Jon Nelson 5-11-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three two one.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Welcome to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine
twenty and your iHeart Radio app. I am Mike McGivern
and look who made it back in the studio. He
is the head pastor at Brookside Baptist Church, Pastor Ken Calner.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
How you been, Pastor.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
I'm great, Mike, and loved loved listening to your broadcast
last week with Ben.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
Sorry I missed it.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
The numbers were through the rough.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
I'm I'm sure, I'm sure they were.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
I'm only kidding.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Thank you for setting that up in Josh Bears and
uh when when you have the number one wrestling team
in high school in the country. He was really good.
He was really a good guy and does great work.
I told him, don't bring that weak wrestling stuff up
to the city kind, you know. I think he laughed,
but I think it was a sarcastic laugh.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
I have to be honest.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
He was probably thinking, Hey, tell us where and whin.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, and you know what, you get us plane fair
or or get us gas money, we'll come up. I
think I think I think he would bring his team anywhere.
We were coming from the Donovan to Jorgensen headn't clean
studios really quick before we get to our special guest.
We we had an issue with our dryer. I felt
we needed a new dryer. A bunch of stuff happened.
I had to call Scott Fisher at Donovan Jorgensen. First

(01:21):
of all, I didn't know we had an attic in
the condo we have, and they were up in the
attic and they cleaned out the vents and the thing
works great, and I want to thank them. We we
had the events cleaned out from you know, the condo
association did it, but they didn't go on the they
didn't go in each condo and blow the stuff out.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
They went on the roof and blew it in. So
it didn't work out so well.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
So we had the people over at Donovan Jorgensen Heating
and Cleaning to come clean out that vent. And when
he came out of the attic, young guy, and he
had fuzz and everything.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
He was so dirty. I ended up buying. I said,
can I buy you lunch? He said absolutely not.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
I said, you don't respect old people. He goes, I
respect old people. I said, then just let me buy
you a lunch. But I thank those guys for coming
out and and fixing our stuff. Because we're about to
have to spend a bout a bunch of money to
get a new dryer, new washer. And they fixed it.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
So wow, so many do they do it all?

Speaker 1 (02:19):
They do it all.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yeah, it's just not your heater and your air conditioning.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
No, they can clean your vents and get everything up
and run.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
In and wonder.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
They can do anything with my pool.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
You can call, but they're gonna get They're gonna tell
me to get in this few don't go fix that pool.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
And I'm not doing that.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Just so you know, hey, our special guests and he's
in studio. And it's really funny because John Nelson when
we were at the other radio station when we found
out that they were they were taking away all the
local programming. John Nelson was our guest that week for
Faith in the Zone and he was all set to
come in. And I went back and looked at our
text messages and the text message was you don't need

(02:59):
to come and tomorrow they just shut the whole thing down.
And now we're back and I want to take my
brother Tim. By the way, my brother Tim introduced me
to John Nelson. They played baseball together. My brother flies
in for to spend a week ten days with his
family here in Milwaukee. I think the first call he
makes is the guys like John to say, Hey, if
I come in this week, can I play?

Speaker 1 (03:21):
So they come over to the Rock.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
He comes over the rock and they get him on
a team and he plays hardball and I don't know,
he's seventy seventy one.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
I go, can you cause.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
He's a catcher, I go, can you still throw guys out?
He's second one hop and get these guys they're seventy
and I'm like, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
So I go over to the Rock and he introduced
me to John. And John not only is he on
the football staff at Racine Case High School, so he's
a football coach, he is also I want to say
former executive director, but it's executive director Emeredith, Emeredith in
Versine or if or the whole the Organization for Christ.

(04:02):
I'm sorry, Youth for Christ. And you're familiar with this organization, ken.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
Right, I am. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
My dad My dad was military, came to Christ and
when he was stationed in South Carolina, went back to
his home town of Wichita, Kansas.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
Was a youth pastor.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
But he got involved in Youth for Christ there and
he've ben Youth for Christ in Tulsa, Oklahoma too.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
I knew you'd get Oklahoma. I knew what Yeah, there
is John. I asked you before we started to record,
do you have any ties to Oklahoma? You said nope.
I said, don't worry, You'll you'll get You'll get to
hear about it. Hey, John, talk to me a little
bit about how long you've been involved with Youth for
Christ And before you do that, you were are you
ever seeing case grat I am man born, so a

(04:49):
boy can't get home.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Huh?

Speaker 5 (04:50):
Really, you know?

Speaker 6 (04:51):
I tell my freshman players I graduated in nineteen seventy.
They look at me like, how are you still alive?
I'm pretty sure that's they're thinking. These guys are fourteen,
you know, And I'm standing up there and going like yeah.
And the sad thing about it is I could do
more push ups than most of them. They're just not
in very good shape. So it's fun though. I love
freshman football, love it, love it, love it.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
That varsity team had a really good had a good
team last year and a really good friend of mine,
him and his wife. I went to high school with
their grandson defensive ended at Oconomwak and we're not happy
with the drawd agains right, And yeah, I was not happy.
And when you look back, they probably shouldn't have gotten

(05:32):
that seed. They should have been a little bit higher up.
But then when you guys beat them, people said, well,
maybe this thing was right, Maybe it was right.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
How long have you been coaching at Case?

