Hometown Men's Ministry

Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk the truth. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together.

Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Good afternoon, everyone. It's Andy Bowersox here again from Energize Ministries. I've got a great buddy of mine in the studio here with us today, Mr. Mike Dillon. Mike, how are we feeling right off the bat?

Doing great. I'm excited about doing this. I feel like either the last time I was over here, maybe the time before, I think you were in here with me then too.

I think probably, probably talking about the same kind of stuff. Hometown men's fellowship over and welcome. Yeah, so we're gonna, we're gonna get to that, but I got a question for you guys. You know, if you remember, I lead a ministry that's called Energize Ministries that provides encouragement, refreshment, and recreational retreats for pastors and their families.

Been doing this now for 15 years. Seems like an eternity at this point. But anyway, we provide encouragement, and I want to know, or we want you to know, what is the most encouraging thing that you've heard or seen from God so far this year? Mike, I'm looking at you right in front.

I'm gonna ask you that question too in just, just a minute so you have time to think about it. But what's the most encouraging thing you've heard or seen from God so far this year? 866-348-7884. That's the number to call in. Truth Talk Live.

It's 866-348-7884 or 866-348-TRUTH. Either one of those will get you to the same place, but we want to hear from you today. The most encouraging thing you've heard or seen from God this year.

Let's make it interactive. Let's celebrate the encouraging things that God's doing in our lives with each other. Certainly that's the reason Mike is in the studio here today. It's been, it's been a little over two years ago since I first heard of Hometown Men's Fellowship and what the Lord has done in Mike's life.

And honestly, Mike, I feel like we ought to just jump into it a little bit. I'd like to get a little testimony. What is Hometown Men's Fellowship? How did it come about? And let's hear a little bit about it. Well, it, it started, it started with a friend, Mark Cook, sending me a bookmark and, or not a bookmark, actually sending me a book. And he said, I wanted to thank you for, for what you did for Blake, which is his son, uh, trying to help him a little bit in racing.

And, uh, we'll hang on a minute. We probably give a little background for those of, for those in this audience that don't know who you are. You're in the NASCAR racing world.

You want to give us just a little bit of history of what that means? Uh, well, um, uh, I work at RCR, Richard Childers Racing, and, uh, both of my sons drive in the, uh, cup series, uh, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon. Right. So if you're not, if you're, I don't know where you're listening from, you live up North and Philadelphia, where I grew up, that might not mean a whole lot, but here in the South NASCAR, the cup series, that's the premier racing league.

It's nationally televised, got a lot of following. And so Mike Dillon is sitting here with us. He has two boys that actually race in the top tier series there.

So his world is racing, high profile, high pressure, high stress, all that stuff. And in the middle of that, you meet a guy that wrote a book that did what? He wrote a book and he sent it to me and said, uh, Hey, this, this book changed my life and I hope it can do the same for you said, thank you for helping Blake. So I stuck it on the shelf and, uh, like, uh, you know, then I, something, something kept pulling me back to it and take a look at it. Finally, I picked it up and read it, opened up the, and read the front part of it one day. And, uh, and then it got all the way to, to, to the testimony in it. And it sounded a lot like mine. And then, uh, I realized that it was actually Mark who wrote the book and I didn't really realize that it probably didn't take the time to look and see who the author was honestly.

And, uh, so then, uh, realized what it was. It's basically, it's really a bootcamp is what it is. It's a 30 day, uh, uh, process for you to learn how to pray every day. When you start your day off, pray every day, um, to God, then for your family and then, then for your career, your workplace and, and keep your life in that order. And then it, uh, and then read your Bible and, uh, start your day off that way. It's, you know, so it's a bootcamp to get you into studying the Bible, get you on your knees and reading your Bible. That's the, that's the main thing.

That's what it's going to work with you. It worked. I, uh, I did it and, uh, I committed to it. It was about two weeks before it was going to be in August. August the first was coming up and it was about two weeks. I said, well, you know what, I'm going to do this, but I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna start August 1st. I figured I can do anything for 30 days.

I probably need it. You know, I've, uh, I've known God my whole life, uh, through my grandmother and was saved when I was 17 years old, but I was, I was living the fleshly way, the world, what the world says, how we should live. And, uh, uh, I thought I had it together, you know, pretty good. But I, you know, I always, like I said, I always, I always had, I always had the Holy Spirit with me and just didn't realize it from the time I accepted him as my savior and, uh, never really realized it because I thought I had it all in control. And then, uh, but once I, once I started this, this, um, prayer time and reading the Bible and I built a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and, uh, it's changed my whole life, changed my heart.

