This week Neil Getzlow returns to the show to talk about the Celebrate Recovery program he facilitates at his church in Kansas City - The Rock of KC. Neil is a great example of overcoming addiction through new life in Jesus, and shares his experience with this Christ-centered program.
The Dan Scott Show Podcast
Dan Scott Show, Radio Episode 87 - Neil Getzlow (9-1-24)
This week Neil Getzlow returns to the show to talk about the Celebrate Recovery program he facilitates at his church in Kansas City - The Rock of KC. Neil is a great example of overcoming addiction through new life in Jesus, and shares his experience with this Christ-centered program.
- Duration:
- 54m
- Broadcast on:
- 01 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
The following program is a presentation of Grand Slam Ministries. Hi again, everybody, and welcome to this week's edition of the dance guide show. It is episode 87, and we are extremely excited to be with you as always presented by our 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Grand Slam Ministries. Hope and pray that you have had a great week if you have. Well, try not to mess it up. If not, maybe today we provide a little bit of a lift and you know what I say here. Hope to learn something we did not know by the time the show is done and usually that starts right here in my seat. We've got a really good show lined up for you today, one that comes out of some listener response. So maybe this will encourage you to be more responsive when we say, hey, we want to hear your emails or maybe send us a voice file using your phone because we're going to be talking today about celebrate recovery and we're going to do so with a guy who has been a guest on the program before. In fact, we reran his original interview just a handful of weeks ago during our summer replay series. No get slow out in Kansas City is now facilitating a celebrate recovery group at his church, the Rock of KC. So we're going to talk about that. You'll get a snapshot of his testimony and why celebrate recovery means so much to him. And I think you're really going to enjoy today's program because it's just another example of God changing a life and then using that life to change other lives. We'll be back and tell you more and get into today's interview with Neil Gatslow right after this. Here at Grand Slam Ministries, our goal is to share the love of Jesus Christ through multiple platforms while at the same time executing our core missions of mentorship and helping children succeed. The primary way we can effectively do all of those things is through the Dan Scott Show, our weekly Christian radio show that airs in multiple markets around the nation and the world. We are asking you to partner with us to not only sustain what we are currently doing, but to grow both our on-air, online presence and our ability to fund those core missions. Can you spare as little as $25 per month? How about $10 per month? If we can get 200 partners to join us at each of those small sustainable levels, we can begin to accomplish everything we believe God has called us to do. So can you help us today with a donation of either $25 or $10 per month? Please go to www.Grand Slam Ministries.org for your donation to get more information or to ask questions. That's Grand Slam Ministries.org. And thank you for supporting the Dan Scott Show and Grand Slam Ministries. Want to see a listing of our affiliates? Check out videos or listen to past shows and explore our archives? It's all available at our website, DanScottShow.org. And now, back to the show. ♪♪♪ You know, since our guest today is from Kansas City, it's kind of appropriate that we come back into this segment with a little little jazzy blues riff to it. Episode 87 of the show. I'm Dan Scott. It is so good to have you with us. As a matter of course, it's at this juncture of the show that I try to remind you that if you need to contact us, if you want to hear an interview again or catch up on something that you might have missed, the one stop shop for all of that, DanScottShow.org. You can find out more about Grand Slam Ministries. That's a page, Grand Slam Ministries.org is a page at the Dan Scott Show website. Go to the affiliates and archives page. You can find out where this show airs live on Saturdays and Sundays. And then you can check out the archives. There's some bonus SoundCloud material there as well. Dan at DanScottShow.org is the email address we would love to hear from you. And if you felt led to donate to Grand Slam Ministries, you can do that as well. Stay tuned at the end of the show because in the final segment we've got an exciting announcement, especially for those of you who are in the Greenville, Spartanburg, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina area. Okay. Just a little teaser. Got something coming up for you. Now, let's get into today's interview. Neil Getzlo is a former atheist. He is a former sex addict. He came to Christ in 2020 and has done just remarkable things. Or should I say God has done remarkable things through him since he surrendered his life. And now he is facilitating a Celebrate Recovery Program at his church, the Rock of KC. So we're going to talk about all of that beginning with a little bit of a snapshot of his testimony and where God brought him from. We opened the conversation by saying it was actually good to see each other face to face, even though it was via Zoom. Yeah. No. Yeah. We've been trading texts over the course of the summer. Yeah. Doing good. It's been a fast summer. It's like it's been crazy that I'm already through it into football season. And, you know, just continuing to, you know, the world gets crazier. The distractions get louder and, you know, so you got them. I'm trying to, my focus is trying to keep God's voice as loud as I possibly can in my life. Yeah, because there are plenty of things out there to distract us, even our everyday lives, which we're doing things. As men, you know, we're called to provide for our families. We're called to do these things. But if you are not careful, those can become distractions and take your eyes off of what's really important. And that's the relationship with Christ. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's funny, you know, and I think about this too, as, you know, being on a, you know, on your show. And it's, you know, when you are sports minded, right? That's, I mean, that's your career, right? And I, you know, I used to have dreams of doing, doing what you were doing, right? I think every kid out there has that, you know, that desire to be a sportscaster, but, and I was a sports, you know, I could talk sports all day and knew nothing about God. And now it's interesting how it's kind of flipped where like sports, like I still like watching sports. I still enjoy it, but it's, it doesn't, it doesn't consume me like it used to, right? Like I can talk to you more probably about the Bible now that I can't about anything that might be happening in the NFL, which is quite the switch. And probably pretty good because your Chiefs have gotten the best of my Bengals the last couple of years. So. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And then it's going to be another good year. Yep. They are, they're stacked and loaded and that, they're, they're, that organization's running pretty well. I mean, it helps certainly when you have two Hall of Famers on your offense, leading the show and Hall of Fame coach. Mm hmm. Makes it pretty, makes it easy to be successful, but everyone knows the role. And you know what, what is most intriguing about all of that to me is the firestorm that Harrison Bucker kicked up, pun intended. Two or three, two or three months ago when, when he made a very passionate pro marriage, pro life speech at a college graduation, and you know, all of the usual suspects who come out of the woodwork and cancel culture came after him and the Kansas City Chiefs stepped up and said, no, we, we support this guy. He is free to express his views, even if we don't agree with them. And not only did they support him, they signed him to a contract extension, which I thought was just fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, I mean, you know, the hunt family is definitely a conservative family. I don't know all of their religious views, but I do believe they're Christ followers. And so they, they supported Harrison 100%. You know, Patrick Mahomes is a professing Christian. Now you can debate, you know, where his heart is and by how he acts and all that, but that's, you know, that's what he claims to be. And I think that's how he lives out his life. In fact, his wife, Brittany, just got in trouble over the weekend. I don't know if you saw this at the time of this recording. She liked a Instagram post from Donald Trump. And that set off a firestorm against her. And so it's just, you know, it's, it's, it's crazy how it's become, but I do, I do appreciate the fact that, especially for Harrison Walker, like he didn't shy away with shy away from it at all. Right. He got the criticism, but he stood up for what he believed in. And I think a lot more of us need to do the same. Hey, man, we're visiting with, no get slow. We're going to get into the conversation about celebrate recovery here in a little bit, but just kind of playing catch up and maybe a little bit of a review for, for some of you who maybe heard the first interview or maybe you have not heard our previous conversation with Neil. First of all, Neil, how's the podcast going? That's the way we connected was through sharing interviews on each other's platforms. How is, how is that going right now? Well, so I will say because I have started a celebrate recovery ministry and that at, at my local church, the rock of Casey, it's taken a lot of time. So I have, I've taken a temporary sabbatical from the podcast, but it's funny though, I still have people come up to me and talk about some of that they're listening through the older episodes, which so I, I appreciate that. And it's a blessing from God that, that, that, that all lives out there permanently. So you can, there's 85 episodes out there. So, and you're one of them. So I appreciate that. And, but, you know, God has, you know, you always try to figure out, okay, what, what is your talent? Right? What's, what am I, what's my God given ability? And so I think obviously one of the things that God has helped me to be able to write. So I am going to start to, I'm trying to get my, you know, it's trying to be a better steward of my time to allow me to write more and to talk about, you know, the things that God continues to show me in my life about the road to recovery. And, and ultimately I think it'll lead me back to podcast gig. Still trying to think about what, what maybe that next iteration of the show looks like. Well, I, I hope, and of course, more than anything, I want you to follow where the Holy Spirit takes you in this thing, but I hope he leads you back into a, a, a, another season or another time of that because I think what you were doing through that was so important. And, but you know what, he's a better