Speaker 6 (05:42):
You know, I've been around Case for a long time,
doing ministry there, doing chapels there for about eighteen years,
and then I started coaching the freshman football team about
six years ago.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Coaching freshman is kind of fun, that's the best. These
kids are kind of scared most of the year, like
everything is kind of new and in we're seeing it.
Kids have a choice to go to what school other
than Saint Catherine's and Prairie and Lutheran. But if they
want to go to one of the public schools, they
can make that decision.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
And I know that.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
I'm pretty good friends with Brian Fletcher, and Fletcher was
so tired of kids going through his Rebels youth program
and then making the decision to go over to Case.
And Brian's a good guy. I'm a big fan of
his family and his kids and his wife, and chanced
to meet his mom and she said he was a
naughty kid.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
I can't believe he has such a good.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Kids when I met his mom and I left at
that And I know that he has stepped back now
from coaching over at Horlick. Anton Graham, who is the
head coach at Case, done nice job of getting kids
to come and play at Case.

Speaker 5 (06:48):
He does he does a great job.

Speaker 6 (06:49):
Last Wednesday night, not last night, but the Wednesday before,
we had over one hundred kids there between first and
seventh grade for a youth night that he put on
and I was helping with it. So it's impressive. He's
really built up the I guess a Young Eagle football program,
if you will.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Good for him.

Speaker 5 (07:07):
A lot of momentum.

Speaker 6 (07:08):
There a lot of inner city kids coming out, and
he's got a lot of energy. I'm not sure he
finds time to do all this, but he does.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Last year.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
In fact, he and he just had his wife's just
had a baby not too long ago, and that was
right in the middle of all this, and.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
We we had we had a last fall about that.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, Hey, when you were growing up in in scene,
were you a multi sport athlete.

Speaker 6 (07:30):
Yep, which did you play? Played football? Basketball? You know, baseball?
Never stop you never really stopped back? Oh yeah, still
playing baseball at the Rock twice a week. Boy, what position?
I usually play? Short stop or pitch a little bit
third base?

Speaker 1 (07:44):
You can. I've seen it in person.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
When I say this, I'm telling you you can still
pick it and throw it pretty well.

Speaker 5 (07:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
Man, So I don't start talking smash.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
No, I'm not not to him.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
I'm not my brother could my brother couldn't throw me out,
but he couldn't.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
One happened at me.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
But I can tell you that people I've talked to
that play with my brother in different tournaments talk about
John Nelson as the He's the Robin Yacht of shorts
out right, He's the guy.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
I'm just and look, I wouldn't say this on the
show like Faith. People remember where you are?

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Hey, John Arnold not long ago said he's the best
shortstop around right there, he's the guy and John John
went to Messmer.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
I went to Messmer. He's a little bit older than I.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
But when my brother started talking about you know what,
John Arnold, I go, yeah, I know his son, Johnny.
I know, and he goes, he is the he's the man.
My brother kept trying to go, let's be on the
same team. I want to catch you. I want to
find out why. And I said, does he shake you
off at all? He goes, no, he shook me off
once and the guy got a hit and he didn't
shake me off. I go, if you faced him, He goes, oh, yeah,

(08:49):
I got a couple of hits on him.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah. And my brother just slaps it and runs. That's
that's what he does.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Not me, I'd be trying to yank it and pull
it and I'd be swinging and missing like crazy.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Hey, John, where did you go to college?

Speaker 6 (09:03):
I went to Carthage my freshman year and then transferred
to all of it at Nazarene University for the rest of
my college career and graduated from there.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Did you play sports in college?

Speaker 5 (09:14):
I did?

Speaker 6 (09:14):
I played well. I played football in baseball at Carthage.
I played for Art Keller. Oh yeah, that was amazing
the year I spent with him. But I felt called
to the ministry right after the football season, so I
went and talked to him and told him, Hey, I
love it here, but I feel like I need to
go to Alive and further my education there prepare for
the ministry, and he was really cool with it.

Speaker 5 (09:35):
So I played Alive.

Speaker 6 (09:36):
Didn't have football yet, unfortunately, and that was why I
was at Carthage, partly because I really wanted to play football.

Speaker 5 (09:43):
But I played.

Speaker 6 (09:43):
Baseball there for three years after I left Carthage and
played a little basketball too.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Well.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Then the second segment, we'll ask you to share your testimony.
I've got a feeling that might be part of it.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
Pasture is that in a Leitha, Kansas.

Speaker 5 (09:56):
No.

Speaker 6 (09:56):
No, the Nazarene headquarters is there. It is in bourbon A.
They had the Bear's training camp there for I don't know,
ten fifteen years. It's kink a key.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
Are you okay?

Speaker 5 (10:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (10:08):
And that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Hey, when you decided to come back into the Racine area,
did you know that you wanted to get involved with
something like Youth for Christ Or when you moved back,
were you planning on, you know, starting a church or
what was what was the game plan when you got
done with college.

