Have you heard about a Christian fight club? We discuss this and more with special guest Lee Anstead.
Intro music by Upstate - How Far We Can Go
Have you heard about a Christian fight club? We discuss this and more with special guest Lee Anstead.
Intro music by Upstate - How Far We Can Go
All right. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the MC Squared podcast. This is episode 25.
Speaker 2:Okay, episode 25. Thank you, Drew.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there we go. It's been a little while. So we've got a special episode tonight, got a special guest friend of ours, both Jimmy and me, that's me of ours, both Jimmy and me, that's me. So it's kind of weird. We've got a little bit of a different setup here tonight. We changed our tables no one cares. We got different cameras at us Again, no one cares, but it is throwing me off my game just a little bit.
Speaker 1:But yeah what game is exactly right? So okay, so I'm Andrew McNeil. This is Jimmy McKenna, as always, and tonight we are joined with a friend of mine and a friend of Jimmy's, mr Lee Anstead. Hello, everybody, all right. So I think Jimmy's going to talk most of tonight. I don't know. No, no, please don't turn off. Just kidding. So I thought what I would do is start out with a little bit of how I got to know Lee, and it's a pretty cool story.
Speaker 1:So Andrea and I hosted a small group for a while at another church the one we're going to now and it was struggling and it wasn't my fault. It was probably my wife's who won't watch this show. No, actually it was just we were starting and we had like three people and it was just really struggling. So we were reaching a point where we were deciding whether we're gonna close it down. You always have that. You feel like God called you to do something. But now we're reaching a point where we're either going to close this thing down or we'll give it another shot.
Speaker 1:And the church we were going to at the time had a meeting where they said hey, we got a bunch of folks who may want to join a small group. So any of these, you know they didn't say struggling, but you know, if you're open to adding people, why don't you come to this meeting? And it was actually kind of brutal because what they did was they would have the hosts, who were desperate for people, go stand out in the hallway. You remember this? I do Go stand out in the hallway and it was kind of like a speed dating kind of thing. And what was terrible was and I never really asked Lee whether or not they stayed with our group because they felt sorry for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought it probably was, but you literally could just, I mean, it was such a vulnerable spot to get rejected, I mean to have people go. Yeah, that was nice conversation. I think I'm going to move on. So Lee and his beautiful wife Susan came out and they came right up to us and they talked with us and they stayed with us, thank God, because it was such a blessing getting to know you guys and we'd gone to the same church for a while never seen you ever, absolutely. So joined our small group huge asset to it both of you were and it actually grew. We had, I don't know, 10 people, maybe at one point 10 to 12? Yeah, and it was great because it was right before COVID and so the church shut down, but we didn't and we were able to keep meeting on Sunday.
Speaker 1:And we had great times breakfast pitch in breakfast on Sunday mornings, and then we'd worship and stuff, and I kind of missed that. Honestly, we wouldn't have shut down if we didn't have. We left, went to a different church and a lot of folks wanted to keep going, but I just felt like it probably wasn't appropriate to do that.
Speaker 3:You know so, but anyway, that's how and we've been friends ever since and we have yeah, and my point of view is that same thing, because we led a small group, a couple of them, and they, since the people left, and stuff, and we didn't know what we were going to do. Yeah, so we went to that meeting there at that church saying, are we going to lead, are we going to join one?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right. They were given that option, weren't they? And Susan and I was like I don't know and we don't know which way to go. Like I don't know, we don't know which way to go and we met Andrew and Andrea and we're like, okay, we'll go to their house. Let them lead, and it was a good fit. It was a good fit, it was you guys were a huge blessing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome it is, and I met Lee back. I don't know, many years ago, many years ago, jimmy. So I was going to Calvary Temple, clinton, clinton, and we were in a ministry class together. Wow yeah, so we did a ministry class together. I think we were probably on about the same path. This was. I have a really good idea it's 2011, because when my son was born in 2012,. That's when we stopped ministry class, and so you probably finished in 2012.
Speaker 3:You're an ordained minister, aren't you Not ordained minister? Aren't you not ordained? I have my card that I can marry and bury and go into the hospital that is good to know that's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you ever need to be buried, I can do the job. And that was all from that class.
Speaker 3:Pastor Sonny's class and I still carry my card and stuff. So yeah worked a couple funerals here recently and still some preaching on the side and stuff. So yeah, it's been exciting and I've known Jimmy since that time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember one of the times that we kind of were together, that one time in class is when that was big there teaching on theophastic ministry, and I do remember that and that was a pretty amazing time Okay, so I feel like I'm fairly familiar with the Bible in terms.
Speaker 1:I have never heard of that Theophostic, theophostic.
Speaker 2:Ministries. What does that mean? So it's shedding light into dark places.
Speaker 1:So you've probably it's called other things Essentially Well so break the word down, because Theo is what Theos, it's God right. Yeah, and theophostic Because Theo is what Theos, it's God right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And fostic is light. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, okay. So shining God's light in dark places. I got away from my mic there for a second, but yeah, essentially you pray with somebody through past history.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, gotcha, yeah, and you shine God's.
