Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Right, well, hey, guys, we're going to.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: Get right into bringing Todd in. Tod's been a friend of mine for many years now, and he's very encouraging man to be around. You can't get around Tod and not be encouraged and not be challenged to kind of work hard and just kind of stay at it, man. Tod's just a faithful guy, and he's been faithful for a long time and has produced a lot of great things in his life, and we were kind of reflecting on that before this call started, but, yeah, he's just got a lot of wisdom. I mean, this guy's got a lot of wisdom, and I'm not going to steal any of his thunder. I'm going to let him get right into it. He's been a coach and he's a striking coach, so he knows how to hit, and his son is proof of that. If you ever listen to those guys when they're training, listen to the sound that's coming off of those strikes. And that's why I'm glad greg's my friend and I'm glad Tod's my anyway, we love you, Tod. It's awesome to have you on this call. I want to hand it over to you so you can encourage the men this morning.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Okay, well, thank you and good morning and thanks for getting up, guys, I want to thank you for getting up and jumping on this call. It's a real honor to be able to share with you guys little of the experiences of my life in the martial arts and what God's done in my life. So I got started in the martial arts in 1974 at the age of 15, and that's like 49 years ago now. Kind of giving away my age there a little bit.
The martial arts was something that I always wanted to do as a child.
I remember I got my first speed bag when I was nine years.
Just I was intrigued by hand to hand combat, and I was a huge Bruce Lee fan, so I believe I was about six months away from getting my driver's license when I officially started in the martial arts.
I had a buddy in high school that had a driver's license, so I talked him into driving out to Belvedere to young Hong Karate Institute and joining a karate class with me. So we did, we went out there and started and I really enjoyed it. I loved it. I soon realized that was going to be a passion of mine, but I knew I was going to have to put the time in and work hard to get good at the martial arts like I wanted to. And at that point, I was splitting my time between work, school, girls and golfing, and I realized that my plate was going to be pretty full trying to squeeze the martial arts in, so something was going to have to go and I wasn't going to be able to quit school or working. I wasn't going to give up girls, so golfing is what had to go. I gave up golfing, and I've probably only golfed four times since then in my life, so I knew I was going to have to put the hard work in to get good at the martial arts.
If any of you guys have never tried any striking or fighting before, I'd recommend you get around a heavy bag, get some 16 ounce gloves. You might want to wrap your hands, but if you're looking for an excellent cardio workout, try hitting that bag for some two minute rounds with a 32nd rest in between.
See how many rounds you can do, and you'll soon find out what I mean by putting the work in.
So I started dating my beautiful wife in 1979. Started the martial arts in 74 79. I started dating my wife, and in 1981, I was super blessed when she agreed to marry me.
They say guys, behind every good man is a good woman, and I can surely attest to that. So for any of you guys that aren't married yet, a word to the wise choose wisely, because the goal is to be with her a very long time. 42 years later, I'm still happily married. So we got married in 1981, bought our first house. I'm like 21 years old now, and a year later, we got a baby boy, Greg, on the way. Well, I start thinking, you know, maybe this is a good time for me to start training and take a fight.
So I did, and I broke some metatarsals in my right foot training for a fight, and that landed me on crutches. Well, at that time, I was running a bread route, working 60 hours a week for the teamsters, and it's a little tough to run a bread route on crutches.
The other thing is, when you don't get hurt on the job, it doesn't fall under work comp. That comes under loss of time benefits. Coincidentally, that pays about 10% of your regular pay. Not good, especially with a new bride, a new mortgage, and a baby boy on the way. So well, tod time to maybe rethink this fighting career. So I let my foot heel up and I decided I was going to open up my own dojo in my backyard, start training some fighters right in my backyard. Word got out, and that's what I did. It went pretty good. The house we bought was in Metesney Park, so I soon ended up with football players and wrestlers from Harlem High School, some tough guys that wanted to get in shape, and it went good. I made a few bucks doing it, even though my wife used to always tell me, you're too hard on them. They're not going to come back. And she was right. Some of them didn't.
Well, then I had a buddy of mine from grade school and high school come to me and ask me if I would train him for the local Rockford Tough man contest, and I said yes. And that's kind of how I got started in training fighters. By the grace of God, I ended up with three professional world champion fighters.