Speaker 6 (10:29):
I didn't know, and I knew I was called the
ministry and that's all I really knew. And I felt
like the timing wasn't right, and I had a chance
to go into the marketplace and work with my father
in law. So I did that for about nine years,
and then in December first of nineteen eighty four, I
went full time at our church, went on staff, still

(10:49):
not thinking I was going to do youth ministry, totally
focused on you know, adub discipleship, that kind of thing.
And we were a new church and our senior pastors said, hey,
what do you think about starting the youth ministry here?
We don't have one. We were only five years old,
but not even hardly five years old. I said, sure,
I'll try it, and so that's how I entered into
youth ministry. And that was the game changer for me.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Pastor, you're in youth ministry now.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
So Pastor is a youth leader for a long time
and Brookside Baptist doesn't have a youth leader, and he's
our head pastor slash youth and I give him all
the praise as a head pastor, but I make fun
of him as a youth pastor because he's like, there's
no youth pastors my age out here anymore.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
So, well, I think you just found somebody older than him. Okay.

Speaker 6 (11:36):
You know, when you go into youth ministry, you know,
especially back when I entered into it, you know in
the eighties, it was like, you do it for a
few years and you get a real job someplace, look
as being a senior pastor, you know, you kind of
move up to the lane. As I got into it, though,
and of course I came into it, I was already
thirty two and had spent almost a decade in the marketplace,
I had a little different perspective. Imily recognize the incredible

(12:03):
importance of youth ministry and how it would set the
direction for a young person's life for the rest of
their life. That there was a lot on the table here,
and man, that just God just drew me into that
big time.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Hey, a pastor, when when you hear a guy like
John talk about that and that the fact that he's
involved with Youth for Christ but he is still freshman
football coach and he talks about and I haven't shown
you the video that I was sent and I need
to send that to you because it's really powerful. But
the fact that he is at a public school and
we're seeing able to talk about what things that are

(12:40):
important to him.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
When it comes to his faith. I think is for me.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
It makes me feel pretty good that there's still some
schools that are okay with guys like John being involved
and not in the coaching aspect, but then to bring
youth for Christ into the school absolutely.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
And I you know, John, I was in use work
for about twenty years, not counting the last two to
three years I've been working with it, but I was
in the public you know, God open doors for us
to be in the public schools.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
I had three sons at one time. We're in ministry.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
One now he's in the public school coaching, but the
other two were both in public school. One was public
high school and the other one was at Akron University
starting a college ministry. And you know, I was delighted
to see him get involved in the athletic side of it.
And I've been you know, I've been looking for that.

(13:34):
When we can get a youth guy in that he'd
be willing to uh, I said, we got a great
connection with Mike McGivern, who knows all the coach I mean,
he would know if there's a place, you know, you
could fit in. So I believe we have a guy
coming who is a good ballplayer that's been on a
college team that I think, would you know, I'd love
to see him get get involved, you know.

Speaker 4 (13:55):
I mean that's why, Yeah, that's.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Why I told the principal of the public school, I
just want to come and help teenagers. Man, they're they're
they're searching for what is life?

Speaker 4 (14:03):
Right now?

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, one hundred percent. Hey, when when how open?

Speaker 2 (14:08):
And and again you're you're a coach at at Racine case,
how open are any of the other schools and we're
seeing and when you go on on this website Youth
for Christ and it's Youth for Christ WI dot com,
Youth for CHRISTWI dot com. And when you look at
at the area that you guys are involved in Milwaukee
County with a couple of high schools, oh Creek and

(14:28):
I think Greendale or Greenfield, but then Rassine County, Kenosha
County and down in Zion, Illinois. Right And I'm wondering
how open are the schools and the administrations that you
have to get approval for in the schools you're working
in to have you guys come in and and and
and possibly start Youth for Christ in that school.

Speaker 6 (14:47):
I think they're really open we have. We've been on
almost every campus at one time or another. In Racine
and then in Kenosha, Zion, Illinois, the ministry down there
is fabulous. I don't think you have to convince anybody
right now that we got a problem with our team
population and we got some big issues going on. And

(15:07):
I noticed that there was a change that took place
actually in the nineties after Columbine, where the schools became
a lot more open and realizing we need all the
help that we can get. So if you go there
with your hat in your hand to serve, and there's
no hidden agendas, and you've got.

Speaker 5 (15:27):
To build trust obviously.

Speaker 6 (15:29):
Like all the things that I do at Case, and
we do at other schools too, any of the chapels,
any of the campus life clubs where we talk about
Christ and the Gospel, those are all voluntary things. Now,
there's some things as a coach that I do at Case.
I direct the leadership council for the varsity team. Besides
working with the freshman I do some leadership training. We

(15:50):
talk about leadership, servant leadership like all the time. Those
are all mandatory things that I do, but they know
that when I do, when I'm going to talk about
Christ and talk about their heavenly Father. That I do
that in a setting where they are invited, where they
don't have to come. So that's the key to it

(16:10):
is you don't want to embarrass a public school administrator
by doing something that would make them look bad to
somebody else. I've been doing this now, this is my
thirty first year. I'm just about finishing up. And I've
learned that you know, when you go with the philosophy
that we're here to serve, that's a game changer. And

(16:32):
then that gets you in the door. But then trust
will keep you there. Trust will keep you. You've got
to have trust, hey, real.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Quick, and then we're going we have to get to
a break.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
When when we had John on from Team jam and
he said he made a comment that said, look, with
kids in middle school and high school, you can talk
to them all you want, but being present at things
like if they have a game, you just show up.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
That sets you.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Apart for some other organizations that are say no, we
really care about you. And he said, look, just the
idea of being present in their life, not to you know,
to to take them off for an ice cream or
to watch their game. That just opens some doors for
you with these individual kids.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
You would agree with that.

