Wrestling with God! Who Wins?

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Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolod. Now, the Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Hey, today, today, today, got a great interview lined up for you today. You're not going to want to miss this one. Hey, are you a wrestling fan? Well, even if you're not, it's okay, but you're going to want to stay tuned today. Today with me on the show, Rob Vaughn.

Rob, welcome to the Man Up show. Thank you very much, Nikita. Good to be here. Well, great to have you with us, and of course, you know, a little teaser there in the opening about wrestling. We're going to talk all about what you do, really kind of in your spare time, we might say. Or, you know, how you, what do they call that? Twilight or something?

I don't know. Anyway, we're going to talk about what you do outside of your main line of work, which we're fortunate to snag you today because you're right on a break in between doing what? Well, my day job is for the last 25 years, I've been a teacher and a coach at all levels from kindergarten through arena football, college, high school, you name it.

I coached it or taught it. Wow. So that covers a very broad base there, Rob. Very much.

A very broad base. And of course, you know, you say your day job and we're going to, I want to talk a little bit more about that, but also just expand on because you, what you do in the twilight or what you do after hours involves the world of professional wrestling, correct? Yes. We're in fact, in May, I'll be celebrating 23 years of putting on events with the Christian Wrestling Federation down here in Texas. So you're out there in Texas, the Christian Wrestling Federation, 23 years.

Congratulations on that. And you not only organize and promote, but you've been in the ring a few times as well, correct? Yes, I have. I wrestled, gosh, for 20 years, I guess, or 21 until I had a heart attack in the summer of 2021 and I really slowed down since then. But yeah, for the most part, I've been there almost the whole time.

Long, long time. We'll talk about more, some of those experiences. Of course, I had the opportunity, you had flown me out to Texas and had the opportunity to experience firsthand just one of those events and how impactful that that event has been, not only for the wrestling world, but really for the kingdom of God as well. But let's back up for a moment here and for our listeners before we get to some of those wrestling stories and who you were in the ring with and all of that or have been in the ring with. Tell us about your family, do you have children? Just tell us a quick backdrop on that side of your life, that part of your life.

Alright. I grew up here in Texas. I grew up in a suburb of the Dallas area, lived here all my life.

I went to college only about an hour away from Dallas at the Texas A&M Commerce and played football out there and always wanted to be a coach. That's what I really wanted to do and the Lord has given me some great opportunities to do that. I did not grow up in a house that went to church. My family never went to church. I was introduced to church when I was in the seventh grade. A friend of mine kept inviting me to go and I turned him down the whole school year. Finally at the end of the year, they were having a disciple now weekend at somebody's house and a bunch of my friends were going to be there and I said, well, I guess that can't hurt, I'll go. And that was the first time I ever heard about what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I wanted to know more about it and ended up giving my life to Jesus that weekend and I jumped right in and got baptized two weeks later and got involved in the youth group. So I was involved in the youth group all through high school and felt like the Lord just had a calling on my life.

I didn't know what it was and just kept pursuing him. It took me down some different roads to get to here. So yeah, I moved around a lot in my 20s after I got out of college.

I lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I ended up back here in the Dallas area back in the late 90s. I met Beth, my wife, she's my second wife. We've been married, just celebrated 10 years together and she had three kids and I had one and we met and the last 10 years have been phenomenal.

I mean, just absolutely put two equally yoked people together and it's amazing what the Lord can do. He has used us in not just the wrestling ministry but everywhere. It has been awesome. So between the two of us, we have four children. Our oldest Ben is a pilot for American Airlines and our oldest daughter Brittany just got married in December.

I had the pleasure of getting to appreciate the ceremony, it was really cool. And then our younger daughter Brooke is a sophomore at Baylor University. And then there's Rock, he's my big athlete. He's already a seventh grader, he's already six foot tall and he goes to school here in an area called Dallas Christian School. They're a perennial state championship football team so we are looking forward to some good years in football with him.

So that's kind of my family in a nutshell. Yeah, following in dad's footsteps it sounds like. I hope so. He's going to be much better.

He's much more athletic than I was. Well that's quite an amazing story because I met your bride, I think I met her up in Michigan. Well I think when I was out there in Texas but also in Michigan, yes? Do I remember that?

Yeah, you probably got to spend more time talking to her in Michigan when we were up there. Yeah, I don't even know that I knew you were going to be there. Like this church kind of last minute, a speaker had bailed on them and of course I was available and they flew me in and said, hey we're going to have this ring set up, we're going to do this.

