June 19, 2024 • 51 mins
What happens when faith meets the high-stakes world of athletics? In this episode, we welcome Dave Klassen, National Director for Athletes in Action and chaplain for several major sports teams, who takes us on an inspiring journey of integrating faith with the competitive spirit of sports. Dave shares his experiences supporting athletes, coaches, and communities, recounting the evolution of post-game prayers that now focus on gratitude and solidarity. With humor and heartfelt reflections, he offers a rare glimpse into the personal side of his ministry.
Dave's story is one of resilience and transformation. From being a top junior college player in Canada to facing career-halting injuries and academic challenges, Dave found a new path through faith in Jesus.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the worlddedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethis show even better, please
(00:29):
let us know.
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
newsletter at leaderimpactca oron social media at Leader Impact
.
If you are listening fromoutside of Canada, check out our
website at leaderimpactcom.
I'm your host, lisa Peters, andour guest today is Dave Klassen.
Dave has worked with Athletesin Action Canada for over 30
(00:49):
years, where he has worked withhundreds of leaders in a variety
of sectors.
Currently, Dave is the NationalDirector for Athletes in Action
, chaplain for the VancouverCanucks in the NHL, chaplain for
the BC Lions in the CFL, aswell as the Abbotsford Canucks
in the AHL.
He is also an author and,together with his beautiful
bride, Rushia, they speak atFamily Life marriage conferences
(01:12):
across Canada.
They have five children andfour gorgeous grandchildren.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I just had one about a week ago.
River is the new one.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, I bet.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Little boy.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I wait.
I will wait for my day and Iwill be excited when it comes.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, it is my day, but it's more my wife Rushia's
day.
It's just like we had agrandchildren and I lost a wife.
It just kind of went, so I'mnot sure where she is all the
time, but she's still there.
She sends me text messagesevery once in a while.
It must have been moredifficult without the phone.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, I'll be looking for those cuddles all the time.
Well, welcome to the show,David.
It's very nice to meet you andI wonder if one day, many years
ago, we met at a Family Lifeconference.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
It's quite possible.
Think about your worstexperience and the person that
you're listening to at the endof the conference, go, you, turn
to your husband and go well, atleast you're not like him.
So then we're okay, we werethere.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I helped your marriage.
There you go, see, there you go.
That's my whole goal.
There you go, see there you go.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
That's my whole goal.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Good.
So, Dave, for anyone whodoesn't know what Athletes in
Action is, can you just give ussort of a brief?
You know what is it?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Oh, we just think that athletics is an awesome
place to live, thrive, work,play and do all those things,
and so Athletes in Action ispart of an organization called
Power to Change, just likeLeader Impact is.
We're just in the sector ofathletics, and so if you go to
(02:56):
any sports page although thenewspapers don't exist very much
, but guaranteed there's atleast eight to 10 pages of
sports there.
So the world is excited aboutsports, and so we're in that
world of athletics, reachinginto the communities of
athletics, the athletes, thecoaches, all those that are
attached to it, to actually helppeople know Jesus and
experience his power to changeis our mantra, and we're excited
(03:19):
about it.
It looks different in all sortsof different areas, but it's a
great place to be.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, I have seen players.
When I see players from bothteams come together and pray, I
always think of you.
I think in my mind that'sathletes in action.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, you think of me personally.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I think of you.
Yeah, he's right there he ispraying with his athletes, yeah
it's funny.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
It's one of all the things we do within working with
athletes.
Or you spend time with them, orthey're going through an injury
and you're visiting them in thehospital, or you're walking
with them through the treatmentportion of it, or you're where
the doctor says you're nevergoing to play again, or they get
fired.
Fired, or they get promoted orthey sign a great contract.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Most people think of us as that oh, you guys are the
guys that come on the middle ofthe field at the end of the game
and pray.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, we do that, that's one thing we do, but it
is a really cool experience.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, well, I mean, that's the visual that I see.
So actually I'm glad I askedthat because you explained a
little more, but it's a lonelyexperience At the end of the
game, just for every chaplain,just to let you know.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
So at the end of the game everyone's cheering and
some people half the people arecheering, half the people aren't
Some are bitter and angry and Ialways walk into the middle of
the field and I stand right inthe middle and I kneel and
nobody's there and I'm thinkingis this the time?
Nobody comes and I look like anidiot in the middle of the
(04:51):
field and, sure enough, then onewill come over and the next,
you know, there's sometimes 30,40, 50 people, and so it's
really cool.
But at that moment I'm likeplease, god, bring at least one
person so I'm not all by myself.
You know, it's funny that yousay that God, bring at least one
person so I'm not all by myself.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's funny that you say that, Dave, because I think
I played sports all my life andI grew up in a Catholic school
system and we always prayedbefore the game.
That was our thing.
We huddled together, we had topray, and I am sure I do not
remember praying after the game.
We always prayed and said prayfor a good game, a safe game,
(05:25):
but we never thanked God for agood game.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
We never did that, that's probably not what we're
doing in the huddle there eitherSomething a little bit
different.
I changed, probably about eight, nine years ago, because we
would pray for the team that wastravel mercies.
We would say that they wereleaving and thank you for
keeping us safe for all thosethings.
Or if there was someone thateveryone knew that was injured,
(05:51):
we'd potentially pray for that.
But actually, over the years, Istarted rethinking it and I
thought what a great time.
It's one of the few times whereyou're in high competition,
you're challenging each other,you're pushing.
The bottom line is I'm here tobeat you in order to win.
So, whether you're on theoffense or the defense, we don't
want you to get into the endzone, and the offense wants to
(06:12):
get in there.
And so there's this hugecharged event the fans.
You come into their arena.
They're not too excited whenyou're scoring them, unless
you're from the Rough Riders,and then it's three-quarters of
the stadium is filled with RoughRiders.
But apart from that, at the endof the game, the very first
thing I do is we all hold hands.
It's really kind of a coolthing, and I always say this I
(06:44):
want you to let it go, let it go, and I actually think this has
been a really cool practice forme.
At the end of my day is there'sso many things that hit me or
or knock me, or push me or prodme, or there's some successes
too, and each day has an ending,and at the end of this game is
this group of guys from theopposing teams let it go.
Don't let this define you.
(07:06):
This isn't even a definingmoment.
It's just a moment in time, andso let it go.
And so I've had a number ofplayers who have come up and
said you know what?
It's just been so good for meto leave it on the field so that
I can move on with my game,which is Paul's expression leave
what's behind and move ontowards what's ahead.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So yeah, I should give that lesson to some of the
parents in life.
Oh my God.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
No, that's Jesus.
Says that get behind me Satan.
That's that one, I think.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
All right, great way to open up the podcast.
Thanks for explaining all that.
I appreciate it.
So we are looking for a bit ofyour professional story and how
you got to where you are todayand if you have any snapshots
that were pivotal moments,turning points in that journey.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, I was thinking about that.
I have six for you today, ifyou don't mind, and each has
nine stories attached to it, andso I just can't wait to share
all nine times six.
Well, let me start with this.
Athletics was a big part of ourhome.
I think part of it was to getout of the house.
My parents were like, if you'rejust sitting here being lazy,
(08:18):
we got work for you.
And I was like, okay, we're nothere, so we just played.
And I remember going to schooland there's all these things
that you could do there.
So, whether it was running,jumping, throwing, and so it
became a part of my life.
Not only that, but in highschool I just kept asking these
questions.
You know, when you turn 15, 16,17, you go well, what am I
going to become?
(08:38):
Who am I?
What?
You know all these?
And I really wasn't.
I didn't think I was thesmartest guy, I wasn't the best
looking guy.
I was just like, well, what amI going to do?
I can't go into Hollywood.
I don't really smell good allthe time, everyone seems to stay
away from me.
And it was this athletics tool.
I was just better, faster andstronger than most people and I
(09:02):
just started pouring my lifeinto this, especially basketball
.
At the time it was during LarryBird and Magic Johnson that
just changed the dynamic of theNBA and I just went.
That's what I want to do.
I want to make the NBA.
So I just poured my life intothis game, got into college.
I just think I fluked in, Ithink they took me because I
(09:23):
just ran around like a crazy guy.
But I eventually made the team,made the starting five and at
the end of the year it becamerookie of the year, the first
year, and I was like whoa areyou kidding?
me.
This is it.
I'm that much closer to the NBA.
The following year I just didthe same thing, just put my head
down and went and I remember atthis awards banquet receiving
this award as one of the top 10junior college players in Canada
(09:46):
, called the All-Canadian Awardand just looking at it in my
bedroom most valuable player ofmy team, this All-Canadian thing
and going I've arrived, I'vearrived just about there.
And I remember my third yeargoing everything is going to be
great, I'm going to get drafted,all these things.
I think most of it was a dreamand I got injured.
(10:06):
And so if the first thing wasthis athletics thing which
really made me think I'm allencompassing, when I got injured
and having to deal with this,and then going to UBC to enroll
there because I had ascholarship offer, and I
remember the athletic enrollmentperson coming to me, looking at
(10:29):
my marks and saying, mr Klassen, your marks are terrible.
And well, you know, I tried tocut it off because that's what
you do when you're embarrassedand she goes.
You know what are you goinginto?
I said, well, I'm going to be ateacher, I'm going to teach
those, inspire those.
And she goes.
Well, frankly, mr, I said well,I'm going to be a teacher, I'm
going to teach those, inspirethose.
And she goes.
Well, frankly, mr Klassen, Iwouldn't want you to teach my
(10:50):
children what those words, well,that was.
You know, those are thegreatest moments of your life
when you hear those things.
And so I was just likedevastated, and for that I think
that was a second pivotalmoment in my life.
I knew I was athletic, but thesecond one is I wasn't
all-encompassing, and when I gotinjured which would probably be
the third one I realized that Ineeded something more.
(11:11):
I just couldn't do it.
And that's when I turned toJesus, and that's when I became
a Christian, which became thisthird pivotal moment in my life.
But it's kind of like thethought was, I only wanted
enough of Jesus to make mesuccessful, but not enough to
change my life.
And so in the end, the realityis, yeah, I had Jesus in my
(11:31):
heart and, yeah, I felt at peaceand this whole was changed.
But the reality is I stillcouldn't play, I was stuck, and
so I just turned and gave it allup and said this whole NBA
dream is done and I went intoteaching, which is probably the
fourth thing, which was my wifeand I at that time.
I got married.
We went up to NorthernSaskatchewan, the furthest you
(11:53):
could go.
