Q&A With Koloff- #142

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When only the best is needed, see Dr. Johnny Gayton at eyesightassociates.com. This is the Truth Network. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw. Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolob. Welcome to another episode of Q&A with Kolob, the Devil's Nightmare. I have a special guest on the show today and just love this man and his heart for serving others.

Marty Miller, middle Georgia, Peach State, welcome to Q&A with Kolob. Hey Nikita, thank you for having me. I really enjoyed being a part of this. Well, it's an honor to have you and the show's always fun for me because, you know, 99.9% of the time, you know, I've got no idea what anyone's going to ask. And so sometimes I'm put on the spot and sometimes the questions are much easier to answer.

So having no idea what you're going to ask today, but before we get to your questions and my answers, let's first share with our audience who Marty Miller is. Alright, well I live in middle Georgia, a little town called Milner, Georgia, and I've got four kids, we're a blended family, me and my wife have been married going on seven years now, and I've been a youth pastor, a pastor, a Bible school teacher, been a little bit of everything. Today, I mean these days, I'm focusing on a ministry that God has given me called Hope Championship Wrestling, which is a pro-wrestling outreach where we use professional wrestling as a platform to share the gospel with not only the fans, but also the wrestlers themselves.

And so that's kind of where my focus is these days. Yeah, and a very powerful ministry. I've been a part of it over the years and grateful to be a part of it, and as I've witnessed firsthand, you run a very professional show, and with a very intentional purpose, which is to share the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ, use the crazy, wacky world of professional wrestling to do that, which, hey, we know wrestling is very popular, people will come to a wrestling show, even if it's somewhat, you might say, church-based or Christian overtone to it, because I just like the entertainment, right? And I know over the years, I have witnessed, and I'm sure you have too, would you even, not that it's necessarily about numbers, but would you even have an estimate of how many people, since you've been engaged in doing this, have come to know Christ or make some level of decision about their faith? Well, since we started in November of 2021, so we're coming up on our second year anniversary this year, and just since the Hope Championship Wrestling has been in existence, we've seen over a hundred people come to Christ on these events. And thousands more have heard the gospel preached from a wrestling ring all throughout Georgia and in Florida.

We got to go there in April. And so it's, God's really using it. Yeah. And I'm just reminded of, now, I'm not a fishing guy, right? Which is kind of ironic, because I grew up in a land of 10,000 lakes, and people assume that I fished.

And I'm like, ah, putting a worm on a hook was not for me, just saying, I'm just saying, nor digging a worm up out of the creek. I didn't realize Moscow had that many lakes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was the suburb of Moscow.

It was the suburbs of Moscow. But what I'm reminded of is the scripture where Jesus said to his disciples, hey, to the fishermen, right? He goes, I'm going to make you, and I know you know the scripture, Martin, I'm going to make you fishers of men. And so even though I was never a fisherman or fished any of those 10,000 lakes, I've been grateful, one, to be a part of what you've done, but also Kolah for Christ Ministries over the last 30 or so years. And to be a fisher of men and seeing tens of thousands come to an altar or come to Christ or make a profession of faith.

And so incredible. Now, I know you mentioned all the different things you've been involved in in ministry. You mentioned the blended family, and I bet that's had its challenges of its own as well, right?

It sure has. Every day is a new challenge, especially when you've got four teenagers and a one girl and three boys. But it's been a fun ride so far. Four teenagers, and boy, if you're listening right now, just say a prayer for Marty Miller, okay? Raising four teenagers presently. And how'd you meet, just tell us real quick, how'd you meet your bride? Well, our kids had played sports together for years, and so I had been divorced for probably, I don't even know, six, seven years, something like that, and then she had gotten divorced. And we was at one of the ball fields one day at one of the little games or whatever, and it was just like, I can't even explain it, that's why I know it's a God thing. We had had a million conversations over the years about kids and sports and stuff, but this one was just different, and it just hit different, it felt different, and seven years later we look back.

One thing led to another, and matrimony was in the air, and it sounds like the doves were cooing in that first conversation, or that particular conversation there. So the kids knew each other, did that make it at least somewhat, you know, to play sports together, make it somewhat easier when you blended the two families together? It did, it did, it really did, and they got along really well, my oldest is a girl, and her oldest is a boy, and they're both 18, they're about four months apart, and even today they've got a bond that you would think they were brother and sister their whole life.

