You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Now, The Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Have you ever heard of the phrase, there is no promise of tomorrow? Well, don't go anywhere.
That's part of the topic of discussion today. You're going to want to stay tuned for this fascinating story with me today from the great lover state of Virginia, Wayne Daniels. Wayne, welcome to the Man Up show. Hey Nikita, excited to be here.
Well, great to have you with us, Wayne. And of course, you're up there in Virginia. I guess technically in Chesapeake, would that be fair to say?
Correct, yeah. We're right in the heart of Chesapeake in the middle of Hampton Roads. So right, right, and of course I'm familiar with Chesapeake and for all the wrestling fans out there, anyone who's an avid fan would probably know, where have I heard Chesapeake, Virginia before? And they might recognize that Terry Allen, aka Magnum TA, was from that area. And I think you knew that, right?
Or you were familiar with that, right? Yeah, yeah, his home, his family is just a few miles from our church, really. He's in an area called Great Bridge area of Chesapeake, and that's where he's from. And of course he had, I know I was up with you last fall, we did a Man Up men's conference there last November, and several of the people I met, of course there were a number of wrestling fans who attended the men's conference, and in addition a couple of them were filling me in. One in particular brought me a program that had Terry's picture in it from back like his, I think his high school days, I'm trying to jog my memory here, but because he was an amateur champion and it competed, I guess, in some kind of tournaments, and he had the actual program with his pay. He's like, I'm going to bring it to you, and he did. I still have it. He's like, maybe you want to give this to Magnum or whatever, and it was a pretty cool deal.
Yeah, it really was. In fact, he attends the church. I think he wrestled against Magnum back when they were in high school. Back in the day? Yeah.
That's crazy, that's crazy. So how long have you been in the Chesapeake, in that area yourself? So I'm from what we call the 757. So I'm from the area originally, but we've been back pastoring in Chesapeake, just celebrated five years this month.
Five years, and what did you call it? The 757. That's the area code for Hampton Roads. Okay, that's the area code, but it seems like you told me it also has almost like a double meaning.
There's another meaning to that or something. Well, the Hampton Roads, that was the seven cities. I think we talked about that a little bit. The Hampton Roads as a whole was made up of seven pretty prominent cities that kind of make up the whole area of the 757. Of course, you mentioned Hampton. Of course, I'm very familiar with Hampton, the Hampton Roads Coliseum, of where I wrestled many, many a times. And of course, the Norfolk Scope, not too far away from you, right? No, not far at all. In fact, that's where I would go when I was a kid to watch the wrestling back in the day was right there at Norfolk.
The Norfolk Scope. So you grew up watching. Do you have some favorite memories or favorite names of guys that you remember in your younger days who you liked?
Well, of course, man. I was a Dusty Rhodes fan. He was number one in my book. And of course, when you became his tag team, you became a favorite of mine as well. Before then, you were much disliked in my household because of your associations.
But after that, you were very much like Dusty Rhodes. For me, one of my favorite tag teams, of course, beyond Animal and Hawk was the Rock and Roll Express. Oh, yeah. Rock and Roll Express.
Ricky and Robert. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Had all the bandanas. Had it all.
Come on. Oh, that's awesome. That's very cool. Of course, they were the – Uncle Ivan and I helped, in a sense, kind of helped put them on the map, right, when they won the World Tag Team Titles, right? I bet you were thrilled about that, huh? Yeah. They beat the Russians.
They beat the Russians. That's the way it was. So wait a minute, Wayne. So I was not a fan favorite in your home at first? Come on, now.
Not at first. Of course, you're coming up in the time of Red Dawn. Remember when the original Red Dawn movie and all of that?
Oh, yeah. That's my childhood right there. Still the Cold War era right back then, back in the day. I mean, the timing of that for me couldn't have been any better in the mid-'80s there and even mentioning Red Dawn and just all of it, right?
And then going against the American Dream, your favorite, the American Dream, right? Because I had some – you know, he and I worked against each other before we teamed up with each other. Right, right. And that's where a lot of those memories, you know, going into the scope – and we went to hand to Coliseum as well at different times. But seeing all you guys were just great childhood memories. In fact, it created a lifelong love for wrestling.
