BraveMen S3E67: From the NFL to the Streets - Otto Kelly on True Manhood

Otto Kelly is an amazing man. He's a close friend of mine, but I have such great respect for him as a man, as a dad, as a husband, and for what he does. Impacting and changing the world in which you and I live. I want you to meet him today. Otto Kelly is a former professional football player who now is the executive director of the Reno-Fernley Crisis Pregnancy Center there in Reno, Nevada. An amazing man. I'm here today on Brave Man with Chris Shields. And Chris, Otto, you've met Otto. Yes. Now Otto, if you haven't met him, let me give you a picture. Otto has continued to work out since he was in professional football. It's been a few years ago, right? And he is working out. I don't even know if he could play now. He's so big. Like his arms are the size of my waist. I would feel bad for whoever tried to walk against him. That's true. Anyway, so what's funny is Otto does this thing. We've traveled quite a bit together and he does this thing where he'll say, hey, think of close your eyes. Think of the director of a crisis pregnancy center. Now open your eyes. Look at me. And here he is. This husky, strong, good looking black man who just doesn't fit the profile. And yet over the last decade, he and his wife, Joy, have been one of them, have headed up one of the most successful crisis pregnancy centers in all of America. He's a remarkable man. I want everybody to meet him, Chris. And so every time I get a chance, I put him on a stage, have him talk about his testimony, have him speak. He's one of these guys that he says, all right, everybody write this down. Well, everybody writes it down. Yeah. Because nobody's not going to write it down. Not when a guy like him is going to come from you, right? Right. He gets up and goes, all right. Here we go. Here is what we're doing. It's like a coach. He's an amazing man. Yeah. He holds a record and he didn't know I knew this and I brought it up. He holds a record for the most yards ever rushed in a single quarter in an NCAA football game. It's over 200 yards in one quarter. That's amazing. And yeah, it's remarkable. He did that with the University of Nevada Wolf Pack there in Reno. You know, one of the things that I really admire about Otto is the humility you watch. He would never tell you, like, you know, even looking over. He doesn't talk about any of this stuff. Like you sit here and you look at his bio and what he's actually done and all the words he has. And you're just like, you would have never known about this. And it's not just in one area. It's, you know, diverse. You know, he's really made an impact on the world outside of athletes, you know, being an athlete, you know, athletics, you know. Yeah. He was, he worked with the police department before he did the Christ's Pregnancy Center. And he worked on youth and juvenile issues for like 15 years, 13, 14, 15 years, something like that. Also, at the same time, pastoring a church and all of that came out of a conversion experience he had in the early 80s. It's a remarkable story. Yeah. Did you know May 17th is Pastor Otto Kelly, Kelly Day, where in Nevada, anywhere, anywhere he wants it to be, city of Reno. The city of Reno, Nevada for claiming May 17th, Auto Pastor, Auto Kelly Day. Yes. Yeah. He's one of the Northern Nevada Black Cultural Awareness Society Community Services Award. I don't even put that on an award sheet, something that you, how, you couldn't put it on a plaque. Yeah. That's too long. You have to shorten that. Why don't you help him out, Chris? You're good at that. And he's won awards from the Senate and so forth. But most of all, I'll tell you where he's won awards for me is watching him the way he's a, a husband and a dad to two incredible men. And, and I'm watching the way he has discipled men. I mean, I firsthand seen it. I've been there. I've seen it. We've been friends for a number of years. And I've seen the changes in people's lives. It happened because this man gets involved and Chris, this, this interview, I just want to set it up for all of us. This is conversation that Otto and I had. What he's done is the mission call to every single man listening to this today. Wow. This is where we all need to live. Yeah. We need to be intentional. Yes. We need to pull other people up. Yep. We need to lift people up. Even if we're still getting up ourselves. Yes. Help somebody else up while you're, help, you know, getting up. And Otto's done that. You were literally ripped the word out of my mouth. I was going to say one of the biggest things about Otto is he is fully present and intentional when he's with you. He's not worried about anybody else that is around. No, it's to lick you in the eye and make sure you feel important. And it blows my mind. You got this big guy. It's big. That's just zoomed in on you. I was giving a bad time about getting t-shirts or just too small. I gotta do it. If I were t-shirts, it would be too small. I might look like that. I would have to buy t-shirts that have stuff in them. You know, me too. It's okay. Me too. You know, the thing is, but when, you know, I always talk about my friend Reggie White, past way years ago. And, you know, Otto's liked that in a sense that he's a large guy. He's strong physically, but he hasn't tried to prove anything. No. Because he knows who he is as a man. Exactly. And when we know who our identity is, that's where our true strength comes from. Exactly. And so, today is your listening to Brave Men. Remember, at Christian Men's Network, we have tools to help build strong men. And we do that in 134 countries around the world, over 19 languages. And, Christian Men's Network, and C-M-N dot men. And we have tools for discipleship. And we've just, in fact, this year or even just before the COVID craziness happened, we celebrated taking one million men through men's discipleship just in the nation of Indonesia. This is a Muslim nation, or it was. You know, it's changing. But that's what we're about. That's why I love Otto, because we're all headed the same direction. He serves on some of our urban teams. And this is an amazing remarkable conversation with a powerful and dynamic man who his strength, you'll listen, you'll hear it. His strength is from the inside out. Here is Otto Kelly today on Brave Men. It's Brave Men with Paul Lewis Cole, wisdom and courage for the journey. Talking with my great friend, brother Otto Kelly, who's the executive director of the Christ's Pertuncy Center in Reno, Nevada, you and your wife, Joy, a few years ago made a huge right turn in your lives. And I love the way you do it, Otto. You talk about think of what a Christ's Pertuncy Center director looks like. Close your eyes. Think of that. Now, open your eyes, look at me. Here you are. A former professional football player. Your arms are still growing. I don't understand that thing. I mean, I guess I'm going to have to start wearing tighter t-shirts. Make my arms look big. You go, man. No, it's a secret. It's a method. And so Otto Kelly, you