Kirby Myers Interview (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Meeting Kirby Myers and His Ministry at the Naval Academy

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name's Mike Abendroth, and I think this is the latest I have ever recorded a show. It's a Saturday night, it's probably, I don't know, 8 p .m.-ish or something like that, and drove by the church and God whispered in my ear, Kirby, welcome to No Compromise Radio.

Thank you, so good to be here. Kirby, you have been on before, and that was probably, what, three years ago? Yeah, I would think so,.

Because I had a four-year-old at the time, and I called in from Indiana and we had a great conversation, so it's great to be back.

From Brownsburg to Annapolis and the FCA Role

So Kirby, tell us what you were doing four years ago, and kind of, you know, how we met and your background and where you went to school and all that, in case we have some of these backsliders who didn't listen years ago.

Well, I, like you, went to the Master's Seminary. I was there from 98 to 2001. Could I just insert a hoorah? Oh, yeah, yeah. And then moved to Indiana and started a church, the Bible Church of Brownsburg.

Brownsburg is on the west side of Indianapolis, and was there for 12 years, and then left in July of 2014. We moved from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Annapolis, Maryland. So, one capital city to another, and I am currently the Fellowship of Christian Athletes campus director at the United States Naval Academy.

Now, that's pretty amazing, because look at that. I just picked up my pencil that I used here, and it says navy .com, 1 -800-US-NAVY. God has spoken tonight. Yay! Yay! All right, so let's learn a little bit more about your testimony to start off with Kirby, and then we'll get into pastoral ministry, and then your work with the young folks there in Annapolis.

We even went to a game today. We did. Yeah, yeah, tell us about the game today. This probably will air in February, but today is what, January 28th, real time, 29th? 29th, maybe the 30th. I think it may be the 30th.

Okay, and what happened? What happened at the game today?

I am, you know, I work for FCA at the Naval Academy, but I work very closely with the men's basketball team, so I do chapel services for them, always for their home games, and then when I can, I travel with them, and looked at the schedule, saw they would be playing Holy Cross, and contacted you and found out you were really close there, so thought it'd be great to come on this trip and have some time with you, as well as minister to the team.

So we were at the Navy Holy Cross basketball game today, and Navy lost a tough one in overtime, and you were there.

No, see, I love the U .S. Navy, so I would be prone to root for them and want them to win, and I also root against all Catholic teams, so, you know, Notre Dame. It's not just a cross, it's a Holy Cross, and I rooted for them today, and they didn't win, that is Navy.

It's a sad day. Kirby, I'd ask about the testimony, but let me just kind of belay that a little bit. When you do a chapel for the basketball team, did you do one this morning? Yeah, a little bit. Okay, so tell us what would you say to them, because some of the men, probably Protestant, Catholic, some they don't care.

What would you talk about? Kind of 40 days of purpose or something?

Chapel Messages, the Fruit of the Spirit, and Playing for an Audience of One

Well, this is my second year to be doing that with the basketball team. Last year, I was new at that. I've done chapel services over my years, just working in sports ministry, but to do it on a regular basis, where you have a Wednesday game, and so I'm doing one then, and then maybe doing another one on Saturday.

So last year, being my first year, I was kind of just doing different things, trying to look at passages and relate those to competition and glorifying God in your sport. But this year, my friend Kirk Welch came for a basketball game from, he's from Indiana, and he did a chapel and started out with just loving God, loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

And so I kind of piggybacked on that, and we've been looking at the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. So I've looked at a different one every week, and so that's been really good. And it's pretty short.

It's 15 to 20 minutes. And I just want to get in the Word and give them something to think about before they go and compete, and remind them that even competition, going on a basketball floor is worship unto God.

And so to go out there and play with all their heart and to play for an audience of one and play for Jesus Christ. And so that's typically what we would do.

Kirby's Salvation and Early Growth in a Fundamental Church

Curby, I grew up and I was part of the FCA. I don't know if you knew this. I did not. I was. It had nothing to do with the FCA. I just wasn't regenerate, although I would have considered myself a Christian.

And growing up in a Lutheran church, I would have said death, burial, and resurrection. I just thought I received those benefits via faith plus baptism. Kind of like, you know, Galatia. Galatian church is faith plus circumcision.

But I was in the FCA, and when I got to speak to the FCA students in Nebraska a few years ago, there was something called a no-compromise conference, and I had to sue them first before I went because they stole the name.

But I was really glad as a saved man now, equipped for gospel ministry, to tell these young men and women about the Lord and his word and who were in FCA. So I was really glad to be able to go do that.

Tell our listeners first how God saved you, and then we'll work our way through your time at Indiana and then into Annapolis.

