Chris Grainger: 1:22

Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys, it's your main episode. I'm excited to have you here. Let's get right into it.

Chris Grainger: 1:34

So you know, we're going to open up every episode with scripture. So this week we're in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 30. Just looking at one verse though, verse 19 says this day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live. So go back and check out the spiritual kickoff episode. We unpacked that scripture at length, and so far as choosing life, you guys know where we stand on that. There is no other option. I just cannot see how the Bible does not align with anything other than life, and sometimes that means you have to get out and serve and do some hard things, and this is why we brought in the guest today.

Chris Grainger: 2:19

So his name is Michael Reier. He's the president and CEO of Amigos International. Basically, guys, he's a lifelong just warrior warrior. He's a seasoned veteran in the realm of ministry. He's going out 43 plus years of experience. It's his leadership, his ministerial journey, fellas. It's just. It's pretty incredible to hear him unpack it, and particularly when he gets down to brass tacks and what they're doing at Amigos. Okay, I mean, I'm a guy from Texas out there doing his thing, and just the way that he is so passionate and so locked in to the gospel and just sharing the gospel each and every day.

Chris Grainger: 3:05

So this was a fun conversation. This is one I thoroughly enjoyed. I knew it was going to be good. We got connected actually on LinkedIn and just had a conversation and I was immediate. I was like we've got to share your story. We've got to share what Amigos is doing. This is such a big deal. This is such a big deal. He actually calls it the most unknown ministry, or non-profit rather, and the most successful little non-profit you've ever heard of. So it's just funny how he talks about this. Hey guys, I just think it's so important to be Christian men, to be leaders, to be the hands and feet of Christ. We need to look for opportunities like this with Amigos to support, to learn and to see how we can grow as leaders.

Chris Grainger: 3:51

Now you may not be called to go out to Uganda. That's okay, but you need to figure out ways to how are you being called to serve and step into it? So hopefully you enjoyed this conversation with Michael. I thoroughly did. You guys, this is one that he's got a ton of energy. He's 65, going on 25. With the way this Michael's energy is, I know you're going to love it and hopefully. So just sit back and enjoy this conversation with my friend, michael Reier. So, michael, welcome to the Lion Within Us. How are you doing? You doing today, sir?

Michael Ryer: 4:26

I'm doing great.

Chris Grainger: 4:27

Thank you for having me oh, I'm excited to have you here. I mean, once we've been on linkedin and we and we chat, I was like, all right, we, we gotta have you on the show so I'm excited about how about, but before we get going into everything that you're doing, tell us something fun about you, something that maybe not many people know about.

Michael Ryer: 4:51

Well that's. I love to play golf, but I don't get to very often. I've kind of given up golf so I can do ministry. I was in the ministry for 43 years helping people, Amigos. I was always a volunteer, working as CEO, and it just exploded to where the point now, to where I'm doing this full time and it's just amazing how it's gone. So I don't have time. Point now to where I'm doing this full time and, uh, it's, it's just amazing how it's gone. So I don't have time for golf, but I'm I'm doing some pretty, pretty fun things instead of golf.

Chris Grainger: 5:11

So Amen to that. Well, I mean, that's really wild. Once we connected, it's like kind of have Michael on the show because of the phenomenal things you guys are doing at Amigos.

Michael Ryer: 5:20

So just share with our listeners out there what Amigos is how you got connected and just you know what led you down this path Super, super. I'll try to be brief. It's 57-year history, but we started when I was eight years old. I actually I've been with Amigos or around Amigos since I was eight years old when they started. They came to our church and I was a little eight-year-old kid and our founder, dr John Lanoue, was telling stories about making mobile medical and mobile dental clinics for the river ministry down there and over. I think a thousand people a week were saved through the river ministry there and they came up with a. This was just a little one year project. They said we've got to have a nonprofit let's. What do we call it? So they say international friends and in Spanish, since it was on the Valley by Mexico, they said amigos internationales. And so this has been a one year every year for 57 years and we're still going one year at a time. And, uh, we've actually been in Sri Lanka, we've been in Russia. We were at ground zero clean apartments for zero, for nothing, because I'm just saying God loves you. And when people are charging $30,000 to clean apartments. And one of the things we're probably most famous for is when Saddam Hussein chased the Kurds up into the mountains. We took a kitchen up there, 12 people, and fed the freezing, cold and starving Kurds for six months through that ministry. Recently we've moved into Guatemala. We do seven and a half million meals a year through a USAID grant and Buckner International.

Michael Ryer: 7:01

And now we are in Africa. We started six years ago sponsoring children in Africa. We got to a point where, just as a test pilot to see how that would go, we did 13 and went really well. And you sponsor a kid, you get a video every quarter from your kid saying thank you for sponsoring me. I'm doing really good in school and we pay for their schooling and backpacks. And I was ready to add another 13.

Michael Ryer: 7:30

And our Ugandan director over there said, hey, I think we can buy a school for the same price. And I said, no, we can't do that. And so we uh he looked around and we found a school that was just about to be closed. It was right at the start of COVID. They were going to be closed anyway. They had no windows, no doors, mud floors and the building wasn't even completed. But they had 60 children in that school and so we actually bought it during COVID, put $150,000 into it. Did a water well, put solar panels on it. Did a water well, put solar panels on it. Finished the school windows and doors, regular floors and added a church. We realized the village needed to have more stuff in it, more of a lasting effect, and so we added a church. And that's where the model of what Amigos is doing now came from is our Ogle Village demonstration farm school whole complex.

Chris Grainger: 8:29

We we're now calling that mission point.

