BraveMen S3E76: Dr. Doug Stringer - Radical Generosity

Doug Stringer is one of the most remarkable men I have ever met my entire life. Doug is a specialist that's showing up at disasters and bringing healing and hope and help. I mean, he shows up with stuff. From the bond to H, you know, tsunami disaster to the most recent ones that have happened in North America, somebody cares, the organization he started is there. Doug Stringer is that guy. He's just a man who shows up when somebody needs help. And that's why he named his organization, somebody cares. He's been called one of the top 12 newsmakers in North America. He's been given all kinds of awards and all kinds of accolades for the work that they do. But I consider the greatest accolade for Doug as he is a faithful friend. He's a friend who's there and he's a friend to anybody who needs help. And I'm blessed to count him as my friend today's conversation with Doug Stringer will actually help you not only focus in to how you can be missional and help the people around you and give you those tools. But it's going to fill you with that spirit of that thing. And with me today on Brave Man, thanks for being with us. This is a ministry of the Christian men's network, cmn.men with me today is our producer, Chris Shieldson. Chris, you've met Doug on a number of occasions. And impressive man. Yeah, I love Doug and Lisa, they're amazing. And you know, you got different people in the world. You have people that name organizations just to name them. And then you have people that live as an organism inside their organization. And that is what the Stringer family does. You know, and that's why I love any moment I get to be around them. Yeah. And their daughter, Ashley, who's a musician and singer and plays guitar and that kind of stuff, writes songs. And Lisa, who has both Lisa and Doug had this amazing experience where Doug had cancer. Lisa helped him walk through it and she wrote a book about it. And then they both went through COVID and Lisa had a difficult time through it. But this isn't an amazing conversation with Doug because he's one of these men that when you hear him speak, it imparts something. Exactly. It touches you. Yes. You catch part of it. You go, man, I need to think about my neighbors and my street and my neighborhood. And, you know, he goes all over the world helping people. But what he does, it's all very, if you will, community-based. Yeah. But even bigger than his teaching, it's his praying. When he's praying. Yeah, why is a prayer guy? You know, like, you're challenged to pray in a different way. You know, he inspires you to communicate with God in a different way than you used to. You know, and that's what I, like, I'll never forget the first global summit or lions roar that I was at. He called me on stage and said, okay, you're going to pray how you pray now. You know, and I was just like, uh, but I can tell you one thing, I never prayed the same after that. Yeah. You know, and that's what I love most about, you know, everybody we get to interact with, but even, you know, Doug, because he has such a passion, not to just help the world for today, but also prepare the world for tomorrow. That's really what it's about. Because, you know, every place they've gone, whether it's a tsunami, 197,000 people who passed away, over 200,000, I think, actually. And, uh, no matter where he's gone, he's always brought the gospel. Yes. So they bring help, they, they court their coordinators for a lot of underground assistance. But they're there a long time after all of the first responders leave. Yeah. They're like first, second, third and fourth responders. Yes. You know, exactly. I don't know if there's such a thing, but, uh, but that's what somebody cares does. And that's what Doug is. Doug, I don't even, uh, I don't remember, you know, we had the conversation a couple days ago and then we're putting it together. You know, Doug grew up, his mom's Japanese. He grew up here in the US where you and I are. But then he went back and went to Japan, went to a high school in Japan. Wow. And he was, uh, he was a renowned wrestler. And you can see that. And if you go to his Facebook and he's working out at 10 o'clock a night doing, uh, pull ups, you know, I'm like, dude, stop that. Stop. And we have another friend that does that a lot too. Yes. But stop that. Don't do that. Cause I'm not doing that at nine o'clock or 10 o'clock at night, you know. But man, he's a hard working man and he and Lisa and the book Lisa wrote and the stuff that they've done. It's a remarkable ministry. So I'm thrilled today to have on brave men, a great friend of ours and he's actually on the board of Christian men's network. And one of those men that, uh, in Jack's faith and faithfulness into everything we do. And, uh, you're going to hear and feel and sense and be stretched by a man whose life has inspired thousands of people around the world. His name is Dr. Doug Stringer today on brave men. It's brave man with Paul Lewis Cole wisdom and courage for the journey. I'm talking with Doug Stringer with somebody cares international and board member for Christian men's network and great friend for many years. And Doug, this somebody cares international really is international all over the world. You've been part of tsunamis and everything else. Help people in need help people in the streets, Katrina. Somebody cares was at the forefront of helping that. You really are somebody who reaches out to people and says, Hey, somebody does care. I mean, it's the name, right? Is that where the name came from? Well, yeah, it does. You know, in fact, back in the early 80s, as you know, remember Paul, you knew me from the very beginning, um, I woke up one day and had 17 at risk youth and homeless people living in my apartment and, and then had 12 more in another apartment or a house and six more in another apartment. That's how we kind of began out of my fitness business that I was, I was doing at the time. But we used to put out a business card that said somebody cares 24 hours a day and you might, you're old enough to remember pages before we had cell phones. Yeah. And so we had a, a page or a number of people get pages from any pay phone and it was amazing how many people months, even years later, would still hold onto those cards because the term somebody cares meant something to them. Yeah. Well, I