The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Tony & Irene Fournier Joined Nate Kibler Live On “The White Mountain Ministries Show!”

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Tony & Irene Fournier of Kingdom Vision Center joined Nate Kibler live on The White Mountain Ministries Show! The White Mountain Ministries Show airs live Tuesday from 2:30 pm – 3:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The White Mountain Ministries Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Welcome to the White Mountain Ministry Show. I am your host, Nate Kibler. I thank you for watching and praying, listening and being a part of what the Lord is going to do through the show today. Hey, Irene and Tony, this ain't church, y'all. It is all about the kingdom of God. We are excited for our guests today. We have a beautiful couple live here in studio from Culpepper and we are excited to see

what they are going to bring to the world today. Before we get going, I do want to thank our sponsorships and our partners with Opening Doors Real Estate and Melanie Morris. If you're looking to buy or sell real estate, I got to say this, it is a beautiful sunny day in Charlottesville. Sounds like a good day to look up homes.

They have their awesome new location there by the Dunkin' Donuts and the Holiday Inn in Rutgersville so look up Melanie she is an amazing woman for the kingdom of God and also want to thank profit overflow SEO if you are looking to expand your business if you're looking to maximize your profits and your revenue through online leads look up and reach out to Profit Overflow SEO. So thank you guys, love you, we're excited for the show. Judah, let's just go ahead and bring Tony and Irene on

whenever you're ready. And I thank you, Judah Wittgau, you are the man, and I love you if I haven't told you that yet today, okay? Appreciate you. We started the show and Tony was already impressed with Judah because we all need a little Judah in our life, right? Yes, we do.

Helping us do the things that maybe we don't feel great about. So Judah is the man, he's a jack of, he's like a jack of all trades, Judah, or a master, a master at some, right? Yeah, definitely a jack of all trades. Definitely a jack of all trades. Man, a few words, we got him speaking.

He's used to doing his own show, so he's not, not as, kind of like the camera at times right Judah? Maybe 10%? All right. Love you Judah. So welcome. Well thank you. Thank you for having us. Absolutely. We see him on the screen? Okay good. So yeah anything that you'd like to say just to get rolling, not getting into, just introduce yourselves. Okay. Sure, so I'll just start by saying it's a privilege just to have this opportunity,

and especially to speak on the topic of marriage and ministry. So Tony and I have been married, will be 35 years this August, and married in 1990 and ordained into ministry together in 1996. So we have a few years behind us of learning how to do this wonderful thing called marriage and ministry at the same time.

And I know a little bit later, I would love to just speak a little bit into something that's a passion of my heart, which is keeping our priorities correct so that the fullness of the Lord can come forward. And that priority being that the order that the Lord has set up is always going to stay the same. That first it's our relationship with Jesus, then it's our relationship with our spouse and our family,

and then it's in what we term ministry. So that is just a passion we have. It's something we've endeavored to live out, and we've learned some lessons along the way. We do not get excellent marks in everything, but we're pressing forward and it's just something that I feel is very important for the body of Christ today. You're a natural on the camera, I must say. Thank you. She's good. She's very poised. Yes, she is. I can't get her to... I'm messing with her. She's staying. I like that. She's very focused. She's very focused. Yeah. She does much better than she thinks she does.

Of course she does. I aspire to have her presence. She's like, I got two men on the set. Don't y'all be messing with me too much. Only one of us has to go home with you. Go ahead Tony. So yeah we're focusing on marriage and ministry and the broader kingdom of God and the purpose of marriage because there is a purpose. God had a plan in the beginning all started in Genesis started in the garden and the enemy has done his utmost to take us off course, to twist, to pervert God's ideal intention for man

and woman and the family unit. And I just want to share briefly an experience I had a few years ago during a prayer meeting to just open up this conversation. And we were actually in a prayer meeting via Zoom during the COVID period when a lot of people were locked in. But a few couples up in southern Indiana and we were praying about a variety of things, interceding for our nation, interceding for just the circumstances we were in, but a lot of focus on families, on the culture. And we hit this vein in the spirit

where we were really focusing on praying about the enemy's strategy to twist and pervert the purpose of man and woman. And the enemy's attack, especially on our children, targeting our children to try to cloud their identity and their purpose and their destiny and life through LGBTQ++, transgenderism, all these things that we've seen happening that are attacking God's creation, His design. And as we were praying in that context, I suddenly heard the Spirit of the Lord say to me,

I am about to go nuclear. And as soon as I heard that in the Spirit, I knew that the Lord was speaking about the family, about husbands, about wives, about children. And so the Lord's nuclear option, His response in this hour, in this season, is He is restoring the family as He intended from the beginning. And I believe as He restores marriage,

as He restores husbands and wives and families, he wants to display what a godly, spirit-filled, glory-eminating family that's walking with God just as the intent in the garden looks like, tastes like, feels like, sounds like, and I believe that as those that are confused, as they see this exemplified, as they see this modeled, as they see a demonstration of God's power and His presence in restored families and restored marriages, it is going to touch something deep in the hearts of these people that are struggling with some of these things. Absolutely. Yeah, that's beautiful. We talked about this a little bit earlier, but it's one of those things that we talk about the importance of family, how important it is to God. And, you know, we can gain the whole world.

