May 2, 2025 • 24 mins
"Did you know that you can find God’s purpose in the challenges of life? Today we continue with former NFL quarterback Dr. Gary Cuozzo’s story—how God transformed his personal tragedy into a powerful ministry of faith, hope, and purpose, as he shared Christ and anti-drug messages in schools."
Former NFL quarterback Dr. Gary Cuozzo shares his transformative journey from tragedy to ministry, revealing how God used his son's death in 1990 to launch years of speaking in high schools about both substance abuse dangers and the gospel message. His powerful testimony illustrates how tribulation produces perseverance, character, and ultimately joy—not fleeting happiness but the deep assurance of eternal life in Christ.
• Finding ministry purpose through personal tragedy
• Speaking in New Jersey high schools for 7-8 years despite resistance to gospel message
• Experiencing Romans 5 transformation: tribulation → perseverance → character → joy
• Leading multiple Bible studies in his Florida retirement community
• Growing in scripture knowledge through "Shepherd School" and Chuck Smith's teachings
• Understanding that earthly life is "a speck in time" compared to eternity
• Celebrating 60 years of marriage with his wife Peggy
• Continuing faithful service in his 80s
While you're still breathing, please come to the Lord. Just ask Him if what we're saying is true, ask Him to come into your life, forgive you of your sin, and live through you. How hard is that? Stop being so stubborn. Give Him a chance.
Fellowship Of Christian Athletes - FCA:
https://www.fca.org/
Gary Cuozzo Truth In Sports:
https://truthinsports.org/gary_cuozzo/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lord, you know you will now listen to Plays on Word
Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
It's the best.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
The ultimate joy of knowing that you have eternal
life in Christ.
Plus, you have a partner Jesus'Holy Spirit is part of our
lives and if we can see that andfeel that and act on it, it
gives you comfort and you havejoy in spite of the
circumstances.
And I think it takes a matterof turning to the Lord, because
he created us.
He wants us to honor Him, Imean in our lives.
(00:29):
He created us to love Him andwe love stuff in the world
that's our natural flesh is togo in.
The only name You're the onlyname.
You're the only name.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we
discuss, analyze, work and playon the Word of God.
Thank you for joining us onthis excursion.
Today let's join Pastor Teddy,also known as Fred David Kenny
Jr, the founder of Plays on WordTheater, as he does a deep dive
into the Word of God.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
And good afternoon everybody.
How are you today?
And it's not even afternoon,it's morning, good morning.
Yes, I had to do it again,sorry.
This is another edition of asports edition of Plays on Word
Radio.
Thank you very much, katieKenney for that intro and Josh
Taylor yeah, we are continuingour conversation with the great
(01:52):
Gary Quazo, my man, check it out.
If I was to ask you and this isprobably a tough question to get
around can you think of whatmight be your top couple or top
ministry experience?
If I said, tell me somethingthat really impacted you, it's
top of your list.
I'll give you an example Me, Iwent into the prison and we did
one of our plays in the prisonand you know, at the end of the
(02:16):
play, the Genesis Joe play,which you still need to see
we've got to find a way to dothat for you the Genesis Joe
play and a bunch of the inmateswhere they gave their life to
the Lord right at the end of it,and that was a highlight of
ministry for me.
Do you have anything that youcan think of that was just
special and really.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, the hardest and I imagine you might remember,
after my son was killed in 1990,and I was involved in a drug
kind of thing and the wholething, and I wound up getting a
bunch of letters that he hadwritten to me in his room at the
college, where he never mailedthem to me and after the funeral
I had prayed the night.
(02:52):
I had to go down to identifyhis body in Florida.
God would use his life in someway and I didn't understand how
I even prayed that.
I just believe the spirit ledme to think that I just wanted
to be reassured that he was achristian and reassured that god
would use his life because Iwas devastated.
Um, and I from that point on Ispoke, probably for the next
(03:13):
seven or eight years in the highschools in new jersey, all over
everywhere, sharing, sharinggospel everywhere, because I had
no other answers, uh, for themabout drugs.
But they wanted me to come totalk about the drugs thing.
So they would invite me forthat but they didn't want to
hear about the gospel.
But I didn't want to, Iwouldn't go, they would give a
disclaimer.
But then that came to an endaround 2000 when I went
(03:34):
back-to-back schools and theywere a junior high and a senior
high and they canceled me out.
If I remember exactly, theycanceled me out to senior high.
They just didn't want.
You know, mentioning Jesus in apublic school was rather,
really difficult in 1993, 4, 5,and all that.
Not that it's any easier now,but so that was, I would say
would be, the highlights of myministry life.
(03:56):
And then pretty much, you know,I'd talk with the kids
afterwards, just stay and talkto them without any of the
teachers there, and I reallyopened my eyes to what was going
on in this world with kids.
And nowadays it's probablyworse because of the internet,
but God used that in my life forthe crisis, so everything about
(04:17):
it was so bad, but it made meso sad sometimes when I was
speaking about it In fact.
I'm speaking in about a week anda half at a church down here
about, you know, similar.
You know basically my testimony, but really what God has used
that in my life to truly change.
And then, bruce, when Brucecame back to start a church, we
(04:39):
started a church in, you know,four Winds.
Four Winds, right, that was Ted.
I was on the phone with Bruce.
He was in ministry school inCalifornia with Chuck Smith
Because Bruce was there as anSCA guy and we were really close
friends.