It helped tremendously in that area. No, that's good, and I know you've got a Christ-centered home, so of course that's going to obviously help in a transition like that, because family in and of itself, right, let's just say the nuclear family, right? Male and female, God created them and brought Eve to Adam, and she became his wife, right? And so even just this, and the family was formed from there, right? The nuclear family, and so even with that, it presents its own challenges, certainly, and then the blended family, additional challenges on top of that. Because, you know, you come from even just a traditional marriage, you come from two different backgrounds, might have been raised two different ways, right, and now you're trying to navigate all that and figure that out, and sometimes can even be heightened in a blended family, right? That's right, it definitely can be heightened, but I've learned, if I've learned nothing else, that God will take whatever mess we've made and make it into something beautiful if we'll just follow His path. That's good, I'll say it this way, He'll take a mess and turn it into a message. That's right. Yeah, right, and so we're going to transition here and get to your questions that you have for me, but before we do that, Hope Championship Wrestling, I know you bring it, as you said, you're willing to go to, maybe somebody's out there listening, a pastor, or just somebody who says, man, I'd love to introduce this to my pastor, bring it to my community, and use wrestling as bait, and we'll go back through the fishing thing again, right?

I mean, I don't fish, but I know you need all kinds of different bait to catch different fish, right? Well, wrestling is just a type of bait, if you will, to get people in the doors and then give them what they want, which is wrestling, but share with them, more importantly, what they need, which is the gospel message, and plant some seeds, water some seeds, and see some of those seeds come to fruition. And I know right now, or at least currently, you've got my adopted nephew, speaking of family, my adopted nephew, Aleksandr Kolov, as your champion, right? That's right, he sure is. He's our first champion. Your first champion.

Well, I am thrilled that my nephew is carrying on the Kolov legacy and is your first champion. If someone is listening out there would be interested, how might they find out more? Where would they go to find out more? Contact you, Marty. The best places on social media, just look up Hope Wrestling or Hope Wrestling Georgia, and it'll pop up all of our information, our dates coming up and all of that. Or if you're not on social media, you can email me at HopeWrestlingLLC.com. I'm pretty active on there and I'll respond very quickly. We would love to come help your church, your ministry, your community, whatever it may be, and give them a different type of outreach than they may have seen before. Yep, very unique one.

A little different than bounce houses and food trucks, right? So I just want to encourage you out there, consider that or pass that information on to your pastor and get in touch with Marty. I know I follow you on social media as well.

I know you're on all the different platforms. Well, let's segue into your questions you have for me. If you're ready, just fire away with your first question, Marty. Alright, I am. I've got two wrestling-related and two spiritual-related questions, so let's do the wrestling first.

Okay. So the first one I've got, we talked before, the 80s were my introduction into wrestling and it's what hooked me in. We know that, if you're listening, you know that in 1986, Magnum, T.A. had an accident that changed not only his career, but yours as well, because you would later come back and team with Dusty as a good guy. But my question for you is, what if, during that time period, you had not returned to Crockett? What if you had gone north and went to the WWF and been one of Hogan's opponents?

How do you think your career would have been different if you had gone that route? It's a good question, and a lot of things going through my mind right now, even talking about Magnum's accident and how it changed his life, changed my career, changed professional wrestling, because he was being groomed to be the next Ric Flair. That would have been an interesting dynamic to phase Flair out and to bring Magnum more into the mainstream limelight would have been an interesting thing to ponder as well, one of those what ifs. And so the other what if, you know, because the magazines were touting that, you know, Nikita Kolov against Hulk Hogan, many fans over the years have said, wow, it would have done massive business, you know, WrestleMania main event, right, the Hulkster against the Russian nightmare, I just throw that in for posterity. But yeah, I don't know, you know, looking back on it, you know, I know, as I consider, they would build guys up and then just kind of, I guess the way I would phrase it is feed them to Hogan, right? And then some might maintain a main event status or once they're fed to Hogan might have been bumped down lower on the card and, you know, still made a pretty good payday or, you know, pretty good made a good career out of it.

But not many of them maintain because, you know, nobody was going to outshine the Hulkster, right? I mean, you know, Terry was he was the man at the time, you know, and so I don't know how, what longevity I might have had, had I done that and or where I would have settled on the card after having, you know, that match and or series of matches with him. Now, you know, again, we're just we're hypothetically talking this out, right, just kind of thinking it through and what what could have been. And now again, it could have been that McMahon would have saw the potential to put the belt on me and and had a great run with with me as a heel. And I don't know that I doubt I doubt that I ever would have turned good guy, as you said, or, you know, babyface is certainly would have changed my whole entire career had I made that that move. Barry D'Arceau, who wrestled with us as Crusher Khrushchev when he informed Ivan and I that he was leaving for the WWF to become the the tag team action smash right demolition had originally asked me if I wanted to go with him and that that in turn would have created a whole even different character than the Russian nightmare, right? So I turned I turned that I gratefully, you know, just to turn that thankfully, you know, is grateful that he asked, but just turn that one down. So, yeah, I don't know, Marty, boy would have been I'll kind of wrap this up my answer by saying this to most likely, you know, from a financial position, you know, with what Vince did with marketing and dolls and lunchboxes and sheets and videos and all kind of probably would have made who knows how much more money had I done that. But for me at the time, it just it was never about the money.