Speaker 6 (17:20):
Oh yeah, you know at Case High School, you know,
the sophomores, juniors, and seniors can leave for lunch. So
I'm picking kids up every week, taking them off for lunch.
I spend time with them. I get to know them.
I learned their first names. I take attendants. I volunteer
to take attendants for the freshman football team. I love
the idea of football because you can meet about thirty

(17:41):
to forty kids and that you didn't even know where
on the planet in about four weeks before school stars,
and I learned their first names, you know. And I
don't know if you're on a coaching world now, but
everybody calls everybody by their last name. Even the kids
are calling the coaches, hey Graham. You know, as an
old school I always like, I tell the coaches, I
don't do that, Okay, I mean, I know you know

(18:03):
that that's kind of the culture right now.

Speaker 5 (18:05):
But we got to teach our kids respect, you know.
And I learned their first name. Like sometimes I'm talking
to a coach.

Speaker 6 (18:13):
I'll be talking about morale and he doesn't even know
what I'm talking about because he knows it's Jackson okay, No,
it's morale okay. And so I feel like, especially with
their inner city kids, that it's a very you have
to develop a very personal, trusting relationship.

Speaker 5 (18:29):
And then when you do that, okay.

Speaker 6 (18:32):
Now, that opens up the door to a lot of
different things, a lot of different discussions.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
He is John Nelson again. He is on the staff
at Racine Case Football, been involved a long time Youth
for Christ and you can go to Youth for Christwi
dot com Youth for Christwi dot com and on that website,
spend a few minutes on the website. They've got a
couple events coming up, a golf event and then an

(18:59):
event I think middle school in the Recine area. There
is also a tab to give and if you're feeling
led listening to a show like this here from a
lot of people saying, hey, is there a way that
I can help them in that ministry? Well, there is
for Youth for Christ in the Wisconsin area, received Kenosha,
a Zion, Illinois, and some schools in the Milwaukee area,

(19:21):
Oak Creek and Greendale. You can help them. Go to
that tab to give and take a look at what
that looks like and if you're feeling led, help John
Nelson and his team continue this ministry. When you get
to a break on this side of the break, we'll
ask John Nelson to share his testimony. This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports ninet twenty in your

(19:41):
iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to Faith in the Zone
on Fox Sports ninet twenty in your iHeart Radio App.
I'm Mike mcgiffern alongside Pastor Ken Keeltner. He's the head
pastor at Brookside Baptist Church. Coming from the Donovan and
Jorgensen Cooling Studios. Any issues you have with your age

(20:03):
fact or you know, if you needed the events cleaned out,
I guess I learned that go to Donovan Jorgenson dot com,
the largest employee owned HVAC company in the state of Wisconsin.
Our special guests, and again I want to thank my
brother Tim for the introduction to John Nelson. He has
been with Youth for Christ for a long time thirty
one years. Also on the staff the football staff et

(20:25):
Racine Case High School.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
John.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
The second segment is always our favorite and it's the
one that we get the most response from. You know,
we talk a little smack that last question we ask you.
I get a lot of people asking me questions about that,
But segment two for a show like Faith in the
Zone is the most important and it's the one we
get asked the most questions on. And if you would
be so kind to share your testimony with us.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
Sure.

Speaker 6 (20:51):
Grew up on the south side or a scene on
a farm, okay, and from day one we are going
to church every week, and my parents just love the
low so much. Went to a small church Tailor Avenue,
Church of Nazarene there right on the south side of
a scene. Gave my life to the Lord. I'd say
around twelve years of age. I could probably take you
to Taylor Avenue and show you the spot on the

(21:12):
altar that I knelt down and prayed. So I a
typical kid church kid growing up there. Loved sports. My
dad never got to play sports, even though he's a
great athlete. So he made sure that when I got
to high school that he'd find a way for me
not just to work on the farm, but also to
play sports at Case High School, and so got involved
with that, got a scholarship to Carthage College. The turning

(21:35):
point in my life though, really came in November. It
was right after the football season was over. I'm sitting
in my room and I'm studying for a test on
the Life of Christ. It was a New Testament class
I was taking at Carthage, and it was interesting. Was
an interesting guy, just kind of way out there. But anyways,

(21:56):
long story short, I'm sitting there and it was in
that preparation time I felt the call to the ministry.
And I just knew then. I had just turned eighteen,
just turned eighteen earlier that month. Knew then that God
was calling me to the ministry. It told my parents
about it, told my siblings about it. And then after
my year at Carthage, I transferred to Olive at Nazarin University.

