The Eric Metaxas Show - Tony & Lauren Dungy

Episode Date: August 11, 2022

Tony & Lauren Dungy are in the studio with a lot of words of encouragement for these trying times, sharing thoughts from "Uncommon Influence."

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m.investments.com. Eric McTaxis show with your host, Eric Metaxis. Hey, folks, welcome to hour two. I'm going to continue my conversation with John Zmirak. And then we're going to talk to Tony Dungy, the great Tony Dungy.

My goodness. wife Lauren Dungey right here in the studio. But before we talk to John, I want to remind you of the phone number. We're doing a fundraise of her Food for the Poor. Folks, we desperately need your help. Okay, there are people suffering in Ukraine right now. Food for the Poor is on the ground to help them. The number is 844-863 Hope.

844-863 Hope. Hannah Jensen, a radio broadcaster, was on the ground with Food for the Poor. And I want to play the clip of how this impacted her personally. to this. This is my first experience actually seeing true poverty. What impacting me the most was the kids, because they all were just so joyful to see us. You know, and I felt we were hoped to them. And even if they do get sad at times, because I don't doubt that at all. I mean, they're hungry. That makes me sad for them, to be honest with you. They're kids who just want to be kids. So this is a very human situation. We are asking you,

If you listen to this program, please help go to metaxis talk.com. You'll see the banner. Please, folks, do anything you can. This is a serious situation. Metaxistock.com or call 844-863 Hope, 844-863 Hope. All right, John Zmirak, let's continue talking about the madness. What do you think is going to happen? I mean, they rated Trump's on.

When the FBI does something like this, most Americans who don't talk on radio programs, They're sitting back and they're thinking, we know what's going on. This is dirty. This is disgusting. They're going to plant something in the documents, I bet. I would be shocked if they don't plant some fake thing to insinuate a crime that Trump did not commit. I put nothing past these people. These people said the Hunter Biden laptops were Russian disinformation without even seeing them.

These people hid the laptop. The FBI put it in a basement. And if Rudy Giuliani hadn't made it copy and given it to the heroic Jack Maxi who you had on this show, none of us would know about it. Okay, remember, these people want to kill innocent babies. You're going to put some process crime past them?

We are dealing with the powers of hell. And I'll give you a little bit of proof. Eric, what do you think is, do we have an official religion in America? Do we have a state church? I think we do. I think it's the LGBTQ. My name is Legion movement.

I think the Church of Sodom is the established church in the United States. The danger is not Christian nationalism. It's gay Sharia. And why do I say that? Well, do you remember something called COVID? It was a public health crisis, right? It was a pandemic. We had to close down all inessential stuff like,

church services and schools. They kept open abortion clinics, liquor stores, and casinos, but they closed churches. And our pastors, so most of our pastors fell all over themselves, closing their churches and telling people to get the dead baby vaccine, telling people there was no moral problem with using a vaccine developed through aborted babies' stolen organs. because they were saying, yeah, you're right. Church isn't that important. The worship of God is not essential.

Well, now we have another pandemic, monkeypox. And monkeypox is a disease that men get when they go to public places and have sex with dozens of strangers, other men usually. So gay orgies are essential because no public health authority is demanding that those be shut down. And when Ned Ryan on Fox News had the temerity to say, you know, maybe you all shouldn't be having orgies with dozens of people because it's kind of spreading a disease. The other so-called conservative hosts, including Kennedy, all latched down, they laced into him like, you're promoting bigotry, you're stereotyping. Think about that. The conservative network won't even countenance the idea of a temporary suspension. of 20-man gay orgies, because that is the official religion.

Well, that's, I was going to say that's exactly right, John. That is exactly right. And again, I think most people intuit this. We need to be clear, the Constitution makes plain that we're not to have an established religion. That is effectively what has happened. In other words, when you're talking about religion, we're not just talking about, oh, it's the congregational church or the way. We're talking about a way of seeing reality that the government gets behind.

The government's not supposed to do that. It's supposed to be up to we the people to determine what we think about these things, and the government's supposed to be agnostic on that stuff, just the way that's supposed to keep its thumb off the scales with regard to the free market. It's not supposed to get involved. That's what the Constitution says. Well, we now know that you have a situation where the government is saying, we're going to get behind that.