This is what the Lord showed me a few years back when we gave birth to three babies at one time. And essentially I had the choice because we talked about choice today. He does give us choice and I could have gone out there and signs and wonders and gained the whole world and maybe lost my spouse and my children at home and I would have missed it. Our spouses, our children, our family need to know that they are most important,

that they are valued in our life. And the Lord, these are the things that he showed me. And I was like, well Lord, you're gonna send me out wiping baby butts. If that's the call of my life, then that's fine,. I was like, well, Lord, you're going to send me out, wiping baby butts. If that's the call of my life, then that's fine. I'll do it. And that was part of the call. But it wasn't going to be forever.

It was first season. But teaching the finer fruits of humility and servant leadership and selflessness and patience and self-control and all those beautiful things that we need to have to go out and really represent Jesus. And it's not about just being seen and heard to be used in powerful ways. And the enemy wants to attack family

because it's so important and precious and special to God. And it's the way that he created us. So of course there's so many distractions and things out there to try to, anything they can do to try to get us to focus off the way that God created us. Absolutely. And I believe in this time of the great reset, which is just a term that so many of us are using at the moment.

Part of this reset of the Lord, it applies to our marriages, and it applies to our families. And if in any situation or way we feel like maybe we've gotten our, maybe our priorities have gotten a little bit confused or our focus has gotten a little bit confused, I believe today the Lord really wants to impart hope to us and he just wants to restore so much faith to us that he is so able to reset us. If we got off the marker a little bit, you know, just repent, listen to the Lord and allow him to reset because there's never, we've never gone too far that the Lord cannot come and turn us around and restore us and reset us. And so I think we're gonna speak a little bit into that today but

I believe to to be reset we need to know where we were going in the first place. We need to know what the original purpose and design of the Lord is for family and I think Tony's gonna share some of that from is for family. And I think Tony's going to share some of that from the scriptures today. Yeah, so you know when we look back again I mentioned Genesis and the original intent for man and woman. If we look back when God took the side of Adam, the rib from Adam, and he started to craft and form a comparable helper. He was at that time actually fulfilling something that he had already created when he breathed the breath of lives into Adam. And I just want to touch on this text real quickly. Genesis 2, 18 through 23, and it says,

and the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper comparable to him. This is a really interesting word because in the Hebrew this word is etzer konegedo. So it's a compound word and this word konegedo or neged, it means one who is an opposite or a mirror image. Something that is a reflection of the other, a counterpart, something that is a reflection of the other, a counterpart, a mate, something that's over, against, or before. So it means something to stand in front, to stand boldly out opposite,

by implication to manifest or to show forth, to announce always by word of mouth or to one present. So we already saw that God's intention here for a woman is that she would be a voice, she would be a mouthpiece that would be there to also explain and express the heart of the man, the intentions of the man, to expose, predict, explain, and this word etzer means to aid or help, but more specifically to surround or to protect. And so we see the intention already was that the woman would partner with the man to guard and protect paradise,

that place that God had established in the earth. Not standing behind him, not going in front of him, but standing beside him. There was a reason that God took a part of his side and built and constructed a woman. She was intended to stand by his side. That Adam could not actually fulfill his mandate to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth without the woman. So we know that the Lord put him in a deep sleep. It was a typified death, a sacrifice,

in order for that woman to come forth so that the partnership could be complete. I believe the side that was brought from the man was the side closest to his heart. And that is really the ideal of man and wife. That's the ideal of marriage is two people side by side knit together in heart, soul, spirit, body. And if you don't mind, I really like to actually share a prophetic word that came forth back in 2019 because I think it expresses the heart of

God for not just his restoration of woman but also the restoration of the man and the woman together. And this was right before we actually were getting ready to have a conference specifically for women but we also were inviting men. Because we knew that the restoration of true womanhood also has to be complemented with the restoration of true manhood. I love the women conferences that have men.

Yes, I do too. Heidi Baker's coming to Charlottesville in like, next weekend, I think, by the way. Yeah. So if anybody's watching this, I know my friend Joan Hutter with the Women Abide asked me to invite. So here's a public invitation to come see Heidi Baker, probably the most known missionary in the world that will be coming to Charlottesville.

She's been to Charlottesville before and has a heart for this region. And hopefully someday we're going gonna have her on this show. But just amazing woman in the kingdom. And so I can't even, I think it's at the, I don't even remember the name of the church where it's gonna be, but I think it's where out on Ryo Road where the covenant church used to be. And I think it has a new name now,

which I cannot remember the name, but come out and see Heidi Baker next week. If you have questions just text me or email me reach out and I'll get the more details. Excellent. So go ahead and share the word. Okay so this is back in January 2019 and I know in this period of time there was a lot of anticipation. The body of Christ is really looking towards 2020 as a time where God was going to start kind of spark this great awakening, this great reset that we had been hearing about prophetically. So here's the word. Oh Eve, I see that the serpent has bitten your heel.

