Mental Health & Evangelism

Hey, this is Jim Graham from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we explore relationship, instead of religion, every week. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. All kinds of folks to Christ at Ignite. Zach, what's God doing, man? It's just a blessing to catch up with you.

The wings are about to come out. We're at a barbecue factory, the Camel City Barbecue Factory in Winston-Salem. Never get you here on our home turf. Got to talk to you.

Give us a word, bro. Well, first off, Stu, it's always good being with you and just men in fellowship who love God and love one another. I think the word that God has been placing on my heart that I'm going to bring today, especially the Carolina University basketball team, is Daniel chapter three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And I really want them to understand there's a difference between even if and only if. Only if people, right, they'll do things when things are going their way, when it's easy, when it's comfortable. But even if people are the ones that even when times get hard, even when it's difficult, even when they don't get out of life, what they were hoping or expecting to get out of it, they stay true to their faith, their family and the standard within them, rather than succumbing to the expectations, opinions or circumstances around them. So even if Zach, so much of our identity is placed in our performance in our sports and when when you break that leg, when the shoulder goes out in baseball, what do you tell people when they put so much in so much equity in that and not in Christ? What's your message? I think the message to them is that there can be good that comes out of bad, right? I think of James chapter one, verses two to four, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith goes on to produce perseverance, so let perseverance finish its race so that you may be mature, complete, lacking nothing.

We don't consider it joy because of the pain, but we can consider it pure joy because of what that pain can and will produce within us if we allow God to let it. Well, around the table, we got some the Russian nightmare to keep the call off just left. You guys connect. What was it like meeting him, man? That was awesome.

I mean, I've heard all about him for, I mean, years, but actually to be able to spend some time with him and connect, see how genuine he was. That was awesome. We pray for the food. The wings are here.

But across the table for you is Miguel, the hit man, Vieira. Miguel, what's it like to meet Zach and what are you doing for the Lord? And tell everyone a little about your ministry. So our ministry, we're a connector for churches to point them out to Pockets of Lostness and show them what it looks like to reach out to the local community and share Christ and basically hand the keys to them to that area and go to the next place. So we're going, working with first responders, going to police stations, fire departments. We're feeding the homeless. We're going to addiction recovery groups.

We're playing the flag football tournament in November. And in December, we're actually going on a mission trip to Brownsville, Texas, five miles from the border. We're going to be in mission shelters. We're going to be in apartment complexes. We're going to be feeding over a hundred teachers, praying for them.

We're going to be speaking about elementary school and just being a blessing and just really loving people where they are and introducing them to Jesus and kind of putting them in a position to make a decision what they're going to do with that. Well, we've got Miguel the hit man. We've got the golf coach here from Ohio. God bless you, man.

Your ministry. We've got your old coach. This guy has been mentoring a lot of guys. God bless this brother.

We got another brother here. Who's this crazy man? Who's helped get you here?

Power Nation, John Perry. Does he even need an introduction? He coaches at Carolina University. What's it like to be connected to this guy? How about his fire for the Lord, Zach? Hey, I love John. I love his fire for the Lord. I love what he's doing and his leadership over there at Carolina University.

He has a heart for God and he really does have a heart for serving others. So we could call him Zach by popular demand because he was here a year ago. We had in a different barbecue place. What is it? We have.

What is it about barbecue places? I saw it about. I mean, it gets us excited. But John, tell don't tell everyone listening to the vast truth talk audience. I'm Stu Everson. What happened last year when he spoke to Carolina University? Your team is powerful, man.

You could you could literally hear just a pin drop and we got some video clips. We interviewed him after talking about what God did then and what's what you're praying will happen today. Yeah, really. God touched our guys. A lot of our guys just really were encouraged by the message that Zach brought. I think a lot of our guys are in that performance based mindset.

And so I think when they can really say, oh, that's not the point. We can actually follow Jesus and really hear from another guy who's who's a baseball player and played at Liberty. So he's got he has the accolades that these guys are looking for.

And and I think some of them connected with them and even got his contact information. And and I think for some of them, it's it's just a great time to hear from somebody different about the Lord. You need to see a coach committed to Christ like John Perry, bringing you in to speak. And you wouldn't be here serving Christ if it weren't for your old coach. Introduce him real quickly.

Yes. So this is my old middle school basketball coach. His name is James Rowe, the third. This guy has invested in my life, poured into me for years to come. And I'm grateful just for all that he's given me. Coach James Zach Clinton real quick. Is he the real deal?

Was this just a bunch of is this just a bunch of winter dressing? Is this guy the real deal? Give us your word on him and how God used him now to encourage you when you were encouraging him back when he was a ruddy little middle schooler. No, he's not. Yes, he is.

We were actually talking about the drive up here. One of the things that's special about Zach is that since he was young, he he's been like a sponge and he's he just soaks everything in from whether it's his dad talking or stew junior or whoever it is that he looks up to in his life. He just takes it in and he takes it to heart and it comes out in his life now that he's 28, almost 30 years old. And it's just it's it's special to see.

