Welcome to Man Talk, a ministry sponsored by TAWCMM. Talking and Walking Christian Men's Ministry, where we're devoted to breaking down the walls of race and denomination and to point men to their God-assigned roles.
Now here's your hosts, Will Hardy and Roy Jones Jr. Welcome back to Man Talk Radio Podcast. I'm your host, Roy Jones, and I'm back with Pastor Ludd and Pastor Ski after session two, after a great first session. Pastor Ski, we left it off with you that we'd like to come back to this gap in the earlier generation of men, you know, say in the 60s and maybe even the 70s, but could even be the 50s up to now. What have you seen, if any, transition in the type of man or what man looks like in the church today and in his family?
Well, I grew up on a dairy farm, and so my manhood was. tested daily and how much mucking I could do, how many hails bales of hay I could chuck. And so the the way of life has changed dramatically in in my lifetime. And The intentionality of men raising their boys and their sons needs to be really intentional. And our sons are part of a, and more churches are doing it.
They actually have sessions for raising young men and young women. They call man up and women up, and they actually have a full day of somebody coming in, teaching them how to do an electric panel, plumbing, taking care of the car, self-defense. And then they have ladies come in and say, This is how you should treat a woman. And then they do the same thing with young ladies, teaching them how to deal with household things, how to fix a house, put in light bulbs, do other kinds of things. And so the church, I think, can play a big role in equipping young men and young women.
In being all that God has called them to be.
So that is a radical change in what the life of the church should be about, or ministries that can be done.
So I'm excited that God has raised up. An awareness of what we need to do to equip men to go in and. Uh and and I and I have written a letter to I have um six grandsons, and I wrote a letter to them and said, Uh, you need to consider adultery. before you're married. Because that happens as soon as you start looking at pornography or whatever it is.
And so that's a discipline that's going to have to last the rest of your life as far as what you do with the remote and television or what you look at. It's a discipline that really guards your marriage in a powerful way, even before you think about walking down the aisle. And so I would say that Satan is really taken after men in that particular aspect of their life. And then also finances. Finance is a big thing.
Show me your checkbook. Show me your Bible. Show me your. Your date book and what's going on. And those disciplines need to start at an early age.
So we're privileged right now to be hosting a 22-year-old grandson who's going to High Point University to become a physical therapist. And watching the fruit of him being raised by one of our sons, it's a joy. He's disciplined in the friends he chooses, and working out physically, working out spiritually. It's just Those grandkids, six grandkids, I was the only pastor they knew until they graduated from high school. And so to see the fruit of God's grace in the lives of our grandchildren, and there's six boys and two girls, is something that Grandparents need to think about because so many grandparents now are primary caregivers, so that's another opportunity for grandfathers to pour into the next generation.
So I see those are changes, but it's still the heart and the mind of a man is what the enemy is after. And so the body of Christ can do a lot, and that's why men's ministries are springing up across the country. New Canaan Fellowship out of Connecticut is another thing, and your group. If you're a man out there listening and you're a part of a men's group, really either within your church or outside your church, seek it out and it'll help you cultivate the things you need to be to be a father, to be a husband, to be somebody in the workplace that smells like Jesus. Amen.
Pastor Ludd, let's shift back to you for a moment. Thank you, Pastor Ski. And from my vantage point, real quick. Where I was headed with that question was that If you look at pictures back in the maybe World War II, pre-World War II, portraits of families, you see the mom on the couch with the children with the Bible and the dad standing up behind. And I think maybe prior to World War II and maybe World War I era, it seemed like the men were more leaders, especially in the 1800s.
Men were finishing school with eighth grade, going off to college. They used the Bible as one of their textbooks, all those sorts of things. And it seems as if today, just like you were talking about in the last session, Pastor Ludd, you know, if you don't have that discipleship, you don't understand what the foundation is, it's a tough road to find. But once you find it, God will pull you through all that. But I think one of the things, if I'm hearing both of you correctly, is that men, you have a great responsibility.
