Q&A with Koloff - #42

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Welcome back. Another episode of Q&A with Kolov questions and answers. And this is where you get the opportunity to ask me questions. Normally, I'm the one asking the questions and searching for the answers, but this is your opportunity. And we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to be able to reach out to you and get you on the Q&A show.

And we'll give you some information at the end and how you can do that. But in the studio with me today, Todd Feckel. Did I say that last name? Feckel. Feckel.

Yeah, as long as you don't say fecal, that's a totally different matter. Well, now I know you're not in comedy here, but I know who you hang around a lot. And I think that guy rubs off on you.

But all that to say... Yeah, you got it. Todd Feckel. Todd, welcome to the Q&A show with Kolov. It's good to be here, man. It's an honor and privilege.

And it's hard to believe I'm in the same room with the Russian nightmare. And it's good to be here. Thank you.

So did you. And on that note, well, we'll get to that. Let me just say this first. So you pastor a church. Yes. Tell our listeners.

Yeah. I'm the pastor of Bethlehem Christian Church in the Altamaha community of Eli, North Carolina. And I've been there over seven years now. And I love the ministry there. I love the people there. I love the area. I also volunteer on Thursdays and Fridays at the local Western Alamance varsity football team.

Okay. And that's pretty exciting. And because I played four years of college football at Gardner Webb. And I'm also on the board of directors for the missionary air group at the local airport there in Burlington, for a group of missionaries that that fly planes and hard to reach people groups.

Okay, I'm in different parts of the world. So that's what I'm a part of there in Burlington, North Carolina, and glad to be there got a family. Yes, I have a wife that I've been married to for 27 years. Christy, we met at Gardner Webb College, I asked her out the very first time I saw her in the cafeteria. I immediately asked her out. And she said yes. She said no.

Oh, okay. And now my friend did kind of put me up to it. It might have been a little bit of a joke, but I was hoping she was gonna say yes. Right. And but anyway, I worked up enough courage to ask her out again.

I was really shy person back then. And she said yes, that second time. So I guess the rest is history. But But yeah, I've got three daughters.

And in. So what are their names? Hannah, Caitlin, and Jessica. My oldest is on got married a couple of years ago. And, and, and my middle daughter just got engaged. She's going to be getting married in May.

And I've got an 18 year old that's a senior in high school right now. Wow, congratulations. And, and and I know, of course, Burlington, the infamous in my eyes anyway, home of Don Curnodle, who, who was instrumental in the key to coal off even existing. Really? Yeah.

Okay. Don Curnodle. And so just tell you that story real quick. Don Curnodle and Sergeant slaughter. Yes, I've seen him in Home Depot before. Yeah, who actually who actually has a place in Burlington?

Yeah, slaughter does. So the two of them are the brainchild behind the idea of a nephew for Ivan coal off becoming an uncle. And of course, a phone call to road where actually a conversation with road where animal by Don Curnodle, you know, any big guys who wouldn't mind shaving their head and becoming a Russian was the question. And he goes, I know the guy right now.

Animal makes the phone call. The next thing you know, I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina meeting Jim Crockett, Jr. and Don Curnodle. And Ivan coal off who were the NWA World Tag Team champions at the time. And Nikita koloff is birthed in the hallways of Charlotte in 1984. Wow. That's the backstory on that. That's amazing.

Yeah. You know, just being in that Burlington, North Carolina area, I've heard so many wonderful things about Don Curnodle. I never had the privilege of meeting him.

But I've seen his picture up in places all around that area. And I was sorry to hear that he passed away recently. And, and I knew that he was instrumental in your life. And, and I know he must have been amazing, man.

He was in and I was honored I was it was an honor to speak at his at his service and, and with a great turn. He was in law enforcement up there. Yes, for the alamance County. Yep, yep. Yeah, for, yeah, with Sheriff Terry Johnson and those folks 1520 years of guys there. Yep.

He served in the sheriff's department there faithfully and many, many, many of the sheriff in law enforcement were out at his at his funeral service. And, and so some some connection there. And then of course, you know, I've ministered, we've done a man up conference. Yes. Yes. At your church where Yeah, we try to bring a group of men together and challenge men to be men at your church, the man up conference.

Yeah. Then I preached in, I think was outdoor service. Yeah, we had worship on the lawn out there, out there in the front yard of the church. And we have a beautiful front yard of our church right there, back during the pandemic. And, and the first Sunday, we returned back to church after we were got through that lockdown stage. It happened.