The first one, the guy that came to me and asked me to train him for that tough man contest, was Mean Mike Labrie. He ended up being my super heavyweight champion of the world. The second guy was Troy Hollywood Hughes, and he ended up being my heavyweight champion of the world.
And the third guy was Mike Tension Nevitt, and Mike was my light cruiserweight champion of the world. And after a while, we couldn't find anybody to fight Mike anymore. So he went into pro boxing and went 19 and one as a pro boxer. And I'll tell you what, that's pretty good. 19 and one as a pro boxer. So I've had the good fortune to travel to Paris, Brazil, London, all for world title fights. And we also fought all over the United States. I think we fought like six times at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. We were the main event, and we were even the main event on pay per view a couple of times.
I've told people many times over the years that the martial arts probably saved my life. What I learned from the martial arts, the hard work and the discipline, the work ethic saved my life. And the one thing I can tell you is that becoming a world champion at anything is just plain hard work. You're going to have to put the work in. You got to outwork the next guy. So what does the Bible have to say about hard work? Colossians. 323 24 says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for men. Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward, it is the Lord Christ you are serving. Wow. What a different world this would be if everyone worked like they were working for the Lord and not for men.
Psalms 128 two says, you shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands. You shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. So if you're willing to work hard, train hard, work like you're working for the Lord and not for man, you'll reap the rewards. You will be blessed, and it will be well with you. Amen. And I do believe that statement to be so true.
Proverbs 1423 says, all hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Talk is cheap, guys. Man, I've trained those fighters before the talkers. I've trained over 100 fighters, and I've had those guys. I'm going to hit it hard next week, Coach. Next month I'm going to start doing my road work. I'm going to crack down and I'm really going to start training hard for that fight. You know what? They never do.
Mere talk leads only to poverty.
So let's face it, guys, these qualities used in fighting, to me, in my opinion, they apply to every aspect of life. Hard work, discipline, building positive routines. These are the qualities that save my life and the life of my three world champions. How do I know? Because every one of them told me so.
And I believe right now that we're in the fight of our lives right now, guys. The constant battle between good and evil, the hidden agendas they're trying to shove down our throats, what they're trying to teach our children in school right now, the erasing of history. I mean, I could go on and on about this subject, but I won't.
How did I end up with three world champion fighters? It was all God. It wasn't because I was a super coach or trainer or fighter. It was all the God given gifts and abilities that God gave to me. See, years ago, I took my spiritual gifts test, and I found out that my spiritual gifts were encouraging, serving, and giving.
Any of you guys that haven't taken your spiritual gift test yet, I recommend you do. Find out what your spiritual gifts are and put them to work in your church, in your community, and in your job. You'll be a lot happier if you do so. You see, I was able to encourage these fighters, to build them up, to make them believe that together, working together hard, we could become world champions. I was able to give them my time and my God given abilities to sharpen their abilities, their fighting skills, and their conditioning skills. And we were able to hold each other accountable.
I remember one time Mike Nevitt telling me, you know, Coach, I really like the fact that when you say you're going to be here, you're always here for me. You always show up when you say you're going to be here. And you know what? I didn't always have that in previous trainers.
One time, I remember I was working Troy Hollywood's corner in a title fight in Oklahoma, and I jumped in the ring between rounds and started giving Troy the instructions on what he needed to do. And he points at his left ear and he says, hey. He says, Coach, I can't I think he ruptured my eardrum. And so I immediately go around to the right side of his ear and say something like, troy, get out there and stomp this guy, man. You got this. We can win this fight tonight. You can win this title. And so he did. He went out and won that title that night. But I can tell you guys, I think the outcome would have been a little bit different if I'd have said something like, wow, man, that's got to suck.
Does it hurt? Do you want to quit? Should we throw in the towel. You know what? We wouldn't have won that title that night if I'd have asked questions like that.
You see, fighting is as much mental as it is physical. Man, you got to train hard and you got to pay your dues in the gym. That means you got to work hard, put the work in, because if you don't, it'll really mess with your head the night of the fight if you'll be beat. And I've seen guys that were beat before they ever even went in the ring. They didn't believe they were going to win, and they didn't. Man, I've seen guys show up at work like that.
We had a guy show up to show up for work, looked like somebody shot his dog. It's like, dude, how can you win with that kind of attitude? You can't win at your job. You can't win in the ring if you got an attitude like that.
