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Introducing first from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, the Kita Kola.
Now, the Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. I want you to think back to your dating days.
Okay, jog your memory now for those of you who are married out there or just you dated in general. Think back to those days and who you were dating. But I got a challenge for you today because today we're not going to talk about dating another person. We're going to talk about dating the word and more specifically, the word of God.
So don't go anywhere. You stay right here because with me in studio today, I have none other than Dr. Dwayne Carson right here with me. Welcome back to It's Time to Man Up. Good doctor.
Sir, what a joy to be with you and to talk about dating the word. Dating the word. Yeah, I want to tease the crowd there for the listeners for a moment with that introduction. But we're going to dive into that. But before we do, I want to go back to your days at Liberty University.
Yes, sir. You're a graduate of Liberty. And, you know, and doing a little homework on you. Of course, you met your lovely bride Danita there at Liberty, right? Yes, one of the reasons for going to Liberty.
Was I at a Bible college that had like 450 students, three of them were female. The chances of finding a wife was getting to be slim and really, really, really none. Oh, my God. I kept hearing about this school at Lynchburg, Virginia, where I had grown up, that had like about 5,000 students and half of them were girls. And I thought, well, maybe one of my reasons for going to Liberty would be to find a wife.
Come on now. And sure enough, I would find my wife there. And we've been together now 38 years. Wow. Come on.
38 years. All right, now hold on a minute, though. Let's just pause right there for just a second.
So you were from Lynchburg. Yes. But did you know of Liberty or not know of Liberty? Oh, I knew of Liberty. I knew Jerry Falwell, and I did not want to have anything.
To do with that man or that ministry.
Okay. I was, by the time I was 16, I'd been introduced to alcohol.
Okay. And we're coming up through the 70s. And now it's sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Okay. A CDC, I'm on a highway to hell. And then Flirting with Disaster, Molly Hatchett. I always started my Friday evenings with those two songs. Come on.
And the first time I met Jerry Falwell. Founder of Liberty University, the Moore Majority, pastor of Thomas Rowe Baptist Church. Yeah. I had an eight-pack of beer in my hand. The f wow, that and he sees me.
I see him. Yeah. So you knew who he was. Oh, yes, sir. Everybody in Lynchburg knew who he was.
And so as I see him, I have one thought. Tonight, I'm going to die.
Okay. I was sure he was just going to start. You're the reason America's going to hell. You were convinced. And you know what he did?
He stuck Edder's hand. Hmm. and said, how you doing tonight, young man? And I shook his hand while holding in my left hand a case of beer. Yeah.
And then two years later, a 12-year-old girl would witness to me. I was 20 at that point, and she invited me to church. I'd get saved, and then I still didn't want to go to liberty. Yeah. But I went to Christmas Bible College, but after my second year there, having a great year there, God just starts stirring me, you got to go to Liberty.
So, okay, so pause there for a moment.
So, where was that located? Christmas Bible College was in Dallas, Texas. Wow. Pastor of the church of First Baptist Dallas, Dr. W.A.
Cristwell. The school was named after him. And it was what I needed. I got away from all my friends, got away from even my family, and I got alone with God for two years, which really set me up then to come to Liberty to really be focused on the things of the Lord.
Okay, so I follow the bouncing ball here.
So this little girl invites you to church.
So you get radically saved. And answer the call to preach. And so all at the same time. With their year. Yeah, time length of it.
All of a sudden I'm going from having this horrible life That I knew it was a horrible life to do saved, and I would go to Dallas and there just really got immersed in the Word of God, tremendous teachers there, and then came to Liberty, got involved in student leadership. I lived on campus, which was a major decision. I could have lived at home, but I lived on campus, and that gave me a chance to date and meet Danita. But also, I got in student leadership, which would lead to me becoming the campus pastor.
Okay, don't get ahead of me there, though, because I want to.
So, first, go talk about the culture shock of going from Little Lynchburg, Virginia to Dallas, Texas.