Lelosh Saskatchewan, and wetaught there for three years and
it was there I went yes finally, and that was where I met
missionaries who taught me allthese things about God I had no
clue about.
And from there we left to go toSimon Fraser University to
finish our degrees and Iremember there, where I played
(12:16):
for the JV team at Simon Fraserand I met this athletes in
action group and I remember themsaying boy, we'd really like
you on staff.
And I remember this fifthcomponent is throwing out a
fleece one time at a fire,helping at a youth rally with a
friend of mine because I wastrying to figure out should I
join staff with Athletes inAction.
(12:37):
He said well, I heard thisGideon guy did this.
Why don't you do it?
I said okay.
So I said, lord, if you want meto join staff with Athletes in
Action, you'll change the rulesthat they have.
And the rules were they wouldonly allow married couples to
come on together, and my wifeRushia is an unbelievable
teacher at that time.
And we came back, we had aphone call, they met with the
(13:03):
administrators with CampusCrusade for Christ at that time,
and they said you'll neverbelieve it, but we're going to
change our policy for you.
And that was the first time forme that I realized God answers
prayers.
And then, finally, number sixwas I've been on staff for a
while, I've been working withAthletes in Action and I had
(13:23):
become the chaplain for theVancouver Grizzlies and I was
coming back from the Sky Trainand I was just thinking about my
life.
I was just thinking aboutathletics and I was thinking
about being denied admission atUBC and this injury and then
becoming a teacher and decidingto join Athletes in Action and I
was like I just never made theNBA.
It was kind of my dream.
And then it was like the HolySpirit said to me no, no, no, no
(13:47):
, Dave, you made the NBA.
You just didn't make it as aplayer, you made it as a
chaplain.
So that was where I realizedthat God's got a way bigger plan
than I do.
And so those are huge, pivotalmoments in my life.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I have a feeling the pivotal moments didn't stop
there.
I think you have a pivotalmoment At this point.
Are you like 24?
I'm thinking you've got a lotof pivotal moments.
Everything seems like it's sogood to see those moments and go
.
This is a pivotal moment ofchange.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, that's so good.
I think I think sometimes Iforget and that's why I think
the questions were have been sogood to think through for me of,
wow, sometimes I just forgethow good God is, yeah, so thank
you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Oh, you're welcome.
That's why I show up here to bereminded and and these these
interactions on how good God is.
So the second question you haveis is to give us a your best
principle of success and tell usa story that illustrates this.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, I have a few.
I've seen I've just seen to mydaughter today, a few successes
that I would highlight here andum.
So I'm going to give you afailure, are you okay with that?
One day I came home and my son,my oldest son he was doing
something inappropriate.
I think he was standing on abrand new coffee table, scuffing
(15:16):
it up or whatever.
And so I disciplined him, Isent him to his room.
I said you'll never eat for therest of your life.
I can't believe that mom and Isaved our old lives for this.
I can't remember what I said,but I do remember.
Later I was at the supper tableand my bride who's so good at
this says do you think thatmaybe you were a little harsh
(15:36):
with Caleb?
I was like what do you mean?
I was too harsh with him.
You know, like that type ofdeal.
And so we have this dialogue and, as it always works with me,
you know, god kind of hits meand the Holy Spirit massages my
heart.
And I remember walking down thehallway to his bedroom, knocked
on the door.
He invited me and I came in andhe's like Dad, I'm so sorry,
(15:58):
I'm so sorry, I'm like son, it'sokay, it's okay.
And so we talked about it andwe prayed about it and in the
midst of it for whatever it was,maybe Dr Dobson or someone, I
just remember this phrase and Isaid, you know, son, this isn't
the first time I'm going to makea mistake, you know I'm going
to be a little bit too harsh orI'm going to say the wrong word,
(16:18):
but this is the first time I'vebeen a dad.
And so then again we prayed andI was on my way out of the room
and he goes dad, dad.
And I was like what?
Hey, don't forget, this is thefirst time I've been a son too.
And I was like I went overthere and spanked him right away
, cause that was just no.
I was like, yeah, you're soright, like there's this whole
(16:44):
first time.
So I think that's my first,first thought.
The first lesson for success isthat this a lot of times.
It's the first time that we'veever experienced anything.
We've experienced this problemfor the first time.
We experienced the pandemic forthe first time, and so I just
had to accept so many times inthe failure, even in the
successes, that I don't knoweverything.
(17:04):
Like I wish I knew everything.
I wish I knew how things weregoing to work out.
And so the reality is, what Ihad to learn in order to be
successful is to use theresources around me to solve my
problems, to grow, to provideoptions and the best solutions
at the time.
Like, I'm just notall-encompassing.
(17:25):
It's the first time I'm goingthrough this experience and I
need to gather those things.
And the second thing is I alsoneed to realize I'm human.
I'm a human.
God actually made me human.
He made me with imperfections.
He didn't make me perfect, andso I can only be in one place at
one time.
I can only focus on one thingat one time.
I can only focus on one thingat one time.
(17:46):
Well, I have limitationsmentally, I have limitations
physically, I have limitationsemotionally, socially and
spiritually.
And then I think the second partfor me is life's a long game,
it's not a short game, and sothe reality is it's the first
time I've experienced it, butit's a big game here it's not
just a small one.
I get some years.
(18:07):
I get a few years at least.
I hope I get a few more.
I got great grandchildren, Ilove my kids and I love my bride
.
But there's very few bigdecisions in the long game that
you can't defer.
When you're making thedecisions, like, you can usually
get an extra hour, you can getan extra day, you can, even if
(18:28):
banks are phoning you and wantpayments today, you can defer it
.
You can say can I talk to younext week about it?
And so time, time is such agreat, great gift for us.
It's also a healer for us, andthings that fear in our life or
problems that are maybe stoppingus, we can be healed from that.
(18:49):
We can actually turn from that.
And also, I found wisdomsometimes takes time.
It takes time and it takes timefor me to be quiet and listen.
So time has been a very, verygood thing.
I remember, um, or not remember, but right now with the
vancouver canucks uh, losing ingame seven.
(19:09):
It's been hard, like I was justat at the arena yesterday and
and it's been tough.
Those are things that you justdon't get over in one day, but
over time they will.
And and the bc lions arestarting and we got got to the
semifinal last year and we lost.
So people ask coaches all thetime so what's the team look
(19:29):
like?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
What's it look like?
Speaker 3 (19:31):
And I remember Joe Ehrman, this guy from the US.
He had the greatest, greatestline.
He goes well, we'll see in 30years, and I've used that
principle when it came to life'sa long game over and over and
over again in my life with mykids.
The reality is today they maybe the worst kids in the history
(19:52):
of the world or I think theyare but the reality is it's a
long game.
They're developing as leaders.
They're going to do some thingswrong.
It's the first time they'vebeen a kid.
This could have been the mostdevastating day of our life, but
it's a long game and thereality is let's see in 30 years
, because what's devastatingtoday could be a great learning
(20:14):
experience 30 years from now,and it may develop me into a
great grandfather and so on.
So yeah, Nice work.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
So you talked a little bit about at the
beginning.
You talked about mistakes andfailures, but I was going to ask
you about failures and mistakesDo you have another story about
failures and mistakes?
Because we know that we learnmore from them.
That's what makes us successful.
I don't know if you haveanother story to share with us.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I wouldn't want to miss that.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I remember yeah, I think that's how you get wisdom.
To be honest with you, I thinkyou learn.
I think you learn from yourmistakes and that's called wise
and that's why.
So, every person I see withgray hair and, by the way, my
grandmother and my mom and myuncles, they had the whitest
hair in the history of hair soI'm thinking they made a lot of
(21:06):
mistakes in their life and soI'm just, I'm just getting there
.
But the point is, I remember inthe CFL there's a legendary
player.
His name is Angelo Moscow, andwhat an unbelievable player.
Six foot four, 275 poundlineman that played for the CFL.
He was a professional wrestler,His nickname was Mighty
(21:30):
Hercules and he had a few othersattached to it.
He won five Grey cups and Iremember seeing him when he was
in his late sixties and sorry,late eighties and he was at this
hotel while I was at the GreyCup and I walked over to him I
do this all the time, I don'tknow why and I walked over and I
thought he might want tointroduce myself to him.
(21:52):
Hi, my name is Dave Klassen,you know Italian voice.
And then I said to him hey,angelo, if you could do it all
over again, what would you do?
And without hesitation he saysI'd go make different mistakes.
And so I've thought about thatfor years, I've shared that
(22:15):
principle for years and I justthink that the reality is
mistakes just have anopportunity attached to it, and
it's really how we embrace it.
If it defines me, then whathappens is I go internal, but if
I can get over that component,part of it, and I can look at
the opportunity which this otherstory I'll share is my friend,
(22:39):
frank, whose name is FrankTootenhoof.
He's a Dutchman who has thelongest name in the history of
names and he was the campsdirector.
I joined Athletes in Action inthe sports camp division and
then on the campus and I wasjust so excited to play sports
all the time.
But I remember we had hiredthis consulting company to make
(23:01):
our brochure and they had doneall these testing on us and they
had come and asked us all thesequestions and finally the day
came and we it was late into thenight, it was like 7:30, 8
o'clock we had stayed to look atthis brochure and we opened it
up.
We're both looking at and and Icould tell he was disappointed
I go.
Well, frank, what do you thinkhe goes.
This is terrible, this is justlike terrible.
(23:22):
If you knew Frank, he's themost positive individual I know.
I'm like really, and I'mlooking at it and it was
terrible.
There was also.
So finally, we're kind of goingback and forth about how
terrible it was and for whateverreason.
I just ask well, is thereanything on this whole brochure
that you like?
So he takes it, he's fumblingand he's looking at at it and he
goes I like the line, he goesand I go.
(23:47):
I like the line too, and justthe way it was situated.
And from that day forward, I'veused the principle of the line
for years.
Start with the line after thefailure.
It's a great principle, it's agreat restart.
What's the one thing that we cantake away from this mistake?
What's the one thing?
What's the one thing that wecan take away from this mistake?
What's the one thing, what'sthe one thing that we shouldn't
(24:07):
do again?
What's that one person that weshouldn't hire again?
What's the success that we gotthat we didn't anticipate?
It just happened.
What role did I play in this andwhat role did others play in it
?
And then, secondly, when Ibecame the national director,
with Athletes in Action, I meanit was a big job.
(24:31):
It's a huge job.
We have over 100 staff, we seethousands of people reached
every year, we do all sorts ofdifferent things and all
different sports streams.