programmer than I am. So we'll, we'll, we'll wait and see what happens. For those of you who, our listeners out there who are wondering, okay, why are we talking to this guy and we're going to be getting into celebrate recovery and you mentioned that you facilitate a celebrate recovery program at your church in Kansas City, the Rock of K.C. Let's start, Neil, by a little bit of a review of why you're in recovery, why you are, are facilitating celebrate recovery. Give our, our listeners a bit of a cliff notes version of your story and how God really rescued you out of, out of the pit. Yeah, that's right. I mean, and that's, you talk, you're rescuing out of the pit and you talk about that Psalm 40. That's that, you know, that, that talks exactly about that. God, you know, lifted me up out of the pit and put my feet up on solid ground and gave me a new song and saying, and that, that song is, is, is permanently tattooed in my mind. And that's what I, by sharing, by being out here and sharing my story, I hope to be able to help have God use me to help pull other men out of the pit. And the pit that I was in was a, a 40 year addiction to pornography and sex. It started at the age of 10, where I, this is back in the 80s before the internet where I was, you know, was exposed to playboy and penthouse magazines. It was at the time of the rise of cable TV. I was a latch key kid of the 80s with my parents being divorced. So I spent a lot of time being alone. I had this hole in my heart looking to fill it up with something. For me, the abandonment and loneliness and, and lack of love that I felt. I found pornography is trying to fill that whole up. And it didn't ever works, right? Anything, any addiction, any time we try to fill it up with something other than God. We're going to, it's just not going to work. And so over the course of 40 years, the, the cycle I was in, um, would manifest itself. And either through looking at pornography or, um, searching out, um, women online to pay for sex. Um, that led me to a hotel room in Chicago. Where I was actually, uh, there was a deaf meeting this woman and then getting ready to leave. A gentleman came out of the other bedroom in that hotel room and held up his cell phone with my wife's contact information on there and said that, uh, I was going to pay us more money. And, um, they actually did end up calling my wife, um, taking off the mask of my entire life. I fought hard to keep that mask on even after they'd called my wife. And told her I lied, um, as long as I could for six weeks, I held tight to that mask cause I didn't want it to come off and then finally it got convicted me. And, um, said, Neil, you're going to have to tell your wife everything. Um, that I keep in mind I was an atheist for all this. No relationship to Christ. My wife had gotten saved eight years after, or eight years before me, three months after we had got married. And, um, I prayed confessed everything to her and she looked at me and she said, Neil, Jesus forgive me for my sins. How can I not forgive you for yours? I forgive you. And, uh, that day was April 14th, 2020, April 13th, 2020 was the last day I looked at pornography. Um, last day I was ever tempted to stray outside of my marriage and, um, life has not been the same since, uh, yeah, it's still, I still look back and think I can just like, I just throw my hands up like there's no other explanation as to how we're sitting here having the conversation except God. There, there is no other answer. One of the, so that's, that's a cliff notes version right there. One of the things I love about this show and I think you and I may have talked about this the first time you were on is there's only one way to heaven. And that is through the cross of Jesus Christ and, yeah, but he will use multiple avenues to bring you to that cross. And what I mean by that is everyone's salvation story is not the same. Uh, your, your salvation story mind share a lot of similarities. Other people may not have any addictions and, and they come under conviction and they accept Christ through other circumstances. So don't for you out there, like my pastor says, don't hear what I'm not saying. They're not multiple ways to heaven. There's only one way to heaven, but there are different circumstances that will lead people to see that they need Christ as their savior. But one of the things I love about this show, Neil, is hearing so many different stories and so many different ways people have been brought to the realization that they need Jesus as their savior. And, and you are one of five different atheists that I've had on the program since we started back in January of, of 2023 who have come to Christ, three of the five cultural Jews. That's amazing. I mean, it really is. And, you know, and I think, and I think that's biblical, right? I do like you'd see, you know, maybe we're not the 144,000, but I do think that, that there is a, a awakening happening, a revival happening across all multitude of cultures, but I do believe among Jewish people. Like my only, my only experience in God growing up was watching the 10 commandments with Charlton Heston with my mom, every Passover. I was really the only experience I had to God. But it's great. It's interesting how I remember that, you know, and now as I go through and read the Bible and how it matches up to what I was learning even back then I didn't even know it. And I just, for me as a, as a, as a cultural Jew, I couldn't, you know, when I had never read past the Old Testament, I couldn't get to the New Testament. I couldn't