This is the Truth Network. Nakita, destroy, crush, demolish all competitions. Does he want it? Here it is! Yeah, and Mr.
Koloff once again made his feelings very, very apparent. It's been a long time, but the win is over. That's a bad man. No, that's a bad man. No, that's a bad man.
It's time to man up with Satan's nightmare, Nakia Koloff. Welcome back. Here we are again. Another episode here. And I have a.
Special individual on the phone with me today, Jerry Gugliami. Did I say that right, Jerry? Yes, you do.
So I gotta ask you right out of the gate. What's the the last name? It's not your you know, it's not Smith, it's not Johnson.
So what's the back story on give me a little backstory on on that last name of yours.
Okay, so my parents moved up to the United States from Argentina after they were married 1961. The last name, it it's funny that you say it's not Johnson or Smith. Actually, the last name is Italian for Williams. Really?
Okay.
Well, that is pretty interesting.
So, so they moved up, but they moved up from Argentina. How long ago was that? When did they do that? It was shortly after they were married, I believe it was that nineteen sixty one. Wow.
What prompted the move? Just wanted to go after the great American dream? What was the move? Not really. It was total something totally different.
Um, my dad's aunt lived up here. And her and her husband were involved in a bad car accident. Uh where as I understand the story He died at the scene. She was in the hospital for six months. And so by the time she got out, she didn't want to be by herself.
She knew my dad and my mom were about, you know, about to get married.
So she arranged for them to come up here and live with them.
Well, with her, and had him, you know, had a job lined up for him and whatnot.
So that's why they came up to be with her for a little bit. And my parents' intentions were to move back to Argentina. after a few years.
Well, needless to say, that never happened. They they stayed up here and carved out carved out a nice little life of themselves. And and uh up here this would be wh like w where they moved to where?
Okay, so so we live just outside of Philadelphia. uh in a town called Upper Chichester.
Okay.
I I've actually I think I've seen signs. Actually, uh kinda kn I know know where you're at. Yeah, I know I think I know right where you're at.
So so and so the move there was because of f family then. Correct.
So you you are born and and raised there? I was born in, yeah, I'm first generation born in the U.S.
Okay, all right. But you have in and in a in both your so how do both your parents being from Argentina have an Italian name? It's from my dad's side. My mom's maiden name is. classic uh Spanish her last name was Diaz, but my dad.
Had the uh his father was Italian, so Gugliami, did I say it right? Googly on me, yes.
Okay, so um I have three adult sons. And I through them I have four grandsons. Um my wife, uh she has uh pre-kids to the are fairly close to her. And her son is expecting his first child coming in January. Boy or girl?
A girl. Oh, like 'cause I'm looking at three sons, four grandsons. She's got a son. I'm like, and there gonna ever be a girl in the picture here.
So so a little granddaughter. Yeah. Nice. That's awesome. And how how long have you guys been married?
Susan and I have been married for five years, together for eight.
So, this is her second marriage, my third.
Okay.
All right. And, uh, What has so over the course of the last five years, what would you say? has been One of the biggest challenges ha having been, you know, each of you married before, one of the hurdle hurdles that the two of you have had to overcome, would you say? Hm. I I I think it's just the same as it would be in any marriage.
That would be communication. Being open and honest with each other.
Okay.
Dealing with problems together instead of separately. You know, you just get sometimes you get too used to after divorce, you know, you're by yourself, you're taking on, you know, challenges by yourself. It's like, oh, I got to relearn how to work as a team again. Yeah, I mean, you just right 'cause now you're just in a sense kinda just responsible for you, right, so to speak. And and and then, um That's interesting 'cause uh Um, you know, of course, you you're familiar with Lex Luger.
You know that name. We're going to talk about that here in a bit, but um. you know, as he has uh gotten recently married, um Yeah, that's been one of his challenges 'cause he was seventeen years single. And by his own admission, he's OCD. That can cause problems in a marriage.
And he was sharing with me on the phone the other day, we were talking, and he's like. Man, he goes, I didn't realize how easy it was to make a woman cry. I'm like, what did you do, Alex? He goes, What I did, I guess it was what I said or how I said it. I'm like, I didn't mean it that way, you know.
And he's like, Oh my gosh. And then he's like, And like, I'll have, you know, he's OCD, right?
So he's got things set. And do I know? Because he lived with me for almost a year, right? Back in 2015.