And that is first with your relationship with God, second, your relationship with your wife, third, with your children, and then everything else behind that. That means your church, your career, all those things. And that's the order you should be focusing on. Would you both agree with that? I agree.
Yeah. The the challenge is always um It's caught more than taught. Um so if your marriage is a healthy one. None of our marriages are perfect, but if if it's healthy, Then the children pick that up. They might not like what you tell them they need to do or should be doing, but if they see it being done in your life, they pick it up.
Even when they resist You're telling them. And it's fascinating to watch now because I've got four generations that I'm watching. The example of the older generation. 'Kay. Does make an impact on the next generation.
And the next generation needs to recognize that they too need to have the same kind of an impact on the next generation. And when you are pastoring, you find that there are an awful lot of families where that transitional process, that multiplying process of discipleship, is not happening because There isn't the example. There might, one of the things you need to guard against is having programs that produce all of this. But many times it's a program that is being produced, and the parents are trying to introduce a program. But life is transferred.
More by Observation than by instruction. Ideally, you need most. But if the instruction is not backed up with Manifestations of those qualities in the life of the parent, the kids. in your presence will follow. Hmm.
And later on, they will remember, but sometimes the bumps in the road before they remember. Create obstacles for them to be able to implement. And so it's very, very difficult to go from one generation to the next, passing on. You read the Old Testament, and there are very, very few, even great biblical leaders, whose children followed in their footsteps. And a lot of times, it wasn't necessarily their lack of instruction.
But their lack of demonstrating For example David you know, mess things up in having more than one wife.
Solomon did the same thing.
Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, where he warns against carelessness in all of the areas that we've been talking about. Did the same thing. He had the head knowledge, he just didn't implement it. And looking at David's life, he had a rationale for saying, well, my dad blew it, and he still renewed his relationship with God, therefore. And it's amazing how those kinds of shortcomings in our behavior are.
Are a basis for having a hard time teaching.
So, It is important for us to be able to recognize the responsibility is to live the truths so that they understand the teaching of the truth in flesh and blood, in interaction and in relationships. We had a senior saint that's gone on to be with the Lord, but from several years back, he used to always say that. Your actions are speaking so loud, I can't hear a word you're saying. And that was, it just rings true. And then he said that's the way it should be if you're doing the right things.
And the children, to your point, are watching what we're doing. And if we're saying one thing and doing another, it's creating an inconsistency. And they may remember to your words, but if they see it lived out, I think it's a major difference. Here's a quote in one of my books: I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day. I'd rather one would walk with me than merely show the way.
I can soon learn how to do it if you let me see it done. I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run. And the lectures you deliver may be very wise and true, but I'd rather learn my lesson by observing what you do. For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give, but there is no misunderstanding how you act and how you live. Amen.
That's awesome.
Well, I'm glad you brought your book up. I was going to ask you about your books, and why don't you give our listening audience a little bit of an overview on the books you've written and kind of what your inspiration for those books was and the timing of them?
Well, I was a very poor student. Yeah. Uh English was my worst subject. I had an English teacher who gave me a D on the only. Paper I ever wrote in high school, and I went back and thought I got a better grade because I at least tried.
And he said, Lud, you might as well face it, you just don't have it.
So that's not a good way to start a life in which I've written 10 books now. Oh, wow. But I had to overcome those barriers that were put into my mind and that I thought in my own life were. obstacles that I would never be able to overcome. But once I started sharing my faith and wanting to reach people, I realized that the printed page can get to places I will never get.
And so I started working at learning how to write, doing it. Most of it is just doing it. Most of us can write. You can always get somebody to edit it. Putting down your thoughts and your stories and things of that nature.
At least that's what motivated me to write. And I don't like writing. It's very hard for me. I'm not good at it in the sense that I I can't parse sentences or anything like that. I never learned that.
I never studied enough. To really understand what it's all about. But when God calls you and gifts you, and He puts a burden on your heart, then you have to trust Him. To enable you, but the work is still necessary, and it's very hard, has been for me, to put it into the form of something that is publishable. Then you have to find a publisher or do it yourself, and then you have to guide the financing.
