Welcome And A Wild Teaser

Announcer 0:01

It's time now to get the How Out of Your Life, a weekly broadcast with real people, sharing real struggles, and offering real hope. Today's show will encourage, inspire, and empower you to face life's challenges with a full confidence and renewed hope. Now let's join our host, Ron Myers, the promoter.

Scotty’s Road Back To God

Ron Meyers 0:22

What does it take to wake someone up? Is it painful, lost, rock bottom? Or does it take something so real, so undeniable that you can never go back to who you used to be? Because today you're going to hear a story that crosses that line. Hello, my friends. It is so good to be with you today. My name is Ron Myers, and this is Get the Hell Out of Your Life, where we share real stories, real struggles, and real hope. And my goal is simple to encourage, inspire, and empower you, and maybe, just maybe, help you take one step closer to the life God created you to live. And this show is for you. This show is for the one who doesn't go to church, the one who's been hurt by church, and the one who thinks God might be done with you. Let me tell you something, my friend. God is never finished with any of us. And today I need you to lean in and pay attention to this story. Because what if I told you a man sat up in a coffin and started talking about heaven? Yeah, you heard that right. But this isn't about a moment. This is about a life, a life that went from childhood faith to drugs, to jail, to homelessness, and somewhere and all that chaos, God didn't just show up. He rescued him, not through willpower, not through trying harder, not through religion, but through one word, surrender. And today's guest, Scottie McLeod, is living proof that no matter how far you've gone, you're never too far gone. Let me repeat that. You are never too far gone. So wherever you are right now, I don't believe you're here by accident. I believe this moment is for you. It's rigged, my friend. So let's get into it. Scotty, take us back. How does a life go from faith to brokenness and somehow back again?

The Coffin Video And Heaven

Scotty McLeod 2:22

When I was ten years old, I was I gave my heart and life to Jesus. I was young, then I got a little bit older, and I got off the path. So I come from a long line of preachers. Actually, what they were all Southern Baptists, and until my dad, which he was a Southern Baptist too, but he kind of went off in a little bit of a different direction. But there and I I got into the world, I got to doing drugs, drinking, and at one time I ended up homeless, and I was on bottom, and there was hell in my life. And that hell just kept piling up and piling up and piling up until finally I gave up and surrendered. And when I did, it was the greatest thing could have possibly happened. So my dad had started a ministry. The name of the ministry is uh Broken Stone Ministries. And there's been a lot of shootoffs from that. And one of those is called Our Father's Arms. And we have two homes for men, and we have a free medical clinic located in Jacksonville, Alabama. And my dad was building all this up, ended up with a music hall, had Christian martists on there. It's called Duggar Mountain Music Hall. It played public television and actually, I think, 80 stations across the world. And it's just been one thing after another how God has blessed this and kept it all going. So in the back of my mind, even when I was living wild and in my sin, I knew God had a plan. So I found out my dad had an aneurysm, and they said it was inoperable. So I started going to church with him, and then God just started working on me a little bit at a time. And when I'd go to family dinner, I'd say I'd say something about Jesus, and I'd see Daddy turn and look at me. See, Daddy knew he was about to pass. And I had told myself that I he could have had this for years, you know. But Daddy knew better than that. And he comes to my house and he brings me his Bible and my granddad's Bible. And I thought, well, that's cool, you know. And then he leaves. And within a week, he had a stroke and passed preaching a graveside service. He went down right there beside the grave while he was consoling the family. And uh and I was thinking, wow, that's amazing, you know, that that God would allow him to go serving. And I was sitting, it was hard on me. You know, the first week or two I was in a fog, and then it dawned on me that Daddy had told me 15 years before that, that when he passed, a friend of his in Tennessee had some stuff for me. So I got in touch with a friend in Tennessee and I drove up there and and the friend gave me a a bunch of teaching tapes, teaching CDs and tapes, and he gave me a DVD. And I wasn't sure what the DVD was, but when I got back, I put it in the DVD player. And there's a little funeral home close to here. It's called K. L. Brown's funeral home. And Daddy would always preach funerals for people that didn't have money. They could always call Daddy and he would come in there and do it. So all of a sudden the camera comes in the front door at K.L. Brown, and there's this music playing like funeral music. The camera comes in and it goes to the coffin, and a preacher in a suit opens the coffin, and then Daddy sits up in the coffin and starts talking about how awesome it is to be in heaven.

unknown 5:47

Wow.