So he has a routine. He has things like set here, there, and that's where he wants it, right? Like when I used to visit his place in Atlanta, open up his fridge, I mean, oh my gosh, Jerry, everything was like in perfect alignment. All the labels are facing forward. And boy, if he ever hears the if he ever listens to the show, I'm really busting his chops right now.
But All that to say, he goes, She'll move something and I'll go look for it. And I can't find it because it's not where I put it. And I'm like, hey, where's this, this, this, or whatever, right? He's like, so no doubt has been an adjustment period for him as well. And so, but you really hit on something though, Jerry.
communication, right? When I mean That that's probably would you say is probably Number one in terms of You know, uh marriage and and or just a relationship in general is is communication. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think far too many times people are afraid. to be open and honest with each other.
I think the fear would be Yeah, I may have done something wrong. Uh made a mistake and they don't want to own up to it. It it doesn't it seem like i in my experience anyway, somehow some Some way Whatever that is, you can fill in the blank. It somehow pops up into the conversation. And then you hear, well, why didn't you tell me that?
Why didn't you tell me that sooner? Why didn't you tell me that before? Exactly. Right. And then sometimes that kind of snowballs and gets bigger to.
a size it really should have gotten to to begin with. Yeah, yeah, that's a good term, right? It can snowball into an even bigger argument or or some where where had it been nipped in the butt, you know, so to speak, immediately or right away, you know, you might have avoided, you know, some big blow up or blowout, right? Right. Each is angle.
Interesting.
So so for yourself in these five years of marriage. that being probably the number one is that would you say that's the number one thing you have focused on more? Yes, it's one of the areas I know I need to improve in and work on.
Well, I think for the record, Jerry, and I'll just I think I will categorize this and say all of us as men could probably work better on our communication. At least I for one. I know even like whether it's with my daughters or my friends or Uh a and I was just sharing with with a friend the other day you know, in kind of in relation to this, Like, I'm one, believe it or not, even though I spent all those years in a wrestling ring, I'm not a fan of confrontation. Right? I'm just not.
Like, I just, if I can avoid a confrontation, I'll do it.
So I can really relate to what you're talking about here. With, you know, not being fully transparent or open or honest. Like, all right, let me just not say anything. Maybe this will go away, right? But it doesn't.
Like you said, it doesn't. It does not. And so I'm learning. The Lord actually is helping me learn how to work through that. And even if it is going to be confrontational.
How to handle it, what I would phrase as the right way to handle it, right? Maybe without blowing up or getting, you know, angry or, you know or or defensive or anything like that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for real. Yeah.
Get defensive.
So so on that note, You know, I um you re just recently, you and Several of of your friends uh jumped in a car. Um and and made a uh mo how many how many hours for 'cause uh you you're you attend church in Delaware, right? Correct.
In Wilmington, Delaware, yep.
So it was a yes. And that's the Iron Faith Fellowship. Is that where you're at? That is correct. Yeah, Iron Faith Faith Fellowship.
Of course, Pastor House uh uh has uh made this the same trip down to the the state of Georgia uh for our our man camp. And of course You guys you guys had heard about it and were encouraged and to come and experience it for yourself.
So the four of you got in a car and drove on down to Georgia.
Well let's first talk about what what was that experience like for the four of you to make that trek from Delaware down to Georgia. Was that a a good uh time to get to know each other better? What was that like? Yes, it was a great opportunity to learn more about each other.
Now, admittedly, um Was a quiet one on the way down. And I'm like that by nature. Just keep to myself. 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. 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. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. And um And so But you know, as the trip went along, you know, I became a little bit more open and learned a lot about the the other three guys that went down with me. And You know, that that made the the 10 hours more bearable.
Yeah, oh, so okay, so yeah, 10 10 hours. I I was just I was wondering how long. How long that is and that's similar to what like one of our staff, Tom, who you know, Tom Stewart. um is up in you know northern Virginia and and he said that that's about about similar about a nine hour trip for him. And then, of course, we had guys drive, three guys drive from the state of Maine that came.
You guys are all at the same camp. And then. And then um our oldest attendee attendee, Jan Daniel Johnson, who who drove Close to on his way home, he went to see his sister. He drove close to 16 hours to get home. Yeah, I believe he drove from Louisiana, if I remember correctly.
He did. Yeah, he did. From uh little town over on the Texas border.
So yeah, he had an incredible so dan uh I mean Jerry, why I mean why would Why would guys do that? Why would guys drive from Maine and Louisiana and fly in from Chicago and Minneapolis and drive from Delaware? Why? Because they want to Experience of a life-changing moment. Prior to going down I I'm an old wrestling fan, so I'd like to s see what You know, the guys used to follow in the ring, what are they doing now?
