The Eric Metaxas Show - Paul Anka

Episode Date: September 18, 2021

Singer-songwriter Paul Anka, who wrote "My Way" for his friend Frank Sinatra, has a new album and shares details of his legendary career which began at age 15 and included hanging out with the Rat Pack. 

Texas show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Hey, folks, I tried to get a big star, and I couldn't get a big star. And then they said, no, no, no, Eric, we got Paul Anka. I said, well, come on, not the Paul Anka. They said, no, no, no, really? The Paul Anka. I said, I don't believe it. I'll believe it when I see him.

And here's the thing. I see him now. Welcome, Paul Anka. Hello there, Eric. It is I. How are you? It is I. I'm an English major and I say it's me

and that's wrong. It's so good to see you. Thank you for coming on here. I want to talk to you about everything. Where do we start? First of all, I'm embarrassed. You're wearing a sweatshirt. I'm embarrassed. I'm not wearing a sweatshirt. What is wrong with me? Well, you shouldn't be. Listen, if I wasn't in this chair I'd be pretty much dressed like you

when I'm away from my home. I got it all down. The Charvet shirt. I'm trying to guess the tie. It's either Turnbull and ass or Polo. You know what? Let's see. This one is there actually. Herod's Men's Shop. So it's not really a fancy.

It's Harrod's, you know, from England. But listen, I don't know where to begin with you because you've had such an amazing career. For people, now there are a lot of young folks who might not be familiar with you. And I thought, boy, they're in for it here.

But where do we start? First of all, you were a huge teen idol. That was a little bit before my time. A gigantic teen idol. How did that happen for you? You're from Canada. Yeah, born in Canada, raised in Canada. I was in school, wanted to be a journalist.

My father wanted to be a lawyer. Put me in an English class, a class with 40 girls to learn out of type and shorthand. I hated the shorthand. I got thrown out a shorthand, which was fine. Took up music. Then I started writing. I won some awards for a couple of my essays that I wrote. But while taking music, I became a big fan of music back then.

and it evolved into me just starting to write at a young age. Kind of had a crush on a girl that was older than I was. You know, back in the 50s, indigenous to that time. If you were older, shorter, or fatter, you really didn't get the score. So I wrote this song, I'm so young, you're so old. I sang it at parties, and I said, now what do I do with it? Well, we all have to realize that pop music was in its infancy stage back then. Thus, I said, well, I'm going to New York because that's where the action is.

So I read an ad in a newspaper. It said, collect soup wrappers, you go to New York. So I got a job at IGA food stores. I collected soup wrappers, Campbell Soup. Won the trip with 40 boys. I went down, got the vibe in New York, went back home, borrowed some money on Easter vacation the following year. And I went down and went into an office called ABC Paramount Records.

Don Costa was the ANR director. It looked at me. I had my little t-shirt on and jeans. Pulled out my songs. started singing. He said, kid, where's your parents? I said, back home in Canada. He said, well, you better get them down here because we want to sign you up. Unbelievable. These stories, as they say, you can't make it up. I mean, it's amazing. First of all, don't you find it amazing looking back now? You're, you just turned 80. You look back and you think, who was that young guy with that ambition,

who somehow knew he wants to do this? And he goes to all of these great lengths. to get to New York, to get in front of these people. How old were you when you met the producer, Don Costa? I was 15 years old. 15. 15. 15. Did you say 15?

It's a little bit amazing. Are you amazed now when you see 15-year-olds, I don't get the impression that they have the get-up-and-go you did? A different scenario. You know, you have to realize today's world is totally different. With the technology, these parents pushing these kids, kids out because of these talent shows. They don't have to have to have the kind of passion those that started in an industry with me. We were this small little cult of people.