get past some of the prophets, right? We start reading the prophets. We were talking about the coming to Messiah. And Isaiah 53 specifically, you read that and then you get to the New Testament like, how could I deny anymore that Jesus is Lord and Savior in my life. We're visiting with no get slow on this week's edition of the Dan Scott show and just a little bit of a recap of, of who he is who he was and how he ended up facilitating celebrate recovery at his church in Kansas City, the rock of KC. When was the first time you heard about celebrate recovery? First time I heard was most probably middle of, middle of 2023. I had been, it was on my heart to do some sort of ministry, whether it was something I've done, something that I would do on my own, whether it was through my church somewhere, but I, like I mentioned earlier, like I have this, just this call in my heart to help God gave me a hand up from the pit I was in. I feel compelled to provide that for God to work through me to use my hand to lift other men up out of the pit. I was specifically thinking around pornography and that kind of thing and sexual integrity issues. And so I took this to the church or took an idea to the church of, "Hey, I want to start a thing for men." And unbeknownst to me, there was a group on the other side of the church who's saying, "Hey, we want to do something for people in recovery around alcohol and drugs." And we met in the middle and landed on celebrate recovery, which encompasses, I think there was a little bit of a misnomer, like, celebrate recovery isn't just for alcohol or drug addicts. It covers that absolutely, but it also covers pornography and sexual integrity issues. It covers anger. It covers depression, anxiety, like gambling, like any hurt habit or hang up that you have, celebrate recovery ministry will minister to you around those things and do it with Christ in the middle of a middle of it all. So one of the things that I have come to love about the program and my interaction with it at, again, multiple churches is the fact that it does deal with everything. I mean, the reason that people ask me to come and speak there is because, "Yeah, I had an alcohol problem to an extent, but my biggest issue was pornography." And that was destroying my life. So that's one of the reasons they want me to come and share my testimony because of that particular addiction or how it plays a role and everything else. I love the fact that it is not just alcohol and drug, that it is open to all of the other things that are just -- it's killing society and it's largely kneel. As you know, as I know, it is robbing many children of a Biblical productive father. It's robbing women of Biblical productive husbands. It is killing men. I mean, let's just be honest with you. It's killing men. Yeah. It is. It absolutely is. I believe it's the ultimate poison of the mind that's in the world right now, and it's so accessible to everybody through your smartphones. And that's the scary thing is right. I think people used to think of pornography as primarily a man thing, a boy thing. But now today, it's everyone, men and women, boys and girls will be exposed to this through smartphones. You don't even have to go to an official pornography site. You could find it on social media. Twitter, also X, depending on how you want to refer to it, that's where I consumed most of my pornography. There's no filter at the time. I've got it filtered now, but I didn't have any filters up. I drank right from the fire hose on it through that app. And so it is, you were right. It is, it is poisoning men, now women. And, you know, what's interesting to me and talking to a woman who was impacted by pornography, she told me that pornography trains a man how to objectify a woman. And pornography trains a woman that it's okay to be objectified by a man, that it's okay for men to look at them as nothing more than an object. I have interviewed a lady named Kelly Lester on the show, one of the most powerful interviews that I have ever done. Her life is one that she was molested as a toddler. She was raped as a team. She had three abortions by the time she was 29. She was running drugs for the Puerto Rican Mafia. I mean, this is just an amazing story of Jesus and how he can get hold of anybody's life and the redemptive grace that he offers. But one of the other issues she had was dabbling in the homosexual lifestyle and pornography. And she and she told me that not producing it, but just, just, you know, looking at it. And she told me that she had kind of turned it around as a way to empower herself. As a tool to, and obviously, diluting herself in the process. But so it does affect women. But I think it largely affects men because men are visual creatures and we can go all down that rabbit trail as you and I have done, unfortunately. It's something that I am glad, Neil, that the church is addressing. Finally, because it turned a blind eye really to all recovery too long. But the stats used to be, and I don't know what they are now, but not too long ago, the stats used to be that even in the church, one out of every three men looked at pornography at least once a month. And so the church has to address it. Yeah, absolutely. And we've got so we've got, you know, we probably have 15 or so guys that come through celebrate recovery. Every week, and while they're the issues that they're focused on, you know, might be alcohol might be drugs. Anger that kind of thing. I think, as we went around and telling our stories, I'd say 12 out of the 15 had pornography as