Brave Men S4E126: Mike Rosas - Sports, Chaos and Unity

Hey, welcome to Brave Men Today. This is Paul Lewis Cole. Thrilled to have you with me today, remember Hope is Live. Hope has a name. Hope's name is Jesus. Mike Rosas is a fascinating guy. He's had businesses, ministries. Every time I talk to him, he's got different projects. People he's met. He speaks all over the nation and around the world. But one of the things that interested me about him is he's very involved in rescuing orphans in Latin America. Last year alone, I think they fed over 200,000 meals to orphans in just in the nation of Colombia, which is where his background is. And Mike is, we titled this sports chaos and unity because it really speaks of what he's desiring to do, which is create chaos in the kingdom of darkness, unity in the kingdom of light, and an opportunity for those in the margins. He's a chaplain for the NBA Houston Rockets. He's a great friend and he and his family have invested their lives in one of their ministries, which is Lovebot International. And I'm going to ask him about all that stuff. His brother has been one of the first Latin executives for president of a major NBA team. And maybe a major or minor NBA team. I don't know if there's a difference, but yeah, they're all major. They're all major. So he was with the Rockets now as I think with the Knicks, but Mike's got an amazing background and a great legacy that he's living and a legacy he's building. Remember what you do in life becomes history, what you put into motion becomes your legacy. Remember, Brave Men is a production of the Christian men's network for all your discipleship tools, including the new books for fathers that we have out. And then the Maximized Minutes for Success, which is a great little hardback six-week devotional, that can all be found at cmn.men. Christian men's network, cmn.men. And go on there and then if you want to contact us, get ahold of Bruce who handles all that sort of stuff. I want to thank Chris, who's the producer of our podcast and our broadcast are going into Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, India, a number of countries around the world where we're training pastors to disciple men. It's amazing what's going on. I'll give you more of that in one of the other podcasts that we do, but here's Bikrosus today on Brave Men. It's Brave Men with Paul Lewis Cole, wisdom and courage for the journey. Starting with Mike Rosus, who's a cultural radical. He is a warrior against injustice and owner of businesses and entrepreneur chaplain for the Houston Rockets. And when I describe you like that, Mike, I describe you like that because you and your wife and family have built an orphanage in Colombia. You're always looking for ways to reach people in the margins. You work with people at the highest levels, owners of NBA teams and players that are making 30 million dollars a year and all that. And yet, your eyesight continually goes, how I reach that person against whom injustice is being done. And that's the orphan. So Mike, I mean, what has provoked you to that, to reaching out to the orphans when a lot of men in your position would be, if you will, reaching for the brass ring. You know, at the age of six, I developed a stutter. And so I spoke like this. And I got made fun of my kindergarten teacher asked me to stand up in the middle of the class. She mimicked how I stuttered. Oh, class laughed at me. So off in the age of 68, 21, I was very silent. I was very quiet. Teachers thought I was special ed. And in that time, I grew a really close passionate relationship with the father because he was the only one who would listen to me and wouldn't laugh when I took a long time to talk. And in that space, I was able to watch a lot. I didn't have any friends. And so I watched, you know, I was kind of a social anthropologist looking at people. And in my heart, I think like the father's heart always drew to the ones who were being picked on on the, on the, you know, on the outside. And so, so from that space, I made silent prayer. So God, if you would ever empower me, I said, I would love them like you will. I'll fight for them. I'll be a voice for them if you give me a voice. And so it was always this, this passion of seeing the father so graciously love on me that always pours out and kind of sets my focus to those around me. You know, the children who are orphans, the Bible says, uh, justice for the fatherless and the widow, uh, and talking about God. When you talk about the father, you're talking about God, talking about Jesus, Holy Spirit as a follower of Christ, right? Right. And uh, Bible says that in Deuteronomy, he says, he loves the sojourner, the one that's walking by themselves, giving him food and clothing. In other words, he's there for him. And so that's what you saw during that time and that look. But and then now when you talk about father, we're also talking about your father and what he gave you, if you will, as a legacy. This is a fast thing. I didn't, you know, you and I have known each other for a few years now for a minute. And uh, you know, but I didn't know this part about when you were born and what your family had committed to tell me about that coming out of Columbia. Yes. So, you know, my father, my grandfather was a lawyer in Columbia. My father was an entrepreneur. And so we had a good life part to that point. My oldest two brothers were born in Bogota, Columbia. And uh, and my parents just decided, you know, they weren't Christians at that point, but they decided they wanted to offer something better for their children. And so they risked all to come to America for the American dream. As they were coming, my parents made a prayer to the Christian God and they said, if you would take care of us, if you would establish us, we will dedicate this, uh, this baby that's, uh, that's in our womb. And so at that point, I'm almost six months pregnant with me when we landed on the shore. Same move. Six months pregnant. You're about to be born. They pray