We all got lucky. We all had a gift. We were pioneers. Today it's real easy, yet it's not easy to get the popularity. But back then, I was very confident. I was very focused, which you had to be. And I can still remember the vibe that I had when I left home, what I was thinking how focused I was. And then I realized when it happened for me that everybody around me was not sophisticated. And, you know, from the Everleigh brothers, Buddy Holly, you name of Chuck Berry, we were just a bunch of kids. We had a talent. But we were not sophisticated. And most people aren't. You know, you start getting into some kind of journey where you're successful and you're crawling along trying to deal with it. But you're not, you don't have any wisdom to deal with it.

And ultimately, you hope that you do so that you can deal with it. So back then, yeah, we were just driving little teenagers, you know, writing these teenage songs and knowing we had a talent and we had a choice. You had a choice to screw it up or not to screw it up. And I just decided to stay focused and whatever came I was ready for it. Well, it's beautiful. Now, again, there are people that I don't even know where to begin in your career. I mean, I know you from the 70s as I was growing up. You had a gigantic hit in the 70s. You say it. The title was having my baby Is that the one?

Yeah, that's the one. It's either that or afternoon delight. I get them mixed up. I think he was having my baby. That was such a big hit. Having my baby. Now, do you write the lyrics and the music always? Because I know with my way,

I got to say this as a headline for people. You wrote My Way for your friend, Frank Sinatra. Now, all of us, I think in some ways, the greatest thing anybody can do is to do something that's so great. People don't even wonder who did it. They just assume it was always there. The same thing with the theme song from the Tonight Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. You wrote that. Most people don't think like, oh, there's someone who wrote that.

You wrote the lyrics to my way, but specifically for Sinatra. Let's go there because that's just a monumental moment in both of your careers. I mean, he had already had 20 careers up to this moment. He's making some noise about retiring. What happened? This is 1968? Well, it's 68. Prefacing that, it was Vegas, rat pack.

I got to know him in the 60s. I hung around him. Let's not forget Dean Martin and Sammy Davis. Very talented men. But up until 68, I was still writing. I was living in Europe, which I loved. I had the gravitas of being a writer because of the Tonight Show, the longest day, et cetera.

So when I met him in Miami where we used to work at the Fountain Blue Hotel, he was doing a film. I was performing. He said, kid after the show. We all had nicknames. He called me the kid, which I was. He said, come on at dinner. I want to talk to you. I go to dinner.

At the end of the dinner, he said, I'm quitting show business. I'm going to retire. I've had enough. Rat packs over. I'm being hassled by the G, the FBI. And I'm tired. I'm getting out of here. But I'm going to do one more album with Don Costa.

Now, Don Costa is the gentleman I mentioned to who started me. I introduced him to Frank back in the early 60s, and he made one of the best albums, I think, Frank's ever made, called Sinatra Strings. So with that, and him telling me that he was quitting and retiring and believing him, I couldn't believe him. So I went back to New York where I was living at the time, and I'm sitting in my apartment. And a big thunderstorm outside. I'm sitting at my typewriter, which I did everything on. and metaphorically starting to create where I wanted to go in terms of the content of the song. And I started metaphorically with, and now the end is near.

And so I faced the final curtain. And I started writing it as if he were writing it. And writing words I would never write as a craftsman ate it up, spit it out. But these were the kind of words that he used. So I finished it five hours later. I called him at Caesar's Palace, where he was doing one of his last engagements. And I said, sir, I've got something I think you might like for the album. He said, bring it out.

I made a quick demo record. I flew out to Vegas, went to his dressing room and played it for him. He said, kid, that's really good. He said, I'm going to do it. He would never say anything more than that. He would never elaborate. He was always Sinatra. And two months later, fade out, fade him.

I got a call from a record studio in Los Angeles. He said, kid, listen to this. He took the phone. He put it next to the speaker, and I'm in New York listening. And I heard my way completed for the first time. And I started crying. And my life changed at that point in terms of my craft of writing. Well, look, I want to say it again.

You were gigantically famous way before this. You're famous in the 50s. You're a, how do we call it? You know, a teeny bopper idol. But then things change. You get involved. You said with the rat pack, how were you involved with them, that led up to this moment, this iconic moment with Sinatra.