You know, I moved it. A lot of people say it. It's like, you know, you hear it a lot.

I hear like moving it from your head to your heart, but that's the truth. And it's, you know, and they're actually what comes out of your mouth. What comes out of your mouth comes from your heart and a good, bad heart, the mouth speaks. Yeah. And that's the truth. That is true.

Truly the truth. And, uh, um, so it was a life changing thing for me. And, uh, it started, it started really, um, uh, working for me. And, uh, then the Holy Spirit told me that I needed to share it with some people and I thought, how am we going to do that? And not though over at the race shop, we have a pretty big venue that we can, uh, bring some people in.

And I wanted to, you know, this is the first hour for me and is the name of the book. And I wanted to, so I talked to a preacher pain who's our preacher, who's been with us at RCR for over 25 years. How many guys work at RCR? We're close to 400 people, you know, all about 400 people in this race shop.

So this is, this is a lot of people you're in contact with. Yep. Yep.

Yep. Thought I was going to have, I said, well, I said, let's try to get 300 men together and share this. Well, hang on a minute. Let's, let's go before, before you even got to that, like at some point in there, this has become very real to you. Life changing.

You're latched onto it and you know that the Lord wants you to share it with other people. Yes. Okay.

Yeah. So you decided to say, let's put, let's, let's do it. Let's pick a date, a time. We're going to get some guys together and we're going to share what the Lord has done in your life.

Some of the guys that you're close with and see what happens. Yeah. Okay. And uh, and uh, they said, you think we can get 300? And I said, well, there's 400 here. Probably. I said, I can shame a few of them in the coming. So I figured 300 was a good number. Didn't even think of the number 300, you know, being biblical or anything like that.

Just, just I picked it out of, I don't know why I pick it. You know, now, so, uh, um, we started, we started doing what we thought would be best, you know, go out and try to let people know where we're going to do this. Um, did we do the radio show then? We did it last year. I don't think we did it the first year. I don't think so.

No. And uh, uh, just put it out. Um, Mitch class, who's, uh, uh, well, he's one of the, he's one of the guys, you know, there's about five of us that do this together and he's one of them.

He does all of our social media and stuff like that. And he started putting it out. And, uh, um, anyway, long story short, over 700 guys showed up, showed up for what, uh, to the shop, to the, for the, to, to talk about God, to be able to share with. And it was like, we were sitting there and like, yeah, you know, I'm literally a week before we're like, you know, we think we're going to get 300 people to show up. And we're really, you know, we had made a comment before. It really didn't matter. You know, if one could, if we could get one person to understand it would be a success.

Right. And that's the way it should be when you're thinking about sharing what God's done in your life and sharing it with others, trying to bring them to understand what they can have with the Holy Spirit, leading their steps. And it was, um, it was, um, uh, unreal that, that evening when these men just kept coming in and they kept coming in. Oh, anyway, I'll get to the, I was going to shame 300 of them from shop to come. I think I had about 25 guys from the race shop show up and, uh, because I really didn't, I just thought they knew we were doing it.

I really didn't push it. We could have got a few more, but the rest of them, uh, God brought them. So it was, it was, so I want to paint a picture for the, for the benefit of those that don't get to see you and know you.

I'm sitting here in the studio with Mike Dillon. He's a country boy from North Carolina, likes racing, likes hunting, likes being out in the woods. Just a, just a guy's guy that God called to reach other men. And in the small town of welcome North Carolina, about 700 guys showed up to hear the message, to learn how to be a better husband. And we're taking this same event to other places right now, small town America. Stay tuned. When we come back, we'll tell you more about encouraging things that God is doing in our worlds.

And we want to hear it from you. You're listening to the truth network and truth network.com. Welcome back to truth talk live today.

I am your host. Andy Bowers socks from energize ministries eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. What's the most encouraging thing you've heard or seen from God this year?

We want to hear your stories. The most encouraging thing you've heard or seen from God so far this year, eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. Before we went to the break, we were listening to Mike talk about something very encouraging. Uh, if you were listening with us before Mike was talking about, uh, just the, the, the radical transformation that growing closer to the Lord has, has taken place in his life and his call. I'm, I'm going to say it's a calling to share that with other men in a, in a guy's environment, right? Phil filled with like, no, no estrogen. This is all guy talk. It's kind of raw and uh, and some like, so you put on this event where you got up on the stage, you shared what the Lord's been doing in your life, brought a couple of buddies, shared the same thing.

Very relatable as unfiltered. It was, it was just straight up. This is what God's doing in our lives and we're all a work in progress. And out of that came a Bible study.