And I was talking to himbecause I'd been down to
Charlottesville, virginia, to aPCA church.
That was really just a reallygreat place for me to be to see
(05:02):
how a church was really reachingkids.
And I asked Bruce about wouldhe ever come back and start a
church in Jersey?
I was a little frustrated withthe way the churches had been
that I'd been to, even thoughI'm sure many people came to the
Lord through them.
But I just thought it wasn't, Idon't know I liked when the
Calvary Chapel movement I didn'tknow anything about.
(05:23):
Matter of fact, Greg Lurie'sfather, oscar, was a friend of
mine.
He was a lawyer and he helpedus with SCA and he told me I met
him outside my office one dayand he said you know, my son led
me to the Lord and I didn'tknow who Greg Lurie was.
Wow, that was before I evenever heard of Calvary Chapel.
(05:44):
And so then, when Bruce cameback, he put us through a thing
called Shepherd School.
You know, we started the churchand we had two years of
Shepherd School, which enabledus to, you know, get a pastor.
You know, we became pastors andhad ministry, and it was a
great time of studying the Bible.
I had never studied the Bible.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I really hadn't.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I didn't know it very well, I knew some, I knew this
and that.
But we, I didn't know it verywell, I knew some, I knew this
and that, but Chuck Smith hastapes on the entire Bible, yeah,
and we had to listen to themverse by verse, and so I was
really impressed with theCalvary Chapel movement.
It's really affected a lot ofAmerica's non-denominational
(06:20):
churches and my son, jeff, asyou know, is a Calvary pastor.
Yeah, he works with JoelRosenberg over in israel and
he's in england too.
So, yeah, but if you talk aboutthe highlight moments, I would
think that was the highlightsand pretty much this fca stuff
and being with those kids andstill, uh, I lead a bible study
down here on um mondays whichI'm prepared for for tomorrow.
(06:42):
Okay, and we got what are youteaching?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
What part of the description?
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Actually we're doing videos.
We're doing it on Easter.
It's a series on Easter.
We'll have a little bit of asharing.
I've got to give a testimonyand then we're going to watch a
video and then break up intogroups and share.
We've been averaging close to40 guys a week.
We're in season down here.
I don't know if you understand,laura, you know the snowbirds
(07:09):
and all that, yeah, but inseason we'll get, you know, 40
guys.
We've had some more than that,some, and the club allows us to
use the facility, which is great, wow, and some of the guys will
play golf afterwards Okay,which I used, but no, that's
another highlight for me, and Ithink it's really been helpful
(07:31):
to me to stay involved in ateaching position type thing,
because it keeps me motivated tostudy the Word.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Amen, Amen.
You know that when you startedgetting into the Word you said
when Bruce had you guys doingthe Shepherd.
School I bet your faith was justlike expanded.
It's nothing like the Word ofGod.
It's nutrients, man.
It's nutrition for the soul andpeople.
They don't understand that andthat's one of the.
I mean, that's the hallmark ofwhat we do at Calvary, southport
(08:03):
, and you know manyBible-believing churches.
It's about feeding people theword of God, man, because that's
where the power is, in the wordof God.
Right, you saw firsthand.
It's amazing though, the fromthat dark top, from that
difficult dark time, you even inlike at ground zero in the
Mitch, you said you had to goidentify as chips, body and was
(08:24):
awful, but yet you, you prayed.
You know, lord, I don't knowhow you can, but if you can make
some, if Lord is there, any wayyou can make some good.
Come out of this Somethingsomething.
Lord and now you know, lookingback, you can see that the Lord
did.
He did use that and youimpacted many people.
What would you, what would I?
Have two questions here.
What would you say to someonewho might be in a difficult
(08:47):
position, a dark place right now, maybe feeling like God is not
paying attention to them, maybeGod forgot about them or that
they're not even on God's radar?
What would you say to them?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Well, the fifth chapter of Romans, I think,
really affected me during thiswhole thing when I talked about
tribulation producingperseverance, perseverance
producing character andcharacter producing joy.
And I think the happiness partof life is not what this is
talking about, because there's alot of unhappy things that
happen like that, but the theultimate joy of knowing that you
(09:19):
have eternal life in christ,plus you have a partner, you
know, I mean, jesus is holyspirit, is part of our lives and
, yeah, if we can see that andfeel that and act on it, it does
.
It gives you comfort and youhave joy in spite of the
circumstances.
And I think it takes a matterof turning to the Lord, because
he created us.
He wants us to honor Him in ourlives.
(09:43):
He created us to love Him andwe love stuff and the world and
that's our natural flesh is togo in the opposite direction and
you know that's our naturalflesh is to go in the opposite
direction.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
you know, yeah, that's I actually.
I just preached on what youjust talked about.
If we could just we could focuson Him.
I mean, we're in Ephesians, sowe're in chapter one there.
We just finished it and talkingabout if we knew who he is, if
we know who he is and who we arein Him, who he has called us
that's a perspective changer andthat we're seated in the
(10:15):
heavenlies with Him and we haveHis Spirit as the guarantee of
the glory that's still coming.
What would you, what would GaryQuazo 2025 say to Gary Quazo
1990?
What would you say if you had atime machine?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
you could just encourage yourself somehow.
Well, I'd say, when I seepeople running down the street,
I'd say I used to be able to dothat.
This aging thing has taken itstoll on me.