If anything departs from where we're coming from on that, in this area, we're going to keep our mouths shut. We will shut down churches, but we will never shut down or we won't even mention any of this other unseemly stuff because it goes against this new orthodoxy, which is exactly what John was saying. This is the establishment of a religion, but because it's not an official religion, nobody's saying anything about it. But we, the people, need to know this is genuinely unconstitutional what is happening. When the government is making these kinds of choices, the government is completely out of line with the constitution. And if you don't think it's a religion, think back, who in 2015 was saying that biological sex wasn't real? Who was saying there are 47 different genders that sound like Pokemon characters?

Who was saying that kids ought to be castrated chemically or physically to suit their shifting confused adolescent emotions? Who was saying that male prisoners, rapists who decide that they identify as women have to be transferred to female prisons where they can rape again. This is a religious hysteria like the Salem witch trials, like the Inquisition, like the persecution of the Jews during the Crusades. This is the kind of insanity driven by dark preternatural forces that recurs throughout history. America may be exceptional, but we're not immune. We're not spiritually vaccinated against diabolical forces, witnessed the fact that abortion was legal and a supposedly part of the Constitution for 50 years. We have to wake up. We're part of the fallen human race, and we are

endangered by the world, the flesh, and the devil. And we have to realize that our official religion is Caesar, Mammon, and Sodom. Okay. Now, I just want to be clear with my audience, my response to this, folks, you don't have to agree with me, but I would say this to, to anyone who's willing to listen, the only answer to these kinds of problems is Jesus. Now, I don't normally talk that on the nose, but we are in such a difficult place right now that to cut to the chase, I've written books, you can read my books, you can read other books, this is not something I'm just pulling out of my hat, but I really believe that the spiritual darkness now is so clear that you should be scared.

You should say, I need help. And if you're smart enough or wise enough to understand you need help, let me be here to tell you, Jesus is the answer. The God of the Bible is alive. He hears you. He knows what you're going through, and he wants to be there. And there are many people who might call themselves Christians who don't really avail themselves of the presence and the power of God. And I just want to be very, very clear that when things are this bad, Some people are smart enough to be desperate enough to turn to God.

There really is no, there are many other things we can talk about, about what we need to do. We need to do things. But at the heart of it, I want everybody to know, God is real. He is our answer. He's the God of history. He determines where this nation goes and how this nation goes. You can be a part of it.

John, forgive me, we're out of time. I just want to remind my audience. A couple of things. Please go to Salem now.com. There are a few films there, Uncle Tom, too, and some others that are, they will help you make sense of where we are. And don't forget, please, the situation in Ukraine, we need your help. Food for the Poor needs your help. Go to Metaxus talk.com.

John, God bless you. We'll be right back with the Dungies. Thank you. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis, and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed. and when oil prices go up, the cost of transportation and shipping spikes, leading the prices of goods to rise. And when we're already seeing record inflation, that's the last thing we need.

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You need to know that God put you here for a purpose. That's just true. And it's a wonderful thing. It's the only way to live is to know God and to know the purpose he has for you and to walk in that. And anytime I get an excuse to talk about that, I talk about. And today I have a great excuse in the studio. Lauren and Tony Dungey are my guests, and they have a book out. Oh, yeah, brand new.

It's called Uncommon Influence, Saying Yes to a Purposeful Life. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thanks, Eric. Good to be back with you. It's great to see you. And honestly, this gets the heart of everything, right? I mean, because you can talk about almost anything,

but at the end of the day, each of us is living our lives. and we want to walk with God. We want to walk in his purposes. That's at the heart of everything. So what was it that led you to write a book specifically about, because it's kind of a big topic, kind of a major issue? We wanted to write a book where we would encourage people to fulfill their purpose in life.

And you have to ask yourself, what is that purpose? Why does God have us here? What are we supposed to do? And we know that God wants us to have a life of serving, serving others. And too often we think that we're supposed to build ourselves up and serve and make things happen so that we can get ahead in life and we can accomplish things. But God says just the opposite. We're here to serve others and to give glory to him.

