Q&A With Koloff- #146

When your eyesight is at stake, it pays to travel to one of the world's leading eye surgeons.

Dr. Johnny Gaten is an author, speaker, Christian leader, and a renowned surgical eye expert, whether it's cataracts, PRK, Lasix, or implanted lenses. When only the best is needed, see Dr. Johnny Gaten at eyesightassociates.com with Car Guy and Kingdom Pursuit, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build a kingdom. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it and share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest 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, Gaither Markland on the phone with me. Gaither, welcome to the Q&A show.

Well, it's glad to be here, Nikita. I've been looking forward to this, and I guess my first question... Well, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, Gaither. We don't all get questions yet. Don't jump the gun here.

Hold on. Hold that thought, because I recently got the opportunity to spend some time with you at a boot camp. And you, Robbie Dilmore, Sam, Danny Marsh, a bunch of the guys, you know, you guys facilitated this amazing boot camp, actually called Advanced Boot Camp. And I was just intrigued by that because I'd attended one about a year and a half prior. And when you guys said you were doing an advanced boot camp, I go, I like that because God's kingdom is always advancing.

And of course, you guys did such an incredible job there at the boot camp. So we got some time to hang out there and spend there. But before we get to any and all of that or your questions, let's first give our audience an opportunity to learn a little bit more about Gaither Markland. Like, where do you live, Gaither? And are you retired, working? Tell us what you're doing.

Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm retired. I live in Knoxville, North Carolina. And I live about three or four miles from the Farmington Drag Strip, which is a landmark in Davie County, of course. And I've been here, well, I've been living in Davie County all my life, but I moved up here and built a house in 1972, I guess. And even before that, I started attending Courtney Baptist Church, which is, I've been a member for over 50 years. I actually joined the church before I ever got married.

Wow, okay. My wife wanted to make sure. Yeah, sounds like a wise woman right there that you married, Gaither. She was the perfect one for me.

Well, hey, let me just pause you right there for a moment. So over 50 years, faithful and loyal to your local church there, that's amazing in and of itself, and that's a milestone. And so how long have you been married? How long have you guys been married then? We got married March 15, 1969, so it's been, what, 50, is it 53 years?

Wow. Well, math was never my strong suit in school, but we'll just say you've passed the golden anniversary, let's just say that, right? Which is another milestone.

My gosh, you're like setting all kinds of milestones here. And so, wow, well, congratulations on that as well. And what about children, grandchildren, anything like that? I have two children, a son and a daughter. My son lives up in Morganton, and he's a chef, and he has two kids, a girl, she's 14, my grandson's 11, and my daughter, she, her and her husband live in Winston-Salem. He works for Penn Engineering, and she works for the Welt Guardian, people in Clements, and they're all saved. They've all given their life to Jesus. That's a blessing as a dad, right?

To know your children are walking with the Lord and serving the Lord. So let me ask you, I'm just thinking about you, so before you, so what were you doing before you retired? What was your trade? I worked for Western Electric and Lucent Technologies.

They split Lucent off of Western Electric, and I actually retired from Lucent Technologies. Okay. So you retired from the marketplace, but see, I have this word I like to use, and you really, it applies, I think, I believe for you, because as you're involved and engaged in the masculine journey boot camps, and that is this, and being a part of those and supporting those, and of course, our listeners should be able to already glean that you have many years of wisdom that you're able to share for those who attend boot camp and other things you're doing, and that is the word, refinement. Refirement. So, Gaither, you might think you retired, but I think you actually refired, say, so you're in the refinement phase of your life, and so let me ask you real quick, how did you get introduced to the masculine journey boot camp?

Well, first of all, I think you hit the nail on the head. Refired is the perfect word for me, because when I retired, my objective was to try to help as many people as I could, because I thought, well, you know, what did Jesus do when he was here? What did he do? He helped. He found a way to help by sharing his love, and that's kind of what my objective was. And I got, let's see, and it was probably in 2000, I got involved, I met Robbie Dilmore.