And I was like, oh, I got tostudy, I got to figure things
out.
But I remember picking up oneparticular book, ray Dalio's
book called Principles, and hereally helped me.
In fact, from that book Ideveloped what I considered my
(24:54):
personal goal, which was I wantto build an exceptionally
effective culture within AIAthat's what I'd like to do One
that strives to achievemeaningful work and meaningful
relationships through radicaltransparency.
And he uses this example of aspring and he talks about it.
(25:19):
Kind of works like this.
It's an awesome principle, Iknow, but it's interesting with
the spring as it goes up, itdoesn't go down, and so the very
first thing is in everythingyou start, you got a goal.
And so in the goal, as you'regoing, all of a sudden you get a
problem, and I know none of youhave had problems out there.
(25:42):
I know if you're at home oryou're at work or wherever you
are.
None of you have had problemsout there.
I know if you're at home oryou're at work or wherever you
are, none of you have problems,but I've had problems.
So one of the thoughts is thatwhen you get to the problem, the
question is in your diagnosis,are you going to be ultra honest
in it?
And what I found is that mostcompanies or businesses, what
(26:04):
happens is, when we get to theproblem part and we diagnosis,
my fears get in there.
Oh, what happens if they findout I made a bad mistake?
Or or my ego gets in the way.
Oh, I'm never wrong.
They hired me not to be wrongand all of these things are I
don't want to look bad, becauseif I look bad, the reality is.
Then what happens is, if we'renot ultra honest, then we just
(26:25):
leave things the way they areand they hope to get better.
And how does that been workingfor all of us lately?
And the reality is?
But in the process, if we'reultra honest, what we do is we
redesign, we adapt, we changeand we get this loop.
It goes up and then we planproblem, this loop.
It goes up and then we planproblem ultra honest strategy,
(26:47):
redesign and it creates thisloop.
It's a great principle, and soone of the very first things I
did with meeting with my staffwas.
I taught them about the springand I was like I don't really
care if we fail, I want to seemore failures.
In fact, I just had a staffmember who did something, and it
(27:08):
was probably $2,000 worth ofdamage and he came to me with
his head down.
He says, Dave, I said, well,show me what you did.
And he showed me and I saidthat's awesome, you should have
made more of a mess.
And he I think he almost Idon't know if he almost died,
but I mean he was reallysurprised.
But you can't be innovative.
You can't bake a new or make anew item at home.
(27:35):
You can't do any of thosethings without making a mess.
And so that's innovation at itsbest.
And so the reality is thespring.
For me, being ultra honest,ultra transparent, has been
outstanding in regards tohelping me.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, so I know exactly the graphic.
You're talking about the spring, it's an A to B and it's just
got these loops and you knowyou're always going up.
I've used it before, I use itin a leader impact speech and my
translator has went woono-transcript.
(28:26):
Sprung me to something biggerAwesome.
So at Leader Impact, which Iknow you know about us, we want
to grow personally,professionally and spiritually
for increasing impact.
So if you'd be willing to sharean example of how the spiritual
makes a practical difference inyour life as a leader.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, I think it's.
Athletes in Action began 50years ago, so it's our 50th
anniversary.
That's why I look so young here, because I was born but we're
50 years old.
So it was a group of CFLplayers at that time who some
were Christian All of them wereChristians but some were in the
league at the CFL, some wereoutside the league.
(29:06):
There were pastors.
There were other leaders withinthe community and some
representatives from CampusCrusade for Christ.
They met in Ontario at CircleSquare Ranch trying to figure
out pray through Bible study.
It was a whole weekend it justhappened the April couple of
weekends ago and they weretrying to discern how they could
(29:29):
be used, how they could usetheir platform, how they could
infiltrate athletics, and in theprocess of that, they came up
with Athletes in Action, whichhad already been established in
the US, and they brought it toCanada.
And so that's who we are.
That's how we started 50 yearsago.
We started with prayer, westarted with Bible study, we
(29:50):
started with people on theirknees seeking, and I think the
bottom line is right there is,that's it.
I got to start somewhere.
And I mean, I've already triedall those other methods and they
just it's not that they don'twork, they do work, but I've
(30:10):
just prayer, bible study andseeking him.
So there's this threecomponents to everything.
For me is personally,practically and potentially.
About five years ago we had oneof our great events.
It's called the Grey CupBreakfast and we usually have
it's a week-long event.
(30:31):
During Grey Cup week, from theMonday through to the Friday we
go into prisons, we go intomarginalized groups and we talk
to them about the person thatcould change their life.
Not another drug hit, notanother thing is Jesus
transforms lives, and so we talkto them about that.
But we also just come intoplaces to care for them, because
(30:51):
nobody's choosing to go to theprisons to speak, nobody's
choosing to go to relief centersor these other places, but we
do.
And then on the Saturday wehave this big breakfast it's
right, usually in the conventioncenter where everything happens
, and we bring the marginalizedin there and all and these
groups, and we bring athletes upfront and we interview them
(31:13):
about real life issues.
What's life like in the CFL?
How do you deal with with thedifficulties of the game?
Or how do you deal?
How do, how do you as a wifedeal with when you're listening
in the crowd and someone'scriticizing your husband in the
crowd?
You know how do you punch them,where do you punch them for
those type of things.
But the point is we have many,many dignitaries that come and
(31:35):
speak and it's a very popularevent and this year in Vancouver
it will be popular as well.
But Andy Ambrose, the CFLcommissioner, a good friend of
mine, he has come and he'sgladly puts it in his calendar
during that week.
He says this line.
He says this line and it juststuck with me Athletes in action
is a sanctuary for thosepracticing their faith and a
(31:58):
beacon for those pursuing it.
Athletes in action is asanctuary for those practicing
their faith and a beacon forthose pursuing it.
And so from that I realized,and then, just addressing the
question, I realized that for mepersonally, god is my beacon.
He's this rock, this place ofrest, this place of safety.
(32:20):
It's when all of us I don'tknow if when you go home, like I
used to, when my parents usedto travel to Manitoba and we'd
go see my grandmother and I'dwalk in the door and there's
just the smell of baked buns andI'm home, I'm so home.
And then raspberry jam.
I'm in heaven, like it's likethe two great.
Or rhubarb jam, oh my gosh.
(32:42):
But God's this beacon for mepersonally.
He's always there, he's alwayspresent, even though I feel he's
not there.
He's always there, he's strong,he's pointing the way.
But it's not just been thisbeacon, this place that I can go
to, he's been my sanctuary.
It's where I found him.
It's kind of like the woman whowas following Jesus, who had
(33:03):
been bleeding all these years,and she touches his robe and he
says somebody touched me, mypower came out or I felt power,
leave me.
He turns and he looks at her.
The sanctuary part is where youfeel Jesus is looking at you.
You feel you're looked at forwho you are.
It's okay, you feel him, heknows you, he loves you, he
(33:24):
accepts you, he sees you, lovesyou.
It's where I can rest.
But it's not just there, it'seven practically.
The whole beacon part for me isit's the place in the confines
of the job when I'm like, oh mygosh, is this happening again?
Oh, my goodness.
And it's just this place whereI go to.
I have, I can't go here, Ican't go there.
(33:45):
And it's this beacon.
It's like, oh, I forgot aboutyou, yeah, and then it's a
sanctuary, it's this place whereI can just turn to the group.
Sometimes we're trying to dealwith a major problem.
I go, hey, how about we justput everything down and we pray
about it?
We just seek him.
(34:08):
But it's not just personallyand practically, it's also
potentially and it's the we'llsee in 30 years and we'll see
what happens in 30 years.
And I've just seen God over allthese years with me stepping
out because I just honestly, I'mnot that smart, I just don't
(34:32):
have it.
I wish I did, but he is.
And so the last part is whywouldn't, if I don't have it and
I'm truly honest about it whywouldn't I, as a Christian, rely
on the greatest power source inthe history of the world that
can create mountains in a world,create people, the power of
(34:52):
three the Father, son and HolySpirit.
And so that's kind of how I seeit.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I think you've explained it quite well.
You're very inspirational.
My cheeks hurt from smilingjust listening to you.
It's so good.
This kind of leads into aquestion about legacy.
Just, you know, when you leavethis world, because at Leader
Impact we're about leadersmaking a lasting impact.
I mean that's why you'reinvolved with Athletes in Action
(35:23):
for 30 years or, you know, forso long.
So, as you continue to movethrough your own journey and
what an amazing journey it ishave you considered what you
want your faith legacy to bewhen you leave this world?
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Oh, I think about it all the time.
Most of the time I think Idon't do enough.
I honestly think I didn't doanything today.
I like man.
There's so much more to do.
I wish God hadn't made us so wecould sleep, because I really I
(36:00):
would use every minute and I'mnot talking to work on God's
work.
I like golf too, so it would benice if the sun was out.
But I think for me, thinkingthrough it, I really live.
I just want to live my faith.
(36:20):
I don't want it to be a part ofmy life, I want it to be a way
of my life, and so that's howI've lived.
I want it to be a part of mylife, I want it to be a way of
my life, and so that's how I'velived.
I want it to be a way of mylife, so in the way of my life.
I remember a couple years ago, afriend of mine who was a
trainer with the Abbotsford Heatat that time, which was the
affiliate for the Calgary Flames.
They had a team in Abbotsfordand I was the chaplain with them
(36:42):
and I was in the mall I was atthe Bay, I think it was and he
came in and he brought one ofthe players and he had led the
player to Christ, and so he sawme.
He goes, Dave, and he comes upto me Because I always said to
him I said, hey, we'reco-chaplains in this man, I'm
not doing this job by myself.
(37:02):
So anyways, he was reallyexcited and so he introduces him
.
I knew who the player was, so Iput my arms around the player
and we're kind of kibitzing andlaughing and I go hey, let's
pray.
And so anyways, I prayed and Ididn't make a big noise like
that, I just said I just startedpraying.
But later he said, Dave, Inever thought that you could
pray in a mall in the bay andI've had other people, because
(37:28):
if you're a friend of mine andI'll phone you up and if you
don't answer I'll go hey, lisa,can I pray for you?
And then I'll pray on the phoneand I've had friends of mine go
, dave, I didn't know you couldpray on the phone, like that's
thank you for praying, ablessing of whatever it is.
So I really think I just don'twant to leave any stone
(37:50):
untouched in my faith walk.
I don't want to get to heavenand go.
Oh, there was a couple morethings that you should have
thought of.
And then I think the secondthing is I didn't hold back.
Like I didn't hold back.
Like I didn't hold back.