It happened on homecoming. And we were able to actually come back on our traditional homecoming Sunday, worship on the lawn. And yeah, we had you there for that Sunday and, and also had you there for that man up conference. And, and it was great to have the guys come in and, and have you just to speak life and truth, truth into them, how to man up for Christ.

And yeah, and it meant a lot to our community. And hey, no pressure, Todd, but out of the four guys in this room, you're the only one that hasn't been to a man camp, just so you know, no pressure though. But I know you want me to be there. I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to carve that out and figure that out.

You're not going to let me live that down. I've just said, no, no pressure. Just, just pointing the obvious out. As I'm looking around this room, I'm just saying, so I can tell you this, I can say this. I think everyone in this room would vouch for this, especially men in ministry to have an outlet like that, an opportunity, a place to go and, and just to be able to unwind, uh, take all, all of the serving hats off and just come and receive, um, for many, especially many in ministry. And we get a lot of people in the marketplace that come, but for many in ministry, they go back home, whether, whether renewed or fresh vision, a new vision or, or, or just restored in some cases. I mean, it's pretty life-changing.

It's pretty powerful. So just plant that seed with you. All right. Well, we'll, we'll transition from that into asking you, asking me, well, let's flip it around now. Uh, I mean, did you grow up a wrestling fan?

I did. I grew up a wrestling fan. I remember watching you and, and Ivan and, uh, and y'all are the, the, the guys, everybody loved to hate, you know, and I guess, uh, that's what made, made it. So one of the reasons it made it so great looking back now at it. Now I'm like, you know, for what, for your guy, for you and Ivan, we probably wouldn't enjoyed it near as much, but, uh, I was always pulling for the other guy for sure, but now I'm pulling for you now. And I'm like, this is this wild, how this has come full circle. I absolutely loved Ras.

I'd stay up late at night and watch it all the time. Who's some of the guys, who do you remember? Who were some of the guys? Dusty Rhodes was probably my favorite at the time. Okay.

The American dream. I loved his accent, the way he taught and draw me in and, uh, and, and how he fought the nature boy, Rick flair. And, uh, that rivalry they had was pretty awesome.

Right. And, uh, and back then I was always a dusty Rhodes fan, but, but it seems like these days I'm more of a Rick flair fan. And I look back at how his greatness and how great he was. He had incredible career and, uh, who else named some other names? Who else you remember? Well, the road warriors were, were amazing. Uh, that other tag team group, wouldn't, wouldn't they call the rock and roll express or something like that?

Robert, the heart of all the girls, the heart. Yeah. There you go. Now you're talking Ricky and Robert midnight express. Yeah.

Wahoo McDaniel. Yeah. Remember that name? And I remember those guys, the guy that had the two by four on his shoulder, uh, hacksaw Jim Doug. Yeah.

I just saw he was neat. Oh, that was his deal. Oh, put his thumb up and cross-eyed and couldn't see so funny.

He couldn't even see the two by four that he was holding. But anyway, the macho man, Randy Savage, slim Jim dig it. Yeah.

You know, the way those guys could talk, the way y'all could talk and play and carry on and, and, and just watching how eloquent y'all were and stuff like that was amazing. Well, hold on, hold on. I have to stop you right there. I've, I've never, I've never put the word L eloquent with professional wrestling, but, but Hey, I'll, I'll, I'll take it.

I'll take it. Well, let me tell you where I'm going with it. Okay. Cause I'm leading up to something. You lead up to a question.

Yeah, I am. And, um, because when I was a teenager watching these wrestlers and when I'd go to church and listen to my pastor preach and things like this, and God's calling me to be a preacher. Okay. At what age?

And at a young age, I think as young as 13. Okay. And I, and I struggled with it for three, probably three years.

And I was like, there's no way I can, you know, most people have the fear of public speaking and that's the biggest fear of, of most people. Right. And I had that. And I, and when God began to speak to me and there wasn't a day that didn't go by that, I didn't think upon, you know, it was like God impressed upon my mind and heart preacher, preacher, preacher.

He wanted me to be a preacher. Okay. And now I finally am, but man, I had to overcome a lot of, uh, inadequacies and, and anxiety and insecurity and security years to kind of work through some of those things. And sometimes I still get nervous.

That's what man camps for, but keep going. So yeah. Yeah. Right. So good. I'm with you. I like that. Keep going. So, um, but if I remember correctly, um, that, that was a long time there that you really didn't say much in wrestling.

That's correct. And it's amazing how God can even use that English yet. And, uh, I hear you, but, but I was wanting to hear a little bit more about that journey. Can you tell me, because, you know, I was just minding my own business as a young boy. I, you know, I just liked the football and go fishing and he was calling me to be a preacher. And finally I just had to surrender to that fact that I had to talk and share Jesus with people.