And we still go – you know, we take some folks from the church, like we take the men and, you know, maybe father-son outings and we'll go see some of the newer wrestling. But it's not quite the same. You know that. It's not quite the same. But it's still entertaining.
Yeah. And it kind of drifted more that way towards the entertainment side of things. And, you know, I've joked over the years and said it used to be wrestling with a flavor of entertainment. And then it really went – the pendulum swung the other way where it's entertainment with a flavor of wrestling.
But – and some have tried to balance it out a little bit more. But, yeah, it's – I mean, it is a worldwide phenomenon. Say what you want about pro wrestling. But if I'm not mistaken, I think it grosses more money than the NFL, which grosses a lot of money, you know. I know – I think I'd heard something like that.
But, you know, it may not be currently. But I know in recent years, man, I think it kind of – yeah, it's soared to great heights. Well, and of course the advent of pay-per-view, you know, helped quite a bit. And I've talked on other shows and other interviews, you know, about the – you know, just even the income that guys made over the years. Just recently, I'll tell you this story, just recently Lex Luger and I were talking, right. You know, and we were just hanging out at his place down there in Atlanta. And I forget what we were talking about, but we were just talking about, you know, incomes and, you know, back in those days. And he kind of in passing said, you know, he goes – he goes, yeah, there was I guess a royalty check sitting on his kitchen counter. And his wife at the time said, oh, you had another royalty check come in. And for those who don't know, you know, typically the royalty checks were quarterly, right. So every three months, okay.
And now this is – but for the record, long after I had left, okay, because people ask me, you know, hey, do you ever regret leaving and what you missed out on? But to put it in perspective, put it in perspective. So he's like, oh, that's cool. Well, apparently the royalty check, and by royalty he said, you know, action figures, video games, whatever, right, was 300? Right.
350, not dollars, $350,000. Oh, my goodness. For one quarterly royalty check, for one guy. Wow. Yeah.
Wow. For one guy. And so put it in perspective, right, that was back in the 90s, right. And what – I mean, it just, yeah, and it just exploded from there. And, you know, guys were making tens of millions of dollars. And, you know, you fast forward it to today, like some of those guys that are there now.
You know, some of the bigger names, you know, are making tens of millions of dollars. So, yeah, it is pretty crazy. So, well, let me ask you this.
So you're up there in the air. You mentioned, you know, we mentioned the church, Kingdom Life. And at what point or what age – so you're a wrestling fan, but somewhere along the way you felt, I guess, a tug on your heart. And the Lord was leading you, steering you in the direction of ministry. But how old were you, Wayne, when you kind of felt that nudge? I was eight years old. Eight?
Eight years old. And I was in – I was eight years old. My father was a pastor for over 42 years.
Wow. And so I grew up in a pastor's home and, of course, this is my adopted grandfather, who adopted me as a baby, who I called Dad as well. But I grew up in his home and we were at a camp meeting service in Roanoke, Virginia.
Never forget it. And they had put up a tent for a kid's crusade simultaneously as the camp meeting was happening for the pastors and their spouses. And I gave my heart to the Lord. And I remember running – it's a big hill. I remember running up the hill to find my dad in what we call the tabernacle after the service.
And I told him I gave my heart to the Lord and I felt called to preach. Eight years old. Eight years old. Wow. Okay. So you felt that nudge at age, so let's – so if we fast forward a little bit, you go through your teenage, your high school years.
Sure. And so at what point then did you begin to pursue that path then? So I think, you know, a lot – like very familiar story I think for a lot of folks is, you know, I was in and out and up and down for a number of years, especially through my teens and my young adult years, and just trying to really run away from that call.
But it was always there. But I try to pursue anything and everything but that because as I got older, I saw some of the things my father had gone through and dealing with people in ministry and that type of thing. And I really did not want – You're right. I want no part of that, right? People are mean, right? People are mean. That's right.
That's right. So I went my own way. But all the while, it was always there. Even when I was living, you know, my best life in the world, it was always there kind of just on the back burner. And so I finally said yes to the call when I was about 22 and began to move somewhat of my life in that direction. And I preached my first message in a pulpit when I was 22 years old.
