This is the Truth Network. The heart of every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.
So, how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now. Welcome to Masculine Journey. We're glad that you're with us, and by the time you hear this, we may be in the middle of a snowstorm.
Whoa. Yeah, because we record earlier in the week and then we play it on Saturday. And so far, if they're correct, you guys could be snowed in and have to listen to us. I think it's already melted. Oh, has it?
Okay. Yeah, it's a bad forecast. If you're not from North Carolina, it's going to be supposedly a lot of snow coming this weekend.
Well, it's everywhere. I mean, it's not just North Carolina, it's literally from Texas. Two. Here's the Up into New England and all the way down to southern Georgia. Oh, so you'll be wherever you're at.
It's snowmageddon. Snowmageddon is happening right now. I guess that's what I get for not watching the news for the last decade or so. Anyway, welcome to Masculine Journey. We are returning to our foundation series.
Yes, I know we took a little bit of time off. From that, just to focus on the holidays, on Christmas and New Year time, and then talk about our word of the year, which we will get back to that in a few weeks. We have one more rendition of that to go through, one more edition, whatever you want to say, on that. Whatever the correct word is, I'm sure Jim will tell me here in just a little bit. But anyway, we're going to be talking about the beginning.
of this whole ministry. You know, we're calling it in the beginning. And actually, we're going to start a little bit before the beginning of the ministry, you know, and how that happens. Kind of like the John 1:1. Yeah.
In the beginning, you know, the Word was God, the Word was with God. Yeah. And so, Darren, let's start with you, if you don't mind, on how did this start to come up to be. You know what we are today. Oh man.
Well I went to a boot camp. out in Colorado in 2008, Jim had already been to one by that time, you had already been to one by that time, but we didn't know each other. We didn't even know each other existed. But went to a boot camp, went back to another one in March of Twenty. of 2009.
And uh Kind of for the first time. heard God speaking to me in a kind way. Um I had all the way back in probably 2003. told God I'm I'm done with ministry. I'd pastored three churches over roughly about 20 years.
And uh I had said I'm I'm done with ministry, not going to do that again, because you can't protect me. Ultimately, this was the perhaps agreement that I was living under. That's time, but God was working on that, and I went out to Colorado because I was a very broken guy, and I was looking for some healing. Went to the first boot camp, didn't get All that I was hoping for. um went back to one A few months later.
And kind of went with no expectations. And God showed up. in a in a huge way. Came back to North Carolina. Excited.
Met Jim at that boot camp actually on Sunday morning before we packed out to go home. Didn't know he existed either, but he and I lived roughly in the same community.
So. Um We chatted for just a moment and said, Yeah, definitely, let's get in touch when we get home. Um But I came home and talked to Sheila about it and prayed about it because I I did feel like God had said to me at that boot camp Um All right. go take this to other broken guys just like yourself. I had a lot of objections to that, but um Sheila and I went to a movie a few Weeks later.
And that movie was Defiance? Um And if you don't know the story of Defiance, I'll It's it's about a group of brothers. that are just about as broken as you could possibly be and messed up and everything else. And They end up saving thousands of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust and uh When I walked out of the theater I couldn't say much, but I did look at Sheila and say, Okay, if if those guys True story if those guys can do that. I don't have many excuses left.
for not doing what God's called me to do. And so Started Looking in the phone book. That was a thing we had back then, you know, for you younger listeners. No, I looked online, looked at Ransom Heart Allies and things like that, found this. weird ministry called Goodheart Ministries and Carnersville, North Carolina and called the guy up and It was you.
And so we began that conversation. And so for me, it started. I went to my first boot camp in 2002 and I came back excited. I lived in Indiana at the time. And I came back excited because I wanted to do boot camps.
You know, I just knew in my heart I wanted to do boot camps. And so I had, I was so arrogant about who was going to be in my Band of Brothers. I was going to have one. I had everybody's name written in a book. These are all the people that are going to be doing this.
They're going to be excited. They're going to do this with me. I don't think any of them ever read the book, as far as I know. When I gave it to him and got shot down. And I had other friends that went with me, and they were starting to do boot camps in other parts of Indiana, and I'm like, Wow, God, I guess it's just me, you know, that you don't want kind of thing.