How did you, actually they're telling me we're going to a break. Folks will be right back. I'm talking to Polanka. I don't think you're going any place because we're going to be right here. And they called it puppy love. Oh, I guess they'll never know. Hey, folks, I've got to tell you a secret about relief factor that the father, son, owners, Pete and Seth Talbot,

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Would they happen to be your gold records? For the most part, you know, this is Michael Bublay, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, I mean, other artists I've been involved with. But to most part, a lot of those are from, you know, 1957 on. Now, you worked with the folks you've mentioned. I mean, I should mention this up front, if I were better at my job. Recently, you've worked with Drake, The Weekend,

Michael Boubley, Andrea Bacheli, Olivia Newton, John. We were talking about your time with Sinatra. How did it end up that you were working with what we today call the Rat Pack? No greater fan of Dean Martin than yours truly. Amazing that you knew these men. Well, we have to go back to the beginnings.

You know, the record business and the business that I was in was primarily run by the boys, the boys, the mafia, whatever. And that was cool. They were great to work for. We knew what our position was, but they ran everything. They owned the clubs, the record companies, et cetera. So when I started and became a success very young, I realized who I was working for. I realized, you know, how I was to behave myself. And I started working at the Copacabana, which was the testing round in New York. I was successful.

And I got the word that now that New York went very well, we're sending out to Vegas to the boys and you're going to work in Vegas. So what year are we talking about? Big a pardon? What year are we talking about? 58. Okay. 1985. I started out there with Sophie Tucker, which was, I guess, my audition, did well with her.

And then it evolved into the 60s. Started working the Sands right from there. Youngest kid never worked there. and here I was with all these guys who were my idols, you know, realizing that Bobby Darren, Frankie Avalon, you know, we were still these kid idols, but we knew this at the end. And we realized that we had to evolve to survive into something else. Thus, we had these guys that we looked up to, Dean Martin, Sammy, and Frank. So I went to the sand, started working, and these guys mentored me.

They took me in because I was making money for them. Indirectly, directly. The boys ran the place. and we became very, very close. And all my early life from then on was working the Copa, working in Vegas. I did a lot of international travel. But every time we went to Vegas, because it was Vegas, it was the only place. We weren't ready for Beatles.

We weren't ready for Hendricks. We weren't ready, nor did we know. So I go to England where I spent a lot of time. I go to Paris. And I went to see a friend of mine at the Olympia Theater. And I embraced the whole French culture at a very, very, very early age. And I went to see my friend at the Olympia. And the announcer at this amazing theater called the Olympia,

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Beatles. And these four kids came on and it was like, they didn't know the bitters. So I'm watching these four kids. And they're doing covers of, you know, Chuck Berry and they're doing Fats Domino. And I'm fascinated as a kid and musicians seen what I've never seen before. So I go backstage and take a lot of pictures, et cetera. And I said, you guys are amazing.

Now, we need to realize that we were not in a media-driven society back then. We knew nothing that was happening over there. You know, I mean, it would be that if CNN or whomever were around in the 40s, Hitler never gets out of Germany. Well, it wasn't that case, right? Metaphorically. So no one knew the Beatles over here. I come back to my agents in New York, Normie Weiss, Sid Bernstein.

I said, guys, you know, I just saw these guys, Beatles. It's the way of me Beatles? No, no, no. Beatles, what? Nobody wanted to know. Anyway, long story short, my agent flies over in 63, 64, meets with the manager. They were the ones that brought the Beatles over. I'm mentioning this because that's when the industry changed.

Madison Avenue opened up. and now started to embrace pop music and the culture, where they didn't before. So now I've got Vegas going for me. The Beatles have opened up. I'm still writing, which was my gravitas, and which I wanted to do because I felt it would have been over. Because a lot of my friends were out of the business after that with the British invasion. So I'm writing, you know, Tonight Show thing, Longest Day, I'm writing for Buddy Holly and Connie Francis. And I think that was my savior to get to the next level.