I just didn't know I'd I didn'trealize how much it would in
terms of physical, because I'vereally always done stuff and I,
(10:55):
I work out of, you know, aboutfive times a week if I can, and
that that helps me.
Uh, yeah, just, you know tostay somewhat, but I, I, I the
gary now, I just I did it.
I don't know what I would tellmyself exactly, but just saying,
you know, just to be, stayclose to the lord and amen,
bring it on to him.
I have a, you know, the mondaystudy.
We have a tuesday night biblegroup.
(11:17):
I have a thursday virtual, uh,bible study with guys, four or
five guys, and so we stay closeto the word, close to other
christians, and I really thinkthe fellowship, uh, I don't have
too many non-christian friends.
I mean I don't mind being with,you know, guys, or I mean I like
to, but I there's so values,the value system is so different
.
Uh, and I don't mind being withguys.
I mean I liked it, but there'sso values, the value system is
so different and I don't wanttheir value system, even though
(11:40):
sometimes the flesh, some ofthat, is appealing.
But I gave up, basically gaveup alcohol somewhere in the
mid-90s because I was speakingto kids and I didn't want to.
I felt like I was hypocritical,if you know, if I ever drank and
so that's like that stuff.
You know we're just and notthat there's something bad,
because the Bible talks aboutdrinking wine, I mean it's not
(12:02):
like I, just I, just personally.
It was a one thing and I I'mthankful to get through to this
point in my life to know theLord, in fact, I just recently
you year started.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
You try to google anybody in their 80s.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Most of them are dead .
Yeah, yeah, you're right, yeah,yeah so I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I'm in the 80s pretty good, right?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
yeah, so I my friends , a lot of them have died, uh
but yeah yeah, with the lord.
Uh, we'll see him soon you know, amen.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
What would you say?
I got one last thing I'm tryingto get get wisdom from gary
quazo.
This could be.
I wish I had some here.
What would you say to?
I got one last thing.
I'm trying to get wisdom fromGary Quazo.
This could be a wish I hadsomewhere.
What would you say to someonewho might be in their 80s, in
the sunset period of their oftheir life?
What would you say to somebodythat still not sure about this
Jesus stuff?
You know what would?
What would you say to them,gary Quazo, in his 80s now?
(12:52):
What would you say to that, theperson that has, for whatever
reason, the Lord has kept themalive, to hear?
what you have to say yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I would really encourage them to get in the
Word and spend a lot of timewith the Lord during the day,
during the morning, and praythat the Holy Spirit would
enlighten them to the fact thatwhat Jesus did at the cross is
real.
Yeah, and especially at Easter.
When you think about it now,the reason we have Easter is
because Jesus went to the cross,took that beating for us, for
(13:23):
our sin, and that we all aresinners saved by grace.
It's just a matter of applyingthat to your life, before you
know it gets over on this earthand where you spend eternity,
like with Lazarus and the richman.
You know, across that chasmthere you can't talk.
I mean, hell's real, Satan'sreal and this whole thing is.
You need Christ, you want to bein the book of life, and the
(13:44):
Bible speaks of that and the joyand the peace that you get is
real and you can die withcomfort, knowing that there is
eternal life.
This is just a speck in time.
This little 80 years or so wespent on this earth and we're
going to spend eternity iscritical, and it's because God
(14:05):
loves us and because God diedfor us.
We need to see it that way andnot just see it as a story that
happened 2,000 years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, and I like what you said.
This lifetime right now it's sosmall.
And to think that this lifetimeis all there is, that would be
like me telling Gary Quazo backin 1963, the NFL is all there is
.
You know what I mean.
And there was way more to life.
That period of time is short incomparison to the life you've
lived.
Eternity, in comparison to thelife we've lived on this side of
(14:35):
glory, is gigantic.
Compared to you know, this lifeis so small.
And the thing is he paid such aprice.
He's not playing games witheternity and salvation.
So if someone comes to himtruly and says, lord, if you're
real, please come into my life,he's going to answer that he
will honor that.
(14:55):
He spent way too much.
One drop of the blood of Christis worth more than all the real
estate in Naples and everywhereelse in the entire universe put
together.
And he shed his blood for us sothat we would know him and not
have to spend eternity withouthim.
And I know not many folks intheir 80s.
(15:15):
Like you said, many people havechecked out, but I know some
that I'm praying, listen to ourconversation here and I'm going
to send this to them Becauseit's while we'll still have
breath.
It's not too late to get rightwith the Lord While we still
have breath.
We need to make this side ofeternity, this side of glory,
count so that when we get to theother side, you know and I've
(15:39):
used this example and I used it,I've used you in it I probably
should pay you royalties.
But the story about when Iwatched the football game, when
I watched the Superbowl with you, right, I said, I said, listen,
I had the opportunity to watchthe Superbowl with an NFL
quarterback who knows the gameand played the game at the
highest level.
(15:59):
And I said you know, there aregoing to be some people that get
to heaven, get to glory ontheir deathbed.
They say, okay, lord, jesus, ifyou're real, please come into
my life and save me before theydie.
They get in, but they didn'tspend any time getting to know
him on this side of glory.
They didn't spend any timelearning about the amazing
things about God.
And I give the example.
(16:19):
I said, listen, I was watchingthe game with Gary Quazo.
We're watching the same game,we're watching the same exact
game, but Gary enjoyed it at amuch richer, deeper level
because of the time he spentinvolved in it.