Actually, what was the desireof my heart?
There's a man excuse me inscripture by the name of Tola.
(38:13):
Nobody will know who it is, ormost won't and underneath this
it's in Judges, chapter 10.
I just use this as a chapelwith the Vancouver Canucks and
I'll use it for the BC Lions.
So no Lions watch this, becauseI'm going to be giving you this
as a chapel with the VancouverCanucks and I'll use it for the
BC Lions.
So no Lions watch this, becauseI'm going to be giving you this
as a chapel.
But Tola was this guy, and it'sTola and Jar J-A-I-R.
(38:33):
Jola had 30 sons who rode 30donkeys and they lived in 30
cities.
So I have no clue what thatmeans.
That's all it says and that'swhat you got to live with.
But Tola says something alittle bit different, says Tola
lived, then he rose up, he ledIsrael for 23 years and then he
died.
And after I read that through mydevotions I realized I think
(38:56):
that is exactly how we'resupposed to live our lives, that
God gives us breath and he'seventually going to take it away
one day, and that there'sthings in our world all the time
.
It doesn't have to be in my job,but it's my neighbor who needed
help the other day, or it's theperson, robert, who stands on
the street corner with his cupall the time, or it's all these
(39:19):
other things.
I have to rise up.
I can't just sit there.
I just never have been able tosit there, neither can my wife,
neither can my kids, and so I'mhere for a reason and a purpose
and a destiny.
So I want to rise up, and inthe process, all of us have a
chance to lead somewhere,something and so on, and then
(39:41):
I'm going to lead for as long asthe Lord wants me to lead, and
then I'm going to die.
I think that's really it.
And then the last part for meis and I just heard this, I
couldn't put it into words untilI heard a pastor recently that
said this, and I'll just put itin my words Dave lived a life
where Jesus was the one he waslooking for, and I want to
(40:05):
continue to look for him for mylife, not all those other things
.
And so that's my answer, younglady.
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Excellent answer, Dave.
So our last question is alwaysthe same for everyone, because
we want to know what brings youthe greatest joy.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Well, podcasts obviously.
Clearly you're funny.
Thank you, lisa, for asking allthose questions.
Was that what you want, miss s?
Speaker 2 (40:35):
well, it should be your wife, and then your
children.
Those are always.
There's a dog in there, thatwas.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
That was last week's wait a minute yeah, we have the
great cat, uh, copper, who's therat killer we love.
Okay, well, you love, um, Ithink I have.
Uh, there's lots of differentthings, but, as I was thinking
through it, um, definitely mywife russia.
Uh, they're just somethingabout when we travel, when we
(41:03):
speak together, uh, when we'reon our balcony.
Our kids, for our 25thanniversary, bought us outdoor
patio furniture I think theysolicited some of my friends and
all that.
But the reality is we just sitin that with a cup of whatever
it's going to be coffee and justlook at the skyscape and we
(41:26):
don't have to say anything.
Sometimes the sun's out or themoon's out, and there's just
something about that moment.
With her traveling, with her,we're building a big, we took
out all the railway ties in theback of our yard and we're
putting up a big wall rock walland we're not doing it.
But actually I've reallyenjoyed doing the project with
her together, um, so I think,just doing those things together
(41:49):
and um.
And then the second one's mykids.
I think when I see them takeradical face steps, my son in
his early 30s decided you knowwhat, dad, I think I want to be
a doctor.
And I was like, okay, I thoughtyou should have been a doctor
when you turned 19, but nowyou're going to make that
decision.
That's great.
But he has now three kids andI'm like, wow, you're crazy.
(42:11):
My other daughter travels theworld, going to the hardest
parts of the world, because sheloves wanting to help women.
My other daughter, who hasthree jobs one she's a phys ed
teacher, she coaches, she'shelping other people I'm like,
how do you do it?
My son, who plays professionalbasketball overseas, who just
(42:33):
uses his life over and over totalk about Jesus and to expand
the world.
And my daughter-in-laws whojust have given their lives to
not just support their husbandsbut also to use their lives to
make such a difference.
And then my grandchildren.
I love when I look in theireyes and I see life, I see
(42:55):
attitude, I see creativity.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
I see fun, I see sassiness.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
I see humor, I see so much innovation by all the
broken things and all that intheir house, fixing things and
leadership in their eyes andtheir actions and then I think
my job, I really enjoy my job.
I love my job, I love my staffand I think I didn't ever think
(43:20):
that I would enjoy this as muchas I do now.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Maybe it's partially I'm a little bit older and more
sensitive, but I used to loverunning up mountains and
claiming the mountain andyelling down hurry up the site's
great, I'm going to the nextone, you know, or starting
something new, you know, ifsomeone said to me, Dave, you'll
never be able to do that, I waslike, oh, that's adrenaline,
(43:45):
that's my, that's my, that's mydrug of choice.
Speaker 3 (43:48):
And I was like but now I don't, I don't again,
maybe it's I just like that golfgame, or something like that.
I just love it when I get phonecalls from my staff going Dave,
I tried this or, and I'm likewow, that's so cool, and so I'm
just so proud of them what theydo, and so I think that's yeah,
(44:10):
there you go.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
You know, listening to you, there is so much joy in
your life and you're one ofthose people that people want to
be around, because you are solike.
You find such joy in everything, from having coffee on your
deck, them work, you know, oryou know the skies I think you
said skies, you said skyscrapers, then you said skyscape,
(44:33):
skyscape.
Um, you know, to children, tograndchildren, to you.
Just, there's so much joy andyou've brought joy to me, so I'm
gonna.
You know, my greatest joy rightnow is you.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
I wish it was like that all the time.
I'm a human, I learnedsomething about the Holy spirit,
because there's the fruits ofthe spirit love, joy, patience,
kindness, and you go down thewhole list.
And I was like, dang, whydidn't God give us a pill Like
that would have been so muchfunnier I mean, we're not
funnier that would have been somuch funnier, I mean, or not
funnier?
It would have been so mucheasier.
Like I suck today, I'm critical, you know, take the pill.
Oh yeah, you know, it justdoesn't work for me and usually,
(45:10):
like I said, it's like stop it,you know.
And then you massage my heartand then eventually I got to
apologize.
So I used to evaluate the endof the year by how few times I
had to apologize this year incomparison to the year before or
the years prior.
But I realized one day after Iwas thinking through the fruits
(45:33):
of the Spirit, I realized thatin order to get joy, in order to
get some of thesecharacteristics, you actually
have to go through tough times.
I remember saying to a coach onetime with the Lions, because he
showed me his theme and Iwanted to know it so I could
write chapels around it, andthere was three words and one of
them was courage.
And I said, coach, you reallywant courage in there?
(45:53):
He goes yeah, I love courage, Igo, I know.
But just think about it.
The only way you get courage isyou got to walk in fear.
Do you really want courage asone of your defining themes?
Like, all year long, we'regoing to walk in fear in order
to get this courage thing.
He's like well, that's a goodidea.
No, I'm going to keep it.
But the point is is that allthe fruits of the spirit are the
(46:13):
same way.
It's like I got to go throughthis tough time in order to
develop love, to develop.
So, you know, that's why Ithink I hang on to the failures
more, because that's where I'velearned more and that's actually
where I've been taught aboutthe fruits of the Spirit,
(46:35):
because, yeah, god, father, sonand Holy Spirit, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
Yeah, wow, Dave, thanks for sharing this last 46
minutes with us.
I really just appreciate andit's funny I knew, coming in
this, you were a funny guy and Iknew the stories were just
going to roll and I knew mycheeks were hurt and I just
thank you for spending this timewith us today.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
I'm going to have to take a trip out there and come
to some conference you're at, orI'm just going to have you here
.
I'm going to get you speakinghere.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
That's what I'm thinking.
So generally, we ask people atthe end if anybody wants to
contact you.
Are you on LinkedIn or is therea good place that we can find
Dave Klassen?
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn .
Facebook seems like you got tobe, you know, 118 years old, and
so you can get me on Facebook.
You can take my phone number ifyou want to text me Honestly.
At every Family Life ConferenceI give because I'm a big, I'm a
big fan of people who want touse their life, and so I give my
(47:47):
cell phone out and said justcontact me and we'll get
together for coffee.
I love Starbucks and so thereality is very few people do it
, because I actually do believenot a lot of people want to
change, and I think the biggerone for me not to give you
(48:08):
another story, but the realityis, I remember when I first
became a dad and my wife decidedit was time for me to learn
what being a dad was.
So she said, hey, I'm justgoing to go out for a little
while, which meant hours, and um, I'm going to leave you with.
(48:28):
So I was like, yeah, no problem, I'm up to this.
But over time my son keptwalking past me over and over
again and, man, he wasn'tsmelling very good and I was
like trying to figure out whatthe deal was, because maybe he
was I don't know um, because itcouldn't come from my side of
the family.
And then I started seeingchunks in the diaper and I was
(48:49):
like, oh, you're doing thatstuff.
And then, well, mom will behome soon.
And so then that didn't happenfor another couple hours.
So I'm like, okay, I'm up forthis challenge, man.
And so I brought him into thebathroom, laid him on the floor,
pulled off that diaper it wasdisgusting, like he doesn't chew
his food even at that age andso swabbed him down through the
thing and realized I didn't havea diaper.
(49:11):
So I was like you know, youjust stay there, Don't you move?
And I ran into the bedroom,came back with the diaper and
he's crying, and at first I waslike, oh, what's wrong with you?
I just changed the worst diaperin the history of diapers.
And Like, oh, what's wrong withyou?
I just changed the worst diaperin the history of diapers.
And then I realized that hewasn't afraid, he was cold,
(49:34):
because when I put the diaper onand all those things, he just
stopped.
And I think that's the samething for all of us is that
we're more comfortable in thecrop we live in than we are
getting in the cold.
We live in and we are gettingin the cold and so I think, for
(49:54):
all of us, feel free to text meand go through Lisa and get that
number and I'd love to talk toyou.
And yeah, let's go for it.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Wow, I'm texting you All right.
Well, Dave, again thank you,and we're going to end it here,
unless you have another story.
Speaker 3 (50:12):
You said 15 minutes.
I can't believe it's 40.
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
We're at 50 now.
All right, thank you, Dave.
I appreciate your time with ustoday.
Thank you, lisa.
(50:41):
You will also find on ourwebpage chapter one of Braden
Douglas' book Becoming a Leaderof Impact.
You can also check our groupsavailable in Canada at leader
impact.
ca or, if you're listening fromanywhere else in the world,
check out leader impact.
com or get in touch with us byemail info at leader impact.
com and we will connect you.