Michael Ryer: 8:29

Okay, so that's. I think I gave you the whole spill in in five seconds, but it's my elevator pitch.

Chris Grainger: 8:35

Well, we need to definitely unpack that. Because you said you, you found that it was cheaper to build a school. So so I mean, what does the model look like now? Because you said, didn't you say you had to have a certain number of those set up, then, once you have that established, you'll build a school in. So so I mean, what does the model look like now? Cause you said, didn't you say you had to have a certain number of those set up and then, once you have that established, you'll build a school in the church and all that.

Michael Ryer: 8:49

Well, what? What actually happened is when we bought this school, uh, we realized as we were rebuilding this that this was in the epicenter. This Ogle village was the epicenter of Joseph Coney, who was the worst warlord in African history. He's been convicted of several war crimes. He now is still alive and hiding out in the Congo, still abusing children, and he took out. I went to visit a guy in Portland Maine that was working against him. 26 people were killed in a convoy. He stole all the humanitarian aid and yet he he's still doing that. But that being said, in the eighties, nineties and two thousands, he took over a hundred thousand children and he made the boys butcher their parents and put them in his army and the girls he sold in the sex trafficking. And I know that for a fact because George in Gulu escaped. He was one of the kids in the 80s that had to butcher his parents and in the mid 90s he escaped and he's now a businessman in Gulu and I will see him. I'm going to Africa this this weekend and I will see him in two weeks and visit with him. We always visit, but he thanks me for what we have done in Ogle Village and so that gave us the understanding that we needed to rebuild this little village community that had been just devastated by this. We built the school. We had enough land to build a community garden. We started a church and then this formed our mission point project with the water wells, started a church and then this formed our mission point project with the water wells. Villagers in in the northern Uganda, where the refugees are coming in, they are seeing what we're doing and they're asking us to help, and so the first thing we do, one of our first points of mission point, is that the villagers give us land. We don't go anywhere where the land is not given not to amigos, but it's Amigos of Uganda, so it's a nonprofit set up for them. So it's not like we're trying to take over Africa, but once we own the land, our second phase is we drill a water well.

Michael Ryer: 10:54

The average African woman walks four hours every day, four miles and sometimes hours, just to bring water back. Most of the time that water is out of a bad mud puddle. I have this on my desk. I joke when I take people. I said this is the Ugandan water, but it's got typhoid. And it's really not. I make that up for effect. But it's got typhoid, diphtheria, tetanus in it and it's usually from the runoff, with pigs, cows, tetanus in it, and it's usually from the runoff, with pigs, oh, man, cows. And we just finished a water well in low low boo community that had run off from the cattle and they had typhoid in the in the water. So we drilled a 70 meter water well there and 1600 people in that village are getting clean water every day because of that water well.

Michael Ryer: 11:42

So we we do a water well and then, as we do that, 200 families gather, we start an evangelism event with our pastors over there and the pastors will begin a church. We have local pastors that we're training and we start a church and at that point we start trying to help these people with the school. We do life skills classes. These refugees are coming from South Sudan with nothing but the clothes on their backs and they're given by the Ugandan government a 30 foot by 30 foot piece of property Now that's probably as big as the room you're sitting in almost and they've got to put a house and a garden and make a living there and there's no energy, there's no electricity. There's no electricity, there's no water, there's no way to make a living. So we have started this program.

Michael Ryer: 12:31

One of the areas or focuses is to do life skills classes. We send sewing machines the old pedal machines, yeah and we send those over there and they learn to sew, and they learn to create and make a living based on on that. And we're doing soap making as well and these women are learning a skill. Now, four of these women that are in our program right now were on their way from south sudan, were raped, uh, and that. That's just that. We know of that tragedy. Tragedy happens all the time and they now have little babies, had no way of making a living, but now they're sewing and they're making dresses and sanitary napkins, because that's a major thing for the women there, and they're they're making a living. And then, once we do the the life skills classes, we start a school, because our last school, harvest of Hope in Pawich, the first and second graders had to walk 11 kilometers just to go to school, which means they're not getting education.

Michael Ryer: 13:28

So, we've added a school where we built a church. We now have a facility that we can put a school in, and the Ugandan government of education is working with us to put schools in all these places. And we've now got 66 kids in Harvest of Hope, where these kids were not able to get an education at all, and so we start a school. And then the last thing that we do is a community farm, because these people need a place where we can grow beans and rice and make kosher poshie. And we've got an Ogle Village, which is our model, and you'll see that on our website. We have goats, we have chickens and ducks, and we're actually making this a demonstration farm, showing the people how to effectively farm. We've got a hand tractor that we can now, because they're still using the oxen to plow, so we can use our hand tractor and go around to all the neighbors and plow their fields in two hours, what they would normally take two days, three days and they say why are you doing this? And we say, well, because God loves you, and we do too, and that's another effective method of reaching the people for the gospel. Now our seventh phase, which we haven't started yet, but we've been asking each one of these places is to do a medical clinic. There's such a great need up there. Our school teacher up in pawich their her six year old daughter died from malaria, which a dollar and 25 cent pill would take care of a day, would take care of malaria. We just have not had the resources or the way to get those pills to them and malaria seems to be on the rise. There have several of our sponsored kids have malaria right now but because they're sponsored there we're able to take them and put them in treatment and they're fine. But we want to establish a medical community and that's our seventh phase of the Mission Point project and because that's been so successful, the villagers are reaching out to us and said hey, or to our pastors and saying we want this program, can you bring it to our village? So when the village elders all get together and they give us land it's usually about two hectares, which is five, six, seven acres, sometimes up to 15 acres we can begin that process. We do that only because they can't take that well away from us. The government can't. Well, it's a third world country, so anything could happen. But we have the title to the land and so that's our water well, that's our church, that's our school, that's our life skills classes. And there's a twofold purpose in that Number one. The people understand and know that we are there to stay. There's a lot of groups that are doing a water well and leaving. They're building a church or they're doing an evangelism rally and they're leaving, or they're doing this or they're doing that. It's education. But when we go, we go and we're there.