I didn't spend nearly the timehe did, and there are many
(16:41):
people that, since we arespending time getting to know
the Lord on this side of gloryand we're investing in our
relationship with him we'regoing to appreciate and have a
richer experience.
We're both going to be at thesame game, we're both going to
be in glory, but the person thatjust on their deathbed,
received Christ and then theperson that has walked with him
(17:05):
for a lifetime and learned theways of God and the things of
God, it's going to be a deeper,richer, a greater experience of
eternity.
We're both there.
We're both there, hooray,hallelujah.
But I tell you, I've used thatgame example because I said,
gary, man, he appreciated thegame at a much higher level than
I couldn't comprehend some ofthe things that you were even
(17:26):
saying.
So, yeah, I definitely put theappeal out Please come to the
Lord while you're stillbreathing, because when you're
not breathing it's too late.
Two last things, and they'reshort.
I'm kicking myself because Playson Word made our Florida debut
(17:48):
a few weeks back and we went toNaples and something was nagging
me about Naples while we werethere the whole time.
I'm saying I feel like there'ssomething about Naples, but I
couldn't put my finger on.
Then, as we were leaving, Iremembered, I said, oh, I think
Gary and Peggy are here.
Oh, my goodness.
And I sent a text to Gary.
I said, gary, are you in Naplesand you're like, yes, and I was
(18:09):
like I could have stopped byand said hello, man, I was.
I'm still kicking myself.
Tell us about Peggy, yourbeloved bride.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Well, we'll be married 60 years in June.
Yes, 60 years, and both of us.
You know we've had a little bitof the healthy stuff going on.
Peggy just had a heart valverepaired, which worked out
really well.
Oh good, good the catheters andall that stuff, but she's doing
well, good and strong with theLord, which is the most
(18:39):
important.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yes, yes, yeah, I mean, I tell you, you guys, both
of you, you guys are such I'mnot even laying it on thick here
, I'm telling you the truth.
You guys like when I grow up Iwant to be like you.
You guys set a great example ofjust a godly couple.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Whenever my TV goes out, Ted, I think about you,
Amen.
Well, hey down, Ted, I thinkabout you.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Amen.
Well, hey, down in Floridathat's a little bit of a commute
, but if you call me I'll tellKatie.
I'll say, katie, I'll be backin four days.
I've got to go fix Gary's TV.
Well, yeah, we love you, welove Peggy.
I had a movie I wanted to getyour opinion on and I'm sure you
probably didn't watch it.
If you did, maybe you sleptthrough it.
(19:23):
But it's one of those Hallmarkkind of movies.
I'm sure Peggy knows all thedetails on that.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
There's too many of those.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, we'll get that on another podcast, but just
thank you so much, you'rewelcome.
Ted You're welcome Is there.
How can we get those?
Can we email you to get one ofthose baseball football cards of
yours with the sack on it.
Do you have anything like that?
Speaker 1 (19:46):
I have a new one I could send you as well, but I
could just take photos of it andemail them.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Okay, so if everybody wants one, just reach out to me
and I'll reach out to Gary.
It's okay, it's no problem.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Check it out, just send it again.
I'll take pictures in a littlewhile and send them to you.
It's okay, it's no problem,check it out, just send it again
.
I'll take pictures in a littlewhile and send them to you.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
I need you to put in a good word for Harry, because
we want to interview Harry aswell.
Make sure you tell him it'sokay, ted's not going to bite.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
He's the best.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
You and Harry, both are superheroes.
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
He's got about 11 grandkids, I think.
Now I mean, it's unbelievable,they're reproducing like crazy.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
I think the oldest is probably about six.
That's amazing A bunch ofgrandkids.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Wow, that is amazing.
Yeah, I have not had a chanceto hang out with Harry in six
years, seven years.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Jason's going to do the introduction for Tony Jason
Garrett.
Yeah, you know, Harry's wife isa brother.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
They do TV together.
Jason and Tony do a showtogether.
They used to, at least.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
You know what?
Oh man, I got to see if I canget up there for that.
Mr Gary Quazzo, thank you somuch.
Oh, you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Ted, God bless you oh you're welcome, ted.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
God bless you.
We love you and we hope to haveyou back on, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Thanks, ted, god bless you.
God bless you, man, amen, bye.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Amen, amen.
That was Mr Gary Quazo, andshout out to his lovely wife,
peggy Quazo.
Both of them are superheroes ofthe faith.
They are, believe it or not.
Yes, they have influenced many,many Christians and been a
blessing to many ministries andChristians and the body of
(21:29):
Christ.
So special thank you to you,gary, and, god willing, we will
be in your vicinity sometimesoon and we'll come do our
Genesisesis joe play for you andpeggy and uh and whoever else
you want to invite, and uh yeah.
(21:49):
But anyway, you guys, thank youso much.
I I pray that you guys wereblessed by uh hearing our dear
brother gary quazo, and if youwant to know more, please check
out the show notes on thisepisode and the prior episode
and you can get more informationabout him and the ministries
(22:14):
he's involved in.
And uh yeah.
So if you want to learn moreabout fca fellowship of Athletes
, we have a link up there aswell, so by all means check it
out.
Fellowship of ChristianAthletes is worldwide and yeah,
(22:38):
doing God's work.
Man, that, or how do I say this?