Ron Meyers 5:51

Well, I bet you did I bet you did a little two-step. You all you see that on the TV Dean, you see your dad pop up out of a coffin.

Scotty McLeod 6:00

I did it at first. I started crying, and then I started uh shouting, you know, and uh we ended up playing that at his celebration of life. And when they first opened, it was during COVID, but there was a lot of people there. And when the coffin first opened, everybody went, oh. But then when he smiled and started talking about heaven, everybody started cheering. And it was amazing.

Ron Meyers 6:22

And I know he hadn't gone too far. What did he tell the audience about heaven?

Carrying A Legacy Through Ministry

Scotty McLeod 6:27

As always, we try to keep our focus completely on Jesus. He just started talking about how great it is, we'll see everybody again. And he had a song called Christians Never Say Goodbye, just so long for a little while. And he was quoting that song and just talking about the love of Jesus. And you know, 1 Corinthians 13, 8 tells us love never fails. And that's just the motto he lived by, and that's the motto we're living by. Amen. Now, sometimes sometimes I think he's still here with us. You know, I started going to the juvenile detention center close to here and playing and singing songs for the kids down there. And Daddy had gone down there and done it years ago, and they called us in at Christmas, and they were gonna give us this little award and certificate, you know. And it was all the daytime I go at night, and all the daytime people were the ones giving out the certificates. So I'm sitting there and they're calling people up and they're asking their name. You know, they're calling the name out, and the person goes up and gets their award, and they call my dad's name out, and I look at my friend, and my friend looks at me, and they call daddy's name out again, and I go get his awards. You know, it's those little God winks. You know, God talks to you, and if you're looking, you can hear it.

Ron Meyers 7:44

He sure does. So you've picked up the mantle of his legacy of in my father's arms, your ministry. So you're running the show now, right?

Scotty McLeod 7:54

I'm one of them. My uh mother and my cousin, there's several of us that work with the ministry, and you know, through the years there's been a constant flow of healthy community coming through to work with the guys, the guys who have either been in prison or on drugs or on the streets. And God just keeps sending the right people at the right time, and and it's just amazing to watch what he does. You know, we've never had a fundraiser or asked for money at all. Wow. And God's just kept supplying the money and the funds to keep it going. And he can close it down anytime he wants to. You know, we're not it's not like we're out trying to make money or anything like that. Matter of fact, we're all most of us are volunteers, but he just keeps supplying the funds. You know, when I first took over the part I'm taking I took over, I was praying to God and I was thinking, Lord, do you want to keep it going without daddy here? And I was nervous and I was fearful, and that fear will it'll completely mess you up. So the first thing God did, I asked him for a sign. And the first thing he did was he almost immediately pulled some resources from us. And I was thinking, Lord, I do you want to shut it down? But in my heart I knew he didn't. And then I went and played and sang up in Tennessee at a retreat. And when I got back from the retreat, there was enough money to keep it going for a few more months. So it was just God put it on somebody's heart, and there it was.

Ron Meyers 9:20

Wow. God's never late and he's never early, but he's always on time, isn't he?

Scotty McLeod 9:24

That's right. It's it's an uncomfortable piece, you know. You you gotta trust him. And if you trust him, you can walk in peace and joy. But if you're trusting in yourself, it's never gonna work.

Ron Meyers 9:35

Well, Scotty, it is obvious. Your love, the calling on your life to love the hell out of other people, it is contagious. Right now, we have a lot of struggling people in this world, don't we?