Speaker 2:You speak God's truth into it and there's been some amazing things come out of it and it gets beat up all over the place sometimes so we would call that inner healing. I think it would be called that.
Speaker 3:Yes, I think so too. And also you're taking that person back to where the enemy planted their root and pulling that root out of there, getting it out, and say come on, dude, that's important isn't it. Yes, Jesus was here, right there at that time.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and we like practiced on each other. We did, I remember doing that.
Speaker 1:That explains a few things, yeah.
Speaker 2:We stopped halfway through.
Speaker 3:That's why I laughed. But it was so cool because I know Jimmy was there that night. I used to drive a semi in my previous life and I came in and I hurt my back in two places. I just hurt my back and Sonny was teaching and stuff and he asked me a question. I couldn't concentrate and I said, sonny, if you're willing and the Lord's willing, I said I need healing right now and Sonny's like well, absolutely. So we all gathered around and they laid hands on my back and Sonny started praying and stuff and I'm crying out to Jesus and stuff. And we got done about three minutes. He goes how are you? And I said not good. I said I could hardly breathe and he said well, let's keep on praying. So we kept on praying and I tell you what time that class was over. I was healed.
Speaker 1:I was healed. Yeah, praise the.
Speaker 3:Lord. But I got up early the next morning and I was on my way to Tennessee I remember it like it was yesterday and I stopped down at the Love's Truck Stop down there in Hopstot and got my coffee and went to the restroom, come out and there was a guy with a cane.
Speaker 1:There was a guy with a cane walking.
Speaker 3:I said hey, buddy, I said you okay, and he said no, I'm getting ready to have surgery. This guy's like all right, man, I'll pray for you Took off, missed a blessing, missed healing, you know, because I just got healed and I just missed an opportunity to glorify the Lord and it's just like gosh. But like you said, that was 2012, 2011. I remember like never forget it, you don't. But since then, but since then, I've stepped out of my comfort zone a lot.
Speaker 1:That's awesome yeah.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I love that. I love the fact that you felt like you missed an opportunity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, but what it's?
Speaker 2:done is changed your outlook on every other opportunity past that Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So was that opportunity really missed?
Speaker 2:I don't even know. I would say it set you on a path.
Speaker 3:It set me on a path to realize that it's not me, that it's the Lord working through me. That's right, and I think that we have to be aware of the Spirit when it's moving and just jump in. Yeah, it don't matter what happens. I should have prayed for that guy and if he would have got healed that day or that surgery would have went you know whatever, yeah, and that's between him and the Lord, right? But yeah, it was, it was profound, it really was.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that's how we got to know each other, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well back, all right, so we've got. So we've got a segment coming up. We're not doing it yet because we always have to take a break. Folks don't actually know this. We take a break, and the reason is because our camera basically will burn up at 20 minutes and apparently this is something that happens a lot, except for our phones, so the live feed will continue. This is something that happens a lot, except for our phones, so the live feed will continue.
Speaker 1:If you're watching this on YouTube, after the fact which of course it will there'll be a break and then, you know, edit it out. You won't notice anything. But later on we're going to talk about a ministry that you're involved in, something that you guys have some in common. Also, from a while back. We're going to talk about some awesome things the Lord's doing and then maybe end with a really good focus of what God's doing here in the community. Amen. This podcast is going to go out on election day, which is kind of crazy. That's awesome, yeah. So if you're watching this, the polls will probably Well, no, I guess it'd be in the morning. So it'll be during election day, which is kind of appropriate because we talk a lot of politics here on the show. As you guys know, I love politics Jimmy not so much, and Lee probably even less.
Speaker 3:Even less.
Speaker 1:So it's a very, very. It's a crazy little thing that I care about, but the reality is we all should care about it in the sense that we want and we need godly leaders, and government does matter, and matters way too much, actually, where it is right now and I don't know if you guys have seen the news or not, but our universities all across the country are in an absolute uproar and they may be funneled in a lot of paid protesters. Definitely there's agitators behind the scenes, no doubt about it. I saw a graph on X that had. This is crazy. They have over 1,100 of the devices given out at the border were at those college campuses during those riots.
Speaker 1:So that's not a huge percentage of the people, because we've had millions pour across that border this year, but that means that they're-.
Speaker 2:It's a pretty long way too from the Right, and it's all over the country.
Speaker 1:So it's a spewing of anti-Israel, anti-jewish hatred which we never thought we would see in America. It is like the beginning of Nazi Germany, and I think there are some folks that are taking this seriously, and I don't know if we're taking it seriously enough in the church, because these are the beginning waves of a country that's getting ready to be destroyed. I mean, we have people pouring over our borders. We're not even keeping track of them. We don't know who they are. They're not just Mexicans trying to find a better life. I mean, that passed a long time ago. We're getting people from all over the world across that southern border. Our universities are an absolute, absolute mess. Columbia shut down for the year. Most of the teachers and professors were in solidarity with with the, the rioters I think it was either Columbia or I think it was Columbia was one of them where the students this is a riot, I'm this literally took over one of the buildings. Did you see this? No, I didn't see it. They had gone it. I should have looked.