Like a stat came out that saidthat you know people that come
to faith in Christ as teenagers,young kids and teenagers live
out their faith throughout therest of their lives, and it's a
(22:59):
little more difficult for mucholder folks to come to Christ,
although they do, and I'mencouraging you if you have not
yet, while you're stillbreathing, please come to the
Lord, just ask Him if what we'resaying is true, man, and come
into your life and forgive youof your sin and live through you
.
I'm telling you how hard isthat.
(23:19):
Stop being so stubborn.
Give Him a chance.
Alright, and uh.
That's the end of this episode.
We'll get back to it next weekif the Lord tarries, but until
then, may the Lord bless you andkeep you.
(23:40):
The Lord make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you
.
The Lord lift up hiscountenance upon you.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
This program was made possible by the Plays on Word
family of supporters.
To find out more, check out ourwebsite at playsonwordorg.
Lord, you know you will now listen to Plays on Word
Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
It's the best.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
The ultimate joy of knowing that you have eternal
life in Christ.
Plus, you have a partner Jesus'Holy Spirit is part of our
lives and if we can see that andfeel that and act on it, it
gives you comfort and you havejoy in spite of the
circumstances.
And I think it takes a matterof turning to the Lord, because
he created us.
He wants us to honor Him, Imean in our lives.
(00:29):
He created us to love Him andwe love stuff in the world
that's our natural flesh is togo in.
The only name You're the onlyname.
You're the only name.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we
discuss, analyze, work and playon the Word of God.
Thank you for joining us onthis excursion.
Today let's join Pastor Teddy,also known as Fred David Kenny
Jr, the founder of Plays on WordTheater, as he does a deep dive
into the Word of God.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
And good afternoon everybody.
How are you today?
And it's not even afternoon,it's morning, good morning.
Yes, I had to do it again,sorry.
This is another edition of asports edition of Plays on Word
Radio.
Thank you very much, katieKenney for that intro and Josh
Taylor yeah, we are continuingour conversation with the great
(01:52):
Gary Quazo, my man, check it out.
If I was to ask you and this isprobably a tough question to get
around can you think of whatmight be your top couple or top
ministry experience?
If I said, tell me somethingthat really impacted you, it's
top of your list.
I'll give you an example Me, Iwent into the prison and we did
one of our plays in the prisonand you know, at the end of the
(02:16):
play, the Genesis Joe play,which you still need to see
we've got to find a way to dothat for you the Genesis Joe
play and a bunch of the inmateswhere they gave their life to
the Lord right at the end of it,and that was a highlight of
ministry for me.
Do you have anything that youcan think of that was just
special and really.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, the hardest and I imagine you might remember,
after my son was killed in 1990,and I was involved in a drug
kind of thing and the wholething, and I wound up getting a
bunch of letters that he hadwritten to me in his room at the
college, where he never mailedthem to me and after the funeral
I had prayed the night.
(02:52):
I had to go down to identifyhis body in Florida.
God would use his life in someway and I didn't understand how
I even prayed that.
I just believe the spirit ledme to think that I just wanted
to be reassured that he was achristian and reassured that god
would use his life because Iwas devastated.
Um, and I from that point on Ispoke, probably for the next
(03:13):
seven or eight years in the highschools in new jersey, all over
everywhere, sharing, sharinggospel everywhere, because I had
no other answers, uh, for themabout drugs.
But they wanted me to come totalk about the drugs thing.
So they would invite me forthat but they didn't want to
hear about the gospel.
But I didn't want to, Iwouldn't go, they would give a
disclaimer.
But then that came to an endaround 2000 when I went
(03:34):
back-to-back schools and theywere a junior high and a senior
high and they canceled me out.
If I remember exactly, theycanceled me out to senior high.
They just didn't want.
You know, mentioning Jesus in apublic school was rather,
really difficult in 1993, 4, 5,and all that.
Not that it's any easier now,but so that was, I would say
would be, the highlights of myministry life.
(03:56):
And then pretty much, you know,I'd talk with the kids
afterwards, just stay and talkto them without any of the
teachers there, and I reallyopened my eyes to what was going
on in this world with kids.
And nowadays it's probablyworse because of the internet,
but God used that in my life forthe crisis, so everything about
(04:17):
it was so bad, but it made meso sad sometimes when I was
speaking about it In fact.
I'm speaking in about a week anda half at a church down here
about, you know, similar.
You know basically my testimony, but really what God has used
that in my life to truly change.
And then, bruce, when Brucecame back to start a church, we
(04:39):
started a church in, you know,four Winds.
Four Winds, right, that was Ted.
I was on the phone with Bruce.
He was in ministry school inCalifornia with Chuck Smith
Because Bruce was there as anSCA guy and we were really close
friends.
And I was talking to himbecause I'd been down to
Charlottesville, virginia, to aPCA church.
That was really just a reallygreat place for me to be to see
(05:02):
how a church was really reachingkids.
And I asked Bruce about wouldhe ever come back and start a
church in Jersey?
I was a little frustrated withthe way the churches had been
that I'd been to, even thoughI'm sure many people came to the
Lord through them.
But I just thought it wasn't, Idon't know I liked when the
Calvary Chapel movement I didn'tknow anything about.
(05:23):
Matter of fact, Greg Lurie'sfather, oscar, was a friend of
mine.
He was a lawyer and he helpedus with SCA and he told me I met
him outside my office one dayand he said you know, my son led
me to the Lord and I didn'tknow who Greg Lurie was.