don't remember pages, so I was kind of too much of a hearty laugh. But, uh, but so you get radically saved. You've got a fitness business, right? How did you come to Christ? Where did that happen? And well, I was actually in my, uh, exercise, uh, studio in my office and, uh, I'd known the Lord and gone to church off and on going up. But, uh, when my best friend was killed, uh, over a, a drug related deal and I was living in sin. I remember going to my knees and saying, God, I just don't want to live like this anymore. And it was in that moment, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, don't call me Lord anymore unless you're willing to live for me. And it wasn't, it wasn't audible, it could have been because it felt that strong. Yeah. And I simply said, Lord, if you can do anything with someone like me who has brought shame to your name, I'll make myself available the rest of my life. He must have heard that honest prayer. I've prayed so many hundreds of prayers before that. God saved me out of this situation. Oh, God, that guy's got a gun on me saved me, saved my life forever. Yeah. But that particular moment was that moment of accountability. I was 24, I was 25 and something radically changed and literally he turned my world upside down. Next thing I know, just shortly thereafter, the ministry was birthed, didn't call in a ministry. I was just reaching out. You had this deal. Well, you didn't even start with the cards you had. You're working out and you're coaching people and all that in high performance, working out and all. And so then, you know, this guy needs help. Well, come over and stay at my apartment and a guy needs a hand. And then he tells his buddy, yeah, come on in. So then even start with the cards as it started with helping people. Yeah. Well, simply two things I said to the Lord, Lord, I'll make myself available. The rest of my life and walk in simple obedience and literally that's what I do every day even these 40 years later. Wow. That's amazing. So that thing became a ministry. Then you develop things there in the community. You're a man of prayer that comes out of your life. So you became involved in those things. In 2000, the end of 2004, I mean, one of the things I really, and you've always helped people, it seemed to me like the thing just exploded and went international in particular around those tsunami that hit Asia. Absolutely, you know, and of course we have mutual friends that Robert Collatch and others working at Vietnam and it was Roger Helle, I remember in 1890, encouraged me to go with him in 17 Vietnam veterans to Vietnam to do some humanitarian. And that's when we first launched out there and it's still working with Vietnamese leaders around the world even to this day. And then, but you fast forward to the tsunami you're talking about. I remember we were at my office when I got the information that had happened. We had relationships there obviously through Christian men's network and other relationships over the years. And I'd been there in 1998 during the Asian economic collapse. So right away, we were getting real-time reports and updates and we were just broke as we started what was called the tsunami of love to get people focused on how can we practically help our brothers and sisters in Indonesia to reach out even to those who may be persecuted them or even had disagreed with them. And so we obviously saw what happened in Banda Ace and what over 230,000 people died through that tsunami. Now, tell me about this because these are by and large Muslim nations where this happened. But there were some really remarkable things happen with how Christians responded to this. Not only yourselves coming from the U.S. pulling together people from Australia. In Indonesia, you pulled together all sorts of consortiums of people who came into help. But tell me what happened with the local Christians. This is one of the most amazing stories of my life. This is a marking point for me. Absolutely. We met some incredible people in 1998 when I was there during the Asian economic collapse. And so we began to work with people there and power them, encouraging them to be a tangible expression of price to their nation. So when the tsunami hit, the first responders really were Indonesians, namely Christian Indonesians, who immediately were deployed and went even through military airless to go to Banda Ace, the place that is the doorway to Mecca that hated Christians, persecuted Christians and literally were the first ones on the ground even before the United Nations. And so those are the ones we were able to work with and empower them, leverage them, give them equity. And you probably remember the story that by an England nation, by the persecuted Christians already in the region, they felt a leading to have a retreat up in the mountains. And so when the tsunami hit, they weren't even there. And many other random, when they were able to reach out to them. So Indonesians responded to even those who persecuted them prior to the tsunami. And to this day, you have such great equity given to the Church of Indonesia. In fact, today, the Church of Indonesia has one of the largest global prayer movements in the world. In fact, there were two million Christian Indonesians pray for the Church of America every day. Wow. That's, see, that's this, that blows my mind and that, I want to come to something that I'm going to get back on the storyline. But to me, that points out the power of when we get outwardly looking, when we start looking, if you will, there's a popular term, missional, you know, that we're actually looking at it. And this is where you've lived, if you will, in Houston and other places need help. But when that tsunami happened, the reason I say it was a marketplace, because it kind of lift a lot of people's eyes. And there you were already, but we have to be looking out and when we do, it helps change nations. Absolutely. You know, when we looked at even right after the tsunami, I remember sending some of our teams from Australia that we connected with. And of course, we are connected to the Australian Christian television channel there in Australia. They were involved in coming alongside, we had doctors and others. And our team from the U.S. had joined up with our friends in Indonesia with the governor of Banda Ache for that region. Actually, it was the vice governor because the