Q&A With Koloff- #217

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome to another episode of Q&A with Kolov, The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of Q&A with Kolov Questions and Answers. And boy, have I got a treat for you today.

Ever thought about selling everything and just going on a tour across America? Well, if you hadn't, or maybe you had, today I've got with me in studio, Bunky and Renee Griffith, welcome to Q&A with Kolov. Thank you.

Great to be here. And they are in studio because they are on an adventure. That's right.

You're going to hear just a short part of their story today about how they sold their house, sold cars, bought a camper, bought a Jeep, and are in the midst of really what I call touring America. But before we get there, of course, we go back. We originally connected. Bunky, you guys live it up in Delaware, or at least you were living up in Delaware when we met at a men's conference up there through, I think you had been invited by a mutual friend, Frank Shelton. Is that right? Yes. And you came over to the conference. We met, we showed a video for Man Camp, Lex Luger, a little highlight video, introducing guys to the idea of coming down to Georgia and coming to a camp. You connected with the video, right? Most definitely.

When I saw that video, like I said, I didn't care how much it cost or when it was, I was going. Because I had been so busy in church that doing God things, that we get so busy and then you wake up in the morning, where's God in all this? And I really need, I was in a very, very dry place and I needed to be refreshed. And which, wow, that's amazing because in the sense that our vision, when God gave Lex and I the vision was for guys to come to get refreshed or get refilled or get renewed or get a fresh vision for their life or as some have found out or in fact, Renee, I had a wife send me a handwritten two-page letter that said upon her husband returning home, she said, I finally have a husband with godly purpose. He had found his purpose at camp. Now, Renee, I know we talked more in detail on the Man Up show about the whole impact upon his return home. Of course, you gave him your blessing. Once you heard he wanted to go, you gave him your blessing. But take a minute though and talk about what it was like upon his return. Did you see some actual change in him or did he come home and just mouth some words or what was that experience like? It was a change and I watched because I wanted to make sure everything was true. You know, are you just saying it or are you really going to be changed? Not that he was bad, but...

But there's always room for improvement, right, with any of us, right? Yes, and he was telling me the experience he had with God in the wilderness and some of the things he was saying and the first thing he said was, he apologized for all the stuff he had done, said, and apologized for things he might say in the future. But I could tell he was changed. And it was sincere, right? He was sincere and you felt it was real genuine.

Yes. And for those who don't know, you guys were married virtually, I guess essentially out of high school at 18 years of age and then your parents at 19 and 21 and fast forward, we're going on 52 years of marriage, right? February 3rd, it'll be 52 years.

52 years of marriage, which is amazing in itself. And so let's fast forward here. You've now sold your house, cars and still giving stuff away, but you bought a camper and Renee, I want to come to you first on this. You bought a camper, you've been wanting for years from what I understand to go see some of the sites and experience more of God's creation. What was it like when Bunkie comes to you and says, all right, it's time. What was that experience like?

It was a shock. I did ask him, I said, how about less renting a camper for a couple of weeks to see if you really want to do this? All in. Bunkie, have you always been an all in kind of guy?

This little dab will do you, don't do it. Okay. You got to go all in.

Major decision, mine made up and I'm all in. So it was the initial shock Renee and then what? Well, after we told our parents, our family, they were the ones shocked. Okay. They're like, wait, you're doing what?

Yeah. My brother says that, he said, since you got married young, you had a family and you really hadn't. He says, now you're doing your hippie years. Driving a crosscoach.

In reverse order. Is that what he's saying? He says, whatever you get tired, just let me know and I'll come pick you up. Bunkie, you think you'll get tired on that night?

I don't think so. We know that it's going to be a challenging time because there's an adversary out there that's doing his job. It's us that we have to do our job because the word says greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. So we have to remember that and then we have to remember the purpose. Why are we doing that? Well, first reason is we want to see God's creation because it's beautiful and I want to experience that.