There are many obstacles, but if God wants you to do it, He will enable you to get it done. You have to trust Him and obey Him. And that's how I got into writing. And by the grace of God, God has used the way I've never written a bestseller, but. people have been touched all over the world through the printed page.
And radio has been kind of the same thing. I sort of backed into radio and now I've been on the air for over 40 years with radio and in four languages now and another one is being considered to be produced soon, reaching all over the world. Public speaking was hadn't even en entered my mind when I was a teenager, and I resisted any even opportunities to do that kind of thing. But again, if God puts a burden on your heart and He pushes you and encourages you to give it a try, it's amazing what He can do, even with an uneducated. I've never gone to seminary.
It took me six years to get a BA because I never learned how to. Maneuver getting into school, going through school, learning how to study, and everything. It's all been hard because I never got a good start. I can't blame my parents because neither of them ever went to school one day.
So I can't blame them. They did a great job. All four of their kids became believers and have married believers and have gone on with the Lord. But I didn't have a lot of help. I even had a teacher that said I just don't have it.
But when you commit yourself to God, it's amazing what He could do with what you give Him. Amen. He is all-powerful. And that's a great, great testimony for those of us that have got those nudge, but you're afraid to do it. If you'll just, and we often talk about it in our ministry, if you'll step in the natural towards God, He'll take care of the rest of it in the supernatural.
The first thing I had printed was a one-page. With writing only on one side, other than sort of a cover. And I Had it printed, I'd probably printed about a thousand copies. And a couple of months later, I got a letter from South America asking if they if I would give them permission to translate and reproduce that text. One page It wasn't that complicated, primarily Bible verses just put together.
God can use whatever we give Him. You know, the boy that had five little loaves, sandwiches, maybe, and a couple of fish. Five thousand People plus women and children were fed. It's just a picture of the way in which it works. The challenge is always at least try to find somebody that you can pass your life and life experience onto.
Within the family, that's where you start. But outside of the family, at least one person, try to put your life into somebody else's life and encourage them to learn what you have learned. And many times you benefit from that process when you share with others just because they're unique and they will come back with insights or questions that helps you to grow. But that's the way growth takes place, the multiplication. The things you've heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:2. Amen. It's important. That's good, Pastor Lloyd. Pastor Smith.
Yeah, I You can you basically can Go to my website, which is gettinggodsmessage.org. That's my website. Or you can Google Ludd Golds. It'll send you to Getting God's Message. And I offer the books free.
So go to the website, let me know, and give me your home address, and I'll send you a copy of the books. There are 10 of them.
Well, folks, that's when's the last time somebody offered you something for free and there was no strings attached.
So that's an amazing offer, and we thank you for that, Pastor Ludd. And that's not just for this podcast. This is what I saw his website before we started the podcast. That's where the man's heart's at, folks. And take advantage of it.
He's got a couple copies of books. I'm hoping he's going to leave me with.
Well, he's gifted me with two now.
So I think he's given Mike Nickel as well. A couple of our producer a couple as well.
So, well, that's fantastic. I want to get back to the thing about. Passing on your faith. The compliment that I cherished came from my kids after. I was forty when I went To seminary, and then so my kids knew me before I.
became a pastor and then When I'm a pastor, and there was a basketball hoop there in the in the church parking lot. And somebody had painted on there one-on-one with Jesus across the backboard. And there there were myths that grew up around my my style of basketball play, that that anything from the wrist to the elbow was w was the fair game. As far as no fouls. Yeah, right.
But the the thing that they said was, Dad, This the uh the same person we we lived with at home was the same one that we saw in the pulpit. Amen. And so the pastor that I replaced, his his message to me was, don't lose your children. And his children hardly wanted to even go to his funeral because he was so Sold into the church. And so we, if there was a basketball game or whatever it was.
we were there for the kids and the church had to wait.
So that's one way. And by God's grace, they're full-time ministry and our children and our grandchildren.
