To Zambia with Love

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Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and 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 Kolob. Now, the Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. You know, what does Zambia, Africa, Man Camp, and Matthew Hitch all have in common? Well, stay tuned because you're going to want to know.

We're going to figure it out. Hey, Matthew Hitch, welcome to the Man Up show today. Thank you, sir. It's great to be here. Well, and it's great to have you, Matthew. And you know, I'm excited to have you on the show because you've been doing some very exciting things recently, and you've got some exciting things that's really just happening in your life.

But before we get there, let's let our listeners know a little bit more about Matthew Hitch. Give us some backstory. Tell us a little bit about your family, and you're a man in the marketplace. Tell us what you're doing. Yes, sir. So I am born and raised in Douglasville, Georgia.

It's about 30 miles west of Atlanta, right along I-20 there. I'm married to my beautiful wife, Erin. We have a daughter, Charlotte. She just started kindergarten, so big step there.

She's getting to be a big girl. And I work in corporate facilities maintenance on a day-to-day, but that pays the bills, lets me shine the light of Jesus in this dark world, and I'm thankful for that opportunity. But I really love just serving in my church and growing in the ministry as we are in a season of transition in that realm a little bit right now. But I'm just waiting on the Lord to show us where we're supposed to be next. Yeah, and I want to talk about all of that.

I mean about transitions and seasons and what you've been doing, what you might see the Lord, what direction He may be taking you. Let me go back just for a moment. So Charlotte just started kindergarten?

Yes, sir. She'll be six next month. Well, I should be able to remember your daughter's name from here on out since I've been in the Charlotte community and area for eons of years.

And so how are mom and dad? That is a big step. You said it's a big step. How are mom and dad handling their toddler who is no longer a toddler stepping into the world of education and releasing her into her next season of life? It's very difficult, but we are just bathing her in prayer every day and praising God that she has the opportunity to go to a private Christian school that is not costing us very much out of pocket.

So we are praising God for that miracle and that she will get the foundational education that she desperately needs to combat this world. But we are very overwhelmed, but we're doing okay and we're all just adjusting to the new schedule and we'll be okay. Yeah. Yeah. Who's it harder on mom or dad?

Yes. In different ways because mom has all day at home by herself now and dad comes home to more homework and helping out there and trying to pick up some more around the house because mom is doing more around the school stuff and it's just a whole new world. A whole new season of life and a whole new world and it certainly is. What a blessing for her to have, as you said, a Christian education to be able to, I'm sure the teachers will have opportunities to pray with their students. And I know some of my grandchildren are in the Christian school and so I get the opportunity to visit them sometimes and to meet their teachers and just to hear the heart of their teachers and how they relate to their students and want to just love on their students. I know most recently I was there for my grandson's awards day and my grandson Shepherd's teacher said, I'm really thrilled to be able to educate all of these students and utilizing the Bible and biblical curriculum, et cetera. She said, but more than anything, what thrills me more than anything, even the education they learn, is the opportunity and or hearing these students give their life to Christ, surrendering their hearts to Christ. And she proceeded to say, she said, I've had five of those opportunities this year and the most recent being Shepherd Chapin.

And I was like, what? I mean, as a grandpa, how thrilling is that to hear that your grandchild acknowledged and recognized they need Jesus in their life and he made that decision on his own. And boy, not much more thrilling things than that, Matthew. Amen.

That is amazing. Charlotte's already talked about it. I'm starting to talk about baptism with her and what that next step looks like. And, you know, I'm trying to make sure that she fully understands and grasps everything she's saying. And she just has a heart for people. I mean, she does not need a stranger. She sees something wrong with somebody. She just wants to give them a hug and love on them. And just the calling that I see on her life is just enough to pretty much bring me to tears, but also keep my guard up because I know that the devil isn't trying to stop it. And that's my job to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen.

Yeah, absolutely. As a spiritual head of your home, as the servant leader of your family, and the importance and significance of, as the Scripture comes to mind, is train up your child in the way they should go. And when they're old, when they're older, they will not depart from it. And I think what's interesting in that, just really somewhat recently, I had a revelation of what that really looks like in training up. You know, and it's certainly, you know, the school can educate your children. You can educate your child at home. You mentioned about, you know, working with her, with her homework, et cetera. But really what I've learned is what training up, what's that look like?