to the Christian God. Yes. They pray to the God of the Catholic background and they write. Yeah. It was non-practicing Catholic background. Right. And and we're going to pray to this God that this first child was born here. If he takes care of us, we're going to dedicate this first child to him. That first child was, was Michael Stephen Roses. That's you. Yeah. And so I said, they held true to their promise. They started going to church at the age of six. I came to saving faith in Christ Jesus and by his grace, he sustained me for the last 32 years. Now how did your father come to Christ? So, uh, you know, my dad, uh, being, you know, somebody comes from another country, barely speaking language. He took any job he could. And so he became a janitor at a local, uh, a local base. And somebody who was a army reservist, uh, was going through their normal day. He was getting his coffee, who's getting his newspaper and he sees his janitor and he has his divine thought, does this janitor know Jesus? He was going to fight for his country. He had a full-time job money through Friday. He had his own family. But he had this thought, does the janitor know Jesus? So he goes and he shares the gospel with the janitor and the janitor says, uh, yeah, I'll go to church with you. So my friend, uh, my friend says, okay, well, I'll go pick you up and he picks my dad up that following Wednesday. He goes knocks on the apartment, says is is Leonardo here. So my mom opens the door, kind of looks back and, uh, my dad waves him off and says, don't, don't tell him I'm here. And, uh, and my friend, Florence, he says, uh, he says, that's fine. I'll wait for him. And he usheres himself into the living room until my dad, Shane Face comes out and goes to church and in short form, uh, leads my mom in my, me and my three brothers, Christ. That's, that's just wonderful. Little knowing that he's impacting a family and your dad comes from Colombia, of course, has, has an entrepreneurial background. So there's that in the DNA. All right. And mother, uh, a solicitor, a lawyer attorney. And then, but then out of, out of that, one of your brothers became the first Latin executive of an NBA team, is that right? Yes. Uh, the first Latino president of an NBA team, uh, in, in the NBA's history. And so, um, you know, all that came from the kingdom of God's impact on this, on this family that came from Colombia. Yeah. And then here you are with, with, um, with that commitment that they made for you. And now, full circle, you've been a, uh, a pastor to young people to use the pastor church, entrepreneurial, uh, building businesses. And all of this with a sense of, uh, who are those, it's like, does the janitor know Christ? Right. Right. That's almost like, that can almost be kind of like your mission statement, right? Well, it's our heart because I think so often we go for titles when the father goes for hearts. And so, um, so when we understand that the janitor has as much potential as a CEO, when they are put in the hands of the father, then it changes everything. Wow. That's incredible. And out of that, out of that heart that you have, Mike, you and your wife, you have established an orphanage in Colombia, is that right? Yes, sir. We have, uh, my beautiful wife, Lydia and myself, uh, we created an orphanage called Lovebot International. And the idea is that love paid a price that made us all valuable, but equal so we deserve a chance. And so, uh, the father challenged us. He said, he said, you know, if you're children, wherever to go into orphan care, how would you want them to be taken care of? That's the best. The finest of education. You know, for us, you know, it wasn't necessarily just about doing, you know, just giving them a house and just giving them three meals. And so when God positioned that to me, I was like, well, I don't want the best of the best. And God said, those are my sons and daughters and you go and give them the best of the best. And so if you look at our, our home in Colombia, it's a very beautiful home. It's two stories. We're seeing that lovebot, boghtlovebot.com. Correct, correct. And that's, it's the story of the father reinstilling identity into these 30 orphan girls. You know, Columbia, Columbia contacted us and said, uh, after a long battle with this government, they said, hey, we have good use of bad news. And we said, what is it? They said, we finally have orphans for you. We've been battling for years to get that license and that right. And they said, and we said, okay, well, what's the bad news? And I said, well, the bad news is we only have girls and nobody wants them. And so, uh, and in their, in their terms, they said, these are the least desirable. And I feel when, when you say least desirable, God puts a target of his heart on them. And I said, I said, we'll take them all as many as you can give us. We'll take them. And so we now have 30 girls from the age of 18 that are living in our home. Wow. It's, it's, you've changed your lives. And then you've changed the lives of all of their children. Yeah. Which is the hope. Our hope is to reinstill identity, educate them, introduce them to their purpose. They can fulfill their destiny, which will create a better Columbia. And so, um, so our goal is transformable change. It's not just, we don't get them three meals, we get them five meals. It's not, it's not just a house. It's not just a closet. It's about giving them transformable change in the heart of the father so that their next generations are better. Now, you've been a chaplain for the Houston Rockets, uh, life coach, counselor, uh, entrepreneur, uh, advertising executive, uh, past, trying to think of all the different things, Mike, but, but you've got something going right now that I think is really incredible. And that is teaching people how to share their story. About knowing Jesus Christ, uh, and even though you've got a marketing background, you've got a really unique take on this. Tell us about that. So, you know, my heart is for the church to fulfill its