I see that the serpent is at enmity with your seed, but Eve, even as I promise that you shall crush the serpent's head under your foot, I declare today to you that you are coming into the day of restoration of all things. I declare to you, my daughter, that I am bringing restitution to you, for you have tasted the bitter fruit of the curse for too long. You have paid the penalty for partaking of the tree of knowledge and good of evil for too long, my daughter, and I say unto you, I can bear it no more, for when I put the man to sleep and separated you from him, I made you the glory of the man. And when he first looked upon you, he declared, certainly this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, and I shall call her womb man.

For in that moment, he saw the comparable one, he saw his mere image, but the image he saw was more beautiful than himself. And that day he rejoiced before me for the beautiful companion I had formed for him, one that would stand guard with him in the garden, one that would walk with him as he went forth to take dominion, replenish, and subdue the earth, that realm for which I gave you and him responsibility, not just the man but also the woman. And I designed you both to walk together in complete agreement, complete union and harmony with each other. You were naked, transparent, and there was no shame to be cast upon you, for you were

perfect. My beloved, I never intended for you to eat of that curse in that day and that fall forever. And so now in this day I am bringing forth the reality of the finished work of the second man, the last Adam, Jesus Christ. And I am showing who you and the man are as new creations. I am bringing forth the full revelation of the removal of that curse. I am declaring today that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, for that which I intended in the beginning shall be brought forth in this day and in this hour. And once again you shall walk in harmony with the man even as I intended and the man shall walk in harmony with you."

He's going nuclear folks. He's taking us back to the original intent. As you work together in unity, I shall display the fullness of my glory and my kind intentions for humanity. I shall display every attribute of my character. Male and female, I created you and so shall I be seen through you. Every quality I place within you shall be displayed. Tenderness will be revealed in great strength.

Nurture shall be seen in great ability to teach and equip. The loving caress of your hands will be displayed as one who holds a rod to rule all nations." And I'll just stop right there. So I don't know about you, but the heart of God expressed in this, his desire to see not just woman restored, but man restored, and for them both to be restored in deep, intimate relationship and communion. Can you talk on some of that?

Speak on that, Irene. I would love to, because I know that I'm a living example of this because of the love and the transforming power of Jesus Christ. And prior to meeting Tony and just in my upbringing as a young girl developing into a woman, a young woman, my life was filled with the opposite of this prophetic word that Tony just read of love and honor and respect and there were no examples of godly male-female relationships. So I basically grew up in a situation where due to alcoholism, the male-female relationship was so distorted, and there was much abuse, physical, mental, emotional.

And it just began to twist in my mind what this male-female relationship would look like, and especially as it came to marriage. So through the years and just through the mercy of the Lord, he brought me into salvation and he began to change my perspective just from reading his word, just from being with him. And by the time I got to the point to where I was getting ready to enter into marriage, there was already so much restoration from the Lord. There was already so much restoration from the Lord. There was already so much healing from the Lord. And that was just because of the goodness of God.

And that was also just because I was seeking after that. I was seeking after Lord, I wanna know how you say men and women are supposed to relate. I wanna know how you say men and women are supposed to relate. I want to know how you say marriage is supposed to be. And so by the time marriage came along, which for me, I had a lot of time to get ready. I always tease Tony. It took forever to finally find me, but he did find me. But by the time that actually came, the Lord had healed and delivered me just from so much that was askew, so much that did not line up with the original purpose of the Lord.

And we look at it that, you know, like an original purpose, it sounds so serious and so heavy, which it is, but at the same time, it is so glorious. It is so freeing. It is so just exhilarating to know that this is possible, to actually have this. And I'll just conclude this. A lot of people would not call marriage freedom, so it's good to hear that.

Yes. Actually, I'll conclude this part of the testimony just by saying when Tony and I married, we were both Christians. We were seeking the Lord. But I was looking for something in the marriage vows. I was listening for something in these marriage vows. And I knew it would come because Tony was already exemplifying this. He was already doing this, but what I was looking for

was for him to tell me that he was not going to control me, that he was not going to restrict me or hold me back, that he wanted me to continue to just grow and just blossom just in life and eventually as we were ordained into ministry. But there was so much liberty and so much freedom. And without that, honestly, I'm not sure I could have said the I do, because I want it to just pursue Jesus with all of my heart. I want it to serve him with all of my heart.

I need it to know that in the marriage relationship, that would be able to continue. So I just wanna give that as testimony and the song that we chose to have have as we were saying our vows to one another. Some of you may know it it's it's you know pretty old we were married in 1990 but it was a song by Don Francisco called I Could Never Promise You and it's basically well I'll just read the first line. I could never promise you on just my strength alone that all my life I'd care for you and love you as my own.

I've never known the future. I only see today words that last a lifetime would be more than I could say. But the love inside my heart today is more than mine alone. It never changes, it never fails, it never seeks its own. And by the God who gives it and who lives in me and you, I know the words I speak today are words I'm going to do." And so from the very beginning of this covenant relationship, there was such a dependence upon Jesus Christ knowing, OK, I can't do this by myself.

