Q&A With Koloff- #131

This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. 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. This is the Truth Network.

The Truth Network Podcast is set for one flaw. Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolov. Welcome to another episode of Q&A with Kolov, the Devil's Nightmare. Today, I actually have a dear friend with me today, Tom Stewart.

Welcome to Q&A with Kolov. Thank you Nikita, how are you today? I am just doing wonderful, thank you. I appreciate you asking and I hope you are.

Wonderful, awesome. Down here in the beautiful state of Georgia, visiting family, doing great. All right, down in the Peach State, but of course that's not where you live, so you've got family in the Peach State. Tell us, just give us briefly, tell us about your family and where do you live?

I'm happy to do that. I live in Stafford, Virginia and that's where my wife and I of 36 years live. We've been married 36 years.

I have two kids, Brandon who's 30 and Lauren who's 25. Lauren lives down here in Georgia, Brandon lives up in Virginia. Yeah, we love it up there. It's a beautiful state and been there 21 years. 21 years and now you're kind of in my neck of the woods as far as growing up, somewhere in the Midwest, right?

That's right. I grew up in a little town called Wood River, Illinois, just outside of St. Louis, Missouri and still have some family there. I have three sisters who live in Wood River. Lived there until I was about 26 and moved to Virginia and I was there a month and met my wife and we got married a year after that and the rest is history. Well, there you go. So three sisters who decided not to leave, but a brother who sounds like maybe more of a risk taker and wanted to get out of the little town. How'd that work? Yeah, Wood River is a very interesting little town.

It's very small. My mother and father were from that area originally and just, I don't know, just got challenged. Had a job offer to move out to Virginia with an engineering company and I took a chance. I was single and so they made me an offer and I loaded my dog in a U-Haul and packed it up and headed out there. I haven't looked back since except to go visit my sisters. It reminds me, it actually reminds me of my own story in a way and, you know, packing everything I own to my name in Minneapolis in my 20s and headed to a city called Charlotte, North Carolina with everything I own to my name, which wasn't much at the time.

Not that I have much now, but I have more than I had then, let's just say that, and stepped out and took a risk. And so when you and I met up in that area, Dumfries, Virginia, Montclair Tabernacle, Pastor Brad Lewis, Pastor Gary Carruthers there that were bringing me in over a period of the last 25 years to minister at their church. That's where you and I first met, right?

That's right. And yeah, you had known them years before you and I met, but like I said, it's like I've known you most of my life. Well, it has been a mutual friendship, that's to say the least. Of course, I've been up there, as I said, a number of times doing varieties of ministries from outreaches, wrestling outreaches to man up intensives. And of course, you and being exposed to the man up intensive, heard about the man camp, you came down a period of years ago, you were part of actually the very first man camp we did, Lex Luger and I did.

And since that time, been down several times now on staff and serving in that capacity and doing some of the teaching and some of the outdoor activities. And by the way, I would say for the record, you do a phenomenal job with that. I know the guys just love your teachings.

Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Well, and just real quick for our audience, I mean, the biggest, if there was one thing you said, this is the biggest impact camp had on my life.

What would you say? I would say that the biggest impact is how the Lord uses you guys, you primarily, Nikita, as a facilitator, a leader, to get men to the root of what's going on in their life. Good or bad, we get down to the problem and we address the problems to make us better men of God. And that's what happened in my life.

The Lord brought some revelation of some things and allowed... One of our goals is for men to walk away with their heart whole and healed and go back home and implement the things they learn at camp and to be just that much more improved, let's just say, as a godly man, a godly husband, a godly father, that sort of thing. Well, and you've been a big part of that. Now, ministry is not the only thing you do, though, because you've got a thriving gun safety business, correct? Just take a minute, tell us about that.

Yeah, I appreciate it. Before I retired in 2018 from the postal service headquarters in D.C., I started a business doing firearm safety. I'm a certified NRA firearms instructor. I've expanded that into active shooter prevention, and I train safety, church security safety teams, have some good large clients in the Northern Virginia area. Just really, it's an unfortunate necessity in our world today, but we're teaching people how to be safe in this violent world we live in. I also work in a high school. I'm a security officer, a state-certified security officer at a high school in Stafford County.

Love doing that, love working with the teenagers. Some people think I'm crazy, but I absolutely love it. Okay, I've got to ask the proverbial question. Why do people think you're crazy?

I'm sure some probably do, but why? Well, our five high schools in Stafford County run anywhere from 2,200 to 2,400 kids at each school, and the schools we work at, they're very challenging. We have just a variety of challenges. Thank God we haven't had anything horribly violent happen, but it's a daily go-go-go type effort.