played football, played professional, played USFL, played NFL. Was that the Eagles and the Chiefs? Yes, sir. And so for somebody not from the United States, it's American gridiron. And that's filled off the Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs. And USFL. Hey, so let me ask you something, but you're a wolf pack. You're like a Hall of Fame, which is the University of Nevada in Reno, right? Yes, sir. Yeah. That's college football. She's still the purist form of football, right? I believe so, my friend. I believe so. And just my personal opinion. Yeah, in my humble opinion. So, but my understanding is, I know you never told me this. I actually, I actually researched you. Do you know you're on the internet, bro? That's a scary thought. Yeah, you're all over the place. But here's what I read that you actually, and maybe this is still true. You held for many years, maybe still do. As a running back in college, you held the NCAA record for the most yards gained in one quarter. Yes, sir. Is that still hold? That still holds. Are you kidding me? Where the holds? Of all the great guys, Eric Dickerson, Ricky Bell. Okay, going back, coming forward. Are you telling these EQI or are you just saying you're the number you gain more yards in a quarter than any of those guys ever in history? I'd never noticed that, but yeah, that's what they say. Cali, man. That's what they say. You know, Otto, the next time you and I are together, I need your autograph, man. Man, god of dodge. They just don't understand how far back we go, brother. So you, you know, you have what you have. I have it, brother. Believe it. Well, you know, my grandkids can't believe that I actually played basketball when there was no three-point shot. You know, they're like, Papa, what? What was that? I go, hey, all the games were in black and white. What can I tell you? That's right. Hey, but so you've got all these athletic things and you knew your pastor radically saved on a college campus. I want to get in then to that in a minute. But with the crisis pregnancy center, one of the things that you started doing that absolutely has knocked me out is you started doing a daddy academy where young men, and you can, I want to explain all this thing, you take young men whose girlfriend or wife or significant others is abortion minded. And you helped these young men begin to understand that when this child is born, they actually have a responsibility. Yes, sir. Tell me about that and tell me how, how did that thing come about? Because it didn't seem to me with the things I've been active in that that was part of the normal crisis pregnancy center method. You know, we started this thing. I was, I took over the crisis pregnancy center eight and a half years ago. I was nine years now. Wow. And, gosh, honestly, the first thing that we noticed coming into the doors is like there was nothing going on for guys. Great stuff happening for the ladies. Awesome stuff. I mean, for pregnancy tests, to maternal support, to all the above, and the guys weren't receiving anything. And, and honestly, you know, was it was an old brainer, but honestly, the Holy Spirit really poured the importance of getting these guys on board. And so what we did immediately is we took my office and we transitioned it, transformed it into a mandate. And so when guys come through the doors, all of a sudden, they start seeing men stuff. And they, first of all, they don't get that. They think it's nothing going to, nothing but estrogen is taking place. Yeah. So what happens is, so they're, you know, the girl that is pregnant that they're with is abortion-minded. They come to the renal crisis pregnancy center and you help move them to a place where they say that child's life. Yeah. Which is amazing what you and your wife joy do. But this young man gets invited. Hey, could you come down and talk to the director? So I'm sure they're thinking it's a, you know, older lady, a, you know, sharp woman, whatever. They walk in and there you are. Brother, there are some double takes. There are some double takes. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because there you are, you're, you're, you're, you're fit. You know, you do work out, you're fit, you're healthy, you're strong, and you walk them into a man cave. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So tell me what happens there. Yeah. You know, we, you know, we explain to them, you know, and give a detail, you know, that hey, you know, we're here to help her, but equally, we're here to help you. And what normally takes place of Paul is that the young lady has taken up to talk to one of our client advocates. And most of the time the guys left by himself, you know, kind of sit there. And so I trained the guys that are volunteers, okay, no, there's going to be a perfect time where you're going to be able to engage in a conversation. Because he's kind of sitting there, and he's still in with his phone. He's kind of figure out, okay, what I'm supposed to do here. And, and then a conversation, and so I just say, you know, we come and we talk to him. And that's a deal. We're here for you, man. I said, you're tripping a little bit, aren't you? Well, yeah, man, it's like, I, you know, my dad left, and I don't know anything about it. I said, we got you, brother. So we just, we, you know, bring him back to the man cave. So listen, you come here anytime. Do, you just come here and we can talk about issues. And so we're being to explain to him, you know, that it's against your nature to get rid of something that you're responsible for. And that's why you feel that. You know, it's just against your nature, brother. We're, we're, we're made to protect. We're made to care for. We're made to different. That's what we're called to do. And when we don't do that, there's something in us that knows it knows it's wrong. And then we try to hide it by, by behavior that's completely anti-social. And, but once you recognize, you know, again, who you are in your responsibility, what you are as a man, it could just, you begin to walk that out and you feel better by yourself. And so you take them, you, you immediately take, start taking them through and we're talking, we're on Brave Men, which is sponsored by the Christian men's network, and Maximized Manhood. And you're one of our key men in the Christian men's network. But you take them immediately. You just start taking them through Maximized Manhood. Responsibility, right? I do. I do. And again, you know, and I let them know, hey, the majority of good things that you hear about, you know, I mean, you know, from, from Marvel heroes to those individuals, they all gravitate. All this is good deeds from Scripture. Everything, everything, you know, from, from, from rescuing people to, you know, this is what the stuff's all about. This is what manhood is about. It's the nights of the round people. Same thing. Oh, that's biblical, and I said, you know, sometimes we try to, we try to throw things from a biblical perspective that really is not true. But