governor was arrested for corruption. But the vice governor in this home, we're having lunch. And he said, my mind and my heart are in conflict. And they said, why? He said, because when 9-11 happened, we danced in the streets of your calamity. But now that we have a calamity, you're not dancing in the streets, you're here helping us. He couldn't comprehend his heart that was being tugged. And yet his mind arguing that these aren't people I'm supposed to hate. And then you fast forward, even after that, I was at the Ronald Reagan Library. At a fundraiser for one of our partner organizations that helped us and we served with them, the Children's Hunger Fund. And it was a Ronald Reagan Library and one of the former presidents of Indonesia was there. And the next day, I get ready to leave and I'll stay with the Indonesian pastor, friend of mine in California. He gets a phone call and it's from the president of Indonesia who wanted to meet with us. And so I said, I'm going on to my vacation. I have to go. And my sabbatical, and he says, no, I can't go without you because it's a thing called Asian face. You can't lose face, you know. So I changed my clothes. We went back and spent over two, three hours with the president, the former president of Indonesia, who began just to pour out their heart to us. And I said, why are you speaking to me? We're just a small potato organization compared to the larger organizations that helped you. And the president said, you may be a small potato on paper. But I realized a lot of the equity that came was because of organizations like yours. And so even the president recognized the value of relational equity and those who were able to bring that equity together. So this, and this leads people to Christ on one, right? I mean, this is it. And so when we go to what we're calling dangerous nations, campaign, it's, we're talking about discipleship. If you will, and in some ways, you know, it's kind of like a guy in a warehouse, let's say in, in Waterloo, Iowa, and he's packing some boxes of cans. And they're going to go with one of your teams to, to Indonesia, or right now you've got stuff you've done, you're doing in other nations, right? In fact, I'm looking at, at, at your magazine from a couple months ago, I was talking about the explosion in Beirut, you know, I mean, you guys are on the front edge of doing stuff. So this guy's, this guy's packing, you know, doing a little thing, packing a box, putting some stuff in there. That man's actually touching people with the love of God. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because, you know, one fishing pole, he catch one fish. But if we work together, it's part of something bigger than ourselves, we could do a whole much, much more together. Yeah. And that's what's incredible, but what we've been able to do in these last few decades, even through our brotherhood, through Krishnamurt's network and the Global Fatherhood initiative and it, by working together, it might seem like I have nothing to give individually. Right. You've got to get it. I'm packing a box. Yeah. Doesn't seem like much. But on the other side, some of these hearts being radically changed. Absolutely. And if enough of us get involved and do it together, the cumulative effect is so powerful. You know, tell me some of the stories that have happened. I mean, you guys, talk about stories. You have a magazine every month and it's somebody cares, dot org, right? Yes, sir. Somebody cares, dot org. So somebody cares, dot org and you go on there, you can see what's going on. You can become a monthly partner with all this stuff happening. You've got, I, you guys just have so many stories, but tell me some of the stories that happened out of going out and sharing the love of God. Wow. I'm just today. I'm looking over a few pages of, of thank you emails come in or calls just from what we've been able to do through COVID and people that were impacted in some way through us leveraging local churches and ministries and different communities. But one was I, I've got a great new friend now. He's the vice president of the Navajo Nation because through what they were going, turns out, he was about, he's a Baptist pastor who is the vice president of the Navajo Nation. And the president is a Christian as well. So those relationships out of tragedies are brought together when we are willing to work together to bring some semblance of tangibility of God's love to a community. So we have story, there's a ministry called Core Love that is in Haiti, incredible ministry school, orphanages, I mean, incredible what they're doing. And in turns, well, it was a youth pastor who called me from an assembly of God church one day and said, Doug, I really need your wisdom. I really have a burden, my wife and I have a burden for orphans, but we don't know where. I said, is there a particular nation? He said, he goes, no, not really. I said, well, you're a day late in the dollar short. That's what George Oda's senior said to Dr. Cole, you're a day late, let's get after this. So he goes, what do you mean? I said, look, you have your passport ready, he goes, well, no, I go get one. We're leaving it over in about 10 days and I have a team going back to Haiti and I want you to go. He was Haiti. I've never been out of the country. I said, get your passport. He went on that first trip, came back, talked to his pastor, resigned his youth pastor's possession of an incredible church and that church launched him and now he has this incredible global ministry to orphans and poverty eradication called core love for orphans out of Haiti. And he says, if you ever want your, if you don't know what to do, but you have a burden, call Doug. No, don't. Who put you on an airplane? What's the, now, you know, here's the thing too often, to me, sometimes I think we think, okay, if I just go to church and I do that thing and the church will take care of stuff and in somewhere along the line, these people in these other countries will, you know, eventually find Christ. You know, what's, what, what do we do? What's our motivation to reach out and be missional? Where does that come from? Well, I think, you know, remember Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision and of course he founded later, Samaritan's Purse and he used to say, God, break my heart with the things that break yours. I think there's