And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
(51:03):
us a rating or review.
This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
Thank you for engaging with us.
Speaker 1 (51:15):
And remember impact starts with you.
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the worlddedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethis show even better, please
(00:29):
let us know.
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
newsletter at leaderimpactca oron social media at Leader Impact
.
If you are listening fromoutside of Canada, check out our
website at leaderimpactcom.
I'm your host, lisa Peters, andour guest today is Dave Klassen.
Dave has worked with Athletesin Action Canada for over 30
(00:49):
years, where he has worked withhundreds of leaders in a variety
of sectors.
Currently, Dave is the NationalDirector for Athletes in Action
, chaplain for the VancouverCanucks in the NHL, chaplain for
the BC Lions in the CFL, aswell as the Abbotsford Canucks
in the AHL.
He is also an author and,together with his beautiful
bride, Rushia, they speak atFamily Life marriage conferences
(01:12):
across Canada.
They have five children andfour gorgeous grandchildren.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I just had one about a week ago.
River is the new one.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, I bet.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Little boy.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I wait.
I will wait for my day and Iwill be excited when it comes.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, it is my day, but it's more my wife Rushia's
day.
It's just like we had agrandchildren and I lost a wife.
It just kind of went, so I'mnot sure where she is all the
time, but she's still there.
She sends me text messagesevery once in a while.
It must have been moredifficult without the phone.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, I'll be looking for those cuddles all the time.
Well, welcome to the show,David.
It's very nice to meet you andI wonder if one day, many years
ago, we met at a Family Lifeconference.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
It's quite possible.
Think about your worstexperience and the person that
you're listening to at the endof the conference, go, you, turn
to your husband and go well, atleast you're not like him.
So then we're okay, we werethere.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
I helped your marriage.
There you go, see, there you go.
That's my whole goal.
There you go, see there you go.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
That's my whole goal.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Good.
So, Dave, for anyone whodoesn't know what Athletes in
Action is, can you just give ussort of a brief?
You know what is it?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Oh, we just think that athletics is an awesome
place to live, thrive, work,play and do all those things,
and so Athletes in Action ispart of an organization called
Power to Change, just likeLeader Impact is.
We're just in the sector ofathletics, and so if you go to
(02:56):
any sports page although thenewspapers don't exist very much
, but guaranteed there's atleast eight to 10 pages of
sports there.
So the world is excited aboutsports, and so we're in that
world of athletics, reachinginto the communities of
athletics, the athletes, thecoaches, all those that are
attached to it, to actually helppeople know Jesus and
experience his power to changeis our mantra, and we're excited
(03:19):
about it.
It looks different in all sortsof different areas, but it's a
great place to be.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, I have seen players.
When I see players from bothteams come together and pray, I
always think of you.
I think in my mind that'sathletes in action.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, you think of me personally.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I think of you.
Yeah, he's right there he ispraying with his athletes, yeah
it's funny.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
It's one of all the things we do within working with
athletes.
Or you spend time with them, orthey're going through an injury
and you're visiting them in thehospital, or you're walking
with them through the treatmentportion of it, or you're where
the doctor says you're nevergoing to play again, or they get
fired.
Fired, or they get promoted orthey sign a great contract.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Most people think of us as that oh, you guys are the
guys that come on the middle ofthe field at the end of the game
and pray.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, we do that, that's one thing we do, but it
is a really cool experience.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, well, I mean, that's the visual that I see.
So actually I'm glad I askedthat because you explained a
little more, but it's a lonelyexperience At the end of the
game, just for every chaplain,just to let you know.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
So at the end of the game everyone's cheering and
some people half the people arecheering, half the people aren't
Some are bitter and angry and Ialways walk into the middle of
the field and I stand right inthe middle and I kneel and
nobody's there and I'm thinkingis this the time?
Nobody comes and I look like anidiot in the middle of the
(04:51):
field and, sure enough, then onewill come over and the next,
you know, there's sometimes 30,40, 50 people, and so it's
really cool.
But at that moment I'm likeplease, god, bring at least one
person so I'm not all by myself.
You know, it's funny that yousay that God, bring at least one
person so I'm not all by myself.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's funny that you say that, Dave, because I think
I played sports all my life andI grew up in a Catholic school
system and we always prayedbefore the game.
That was our thing.
We huddled together, we had topray, and I am sure I do not
remember praying after the game.
We always prayed and said prayfor a good game, a safe game,
(05:25):
but we never thanked God for agood game.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
We never did that, that's probably not what we're
doing in the huddle there eitherSomething a little bit
different.
I changed, probably about eight, nine years ago, because we
would pray for the team that wastravel mercies.
We would say that they wereleaving and thank you for
keeping us safe for all thosethings.
Or if there was someone thateveryone knew that was injured,
(05:51):
we'd potentially pray for that.
But actually, over the years, Istarted rethinking it and I
thought what a great time.
It's one of the few times whereyou're in high competition,
you're challenging each other,you're pushing.
The bottom line is I'm here tobeat you in order to win.
So, whether you're on theoffense or the defense, we don't
want you to get into the endzone, and the offense wants to
(06:12):
get in there.
And so there's this hugecharged event the fans.
You come into their arena.
They're not too excited whenyou're scoring them, unless
you're from the Rough Riders,and then it's three-quarters of
the stadium is filled with RoughRiders.
But apart from that, at the endof the game, the very first
thing I do is we all hold hands.
It's really kind of a coolthing, and I always say this I
(06:44):
want you to let it go, let it go, and I actually think this has
been a really cool practice forme.
At the end of my day is there'sso many things that hit me or
or knock me, or push me or prodme, or there's some successes
too, and each day has an ending,and at the end of this game is
this group of guys from theopposing teams let it go.
Don't let this define you.
(07:06):
This isn't even a definingmoment.
It's just a moment in time, andso let it go.
And so I've had a number ofplayers who have come up and
said you know what?
It's just been so good for meto leave it on the field so that
I can move on with my game,which is Paul's expression leave
what's behind and move ontowards what's ahead.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So yeah, I should give that lesson to some of the
parents in life.
Oh my God.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
No, that's Jesus.
Says that get behind me Satan.
That's that one, I think.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
All right, great way to open up the podcast.
Thanks for explaining all that.
I appreciate it.
So we are looking for a bit ofyour professional story and how
you got to where you are todayand if you have any snapshots
that were pivotal moments,turning points in that journey.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, I was thinking about that.
I have six for you today, ifyou don't mind, and each has
nine stories attached to it, andso I just can't wait to share
all nine times six.
Well, let me start with this.
Athletics was a big part of ourhome.
I think part of it was to getout of the house.
My parents were like, if you'rejust sitting here being lazy,
(08:18):
we got work for you.
And I was like, okay, we're nothere, so we just played.
And I remember going to schooland there's all these things
that you could do there.
So, whether it was running,jumping, throwing, and so it
became a part of my life.
Not only that, but in highschool I just kept asking these
questions.
You know, when you turn 15, 16,17, you go well, what am I
going to become?
(08:38):
Who am I?
What?
You know all these?
And I really wasn't.
I didn't think I was thesmartest guy, I wasn't the best
looking guy.
I was just like, well, what amI going to do?
I can't go into Hollywood.
I don't really smell good allthe time, everyone seems to stay
away from me.
And it was this athletics tool.
I was just better, faster andstronger than most people and I
(09:02):
just started pouring my lifeinto this, especially basketball
.
At the time it was during LarryBird and Magic Johnson that
just changed the dynamic of theNBA and I just went.
That's what I want to do.
I want to make the NBA.
So I just poured my life intothis game, got into college.
I just think I fluked in, Ithink they took me because I
(09:23):
just ran around like a crazy guy.
But I eventually made the team,made the starting five and at
the end of the year it becamerookie of the year, the first
year, and I was like whoa areyou kidding?
me.
This is it.
I'm that much closer to the NBA.
The following year I just didthe same thing, just put my head
down and went and I remember atthis awards banquet receiving
this award as one of the top 10junior college players in Canada
(09:46):
, called the All-Canadian Awardand just looking at it in my
bedroom most valuable player ofmy team, this All-Canadian thing
and going I've arrived, I'vearrived just about there.
And I remember my third yeargoing everything is going to be
great, I'm going to get drafted,all these things.
I think most of it was a dreamand I got injured.
(10:06):
And so if the first thing wasthis athletics thing which
really made me think I'm allencompassing, when I got injured
and having to deal with this,and then going to UBC to enroll
there because I had ascholarship offer, and I
remember the athletic enrollmentperson coming to me, looking at
(10:29):
my marks and saying, mr Klassen, your marks are terrible.
And well, you know, I tried tocut it off because that's what
you do when you're embarrassedand she goes.
You know what are you goinginto?
I said, well, I'm going to be ateacher, I'm going to teach
those, inspire those.
And she goes.
Well, frankly, mr, I said well,I'm going to be a teacher, I'm
going to teach those, inspirethose.
And she goes.
Well, frankly, mr Klassen, Iwouldn't want you to teach my
(10:50):
children what those words, well,that was.
You know, those are thegreatest moments of your life
when you hear those things.
And so I was just likedevastated, and for that I think
that was a second pivotalmoment in my life.
I knew I was athletic, but thesecond one is I wasn't
all-encompassing, and when I gotinjured which would probably be
the third one I realized that Ineeded something more.
(11:11):
I just couldn't do it.
And that's when I turned toJesus, and that's when I became
a Christian, which became thisthird pivotal moment in my life.
But it's kind of like thethought was, I only wanted
enough of Jesus to make mesuccessful, but not enough to
change my life.
And so in the end, the realityis, yeah, I had Jesus in my
(11:31):
heart and, yeah, I felt at peaceand this whole was changed.
But the reality is I stillcouldn't play, I was stuck, and
so I just turned and gave it allup and said this whole NBA
dream is done and I went intoteaching, which is probably the
fourth thing, which was my wifeand I at that time.
I got married.
We went up to NorthernSaskatchewan, the furthest you
(11:53):
could go.
Lelosh Saskatchewan, and wetaught there for three years and
it was there I went yes finally, and that was where I met
missionaries who taught me allthese things about God I had no
clue about.
And from there we left to go toSimon Fraser University to
finish our degrees and Iremember there, where I played
(12:16):
for the JV team at Simon Fraserand I met this athletes in
action group and I remember themsaying boy, we'd really like
you on staff.
