Bill Ward Interview by Truth in Love Network

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Hello, welcome to a Truth In Love special interview. We have been invited to the Greater Purpose of a Godly Man Conference 2023. This is the third annual Greater Purpose of a Godly Man Conference. And we're glad to be here.

I was invited by my cousin.

Yeah.

My cousin, Bill Ward.

What's up, cuz?

He is my cousin by marriage.

By marriage.

Brothers in Christ.

Brothers by the blood.

There you go.

Brothers by the blood.

Yeah.

And you said the Greater Purpose of a Godly Man. Better than my producer.

Oh.

Who doesn't even know how to say it.

Well, I can send you my card.

I can send you the card.

But I'm not replacing my producer. I'd like to give him those.

Hey, we can code.

We can code.

I think I accidentally hit the mic, so I apologize, everybody. Oh, wait. It's over there. Sorry. I apologize for that.

Your mic is right there.

I know, but I hit the mic and I was talking to the camera.

Oh, okay. The camera is wherever that is.

I know. I just didn't realize. I looked down here.

We've got two things going on here, and we're new to all this. I wanted to say that I call you cousin. I don't just call you cousin by marriage. I call you cousin because God says that when a man and a woman come together, he makes them one flesh.

So you two are one. So I consider you cousin. Cousin.

Cousin.

Solid.

What God has put together, everyone shall therefore be known as cousins.

Okay.

For real.

Sounds good, man. I like it.

Marriage, One Flesh, and Family Language

Well, let me get to the questions and let you answer them because you've got to go. You've got stuff going on here.

It's lunch right now.

We definitely want to get these questions going on.

So this is the third annual. How did it start, and what has been your part in it?

Okay.

So three years ago, we went to—actually, I guess it was four years ago. Anyway, we went to the Ignite Men's Conference at Liberty in Virginia. So the first year was great, and then COVID hit. And when that hit, they moved it from the spring.

Do you hear that?

See that?

They hear that?

It's time to eat. I'll see you guys later.

No.

So they postponed it to the fall. Well, we had already planned to go and all this kind of stuff. So we thought, well, how about we do our own? Obviously not to the magnitude of that, but so we talked to a few guys,.

Invited a couple guys the first year.

We had a mayor.

We had—who else was the first year, Stephen? I don't remember.

First year.

Mayor Denton was here.

Yeah.

Steve Jesperson.

Yeah.

Several of them. Some of them that we've had on our panel.

Yeah.

That's right. Craig Collins, first year. So they came, made a great presentation, reached out to a bunch of guys, inspired people, motivated them. So at the very end of the conference, Claude Williams, who will be here today, comes up and says, when are we doing this again?

He said, I want to be here next year. And I'm like, you know, when you do something like that, you don't think about that. You're just like, okay, we're doing this, and this is it. And I'm going, yeah.

You know Claude?

Absolutely.

Oh, he's awesome.

Yeah.

So I'm looking at him like, we're doing that again?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So—.

You're going to be upset afterwards.

You what? You're going to be upset afterwards.

He said, who doesn't?

Oh, I know, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Claude Williams.

He's awesome.

So—.

Let me tell you a funny story about him.

Okay. Cool. Okay. Oh, no.

I want that to be on there so I can use it again.

I'll use it right now.

Okay.

Give me a second.

Okay.

Go.

So I've got an outreach ministry called New Life Outreach, our New Life ministry. We preach. We play music wherever anybody wants us to go. So I get a call from a man who says, I'd like to have New Life come and sing at a tent revival in Stanley, United in Faith, something like that, Incorporated, as a thing at Methodist Church in Stanley every year.

Right.

I said, absolutely. We'll be there. Let us know what time. So we get there. We're sitting up. And he says, Brother Paul, where's the flyer? I said, we don't have the flyer. He said, since when? He starts talking about people.

I don't know these guys' names. He says, y 'all not New Life Baptist Church and wherever he called us.

Oh, wow.

No, sir. No, we're not. So, yeah, different new life. So I said, do you want us to leave or how do you want to do something? Absolutely not. He said, it's divinely appointed or something. I said, okay.

So we set up.

We pray over the call. We have a set. We have songs of worship. It was a great night. The man preached. He did a great job. I thought the whole thing was great. And we was packing up. I said, I hope we didn't let you down.

And he said, no, we'll do it next year.

There you go.

That's what he does.

Yeah.

So, yes, he did the same thing after the first conference. And I'm standing there going, well, okay, I guess we'll do it again. So we did it again last year. Had a few more guys. Had some different speakers.