So, guys, I'm not saying that things are always going to be easy and go your way.
We got a saying in fighting that says it's not how hard you can hit, it's how hard you can get hit. Just keep coming.
The storms are going to come. You're going to get hit in life.
But I'll tell you what, it's a lot easier to go through if you're grounded in the Lord and rooted in the Lord.
I went through hard times, guys. I've done things I'm not proud of. I got super prideful, and I struggled with alcohol. At 29 years old, I left the Teamsters Union after vesting ten years with them, and I went into construction sales, selling insulation and gutters, which I still do today.
By 30 years old, I was managing a company, a branch that I started. By 32 years old, I was managing for a Fortune 200 company and still training world champions.
My head got swollen, man. I started thinking I was all that in a bag of chips. I got prideful. You see, I was given all the credit for my success to Todd and not God.
So the good Lord had to make some course corrections with me. And I can tell you, when the good Lord wants to get your attention, he will.
One thing I can tell you about running a Fortune 200 company, there's no guarantees. The only thing constant is change.
After 13 years of running, managing a Fortune 200 company, I suddenly found myself without a job two years later, the housing market crashed in 2008. And even though it was all a struggle to go through, you know what? It wasn't that bad, because I knew God was going to take care of us.
You see, I had made some serious changes in my life. My wife and I were hosting a disciple, four year disciple class in our home, and we were studying the Word and getting into the Bible, and things were just getting better in all aspects of life for us.
I can remember I lost that job. My wife saying to me, you know what? I think we should just keep giving the same amount that we were given, not lower what we're given. We got some money saved. Let's just act like we still got that job and give step out in faith and trust the Lord. And I said, I agreed with it, okay, let's go ahead and give it a try. And we did. And you know what? Things just worked out.
I can tell you guys, I wasn't always a tither, not by a long shot. I can remember in the early days going out to my mailbox and coming in, actually telling my wife, look at this. Look at the mail we're getting. Mary Knoll, fathers and Sisters rockford Rescue Mission goldie Floberg World Vision Caleb. I said, you know what? We're pigeons. I go, you're giving all my money away. No wonder we got no I'm broke. I'm busting my butt out there and you're giving all my money away. That was me giving credits. Todd again, when we started Tithing 23 years ago and honoring God with our finances, things just really started to come together.
I was able, at 45 years old, to start with no accounts, zero, and work with my son to build a multimillion dollar business. Man, what a blessing that has been. All from working hard, honoring God and Tithing.
I can tell you guys, you can't outgive God.
You see, guys, we need to be that coach to each other. And what a better platform to do that than Grace Ops? I wish we had something like Grace Ops around when I was younger would have kept me from making a lot of stupid mistakes. So we got an opportunity here with Grace Ops, hold each other accountable, to help encourage each other to build those positive routines like Ryan was talking about, of getting in the Word and reading our Bibles daily. Iron sharpens iron.
There's a saying that says two things are going to determine where you're going to be five to ten years from now. The people that you meet and the books that you read well, the people that you meet. What a better platform? What a better place to meet people than Grace Ops? Or you can meet Christian Brothers that want to see you succeed, that want to help hold you accountable.
I can't think of a better place to meet people than Grace Ops. And the books that you read. I think we can all agree that there isn't a better book for us to read than the Bible. If we'll commit to reading our Bible every day, where are we going to be 510 years from now? I'll tell you what, we're going to be in a much better place.
Not only that, maybe we need to work on some other things too, guys. Maybe we need to get some books on finances from, like, Dave Ramsay. We need to work on our finances. I read the other day that the average churchgoer gives $17 a week. I also read that 69% of Americans couldn't write a check for $750. How in the world can we ever honor God with our finances if our finances are in that kind of shape?
So, quick story, I got a budy that called me the other day and reminded me about this story. I got a friend about 15 years ago that I invited him to come to church with us. He came and he liked it. He said, I like going to church. But he said, I got to tell you, he said that money part, when they come around and ask for money, it just doesn't sit well with me. I don't like that part about the money. I said, you know what? Just start by giving something, man. I said, you got to crawl before you can walk, and you got to walk before you can run. Just give something. Start somewhere. Well, you know what? For probably ten years now, that guy's been tithing and honoring God. And in the last eight years, I've seen him acquire, like, ten properties. He's built himself a residual income business, and he's just telling me, tod, man, I'm blessed.