And I did a little research on new. That you became ordained, you were saved. And you started this man camp thing. And I was reading about it. And I was like, you know what?
That sounds really like a neat experience. But but the timing never seemed right to go.
So this past July, just before the service started. Susan's looking on Iron Faith's Facebook page. gives me a little elbow to the side and showed me the man camp ad. I'm like, ooh, and that just sparked my interest right then and there. I'm like, you know what?
This is a sign. I need to go and talk to Pastor Haas after service. Signed up that Sunday night. Um the next day I went to work, total I needed a week off in October. They granted it to me and was able to go down.
But yeah, it's just to experience.
Something that can change your life, something that will give you more clarity, more insight. You know, or open your eyes to another opportunity or avenue that maybe you haven't thought of. And and and you came with three other guys, did you guys end up like kinda Communicate with one another, like, hey, I'm gonna go do this. Do you wanna go? Or how did that happen?
So I believe I was the first one who signed up.
Okay.
And for the longest time, I thought I was the only one going. Hmm. And then maybe a month and a half or so afterwards, I found out that, hey, you know, three other guys are interested in going and possibly another two who I guess for one reason or another couldn't make it this time around. And then as we okay, as we were going, then we started to communicate more, talk about it every week. before church, we would talk about it, we were getting more and more excited.
You know, starting to plan out the trip. How are we getting there? Are we renting the car? Are we doing this? Are we doing that?
And it just all came together. All came together and and uh Not to get ahead of myself, but uh um i without going into detail, I'm guessing The drive home was different than the drive down. Yeah. Yeah, it was just a rehash of everything we experienced. Um how we could talk to other men in the church about this.
you know, just relay our experience. Hey, this is something that's worth attending if you can if you have the time to do it.
So, you know, we're really going to Start talking that up, and we all came to an agreement on the way back on the way home. that if there's someone in our congregation who wants to go, but you know might need a little help get getting there. We're willing to do that pitch and to help them get down there. We believe that much in the band camp experience. Which which is is is pretty amazing.
And kudos to you guys for helping to make a way and for other men to have. And you keep using the word experience, and that's exactly right. I want our listeners to know. you know, as you're listening to some of Jerry's story about His camp experience, that that's really what we kind of, if you want to say, advertise: is that this is not just, man camps, not just another event. There's lots of events out there, lots of great events out there.
But what our hope is, where Lex and I, Lex Luger and I, our heart is that men can't come and encounter God, as Jerry was alluding to, in fresh and new ways. And perhaps, you know, in ways they had never experienced God before. And in some cases, some come and had never experienced God at all. And they experienced salvation, like Charles, right, up in Minnesota, who drove his stake in the ground and secured his salvation. What's one or two things for yourself personally highlights that how God really spoke to you, Jerry?
Okay.
Um, so wh when I got down there, I went down with an open mind, no preconceived ideas of what was going to happen, what to expect. Nothing. I was just going to let it. Come as it came and to take it that way and run with it.
So But one of the things I did want to work on was clarity. And by that, I mean. I when I used when I rai read the Bible.
Sometimes I read it like it's a normal book. race through. a couple of chapters and be like, Okay, what did I just read? Right, because it wasn't I wasn't taking my time. To really look at it.
Well, once I realized that, I started doing that. I slowed myself down. But I got to the point where I was overthinking it. I was looking for the hidden meaning of it. There's got to be a hidden meaning here, you know?
And I just kept going down these rabbit holes where I was just frustrating myself.
So I just ask God, you know, don't worry my time down there. Just let me have the clarity to understand your word. And once anyone but we it was the day uh it was a fast day we were out in in the woods all day long. I started out by, you know, reading the book, working on my workbook a little bit. Took a little break and asked God, you know, what should I read?
You know, where are you going to leave me? What book are you going to leave me to read and to get something at? Where should I go? And that led me to read the book of James. And I started reading it and it is the first time ever that the words just popped off the page.
And it and it was just crystal clear, very understandable. And I and I sat there, I go, Now I get it. and the proverbial sledgehammer to the head. Was when I got to James chapter 1, verse 19, I believe it is, where he tells you to be. Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.
40 that speaks volumes to the whole communication thing, and you know, to me, I got out of that, don't. You know, don't be quick to judge, not judge, but don't be quick to answer questions. Listen to the whole thing. You know, listen to what the other person wants. Is saying, right?