And, uh, can you share with me a little bit more about that journey for you that, uh, how long did you go without speaking? Okay. And you were successful. Right. Then you made a transition to speaking for Christ.

It's amazing. Well, cause, and what's fun, what's funny. Here's what's funny is, is I mean, still to this day, even with the advent of the internet and everything else, they're like people like, so you're really not from Russia and, or what happened to your accent?

I mean, I had someone recently, I was doing a big conference at Fort Mill, South Carolina down at Morningstar ministries. And part of the introduction, we were kind of just kind of joking about that. And, and they came up to me at the book signing in the bookstore and they're like, like, so how, like, how did you improve your English so well?

Like, I mean, they're like totally serious. Like, all right, let me tell you that I'm not really from Russia. So yeah, in my mind, in my mind, Todd, I here's what, so here's what I knew. Part of the storyline was I didn't speak any English. I'm fresh off the boat from Russia. I was supposed to compete in the 84 Olympics, but it was boycotted by Russia. So I couldn't compete. And so I'm going to team up with my uncle.

I'm uncle. And, and, and so I thought, well, and they said, okay, so I don't even have to speak. I just have to go out and just destroy guys. That's right.

Right. So I did that for about six months where I didn't talk. I didn't talk anywhere in public at all for six months, anywhere in public and very little in the dress rooms. In fact, guys, guys still bust my chops for, for when I did start talking to the dress rooms, talking with my accent, they're like, dude, we're like smart to the business.

Can you not just talk to us in your normal voice or whatever? But I came to learn it was called method acting, which I didn't go to acting school. I don't, I didn't know any of that, but I, but I projected myself into that character. And then when, when the decision came, I was going to start speaking and start talking in my mind. I went, well, if I really was from there, how would this word sound?

How would that word sound like Magnum TA, right? You remember that? I remember him.

Yes. So if you remember, it was maggot TA. So it kind of sounded like maggot, right? Cause one, it was supposed to be insulting while at the same time. Oh, he doesn't know how to say Magnum.

Poor guy, Maggot TA, I'm going to destroy you. Does that bring back memories? It does. So, so I just, so that's how it evolved is I started thinking, how would this word sound, that word sound, how would this phrase sound? And since I'm just learning English, it's gotta be a really heavy accent.

And, and hopefully they won't even know what, I won't even make sense to him because they're like, I don't think he knows what he's saying. And, and, and it proved, it proved out to this day. Well, that's amazing. I, I also remember, um, the, the billion dollar man, Ted DiBiase. Okay.

I remember the first church I pastored a pleasant Hill Baptist church in Springfield, South Carolina, um, and in Wagner, South Carolina, which isn't far from there, they had a million dollar man came, steam came that night. Okay. I think he was going to be the main attraction.

Okay. And after they had this, uh, bout in the ring, then I think it was million, million dollar man, and maybe staying in some of the other guys share their testimony. And I remember hearing about a movement of God among some of the wrestlers. Yes.

And, and, and I was wondering if you were in on, on that and part of that movement, maybe you could share with me more about how so many of these wrestlers made the transition from what they did professionally to come and know the Lord is almost like a revival or spiritual awakening. Well, I wouldn't say so. I wouldn't necessarily say so many.

Okay. However, however, a handful have, and, and Sting being one, Lex Luger being one, Tully Blanchard being one, Magnum TAs, a believer, a follower in Christ, Ted DiBiase, um, eventually Road Warrior Hawk came to the Lord a year and a half before he died, uh, Road Warrior Animal made a profession of faith. So there, there have been a handful of these guys that reached the pinnacle of success and realized that all, all the, all of the bling and the bobbles and trinkets and all that, all success, the pinnacle of success still leaves you empty and avoid inside without a relationship with Jesus Christ. And so many of those guys I mentioned, well, all of the guys I mentioned came to that realization. And the other part of your question was, did I have some role or some part in that?

The answer is yes. Ivan Koloff. I mean, I invited him to a revival in 1995 that he showed up and I didn't know he was there until he was at the altar, surrendering his life to the Lord. And, and I knew his lifestyle prior, right? I traveled on the road with the man. I knew him well, you know, stayed in the same hotel room together, rode in the same car together. I knew his addictions and his shortcomings. And, and so to see him transformed that night at the altar, I mean, set free of drug addiction, alcohol addiction, tobacco addiction.