22 years old. So it's kind of funny as I'm hearing you share some of your story. What popped in my head, you talked about runaway. Of course, one of you, the kid in mine was Jonah, right? Hey, Jonah, go to Nineveh. Right. I don't think so, God.
I don't like those people. And so I think I'll go in the opposite direction. Yeah, well, Jonah, let me know how that works out for you. Oh, I know, three days in the belly of a whale.
Okay, in the belly of a fish. But then the other thing you said, Wayne, you said these words. Oh, I want my own way.
And of course, then what popped in my head was Frank Sinatra. Hey, I did it my way. And I bet there's some people out there that can relate to that. Maybe even right now they're still trying to do it my way.
And let me know how that works out for you. There's your way and there's God's way. And, Wayne, would you agree with me that I know I have found I enjoy God's way much better than my way? A hundred percent. His way, you know, a thousand percent is better than any way that we can choose for ourselves.
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No, finish your thought. That story and Jonah what? Yeah, I would say that was a story that I certainly really do connect to. And there were a lot of moments where the well would swallow me up and spit me back out in a more God-like direction for my life. You know, of course, not the physical, but there were those moments in my life, all the while when I was running, the Lord, I'd get there right on the edge of maybe going one step too far. And it was like a well of a situation in a moment would swallow me up. And it's in the grace of God that he kept me from going just one step further.
So very thankful, very thankful. Well, and I venture to say we have some listeners out there as they listen to your story, one that can relate in the sense of maybe, you know, they've been down that path of trying to do it their own way. And or others on the other side of the spectrum that would say, yeah, did that, now I'm pursuing God's way. And for those who maybe you're listening and you are like, I don't really relate to any of that, you know, you don't yet have that personal relationship with the Lord. And so, you know, you've yet to really submit and surrender and realize that somebody else does have a plan for your life. I mean, I was that way, Wayne, for 34 years, I was doing it my way and I acknowledge there was a God, but that was it. I just acknowledged I believed there was a God. I just wasn't living for him until 1993 when I surrendered my life to him. And it was at that point, Wayne, I found out for the very first time that somebody else had a plan for my life. Oh, my gosh. Oh, God has a plan for my life. Yeah. And then I've spent now the since that time that that that decision to this day, you know, pursuing that that plan. And so God has a plan, right?
He absolutely does. And, you know, living living within the will of God is so vastly different. You know, the experience, you know, living in the will of God and out of the will of God. And when you know both, there is no comparison of the two, just the peace in life, you know, just the meaning of life.
And it's just no comparison. You know, but even even with that knowledge, there are still those those days and those moments and maybe those seasons where you still will pursue your own direction, even with that knowledge. And then, you know, it's the grace of God that covers you, you know, in those moments of running or in those moments of living outside of his will, of which I'm very I've always said I'm a product of grace. And so I'm so thankful and just love the grace of God. And so I minister and I try to live my life with that same sort of grace as I'm pastoring, as I'm ministering and as I'm, you know, just being a friend or being a father or husband, I try to live my life with that that extension of grace flowing through me. Well, and you said something that I want our listeners to grab hold of, too. You said that you mentioned the word peace, but I want people to understand, because sometimes I think, Wayne, you might agree that that there's this misnomer that, oh, if you give your life to Jesus, you know, you become a Christ follower, you become a Christian that, you know, it's just a path of a rose petaled path.
But but it's not, is it, Wayne? If anything, life may even get a bit more challenging just to kind of test our character and our resolve and and and and for the Lord to mold and shape us into that image of Christ. Right. Oh, absolutely. You know, I'm so thankful, you know, as of as I've walked with the Lord and follow the Lord in some of those seasons with the Lord as I'm walking with him, you know, led me into like Jesus himself into a wilderness season of my life. And I found on the other side of those those moments, whether we call it a desert or a valley or wilderness, even in that, the Lord was was doing something in me for the next season of my life. So he he brought me not not only to it, but he brought me through it. And now when I reflect back on the on those moments, now they become a huge part of my testimony, my witness of who I am today and being able to share that with others.
