Ladies and Gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw. Introducing first, from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian Nightmare, Nikita Kolob. Welcome to another episode of Q&A with Kolob, the Devil's Nightmare. This is a fun one for me. We're going all the way up to the great state of Virginia, Michael Whitecotton. Welcome to Q&A with Kolob. Hey, how are you doing?
I'm doing great, Michael. So up in the great state of Virginia, don't they call it like the lover's state or something, or Virginia for lovers or something like that? Yes, yes. Now, are you a native of Virginia? Do you embrace that whole motto for Virginia there? Well, not really all the time, but I try to be today.
You're going to be loving today anyway, right? That's the truth. So tell us, where do you call home?
Give us a little quick backstory on Michael Whitecotton. So, I am from Virginia. I've been born and raised here.
I grew up right outside of the DC, Maryland, Virginia area in Vienna, and right now I reside in Manassas, Virginia. I have a wife and two children. My wife is Anna, and I've got a nine-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl named Elizabeth. Nine and six years old, come on. Yep. Come on. How long have you and your bride been married? We have been married. Put you on the spot.
Here we go. 2016, 2016 we got married, so that's eight years, but we've been together. October, I believe it was October, if she's listening, oh my gosh. So, yeah, October I'm pretty sure of 2016, and we've been together for almost 12 years. So, 12 years together.
You know, of course you put guys on the spot, they're like, ah, yeah, let me, hold on. Eleven and a half years. Yeah, eleven and a half years. We've been together eleven and a half years. All right, all right. Married since 2016.
That is good, that is good, that is good. And what keeps you busy in Manassas, Virginia? So, we moved to Manassas from Vienna because of the housing. I mean, it's so expensive to live where we live, and I'm sure it is everywhere in America. But we moved out here to Manassas just because the cost of living was just a little bit less, and you could get more for less. And I run a business close to Vienna where we used to live, I run a plumbing business.
And, yeah, so it's just to stay somewhat localized, and that's kind of like why we live out here, you know. So, you're a marketplace guy out there. So, the trade of plumbing, how long have you been in the plumbing business? Gee, ten years.
Test your memory again here. Yeah, yeah, about ten years probably, yeah. What prompted you, what made you want to get into plumbing? All I got to say is the big G.O.D., buddy, it was God, man, every bit of it, you know. I mean, just an opportunity opened up, and I followed that opportunity, you know. You saw an opportunity and you seized it. You know, that I'll preach right there, actually. Yeah. I saw an opportunity and I seized it. And, well, that's pretty good.
Now, if somebody was up in, lived in that area, how would they find you? Is there a website or what? Yeah, mjwplumbingco.com is my website.
One more time, a little slower. Sorry, mjwplumbingco.com. Here, I'm going to check it.
Let me double check here. Yeah, make sure you give us the right one. You know, we want our listeners out there.
Yeah, mjwplumbingco.com. My wife does all the, I am such a black and white person in the sense of neanderthal. Like, you get what I mean? Like, I see something, I do something. She's very intricate and dynamic. I am not a dynamic person. I get my mind stuck on one thing and I do it. Well, and you're hands on, right?
So, I mean, obviously with plumbing, that's more, you know, labor intensive, right, than technology, right? So, it's a bit of a difference there. Now, you and I met a while ago at Montclair Tabernacle. Yes, sir. Some friends, I was up doing probably one of the best filet mignon I had ever had. We were doing a man up steak dinner up there. Of course, dear friends, Pastor Brad Lewis, Pastor Gary Carruthers, we've been friends, gosh, we met in Pensacola, Florida, I think 25 plus years ago.
And I've been up there to Montclair Tabernacle in Dumfries, Virginia many times doing all types of ministry. But you were there, we met, and you were introduced to something that would, if I said life changing, would that be accurate? Would that apply? One hundred percent.
And I'm getting chills to say that. One hundred percent. You were introduced to Man Camp and you said, I want to do this, essentially, not to put words in your mouth, I think you might even have said, I need to do this.
Yes. Take a minute for our listeners and share with them what your Man Camp experience was like and, you know, maybe a highlight or two. So before Man Camp, I've always been a believer in Christ. I got to really understand the son, Jesus, you know, and I had a lot of stuff that I hadn't dealt with before I had went there, you know, family things and things of that nature.
And my growing up as a child. So I would bring that out. It would be a situation that I couldn't handle. I'd bring it out with rage.
I would yell. I'm a big – I just don't know how to cope. So that would be one way that I could cope, you know. It was a coping mechanism.
And when I went to Man Camp, you know, I got to leave this digital technology behind me, you know, these luxuries that we have today. And we went down and we spent a lot of time with God. And I got to kind of know myself, you know. I got to feel that love, that love that never really got, you know. And I never really understood, you know.