Am I right about that? Well, yeah. What happened the first year, um, first we also had Guilford there opening up and having some more worship. I got to get them out there. But, uh, that was awesome to have them there.

Parker Webb and his sister. And, uh, but, um, we didn't, we didn't follow back up after that first year. So as one of the things we figured, we said, you know, our goal was to get men one in their Bible on their knees, in their Bible and in a church right and find a church located somewhere near where they might be. Cause we brought all those pastors out to have lunch with them and tell them what our mission was. So the second year we said, okay, this time we have to follow up and maybe, you know, try to do something and bring the pastors to it so they can meet, uh, men and, and where maybe figure out where they're located and bring them and they say, our church is here.

It might work for you. Right. So, uh, that was our goal the second year.

Okay. We need to do something. And we did a Bible study in the second year. We had an another large crowd, uh, show up and it was, uh, incredible. And it was what was really, uh, uh, pretty amazing. There was a lot of, there was different men there this time.

And the number was about the same, a little over 700 people. But the, but the thing is you felt like, Lord, would you follow up with a Bible study? Yes. And we actually have somebody from that Bible study on the phone in here.

Apparently wants to give a little testimony. Jamal, Jamal, are you with us here on the phone right now? Yes sir.

Andy, I'm here. Thanks for taking my call. Yeah. You want to make a comment about the Bible study? Uh, yes sir. I did. Hey Mike, I'm glad to bet you're on the radio and I'm glad to talk to you over the radio.

Uh, yeah. So I know that you put out a question about, um, uh, what, what really moved you, but really I'm gonna, gonna go off script a little bit if you don't mind, Andy. Oh, keep, keep it tight, Jamal.

I'll, I'll keep it tight. Um, so mainly I just wanted to brag on you all and let the listeners know this is a great Bible study. I haven't been to a Bible study about this ever in my life. Um, Andy said that Mike's a man's man.

Uh, this is true. This is a man's Bible study. No offense for the ladies out there, but, uh, those guys we need to kind of like, uh, re-up with some other, other men, the guys and the Bible studies and is held in a racing museum. We're surrounded by parts and racing cars and all that.

So I mean, it doesn't get hardly much, uh, manlier than that. Uh, also there's a little, uh, wildlife, uh, exhibit, uh, in that same racing museum, just to add on to the mailing mailing isn't in the whole testosterone bit. But, uh, one of my favorite things about, uh, the Bible study is it's free flowing. So if we need testimonies there, we'd be, we'd be give it.

If we need prayers there, but he's laying hands on the guy. We do it. Uh, we bring young folks in. It's, it's a great time.

Uh, I've been going ever since they opened up. So I recommend anybody else to show up in things, somebody to get you. Hey, Jamal, that's a great testimony and it actually paints a great image. You know what, what more manly stuff can you get that's sitting around a bunch of race cars and wildlife and guns and ATVs and all that stuff that's in there, which, which kind of brings me to the next point. I mean, part of the reason that we're talking about this today is, is God has really, you know, has given Mike the vision for this. He's the leader of it, but it's designed for small town America. Um, and so we're, we're sort of helping and, and bringing this same event to our amphitheater up in Martinsville, Virginia. It's going to be next Thursday night, May 15th at our outdoor amphitheater. If, uh, you know, if you're not familiar with that at our retreat center outside of Martinsville, Virginia, we've got, uh, we've got an outdoor amphitheater stage there that's, that's cut into the hillside. There's fire pits that come around that it's an unbelievable place for worship. And, uh, and listen, if you get, you're in this listening area and you got guys that, you know, maybe are a little distant from the Lord, maybe he's trying to figure it out.

Maybe, you know, they don't even know what they, what they don't know or what they, what they need by all means. Send an invitation. You can go to Mike is at hometown men's fellowship.com. What's the website for this thing?

It's a, it should be hometown men's fellowship.com hometown men's fellowship.com. Check it out. You'll have an opportunity to come. You know, all this is a gift.

There's no charge for it. It's literally just a chance to, to hear some stories of what God's doing. Just, just like we asked.

Um, and Jamal, before you hang up, I want, I want to hear the most encouraging thing it's in your personal life this year too. But the, you know, next, next week, it's a little over a week from now, May 15th, it'd be at 7 PM at the Energize Amphitheater, Martinsville, Virginia. Bring your guys, bring you, this is a kid friendly thing too. I mean, Mike, you told me there's some young guys that are showing up at this Bible study, right? Yeah, we had, um, uh, and we had actually two, uh, players from High Point University come and give their testimony. It was incredible. We had almost 90 men there that evening and some high school, um, me in there and a young man about 14 years old, uh, accepted Christ that night. That was like totally unexpected. It was awesome. It was incredible. And, uh, yeah, we have regular guys from, uh, uh, high school, Oak Grove and North Davidson that come every Tuesday night and anybody's welcome.