But we also want to be able to tell people about the Lord that there's hurting people out there and they need to hear that there's hope in Jesus and that there's also a way that they can have eternal life and that's through Jesus. So you want people to understand, even as you're listening to this show today, of course, obviously there's a lot of cool things out there, right? The geyser in Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon.

You can go through South Dakota and the monuments of the Badlands. So there's a lot to be seen across America. Correct. But you guys feel like there's an even greater purpose than certainly just seeing the sights. Renee, you've named this camp. You have a special name to this camper. Yes, it's called The Blessing. The Blessing. Renee, how did you guys come up with that name? Actually, God dropped that name into Bunkie's mind because different people from church were giving us names, but none of them suited either one of us. He was driving home one day and the word blessing dropped into him and he just started crying.

He said, that's the name. And I did that because everything that's happened through selling our home, through selling in eight days, through selling our vehicles. Your house sold in eight days, then you sold the two cars you had.

Two vehicles. And everything was a blessing because he was involved in everything. Everything happened so fast. Renee made the statement, said, everything happened so fast and now it stopped.

I said, because God said it's finished. Now we have to do our work and walk this out. And I believe that faith is taking the next step knowing he's already been there. You know, we don't know what's going to happen, but he's already been there.

Well, and here's what I anticipated. I can't wait to hear some of the stories that unfold because you have, in the short time, Renee, I've gotten to spend around you, but also, you know, obviously more time around Bunkie that he has such a servant's heart. And of course, you would know you've been married to him for 52 years. And I mean, you've come back to Man Camp and served at Man Camp. When I came back to Delaware, I've done other ministry beyond the men's conference that you and I met and you were gracious to come get me at the airport. I mean, you gave me the keys to one of the cars before you sold it. You gave me the keys to one for the weekend, you know.

You talk about generosity and having a servant's heart. I'm just excited to see what's going to unfold. Renee, a thought from you on, because we're going to segue here to your questions for me, but one more thought.

Any other thoughts from you on your excitement about what the future holds on this adventure? Well, like I said, everything started moving so fast and we started looking at RVs, Class A RVs, the ones that look like buses. And I kept going in and out of different ones. We went to a couple of different places and I said, let's go back to the certain one that we started looking at. And as soon as I walked back into it, it was like it felt like home. You knew. And there was a couple of other couples that were walking in the same time we were and one of them was arrested also. So I told the lady that I said, nope, we're taking it.

I said, tell them it's already sold. This is ours. It's going to be home.

This is ours. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com If you are a business owner and would like to advertise your company or product on the Man Up show and or Q&A with Koloff, contact me directly. NakitaKoloff.com The Man Up show is honored to have Dr. Johnny Gaten as one of our longest running supportive sponsors. Dr. Gaten is regarded as one of the world's leading elite eye surgeons. He is motivated by his faith in doing all things heartily as unto the Lord. His desire to do his best has contributed to success in his eye care practice, performing over 70,000 eye surgeries. In addition, he's a world-renowned speaker, writer, and author.

Go to iAssociates.com for more information. Nakita 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, Nakita Koloff Fans, and like it and follow today. Bucky, I didn't ask, and I don't know if you may or may not have the answer, but before we segue to the questions, is there a time limit, a time line on it, or are you just going to, as God just directs? Well, it's going to be as God directs.

I told Renee, I said we'll try it for two or three years. If we like it, great. If we don't. One of the places that we visited, we may want to stay there. We don't care, as long as it's warm.

Key, key. It's got to be warm. Warm is not warm year round or just?

I would prefer warm year round. Okay. Well, I can't wait to hear more about this adventure, Bunkie and Renee Griffith. Oh, people can follow you on Facebook and YouTube, right? I know you're going to develop the YouTube. What's the Facebook? The Facebook, they can find it through my Facebook, Bunkie Griffith and Renee Griffith, but we started one just for the blessing, and it's called The Blessing. Because the camper is called The Blessing, and the Facebook page is called The Blessing.