let me explain to you the foundation of real manhood. And then explain that to them. And they begin to see it. I said, dude, you know, look, look at, look at the Iron Man. You know, he's a philanthropist. He's, he's created stuff. He said, but when the smoke clear, everybody thought he's real selfish, but when the smoke clear, you know, he'd be, he sacrificed himself for everybody else. You know, but he's supposed to be, you know, this selfish, you know, guy, but when the smoke clears, he sacrificed himself for us. I said, well, I said, look at your heroes, man. The majority of the ones that you consider to be a hero, always sacrifice, sacrifice himself for other people. I said, well, this stuff comes from the Bible. So explaining that to them in a way that they're able to receive it. And it doesn't sound religious. It's just, this is real. This is real stuff. And they beat the, the, the, honestly, Paul, the light begins to open. And, and then you help them with practical application of, I'm just telling them, no, this is what, this is how you do it, bro. And we got you. And I even tell him, it's okay, look at, look at, look at all your Jedi's. I always have one guy that, that, that, that mentors them and fathers them. I said, you know, there's always a guy. There's always a guy. Right. You know, exactly, bro. And so just taking those things that they were considered to be, you know, a superhero. And the next way to them, hey, no, this is the real superhero, man. And this is how we did things. And they catch it. They just truly catch it, bro. Yeah. Because everybody has, every man has something inside him that says, you know, I'm supposed to be living a larger life. I'm supposed to be the defender of the week. You know, there's a lot of those things. And we cover it. In fact, a lot of guys will cover it by, by, you know, hurting the week. And so, and they, they try to cover up that whole, if you will, they think tenderness is something, something about weakness. Right. But it's not. It's a graciousness from God, the Lord put in her. So now you've got all these, let's say abortion-minded young ladies that will come through. Now, now, truth be told, not every single one that comes through is abortion-minded. Okay. A lot of them are. But even when they are, our new command, not abortion-minded, just to receive assistance and help, which still do the things with the guys. So you still do that with the guys. And how many occasions would you have, like, for instance, you've done been doing it eight and a half years? Last year, this year being quite different with the COVID thing, but you still got people getting pregnant. Yes, sir. Maybe a lot more. Yes, sir. Yeah. You kind of, that did not make a, make a dent in our clientele. It did not. Quarantine kind of took up the birth rate. Yeah, you've seen that. So, okay. So they're not all that. But how many, how many people came in, like last year, to seek your services there at the Reno or crisis pregnancy center? Last year, I would say close to $29,000 to $300,000. Wow. Thank you, the doors to receive service. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I think it has to do with, you know, it's some interesting things to take with us, Paul. And the reason I say that is because the reputation that we have as a crisis pregnancy center is that they're not judgmental, they're not trying to convert you, but somehow some way, man, they're just here to help you. Yeah. And what we did was is the best way I can describe it is asking the father to bless us with his presence. Just we need your presence father. Yeah. When they come through the doors, my brother, when they come through the doors, they sense the presence of the father. And when you have the community in the city and the state that really is rampant with fatherlessness, and then you have an orphan thing going on. When they come through the doors and they sense, they can explain it, they sense the presence of the father. They don't know what, but they just know they're welcome there. Yeah. And then that in itself kind of like begins to transition because I've never felt this way before. You know, a couple of them, one you know in particular, you know, you did some wonderful things for him. He the same thing. And we, him and his wife went to his couple of different places and they kind of rejected him. But as soon as he came through the doors, man, it's like, wow, they're accepting me. And you have, what you have to say has merit, no, we got you. And that just changed everything for you know. Wow. So I think that's what does it all, honestly, you know, because everybody's searching for them. Everyone's looking for father, they just don't know it. But once it sits on someone, people come in, there's a spirit of a father. So you had, but you've had, because of that, let's say you had a few thousand people, 2,900, you're very, uh, you're trying to be really right on, on the truth line with that one. Not the hyper, hyper exaggerate, but, uh, little over 2,900 people and how many babies would have been, they were on, they were abortion minded. How many children do you think you, you'd probably say in a year like that? Well brother, you figure that, um, I would say maybe 30%, maybe 40% of the ones that come through the doors, uh, we, on record, uh, uh, our abortion minded. And I would say from that 30 to 40%, um, guys, I would say easily, um, between 80 and 85% changed a month. Wow. So we're talking at least on a yearly basis, you know, we'd say at least, gosh, before you do the numbers right, I'm thinking at least three to, um, two to 300. You know, it's usually, yeah, easily, baby, I'm not being conservative. Yeah, you're very conservative. I think it's more like seven or eight hundred. Yeah, you know, based on those numbers, but man, that's auto, that's just fantastic. You enjoy having to be commended. Now where did you come into touch with the father's love? Where did you tip over and become a follower of Jesus Christ? How did that thing happen? You know, it became earlier than I thought, my dad died when I was in middle school. And to watch my hero, you know, big kind of like guy, entertainer, shrink up, you know, two or a hundred pounds. Yeah. And I have, you know, two older brothers, two older sisters on the baby of the family, but he was like, you know, the hero to us. But to watch him transform before our eyes into, you know, just like I said, you know, maybe, maybe ninety five hundred pounds. To watch that, you know, it was, it was, it kind of did some things emotionally and mentally, obviously. But after he died, you know, and of course, went through the funeral and cried and those other stuff. But then what happened was a transition took place. I became angry. And when I became angry, because my mom, you know, she, she would live out the gospel. She wouldn't talk to us that much about it, but she'd lived. But and so there's a liking that I had about, had of God, but not a personal relationship. And so I said, God, you know, what you're powerful and you're your mighty and you could have healed my dad. Yeah. To your father. Yeah, but you didn't. So because you didn't heal him, I don't have a dad. And because I don't have a dad, you're my father. I'm a, you're my father, because I don't have a dad. And I didn't know what I was doing all the time, but I was asking to be born again. I didn't know. But my, my senior year in high school, God really, you know, I really got born again. But, um, but so I didn't, I haven't known, um, died any other way than father. I mean, you know, he began to, and it's a wonderful way to introduce me to the living, to Jesus. And, you know, um, but, you know, everything Jesus did, hey, I'm telling you about the father. But all I can do is tell you what the father's telling me to tell you to do. And so for me, it's always been father. And so your dad before he passed away, how old were you? I was, uh, 12, 13 years old. And, uh, but he had, he and, and your mom had imprinted you with at least a sense of loving God. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yes. Which helped kind of tip things in the right direction. And then you end up in college and out of college, though. Now you got real involved with, um, you know, some ministries on campus ministries. Yeah. You know, it was, it was interesting because, uh, my, my freshman year, you know, I didn't really didn't have that much foundation. You know, didn't have, you know, and, um, and I didn't know what discipleship was. All I knew was I was just following Jesus. I was trying to follow God. And then, you know, actually, I didn't know what, you know, and so, uh, my, my second semester sophomore, never forget this, you know, uh, we're walking and I'm hanging, hanging with the boys and, you know, we're right after spring balls and we're happy. And, you know, walking on campus and this guy's open air preaching. He's bringing it, you know, and, uh, for some reason, but he kind of pointed me out and he pointed at me. And he said, and you, he said, how dare you take the gifts of God's giving you and prostitute them for your own good? I said, that's what, because you, you, you, you, you, you're basically taking what God's giving you and using it for yourself and not utilizing it in the way that you know that God's calling you to use it. And it just spoke right to that. And, um, pretty soon, I was, before I knew it, I was in a discipleship house, moved out. The guy came over to the apartment that I was in and he just said, I don't know, I find out what you live. All I know is God's telling me, yes, it's supposed to come live with me in a discipleship house. Wow. And before I knew it, man, I'm in a discipleship house, uh, doing some ministry, you know, uh, it was radical, it was radical, but that's what I needed. I needed a special portion, standing guy. Yeah. And then after you got out of, uh, then you went and played, uh, professionally for a few years. Yeah. And then, uh, and then out of that came back into, uh, a ministry thing. Is that what you did? Yeah, uh, came back, um, you know, I got hurt in, in the NFL, came back, um, then I became a counselor at, um, the job corps, um, there for two years. And then, uh, and still, you know, doing stuff in the church. Right. Then, there was, uh, an opening in the county for gang specialists. Right. These things, things were just starting to happen here. It was on the pop. And, uh, they didn't want to pursue it from a law enforcement perspective, but they wanted to find out what was going on in God too. Okay. What do we do? And, uh, and that's kind of like where the whole thing started. Yeah. Where, okay. And that's where you got into working with the juvenile, uh, authorities and so forth. And you became a specialist in gangs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So why do, why do young men join gangs? Is there doing it today in record numbers? You know, again, it has to do with not, uh, receiving. Now, it's probably believed it's not receiving, um, um, identity and not receiving significance. Wow. Because, because what I found is that, um, a number of guys, um, I would, I would speak to, um, I would recognize, uh, well, you know, honestly, Paul, what I, what I've seen, brother, is that we just don't go get them. We just don't go and get them. And it's, it's, it's being willing to risk your comfort to go get them. Just go get them. You know, um, uh, every significant point in my life, somebody came and got me some, some kind of father, some type of authority figure that came and got me and said, you know, better than this. And it's amazing to me when we do that. No matter how hard court they think they are, you begin to speak to them like the, the thing you always talked about, bro, you know, uh, father is able to reach into the heart of a young man, pull out his destiny and show it to him. Yeah. And I'm been notes to me, bro. I didn't, I didn't realize I was doing that. But you would see the potential in their lives. And I would, I wouldn't talk about you just got them trying to shoot somebody. I wouldn't get, you know, I'm talking about this is who you really are, man. And you're not living, the reason why you living this way is because you have a perception of yourself that is a true, let me tell you who you really are. And these guys catch it, bro. I'm telling you, it's not that difficult. Um, you know, the college graduate, right? That's smart, that's smart, man. You know, it's just, you know, they're looking for someone just to tell who they are and what you do. Yeah. I'll break them, I'll break them next to respond to that. So is, so in our culture today in the United States and in Western, particularly in Western culture, which is kind of basically the whole world now somewhat westernized. Yeah, man. Even though there may be Eastern philosophy or thought. In our culture today, you know, what we're living in, so what you're saying is young men are really growing up without any affirmation or purpose without being given an identity. And when they find their identity in Christ or you're able to impart that and bang, everything kind of shifts in turns. Everything pivots. Is that right? Yes. So you're exactly right, man. And I think it's us just being willing to be bold enough to tell them the truth. Well, this is not you, man. This is not you, but a guy, if you don't mind me showing the story, go quick, guys, who, you know, was what juvenile services, he came in, he came in and he was, you know, known gangster, maybe, and people on Liket Reno is like, you know, a pretty hard core, but this marriage is pretty, you know, a pretty hard core. And this guy comes in, you know, so for one of his friends that told me to, you know, this, he, man, he pets, he's mad, he's frustrated. So what's going on? Well, this guy said something about his mom and he didn't ready to go shoot it. So it's okay. So it comes into the, we had a community center. So we had outreaches in different neighborhoods in community. So we held one in this particular, you know, heavy neighborhood. So he comes, he