Maybe that are going through those difficult moments, those stormy, stormy seasons of life. And so peace is not dictated. Peace from God is not dictated whether or not I'm on a mountaintop experience in my in my life or I'm in a valley. You can have peace.
It's not determinant upon outside things and factors playing into it. Our peace comes from the Lord. And then that that doesn't matter where you're at. Yeah.
The mountain or the valley. Yeah. A peace that surpasses all understanding.
Right. And so I just encourage and encourage our listeners, if you've never experienced that, you know, just perhaps consider if you've never surrendered your heart to the Lord, consider doing that. Even today, even as you're listening to to this interview with my brother Wayne Daniel. Well, and speaking of life, something more recently happened since since being with you last fall at the at the Men's Conference. Of course, I connected with you had a credible lineup of speakers and and of course, it brought me in as a special guest speaker as well.
And one was was Pastor Mac from up there in Virginia. And just recently I received some information. You know, I opened the show with there's no promise of tomorrow with that quote. Right. And because we never know.
Hence the importance of having your heart right today because you never know what tomorrow holds. But I'm like, wait, hang on. What? Wait, what?
And and he had abruptly or kind of shockingly and I guess for for for everybody who knew him, including yourself, had passed away. Right. And I was like, yeah, whoa, hang on.
Give me details. Right. Yeah.
Yeah, definitely came out of out of nowhere. You know, no one, you know, you know, we, you know, Pastor Mac, William McCarty, you know, he pastors Healing Waters, you know, very close by to me. That's about a half hour away. And he was a part of our conference. But in addition to just being a part of the conference, him and I have been great friends in ministry for about 20 years. And and he's he he was a young man. I believe he was 48, 48 years of age. That's what I heard. 48.
Yeah, 48. And on a family vacation, he was on a cruise with his family and begin to begin to develop a cough. And that was on Monday. And by Saturday, he had he had went to be with the Lord. And it was that quickly and that abruptly. And we just celebrated his home going just about two weeks ago.
It's about two weeks. Yeah. And they were because I as I heard some more of the details, I mean, they had to I guess the way I understand air airlift him off the cruise ship over to the to the mainland there in Florida. Right. And but it was just. Yeah.
Right. Yeah, they airlifted him. I believe they were in the Bahamas and airlifted him to Fort Lauderdale and his wife and his daughter and their family. You know, they were not able to go with them on the transport. And so by the time, you know, they got to Fort Lauderdale, we had had passed away.
And so definitely, definitely not. You know, life definitely, you know, hit them really hard. You know, his wife and William had been a pastor for William started pastoring as a young man. William was probably in his 18, 19 years of age timeframe when he began to pastor his first church. And he was still pastoring that first church that he started. That's a little definitely.
Yeah. And he was because he I mean, he was all I said, like I said, we really connected and he's like, hey, you know, I want to bring it Father's Day weekend. I want to bring you in and we'll do a man up breakfast up there, you know, and you preach on Sunday for Father's Day and a whole. And I was like, whoa, hang on.
So for the record, by the way, we're still going to do that healing waters up there and in Virginia. And, you know, I know there were multiple friends like I have and I'm sure, you know, Brad Lewis up in Dumfries with Montclair Tabernacle. I'm guessing, you know, Brad Lewis up there as well. And I reached out to Brad. I'm like, well, yeah, I'm like, did you know him? He goes, oh, my gosh.
He was again, it's just as shocked as anybody else. And but it just illustrates, right? Even with, you know, what we're talking about, you know, the struggles and challenges of life. I mean, we can even do all the right things, right? I mean, from like I'm a big and you know this, Wayne, but I'm big on exercising and trying my best to eat right and just, you know, do all the right things. But that still doesn't guarantee them all right.
No, no, not at all. I do believe that, you know, we see stewardship in the Bible, you know, quite often. And a lot of times when we talk about stewardship, we talk about it in terms of money, finances only. But, you know, stewardship should be something that we should look at in the totality of life, including our health. So I believe we should be good stewards of what God has given us. And even if it's short lived or temporary, but we should we're responsible to be good stewards. So I think we should do all those things.
