Bible Based Mentoring - An Interview With Vince Miller

A podcast with Vince Miller and Jason Day from ChurchLeaders.com addressing the topic of manhood.

THE AUDIO PODCAST:

TRANSCRIPT:

The following program was prerecorded and the views expressed do not necessarily represent those of this station or its management.

There's one power, strong enough to break the cycle of addiction and incarceration. One name that restores redeems hearts. One true savings. This is prison transformation radio. Stories of chains, broken and hearts restored. Here are your host, Jim Moore, and pastored Dwight Anderson.

Happy Saturday afternoon, everybody, if that is, if you're listening on a Saturday afternoon, some of you are listening in on podcasts, but welcome to prison transformation radio. My name is Jim Moore. I'm one of your co hosts. I also direct a resource organization called the [inaudible] collaborative. And my partner Pastor Dwight Anderson with prison mission association. How's life in prison, Pastor Lord? Yes, yes, they do. Let me out, which is great. Uh, and today I'm driving up from Chicago where I spoke at the Correctional Ministry summit and I'm going to be speaking tomorrow at a menominee falls. It's called Files Bible Church. And then on the 26th of June, I'm going to be in rush city, uh, the prison there for the transition fair. You're like, you're like Johnny Cash or everywhere man everywhere, and if you don't know much about prison mission association, we're talking tens of thousands of inmates that get Bible study courses with college credit, so prison mission association dot Org.

Actually it's prison mission.org. I got a shorter. Oh, well that makes it easier. Google prison mission associated. Either way, the Lord will lead you to, right? Yes. If you know anybody in in prison that wants to do our Bible study and get mentoring. Excellent. And we're. Our goal is actually is to plant churches behind the bars, the developing the leadership from within helping inmates, inmates for Christ. Wow. And so it's again another Saturday afternoon or podcast, but we are picking up on the mentoring theme that we touched on. What Kevin Saunders above slash plan was great. She can miss that. All these podcasts am nine, 18 admission.com, but one of our heroes, at least mine is here today. The gentleman by the name of Vince Miller, who's a founder of resolute. Again, we're talking mentoring, but what I love about this, there's a lot of different kinds of mentoring.

I guess some of his lone ranger, right, you go out, you pick up someone to Teen Challenge or Union Gospel Mission and your mentor them, but there's the idea of working together in a structured program. In this case, more Bible study. I've known vince for about a year now. We've been working on bringing resolute to the curriculum of Minnesota adult team challenge and the teen challenge leadership institute and so Vince was kind enough to come on the show and to talk to you. Not only about the tremendous resources he has that he can bring to your church and organization but, but they're willing to come in and, and serve and support and, and help you out. So we just want to let people know about resolute. So God bless you, my friend. See you. Great to have you here. So I just see did it a little bit, but can you start with big picture will pop up to 10,000 feet and give us a big picture of resolute but then help us get to know you a little bit to how this all came about.

Well, I'll kind of start with my own personal story, so kinda like that. And that's a great place to start. Right? And that's what passions us. Right? So My, uh, my story begins. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, grew up in a fatherless home. Mom, went through a couple of husbands and by the time I was about 14 or so, um, my grandfather came over to the house one day and asked permission of his daughter to spend time with me. Now this is a very unusual occurrence because my, my father was an atheist mom agnostic, but my grandfather was a Christian and I think in that moment my mother caved. She realized that there was no man in my life and she could tell that I was of an age where I needed another adult male in my life. So she caved and you know, I ended up, my grandfather just kind of slowly stepped into my life.

He started with picking me up from school and then that turned into me having healthy meals once a day at his house with grandma and Grandpa. And then eventually it turned into me living at, in his home when I was a young teen, so huge spiritual influence in my life. My grandfather just came in at a very pliable, important emotional, desperate moment of my life when I was lacking direction and stepped in and I came to discover, by the time I was about 20, I came to make a profession of faith because of his personal investment in my life.

So your life is kind of like a parable or a metaphor of the role of mentor can play right in a young man's life.

Yeah, that's it. I mean, that's exactly it. My grandfather was the spiritual mentor in my life. The reason that I came to faith. Now, the tragic part of the story is when I was 21, he was taken from me. Uh, his, his life was taken by cancer. He got cancer in his spine. And I just remember that being such a pivot point in my life, guys. I mean, I, I looked down at my grandfather dying in a hospital, bed cancer into spine, watching him painfully die with no hope. And over the next five hours that I sat there, I just thought about the man that that loved me was now being taken from me. And it caused deep reflection. I've prayed a prayer out loud in that moment that I have never forgotten it. It almost terrifies me some days when I think about it.

