is crumbling. Your marriage is in disarray. Right.

And now you've sustained this injury. God has a way of getting our attention. Yes, He does. Doesn't He?

Yes, He does. You're listening to the truth network and truthnetwork.com. Okay. And so you almost bled out. You flatlined a couple times, but you recovered.

Right. You recovered. And I want to fast forward from that point right there to 2016.

And tell me from the things I just described, fast forward to something that happened March 27th, 2016. What got you to that place March 27th? That was the beginning of my new life. My wife and I had struggled. We were last-ditch effort. We're going to try this new church out.

Saw online. And I was very complacent. Just whatever you want to do. We went that first hour I was there. Just the amount of love that people poured on us. It just almost felt like home.

We were going for a couple months. And really, I was trying to get involved and do as much as I could. But one day, we were sitting in the Enduring Service, and Pastor made a call. Of anyone that didn't know Jesus or didn't know where their eternity would be spent, just raise your hand. And I don't remember raising my hand, but I did. And I actually raised my hand and walked into the aisle, standing in the aisle.

Come on. And the next week, we were scheduled to have a baptism. And the pastor announced a little bit about our story and told who we were. And as I sat down in the water, it was really warm, felt comfortable. But as I went into the water, I felt the same strike of lightning that I had on the ball field. As you were being submerged? As I was being submerged in the water.

Leaving those old sins, that old life and buried and dead and raised to new life through baptism. I think they had to pour the water out. It was so dirty. But it opened my eyes. And it had me reflect on all the times that God has handed my life that I had taken credit for.

Yeah. And it was really, it was an amazing day. I'll never forget it.

Well, I'm sure. I mean, that's... It was a new life.

New life. I mean, from March 27th, when your hand was raised, let me say it that way, when your hand was raised and you stepped into the aisle to the baptism the following week, I mean, a transformation of a new life. Yes, it was definitely.

Wow. And so that was in March of 2016. So what transition, like with the business, with the marriage, did things begin to then turn around? The business was still tough. Marriage was still kind of shaky. I went away on a men's event.

It was five days to spend with the Lord and just dig into His Word and learn who He said I was. I didn't know that while I was gone, my wife was planning on leaving. God basically told her, said, look, I've got Him.

You trust Me and let Me work on Him. So when I came back, we had a bus ride back and a large group of people waiting for me to stay at the church, but I didn't see my wife. And she waited for me to get off the bus and to see, just to see if I'd changed. And I told her the only person that I saw standing in that parking lot of probably a couple hundred people was her. God had pretty much blinded me to anybody else there. Spotlight on her.

But you better believe it. And I asked God while I was there, while I was on that retreat, I was like, you know, just take away, if you had to blind me to anything, just take away anything that would be not of you and that my focus would be on you and my wife. And He really did a number on me because now I can't remember phone numbers. I can't remember names of women I go to church with.

But the one I can't remember is my wife. Wow. And let me just mention for our listeners out there, for the men who are listening, if you're ever interested in perhaps experiencing, I won't say the same thing that Brad experienced, because every man that comes to camp by testimony is typically a different experience. I've been facilitating these camps for 14 plus years now, and man camp is designed just to do that, just for you to be impacted, for you to go home a changed man, better equipped to be a godly man, a godly husband, a godly father, to love your wife and children well, and to love others well. And so be sure to check out mancamp.info if you're interested. And ladies, if you give men your blessing, there's a better chance that they'll actually come if they have your blessing behind it.

Well, I'm encouraged by that. And so she saw a changed man when you got off the bus, and so since that time, you've grown together as a couple. And I know you said with the business, like any business, it has its daily issues and continues to have challenges as any business owner would have challenges.

But one thing I liked what you said in regard to that is, because there's problems that are sometimes beyond our control, or challenges beyond our control, but what you do now is you seek His guidance and trust Him, not just to mention your family, but even with the business, right? Right, exactly. It's all His.

Put it in His hands, and now you recognize it's all His. It's not about Brad anymore. Oh, no. It's all about the Lord, the Brad.

That's right. Brad just gets to play a part in the whole story. Yep, I just steward what He's given me and do the best we can with it. And the wife and I prayed over it, and we decided that it belonged to the Lord. We need to quit taking the hands of it, and if we have a decision, we go to Him with it, and He's never led us wrong. Well, for those of you who are business owners out there, there's a good word of advice right there.

Take your hands off it, put it in God's hands, and let Him take control, and then just seek His guidance. Seek His guidance and trust Him when it comes to making decisions for your business, for those of you out there in the business world. But let's transition just to what you just talked about, because I know what you're doing. So you've got the business.

So you're a marketplace guy. You're running the business. God has worked in your heart, worked on you, working on the marriage.

And now I'm looking at, Brad, some of the things you're doing now. I mean, you lead a men's ministry. You work with a ministry fighting human trafficking. You and your wife together have a ministry, Outdoor Leadership and Fitness Instruction. Just give us a little insight into those three things. The men's ministry, how you're fighting human trafficking, and then the Outdoor Leadership Fitness Instruction. Just briefly.