But in the middle of that is Vegas, and then you've got this growing music industry evolving under the British invasion. Then you got Hendricks goes from there. Well, it's so crazy when you think of the clash of these cultures. I mean, when you think of Sinatra and the Rat Pack and that kind of music, and then suddenly you have the 60s, it's a strange thing to think about. Because they sort of don't go together. And I know that Sinatra tried a couple of times. to go in that direction. It doesn't seem to have gone well for him.

It just looks, it doesn't look like it's him. It looks like he's trying to be somebody else. But so to go back to this moment, you write my way for him. Now, this is a real writer. You're a real writer because you're able to put yourself in the mindset of someone else's voice. How do they phrase? How do they, what words do they use?

And you wrote my way. and it was a ballad that you had bumped into. I don't remember how you came across this ballad. It's a French melody. Yeah. I was vacationing every year in Mugin, in France. I'm listening to the radio. When you're a musician, you hear certain things.

You hear it differently. Went back to Paris, you know, where I was living. And I went to some friends of mine who owned it. I said, did this song with Claude Francois. Yeah, he says, can I have it? He said, yeah, you take it. We weren't buying the pyramids. But I heard it differently.

and I stuck it in the pocket. And I sat with it for about six months after we got home from Mujin. And only when Sinatra inspired me, you know, and he was leaving, did I put it all together? Like when I did rock swings, you know, which was a whole departure for me. I heard it differently and they put it on the piano. And you're absolutely correct. You know, I had the framework from a French melody. Well, it's just an amazing thing because the art involved in that,

You said you wrote for Connie Francis. Tell us about the Tonight Show theme because many of us, it's the wallpaper of our lives. We cannot imagine a world without the Tonight Show theme, Johnny Carson. How did that happen? What was the professional relationship in any event that leads you to the possibility of writing something like that? And what year was that? Interesting. Early 60s, I'm in England doing a TV special for Granada TV.

And I realized in the production, pre-production, we had no comic. value, no comedian value. And I said to the guys, we need a comic. And they started sending me a lot of film. So I get to about the 12th film. And I see this guy who's drinking all night and blitzed till four in the morning. He was one, but he's got to get up at eight. He's got a kiddie show. He's got to go take care of these kids on television. So it was Johnny. And he walks in and he has to deal with all of these four, five, six years old screaming. And his head, of course, is here. And there's a very funny bit. I said, that guy. Johnny flies over to England.

He's on the show. I get to know him a little bit. Johnny was not the kind of guy you get to know fast. We go back to New York. I run into him two months later. Hey, Johnny, how you doing fine? What's up? I'm going to do this.

There's a show tonight show. I'm going to do it for a couple of years. And, you know, do you have any music? I want a new theme. He said, sure, you know. So I had this melody. You know, I've always got something hanging around. He said, it's just for about 15, 20 seconds.

So I went in the studio and put my vision down. Sent it to him. He said, I love it. Calls me back two days later. He said, Paul, we can't use it. There's a guy there that's been with the show, Skitch Henderson. And he doesn't want some kid taking over for him or writing the song. We can't use it.

I said, gee, Johnny, I'm sorry about that. He said, by the way, John, if you want, I'll give you half of the writing royalties. I'll give you half the publishing. We'll split the song together. Fade out, fade in. Next day he called and said, you got it. It's on the show. Unbelievable.

I met Skitch Henderson not too many years ago in New York. What a legend. The idea that, I mean, it's just so funny. People, you know, who weren't in the business, when you start seeing how these things work and why this was done. But, I mean, it's just an amazing thing. Nobody dreamt he'd be doing this for 30 years. He could have kept doing it.