So we wrote the book to encourage others that. God has us here for a reason and that is to serve and it can be in our home, it can be in our community, it can be in our workplace. But we all have that opportunity and we can make a difference that it can be a positive influence that he's given us. But there's an irony, right? In other words, the conundrum at the heart of all of reality is the paradox that if you serve others, God will bless you. In other words, if you're interested in getting blessed, don't try to get blessed. serve others and God will bless you. I mean, there's so many scriptures that refer to that.

But so it's just a funny thing in a way that, so God doesn't say, when he says, you know, put yourself last, put others first, he loves you, he wants to bless you, but he's trying to tell you the way to be blessed is not to put yourself first. So there's a paradox that people need to buy into, that God does want to bless you, but it's not about getting blessed. There's a story we love. in the book of Matthew, Jesus is talking to his disciples, and they're arguing about who's going to be the best.

I'm going to be the sergeant. I'm going to be the lieutenant. I'm going to be the defensive coordinator, if you will. And Jesus says, you know, in the world, that's the way it operates. Everybody functions. They try to get to the top. But in my kingdom, it's different. In my kingdom, those who serve, that's who's going to be blessed. And that's a lesson we all can take. And that was kind of the story behind the book. We wanted to tell people, Hey, you will influence a lot of people in your life, even when you don't know it. Even when you don't think it, you're going to have an influence at home. You're going to have an influence in your neighborhood. You're going to have an influence at work.

How are you going to use that? And God puts us where he wants us, right? So people, I think a lot of times people think, like, they've got to do something great. And you think, well, God's version of great may be different than your version of great or the world's version of great. God's version of great might be honor your mother and father today. Okay? Well, if I honor my mother and father today, if I do what God call me to do today in God's economy,

I'm changing the world by doing that. But people have to buy into that. They have to understand that's real. That's just not some nice philosophy. And I think it's important that you have to hear from God because you won't know what you're supposed to do. You won't know what you're calling or your platform is. So it's staying in fellowship with God,

communicating with him and hearing his voice and getting direction, wisdom on who do I serve? What would you have me to do, Lord? And would it be in the community? Or do you have a purpose for me serving in my home with my children? And they're equally great, or is it the workplace that you want me to serve and point others to Christ? But whatever that looks like, we're being obedient to Christ in doing that. That's interesting because I think a lot of

times. We heard this a lot over the decades, you know, from folks like Oprah or the people that she would have on. There's kind of like there are these principles of getting in tune with the universe. And if you get in tune with the universe, you're going to thrive. And we need to say, no, wrong. It's having a relationship with the God of the Bible, not with the universe, because the universe was created by the God of the Bible. The universe is dead. It has no will. But the God of the Bible is a person. And the first step to all this stuff, as you just said, to have a relationship with him. That's step number one.

And when you have the relationship with him, now you're teed up to say, okay, Lord, lead me, guide me. Now, how did that happen in both of your lives? You've been on the program before, but for people who don't know your stories about coming to faith, or when did the penny drop for each of you? It took me a little while. My parents, especially my mother, tried to teach me that. But as a 12-year-old, 14-year-old, you're not always listening or it doesn't make sense. And my mom would tell me those things, you know, what would a profit of man to gain the whole world and forfeited soul? Make sure you're in tune with God. Just what you're saying. The creation is great. All these things are wonderful, but don't fall in love with the creation, fall in love with the creator. But it didn't hit me until I was 21. And I got to be. got to the National Football League. And my coach, Chuck Knoll, who was a tremendous coach, Hall of Fame coach, first thing he said to us is, don't make football your whole life.

It's your profession now because you're getting paid for it. But if you make it your whole life, you're going to be disappointed. And then I see all these guys, and they had two Super Bowl rings when I got there, but they're saying the same thing. And hey, you've got to come to Bible study. You've got to come to chapel tonight. And what franchise was this? This is Pittsburgh Steelers.