So it is a way to pass on the faith. You know, when you said that, um, Pastor Ski, that, um We talk about that in our men's ministry. What does your Monday through Saturday face look like? Is it the same face that you that people see on Sunday? Would your coworkers recognize the the face they see on Sunday if they see it Monday through Saturday?
And that's exactly what you exemplified for your children. You were the same guy. The other six days of the week than you were on the Sunday that you're sitting in the pulpit. And that's an amazing testimony.
So that's good stuff.
Well, let's go on to a few more questions. We've got about a few more minutes here left on this session. What has been your biggest challenge of being a pastor? Pastor Ludd, we'll start with you. The biggest challenge is maintaining your personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Um yeah, you can rationalize an awful lot of things. You're doing supposedly good things all the time, and hopefully, you're doing good things. But if you're not maintaining your walk with God, The problem is you will fail. I mean, the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
We tend to think we know our own heart. fairly well. But we don't really know our own heart well. It's only when we come into the presence of Jesus, who is perfect, that we begin to see how far we are short of that and how much we really need Him. And when you cultivate that relationship, it enables you to cope with what you have.
So I tell the Lord now every morning. This is a day that you have made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. That's a choice I'm making. Then I tell them, I'm available.
I'm on assignment.
Okay. And I'm an ambassador, which means You can call on me at any time. And I've tried preparing myself so that I'm on assignment. I realize 24-7 you can call on me any time. And because I'm an ambassador, I've got your backing.
I'm just representing you. Amen. So I think everybody should start the day that way, frankly, because all of us as Christians need to be available. Need to realize that we're on assignment whether we realize it or not. People are watching us all the time.
And we don't need to fear about it because we're ambassadors, and he will never fail us. He will be with us wherever we go.
Well, that's a great response. Thank you, Pastor Leigh. Pastor Ski, what about you? Um There are many things, but as I'm just reflecting, I think Um To guard and model a good marriage and a good family life. Because that that will speak volumes.
I I had a couple of times where People begin to criticize you as a pastor, you know, and but they would say, Yeah, but look at his children. Look at his child and so as as the New Testament talks about choosing elders, it can't can they run their family or or organize their family or God's grace through your children. And so The the blessing of Um Being gifted, a great woman to be a partner for your life is a great gift, but then you cultivate that gift and you nourish that gift. And we renewed our wedding vows at 50 years. And where it says love and cherish, I'm focusing now on cherishing, which is a different emphasis in your marriage, and especially in an empty nest, is the question to your wife is, do you feel cherished?
And that is different than are you loved. That's that's as a as a pastor, some traditions are, well, this is the first lady and this that you're you're the you know the father, but um it's you are you are a living example to the church of what it is to to lead a godly life.
So amen.
Well, gentlemen, it's been great spending another session with you. And Pastor Ludd, thank you so much for the books. And hopefully, you'll join us for breakfast and not just be a visitor here soon. And plus, we need to get you in to come speak with us. We'd love to have you speak one Friday morning if you'd like to do that.
We'd love to have you. And folks, if you're in the North Carolina area, specifically in the Piedmont area, we do have a Friday morning men's breakfast, the first, third, and fifth Fridays on those months that a fifth Friday does occur here at the Crossing North campus, 11:30 North Main in Kernersville, North Carolina. Breakfast starts at 6:30 and we're done promptly at 7:55. Get you back out on your way if you've got to go to work, or for those of you that are retired, get you onto your Bojangles biscuit with your other men that you sit down and have coffee with on a Friday morning. We'd love to have you join us.
It is for men of all ages, and we've got a few young men that are in here between eight and nine years old, and a 13-year-old, and we got them up to 88 years old.
So, feel free to join us. There's no limitations. Even if you don't know God and you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, come join us. We'd love to talk to you about that.
So, we thank you for being with us. Pastor Ski, you want to close us in prayer? Sure. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the faith to believe that you hear us when we praise you and cry out to you. We thank you for the faith to believe that you speak to us.
And so you're a God that speaks. And so we thank you for that gift of faith. May all those be honored by this prayer. And we pray it in the name of Jesus for the glory of the Father and with the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Amen. Thank you, gentlemen.