Now, that was a little bit of a cultural shock. I would think. And the church that I was going to, that I wasn't saved, it was more work-based. If we had 25 on Sunday morning, what a day. First Dallas would have, if it didn't have 5,000 or 6,000, it had had a bad day.
As you say, they had 25 in one of the Bible studies classes. Exactly right. But I got to set under Dr. Crystal too, which was incredible to hear his preaching. Yeah.
But how but how did you know about that or get there? My pastor, I went to see him and when you start making that decision, you go into the ministry, I went and sat down with him, I said, Pastor, I need to go to school. Guiding recommendations. And I'm thinking he's going to say Liberty Baptist College. I'm going to have to say no.
And he said, well, right off the bat, Duane, you know, right around the corner from us is Liberty Baptist College. I don't recommend you go there. I think you need to get away from here. And then he told me about a School called Fruitland Bible College down here in North Carolina. Heard of that.
He had gone there. Charles Stanley had been there.
Okay. And so then he said, it's a good school. But, Dwayne, there's a new school. It's in Dallas, Texas. Dr.
W.A. Criswell, the pastor, has started a school called the Criswell School, Criswell Bible College. And I think you should go there because it'll really stretch you.
Well, now. This is nineteen eighty-two.
Okay. I'm growing up. Really in the backwoods of Amherst County outside of Lynchburg.
Okay. Right. For those young people. Everybody knows the word Dallas.
Okay. You've got Dallas Cowboys. America's team. America's team. You can't stand them, but they're America's team.
You've got the TV show Dallas. And so all of a sudden, I'm going to Dallas. You're on the map. And they're going, you're doing what? And I said, I'm going to Dallas.
Now, when I left to go to Dallas on a plane flying out of Lynchburg on Piedmont Airline, I had two suitcases, one with some books in it, and the other some clothes. And my mom said, when you do get there. and find a place to stay and can get a telephone call and let us know. It was one of the biggest steps of faith I've ever done. I think if my children told me they wanted to do what I did, I'd probably say no.
But my parents, grandparents released me, and I went to Dallas. Yes, cultural shock, but it was one of the greatest experiences of my life because I was around Bible teachers like Dr. Paige Patterson, Dr. Richard Land, Dr. Alan Street, all these guys that were just passionate about knowing the word and making the word known.
Dr. Street, took us street preaching. I thought that was one of the greatest things. That's his last name, Street. And and we would go out on the streets of of Dallas and and preach.
And yes, sir. Wow. And and and you said I'm trying you said 450 students Three females. Yes, and one was already married. And I'm going to be nice and say that one, I'm not sure she's married today.
How does that? I mean, okay, I think you got the picture. We'll stop right there. But coming to Liberty, boy, Dr. Fobo was right.
There were a lot of young ladies and another culture shock. Yes, yes. Your eyes wide open there at Liberty. I gather I wrote down the word grounded, because what I'm sensing or hearing, I feel, is you getting away from outside your comfort zone of Lynchburg and away from all your influential friends into a whole new environment. And some of these men you mentioned helped you get very grounded in your faith.
And laid a really great foundation. And I'm guessing, which we're going to get to, talking about date the word, you were so grounded in the word, and I'm going to guess maybe that had even something to do with this, what you're doing now with date the word, which we'll talk about here shortly. But so you go up, okay, so you go up to Lynchburg, go up to Liberty University. You meet Danita, 38 years married. Congratulations on that because that's amazing.
Four children, one grandchild, grandson. That was my next question.
So, four children. And what are their age ranges? What do they range from?
Well, Christy is 35 now. She's born in 1990. And she and her husband live in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. She's a Christian school teacher there. He works for the Navy.
And my grandson just celebrated his seventh birthday. And I got to tell this, and we'll talk about date the word, but one of the things we do is we share birthday verses. And so at his birthday lunch at Red Robin, there. I did not get a chance to ask the waitress when her birthday was.
So we're walking out, and my seven-year-old grandson says, Papa D. You didn't share the birthday verse with the waitress today. And I, wow, he's been paying attention. Yeah, apparently so. And so at the next stop, guess what I did right after we bought the ticket to this location?