There you are, right? I'm the one that recommended you. Oh, they reached out to you and said, hey do you know anybody who can fill in, right?

Or whatever. Well thank you for that by the way, that was a huge blessing. And of course I have a lot of friends up in Michigan, especially in the Grand Rapids area and the Detroit area as well. And of course I had a great time when I came out there to Texas and your show that you promoted out there. But let me talk about education for a moment because you said you've covered the gamut, everything from kindergarten all the way through and you said into arena football? So talk to me for a minute about education, what the importance for you is in being involved in education. Give us a highlight or two of why you're passionate about being involved in education. Well I truly believe that being involved in young people's lives makes a difference.

I did not grow up, like I said I didn't grow up in a house, I went to church and by the time I got saved was when my old man took off. And so my mom raised me and my sister and so not having a father figure in the household, Lord brought me some great mentors though. But I remember just leaning on my coaches back in high school, I had some great godly men that were coaches and really showed me how to walk my walk since it was so new at the time. And I love sports and so I thought man if I could have that kind of influence they had on me, I would love to do that. And that's probably been the biggest thing is just loving on kids and just being there because so many of them are still fatherless. I mean we still have that problem in our society today and just being that father figure and it's really satisfying but I just want to pass that on because that was shown to me during some very impressionable years and I probably got the most out of that in all my years of coaching. And now that I'm older I'm doing elementary PE, I haven't done that in a long time.

You know what, I enjoy that. They almost look at me like their grandpa now and they keep telling me you're too old to have a spiky hair and stuff like that. But you know what, I have a great time with those kids and so it's just the influence. I can make a difference in someone's lives. I know this but we have quite a bit of actually relatability there and that my dad left and I was around three when my dad left and of course sports became an outlet for me and where else we relate is my first male mentor. One thing you mentioned, your coaches in your life became real mentors to you was my seventh grade football coach Bill Burke. He became my first real kind of man that I looked up to and then of course along the way I had other men like Jerry McFarland who was a health teacher but also a professional body builder who took me under his wing. And then again just along that journey Irv Nurdahl, Coach Nurdahl, Coach Scrine, Coach Fauci, Coach Richmond, John Richmond and so many other coaches that really impacted my life.

The one caveat to that is it wasn't faith-based you might say but nevertheless they had a very, very positive impact on my life. And you are correct Rob when we talk about the fatherless generation. It seems and you may agree with me that that continues to actually even kind of escalate, it's escalating right? In other words more unfortunately more and more and more fatherless children growing up, boys and girls both right? Exactly and we you know in our wrestling ministry we on Monday nights we meet and train and do Bible study and we get these younger guys that come in and train with us and I mean one night I was sitting there in the ring and I was like going around sitting there looking around I said help me out raise your hand if you grew up without a dad in your life most of your early years and over half the guys in the ring raised their hand.

And so yeah I think it's still about more prevalent today than it ever has been. Well what a tremendous opportunity. I got to say this too you mentioned teaching elementary PE right? Yeah so I have so I did actually graduate from college I got a degree actually graduated with honors I was one of at the time one of the very few academic all Americans at Morehead State University up in Minnesota where I hail from not Moscow or Siberia or but Minnesota. But and so I graduated with all American honors and and what's interesting is you know I had a PE major with a health minor coaching minor and I remember when I did and maybe you can help me out I don't remember what was called he had not an internship but you like you had to go over student teaching. Student teaching okay I just can never I get a blank on that so I had to do my student teaching like I think six weeks in elementary and six weeks in junior high right and and Rob I remember like I don't know I don't remember which one I did first but here's what I do remember I'm like I ain't gonna be doing that for my whole life like I was like I'm not cut out to be a PE teacher for these elementary kids so whichever one was first but then I went and did the other one I go I'm not gonna be doing that my whole life either.