Speaker 1:I believe it was. Yeah, oh yeah, literally an insurrection. They took over the building and then their spokeswoman was demanding that the school bring them food and water. Do you remember that? Did you hear that? Oh my gosh. And the reporter was like so let me get this straight. Basically, you just are like you took over this building. You're basically a revolution. You're starting a revolution and then you're wanting them to bring you food and water.
Speaker 1:Delusion, and it was just a blank look and then she was like well, yes, because this could be a human crisis. This is the very basic of human needs that we need. We water. We don't want people, you know, she said, dying of thirst here falling over and dying of thirst, and he's like well, did they shut the water off to the building? I mean what is going on here? So, with all that said, today that we're recording is also the National Day of Prayer. I put a little post out on Facebook. I don't normally do that. I have a blog that I try to do. If I have anything to say, I try to do it there. Facebook has just become awful to me. In my opinion. The app is destroyed, but as we're live, we're just throwing it at him, absolutely.
Speaker 1:But to me, if you look at Daniel in the Bible, he is the picture to me of what prayer should be on a national day of prayer. And if you'll read where Daniel understands from prophecy that the 70 years of exile, that the Israelites had been exiled from Jerusalem because of their sin, he was recognizing that time frame was up and that there was a possibility of coming back into the land of Israel. He starts out with just reciting to God the sins that they had committed as a people, reciting to God the sins of what got them where they were, why they were, and then ascribing the goodness of God that, even though they were judged, that they were still preserved and that God said there was only a 70-year period on it. And it leads into just this beautiful prayer of repentance and then asking the Lord to honor His Word and to have mercy on them and to restore them once again. And honestly, my heart has been.
Speaker 1:I've been to a lot of National Day of Prayer events and I love them, I appreciate them. There's been so many. City Hall had one today. They've had one every year for decades. Too often.
Speaker 1:And then I said this it's a general criticism, because I appreciate people praying, but too often there is almost no repentance and the prayers are Lord, bless us, lord bless us, lord bless us, which, yeah, we need it Absolutely. We need the Lord's protection, his favor, but we don't deserve it. We've not done anything in this country to deserve the favor of the Lord, and so an attitude of repentance and ascribing, taking on the guilt of the nation if you were Lord. We've shed innocent blood, lord. We have condoned sexual perversion all throughout the land. We've incited rebellion against God. In our churches We've incited rebellion.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of ways I feel like that is the move that's coming. I don't think this is a voice crying in the wilderness necessarily. I think there is a groundswell and I think that's kind of what I'd like to get into later with what we're going to talk about. God's doing something underneath the surface that maybe we aren't seeing necessarily on the news with the universities blowing up or our social media feeds where everything's bad it is, but I think God is doing something underneath the surface and so when we come back, we're going to take a little break, especially for the live feed. When we come back, we will hopefully get right into that. Sounds great.
Speaker 2:That's good, all right, feed. When we come back we will hopefully get right into that. Sounds great, that's good, all right. Hey, welcome back everybody. Like we said, we're going to talk to Lee about a men's ministry that he's been a part of and he's got some notes here. I mean, I feel like this is really laid out well and I was a part of it too at one time. But I'll let Lee kind of talk about it a little bit. It's called Fight Club, kind of give the explanation of it and then talk about what it's doing and what it's doing for men.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely First rule about Fight Club you can't talk about Fat Club.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Interview's over.
Speaker 2:We're done. Shut it down, baby.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I have been part of Fight Club here in Terre Haute for about two and a half years now and we're on week seven of a 10-week journey. And what Fight Club is? It's a ministry for men, by men to reach men. I got tired of being in our church every Sunday, it doesn't matter what church it is, it doesn't matter what church it is, but you see men leaving, coming and going and getting out of church as fast as they can and you're like man. That's very uncomfortable for me, you know, and I like talking to people, I like getting in, figuring out who they are and what their mission is, and I'm like so I was searching for something, okay, for something okay. So fight club is a 10-week journey where men are required to complete weekly challenges within a text of a squad, community or brotherhood and um and also accountability triad. So okay, explain those. So I will. So 10, so your um community, we call it, we call it a region.
Speaker 1:Terre.
Speaker 3:Haute has a region. Right now we have 63 men in Terre. Haute doing this round of Fight Club. Okay, so we break down in squads. We have five squads at three different locations and we meet weekly as our squads Okay. And then twice the round, three times around, at least two or three times around we meet as the region Okay, gotcha. So last Saturday we met at maryland community church. There at 46 campus, we had most, everybody made it.
Speaker 3:We had about 50 men there, all right, and uh, we worship together, we pray together, we do some physical activities together and, um, we heard a very, very powerful devotion, very powerful devotion, and then at the end of it, one of the requirements for going through Fight Club is you have to pray for a stranger. Oh, wow so I said all right, people you don't know get together and pray with each other.