an impact in their lives in some way that contributed to the other things that they were doing. And so, yeah, it's a huge problem. I'm fortunate that the Rock of Casey is a church that does not shy away from talking about these things. From the pulpit. They've brought in just a few weeks ago we had someone from Exodus Cry, who come in. I don't know if you know it familiar with Exodus Cry, but they are an organization fighting against sex trafficking. They are part of the organization that has worked very closely to take down porn hub and are being very successful. And they're not, they're making some inroads. And that in that realm and trying to take down that, that site. But they, they, they came in and talked to our church, throw in all three services over the weekend. Like, and that's that we do have to shine a light on it. You know, because I think in when we shine a light on this kind of stuff, it's harder and harder for the enemy to use it. We are visiting with no gets low in Kansas City. And he is facilitating a celebrate recovery program at his church, the Rock of Casey. How would you describe celebrate recovery to people who don't really know anything about it? Yeah, so one of the, I'm going to describe it in a way this is not meant to domain anything that I'm doing or what CR is, but one of our state representatives came in as we were getting ready to launch this we just started ours and the beginning of 2024 in January, but he came in and address and talk to some of us who are helping to lead this he said basically, you're putting on a kindergarten church every week. And so, like, it's like, okay, I get it. Maybe that was a little harsh, but it is like in theory, right? It is a, it is a weekly service, a weekly church service, where you hear a message, or you hear a testimony. Or teaching lesson. It, you know, you, there are elements of it that are very close to the big difference between celebrate recovery and is that it is a Christ centered recovery program. And to me, I think that is, to me, that's the difference. That's the key difference. Because you can, you know, what what's celebrate recovery attempts to do is it's not only about addressing the current issues in your life, but it is trying to go back to uncover the roots of why you did the things that you did why why these things that you're acting where do they come from, because oftentimes, especially, you know, as I look back at my own addiction, the pornography use was a symptom of something else that was going wrong in my life or something else for I had a problem. And generally stems from childhood. For me, it was that feeling of loneliness and abandonment. And I carry that with me throughout my entire life. So until I worked on that piece, I was just painting over the addiction every week, right, like, and that pain eventually wears off and you go right back into it. When you have Christ at the center of your recovery. That's when you get true healing. That's when your heart heals, you can dig up the roots of your past. You can offer forgiveness to those who have hurt you. You can get forgiveness from Jesus for the sins that you've committed and, and you can start to walk it out. And that's what to me that's that's the heart of what see it or is about is trying to uncover those roots. When you started the program in January, how many people did you have attending? How has it grown in the eight months since? It's been a little bit of an up and down process. I think we started off actually with more people than we anticipated. No surprise. I think that's why we purposely planned January, right? The time where everyone new year new resolutions and looking to lead a new life and break free from some of those strongholds. So we got off to a fast start and then as the year went on, it's kind of like the health club. You know, there's a lot more empty seats as we go on throughout the year. Because of people are ready for it. And then we kind of in the late spring and kind of picked back up again and then the summer, you know, the summer season. We've seen a little bit dip in attendance, but I'm not. You know, I'm not too focused on numbers. I know that God will bring in the right people that need this healing. And if it's, I've always said this throughout my journey, if there's this one person that gets help through something that I've done, then all of the struggles, everything has been worth it. And so I think we are providing, we are providing help with that one person shows up or 50 Jesus is going to move. How has the surrounding community accepted what you're doing there? Because sometimes that can spook people. So, you know, I think that's the, we actually have, we've had a number of people who are not affiliated with our church come through the doors of CR. Some people who were churchless have come through and in our attending the rock. And so I think that, but I think I'm assuming we probably had people from our church who are probably attending other. CRs in the community, I will say, like, sometimes it's hard to want to air your. Lay everything out in your home in your home space. You might want to go off, off course a little bit or off site and. And maybe have a little bit more anonymity and how you share, but. Like there's, it's been nothing but supportive. And I think there is in today's world because, as you, you and I both know, like, we can take a look at things that are happening around the world today. And you and I have comfort because we know where the story is going. Right. We know, we know where this is headed. If