I went to that, we have a prayer meeting every Thursday morning at 730, or it's 8 o'clock down in Mocksville, and we've been doing that since 2000. And so, if you know Robbie, you can't help but get involved in what he's doing. So he got involved with the United Way first, and then I got involved with, well, that Day of Caring was something that struck me, and I said, wait a minute, that's what I need to do, because the Lord was leading me to do that. And so I said, so what can I contribute? So I had a background, my dad was a builder, he was a contractor, he built houses. So I had some experience with that, so my job was to go out and evaluate the different projects that we were doing for the elderly that either couldn't afford or couldn't get somebody to do these repair things to their house. So I got involved with that, and it's just been the masculine journey.

I went to a boot camp, and of course, I couldn't help but get involved with that, because that is definitely a helping tool that the Lord has that we get involved with. And my job is to make sure we have some type of a shooting experience of some sort, and through that, I get to talk to the different guys there, and my wife asked me one time, well, what do you do down there? What do you do? I said, well, I figured it out. I said, my job is to talk to the guys. I said, all they need is somebody to talk to.

Well, what do you need? I said, well, they might have something they're going through that they might share with me that I have some experience in that I might help them with. So that's my job. I'm a helper. You're a good listener. And that brings to mind the word, the expression, find a need and fill it. And so you seem to be the epitome of that.

You look for a need and you step up and you fill it in. And by the way, for the record, I heard the guns going off at the advanced boot camp and I meandered down there and you were gracious enough to let me fire around. And I'm certainly no marksman, but somebody commented something about being the Siberian marksman or something.

I'm like, I don't know about all that, or the Russian nightmare marksman or something. But anyway, I had a ton of fun. Well, if you hadn't never fired a rifle, you sure fooled us because you were right on target. Well, I can honestly like seriously, I could probably count on one hand how many times I've done that.

And two of those times have been with you. So thank you for that opportunity for real. So, well, hey, let's all right, let's transition. Let's talk a little bit or let's get to your question, whatever questions you have pending here now. So if you want to fire away your first question, we'll segue to that.

All right. Well, I guess my first question was, when did you get, were you born in the United States or did you come, when did you come from Russia? And, you know, so here's, what's funny is, cause, cause you know, a lot of people don't know my story, you know, just like, just like the question you're asking right now, I still meet people to this day, even with the internet and, and all the access to so much information anymore. That, that, that a lot of people just don't know my story, but they knew me as the wrestler, right? As the Russian nightmare wrestler, right? And, and so they assume, because of that caricature, that, that, that character, and the fact that my name, you know, if you look at a driver's license, it says Nikita Kolov. If you look at a passport, it says Nikita Kolov, not knowing, Gather, believe it or not, that I legally changed my name back in my, my wrestling days to get the character over and all that to say, it is just a character that, that I've played all these years. And actually some people like I'll use the word shocked or, or, and in some cases even disappointed when they find out I'm not really from Russia, Gather.

I'm just going to let the cat out of the bag for you right now. Born and raised in Minnesota. Call off for Christ ministries, the man up show and men up minutes. Go to coloff.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. If you would like to support Kolov 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.kolov.net and donate today. You're listening to the truth network and truthnetwork.com. Minneapolis, Minnesota, right? That's where life began and then eventually gravitated to the Carolinas when the wrestling opportunity opened up to become this quote nephew of Ivan Kolov who had a legendary career in pro wrestling. And I just stepped into a storyline and all these years later, you know, that's essentially who, you know, a good majority of people know me as the Russian nightmare and that's the platform that God has given me to have a ministry now.

And so, yeah, so that's where life began and kind of a short version of how all that came about. Well, isn't it, it's kind of amazing how the Lord led you, you know, with that name. He changed your name.

Well, you know, and that goes back to my thought about when we have a covenant of silence at the boot camp and the Lord gives you a new name, a name that, what does he call you? I mean, he knows my name is Gather Murphy, but I didn't know that he considered me as a helper. And so that was the thing that he gave me, helper. And I thought, well, that can't be it because that's just, I mean, I know that I'm a helper.