And when something like this, I said, God, for rest of my life, I want to do for other men. Oh my Lord, what my grandfather did for me. And I didn't really understand what I was saying in that moment. I mean, this was like a, a serious commitment moment. I look back on it now, much more with much more weight than I did then. But then. But then I asked God for something. So I made this commitment and didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I asked God for something and I Said, God, but would you please replace my grandfather to me in my life? And this was a significant commitment, you know, connected to a significant request. And immediately leaving that hospital room, the funeral, etc. I went back to college. I changed my major from business to bible. I started pursuing a bible degree, met my wife, pursued seminary, a up here in the upper midwest actually. Um, and uh, got my seminary degree, but for 20 years, 20 faithfully two to five times a year. He's using hand signals.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a wonderful present in your church. That's right. But uh, in two to five times a year, I asked

someone to mentor me and no one ever did. Now is very faithful to see color. I got to excuses over 20 years. I bet you know what, they are too busy, too busy as one. And I don't know what to do is the other. When I managed mentors for teen challenge, I heard that from ernest people. I heard that a thousand times. Yeah. See, I'm looking at your face right now and I can tell you if there's the exact same face I see when I share this message with people across the us, they look at me and they nod and they almost weep because it's tragic. And yet it's such a barrier. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's the issue. And I define looking back on all this today, I define that that problem is, is apathy. It's, it's the great, the great sin of mankind is apathy.

It's that moment that we look in the face of injustice or sin or even opportunity and challenge in front of us and we do nothing and say nothing, right? I don't have time. I don't know what to do. I do nothing, and I say nothing. Which is the great center of the bible in genesis three, right? Man, just sitting there watching sin unfold before his eyes, his woman engages, which is what women do. They engage right? We know that. And a man empowered with all the authority over the domain of earth. He's Been given creative ability to speak and do right. God gave hIm the ability to speak into life, definition of life forms, and then here in this moment of sin and injustice, he does nothing and says nothing. When woman is about to engage with sin and he watches it unfold, I think it's apathy that satan is using to silence the voice of god in the world because it's not. When a man says something and does something that bad things happen, it's when a man does nothing, it says nothing.

So it's like a sin of omission and sins of omission. Yeah, you're right. It goes both ways to say nothing and do nothing is as much of a sin. Yeah, exactly what my good. So if you're feeling guilty out there in your podcast, know that you're not alone, meet you, But I think a lot of times there's a crnas feeling, but I'm glad you brought up the boogeyman because there's a prince of the air out there that's fight in the airways right now and and it will get in and will seduce you into thinking that you're not equipped and you don't have the time. So listen closely to the rest of what vince is talking about it because he's going to show you some onramps to the freeway, access to his website, access to vince himself, and folks, let's. Let's rise above this passionate drive. Yeah. If you're tuning in, this is a prison transformation radio changing hearts with christ and we're interviewing a vince miller. He's the founder of resolute. So vince, tell us a little bit more about your program now and how we can overcome the problem that you just presented of not having enough time or too busy and then not knowing what to do. So what's the answer is here. I know we have some. That's why. That's why you're great, man.

Well, I'm solving my own problem, right? I mean, that's what I set out to do was to solve the problem that I had and uh, you know, five years ago I just said I've had enough. I thought, I mean mentoring is the issue. You called it the tip of the spear and the last one

program of dramatic, but I think it's true. It's the number one most important thing for someone coming out of treatment or prison is a goto person. Aa sponsor when a one, but you've taken it to a whole new level.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, I'm going to put it real simply for you. John wooden said this, we all knew that is hopefully a inducted into the hall of fame a couple of times as an athlete or the coach, right? He said this, it's profound. Hear it very clearly. Everything I've learned, I've learned from someone else.

It is kind of profound and it's kind of a blinding flash of the obvious.

Uh, it's, it's totally simple, right? everything you've learned, you've learned from someone else. Well, I came to discover that, you know, if I'm really going to solve my own problem, I'm going to have to resolve to take those two excuses off the table. Right? I don't have time and I don't own. I don't know what to do. Well, so I remember the last time I asked someone to mentor me and he basically said he didn't have time and I kind of walked out of the room and I go, this is a discipleship problem, right? I mean, you can call it mentorship, whatever you want, leadership, development, training, discipleship. It doesn't really matter. They're all the same words, just do something. say something. Right? So step up and do something. And so I realized I was tired of asking other people. So I just decided to mentor other people.