comes in the house, what we call our house. We come to ask by another 15, 20 kids there. So I'm in my office. And I see him out there doing some things. So I go out, man, you do come talk to me. And he said, what's up? I said, it just comes in. So it comes to my office. And I said, man, I heard you, heard you got some people, somebody. Well, yeah, it's manless. I said, the last thing you need to do is to go blast somebody. And then you're going to spend the rest of your life in prison. And that person is going to be lost and done. I said, so I said, but you, and this is what I said, I said, I said, inside your heart right now, quote, quote, inside your heart right now, you know that you're struggling. You know you're struggling. You know that the street is telling you to do this, but inside of you, you know that you don't want to do it. Because that's the real you. That's the real you. You listen to the real you. And he goes, I said, no, stop. I didn't give a chance. This is so, I said, so you, I said, you come, you come into my office. I said, boy, you, you got some money. And he had a knife. Now you move me. I said, man, what's the role? And you know, he's supposed to bring up, I said, give me that thing. Just give it to me. Now, I'm dead now. I'm not, I'm not his friend. I'm dead. And he pulls it out, you know, he puts it on on my desk. I said, man, that's it. I know you didn't buy this thing. It's stolen, right? He told me that's okay. Listen, listen, this is between me and you, you know, I said, but you can't, you can't be doing this, man. Anyway, I sell that to say that we think that that somehow, some way if we were to talk to them as a father, that they would see it as threatening, but they really see it as you caring enough of them to tell them the truth. Wow. And then they respond to it, brother. They really do. I mean, wow. Hey, this is Chris. I want to take a moment right in the middle of this great conversation to let you know the Brave Men podcast is a production of the Christian Men's Network worldwide and the Global Fatherhood Initiative. Christian Men's Network has helped pastors and leaders disciple men for over 40 years. You can find all the resources for mentoring and fatherhood at cmin.min. That's the Christian Men's Network at cmin.min. We have tremendous resources for churches with special discounts for groups on that website. Everything a church needs from A to Z to mentor and disciple men of all ages and backgrounds. And cmin has created a 12-part training course on how to create a successful men's ministry for pastors and leaders. Check it out. MajoringInMen.com. MajoringInMen.com, which is the solution to men's discipleship. Because of the generous sponsorship of the Christian Men's Network partners, what would normally cost $100 is now free. That's the MajoringInMen.com. Now let's get back to this powerful interview between Paul and Otto Kelly. So when we've got young people that come through our church or let's say on a business span, I've got some young guys that come through my business and job. I don't need to be intimidated because they're listening to different music than I like or wearing different clothes. They still have that basic core need to know that there's a father that loves them and to know that they were made and have value. They were made alive to be on earth for a purpose. So you see, Nat resonates with young men across the country. I agree. Across the world. Honestly. Around the world. So we as men, sometimes we think, well, I don't know their background or I don't know their experience. So who am I? Or I don't speak the right way or whatever. Bottom line is it's really about the touch, isn't it? It is, sir. It is, sir. And they can spot an unauthentic person in my way. You mean a fraud? You mean a fraud? Yes, sir. Authentic. Yes, they are. They can be nice, man. You being a little politically correct or that left in the 90s. That's hard. But they can spot it. And if there is a really illegitimate heart and to see their lives better, could they consider it as you just trying to put a check in the box to make you think about yourself or try to appease this God so you can get into heaven. Yeah. Yeah, it's my, yeah, it's my 12-step program and your step number five. Check. Got that one. Talk to a kid. I don't know if you listened. Doesn't matter. Check the box. So that's huge right there. Because if we're not careful, we can programize this stuff when it's really not about programs or our relationship. Yes, sir. Love people. Love in our neighborhood. Man, what you're doing there is incredible. You got amazing background. And you know, but right now in the world in which we live, domestic violence is just going to off the charts. How do you and your wife minister in the midst of chaos? In other words, sometimes the people in chaos, chaos feels normal. Right. How do you help them move to a place where they go, oh, that's not normal. Right. Or I'm in chaos and I don't give a rip. How do you help people shift their mindset? I think again, Paul goes back to the beginning of what we talked about. We have to be willing enough to love them and not to go after them. And what I'm talking about is that I just don't wait for them to come through the doors. If I have a decent relationship with them or if I have a, I'm on a name basis with them, I go to the house. I come to the door. You know, brother, how can we help you? No, sir, how can we, how can we be here for you? Sister, you know, whatever. And it's again amazing, amazing to me that the majority of people don't come to churches because people don't invite them. You know, very simply. But when we go to where they're at, and I'm not telling anybody to do this, I'm simply saying that when the Holy Spirit moves up on your heart to go, then please don't, don't disregard that because that person needs to hear from you, you know, going, going where they're at might just be the break room, you know, if you're working at lows or something. And it doesn't matter. Right there, Paul. That's good. That's something that heavy-handed. It's just, you know, I've got this group of people I hang with. It encourages me to make sure positive. I know you've got some issues with your kids. You should try this. Right. Right. People who are looking for that and people aren't going to go there unless they're invited, frankly, you know, people aren't just going to show up because you have a clever saying on the front of your side. No, sir. Or my, my favorite one is, is the sign on a church building that says all are welcome. It's like, if you're not a church or you don't know what that really means, all are welcome. Well, yeah, going out. I'm telling you, you know, because they don't know or they don't like snakes. You know, they think maybe that's what happened. That's all movie ones, man. What was that movie? That's all these guys that had snakes in there. I don't do snakes. Oh, no, man. And you know, you know, I saw movie ones and we all got to wear hats. All the ladies go wear