Scotty McLeod 9:50

It's amazing how many there are. You know, used to back in the 90s when we first started the men's homes, you know, there was people that had problems and there were people that were struggling, but now it has touched every family. Like every family you talk to, there has been a member of that family that has suffered on account of drugs or, you know, different reasons. And God came and he said, Hey, you know, I'll bless you even despite what you've been through or whatever you've done. It does not matter. I love you and I came to make a way for you. And man, when somebody gets a grasp of that, how much Jesus loves them, it turns everything around.

Ron Meyers 10:31

And I'm sure you've seen so many stories and and people's lives change. Can you give an example of maybe one of your favorite I know they're all your favorite, but is there one that really stands out of somebody that just went from a lot of hell in their life to, you know, whatever?

A Ride That Restores A Family

Scotty McLeod 10:48

Yes, sir. I'll tell you, back, you know, in in the very beginning, I was telling myself, you know, well, maybe God doesn't want me to do this. You know how the enemy will send out. And a fellow walked up to my house on foot, and he was yellow. And I had met him years before, twenty-five years before, and he was, you know, a stocky guy. And he was shriveled up to nothing. He was yellow, his eyes were yellow, he was jaundice. And he asked me for a ride, and I gave him a ride, and I went home and I was praying about it. And I felt like God was telling me that I was gonna see this fella again. So I was coming home away I do not usually come home, maybe a month later. And I come around the curve, and there's there's that guy standing on the side of the road. And I stopped and I said, Are you doing okay, man? And he said, No. And I said, Do you need a ride? And he said, I do. And he got in the car and I started taking him to town, wherever it was, he told me he wanted to go. And I asked him, I said, Friend, have you ever decided to try to get help? Or have you ever wanted to get help? And he started crying and he said, If I only had a chance. And I said, Well, God can give you a chance. Would you consider coming and staying with us at our father's arms? And he teared up and he said, Please. And I took him back to the lawnmower shed he had been living in. The lawnmower shed didn't have power. There was just a bunch of junk in there. We got what little bitty had. We took him out to our father's arms. He was telling me about how his kids told him, told him they didn't want anything to do with him anymore. Come to find out, my wife had taught his daughter in Sunday school and newer. So this is amazing. This is amazing. So I go to the house one day and I say, Hey man, you want to go ride with me to my house? And he was like, sure. But what I didn't tell him was that his daughter knew how good he'd been doing and how he'd put some weight back on and his color had come back. And we were riding back to my house, and I seen her van, his daughter's van sitting at the house. My wife had lined it up where she was at our house and she was waiting on him to come and see her. But I didn't tell him that what was about to happen. So we get to the house, I got a split level house. He walks up the stairs, they see each other, and they run and hug each other and start crying. That's been over two years ago, and they're on the phone 30 minutes to an hour every day. Wow. I mean, that's what God does. He restores families.

Ron Meyers 13:20

You know, I just get goosebumps when you say that story. You know, obviously you are the man to take over what your father has done. You have a love and a passion that I can just hear it in your voice, Scotty. And somebody right now is listening and can relate to the story you just told, but they have no hope. They don't think it can ever happen to them. Would you give that listener some hope right now?

Scotty McLeod 13:45

God is bigger than. God is bigger than the big bang. He's bigger than the big bomb, he's bigger than all our problems. God is bigger than. And you just gotta let him love you. Get yourself out of the way. It never was about us anyway. It's about him. And when we surrender our kingdom over to him and we start living in his kingdom, then he starts speaking to us, and our life starts transforming, and we become a light to other people. We're no longer in darkness, and he just loves us.

Ron Meyers 14:20

He loves the hell out of us. He sure does, he sure does, Scotty. And while you are, I am excited about your ministry. I'm excited that I have the pleasure, the honor to talk to someone like you that is in the trenches and you've learned from a legacy of grandfathers, fathers, and your mom, and all these people around you, and you just love the hell out of people. And isn't that all Jesus wants us to do? Because if was it, love brings a person to repentance? It's the love that draws people to Christ.