Yeah, you know, I'm very grateful. I grew up in a Christian home, and I like to joke that I was born on a Saturday and we were in church on Sunday.

That explains your Sabbatarian stuff. I was wondering about that. I wanted to take you out for a lunch tomorrow. I said I was in church on Sunday.

I'm just kidding. All right, all right. But, you know, we were a part of a church in our small town in Indiana. And so we went Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. My dad went on visitation on Thursday nights where they would go calling.

Ah, that was a special night for them. It was, it was. Some of those would be people who had visited the church, but then just cold calling as well. But it was a independent, fundamental, King James only, separatist, soul winning, bus ministry church.

And those were just the things on the sign outside. I mean, this is before Al Gore and the World Wide Web, but you would not have to question, what does that church believe? I mean, it was all on the sign when you went by.

But you know what? God was gracious and he saved me even in that environment. Heard a lot about hell and thankfully heard a lot about Christ and what he did on the cross. And so at a young age, I knew that I was a sinner.

I knew I was going to hell. And I believe at a young age, I did trust Christ as my savior. And, you know, it was a ministry like FCA that my high school basketball coach started when I was a sophomore in high school that really, I think helped me in my walk with Christ.

I was a Christian, but not a very good evangelist. And I would say Christ was a significant part of my life, but he was not, you know, Lord over every area. And so to have a ministry like that, to have a coach come and start FCA in my school, that I would see that there are, you know, my teammates, my classmates that didn't know Christ.

It was just a fantastic way to start sharing the gospel and making sure I was in the word and growing. And so that was a significant part of my growth, especially in high school.

Providence, Radio, and How God Uses Our Past

Kirby, just to jump in for a second and reflect upon how God providentially uses our past. For me, radio was such an important thing. First of all, when I was not saved and into punk rock radio and all these things, and then how the Lord used radio when I was a sales rep, trying to find truth.

I know the Father was drawing me, but from my perspective, searching and seeking. And so I loved Christian radio because the word of God was proclaimed through that medium. And so now this is one of the reasons why I do radio now is because God can just take sinners and have them be used by his powerful hand to affect other people.

So in a similar fashion, the Lord having FCA when you were a young person and now having a desire to minister now that you've been equipped and trained. Yes, yeah. You're not supposed to say yes and no.

These are like elaboration. Sorry about that. Sorry about that. And you then decided to go to Master Seminary through what course of events?

Well, I went to college and was involved with FCA there and got an opportunity on a weekly basis to teach as best as I could and do evangelism and share the gospel. And especially during my senior year, we saw a lot of young people come to know Christ and I'm so thankful for that.

And so it was something I really loved doing. I was a political science major, but I really loved gospel ministry and really sensed the Lord was leading me toward ministry. And nothing supernatural or nothing mystical, but just people would say to me, Kirby, we really learned from you.

We love when you teach and you're gifted at this. And so I wasn't really interested in going to law school anymore and knew that FCA was a ministry God had used in my life. And so I started pursuing that.

And so I went on staff with FCA in Illinois and I also was like a college and career age pastor at the church where I grew up in Danville, Illinois. And so I had great opportunities. I got to do FCA ministry, go give the gospel at schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges, but also be involved in the life of a church and teach college age career Bible studies on Tuesday nights and teaching Sunday school and then filling the pulpit.

And so it was through that, through study and through preaching and teaching that I said, this is really what I love doing. And again, people affirmed, we learned from you. We think you should be a pastor.

And so that's how God led me to pursue seminary. And everyone encouraged me to go to the master seminary when they learned what I wanted to do. I wanted to teach. I wanted to do expository preaching. The counsel I was receiving was there's only one place for you to go and that's Los Angeles, California.

Thus saith the Lord for you King James folks. Yes. Kirby, before we learn a little bit more about how you and your family were in California for the seminary there, when you would preach and teach for the FCA before you went to seminary, I'm sure there were some times that you would teach your heart out and think, you know, it didn't really seem like there was much response or I never heard any kind of follow-up through the years of anything that happened.

And other times maybe it wasn't that good of a night for you preaching and teaching. You kind of feel subjectively, you know, your homiletic wasn't really that good, but the word is powerful and something happened in one of the young students' lives.

Can you think of any time like that where you think, you know, I just really, I just labored to preach that message. It was really delivered probably even poorly, but it was biblical and God used that in the life of a young man or a woman to save them or convict them or something.

Can you think of any of those stories?

Well, you know, it's interesting because I didn't have any Bible school training or anything like that. And so if I were to go back and look at those quote unquote sermons that I gave on Thursday nights at University of Indianapolis, FCA, I'd probably be really disappointed in myself and some of those things.