And I remember this fifthcomponent is throwing out a
fleece one time at a fire,helping at a youth rally with a
friend of mine because I wastrying to figure out should I
join staff with Athletes inAction.
(12:37):
He said well, I heard thisGideon guy did this.
Why don't you do it?
I said okay.
So I said, lord, if you want meto join staff with Athletes in
Action, you'll change the rulesthat they have.
And the rules were they wouldonly allow married couples to
come on together, and my wifeRushia is an unbelievable
teacher at that time.
And we came back, we had aphone call, they met with the
(13:03):
administrators with CampusCrusade for Christ at that time,
and they said you'll neverbelieve it, but we're going to
change our policy for you.
And that was the first time forme that I realized God answers
prayers.
And then, finally, number sixwas I've been on staff for a
while, I've been working withAthletes in Action and I had
(13:23):
become the chaplain for theVancouver Grizzlies and I was
coming back from the Sky Trainand I was just thinking about my
life.
I was just thinking aboutathletics and I was thinking
about being denied admission atUBC and this injury and then
becoming a teacher and decidingto join Athletes in Action and I
was like I just never made theNBA.
It was kind of my dream.
And then it was like the HolySpirit said to me no, no, no, no
(13:47):
, Dave, you made the NBA.
You just didn't make it as aplayer, you made it as a
chaplain.
So that was where I realizedthat God's got a way bigger plan
than I do.
And so those are huge, pivotalmoments in my life.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I have a feeling the pivotal moments didn't stop
there.
I think you have a pivotalmoment At this point.
Are you like 24?
I'm thinking you've got a lotof pivotal moments.
Everything seems like it's sogood to see those moments and go
.
This is a pivotal moment ofchange.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah, that's so good.
I think I think sometimes Iforget and that's why I think
the questions were have been sogood to think through for me of,
wow, sometimes I just forgethow good God is, yeah, so thank
you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Oh, you're welcome.
That's why I show up here to bereminded and and these these
interactions on how good God is.
So the second question you haveis is to give us a your best
principle of success and tell usa story that illustrates this.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, I have a few.
I've seen I've just seen to mydaughter today, a few successes
that I would highlight here andum.
So I'm going to give you afailure, are you okay with that?
One day I came home and my son,my oldest son he was doing
something inappropriate.
I think he was standing on abrand new coffee table, scuffing
(15:16):
it up or whatever.
And so I disciplined him, Isent him to his room.
I said you'll never eat for therest of your life.
I can't believe that mom and Isaved our old lives for this.
I can't remember what I said,but I do remember.
Later I was at the supper tableand my bride who's so good at
this says do you think thatmaybe you were a little harsh
(15:36):
with Caleb?
I was like what do you mean?
I was too harsh with him.
You know, like that type ofdeal.
And so we have this dialogue and, as it always works with me,
you know, god kind of hits meand the Holy Spirit massages my
heart.
And I remember walking down thehallway to his bedroom, knocked
on the door.
He invited me and I came in andhe's like Dad, I'm so sorry,
(15:58):
I'm so sorry, I'm like son, it'sokay, it's okay.
And so we talked about it andwe prayed about it and in the
midst of it for whatever it was,maybe Dr Dobson or someone, I
just remember this phrase and Isaid, you know, son, this isn't
the first time I'm going to makea mistake, you know I'm going
to be a little bit too harsh orI'm going to say the wrong word,
(16:18):
but this is the first time I'vebeen a dad.
And so then again we prayed andI was on my way out of the room
and he goes dad, dad.
And I was like what?
Hey, don't forget, this is thefirst time I've been a son too.
And I was like I went overthere and spanked him right away
, cause that was just no.
I was like, yeah, you're soright, like there's this whole
(16:44):
first time.
So I think that's my first,first thought.
The first lesson for success isthat this a lot of times.
It's the first time that we'veever experienced anything.
We've experienced this problemfor the first time.
We experienced the pandemic forthe first time, and so I just
had to accept so many times inthe failure, even in the
successes, that I don't knoweverything.
(17:04):
Like I wish I knew everything.
I wish I knew how things weregoing to work out.
And so the reality is, what Ihad to learn in order to be
successful is to use theresources around me to solve my
problems, to grow, to provideoptions and the best solutions
at the time.
Like, I'm just notall-encompassing.
(17:25):
It's the first time I'm goingthrough this experience and I
need to gather those things.
And the second thing is I alsoneed to realize I'm human.
I'm a human.
God actually made me human.
He made me with imperfections.
He didn't make me perfect, andso I can only be in one place at
one time.
I can only focus on one thingat one time.
I can only focus on one thingat one time.
(17:46):
Well, I have limitationsmentally, I have limitations
physically, I have limitationsemotionally, socially and
spiritually.
And then I think the second partfor me is life's a long game,
it's not a short game, and sothe reality is it's the first
time I've experienced it, butit's a big game here it's not
just a small one.
I get some years.
(18:07):
I get a few years at least.
I hope I get a few more.
I got great grandchildren, Ilove my kids and I love my bride
.
But there's very few bigdecisions in the long game that
you can't defer.
When you're making thedecisions, like, you can usually
get an extra hour, you can getan extra day, you can, even if
(18:28):
banks are phoning you and wantpayments today, you can defer it
.
You can say can I talk to younext week about it?
And so time, time is such agreat, great gift for us.
It's also a healer for us, andthings that fear in our life or
problems that are maybe stoppingus, we can be healed from that.
(18:49):
We can actually turn from that.
And also, I found wisdomsometimes takes time.
It takes time and it takes timefor me to be quiet and listen.
So time has been a very, verygood thing.
I remember, um, or not remember, but right now with the
vancouver canucks uh, losing ingame seven.
(19:09):
It's been hard, like I was justat at the arena yesterday and
and it's been tough.
Those are things that you justdon't get over in one day, but
over time they will.
And and the bc lions arestarting and we got got to the
semifinal last year and we lost.
So people ask coaches all thetime so what's the team look
(19:29):
like?
Speaker 1 (19:30):
What's it look like?
Speaker 3 (19:31):
And I remember Joe Ehrman, this guy from the US.
He had the greatest, greatestline.
He goes well, we'll see in 30years, and I've used that
principle when it came to life'sa long game over and over and
over again in my life with mykids.
The reality is today they maybe the worst kids in the history
(19:52):
of the world or I think theyare but the reality is it's a
long game.
They're developing as leaders.
They're going to do some thingswrong.
It's the first time they'vebeen a kid.
This could have been the mostdevastating day of our life, but
it's a long game and thereality is let's see in 30 years
, because what's devastatingtoday could be a great learning
(20:14):
experience 30 years from now,and it may develop me into a
great grandfather and so on.
So yeah, Nice work.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
So you talked a little bit about at the
beginning.
You talked about mistakes andfailures, but I was going to ask
you about failures and mistakesDo you have another story about
failures and mistakes?
Because we know that we learnmore from them.
That's what makes us successful.
I don't know if you haveanother story to share with us.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I wouldn't want to miss that.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I remember yeah, I think that's how you get wisdom.
To be honest with you, I thinkyou learn.
I think you learn from yourmistakes and that's called wise
and that's why.
So, every person I see withgray hair and, by the way, my
grandmother and my mom and myuncles, they had the whitest
hair in the history of hair soI'm thinking they made a lot of
(21:06):
mistakes in their life and soI'm just, I'm just getting there
.
But the point is, I remember inthe CFL there's a legendary
player.
His name is Angelo Moscow, andwhat an unbelievable player.
Six foot four, 275 poundlineman that played for the CFL.
He was a professional wrestler,His nickname was Mighty
(21:30):
Hercules and he had a few othersattached to it.
He won five Grey cups and Iremember seeing him when he was
in his late sixties and sorry,late eighties and he was at this
hotel while I was at the GreyCup and I walked over to him I
do this all the time, I don'tknow why and I walked over and I
thought he might want tointroduce myself to him.
(21:52):
Hi, my name is Dave Klassen,you know Italian voice.
And then I said to him hey,angelo, if you could do it all
over again, what would you do?
And without hesitation he saysI'd go make different mistakes.
And so I've thought about thatfor years, I've shared that
(22:15):
principle for years and I justthink that the reality is
mistakes just have anopportunity attached to it, and
it's really how we embrace it.
If it defines me, then whathappens is I go internal, but if
I can get over that component,part of it, and I can look at
the opportunity which this otherstory I'll share is my friend,
(22:39):
frank, whose name is FrankTootenhoof.
He's a Dutchman who has thelongest name in the history of
names and he was the campsdirector.
I joined Athletes in Action inthe sports camp division and
then on the campus and I wasjust so excited to play sports
all the time.
But I remember we had hiredthis consulting company to make
(23:01):
our brochure and they had doneall these testing on us and they
had come and asked us all thesequestions and finally the day
came and we it was late into thenight, it was like 7:30, 8
o'clock we had stayed to look atthis brochure and we opened it
up.
We're both looking at and and Icould tell he was disappointed
I go.
Well, frank, what do you thinkhe goes.
This is terrible, this is justlike terrible.
(23:22):
If you knew Frank, he's themost positive individual I know.
I'm like really, and I'mlooking at it and it was
terrible.
There was also.
So finally, we're kind of goingback and forth about how
terrible it was and for whateverreason.
I just ask well, is thereanything on this whole brochure
that you like?
So he takes it, he's fumblingand he's looking at at it and he
goes I like the line, he goesand I go.
(23:47):
I like the line too, and justthe way it was situated.
And from that day forward, I'veused the principle of the line
for years.
Start with the line after thefailure.
It's a great principle, it's agreat restart.
What's the one thing that we cantake away from this mistake?
What's the one thing?
What's the one thing that wecan take away from this mistake?
What's the one thing, what'sthe one thing that we shouldn't
(24:07):
do again?
What's that one person that weshouldn't hire again?
What's the success that we gotthat we didn't anticipate?
It just happened.
What role did I play in this andwhat role did others play in it
?
And then, secondly, when Ibecame the national director,
with Athletes in Action, I meanit was a big job.
(24:31):
It's a huge job.
We have over 100 staff, we seethousands of people reached
every year, we do all sorts ofdifferent things and all
different sports streams.
And I was like, oh, I got tostudy, I got to figure things
out.
But I remember picking up oneparticular book, ray Dalio's
book called Principles, and hereally helped me.
In fact, from that book Ideveloped what I considered my
(24:54):
personal goal, which was I wantto build an exceptionally
effective culture within AIAthat's what I'd like to do One
that strives to achievemeaningful work and meaningful
relationships through radicaltransparency.