I was expecting something different. Yeah, like, like in our mind, like, right, like, like, you know, Saul became Paul, right? Hey, you know, Peter, right? You know, I mean, yeah, so you can look through the Bible and see, you know, the different names, you know, Abram, Abraham, right? Sarai, Sarah, right? And so, and what you're referring to, for those who may not know out there in Listening Land, if you go to the book of Revelation, you know, we name our kids, right? We name our kids, you know, hopefully it's prayerfully thought through, but in some cases I'm convinced it's not, but that's a whole other story. But all that to say, you know, book of Revelation says, God, you're right, Gather, God has a name for each of us. So even aside from what we might name our kids or our parents named us, you know, God has a name for us. And man, I don't, I don't know that Nikita is it, Gather, but I can't wait to get to heaven one day and find out what name he has for me.

But that's pretty amazing. Well, that's a great question, great question. So what else you got for me, Gather?

You got another question for me? Well, I was, of course, I know a little bit about how the Lord's using you now, but, you know, when did you get saved? A little bit about what, how's your salvation?

When did you get saved? Yeah, so I didn't grow up in church. You know, that's not to say, you know how people say, oh, yeah, I believe in God, and I did too.

I mean, like, you know, well, I mean, there's some people who don't, right? I mean, we know that clearly. They're on record. Like, I don't believe in God, don't believe in Jesus, whatever, right?

They're on record. Well, I'm on record to say I believed in God growing up as a kid. I just didn't know him personally, right? I understood, you know, the concept. I knew the story of Jesus, you know, lived and died, you know, nailed to a cross and was resurrected. I knew the story and so believed in God, but let me go back to the Bible for a moment. The Book of James says that even the demons believe in God.

I mean, in fact, you read through and Jesus had several conversations with the demons and what do you want with us, Son of God, you know? And so I believed all that, but yet nothing about my life was, you know, I was just out there living in the world for 34 years, Gaither. I was just out there living in the world, pursuing my own plans, enjoying, I thought, you know, life, and at the age of 34, after I left wrestling, so I departed from wrestling under my own terms, met a Christian couple who had invited me to their church. And again, that's not to say I never went to church. I just didn't grow up in church. But, you know, if I went to church, it was for all the wrong reasons.

Let's just say that. You know, at best I thought maybe I was building some brownie points with God or something, you know, checking a box. Hey God, you saw I went to church Sunday, right? But 17 October 1993, that story went from my head down to my heart as I attended a church service with this Christian couple, went to the altar, got on my knees, confessed and repented and received Christ.

And so here's the key, here's the difference. You can believe there's a God or believe in God, but you have to receive the free gift of salvation that Jesus offered and what He did for us on the cross. And then once you receive the free gift in your heart, Romans 10-9, right? Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and you will be saved.

I did that. Life changed for me that day in my encounter with Jesus, Gaither, and it's never been the same since. Now it's been quite a journey and that's a whole other story for another time, but that's when my transformation happened, my encounter with Jesus. 17 October 1993, never in a million years, I'll just say this too, never in a million years would I have dreamed that I'd have a radio show, a podcast, the Man Up TV show, be doing Man Up conferences. Lex Luger and I'd be doing Man Camps together. Are you kidding me?

I wrestled this guy in a cage match in Greensboro, North Carolina and lost the US heavyweight belt to him. And now we're side by side, arm in arm, locking arms to promote and share the love of Jesus and how He transformed our lives. And now we are empowering and equipping men, sending them home to be godly men, godly husbands, godly fathers.

Never would have dreamed that in a million years that I'd be doing that and so much more. So that's a great question. Well, do you have one more for me? Do you have one more question for me? Well, I was going to ask you about how the Lord is using you now, but you've already told me that. Well, let me just tack this on because some people know, some people don't know.