something about when we have the heart of Christ that gives us a burden beyond our own human capacity and I call that burden versus vision. We catch a burden of the Lord because of our relationship with the Lord. We don't know what to do. So I tell people, if you have that burden, connect with the visionary ministry or a visionary who has some semblance of direction, connect to that as Dr. Coltoddus that, you know, serve that which is belongs to another and God will trust you with your own. So we have a burden, connect with those who have a vision and as you formulate that place in your burden, God will begin to give you your own vision and be released with the blessings of God to go and fulfill that vision. A good example is Robert Coltoddus who is working in doing incredible work, social services and Vietnam, but he had been faithful, a faithful man with the Christian men's network serving, coming to be a part of that for many, many years and looking at what is done with him. Yeah, absolutely amazing. So now somebody cares, starts out, you're in the 80s at this point. Somebody says, Doug, this is actually a ministry. When did you leave the health club and then this thing kind of takes on this larger piece? Well, the transition. Take your whole life. Yeah, the transition from the fitness business really was a process, but I started seeing all these people I'm taking care of, doing evangelism, reaching out to the community. And so really by 1984, in that kind of a three year period, maybe one day, four with this metamorphosis took place because I woke up one day and said, I'm supposed to be a business guy. And I'm doing the ministry. People say, Doug, you have a ministry. What are you going to call it? So we had officially come up with the name and all that kind of incorporate it really was birth from the very beginning, but it was about a three year process of just serving. I went to serve the 700 club locally, went to serve food banks, I went to serve churches. And through that burden that I had, God began to formulate some clarity and precision for what he had for me in my future. You know, I think I'm serving Dr. Cole in those days back in 82, 83, 84 and serving through the Christian men's network. Yeah. 84 big stuff happened in Houston that changed the course of my dad's life in a sense with the events. Hey, you know, the thing is is that it's sometimes we don't do stuff because we either think it's too complicated, complex, or it's beyond my reach, but we can start right where we're at, right? I mean, every single town that anybody listening right now is in has a need that needs to be met. Absolutely. I was talking to an attorney today and that we're considering being a partner with us up in a little town in Minnesota that has 3,000 people, but it's an underserved community. They're low income. They're not beginning any food because the schools are shut down. Wow. And so it just takes a person who says, you know, I want to be available to do something. We look and we have friends down in Brazil. This husband and wife both medical doctors. One is a gastroontologist and the other is a pediatric doctor. They both had this burden driving by this place for people living in the city garbage dump. As we began to connect, we just began to take one step at a time. They went in taking some food one day and pretty soon had conversations and soon they were actually helping to build homes for people that were living in the garbage dump. And then the city hired the people that were scavenging in the garbage dump to officially have jobs to do what they were already doing, but getting nothing for it. So it just takes the one, like you said, one step, just do that one thing. And then that process starts and the inertia takes place. And then things, you know, become the synergy that takes place from that exponentially. We tend to complicate things. And if you will, a lot of us, what we'll do is we'll say, okay, when I actually am able to put something together, then I'll do it. You did it and then God put something together after you were doing it, right? Well, I tell people all the time, Paul, I'm, I'm, I've done the, the personality temperament assessments, but the DISC is the disc profiles. Right. Hilaric saying, when flagmatic and melancholy, well, I'm off the chart saying, when I'm the kind of guy says, charge and think about it later. That's a style of leadership. And my older age, I'll be coming a little bit more, if like,matic and melancholy, you know, but. Oh, you got married a decade ago and, you know, that tends to change things. Yeah. But what happens is I, I realized sometimes you just got to take that step of faith. Abraham, but he was Abraham took a step of faith, not knowing exactly where he was going, but he knew God was calling him. Sometimes it's take that one step and one step, you know, it's, you remember the old adage that you can't steer a ship and dry dog, you get to get out, get it out in the water. Sometimes we have to take that step, even in a Z equal, take that step into the water and get a little bit deeper and watch what God will do when we flow with what God is doing. So good. 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 cmd.men. That's the Christian Men's Network at cmd.men. There is a fresh new study every week called Power of Potential that just started. Monday Night Men is a new resource for men and pastors. As a pastor, you can follow up the 30-minute study with the digital meetup with your men for prayer, discussion, and teaching. Some churches are using the videos as part of a group meetup. This 13-week study is on YouTube and Facebook. Get your books and materials at cmd.men. That's the Christian Men's Network at cmd.men. It will help us continue to reach the lives of many men around the world if you would like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and subscribe to this podcast and share it. That is the Christian Men's Network or Paul Lewis Cole. Now, let's get back to this powerful interview between Paul and Doug Stringer. Hey, now here we are, COVID stuff. We're having conversations and it's going to be added a little bit and stuck on pretty quick. We're in the middle of all this COVID shutdown, changes, things going on. What's your take on the temperature of the population, the people you're ministering to in the US? Where do you think we're at, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, where are we at right now, Doug? That's a great question, Paul, because at least I've still continued to travel as much as we can by the grace of God. Our ministries are all over the country in various cities trying to do what we can to serve in our communities. The challenge is that there is definitely an increase in depression, anxiety, frustration, stress. Forget there's only a political line to that. Everybody's under that duress. I realize that we have a moment as the church not to sit back and do nothing, but we have to be able to be tangible. As Dr. Cole said, the wisdom is in the strategy. We've got to get this strategy and the wisdom of God to know how to reach our communities and ways maybe we're in a custom too before. One of our directors who's retired really a successful businessman and the assistant director is a formal NCIS director agent, and if you ever watch those shows, and so the assistant director of one of our chapters in Florida, that's what they do when successful businessman retired and NCIS agent, and they quoted something I said in 2019 when I said, we're coming into a season, but if we're going to have a new wine skin season, we have to also have new wine skins. We need a new strategy, we have to have the wisdom of God, and sure enough, if we stop and think about the year 2020, we all need to recalibrate and we need to use new skin skins to handle what God was doing. And I really believe that there is an increase of stress and anxiety across the board that's being lived out in the optics of anger, frustration, anarchy, lawlessness, but we have the answer. We can't just sit back and do nothing, and Paul, you and I were talking the other day, and one of the scriptures that God has been putting in my heart for the last few weeks I've been sharing in various avenues recently, by 2nd King 7, in the context of Samaria, the city of Samaria being besieged by the Syrian army, there was such famine that people were eating bird, dung, and donkey brains. And so in 2nd King 7, Elisha says, hear the word of the Lord, he says, thus said the Lord. So it's time for us to hear the word of the Lord, and not all the noise, and something we have swirling around every day in the media and the news. We need to start hearing the word of the Lord, and then it goes on to say that the four lepers that were outside the city gates were starving, and they said, if we sit here, we die. If we go into the city where there's famine, we die. So let's go to the camp of the Syrian army, and if they have mercy, great, if not, what we die, the point is you got to get up and do something. So they went to the army, the tents of the Syrian army, and found them empty, of people, the people left, they had run, this is the army that had besieged the city and had surrounded it. Exactly. Cities being basically choked to death. Choked to death, and people are stressed or starving, and all of a sudden they didn't even know until the lepers got up and did something, that the army of the Syrians had left, they retreated, because they heard such a loud noise that they thought that the King of Israel had made a partnership with other kings, and they were going to be overtaken. They left their weapons, they left their goods, they left their food, they left their spoils, and were gone. So there are times that we have to get back to recognize that the voice of God and the sound of God is greater than all the noise that swirls around us. So we've got to, instead of sitting back and dying and going there, and we have to get up and do something. Yes. Take those steps. God does what only God can do. Yeah, this is, I love this stuff, Doug, and now you've been also very involved in prayer movements across the nation around the world. Tell me what, and you guys just actually did a prayer and praise thing in Houston this recently, right? Yep. The recent one was a couple of weeks ago, in January, the first, for a second weekend of January, we did a lettuce worship, and it was 30-something degrees freezing cold raining all day, but we found a pavilion and hundreds of people showed up and just began to worship God. And you know, people criticized, you know, because not everybody had a mask on. I get that. We have to use wisdom. But the greater context, we sit back and die, and we get up and worship God. And we see throughout scripture, the worship God brings deliverance, opens the prison doors and gives us the breakthroughs we need. It was amazing to see hundreds and hundreds of people, multi-generational, multi-ethnic gathering worship in the freezing cold in a rainy day with Sean Floyd who came. And then, and of course, we've been a part of local, national, state, international prayer initiatives in Indonesia with over 100,000 people in a prayer event to, you know, 40,000 in Houston a few years ago. Yeah. Now, we've got, with our Dangerous Nations campaign, going into the 50 Most Dangerous Nations around the world over the next five years with Christian men's network. You know, I'll say, I'll ask guys, hey, if you can't support it or be part of at least pray for it. And they're going, yeah, yeah, do we, do we sort of, what would there be? We may kind of prayer sort of a light thing. Do we kind of discount it somewhat, Doug, do you think? You know, Cory Tenboom asked the question, is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? We need prayer as Dr. Cole taught us, prayer produces intimacy to whom you pray, with whom you pray in agreement because agreement is a place of power and for whom you pray. So we've got to get to a place of realizing prayer and the presence of God, the worship is necessary for us to be able to be who God's called us to be. Good works become dead works if we're not inspired by the presence of God. And so we have to become those who do what we do because of that relationship and communication with God. Yeah. And so for men who say, well, then I'll pray, we really actually need them to pray because prayer moves a hand of God. That is, when you pray for something like, let's say, let's say I'm here in Dallas and I'm praying and this Dangerous Nations campaign is going into Thailand as an example. You know, what is it? What is my faith towards that, Doug? When I pray and I know I'm praying for people's lives to be changed, why would I get somewhat intense about it? Well, because