(22:19):
Carthage is a great school. I had a great time there,
played a lot of sports there, had fun. But I
just felt like God was moving me to a different
place and a different and it was there at elivet
I really got my roots down and got together what
the call would look like. And I just didn't know
for sure what the call was going to look like.
Quite honestly, I just knew that I was being called
the ministry, and so then just continued on from then,

(22:41):
and it took me about all let's see, after college graduation.
It took me about eleven years before I finally went
the full time ministry.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Sometimes we shake our head right when we're getting that call,
when we're yeah, no, I know, hey lord, I have this,
I got this. Yeah, let's go with my decision. That's
ever worked out well for me. By the way, John, No,
you know when it when I decided no, no, I know better.
You'd be patient up there. Let me figuring this out.
Those eleven years when you went into the workforce, where

(23:10):
did you still feel like you were being called? Oh?

Speaker 6 (23:13):
Absolutely, yeah. I thought it would be two or three years.
It turned out to be nine years. In the last
couple of years, I was constantly like cause I was
really involved in our church. We had planning a new church.
I was on the board, I'm serving, I'm volunteering, I'm
teaching adult class every week. I'm up to my eyeballs
in ministerry quite honestly. Matter of fact, our senior pastor
at the time, Dave Penn, told me one time, he said,

(23:34):
You've got more ministry than most pastors I know. I said, well,
I love it and you know, he knew about my call.
I said. He said, well, you let me know when
you're ready. I said, well, how do you know for sure?
He said, I'll tell you how you know for sure
when you can't do anything else, then you come see me.
And I thought, okay. I think it was about a
year or two later I came to him. I said,
Pastor Dave, I can't do anything else.

Speaker 5 (23:56):
I gotta go.

Speaker 6 (23:57):
And so I went on staff there, not realizing that
I was going to get involved in youth ministry. That
one totally took me off.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Guards Hey, a pastor when when he said at twelve
years old, you kind of smiled, because you know, we
have guys like John who you know, early age like you,
like my son Matthew and my daughter Katie, and people
that made that decision early on, and then they are
guys like me who are very stubborn for a long
time and said no, no, no, I'm good again, look no

(24:27):
I'm fine, and it wasn't fine. And you make a
comment a lot when people at that age. You know,
God is so great that he even kids can understand.
Young people can understand these words, and you smile each
time that somebody has made that decision as a young person.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
Yeah, it's a genius of God.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
He made the gift of salvation so simple children can
understand it. And yet what's happened is religion has made
it very confusing. And religion, you know, do you got
to do?

Speaker 4 (25:01):
You got to do?

Speaker 3 (25:02):
And basically the Bible says it's done. He paid it
for us, and you have to come to realization to
put your faith and trust in Jesus to be your savior.
I mean, I don't know how much simpler God could
have made it.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
I mean, it's simple, you know.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
Pastor last week I was in San Diego.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
I did went out in a US Marine boot camp
thing for a week and got like to know what
these young people go through?

Speaker 1 (25:25):
His cadets.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Right, we get off the bus and drill instructors are
yelling at me, and I thought, wow, my dad came
back to life or what. I haven't been yelled at
like this. But what's really interesting is there's a young
marine who's here in the state of Wisconsin that I
got a chance to spend a little time with on
Friday afternoon and we're driving to a.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Golf course and he goes, can I ask you a question.
I go, yeah, He goes, lit'ten know all your stuff?
When did? When did you become so religious? I go, oh,
this is all talk about a big old door opening up.
I go, I don't believe in religion.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
And he goes, excuse me, I said, I don't believe
that it's man made. Let me tell you about what
having a faith centered relationship with Yeah, and you know
I love that question.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
How come you're so religious? Because it just opens all
these doors? John?

Speaker 2 (26:13):
When when you're dealing with kids that are, you know,
in middle school or early especially early on in high school,
I can't imagine what once they feel comfortable enough to
be able to come up and talk to you about
that part of their life. For kids that are searching,
or kids that are are are being led into and
don't understand what that what that world looks like, did

(26:35):
they come or they open enough to ask you the
kind of questions that you're hoping to twelve thirteen, fourteen
year old at last?

Speaker 6 (26:41):
Yeah, I mean this generation of teenagers. I've been in
youth ministry long enough that I've seen, you know, quite
a few generations pass through this, this particular generation of teenagers,
I would say are very curious. Hardly any of them
have any church background. I mean I can do a
simple survey before a chapel, for a football chapel, I

(27:04):
could ask twenty twenty of other players what they do
on Sunday morning, and I could go, oh, for twenty
anybody going to church.

Speaker 5 (27:12):
That would be unusual at all.

Speaker 6 (27:14):
So we've got a population that doesn't really have any
church background, and so they're really open to spiritual things
of life. And I tell them what you guys were
talking about already, and that is that religion has always
been the enemy of Christianity. All you got to go
back to the very start you'll see it. And so
people are surprised to me. You know, I know when

(27:35):
they say to me, I'm not religious like you. Maybe
one of the coaches would say that to me.

Speaker 5 (27:39):
I understand. What they're saying.

Speaker 6 (27:40):
Is I listen to you pray or I know you
go to church a lot and I see you talk
about scripture or go out a lot. I said, well, yeah,
I get that, but it's really not about religion. I'm
not for religion. I'm for Jesus and what He's done
so that you can have a relationship with your Heavenly Father.
Let me tell you something that these young guys, especially

(28:01):
that I'm working with, I have found that a connecting
point on the for them is to talk about a
father that loves them more than they can possibly imagine,
because so many are missing that in their life. And
that's a pathway for me.