Wow, that was before I evenever heard of Calvary Chapel.
(05:44):
And so then, when Bruce cameback, he put us through a thing
called Shepherd School.
You know, we started the churchand we had two years of
Shepherd School, which enabledus to, you know, get a pastor.
You know, we became pastors andhad ministry, and it was a
great time of studying the Bible.
I had never studied the Bible.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
I really hadn't.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
I didn't know it very well, I knew some, I knew this
and that.
But we, I didn't know it verywell, I knew some, I knew this
and that, but Chuck Smith hastapes on the entire Bible, yeah,
and we had to listen to themverse by verse, and so I was
really impressed with theCalvary Chapel movement.
It's really affected a lot ofAmerica's non-denominational
(06:20):
churches and my son, jeff, asyou know, is a Calvary pastor.
Yeah, he works with JoelRosenberg over in israel and
he's in england too.
So, yeah, but if you talk aboutthe highlight moments, I would
think that was the highlightsand pretty much this fca stuff
and being with those kids andstill, uh, I lead a bible study
down here on um mondays whichI'm prepared for for tomorrow.
(06:42):
Okay, and we got what are youteaching?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
What part of the description?
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Actually we're doing videos.
We're doing it on Easter.
It's a series on Easter.
We'll have a little bit of asharing.
I've got to give a testimonyand then we're going to watch a
video and then break up intogroups and share.
We've been averaging close to40 guys a week.
We're in season down here.
I don't know if you understand,laura, you know the snowbirds
(07:09):
and all that, yeah, but inseason we'll get, you know, 40
guys.
We've had some more than that,some, and the club allows us to
use the facility, which is great, wow, and some of the guys will
play golf afterwards Okay,which I used, but no, that's
another highlight for me, and Ithink it's really been helpful
(07:31):
to me to stay involved in ateaching position type thing,
because it keeps me motivated tostudy the Word.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Amen, Amen.
You know that when you startedgetting into the Word you said
when Bruce had you guys doingthe Shepherd.
School I bet your faith was justlike expanded.
It's nothing like the Word ofGod.
It's nutrients, man.
It's nutrition for the soul andpeople.
They don't understand that andthat's one of the.
I mean, that's the hallmark ofwhat we do at Calvary, southport
(08:03):
, and you know manyBible-believing churches.
It's about feeding people theword of God, man, because that's
where the power is, in the wordof God.
Right, you saw firsthand.
It's amazing though, the fromthat dark top, from that
difficult dark time, you even inlike at ground zero in the
Mitch, you said you had to goidentify as chips, body and was
(08:24):
awful, but yet you, you prayed.
You know, lord, I don't knowhow you can, but if you can make
some, if Lord is there, any wayyou can make some good.
Come out of this Somethingsomething.
Lord and now you know, lookingback, you can see that the Lord
did.
He did use that and youimpacted many people.
What would you, what would I?
Have two questions here.
What would you say to someonewho might be in a difficult
(08:47):
position, a dark place right now, maybe feeling like God is not
paying attention to them, maybeGod forgot about them or that
they're not even on God's radar?
What would you say to them?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Well, the fifth chapter of Romans, I think,
really affected me during thiswhole thing when I talked about
tribulation producingperseverance, perseverance
producing character andcharacter producing joy.
And I think the happiness partof life is not what this is
talking about, because there's alot of unhappy things that
happen like that, but the theultimate joy of knowing that you
(09:19):
have eternal life in christ,plus you have a partner, you
know, I mean, jesus is holyspirit, is part of our lives and
, yeah, if we can see that andfeel that and act on it, it does
.
It gives you comfort and youhave joy in spite of the
circumstances.
And I think it takes a matterof turning to the Lord, because
he created us.
He wants us to honor Him in ourlives.
(09:43):
He created us to love Him andwe love stuff and the world and
that's our natural flesh is togo in the opposite direction and
you know that's our naturalflesh is to go in the opposite
direction.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
you know, yeah, that's I actually.
I just preached on what youjust talked about.
If we could just we could focuson Him.
I mean, we're in Ephesians, sowe're in chapter one there.
We just finished it and talkingabout if we knew who he is, if
we know who he is and who we arein Him, who he has called us
that's a perspective changer andthat we're seated in the
(10:15):
heavenlies with Him and we haveHis Spirit as the guarantee of
the glory that's still coming.
What would you, what would GaryQuazo 2025 say to Gary Quazo
1990?
What would you say if you had atime machine?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
you could just encourage yourself somehow.
Well, I'd say, when I seepeople running down the street,
I'd say I used to be able to dothat.
This aging thing has taken itstoll on me.
I just didn't know I'd I didn'trealize how much it would in
terms of physical, because I'vereally always done stuff and I,
(10:55):
I work out of, you know, aboutfive times a week if I can, and
that that helps me.
Uh, yeah, just, you know tostay somewhat, but I, I, I the
gary now, I just I did it.
I don't know what I would tellmyself exactly, but just saying,
you know, just to be, stayclose to the lord and amen,
bring it on to him.
I have a, you know, the mondaystudy.
We have a tuesday night biblegroup.
(11:17):
I have a thursday virtual, uh,bible study with guys, four or
five guys, and so we stay closeto the word, close to other
christians, and I really thinkthe fellowship, uh, I don't have
too many non-christian friends.
I mean I don't mind being with,you know, guys, or I mean I like
to, but I there's so values,the value system is so different
.