Michael Ryer: 16:14

We're committed to building a spiritual community in these refugee cells where there is none. The reason most people don't do that is because it's kind of expensive. I mean, it takes money to go in and to establish yourself and say this is what we want to do and this is where we want to go. But we have a really deep sense and longing that that's what God's called us to do. Our whole mission is based out of Deuteronomy 15, which says that when someone gives you something, keep it in your hand, not your heart, so that you can give it away to somebody else. You something, keep it in your hand, not your heart, so that you can give it away to somebody else. And and that's my prayer throughout all this is that nothing that we get is ever put in our heart. We keep it in our hands so that we can pass it on to the next generation and the next people. So that's the mission point in in a nutshell, it's working.

Michael Ryer: 17:01

Last year we set a goal of 500 saved. We surpassed that goal, had 1154 saved. This year, so far through last month, we've had 772 saved, and that's just not saving. Getting them saved and leaving them. They're actually they have a church in Tanzania or in Uganda that will disciple them.

Michael Ryer: 17:24

Part of the life skills classes I fail to say is there's parenting classes, there's couples classes. Marriage is there because of polygamy We'll find our sponsored kids will have 25, 30 brothers and sisters, three different mothers. So there is a very deep, deep need for a core family value and core family to understand that, that there's gotta be parenting classes and it's it's, uh, two people that are committed to their family and their children and making it work. And when there's 30 kids in a family, you can understand why there's that. Poverty is so rampant that one, one family, with no industry, can't keep up with one child, much less more than five or six or seven. And so that's the point of mission point. So we're going in, we're evangelizing, we're getting them saved, god's changing their life, but then we're continuing to stay in there through these churches, and we're evangelizing, discipling them and giving them skills that they can take throughout the rest of their life to change their life permanently.

Chris Grainger: 18:29

Right, good gracious. Wow, what an incredible ministry. Guys, we're going to take our first break and we'll be right back to continue digging in with Michael here. If you're a man who's looking for greater spiritual guidance into how to become a better leader, finding resources that you can trust and then implement can be daunting. For me personally, I thought it was a lost cause and I decided to take the action, knowing that I wasn't alone.

Chris Grainger: 18:56

It was because of this wide gap that we created our line within this community, and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. Lying within this community and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. For instance, we've built ways for guys to lean in and grow through fun events like our daily spiritual kickoff, where you get that much needed boost directly from God's word, our Bible studies that always focus on how to discern and apply what we learn, and even our amazing forum where you can speak your mind without fear of getting shut down or judged by the extreme rules of modern day social media. On top of all that, we know that many men want help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens iron. Our community is about having a growth mindset, accountability, intentionality and transparency. In other words, just leave fake you at home and come to community just as you are.

Chris Grainger: 19:52

I fully believe what we feel. I see the impact it's making on men right now and I would love to have you check it out. So start your very own 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. So if you're ready to take that first step, head over to thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and I'll see you inside with them. So, michael, I'm just curious. I mean, usually, when you think about mission work and missionaries and things like that, I mean mission trips for churches. It's you go, you serve for a week, you come back, but you guys have a long-term focus and a long-term approach where you're really implanting, you're serving. You know why the focus there? Why do you feel like that's such a big deal to make it to that long-term, permanent solution, versus just come in and do something for a week and get out? It seems like that's a core area of mission point.

Michael Ryer: 20:50

Well, it is, and part of that is where I'm from and that's Texas, and we have a lot, of, a lot of churches that will attempt and they do good, right, the churches that are in the on the Valley, along the Valley between Texas and Mexico. They call it Christmas in July and they'll go in there and they'll just dump all this money and all this effort on a week and then they leave and the people are like, do they really love me? Do they really care? I mean, were they just here to get a picture with me, a snapshot with me? And so I think God's kingdom is going to be long-term. I don't see anything in the scripture that doesn't say it's a one-week commitment, it's a lifelong commitment. Our commitment to the people is going to be more than that, and that's what's important to me is when they see us owning the land and they're going, why some of these village elders are going, why give the land there? And that's part of our process of letting them understand that we're not going to go in, leave them.

Michael Ryer: 21:50

I mean, if you go to Uganda, there's a water well about every three or four miles, but every third water well doesn't work Because somebody's gone in and they've built a water well and they've left it six months, eight months a year. If the kids go in there and what they call short stroke it, it swells up the brass couplings, the water well doesn't work. So what good does it have having a water well that doesn't work? So part of our life skills classes that we're developing and I'm going this next three weeks to help set this up we're going to have a life skills classes for the men to teach these men how to repair these water wells, because the villagers are smart enough that they all come together and you give like 50 cents a month to this well fund. So they've got the money to fix it. They just don't have the expertise.

Michael Ryer: 22:42

So part of our life skills is not just for women, but it's for the men. We're teaching them how to build the wells. Now I've got a company that I'm working with and I've got an email out this morning. They want to put solar panels and solar on a lot of our mission points and I said what happens when those solar panels break? They said, well, we can add to your life skills class, we can add a class on how to repair the solar. There you go, so that's going to expand our ministry even further. So we literally are trying to build survivable spiritual duties of deep wealth, and I don't mean money wealth, but enrichment of deep spiritual empowerment for these people that come literally from South Sudan with nothing but the clothes on their back.