So the Pittsburgh, I love hearing stories like this. So here you are, you're practically a kid, 21 years old, going to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And there's a culture of some players in the Pittsburgh Steelers. They get God. And they're willing to share this with the younger players. That is pretty amazing. And for me, I'm kind of listening to my parents, but hearing it, it's going in and out. But now when I see these guys that I admire and I watch on TV and that's what I want to be, I want to be like them.

and they're saying, hey, that's great, but you better get your spiritual life together first. That had an impact. I mean, that changed my life at 21 years old. And that's kind of what you're talking about. What was their purpose? Yeah, they won Super Bowl rings, and they made money, but their purpose was to honor the Lord. That's, I mean, it's just so funny because, you know, the surface level is always the one that's communicated. Like, I want to win this, and I want this success, and I went there, and you think, well, if you ask those who had

those things. If they lived for that, they're empty. It's like, okay, I got this. Now what? Now what do I do? So it's so fascinating to me that you were in that, you know, environment, that these people that you looked up to who had won Super Bowls, right,

that they said, it's not about this. It's about, it's about this. Lauren, what is your background with faith? How did this happen for you that you understood this? Well, I was blessed to be raised in a Christian home, so I always knew about Jesus.

I went to Bible studies, went to Sunday school, went to church faithfully each week, but I didn't develop a relationship with them until I was 19 years of age. We actually had people visiting homes in the community sharing, witnessing about Christ, and the light went off. They came into our home, and they talked about it. I heard the gospel many times before, but it was at that time I decided I needed to make a personal relationship, and I asked Jesus into my heart. And it has just been fantastic, and I just can't imagine not having a life without Christ in the center, directing my path and everything that I do.

And we've been blessed to then raise our children into a relationship with Christ at an early age, so they know about Jesus. They're able to walk with him, and it's just been phenomenal. but he's given me the boldness to talk about my faith in every area of life and there are just so many, you know, opportunities that God gives us a platform. And I just can't imagine. I feel sorry for the people that are living worldly lives and they don't have Christ in their life. It's hard not to feel sorry, isn't it? You look at them and you think, wow, why do I know that God is real?

I don't hope he's real. I used to hope he was real. Then I got to a place where I said, no, I know he's real. And I would be a fool not to acknowledge him and live for him, and he loves me. He's not a hard task. I mean, when you realize all that, even the tragedies in life, even the difficulties in life, you can live completely differently than the way those who don't know those things are. We're going to go to a break.

folks, I'm talking to Lauren and Tony Dungey. Yes, they're right here. The book is Uncommon Influence. Uncommon influence saying yes to a purposeful life. Brand new book. We'll be right back. There's so much to share. My Pillow is having their biggest sheet sale of the year. You've all helped build my pillow into the amazing company it is today. Now Mike Lundell, inventor and CEO wants to give back exclusively to his listeners. The per kale bed sheet set is available in a variety of colors and sizes, and they're all on sale. For example, the queen's size, regularly priced at 89.99 is now only 39.98 without a listener promo code Eric. Order now because when they're gone, they're gone. The percale sheets are

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I'm talking to the Dungies. Yes, the Dungies, the actual Dungies. That would be Lauren and Tony Dungy. They're right here, and they have a new book out called Uncommon Influence, saying yes to a purposeful life. So what are some of the things that you communicate in this book to people who, you know, again, like we were saying, there are people that, there's some people who completely reject this.

They don't want, they're, they're, living, openly living for the world or for success or whatever it is. There are a lot of people that get this, but there's a lot of people in the middle that they're not, you know, they sort of believe, but they don't know how do you work this out? How do you actually do this? So what do you say to them? Well, first and foremost, it's important to have the relationship with Christ, but also prayer is so important. Our faith is what guides us and allows us to do whatever we do. day of the year. So we talk about the importance of prayer and why we need to talk to our Heavenly

Father every day. And it's helped us through the years, making decisions, deciding what God would have us to do, where we're supposed to serve in life. And we used the chapter just to talk about some of the things that we've experienced and why we needed to talk to God and why we needed to have that prayer life. And it's very important. And we do that every day with each other and alone time, but it's important to communicate with God and be directed by him. Yeah, it's, again, it's not a principle. It's the reality of actually praying to Jesus. So it's not just about, you know, drifting, surfing with the universe. It's about having a relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, who is alive and who wants to live inside us. And I think,

think it's important that we are explicit about that, because there are a lot of people that think it's just some principles or something like that. And, you know. Yeah, I've heard something yesterday, someone talking about their faith. I'm a person of faith. Well, faith in what? And who is that? And that's the important thing. But I think the message of our book is you're going to have an influence. You're going to influence people. How do you have that purpose in life and influence people in the right way? You have to hear from God. You have to hear from Christ. And if you do, then you're going to influence in a great way. And so when we talk about hearing from Christ, I love this kind of stuff because a lot of times we speak about that as though everybody knows what we're talking about.