So yeah, there is a host of things there. Let me just add on books. I mean, I never thought, you know, my life story is in a book. I wrote a book called Russell with Success.

My first one was Breaking the Chains and never in a million years would I have thought I would have been an author. So not only a radio personality, a TV host, a book author, and preaching. Let me just say that. Well, here's what's funny.

I'll say this. A lot of the churches I go and preach at, these pastors grew up watching me wrestle, right? Or as we say here in the south, wrestle, right? And they find out I'm an evangelist and they're like, wait, what?

I just did a recent revival and this guy wasn't a pastor, but he came because his brother invited him. Thirty years on the Greensboro police force. Thirty years. Retired now. He was on the Greensboro PD. And he said, his brother's saying, hey, let's go to this revival and the key to Koloff's preaching. He's like, the wrestler guy? And he's like, yeah, he's a preacher now. He goes, wait, what? A preaching wrestler?

Like really? He goes, but you know, he came to my resource table at the end of the night. He goes, I just want to tell you. He goes, I mean, I was, he goes, I don't even know. I was just like shocked.

I was like, wow, like couldn't believe it, right? And he's like, I'm glad my brother invited me. I'm glad, I almost didn't come.

He said, I almost didn't come. But man, you really blessed me tonight. Your message, very challenging, gave me a lot of food for thought. And I'm so glad I came. But so you say, you know, so preachers find out and they invite me in and that's just God. I just say this.

I'll just conclude by saying that's just God. So, but anyway, but so thank you. Well, thanks for asking those questions and let me share some of, some, some of my story. I appreciate it. I appreciate you. Appreciate you and all the help that you are lending to other men, Gaither. Well, I mean, I've enjoyed talking with you and I'm looking forward to, you know, coming to boot camp again. And I tell you, it's amazing how the Lord will use people that, like yourself, that a normal person don't realize that he can use anybody.

Anybody. You surrender, right? You surrender to him and he will use you. We don't know where he's going to carry you. And look where he's carrying you.

And you're not any different than I am. I mean, we're just saved by the grace of God and willing to be used. And that's what you have to, that's what you have to do. You have to commit to the Lord that, hey, tell me. And it's not about money, you know.

It's obvious that the Lord is blessing you, period. No finances that, I mean, I'm sure he supplies all the finances you need, just like he does for our boot camp, just like he does for our church. And people get it mixed up.

They get the money in their mind and it's not the money. It's the commitment to serve the Lord. And that's what it's all about.

It is. And so as you're listening out there, you're listening to some of Gather's story and even what he just said. You know, look, you don't have to go out and preach like God's called me to do and be an evangelist or a minister or facilitate camps and conferences, etc. You know, you can just be a listening ear.

That's the takeaway for Gather. He says, God's just called me to, his wife said, well, what do you do there? He goes, I just listen. Guys want to share their story or need someone to listen to them. And so my role is just to listen and to help and provide firearms to hit targets as well. So I appreciate that, Gather. Hey, let me just, last but not least, I want to say, and Gather, I invite you, I invite all of you out there in listening land in June of this year, June 15th to the 17th. So whether you go to, let me just say that, whether you go to a boot camp, masculinejourney.org, go check it out. The man camp that Lex Luger and I facilitate, Koloff.net and or go there and check out the Man Up Conference we're doing. We're highlighting this year, Father's Day weekend for grandfathers and fathers and sons and grandsons. We're doing a special workshop just for you to solidify those relationships in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

And so please go check that out and get registered and come and attend that. Gather, thank you for being on the show today, man. I appreciate you. Thank you very much. God bless you and thanks for tuning in to 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 27, 2023 to January 5, 2024.

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

If you're needing to buy a car and have marginal credit and considering using buy here, pay here, that's worse than taking the Russian sickle. Winston-Salem Motor Cars will put you behind the wheel of a car you can rely on while helping rebuild, repair or establish your credit score. Conveniently located on Silas Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem, be sure to check them out today at wsmc1.com because you are number one. This is the Truth Network.