Speaker 1:So that was pretty cool.
Speaker 3:So we completed one. So that is a squad. So you have a squad. It's eight to 12 guys to meet weekly. We're going through a book, we're going through scripture. There's challenges physical challenge, mental challenge and then inside of your squad you have an accountability group, a triad. So you have two other brothers that you're accountable to and we got tough questions. You know and we need to know what trips you up and they need to know what trips you up and you're accountable to that. That's awesome. And there's certain challenges when you go through your 10 weeks that are strikeable too. Like one week was fast food. You couldn't have any fast food for a week. I struck out on that one. I took a strike. I got a 16-year-old daughter that plays softball. We had four games that week and I'm like, okay, what are we going to do? And there's times that Susan and I don't eat until 10 o'clock at night and you're like I'm not going to make anything.
Speaker 3:So I called my accountability tribe, I said, hey guys, I'm taking a strike. You know I just did. And so during Fight Club there's four areas that a man works on himself. That's the spiritual side, and you've got your relational side. You have your mental side and you have your physical side. And every Sunday morning we get a message on Mighty Networks from our Fair Warrior group we're attached to. We are actually the Terre Haute region is umbrellaed under the Fair Warrior group out of Carmel, okay, and we have 600, almost 600 men going through fight club right now at this time in the state of Indiana. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And so every Sunday morning we get our challenges and what we're going to work on and we just go pick up and go for the week through that.
Speaker 3:The spiritual is the book of Proverbs, whatever the day is. That's a chapter you read. For anybody that's already graduated through fight club they have extra reading. Ours is James this time. So we're in the book of James, studying that, reading that, journaling that your mental. We're reading a book this time called the men we need. It's been a very interesting, encouraging book. Um, it really has. The author of the book is a? Um flute player and he teaches it and stuff. So it's not your manly man yeah it's, it's very apical to everyday life.
Speaker 3:It really is it is and how he leads his family and his family looks up to him. His family, um, lets him lead the household. They can't wait to get home because they're encouraged to be by dad and stuff like you guys, like how you guys lead your family. And then you have a mental. That's mental. You have your physical side, which is this is I lack in this area, but there's a lot of pushups, there's a lot of burpees, there's a lot of running and stuff, but that's just trying to get you in a better shape to fight.
Speaker 1:And I think all of those are important together, don't you?
Speaker 3:They are, they are and how it's laid out. It really comes together good, it's very motivational too.
Speaker 2:The physical part.
Speaker 3:Because some of that stuff's really hard. It is really hard.
Speaker 2:But when you know that you're accountable to a couple other guys or anybody in the squad and you and you look at some of the guys. You're like if old boy can do a push-up.
Speaker 1:I better be getting some push-ups done.
Speaker 3:I remember pull-ups were tough yes, well, we don't have any pull-ups.
Speaker 2:You don't pull-ups, we didn't pull-ups, we don't have any pull-ups it was like one one a day or something, but that was enough, and then, and then your relational side too.
Speaker 3:so talk about that. What does that mean? So the relational side is you have certain challenges that you do at home. A lot of our men are uncomfortable, for whatever reason, for cooking for their family and they have to take pictures of it and they have to submit it to.
Speaker 1:Is this before they burn it or after?
Speaker 3:Whatever it looks like, you know, whatever it looks like You're going to have fun with it, and some of it is cooking with your family, getting them involved. Yeah, and then some of it. This is a big struggle for men, too. A person that you had contact with in the past that maybe you don't have any longer reach out to them and tell them why you find value in them? Oh, wow, that's big yeah that's really big.
Speaker 3:So I got an opportunity to do that with the guy that led me to the Lord and we haven't talked, sit down and talked and shared a cup of coffee for about two years two and a half years and I sent him a video text and told him what I thought of him and what the Lord's doing, because he said a prayer over me one day in a parking lot.
Speaker 3:So yeah, so that was pretty cool. I bet that probably blessed his socks off. It did, it did, and since then we've reached out a couple, three times yeah and and um. So that is cool. And then also, every the beginning of every round of fight club you have to write your letter why, why are you doing fight club this? That's right. And you have to read it to your family.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they know up front. And it's so cool to me because some of these guys get caught up in working and working and working and they miss an opportunity with family. They don't realize how important it is until it's gone Right. But getting them involved, I have, like I said, we've got five squads, so we've got 10 leaders and one guy. This is his third round. He got his family involved right from the get-go and he has three kids and his wife and whatever physical challenges he has, they're involved in it too and they do push-ups together.
Speaker 3:They do set-ups together, whatever it is running, they do their mile together and stuff. So he's actually building future Fight Club guys.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. All right, so tell us a little about where Fight Club came from, Lee. Where was it started?