We had now our current sheriff, Chad Hawkins. He came and spoke great, but gave a great testimony. TJ Sanders, he's an officer in Stanley.

Awesome.

Just, he preached, man. He just preached it up. So, and that's what these guys do. I don't give them like a format. I don't tell them they got to go a certain direction. I just tell them that we're representing godly men.

We want to inspire, encourage, and motivate godly men. Because guys are going to come in here. Some of them have titles. Some of them don't have titles. All different ends of the spectrum. And when they leave here, what we're hoping for is that they'll be inspired by someone either with or without a title to go out and be the godly man that God's calling them to be.

Because I think we sit back sometimes and we think, hey, I can't do this. Like a podcast or whatever.

You're thinking, that's not me.

I can't do that. But you know what? We don't need to be stopped by what the world says we can and can't do. Or by titles. Or by levels in society. Or any of that kind of stuff. So, that's what these guys do.

Like today, we got Pat Harrigan. We have, oh my gosh, I've got to go through this. Travis Page. He's our local DA. Gaston County DA. And he's a great Christian, awesome Christian guy. Guys that are here today will see that and understand that.

And I'm sorry that I should have had my list with me so I could go through.

We got Pat Harrigan, Bob Langan, Adrian Franklin, and Pastor Gilly will be here.

Yep.

Jason Mitchell.

And we got everything.

Yep.

He's got it all there.

So, anyway, great speakers, introductions, all kinds of stuff.

We mix it up.

We have a little bit of fun. And we do not, we don't live stream it. We talked about that. Actually, this week we talked about it. And the reason that we don't want to do that is because some of these guys are literally going to share stuff that they would not just stand out on a public street and share.

Sure.

So, we really don't, we're letting them do that if they want to record their own.

Okay.

So, we'll let them do that. But otherwise, you got to be here.

Godly Manhood Beyond Titles and Denominational Labels

So, you just basically went through the rest of the questions.

Sorry about that.

That's great.

That's fantastic.

And I forgot to do this. I mentioned this was Bill Ward. I'm Robert Knipe. And I hid my mic.

Yep.

See, that's it. I'm a hater, yeah.

And we're just having fun today.

I am.

I'm interviewing.

I'm interviewing.

I'm looking at the devil.

Bill Ward for our podcast.

And we're going to have Rob on our pad.

Yeah.

We got that out. On our podcast, The Greater Purpose.

We got it on there.

Yeah.

Oh, it's actually just the great app. It's just The Greater Purpose.

Yeah.

Oh, The Greater Purpose podcast.

Yeah.

It's at The Greater Purpose.

Yeah.

So, we're True to Love Network. But within True to Love Network, we have a, which is a collaboration. And so, we collaborate mostly on the Labor's podcast. And the guy you've been hearing talk and give the story is John Jones, who is part of the True to Love Network and on the Labor's podcast.

I apologize. I forgot to introduce you a few minutes ago.

Yeah, there you go.

But he's with me here at this conference, supporting True to Love Network and supporting Bill and what's going on here. And we're glad to partner together, because that's what we do, partnering together.

Right.

To promote God, to promote God's people, give God glory.

Godly men, especially, because we need to be supporting each other. And so, and that's what these guys are doing. There are vendors and people that are supporting different organizations and that kind of stuff.

And they're all tied to being godly men, because we're getting beat up out there. We're getting pounded. And I'm going to say it, but the LGBTQ plus and everything else, all that kind of stuff, it's insanity.

This is crazy.

It needs to stop.

But the only way that's going to stop, it's not going to stop by my wife and my children going out and standing up for me. The way it's going to stop is by me being the leader, me being the godly man, me doing what I'm supposed to do.

Then my family is going to come alongside me and step in and do that, which is what you guys do on your podcast as well. So that's great. Digging into the word and get a little deeper than my brain goes sometimes.

With my ADD, it's like...

So to answer this question...

Awesome.

See there?

That's great.

Appreciate it. And I'm going to be there in a minute, I think, if I get done with this.

And we apologize for the walking back.

Hey, you know what?

That's great, though. So it shows that stuff is going on.

That's right.

You guys are getting ready for the conference. The speakers and the vendors and stuff, they're headed in for lunch and all that. That's why you've seen people moving around.

So everybody's excited.

We're going to have a great time. I'm going to be blessed and inspired by the time we get done.

The Greater Purpose of Godly Manhood and Spiritual Stewardship

Two more questions. Break this down for me. And I only ask this question because, and I'll explain this.

Is this an on the spot question?

No, it's on the sheet.

Okay, good.

It may be on the spot because you didn't read the questions.