Chris Grainger: 23:33

So, on building the well, do you have like contractors? I mean, how are you getting the well drilling equipment to be able to actually get? I'm just curious of logistically pulling that off.

Michael Ryer: 23:43

We actually have got a partner that is that is and that is doing it. Really this is our 10th well that we've just finished. We've got three more to go. But they come in and they can actually do it with a power driller and we actually pay them to. They do the seismograph, they do the study, so they know exactly where the water is, we hope, and they drill up to 70, 80 meters.

Michael Ryer: 24:11

This last well we drilled. The story behind it is kind of funny, because it's the first time we hit a dry hole and we did it in the wrong time of the year. It was during the dry season and so we kind of knew I guess we got a little cocky. We thought we were not going to fail. But when we did, we hit a dry hole.

Michael Ryer: 24:24

The witch doctors all celebrated and said oh, you know, they kept the Christians out of the village. That didn't make sense. That hurt the people more than anything else, just not having water. And so last two weeks ago we actually drilled a well there. We went back during the wet season and we drilled a well. Which doctors were doing their thing during the wet season. And we drilled a well witch doctors were doing their thing and at 70 meters on our last pipe, we hit water and I said, stand back and declare the majesty of the Lord, just like an Elijah moment. And of course we didn't go in and slay all the witch doctors like he did, but before that. The interesting thing is, while we were in the evangelism leading up to that, we've already had 23 people saved in this little village and the church. Oda Bee Village has already started and begun and people's lives are being changed and now they have water and they can drink clear, clean, fresh, disease-free water for the first time ever in that village.

Chris Grainger: 25:19

That's amazing. Now are you able to go? It sounds like you're traveling quite often over there.

Michael Ryer: 25:24

I go twice a year. I never go for more than 21 days because they say it takes 21 days to make the habit and I don't want my wife to get in a habit of not being without me. But yeah, this is the first year I've gone. I've split my time with Tanzania and Uganda because we've opened up the work in Tanzania and Uganda because I'm going to. We've opened up the work in Tanzania, which is really blossoming, and we're taking churches. We're in the rural area of Tanzania, which most people don't go. There. There's heavily dark forces there.

Michael Ryer: 25:56

The witch doctors are entrenched. They call us the underwater people because we baptize by submersion, yeah, and they tell their people that when we're baptizing them and they're underwater, we can put all kinds of spells and things on them, and so the people are really, really leery. We have to really fight through that and work through that. But I tell the people I want them to come up out of the water possessed, but not possessed by anything that we do, but possessed by the Holy Spirit, and it's really, really great. First we just did a first for us. We bought a leg and that says people go. What is that? Well, we had a guy in Tanzania that got bit by a snake and the witch doctors prayed over him for 10 years and he lost that leg and he finally came to one of our crusades and got saved God's changing his life and we sent money over there to get him a prosthetic leg so he can walk around. And so I know there are other nonprofits that buy legs all the time, but it's the first time we've done that. But by saying that, lives are being changed.

Michael Ryer: 26:57

But we've got churches that are meeting under the trees in Tanzania, shenanga province, and we're building them a building. We're paying the pastors. I've got a story you can see on our website, all of the stories but I've got a pastor that for decades was working in the rock quarries. Now we don't. They don't have gravel over there like we do in the United States, so they to make gravel for their concrete.

Michael Ryer: 27:19

They take big rocks and go sit all day long and beat with a hammer until they get little rocks. They take those little rocks and beat them until they're smaller rocks. They beat them until they get gravel size. And this pastor for decades was working six days a week in the rock quarry and because we have supported him, we built him a church where he was meeting under a tree. He's now able seven days a week to build God's kingdom and he's so grateful for what we're doing, and so it was such an empowering story. My sister said, hey, I can pay for that salary, I'll do that. So she added she also sponsors a child. She added the pastor salary, so she's supporting that pastor so that he doesn't have to work in the rock quarries anymore. Amen.

Chris Grainger: 28:03

So you guys make sure I'm getting this right, so you're training the local pastors themselves and then they're the ones who are leading the churches that you're setting up.

Michael Ryer: 28:12

Absolutely, absolutely.

Chris Grainger: 28:13

Okay.

Michael Ryer: 28:15

We're working with New Hope Bible School Bible College. It's an international Bible college, very conservative, but they are going in, they're in our church in Shenyanga and they're also in our church in Pawich and they will do classes where the men will meet for a week and then they go off for six weeks and do their studies and then they come back for a week and they can do a two-year program and get a certificate in theology and can begin to pastor one of our churches.

Chris Grainger: 28:50

Wow, okay. So I mean, you're building it up there Now, the life skills. Who's doing the teaching there? Is that part of your group, or how does that exactly work?

Michael Ryer: 29:00

That's a God thing. There's a lady that has from Gulu which Gulu is about an hour away from a lot of an hour, two hours away from some of these places and she could sew, and she said I will volunteer. She's a Christian, she's a member of one of our churches and she said I'll volunteer to teach these ladies how to sew and give them the skills that they need to do this.

Chris Grainger: 29:22

Wow, and then they're taking that. So do they leave the camp to go find to utilize that skill, or are they able to use the equipment there?