But the good news is I don't have to, because I have that love of God inside of me, because I have the Spirit of the Lord, because I have the Word of God. And therefore, I know we're going to be able to do these covenant therefore I know we're going to be able to do these covenant vows that we're making today. We're going to be able to walk in this relationship not holding each other back or constraining

each other but encouraging each other just to grow and develop into the individuals that the Lord has called us to be but now also the one unit that the Lord has called us to be, but now also the one unit that the Lord has called us to be. So I just give testimony, I just give glory, and what he's done for me and for us, he can do for everyone. He can do for everyone. Amen. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for sharing this. Beautiful. Yeah, you know, there's a couple things that you touched on because marriage should not look like prison. Marriage should not look like control because, you know, there's a couple of things that you touched on because marriage should not look like prison marriage should not look like control because you know God is is not control God

there's freedom in the kingdom and there should be freedom in our marriage and So that that's a beautiful thing and you talk about love not seeking his own I love that in in Corinthians love does not seek its own when we're talking about being in marriage It's not doesn't have to, it's not about 50-50. It's 100% nothing if that's what it has to be, is up to us to honor our covenant with our spouse. And you know, look, when I got, I think we can talk a little bit about

some of the tough stuff, whatever you guys are gonna share. I'll kind of share, because this is March marriage month, if I did not already say that so that's one of the reasons We're getting into this because we talked You know lunch today about in the body of Christ and secret hidden marriages and marriages that are falling apart and what that means What that looks like good or bad, right? And so for you know for me for my wife we were we were together I don't I guess you know I'm more look at the time we were together, not just the time we were married, but we had been together for 12 years of a worldly relationship. And I believe at the time that, with the

night that, you know, we had our encounter with the Lord, I think that was 12 years together in about seven years of marriage. And look, we were a hot mess. I mean, one of the reasons I needed deliverance, like I was ready to walk out on my family because it was just not healthy in so many ways. And I thank God that he came in that room and that my wife was there that night because she saw it happen because if not, she probably would have thought I was a crazy man coming home and sharing that kind of story. But you know, we discussed this earlier at lunch, but when I'm getting at a point about how even if we have a

relationship, a family life, a marriage that looks one way, it doesn't mean that there cannot be transformation through Jesus Christ, through our marriage, through our relationship over time, because when I got married, I was a functioning alcoholic. And I look back now and nobody else would have known I was drunk, but when I said my vows the first time I was Under the influence and you know, that's not something that I'm proud of and when my wife and I when we were you know in this Kingdom life we were truly started to understand what covenant because so many of us we get married We have no idea even if the pastor we do pre marital counseling you have two sessions

You don't really most of us have a clue what covenant looks like I had no idea what covenant looked like and you know There's there's so many different covenants with God and Kingdom and promises, right? We can sure we could talk about covenant for for a long time But you know when we at ten years married It was important to me and and to my wife that we renewed our valves before God and to my wife that we renewed our valves before God, really a covenant to become one flesh. And when we did that, it was so beautiful.

The presence of God was so strong and I was crying and I was shaking and we really at that time I believe had a fresh start on our marriage. But what I'm trying to get at is that our marriage did not always look this way. And it doesn't mean that our marriage is perfect now because my wife sitting there watching right now, and you're like, well, you do this and you do that.

It's not perfect, but we've come a long ways thanks to the things that God has taught us along the way. So I wanted to maybe, if you share just a little bit more about hope for reconciliation, and just because you messed up or you're in a place now Doesn't mean it disqualifies you or the Lord can't take you somewhere else. Yeah either one of you Alrighty. Yeah, so let me jump in here go to me because One of the things that Irene did not mention is that this was her first marriage

But it was not my first marriage area. Now we get into good stuff. Now we get into the good stuff, right? It's all good, I'm just kidding, but you know. But the thing is, yeah, I had a life before Christ, you know? And I did a lot of the stuff that people do in the world. I had a marriage, a previous marriage, that was not built on godly foundations. It was built on on godly foundations. It was built on all the wrong things.

And even though during that marriage there was, we were born again, we were eventually filled with the Holy Spirit, we were both pursuing the things of God, we were actually pursuing marriage. But guess what? It is very easy, especially in church circles, to put on the face. Everything's okay to be, you know, put on

the spiritual face because, you know what, when you're under the anointing you look kind of superhuman, right? Yes. But when you're not in that setting, a lot of times the hard things of life are happening. And in my particular case, there were some very deep issues in that previous marriage. One of them I didn't realize was even previous sexual abuse in her life. And those things only stay buried for so long.