Which one are we on here?

But it's a tougher question, I think, because it's asking about your language, where you got this title. But I only ask that because my brother's here, and I'm sandwiched in. I try to get Bill to be sandwiched in, but I'm sandwiched in between, which is different for me.

Because on the podcast, John is usually the odd man out. But I'm the odd man out here. I'm the Baptist, and I'm between the Church of God folks.

We got you.

So sometimes our language, our terminology is a little bit different. And so break this down to help people who know my language understand where you're coming from. So that's the greater purpose of a godly man.

So in my mind, I'm thinking, you know, is it like a video game where you have one level of a godly man, and then you got a second level of a godly man?

No, absolutely not. Totally not like that.

Okay, great.

It's a good thing you said that, because interdenominational. And that's why I kind of left. It is South Gastonia Church of God, but we're in the Victory Christian Academy gymnasium. And I kind of went to that this year, because I don't want people to think that, well, if you're not Church of God, this is not a place for you to be.

This is not a Baptist men's conference, so I shouldn't go. This is not a whatever. I don't want to do that, because just like the Ignite Conference in Liberty. I mean, it's men from all kinds of I mean, there's everybody there.

Even though it's a Baptist university.

It is.

Right. Exactly. Right.

But the Holy Spirit moved anyway.

No.

Wow.

I'm a Reformed Baptist. So, you know.

So, anyway.

Sad.

You know that you're a Reformed Baptist?

No.

No.

No, I get that, because I come from a Baptist background, so I totally get that. And there are some times, I think, even in that setting, where I did think like what you just said. Well, okay, this guy is more godly than I am, and this guy is more godly than this guy.

But looking at this room today, when you see these guys here, when you hear them speak, when you hear the district attorney of Gaston County, who's making life and death decisions every day, not just the people that come in front of the DA's office, but the people out here who may be victimized by somebody that he's got in front of him, that kind of thing.

Judges, when they come, they've got to make those they're life and death decisions in a lot of cases. But you know what? When they get behind the door and they get on their knees and they pray, they are on the exact same level as anybody else.

And I'm not going to say janitors or car washers or McDonald's workers or whatever, educators, whatever you want to call it. We're all on the same level when it comes to God and serving like he wants us to serve.

So I guess what I'm saying is we don't want guys to just sit back and not do something because they think that there's a certain level you've got to get to, because it's not there. There's not a level.

We are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. We accept it. We ask for forgiveness. We repent.

That's right.

We walk away from what we're doing. We change our ways. All that's a part of it. But salvation is free. Salvation comes through the blood of Christ. So we start there and everybody that's in that is a godly man.

They're called to be a godly man. So they should be stepping out and doing whatever it is. And it's like here today. Perfect example today. We got guys that came in here. And as soon as they got here, of course, they sent out messages, kind of let these guys know what we need.

And boom, they're just running around. You saw them. They're running around doing everything that needs to get done, because that's what we're supposed to do together. The pastor could walk in here.

Okay, here.

Here's one. One year, Judge Collins, we got done. And he's taking and piling chairs up and carrying them across the floor. So we got a district court judge carrying chairs and packing up tables. And he didn't even ask.

He just does it. So that's the kind of stuff that I guess maybe that I hope that kind of addresses what you're saying. Oh, absolutely.

I think what you're saying is an attribute of godly man. This man sounds humble.

Totally.

And these guys are like that. In communicating with these guys on a regular basis, not every day, but and then some, you know, during certain seasons. It's all the time. I see him everywhere. And you get and I get that.

I observe these guys on their Facebook pages, in their social media, in their personal lives, in their professional lives. However, whatever settings that I see them in. And there's something about them that says to me, this guy is fulfilling that godly purpose.

And this is a guy that needs to come and share how he's fulfilling it. So that you, me, whatever, we hear that. And we're inspired. I'm inspired by these guys. All this thinking. I send, I've sent all of them messages and I've blown everybody's phones up.

And I said, I just want you guys to know how much you've inspired me at 60 years old to continue to strive to be the godly man that he wants me to be.

It sounds like a conversation I was having yesterday with somebody. We were talking about an event that just happened. And they said, well, I believe everybody that was there. This is what the person was saying.

Everybody that was there that heard this would be or should have been inspired enough towards wanting to be active or activism. And I was like, I pray that as well. That sounds really good. But the next question is, what do I do if the spirit has moved me to activism, to wanting to do something with that?

Yes.

What do I do? And I was telling the person, I have some tangible things that I can put in people's hands. And I think that's what you're trying to say here about the conference. We want to inspire and move people, but we also want to give them examples and show them how that works and what to do.