glorious destiny, right? The church is the vehicle that God uses. You'll never move past the church. And so, um, so for us, it's empowering to the church to do what only it can do. And so our heart is to teach the last person on the last row how to share the intersection of their story in the gospel. You know, a lot of times, you know, every pastor would love to grow its church. And so, you know, sometimes we go to marketing when in reality, the highest goal of a marketing agency is to create organic word of mouth growth. And so not know, yeah, not knowing that that is the original principle of the scriptures of disciples making disciples. You know, as somebody who's studied for 15 years, I understand the power of a voice. And I understand that you have a whole generation that's trying to speak, but does it have the ability to communicate? And so, when you give them the right microphone, they will shout from it. And so it's important for us to teach those, right? Because there was research done and people said that they would rather be murdered than the speaking public. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, I've read this over and over. It's the number one thing that people are fearful of. Right. It's like it is. They have to stand up in front of a crowd and speak. So, but, but the power of one-on-one, right? And so it's, it's the simplicity, right? It's a demonic of gatherings. He says, he tells Jesus, let me follow you. And he just says, no, I want you to go and share. And so what we see as you follow out his story is that he impact the whole city. How did he do it? All he had was the blood of the lamb and the word of his testimony. All he had is what he turned his city upside down. Tell him about Mark. So I talked about the guy who was demon possessed. Yes. And he had, he, he had chains and he was naked. He was scratching himself. He was jacked. He was. And like a lot of us and a lot of people. And so when he became a follower of Christ, which Jesus, I mean, is this miraculous thing where Jesus cast the demons out of the guy, right? And, and then the guys in his right mind disciples are there. They help get them clothed. And it's a really fascinating story because the guy says, well, I want to follow you. And Jesus says, no, don't follow me. Go tell people what happened. Yes. It's like, wait, wait, hang on. I'm just supposed to go to Bible college first. You know, I'm actually supposed to go through some sort of seminar or something. And Jesus goes, no, this tell him, hey, I was jacked up and I met Jesus. And the spirit, right? But it's that brilliance that makes me question, are we overeducating and underutilizing a generation? Come on, say that. That was awesome. Are we overeducating but underutilizing a generation? If you look at, he had all of two or three days of training. And then Jesus, he basically, I don't know if you've seen the Batman movie with the Joker, but there's this scene that that defines my ministry. The Joker goes to two face. And he puts a gun in his hand and he says, cause a little bit of chaos. And what my heart is, is to put the the weapons of the gospel, the understanding of how to communicate testimony and say, go cause a little bit of chaos in the King of Darkness. And I think you'd be surprised how the Holy Spirit can sustain that better than we can. Well, that's it. And this guy, you know, when we talk about overeducated, you know, we're talking about it, whether it's a secular general market, church culture, whatever it is. And, and we've overeducated people in the sense of marketing is always the answer. Advertising King, but, but, you know, but really our story is what changes people around us. You know, and overeducated the other thing, we were talking about last time of the gathering of some friends and we were talking about how we've moved into this. Everything needs to be safe. And there's this, we live in an era of safety. I mean, I've never seen so many kids at elementary schools picked up by their parents and cars. Right? Well, lying down in the school, dude, when I was that age, it was like a mile and a half away and I rode my bike. Right. You know, I'm sure about two hours late, my parents kind of looked for me, but and I understand that that some of the safety issues are different. But it's like, hey, listen, I'll park around a block. You walk over there. But it leads to a good point though. Yeah. At least a good point. We try to define the next generation as weak. I was on a TV show and they were asking me, they're saying, Mike, you know, this is not in the show that I believe, but this is this is what a lot of people my age bracket think. They say, you know, this is a generation where where everybody has to get a ribbon. This is a generation where you have people in college who need a timeout spaces. And so I so I asked the question, who gives them the ribbons? Who gives them the timeout spaces? They don't give it to themselves. We're the ones who give it to them. And so we project this weakness on them that maybe this is a revolutionary generation that's different than us. And if led well by us, they will go further than us. Well, you can take it all back to or you can take it back to my generation. I'm older than you. And you can take it back to the 60s and 70s where we bought into all this, I don't know, Freudian stuff of everything that risk and everything's an issue and every single thought has some sort of evil intent. I don't know. And then basically it's like, we don't need to be a follower of Christ because we're basically a good person. And that whole belief, that whole belief is why I think we're back off of stuff. You leave a person to themselves. They're going to be a good person. No, if you leave a three year old to themselves, they will go take every other three year old's toys. One hundred percent. And and and 30 year old men are nothing but three year old little boys and men's bodies. No crying lards. They grab another people's stuff and running. Right. That's why adultery