Uh, and I don't mind being withguys.
I mean I liked it, but there'sso values, the value system is
so different and I don't wanttheir value system, even though
(11:40):
sometimes the flesh, some ofthat, is appealing.
But I gave up, basically gaveup alcohol somewhere in the
mid-90s because I was speakingto kids and I didn't want to.
I felt like I was hypocritical,if you know, if I ever drank and
so that's like that stuff.
You know we're just and notthat there's something bad,
because the Bible talks aboutdrinking wine, I mean it's not
(12:02):
like I, just I, just personally.
It was a one thing and I I'mthankful to get through to this
point in my life to know theLord, in fact, I just recently
you year started.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
You try to google anybody in their 80s.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Most of them are dead .
Yeah, yeah, you're right, yeah,yeah so I'm.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I'm in the 80s pretty good, right?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
yeah, so I my friends , a lot of them have died, uh
but yeah yeah, with the lord.
Uh, we'll see him soon you know, amen.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
What would you say?
I got one last thing I'm tryingto get get wisdom from gary
quazo.
This could be.
I wish I had some here.
What would you say to?
I got one last thing.
I'm trying to get wisdom fromGary Quazo.
This could be a wish I hadsomewhere.
What would you say to someonewho might be in their 80s, in
the sunset period of their oftheir life?
What would you say to somebodythat still not sure about this
Jesus stuff?
You know what would?
What would you say to them,gary Quazo, in his 80s now?
(12:52):
What would you say to that, theperson that has, for whatever
reason, the Lord has kept themalive, to hear?
what you have to say yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I would really encourage them to get in the
Word and spend a lot of timewith the Lord during the day,
during the morning, and praythat the Holy Spirit would
enlighten them to the fact thatwhat Jesus did at the cross is
real.
Yeah, and especially at Easter.
When you think about it now,the reason we have Easter is
because Jesus went to the cross,took that beating for us, for
(13:23):
our sin, and that we all aresinners saved by grace.
It's just a matter of applyingthat to your life, before you
know it gets over on this earthand where you spend eternity,
like with Lazarus and the richman.
You know, across that chasmthere you can't talk.
I mean, hell's real, Satan'sreal and this whole thing is.
You need Christ, you want to bein the book of life, and the
(13:44):
Bible speaks of that and the joyand the peace that you get is
real and you can die withcomfort, knowing that there is
eternal life.
This is just a speck in time.
This little 80 years or so wespent on this earth and we're
going to spend eternity iscritical, and it's because God
(14:05):
loves us and because God diedfor us.
We need to see it that way andnot just see it as a story that
happened 2,000 years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, and I like what you said.
This lifetime right now it's sosmall.
And to think that this lifetimeis all there is, that would be
like me telling Gary Quazo backin 1963, the NFL is all there is
.
You know what I mean.
And there was way more to life.
That period of time is short incomparison to the life you've
lived.
Eternity, in comparison to thelife we've lived on this side of
(14:35):
glory, is gigantic.
Compared to you know, this lifeis so small.
And the thing is he paid such aprice.
He's not playing games witheternity and salvation.
So if someone comes to himtruly and says, lord, if you're
real, please come into my life,he's going to answer that he
will honor that.
(14:55):
He spent way too much.
One drop of the blood of Christis worth more than all the real
estate in Naples and everywhereelse in the entire universe put
together.
And he shed his blood for us sothat we would know him and not
have to spend eternity withouthim.
And I know not many folks intheir 80s.
(15:15):
Like you said, many people havechecked out, but I know some
that I'm praying, listen to ourconversation here and I'm going
to send this to them Becauseit's while we'll still have
breath.
It's not too late to get rightwith the Lord While we still
have breath.
We need to make this side ofeternity, this side of glory,
count so that when we get to theother side, you know and I've
(15:39):
used this example and I used it,I've used you in it I probably
should pay you royalties.
But the story about when Iwatched the football game, when
I watched the Superbowl with you, right, I said, I said, listen,
I had the opportunity to watchthe Superbowl with an NFL
quarterback who knows the gameand played the game at the
highest level.
(15:59):
And I said you know, there aregoing to be some people that get
to heaven, get to glory ontheir deathbed.
They say, okay, lord, jesus, ifyou're real, please come into
my life and save me before theydie.
They get in, but they didn'tspend any time getting to know
him on this side of glory.
They didn't spend any timelearning about the amazing
things about God.
And I give the example.
(16:19):
I said, listen, I was watchingthe game with Gary Quazo.
We're watching the same game,we're watching the same exact
game, but Gary enjoyed it at amuch richer, deeper level
because of the time he spentinvolved in it.
I didn't spend nearly the timehe did, and there are many
(16:41):
people that, since we arespending time getting to know
the Lord on this side of gloryand we're investing in our
relationship with him we'regoing to appreciate and have a
richer experience.
We're both going to be at thesame game, we're both going to
be in glory, but the person thatjust on their deathbed,
received Christ and then theperson that has walked with him
(17:05):
for a lifetime and learned theways of God and the things of
God, it's going to be a deeper,richer, a greater experience of
eternity.
We're both there.
We're both there, hooray,hallelujah.
But I tell you, I've used thatgame example because I said,
gary, man, he appreciated thegame at a much higher level than
I couldn't comprehend some ofthe things that you were even
(17:26):
saying.
