Q&A With Koloff- #153

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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. You know, a lot of times I'm calling people from around the country. I've actually even international.

I've had some callers, some interviews from Canada, as well as across America. But today, I have in studio with me a dear friend, Bill Russell. Welcome to Q&A with Kolov. Glad to be here. Thank you.

Great to have you here. I know your bride is here supporting you. We couldn't get her on camera.

Wait, I mean, on air, on air. But she is out the door there supporting you, prayerfully supported you this morning, and came along for the ride, right? She said she was going to drive me here so I could relax and get ready for this. And have the interview.

Well, so give us a little back story on Bill Russell. Tell our listening audience just a glimpse of who you are. Amen. Child of God. I've been saved and touched years.

It took me a while to surrender, but I finally realized that I had to surrender because I was going nowhere fast. So you grew up in the church, right? Concord, North Carolina, right? All my life, yes. Okay, so born and raised and grew up in the church.

Okay. Finished high school, praise the Lord, and finished college with a thank you, Lordy. Yeah, not cum laude, but thank you, Lordy. Not cum laude, yeah, thank you, Lordy.

Thank you, Lordy. That's awesome. What was your degree in? I'm curious. Sociology. Sociology. Sociology.

Which would have meant what? Like what are some of the job descriptions for sociology? Social work, working with people and social fields.

DSS. Yeah, stuff like that. Okay, okay, okay. But to be honest with you, I wasn't good in math, so I was trying to stay away from math.

Well, I can now count to five, and in Spanish as well as English, and Russian actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah, really. Were you a wrestling fan growing up at all? Man, we could talk about that. We'd do a show on wrestling. We would watch wrestling, and you, and in fact, I actually got to meet Ric Flair. In fact- Oh, I'm sorry.

No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. People go both ways on that. I've met people that are like, yeah, I met Ric Flair. There's others like, wow, I met the Nature Boys. Anyway, okay, she got to meet Ric. Yeah, yeah, and yeah, I was a big wrestling fan for years.

Okay. Even when I got married, my wife- Wow, you're watching. I'm always- We watch that crazy stuff.

Oh, yeah, so why do you do that? But I was, yeah, I came up through- Who were some of the guys you remember? Like who were some of the, besides Flair, any other names you kind of pop in your head? Oh, yeah, let me think.

Let me see. You were in my era, so- Yeah, I was in your era, yeah. So, seven, eighties- Yeah, eighties, and early nineties. Probably maybe seventy-two, early nineties. Seventy-two, yeah, seventies- So, Wahoo McDaniel? Wahoo McDaniel. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat? Yes, I was just trying to think of him, yeah.

Okay. He came up with those guys. The Animals. The Road Warriors. The Road Warriors. Animal Hawk.

Yeah, the Road Warriors. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. And even the guy, who was the guy with the bald head that was kind of crazy? Well, there was a bunch of them. One sitting in front of you. Not you. But- I can't think of his name, but- Uncle Ivan. I put you on the spot, right?

You're like, oh man, let me go with Dex. But yeah, I know them all. I know them all, really. Did you go to any live matches, or just CDT? I went once or twice. Okay.

Once or twice. I didn't- Charlotte Coliseum, maybe? Charlotte Coliseum.

Okay. The old Charlotte Coliseum. The old one. The old one. Independence Boulevard.

Independence right there. That was a great building, Bill. I have a lot of memories in that building. That's where I beat Magnum T.A.

for the best of seventy-eight for the U.S. title. Yeah. And that's where I turned from, I saw the light, Bill, and I turned from bad guy to a good guy when I came to the rescue for Dusty Rhodes. Yeah. The American Green Baby deal, right? Yeah.

Were you a Dusty Rhodes fan at all? Yeah. Yeah. A little bit. A little bit.

Not everyone is. I was one of the good guys, you know. You were for the good guys. I was one of the good guys. So you loved to hate me at one point, then. At one point.

At one point. When you first came on. Yeah, you were. But you were so tough though, man. You were good. You were awesome. I was the evil man from Russia.

Yeah. Uncle Ivan. You were.

Uncle Ivan. You were. All right. I got your sidetrack there. Okay. That's all right. Tell us, so you graduated college.

Yeah. You didn't go into social work. Didn't go into social work. I know you went to New York, right? Went to New York. And met your wife. And met my wife. Tell us about your wife.

That's it. Wonderful young lady. And we hit it off the minute we, actually, right from the very beginning. Love at first sight, Bill? Yeah.

Nice. But for some reason, I wasn't ready to get married. I had this thing about marriage, even though my dead mom was married for years. But we finally, after a year, I said, okay, because I found out, the Lord let me know that I needed her.