I shared, I said, ma'am, could I know when your birthday is? He wants me to share something with you. And she shared her birthday. I always tell him, I don't want the year, just the date, month and date. And then I pull up my app, show her the birthday verse, and she's like, wow, I didn't know I had a birthday verse, but he wanted to make sure I was doing that.
What what gave you okay, and and 'cause I want to get ahead of myself, but what gave you the idea to do that specifically, to have a birth date Verse for people?
Well, it'll go back to the component of coming up with verses for every date. And, um Uh I got asked when I was doing a Bible study with some Liberty football players, how did I go about memorizing scripture? And uh One day, one of my college roommates there at Liberty said, Hey, Dwayne, wouldn't it be neat if every time you saw a number, you thought of a Bible verse? And I said, you mean like the clock says 633? Think.
Matthew 633? He said, Yeah.
So I'd been playing this kind of game for maybe 10 years. Just playing a game. I'd see a number. I'd try to think of a Bible verse.
So when these guys ask me, about how I memorize scripture. I gave them all the Standard answers, but then I said, I do something weird. I'll uh I'll uh see a number and I try to come up with a Bible verse, and one of them said. Like if I told you my birthday you could tell me a Bible verse. And the first one that was ever pitched to me was 1013.
I go, well, that's easy. 1 Corinthians 10, 13, Romans 10, 13.
Well, then each guy then gave me their birthday. And I gave them a Bible verse. I go to bed that night kind of scratching my head going, that was weird. They asked me for a verse for their birth date, and I knew one.
So the next morning I got up, laid out all 12 months. And I just start writing down. If I knew a Bible verse that would match the date. And next thing you know I had like two hundred and twenty. And from that then came, find out the rest of them, from that came.
Facebook. To answer your question about the birthday versus Facebook. Because Facebook gave people, gave you their birthdays. And so to this very day, this very day, I gave out, I think, 15 Facebook friends what their birthday verse was for this date. Wow, that's pretty cool.
away to wherever you're at. Doctor's office. When's your birthday? I tell them and I'll go, I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. And then I share their birthday verse with them.
And they get all excited like, I never knew I had a birthday verse. But it also opens up a way to witness. I was just going to say, what an approach to be able to engage in a conversation with them. about the gospel then, right? Because I'll ask, when's your birthday?
You'll tell me. I'll show you the verse, but then I'll say, uh, now, have you d do you have a date for your second birth? And if they don't know what you're talking about. You just got a opening.
So you've never heard about the second birth. I got to tell you, the news I've got for you about your birthday verse is great, but the better verse is John 3:16. And I have it on my app, how to lead someone to the Lord.
So they literally, by using the app, they can say, Take a look at this. And I've done that with many people where I'll ask them and they'll look at me like, I don't know what you're talking about. Or immediately, well, I can't tell you the exact date, but I'll tell you what I do know. I was born again. I know what you're asking me.
I just don't know my, I don't know the date. But they know about being born again. And it's so interesting when you do ask these questions about their birthday, give them a birthday verse, how all of a sudden, if you're Christians, big-time connection. And now you're talking about the things of the Lord. And things take on greater meaning.
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And what an incredible approach. And we're going to make sure people find out how they can get the date the word app. And of course, I get it in email form. My preference is email form. But I don't want to get away from you mentioned one of your four children.
Let's just briefly. Oh, yes. We don't want to do disservice to the other three. Go, thanks, Dad. Completely forgot about me.
Christy, then Katie. She's 32. Kirk is 30. And Clayton is 26.
Okay. And Katie is here in North Carolina with us. Kirk now lives in Arizona and Phoenix. And God's called him to be a lawyer. And so he's in the corporate world.
And then my youngest son, Clayton, is in Memphis, Tennessee. He's a Pastor Church working on his PhD at Mid-America Seminary and should have that soon. He just got married. And 'Kay. uh God called him to preach.