And when they come to the surface, sometimes people don't know how to deal with that constructively, how to get free from that, how to be healed in those areas. So it can create a lot of attention, and sometimes you go down wrong paths. So I went through a very tough time and watching a marriage break apart, several separations, several attempts trying to put it back together, counseling,

but it didn't seem like anything was really going to repair and restore that marriage because as you touched on earlier, the Lord's made us free will agents. We have a choice in this and I remember crying out to God saying, Lord, why don't you restore my marriage? Why don't you restore my marriage? You know, why won't she just kind of like come into line and do what she needs to do? Why won't she be the way Tony wants her to be? Come on, get it together. Why won't she be the way I need her to be? Come on, get it together. Why won't she be the way I need her to be? But I remember the Lord speaking to me very clearly during one of the times I was praying

about that marriage and relationship. And the Lord told me, He said, you need to stop praying for the restoration of your marriage and you need to start praying for her soul because there are much more serious things at play here. And so you need to be concerned about her eternal state. And so it kind of shocked me that he asked, the Lord told me stop praying about the restoration of your marriage and see the bigger picture here.

The other thing he reminded me is like, I cannot override her will and her choices, no more than I will override your own personal choices. So sadly, that marriage did not, it wasn't restored. And I did end up going through a divorce with children involved. And you know, those have its own challenges in themselves. But the Lord gave me a promise during that time. He said, I am a god of plant B and plant C and Plan D. And he said, I love her more than I love your marriage and her eternal state. So I have a plan for her and I'm going to take care of her, but I also have a plan

for you and I'm going to take care of you." In other words, the promise there was suddenly out of these ashes you see right now, I'm going to bring forth beauty. And so we did eventually see that happen. Yes, the divorce happened. But God told me, keep your heart right because if you'll keep your heart right, if you'll love her as a sister, love her as a brother, someday I will use you to help her find her way back to me. But he also promised me I have somebody else prepared for you that is what you need for your future. And of course that is this lovely woman sitting right here. I'm going to let you, I'm going to have you touch, but it reminds me of a story of what you're sharing.

I believe it's, you know, it sounds like something the Lord would say. This Dan Mohler, you guys know Dan Mohler? Oh yes. And he shared this story about somebody in his church that he was, you know, counseling because the woman had an affair on the husband and the husband basically lost his mind

and locked himself up in a room for a few days and yelling and screaming and mad at God. And why did this happen and this and that? And he's like, Lord, I want answers. I want answers. And finally, very gentle and quiet and calm as the Lord does, he came in and said, why are you yelling? And it ended up basically saying something

along the lines of your concern about, your concern, you know, about, you know, you're mad at your wife but you really is that she, your wife is lost. Your wife is lost. And like you said, the Lord cared about her, so why are you so concerned about yourself when your wife is lost? Right. Yeah. Exactly.

And the thing is, is that God was faithful in his promise. Because as time went by and eventually she reached out to me because she needed counsel and she trusted that I was walking with the Lord and I could give her counsel from the Lord. that I was walking with the Lord and I could give her counsel from the Lord. Irene gave her counsel. By this time I was remarried. Irene gave her counsel. Eventually her husband came to me asking questions. And we shared a little bit earlier today the outcome of that, because there was forgiveness, because there was release of debt from the offenses and the things that had happened in that previous relationship,

I was actually able to minister to her husband, to disciple him. I ended up water baptizing him. He got filled with the Holy Spirit in our living room, taking him through discipleship. I ended up ministering to some of his brothers as well, and his extended Catholic family, to bring them into salvation. So God took what this seemingly terrible situation and turned it into something very, very good. My ex-wife came back into a real strong relationship with the Lord, and she's still walking strongly with the Lord today. And we all have a relationship. Irene has a relationship with her as well.

And when I think about the big picture, that was a much better situation for my son. Is that we would have a good relationship and we would all be looking out for his welfare. My wife is watching the show right now. She said, I love you, Nate Kibler. I must have said something right. So I love you too. Come on. But no, thank you for being vulnerable and open and sharing that. I mean, that's amazing how he's a god of restoration and reconciliation and he wants

hearts to be healed. And you guys went through some stuff, but to be able to go and stay in your ex-spouse's house and visit as a couple, I mean, that is pretty amazing to be able to do that. So touch some on that, Irene, about your heart, maybe with just some of the things that we've been talking about. Absolutely. I think the theme that we're hearing over and over again

is that God is a god of restoration. And he's a god that can take situations that look like, OK, this is nothing but one huge mess to be just discarded and ignored. But the Lord is able to take it, and He's just able to bring so much restoration. He's able to bring new life. And He's able just to turn situations around so that they

bring glory to His name, but also just so that we find ourselves being satisfied. We find ourselves just walking in the blessing and in the love of the Lord. And so we were just talking a little bit earlier about how sometimes foundations, when we've started off our relationships, there could be some cracks in the foundations

or we just didn't lay the foundations right. So I think every one of us, every situation is so unique. And so to take the time just to really go before the Lord and just let him examine foundations, let him examine how we've entered into relationships. So Tony just shared his half of how we entered into our marriage relationship. I would say really my piece of that, as a single woman wanting to have a godly relationship

and a godly marriage, I was kind of approaching that from two fronts. But the main focus was I was looking at me and I was asking the Lord get me ready. Do what you need to do in me. I touched on a little bit earlier that my background, my growing up, you know, had, it had sexual abuse in it. It had emotional abuse. It had sexual abuse in it. It had emotional abuse. It had physical abuse. The model before me of marriage was a marriage

of just beating down and breaking down. And so I really had, I didn't have any good models in front of me. And so for me it was really a time to press into the Lord and to press into his word and to just say, Lord, I know I'm not looking at this right. And I don't want to go into a relationship with someone carrying so much baggage that I just

take into this relationship that I'm just going to complicate the whole thing. But the Lord has been so gracious. And by the time our marriage day came, I'm not saying I was completely healed or delivered of everything, but I knew there was such significant healing that had taken place. And the Lord had restored to where I could even now trust that a healthy marriage was possible.