I'm not a believer, or if I'm my, if I'm sort of walking off course, I might be. I might be tempted to dive deeper into my addiction, because I don't, because maybe I don't have a full understanding of what's happening around the world of full confidence and trust and God's plan. And, and so there are more, I think that there are more people who are needing help that are, that are needing someone to walk alongside with him and, and help them walk out the steps to recovery. One of the things that I've found out since giving my life to Christ back in June of 2012, it's, it's been over 12 years now. And I'm sure you have found it out in, in the last four years. It is that Satan, this ain't his first rodeo. He knows what our weaknesses are. He knows how to attack. He knows where to tempt us. And when I give my testimony, I tell people all the time that it's a very, very rare occasion that I'm ever tempted by alcohol as much as I drank before. But it's almost something daily that I have to put blinders on, because it, as you said, it's everywhere. That's where the, the strongest temptation for me is. And, and that is by, by Satan's design. I, how, how does celebrate recovery deal with the aspect of temptation? Well, and I'm just going to speak for my own experience. Because I feel the same way, like I, and I, and this is not, this is not me boasting. This is me boasting about the power of Christ. Absolutely. I, I have not, I have no desire like a pornography whatsoever. But that's, that is a, that's an external thing. Right. So we can, you know, I can keep the outside clean, but what's happened on the inside of me. And so, I mean, there are battles with, with lust. That, that, that everyone deals with on the inside where your heart is. And so, I didn't realize it at the time, but when I started celebrate recovery. And we went and visited a couple of other nearby chapters just to kind of get a sense of what it was. I didn't realize how much I needed it for myself. And for my own recovery, because I, I didn't go through an official recovery program. I go through and look at the eight principles of celebrate recovery, which are modeled after the 12 steps of AA. Like, I did it on my own. I didn't realize I was doing these things until I went back and like, oh, I was actually doing following the principles of what it, what it's about. But we're CR helps is that it's does a couple things. One, it's a community. Most and most importantly, it builds a community. It builds a connection with other believers. Who are struggling with the same thing you are. And there's accountability there. And that I think that is, that is so helpful. There's also. So we have a, you know, they call it the three doors of celebrate recovery. The first door we spend an hour every Wednesday is when we have our ministry nights. And every Wednesday we meet for an hour. Like I said, we'll get, we'll either be a teaching lesson about one about an aspect of recovery, or there'll be a testimony someone will come in and Dan. We're excited to have you come in and share your testimony with our group later this year. That's, that's the first part. Second part, then we break off into smaller groups, we can talk more candidly about our addictions, maybe what victories we had in over the past week, or maybe what struggles we've had and get encouragement from others who have been there. And then the last thing that we do is call the step study program, which is, we have these participant guides and we work through each of the lessons and each of the steps of recovery every week. And we're learning how to, we're learning how to forgive. We're learning to how to build an inventory where, you know, learning how to not deny the problems that are in our lives like we're just going through this hands on way of, of how to, you know, how to give you tools to defeat the, the strongholds that are alive. And what I have seen and talk to people who facilitate the celebrate recoveries in our area here in, in South Carolina. It's like, I guess any recovery program, there are some people who come simply with their slip of paper that's court mandated that they need to get it signed that they did that because the court said they have to be there. Others who are legitimately, they're trying to, trying to get better in your brief experience. Like I said, eight months with, with the program now is an understanding that everybody's different. So there's no template to how this works, but do you get a, a feel for how long it's going to take somebody to really start feeling comfortable and be willing to open up in those smaller group settings and talk about their issues. I don't know if we're unique or not. But I can tell you through our experience. We've had men. And so I, I only, so obviously there's a men's open share group and there's a women's open share group. I'm not 100% sure what the women are talking about because it is 100% confidential what, what's talked about at CR stays within the walls, but I can speak from the men in our group. There are men who are opening up on first time they walk in the CR, and it's like they are unburdening themselves from whatever they're carrying. And like that is often the first step. Right. Just admitting that you have something going on in your life and getting it out. Like that's, that was so important for me. I had kept my secrets in for 40 years. You know, one of the principles is to admit your struggles and tell a trusted friend. Now, I will say in my case, the CR guidebook would not say, unload everything on your unsuspecting