What's that mean? And the Lord gave me this picture of really for you as a dad, you as a husband, modeling, modeling for Charlotte, you know, what a godly man looks like, what a godly husband looks like, and how you're treating your wife, her mother. And then what a godly dad looks like, so that when she grows up, she has that to look back on and say, okay, when it comes time for marriage, she says, I want to find a man just like my dad. Well, I don't know that there could be a greater compliment than one of your children and your children making a statement like that, right? Hey, that is the goal.

And then here's the other caveat to that. So train up and then when they're old or older, and that doesn't mean, you know, when they're like 50, 60 or 70, that actually means like they could be 20 and not departing from the faith because of what they saw modeled by you. Right? How cool is that? So that is amazing.

So let me ask you something. Well, how long you and your bride been married then? It will be nine years next month. Nine years. Well, that's, that's amazing. Congratulations on on that.

Nine years. And so you mentioned, Matthew, you're out in the marketplace and, you know, doing your best, if you will, to shine the light of Jesus. Is that, how challenging is that to be out there in the world, out in the marketplace amongst a fallen, broken world and to do, you know, what you do to, you know, in your job and the role of your job? Is it, is it difficult or, and or share a story or two that, you know, maybe, maybe how you've been able to be that salt and light, maybe around your employees or, or employers. Or, or, or, or clients, customers share a story. It can be very challenging, especially when you have got people who you can have the church conversation with, but then you look at their behavior and the way they carry themselves and you don't see Christ in their life.

So it's getting through that religion to show them Jesus. And two major things for me has been to just talk about my experiences, mainly Man Camp and my recent mission trip to Zambia that really opened doors. Um, I know last year or in, uh, yeah, April of 22 when I first went to camp, I came back and the guys that I work with in our maintenance shop, they were just like, man, you look different.

And I was like, well, let me tell you what happened. Let me tell you who I encountered out there in the woods in Georgia, and it was able to expose them to that encounter. And ever since I have just been praying over those guys too, that they would have a similar encounter that I had to open their eyes to be, I'm not even going to say better men, but more godly, which would make them better men.

Right, right. So, so, like some of your coworkers look at you as like the, let's just say the religious guy. Do they look at you that way?

A little bit, yeah. Like we had to do work on a Saturday one time. I went and got lunch for everybody. They provide lunch for us on Saturdays.

And I went and picked it up and bought it back. And one of the guys was just like, all right, preacher man, why don't you pray over the food? I'm like, okay, I'm not, I'm not a preacher. I would say I'm just a follower of Jesus.

I'm just a servant. But yeah, absolutely. I'll take that opportunity.

I love it. Okay, preacher man. Well, and it's been my experience that someone like yourself out there, again, out there just in the marketplace that, and people knowing that, knowing your faith and where you stand, that when crisis hits, and let's face it, none of us get through this life journey without some type of a crisis hitting somewhere along the way.

I mean, that's just the reality of it. And so have you found that, or, and if maybe you have, or maybe you haven't yet, but that a crisis hits one of your coworkers and not only did they ask you to pray over the food, but they're like, hey, we just got a bad health report in my family, or this has happened. And man, would you keep me in your prayers? Or have you had that experience yet? Not yet, but I had tried to plant seeds as I've gone along because things may happen and we don't talk about too much personal stuff. You know, we may call that I got a funeral to go to, and I'll be like, you know, if y'all need anything, let me know.

I'm praying for y'all. And, you know, just planting those seeds, but I haven't had one where they come to me yet. And I will say yes, because I do believe that it will happen.

Yet is a good word. Yes. Yes.

I believe at some point in time, you're going to garner that experience where they're going to lean on you for some, even if they're not a Christ follower, not a believer, but they're still going to lean on you and come to you for that need. You're going to 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 twenty five dollars, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration for a gift of fifty dollars. Nikita will include his book Wrestling with Success and for a gift of one hundred dollars 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. Would your company, business or you personally like to partner with me in supporting Koloff for Christ Ministries, The Man Up Show and Man Up Minutes? Go to www.koloff.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. You know, you mentioned, of course you mentioned Man Camp and how did you, you want to share with our audience how you and I first met? Matthew, how did we first meet?