That it actually could, it could exist and I could actually have a healthy marriage. And so I just want to talk just a little bit, you know, to any today that might be listening and say, yeah, but you don't know how our marriage started. But you don't know what we're facing right now. But you don't know what my spouse did. But you don't know what I're facing right now, but you don't know what my spouse did, but you don't know what I experienced as a child. I don't, but we do know someone who does, and that is Jesus Christ. And I mentioned that we're in a time of just great reset, and the scriptures say that every

day with the Lord is a new day that his mercies are new every morning and so I really believe that you know as we just take our concerns to the Lord either we started on a wrong foundation we've got something going on right now well I wish my husband was like that but he isn't well I wish my wife was like that but she he isn't. Well, I wish my wife was like that, but she isn't. Whatever it is, just really taking those things to the Lord and having hope that he can restore, that he can even settle situations that look impossible, that look like there

is no way to fix this. But with the Lord, there is. And so I believe we're just in that time where we can just press into and allow the Lord to restore and to heal and to recreate in some places, just to renew us and to absolutely reset us. But I want to add that the Lord does his part, but he will ask us to do ours.

And so I needed to make some decisions. I needed to come into agreement with what the Lord was wanting to do. But I will testify that. Partner in a line. We talk about that a lot on this show and in our own home. Partner in a line with what the Lord is calling you to do. Whether that's marriage, whether that's parenting, whether that's business,

whether that's, you know, your ministry. Absolutely. And that partnering with the Lord and that coming into submission to His Word and agreement with His Word, that is always going to have the results that we're looking for. And it's not like, oh boy, if I do what the Lord wants then I'm gonna be miserable. No if we're truly doing what the Lord wants we are going to experience blessing that we never even thought possible and I just I want to encourage us with that. Absolutely and then the full blessing can come and I'll you know I mean I'll qualify that I'm I am not saying to you know marriage relationships where there might be you know some marriage relationships where there might be ongoing physical abuse or your

life is threatened or you're really in danger. The answer for you may be you need to get out. But I'm talking to other situations that they're not out there. Let a religious mind take that. Yes, it's not. Yes, if you're in a dangerous situation, you know, this is not the Lord telling you, you need to stay in this. But if you're in situations where it's just, well, I don't feel this anymore, or this isn't going wrong, or this is going wrong, this is the opportunity for reset. And I want to

give you so much hope and so much faith that we serve a God who is able. If he can take Paul who spent his whole life destroying Christians and had one goal, I'm gonna wipe the church off the face of the earth, and then he becomes one of the greatest apostles of all time, and he called himself the chiefest of sinners. But look at the restoration, and not just back to kind of being a good guy, but to just having so much fulfillment in the kingdom and so much purpose in the kingdom. And that's available for every one of us. And just to be clear, we are advocating and promoting healthy kingdom marriage, not divorce.

But we're also saying that just if you're a minister and you're hiding or you're in secret life, it doesn't matter what everybody else thinks about you, because God is still going to love you, and divorce does not disqualify you from being a minister of the gospel. Amen. Amen. Amen. I agree. We're in agreement with that, right?

We are in agreement with that. We are in agreement with that. Well, I'm a living example of it. There you go. And this was actually one of my great fears because actually when some of these things transpired, I was actually in Bible college, I was pursuing ministry training.

And when that marriage started to fall apart because of the religious construct that I was in, which was a Pentecostal holiness theology, which was very legalistic, a lot of focus on the externals. I just assumed at that point that's it. My future in ministry is over. I am now damaged goods. That is the way I felt. But the other side of that coin is that the Lord had me more focused on relationship, restoration, and I had to put ministry on the shelf for a while. In other words, that was not the primary thing. I needed to get healed. Matter

of fact, eventually when Irene and I started the court, we were. Let me say something. That is a word for somebody. Yeah. There was a time you had to put ministry on the shelf. Yeah, come on. That's right. The thing is is that God wanted me whole.

He wanted me healthy first and foremost because how am I going to be an effective minister if I'm broken, I'm hurting, I'm wounded? I was on the shelf basically for two years to learn the things that I needed to learn before I could really go out. Two years. Sometimes it's longer than that. Well, the Apostle Paul said that he was on the backside of the desert for about 14 years. If you combine some things, possibly 17 years he was in preparation after his Damascus encounter. So the thing is that sometimes ministry isn't about right now. Ministry is more about building character, the character of Christ, his qualities, his essence in your life so that you're exemplifying

and demonstrating who he is, you're re-presenting him to the world. Look, who's watching? We have somebody in Nigeria watching right now. His name's Kola Emiola, and I know those are y'all friends. Hey, come on. Hey, Kola. Hey, Kola.