And then YouTube will start after the beginning of the year, sometime in January, February. I got a 15-year-old boy that's training me how to do this. Gotcha. Those are important. Yeah, and he's real sharp on it, so his name is Devon Byer, and he's a good kid.

That's amazing. So people can follow along with the journey of the Griffith, the Griffith journey, the blessing across the nation, across America. All right. Well, Q&A with Koloff.

I don't know if we want to do ladies first, or Renee, if you have a question, we'll give you the first opportunity. Well, Bunkie liked wrestling. I never did, but wrestling was in my family. It was all around you.

Yes, all the time. So I always, I grew up with it. But the question I have, you wrestled in the Hulk Hogan field.

Yeah, in that era. He left and went into TV. You left and went into God's man. When did you get saved, and how did you start the camp?

Yeah, so great question. Of course, I didn't grow up in Russia. I think that's been established, well established, but I didn't grow up in church either. But that's not to say I never went, it's just I didn't grow up in it like some do, and I didn't grow up in a Christian home either. But I knew the story, the man Jesus, right?

Spikes driven through his hands and his feet, the spear through his side. I knew the story, but the story never made the 18-inch trip from my head to my heart, and through my teens and 20s and even into my 30s. And ministry's probably the last thing on the planet I ever thought I'd be involved in, is I was putting my journey, my own adventure together at the age of 12.

Ministry didn't factor in there, okay? But fast forward to the age of 34, when I find myself at an altar, giving my life to Christ, 17 October 1993. It was then that I was enlightened to the fact that, oh, somebody else has a plan for my life.

Oh, God has a plan for my life. And I didn't just immediately launch into ministry either. I went through, looking back, what I would determine a five-year discipleship process through my pastor, Jay Stewart, and other men of God who helped to grow me spiritually and mature along the way. And then in 1998, God put it on my heart to launch Kolah for Christ Ministries.

And so we launched it, and it's a 501c3, and the vision behind it was to just go out and evangelize and impact the world. And then fast forward to 2006, the timeline, I went to my own camp in South Texas, and was greatly impacted at that camp, and then volunteered and served that ministry for about 12 years. And then in 2015, Lex Luger came to live with me for 10 months, and it was there during that time that Man Camp and the Man Up Conference, and now the Man Up Show and Q&A with Kolah eventually evolved from that time.

living together with Lex. And so that's kind of the timeline there, and God's just really just put men on my heart. And maybe Renee, because of the wrestling background, maybe I get, you might say, I don't know, maybe a little more respect from guys, kind of this tough wrestler guy.

And so I have maybe a greater audience, with some men anyway, to be able to impact them and well, if that tough guy can love Jesus, maybe I can too. So very grateful that I get to do what I do now, and beyond radio shows and podcasting and writing books and facilitating camps and men's conferences like Bunkie, you and I, that's kind of the short version of that story. I appreciate it, all that you've done and what God's got for you. Well, thank you.

All right, Bunkie, we got time for a question from you, Q&A with Kolah off here. Well, first of all, if they haven't got your book, they need to get it. And in the book, I noticed that you grew up in poverty.

I call it abject poverty. Yes, and so you really grew up in the project. Yes, absolutely. And what inspired me is you took that and didn't live it that way.

You got out of it and made yourself better. Used it as inspiration. Yes. Have you ever visited back there? Great question.

I don't think anyone's ever asked that. And so interestingly enough, okay, in 2017, so, you know, there's certain defining moments and timelines along the way. My oldest daughter, Taryn, had encouraged me to go to an event in Nashville called The Encounter. And it was like a weekend kind of encounter-type thing. And it was there that the Lord had revealed some childhood memories, some things that he had to be resolved, shall we say, from my childhood, including some of those formative years in the projects, or what we call the ghettos of Minneapolis.