Speaker 3:Fight Club was started in the late 80s, early 90s up in Goshen, indiana, by Pastor Jim Brown and he wanted something more for his men than just the breakfast and barbecue once a year. And so he came off. He sought the Lord and the Lord led him to Nehemiah 4.14. It's where the scripture verse for Fight Club is, and much was what Andrew was talking about earlier, about when the Lord embarked on Nehemiah to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the city, he wept. He wept because his country was still in shambles and I don't think men weep enough for the sins of our country. We just don't. We say we're sorry, we ask the Lord for forgiveness and we move on with our day. And this was. He was passionate about what the Lord wanted him to do.
Speaker 3:So he went back to Jerusalem and they were rebuilding the wall and of course opposition came against him. You know your enemies come, trip you up and Nehemiah got tired of the grumbling of his men. He really did and he stood up. Nehemiah 4.14 says he stood up. He said to the nobles, he said to the scribes, he said to everybody else he said remember your God, who is awesome and great, and fight. Fight for your families, Fight for your wives, fight for your sons, your daughters and your families, and that's what this came about from. Oh, very good.
Speaker 1:So you're fighting.
Speaker 3:So you're not fighting each other.
Speaker 1:No, we're not fighting each other. You're fighting for your families and for the community.
Speaker 3:Okay, For the, for the brotherhood of the churches. Yeah yeah, we have six churches represented in this round of Fight Club, with 65 guys.
Speaker 2:I think that's real key too, like when you were explaining to it at the beginning about all these different guys that are in it. These are not just a bunch of guys that go to one church.
Speaker 3:No, it's not.
Speaker 2:And I think that's where you see so much fruit from a guy's perspective, because sometimes you get really used to the guys that you hang out with and the guys that you know, but then when you see some other church over here and you're like man, and I think that's one of the things about Fight Club that some pastors are afraid of yeah, it is Is they're afraid of losing guys to another church. They are, and that's insecurity, man.
Speaker 2:It is At its finest, because if you build those men in your church to be the men that they're supposed to be, you're going to have a stronger church, absolutely you are.
Speaker 3:And I tell them and I ask the pastor if we can come in, like in between fight clubs, the rounds of fight clubs we have one in the spring, one in the fall and I go to them and say can we sit up in your foyer or whatever and meet the guys? And they're like, yeah, okay, because I know some of the pastors of the church that we get involved with and I tell those pastors I said this ain't about us stealing your men, it's about the men getting involved in the church, because there's requirements they have to do.
Speaker 3:They have to tie the lease for the 10 weeks they have to volunteer somewhere in the church during the round of fight club. They have to be accountable to the pastor of whatever church they're a part of.
Speaker 2:So that is really cool to see that it really is, I tell you when I first started. So I'll tell you about my story with it. We just moved to a church and it was the first service, maybe the second service they promoted Fight Club. It was actually Tim Mink's church, and so they promoted it and I said, you know, I'd like to do that, because going into a church as a guy it's really easy to kind of sit back and just let everything, let everybody else get involved, but you stay back yourself and we did the whole thing. We met at midnight. I went out there with it was probably eight to ten guys and I went out there with it was probably eight to 10 guys and we started at midnight on a Friday.
Speaker 2:And I'll tell you what it's like breaking the ice with a bunch of guys, and these are, honestly, that's where I saw so much fruit, is where the shells came, like the outer layer that these guys had came off. Because when you know you have this group and that's a question I want to ask you in a second when you know you have this group of men that, for one, are going through the same stuff that you're going through, having the same thoughts, having the same urges, having the same things at work that you're going through and you're all trying to be the best follower of Jesus that you can. Yeah, absolutely, I mean. And that's where it really changed everything for a lot of us and honestly, we would have never been friends, these people that I went through Fight Club. I mean we would have seen each other, been hi, how's it going at church?
Speaker 2:Never but after Fight Club you get such a deep and I have a friend now that I'm a really amazing friend of mine. That is 100% through Fight Club and any of those Fight Club guys that I was with I know that I could call them up anytime and ask for prayer and that's the network that guys just don't get.
Speaker 2:I mean it's such a big network. But I wanted to ask you about you've been through a few of these. Now I'm on my sixth one what do you and you don't have to talk about your most recent one because, like you don't talk about fight club, so it's really kind of private to what's going on, because you're really open and we had a lot of guys be really open about what battles they're dealing with and when they were open, man, I mean it would bring. I mean there would be people. You know, if somebody says they're gonna pray for you, yep, even if it's two o'clock.
Speaker 2:We did the prayer chain. Yep, every hour you take it and you get up up. And I remember we did this, we took an hour, and I remember getting up for one of these things at like two o'clock in the morning because I was by the end of it, I was acting like I was hardcore, so I was going to take the two o'clock in the morning. But I remember getting up and I remember physically feeling like weight on me when I hit my knees and prayed and I would pray for a half hour an hour when I hit my knees and prayed. And I would pray for a half hour an hour, and I was 2 o'clock in the morning, which is not easy, but you felt like you were standing in the gap. I mean so much similar to Jesus, but not on that level, but you felt like you were standing in the gap for these men and you were not going to let them down. You were going to keep fighting and driving and driving and I think it just kind of converts to what we do with our families.