wife. So I probably did not do a very good job there. But the point being the same is that when I was able to unburden myself with that, I could actually stand up straight. And I was in a better position than to be taught to, to listen and to learn about how do I, how do I recover from this. Visiting when no get slow coming to us from Kansas City, the Celebrate Recovery Program that he facilitates is at the rock of Casey, the church. There in Kansas City is as we start to head down the, down the stretch here towards the end of our time together. What do you hope beyond anything else that God accomplishes through this program? I mean, I just, I want people to experience the same freedom that I have. Right. I think that's the biggest thing. Because there are, you know, there are guys who are still, and obviously I can only speak from the, on the pornography side of things. And we talked about so many men are impacted by it. I don't know why Jesus picked me and broke the chains clean off of me. But he did. And I just feel now this desire to pay it forward. And I want people, no matter what they're struggling with. I want people to feel that experience that freedom that enjoy that can come in knowing Christ. And I will say this. Anyone who walks through a church service on a Sunday, probably could stand to go to Celebrate Recovery on another day during the week. Because it addresses, again, it addresses a lot of the things that are, it goes back to, again, understanding the roots of what causes us to sin. It's an amazing program that, again, I cannot express how happy I am, how thankful I am that churches all across this country are starting to finally address these issues. And not just with the occasional don't do it sermon from the pulpit, which we need, but to understand that we have a very powerful enemy in Satan who knows how to manipulate. You know, he's pretty good at his job. He's been doing it for a long time. But we have an even more powerful savior. And to be able to frame all of that in the midst of a church centered recovery program. I'm just so thankful, Neil, that your church is doing it. I'm so thankful that churches around our area are doing it. Churches around the country are doing it. Because you know, my passion, and I think we share this passion, is after living a life as long as I did not being the godly husband and father role model that I should have been, trying to do it now on the backside of raising my children, and hopefully having an impact on my grandchildren. One of my passions, one of our core missions at Grand Slam Ministries is mentorship. We have to help men, young men, see what it's like to be a biblical Christian man and then teach those men the responsibilities the Bible lays out for us. That's a passion that I think we share and I'm so glad that Celebrate Recovery is part of that journey for many men who are hurt and broken and are out there looking for help. I'm so thankful that you guys are doing that. Yeah, and I can tell just just from the Kansas City area, there is a number of new CR ministries that are that are popping up across the area, which just again shows you the need that there is out there. And again, this isn't just about some self, you know, kind of like self help type of conversation, right? This is getting the ultimate healing, which is the healing that comes through Christ and the forgiveness of Christ. And yeah, I'm just, I am also equally as grateful that we're able to have this conversation, because a lot of it stems from mental health issues and we're, it used to be, you know, men are not encouraged to share their mind on this kind of stuff. We're encouraged to shove our emotions down inside, keep everything bottled up, you know, not not let anyone inside to know what's going on but, you know, I've learned that to get this out. Get this out is a key piece to being able to write the ship and get the help from a fellow brother in Christ. But to me, that's the key. Well, as we get into wrap up mode here, I'm going to kind of date myself. You remember the, I guess it was the late 80s and into the 90s, the, the hair club for men commercial size spurling I'm not, I'm not only the president, I'm also a client. No, no, no, get to celebrate recovery. You're not only a facilitator. You're also a client who is still still working through and trying to get better while working and helping other people. Man, I just continue to pray for you and hope and pray that everything continues to go well with that program. I appreciate it. You know, I think like everybody. I'm just a work in progress. We're all a work in progress. Amen. And I think we have to take steps every day to, to walk a life that's, that's as close to Christ as we can. And isn't that what the Bible calls us to do as Christians is to walk in a Christ like manner and be his hands and feet here on the earth. It's a great way to end that conversation. I can't thank Neil enough for his time again. And I'm looking forward to heading to Kansas City in the final week of October and speaking at one of his celebrate recovery sessions at the rock of KC. I am super excited about getting to get out on the road and share what Jesus has done in my life. But thank you to Neil get slow. And when we come back, we've got a final segment of the show to get into. We'll tell you a little bit more about how you can find out info about celebrate recovery. Plus that special announcement coming up for you in the Greenville Spartanburg, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina markets. Dan Scott show