I assume you got to know him better over the years. Yes, I did. Look, nobody did it better than Johnny, obviously. I think he handled himself very well. He was a very smart guy, very smart guy. And it wasn't as social as one would think. He was very careful when he went out, who he hung out with. But he was good. The song did very well for both of us. When we come back, can we talk about your new album? Is that going to be okay? Oh, absolutely. No problem. We're having more talk. What's that? As long as you want. Okay, so folks, hey, I'm talking to Polanka. I don't see any reason to stop because it's fun.

It's informative. When we come back, we're going to talk about the album. Hard to believe you've hit 80, but you said, hey, let's make an album. It's called Making Memories, All New Connection of Reimagined Classics with a lot of names that we would recognize. Olivia Newton, John, Michael Boubley, Andrea Boudel. Chely, a lot of great stuff. Folks, don't go away. I'm talking to Polanka.

Have I mentioned that? Yeah, it's true. Put your head on my show. Folks, I'm talking to Paul Anka. Have I mentioned that? I hope I have. It's so much fun. Paul Anka, God bless you.

It's just a joy to talk to you about your extraordinary career. And now, of course, you just seem so young. So I'm imagining that you've got lots of ideas and things popping in your head. The new thing is this album. Tell us about the new album. Well, when COVID hit us all, unfortunately, our lives changed, obviously. And here I was at home, you know, got closer to my family, if that was possible. But what am I going to do with myself?

And I sat down and started writing. That's what I do. I'm a craftsman. I write. And I started writing in such a different way because I've written. You know, when I was a kid, I had to write. I lived rock and roll every hour, turned out albums all year. But I've had the luxury of sitting back and writing when I want.

Now all of a sudden, that's all I can do, stay home and write. So I started writing and I finished about, you know, 30 songs. And I realized I had an album here. And I started just writing eclectically, you know, observation socially, relationships, love, strongest emotion. And I said, well, you know, I've done. done something here I haven't done in a long time. So I just made a big effort to get it out. I made a very quick deal with the company I'm related to, primary wave. And it was just

cathartic and it was rewarding. And it's not a duets album. You know, you graciously mentioned my friends, Buccelli, who I know. I spent a couple of summers ago with him and we've always wanted to do this. Michael Bubez, you know, worked with him on his first album. I've been friends with him for a long time. We had dinner. I said, look, I've got to do my way. And I don't want to do it alone. I'm sick of hearing myself doing it for five minutes. I said, come out on board. And they said, yeah, one. Then TikTok, I've got a whole new fan base. I'll never understand it. I do, and I like TikTok. But one day, a bunch of kids show up at my door, 15, 16-year-olds, because my son is 16. And they start singing, put you on my shoulder. I don't know how they know it. I don't know why you're at my house.

And they said, Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock. I'm going to T-T-T-T-T-T-T. That's 4 o'clock. No T-T-T-T-T-T-T. Anyway, I jump on it. I look at Tick-Tac like we all have. And to this date, I will tell you, it's here to stay. And I get it. Now you've got put you in my shoulder that I wrote when I was 17, 18, and these kids have

discovered it, and they're doing everything with it. The silhouette. They're singing it. Dojo Cat has a hit. And I don't believe it. But I'm taking it. And I got kids coming in, grocery stores. They started showing up at my show before the 19.

And I'm going, wow, I got to do a picture on my shoulder. I don't want to sing that for myself. I can hear that too. So now one thing goes to another and through a friend, Olivia Newton, John, was available. And I called her up, a gracious woman, a great artist, and a courageous person. And we talk. And I've known her through the years.

fade out, fade in. This woman with everything she's dealing with goes into a studio. She records, put you in my shoulder, and it's one of the tracks. And it goes to number one on Amazon. So that was a big kick. I get El Devo to do Destiny with me. The rest are just all new songs. And it's out there.

It's doing very well. So now we're going to put out a Christmas album and a Valentine's album based on that. And away you go. You know, you sit back and be grateful. Because my number one occupation, through the years with COVID, number one, just staying healthy. Just staying healthy.