But we're not guaranteed. None of us. And, you know, whether, you know, over the years and five years before I came back to Chesapeake, it was a five year timeframe. I did one hundred and ten funerals in seventy two months. Wow. And I didn't go more than two months without officiating a funeral. And that was from from as young as two years of age to a World War two veteran that dropped in Normandy.
It was just over a hundred. And so we're just not guaranteed, you know, ages, you know, no respect as far as when the Lord calls us home. You know, that's that's our time. Yeah, absolutely. Of course, you mentioned the word stewardship, and that's one of the main focuses. When God gave Lex and I the focus for, you know, man up, man up conferences and our man camp that we do, you know, semiannual.
We do it every spring, every fall. And it's in trying to help the whole man, right. Spirit, soul and body.
Right. And be healthy in all these different areas of life. And and so that's our focus for you're listening out there. If you go to Koloff dot net, if you want to get more information on the man camp and just dig deeper into what we offer with our camps in terms of of being being healthy in all these areas of our life.
But Bob, we just got a couple of minutes left here. And I want I want you to tell our audience about about Kingdom Life, like maybe they're passing through Chesapeake or, you know, spending a weekend at Virginia Beach or something if they want to come and visit. Like, how can they find out more about you and or what can they experience at Kingdom Life?
Yeah, yeah, thank you. So Kingdom Life, our website's Kingdom Life dot com. And of course, we're on all of the social media platforms, Kingdom Life, Chesapeake, Virginia. And we're really located very well.
No matter where you're traveling in the area, if you're in Virginia Beach or even if you're heading like I'm down in the Outer Banks of North Carolina today, you have to pass through Chesapeake to get to the Outer Banks if you're if you're coming from northern or western parts of the state. And so it's a wonderful area. The church is I mean, God is really just just really showing up, showing out in a powerful way. We have a real mission, a pursuit of connecting people to to the presence of God that we could all have and live with hope and joy and freedom. And this year, going into 2025, it's pretty incredible to see the move of God in and through the ministry, not only within the building itself, but even beyond whether we're talking about outreach in the local area or we're talking about international missions. We're getting ready to head to Israel again on a on a missions trip on Saturday. And so we routinely send out teams to Israel.
We've got a team later going to Peru, Africa. So we really, really hold on to the heartbeat of the Great Commission. And we believe that that is the heart and soul of our ministry. But without without the prioritization of the presence of God, then then all we do is have is have a good get together. We don't want to just have a good get together and have just good church, so to speak. We want to have life transformation moments. And we believe that every Sunday is a Super Bowl.
Right. And every Sunday, whether or not it could be the last Sunday for someone or it may be the first Sunday that someone experiences, we want to prioritize every Sunday and give God our absolute best. And so we're excited that God's moving. The church is growing and we're making an impact. And so we believe that the Lord is just getting started.
Yes, you are. Kingdom Life Pastor Wayne Daniels there, Chesapeake, Virginia. Of course, I'll be I know you'd already sent an invitation to come back for your men's conference this coming fall. And then I do want to mention, as we're talking about Pastor Mac Healing Waters in Carrollton, Virginia, in Carrollton, Virginia. I'll be up there Father's Day weekend and men's breakfast, man up men's breakfast there in Carrollton at Healing Waters.
And then staying over and preaching their service on Sunday morning as well. And so Kingdom Life dot com. Right.
Yes. Kingdom Life dot com. Check it out. And if you're traveling in or through the Virginia beach or that whole seven city area there, I encourage you, if you want a church that loves the Lord and you appreciate Pastor Wayne's story today.
Be sure to check it out. Pastor Wayne, thank you for being a part of the Man Up show today. Thank you for having me, Nikita. And thank all of you each and every week. So faithful to tune in, get the word out, spread the word, let people go in and download, subscribe the Truth Radio app and tell them about not only the Man Up show, but so many other amazing shows that you'll find with Truth Radio Network. Until next time, go out today and have a God filled, live a 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 dot net and donate today. 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. Ah, 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. Nikita Kolov here.
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