We're busy. We're working with kids. They do get into trouble, but we're helping them succeed, and that requires more than just providing a level of safety and security where we want to catch them doing bad things.

We don't want to do that. We want them to be successful, so you really get to know them, and you hear the stories of what's going on at home, and a lot of times it just breaks your heart. So we dig in deeper and really just try to help them in any way we can. That's great, and so much needed in the education world today, so I think it's great you're providing that for them. So real quick, if people wanted to learn more about your – because I know you can do safety for – you teach safety for churches, how to make their place safe, obviously schools, businesses, individuals. If individuals wanted to learn, where would they go to learn more about what Tom Stewart does and offers?

Thank you for the opportunity. I'd be happy to share that. Go to Facebook, search under groups, and look for Virginia Patriot Training, LLC.

That's under groups, because when you search on Facebook, you search on people or groups. You have to search under groups, Virginia Patriot Training, LLC. Be happy to share any information with you and make you safer. And I can vouch personally by saying Tom gave me a kind of a condensed personal safety training at our last man camp, which I'm very thankful for, and you will not be disappointed if you decide to hire Tom Stewart to do your training program. Well, wonderful.

That's amazing. So let's segue. It is Q&A with Kolov, so I have no clue what you're going to ask, which is always the fun part of the show for me. So let's just – no pun intended.

Well, maybe it is a pun. Fire away, Tom, with your first question. Would your company, business, or you personally like to partner with me in supporting Kolov for Christ Ministries, the Man Up Show, and Man Up Minutes? Go to kolov.net and click the donate button.

You can give monthly, annually, or one time. God bless you for making a difference around the world. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Kolov 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 Kolov Fans, and like it and follow today. 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.kolov.net and donate today.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Alright, so first thing I want to do is, when you met our pastors in Florida years and years ago, you made mention that you had shaved your facial hair off, and you had let your hair grow out, and you had a mullet, I believe is what you said. So my question is, can I get a picture of that? Well, I actually, I was at dinner recently with my daughter Kendra and her husband, two of my grandchildren, and his parents, the other in-laws, and somehow the conversation came up about hair, because again, I stepped out and took a risk and drove to Charlotte, North Carolina, and the instruction was, show up with your head shaved bald. Well, I was in my early 20s, right? And bald was not beautiful back then.

It was not in vogue, you might say, right? For those old enough listening to this show, there was only really kind of a couple bald guys. Telly Savalas, right, who had a TV show called Kojak, and Yul Brenner, who was an actor, right?

I think he played like the King and I or something like that, and then there was Ivan Kolov, the Russian bear, and along came the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolov. And so, not that I'm, by the way, not that I put myself in the category of a Telly Savalas or Yul Brenner, I'm not saying, I'm just you, anyway, moving on, moving on, I digress. There is documentation of that, because I was showing them a couple pictures at dinner, they're like, oh my gosh, they're like, you don't even look like the same guy, because they were like, if you were to grow it up now, do you still have hair? And I go, I do, might be a slightly different color, but yes, I would probably have a fair head of hair, although it's a little thinner on top, let me just say that. But if you remind me, here, I'm gonna put the onus back on you, you remind me at Man Camp in October, and I'll pull up the pictures, and I'll show you a couple shots with the mullet.

Got it, will do, I'm gonna hold you to that. All right, all right, fair enough, fair enough, all right, next question. Okay, so other than the obvious, being a Christian, having Jesus Christ in your life, who has been the biggest influence in your life to lead you through this walk as a man of God? Hmm, good question, good question, the initial quick response would be a man by the name of Jay Stewart, Jay Stewart.

Jay was on staff at the church in Concord, North Carolina, where I surrendered my heart to the Lord, 17 October 1993. And like with anything I've done, Tom, and I don't know about you, but it's just part of my personality, part of my persona, I'm an all-in kind of guy, right? So I picked up an Iron Man bodybuilding magazine at age 12, guess what, I'm all in, right?

So I buy a 110-pound plastic weight set from Sears and Roebuck, I start reading the articles, start lifting the weights, and make a statement at age 12. One day, I'm going to look like one of those guys, right, because I'm all in. And you fast forward 12 years later, I walk into the wrestling office in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I went from about 100 pounds dripping wet with rocks in my pocket to 285, 8% body fat, 34-inch waist, and 52 years later, I'm still lifting weights.

So that might qualify as all in, right? And so there's that, the football, you know, I was all in on football when I became a wrestler. I was like, I don't just want to be a wrestler, I'm going to be a world champion, right? So eight different times, I held a number of different world titles, and then I give my life to Christ. And guess what? I'm what?