is at an all time high, you know, because you're grabbing somebody else's stuff. And I think we're going to read Romans 12, 13. No, Proverbs 7 talking about talking about what a man said his pants on fire and expect not to be burned. I love it. The passion translation. It's like it really seriously. And it talks about a bird flying into a net not knowing that it's about to get killed. Wow. And and we just believe the voices, you know, we're listening to voices because we don't have an understanding of what the truth true voice is. And I think that's why you're teaching us how it's and it's called storytellers. Is that right? You're trying to build storytellers. In fact, you have a hat. Do you have a hat that says storyteller on? You know, we're definitely going to come out with one, but it's I thought I saw you with something on. It's a storyteller. No, no, no, no, no. It's in the marketing campaign. But we haven't built it out yet. Okay. Well, I got a living for it. Yeah. But you know, it's this whole it's this whole understanding that that's all God ever needed because he's one has the power and the authority. All he needs is people to share the story. And then people will faith will arise. And then God will begin to review himself in a greater measure. That that's what I believe America needs. You know, Billy Graham said, I believe the last great move of God is when the whole church activates and moves the gospel. And so it's that understanding that we need the last person on the last row. I understand that 80, 20 Pareto prints will understand all that. But when the last person on the last row gets it and begins to to to bring truth and light to their community, America doesn't have a chance or choice. You know, I yeah, you're you work in sports and athletics. What are the biggest issues? And I'm not talking just about a guy with a big contract. What are the biggest issues that that we deal with in sports and athletics? Because it feels like in the United States where where you and I live. And in many parts of the world, we're really pushing our kids to be connected, involved, all these things. But that it doesn't mean that it helps them become better people. What's the what's going to be right now in athletics in sports, Mike? From your perspective. You know, there's a lot, you know, there's internal, there's external ones. You know, from players, you know, these are guys who, you know, before I talked to them, we do chat one hour before the game. They're going to go in front of 17,000 people. They're going to cheer because they're every movement. And you know, many of them have told me they said, Mike, I don't know. I don't know who loves me for me. And they're talking about family. They're talking about close friends. They're not talking about the fans on social media they like or dislike. We're talking about their inner circle. You know, when you get to that place of financial or fame, you know, things become very plastic. And so it's hard for the guys. But you know, that's where the beauty of the love of the father comes in. I want one of the most powerful times I've had is just doing the prayer blessing of a father over them. I don't know if you have a father or not, but I just want to bless you. And, you know, the guys were quiet after because it's the love of the father is being poured out on them. I think from another perspective, it's the glorification of athletes that everything they do is right because they do this aspect right. And the guys in the girls are just like us. They're trying to figure it out. They have perspectives. But you know, maybe some of those perspectives are evolving. And so they need space to to figure out what they're doing. And so it's just thing where again, it's the it's the plumb line. It's going back to truth. And so, you know, people have asked him, Mike, like you preach to to NBA players and then you preach to to orphans. And I say, yes. And I take the universal principles of the Bible and I give them both truth and they both respond to it. Yeah, I, you know, it feels like what it feels like because I'm around my grandchildren. I played sports growing up and my children played sports. But it feels like now, like like Mike eight-year-old grandson is playing in a baseball tournament last weekend. And that baseball tournament on his field eight-year-old is being streamed on the internet. Okay. Now, I'm sure they were thinking about, you know, I'm sure they're thinking about, you know, grandparents and that kind of stuff. All right. What's really funny is I ran into a guy that I knew that came over. He came over to see the eight-year-old dams. I say, hey, what's up, man? He said, well, we were just scouting one of the players in the other field. Scouting holds a kid. He goes, nine. He goes, yeah, we saw some video on him. And then I just came to see him because we've got a ten-year-old team. I would like to include him maybe on the team and I'm like, dude, maybe we've taken this a little too far. You know, but here's the question. Or is that a principle that the church needs to learn to put the intentionality and the focus to help develop the gift when we see that a young age? That's a fantastic perspective because we take those eight, nine ten-year-olds and we just put them in game rooms. That's right. And you know, if you think about, you know, if you think about LeBron James, he was discovered at a young age. I was a friend named Marcus. He saved his child soldiers and he told about this child that he saved. I said to him at the age of 12. He said that the age of eight, he would get his handler or take him to the beach, he would get a seashell, he would throw a seashell in the air and his eight-year-old with a nine-millimeter would have to shoot five seashells before he could get breakfast. By the age of 12, he had pulled off four political assassinations. Wow. And so, you know, in Luke 16, the parable of the unjust steward, Jesus tells the disciples in a punch to the gut, the children of darkness in this