It starts at seven o'clock on Tuesday night. It's at the RCR racing museum and it's, uh, it's free and, uh, come out and share, share the word with us and teach us something. That's what we're all there for. You know, it's all learn from each other.

That's right. You know, I was reading this thing, you know, about what is a man's role, trying to look at, you know, some of this and a man, we were supposed to lead our families and it also says, uh, iron sharpens iron and, and me, I need to stand up and do what they're supposed to be doing. And then, uh, we, we gotta, we gotta start pushing that you guys are hearing it right from the horse's mouth. Founder of hometown men's fellowship, Mike Dillon. Uh, we've got Jamal on the phone. Jamal attends this Bible study was, was given a great testimony for it here with us. Well, maybe we'll have to get him over one of these days. But Jamal, tell, tell us in your own personal life, bud, what's the, what's the most encouraging thing you've seen or heard from God this year?

Um, well, not to sound, uh, you know, like I'm just a kissing up or anything. One of the things is, uh, the RCR men's Bible study. Um, and then I got to give a shout out to stew and the gang truth network.

Uh, of course, the shout out to you, Andy Bowersox for, you know, hosting this event as well. And for what you're doing for, for pastors. Um, uh, it's really a culmination of all of this, to see God's hand moving in this society in this time to where again, make a come together and really worship the Lord and not feel weird about it and encourage, uh, encourage others.

Uh, there's a lot of isolation going on and you can come here and be real, get encouraged, feel empowered to go out there and do what you need to do. Like Mike said, man, that's one of the things that God has been doing in my life. Hopefully he's doing it in other people's lives as well. Yeah. Amen. Great. Great word. Um, yeah. A little bit of the next sec. Yeah. Thank you.

Thanks for calling in Jamal. So someone else, have you got a story to tell? What's the most encouraging thing you've heard or seen from God this year? We want to hear it.

We want to celebrate with you. Uh, you know, the Bible talks about encouraging each other, edifying each other. And, uh, so we want to do that on this show. 866-348-7884, 866-348-TRUTH.

Either one will get you in here. But, uh, you know, I mentioned earlier and, and some of you guys know, I've, I've done this several times with Stu, our ministry about encouraging, supporting pastors and their family. It's been 15 years for us. And right before I came over here, we were just talking about the faithfulness of God for 15 years, how he's provided for us, allowed us to serve his, his servants and their families. And so we come back, we're gonna talk a little bit more about that too. And, uh, and also follow up on, on what happened this past week at the hometown men's Bible study.

So stay tuned. You're listening to the truth network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to truth talk live.

It's Andy Bowersox again from energized ministries in the studio with Mike Dillon from hometown men's fellowship. And we're talking about the most encouraging things we've seen or heard from God this year. If you got a story, something that will encourage us and encourage other listeners, we want to hear it. What, what's God been doing in your life? What's he showed you? Uh, what's he, what's he been speaking to you about and what have you seen him do? 866-348-7884, 866-348-TRUTH.

Either one of those options will get you right here to us and, and we want to hear your stories. But, uh, just a little reminder, you know, I come here quite a bit and, uh, some of you guys know our ministry. You follow along with us energized ministries for 15 years now.

This is our 15th year anniversary. And just before we came over here, we were having that same kind of discussion about what are the encouraging things that we've seen God do. And I remember my very first radio experience was right here in the same studio with Robbie Dilmore and it was right at the very beginning of our ministry. And at that time, you know, I had a different career. Um, I would have called it marketplace ministry and, uh, and Robbie had this idea of doing a show that was a transition type show about moving people from what we would have said, marketplace ministry into full-time Christian service. And uh, and you know, he asked if I'd come in and join this program.

And like I said, this is almost 15 years ago now. And, uh, so I came on and, and Robbie was asking, you know, what are, what are sort of the fruits of your ministry? What's it, what's it really mean to care for your pastors?

What are you doing exactly? You know, how does that make any sense? And, uh, I, I didn't know how to answer the question.

How does it make any sense? I, I very confused, but, uh, but very clear on what God was asking me personally to do, to spend my time encouraging pastors, encouraging their families. And so, so we talked about it on the air just exactly like we're doing now. And after that show was over, I remember taking the headphones off and looking at Robbie and I said, Robbie, this is just a train wreck. You know, I was nervous at that time. I didn't feel like I could, you know, effectively share what God was doing.