And so I went back again and went a third time to Advance Camp, and that's actually in 2005 when I heard him tell me Goodheart Ministries. You know, and so that's a story for another day. Um 'cause that that was a monumental talk that that helped me with some really woundedness. Was the good heart that they talk about.
So I came back and was by this time in 2007, God. enticed me to come down to North Carolina. Didn't anticipate ever coming down here. Came down here. About two years later, my company had brought me down shut their doors.
And my wife and I had to decide in February Late February of 2009, where we're going to stay in North Carolina or go back to Indiana. All of her family was back there. A safe life was back there. We both felt like he called us to stay here, even though I wasn't sure what that looked like. And uh So we stayed here, and it wasn't a week later that I got a call from Darren saying, Hey, would you be interested in doing some boot camps?
I know you don't know me. You know, and it was like, Okay, God, thank you. That was an answer to prayer, and we'll talk about it from there. But, Jim, what about your? Because there were four of us that started the original boot camp.
Right. Yeah. Uh my experience uh going into it. In 2003, I had no clue. about this at all.
And a good friend from seminary, Tom, sent me a you need to go do this on your way to Alaska 'cause God God had spoken to me basically I mean, I'd heard from him multiple times in my life, but this was the first Here's your assignment. And it was to go to Alaska. That's all we really do. And uh We took off there and ended up And one of the things, I had the same experience with experiencing God. that you had with boot camps and that I had all these people I was going to lead through it, and none of the ones I.
Had decided God wanted me to. talked to were the ones. And the first what I did I We started with eight people and ended up with one other couple. And that Grew into my leading multiples, and that's what we did in Alaska. But on the way, I went to see Barry Strickland doing a boot camp, and it was a week-long boot camp.
So we basically had one lesson a day almost. And the rest of the time, we were fishing and having a blast. And that hooked me. And he gave me a copy at the end of the week. of Wild at heart.
And I took it home and read it and God hooked me again. Mm-hmm. But I'm stopping 'cause I thought no, we'll hear the music. I couldn't see the numbers. Oh, yeah, we'll hear the music.
But from that point, and and then Darren and I met On a Sunday morning, we're that last meal together. and found out we were Virtually neighbors. I made for two guys to meet in Colorado that are from Kernersville. Yeah. Miraculous enough.
And then the three of us got together. The fourth, that was mentioned, wasn't a local, but he was instrumental in getting things started. And uh The early meetings We had particularly in the park our Really We're a major turning point in getting into and staying with this ministry. Yeah. And so there's a lot more to those stories, and we'll get back to it here after we go to Uh break, but I don't know.
The difference that this has made in my life, and we'll all talk about this at some point, I can't even. Uh I I can't measure. I can't measure what kind of father I would have been had this message not come into my life. Um I'm hoping I'll be a much better husband this next time than I was before. I was, if it's any consolation to having one better.
Having a much better wife doesn't hurt. Yeah, that might help. But, you know, it's having going through changing. In my heart. Right, that you know, I'm hoping that that makes a difference for others, and that's just on the personal side, and we all have those stories on the personal side.
But God's also blessed us in these adventures that we get to do, not only the radio show, but especially the boot camps. Yeah, you know, we love doing the radio show, and it's a big part of what we do. And honestly, when we do the radio show each week, it's so we can also meet as a band of brothers. That's when we talk about life. That's when we do some things together.
That's when we grow. And that's why we took a break during the holidays, is to foster that some more, to stimulate it some more. And then where we really. Come to life fully is that when we go to a boot camp. You know, it's when you're on mission, that's when you're out with God, and that's when you're seeing God's hand.
not only in the men's lives that come to the camp, but in the lives of the team and in your life as you prepare to go. Right, and Jim, as we've talked about, and Darren and Robby and all you guys, we've been to several boot camps. There's never been one. The god doesn't show up. and give us something new.
Right. And so when you once you've had that, Man, you want to keep going about it and you want to get on the air and talk about it.
so that other people can experience that. Yeah, I Um, I ge it was probably the third boot camp that we had that was at Caraway. I think we did three at Caraway. And um That third boot camp. Um Was probably the single most instrumental breakthrough for me personally at one of those boot camps, and it came with.
Your wife, my wife, and Mark's wife. Praying over me, something I totally did not expect and probably didn't deserve, but it changed my world. Absolutely.