Michael Ryer: 29:31

for work. Well, they're utilizing that skill there because one of the greatest needs and it's kind of uncomfortable for us to talk about but sanitary napkins, reusable sanitary napkins, in third world countries. We never see it. Think about this. But when that time comes for a woman, if they, if they're not ready for that, then they have to stay home, which puts them behind on their employment or puts them behind girls young girls are behind in school. So one of the big initiatives we have a church that just gave money for two sewing machines just to do those sanitary napkins. It's a special sewing machine and I was able to send. Six weeks after they gave that money and we sent those machines, I was able to send them a picture to them of six women in that sewing class for sanitary napkins had given their hearts and their lives to Christ. From the refugee centers of South Sudan, disillusioned Muslims that are coming in, come to know the Lord.

Chris Grainger: 30:26

Right, that is absolutely incredible and for the school it's mission point of that. Are you providing the materials, the books, things like that, or do they have teachers there, like, are you teaching the teachers? I'm just curious how that that process?

Michael Ryer: 30:38

works. We've been very fortunate in the places that we've had, we've had qualified teachers that have to travel, and so they've at me and they said you know, our kids in Kampala don't get the education that these kids are getting here Really. And so we're. We are, we are making being noted by the department of education of putting together a top notch quality school. We pay for their backpacks, we pay for their schooling, we pay for the teacher salaries, we pay for their food. Actually, I've got pictures of my last newsletter I just put out of two kids on spring break and they were working in the school garden so that they could harvest beans, which will provide beans for the school during the semester.

Michael Ryer: 31:39

It's kind of a group thing and I wish I could say I was smart enough to put all that together. But it was a God thing. I just kind of walked into this whole thing and God pieced together the pieces of the puzzle, as he always does, and it's really a thing that's magnificent to watch and easy to come to work for. Amen to that.

Chris Grainger: 32:01

Well, hey guys, we're going to take a quick break here with Michael. We'll be back right in a second. I find it helps me to have a guide at times when I'm reading and studying the Bible. One way that helps me is by using devotionals to guide not only what I read, but insights into the scriptures themselves. So we were blessed to become an author on the YouVersion Bible app and we saw an immediate opportunity to help others with devotionals around the areas that we spend the most time talking about at the Land Within Us.

Chris Grainger: 32:36

So if you enjoy the show, you may enjoy these devos as well. We have some guys that are using them as part of their small groups as well, as they're a guys that are using them as part of their small groups as well, as they're a great way to get conversations going. So, to see the ones that we've created, head over to the lionwithinus slash you version, and that's Y-O-U-V-E-R-S-I-O-N to learn more. So that's the lionwithinus slash you version to get started with your own men's devotional today. So I'm just curious, michael, you know you're CEO, you're leading this organization. I'm sure the pushback that you're getting from the evil one is real. Maybe speak to some of that, because I can only imagine the spiritual warfare that you're faced with and that your people are faced with in the organization. So just give us some insight of what it's like to try to lead a ministry like this.

Michael Ryer: 33:32

Well, you have to stay prayed up. You really really do. Yeah, my life verse is in Deuteronomy 30, 19,. That God says I call on all heaven and earth to bear witness as I lay before you blessings and cursings, life or death, and choose life so that you and your descendants may live. And so every day I realize and I come to work and that I have that opportunity to choose blessings or I can choose cursings. I can choose life or I can choose death. And so those stories are nothing like what they're encountering over in Uganda and Tanzania, and I understand that when I go Sunday that there is going to be a tremendous amount of evil that we're going to be facing.

Michael Ryer: 34:13

We have a crusade in in uh. I have a Baptist church. We're expecting 5,000 local villagers from from the different towns we're praying for over and I heard you and your listeners to pray for over 500 saved. I'm trying to collect. I've got almost enough money for 500 Bibles. We want to put a Swahili Bible in the hand of every new convert so that when they go back to these churches they have the word of God to read from and learn to read from. So I know, with 5,000 people under the influence of the gospel, that the work of the devil is not going to be unforeseen, sure, but we also have nine crusades total eight more crusades after this, so we will have a total of about 46,000 people under the gospel in rural communities around Tanzania, where the gospel is just very seldom ever heard.

Chris Grainger: 35:11

Right, wow, we'll be praying for you. I mean, you already mentioned the witch doctors and things because I mean, that's real In America. We don't think about that, right, we don't see that persecution. But you can speak to that directly.

Michael Ryer: 35:23

Well, it's interesting. When you go into a village, you know if you ever go into a church the kids love to do little skits and plays and things. It's no different in Uganda and Tanzania. They all do a little skit and every skit that they do has a witch doctor. It has a grass crown and all painted face and every skit that I've ever watched from the kids, they all have a witch doctor. That's powered over someone and the gospel overcomes that power and the people are saved out of that and I just thought that's interesting. You hear out of the mouths of babes that it really is. The children lead us into that understanding 100%.

Chris Grainger: 36:04

So I mean are you, have you learned the language, Like, how do you communicate over there when you visit?

Michael Ryer: 36:09

Well, in Uganda, which is where I've always been, the national language is English, but they speak a Choli in that area, but most people communicate with English. Tanzania, the language is Swahili, so this is my first trip. We'll have an interpreter. We'll have our pastors with us. I mean, we've got 12 pastors in Tanzania that will be helping us translate, so I think I'll have that covered.

Chris Grainger: 36:34

Tanzania that will be helping us translate, so I think I'll have that covered. Well, what's the hardest part of running of kind of coordinating the ministry? Is it the logistics of everything, the fundraising? I'm just curious where do you find yourself needing the most help right now?