That's all that it was about for me. You know, I hadn't worked in two years with this. You lose a lot of money, so what? You keep your health together. You know, I'm playing with the house money. You always look healthy, principally because you've got that amazing tan. What part of the world do you live in?

Are you in L.A. someplace? I'm in California. I'm outside Beverly Hills by choice. I live out kind of in the mountains, and, you know, a cool area, which I like. And, yeah, I play tennis still. I play tennis with my son. I'm always outside.

You know, Carrie Grant years ago was an idol and a friend. He was a cool guy. And I love the way he dressed. And I love the way the rat pack dress. So I've always been a dresser. You know, I get my clothes made in Paris and a shirt and tie. And he used to say to him, my boy, he said, don't wear that makeup on stage.

He says, you get a tan and you go on. And Dean Martin and I and a couple of other. this, we were in the sun 20 minutes, whatever it was. We always had the tan and no makeup. Always. And that's the way I live, along with everything else. I eat a certain way. I have a lifestyle.

And I keep a tan. I love it. I remember, actually, I've gotten to know Pat Boone, and he was telling me a story of being on one of the lots. I don't know which one it was, Paramount, and being next to Carrie Grant and how Carrie Grant would soon. it out and get a tan when he had time, you know, when he wasn't needed on the set or something like that. And it is almost funny to think about it because who doesn't look good with a tan?

Some Irish people, let's be honest. But you look amazing with a tan. Trump always has like three tans. I don't know where he gets his tans from. But it is so funny. And of course, Papoon always is glowing with a tan. I think living in the Beverly Hills area helps, though. Let's be honest. Well, California helps. Plank, playing. Plank. Here in Vegas. You know, Vegas, forget about it. You get it in about 30 minutes. The whole key is, it is healthy for you. When you look at the dynamics of what you should be doing for your

body, you must get the vitamin D. You know, a tip, get it in the armpits. That's where it gets in. But then to go along with that look, it's very true, armpits. You have to, you have to, you have, to eat a certain way. You have to live a certain way, or you're going to blow the tan. It's just that simple. It's just driving me crazy. They're telling me we're out of time. I love talking to you. How about we just invite you back and we just can go as long as we want? It's just a joy speaking with you, Polanka. God bless you. Thank you for your time. Congratulations on the album and on everything, making memories. God bless you to be continued, please. Thank you. Hear the latest reporting and analysis on the big stories of the day.

On the daybreak insider podcast. It's top-notch reporting from SRN News, along with the sharpest insight from Hugh Hewitt, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, Sebastian Gorka, and the voices of townhall.com. The daybreak insider podcast. It's your first look at today's top stories. Available at Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google, and at Salem Podcast Network.com. Hey there folks. We, well, we, I, my favorite thing to do on this program is to bring on friends of mine. And we could just talk about whatever.

But actually, the other thing I like to do is talk about really, really, really, really important things. Well, today we get both. I have two guests here. One of them is a very dear friend for 10,000 years. His name's Keith Junta. Keith, are you Keith Junta? I am. You play the role of Keith Junta.

your friend, Kenny S-A-C-H-T, Kenny, you're a new friend, and you have a ministry called wipe-every-tere.org. Now, Keith, you write at, what is it called, wine patch.org. Winepatch.org. Now, we've been friends literally for, what, 31 years. And you, I've always known you to be brilliant, but you're very humble, so you go, no, no, Eric, you're the writer, right?

You've been writing these brilliant things at winepatch.org. I've sent people to winepatch.org to read your stuff. And you wrote a piece about the sex trade in Thailand and how you had visited there, how you're friends with Kenny Sacked, and you've worked with wipe every tier.org. I was so blown away. I said, we have to talk about this on the program, whether I'd just talk to you or I'd just talk to Kenny or talk to both of you. I'm in awe of what you all do, and I just want my audience to hear about this, that God is delivering women from the most degrading, horrible thing. It's just a beautiful thing. We need some positive stories. So where do we begin? How did you, Keith, my friend, how did you meet Kenny, and how did this happen that you started working with him, even though obviously you're not full time? But I mean, how did you get in? involved in this.