hats. Yeah. Yeah. No, and I think all that stuff, you know, just, just pushes people. And so the thing is, is that the only way, the only on ramp that a person has to become a follower Christ is another follower Christ. Yes, sir. There's very few that are just going to have this wake up in the morning and have a vision that happens in Muslim nations. Doesn't happen so much in the United States. I've got, you know, one friend who, two friends who actually heard of voice, but they still had to find somebody like you and go, hey, this voice said they've been waiting for me. I know it was God. Now, what do I do next? Right. What do I do next? Yeah. So I think there's a lot of people that are just walking along, whether it's, you know, we can talk gang life on one side. You can be as, as constricted or as in much bondage in the country club crowd, right? Doesn't matter where you're at. If you're not following Christ, you've got a bondage constriction on you. So this is amazing what you do, Otto. What are the things that you feel that young men are dealing with the most? We talked about the affirmation, the sense of purpose. But when you talk to these guys, let's say I've got a young man, it comes, let's say I'm a guy in a church, right? I get a young man, he comes through the doors. You know, now he's already there. Do I go over and act like I, you know, listen to the latest music? You know, because that usually doesn't go too well. No, sir. You know, how do I approach him? How do I go over and go, hey, how are you? You know, what's going on with your life? What brings you here? Right. I don't know. No, I think that that's a great approach. You know, you know, approaching them in such a way to where you're displaying concern. You know, not, not religious, but just disconcerting. You know, you know, you got guys that are doing stuff in Texas that are going to side the road, handing out food to people, you know, knowing that things are real difficult. It's just, you know, adjusting yourself in such a way to where you can allow the Lord to be applicable in these people's lives. You know, so honestly, I think it has to do all really with willingness to be allowing the spread of God to give you discernment. Some guys come into the doors and they've never, they've never had, you know, I know it's surprising, but they've never had a close encounter with someone of a different color. You know, and so when, so when the approach is a universal concern about you, don't care how you feel about me, my concern is about you. And again, they can tell the difference. And when you are concerned for them and it doesn't matter what comes out of your mouth, because the last thing that we want to do is have our mouth contradict our actions. And so, you know, so our actions, I think obviously speaks louder than anything else. So for me, I don't think it's, I don't think it's necessarily what you say. I think it should be approached that you take in regard to before you say something to someone. And so, again, guys have come to the doors, you know, have been, you know, raised up and, you know, I hate to say this kind of like a redneck environment, but then they see someone and they consider, I'm not supposed to like this person, but when that person looks past all that and say, you know, hey, you, it's about you, you know, you can be ticked off of me. I'm not frustrated with you, you're here, we got you. How can we help you? It's just that. You know, I'm saying like I said, Paul, it's not, I'm not doing anything that the Bible didn't say to do just loving them. And what's your sense of things, Otto? You know, we're an election year when we're shooting this and doing this podcast right now, this interview. We're an election time of somebody's listening after the election and whatever has happened then. But what's your sense, you know, meeting young men, being part of different churches, working with dozens of churches there in the Reno, Greater Reno, North and Nevada, I guess all the way over to trucking in California. What's your sense of the future? Are you optimistic or are you like, man, things are really bad, they're going to get worse? Where do you add on all this? Brother, I am so powerfully optimistic. I am so, I think this is the best time to live. Really? Why? I really do because honestly, what you see in the streets to some degree is just in a cry for something different, the screaming for something because what has been displayed to them up until this point has not worked. You know, as well as I do, no one has ever loved the church because the church does a tremendous world impersonation. They want the real stuff and that's what they're crying for. And I think it's the most, I guess Paul, what I'm saying brother, is that when Jesus said pray to the Lord of the harvest for laborers because it's just open, it's wide open. But will we be willing enough to allow the spirit of God to cause us to be laborers? Because it's wide open. And when you're speaking the truth, so I see guys that are like concerned and frustrated, they can't work and that kind of thing. But when they see someone like me or like us, they're in a position where there's, I don't know what is going on with you. You've got this piece on you man, despite what's going on. I can eat, but what is this? I think right now, I think from a man of God's perspective, I am so optimistic, I'm so fired up because now is the perfect time. Yeah, well you're full of faith. You're full of faith that God's going to do what he said he would do. Acts 2-17 says in the last days, I'll pour out my spirit. It doesn't say in the last days, it'll end up with rights in the streets and then a comet comes and our global warming happens in our face's milk. Come on. You know, it doesn't say that. It says in the last days of pour out my spirit. And I think that that's where we have to go. Now when you say you're optimistic, you and I both know that comes out of hope and out of faith. A powerful substance, but it does produce an optimism. We don't live in optimism. It's an emotion. We live in faith, but it produces a sense of courage. It produces optimism. It produces a feeling of, you know, like we can do this thing. You know, move forward. Don't have to just get stuck and stay where I'm at. And man, I'm telling you a lot of why I so appreciate and I think all of us in the Christmas network deeply appreciate what you've done, what you and your wife joy have done, heading up the crisis pregnancy center. And if so many of us know, if this is not, if you're only listening to this, you can just put in auto Kelly Reno and then click images and up will come up a bunch of shots of this wild man. Now you said thing, I want to end with this. You said something a number of times. And I want you to repeat this and expound on it the way you do so well. When you talk about why I was born, when you talk to a young man or you talk to me or to other men, when God put you on the earth, okay, I want you and you know where I'm going. I want to take that thing and roam with