returns in just a moment. Teenage boys and young men today are in crisis. Statistics show that a home without a father or male role model present is the single biggest indicator of poverty, behavior issues, drug and alcohol abuse, criminal activity, and yes imprisonment. At Grand Slam Ministries, one of our core missions is developing a mentorship program to teach boys how to become strong Christian men and then teach those men to be the biblical husband's fathers and church community leaders the Bible calls us to be. We need your prayers, we need your ideas, and we need your support. Visit our website Grand Slam Ministries dot org to find out more about our mentorship mission and prayerfully consider how you may be able to assist us. Again, that website is Grand Slam Ministries dot org. Follow us on social media search Grand Slam Ministries on Facebook and Grand Slam for God on Twitter. And don't forget Dan's personal and public figure sites on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You're listening to the Dan Scott show presented by Grand Slam Ministries. The final segment of our show today again, thanks and you'll get slow out in Kansas City who is facilitating the Celebrate Recovery program at his church, the Rock of KC. If you are interested in finding out more information about maybe how to start a Celebrate Recovery program at your church, or if you're someone going through some of these things that we've talked about today and you're looking for a Christ-centered program to help you, you can go to the website, celebraterecovery.com, and right there on the front page you can find information about attending events, finding help and finding a group in your area, celebraterecovery.com. Alright, I mentioned that I have a little bit of news for the folks specifically in Greenville, South Carolina, Spartanburg, South Carolina market and Asheville, North Carolina. It makes up one entire media market radio and television starting this weekend, September the 1st, actually, which happens to be the 35th wedding anniversary for Angela and me. We have a brand new commercial version of this program that's starting on Fox Sports Upstate in Greenville, Spartanburg, and ESPN Asheville, which encompasses three stations in Asheville and Hendersonville, North Carolina. And the premise of the show is the same as what we're doing now with a couple of major differences. Number one, it's a commercial program where this is all non-profit, non-commercial radio, and the new show in those markets is going to be specifically sports related. But we're going to be doing the same thing. We're going to be talking with coaches and athletes who have incredible testimonies telling us the things that God has done in their lives, and it's going to air 8am to 9am on both stations or in both areas every Sunday morning. And really excited about this because these are secular sports radio stations, and we're going to get a chance to bring them some gospel through the Avenue of Sports and doing it on stations this time of year where it's going to be leading right into their NFL coverage. So we're hoping that where, for the most part, this show is listened to by, I would think mostly a Christian audience, not totally, but for the Life FM, our flagship is a Christian music station, Southern Gospel Station, and most of the other stations we're on have our Christian radio stations as well. So most of the audience here probably is Christian, but this show is going to be hitting mostly secular audiences on secular radio. And I have to give a big shout out and thank you to Ingalls Markets because they're picking up the tab. We don't have to pay a thing to buy the airtime to do this. So you think that God is not working, it's going to be a fun adventure to see how that works out. What he has done with this show in just a little over a year and a half has been amazing, and there are a lot more things to come. I can really feel it. Getting to branch out now and do this show in effect, but in a sports only setting on secular radio, sports stations, God's working. God is really working and I'm just trying to stay out of the way. The way he orchestrated this new venture is a story in its own right that maybe I will share someday, but be praying for that, praying for that gospel message through the world of sports to get to the people that it needs to get to. Would you do that for me? And of course, we are looking to continue to grow what we are doing here on this program that started back in January of 2023 on two radio stations. And now we are approaching 40 nationally and internationally and looking to continue to grow. If you'd like to help us, Dan Scott Show dot org, Grand Slam Ministries dot org, you can click the donate tab and help us out with a one time or a monthly gift. We would appreciate that. Everybody can pray though. Everybody can pray and just pray that God will continue to lead. He will send us the support that we need and most importantly, that I don't get in his way. Listen, thank you again for your attention. We look forward to being back with you again next week. Until then, I'm Dan Scott. God bless you. So long, everybody. Thank you for listening to this week's Dan Scott Show. Here and again, catch up on past shows or find out more about Grand Slam Ministries. Please visit our website, DanScottShow dot org, and while there, carefully consider making a gift to help us in our mission to share the love of Jesus Christ. That's the Dan Scott Show dot org. [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music) You