So, yeah, I definitely put theappeal out Please come to the
Lord while you're stillbreathing, because when you're
not breathing it's too late.
Two last things, and they'reshort.
I'm kicking myself because Playson Word made our Florida debut
(17:48):
a few weeks back and we went toNaples and something was nagging
me about Naples while we werethere the whole time.
I'm saying I feel like there'ssomething about Naples, but I
couldn't put my finger on.
Then, as we were leaving, Iremembered, I said, oh, I think
Gary and Peggy are here.
Oh, my goodness.
And I sent a text to Gary.
I said, gary, are you in Naplesand you're like, yes, and I was
(18:09):
like I could have stopped byand said hello, man, I was.
I'm still kicking myself.
Tell us about Peggy, yourbeloved bride.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Well, we'll be married 60 years in June.
Yes, 60 years, and both of us.
You know we've had a little bitof the healthy stuff going on.
Peggy just had a heart valverepaired, which worked out
really well.
Oh good, good the catheters andall that stuff, but she's doing
well, good and strong with theLord, which is the most
(18:39):
important.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yes, yes, yeah, I mean, I tell you, you guys, both
of you, you guys are such I'mnot even laying it on thick here
, I'm telling you the truth.
You guys like when I grow up Iwant to be like you.
You guys set a great example ofjust a godly couple.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Whenever my TV goes out, Ted, I think about you,
Amen.
Well, hey down, Ted, I thinkabout you.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Amen.
Well, hey, down in Floridathat's a little bit of a commute
, but if you call me I'll tellKatie.
I'll say, katie, I'll be backin four days.
I've got to go fix Gary's TV.
Well, yeah, we love you, welove Peggy.
I had a movie I wanted to getyour opinion on and I'm sure you
probably didn't watch it.
If you did, maybe you sleptthrough it.
(19:23):
But it's one of those Hallmarkkind of movies.
I'm sure Peggy knows all thedetails on that.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
There's too many of those.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, we'll get that on another podcast, but just
thank you so much, you'rewelcome.
Ted You're welcome Is there.
How can we get those?
Can we email you to get one ofthose baseball football cards of
yours with the sack on it.
Do you have anything like that?
Speaker 1 (19:46):
I have a new one I could send you as well, but I
could just take photos of it andemail them.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Okay, so if everybody wants one, just reach out to me
and I'll reach out to Gary.
It's okay, it's no problem.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Check it out, just send it again.
I'll take pictures in a littlewhile and send them to you.
It's okay, it's no problem,check it out, just send it again
.
I'll take pictures in a littlewhile and send them to you.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
I need you to put in a good word for Harry, because
we want to interview Harry aswell.
Make sure you tell him it'sokay, ted's not going to bite.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
He's the best.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
You and Harry, both are superheroes.
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
He's got about 11 grandkids, I think.
Now I mean, it's unbelievable,they're reproducing like crazy.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
I think the oldest is probably about six.
That's amazing A bunch ofgrandkids.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Wow, that is amazing.
Yeah, I have not had a chanceto hang out with Harry in six
years, seven years.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Jason's going to do the introduction for Tony Jason
Garrett.
Yeah, you know, Harry's wife isa brother.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
They do TV together.
Jason and Tony do a showtogether.
They used to, at least.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
You know what?
Oh man, I got to see if I canget up there for that.
Mr Gary Quazzo, thank you somuch.
Oh, you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Ted, God bless you oh you're welcome, ted.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
God bless you.
We love you and we hope to haveyou back on, okay.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Thanks, ted, god bless you.
God bless you, man, amen, bye.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Amen, amen.
That was Mr Gary Quazo, andshout out to his lovely wife,
peggy Quazo.
Both of them are superheroes ofthe faith.
They are, believe it or not.
Yes, they have influenced many,many Christians and been a
blessing to many ministries andChristians and the body of
(21:29):
Christ.
So special thank you to you,gary, and, god willing, we will
be in your vicinity sometimesoon and we'll come do our
Genesisesis joe play for you andpeggy and uh and whoever else
you want to invite, and uh yeah.
(21:49):
But anyway, you guys, thank youso much.
I I pray that you guys wereblessed by uh hearing our dear
brother gary quazo, and if youwant to know more, please check
out the show notes on thisepisode and the prior episode
and you can get more informationabout him and the ministries
(22:14):
he's involved in.
And uh yeah.
So if you want to learn moreabout fca fellowship of Athletes
, we have a link up there aswell, so by all means check it
out.
Fellowship of ChristianAthletes is worldwide and yeah,
(22:38):
doing God's work.
Man, that, or how do I say this?
Like a stat came out that saidthat you know people that come
to faith in Christ as teenagers,young kids and teenagers live
out their faith throughout therest of their lives, and it's a
(22:59):
little more difficult for mucholder folks to come to Christ,
although they do, and I'mencouraging you if you have not
yet, while you're stillbreathing, please come to the
Lord, just ask Him if what we'resaying is true, man, and come
into your life and forgive youof your sin and live through you
.
I'm telling you how hard isthat.
(23:19):
Stop being so stubborn.
Give Him a chance.
Alright, and uh.
That's the end of this episode.
We'll get back to it next weekif the Lord tarries, but until
then, may the Lord bless you andkeep you.
(23:40):
The Lord make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you
.
The Lord lift up hiscountenance upon you.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
This program was made possible by the Plays on Word
family of supporters.
To find out more, check out ourwebsite at playsonwordorg.
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