Michael Ryer: 36:47

Well, right now, honestly, it's the fundraising side of it. I think, with our economy, a lot of nonprofits will say that, but we have a very we we've been around 57 years. We have a very solid core of what I would call super fans. I could literally we're we're pretty much self-funded through through our super fans. We could keep our ministry going exactly the way it is probably in perpetuity, forever. But because we're being challenged by God and we're being challenged by these pastors that are I mean they're starting churches and they're calling me going. Oh, by the way, we've got another church here. We've got 18 saved in this village. We need a church and you need to pay for it. And so I tell my board I'm writing checks that God's going to have to cover and he always does.

Michael Ryer: 37:35

But that's that's my biggest challenge is, I say, reaching out past my fingertips, because everybody that knows us or knows our board understands our mission and they support us and support us well. But it's through efforts like you that are reaching out past and allowing them the opportunity. And I think of it like a spiritual bank. If you invest in their life, I will send you a statement every month of your investment, what God is doing in the lives of your people. Just like when you sponsor a child, you will follow through.

Michael Ryer: 38:08

I've got one sponsor that has a little girl that wants to be a nurse. It's his fifth year of sponsoring her and he went over there with me a couple of years ago when he looked her in the eyes, hugged her neck and said if you want to be a nurse, I will bring you over to the United States, put you through nursing school if you promise to go back and help your Ugandan people. And so we're in the process of working through that. So I understand that it's a big step. Nobody yeah, I say that we're the biggest or the greatest little nonprofit that nobody knows about. But we've had great reaches and we've just never really tooted our horn. But now it's time. If we're gonna reach the 25 mission points and by 2025, which is our goal then we're gonna have to reach out beyond our fingertips. By the way, we're at 23 churches so far in 24. So I think our goal is pretty safe.

Chris Grainger: 39:05

Oh man you're sandbagging.

Michael Ryer: 39:08

Yeah, well like. They gave us 25 and then, all of a sudden, there's three more on top of that 25. So we're at 28.

Michael Ryer: 39:23

There you go gave us 25 and then all of a sudden there's three more on top of that 25, so we're at 28, but our our goal this year, but set by the ugandans and the tanzanians, is over 5 000 people saved this year and, like I said, through the first quarter, we're at 770. I think that we're well on the way. What, when, with these crusades, god's going to do some amazing things in Africa. This year.

Chris Grainger: 39:35

It sure sounds like, and I mean obviously the monetary support is needed. We'll make sure there's links out there for you guys to go check it out. We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll point to all that, but do so. Maybe there's listeners that want to go be the hands and feet and serve. Is there opportunities to do that with you, with you all as well, where you actually go on a trip to Uganda or Tanzania?

Michael Ryer: 40:01

Absolutely. Through LinkedIn, I met a lady three weeks ago that is a very, very sharp lady. She works in education and, after speaking with me, she sponsored one of my children. Her main goal is focusing on leadership of young women and empowering young women into leadership roles, and so she is going to go with me in August to do some women's conferences in Uganda and also in Tanzania. So everybody's welcome. I can promise them this They'll be touched, they'll be blessed, and at the end of that trip I give them a one-day safari. My driver, who's our southern Ugandan support guy, was one of the best guys in Uganda before he started working for us and he knows where all the lions and tigers and bears are. No, there's no bears, but he always will. We drive through and see the rhinoceroses and the elephants and the giraffes, and so it's a great trip of ministry. You get a great ministry, but you also get to see things you never see in in the United States.

Michael Ryer: 40:56

We offer, we, we promise you that I'm going with the pastor. He's actually there now in Tanzania, but he's going to be preaching our crusades. I'm not much of a preacher, I'm more of an administrator. I was a worship leader and administrator for 43 years. So, uh, I'm going to let him preach the Crusades. He's already over there, his church supports us and that's another way that we have churches that are actually given a percentage of their budget just to see it happen. And I'm going to meet him in Tanzania and we're going to spend the week in Tanzania. He's going to preach that Crusade and I'm going to send him back to the United States. I'm going gonna go on into uganda. So, yeah, there's a lots of ways. I've got a plumber that's uh wanting to go and he's going to probably plumb some of our water wells. When we put solar panels on the water, they need plumbing to the tower. So lots of opportunities and activities that they can get involved in wow, that sounds incredible.

Chris Grainger: 41:52

But now you mentioned, it all started 57 years ago with I guess it's Dr John, is that correct? Dr John Lanoue? We call him Dr John for short, so is he still around? Is he still active in this?

Michael Ryer: 42:04

He is 89 years old, he is on our board, he's still fundraising and in fact he preached last week about Amigos. Actually, at the church where this pastor that we're meeting, he's preaching his church. He's preaching in Waco at another church and sharing what Amigos is doing. You're not going to stop him until he ends up in front of the Lord. He'll keep going nonstop. He looks like Santa Claus' baby brother, but he's a great guy. He's been my mentor for 50 years and I've been honored to A real quick story about him the 18 wheelers that they feed the thousand, 60, 70,000 people a day out of when there's a hurricane.

Michael Ryer: 42:46

He designed and built the very first one of those in his backyard in 1970. Okay, so the influence of amigos, that people never know and I, you know, I, I, I tout his horn or toot his horn just because he's such a great guy, but he, he's the most humble guy you'll ever meet. He and his wife sang wherever he leads. I'll go at his wedding 66 years ago and they lived up to that because he was all over the world doing everything you could imagine and so neat, neat, neat guy.

Chris Grainger: 43:18

What an incredible mentor to have. Just a blessing for you and I mean this is great, this is great. So I mean let's do a for the line within us. We always do a lightning round at the end, michael, where it's just some fun questions, and then we want to definitely point people to where to connect with you. So if you're willing to play the lightning round. We'll jump right in here. See if I can win, a prize Is that what it is the million-dollar prize.