You'd hear people talk about how Jesus loved people. And it sounds cliché to a degree when you would hear it if you'd never had it before. But once you have it, you understand that love, you know. It's a world of – it's the difference between – shall I phrase it this way? Would this make sense if I said for our listeners out there the difference between exposure and experience? Would that be accurate?
One thousand percent. Because what you're saying – and I just want to clarify for our listeners – you know, it's one thing to be exposed to the Gospel, exposed to, as you said, the expression, well, Jesus loves you, and for you to hear it and be exposed to it. But the minute you encounter the genuine love of Jesus, everything changes, right? Just everything just does, right? And what I hear you saying, Michael, is when you unplug from the normalcy of life, you know, the rat race of life, so to speak, and you disengage from that and put yourself in a setting like camp, like you experienced at man camp, now all of life's distractions are removed, and you can just really center your gaze on Jesus.
And then from that, the potential is to experience them in ways you just never have. Is that true? Yes, sir. So I know from some of the things we've shared off air, you know, just kind of our own conversation over the phone back and forth, and I think one day I called you and your bride was in the car with you, and you're like, man, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone. And I think you referred to the rage you just referenced in that it's no longer, because of camp, that's no longer a coping mechanism. Instead, the love of Jesus superseded the rage, and it's gone. You have new ways now to cope with the challenges of life, yeah?
Yes, 100 percent. You know, it's such an amazing feeling, you know, like I'll give you another example. Like my wife and I, the other day, we were having a bit of a discussion and we disagreed on something, so I was navigating through something. I don't want to say anger, because anger can then just be someone else could hear that, oh, it would be great to know, but we had a disagreement and we were a little upset. And it came to me that I was navigating something without using that as my coping mechanism. It was such an amazing thing. I said, oh, my gosh, how is this happening, you know?
I mean, Jesus is powerful, man. I mean, he has really moved in my life. My wife says she sees it.
I don't see it. I still feel like the same. You know what I mean? I still feel the same, but I'm not doing the same things I used to do. Yeah, you're handling things differently, and that's one of the, you know, for those listening out there, one of the goals of ManCamp is to give these guys the tools. Like if you're a lady out there listening and you're like, you know, you've got an important man in your life, whether it's a husband, a son, a brother, a dad, you know. And one of our goals is to give these guys, like you're hearing Michael talk about, give these guys the tools to be able to go back home, return back home, and not even necessarily have to express it in words, but just through their actions, put the tools to work, and then you see that they have changed without saying any words, just through their actions.
You see the change that's taken place in them. And so, and I know you'd mentioned, or I think your wife had mentioned or we had talked about, every now and then I'll get some letters, I'll get some emails from wives thanking me for, you know, just for camp and providing that opportunity because of the changes. I know we've had marriages restored, we've had relationships with sons and fathers, and daughters and fathers restored, and so many amazing testimonies. And so, I guess I conclude or ask you if you were to conclude this part of our conversation with a recommendation for someone listening out there, what would you say to them, Michael?
Follow your heart, you know. Jesus, I mean, well Jesus didn't convict me, the Holy Spirit inside of me convicted me to go, and I followed that, and it has been a life-changing experience. It's been, it's the fact that I've read literature and I also read the Word of God, and then the love I experienced from the men at Man Camp that showed me that I could love myself, I can't, it was invaluable, you know, like it was just, yeah. Hard to express in words, so, right?
Very hard to express with words, but it was life-changing. That's good, and that's the other thing I tell people, is you just, look, you just have to come experience it for yourself. Go to mancamp.info, all one word, mancamp.info.
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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. All right, speaking of questions, Q&A with Kolov. I know you probably have a couple questions for me.
Michael, go ahead. Let's segue into your questions. So where do you live? Like what state? Well, I reside, I bounce back and forth between South and North Carolina, so I'm a Carolinian, okay? Let's just say that. So have you always been in the Carolinas?
I have not. I migrated from Siberia to Minnesota. Oh, wow. Just kidding. Minnesota was where I was born and raised.
I'm a Minnesota guy. Yep. I hear it. Yeah, I hear it. The North, yeah.
Yeah, some do. They're like, hey, okay, you can't get rid of that accent. Yeah, I had some friends from Nebraska and they had the same type of accent. My grandparents. My dad was raised in Nebraska.
My grandparents were from Nebraska, the great Midwest. Yep. Yep. Okay. What else were I going to ask you? I don't know. What else were you going to ask me?
Shoot out, man. It's been such a busy day. You're just such a good person, man. The fact that you give your life for this, man. That's just, you speak volumes to me as a man. Like, that is who I need to be, you know?
The more you give your heart to God and the more you do that, I can just see it on you, man. I do, you know? No, I appreciate it. Good person, man. I'm not trying to toot your horn now.
No. I'm just being honest, man. I'm being honest. I appreciate your sincerity.