one, we're driven by a heart of compassion that comes in us because of our relationship with the Lord. And so that only happens if we've spent time with God. Yeah. The only thing is how can, you know, you have to be on site for insight. And so there are times that we have to engage in agreement and prayer over, let's say, a place like Thailand or let's say it's Burma or if it's whatever country it is, you have to carry the burden, but to carry the burden, you have to connect in relational equities of agreement and understand the dynamics. We have informed intercession where we are informed by what the crisis is. And that's what Dangerous Nations is about and what Christian men is about. Give us informed information so we know how to intercede. Right. It's not like we have to be eloquent of speech, we have to be eloquent in our capacity to pray. Look, when you're children, your grandchildren come to you, Paul. And they just go, and there's kind of, but there's a little, little, little. Well, come on over here. Let's talk. They don't have to be articulate. They just have to be honest with you and just have to, and to be, be, you want to have them just Google God, God for grandpa, yeah, whatever you want to hear us spend time with us and he'll begin to formulate the capacity to be able to help be a part of engaging these communities. So my, my expectation when I pray over this Dangerous Nations campaign, I can actually fully have an expectation that God hears and that he'll, that I'm, I'm coming into agreement with you, Doug, and with the other people on the team that are doing this and, and somehow my prayers make a difference. Well, here's an example, if, if someone listening to the podcast and, or someone comes to one of our Christian men's network gatherings, and they've never been to Korea, they've never been to Nigeria, they've never been to a part of the world by connecting together in corporate agreement. They can say, we are helping people out of human trafficking in such, such, such country. We are helping people in this country who are starving, so it's a real deal, isn't it? So it's a connection to the bigger vision that helps us to carry out a burden together that changes lives. And we are all connected, and of course you know that being now ministering over 40 nations around the world. And no matter where you go, we fit, it's the same stuff, isn't it? It may be a little different because that culture is different, a little different texture, but it's, we're dealing with the same stuff. The enemy is trying to steal our dreams to, to wipe out the future of the family. And so when we go into dangerous nations, we're basically going forward with a sword saying, not on our watch, we're going after this thing, we're going to pray, we're going to work, we're going to give, we're going to make stuff happen, and see the church's disciple hundreds of thousands of men. Absolutely. And you and I were talking, I think, before we started the podcast, how many men were already disengaged in church life? Yeah. There's another 30% that won't come back. And that's why we need what we're doing together. We need to engage men at a heart level, you know, you and I have talked about this over the years. In some ways, you know, as a guy, you know, I love, you know, bridal worship, you know, the whole house is a perfect thing. But I want to be a man, I want to be a man, a courageous man who can get with some men, do menely thing, manly things, and worship God like a man. You know, I love my wife. I love the way she worships, but I want to worship with men in a way that is also not a feminine, but has characteristics of masculinity instead of being a masculated in the culture that's trying to cancel even men out. You know, what I love about what somebody cares does is, and I'm talking with Doug Stringer, somebody cares.org, somebody cares international, and also a close friend and board member of Christmas Network. But the thing that I see, you know, when I look through the reports that you have, you're not just there when a disaster happens. You stay long term, and like so for Louisiana, I think about some of the stories coming out of there. The thing happened, a whole bunch of people go in and help, and then a whole bunch of people leave. But you guys stay. Well, the thing is, we believe working to and through local churches and ministries, much like we do. I learned that from Christian Midd's network, because when all the other organizations are gone, and great, necessary organizations are modest, come in, and infrastructure. When they're gone, the media is gone, but the people still have a need. So isn't it better to help bring equity to the local churches and ministries that already serve that, they love that community? So even though we may never get the pat on the back, I want to make sure those local churches and we worked with the mayor, a sulfur, we worked in Lake Charles, and we served in ways that have to people have no clue we were even involved. Wouldn't even know. Yeah. Because we're there to serve those local ministries and agencies. Yeah. You know, and that's the thing I see with dangerous nations. When we help a church's disciple men, that ripple effect, you know, a year from now, two years, three years from now, where there's a young man being discipled by his dad, or a young girl who's, I mean, really in a very real way is not being abused by a father, or the father actually stays here because he got discipled. You know, people won't see, oh yeah, that was because of Jamal and Bill, who helped pray for this thing, right? They won't see that. They won't see Doug. They won't see Keith. They won't see Ed, but changes will happen and continue to happen. So it doesn't matter who gets a credit. That's the key, isn't it? We're in such a self-absorbed, self-centered society that it's only about me. But if we start looking at the bigger picture being kingdom-minded, it's about who has the need. If you see a child the need, they're not waiting to figure out who's going to help me. Somebody help me. And so we're able to come to go and say, look, we want to be those people to reach these dangerous nations with resources and things that will leverage local churches and ministries. They can do far more there than we can try to do from my home here in Houston or your home in Dallas. Yeah, that's amazing. What somebody