I'm like I want to teach and I want to coach but I'm pretty sure it's not elementary or junior high and I'm not I'm not even convinced I want to do high school I may have to may have to get a further my education and be able to teach and coach in college right but so kudos to you man hats off to you. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. 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 of redemption, go to www.colof.net and donate today. Would your company, business, or you personally like to partner with me in supporting Kolof for Christ Ministries, the Man Up Show and Man Up Minutes? Go to www.colof.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. people at that age level and but as I've gotten older started having kids and it kind of went back went back down and so you know here I am now with elementary kids and I got the little kindergarten and stuff and we're playing sharks and minnows red light green light the hide and seek is still a favorite game I mean you know we're reverting back to stuff you heard when you were that age and and I find myself out there having a blast with those kids you know and so I really enjoyed the elementary now and and so and it's funny the longer you stay at one place you start seeing kids go grow up and and start seeing as a coach you start seeing some of the skills they develop you know and and it's like man that guy you start looking at kids and man he would be a great 100 meter kid or you know that girl has got some great hand-eye coordination she can dribble a ball you know and right you start seeing some of those things in the elementary level and thinking that that's pretty cool but you know you did see what they grow into like you like your own kids now that's well and not only that you I mean obviously we've heard the stories but you know the younger you can capture somebody's attention right the greater impression and or you might say impact you can have on that person's life right so the fact that you're you know you've got that great door of opportunity you know with kindergarten what five four five six year olds five years old yeah you know and what what an opportunity to you know maybe even to in some way plant some seeds and you know even that that may benefit them spiritually speaking down the line or down the road right exactly so now and did you say so did you say it was seventh grade that your buddy kept inviting you to to to events and all of that right yes seventh grade seventh grade and and and you know i've used this expression in the past i was recently reminded of it you know events change lives right whatever the type of event is events change lives and so what's interesting i love how you said i think you said you know at the end of the year there's this you know weekend you know like wow it can't hurt what the heck i'll go hang out with my friends right but little did you know just how impactful that weekend would be and how life changing it would be you had no clue did you i didn't and what's cool is the guy that invited me his name is jeff stone to this day i mean here we are 40 years later i just celebrated my 40-year anniversary of uh give my life to christ last month and 40 years later he still lives in the same town i do he's a coach at a high at a big high school uh here locally and uh we're still you know still friends still hanging out to this day wow that is a that is a great story that's that's amazing praise the lord for that and well well let let me transition here a little bit and talk about uh your wrestling promotion that you have down there in in in texas and when you first got the vision for having this uh having this this really ministry uh as well as a wrestling promotion you said you mentioned stepping in the ring are there some some names that our listeners would would perhaps you know recognize that you had the opportunity either to square off with or or be a partner with or any recognizable names i was i was smarter than the average bear and i know my my physical limitations and so i would i would you know i would bring some of these guys in i would put them in against guys much better than me and so i never actually wrestled any of them in the early days because i put them against some you know more experienced guys but most people don't know that in the um before aj styles became the phenomenal one he was uh he traveled with us from 2001 until 2003 and so uh every time we traveled through the south we uh we used aj and um and then he we brought him to texas quite a bit but i never forget him calling me one day on the phone and saying um hey rob uh i got a call from the jerrets and we're starting this new thing in nashville every wednesday night called t and a and they're going to do this exhibition and they really want to give me a push i'm like hey you've done for it man this is your chance and of course the rest is history as they say with aj and um well let let me let me interject real quick right there um little side note that you you may or may not know and certainly our listeners probably wouldn't know so it's interesting you bring that up because had you not i was going to reference that i was actually there was a short season where i was i had my i was living with my family in the nashville area and uh found out about jared's promotion he actually tried to convince me to come out of retirement put the tights back on i'm going jeb i ain't doing that i ain't doing that i did i did do four appearances for him not but but like and one of them the funnest one was as mr wrestling number four under the whole white hood thing and a thing with dusty dusty was with him for a while there and and did some things with dusty roads and of course uh it's my first time to meet vince russo and he was a uh let's just say uh you'll know this expression nikita mark his words not mine and uh and so but but here's what i want to get to here's what i want to get to um i i had asked jeff i said jeff would you have any objection to me hosting a little 10 15 minute bible study uh each wednesday night before you go live on pay-per-view and he said absolutely not have at it right and so there was at least a half a dozen times that i came in early before you know before things got crazy and aj styles was at every single one of those terry taylor frequented them a handful of times and and some of the other up and rising stars of their time that attended those bible studies and i'll never forget aj because at the end of each little bible study and giving them a little a little message before they went out to perform you know i'd say hey anybody got prayer requests and man he was just so humble and there was more than once he'd come over