And I think we have to be clear that because God is a personal God, he communicates to each of us personally. And some people will hear him speak to them very clearly. Other times he leads us through circumstances. So I don't think, I think it's important to say that you don't make a formula. You just know that God is alive and he's real and he's a person he wants to communicate with us. But he communicates with each of us in slightly different ways. And it's always going to be biblical. But it's not enough to just say, okay, here's the Bible.

The question is, okay, what do I do today, Lord? You know, just do I flip open the book and try to find a scripture that applies to me? So how does that work for you all have you, how has that work for you through the, years about this idea of hearing from God because a lot of times people say, I wish I could hear from God. I don't know what that means. What does that mean? Well, I think as Lauren said for us anyway, number one, you pray about things. Lord, I want you to show me this, this, and this. I have a question about this. And then it's amazing. He speaks to me mostly through the Bible. I'll pray about something and then I'll read and get the answer. But sometimes he speaks through another person.

I'll get a phone call. Hey, I was just thinking about you. And here's what was on my mind. And it's something, a question I had. Sometimes for me it's just taking a walk and all of a sudden my mind clears, boy, that's the answer. And I know it's, it wasn't an audible voice. It wasn't, hey, Tony, Lauren, here's the answer. But you know that it's God speaking to you. And I think the key thing is to have that relationship. When you have a relationship with someone who's very special, then you can go to him about everything. And if there are questions or if you're making decisions or you're you're just in limbo about something, you can go to God. And he will give you the answer.

And as Tony said, it may not be an audible voice, but he will speak to you. And it will just kind of direct your path and allow you to make the choices that are best for the situation. I give you a quick example. When I was coming out of college, I was a college quarterback. And I had a chance to go to the Canadian Football League and play quarterback, guaranteed contract for a ton of money, or I could go to the Steelers for $2,000. And something inside me just said, you need to go to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It didn't make sense. All my buddies, all my counselors, you are crazy. What are you doing? I went to the Steelers. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't know why. Can't even explain it. I had a peace of mind about it.

I met all these buddies. They led me to the Lord. I met my coach who hired me and got me into the coaching field. but I look back on it was clearly God telling me this is what you need to do. Part of it, it sounds like, is a willingness

to hear from God and obey God. In other words, if God is giving you a sense, do this, he said, I think this is God, you could just go, no, and do your own thing. So the question is, are you willing to trust God? And even to say, like, I don't know

if I'm getting this right, but Lord, I want to trust you, so I'm going to do this unto you. I think you're telling me to go to the Steelers. If I get it wrong, Lord, lead me where you want to leave. But my heart is that I want to go where you want to lead me, knowing, as the scripture says, you can't out-give God. When you do what you think he wants you to do, he's in it. He blesses you.

He leads you. Even the mistakes and the problems are worked together for good. But, you know, it's an amazing concept that that's who God is. We're going to go to another break. We'll be right back to continued conversation with Lauren and Tony Dungey. The book is Uncommon Influence, saying yes to a purposeful life. We'll be right back. Folks, I am talking to Lauren and Tony Dungey, who have a new book out on Common Influence,

saying yes to a purposeful life. So walking with God and walking in his purpose is part of that. has to do with saying no to certain kind of behaviors. And I think that a lot of times people mess up everything is because they're doing something that they know God doesn't approve of. And they think, well, I'm going to have this as a little carve out. I'm still a person of faith.