It was about loyalty. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Nikita Kolof 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 Kolof Fans and like it and follow today. 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.kolof.net and donate today. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com For the record, from a fan standpoint, we're glad you stayed here. I think that helped Crockett and NWA out for many years. I appreciate that and I appreciate you being the fan that you are.

Okay, you got another wrestling related question? Yeah, just just a quick one. Um, I believe going preface this said that I believe you deserve it. But if do you think the call will ever come to go into the Hall of Fame? And if it does, would you accept it? The WWE Hall of Fame? Well, well, well, well, I mean, I would certainly consider it without a doubt. I mean, it's, you know, for some it's, you know, many of you that is very prestigious thing. And, you know, many of the guys Rock and Roll Express and many others who, who have accepted that invitation. It certainly hasn't hurt their their marketability even now, you know, to be able to, you know, put the WWE Hall of Fame behind their name or as part of their signature, right? And so it certainly creates greater value and marketability for your name. You know, my typical answer to that question when it comes up is more than me, I would I would love to see Ivan be inducted any even if I never was and there was and I had to choose between him and I, my preference would be for Ivan to be inducted.

I mean, the man had a legendary career, defeated the legend Bruno Sammartino almost created a riot in Madison Square Garden, the 91, the World Heavyweight belt and, and, and so for whatever reason, he has not been given that that it was wife, of course, he's walking streets of gold with Jesus now, but never been given that that opportunity. And then if they decided to want to put the two of us in together, that would just be a double blessing a double honor for that. So there you go. Yeah, he definitely deserves it. That's for sure. I do. I think so person I might be a bit biased, but I think Uncle Ivan should be in the Hall of Fame, Nikki.

That's what he's called Nikki Nikki. Yes, Uncle Ivan. Anyway, there you go. All right, you got two other questions for me. All right. So the first one is, um, let me and I'll explain this after I ask this is, um, what do you think is the best way for us to keep our relationship with Jesus first?

And this is what I mean. Like we talked earlier about the rest of the ministry. I'll just use me for example, since I've been such a lifelong fan, I catch myself sometimes at these events or when I'm planning and stuff. Focusing more on the wrestling than I am on the ministry. And it's a struggle sometimes to say, reel myself back in and say, no, Marty, the ministry is what we need to focus on. The wrestling can be good, the wrestling can be fun, but the ministry is what's most important. So what would be your advice to me and to others that are listening to focus on what's the real important part of their ministry? Yeah, ministry or just life in general, right?

They're their own personal relationship. And we hope that, of course, everyone out there listening that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that there's been a point in time you can look back on. Even if you don't remember the date.

I mean, it's amazing how we can remember birth dates and wedding anniversary dates and all kinds of other dates, you know, milestones of things that have happened. And for me, the most important date for me is 17 October 1993 when I surrendered my life to Jesus and became born again and adopted into the family of God. And so from that point on, what I have focused on to get more specific in answering your question is recognizing, realizing, you know, my relationship with Jesus, my walk and my faith is not a matter of one or two hours on Sunday. And for some, they don't even give him that, but is to remind myself to pick up my cross daily. In other words, I need to focus on him daily, whether it's a wrestling outreach that you're referring to or you're working out in the marketplace or you're a stay-at-home mom raising babies, raising children like some of my daughters are doing or whatever you're doing. Whatever you're doing is daily remind yourself to put Christ first, right?

Matthew 633, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all these other things will be added unto you. And so it's just having to be intentional, Marty, with reminding myself, pick up my cross daily. And I heard it once said, or more than once really, but you know, if you don't pick up your cross, your cross will probably crush you. So it's probably a good idea to go ahead and pick it up and carry it every day instead of the weight of the cross crushing you or burying you because your priorities are out of alignment. And so it's a matter of being conscious to have your priorities in the right alignment, starting with putting Christ first, putting Jesus first every single day, even before your marriage, your children, your job or anything else and do that.

And then all those other things have the potential to just fall into place. A little side note, you mentioned this. Remember when I went to Quest with You and Legs years ago, I heard you say something about knowing your spiritual date. And I went home after that week and I did the math back and so I know my date. It's October 5, 2002. And it's also a year and two days before my daughter was born. That's how I myself remember, but I know that that's when I gave my life to Christ. That's when I knew that things were different. Oh, man. So we're both October babies then is what I mean. I love that.