And, uh, I just thought it was a mess. And so I remember Robbie, you know, being that voice of encouragement to me and saying, you know, Andy, maybe the way that God uses this is there's somebody up in Canada listening to what you're doing for these pastors. And, and that guy is, is going to go quail hunting this weekend. And he says, maybe that guy is, is going to invite this pastor to come along on this, on this quail hunting trip. And it just might be something that pastor needs at that moment in his life to help him through the week.

And I remember shrugging that comment off and it went out to my car. And as I was driving out of the parking lot, just as clear as I could tell you, I just felt like the handler touching me on the shoulder and saying, Andy, you have no idea why I've asked you to do this, but I want you to encourage a nation of believers to be actively investing in the lives of their pastors and their families. And it was so foreign to me. And it just, it struck me as such a crazy idea because I had just, just entered into this world of full-time ministry. It was, everything was new. It's hard. It's been hard for 15 years for that matter.

But, uh, but I didn't understand. I just knew that's what God was asking me to do. And so now here we are, I wish Robbie was in here right now, actually like 15 years later and, and God has shown us exactly why we're doing what we do, has given us opportunities to partner with, with media networks, stations like this all over the nation, and really to raise up an army of believers that are committed to reinvesting in the lives of their own pastors. We can't do it on our own. Our, our ministry has been very fortunate. God's been good to us. He's given us a lot of resources to share, but we're constantly being that, um, I would call it an advocacy group to raise other people, to remind the general lay person sitting in the back view of the church that you can be that voice of encouragement. You can be the one to pick out the mantle of prayer for your pastors, for their families. And it's needed. You know, I say all the time, prayer is, is the most powerful tool we have as a Christian, as a believer, as a child of the King of Kings to have access, to talk to him.

And it's the most, it's the least utilized tool that we have. We, we need to embrace it. We need to embrace it on behalf of our pastors and our leaders. And, and to that end, you know, one of the things I wanted to bring up is we produce national pastor care training, um, seminars, events, content, and uh, and we've got some coming up this summer. So if you're, if you're listening right now and you, you know, you have a heart for your pastor, for your, for your pastor's family, we would love to connect with you.

You can certainly do it at energizeministries.com. You can go to pastorcaretraining.com and uh, and either way we want to, we want to connect with you. We want to send you some resources, some material, certainly to, to stay in touch with us. I will tell you in 15 years, our entire ministry has never charged, not, not a single penny for anything that we offer. We are a gift of appreciation to pastors and their families. And we are constantly like looking to grow this army of believers that are committed to giving back. So if that's of interest to you, that's just a little plug for, for energized ministries, a little, a little FYI of why we do what we do, how we do it. We're very grateful for stations like this and, and many others that help us spread the word.

But we also want to hear your stories. So 866-348-7884, what has God done? Jamal called in and gave us some great testimony. There's gotta be others out there that, uh, if you need a little prompting and you're listening to right now, don't be shy about telling us what the Lord's done.

It's encouraging to others and, and, and, uh, one, one word of encouragement has exponential results to it with others too. So I want to get back to Mike for, before all this, we were talking about the Bible study that grew out of your hometown men's fellowships event and you had something kind of cool that happened this past week. Give us a little, just give us a little synopsis of what happened this last week at it. Well, we had a, um, it was from one of the men from their church, a young man named, uh, Russ Clodfelter. His dad is rusty. Um, he's got, um, cerebral palsy and he's in a wheelchair.

He can't talk. He talks through a computer and he came in and did our Bible study and he, I believe he's 22 years old and it just, I can't tell you unless you just the, the power it was that he, he spoke and we did the Bible study and we interacted and I'm telling you, it was probably the one of the best ones, if not the best Bible study we've had because everybody, people that haven't, haven't had input as much really spoke up and shared with what he did. And, uh, so if you look up, he's, he's got a website, he's on all the social medias, Russ Clodfelter. He's out of Shady Grove Methodist Church in Wahlberg and, um, it was amazing, uh, what he came out and did and shared with us last night. So that was, that was super cool. I want to, I want to make a, I want to make another comment on, uh, something I'm listening to you talk about, uh, energized ministries and what, what it's for, for the pastors and stuff by no means, I'm not a pastor and not, but not yet anyway. Yeah.

Well, okay. But you're, you're preaching, dude, let me give you credit for that. Well, the, the point of it is, is I find, uh, and it actually happened this week, the closer you get to God, the harder you, not harder, the more you work and more you commit your life to it, the more, uh, Satan's going to throw things at you. You know what I'm saying?

He's going to come at you in ways and it's make you feel not worthy or, or not capable of doing it. Or maybe I'm, I'm not knowledgeable enough in my Bible. And I'm gonna tell you something that's pretty simple to, you know, the two greatest commandments.