Oh my goodness. So it was at Connection Point Church of God in Austell. Pastor there, Tony Evans, he hosted you to do a one day Man Up Intensive and Pastor Tony is really good friends with my father-in-law. And he, they talked and said, you know, bring yourself and if you got, you know, two or three other guys that you think might want to come and you bring them on. And my father-in-law called me up and he said, hey, Pastor Tony's having Nikita Koloff.

And I think it was like in a week or two. And he was like, we're welcome to come. And I'm like, you're kidding me.

The Nikita Koloff. And he said, yeah. And he said, yeah.

And I'm like, I'm in. So we met there and I started hearing the principles and learned about Man Camp and I just really felt this tug on my heart that I needed to be there. You were feeling prompted to attend camp.

Yes, sir. And then the really crazy, the craziest to me part of that story is I signed up for the October 21 camp. And in September, my wife went into the hospital with pneumonia. She was in for two weeks.

They said it was COVID, who knows, but it was lower lung pneumonia. And she was in for two weeks and she actually got out of the hospital. It was about a week before I was supposed to leave camp. And I just remember calling you and I'm just like, she's got probably a month long recovery.

And our daughter had just turned four at the time. And I was like, I can't leave her alone for a week. And bless you, you understood and just moved me to the April 22 camp. And it was there that I knew that was the camp I was supposed to be at. Because the men that were there, I just bonded with so much and on so many different levels. A few of them I'm still in touch with today, you're almost a year and a half later. And I can truly say that that experience changed my life. Well, and so it's a great story. And the one day intensive, if you're a pastor listening out there, I should say, if you're a pastor listening out there or someone in your community, your church, your community would be interested in bringing the man up intensive, the one day intensive into your community.

Just go to coloff.net and send me a direct message, email me, send me a direct message. I'll be happy to fill you in on all those details. And so Matthew, so you come to the intensive, you gain some nuggets of truth there and the Lord puts it on your heart to come to camp. You come to camp, your life is, as you said in your words, it was life changing. And that wasn't the only camp you came to.

You were greatly impacted. And now you come back and serve on staff at the camps. And of course, the Lord's directed you into spearheading a lot of our worship times. And so we're grateful to have you on staff. And what prompted you to want to be on, come back and be on staff each time now? The experience that I had at camp, I know when we were there and you said that that would be potentially an option, I was like, I felt that tug again. It was about the same tug that I felt at the man up intensive that I need to be here and be a part of this to see other men experience what I experienced. Because I just believe so much in what we do there. And for me, it is just as rewarding seeing these men as they come in and go out as it was for me to be there just in a different way. Well, and you have been a great, honestly, a great asset to have on staff. And of course, you have such a tremendous servant's heart to anyone listening to your story today probably has already picked up on that and your sensitivity to following the leading of the Holy Spirit. And, and so here again, if you're listening out there and you're like, wow, I want to get more information on that camp, maybe you're a wife that would like to encourage, I like to say it this way, encourage your husband to come to man camp, or if we're in your area, a man up intensive.

Go to colof.net again, and just click on the man camp link and learn more about that. And so speaking of which you mentioned to that you're in this so your daughter's in a season of change your household is in a season of change. You individually are in a season of change. You recently took a trip overseas. Take a minute or two and tell us about Zambia, Africa.

Oh, yes, sir. I was blessed with this amazing opportunity. I got connected with evangelist Mark Young, and Massey ministry that mas y ministries, him and his wife used to live in Marietta, Marietta, Georgia, and they felt a talking from the Lord to essentially sell most of their stuff and move to Zambia. So they, they did that about five or six months ago, sold their house, a bunch of their stuff and moved to Lusaka, Zambia, to execute a vision that the Lord had given them called the Nehemiah movement community. And it's a community that they are building in one of the villages outside of Lusaka, the village called Munguli. And they have got 18 acres of land that when it is all said and done, they're going to have a worship center, an orphanage, a two schools, a primary school and a trade school, eight tilapia ponds that they can harvest fish out of a big garden. There's a bunch of other stuff I'm probably missing and forgetting. But the whole vision is to teach the people in the village how to fish, teach them how to process the fish, go to the trade school, learn how to cook, learn how to do trades, learn how to go sell that fish in town. So that they have a living. Yeah, being self-sufficient.