to me you know and just privately say would you pray for this for me and uh and so kind of a cool story kind of really ties into some of what you're saying and so so 23 years ago you've had so what what what gave you the the vision for what prompted you to want to start a christian wrestling organization that 23 years later is is still going strong well um i just moved back from milwaukee and um i moved back in the fall of 1998 and um and i was shopping at the mall at christmas time and um ran into a guy that i went to high school with it was a football player he had got in and started uh he wrestled out the old sportatorium before it shut down and uh in the early 90s and um he was running a pro wrestling school at one of the areas around here and he was like man i can't believe how big you've got he said uh once you come out and try this you know prior to this wrestling with me so i did i went out and i was 28 and i was like well i'm kind of old to do this but i'll go give it a shot just to see if i could do it so he ran some small uh indie shows out in uh outside ballast one of the east texas area so i once i got trained i did a few shows with him that summer and and that's been sweet i really didn't like it and uh um i just my heart went in it the locker rooms were bad and i mean it was what am i doing here and so in august of 99 i was in san antonio texas i was uh staying with some friends down there they ran a big music ministry christian music ministry and uh the the husband ron said hey man tell me all about wrestling you've been in it almost you know seven or eight months now what's going on i said they're telling all the reasons i didn't like it and he said man you know what you can make a ministry on that i bet you can reach a lot of people that way i remember kind of laughing at him you think he was like heck yeah man he goes think about all those people and so i mean that just it never left my mind i drove home from san antonio thought about it i said you know what i'm gonna pray about this because there might be something there so i prayed about it for a couple months and in october i just like all right lord i have no idea what this looks like but you do if you want me to do it i'll do it and i mean just things just kept opening up and doors kept opening and so the next thing i know we it took about six months to put together and i decided that you know we're going to do this and then in may of 2000 we did our very first event uh here in the suburb of dallas at the church and the very first night we had seven over 700 kids showed up on wednesday night to this church service with the help of this youth minister and uh that night 30 of them came forward around the ring and gave their lives to jesus i was like okay maybe we have something here and so that was uh that was where it all started yeah it was the beginning and here you are 23 years later how would people find out more uh about your your organization if you have a website or how do they find out more yes christianwrestling.com is our website and then of course that's linked to our youtube page christianwrestling federation of course we have a you know facebook page also and instagram on all the social medias and so uh we have probably over 100 shows on the youtube probably half hour to an hour long that they could go on and watch if they actually want to see how we do an event or uh and how we do the speaking and uh ultra call and all that at the end so uh yeah so yeah we try to get out there so and so you're you're you're totally open to and available for like local churches or a church wanted to bring your organization wanted to bring you in a community to having a festival or something to bring you in and and uh and share the good news through through the crazy wacky world of professional wrestling right exactly it's been that we've been uh like i said 23 years we're coming up on over 1100 events 36 states five foreign countries and over 50 000 people that you know we've we try to keep the best count we can the people we've ministered to at those shows that uh you know have made some type of decision for the lord and um you know it's funny how it changes over 23 years you know and uh like now we're really into discipling these young guys that come along and uh like we mentioned earlier the ones that are being fathers to the fatherless and so we've some older guys in the group we really spend a lot of time i mean i got two guys i'm dealing with right now that uh i mean on a daily basis calling them lifting them up and everything and we just had a couple months ago we had a uh a teenage girl come to our show and man she was just booing at the end of the show one of our guys was out there talking to her and i saw several of our guys talking to her and i said that that morning she woke up she said you know what i'm going to end it tonight tonight i'm just gonna this is my last day and a friend had called said hey uh uh this wrestling show with me i i can't get anybody to go with me because i really want to go she was like all right i'm gonna go to show them we'll come home do it so she went to the show i mean she told us that she's just you know hours away from me and so uh wow thank you lord so it's been crazy some of the stuff people that have told us that these events that are going on their lives praise the little website one more time christianwrestling.com christianwrestling.com rob vaughan and of course i've i know you've had many many of the superstars of wrestling many many major names that have come in to help support uh what you're doing out there and if you're a pastor of your so as you're listening to this show and as you just said don't have to be in texas man he's gone to countries and states and and and wherever god opens doors and so rob grateful to have you on the show today and just share just some of your story man it's amazing and thank you for letting me be a small part of it hey thank you for having me the key that's always good to talk with you and i want to thank all of you every week week in and week out you've been so faithful to listen to the man up show whether it's on truth radio network or going up onto the all the major podcast platforms do me a favor help us spread the word get the man up show out there encourage your friends to download the podcast to to subscribe to leave a comment and we're just grateful for all of you and hope you have enjoyed hearing a little bit of rob vaughan's story today god bless you 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 i nakita koloff be sure to check out the man up show now available on television broadcast and podcast go to 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