But God just gave me a heart for the lost, especially in the area of athletics and trying to reach men and women who were involved in sports at our college. And so I would, you know, I would teach the best I knew how and just proclaim the gospel.

And I think what I would remember, not one specific talk or message, but it was almost weekly during my senior year that we would conclude an FCA meeting at 10 p .m. at night and someone would stay around and would say to me, I want to know what it means to be a Christian.

Can you help me know Christ? And that was exciting, just to see God working on our campus through this ministry. And those are the things that I really remember.

Seems like the Lord knows the exact right moment. And of course He does, but He knows the exact right moment to encourage us in gospel ministry and whether you're paid to do it or you're not paid. I just think of those times, you know, you just labor week in and week out and then just at the right time, someone will come along and say something.

Oh Lord, thank you for that. That encouraged me. That blessed me. We had, this is probably 25 years ago now, Kirby, someone whose brother is attending the Naval Academy there in Annapolis. And I was talking to the young man and I don't know, he was probably 17, 18 years old.

The whole family was staying at our house in North Hollywood. And I said, well, you know, tell me about your Christian faith or are you a Christian? Have you been baptized? And the kid looked at me and he said, I became a Christian because you evangelized me here last time, Pastor Mike.

And I just thought, you know what? I didn't remember. I couldn't recall anything. And I thought, you know what, Lord? Thank you. You know, when I'm weak, you're strong. Talking to Kirby Myers today on No Compromise Radio Ministry.

Supporting FCA Ministry and Serving at the Naval Academy

Kirby, if our folks wanted to get in touch with you so that they could learn more about the ministry or specifically if they want to help support you because you are supported through the FCA, you don't have a daytime job, this is your full-time ministry.

So you're a missionary in a sense, I would imagine. How would they support you or contact you?

Well, since the most recent Republican debate was sponsored by Google, I would say you could go to Google and just, you could Google Kirby Myers, my FCA. That's where you can learn a little bit more about what I'm trying to do at the Naval Academy or through Twitter.

You could look me up there, Kirby Myers. That's a great way to find me. Yeah, and it's, God has provided too. You know, going from a church ministry where you're taken care of and the church provides for you and then going into a ministry where you have to raise your own support is challenging, but God has been so faithful and I'm grateful for those who have invested and really caught the vision of what we're trying to do.

Well, if you'd like to invest in ministry where the gospel goes out, especially there on the campus in Annapolis, you can just Google Kirby Myers and pull it up. They could probably pull up Pastor Kirby Myers too, right?

Are people still calling you pastor?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, either pastor or sir. You know, you're at the Naval Academy and they're so trained. So everyone, sir, sir.

And I really, call me Kirby. You introduced me to about five of the players tonight after the game and they were very respectful and looked me in the eye and called me sir many times.

Yeah, it's funny because we meet on Tuesday nights for FCA from seven to eight o 'clock and I tell them, I say, hey, for one hour, you can just be a student athlete. You call me Kirby, relax in your chair.

For some of those kids, that's the first time all day they've really been able to relax a little bit. You know, classes started at seven in the morning and they're going all day with, especially for athletes.

And so I say, hey, call me Kirby, you know? And it's just a nice, relaxed atmosphere, great environment.

The Naval Academy, Campus Ministries, and Reaching Future Leaders

Well, of course the listeners of No Compromise Radio love No Compromise Radio or like it, or maybe they hate it and they just listen to see what they're not going to like, but they're very generous with their time and encouraging people to listen to the show and their friends and stuff like that, Kirby.

What will I expect when I go there in a few weeks and teach those students? So then we could have those No Compromise Radio listeners know what to expect so that they might pray for me and then they're going to get to know you and your ministry and they could pray for you as well.

What shall I expect next month? Tell our listeners what's going to happen.

Well, I mean, you're going to come in a little early so I can show you around. I mean, it's just an incredible place to do ministry. The Naval Academy, I think, was founded in 1845. And to be on the yard, they would call it, rather than on campus or on base, it's not a military base, but it's a military institution where you've got men and women committing four years of college and then five years minimum of service, either as a Marine or a Navy officer.

And so you are meeting the brightest and the best from the country, you know, academically. It's really interesting. Even the athletes, you read through their bios and, you know, most of them say, you know, they were president of National Honor Society.

I mean, these are just great kids who have excelled very well in the classroom and now they are preparing to serve our great nation as leaders. And so that is one thing that really drew me to the Naval Academy, just the opportunity to influence the influencers, you know, to help equip the leaders who are gonna go all over the world and serve our country.

The other night, I was watching this with my kids, I think it was on Thursday night. So some, I think 250 of the graduates this year, about a thousand will graduate in May, 250 will become strategic warfare officers.