That's, it's a pretty simple thing. And we, we, we discussed that this past week a little bit, but listen to what you're saying about these pastors and re-energizing these, these guys, just the, you know, what I do, just the efforts that you and I try to try to do for the Lord and the, and the spiritual battle that you in when you're trying to do that, I can't imagine. And we have four or five pastors is, is this is awesome too, that come to our Bible studies. The point of the Bible study was to get me in, in a church close to them. And this Bible study has gone on now.

I don't know how long it's been since, since last October and it's six months at least. So, and it's strong and it's awesome and we're not stopping. And again, I want to invite more, more gum, but is, can you imagine a pastor that's got a couple of hundred, just say you got a couple of hundred people at your church, not these Megan 3000 people, what they get every single day from their congregation, the load. Can you imagine the spiritual, you know, we're in a spiritual battle at times with, with what we think something, I mean, that's, that is, I couldn't imagine it, right. You know, sitting and listening because that's where I don't, you know, anybody out there that's listening right now, you might, you know, you might think, well, what, you know, why the pastor, he comes in and preaches on Sunday and leaves the church a little bit, but man, no, he listens to every problem, every situation that somebody's got going on every day and takes that on. And you take that inside your body, you take that inside and how, how do they get relief?

How do they get just a, like just a detox or D you know, it's, if you really think about it, I'm sitting there listening to you doing it, I'm like, you know, this really shouldn't be something if you sit, it is not hard to understand, right? And it's just like, I think it's not hard to understand if you carry a leadership role in any realm in our society, you know, I appreciate you bringing that up because one of the things we say, and almost anybody listening knows who John Maxwell is, right? One of the, one of the, one of the most recognized leadership coaches in the world.

And he will, he makes us comment all the time. Everything rises and falls on leadership. It's true in life. It's true in the church. It's true in ministry.

The diff, the diff, I want to say the difference. The additional part of that is leadership always brings out criticism of people. It goes with the territory, right? There's a guy listening out there right now that loves watching football on Sunday afternoon or Monday night, whenever it's on and he's an armchair quarterback, right? He's yelling at the screen, he's yelling at the coach because the coach is not making the right call in from his perspective.

So then his living room doesn't know everything else is going on. Well, the same thing is true in any level of leadership, right? In your business right now, you, you lead a bunch of guys at the race shop. They don't all need to know, or they don't know what's going on, what impacts your decisions and why things are done the way they are. You have more knowledge about it in the spiritual realm. That leadership doesn't just bring out the criticism. It brings an all out attack.

If you are introducing people to Christ, if you're helping them grow closer and walk closer to the Lord, like your Bible studies are doing right now, it brings out an all out attack. And so that is like, I'm, I'm just, I'm thrilled that you brought that up that you've, that you mentioned our listeners because it's why we do what we do. People need the voice of encouragement. I read years ago, the psychologist will tell you that it takes seven compliments to overcome the effects of one criticism. Look, I spend my whole life right now trying to be a voice of encouragement to pastors and I guarantee I don't do it seven times for every time that I have something to say or, you know, I don't like the way the parking attendant was. I don't like the way, whatever it is, right? Somebody cut me off and I want to lament to somebody.

So you're right. Your pastors need your encouragement. They need your prayer support and it's something we can all do. God's called us to pray without ceasing, to pray incessantly, to pray about everything. Pray for your passions and their leadership. Pray for any, anybody that is standing up and introducing others to Christ, helping them walk closer with the Lord.

Because if you're not in those shoes, you just can't possibly imagine what it feels like and the manifestations of how it shows up. So we're going to get back to the most encouraging things we've seen this year. What's happening in your ministry and ours.

It's an awesome thing and we're going to share it as soon as we get back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. It's Andy Bowersox here with Energized Ministries in the studio with Mike Dillon today from Hometown Men's Fellowship and we are talking about the most encouraging thing that we've seen and certainly want to hear what you've seen God do in your life so far this year. You dropped something?

Sorry guys, I just dropped my paper on here trying to pick it up. But last chance to call in and tell us the most encouraging thing you've seen or heard from God this year. 866-348-7884-866-348-TRUTH. We want to hear your stories to help us all encourage each other. But before we went to that last break we were talking about what God's been doing at the Bible study at Hometown Men's Fellowship and what God's been doing in our ministry through the years.

And one of the things I always think about, you know, Mike, we were talking during the break, it's hard. It's hard to do what God's asking you to do. He doesn't make it easy. The devil doesn't make it easy, especially when you're doing what God's asking you to do. But it's pretty exhilarating when you get to see the fruits and the rewards of just straight up obedience.