So, yes, he is the real deal. Miguel, as we get out of here, can we say Coach Billy, can you give us a word? You had no idea you'd be walking into this, did you?

You're golfing, you're coaching golf. What's your what is it like to be around these godly men that love Jesus and having some barbecue and everything? The spiritual meets even better than the barbecue. We're going to jump in this thing.

But what do you say? Yeah, this is this is such a blessing and so unexpected. I was supposed to be in Costa Rica this week on a mission trip and canceled at the last second on Saturday and hooked up with Miguel. I'm heading down to North Carolina tomorrow to visit some athletes and action friends.

And this happened last 24 hours. Blessing. Yes, sir. Golf coach, you got a basketball coach. We got we got another college basketball coach. We got this guy who's worldwide. We got Nikita Koloff, the Russian nightmare who just left. I mean, I don't think we could take the ratings if we had him on the show.

It'd be too much. Miguel, your challenge is we leave and I'm gonna get you to wrap us up. Zach, your challenge to men out there, to people just about walking with Christ. You know, the bottom line at the end of the day, your passion. I say it would be to focus on discipleship. Like, I mean, it's great to lead somebody to the Lord.

But but what then? Like, we want to be able to disciple people to reach the next person to have multigenerational discipleship. And to think about, you know, instead of just addition, multiplication and the power of just men coming together and just walking with them and serving with them and showing what it looks like to to share the love of Jesus with others.

I love you said two things to two men who did two things in the world was changed. He said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And Andrew and Peter left their nets and follow Jesus. And so the question is, Yeah, I responded to follow me.

I'm following Christ. Well, who are you fishing for? And who are you fishing with? How's your fishing? Grab a kid younger than you be appalled to them, disciple them and teach them how to fish.

You can feed a man fish for a day. Or you can teach a man to be a fisher of men and impact souls for a lifetime. Zach Clinton, as we get out of here, you're about to speak to the whole Carolina University team. You're challenged everyone out there your passion as we as we wrap up before we jump into these amazing wings. I think as you mentioned, that we can come alongside of brothers in the midst of the fight that we're all in. I think of that Daniel chapter three that God gives us friends for the fire, but also there was a fourth man in our fire.

But then I think of a story that I wrap up with Dr. Rick Riggs be a dear friend of mine a mentor in the faith. He mentioned how his late wife Trina when God called her home, and she kind of lost that battle to breast cancer. It was all about this idea that as he's sitting there on his knees at the casket, he's weeping out to the Lord, and his dad comes and wraps his arms around him and says like, Hey, son, I'm here for you. He looks up at his dad, he says, but Dad, I feel like I've lost hope. And his dad looked down and said, son, you can't lose something that God gave you haven't lost hope you've just lost perspective. I'm convinced that there's probably a listener out there that's lost perspective today, but I want to remind them that hope is a person hope has a name, and his name is Jesus. And when we understand where our hope is found, it can help us reshape our perspective, it can help us ignite our patience, it can help us feel our purpose and perseverance. But ultimately, hope is first and foremost found in his presence, we have to spend time with God. And what I'm learning to do is that the less time I spend with God, the more the enemy tries to lie to me that I have to perform for his approval. So I want to rest at his feet and I want to be somebody that's desperately seeking after the heart of God.

Love it. Your, your identity produces a performance as opposed to finding your identity in your performance is really is finding it in Christ performance Colossians chapter two. You are complete in him.

Does he complete you, no matter where you are, whether you're by a casket, or whether you're at the highest level of sports you you counsel and you consult and you love on all these major superstar athletes, but finding your identity and Jesus is your big event coming up. You have it every year Ignite let folks know about that real quick because I do want a lot of men to come to that it's this is a transformational event, well Ignite men's impact weekend in Lynchburg, Virginia, Thomas Road Baptist Church, it'll be hosted on March 8 and ninth, we have some powerhouse guests coming soon it'll be Tim Tebow pastor Tim Timberlake pastor Craig Rochelle we got Brian Dawkins. So I'm going to go ahead and say this because we got Eric Thomas just agree one of the top motivational speakers in the world, tons of breakout sessions, it's a time that, to be honest with you if you want to come with your hunting and fishing buddies learn more about those things or football or basketball or baseball sports, or also what it means to be a man after God's own heart, what it means to be a better husband what it means to be emotionally connected to your kids, our heart and our children is to align men's everyday passions with God's eternal purpose for their life. So that's what we're all about March 8 and nine tickets are selling fast would love to see you there, what's the website Ignite men.net. I love it and the mentor to us all, Dr. Tim Clinton, your pops man he'll be there right he'll be there, he'll be lighting up Saturday morning Come on, don't want to miss it and Zach Clinton will be lighting up to some folks come just to hear this guy bless you guys thanks for being on and who's ready to eat some barbecue let me hear you.