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pathway to promise podcast episode number 38 leaving a legacy of purpose with Bill McConnell author of conquer what's next

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once you can't hear yourself everything else becomes possible your biggest enemies you

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Hi I'm Patty raucous artist and author from rocks tell stories calm and author of He is risen rocks tell the story of Easter I help empower and transform people by playing with rocks. Dr. Brad Miller helps to empower and transform through the power of stories told right here on the pathway to promise podcast helping you uncover your promise like a peace, prosperity and purpose.

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You're on the pathway to promise with Dr. Brad Miller. Brad believes every person has a god given promised life of peace, prosperity and purpose and that you must have a plan and a guide.

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To get there the pathway to promise podcast Not only is your guide through the wilderness of depression and disappointment that stand between you and your promise life but also brings you insights and direction from inspiring successful thought leaders who have transformed their lives. Welcome to the pathway to promise now here's Brad

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the pathway to promise podcast is brought to you did today by the legacy of purpose virtual summit led by Bill McConnell from Bill McConnell dot m e during the week of March 18 to 20 seconds. This is a live virtual summit where 12 people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives will present insight and challenge along the idea of living your life of true purpose This is a faith based series that brings into focus specific areas and unique viewpoints pursue in life purpose that everyone wants to discover and live by you could just some this specific areas covered will be

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Marriage and business workplace personal restaurants restoration and having true personal value to connect up with the virtual the legacy of purpose virtual summit you can head over to our our website pathway promise.com slash 038 for more information about the legacy of purpose virtual summit our focus here on this day

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in our process our 40 day way process of improving your life is to have a life of purpose, a life where you thought things out and will you have a life where you are making your life happen intentionally having a plan, having a specific plan, then working that plan in order to make your life better, a whole part of the 40 day way of building your life.

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peace, prosperity and purpose is how we can use it plan to in a relatively short amount of time to move through adversity to achieve our promise, life of peace, prosperity, and purpose. That's what we're all about here at the pathway to promise podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is helping you move through this process. That's my mission. My focus in life is to teach the teacher, the coach you and to be helpful to you in your life to move through adversity, marital problems, financial reversals, health related things,

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relationship issues, to achieve your life, a peace, prosperity and purpose. I do that through the teaching that I doing here on a regular basis during the month of March and April of 2019, where every day we're having something to come out to be helpful to you. And one of the great things we can do to be helpful to us also bringing great guests and authors who could help you to find things in your life as well. Bill McConnell is one of those guys

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Bill McDonald him he is his website and he is an author and a leader and a teacher and a blogger and podcaster and he is processed a lot of things in his life and but it boils down to this about living a life of purpose. And he's put together a legacy of purpose virtual summit that you're going to want to check out. And I hope that you will. But right now friends, let's learn a lot more about Bill McConnell and how to live a life of purpose as we get into our interview with Bill because right now

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the McConnell is an incredible author and leader and teacher and a person who has also owns a Jeep Wrangler and loves to do that type of goes back roading with his with his jeep outdoors guy lives in Colorado and he has a goal of helping you to move from wishing to winning and the most important areas of your life. And in that process, he

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As a blogger and a podcaster, and a speaker and author, and he's written a couple books together surprisingly simple secrets for loving your wife forever and more recent title, conquer what's next to scheme your dream and get your rear end gear and gain the grit to go there. And he also is having is also has the upcoming legacy of purpose virtual summit lots of things going on your life bill McConnell Welcome to pathway to promise. Thank you Brad. It's my pleasure to be with you today man. Awesome. I am so glad you're here today. And we can chat a little bit about what you're up to and and what sort of things you're working on, but also what you have to offer to some folks here some great things here. But to me a little bit of background about you, Bill, how did you end up where you're at right now, what's a little bit of your history? How did you end up doing all this writing and teaching in podcasting and, and all this other stuff that you're working on here? Well, after spending a little bit of time in school at a very, very small Bible College in New Brunswick, Canada. I was a youth pastor for 23