And five years ago, I just started, we're asking you to do what I was asking for. I solved my own problem and I discovered by solving my own problem that I created an incredible solution that wasn't my idea in the first place, right? I, I didn't come up with this idea. JesUs came up with this idea. Jesus' hand selected 12 guys who he poured into over 22 months. That's it. Twenty two months. It wasn't forever. It's not a forever relationship, is 22 months. and somehow he turned 12 guys into master mentors. And jesus didn't do it by accident. he planned it. He didn't die on the cross. One day, looked down at his people and go, oops, I should have mentored somebody, right? He was this intentional mentoring, intentional, purposeful, strategic, right? I mean, he, he was tactical about it and what he did. So I just started reading the new testament differently and I started reading it backwards is what I said. I began at the end and said, if jesus created 12 disciples that were willing to die for him, right? 12 guys that were willing to die for it. How did he do that? And I just walked backwards through it and I created what I did on our website is great bible studies, videos and bible studies that empower a man to play and pause a video and disciple men across the world. And you folks, this is a wealth of material. It's like

vince's jesus' answer to Stephen King. Prolific. You amaze me and, and I'm looking at some books on the table. Then what did you just came out with? So how can people access this? How would you like to engage with this? Exactly.

So our website is be resolute.org, be he resolute.org, which was great advice in it. Just be resolute man. And you know, I've, I, the newest book we have and I'm going to, I would love the listeners to get a copy of this is called 30 virtues that build a man. It's essentially a new series of books that I'm writing over the next few years and as a conversational guide for mentoring any man, I just truly believe kind of like some of the resources that you used, why that we can put resources in the hands of men and have them have a conversation about the bible through simple questions. That's it. Two page chapters here. Not a lot to read.

If I could make it a pop up book, I would have an ebook. An ebook format is joking. You have videos too. I mean you have different mediums so you can reach people in what

for way they need to be reached and meet them where they're at. Exactly. Video, audio, book, format, wHatever format you want. We've got it. I just want to put resources in the hands of men to take those two excuses off the table and I make them simple like if you're looking at this book, I mean, I'm going to tell you, you could do this with your son. You could do it with men in prison. You can do it with men in the military. You could give this away to gift as gift books to every in your church and it will bless their life and you tell them to do two things with it. You either say, will you mentor me or I would love to mentor you. That's it. Using a conversational guide right here, good father's day, gift. You know, I did this with my son, prerelease and it was probably one of the most emotional moments of my life.

She says, fisher. I remember I opened up this very first lesson and it's all just questions with some bible texts that guide them through the texts. Very simple, very conversational, and I got done witH my son who's 17, and I said, what did you think? And he said this back to me and said, dad, I never knew that about you. And I realized I'd created a story between two men. That's what I've created. Here is a story between two men so that I can walk up to a man like jim or dwight who are further ahead of me in life and I could say, will you mentor me? Show me what you know about words like action, prayer, faith, repentance, identity, renewing. so when they said they don't know what to do, that's what these tools are for. That's how to. you got to have the intention, but.

But there are tools. Yeah. It's tools. It's tools to put in your husband's hand and of a man's hand into what guy going off to deployment in his hand, in a bunker with another guy, into a guy coming out of prison. Like we were talking with Kevin Saunders last week, you know, put this in the hands of men coming out of prison. I, I would love to give this away to 100,000 men this year. I'd love To give it away to 100,000. You should do like a promise keepers thing. Get yourself a couple of banks, stadiums going on in the meantime, you can come into prison with me. We give him. Yeah, so good luck to you. And talking to the audience. Did have folks out there past. We know a lot of pastors are listening. Vince, you're available, right? To come out to teen challenge during church to a men's group.

How the, you know, some of these men's groups at some of these churches. Yeah, absolutely. I'm, I'm heading no word of life camp in New York today. Actually. I'm believing today and a couple of weeks I'm going to be in at a men's group in Wisconsin. I'm going to be in a men's group. I'm speaking at a church on sunday morning coming up for father's day, which is just a week away. Um, I, I speak all across the country. I'd love to come share and motivate the men of your church to get mentoring Because it is the solution to the ultimate discipleship problem. We need to be discipling the men of our churches and the men that live in our homes. Listing pastors will help out our three collaborative.org. We'll hook you up with vince to and so be resolute.org. And it's so people kind of lose track or couldn't write that down.

I, I tried to experiment with ways to find things. If I forget website, google, but google, vince miller, resident resolute in be resolute bar, vince, vince miller.net will take you there. Oh, so no excuse that. You don't have time or you don't know what. Okay. This is an easy on ramp to the freeway. So can you talk more about the resources and how they use. For example, earlier you were talking before the show that these programs you, a church or an organization can take on deliver, but you also raise up leaders that can come and help facilitate these. absolutely. So I do three basic things, so I speak to groups across the country. That's number one, Inspiring men and motivating the around the topics of mentoring, fathering leadership and discipleship. So those four topics big for number two, we provide group curriculum for any church across the planet.