generation are more cunning than the children of light. I don't think it's a prophetic definitive word. I think it's a punch to the gut saying, come on guys, we're better than this. Let's work harder than that. I saw a church and in the back of the church in huge letters, you're talking about two-foot letters. It says, whoever wants his generation the most, we'll get them. Wow. Man, that's really good. That's a great perspective on that. I was thinking of it in terms of performance because we performatize everything. Also, true. That's a word, but it's good. You and I were talking earlier about it, about performance versus excellence. You know, the Bible instructs us to go after excellence. And what we've done in our cultures, we've gone after perfection. Perfection is lust-based. And excellence is love-based. And excellence is usually outward in its desires. And and the perfection is really about look at me. You know, if you will. But man, what would happen if 8, 9, 10-year-olds were trained on telling their story? Right. Man, what would happen if 11, 12, 13-year-olds actually spoke up for what they believe in in a culture that doesn't have really anything to believe in? You know, I tell people, I say, if you're successful, people don't care if you worship Jesus Satan. They want to know your secret. And so, and you know, for children, children are looking for direction. And it's usually right. It's the loudest one. It's the one on top of the tire, the King of the Hill, that everybody else looks to. My five-year-old daughter, my daughter, Ali, she's nine, when she was five, she was getting her ears pierced. And they were doing this whole Disney thing Bell was doing it. And she said, Daddy, I want to go take my Bible, and I want to share with Bell about Jesus. And I said, Oh, no, baby, it's not about that. Like, we're just gonna get your ear pierced. And my wife was like, like, are you really stopping her from evangelizing? I'm like, Oh, my God. I caught myself like, yeah, who cares about, who cares about culture and the way we do things? And I was like, please, baby, go share the gospel. And she went to the five-year-old and she told Bell about Jesus. And so, I, you know, I wonder what happens if we do take the reins off a little bit. I think we might be surprised in a good way. I think we might be surprised in a good way. I think kids have a, have a innate sense of, of faith that hasn't been besmirched yet by the disappointments of culture. You know, so, starting with Mike Rosas, Mike Rosas, with storytellers, and chaplain with Houston Rockets, NBA team, revolutionary living, Mike Rosas.org. And you've worked in a business world, in a ministry world, and built an orphanage down in Columbia, which we talked about for a minute. What are the key elements of being successful in business as a Christian? I mean, what, is it different? Is it the same? Are we supposed to act differently? Or do we just say, well, this is business? And then here's my Christianity over here. You know, I think about when Jesus talks about the kingdom as leaven. It permeates everything. And so for us, we, if we understand that we were representing Christ at the end of the day, that it makes me work that much harder. It makes me want to be diligent. It makes me want to be excellent. Do I make mistakes? Yes, obviously, I make mistakes. Too many mistakes if you ask me, but it's this aspect of if I go back to scriptural principles, scriptural principles create, like you said, a space for excellence, not for perfection, for excellence. And so for me, it's about pushing myself to be better every single day, right? That that fight against the man and the mirror. It's understanding that I think of the day I'm representing Christ. And so what that looks like is in business, I will let people in the right place, the right time. I'll let them get one over on me if necessary, because I understand my name is more valuable than one transaction. And so what we've seen is that our clients will stay with us longer because of our name, even if our work isn't always perfect, although it is excellent. Yeah, wow. Hey, what's best NBA game you've ever been at? Best end of all. I have. I've been in a ton. I saw the Rockets versus Golden State game seven, Western Conference. I saw Jordan play versus East and Rocket. I saw Hakeem Elijah when playing the 90s. I've seen a lot of great ones. It's hard to pick what's the best one. I've seen, you know, I've seen some some great nail bidders, but honestly, it would have to go back to Hakeem. Hakeem is just an incredible specimen of a player just to absolute beast and his his grace at his height and his ability to overcome the other team. They just it always left me speechless. Yeah, he he basically he could take control of again. He could. And if you know, if you pay attention close to NBA players right as as a basketball geek, the ones with the best footwork are the ones who played other sports. So you think about guys who played soccer, Jonas, the free Steve Nash, Hakeem Elijah one. So those that played other sports have a have a greater grace in playing basketball. And so I think because what you just mentioned that we're all soccer players. Yeah. And part of the deal of soccer is moving the field left to right right to left to get the defense out of position. Yeah, which is what makes a great basketball player. Right. Yes. That's a great attacker. Yeah. Yeah, you're trying to get the other team out of position. Because then you've got somebody cutting in from this, you know, from the wing or whatever it may be. Bam, there's an open pass. Why? Because the other team just got out of position because he's moved ball like that's fascinating. I never thought of it quite like that. But yeah, his his first love was soccer. Yeah. And you know, I think when you go one on one, I mean, you see some great exhibitions. But it's not an easy basketball play as a team game that you see. It's true beauty. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. You know, so the Rockets have better days ahead. I'm praying. You're the chaplain, bro. I'm praying a lot for them. Yeah, bring it. Years ago, we had a friend who played football, Reggie White. And so Reggie had made this decision to move from the Philadelphia team up to Greenback. And it was a big deal. And he had prayed with his confidence and asked us to pray. And so then all of a sudden, man, Green Bay ends up, you know, in the playoffs. And so they're coming down the Dallas to play to play against the Cowboys. So Reggie calls up and says, Hey, do you think your dad could do the chapel service before the playoff game? Yeah. And so so dad did went over to the chapel for the Packers and Packers lost to the Cowboys. Then the next year, same thing that come down and Reggie calls, Hey, can your dad do the chapel against? Sure. So dad goes over, does the chapel. Packers lose to the Cowboys. Okay. So the next year is when Green Bay had the best record. In fact, this year they ended up going to football and winning it. But the game is going to be up at, you know, in Lambo field, up in Green Bay. And so in the Cowboys have to travel there. And so Reggie calls up. And the many calls I'm thinking, this is going to be fantastic. We're going to get tickets to go to Lambo field. You know, I've always wanted to see a game there. It's going to be incredible. Reggie calls up says, Hey, I was just talking with Coach Hungry. Okay. He said whoever did the last two chapel services can't do it this year. Coach's are funny that way. So we'll be praying for you, Mike. You know, they're with the chapel services, the rockets. Thank you so much. Things come around. So, you know, anyway, it's a tough deal, man, that these guys in the professional ranks, you know, because they are judged on points per game. And, you know, they're plus minus, like if they're in the game and they're a plus eight, or a negative nine. And I noticed the other night that we're talking some of the commentators and they were asking one of the man who used to be a former top NBA coach. So do you do you pay attention to that number? He goes, Oh, yeah, over time. He says, I got a guy who's always negative. He says over over a period of a number of games. He says, I'll realize it's not good to put him in the game. So they're being judged day in and day out. How does a man deal with that and that kind of stress and pressure? Because all of us in business in different places, we're for in sales. And we don't make our quarterly number for being judged on that. How do we deal with that kind of stress, Mike, as a follower of Christ? I mean, it is, it is stress. And, you know, there's a salary that comes along with it that also helps. But it's important to have, you know, as cliche is a sound you're identifying in Christ, because at the end of the day, my value has to come from the one who sees it best in me. And so I can only get that from my father. You know, a friend of mine, he, he was a touring artist, and he would play in front of thousands of people. And he said, when he finally, finally quit, he ended up working at a marketing agency for nonprofits. And he said, my, it was the hardest thing for me when I sent my, my first email and I didn't get a standing ovation, because his context is completely off. And so, you know, it was about, you know, tethering bag to the only thing that is unmovable. Same yesterday, today, forever more. And so, when I, you know, our business will do, get some times to do bad, sometimes our ministry will do, get some times will do bad, sometimes the originage will have, you know, we'll have struggles there, right? Girls who, who don't want to live there and we'll have all these problems. And so I have to, every morning, I roll out of my bed, I roll straight onto my knees, and I put my eyes on my father. I grasp my father's face before I grasp my phone, because it's important that the first eyes I see love me, appreciate me, and set me right for the day. Yeah. Well, there you go. It's about identity, because your definition determines your decisions. All behavior follows with you. And what you believe about yourself and what you believe about God is how you make decisions. And, and so for us as followers of Christ to really be tethered into that. And I would say what you just talked about prayer and being in the word is where we find our identity. There were two things that King David had that happened to him as a young man after he was anointed to be king. It was not at the king. And he came and defeated Goliath, that famous story. But, but the two things that set him up for that success was adversity and intimacy. In other words, he said, he said, I've been out in the fields with the sheep. Right? So, and, and he wrote a bunch of songs and we call them the songs. He wrote over half of the book of song. And I would have to think Mike, a lot of that happened when he's out there with the sheep, just out there on his own singing and praising God and singing worship songs. There's intimacy with the father. And then the second thing that happened that he talked about, he says, Hey, I had a lion come had a bear come tried to kill my sheep. I protected him. So adversity and intimacy formed the core of David's life. And it was out of that. So incredible that he became the man that God desired him to, you know, designed him to be and the God the man he desired to be. And it didn't mean he didn't go through crap because he did some of itself inflicted. Right? I mean, it's like, you know, some of the issues that David went through, I think come back to the wounds of his father. And a lot of men, probably 90% of the men listening to us have those kinds of wounds. And the way that David overcame that was by creating his identity, his, his persona, who I am as a man, intimacy with God, that's being in the word prayer. And then then dealing with adversity and what that means to me is, is facing reality is real. Right? Truth. So good. Yeah. So that's kind of, that's kind of my thing for, for us. How, how would