Well, go to mascoandjourney.org. We do have a boot camp coming up. It's March 12th through 15th in beautiful Royston, Georgia. Go to register now. If you're having financial issues getting there, just let us know and we'll help find you a way to get you there.
We'll talk to you after the break. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. At first, I had no clue what I was walking into. And then realizing that other people are in the same boat and, you know, how open everybody was to share their struggle is a great group, and a lot of talking was able to be done.
It is a tight bond of men. Everybody's the same. And each and every time that I've come to boot camp, I've learned something different. And not one man that's ever been there neglects not to take time out to talk or to share. It's serious business, and you need to come one time to break bread with the men and fellowship, feel the atmosphere, hear the people pray, and get down to earth about what's going on in life and get real.
Register today at masculinejourney.org. How did I begin leaving? Ironically, that's the end of that song. I just thought about that. That's Chicago, and it's called The Beginning.
Right, and so they play that for about it seems like a minute, you know, at the end of that song. But uh, you know, I was trying to find a clip that talked about the beginning because the topic of the show was in the beginning. Uh, that one really kind of stood out to me because we could look back at those times and say it was We didn't know what it was only going to be the beginning of what it was going to become. Right. And all the obstacles we'd have along the way.
Right. And and all the heartbreak. You know, and uh I don't think I think we would have still done it if we knew all those things. But, you know, I'm glad we didn't know when we got started. Yeah, I think you said it right.
I think we would have. I'd like to think that w we would have. But there has been some pretty brutal heartache that we've gone through together Helping each other through at times or causing accentuating the hurt. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we have.
Well, Darren, I wanted to go back to the clip that you had. You talked about seeing the movie Defiance, and so we're going to play that trailer. And I want to come back and just have you kind of talk about what hit you in that thing. That's here we go. Oh.
You are hiding here in the forest? We will start rebuilding the lives that you have all lost. Everyone will work. There are no exceptions. And we will become warriors.
Fire! And anyone else? Would rather fight than wait to be killed.
Now is your chance. We may be hunted like animals, but we will not become animals. We've all chosen this. Every day of freedom is an act of freedom. Yeah.
I almost lost my. But you were sent by God to save us.
So, what you heard there at the very end, obviously, was the rabbi, the guy that should have been the community leader. that should have been leading And did in a lot of ways. I don't want to minimize that. But God used some people that did not have it all together instead of those people who seemingly did. Right.
Um. God used those brothers and and a few others. To come together and one person at a time, five persons at a time. gather people out in the forest and they oddly enough, didn't want people to come follow them. They just went out to the forest to hide and and to b basically deal with the massive hurt that just happened in their life because their family had been massacred.
And they came home to that one day and all four of them ended up out, you know, kinda in the woods and found each other And then before long... one person and then another person and then another person came. And that began to grow and grow and grow. And so After watching that and then hearing that almost last phrase of the movie, that wasn't the exact last phrase, but it was close. and then reading all the credits.
And seeing all the lives and all the children and the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren that are. in existence today because those guys did what they did then. Um It was a massive conviction to my heart. Because I had been saying, God, I don't know. I think you're playing a trick on me.
I'm probably not even hearing you right. And And I I was I think looking for a lot of ways to not do what it is that we've done. Absolutely.
So Jim? One of the, and I'm going to steal one of Darren's words here: those four knuckleheads. That didn't really have a clue, but we heard from God. And we resemble that because we were going to do it our way at times, and that's caused a lot of the heartache. It did.
But when God is leading it, He keeps control. It's when that go when we think it's off the rails, He brings it back. intact and that beginning as come to this point and the numbers that have been touched are Significant. Yeah, we'll never know. And it really is: it's all God, it's not us, but He used us.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, when I look at that movie, um you'd asked me to watch it, you know, after that and I I watched it and it motivated me a lot. But what you saw in those guys was they saw something that needed to have action taken. Right? They needed to go out and do something.
And I can't speak for you guys, but I'm assuming because I know you pretty well that when God did the work in your heart, you wanted other people to feel that. And something had to be done. I knew that something had to be done to get this message of freedom, this message of restoration. into people's hands. You know, and so you Darren calls He talks with Jim, he calls me, he has our friend Mark that you met at a camp.
Right, from Tennessee, that was going to do it. And I kind of envisioned it sounded like this when Darren. Heard that, so let me play this clip real quick. It's from Lord of the Rings, and these are all the people volunteering to be a part of a journey. Uh I will take the ring to Moldor.