that for a minute because that is an incredibly powerful truth for us to finish with. You know, you know, every since my kids were young, Psalm 139, 139 have been a foundational scripture and it talks about purpose and talks about how that thinks about you. It talks about that unique handcrafted you in such a way to where only you can do what God's called you to do. Others may be able to emulate, but only you can do what God's called you to do. And sometimes when young men, most of the time, when young men or young ladies come to the doors, they just think they're not a number. They think they're just another, you know, another stat for somebody. But when it is pointed out to them that you have been divinely handcrafted by the living God for sole purpose, that you have a calling on your life. And these people, like you figured, Paul 99.9% of the ones come to the doors, they don't know anything about God. You know, and when we explain, when we explain to them, this is be real. So you're one out of 400 million. Think about this. Now tell these guys this. That's a do your own research. You know, when, when, when, when, when, when, before I am, a August conceived, there's 400 million sperm cells, 400 million. That's just a small amount. You know, they, they, they've counted sperm cells up to 1.6 billion. So that means that you're one in 1.6 billion. Then it says, and, you know, in that, in an egg that the Northwest University says this, but there is a microscopic burst of light that takes place at the moment of conception. And I explained to them this to them. I said, I don't care if you believe God or not, all I'm simply saying, creation or whatever, evolution. All I know is that when God said, let there be light, there was this, this burst of light and then life. I said, the same thing happens at your conception. There's a burst of light and then God spoke, spoke you into existence. You know, I said, so you're one out of 400 million, one out of 1.6 billion, which means that you have been called by God, sub-microscopic level to do something and be something that nobody else can be with you. God has called you to be that child's father. But anybody else could know you've been called to be that child's father. You've been called to be that child's mother. And because of that, there's a uniqueness that you have that nobody else has. And because of that, because of that, God wants you to recognize that there's a unique radiance of his spirit that nobody possesses but you. And they catch that Paul. I mean, honestly, because it's like, oh, you gotta understand something. You realize there's 1.7 million parts of the body that have to come together just in order to have a birth of a child. So all those parts have to work in harmonious synchronicity in order for you to be birthed. And so God has a unique calling on your life whether I don't care what they say. I'm telling you, this is how valuable you are. And for some reason, man, they catch that brother Paul, you know, and it's just telling them how really special they really are. Yeah. And I've heard you say a number of times that in that when you were born, you're as masterpiece, Ephesians 2.10. And you were put here on earth for a purpose. And God had some other people in mind when you were born. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. God, when God created you, he was taking them someone else. When God created, when God created Dr. Paul Cole, he was thinking about because he knew that there's going to be a certain time in all of his life that I would not be able to hear the word of God through anybody else but Paul Cole. And so he was thinking of me when he made you. It's amazing. Isn't that great? Man, only God. I think it was the people who have spoken into my life. And that was a God thing. Yes, sir. So no matter where I am in my life, I could be driving a forklift. I could be doing any number of things as a job or an occupation. But wherever I am in Ephesians says wherever you are, do it with excellence. But wherever I am, God's put me in places to have impact in other people's lives. Come on, brother. That's it. And when I do that. And I'm because here's the problem. We end up thinking of, well, I'd like to be successful. Well, we forget what success looks like. And we take on the earth's definition. The world's success is to be on the front of the magazine or have a certain amount of money or have 22s on your car. You know, whatever the thing is, you're definition of success. But the reality is success. It's a fully satisfying personal design to become something you were designed to be. And when do that, that's in the book. Well, I know I read about three times already. Do that. Then what happens is that is that everything else falls into place. If you will, if I do, it's again, to come back to football, finish your assignment. Yeah. If I do my assignment, if I do my assignment, I've got a friend of mine's son who is playing professionally and he was not drafted. He was never expected to even make his college team much less. So he played at Stanford, ends up playing, ends up now six years in the NFL going on seven. Love it. And they asked the coach and the coach has moved now. Bruce Arons. And you know, he's a pretty hard taskmaster, a little bit, a little bit of an f-bomber. Right? And Bruce Arons said, what about this kid? And he said, you know why that guy's got a job? You know why there's more talented people who don't? Because I never have to look over to see if he's doing his assignment. That's great. He said, every single play, whatever we call, he's in the exactly right place. I never have to, he said, we're done coaching him. The coach and we're doing now is trying to help him, you know, maybe little techniques to this now. But in terms of position, I never have to worry about him. So he's got, he's got a job, he's got, he's spent more years in the NFL than most guys, just because he finished, finishes his assignment. That's great. And brother, I think that's a great testimony of what you're doing, auto. You enjoy and your two sons and they're in ministry and business and doing different things. But but you've gone after your assignment and you're doing the assignment, you're hitting the thing. Here's, here's my assignment. I'm staying at it and doing it with excellence. And I think if every one of us would do that and quit worrying about what other person's doing or what that guy's like, or being misdefine ourselves and going, man, I wish I was over there. I wish I was over there. I wish I was over there. Hey, where you're at, baby, finish the assignment. Yeah. Right? Blocking and tackling. Gentlemen, this is a football. You know, the whole Vince Lombardi thing, you know, just do your job. So I thank God for you, auto, that you're one of those guys who said, I'm going to do this job and do with excellence. So we pray over Reno, the city of Reno over Northern Nevada, Eastern California, all the areas you have regions that you have influence in. We pray blessing over that, but we pray