I'm sitting here thinking about two years ago, we met at that coffee shop. You're talking about this idea of just sharing your testimony, sharing what the Lord's done. We're two years later, consistently there's 50 to 70, sometimes 80 plus guys that show up week after week studying the Bible, making a difference in their homes, ultimately making a difference in their communities. That would have never happened if you didn't pursue what God asked you to do. Crazy or not, you're thinking 300, God doubles the number, excess over that. I think about in my life when I started this ministry and I say start, I got I got coax into starting it, but I knew it's what God was asking me to do.

And it's crazy if you heard part of that story, it started even early on right here in this studio of just engaging people to care for their pastors. I remember everybody that I knew, my entire friend group looked at me like I had three heads. They didn't understand why am I walking away from this, from my career in real estate?

Why am I doing this? I didn't, I didn't necessarily want to do it, but I was compelled to do it because it's what God was asking me to do. I didn't get it.

I didn't understand it, but 15 years later I look back and it's totally his story. And that challenges me to look into the Bible. God still in all, all through the scripture, and we've talked about this before, God has asked people, man, a lot of times to do things that don't make any rational or logical pragmatic sense, right? Why did God call Noah to build an arc in the middle of the desert?

There's no rain, never having any rain. And for over a hundred years with people ridiculing him, making fun of him, good people making fun of over a hundred years. Can you imagine doing something for a hundred years when everybody's against you?

That's a lot, right? Why did God call David to pick up a stone and go fight Goliath? Why did God call people, Peter, to pass, cast his nets on the other side of the boat when they had just been fishing all night long?

Why does he do the things he do? I don't know why he does, why he calls it his way, but he calls us to be obedient. And when we do it, radical things, miraculous things happen. God's the one that hasn't changed. We're the ones that have brought it down trying to make sense of it. And he's not asked us to do it.

He's asked us to be obedient. So I get encouraged sitting across the table from you listening to those stories. If you got one of those stories, you got just a few minutes left, we want to hear it. But, uh, and the number one more time, eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four eight six six three four eight truth.

Tell us your stories. But in the meantime, Mike, next week we got an event and I, and I had forgot one of your sons is coming to this event too to share his testimony. So next week, next Thursday night, energized missions, amphitheater, hometown men's fellowship. What can we expect to happen?

What can we, what can we expect to see happen up there? Well, we're gonna, we're gonna be up there in beautiful Martinsville, Virginia. We'd like for everybody, if you're listening to come out and, and, and join us, uh, Guilford's going to start off with some, uh, praise music and all that. And, uh, I'm going to share with you what God's done in my life, uh, to this point and where we're at. But Ty, Ty, my son is going to be our featured speaker and he's going to speak, um, on, on where he's at with God and his walk with God. So we're, I'm, uh, I'm proud of him for coming up and doing that.

And, and, uh, we're excited. We need to, we need to get some, you need to suit and tie for this event. No, you just need to show up. You just need to come, come from any way you are.

I will not be in a suit and tie. I'll probably have a t-shirt on a, you know, the t-shirt I'll probably have real tree bass pro shots might be something like that. So, uh, uh, uh, or it might be one of those own. It is finished t-shirts. It might be one of those two.

What it'll be. And then, uh, so no dress code. No.

Well, you gotta be dressed. No. Yeah. So, but probably helpful.

Yeah. But jeans, what about a haircut? You gotta, what if you have long hair? Can you show up for this with long hair? Any way you want to. What if you got a tattoo? No judgment.

Doesn't matter what it is. You come however you are. I've got everything you're saying.

What if you, what if you, what if you don't have a house and you live on the street? Please come find a way to get there. You want to hear real life scenario, raw Christianity of what God's doing with people that that wasn't a priority to serve the Lord, but now it's an absolute priority and it brings an abundance of joy and an evidence of God's eternal ability to change lives and draw people closer to him. That's what gets me excited about it anyway. It's so fun and it's so awesome to see people, um, to get it when they get it. You know, it's like that's, that's what you, and you can't give it to anybody. You have, they have to go get it.

I got another question for you. What if there's a woman out here right now listening to this, why should she send her husband to this event or to even, even if they're local to get involved with the hometown men's Bible study? Like why should it, why should a woman be encouraging her husband to do this? Well, I have, I'll tell you, I've been married for 37 years now and, and uh, I tell people this all the time. My wife's had a good husband the last, maybe the last four or five because of my change of heart. Ladies, if you're listening to this and that's, that's, and that's, uh, it's very emotional to me in the book. It is a prayer to your wife.