cares is done. It's just remarkable. And I love being a partnership with men who have large vision. I remember Bill Bright years ago who said, you know, small dreams don't stir the hearts of large men. And so I love the somebody cares vision reaching people over the world. Somebody cares.org, somebody cares.org and close partner. We would be a considering you're wearing a brotherhood shirt. I've got a brotherhood hat on in case somebody's not looking. We are brother organizations. We didn't plan that. Right. I had somebody the other day tell me, yeah, we're a sister organization to this other group. We're a brother organization to everybody. We're a brother organizations. But yeah, you can see all the details there. And then you've got a Doug, you've written a number of great books, one about identity and father, who's your daddy? And then, but born to die, is it born to die the newest one? No, born to die has been out for quite a few years. My newest one comes out this month, actually the first week of February called Mending the Net, bringing hope and hurting world. Yeah, that's what I was looking at. Mending the net, yeah, which is an update on the message of reaching loss. I mean, this is remarkable stuff. But back on born to die, we might live. It's a picture of Christ and the love that led him to Calvary. Yeah. You'll love this story that I was doing a weekly Bible study for like 10 years in the city of people come all over different churches, street people, gang members, drug addicts. And one guy had 19 years as a methadone heroin addict and he came to check us out and when the first day he came was the first day I started a series on born to die in the work of the cross and the power of the resurrection. And he stayed for the whole eight weeks that I did it. And on the last one he gets up, he's a tow truck driver, if God could save a tow truck driver, right? He's like, God is real, God is real. All because he realized that the whole theme of born to die was about the work of the cross power of the resurrection. And when Jesus said he just finished, it was not a statement of defeat, but a statement of, I've done it. It's accomplished. Come on. Yeah, did the mission and that's us, men on a mission and we're going to complete the mission. Whatever it takes. I've been talking with Doug Stringer, somebody cares international and on the board for Christmas network. So Doug, you and Lisa and Ashley, your daughter, you guys are an amazing picture of what it is to live for others. And there's an eternal reward for that. But I also think there's a reward now, which is a life that feels fulfilled. It's absolutely right. He said in John chapter four, he said, when the disciples said, you have to eat something, you have an eaten, and he said, you said, I have food that you don't out of. In other words, my satisfaction doesn't come from what satisfies the flesh. Yeah. And then he goes on to say, behold, look up from where, from our own circumstances, our own two feet, look up and see the fields are ripe and widened to harvest. We're part of something bigger than ourselves. It gives us a satisfaction we're longing for that the flesh can never satisfy. I reminded of a scripture in Psalms 112, verse 4 through 9, and I use it as a prayer. And I think this is sufficient for all of us, but it's including the dangerous nations and Christmas network and what we do. It says, even in darkness or difficult times, I think we're all been through some difficult times, light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. It will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. Surely, the righteous will never be shaken. They will be remembered forever, they will have no fear of bad news. Their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord, and they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever, their horn will be lifted high in honor. So those who have joined in, what we're doing at dangerous nations, joined in and being generous and compassionate and giving God guarantees that no matter what difficult times we go through, God will be the one who will keep us lifted up and take care of us. Awesome stuff, Doug. I love you, man. Pray, ever place your feet to be holy ground and everything you and Lisa put your hands to will prosper. And I love being in partnership with you and brotherhood with you and doing things that change the future of the world. And it is such a fulfilling thing to know that for all of us, who are part of Christmas network, things we pray for, things we give towards, bring such fulfillment to us, and such joy to the Father and such life-changing strength and health to those who are the recipients. When you see men that don't just talk, talk, but walk the walk, that is when you stop what you're doing and you follow, you know, and you stop what you're doing too when they're speaking and you get the closest thing you have to write down what they're saying. You know, and that is what Dr. Doug Stringer is, you know, and that is why I'm so fired up about the fact that he's a part of this initiative, but also that he has a book that goes along with the initiative of what we're doing, you know, mending the nets. Men in the nets, man, casting the nets out. And you know, when those guys were fishing, you know, when Jesus showed up, where is that in John, and he says, cast your nets on the other side, it's not like they hadn't done that before. Yeah. Okay. That's a good word. Are you willing, okay, to do something that you go, okay, we've tried, I've tried everything and then God comes along, speaks into your life, says, do this one more time. Yeah. Jesus says, hey, try this and you go, what? Yeah, we already, you know, do it in faith, comes from a whole different place, cast your nets on the other side. You know, it's a fantastic thing. I, I, Doug Stringer, you know, every time I'm with him, it's just enlarges my life. Yes. You know, just so blessed that he and his wife, Lisa, and that they're on our board for Christmas and network, and that he's part of the task force for the Dangerous Nations campaign. Yes. Well, we're going into the darkest nations in the world, the places with the highest level of human trafficking, highest levels of religious persecution, like Northern Nigeria, going into the places with the Dangerous Nations campaign where you can't even go like Iran, places like