We needed each other. Because I know you told me, 47 years ago, you met. 47 years. 46 years you've been married.

46 years you've been married. Yeah. Congratulations on that. I mean, that's a milestone. I'm proud of that.

In and of itself. Well, you should be. In today's world, you should be in. No children. No.

No children. But fast forward, you are very involved in ministry. I know you're on staff at our home, the refuge in Kannapolis, North Carolina, and you have a ministry there. Tell us, just briefly, about the ministry at the refuge.

Well, the Lord has blessed me to kind of head up to this one, is the Heaven's Touch Ministries, which ministers to senior facilities, and anywhere else they'll invite me, really, but senior facilities and nursing homes, where we go in, we love on the people, we remind them that they're not forgotten, that they're being watched over, angels around them, and they're blessed to be where they are now, because I tell them, you know, it's good you're not out here in the world. You know? Yeah. Yeah. You're being, you're safe here. You're cared for.

Yeah. You're safe here, you know. You're safe. You know, you don't have to worry about the out there now.

So yeah, it's good. And I've had, you know, I have from 104 to, I think about 104 is the oldest one I've had so far. 104. 104.

I got a picture over here. Wow. 104. Okay. Yeah.

And I got to take a picture with her. Okay. And that was good for me. But, you know, I do that. And you go in and you sing with them, like share, I know you say you just make it fun, right? I just make it fun.

I love on the... What kind of things do you do with them? Well, we sing together. Okay. We start off in prayer. We sing. We read scripture. Okay. The 23rd Psalm is our signature scripture that we say every time I go on.

Okay. And I'm a part of it because I know they might remember that, you know? And we go in and I ask them about their lives, themselves, what they've done in church and have them sing. They'll sing. Some of them want to sing.

You know? Yeah, I want to sing. And I let them sing.

I want them to really show me what to do. I want them to volunteer and say, you know, yeah, I'd like to do this. I want to pray. I want to pray. Some of them will pray. I've had testimonies.

People testify of their love for the Lord, and it's just been good. Now, some places I go, people are not quite as responsive. Not as receptive and responsive.

Not as responsive. How many different places? This year, I'm at 12. 12 facilities this year.

Yeah, 12 facilities. And you've been doing this for 13 years? 13 years. Yes. Okay. Yes.

13 years. Yes. And I know you came on staff about 10 years ago at the Refuge.

Yeah. And you're a young at heart ministry at the Refuge. Tell us just briefly about the young at heart ministry. Well, the young at heart is a ministry of, well, we said 55 and over. Okay. But we... I qualify.

Yeah, they qualify. But we messed up on that because a lot of people wouldn't join because they didn't want anybody to know they were 55. So they won't be... And they're 70, but they won't participate. Really, even now. Even now they won't because they said, but see, our young at heart people, I mean, we just came off of a cruise where people were zip lining. Come on. They were in the pool. They were having a good time.

I think we had one person that was on a cane. Praise the Lord for that. Yeah. Yeah.

But if you were on oxygen, you could also go. Right. Right. But we have an active group of people, we have picnics, we come together, we pray together, we sing. In fact, this year we're scheduling a hymn sing. Okay. And that's something that we haven't done. People have been saying, well, let's do hymn.

So I didn't wanna make two different services. Yeah. So there's this one time where we go come and sing the old Roy Cross and At the Cross and Out on a Hill, Far Away and all their favorite songs. In fact, the number one hit in nursing homes is Amazing Grace. Amazing. Not surprised.

That's the number one hit. Yeah. Not surprised.

Yeah. That's actually kind of funny about the young at heart, they're like, I don't want people to know my age, right? And guys don't seem to, aren't as hung up on the age thing as the lady folks, as the women are, right?

But the women keep the gas from doing it though, so they don't want them to do it either, so... That's too funny. And well, and if people wanna... If you're in the Concord, Kanapas, North Carolina area, you wanna learn more about what Bill Russell does, go to therefuge.net, therefuge.net, and of course you can find out more about Young at Heart, find out more about what Bill's doing, and your bride's right there alongside you. She's right there alongside me. The ministry as well, right? Yes, she does a ministry on Wednesday morning at 11 o'clock, it's a senior's ministry. They come and they learn the word of God, they sing, they pray. It's just awesome.

She does a good job, praise the Lord, with that. People keep coming, it's growing, it's a growing ministry. People respond.

People respond. Yeah. Well, that's pretty amazing. All right, well, we'll shift gears here. Just want people to get an idea on who Bill Russell is, so let's shift gears here and give you the opportunity to fire a couple of questions at me, and so we'll start with your first one.