I know you're being sincere and I appreciate that. And really, the generosity comes from just from that, the relationship with the Lord. And, you know, whether it's the giving of my time, the giving of my talent, the giving of my treasure, you know, whether it's back to the Lord, back to my local church or above and beyond, you know, the tithe, you know, is just so into other ministries that are making a difference out there in the world. I was just praying this morning, you know, about some of those ministries. Like I give into, you know, I sow into, it's called Love Life and, you know, they're out trying to protect the unborn. I sow into another ministry called GLOW, which stands for, it's an acronym, Go Love Others Well.
And they're making a local and an international difference. I sow into the FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I have some missionary friends in Bosnia. I sow there. I sow into missionary friends in the Philippines. I sow into a ministry in Israel. You just give away.
You just give, man. Well, but that's been a process, Michael, for all of us listening out there, for those listening. It's been a journey and it's been a process for me. You know, that hadn't always been the case. I, you know, started back in Minnesota.
I started in the projects of Minnesota, so the Lord really had to help me overcome what I phrase a poverty mindset and truly know what it means to be, one, a cheerful giver and secondly, to be generous on every occasion, the Bible says. So, you know, that's taken. Come on now.
Yep. Come on now. That's taking time.
That's taking time. So anyway, but no, I appreciate it. Go ahead. Here's another one.
Here's another one. What do you do when your flesh wants to be satisfied? You get what I'm saying? Like, not in a mindset of, I'm just speaking in general. Yeah.
Like, what do you do? Well, because it's the flesh against the Spirit. I mean, the minute you surrender your life to Jesus, it's game on. I'll just phrase it that way. I'm telling you, man. It's the truth. Come on now. It is. It's hard, man.
For our sporting fans out there, it is game on. And Paul, one of the greatest spiritual heavyweights of the Bible, you know, who wrote a good portion of the New Testament, he struggled with this. He struggled with facing temptation and the flesh and crucifying the flesh.
So I guess the biblical answer or the simple answer might be declaring, one, knowing God's word, Michael. You've got to be in it. You've got to study it. Oh, 100%. I'm reading it every day.
Yeah. You've got to study it. The Bible says, study to show thyself approved. So you've got to study it, memorize it, you know, learn it, so you can experience it, and then put it to work.
Exercise it. And in this case, Galatians 2.20, which says this, I have been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who lives, but it's Christ who lives in me, and it's life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. And so I don't do that every day, Michael, but there's plenty of days that I will declare, verbally speak that in my prayer time, starting my day, so that when my flesh faces temptation, I can remind myself what I declared that day. And then one other real quick, one other scripture that's become really kind of a life scripture, I put it on, typically on a lot of my autographs, is Colossians 1.10, Colossians 1.10.
And there's basically four parts to it. One, I'll just kind of break it down, one part says, and again, I pray this sometimes, you know, that I want to go out today, Lord, I hope to go out today, and as I'm, because I'm representing you, I hope I represent you well, I hope I live a life today that is worthy of your name, worthy of you, of calling myself a Christ follower. Secondly, second part of that is, my hope is that I bring you joy in all areas of my life, and that's thoughts, words, and actions. And if I stumble, if I trip up and I fall, be quick to repent, pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep moving forward towards the cross. The third part of that, Michael, is to do, is to do, is to bear good fruit, bear good fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. And the last part of that is to, I'm just saying, the last part is to grow in the knowledge of God. Okay? So, if you'll take something as simple as Colossians 1-10 and Galatians 2-20, hey, you're a trade guy, you'll appreciate this.
Just think of 1-10 voltage and 2-20 voltage, right? Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
So, Colossians 1-10, Galatians 2-20, and if you'll just meditate on those two Scriptures and declare those two Scriptures, I'm telling you, that flesh, even though it'll rear its ugly head, you'll be able to crucify it more often than not. How's that? Yeah. There you go. Yeah. There you go. Thank you, man.
Yeah. Great questions. And by the way, I just wanted to know out there in Listening Land, Michael is gracious enough. I'm calling him right in the middle of his work day, and so he's been gracious to set aside a few minutes to talk with all of us, and Michael, I just appreciate you, man. I appreciate your heart.
I look forward. I know your wife's going to be sending me a little testimony of her own. She did. She sent it.
Oh, she did. She sent it to you. All right.
Well, I look forward to getting your wife's testimony and hearing her view of what she's experiencing through the changes you've experienced at Man Camp. You're awesome. I appreciate you. God bless you, buddy. Thank you so much.
Well, I appreciate you. One more time before we go, real slow for a little bit, what's your website again for our listeners out there? MJWplumbingco.com.
Excellent. Michael? Northern Virginia.
Up in Northern Virginia, if you need plumbing help, you look up Michael. Love you, my friend. I appreciate you and look forward to seeing you again here in the near future. Yes, sir. Have a great rest of your day, buddy.
All right. For all of you out there in listening land, you know what's coming next, right? Hey, go out today. Here's the challenge to you. Go out and live 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 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 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? Nikita Koloff here.
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