Truth Talk on a 4-Wheeler; Energize Ministries on the Mountain

How fun we get to fan the flames for Bibles for Asia! We don't often realize the kind of sacrifice they're having to make in order to continue being Christians.

Sometimes as Christians we look the other way and we say God will look after them. We can fan the flames for Bibles for Asia! Five dollars sends a Bible or a hundred sends twenty!

Go to TruthNetwork.com and click on the Fan the Flames Bibles for Asia! This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. I've been in Africa.

I've done many programs, Truth Talk, from coffee shops and cafes and loud places and sanctuaries and basketball courts. But I've never done one, a stride of four-wheeler on a mountain in the middle of Martinsville, Virginia with a man named Andy Bowersox. Andy, it's all coming together, but this is a special place. Should we call this Miracle Mountain or should we call this the Energize Future Home with Energize Retreat Center? The modern-day Ararat, I would say. Just like Noah building an ark in the desert, this is the spot where the Lord is building the refreshment retreat center exclusively for his kingdom servant leaders, our pastors, and their families.

So in a year or two from now, wow, that was a big one that just hit me. We've got bugs flying everywhere. It's a beautiful day. We're looking over the mountains. What are we looking at there? I actually think the real name of that is called Turkeycock Mountain.

That's a strange name, but we're sort of in the middle. We've got a little over 700 acres here. And for going on probably eight years now, Stu, this place has been dedicated exclusively to serving pastors and their families. And over the next 10 years or so, we're making a considerable investment to expand that to allow even more pastors and their families to come for recreation time, retreat time.

We call it Sabbath-type rest. That's what we offer up here. It's 720 acres of a mountainous refueling zone for pastors, ministry leaders to come up, be encouraged, get on an all-terrain vehicle, drive around, hike around, throw some bait and tackle in the water of the pond down there. You've got already existing facilities for that, but God's given you a vision. Andy, why? What's driving all of this, would you tell me? Because in a year or two from now, we'll be in the lodge lobby. I want to be your first national interview, two years, three years, however God does it in that lodge. I can see a picture of it right there.

Maybe we'll put a rendering on the Facebook or whenever we share this podcast. But what's driving all this, Andy? Energized ministries. What's at the heart of all this? So I asked myself that same question an awful lot.

We were just talking about that. How in the world did this all come to be? And honestly, still, all I can say is God cares about his servant leaders for whatever reason.

This is my 14th year now of doing this full-time. But for whatever reason, he seems to be working through the ministry of energized ministries and not just in all the refreshment time, the encouragement, all these recreational retreats that we provide. But really helping us grow an army of people that are committed to reinvesting and providing what we say is what we call preventive care and prayer support.

Explaining, educating, equipping people to understand why that's so important and ultimately how it makes a difference in the lives of those that are preaching and teaching his word and really encouraging, discipling and creating others to help fulfill the Great Commission. So a pastor can come up here with his staff, a pastor, a lot of couples, pastors, their wives come up. I mean, you guys probably have to charge off the nose to cover all the costs. I mean, it's probably, what, a couple thousand bucks a couple to spend a weekend here? I mean, what do you charge all these guys to come up here and use these fine facilities in the beautiful mountains?

You know, we always call that the million-dollar question. And as you already know, for 14 years, we have not charged one penny for anything that we offer. No hidden agenda. There's no strings attached. If you're a pastor that's listening to this now, I can almost guarantee you, bet my life on it, that there's not a greater friend that you have in ministry than Energized Ministries. We don't do any kind of hidden agenda.

We don't have any back door programs. We are 100% entirely a gift of appreciation. And again, the Lord is doing His stories. You've been in our office. You've seen the God walls that we have in there just celebrating the miracles that He does. And we live in the midst of it. Somebody said not too long ago, we live in that space from miracle to miracle. And I can testify to it. I love it. I love the fact that God's using us to encourage His servant leaders.

And we're excited about the future. And you spent the afternoon sharing many miracle stories where you needed something in this facility. God said, go do this. And you didn't have a penny in the bank account.

And then suddenly a gift shows up. I mean, what kind of faith in you has God built through your weakness? How has God been strong?

Andy Bauer, socks. So, you know, that's the other side of this. There's so many days that I feel like, yes, I understand our primary purpose. Our mission vision is to encourage pastors and their families to keep them strong, to maintain healthy and vibrant ministries.

Not just survive, but really thrive. But there is a huge part of me that with all my heart believes that what God does to us is just as equal and maybe some days even more so of showing what radical faith, what radical obedience looks like today. And all the things that we get wrong. And so, you know, we mess up a lot. I mess up. I'm the leader of this thing. I messed up every single day.

You've heard me say I feel like I'm the weakest link in the chain. But one thing that I can confidently say that we do our best to get right is responding to the slightest prompt into the Holy Spirit. And that simple action, we learned when we were kids, trust and obey. It allows us to see truly miraculous things. All this stuff you see, I mean, people can't see us.

They were standing on top of this mountain looking out probably a hundred mile view. All of this stuff God has paid for in his own time, in his own way. I wish, you know, ambitiously, I wish it was all done tomorrow. But in 14 years, we can't take any credit for any of it.

We really have no selfish ambition of our own. We give him all the praise for it, but we get to see miracle after miracle. And like I said at the very beginning, I believe it's because God cares about those that he's anointed and appointed to share his word. And by his grace, he's using Energize Ministries to help care for him. Pastors, you are loved. Here's a place for you to come and be encouraged.

Call the number. Someone will pray for you. We love you. We want to be a blessing to you. And people out there listening, you're trying to mobilize a nation to pray for and love their pastors. Their pastor is healthy. Their pastor is shepherding and building into them.

You provide all kinds of resources. You partner with Truth Network, other great friends, Christian Radio Friends, to provide gifts, tools. We're giving gift bags to a pastor's dinner we're having tonight in Lynchburg, Virginia, part of our Truth Network up there, 93.7, standing for Freedom Center. You're constantly giving and pouring out, Andy, a message, a motivation, a little spark to everyone listening on how they could be, should be. Whether it's a handwritten note, whether it's a gift certificate, whether it's sending their pastor to the Energize Lodge, challenge us to love our pastors better quickly. I think you just said it, as simple as this, you're out there, you're right now, you're the mom in the minivan, you're the guy coming off the golf course. Whoever you are, you're the student that just got out of chapel at your school, whoever you are, take a moment, pray for your pastor, ask God how he can use you to be that voice of encouragement. I could preach all day on the exponential results to provide encouragement, to fight the criticism, to fight the backlash and all the things that the armchair quarterback people think that it should be doing differently. It's as simple as a box of cookies, it's a gift card to a coffee shop, it's as simple as you said. It's a handwritten note, be that word, be the one that God is using right now to make a difference in the lives of your pastors and especially their wives and kids.

It makes all the difference in the world. Hey man, every day another pastor burns out, Energize Ministries is here to help pastors refuel and charge up to go in there when those batteries and those bars are down. Build them up in the faith, we all can be a part of that, let's not leave Andy hanging out there, let's support Energize Ministries, your website, folks can learn more about your retreat center, the big pray for your pastor bus which I've been on all across the country.

We're going to overdo a trip on the two, aren't we brother? We are for that, yeah. So EnergizeMinistries.com, love to have you keep up with us. Facebook, it's on Energize Ministries, however you can connect with us, we regularly share tips, reminders and words of encouragement of how you guys can join us in this fight, be part of the army of believers that are committed to reinvest in the lives of your leaders.