Speaker 5 (28:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
Boys, that's powerful, John, That's really powerful. And I'm so
happy that we've gotten a chance to get to get
you in studio to talk about this. How big is
the staff you for Christ. I'm on the website and
there you have a number of people in different areas
that are working with you. Guys when you started with them.

(28:40):
If I went back thirty one years to John Nelson
thirty one years ago and said, look, thirty one years,
these are the amount of people that are going to
be involved in this organization with you, and here are
the things they're going to be doing, what would you
have said to that?

Speaker 6 (28:53):
You know, I would have said that that's the dream.
I had that dream because I had been you know know,
working in the church and youth ministry. I was very
familiar with the needs and so when I made the
decision to go with Youth for Christ in nineteen ninety
three and then we and I found out that we
had to raise all our own support.

Speaker 5 (29:13):
That was a little shocking for me.

Speaker 6 (29:15):
And then when we launched out, I saw the size
of the need and I thought I could easily see
that this was going to take a lot of people
working hard to really take them a gospel to all
these different schools and all these different public schools.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
Yeah, do you do you see it expanding into more schools,
especially Inaukee County?

Speaker 5 (29:36):
Oh? Sure?

Speaker 1 (29:37):
And what is the process behind that?

Speaker 2 (29:39):
I know that you know there is a person who's
in charge, and I'm sorry I don't have her name
in front of me with Milwaukee County, and I want
you to know that I would if there's anything I
can do to help her, if you would pass my
number along to her, I certainly would would be willing
to do anything I can. On my high school show,
I've got coaches and players and parents and athletic tractors

(30:04):
in studio every Saturday with me, and if a lot
of them from this area.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
So if there's.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Anything I can do for Jacqueline, right, it's her name.
If there's anything I can, please let me know.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
Okay, Well, I'll tell you Johona, to listen to what
God has been leading you and how you've been able
to see doors open to impact people.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
That's what it's all about.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
And I'm excited to have this chance to meet you
and to listen to your burden. And it's good to
see you know, because you were right earlier when you
said a lot of youth guys get into it and
they're looking for the next step. And to see guys
stay in youth ministry because they love teens and realize, hey,
this is a church at tomorrow and that's that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
You know, the vision of this organization is to see
every young person in every people group in every nation
have the opportunity to make the informed decision to become
a follower of Jesus Christ and become.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
A part of a local church.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
And that part, you know, I'm underlying because I think
that's really important. And when you said, look, when I
have a lot of kids I'm working with have never
been into a local church, I think that that's that
next progression and we find them a good local church
and whatever area they're in and have them get involved
in it. If you want to know more about John
and more about Youth for Christ. You can go to

(31:24):
Youth for Christ WI one word Youth for Christ wi
dot com. And then at the end of you can
go in the ministry's page and look at all the
areas and the events and about and read their mission
and vision statement. But that last tab is the gift tab.
And if you're feeling led to help this organization continue

(31:44):
because that's how it is, you can look at who's
part of their their partners, a bunch of churches, a
bunch of organizations and companies in our area that are
helping them. But if you're feeling led, that'd be a
great place to do it. And whether it's a one
time gift of twenty dollars or a monthly gift, it
all goes through a great cause because they're really investing

(32:05):
in our young people in our areas. Guys are going
to get to a break. Other side of the break
will continue our conversation again. He is John Nelson. He's
on the football staff at Racine Case and he's been
involved with Youth for Christ in our area in the
Rasinery Kenosan Zion, Illinois for a very long time and
he's doing really good work. This is faith in the

(32:25):
Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeart Radio App.
Welcome back to Faith in His Zone on Fox Sports
nine twenty in your iHeart Radio App. I'm Mike mcgiver
alongside Pastor Ken Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church, coming from
the Donovan Jorgansen Heating and Cooling Studios our special guest

(32:47):
John Nelson, and he's he's shaking me off when I said,
I've been told he's the best short stop sixty five
and older. Right, fifty five is what my brother said. No, no, no, yeah,
I think he was kidding. Right, Hey, you get a
chance to go play tournaments with Like my brother goes
to Phoenix and he's go to Florida, my brother.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
And four different tournaments there.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
He's just coaching third base now right, he's not really playing.

Speaker 5 (33:18):
Yeah, I played with him on a team. Let's see.
It's in November Tampa Stars.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
And you guys got well he's so look.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
I get calls all the time from wherever he is
playing tournaments. Yeah, we went to and one today, got
up nine times, had seven heads? He answered, did so
many area goes? I don't talk about it. I got
a base seven times. That's awesome. He is a good hitter.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
Pastor.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
During the break you had, you had talked with John
about a couple of things.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
You want to know, you know, just listening to you know,
what what guy's been doing. I thought it'd be awesome,
you know, if you could just share, Hey, this is this,
this is what I've seen God doing and just you know,
I mean for thirty one years. I know you probably
have many, but just a couple of scenarios even of yeah,
I saw you know, we've seen God do this. Because

(34:08):
in my life, John, I just want to be where
God's at work, and I just want to join him
right there and to see what God's doing. I think
would be a great encouragement.