How To Find Our Father’s Arms

Scotty McLeod 14:53

Yes, sir. And uh actually, you know, you got to be attitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the poor, blessed are those when they mourn. And that it turns everything the world thinks upside down. So God uses the bad, he takes the cross and he makes makes it a plus. He takes a minus and he makes it a plus. When bad things happen to us, if they bring us back to God, then they're the greatest thing that ever could have happened to us. I I never I never would have made it. Like I had to go through all that. The drugs, the jail, you know, I had to go through that to be able to get to a point to where I was willing to surrender to God. Those bad things can can be good. He uses them for the good. Romans 8 28.

Ron Meyers 15:40

Yeah, he sure does. For the listeners out there, tell them how they could find some information about our father's arms.

Scotty McLeod 15:48

Our father's arms is in Jacksonville, Alabama. We're on Facebook. We're actually, we have a website that we're going to be updating pretty soon. Or you can write us at 45 Pinewood Street, Jacksonville, Alabama, 36265. Or you can write us at 389 Dogwood Lane, Jacksonville, Alabama, 36265.

Ukraine Connections And Global Help

Ron Meyers 16:10

That's amazing. And it made me think that there might be somebody out there now that just wants to send a card or some encouragement to some of the folks that are there. And I'm sure you would love to have things like that, right? Amen. Well, that's that'd be wonderful. Hey, Scotty, tell us about your international ministry. You are doing work all over the world.

Scotty McLeod 16:32

There's a preacher from Southampton, England, named Vic Jacobson. And back in the 80s, when my dad first turned his life around, Vic was coming to this little country church once a year by the house. And Daddy was fired up for Jesus, you know. So he started calling Vic long distance over in England, and Vic was kind of his mentor. And anyway, you know, Daddy wrote these songs, and Daddy's songs have played in England, Ukraine, but Vic and Daddy's friendship blossomed, and Vic ran a ministry out of Ukraine in England called Hope Now. Well, Vic knows all these people in Ukraine. So Daddy starts going over there and sharing and ministering to the people in Ukraine. And him and Vic started working together. So when Daddy passed away, Vic called me, and Vic became my mentor. And we've ended up going to visit Ukraine before the war, visiting the orphanages there, and now we raise money to send the families of wounded soldiers. And we still have a hand, a little church here by the house. They helped build a church in Ukraine, Cherkassi, Ukraine. And we just we just got stuff going all over.

Surrender And Closing Prayer

Ron Meyers 17:43

God's hands all in it. God's on the move. Scotty, the name of the show is Get the Hell Out of Your Life. And I want to ask you, how do you get the hell out of your life?

Scotty McLeod 17:54

By surrendering all that you have, all that you are, and all that you hope to be into the arms of our loving Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Ron Meyers 18:05

Amen. Now, as we conclude our conversation, would you close us out in a prayer to the listeners listening?

Scotty McLeod 18:13

Yes, sir. I would. Lord, thank you for all you've done for us. Thank you for loving us in spite of all we've done. Thank you for loving us in spite of the sin that's in us, Lord. Thank you for loving the hell out of us. Lord, we thank you, we love you, and we praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Share Your Story And Sponsor Message

Ron Meyers 18:36

Wow. Stories like that just don't inspire. They interrupt you. They make you stop and think. Wow, what about me? And here are some things I want you to take away from Scotty's story. Number one, you can't outrun Grace. Scotty didn't clean himself up and then find God. He hit bottom hard and God was already there. That means your worst moment doesn't disqualify you. It might actually be where your story begins. Number two, surrender beats willpower. We've been taught try harder, do better, fix yourself up. But Scotty's life proves something different. The breakthrough didn't come when he got stronger. It came when he gave up control. Surrender isn't losing, it's finally winning the right fight. Number three, legacy lives on through action. His father didn't just talk about faith, he lived it. And even in death, while serving others, that legacy kept speaking. Now Scotty is carrying that forward through broken stone ministries, our father's arms, men's homes, prison re-entry, and a free medical clinic. That's not religion. That's love in motion. Number four, one act of love can change everything. The man in the lawnmower shed, don't miss that. One ride, one opportunity, and one person who cared. And now a father restored, a daughter reunited, a family rebuilt. You never know, my friend, what is on the other side of one yes. And number five, trust is a daily discipline. Scotty talked about leading without chasing money. Now that takes faith because fear will always whisper, what if it doesn't work? But trust says confidently, God didn't bring me this far to leave me now. Friends, he will never leave you. And when I return, we'll close out the show with some encouragement for the upcoming week.