What do you got first for me today, Bill? What led you to go from wrestling to men's ministry? Well, that's a really good question, because I tell people all the time, like, never in really a gazillion years would I ever thought I'd be involved in ministry, and doing what I'm doing a whole variety of things.

Of course, men's ministry is a focus, a facet of what I'm doing. The podcast, the radio show, writing books, I never thought, I just never dreamed I'd be a book author, and all of that, or involved in any type of ministry, but what happened is, interesting, is the day I, September, October 17th, 1993, the day I surrendered my life to the Lord, I'm 34 years old, right? I didn't really grow up in church, but that didn't mean I didn't know the story. I'd heard it plenty of times, the man Jesus died on a cross, spikes driven through his hands and feet, a spear through his side, shed his blood for all humanity, right?

So that whoever would believe in him could receive eternal life. So I knew the story in my head, but it wasn't until 17 October 1993 that it moved from my head to my heart, and on that day, that very day, at the end of service, an elderly man came up to me, introduces himself, and he's like, hey, my name's Buddy, not a wrestling fan, not here to get an autograph, you know, any of that, he goes, but I gotta share this quick story with you, I'm like, okay, and so he says, five years ago, I was surfing through the TV channels, and I stopped on wrestling, and I started watching, and I'm like, I don't even like wrestling, why am I watching this, right? He goes, but you were on doing an interview, and he said, the Lord spoke to my heart and said these words, never forgot him saying this, he said, said these words, he said, pray for that man's salvation, I have a call to ministry on his life. Would your company, business, or you personally like to partner with me in supporting Kolob for Christ Ministries, the Man Up Show, and Man Up Minutes? Go to kolob.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. Now, key to Kolob here, and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement?

Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Kolob Fans, and like it, and follow today. If you would like to support Kolob 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.kolob.net and donate today. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. And I was like, okay. Did I fully understand the call to ministry part?

No, I didn't. I comprehended the pray for his salvation, surrendering his life to the Lord. And he goes, I hadn't been here in several months because he goes, I've been really sick. He looked sick that day. I mean, it was kind of white, ashy, pale, and he goes, I wasn't coming today. I had no intention of coming today. I woke up this morning and God was like prodding me to come to church. I'm like, God, I don't feel good. I don't want to go.

But if you want to say, gave in, I'm like, okay, fine, I'll go. He goes, I didn't know you were here. He goes, I sat on the floor. And I was sitting on the side where he wouldn't have seen me, right, it's a two-tiered church sanctuary, right?

And I was off to the side on these risers. So anyway, he said, when I walked down front, it was like the first one to the altar, because I knew that I knew on that day what was missing in my life, which was a relationship with Jesus Christ. And he said, when you walk across front, he goes, all of a sudden I went, oh my gosh. He goes, that's the guy I've been praying for for the last five years, and he said, every day.

So every day. So encouragement to the listeners out there, don't give up praying for people, whether you know them or don't know them. God puts somebody on your heart, it can be frustrating and discouraging if you don't see them respond immediately, but keep praying, right? So he says, he started getting teared up and choked up. He goes, and it hit me, he goes, out of all the churches, out of all the services, God prodded me to come to this one, and he said, he blessed me today, Nikita, to see you bow your knee to Jesus Christ.

And then Bill, what happened? So what happened from there, so I make that decision, he shares that story, and the first thing I felt prompted or led to do was get involved in projects, like just learn to serve. And I'd never been involved in any kind of construction, but there was a men's ministry there, and they're like, hey, we're gonna go to Trinidad to build this church. And I'm like, cool, can I go? And they're like, absolutely.

I go, what will I do? They go, we'll find something for you to do, no problem, right? And I'm like, okay. Bill, I didn't even know what a pair of construction boots were, like for real. Like we had this team meeting, and they're like, okay, here's some of the things you need to have. So I went up to the guy afterwards, I go, like, what kind of construction boots should I buy?

I had no clue, right? Anyway, I'm telling you, they're just like, Bill, we get down to Trinidad, and man, they had me hauling big cinder blocks from this big pile over to the guys who were laying the blocks. Man, it didn't take me long to realize, I think I'd like to learn to lay these blocks. They were wearing me out, right, eight hours of hauling big blocks. Anyway, so I went on three trips like that. I went to Trinidad, then I went to the Sister Island to Bagel to help build a Bible college. And then I made my first trip, all within about a year and a half, my first of three weeks to my first trip to Africa, Angola, Africa, to help build a church there. And so that was my introduction to ministry, learning to serve. And then it was actually in Africa where I had the first opportunity to actually speak to a crowd, and then from there, God just began to open door after door after door after door.

Now I've been to, I don't know, 1,200, 1,300 churches I preach to, who knows how many conferences and man camps and what, I mean, 36 different countries, all 50 states so far. So yeah, God is good. You know that. Know that. Wow, that's awesome.