Speaker 2:But from your previous fight clubs and you've been associated with a lot of men what do you think is one of the biggest things that men are battling right now? Number one, let's say number one. Number two that you hear because you've been a part of a lot of different groups with a lot of different men what are men in the church battling against? Still?
Speaker 3:porn is the big one, okay, and we have a lot of pride. Still they're battling pride and a lot of not a lot some of them. The group we have right now we probably have, let's say, 10 recovering drug addicts. I'm still kind of involved a little bit with that. We're trying to minister to them. Got a real cool story Three rounds ago.
Speaker 3:This guy started a fight club with us and he quit about halfway through but he was still in church and we were still talking to him and so he started another fight club around and he was quitting, drawing away and stuff. And so we went over to his house, knocking on the door, beating on the windows. I called his wife, found out where the spare key was got in his house. We went looking for him there was three of us and went all the way around his house, went in his house, couldn't find him, couldn't find him. He was in the garage. He had his place in the garage where he was doing his drugs and stuff. So we went out to the garage and we was ministering to him and loving on him and praying for him and we left and he quit Fight Club that time and then, he started this round drug-free, got hooked up with one of our leaders there that um hired him, uh took him under his wing and he has a powerful testimony right now absolutely.
Speaker 3:He has powerful, he's on fire, he's bringing, he's bringing. Anybody talks to you say man, you gotta come join me in my fight club. This is like it, like it was so crazy. I mean the enemy hates that man.
Speaker 2:The enemy knows. That's why the enemy oppresses those people because he knows what the Lord's put inside of them.
Speaker 3:But what opened his eyes is three guys that he didn't know it's coming to his house looking for him, saying where are you at? We need you, don't quit on us, don't quit on us, don't quit on us. And that's what it's about. It's about that very thing. You know and and I love my squad guys because, just as you're saying jim, because you can say, hey, we need prayer for this immediately. You know this, this is maybe could be life and death. You know it could be. And that's that's a powerful aspect, for because you know who you can go to. You know the brothers and churches you can go to. And it's pretty cool because we've got a couple of brothers right now in a couple of different churches, and they're not in my squad, but they reach out and say, hey, how are you? And it's just like really cool, that is awesome, that's amazing.
Speaker 3:We have another guy out of Maryland, because I attend Maryland 46. And the first time I met the guy he was 24. I thought he was 16. I really did. I asked him to come to youth and he's like I already went through youth.
Speaker 2:I'm like how old are you, you've got three kids, he's not married.
Speaker 3:He just sits out in the atrium and stuff. He joined his fight club. This will be his fourth round, oh wow, during the Show me what a godly man looks like, and since that time he has been dedicated to Fight Club. That's wonderful Not for the Fight Club part of it to know what a godly man looks like and how he will pray with anybody. He found the boldness in Christ to come out of a shell because he'd just show up at church and he'd be there at a table waiting for it to be picked up. And now he will reach out. He's volunteering in the church. He is with the kids every Sunday morning. He is praying, he's worshiping. He got the Spirit Award last. We give awards at the end of every round. He got the Spirit Award last round just for being awesome.
Speaker 3:It is really cool. That is awesome.
Speaker 1:Praise the Lord. Praise God for that work. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and it's the Lord it really is.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate you pushing through too. Do you realize if you had just gone? Oh, I tried. They said they're not doing it, so I'm just going to quit. I tried, but the first round I went through.
Speaker 3:I had to do a virtual group and my squad leader was in Michigan.
Speaker 1:Half the guys yeah.
Speaker 3:And the other half. The guys were East Coast, west Coast, and there was only two other guys from Indianapolis that was on this call every Tuesday night and that's the only time I met with them.
Speaker 1:All right, so welcome back, if we are welcoming you back.
Speaker 2:You're not really sure at this point.
Speaker 1:A little bit of technical difficulty and you know, it always seems like that whenever you know, you know something spiritual is happening oh yeah, sometimes the equipment starts failing on you.
Speaker 2:So well, we gotta remember.
Speaker 3:That's right absolutely all right.
Speaker 1:So lee, talk about um, if someone, if you got you've got a guy that wants to get involved, you guys are doing a new one in the fall.
Speaker 3:In the fall About September will be the kickoff.
Speaker 1:Okay, so how does somebody get a hold of you? How does this work?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great question. They can go to fightclub414.com Okay. Okay, that's the website for Goshen, okay, and they can get all the information about what Fight Club is and answer questions that I missed or whatever, okay, and then they can reach out. I guess to me right now we don't have a website for yet for Terre Haute, because we're getting ready Terre Haute's getting ready to kick off their own in the fall.
Speaker 2:That's going to be awesome. That's great yeah.
Speaker 3:But I will get that to you soon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then we'll put the link. We'll definitely put the link to the website underneath the video.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And and then, when I send out my my update email, that I always Absolutely, and attach my email to that too.
Speaker 3:Okay yeah, absolutely Okay, cause there's flyers going around Terre Haute that has my name and Jim Pond's name. Okay, yeah, name on. There.