So they will be on ships. And the other night, it was kind of like a draft, it was called Ship Selection Night, where they get to pick what ship they wanna be on. And just watching that and knowing, I mean, just, it's very humbling to see these kids that are gonna be leaders and they're going all over the world.

I mean, they were selecting ships that will be in port in Spain, in Japan, in San Diego, California, in Norfolk, Virginia. And so you're gonna be a part of my coming and visiting and being with these student athletes for an hour and knowing that we have a ministry, one of many good ministries at the Naval Academy, where these young men and women can be equipped really to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

And that's what has excited me about being there.

Other Campus Ministries and the Challenge of Sports Ministry

Well, I look forward to the time there, Kirby. I've been to the Air Force Academy. I've been to West Point, but I'm not just saying this because you're here, but even my Navy pencil should prove to you that we, and the sticker on the back of our truck.

What a day it's been. What a day it's been. They had these Navy pencils there today, but this is not from that. This is from Luke's Sea Cadets days. Tell our listeners a little bit about the different ministries at the campus, or excuse me, I think a campus, you know when that word was first used, it was used in Princeton, as you would look out to the field behind the buildings at Princeton and Nassau Hall, specifically, and the Latin word, I believe, for field is campus.

Is that right? I think that's, yeah. So when I'm on the yard and are there InterVarCity people there, Navigator people there? How does that work? Campus Crusade for Christ?

Yeah, crew is there, and Baptist Collegiate Ministries, or BCM, I think some schools they'll call it Baptist Student Union. There's a group called Officers Christian Fellowship. And then yes, then the Navigators are there as well.

And I know those leaders, and we try to get together a couple times a month for fellowship and encouragement. We pray with each other. There's some really godly men leading those other ministries as well.

And I like to joke with them, because at times it does feel competitive. We're all competing for the same kids to come to our ministries, but I tell them, hey, I just want the athletes. You can have the rest of the brigade.

I'm just here to minister to student athletes, but we have a great time, and I'm thankful for those guys. And some of them have been there five years, 10 years, 12 years, and so I've only been there a year and a half.

So I'm learning from them. They're very helpful and great encouragement to me in our ministry.

Radio Voice, Swag, and Guest Speakers Like Ron Brown and Clark Kellogg

Curby, I'm sitting here listening to you, and I don't hear ums and ahs and those kind of things. You've got a good radio voice too. I think you need to do a little podcast down there. The Lord is leading me to tell you.

I have a word from the Lord for you. Do a podcast down there in Annapolis. Wow. Well, you know, people used to tell me,.

Curby, you have a great face for radio. And so I guess I'm being affirmed in that tonight. The Lord is telling me I need to be doing radio ministry.

We were sitting down at my desk and just chatting before this show, and Curby looked at me and said, this is audio only. It was, you got the kind of cool FCA shirt on, and you've got your Navy jacket on.

I need some serious swag. Yeah, we'll hook you up when you come down. I take care of my speakers. Oh, good. Who have you had for speakers there in the past?

Well, two good ones last year. One being Ron Brown, and you'll know that name from Nebraska football. Ron was an assistant coach at Nebraska for 24 years. I mean, through three different head coaches, a strong believer, and last year their head coach got fired, and so he got fired too, and he's now at Liberty.

Let me just interrupt you for a second. I spoke with Ron Brown at that FCA deal in Nebraska called No Compromise. And I was fascinated to know that Ron just made it through all those coaches. You know, an outspoken Christian gotten quite a bit of trouble with different people on what he would say and just standard things, but you know, in the politically correct world, it was inflammatory.

And it was always fascinating to me, Kirby, that Ron could exist with Bo Pelini.

But he did. He did. And you know, I think Bo really appreciated that who you see is, what you see is what you get with Ron Brown. He is as genuine as they come. I like to say he's the boldest Christian I've ever met.

Just so strong and giving the gospel and so bold in his witness. So we had him last spring, and the meds, the student athletes loved him, and we had a great time just visiting with the football coaches there with him.

Clark Kellogg is a friend of mine. He came in and he spoke at a luncheon at the academy, and then I got him in front of the basketball team, and that was great. So those are the kind of guys you're following, Mike.

So I hope you're working on your sports resume right now before I introduce you to Mitch Shibman.

You know, I don't have any credentials like those guys do, but we're gonna give them a copy of the book. You're gonna give them a copy for free, so.

We'll take a love offering at the end, but yes. Yeah, that's right.

Closing Remarks and Program Sign-Off

Well, we're gonna keep Kirby in the studio for another episode of No Compromise Radio. You can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com. If you wanna learn more about Kirby, you can Google him, Pastor Kirby Myers, Annapolis Navy, FCA, that type of thing.

Kirby, thanks for being on the show. Thanks so much, Mike.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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