Chris Grainger: 43:43

We try to have a little fun here. Oh, that's great. What do you enjoy? You said you used to play golf. Do you have any other hobbies that you enjoy doing for fun?

Michael Ryer: 43:53

Oh, I just enjoy being around my family. You know I've been blessed with grandkids and my mentor pastor says that grandkids are your reward for not killing your kids when they were teenagers. And I agree with that because we've got five grandkids and I love spending time with them. We just had Mother's Day where they came over and we got to harass them and spoil them, rotten and send them back home, as everybody does. I think just family is really the key, because we just don't have a lot of time left in this world. Family's important. That's the key.

Chris Grainger: 44:28

Amen to that, brother. What's your favorite food? You go all over the world, you're doing a lot of different things. What's your favorite meal that you always go back to?

Michael Ryer: 44:37

I'm from Texas, it's Tex-Mex. You know why do you have to? But I will tell you this in Uganda, after being there for 20, 21 days, there's a Best Western Hotel that I stay at right by the airport because I always fly in early in the morning, and in that little mall where the hotel is there's a Kentucky fried chicken and I will tell you that Kentucky fried chicken meal is the best meal you can eat after being in the bush for two weeks, so that's my favorite food, I guess, when I'm in Africa.

Chris Grainger: 45:05

There you go, there you go. Well, how about this one? When we think about God? You see, god do some incredible things. Obviously you know working in your career in the ministry.

Michael Ryer: 45:19

What's your favorite thing about him? I think you know it says his mercies are new every morning. Great is our faithfulness and I think it's just getting up and not knowing. You know, you just pray. Okay, god, here's my calendar. You fill it up with what you want me to do and then just let me send, stand back and see those things. It's amazing that people look at me when I go to churches and go, wow, god does that. And I went yeah, he'll do it for you too. You just got to be open.

Michael Ryer: 45:45

I end every presentation with a picture of a footprint and I say tell everybody to look at their foot and I say god made the size of your foot, but you get to determine the size of your footprint. I want to leave every day. I want to make my footprint just a little bit bigger and expanded a little bit, a little bit wider. We've had invitations into Kenya, into the Congo, sierra Leone, cameroon. We're just waiting on God to fund it, because I don't want to walk too fast, but I don't want to walk too slow either. So we're just waiting on God to fund it, because I don't want to walk too fast, but I don't want to walk too slow either. So we're just waiting on God. And that's that renewal of every morning saying God, what do you want me to do today? Show me something really exciting and new. And he does. He never disappoints.

Chris Grainger: 46:24

Amen, amen. Well, let's flip it 180.

Michael Ryer: 46:37

You've already mentioned how the evil one just pushes back against a lot of the work that you guys are doing. What's your least favorite thing about the evil one? Oh, I think just the deception, the lies that he tells. You know that there's always tomorrow, that people can always wait. You know there's, there's. That's the one thing is just the procrastination of the Christian world. I love your ministry and men need to stand up. My mother was a what we call in the Baptist circles, a WMU, women's Missionary Union, and without that mission's emphasis in the Southern Baptist, with the women, I don't know where our churches would be. We've had a lie as men is that we can. We can put it off for the long, you know, until tomorrow, if there's always something better to do, because I'd rather play golf or do what I want to do, and that's the biggest thing is, do it today. What if God came today? What would your life be different this morning if you knew he's coming this afternoon? And I think everybody would 100%, 100%.

Chris Grainger: 47:32

What do you think about maybe the last 12 months or so, Michael? What did you spend too much time doing? Because we always at the Lion, we're trying to help guys think about you know how to the maximum, what, the most of what God's given us. So did you waste too much time on certain things last year?

Michael Ryer: 47:48

Yeah, there's always things when you're CEO and we're a small firm in the United States it's just me and I had an administrative assistant that just left and so but we got 25 in in Uganda and Tanzania that are really doing the bulk of the work, but I can piddle. You know there's always doing those things that are urgent and not what's important, and that's part of my prayer, along with that new every morning, is help me to do the important things, god, not just the urgent things, cause I can spend way, way too much time doing the urgent things. And that came back in October. I found out I'm 65 years old, just turned 65, but I was 64.

Michael Ryer: 48:30

Uh, I found I had colon cancer. That will radically when when the doctor calls and said, mr Reier, I've got something bad to tell you. And now, luckily, it was colon cancer. I had a few sections of my colon removed and it's completely gone and I'm healed and I'm celebrating. But just that, the two or three weeks between that and the surgery, you do a lot of reflection on what's important and what's just piddling, and so I want to piddle less and do more.

Chris Grainger: 49:00

Amen. I'm so, so glad to hear that. You know that's behind you. You're able to celebrate that and look forward. So just so happy for you. And last question for you, I guess, Michael, is what is one thing you hope the guys listening today to our conversation remember the most?

Michael Ryer: 49:17

Well, I was in church when I was eight years old listening to Dr John, and I want to know, I want people to know, that there's an eight-year-old boy in everyone that may just hear the prickling of God and the touching of your heart, no matter what age you are, and you can start then doing more, even if it's just giving a dollar.

Michael Ryer: 49:39

I've got a church outside of Dallas that's got 13 little retired ladies. They're about to shut the door of the church and they give me, they send me a $100 check every three months out of their greatest want they give us because they want to see the gospel spread. I get more joy from that check than than the larger checks, just because I know they're giving out of their need, they're doing what, what they can, with so much, so little that, and just asking us to be like the loaves and fishes, break it as much as we can and and and do something with it. So I think that's what I want people to understand is that you can start today. You can start right now, this moment, even if it's just going to your neighbor across the street saying, hey, god loves you, let's move on from there, amen.