Tony Evans was talking about that this week. And maybe it's the last two weeks, but he's talking about not using the blessing that God gives you or using it the wrong way. So we, quote, unquote, in the Pentecostal family.

Yeah, yeah. So I'm like one of those low-key Pentecostals, right? We get our blessing, right? We get our blessing. And, you know, this happened in the Baptist Church, too, because I heard it preached.

I heard it taught. I heard it. And then, OK, now, when is it going to happen? But, you know, we get our blessing. We go to the altar. We pray. We get brothers to pray for us, whatever. We, quote, unquote, get our blessing and then we do nothing with it.

And then we come back again Sunday or whenever we come back again and we're completely drained and just beat up by the world. And we go, what do I do now? Well, that's not it. You got to take that blessing and you got to go somewhere with it and do whatever God wants you to do with it.

Otherwise, it's not going to it's not going to be it's not going to be doubly blessed or whatever you call it, whatever.

I immediately think about the stewards. Yes. That's you know, so the one who buried it, if we're not careful, we can take what God has given us, dig a hole in the ground and put it in the ground and then be actually be cursed.

Yeah, because we weren't faithful with what God has given us.

Tony Evans used that scripture this week, and that's what he was saying. He said the one that held it in his hand and did nothing with it was admonished. He was I mean, he was asked out. So the other ones who were who were fruitful, I mean, they didn't all come back with the same amount.

That was my point. Exactly.

There you go. Exactly.

So that's what we need to be as godly men. Be faithful and trying. We're going to fail. Look at all the famous people. We could run off 100 names of people that failed, tried and failed, tried and failed.

Well, there you go. Exactly right. I'm 60 years old. God's still doing crazy stuff that I never would have possibly imagined. So during COVID, I thought, OK, this is all over. Everything's changing. I got to do something completely different.

And now he has done a completely total 180 and has put me in a completely different place. And it's nothing special about me. What's special about me is Christ in me. But what is special about all that is that when he says move, although I don't always want to move in the same direction, I try to do that.

I try to make the move that he's that he wants me to make.

We have filled and refilled at church and at conferences like this. Yes. But we've got two options during the week. We just empty our brain and live for ourselves or we're spent because we're living it out.

And we're encouraging men to be spent because you're taking that fuel that you get and spending it.

I like that. So it's kind of like this. That's how this week has gone up to this. Because you don't know. I mean, you do what God wants you to do. And you and I used to be a numbers guy. So we did church choir, youth choir events and all kinds of stuff.

And I was always about the numbers, you know, and he slapped me upside the head a couple of times about that. And he did that about this three years ago because I mean, I really don't we don't really know how many are going to come.

It's not a ticketed event. It's totally free. Whoever's going to show up, if a guy decides to mow his lawn and not come here, he's not going to be here. And you know what? That's OK, because they're going to be one guy sitting at one of these tables here.

That's going to hear something that's going to motivate and inspire and encourage him. And if all of us came for that one guy, then we all did what we were supposed to do.

The Greater Purpose Podcast, the Cubs Room, and Worshiping Christ Alone

We'll give a promo for your podcast.

OK, so at The Greater Purpose, no podcast on the end of it, but you find it on YouTube. There's also a page. Now, the page does have podcasts in it. The Greater Purpose podcast. The Greater Purpose podcast.

I don't know why we set it up this way. The Greater Purpose podcast from the Cubs. What's with the Cubs? The Greater Purpose podcast from the Cubs room. Now, that's the key. It's from the Cubs room. So that's a whole nother story, though.

We can do that. We'll do that. Oh, the Cubs. That's why I'm wearing this, guys.

This is this is connected to the to the Cubs room. And I gave and I gave him the wrong information. That's why he's got his tie.

I would have worn my Cubs tie. Well, we have we have the world's biggest.

That's what that's what I've been called. Yeah. The world's biggest fan.

WBT is the world's biggest. Yes. That's right.

That's right. But he loves Jesus more. Way more.

So, yeah, we went up to the Cubs room one time and our pastor called it the upper room. And so and then saying you've seen it, you know. And then somebody tried to call it a shrine. And I, boom, I stopped at the new.

This is the only the only person that I worship is Jesus Christ. I don't worship my wife. I don't worship my children. I don't worship my cousins. I worship Jesus Christ. Now, I love them and I care for them.

And I love the Cubs, but definitely not a shrine. So, yeah, maybe the biggest. Well, and we love you, too. Love you, brother. Thank you. Thanks, guys. All right. Thanks for having me on. Thanks. Awesome.

That was great.