And they're denying themselves the joy of completely surrendering themselves to God because they're afraid to, I guess. I think it's because many people are, unwilling to submit to God. And when you don't submit to him, then you submit to the world. And the world will tell you one thing one day, and the next day it's something else. And so you live a life of chaos and confusion because you aren't steady in your faith and in your walk. And you're not hearing and being obedient to God. You're being obedient to whatever drives you on that particular day.

Well, I mean, the most common thing in this day and age is, you know, people are not married, but they're sleeping with each other. And they kind of act like, well, and I say, well, well, what? That's okay. Yeah, it's okay. Everybody does it, and we're probably going to get married anyway, so it's okay. And obedience is hard. You know, obedience is tough. But Jesus says, if you hear my words and you do it, you're going to be blessed.

if you hear my words and you don't do it, you're going to have problems. And obedience is a decision. And once you make that decision, then there's no falling back. And I think a lot of pastors or even Christian leaders shrink from speaking about these kinds of things.

So I want to say publicly, shame on them. Because people's lives are at stake. The joy and the purpose of people's lives is at stake when we're talking about this stuff. If you want to be all in for God, God wants to bless you, but he will not, force you to be blessed. If you choose to push him away because you think you have something better,

he will respect that. He will allow you to go your own way and not to get blessed. And I think of our kids. And when we talk to them, we don't say, hey, we think we know what's best for you. Here's what you should do. But if you don't want to do it, that's okay. Do what you feel like doing. No, that's not the way we parent. And obviously, God is not going to say that same thing too. Just do what you feel like, even though I know what's best for you. I mean, you know, I say this just because I know there's a lot of that in the church where people are kind of secretly or quietly, you know, going with the flow of the world as though the rules have changed. And I'm thinking, well, when did God change those rules? When did that happen?

And I would think that's because many people aren't willing to make the sacrifice that it costs when you walk with the Lord. And we're making sacrifices every day. but we've made that decision to follow him at all costs. And let's be honest, it's a joyful sacrifice. This is what I find funny. This is the conundrum and the paradox is that when you sacrifice, quote unquote, sacrifice for God, God will bless you way more than what you give up. But you have to know that to make the sacrifice.

I'm talking to an athlete here. You get that, okay? Practice, practice, working out, working out, discipline, discipline, discipline, why do you do that? You do that because you know on the other side of that is blessing and fruit. It leads to success. You have no doubt about that. But I think spiritually speaking, people act like it's a lot more vague, but it's not. No, it's really not. It's very, very clear. And you just have to believe it, though. And you have to believe that the Christian life is going to be joyful if you follow God's leading. I promise you we're having as much fun as anybody in the world. You can't out-fun us.

Well, I think to me it really hits home when you go through tough times as a believer. It's totally different because you're walking with God no matter what. And that's fascinating to me because I think of people who do not have God in their lives or they've got him someplace or whatever. How do they deal with difficulty? I mean, adversity is in every single life. How do you deal with it? So it's one thing to talk about success, but the point is, you know, inevitably your career

will take a hit or your marriage goes through a tough thing. In other words, we all go through difficulty. And if you have your hand in God's hand, it changes everything. But there are many people that they don't have that. And I think that's when you turn to something really bad because you want to dull the pain. You know, you want what you want. And if you don't get it, you have to nestatize with some relationship or some drug or whatever it is. And we know it's temporary, whatever that is.

And then you come back to reality and you decide, well, maybe that wasn't a good decision. Maybe that wasn't a good choice. So we're thankful that we've decided we're going to anchor our lives in Christ. And he's going to direct our paths. I mean, everybody says they want a good relationship, you know, in marriage or whatever. And you know that at the heart of that is Jesus. That's the secret. You want a happy marriage?

That's the secret. And everybody says they want a happy marriage, but they're, I don't know, they're afraid of what they think. What do you think people are thinking when they push God away? Or they go, that says too much for me. Why do you think that they do not totally embrace God the way you have? I think it's human nature to want to direct your own life, to be the captain of your ship. and we all feel like we know what's best, but we really don't. And I think for us it's been understanding that,

that if we keep our eye on the Lord, he's going to direct us the right way. I think sometimes people are afraid of commitment, and there is a commitment that's involved in having a relationship with Christ. That's true, actually. That's absolutely true. I always laugh.