for you and joy in your family. That God would bless you and every place you put your feet, it would be holy ground and every place you put your hands, everything you put your hands to, it would prosper. And that God would keep you deep within the grip of his favor and grace. In Jesus name. See that. Thank you, brother. Love you, brother and brother. Okay, pleasure, mind, pleasure, all mind, look, right? He blessed. You know, when you've seen men like Otto Kelly, the scripture just jumps out at you, you know, in Proverbs 423, it says, so a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Yeah. And you can so tell that he's not just something, you know, a person that is just walking in talking. No, it's not fronting to think. No, he's living it. He's a man that has allowed the word to become flesh in his life. And he doesn't just stop at it there. He tries to bring other people into the world as well, you know, and it's powerful. Yeah, it is powerful. And he doesn't, he doesn't, he's really good at the face to face thing. Oh, yeah. Because he's pretty confrontational. He goes, hey, man, I've seen him in sessions with his, I mean, when he does the sawpilship there at the Christ's Purchase Center in Reno, Nevada, and he'll say, that my guy, all right, where are you at? Like, tell me, tell me where you're at. How you doing an important addition? How you doing it? This, that, boom, boom. No, tell me right now, just be a man, speak up. You know, and so the beauty of that, though, is what that also creates is not just that Chris. It's that what he's done just through his inclusion of people, just the way he is. He's created a safe space. Yeah. And I think that's what, when we do the ministry, the men with Christian men's network, and we're helping guys build groups, and we've got the, as you mentioned at the mid break, the major and men.com. Yes, sir. And then we've got the launch kit. Yes. And that's really what everybody should get. Yes. In the launch kit, it goes through those things, build up a place of inclusion and safety. Yes. You know, men or not, just going to come out with something, just because they're confronted. It has to be confrontation within love. Yeah. And it has to be in an environment, you know, exactly. You know, I've seen these things, we're going, Hey, everybody who has a problem, you know, stand up right now. Be a man. And like, dude, I know some guys, they're not standing. Yeah, no, we're not going to do it. It's a whole group of people. Maybe it's in a service where there's women present. Yeah. That kind of thing. And I think there's a place for that. I think it's just times for that. I move with the Holy Spirit. But when you make that, it's kind of a thing. You know, I don't, I don't think that helps most guys. Yeah. No, community is what helps people, you know, it's really, that's a big word. You know, in just to simplify it, communion, you know, with people and unity with people is what makes community. And when you see that reality, I mean, you see it through all scripture, you see it through people mentioning it in books, you, when you break bread with somebody, yeah. And you're like, Hey, bro, nothing else matters, but this food and you right now. Yeah, time together. You know, that's what it's so breaking breads about. And there's nothing like sitting around the table and eating some good food. Yeah. Yeah. I need some good food. Well, that's my favorite part of church. You know, when we talk about church, the gathering of the church, I do love the Sunday morning celebration thing or Saturday night whenever you do it Tuesday night in Nashville. I do love that celebration time and that time of teaching. But the time that I feel like iron sharpens iron really happens is around the table or with a guy in a cup of coffee. And so that's why with Christian men's network, our goal is to build strong men who build strong families who build strong churches. And that pattern hasn't changed from the book of Acts till today. Exactly. In fact, it hasn't changed from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in that sense. Yeah. You know, so that's that's what we're about. That's what we're that's what our desire is to build strong churches. And we do that by helping pastors disciple men. And when you see a guy like auto doing now with people, yeah, you know, it's okay. This stuff really works, particularly when you meet the guys like Tim and others who have had their lives radically changed. Yeah. And I mean, I love it because you make people get vulnerable. Yeah. You know, I mean, what was the first thing that God did with Abraham when he said, Hey, you're going to be the father of the faith. Mm hmm. He said, Hey, let's eat food. Yeah. He said, Hey, I want to see you at your raw estate. You know, I always come back to food for you. Yeah. Hey, we got to eat good. Yeah. Hey, thanks for being with us today. If you want to reach us, my name is Paul Lewis Cole. And you can reach me at Paul at seaman dot men. Paul, P-A-U-L, not with that barista wrote the other day, P-O-O-L. Poo? I have no idea. Who knew if you ever met somebody like that? I have it. You know what I'm saying? The funny one is my friend, Yurgen Mathesius, who's a pastor there in San Diego. Fantastic church called the Waken. But every time he says Yurgen, it comes out a hundred different things. So you can imagine. See how to just tell him Bob. Yes. You know, there's something simple. Well, nothing simple now because everybody wants to have their unique moment. A unique moment is telling the baristas every night. Yeah. Well, no, the barista wants to make their call it out. Yeah. No, no, no, when they spell it, you know, everybody spells anything in any kind of way now. There is no traditional, like even Chris, who had ever thought a K. I thought I always thought it was CH, but that's maybe that's just me. Well, K is where it started. Really? Absolutely. Chris Kringle, all that stuff in Norway or somewhere. I'm learning so much stuff, you know. You know, what's like? Is it? Whose name is spelled? Is it Dwayne Wade? Yeah. Right? Isn't it DW? No, but who is it? Who is it? Who has his name is DAWY? Yes. Dwayne Wade. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Anyway, so that magic moment. There you go. Okay. Where were we at? You're the one supposed to keep us on track. Hope is alive. Hope is alive. Hope has a name. Yeah. And the hope is alive. Hope is what? Hey, thanks for being with us today. Brave men, Chris shields your awesome. And Otto Kelly, you want to get a hold of him. Look him up. Google him and Reno Nevada Crisis Pregnancy Center. And thank God for all the people who had up the Crisis Pregnancy Centers who are rescuing babies every single day. Cross this nation around the world. God bless you. Make it a great day. Remember hope is alive. Hope as a name. Hope's name is Jesus. Jesus. God bless. You just experienced brave man with Paul Lewis Cole. Paul is president of the Christian men's network. Connect with Paul at cmd.man or write to him at Paul at cmd.man.