Yeah. First of all, it's Philippines. I want to say that. Hey, this is my show. If I say it's Thailand, it's the Philippines. You might be moving the ministry.

Well, we were there in Thailand, but we're taking a break. As long as you were there, just to save me from the Philippines. But it's the Philippines. Okay, so how do you?

And I was invited by another long time friend of ours from way back at St. Paul's Brian Johanson. Right. Brian and Kenny have been friends for quite a while. Uh-huh.

And Brian really on a nudge of the Holy Spirit, he said, Keith, I think you need to come to the Philippines and see what's happening. So I was part of the first men's team. It was an all-men's team going to the Philippines. It had never been done before. And our role

was to go there and go into the bars and rescue the women literally out of the bars. I mean, before you even get into this, like, unbelievably heavy stuff, just the idea of flying to the Philippines. This is not like flying to France, which is

not easy either. But how do you fly from the New York area to the Philippines? Yeah, it takes a day. It's 17 hours. You go through L.A? Connected through South Korea. Through South Korea. How do you fly to South Korea? Direct. Direct to South Korea from where? Yeah, from New York, from JFK. From JFK. That sounds like you took a shortcut, but we can't get into that. But I mean, I'm just saying just that is like a huge commitment. It's not like going to the Dominican Republic, which is three hours or whatever. This is a big deal. But you decided, because of our friend, Brian Johansson, brother of Miria Johansson. These are all friends from St. Paul's, Dary Ann, back in the day, wonderful people. But so you decide to go. And what happens when you get there?

Walking on the strip, the first time I walked on Walking Street, it is a strip of about three-quarters of a mile, maybe, countless bars. It's nothing but bars. And they estimate there's 15,000 girls being. traffic just on this one strip. And so we set up shop right at the edge of the, right at the top of the strip. We stayed in the local hotels. The best thing about this as a, quote, missions trip is we were not separated from the city, from the mess, from the, we weren't in our private bus, and we stayed in some missions. We were in the city to mix with the people. And Kenny's probably one of the greatest things that Kenny taught. Now I'm a worship leader, so worship is part of the city. So worship is

of my life. But if you think a man can walk into a sex bar and just start rescuing women, you're out of your mind. So we would literally worship for two hours, two plus hours sometimes, at the head of the strip in this upper room, and we would just worship until we got what Kenny calls Jesus eyes. So it's literally like the matrix. You no longer see what you're looking at. You see the code that's running behind it. So we walk onto walking. street and you don't see trafficked girls. You see daughters of the king. You see beautiful women who were created for so much more than this. And so I will admit, the first bar I walked into, it was disturbing. I mean, it's loud, it smells. There are lots of men there who look like us.

They go on month-long sex vacations, and this is what they do. They go there and night after night, after night, they're violating and exploiting these girls. But we walk in literally as Jesus. So when we walk in, we're full of joy. We high-five the girls. I want to say, though, that anybody who hasn't experienced God in a visceral way, this idea that worshiping God has the power to change you, that's amazing. Because I could say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, but this is literally what you do to prepare to go into these dark, dark, dark places. Okay, so, Kenny, what is your story and how did you get into this? Yeah, I was a high school teacher in Boise, Idaho, and at Christian High School, and a coach,

basketball coach. So for a number of years, we wanted to do a mission trip. You know, I wanted to get our kids out of America, and we ended up in the Philippines. And fast forward in a little bit. saw the sex trade and I was broken as a daddy of five lovely daughters and one son. Wow. I broke. I mean, I was uncontrollably crying. Fast forward again, I was on a trip with my wife. You know, we took a team. I took a team of high school kids to go find the sex trade. And we found it. I mean I and from the very beginning

God said take a lot of risk so you know taking high school kids to go find the sex trade you know it's like that and we found it and I was broken and I thought I got to do something I have to do something if it was one girl I would be satisfied

well again this is so wild I imagine people listening to this on the radio or on Rumble wherever they find this program and thinking you know as a theory, this is very nice, but to actually do it. That's why, you know, Keith, when you, we're such close friends for so long, when I heard that you had done this, I just said, whoa, you really did this.