It's unbelievable.
I can tell you guys that personally by following these principles of honoring God, working hard, and tithing, that I personally have been super blessed myself, not only financially, but also in family. I got a wife of 42 years that's loved the Lord since she was a teenager. I got a son and a daughter in law that lead the youth at our church. I got a daughter that loves the Lord with all her heart and always has. I got four grandchildren that come and love to praise and worship the Lord, and I get to worship in a community at Gracehops, a wonderful community, every single week with my family.
So, you know, guys, when you ask me how I'm doing nowadays, I got to steal a line from Dave Ramsey and say, better than I deserve. Doing better than I deserve.
Thank you guys, and God bless.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: Well, Tod, that was awesome, man. That really was. I appreciate your wisdom and just the longevity of how you've stayed at it all these years.
Well done, man.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: Well done. Yeah, thanks for thanks for being part of Gracehops. It's been an honor, really, to know you all these years, and it's cool to hear the principles that kind of guided your life in a way that we can encourage other men today. So you brought up the three F words that I'd like to get more and more into our culture, which is faith, family, and fitness. We do have great plans for all of those categories. We do have plans for bringing financial advice. We have plans for bringing fitness advice into our culture. So what we have in Grace tops is something that just got we've been faithful to build this thing out and a lot of you've been with us from just the beginning of what I call our research and development days where we're just kicking the tire and kind of trying this and trying that. And it's ready to deploy now, though in my mind, this thing's a few months old. It launched in like december. It launched december eigth when we press go live on our brand new website. So guys, this world is in great need of us reaching people and I love tod's story. I want to pull strength from a story like todd's, his faithfulness, his hard work know, he's definitely lived out one of our shared goals of not being lazy and being the solution. I love how he brought up the concept of your spiritual gifts. That stirred something in me. We're going to bring a solution even in the gracehops culture so you can easily go get your spiritual gift test done even on our website. We'll figure that out. But todd just such a blessing to hear the rich history. And we're here to 15 minutes snapshot of your life and the peaks and the valleys.
I remember you telling stories of when times were so hard or when know, maybe more. Brenda your know when greg was kind of just way out there on know fringes of just being a young guy, maybe having too much success too early, maybe didn't know how to handle it or whatever, but when you just stay faithful to the Lord and then to watch Greg kind of come in to just a strong relationship with Christ, and that's really all he wants to do. I know greg's the type of man that would lose everything he has for the kingdom of god and I know all you guys are wired that way, so it really is an honor to be part of what god's building here.
In a moment, I'm going to ask Russ klein to just close us in prayer. Russ is out in Virginia this morning. I believe he's in Virginia. He travels the world, so I don't know exactly where he is, but I just asked him. His video is not working today. So he actually is just going to address us on the audio side of things. But Russ is a really strong, prophetic, gifted man and he's another one of those guys that just I have nothing but mad respect for when it comes to how he's handled his gift and how he's used his gift to edify the body of christ and I've never seen him misuse it. I'm not saying he's perfect or never made a mistake, but I've never seen him misuse his gift for personal gain and I have nothing but mad respect for him and his are before Russ comes on. I don't know. Zach, I always like to look to you. Is there anything you want to cover as we're closing out zach says, yeah, I think this thing's ready to go and deploy. So get on the new website if you guys haven't check that out. And we'd love to continue inviting you into our membership, which we have built a specific app just for our members to do our build community groups within and to give special member content. And it's a good way to, like Tod said, start somewhere and just little bit of help back on the monthly membership fee. If you ever want to partner with Greaseops, there's a way to do that on our website as well. If you want to partner with financially, we only need like a million dollars, right? You know, $100 would help go a long way.
All right, well, hey, Russ, I have nothing but love for you, man. If you could just address us for a moment and then close us in prayer, we appreciate that.
[00:23:47] Speaker C: Sure. Thanks so much, Brian.
Sorry I can't turn the video on, but guys but it's a delight, honor.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: To join you all.