Kola's saying, amen. I love my man Kola, love you, brother. We're gonna shift because time does fly and we only have like 15 minutes left to the show. And so a lot of times, usually at the beginning, we'll talk about ministry or how we met. And so this is a perfect time because Cola just popped on and we basically met when you guys had Cola come up

to speak in Culpepper. I think it was last summer. And it was one of the most enjoyable messages I've heard in the last year. So there you go, Cola, I love you, brother. I'm giving you props. We loved what you shared when you came to the United States. And so, Kingdom Vision Center, I believe,

is the name of your ministry, is that right? So, Ari, why don't you talk a little bit about Kingdom Vision Center, because the event, I've only done one event with you guys, but that is how we met, and then we ended up meeting again over in Harrisonburg at another mutual event where we recognized each other and the Lord, that's kind of how he connected us. But talk about Kingdom Vision Center

and what the Lord's calling you guys to do in this season. Besides help people with their marriages. Absolutely. Although I'd say we love that piece because we so appreciate what the Lord does for us in our own marriage. So Kingdom Vision Center, originally we were Lions Roar Ministries and started back in the 1990s prior to, Tony will correct my dates because I get my dates wrong, but we started as Lionsworn Ministries,

and it has always had the focus of being an equipping and a training and just a resource to edify and to build up and to strengthen the body of Christ. And so for the most part, it's itinerant. We've done regional trainings. We've done statewide trainings. Just anything that will help unify the body, that will help train and equip and activate every member

of the body of Christ. Because we believe that every one of us has a part and every one of us is needed. And so it's just really, it's just a privilege and honor to equip, train, help establish, help strengthen. And that's what we do. We're presently based out of Culpeper, Virginia, just serving alongside a local body

that we're honored to be a part of there. And then just very much creating some resources now that people would be able to access. So some online training, doing some writing and as well as just doing some live and online trainings. It sounds like y'all are doing things a little different. Are you saying that it wasn't the model of Jesus to go build four walls and have one man get up and speak every Sunday? Yeah, I think we're implying that.

Yeah, go ahead, tell us please. I like to hear that. You know, the model of the show is this ain't church all. It's about the kingdom. You're not saying anything bad. We're not bashing. We're just bringing some truth. No, because the thing is, I hate to tell

you this, but Jesus never said he would build a church. He said he would build an ecclesia. There you go. And that was something very different in its original meaning when he said it than what it's turned into through institutionalism and culturalism and business enterprises. All the things that have influenced the churches we know it now, I would submit, were not the original intention for what Jesus said he would build because he was looking to build first and foremost a family and he was also looking to build an entity that was an expression of the kingdom on earth. At the time he made that statement and Ecclesia was a an assembly of people

that were called out and brought together to determine policy and legislate and do governmental activities in their sphere of influence. Seek first the kingdom of God. Yes. It was about- Now yourself, pick up your cross, follow me. Yes.

So part of our passion is to see the church, the ecclesia, restored back to its original design and purpose as Jesus intended it to be. Yes, not restricted, not held captive. Chris Roberts watched and said, 100% agree. It's good to know that somebody out there agrees with you besides me. Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad to hear that. But like you said, there are more that are waking up to this revelation. Things are shifting.

They really are. And it's for people like us to still honor the body of Christ. We love the body of Christ, but to come up and let people see that it doesn't have to look that way. It actually wasn't even intended to look that way. I think God, he's touching on all these things even the way we Do leadership the way we do oversight in the body of Christ Jesus told the disciples. It's like you're not going to exercise authority

like those who master and lower Lord of others, but the the one that Desires to be the greatest in the kingdom, he shall become the least. In other words, you will go forth and model servanthood. And I think that is what we're starting to see come forth in this restoration, this reformation process, is leaders and ministers that are coming first and foremost as servants, servants in their community, servants in their professions, servants within the assembly of the saints. Wherever you are in life, wherever you have influence, he's calling you first and foremost to be a servant to all.

Amen. Anything you want to add on that? Just, you know, I neglected to say that in our transformation. So we were lions roar ministries, and we really still are a lions roar ministries. But the Lord. Lisa Parna said mic drop. The Lord redirected us to rename it Kingdom Vision Center because there's just such a focus on

broader picture. There's a focus on the kingdom. And I think when we're talking about the local church, we know the definition that we have, at least here in America. The local church is, my church is the such-and-such church, you know, on 3rd and 45th, you know, but the Lord looks at the church as his whole body. And so there is the beautiful, unique local assembly expressions, but there's also the broader kingdom picture. And so as Kingdom Vision Center, it's just, you know, it's a privilege to just kind of bring us back to what is, again,

what's the eternal vision of the Lord? When he looks at his kingdom, what does he see? And then the value of every single member. Again, we cannot get away from that because every believer in the kingdom has purpose, has value, has calling, is valuable, is greatly loved. Same body, different parts. Same body, different parts. I said if everybody wants to look like Nate Kibler, man, we are in trouble.