Chris Grainger: 50:30

Well, this has been phenomenal. Where do you want to point the listeners to connect to support, to donate, maybe to find out about going on a trip with you? Where should they go to do all?

Michael Ryer: 50:44

that, but it's amigosiiorg. Amigosiiorg, and you can find out all kinds of things with us on Facebook. We're at Mission Point, facebook at Mission Point. There's, you know. We're on all the social media and that's probably. The other thing is. I spend too much time spending social media pictures and things you know, but those are. You can donate through there. You can see all the pictures. We try to keep an extensive website there. If you go there, you can sign up for a newsletter, an email newsletter. I promise you I won't try to sell you steak knives or something like that, but I will share with you on a at least a bi-weekly I try to make it weekly, but at least bi-weekly of all the things that's going on in Uganda and in Tanzania and share you pictures of all the stuff that's going on and just to see what got it work. And LinkedIn for you, correct? Yes, you can do LinkedIn Michael calendar. You can meet with Bitly and meet with Michael and that'll get you there too as well. But yeah, I'm on LinkedIn as well. All right.

Chris Grainger: 51:56

All right, guys. Well, you know where to go and I will tell you. I get the newsletter. I'm on his email list now. I thoroughly enjoy those when they come out. I love the pictures. You definitely tell you can put a lot of effort into those. Yes, we do, All right. Well, is there anything else you share with us today before we wrap up?

Michael Ryer: 52:12

No, I'm good, I just thank you and just keep praying for us. It's going to be a fun, fun two or three weeks. I know that we will face the evil one in Tanzania, as I've never faced it before, probably. But we're going to stay. You know, if you look at the armor of God, there's no bun plate, so you have to always march forward. You can't turn around and go backwards. So we're going to march forward into this crusade and just pray that God. I think 500 is actually going to be conservative. Maybe I don't have enough faith, but I think we'll have many, many more than 500 saved in this crusade. But the greatest part about that is that they're going to be put in a church and they're going to get discipled and they're going to have a life learning, lifelong learning, with Jesus Christ through these crusades.

Chris Grainger: 52:54

Amen, because it's not just about getting them to the water. We've got to walk with them afterwards. That's exactly right. Hats off to you guys. We'll be praying for you. Just thank you so much for the time today, michael.

Michael Ryer: 53:05

Well, thank you, and I'm praying for your ministry too. It's a great ministry. Men need to step up. They really do Amen, bro. We. They really do Amen bro. We have a wonderful day. You do too Great, thank you.

Chris Grainger: 53:18

All right, guys, I told you I was going to be a good one. So Michael was just a great, great man on fire for Christ, out there serving, did not know he was a cancer survivor that would have caught me by surprise. So, wow, what a testimony. What a testimony. What a testimony. What a testimony, and I highly encourage you guys to go back and check out his website AmigosIIorg I think it's just two, i's rather IIorg and look for opportunities to plug in.

Chris Grainger: 53:46

Maybe this needs to be an area that you want to be a faithful donor and support and give. They're actually on the grounds, the hands and feet of Christ. They're doing the work, they're teaching to people, they're uplifting, they're bringing them. They're not just in and out. So, guys, this would be a great one to consider, and if you feel like you have the call to go to Uganda, to go on a mission trip with Michael, hey, reach out, I'll get you plugged in. You can send an email support at delilahwithinus. We'll get you plugged in directly with him so that you can find out all the details on how you can actually use the skills that God has given you to serve others. And that's one question I really want you to think about this week is what's one step you can take today today not tomorrow, but today to serve those in need. And I put the word today in there to emphasize the need for intentionality. We can't be putting off what God's calling us to, so just be thinking about that. What can you do to serve others? And then we'll hold you back. Get started, let's go do it. All right. All right, guys, again, head to the website DelilahWithinus. You'll find all our resources, our devotionals, the different ways we try to help you with our free guides, as well as our community.

Chris Grainger: 55:01

We're making some changes to the community, lots of upgrades to the community, to try to give you a better experience along the path of discipleship. So, if you do not have anyone discipling you and helping you grow in Christ, this is what the community is designed to do. It's just designed to help you grow, be the Christian leader that God intends you to be. You can't do it alone. You can't do it in isolation. This is how we built the community, so go check that out. Of course, we have our Summit Leadership Development for you guys who will take that into your career, your faith, and start bridging it and stop having a guy at work and this guy at home and everywhere else. Nope, nope, nope. We can bring it all together. You just need some support, some encouragement, some tools and resources to do that, and that's what we're doing there at the summit. So again, give us a rating and review. That helps big time.

Chris Grainger: 55:46

Share to show out with other people, fellas, that is what it's all about. Just sharing it out. And then let me know how I can serve, how I connect, how I can help your men's group, your groups at church, your small groups, whatever it may be. If you need a speaker, if you're looking for, if you're in the Carolinas or Virginia or within driving distance of the Carolinas, we'd like to plan an outing for your group. Connect with us. We have ways we can do this now with our facility to actually put you out, put you up for just a really good day or a weekend to have some experiences out in nature, having those intentional conversations to help draw us closer to meet a man that God has called us to be All right, so get after, have a great one. We'll see you here on Friday for our fun Friday episode. We'll go break some really good tips, dad jokes, book of the week. All that fun stuff. All right, guys, get after it. Have a great one and keep on wishing you the life within.