All in, right? So if the doors are open, I'm there. And so I meet Jay, and him and his lovely bride, Melanie, have a class on Wednesday nights. So not only am I there Sunday morning and Sunday night, I'm there on Wednesday nights, and I'm learning. I just want to learn, man. I just want to learn, I want to grow, and I want to mature in my walk with Christ.

And so fast forward almost to right at 30 years later, guess what? Jay Stewart is still my pastor. We meet at least once a month, face to face, from an accountability perspective.

Proverbs 27, 17, as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens the countenance of his friend. He is my pastor, he is a friend, he is a mentor, and he is one of, really Tom, a handful of guys over the years that I have learned from and continue to learn from. I mean, I don't have an exhausted list, but there's a number of guys, and some of whom I've met, and some of whom I have not. But you take a Dr. David Jeremiah, for example, who I've watched. If I've watched one of his YouTube sermons, I've watched 100 of his sermons, right?

Francis Chan, I mean, I go down the list, Jack Hibbs, Mike Bickel. I mean, there's a number of guys that I try, guys who've been walking with the Lord 40, 50 years, Jimmy Evans, Marriage XO, out in Texas, that I'm gleaning and learning from. And by the way, Truth Radio Network has tons of great messages on their Truth app. And so, there you go.

That's who I'm learning from. Awesome, awesome. Got another one for me? Yeah, we got time for one more, yep. Great. So just kind of segueing off of that all-in type concept, and I know you, and I know that you definitely are that type of an individual.

What would you say, what advice would you give, or what would you say to any man who is struggling with anything that is keeping them away from a thorough walk with God to get them to commit and be all-in? Come to man camp. No, okay.

Well, you're right. That is the short answer, okay? Because really, on a serious note, whether it's the one-day conference or an extended camp where men get outside of their comfort zone, outside of their village, which is a challenge, right? Because, again, we've talked about, you and I, men don't always want to get transparent, get honest.

It's easier sometimes to put up the façade or wear the mask, or as a good term we might use, pose their way through. But at the core, still not have internal peace, joy, and or happiness because, you know, let's face it, there's not any one of us that's going to skate through life without being hurt or wounded by someone, right, or something, right? And the only way to really live that full, full joyful life is by opening up, whether it's in a camp setting or somewhere else, but opening up, being willing to dig deep, to open up and go down, find out where those hurts occurred or when we were wounded, and then address it.

Let the Lord come in, put the healing balm of Gilead on that. Because, you know, let's face it, I mean, it's one thing to be, quote, saved, it's another to make Him Lord of our life and surrender every aspect of our life over to Him and give Him full control and us just walk in obedience to what He desires. So it doesn't have to be man camp, although that's a great setting for men to really be equipped and the Lord to address some things, I mean, there's lots of great conferences out there and I'm sure even some workshops and retreats that churches do, you know, just their own, on their own, you know, that. But that's what I think really takes, Tom, in order to really walk in the fullness and be all in, is being willing to just open up and get honest. Maybe it's just with a friend, you know, you and me, Tom, sitting down one on one and just me getting honest with you and you getting honest with me without judgment, right, without throwing any stones, and just be able to just address those issues and love on each other, you know, come to get, like, oh, let's see, oh, I know, Jesus kind of modeled that, you know. And just be Jesus with skin on, and so, man, if we could, as man, if we could learn, okay, one last caveat to this, because I think one of the biggest things, and you might say amen to this as well or attest to it and say you are right, one of the biggest struggles for any man, I think, is that P word, right? Pride, pride, it's the ability to address the pride in our life, humble ourselves, because what I just described takes a lot of humility, right, to really open up and be honest with somebody, because there might be something embarrassing that is said or, you know, whatever. But we got to get past our pride, you know, which is the greatest, you know, that's what, the root of what Satan's fall from grace, right, from heaven was his pride, right?

So he's the author of pride, and so we've got to, we've really got to address that and start with that, and then if we'll start with that, I think everything else will open up, so there you go. Very good, amen, thank you. Yeah, no, great questions, and thank you, Tom, for being on the show. One more time, your gun safety, your Facebook, go to groups, and where do they go? Yep, go to Facebook, search under groups, and you want to look for Virginia Patriot Training, LLC. Well, go check that out if you need that for, again, for your church, for your business, for a school.

I mean, I know he's up in Northern Virginia, but I'm sure you could, depending on where you're at, you could work something out or at least get some more information. So, Tom, thanks for being on Q&A with Koloff today. Nikita, thank you, my friend, appreciate you so much. Likewise, I love you, my friend, and thank you for tuning in, dialing in to another episode of Q&A with Koloff.

Until next time, go out and live a God-filled, God-blessed day. 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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