that. And it's, man, I'm fired up about it. Yes. I am too. And, you know, I know I mentioned this before on this podcast, but it's just awesome that we get to be a part of the Great Commission. Go therefore, Matthew 8, or Matthew 28, 19, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And that's what we get to do. Yeah, that's what we get to do. You know, he said go and make disciples. Yes. He didn't just say go and make converse. No. He didn't say just go and do open-air meetings, which are great. It's got to go to the next level, and making disciples is about building the local church. Exactly. So the Dangerous Nations campaign, and you can find it at cmn.man, cmn. And Christmas Network, cmn.man, it's part of the Global Fatherhood Initiative that we have, in which we are desired over the next 100 years, is to raise up 100 million fathers who love their kids, who ask them, hey, tell me more, who's say to them, hey, you're awesome. You're an amazing young lady. You're an amazing young man. You know, somebody asked me the other day, Chris, about what's your motivation? And I said, well, that's a fascinating question. You know, it's my motivation, you know, it could be real all-holy and all that sort of stuff. But what hit me was a picture. What was the picture? My five-year-old granddaughter, Reese, who's now, pushing 15, so it's about 10 years ago. And we walk into a little deli in Grayvine, Texas, and this guy came from the East Coast. Gray deli there, and he looks over the kind of young, the man looks over the counter at my granddaughter, a little five-year-old Reese, and he says, and what do you want, Princess? Wow. And she turns, she put her hand over her mouth, she turned to me and she said, how did he know? Wow. And I thought, her daddy, Niles, who's on Staten Niles' whole singer, my son-in-law, who's on staff with Robert and Debbie Morris, her daddy put that in her life, okay? She was a Princess. So she turns, she goes, how did he know? See, that was the picture she had, and you know, 70% of our personality input, in our shaping as a man or woman, happens by the ages of seven and eight. Yes. So here she is with that picture. Well, that's my motivation. I want every little girl to have a dad who calls her Princess. Yes. Who says, who hugs her and says, you're amazing, and you were made for greatness, you were made for good works, and man, that's the Dangerous Nations campaign. You know, Chris, what if we can reach dads, and basically the strategy is to help pastors learn to disciple men. Yeah. When we build the local church, we raise up dads, we build strong men, strong families, strong churches, and it changes the fabric of the nation. Yes. Right? That's so good. That's the thing, man. Yeah. So Doug Stringer's part of the task force, and obviously listening to him and the passionate and his heart, I mean, this guy's cranked, not only that, the guy ticks me off. What? You ever seen his workout stuff that you post every so often? I have. Yeah, then that just, I'm like, Doug, don't do that, bro. It's like, I'm just doing what I'm glory to God. You know, as a cancer survivor, you miraculously healed of cancer, but he does these, what is that thing? Pull-ups? Pull-ups, yep. Yeah, I don't even know what they're called. I can't do them. It's a, whoa, that's a call. And Doug's like, yeah, I'm trying to do a 20 of them today, shoot, I only did 17. I'm going, dude, I'll take the other three and try to do that for you, but I'll probably get one. I don't think I can do one. I got so many torn shoulder pieces. It's tough. Motorcycle racks. Motorcycle racks, ski accidents, snowmobile accidents, you name it. And so I've got torn rotators and both shoulders, torn, torn, uh, labrum and the left shoulder. So there you go. That's my excuse. That's actually not an excuse to reason. Yes. Yeah. There's a difference. There's a difference. Yeah, so my excuse is not that I don't work out because I work out five or six days a week, right? Yeah. Okay, here we go. Dangerous nations, uh, it's, we're going to reach the nations. We're going to go into the, over the next five years, 50 of the most dangerous nations in the world. Either dangerous for young women, human trafficking, uh, dangerous for Christians persecution or the Nigeria, dangerous, just dangerous, Iran, North Korea, those places, Afghanistan. And so, uh, man, it starts, it starts now, CNN dot men, you can be a part of that. Yes. And being a part of it, it's, we're going to teach you how to not only, um, you know, be a part of initiative, but also teach people how to think properly because that is the greatest thing about what we're doing. We're teaching people how to see themself in the right light, you know, and see themself in the right way. And that's why I love, you know, the Bible where it talks about. So a man thinks in his heart so is he. And that was, you know, when you were talking about that poll, you know, about, um, Reese and how, you know, the man calling her, uh, Princess, it was like, Niles taught her how to think that way. Yeah. So even when it comes to seeing another man, when it's time for her to find a boyfriend or get married, you know, in the future, anything, any person that teach or comes at her outside of that is not an actual spot, an actual spot, a man, exactly. And say, that's not her, her dad has taught her to protect herself. That was a month. They're both amazing followers of Christ and just amazing people. Yeah. Uh, remember, we are CMN. We rescue men. That's our theme. We are CMN. We rescue men, uh, in 134 countries around the world. And that's going to be expanded as we go to these nations. So, hey, I'm Paul Cole with me is Chris Shields, who's our producer for the Brave Man podcast. You can find all the details and issues and things like, like you mentioned at the break. Yes. Thank you to Doug Stringer, who is one of my heroes. Mines too. Yeah. Mine too. Mine too. Mine too. Shoot that. Yeah, we're not going to edit that. I know we're not. You didn't let me edit that one the other day. And it's going to keep going. Yeah. It's going to be a cycle. I jacked it up, man. It was like, okay, I didn't. You don't know. Thanks, Chris. Anyway, payback. You know what payback is? It's good. It's good. Okay. Hey, remember, hope it's alive. Hope has a name. Hope's name is Jesus. Come on, man. 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.