Exactly. Because God made me unique, don't try to be like me. Exactly, exactly. The multifaceted wisdom of God through every believer, everyone functioning. Amen. Yeah, that's good, I'm glad we got to talk about that a little bit. Amen. We didn't get into it too much, everyone functioning. Amen. Yeah, that's good. I'm glad we got to talk about that a little bit.

Amen. We didn't get into it too much, but it's good. Amen. Bless you guys. We only have maybe five minutes left, so I'm going to release something for you guys. Sometimes this becomes part of our show, to release prophetic words. So I have a word for you guys from somebody I trust and love who's a part of this show my friend Chris Beck and he's a he's a prophetic seer and highly anointed man in the body of Christ you guys okay if I release a

word over you absolutely we are ready so he said he looked at them because he doesn't know you at all and he looked at the picture of Tony and his wife I immediately saw angels ascending and descending over Tony and I knew in the spirit they were releasing information to him. The Lord then spoke, architect, building kingdom structures. I have given him the blueprints to the nations, the healing of nations. Tony has a unique ability to speak to people. People respond to what he's saying.

His words captivate their hearts. I then saw a songbird in the spirit. It was releasing a beautiful noise to the Lord. I'm pleased with his work. It is very endearing to me. His sounds captivate the hearts I put before him. A change is before him. I'm calling people to him to assist

with the projects I have written in his book of life. I then saw in the spirit his wife was wearing an apron, and the Lord revealed to me there was a deep love burning in her heart. She was a rock, a great support to others. There was a great calm in her heart. She was a rock, a great support to others. There was a great calm in her spirit. She was a deep thinker, a diplomat. She is very considerate of others and gives much thought to the issues in people's lives.

The Lord then spoke, a strong foundation. I've built my house upon her. My people can rest while in her presence." Wow. You weren't expecting that today, were you? No. We received that. We received that. I didn't even read it until I read it to you guys but I trust them implicitly. We received that. Thank you Chris. Yeah, thank you Chris. There was a lot of confirmation in that word. Good. So I don't know if there's anything else on your hearts. We're about to wrap up. I know, I don't, maybe this won't be our most watched show ever because people don't like to get into the,

you know, the marriage and is the thing that we seem to, I don't even know what the word is, but it's important. Yeah. And if I could maybe really quickly just read a couple verses out of Joel chapter 2, verses 25 through 27, and not in their entirety. But it's the promise of the Lord to restore. So I want to leave us with hope. If anything's awry, there's hope for restoration. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, and the chewing locust. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. And praise the name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you.

Wondrously. And my people shall never be put to shame." So I just proclaim and decree whatever you're facing, if you need a reset, if you need adjustment, if you just want more of the Lord, He is going to deal wondrously with you and you have hope for everything through Jesus Christ. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. I would just like to add one thing. One of the words we've been hearing

a lot lately from the Lord is intentionality. So when it comes to your marriage relationship, when it comes to your family, intentionality. Be intentional. Make your family a priority. Don't ever put them on the shelf for ministry. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things shall be added to you. Part of that righteousness is being a good steward in your marriage and your family and then he'll add on to that. That's good. You talk about being intentional. Everything that Jesus did I believe was

with specific intent. Yes. Yeah. So it's important for us to do things with specific intent as well. But I just thank you for all the wisdom, the 35 years of marriage, the ups and downs and many years of ministry and walking in the kingdom of God and sharing that and just bless you guys and thank you. And we'll ask you, you're not expecting me to do this, but a lot of times on the show, almost every show,

because I know you guys are prophetic voices and hear from the Lord. Is there anything that the Lord placed on your heart today or leading to the show or since you've been here, maybe about for this show or about the city of Charlottesville in general. And if not that's okay too. I don't want to put you on the spot but if there's anything burning. Yeah well I will just definitely add that there is a stirring from the Spirit of the Lord and it talks about through Zerubbabel, there's

just there's prophetic word that's coming and there's a stirring. It talks about for the governor and it talks about for the high priest. And so I just believe that in Charlottesville there is a stirring. There is a calling to prayer, to intercession, to proclamation, to decree. You're being stirred up and we're going to see the changes that are coming as we press into that are coming as we press into intercession as we just continue pursuing the ways of the Lord Charlottesville is going to be transformed. Faithful watchmen press in,

intercessors press in because there's a stirring, there's movement of the Holy Spirit and it will bring reset and it will bring transformation. Don't give up. Even the areas that look like they're unmovable, unchangeable, they are not. By the Spirit of the Lord, they will change. Amen. Amen. Well, bless you guys. Thank you for being with us. Thank you guys for watching today. Look, please share the show again. We know that people are at least watching in Nigeria, but that's how people are watching all over the world. And so it's a beautiful thing. Hi Chris Beck, I see that you're watching. Love you. We just released your word to Tony and Irene and they received it in a

powerful, beautiful way. So thank you brother. And yeah, so bless you guys. I speak life and love and healing over your minds and your bodies in the name of Jesus. Go enjoy this beautiful weather and have a good week and God bless. Amen..