I don't know that another cuss word ever came out of his mouth after that night at the altar. Road Warrior Hawk invited Animal to a conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Larry Karachuk, Athletes International Ministries. He asked if he could bring Hawk. Hawk was well known as the biggest party around the planet and nobody was going to put him down. He was going to put everyone down. And Animal said, can, can we bring him to, to the conference? I said, well, Joe, you, you know it's a Christian conference, right?

You want to invite Hawk? He goes, I just feel I should. Well, he did. He came.

Jensen Franklin was the keynote speaker the very first night. Hawk came to the altar. First one there. Surrenders life to Jesus. Had a life changing transformation. Baptized him in the pool there at the Scottsdale Resort that weekend.

Brought him on the road, started mentoring and discipling him for a year and a half prior to his, his, his, uh, his passing. So, so yeah. So I think that's, uh, that's kind of the answer to your question. It's amazing. I, you know, when I look back on my own life and then when I think about what God's done in your life, I'm just like, it's got to be the amazing grace of God that I'm disabled to get up to speak like I do every Sunday morning and share with folks.

Cause I know it's not anything I've done. It's all it is for any of us. God's grace. Yeah.

It's amazing. We got time for one more question. Todd, what do you got?

Appreciate it. Well, I don't know. Um, I'm just thinking off the top of my head right now. Um, did you have a favorite place that you liked to, to, to wrassle at a favorite ring? Arena. Yeah.

That you went to that you really enjoyed. Right. Yeah. Yep.

Yep. Actually, actually I did, uh, Baltimore, Maryland. Uh, our dear friend Frank Shelton doesn't live far from there. Frank's the one who connected us. He's the one that you guys went to school. You guys went to school together at Gardner Webb.

Uh, right. And uh, and you got the, got to, got to build this relationship and all these years later, you're right. I know you recently, uh, uh, had them in, in the past. You've had them in numerous times actually, but I know you guys did a big conference just recently, uh, at your church. Um, but, um, uh, Baltimore, Baltimore arena. And I'll tell you, yeah, I'll tell you just very briefly why it was a favorite place to wrestle. Um, we actually, my first appreciation for the fans of Baltimore came when, when Jim Crockett had the brainstorm, the idea of booking Ric Flair and I in the main event, world tag, or excuse me, world heavyweight title match in both Richmond, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland on the same night. Whoa.

Yeah. Not a matinee and a night show, same night. And we had private planes and all that at that, at that moment in time. And so we went on in Richmond, they started that show an hour before the show in Baltimore thinking we'd have plenty of time and went on before intermission, which the fans were not happy about. A world heavyweight title match before intermission.

They were not happy. Yeah. Wrestled 30, 35 minutes, hustled out to the airport. I don't even know that we showered, jumped on the private planes, flew to Baltimore, limousines waiting to take us to the arena. By the time we got to the arena, and there's no cell phones back in those days, right?

So the promoter has no clue where we are. None. Right. Right.

No idea. So almost all the matches really are... In fact, when we walked into the arena, they were putting up the cage. There was... Road Warriors were in a cage match. They had a cage match.

Then they had to take the cage down. And all that takes time before Rick and I ever got to step into the ring. Well, that show started at eight o'clock in Baltimore. Rick and I stepped into the ring.

I'll never forget looking at the clock at the end of the... At 12 midnight. Whoa. They'd already been there four plus hours, the fans. We wrestled for 55 minutes, because when I looked at the clock, it was 1255 when the final bell rang. Wow.

Word. And so two matches, two nights. So that was my first appreciation. And they were on their feet the entire match for 55 minutes, the fans of Baltimore. They were amazing.

Oh, that's neat. Even though they'd been there that long. And then the other part B of that story is the Jim Crockett Cup Tag Team Tournament, which was a two-day tournament in Baltimore. So we got to experience the Inner Harbor, Little... I've been there. Little Italy, Sabatino's in Little Italy. Still to this day, one of the favorite places to go. In fact, recently I did some ministry outside of Baltimore, and they took me back to Little Italy, back to Sabatino's after 25-year hiatus. Same owners. And they were beside themselves, because they were huge wrestling fans. And now the Suns are running the restaurant, and they all wanted pictures and everything. And so that was pretty cool.

Baltimore, Maryland. So great questions, my brother. Great questions. Well, great to have you, Todd, on the Q&A with Koloff. And we'll have to get you back again for the Man Up show sometime. All right. Sounds great, man. Thank you.

All right. Well, thanks for dialing in. Hey, listen, if you want me to call you or maybe bring you into the studio, email me at koloffforchristatgmail.com. That's koloffforchristatgmail.com. Be sure to go to my website, too, koloff.net. You could actually connect with me right through there, koloff.net. God bless you. Thanks for tuning in. This is the Truth Network.