So we have videos and handbooks, 70 different videos, 10 different series that guys can pick up anywhere and using any men's group plug and play, easy to do. Even a guy who doesn't, who disqualifies himself from leading can lead one of our group, but on the gba. Yeah. Simple as that. And then individual resources like this 30 virtues that build a man I'm holding in my hand right now, I'd love for people to get this in their hands. I'd love for them just to give it away as a gift book. And I'm imagining all your books are also yes on the site. They can access to that information and I'm happy to come and visit a church to train men to mentor other men. I have a three hour training that I do live on the spot that we can do for any man comes with a workbook.

FaNtastic training. I can train a man in three hours to mentor anybody in five lessons. And we actually have the training on video on our website too. So you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna. Put it up, make sure I want to make sure everybody can use any tool that we ever produced. And all of it is wonderfully made. And let me reinforce that a little bit. Because in a previous life for decades, I worked in training development field and what vince described to me is how this works is the best practice for corporate training and development. And the whole idea is there's a video, but you don't just sit there and mindlessly watch a video. You pause it. So if you're the leader of the group though, you don't have to memorize and have all of this information. The video we used to call it video driven, you give them soundbites, you use the video, it engages them.

Then you facilitated discussion, ask questions. You engage the folks, right? So it's actually such a wonderful. So agaIn, it takes away the, I don't know what to do, you know, push the button. But you do got to step up and know you got to step up, right? You've got to fight apathy. And I tell guys in the training, this is the biggest thing I think men need to hear. You need to stop disqualifying yourself. Hey man, I'm honored. God lives in you. That is enough. That is holy spirit. You get off the bench, get into the game and start talking to people about your faith and mentoring them. Everybody has something to give. I mean, I, I my, my grandfather. So this real short story for you. So you want a testimony? One more minute. So give us a. Yeah. So short story here. So my grandfather taught me how to drive on a 1959 chevy apache pickup truck. Who super cool. Now here's what makes it super, super cool. He had it restored twice. He bought it 1958 off the showroom floor. Never been dinged it originally it was a tan color, right? And then he in the seventies he had it painted gold metal flake. That was cool.

Red metallic page. That's super cool. And then when I was about

15 he had it painted fire engine red chromed out everything, nut and bolt restoration. Even the guys who restored the car said they'd never seen a car without a ding in it. Not that not an ounce of bondo on it. So my grandfather taught me how to drive on that truck and said if I could successfully navigate net truck, then he would give it to me when I turned 16. He did. He did. Now here's what's crazy about it. I got in this truck and there is nothing automatic about this truck. I mean, not a single thing. And uh, you know, it's got a three on the tree transmission bus, like steering wheel. I mean, it had a starter on the floor for goodness sakes. I had to get out of this thing.

Yeah. You drive into similar, you know, I, I'd be guys sometimes that said I learned how to drive a car with a crank on the front of it. So, you know, it happened. Not that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

yeah. Yeah. So, you know, this is era with a starter on the floor and it was just unusual. My grandfather taught me how to drIve in this truck, but he spent three hours with me every saturday teaching me how to parallel park this truck. Three hours parallel parking a truck that had nothing automatic on it. Not a single thing and uh, it was parking a beast and you have to remember I grew up in California, so it was two months practicing and flat areas. And then you went to exactly too much on two months on inclines. Two months on, two months on declines. What? No, no, it was amazing. Now let me tell you what's amazing about it. My wife never met my grandfather, but she meets him every time we take him through youtube. Yeah. Well, you know, every time we go out to eat in downtown minneapolis and take the truck out, you still got this truck.

You still drive? I miss. I haven't, I haven't, I have some other trucks now. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But uh, we go out to you to eat

downtown. My wife will look at me and she'll say, can't get this truck into that spot. And I'll say, watch me. Oh my goodness. Twenty two yeArs of marriage. My wife has never not seen me. Perfectly parallel park the very first time. Oh my gosh, I missed that part of the. Yeah. Every sIngle time. And during those three hour trainings, he showed me what it meant to be a son, a friend, a brother, a husband, and a dad. Amen. And those are the conversations we need to be having. You know, it's always done too soon, my brother. Yeah. But, uh, would you, we have a few moments. Would you close us out in prayer? Absolutely. Then you bet we'll get back to you. So god, thank you so much for the opportunity to be with these great men and what they're living out by even just having these conversations on the air. I have prayed for those guys out there right now who feel convicted about this. I pray they move from feeling convicted to living with conviction. They're lies by stepping off the bench and getting into the game. Yes. And mentoring, discipling in developing leaders in christ's great name We pray. Amen. Amen. Thanks spence. We'll see everybody next week.