[00:23:56] Speaker C: Anytime I have the opportunity on Grace, Lobster's, Call and Brian, I love the heart and the vision of what God's given you. And so it's a delight and honor to be able to partner with you. Todd, that was a wonderful word. Challenging, encouraging, making me again take stock.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: Of my life, my heart and where I'm at.
[00:24:19] Speaker C: I turned 60 here in just a few weeks, been married almost 39 years and traveling the world for 37 years now. And I know when we first started, the Lord took me to a scripture.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: I don't have it in front of.
[00:24:34] Speaker C: Me right now, but basically it was this if I work with all my heart and put God first, then God will grant success is basically what the word says. If I work with all my heart and I pray, it all depends upon God. And so that's the journey and balance that I've been striving for in my own heart and my life and family and ministry is I want to pray. I want to depend on God. I want to be in his word, but I want to then just pray and expect God to do everything we get to partner with Him. Maybe you've heard people talk about the great commission which is reaching people for Jesus. And the key word there is commission. We are working together with the Lord in all that he has purpose and planned for our lives. But as tod as you were speaking, a scripture came to mind. I want to speak this and then pray together with us. But in one Corinthians, chapter nine, the apostle Paul says, do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize run in such a way as to get the prize?
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: That will not last.
[00:25:49] Speaker C: But we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body. I make my body my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. And so, Todd, as you were speaking, that was the scripture that came to mind to challenge me again. At 50, died almost 60 years old. After 37 years of running the world and seeing God do amazing things is I don't want to come to my last. And it's going to be three or four decades at least, because I am working, Brian, on getting in fitness. I've lost about 70 pounds. 70. I still have about 40 or 50 to go, but I'll catch up with you and be buff again one of these days. But spiritually, physically, financially, I don't want to preach to others and then find myself at the end being a loser instead of a champion and a winner. And so Tod, thank you for your challenge. Thank you for the example of your life. And to me, one of the greatest things that you talked about was not just the financial success, the boxing success, but when you talked about your family, man, that's amazing. So many guys, let's face it, so many times we can have success outside the house. It doesn't mean any of our families are perfect. But I appreciate that, God, you gave your heart as well to your family and to the legacy and the generations. So if it's okay, guys, let's just pray to our Father and ask Him to help us be the kind of men and sons he's called us to be. So, Father God, thank you that by virtue of Jesus, we are sons grafted into the vine. We are joint heirs with Christ and Father at your table. We're not just tolerated. God help us to understand that because of Jesus, we are accepted and we are celebrated at the table of the Father. When we're in Father's house, we're not on the outside looking in, we are not having to wave and jump and holler and say, daddy, hear me, listen to me like kids do. We are loved, we are celebrated, we are accepted at the Father's table. And so thank you for relationship. Jesus, thank you that you gave your life, that you suffered and died, that you fought the fight all the way to the end and you gave your life, but then you rose again, you conquered death, hell, in the grave. You are more than a conqueror so that we can live lives in victory. Victory over sin, over temptation, over self, over pride. And so Lord, as we humble ourselves before you, we say, God, make us the men that demonstrate Jesus. Make us men that represent Jesus to our families first, and then, Lord, to. All that we come in contact with. Thank you, Lord, for the challenge and the encouragement. We heard from your son Todd today. Lord, help us to be men of commitment, men of a heart after God. Lord, let us be willing and able to love, to work, to fight, and ultimately to be an example of Jesus. Lord, we don't want to come to the end of our lives, whenever that might be, years and decades from now of Jesus. Terry's lord, let us not come to the end and just point to outward successes that inwardly were a failure. Lord, make us strong in our inner man and help us to feed the inner man. Help us to train the inner man so that, Lord, we can be victorious and we can bring people to Jesus. Lord, bless grace. Hobbs bless. Brian lord, we pray that the vision and the heart of what you've given this ministry to do would truly spread throughout the nation. So God, give strategy, we pray, give favor, give blessing, Lord, that this message may reach a generation of men and in fact the families as well. So father. We love you. Let us walk with you. Let us express your heart to all we come in contact with in Jesus name, amen.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: God bless you guys.
Be looking for we're going to be doing some Google Hangouts, so we'll be getting the dates out to you. The events will be in our calendar or we might do it on Zoom as well. There'll be more of a discussion based format, so be looking for those. That's going to happen once or twice a month now, starting up soon. So well, God bless you guys. Have a great Saturday.
Bye.