Speaker 5 (34:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (34:18):
I mean we've seen a lot of kids really be
impacted by the gospel. I tell people we're really in
deceit planting business, you know, and that we're constantly constantly
planting the seed as the Gospel everywhere we go. You know,
with Team Ministry, you got to really be able to
see the big picture because these kids fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,

(34:39):
some will take root right away, some not till later.
I just had a young guy I had breakfast with
he's forty two years old. He was in our first
campus life club when he's in sixth grade. That group
is turning forty three this year. Okay, and man to
spend time with him, you know, he really we had
him all the way through middle school through high school.

Speaker 5 (35:03):
Didn't have a dad in his life.

Speaker 6 (35:05):
Mom died when he was pretty young, and then he
kind of went out, did the proco something. But now
he's back and he's raising his kids, you know, in
the Ways of the Lord. Is so exciting to see
something like that. But on the video that you talked about, keV,
the big redhead guy, he's going to a Butler by
the way, on a football scholarship.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
He was just an outstanding tackle for us.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
He was just like out when he said, Look before
every game, I get, you know, you get butterflies, you
get a little nervous, you get and then I pray,
and I know who's next to me, and I know
who's going to be there with me, and I just
calm down and I go play football and I go
have fun. But I'm trying to glorify him. One of
the things, John, that we've had.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
A conversation a lot on faith in his own is.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
We've had guests that have said to us, we don't
feel as though if you're a Christian that you should
be as competitive as possible. And we left that because
we're like, look, if you want to then after a game,
pray with somebody or talk to somebody about that part
of your life. And you just lay down and let

(36:09):
them beat you forty seven nothing, They're not going to
stand and listen to you. But if you play by
the rules and you fight hard, right, you compete really hard,
and then to have that time after to be able
to say, hey, can I tell you about this part
of my life, You're going to have more people than
drawn to you. I think that you agree with Pastor

(36:29):
Ken and I that you can be a Christian and
you can't compete as hard as you can't in athletics.

Speaker 6 (36:35):
Absolutely a matter of fact, you have a responsibility to that. Okay,
because the guys Soon and Champell understand that playing sports
in a way that glorifies God is really simple. Really
simple is great effort and great attitude.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
That's what it is. Those two things said.

Speaker 6 (36:55):
Anybody can remember those two things and what we're expecting
from you. If you are saying that you're a follower
of Christ, then we expect you to participate in a
way that really honors him. And that's great after a
great attitude. I just did a baseball chapel. I do
baseball chapels too, just two days ago on Monday. But
the Case team and I told him, I said, listen,
you know, because they all know that I played for Case,

(37:16):
I played sports, And I said, my dad would come
to every game that I was in if it was
physically possible. And I can tell you right now, my
earthly father was way more considered concerned about my attitude
and my efforts than in the final score. The final
score will take care of itself. It's going to be
what it's going to be. But you play in a
way that I was going and that means with everything

(37:38):
that you got.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
Have you have you heard of Tom Roy at all?

Speaker 5 (37:43):
No?

Speaker 2 (37:43):
So Tom, I'm a Shepherd coach. Is I would like
for you to look up Shepherd coach and what Tom does.
He used to run UPI which is on unlimited potential
in Christ and he would bring major League baseball players
all over the world on missions trips and we step
down from that. He's been a baseball coach for a
long time. He pitched for the San Francisco Giants, grew

(38:06):
up in Grafton, and Shepherd coach now he mentors coaches
to coach more christ like and he's got it's just
a really good class.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
To go through with him.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
And I've got a feeling that if I can get
you guys introduced, that you guys would be really good friends.
Because what you're saying is a lot of what Shepherd
coaches and a lot of what he does, and I
need to make sure that I make that introduction. How
have the parents been down in throughout the years with you?

(38:40):
As I coached basketball, I was coaching private schools and
the parents I would even have parents even a private
school questioned me about are you talking about this stuff
with my with my son because you're you'res basketball coach
and stay in your lane kind of thing. And I said, well, look,
this is why I'm doing this, and I'm wondering how

(39:01):
the parents spend and family member spend as you're working
through this part of these kids' lives.

Speaker 5 (39:07):
It's been great.

Speaker 6 (39:08):
I mean, coming back that we said earlier that most
people understand the pressures and the challenges that face are
teenagers with the introducing the whole cell phone thing into
their lives, and my experience has been that they're more
than excited that I'm actually matter of factor, often surprised

(39:28):
that when they find out Case that I have a chaplain,
that we have a chaplain a Case. Yeah, I'm the
chapelain there, and they they're taken back by that. And
I can't remember ever getting a negative pushback to that.
One time in the thirty years I've done this, I
had an athlete, a basketball player at Case, whose parents
were really concerned about him coming to Chapel, like, oh,

(39:51):
this can't be right. And so Coach J at the time,
our head coach at Case, he said, you can you
because I was doing it in the back of the
locker room. Can you move to this locker I said,
that's fine, and I'll never forget this student. He felt
kind of embarrassed because the whole team would go to
Chapel except for him. And then finally, when he was
a senior, he had just had enough of that. He said,
I'm going to Chapel. I'm coming to Chapel too, because

(40:14):
we had staff there a Case at the time. His
name was Mike. I said, Mike, why we're doing well,
I'm doing Chapel. Why don't you go hang out with Max? Okay,
go hang out with him? Okay, and then pretty soon
that's like one in thirty years.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Wow, that's okay.