This is, it's almost unthinkable to face this evil and to figure out how can I get these girls out. It seems impossible. We're going to a break. We'll be right back, wipe every tier.org. Folks, the ministry is, wipe every tier, wipe every tier.org. I'm talking to Kenny Sacked and my friend Keith Jinta. Is there any way to spell Jinta, any real way? How do you spell that? The funniest thing about our name is they misspelled it when we came over on the boat. Is that funny? They put the dot over

the U and it became all messed up. Jinta, Keith Juntta, Kenny S-A-C-H-T. Now, Kenny, you were a basketball coach in Idaho. Yes. You take some kids over to the Philippines and you discover this evil, these women being treated like animals. Yes. Now, this is legal in the Philippines. It's illegal.

That even makes it worse. It's illegal. But people are looking the other way. Everyone's on the take. That's what's called corruption. Yes. Corruption bad. Okay.

So you go there. You see this. You have five girls. girls, your daughters, and you start weeping. So what do you do about it? In other words, I would see it, and I wouldn't have the beginning of an idea clue of what to do about it. Now, you were in ministry before this? I was a pastor for a number of years, went to seminary, did all that. Okay. They never taught me how to rescue girls in the sex trade, though. When you say rescue girls from the sex trade, I want to get to what you mean by that. But what did you think? So you see this,

you start crying. What do you do? I met with a director at a home that we were staying in a guest house that did this. It was called Samaritana. And I saw these girls, and I asked Becky, Angelus, who's my director there, Filipino director now, I said, I got to do something. What can I do? And she said, I'll help you. They always call you coach, very respectful.

I'll help you coach. And she said, I'll help you set things up. and long story short she helped me assisted me and eventually became our director and we just started going to rescue the girls and to restore them

fully so knowing nothing about this that prepares me for this interview what does this mean rescuing the girls how do you rescue a girl I mean if I go down to some place in New York where they're prostitutes and I imagine that there's a pimp with a gun

who wants to blow my brains out if I dare approach his property. How do you do this? Well, you know, we do short-term mission trips. That's the only way we can get to the girls because in the bars in Angela City, only foreigners can go to these bars. So the foreigners are the ticket. When Keith came, he was the ticket to get our girls who are in our care

who say we want to go back to the bars. Imagine that. they want to go back to the bars to, in their words, rescue our sisters. And so we go in relationally. We have a little card that says what we do on the back, but wipe every tear. You know, we provide education, college, degree, et cetera, et cetera, child support. And we get them to come, and it's very soft sell.

Because they are told that we're the traffickers. Check that out. The traffickers tell them that don't trust wipe every tier. They're the traffickers. They're going to traffic you to another country. They're going to keep you and put you in a brothel, or they're going to use it for themselves and shoot you and kill you. And the fourth one is the one that really gets him,

is that we are organ harvesters. But God breaks through that, and some trust us, and they come and they visit a very short visit. Like just for, it's about a two-hour trip back into Manila where our houses are at. They visit, they see it's real. They often are just crying, the tears just running down their cheeks, and they say, can this be? How can this be? Please, sir, tell me you're not lying.

You see, anybody who doesn't believe there's evil in the world, well, I'd like to put this forward as Exhibit A. There is evil in the world. The only answer to evil, since we don't have time, I'll just give you the short answer. It's Jesus. It's the power of God. It is real. When you see it, it kind of changes something. So maybe some people should check out wipe every tier.org, wipe every tier.org. We're going to be back in hour two, way more with Kenny Sack and Keith Jinta, wipeverytier.org.