They're saying, right? Like, I've heard it phrased this way, Jerry, in the past. Like, you know. Uh Seek first to understand before being understood. That's kind of another way of saying what you're saying.
To really listen to the other person. Don't jump in. Don't cut them off. Just really listen to their heart and then see how you respond to it. Right.
And.
So that was huge for you and gaining just clarity of the word. And you really hit on something too. And you talked about coming with an open mind. You know, that my the camp, my first camp in March of 06, I went with that same attitude: God, I don't know what's going to happen, what you're going to do, or how I'm going to encounter you or experience you, but I'm going with an open mind. And, you know, for all the ladies listening out there and even the guys, you know, if the ladies, you got a special man in your life, or guys, if some of Jerry's story is, you know, grabbing hold of your heart right now, you're looking for a life-changing moment, as he said.
Perhaps Man Camp is for you. And Jerry, we only got a couple minutes. A couple minutes left here, but uh, and shout out, by the way, to Hoseway and Adam and Russ who all made the trip with you. uh down to camp. Um I I'm I'm excited.
I'm excited about what's going to happen there in Iron Faith Fellowship. Do you know off the top of your head the website for uh for your church by chance? That's bad that I don't care. Put you on the spot, didn't I?
Well, you did Iron Faith Fellowship. What city is it in? Wilmington, Delaware. Wilmington, Delaware. Pastor Haas, and that's H-A-U-S.
Look up Pastor. That's her first name. And like Jerry's last name, I can't pronounce. How do you say Pastor Haas's last name? I can't pronounce it either.
It's a Paiseki. Exactly. Exactly. Is that Italian, too? I'm guessing.
I don't know. Or do you know? What's that? Is it Italian as well, or do you know? No, no, I don't think it is.
So, anyway, well, in our just kind of couple closing moments, what would you say? We got the ladies listening out there or. You know, or a man listening to your interview, to encourage them to consider coming to camp. What would you say? Take a minute and what would you say to them, Jerry?
If you want to gain a deeper relationship with with the Lord. If you want to Uh Holy shit.
Some of your leadership skills, or just learn what it means to be a man or a whole man, not just. I mean, because you guys take care of everything down there, you know, like you say, body, mind, and spirit. And if you want to grow in any or all of those areas, this camp will do that for you. And for those ladies, if if you you notice your husband or whoever wants to go down, support him because he's going to come back changed and be a better partner for you. Yeah, it's, I mean, it could be a husband, your brother, your dad, right?
Maybe you ladies want your dad to go, or you're just inspired by Jerry's message today and/or some of his story. Because that is the goal. The goal is, as he mentioned, to see a whole man living a holy life, making himself holy. Wholly available to the Lord, and so. I can't wait to see the, you know, if you want to say the after effects, Jerry, between the the four of you.
And and I know you recently uh uh testified in front of the entire church, right? Just shared a little bit of your story, right, in front of the church. Yes, three of us got up. Uh last weekend. and just gave a little testimony of what we experi what we experienced and how it changed and informed us.
And everyone was very receptive to it. We had three people, but it was three different stories.
So that was great. And that brings up, I just. Highlight in our closing minute here that brings up another point. Three people. Shared on the platform in front of their congregation, but they each shared three different stories because.
It was a different experience. For all three, all really all four of them. One of them wasn't with them on the platform, but it's a different.
So you come, come with an open mind. You're looking for a life-changing moment. I like how you said that, Jerry. A life-changing moment. You have a desire to develop a deeper.
Relationship with the Lord. Hone your leadership skills. You know how to be a servant leader in your home or on your job or in your community. I want to go to coloff.net.
So you wonder, well, how do I find out more? Go to coloff.net. And just look for the link, click on the man camp link. Hey, if finances is an issue, like Jerry said, they're gonna make that available to the men in their church.
Well, we as a camp also make that available, especially if you're in the military, law enforcement, first responder. A lead pastor. We have scholarships available. You know, if you have a heart to come, we'll help you get there.
So, Jerry, I appreciate you being on the show today, man. Amazing. I and I appreciate having me had a good time with it.
Well, well, God bless you. And I'm looking forward uh we're working on I'm working with Pastor Haas on some dates to come back up.
So I look forward to reuniting with all you guys up there. Yeah, we look forward to seeing you soon, I hope. All right. Well, and to all you out there in listening, land, thank you for consistently tuning in each and every week and helping to spread the word on its time demand up. Until next time.
challenge is well you should have a God build and a God bless day.