Announcer 20:55

You're listening to Get the Hell Out of Your Life with your host, Ron Myers. Real stories, real struggles, and real hope.

Speaker 2 21:06

Here's a refreshing word from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 8. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Announcer 21:20

What's your story? We're looking for stories of hope and overcoming life's struggles with God's grace. Your story validates God's love, mercy, restoration, and forgiveness. We want to help you share your story with the world. Visit our website, thepromoter.org, and click on the share your story link to your story. Your testimony of God's amazing grace or change a person's testimony for eternity.

Speaker 4 21:56

His name is Willie A. He's a pretty imperfect guy, but sometimes Changed the oil in his car on time, he hasn't gotten around to fix the toaster his wife asked him to fix two months ago. He even missed church a few Sundays ago to play golf. An ordinary imperfect guy, that Willie Ames. But despite his imperfections, he's got something really going for him. The guy loves God a lot. He loves to study the word, he loves his family, and he loves to praise the Lord. Boy, does he love to praise the Lord. It goes to show that God isn't looking for perfect people to follow him. He just needs people who love him with all their heart. Someone who has a heart for God is more pleasing to God than someone who looks squeaky clean but has no real passion for God. The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. So get the love part done. God can cover all the other little imperfections.

unknown 23:12

Get the hell out of your life.

Ron Meyers 23:15

So let me ask you something. What part of your life are you still trying to control? That God is asking you to surrender? Because here's the truth, my friend. You don't need a coughing moment to wake up. You don't have to lose everything to find your purpose. You don't have to hit rock bottom to start a brand new life. You just have to respond. Right now, not someday, not when it's convenient, right now. And maybe you're listening thinking, Ron, I've gone too far. No, you haven't. If Scotty can go from addiction to jail to homelessness to helping others find freedom, then your story isn't over. Not even close to being over. And if this episode spoke to you, don't keep it to yourself. Share it with someone who needs hope. Send it to someone who feels stuck. Be the reason someone else hears this message. Because friends, we're all in this together, encouraging, empowering, and inspiring people to discover their God ordained destiny. And I'll leave you with this what line, what moment, what truth from today are you going to pass on? Let's take a moment and pray. God, some of us are tired, tired of trying to hold it all together, tired of carrying things we were never meant to carry, tired of pretending we're okay when we're not. And maybe for the first time in a long time, we're being honest. God, you see every person listening right now. You see the one who feels too far gone, the one who feels forgotten to the one who's one step away from giving up. And I ask you right now, meet them, not with judgment, not with shame, but your beautiful, extravagant grace. Remind them they are not disqualified, they are not alone, and they are not finished. God, give them the courage to stop trying to fix everything on their own and the strength to surrender, not as a last resort, but as a first step towards freedom. Heal what's broken, restore what's been lost, and begin something new today. And God, just like Scotty's story, take the mess, take the pain, take the past, and turn it into purpose. We trust you even when we don't understand, even when we're afraid. And we all say this together. Amen. Now, my friend, if that prayer meant something to you, hold on to it. Don't walk your life out alone. Invite Jesus to walk with you. This is Ron Myers reminding you don't live on the island of regrets with villages called should've, would've, and could've. It's never too late, my friend, for a new beginning. Why do you think you're listening today? Because God is sending you a message. I will be back next week with another grace-filled episode of Get the Hell Out of Your Life. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. And remember, I love you. Jesus loves you. And when you give Jesus your heart, you not only get the hell out of your life, but life begins to start making sense.

Announcer 27:04

Today's show was produced by Ron Myers Ministries, a listener-supported ministry. For a copy of today's broadcast, please visit our website, thepromoter.org. And would you prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible donation so that we may continue to share stories of God's amazing grace with the world? And join us next week for another broadcast of Get the Hell Out of Your Life. Real people, sharing real struggles, and offering real hope.

Speaker 27:32

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