So Dr. Fogel would always talk about the law school and the seminary, salt and light. And so I have Kirk being the the salt be being the salt and Clayton being the light. Wow, that's pretty cool. So, you got two and two.
So, two boys, two girls? Two and two? Yes, sir. All right. That's amazing.
Now, is Danita involved in Date to Word with you? Yes. Yes. Okay. Danita, I best describe her as the person.
Perfect. helpmate. Um, when I we got married, uh, she had her dreams. She had studied business and she got involved with Liberty in the school of business and government, but mainly the school of business and and and and that really was enjoyable for her. But as my ministry's camp as pastor developed, Donita has this phenomenal.
Gift of hospitality. And we'd have students over all the time to eat. There's something about Jesus and food food that he made a difference. Especially with the Baptists. Yes.
She was doing well. Not to pick on the Baptists, but it seemed to go well together.
So by her having this gift, she is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Not Lancaster. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Her mom. Uh Excellent cook.
and taught her well and she learned and that that and I'm I'm a basic person, so it's not the flair that makes it so great, it's just that she knows how to make the basic phenomenal and and so uh she loves to cook. For Especially sports guys.
Something about football players coming over. We've got some guys from a baseball team coming over right now, and they just love her food. And I just watch her eyes just get big. And now I get to share the Bible with them because we've Fed them physically, now we share with them spiritually. Get the feeling of spiritual food.
So we've been a teammate, and then. As I went from being the campus pastor at Liberty to being a pastor up in Ohio, then coming to Winston-Salem to be the head of school, as God directed us to take on this role of date the word, a full-time ministry. She resigned everything she was doing with Liberty. I resigned everything I was doing with Salem Baptist Christian School. And so she is the president.
Of date the word. And when I left a little while ago, she was working on the computer components to make sure all this stuff works. And so she's the technological brain behind the crazy stuff that's up here.
Well, my brain trying to get the word out. Trying to transfer from your brain to an app or a computer or whatever. Yes. How long were you the campus pastor at Liberty then? 25 years.
Wow. 25 years. And then the Lord led you from there to go up into Ohio and up to Columbus, Ohio, yes, sir. In Columbus.
So how state you? You know, what I found out was those buckeyes, they're tough nuts to crack. People are real. A Buckeye is like an actual nut. Yes.
It's a worthless nut.
So that's a tongue-in-cheek right there. They're a tough nut to crack. Tough nut to crack. But I am a Buckeye fan because I have numbers of friends there, and I had a bout with cancer, and I was able to go to the Ohio State Medical Center. And I do believe God used them to keep me alive.
So you're a cancer survivor? Yes, sir. Wow. Wow. How long ago was that, Dwayne?
Nine years ago, right now, 2016 was when I found out I had cancer. Wow. And I'll say this: that the team doctor for the Ohio State football team, I mentored him. And if he was here, he'd be saying, that's my pastor. And God just opened that door.
And because of that, when I found I had cancer. I said, Dr. Flanagan, what do I do? And he knew, the doctor, I needed. Gotcha.
Who you need?
So God was working before I knew I needed God to be working. And he'll do that, right? Yes, he does. You know, I like to say it this way: you know, you go to a, let's say, you go to a stage play and you see what's happening on stage. Yeah.
But what you don't see is all the movement going on behind the curtain, right? And really, it's kind of, in my view, an illustration of God, right? We see what's happening in front of us, but man, God's working behind the scenes, so to speak, right? Always. All the stage hands that are working back there, getting everyone in position, and he's doing the same thing, in a sense, isn't he?
It's pretty amazing. There's been a real move recently on the Ohio State campus, a real move of God. And Dr. Flanagan called me and said, I want you to know what we're seeing here is genuine. Yeah.
There are people repenting, and now they want to share the gospel with us. Others, and yeah, and it's happening on college campuses everywhere. I heard 20-plus college campuses currently where there's a real and in Kentucky, the movement there. Asbury, yes. Yeah, that seemed to be a real catalyst again in catching fire on these other campuses.