And interestingly enough, I received, over the course of that weekend, I encountered him and he brought some incredible healing to my heart. And a week later, I was on my way to Canada for a 21-city tour for wrestling. But I stopped in Minneapolis to see my sister and other family members. And so I thought, I'm going to go back down to Bryant Avenue. Now, all that to say, the rest of my life, the ones I grew up in are no longer there, but the Bryant Avenue sign is still there.

The school, Bethune Elementary School, where I had suffered from some bullying, some trauma, in case people are wondering, well, what kind of childhood memories or issues did he have to deal with? The school's still there. So the funny thing about the school, the school's still there. So the funny part to me of the story is, there was a day that I ran home from school, it felt like two miles, only to find out in 2017, it was like two blocks. I'm like, no, it felt like two miles.

It felt like forever to get home, right? But all that to say, so I was able to go onto the school property and pray and bring, the key word would be final closure. And although the projects, the original projects are not there, there is other housing there, low-income housing, but Bryant Avenue is still the sign. So I snapped a shot of the school, I snapped a shot of the sign, final closure was able to happen there as well. And yeah, and so I'm thankful that the Lord provided that opportunity and the timing of it, for my heart to be healed the week before, but then to just happen to be going through town and being able to literally, physically go down to those properties and experience that final closure.

I think that's awesome. So did it take you long to get rid of the project mentality? Yes, that's been a process. And you said project mentality, I might phrase it as poverty mentality.

Yes, yes. And that has been a journey with, thankful, I'm thankful, the Lord has brought me on this journey to help me understand the value of a dollar, the importance of being a blessing, a generous giver, of being a giver, so not a taker, but a giver, and even greater than being a generous giver. And as my pastor says many times, being generous as the Bible says on every occasion, being generous all the time, not just every now and then, and be a cheerful giver. That's taken time for me to work that poverty mentality, God to work that poverty mentality out of me. And every now and then, I'll say this too, for those listening out there in listening land, because there is an enemy of our soul and who still tries to pull the financial card on me and mess with me when it comes to being a generous giver and tries to remind me of how I could spend it on myself instead of giving it to someone else.

Yeah, so great questions. And by the way, if you're wondering where you can get the book that Bunky is referring to, you go to my website, go to colof.net, and you can actually pick up two books there. One's motivational, and the one he's referring to is inspirational Nikita, A Tale of the Ring of Redemption. And you can get a personally autographed copy if you purchase it through the website for one or both. And one last thought too, if you're just like, I just don't like to read.

Well, Ring of Redemption is now available on Audible, so you can go onto Amazon and download it and listen to it there. In your voice. In my own voice, in this studio.

I recorded that, guys, in like 25 hours in this studio to put that book together. I just wanted people to hear my story in my voice. And so right here is where that happens. So Bunky and Renee Griffith, great to have you on Q&A with Koloff today. Great to be here.

Hey, go to the Blessing Facebook page or go to their personal Facebook sites and follow their journey across America and how they're leading others to the foot of the cross and impacting people's lives and being a blessing. Great to have you guys today. Thank you so much. Awesome, and thank all of you. Keep spreading the word for the Q&A show and the Man Up show and let others know about these podcasts and let's reach more and more countries around the world.

And until next time, go out and live a God-filled and have a God-blessed day. 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 koloff.net and donate today.

Hi, Nikita Koloff. Be sure to check out the Man Up show now available on television, broadcast and podcast. Go to MorningStarTV.com or the Truth Radio Network. Check out your local listings or better yet, download the Truth Network app today. If you are enjoying Q&A with Koloff, would you help us spread the word?

Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe and leave a comment. Are you looking for the perfect gift for your pastor? Well, look no further. Bless him with a trip to the Holy Land with yours truly, Nikita Koloff, The Russian Nightmare. I'll be hosting this once-in-a-lifetime trip December 27, 2023 to January 5, 2024.

Your pastor will never be the same. Go to koloff.net to get registered today. Nikita Koloff here.

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