Yeah, God's good. I'm just blown away. So that's how, and let me say this too. So the wrestling part, because you said, how'd you go from rut, and I have asked, people ask, I remember checking in for a flight one time at the airport, and the gal recognized me, right? She sees the name, and she's like, wow, Nikita Kolov, are you still wrestling?

You know, that's a lot of it. You still wrestling? And I go, wow, no, actually I'm not. I go, I'm a full-time evangelist and missionary, and she paused for a moment, and she's like, that's like polar opposite ends of the world here, like wrestler, how'd that happen? So guess what that did? That opened a door for me to be a witness to her. Isn't that something?

That's true. So anyway, so long-winded answer, but that's a great question. So you got another one for me?

Got another one? When you're traveling, how do you address people that recognize you? A lot of people recognize you, I would think. Not as many as obviously when I was in prime time television, but people still do. People still do.

People still do. And I'm very, honestly, very flattered, very humbled by it. You know, I'm thinking 30 years removed from the ring, the fact that anyone would still recognize me and or even want my autograph and or pay for an autograph is incredibly, wow, Lord, what a blessing that is. You know? How about that? And so, yeah, I feel very fortunate that there are still fans out there, amazing fans, many of whom listen to this show, Q&A with Koloff, many of whom I've had on this show. I make that available. You're out there listening. You're Nikita Koloff, our wrestling fan. You want to be on Q&A, man, shoot me a message, koloff.net, koloff.net, and say, I'd love to be on your show.

You'll get a personal phone call from the Russian Nightmare. But I recognize a long time ago that the fans were the ones who put food on my table. So I've done my best in any and every setting to just really respect them, so whether they're at an autograph signing or just, again, walking through an airport or sitting in a restaurant to acknowledge them and just be kind to them, thank them for being a fan, and yeah, just every time I turn around, it's funny, I'll tell you this story real quick because this is recent. So I went to a men's breakfast with one of my other wrestling buddies by the name of Lex Luger. Remember that name? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. The total package, Lex Luger.

The total package, yeah. Right? And he was speaking. It worked out where I was passing through town, spent the night with him, went to the breakfast when they had over 400 men show up for the breakfast, over 400, right?

Wow. And the men's director said, can I get a list of your guests, like who you're bringing? So he had a couple of guys who were coming, and then he gave them their name. He said, Nikita Kolov. He's texting this, right? Guy responds back. He goes, the Nikita Kolov?

That was like the text, right? And he goes, correct. And he goes, the response back from the guy was, wow. That was it. How about that?

Wow. So that morning, that Saturday morning, I mean, he raced over to the car. He was like, hey, how are you doing? Turns out he, like his dad, that was him and his dad's thing.

They go to the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia, the Norfolk Scope Coliseum, and they go to the Richmond Coliseum for all the live matches. That was his thing to do with his dad. So still happens. Very humbled by it. It's just great. Well, I've had two people that I can think of over the years that I don't remember how it came up, but somehow you came up to say, you attended our church, and they came, and you weren't there. Okay. I've had that. I've read into a few. You're right there.

I know. I've read into a few, like Jay will tell me, they're like, hey, I heard Nikita Kolov comes to this church. Is he ever here? And Jay's like, yeah, he's here from time to time.

He travels a lot, but yeah, he's here. And there was one guy in particular, he's like, man, it's about time I meet you. I've been coming here like three years, and I had, it's the first time I got to meet you. I'm like, hey, thanks for coming.

God bless you, man. So, yeah. Well, the bad part was one of them, I think they didn't believe me, so. Right.

Well, I can probably think, yeah, these people are just making this up. He's never here. So anyway.

How about that? Great to have you in the studio with me today. Thank you, and thanks for being on Q&A with Kolov, and God bless you, man, for all the work you're doing in those nursing homes and all those who are young at heart, young at heart. Age is just a number, right?

You can still be young at heart no matter how old you are, right? Exactly. That's awesome.

Exactly. Well, we'll continue to pray for many open doors for you, and appreciate you coming in today. Appreciate you having me.

And thank all of you out there. You're so faithful week in and week out to tune in to Q&A with Kolov. And hey, make sure if you got the Truth Radio app, download that onto your phone. You not only get access to Q&A with Kolov, but about, I don't even know, 20 other podcasts and radio shows and live programming and everything else.

So make a point of doing that, okay? Thanks for tuning in. Go out and have a God-filled, God-blessed day. 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 kolov.net and donate today.

Hi, Nikita Kolov. 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 Kolov, 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 Kolov, 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 kolov.net to get registered today. Nikita Kolov here.

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