you, and I want to go ahead, we're going to wrap up. Thank you for Mike. I'm talking with Mike Rosas with story tellers, revolutionary, living in microsis.org, chaplain of the Houston Rockets, life coach, purpose speaker, and you and your beautiful wife have created and built an atmosphere for growth, for orphans in Columbia. And so everything lives or dies based on an atmosphere. Okay? So how do you build the right atmosphere as a father in your own home? Here you are doing all these things, helping other people. How do you do it personally, Mike? You know, I'm very intentional that when I look at my child's eyes, I've won some $2. I put all my intentionality, all my focus into all my soul looking for their eyes. I want them to know they have one percent, 100% of daddy's attention, right? I don't pick up my phone. So whatever we're doing, I'm all in. I want them to know two things. Number one, their loves and number two, safe space. Why do I focus so much on a safe space? Not because it's a bad world outside, because I want them to take chances and I want them to fail and I want them to go further than daddy's ever gone. You know, and so for me, it's about creating the place where my ceiling is their floor. So I take them all big business deals with me. I take them to minister with me because I want them to understand whether they do it or not, I want them to understand that there's a way of life that we have, and they have the ability to pull and to learn from this, whatever their purpose, whatever their destiny is, but they understand number one that they are their kings, number two, their priests. As they do this unto the Lord, they have that ability to take that in any space, even if they go like their grandfather started, they become janitors. I tell them be the best janitor you can be and be a revolutionary janitor. Create something a janitor has never created. Take it further than it's ever been and be the light that this darkness needs. That's fantastic. So you're intentional. You actually talk about yourself. Yes, we do at our dinner table. We have dinner usually six or seven nights together a week. And we talk about we talk about chances we've taken. We talk about failures. I asked them when was the last time you failed because I want to know when was the last time they took a chance. I say, hey, let's let's think about ideas. You know, if you if you were in this business, what would you do? My kids are nine, five and two. And so my kids are like, oh, well, if I did this, I would, you know, I wouldn't make sure everybody would go with one free product. Now, it's okay. Well, you have to understand that there's a bottom line in financial that, you know, we talked to them in business terms. And so for them, you know, obviously, their ideas and their thought process will evolve, but they're going to evolve at the age of nine and five, not at the age of 18 or 22. So by the time they get to 18, they're going to be a decade ahead of everybody else in their space. Wow. That's fantastic. Now, that's intentional fathering. That is intentional fathering. And I think of the book, the John Tyson wrote called the intentional father. And he had those saying, and he recorded it six, six years, he took his son through a program that he sat down and wrote out. And then when they recorded it, and then it became, it has become a book. But John talked about intentionally talking about these things, actually bringing them up. And if they didn't just come up organically, he would make sure they came up. Right. Right. And I was talking again, I was talking about some friends last night that we were together. And we were talking about the next generation, because in over these men, deal with that. And I spent the same, and I said, we don't have enough little boys with broken arms. I mean, when everybody started laughing, you're like, dude, you're right. Man, when we were kids, everybody had a broken arm. Right. Yes. Kind of like now, it's like, everything's like, not safe, not, and I think some parents that they could, they would like, everything would have a little blow up, a little plastic bumper pads on everything. Yes. Yeah, a bubble wrap on everything, a bubble wrap, kid. That would be like a new clothing line. I'm sure we do well. Dude, I mean, little boys need to go out and risk stuff. And little girls need to go out and play and do stuff outside and be encouraged to go after things, you know. I think boys and girls, regardless, I think we live in that risk of worse place. And if we intentionally father our children to go after life, they're going to get bumped and they're going to bruise. But if they have talked to you, I mean, to have been around your table, and you guys have talked about it, and you've talked about wins and losses, and you've lived your life in front of them. And you said, hey, you know, let me just, particularly as they get older, you know, they're pretty young now. And so it's like, I'll tell you why we're not taking the family vacation this summer, because dad and mom decided to put a lot of money into this project for the orphans. And in our business, we have less income right now, you know, because the emblem flow of the market. So I just want to share with you, here's why we're doing, we're going to play at the house, whatever, the deal is, you live your life right in front of your children. And they see you at those moments, and then you explain to them, here's why we made this decision. We had this conversation with my children, I actually preached on it shortly after, but I share a lot of my messages with my family first. And in Revelation 218, God is talking about the people who are not, who are not going to enter the kingdom of God. It talks about lies and horror mongers and all these things. And the first person who defines this is the cowardly. And so it's hard to swallow, but it's his words, not mine. And so I told our girls, I'm like, what does it look like to be cowardly? And so they said, take Kansas, daddy, be brave. And it