I can't read it without, uh, tearing up. And it's, uh, and it's, um, you know, that's where I, when I say men are supposed to do what men are supposed to do and that's lead your family. You know, you're, you, you, um, I was sitting here looking at some scripture about, you know, you're supposed to, your wife, you're supposed to treat her like the church and, and, and it's about being a real man and, and it's, uh, and it's, it's, um, it's an awesome thing. My relationship with my wife today is, is, uh, amazingly better than it's ever been.

And because she loves God and we, she straightens me out quite regular on some of my thought, my thought processes. And then I come and share it with everybody. Like I'm, I'm wise, but, uh, it's, uh, it's an awesome thing and, uh, that's why they should be sending them. But I've also seen, you got two grown boys, some of these, at least one of them has, has kids that are grandkids, if not both of them. Oh, I've got five of them. You got five grandkids right now. And I have seen the quiet watching of your voice, seeing what the Lord's done in your life too. And I think back, Mike, you know, the Bible talks about generation to generation, right? And so like for me, I mean, I've told you many times, it's, it's authentic.

It's real. If you're a guy out there and you're struggling, you know, if you're locally like our studio right now, we're in Winstonstown, North Carolina, there's a heavy listening presence in this area. If you're a guy that maybe doesn't feel comfortable somewhere else and you think, ah, they're not going to take me in the way I am. You can show up, you can show up on a motorcycle, you can show up on a skateboard, you can show up in a Rolls Royce.

It doesn't make any difference. Come down to check out this Bible study that happens at RCR on Tuesday nights. It's at seven o'clock. Everyone's welcome. If you've struggled with addiction, if you've struggled with, it doesn't matter what it is, this is, this is raw Christianity showing up.

It's a revival type atmosphere, at least it certainly looks like it to me. And, uh, and so Mike, you know, God has called Mike to share this, not just in, in, in right there, but with other men and, and anytime there's an open door, he's willing to do it. I know, I think it's this weekend even you're speaking at some other church, just sharing your testimony with it.

So welcome. In fact, in fact, this wasn't even planned on our script, but there might be somebody out here listening who would like to hear a little bit more detail about that in their own church. Can somebody reach you through hometown men's fellowship or at least put it, put in a request that, Hey, we want to hear more about this. Like, would that be the best way to send an email to hometown men's fellowship?

Is that, uh, to just think of somebody says, Hey, I'm just thinking for the future, there may be somebody listening, Ryan says, Hey, I want to, I want to hear what this Dylan guy has to say. Oh, Tuesday nights. It's own, it's own, um, uh, you know, hometown men's fellowship, um, dot com, but you can also, um, I think Mitch is probably even listening.

You can also go on, uh, we have a Facebook and we have, uh, I guess all the, the other social media platforms, you can tell I'm pretty wise about those things, but I'm going to throw this one out here too. Saturday night, uh, we're raising praise ministry. It's over at a center church of welcome.

It's right there in welcome North Carolina, right across from the race shop. And, uh, we have Rhett Walker there and mercy falls with us too. So that's going to be a pretty cool night. Uh, this coming Saturday night, if you want to come in that way, you can figure out how to get to the, uh, uh, across the street on Tuesday night, if you want to show up for the Bible study. So that's local, that's local. And I realize I'm totally putting you on the spot here right now.

So if you're listening to your, you're going to see some crazy, crazy facial expressions in the studio right now, but this is what I also know. God's called you to reach men. And if there's somebody up there in Iowa right now, I can't remember the name of that network up there, but I know we're there in Iowa and there's somebody that wants to hear more about it. I think they need a way to reach you somehow to hear, to pay, perhaps invite you to come share your version of man's man Christianity here. So that's what I'm asking. My, how, how do the, how do these people reach you through hometown men's fellowship.com? Just send an inquiry email right there. That's all they have to do.

Hometown men's fellowship.com because it's your job to share what God's done in your life. So it reaches other men. Yep. All right.

If you're listening, I put him on this block, but he, but he's coming along with it anyway. So I'll bring Mark cook with me too. Yeah. So, all right.

So, so next, next Thursday night, Martinsville, Virginia, if you don't live in that area and you know, some guys down there, we want to have them come, just come as our guests. There's no charge for it. There's no expectation. It's just a chance to be real, to hear real life of what God's doing. In the meantime, keep up with energized ministries.

You know what God's certainly quick. It's on Facebook. It's on Facebook. There you go. That's what we were looking for.

So you follow energized missions on Facebook too. Until next time. Hope you guys have a great afternoon. It's always a pleasure to share, share with each other some encouragement, what the Lord's done. It's contagious. We'll catch you next time.