Speaker 5 (40:28):
So it's been great.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
He is John Nelson again. He is uh Youth for
Christ and go to that website to learn more about
what they're doing Youth for Christ wi dot com.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
And we're going to get to a break other side
of the break. He's played a lot of sports.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
In his life and coached, but I think he's going
to pick a uniform that he played in pastor. I'm
just telling you, we're going to ask him that question.
All the uniforms John Nelson has ever put on. Hopefully
it's not one of these sixty five and over tournaments that.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
You played with my brother. That's all I'm to you.
You can use that one if you want.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Again, we'll ask John Nelson all the uniforms he's ever
put on. We put him in the closet that he
gets to pick one out, get one more game with
that team. What uniform does he pick? Who does he
play against? And why this is faith in the zone
on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio App.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Welcome back to Faith.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
In the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
iHeartRadio App. I'm Mike McGivern alongside Pastor Ken Keltoner our
special guests John Nelson.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
He is he's working hard. Man.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
I'll tell you football staff that we're seeing Case part
of Youth for Christ. And again go to Youth for
christwi dot com to get more information on this mission
and this ministry that John and his staff and the
people for Youth for Christ are doing in this area.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
John, I love.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
This question is throwaway question a bunch of years ago,
and it always seems like we've only got about four
minutes at the end, and we've gotten some great answers
on this and usually Pastor and I aren right, we'll
find out right, we're guessing during the break what it
would be all the uniforms you've ever put out, we
put in the closet.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
You get to pick one out. Which uniform is that?

Speaker 5 (42:10):
And why that's easy?

Speaker 6 (42:12):
You're right, it's case football senior year nineteen sixty nine,
in the fall, last game of the year. You remember
in nineteen sixty nine, there's no playoffs, so you can
finish your year with a win, which everybody wants to do.
We were the first winning team in Case history. We
were the only third varsity team because Case was such
a brand new school. I was there for the very

(42:33):
first year it was open, and we're playing at Beloite.
We had the lead with just two minutes ago in
the game. It's a no brainer. It's like fourth and
like twenty eight, okay, and they got the ball. It's
not going to be a run okay, And our safety

(42:53):
bit on a play Actionho, you gotta be kidding me.
And I was playing on an offside defensive back eckled
the guy on the goal line as he's falling into
the end zone trying to catch up with him because
he went right down the middle of the field.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
He ran like a wheel rod.

Speaker 5 (43:08):
Yeah. No, he ran straight down the.

Speaker 6 (43:09):
Middle of the field, and our safety in the middle
of the field just he bit on the run fake.
I'm going like, how do you bite on the run
fake on like fourth and twenty eight with like a
minute or two.

Speaker 5 (43:18):
To go in the game.

Speaker 6 (43:19):
And so anyways, we got the ball back drove all
the way down the field two seconds left on the clock.
You know and throw passing the back of the end zone.
I go for it gets tipped up in the air.
I've watched it bounce about two feet from my hands.
And that's how my high school career ended. If I
could go back one more time, I would make sure

(43:41):
that because every once in a while I would say
tell our junior DBS.

Speaker 5 (43:44):
I was a senior, I say, hey, we're switching on
this play. If I go back, I'd say we're switching
on this quick to go play for there. I got
the middle, but it's painful just to think about it,
you know.

Speaker 6 (43:55):
And there late and earlier in the game, I didn't
know it, but I had a partial tear of my
medium miniscus. So I played the whole second half of
that could coach Vite at halftime looked at me and said,
are you going to play?

Speaker 5 (44:04):
Or what I go?

Speaker 6 (44:05):
I'm playing? So I was hobbling around there the whole
second half. And but hey, there's nothing like a Friday night.
You know you watched me a little bit on the video.

Speaker 5 (44:14):
Well I started.

Speaker 6 (44:15):
I every week I do chapel because we always do
it on game day. I do chaplain about three point
thirty on a Friday and I all start out and said, listen, guys,
this is special. There's millions of young guys like you
all around the world. Couldn't even possibly dream about what
you're about to do. I helped him understand how special
playing football in high school is on a Friday night.

(44:36):
There's nothing else quite like it. So if I could
go back, yeah, I go back.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
We had We had a pastor from San diego On
who played. He was a safety for the Indianapolis Colts.
He's all pro safety. We asked him that question. He said,
my junior year in high school state finals, I fumbled
twice at the one yard line.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
We lost by six.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
I can't go to a classroom union and look these
guys in the eye. And I played at a high level.
Could you please get me that game back one more?
I just would do anything to play that way. I
promise I won't fumble again. Yeah, unbelievable. Hey John, thank.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
You so much. It's really good to sagree with you here.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Thank you for coming in and again, if you get
the opportunity, spend a few minutes on this website, Youth
for Christwi dot com dot org. I'm sorry, let me
go back here. Youth for Christwi dot com, Youth for
Christwi dot com and take a look at this ministry
that they do and if there's any questions you have,

(45:34):
there's a great boy to contact these guys if you're
feeling led to help them continue with financial donation. Easy
place to do it is right on that website.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Pastor. It's great to see you, good to be here.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
Thank you, John. That's very powerful today.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports ninet
twenty in your iHeart radio app.