And speaking of football, because I am a former football guy, a lot of the Ohio State, either former or current Ohio State football players have been leading the charge on that. They sure have. Sharing their story and their testimony.
So you leave there, you come to Winston. We've only got just a few minutes left here, but you come to Winston, tell our listeners about date the word. Let's take the last few minutes and tell them about date the word, how they can get it, all that, what they can do.
Well, when we started coming up with all these verses to match the date, I came across a guy named Stu Epperson.
Some of you may have heard of him. He thought, you know what, this is a great idea, verse for every date. He said, call it date the word, because in dating, you want to get to know. And that's why you go out with a person to get to know.
Well, I wanted people to get to know the word. I'm a discipler. I'm not about some gimmick here. I want you to take the verse that matches your birth date and see how does God use that? What does it mean?
And so we've written devotions on every verse for 365 days. Working on a book. Working on a book. Later, yes, sir. And then you can get date the word through the app.
Just go to your app store, download date the word.
Now, don't just write date. You're going to get in trouble. And don't write world. That's going to get you in trouble. Date the word, and then you'll see there's a verse for the date that you can.
Open up, see the devotion. There's verse for any date. Open that up and find your birthday verse. And then anybody has a birthday whenever their birthday is, you just click it on, and there's the verses to give them. You can highlight them, you can then text them, put it in email.
We have verses for athletes. For their jersey number, we have verses for, we have how do you pray for your pastor, how do you pray for each other, and how to lead someone to the Lord. That's on the app. There's a lot more there than just the scripture for the day. Yes.
Like in my email, I get a whole little devotional that I read every day. Yeah, and then there's a website. And so with both the website and the app, it'll ask you, do you want to subscribe? And if you subscribe every morning at 5.14, 5.15, you'll get an email that will tell you the verse for the day and a devotion on it to challenge you as you go for it with the day. And what's the website?
www.date the word.com. Very simple. Date the word. And I can tell you, like, you know, I was reading mine this morning before I came up to the station. And August 13th, Proverbs 8:13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance, and the evil way, and the persevere And the perverse mouth, I hate.
Sorry. And then you, yeah, then you just kind of give a real simple, quick, I'm looking at it right now, and it's a great thing. Man, what a great vision. What a great tool.
Well, and I thank God for Stu Epperson because he really fleshed this out on how to help people get to know the word more. And that's what it's about. If I get to know the word, I'm getting to know God, and then I want to make God known. And that's what it's all about. Man, I love that.
And I would take it maybe just one step further because I'm thinking about you talking about when you're dating a person, you're dating them to get to know them. When you're dating the word of God, you want to get to know it and you want to get to know God. And then, in turn, once you know who He is, would you agree that then you have a better understanding on who you are to become as well, right?
So, Dr. Dwayne. Carson, man, what an incredible story. And I might have known about you being a cancer survivor, but now I for sure know. And 38 years of marriage, four children, one grandchild.
Hey, I want to challenge you. Go check it out. Date the word.com. Yes. Date the word.com.
We'll be watching for the release of the book. Yep, coming soon. Will that be like a 365-day devotional kind of thing? It's going to be up before Christmas.
Okay. I've solved everybody's Christmas shopping problems. Go by the Date the Word Daily Devotion and give it to family and friends. It'll be a gift that we'll give all year long. The gift that'll keep on giving.
Yes. And so thank you for being here, man. It's been great to have you back on the show and excited to see when that book comes out. And for real, go get the app. If you do that thing, if you're a Gen Z or if you're a baby boomer like me, go get it on the web.
Get on the web. In your email, in your inbox, okay? Date the word.com. Dr. Dwayne Carson, lovely bride, his lovely wife, Danita.
Hey, thank you for tuning in week in and week out. Until next time, my challenge is go out and have a God-filled and live a God-blessed day today. 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 kolof.net and donate. Today. If you are enjoying the Man Up Show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe, and leave a comment. Hi, Nikita Koloff.
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Yeah.