Speaker 1:So it's got all of our information. So, yeah, Very good. Well, I think that is um, obviously it's. It's extremely encouraging. It's the kind of work that is. It's not done overnight, Is it?
Speaker 3:It's not, it is not and it's. It really is.
Speaker 1:It's not just 10 weeks no because you're never done growing With yourself. You're not. And this just gives men more accountability with other men, which is sorely lacking. It feels like you know I know there's a really big women's Bible study group that happens from time to time in Terre Haute and it seems like you know, like those kind of things happen, but for men there hasn't been the accountability and maybe not just the structure but the spiritual growth. That's desperately needed.
Speaker 1:I mean me, and you are old enough to remember, jimmy, probably too promise keepers and going through that. And that was a great, and even Emmaus in a way, that was a great event. And then they would always try to follow up. Emmaus tried to follow up also. I remember when I went on my first Emmaus walk they had kind of an accountability group what did they call it?
Speaker 2:The fourth day group.
Speaker 1:And that was okay, it was fine. But all those kind of faded and everybody tries and all that kind of stuff. But this is really really exciting. I don't know if you're getting a sense, and this is kind of the question I've got, because I'm seeing I think it's kind of cool, you're going to a church, you're going to a different church, I'm going to a different church. We're brothers in the Lord. We love each other. We love the Lord. We've got each other's backs.
Speaker 2:Even if.
Speaker 1:I don't talk to Lee for six months and then, out of the blue, nothing has changed Same. I talk to Jimmy all the time, and that's a good thing.
Speaker 1:But, one of the things I have loved coming out of the history that I've had which was not great is I love, in Terre Haute, that we've come to know so many different brothers and sisters in the Lord across different churches and there's no. You said something earlier, and maybe Jimmy did. I don't want to be in this circle where all of my friends and all of the people that are in a church- one group.
Speaker 2:It was not made to be that way.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think it is. I mean, I love my church absolutely and if someone doesn't have a church home absolutely, I welcome you, would love you to come, but my goal is not to get everybody in church to come to my church, it's to get them to come to Jesus and find a church, yes, and wherever that is that works for them is the key.
Speaker 1:And then I mean, I remember, just real quickly, the Crisis Pregnancy Center banquet, you know, and that is just.
Speaker 1:It was a testimony to me, it just blew me away All of the different churches and they're all supporting a cause and they've laid aside their denominations, they've laid aside their titles, and everybody's pushing for a common goal, which is, you know, obviously, to take care of unwed mothers and, you know, and folks in in uh, having a crisis with their pregnancy, which is a great cause, but, uh, I haven't seen that anywhere else. I mean, I know it must occur, but Terre Haute is unique in that way, I think, and it's, it's something that should be trumpeted, and so I, I think it's a, it's a great thing. So my question, long-winded, my question I have noticed, from what I've picked up, there has been increased in baptisms. There's been increase in activity on the campuses. Our church alone we've had tons of college students that have been coming out of the blue, Even folks that are finding their way back to their faith where they once weren't, or reacquainting themselves with. You know, they're seeking, they're searching, they're hungry. Have you noticed that? Have you picked up on something like?
Speaker 3:that, yes, we have Same thing at our church. Young college-age students are pouring in yeah and baptisms out the door. Just in this round of Fight Club we've had six of our guys that's got baptized.
Speaker 1:So I mean not to say our ages or anything, but we've been around a little while. I don't remember quite a time like this, do you? I mean, you can feel a groundswell of something's going on.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, the Lord's raising up His church, raising up His peoples.
Speaker 1:Well, that is encouraging. Yeah, absolutely I mean, that's our only answer.
Speaker 3:That's our, absolutely it is.
Speaker 1:Huh, okay. Well, we're having problems, technical difficulties, so I don't know how long the video's gonna go. The audio has not been a problem. But National Day Prayer I kind of thought I would really like it if we could pray together. And if you're listening, obviously if you're watching this, there is no such thing as the only day you pray, right. The only day you pray for your country.
Speaker 2:It's always we always need it. That's what the scripture says.
Speaker 1:But it's kind of wonderful to be able to join with Christians all around the country on a specific day. It was a presidential proclamation, but if you read the original ones from either Washington, george Washington or Abraham Lincoln, it was a proclamation of repentance. It was absolutely we need God to move for our country. So I didn't know if you guys would. As we get ready to wrap this up, do you have anything else?
Speaker 2:to say before we no. I think that's great. I think it's really the way this is kind of falling, because today we're recording us National Day of Prayer. This is going to drop on the election and I don't like to intermix them too much, but I mean there's some authority that needs to be taken. Absolutely, absolutely. I mean and so I think that we do a lot through prayer, and then a lot of it we do through standing up for what rights we've been given and voting.
Speaker 2:That's right. I mean, you can't have one and not the other.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and just aside, kind of along with the spirit of what the Fight Club is.