That's awesome. And again, I went to the listeners out there, you know, and if you're a born again Christ follower, you know, you may not know the exact date. I remember I knew it was the month of October 1993, so that narrowed it down to four Sundays basically. And I just prayed it through and prayed into it and the Lord, you know, pressed upon me my date. And again, you ask a guy, hey, you know, when did you get married?

And most of them can give you that date pretty quick, relatively quick. Some have to think about it. But, you know, hey, when were you born? I mean, do you have to think long on like when you were born?

Not really. I mean, you know, March 9th, I was born March 9th. Right. So I was born again, though, October 17th. So just encourage all of you out there, you know, if you don't know what that date, just pray into it.

Ask the Lord to reveal it to you and show it to you. Because, man, that's just it's just kind of a cool thing to to to know. So, well, that's awesome. You got one more.

We got time for one more, Marty. All right. So I was thinking about this. This has kind of been on my mind a little bit. There's so many, I'll call them lanes of ministry. You know, there's working with kids, working with adults, working with senior citizens, men, women, all this stuff. And I know like for a lot of your ministry is focused a lot on men's ministry. How do you know that you're in the right lane, so to speak?

And I'll give you an example. For most of my saved life, I've been working with teenagers, middle school ages. And I've always kind of thought that was when I walked away from God. So I wanted to use that time period to kind of help those kids not walk away from God. But as I get older, I'm feeling more of a draw towards men's ministry. And but there's times when I think, well, but my heart's always been for you. So how do you navigate which lane of ministry to walk in?

That's a really great question. And, you know, you mentioned coming on the Quest event and and, you know, one of these days, Lex and I are going to get you at Man Camp as well. Wink, wink, wink, wink, wink, Marty, Marty. I know we've talked about it. I know you want to. The desire's there. We just got to work out those dates for you. And again, it's got to become a priority, right? So you just got to make it a priority and say, I'm putting this on my calendar.

Nothing else is going to interfere or get in the way. So anyway, and so that said, you know, men's ministry, although I've been very focused on that since 2006, when I went to my first camp out in South Texas and the Lord began just kind of put it on my heart to get more and more engaged with men's ministry. And it's still just a part of what Koloff for Christ Ministries does, but it's certainly a main focus. I mean, I'll do, you know, my one day man up conference, Man Up Intensive, I'll do between 15 and 20 of those this year in local church communities.

And all of that is just an appetizer feeding into the entree of Man Camp every spring and fall. But so I didn't just start out in men's ministry, though. You know, you started out in youth ministry, had a heart for youth. And I think what a great vision you wanted to reach out to, you know, young people so that they were on the same age that you kind of drifted, as you said. And so what a great idea to just just start there, start.

And if you don't know, you're out there listening, you're like, I don't know. I mean, I hear pastors sometimes say, hey, we always need workers in like the children's, you know, Sunday school. Hey, go try it. You'll find out real quick whether or not you're cut out for like elementary kids or the nursery or whatever.

But if you never try it, you'll never know. Now, you may go and do some youth ministry like Marty's referring to and you may go, ah, man, I don't think junior high kids are for me, you know. And I think you'll know, Marty, you'll know that, I think.

I think down inside you'll go, no, I don't think that's for me, right? So I think it's a matter, what I would say to you and all those listening is, just one, just get involved in something. I mean, churches are always, ministries are always looking for volunteers, always looking for people to help out. So just get involved in something to start with. And then, you know what, I think you'll kind of figure it out along the way and go, ah, okay, that's, yeah, I don't think that's my lane, as you said, my lane. And so that's what I would encourage people to do. And even for yourself, you know, you can still be involved and engaged with youth while at the same time, God's giving you this vision now for Hope Championship Wrestling and these wrestling outreaches. And who knows, maybe one day you'll get confirmation that that's where you're to give full-time attention.

And He, I'll say it this way, releases you from youth ministry and you go full-time, so to speak, with the outreach. Right. Make sense? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, well, you've been gracious with your time today and some great questions. I really appreciate the questions. And one more time for our listeners, where can they go get more information on Hope Championship Wrestling if they want to bring it to their community? Hope Wrestling Georgia.

We're on all the social media platforms, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, we're on all of them. Awesome. Thank you, Marty Miller. And thank all of you out there in listening land for tuning into another episode of Q&A with Koloff.

Until next time, have 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 27th, 2023 to January 5th, 2024.

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

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