Somebody said to me that I know people that say, I want to serve God, but I want to serve him in an advisory capacity. And I think, you know, what's interesting to me, it's just, again, it's just like athletics. Like when you work out and you see the increase in muscle size or you get better at a skill or whatever, when you see the tangible improvement for the sacrifice, it makes you want to do more. And I know that walking with God's exact same thing. when you see God operate in your life, you're like, yeah, it works. God is real.

He walks with me and it makes you want to pray more. When you see a miracle or when you see him lead you or God, you say, no, this is real. This is not just something I made up. Well, congratulations on the book. I love the title, Uncommon Influence. It's why we're on this planet. And it's just a privilege to talk to the authors. Lauren and Tony Dungey, congratulations.

on the new book on Common Influence, saying yes to a purposeful life. And thanks for being my guest. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having. Folks, the headline is, we need your help. What do I mean by that? I mean at least three things by that.

Number one, if it's possible for you to get to be part of our studio audience, August 3rd, 4th, and 5th and 8th in New York, this week, it starts about 4 o'clock every day. We're taping the late night, the talk. show with Eric Metaxus. It is a mainstream TV talk show. We don't have time to get into it now, but it's nuts. We've got a lot of mainstream guests. It's going to be a blast. We can't share most of it with you yet. But if you can get there, go to Ericmataxis.com. You'll see where it says speaking or schedule, whatever, and you click on it. Every day, you can sign up through

Eventbrite. We'd love you there all four days or just one day. You can bring as many people as you want to sign them up. But this is going to be a wild fun thing. We need some fun, folks. We need some fun because there's a lot of tough stuff going on. But we want you to be there. Please do what you can. That's number one. Number two, if you follow me on social media, let me just ask you, instead of liking what I put there, would you retweet it or would you share it? Would you share it on Facebook? I'm trying to get a lot of information out. And I don't think I've ever said this before, but a lot of times people will like something. We need to get the word out.

We are being suppressed. We know that what we're doing, whether we're being shadow banned, I don't mean to sound like, you know, like the, like chicken little. This is actually, or not chicken little. Who am I looking for? Oh, the boy you cried wolf.

This is actually happening. We need your help, folks, to multiply our message. Everything we put out, it's a struggle. So whatever you can do to help us. And speaking of helping us, As you know, every couple times a year, we try to raise funds for an organization that we think worthy. At the top of the list is Food for the Poor.

Food for the Poor is an amazing Christian nonprofit relief organization. They go where there is a need. And I just want to tell you right now, they are helping families who have fled the Ukraine. Now, we don't need to get into the politics of it. are people that are suffering and we want to show them the love of God. We want to help them. Food for the poor. I can't think of anybody that I would trust more to do that. So food for the poor is partnering with a number of Christian organizations, relief organizations, ministry partners to get food, literal food to these families that have fled their homes. They've left

everything behind. If you know anybody who's ever been through anything like this, my parents experienced this kind of thing, it's hellish. and we want to show them the love of God. So I want to ask you simply to call this number to help, or you can just go to the banner. Our banner is metaxistalkis talk.com. That's the radio banner. We want you to give.

We want you to give generously. We just want everybody who listens to this program to do what you can. By God's grace, we are able to do something. Let's do what we can. So please go to metaxis talk.com. Or you can call this number. I'll give it to you right now. 844-863 hope.

Please dial that number. Please give what you can now. It's August 1st. We don't have a lot of time to do this. It's always a struggle. God bless you as you give. 844-863 hope. 8-4-863 hope.

These are people that are struggling, and we need to do what we can to help them. 844-863 hope. 844-863 hope. Metaxistalk.com. You'll see the banner there. And Albin and I will shortly let you know everybody who gives anything. We will put your names in a in a hat, so to speak, proverbial hat. And we'll have a number of grand prize winners. We want to give you signed books and all kinds of things. And I always say anybody who can give $10,000 as tax deductible, I'd be delighted to have dinner with you, to spend an evening with you. We always manage to make that work. So remember, 844-8-6- Hope, 844-863 Hope, or go to Metaxus Talk.com. God bless you.