Okay. The men's ministry started off when I came back from the retreat, I talked with one of our pastors about what the Lord showed me on retreat. And it was that there needed to be some attention to the men in our church. And it wasn't calling us to be passive. It was calling us to stand up and to take the fight to the enemy instead of being passive and doing studies that didn't have any hang time. So he led me to that. And when I went back to the church, the pastor actually had an old piece of artwork that they had originally made for a men's ministry that had nothing to do with what they had going on.

And when I told him what the Lord had given me, he pulled that script up, and it was the name the Lord had given me to make the men's ministry with. What do you call it? Frontline. Frontline.

Okay. And then the human trafficking was a branch off of the fitness and outdoor leadership. But we were introduced to a group, 611 Network, through Revelation Wellness, that led us into, well, I'd never been to a Super Bowl, and I still haven't.

But they led us to Miami last year, well, this year, January, for the Super Bowl. And it was to be on the street, just touching base, talking with people, talking with those— Street ministry. Street ministry.

Getting down to the— Face-to-face, one-on-one. That's right. That's exactly right.

And it was very rewarding. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Kolob, and I am here with a huge announcement, like big, big announcement. Man Up Men's Conference, Morningstar Ministries, Fort Mill, South Carolina, August 25th to the 27th. You're thinking, that's a ways away.

No, not too soon to sign up. What a lineup of speakers we have. The Benham brothers, David and Jason Benham.

All-star, NBA all-star, Al Wood is speaking. World Wrestling Champion, The Total Package, Lex Luger, Chris Reed, Rick Joyner, Delta Force Commander, General, Lieutenant General, Jerry Boykin retired. Yours truly, Nikita Kolob.

World-renowned evangelist, Frank Shelton. Register today. It is live. mstarevents, mstarevents.com slash man up.

Go get registered. You will not want to miss this event. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. It was very eye-opening because— What, in what way? Well, Satan has, he has people just working out in the opening now. They're not trying to hide. Right. It's just, and it's just accepted.

In your face. Yeah. It's just so widespread. So it was, it was definitely awakened us to realize that there needed to be some, some skin in the game. And so we actually got involved. We started a Charlotte hub.

Okay. Creating awareness. Creating awareness and trying to put together safe houses. My wife and I, and a couple others are part of what's called exit team.

So we help exit people out of, out of that position. The fitness ministry was something my wife had been looking for and just couldn't figure out how to put worship and God in it with her workouts. And lo and behold, a little bit of work, a little bit of online work, and she found it. And that was about three years ago and they had an outdoor component. What's that called? It's called RevWild.

Okay. It was the outdoor. And it basically taught us how to get outdoors, backpack out into the, as far out back.

I think we were on the Continental Divide in June. Wow. Beautiful. One of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen. But God had a, had a fireworks show for us that night and a meteor shower of about 75 an hour.

So it was a sight to see. Wow. No manufactured fireworks. God created the universe, blessed you with one of his own.

Exactly right. Wow. Meteor showers. It was beautiful.

That's amazing. And well, and let me ask you this for our listeners. I mean, where could you have, is there a website? Where could people find out more about these things that you guys are involved in?

Sure. Revelationwellness.org is the website for the, it's the ministry that heads up the Revelation Wellness. It also heads up the RevWild ministry for the outdoor ministry. And there's also a link to the 611 network there. But 611network.org has its own website as well, and all are very powerful. And, you know, whatever avenue we've got to spread the gospel.

Yes. And I know you're continuing, I know this, you're continuing your pursuit of your relationship with the Lord. I know you went through Morningstar University down in Fort Mill. And so kudos to you for continuing to dive into, you know, just pursuing the heart of God and just things that he's leading you guys to do. So, man, it's been so good to have you on the show today. And yeah, I mean, again, Brad, I was just fascinated by your story, and you're doing so many wonderful things. And folks, just, you know, as you're listening out there, I mean, be sure and, you know, dial into his website and check some of these things out. You may be led to pray for him and his wife and their ministry. You may be led to perhaps help support what they're doing, if not through prayer and or prayer, you know, financially so into what these guys are doing, because they're doing an amazing work. And let me just say, again, to wrap up this show today, and let me just, and again, so appreciative of you coming to the studio today. Thank you. I know God's got some great things for you in the future too.

Oh yeah, can't wait. Phenomenal stories struck by lightning and a meteor shower to boot. God just continues to work in wonderful ways, doesn't He?

Yes, He does. So, well, let me just say this to you out there, if in hearing some of Brad's story, I mean, from just feeling empty and alone to just searching for, you know, for meaning in life or purpose in life, it all starts with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And if you don't have that, today would be a great day to just even pause right now.

It's as easy as ABC. Just accept the fact that Jesus lived, died, and rose again. Believe that in your heart of hearts and confess it with your mouth.

And the Bible says, Romans 10-9, you shall be saved. Today would be a great day to make that decision. See you next week on It's Time to Man Up. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions.

Go to co-op.net and donate today. 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, Kiwi, and the team at Clemens carpet look forward to seeing and serving you soon. This is Nikita Koloff, and I want to thank Clemens carpet for supporting my new show, Man Up, Saturday afternoon at 12 30 on the truth network. If you would like to support Koloff for Christ ministries for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration. For a gift of $50, Nikita will include his book Wrestling with Success. And for a gift of $100 or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption. Go to www.koloff.net and donate today. This is the truth network.