And he uses this example of aspring and he talks about it.
(25:19):
Kind of works like this.
It's an awesome principle, Iknow, but it's interesting with
the spring as it goes up, itdoesn't go down, and so the very
first thing is in everythingyou start, you got a goal.
And so in the goal, as you'regoing, all of a sudden you get a
problem, and I know none of youhave had problems out there.
(25:42):
I know if you're at home oryou're at work or wherever you
are.
None of you have had problemsout there.
I know if you're at home oryou're at work or wherever you
are, none of you have problems,but I've had problems.
So one of the thoughts is thatwhen you get to the problem, the
question is in your diagnosis,are you going to be ultra honest
in it?
And what I found is that mostcompanies or businesses, what
(26:04):
happens is, when we get to theproblem part and we diagnosis,
my fears get in there.
Oh, what happens if they findout I made a bad mistake?
Or or my ego gets in the way.
Oh, I'm never wrong.
They hired me not to be wrongand all of these things are I
don't want to look bad, becauseif I look bad, the reality is.
Then what happens is, if we'renot ultra honest, then we just
(26:25):
leave things the way they areand they hope to get better.
And how does that been workingfor all of us lately?
And the reality is?
But in the process, if we'reultra honest, what we do is we
redesign, we adapt, we changeand we get this loop.
It goes up and then we planproblem, this loop.
It goes up and then we planproblem ultra honest strategy,
(26:47):
redesign and it creates thisloop.
It's a great principle, and soone of the very first things I
did with meeting with my staffwas.
I taught them about the springand I was like I don't really
care if we fail, I want to seemore failures.
In fact, I just had a staffmember who did something, and it
(27:08):
was probably $2,000 worth ofdamage and he came to me with
his head down.
He says, Dave, I said, well,show me what you did.
And he showed me and I saidthat's awesome, you should have
made more of a mess.
And he I think he almost Idon't know if he almost died,
but I mean he was reallysurprised.
But you can't be innovative.
You can't bake a new or make anew item at home.
(27:35):
You can't do any of thosethings without making a mess.
And so that's innovation at itsbest.
And so the reality is thespring.
For me, being ultra honest,ultra transparent, has been
outstanding in regards tohelping me.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, so I know exactly the graphic.
You're talking about the spring, it's an A to B and it's just
got these loops and you knowyou're always going up.
I've used it before, I use itin a leader impact speech and my
translator has went woono-transcript.
(28:26):
Sprung me to something biggerAwesome.
So at Leader Impact, which Iknow you know about us, we want
to grow personally,professionally and spiritually
for increasing impact.
So if you'd be willing to sharean example of how the spiritual
makes a practical difference inyour life as a leader.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, I think it's.
Athletes in Action began 50years ago, so it's our 50th
anniversary.
That's why I look so young here, because I was born but we're
50 years old.
So it was a group of CFLplayers at that time who some
were Christian All of them wereChristians but some were in the
league at the CFL, some wereoutside the league.
(29:06):
There were pastors.
There were other leaders withinthe community and some
representatives from CampusCrusade for Christ.
They met in Ontario at CircleSquare Ranch trying to figure
out pray through Bible study.
It was a whole weekend it justhappened the April couple of
weekends ago and they weretrying to discern how they could
(29:29):
be used, how they could usetheir platform, how they could
infiltrate athletics, and in theprocess of that, they came up
with Athletes in Action, whichhad already been established in
the US, and they brought it toCanada.
And so that's who we are.
That's how we started 50 yearsago.
We started with prayer, westarted with Bible study, we
(29:50):
started with people on theirknees seeking, and I think the
bottom line is right there is,that's it.
I got to start somewhere.
And I mean, I've already triedall those other methods and they
just it's not that they don'twork, they do work, but I've
(30:10):
just prayer, bible study andseeking him.
So there's this threecomponents to everything.
For me is personally,practically and potentially.
About five years ago we had oneof our great events.
It's called the Grey CupBreakfast and we usually have
it's a week-long event.
(30:31):
During Grey Cup week, from theMonday through to the Friday we
go into prisons, we go intomarginalized groups and we talk
to them about the person thatcould change their life.
Not another drug hit, notanother thing is Jesus
transforms lives, and so we talkto them about that.
But we also just come intoplaces to care for them, because
(30:51):
nobody's choosing to go to theprisons to speak, nobody's
choosing to go to relief centersor these other places, but we
do.
And then on the Saturday wehave this big breakfast it's
right, usually in the conventioncenter where everything happens
, and we bring the marginalizedin there and all and these
groups, and we bring athletes upfront and we interview them
(31:13):
about real life issues.
What's life like in the CFL?
How do you deal with with thedifficulties of the game?
Or how do you deal?
How do, how do you as a wifedeal with when you're listening
in the crowd and someone'scriticizing your husband in the
crowd?
You know how do you punch them,where do you punch them for
those type of things.
But the point is we have many,many dignitaries that come and
(31:35):
speak and it's a very popularevent and this year in Vancouver
it will be popular as well.
But Andy Ambrose, the CFLcommissioner, a good friend of
mine, he has come and he'sgladly puts it in his calendar
during that week.
He says this line.
He says this line and it juststuck with me Athletes in action
is a sanctuary for thosepracticing their faith and a
(31:58):
beacon for those pursuing it.
Athletes in action is asanctuary for those practicing
their faith and a beacon forthose pursuing it.
And so from that I realized,and then, just addressing the
question, I realized that for mepersonally, god is my beacon.
He's this rock, this place ofrest, this place of safety.
(32:20):
It's when all of us I don'tknow if when you go home, like I
used to, when my parents usedto travel to Manitoba and we'd
go see my grandmother and I'dwalk in the door and there's
just the smell of baked buns andI'm home, I'm so home.
And then raspberry jam.
I'm in heaven, like it's likethe two great.
Or rhubarb jam, oh my gosh.
(32:42):
But God's this beacon for mepersonally.
He's always there, he's alwayspresent, even though I feel he's
not there.
He's always there, he's strong,he's pointing the way.
But it's not just been thisbeacon, this place that I can go
to, he's been my sanctuary.
It's where I found him.
It's kind of like the woman whowas following Jesus, who had
(33:03):
been bleeding all these years,and she touches his robe and he
says somebody touched me, mypower came out or I felt power,
leave me.
He turns and he looks at her.
The sanctuary part is where youfeel Jesus is looking at you.
You feel you're looked at forwho you are.
It's okay, you feel him, heknows you, he loves you, he
(33:24):
accepts you, he sees you, lovesyou.
It's where I can rest.
But it's not just there, it'seven practically.
The whole beacon part for me isit's the place in the confines
of the job when I'm like, oh mygosh, is this happening again?
Oh, my goodness.
And it's just this place whereI go to.
I have, I can't go here, Ican't go there.
(33:45):
And it's this beacon.
It's like, oh, I forgot aboutyou, yeah, and then it's a
sanctuary, it's this place whereI can just turn to the group.
Sometimes we're trying to dealwith a major problem.
I go, hey, how about we justput everything down and we pray
about it?
We just seek him.
(34:08):
But it's not just personallyand practically, it's also
potentially and it's the we'llsee in 30 years and we'll see
what happens in 30 years.
And I've just seen God over allthese years with me stepping
out because I just honestly, I'mnot that smart, I just don't
(34:32):
have it.
I wish I did, but he is.
And so the last part is whywouldn't, if I don't have it and
I'm truly honest about it whywouldn't I, as a Christian, rely
on the greatest power source inthe history of the world that
can create mountains in a world,create people, the power of
(34:52):
three the Father, son and HolySpirit.
And so that's kind of how I seeit.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I think you've explained it quite well.
You're very inspirational.
My cheeks hurt from smilingjust listening to you.
It's so good.
This kind of leads into aquestion about legacy.
Just, you know, when you leavethis world, because at Leader
Impact we're about leadersmaking a lasting impact.
I mean that's why you'reinvolved with Athletes in Action
(35:23):
for 30 years or, you know, forso long.
So, as you continue to movethrough your own journey and
what an amazing journey it ishave you considered what you
want your faith legacy to bewhen you leave this world?
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Oh, I think about it all the time.
Most of the time I think Idon't do enough.
I honestly think I didn't doanything today.
I like man.
There's so much more to do.
I wish God hadn't made us so wecould sleep, because I really I
(36:00):
would use every minute and I'mnot talking to work on God's
work.
I like golf too, so it would benice if the sun was out.
But I think for me, thinkingthrough it, I really live.
I just want to live my faith.
(36:20):
I don't want it to be a part ofmy life, I want it to be a way
of my life, and so that's howI've lived.
I want it to be a part of mylife, I want it to be a way of
my life, and so that's how I'velived.
I want it to be a way of mylife, so in the way of my life.
I remember a couple years ago, afriend of mine who was a
trainer with the Abbotsford Heatat that time, which was the
affiliate for the Calgary Flames.
They had a team in Abbotsfordand I was the chaplain with them
(36:42):
and I was in the mall I was atthe Bay, I think it was and he
came in and he brought one ofthe players and he had led the
player to Christ, and so he sawme.
He goes, Dave, and he comes upto me Because I always said to
him I said, hey, we'reco-chaplains in this man, I'm
not doing this job by myself.
(37:02):
So anyways, he was reallyexcited and so he introduces him
.
I knew who the player was, so Iput my arms around the player
and we're kind of kibitzing andlaughing and I go hey, let's
pray.
And so anyways, I prayed and Ididn't make a big noise like
that, I just said I just startedpraying.
But later he said, Dave, Inever thought that you could
pray in a mall in the bay andI've had other people, because
(37:28):
if you're a friend of mine andI'll phone you up and if you
don't answer I'll go hey, lisa,can I pray for you?
And then I'll pray on the phoneand I've had friends of mine go
, dave, I didn't know you couldpray on the phone, like that's
thank you for praying, ablessing of whatever it is.
So I really think I just don'twant to leave any stone
(37:50):
untouched in my faith walk.
I don't want to get to heavenand go.
Oh, there was a couple morethings that you should have
thought of.
And then I think the secondthing is I didn't hold back.
Like I didn't hold back.
Like I didn't hold back.
Actually, what was the desireof my heart?
There's a man excuse me inscripture by the name of Tola.
(38:13):
Nobody will know who it is, ormost won't and underneath this
it's in Judges, chapter 10.
I just use this as a chapelwith the Vancouver Canucks and
I'll use it for the BC Lions.
So no Lions watch this, becauseI'm going to be giving you this
as a chapel with the VancouverCanucks and I'll use it for the
BC Lions.