was this aspect of like, look, like God put it in there. And it's really hard to swallow. But at the end of the days, I don't change God's word to my understanding. I change my understanding to God's words. Yeah. Well, that's that old thing. My dad said years ago, he said, you know, in the beginning, God created mankind. And ever since and we've tried to return to favor by trying to create that is a sad but true story. Yeah. Dude, yeah. Talking about bike roses and Mike, thank you for being with us on Brave Men today. And for being a part of Maximized Manhood over the years and an impact to your life as a young man. And it's been amazing to see how the Lord's led you into some stuff. Every time I talk to you, you have these really cool initiatives you're involved in. And I love this whole story tellers piece. And I want to make sure that like some of our events coming up, you're based out of Houston, but you're national in your scope. But I want to make sure that we make that the guys get a hold of these materials. So I want to make sure we promote this because I love this one. That being credible. I love the whole picture of the last guy in the last row knows how to share his story. Yeah. It'll be a game changer for the church. Yeah. And how's the church going to grow? Apparently not by marketing. And apparently, apparently, you know, just marketing alone. Let me put it that way because I believe in it. Right. I think every church needs to be on the internet. Google ads, whatever the local stuff is. But I think, you know, it's marketing and really cool lights and smoke and, you know, climbing wall. It's not going to keep the next generation. No, it's not going to. You know, and your six-part series where everything starts with the letter S. Whatever. It's not your last night. And it's all right. And then we had this guy speak Sunday at our church. So that's fantastic. He goes, he said it was a three-part thing was really great. So the first one was perseverance. I go, hang on. And the next two start with the letter P also. And you went, um, yeah, you're right. You love him. I'm like, you know, on the other hand, obviously, he, and he remembered all three. So I thought, okay, well, it's transportable, right? Yeah, transportable, memorable. So starting with a letter P for three points, probably ended up being a good thing. But it is funny what we do. You know, I'm just glad we got out of the 21 laws of success that you had to preach all in one sermon. All right. You're beautiful laws of leadership. That's where I come up to you. In the 80s, man. You know, if you didn't show up with at least 10 points, like, like, what, why are you coming here to preach, man? If you don't have what are you really doing? And boys, I love learning Sweetie said, uh, he said, as the world has gotten more complex, he said, what we find is having one point goes a lot further. So he said the, he said 10 points is now that place where you didn't know how to, at it, you didn't know how to put it all together. So he said, yeah, we'll just make it 10 points. He says today in this culture today, it's not going to be transportable. And he said, he said, three is the most. No. Now, Kerry Newhof can get away with it on his, you know, what is Kerry Newhof? Your church isn't growing. Seven things you should never do in the pulpit, you know, his list, his list. He's a beast. But if you're, but if you're standing in front of your family and you're trying to come up with 10 different things, yeah, that's not going to work. Yeah, you've lost them. So you need to say, what's my one takeaway right now, right? That's my two things that that are immutable. I'm just going to hit those two things that we're going to talk about right now. You're at the dinner table. It's one, we got one thing, you know, Christ is exalted or he's Colossians 119 is the center of all things. Whatever the thing may be. Anyway, Mike, you're awesome, man. We can talk all day about all this cool stuff. You've got resources, tools you've written in a few books. You wrote one. If anybody's got a friend, it's in the NBA. You wrote one that's particularly for, well, for professional athletes, but you styled it around the NBA game. Yeah, I sat around the NBA game. We had, we had some MLB players who liked it also. That we do one for baseball. I haven't been able to get enough wide connection for that, but you know, it's something that speaks to them in a very unique space. How would we get this? No, so this but with something we did specifically just for the NBA players. So it was something that we did just to minister to them. And I just wanted to bless them. It wasn't so it obviously just as a gift. And then I have two other books. One is for young people called Change the World going Revolutionary. A 40 day devotional based on the first segment, Timothy. And then I wrote a book for parents, grandparents, pastors, teachers, called Leading the Revolutionary Generation that helps them influence this next generation. If we fill in their destiny and change it in the world for Christ. Microsis, microsis.org. We get to their ROSAS. And I know, I mean, we can talk a lot more basketball, but I love talking to you with guys that get stuff done. And you're a doer. Like I mentioned at the very start, you're a cultural radical. And it takes radicals to change culture. So Mike, we pray that the Lord continues to bless you in your ministry. As you minister people in the margins and in the mansions from this two in mansions in the margins. So good. I'm going to remember that one. And we pray the Lord keeps you in the deep within the grip of His love and favor. And you're an awesome warrior, Mike. It's great being your friend. God bless you. That's been a honor. It's been a whole mind. I've learned so much from Leading the Revolutionary Paul. Thank you for giving that space. You've just experienced Brave Man with Paul Lewis Cole. Paul is president of the Christian Men's Network. Connect with Paul at cmn.man or write to him at Paul at cmn.man.