Speaker 1:I mean, I've just recently, it feels like, been put in, coming out of you know, resting from ministry, and then you know we had some ministry but I've just felt recently, in the last couple of weeks, just kind of not a rebuke but a call from the Lord to step up you know, step up your game, you know, and I've had to institute just a discipline in you know, a discipline into my devotional life or into my Christian walk that I was resisting for a while. I mean it's and it's just God just will put you in situations where you have to, where you have to step up and as men I don't think men realize or understand the spiritual authority or the desire God has to move through a man if a man will submit himself to the Lord and walk in humility, rebuilding those walls. Which is really cool about the Nehemiah thing he prayed, he wept, but he acted, absolutely did, and it's both. We need to pray, but then we need to go act and we need to do so if you guys want to join me, absolutely Okay.
Speaker 1:All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just come to you today and we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ. We come to you as brothers, lord, who love you and are Lord before you. Not of our own righteousness, not of our own goodness, lord, we're not praying because we're good people. We're praying because you're a good God. That's right and, Lord, we just want to humbly ask you to forgive, lord, our sins, lord, the sins of this country, lord, the waywardness that we've had. Lord in our churches, in our pulpits, but also in our pews. Lord, god, we've gone our own way, we've made up our own minds to do our own thing and we've made you, lord. We've made you in our own image. We've decided to worship a God that we liked and that things we didn't like about you, lord, we put them aside and, lord, we've been very rebellious as a people, god, we've even risen up and declared we're not a Christian nation anymore or never were. But, lord, we love you and as brothers in Christ, joining with all the believers across this land that are grieved.
Speaker 1:God, like Nehemiah, was at the state Jerusalem was, in that the walls were down and burned with fire and that no one seemed to be concerned about it. Lord, we are concerned about it. I believe you are concerned about it, and, god, we pray. Today, lord, we humbly ask that you would visit our families. Today, lord, we humbly ask that you would visit our families, father, that you would visit our churches, that you would visit the men and women in the pulpits, lord that would preach, we pray that you would visit, lord, our government. You would visit, lord, god, the folks that are running for public office, those that are going to win and those that, lord, are seeking it. Lord, we pray that you would visit our schools, our universities, our college campuses. That you would visit, lord, our public schools and our home schools and our private schools. And, lord, that you would visit our places of work, employment. Lord, that there wouldn't be a place in our society where the gospel of Jesus Christ did not go and that hearts were not touched where the gospel of Jesus Christ did not go and that hearts were not touched by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that you would not, Lord, lord, that you would draw us back to you as a people.
Speaker 1:God, we are so sorry that we have failed, lord, as leaders, as men. Lord, as followers of Christ. We've been terrible examples, lord, of you and Lord, we're truly, truly sorry and we are asking Lord on this National Day of Prayer and Lord, as followers of Christ, we've been terrible examples, lord, of you and Lord, we're truly, truly sorry and we are asking Lord on this National Day of Prayer and Lord also, as folks are joining us, lord, on an election day. God, we are asking you for mercy, we're asking you for grace once again and, lord, that you would listen to the cries of your people, that you would visit from heaven, lord, and that you would heal our land. God, that you would visit from heaven, lord, and that you would heal our land. God, that you would forgive us and remove, lord, god, the scourge of drug addiction, the scourge of addictions to pornography and sexual perversion, the scourge of abuse in homes and in marriages and divorce and all of the horrible things that are the result, god, of our own waywardness and our own decisions. And, lord, we are praying a prayer of faith tonight that, god, you're going to hear us, that you're going to answer and that you're going to move.
Speaker 1:And we thank you, God, for what's happening in the Fight Club. Thank you, god, for Lee's willingness, lord, to step up to the plate and to lead. And God, for all of the men that have been affected by his decision, by his willingness to be obedient, lord, all of the men that have been affected in our community because of him, and Lord, what an encouragement for all of us, lord, to step up to the plate and to do what you've called us to do in the place that you've called us to work, lord, to be obedient to you, and who knows how many people we could see affected for the good Lord. So, god, we are believing, you, are expectant and we're excited to see what you're going to do, and we pray, lord, all of these things in the precious and powerful name of Jesus. Amen, amen. Lee, it has been a real honor to have you on the show and Jimmy, as always, it's been a lot of fun and, uh, who knows where these shows are going to go?
Speaker 2:We?
Speaker 1:have no idea, but, uh, I I just believe that that hopefully that's been a uh something to really touch, uh, touch your heart and encourage you and uh, strengthen you.
Speaker 2:And also probably Lee's email, probably the best way to get a hold of him.
Speaker 1:And we'll get that out there for you guys, and as always, so thank you, gentlemen, you want to close us out?
Speaker 2:Like, subscribe yeah, make sure you like and subscribe. Follow us. We're trying to go live with Instagram and Facebook now, so put some alerts on so you can watch these live. You can get all the outtakes and all the other stuff, that kind of goes on in the background that Lee got to experience. Yes, and appreciate you being here, and the MCSquared podcast at gmailcom is our email. We appreciate you and we'll see you the next time.
Speaker 3:See you later. Bye.