So no Lions watch this, becauseI'm going to be giving you this
as a chapel.
But Tola was this guy, and it'sTola and Jar J-A-I-R.
(38:33):
Jola had 30 sons who rode 30donkeys and they lived in 30
cities.
So I have no clue what thatmeans.
That's all it says and that'swhat you got to live with.
But Tola says something alittle bit different, says Tola
lived, then he rose up, he ledIsrael for 23 years and then he
died.
And after I read that through mydevotions I realized I think
(38:56):
that is exactly how we'resupposed to live our lives, that
God gives us breath and he'seventually going to take it away
one day, and that there'sthings in our world all the time
.
It doesn't have to be in my job,but it's my neighbor who needed
help the other day, or it's theperson, robert, who stands on
the street corner with his cupall the time, or it's all these
(39:19):
other things.
I have to rise up.
I can't just sit there.
I just never have been able tosit there, neither can my wife,
neither can my kids, and so I'mhere for a reason and a purpose
and a destiny.
So I want to rise up, and inthe process, all of us have a
chance to lead somewhere,something and so on, and then
(39:41):
I'm going to lead for as long asthe Lord wants me to lead, and
then I'm going to die.
I think that's really it.
And then the last part for meis and I just heard this, I
couldn't put it into words untilI heard a pastor recently that
said this, and I'll just put itin my words Dave lived a life
where Jesus was the one he waslooking for, and I want to
(40:05):
continue to look for him for mylife, not all those other things
.
And so that's my answer, younglady.
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Excellent answer, Dave.
So our last question is alwaysthe same for everyone, because
we want to know what brings youthe greatest joy.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Well, podcasts obviously.
Clearly you're funny.
Thank you, lisa, for asking allthose questions.
Was that what you want, miss s?
Speaker 2 (40:35):
well, it should be your wife, and then your
children.
Those are always.
There's a dog in there, thatwas.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
That was last week's wait a minute yeah, we have the
great cat, uh, copper, who's therat killer we love.
Okay, well, you love, um, Ithink I have.
Uh, there's lots of differentthings, but, as I was thinking
through it, um, definitely mywife russia.
Uh, they're just somethingabout when we travel, when we
(41:03):
speak together, uh, when we'reon our balcony.
Our kids, for our 25thanniversary, bought us outdoor
patio furniture I think theysolicited some of my friends and
all that.
But the reality is we just sitin that with a cup of whatever
it's going to be coffee and justlook at the skyscape and we
(41:26):
don't have to say anything.
Sometimes the sun's out or themoon's out, and there's just
something about that moment.
With her traveling, with her,we're building a big, we took
out all the railway ties in theback of our yard and we're
putting up a big wall rock walland we're not doing it.
But actually I've reallyenjoyed doing the project with
her together, um, so I think,just doing those things together
(41:49):
and um.
And then the second one's mykids.
I think when I see them takeradical face steps, my son in
his early 30s decided you knowwhat, dad, I think I want to be
a doctor.
And I was like, okay, I thoughtyou should have been a doctor
when you turned 19, but nowyou're going to make that
decision.
That's great.
But he has now three kids andI'm like, wow, you're crazy.
(42:11):
My other daughter travels theworld, going to the hardest
parts of the world, because sheloves wanting to help women.
My other daughter, who hasthree jobs one she's a phys ed
teacher, she coaches, she'shelping other people I'm like,
how do you do it?
My son, who plays professionalbasketball overseas, who just
(42:33):
uses his life over and over totalk about Jesus and to expand
the world.
And my daughter-in-laws whojust have given their lives to
not just support their husbandsbut also to use their lives to
make such a difference.
And then my grandchildren.
I love when I look in theireyes and I see life, I see
(42:55):
attitude, I see creativity.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
I see fun, I see sassiness.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
I see humor, I see so much innovation by all the
broken things and all that intheir house, fixing things and
leadership in their eyes andtheir actions and then I think
my job, I really enjoy my job.
I love my job, I love my staffand I think I didn't ever think
(43:20):
that I would enjoy this as muchas I do now.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Maybe it's partially I'm a little bit older and more
sensitive, but I used to loverunning up mountains and
claiming the mountain andyelling down hurry up the site's
great, I'm going to the nextone, you know, or starting
something new, you know, ifsomeone said to me, Dave, you'll
never be able to do that, I waslike, oh, that's adrenaline,
(43:45):
that's my, that's my, that's mydrug of choice.
Speaker 3 (43:48):
And I was like but now I don't, I don't again,
maybe it's I just like that golfgame, or something like that.
I just love it when I get phonecalls from my staff going Dave,
I tried this or, and I'm likewow, that's so cool, and so I'm
just so proud of them what theydo, and so I think that's yeah,
(44:10):
there you go.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
You know, listening to you, there is so much joy in
your life and you're one ofthose people that people want to
be around, because you are solike.
You find such joy in everything, from having coffee on your
deck, them work, you know, oryou know the skies I think you
said skies, you said skyscrapers, then you said skyscape,
(44:33):
skyscape.
Um, you know, to children, tograndchildren, to you.
Just, there's so much joy andyou've brought joy to me, so I'm
gonna.
You know, my greatest joy rightnow is you.
Speaker 3 (44:49):
I wish it was like that all the time.
I'm a human, I learnedsomething about the Holy spirit,
because there's the fruits ofthe spirit love, joy, patience,
kindness, and you go down thewhole list.
And I was like, dang, whydidn't God give us a pill Like
that would have been so muchfunnier I mean, we're not
funnier that would have been somuch funnier, I mean, or not
funnier?
It would have been so mucheasier.
Like I suck today, I'm critical, you know, take the pill.
Oh yeah, you know, it justdoesn't work for me and usually,
(45:10):
like I said, it's like stop it,you know.
And then you massage my heartand then eventually I got to
apologize.
So I used to evaluate the endof the year by how few times I
had to apologize this year incomparison to the year before or
the years prior.
But I realized one day after Iwas thinking through the fruits
(45:33):
of the Spirit, I realized thatin order to get joy, in order to
get some of thesecharacteristics, you actually
have to go through tough times.
I remember saying to a coach onetime with the Lions, because he
showed me his theme and Iwanted to know it so I could
write chapels around it, andthere was three words and one of
them was courage.
And I said, coach, you reallywant courage in there?
(45:53):
He goes yeah, I love courage, Igo, I know.
But just think about it.
The only way you get courage isyou got to walk in fear.
Do you really want courage asone of your defining themes?
Like, all year long, we'regoing to walk in fear in order
to get this courage thing.
He's like well, that's a goodidea.
No, I'm going to keep it.
But the point is is that allthe fruits of the spirit are the
(46:13):
same way.
It's like I got to go throughthis tough time in order to
develop love, to develop.
So, you know, that's why Ithink I hang on to the failures
more, because that's where I'velearned more and that's actually
where I've been taught aboutthe fruits of the Spirit,
(46:35):
because, yeah, god, father, sonand Holy Spirit, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (46:41):
Yeah, wow, Dave, thanks for sharing this last 46
minutes with us.
I really just appreciate andit's funny I knew, coming in
this, you were a funny guy and Iknew the stories were just
going to roll and I knew mycheeks were hurt and I just
thank you for spending this timewith us today.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
I'm going to have to take a trip out there and come
to some conference you're at, orI'm just going to have you here
.
I'm going to get you speakinghere.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (47:10):
That's what I'm thinking.
So generally, we ask people atthe end if anybody wants to
contact you.
Are you on LinkedIn or is therea good place that we can find
Dave Klassen?
Speaker 3 (47:22):
Yeah, I'm on LinkedIn .
Facebook seems like you got tobe, you know, 118 years old, and
so you can get me on Facebook.
You can take my phone number ifyou want to text me Honestly.
At every Family Life ConferenceI give because I'm a big, I'm a
big fan of people who want touse their life, and so I give my
(47:47):
cell phone out and said justcontact me and we'll get
together for coffee.
I love Starbucks and so thereality is very few people do it
, because I actually do believenot a lot of people want to
change, and I think the biggerone for me not to give you
(48:08):
another story, but the realityis, I remember when I first
became a dad and my wife decidedit was time for me to learn
what being a dad was.
So she said, hey, I'm justgoing to go out for a little
while, which meant hours, and um, I'm going to leave you with.
(48:28):
So I was like, yeah, no problem, I'm up to this.
But over time my son keptwalking past me over and over
again and, man, he wasn'tsmelling very good and I was
like trying to figure out whatthe deal was, because maybe he
was I don't know um, because itcouldn't come from my side of
the family.
And then I started seeingchunks in the diaper and I was
(48:49):
like, oh, you're doing thatstuff.
And then, well, mom will behome soon.
And so then that didn't happenfor another couple hours.
So I'm like, okay, I'm up forthis challenge, man.
And so I brought him into thebathroom, laid him on the floor,
pulled off that diaper it wasdisgusting, like he doesn't chew
his food even at that age andso swabbed him down through the
thing and realized I didn't havea diaper.
(49:11):
So I was like you know, youjust stay there, Don't you move?
And I ran into the bedroom,came back with the diaper and
he's crying, and at first I waslike, oh, what's wrong with you?
I just changed the worst diaperin the history of diapers.
And Like, oh, what's wrong withyou?
I just changed the worst diaperin the history of diapers.
And then I realized that hewasn't afraid, he was cold,
(49:34):
because when I put the diaper onand all those things, he just
stopped.
And I think that's the samething for all of us is that
we're more comfortable in thecrop we live in than we are
getting in the cold.
We live in and we are gettingin the cold and so I think, for
(49:54):
all of us, feel free to text meand go through Lisa and get that
number and I'd love to talk toyou.
And yeah, let's go for it.
Speaker 2 (49:59):
Wow, I'm texting you All right.
Well, Dave, again thank you,and we're going to end it here,
unless you have another story.
Speaker 3 (50:12):
You said 15 minutes.
I can't believe it's 40.
So there you go.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
We're at 50 now.
All right, thank you, Dave.
I appreciate your time with ustoday.
Thank you, lisa.
(50:41):
You will also find on ourwebpage chapter one of Braden
Douglas' book Becoming a Leaderof Impact.
You can also check our groupsavailable in Canada at leader
impact.
ca or, if you're listening fromanywhere else in the world,
check out leader impact.
com or get in touch with us byemail info at leader impact.
com and we will connect you.
And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
(51:03):
us a rating or review.
This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
Thank you for engaging with us.
Speaker 1 (51:15):
And remember impact starts with you.
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