Yes. Go ahead, finish your story. We had the opportunity to go out there for 10 days to see the property and have them just kind of share the vision with us and what it's going to look like when it's done. And we had the opportunity to have teaching time with the men and the women in the village and feed them also. And one of the coolest things to me is on this trip there was 12 loaves and we fed right around 5,000 people.

Come on. And those numbers are not lost on me. Five loaves and two fish, the feeding of 5,000. Come on, if you're not familiar with that Bible passage, go look that up. Hey, something that comes to mind. What a great, first of all, what a great vision and what a great experience for you. And this comes to mind.

Some may out there and listen to that and have heard of this before. You can give somebody a fish and feed them for the day or you can teach them to fish and they can eat for a lifetime. And it sounds like what this family is doing is, I mean, what an incredible vision that they have. Now, let me say this before we run out of time, we're almost out of time, believe it or not, but hey, so you almost, you weren't really right up towards the end. You weren't really sure if you were going to be able to go because, of course, you had to raise your own funds to be able to go. And you were short a few funds, but God came through, it sounds like, provided all the funds you needed to enable you to go and experience what you experienced in Africa. Amen.

Yes, sir. I was, it was about a month to six weeks out, I only had half the money I needed. And I remember calling you like, I don't know what to do. And I called a few other people in my circle and all of you were just like, it's going to happen. Just trust the Lord. He's got you in the place that you need to be. And lo and behold, everything just started coming in. And it came in right on time.

Right on time, lo and behold, right on time. And so the message, the moral of that story, the message for all of you out there in Listening Land is trusting the Lord. And just even if it's in the 11th hour or at the last minute, if God's given you a vision, just like you're hearing about this vision about Africa, Matthew's sensitivity to the Lord's leading on His end, you know, God giving you a vision. And I like to say if He gives you a vision, He's also going to bring the provision.

He's also going to, and sometimes it doesn't come in the way you think it's supposed to or look like or, but it's a matter of just being patient and perhaps God just building your faith and helping you increase your trust in Him that He's going to do exactly what He said He would do. Matthew Hitch, what an amazing story. It's such an honor and a blessing for me to have you a part of Man Camp. I love what God's doing in and through you out in the marketplace. But also, you know, beyond that and as a marketplace guy, how He's utilizing you as a vessel to impact the world, really. And so, excited for your future. Any last thoughts? Just to what you were saying about provision, one thing I love that Evangelist Mark in Zambia, what he likes to say is, it's God's will, it's God's will. That's good. Is there a website like people could go to learn more about what he's doing in Zambia and or maybe, you know, somehow maybe support that?

Yes, sir. They are working on a website there on Facebook. That is one of the best ways to be under Evangelist Mark Young. And then there's also a Matthew Ministries Facebook page.

I know they are always looking for partners to support. They're all about unity. They don't care what denomination you're a part of.

They just look at everybody as part of the United Global Church. Well, amen to that. We need more of that. We need more churches, denominations, pastors who are willing to work together. And, you know, and of course, I'm in a lot of communities. I'm in a lot of different towns. And, you know, I've ministered in 29 different denominations.

And over and over and over again, I hear too many stories of churches that just won't work together or aren't working together or, you know, in communities. And sometimes it just blows my mind because I'm like, hang on a minute. Aren't we on the same team? I get it. You don't believe in raising your hands. OK, I get that.

But can we get past the raising of hands and lead people to the foot of the cross and lead people to Jesus? And so, well, God bless you, my brother. I appreciate you.

I'm grateful for our friendship and can't wait to see what God is going to do in and through you in the future. Thank you for being a part of the Man Up show today. Thank you. It's been great to be here. And thank all of you out there in the listening world.

Your support for the Man Up show, the Man Up podcast. Just can't thank you enough for your faithful support. Continue to dial in each and every week and we're going to bring you great stories. And go out today and live a God filled, God blessed life.

Until next time. 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.

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. If you are enjoying the Man Up show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe and leave a comment. If you are enjoying the Man Up show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe and leave a comment. If you are enjoying the Man Up show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe and leave a comment. If you are enjoying the Man Up show, would you help us spread the word? Tell your family to download, subscribe and leave a comment. Visit us today at WSMC1.com because you are number one.

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