No. I do not know the way. I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Bergens, as long as it is yours to bear. If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword, and you have my bow.
And my axe.
So, as I was watching this clip, it made me laugh a little bit. I mean, Darren, you don't look anything like Frodo, but in this scenario, you are Frodo, right? You know, you're going to do this thing, God's laid it on your heart, and without you being the catalyst, it never would have happened. I don't believe it. I really don't believe it would have happened because I don't think any of us would have taken that initiative.
And so, with you, you know, that happened, and you're the Frodo in this story. And, Jim, I'm going to make you Gandalf because, you know, you're very tall and you often walk with a staff. Right? You know, Mark, I would have to put maybe his legolis, I'm thinking. You know, just because, you know, you never know where Mark's going to come from.
We love him dearly, but Mark gets us to see things other people don't. Right. And then I would just have to be Gimli because I'm shaped like him, you know? And it's kind of funny that in that The characters I identify with most are Samuels and Gimli. And at two meters tall, I'm not close to either of them.
No. No. And then, you know, the other hobbits like Harold came along later in the story. And so we'll let him speak at the next show, the after hours. But no, we spend a lot of time on the beginning of the beginning.
You know, and when we get into after hours, we're going to go faster through some of that story and let some of the other guys talk about when they kind of came into the picture and what that's done for them.
So if you've enjoyed this, please go and listen to the after hours podcast. If you're listening to us on the radio, if you're already listening to us on podcasts, you already know it.
So, you know, I don't really have to talk about that. But guys, as we're getting ready to finish up with this first segment, is there anything you'd like to add that we didn't get a chance to say? Is there anything that comes to your mind? Yeah. This is as cheesy as anything I've ever said.
But If there are guys out there listening. And they know how broken they are. That's the key, A, number one. No God, know how broken you are. If you're arrogant enough to think that you've got the answers, go ahead and pause.
But. If you're broken. And you know that God's working on you, and you're dealing with your woundedness. and God's called you to do something like this. Take the risk.
It may not happen for years as it didn't for you. Um And it may be very scary like it was, you know, for me. Um Whole nother story for different days, but I had run ahead of God a lot in my life, and so. He had to convince me that he was faster than I was. And uh And he finally did.
So I would I would generally say be careful. Find a band of brothers. Don't do it by yourself. And you know, take the risk, but be very careful with each other's hearts, because it will not be easy. and you will hurt each other.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
One of the things in that clip that hit me, and this is about freedom.
so we can sit and wait to die. Or we can fight for our freedom. That was an exact quote, but and and this was a very freeing experience over the decades now. But this ministry has been in my life. And I don't want to go back to the slavery that most Christians are in, whether they realize it or not.
Yeah. I know that there's times, guys, that Honestly, on Tuesday night, I'm tired. I've had a long day at work. whatever the answer is, I don't really feel like coming, and I know those are the days I really need to. Right.
Because without this Without this connection that you guys bring to me, every week, my life would be significantly different. And it keeps me grounded. It keeps me, I love the radio show because it keeps us in the topics. that bring us more freedom. right, to bring us more restoration.
that bring us more intimacy, With God, because you can't try to find a clip without God speaking to your heart on it. I mean, you just can't. I mean, I guess you probably could, but you'd be wasting that time. You know, and so it's pretty cool that how God continues to use that to shape our hearts and. to continue to move us more in into a deeper relationship with him.
You know, because that's where we're going to find all these things that our heart calls for. I feel like I have to say that Guys wouldn't be listening to us right now, had Robby not tried to talk me out of doing radio several years ago. That was probably the thing that I needed to hear the most to go, okay, let's do it. But you know, what guys are experiencing today through the airwaves. Robbys.
Primarily responsible for. Yeah. Well, we appreciate you listening to this beginning of this. It's not going to be a series. It's going to be a couple shows in the beginning.
And next show we'll talk through some of. Our good parts and our bad parts a little bit. We'll mention those, and we'll really get to the other guys and let them speak on how this ministry's moved their heart and continues to move their heart. Go to masconjourney.org to register for the upcoming boot camp. It's March 12th through 15th.
If you haven't seen Royston, Georgia, you need to. It's a really cool area. Lots of cool things down there. If you need anything from us, just reach out to us.