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years right which and youth pastor terms is a really long time

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during that entire time I never want to learn how to play the guitar

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you're using it before where youth pastor myself and usually that goes, you know, useful to have one was attached to your hip because I never had a guitar playing either but I was a disc jockey, that was my thing. So, okay. Okay. So 23 years as a youth pastor, and what happened? Well, I stepped away from ministry. I got into a situation where myself and the pastor where we're more at odds

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that then actually working together and I felt it was just time to do something else. I just I was really getting on the edge of being burned out. Okay, so I stepped out of ministry took a job at at the hospital as a program coordinator. I was there for three and a half years and then they cut 60% of our department.

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I was part of that

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60% that as we're all of a sudden your life changed when your whole situation when upside down did it pretty much did

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I was unemployed for a little bit of time and then I took a job at a at a State Children's Home for children that were too

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too hard for the for the foster care system really rough kid we're talking kids from five years to 14 years of age and I was there for a period of time and then the state close the entire facility down there you went one good time to another didn't you? My goodness I've not been fired I've just been

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cut back

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into one into unemployment as it were still does not feel good at all. Yeah, I went through a period of time where I really struggled with finding a new groove like youth ministry was was my my passion, my love I was successful in it.

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Loved hanging with the kids I love being with the kids and putting my life and the life of Christ into these kids and and when I stepped out of that I felt a little bit lost and then after one cut back after another cut back I find myself just sitting at home doing nothing and had no clue what to do.

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I was

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I was a day away from suicide okay I found myself one morning I was I couldn't wait for my wife to leave to go to work my daughter was was off at university and so I was all alone and I curled up in the corner of the living room name I cried for about two hours uncontrollably, just completely lost and and finally just kind of sat up and said,

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I don't know maybe one more day

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and that was that was kind of it maybe, maybe, and then I figured let will let I let me do something. So So let me just be clear for a second.

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You were really at a point where you were actually not only having some passing thoughts, you were kind of making some plans are really getting kind of serious about it here. It was at the point where if there was a firearm in the house, it would have been maybe a different story. Okay. Well, but but where I was at the time,

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okay, this is what I this is what I feel like doing them. But I had no great way to do it. Yeah. Which is which was very providential looking back and I just decided, I said, I just got to figure out do something and I thought, well, if I can't find a job and if I if I can't step back into ministry and be effective in a full time church ministry position then I'm I just got to figure out something to do. So I poured myself into being a host husband okay, but doesn't sound very very exciting but with my wife making the money at that point in time I gotta make her life easier. Yeah.

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So So I started doing things around the house just to make her life easier. When she came home, it was easier for her. I can go into all kinds of detail, but you can. It came to a point where I where I wrote a book about it. My first book called together

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actually started that actually started when in year seven where I was pouring so much of my life and youth ministry I almost lost my wife. Okay, which is really scary. And I talked to coming back your job kind of overcomes your your family. I've understand that been there myself. But yeah, right. So with that, I basically just said one more day. Let me see what I can do today. One more day, one more day became one more week and I slowly built back into my life as a sense of purpose. And it started with my wife. It started with my family and then it started to spread to how can I help others? How can I help others? That may be a bit

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In the same situation me How can I help husbands that are may be missing the point with their wife they think everything's fine because I thought everything was fine and in my marriage it right up until the point where my wife said she wanted a divorce.

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It got your attention apparently yes it did. Yes it did. Wow. And we didn't we didn't have children at that time, it would have been very easy for him to walk away you know, we wouldn't even have thought over the dog I would have had the dog

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but we we've been married for 38 plus years now. That's awesome. Everything is going great. Well that's great. So in part of the process here we want to talk about is

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you know, we all of us have these really powerful obstacles and challenges that we've that we face and and if you're at a point of you know, even considering suicide and a female and considering divorce and all the other things that you've described there you're at a different place now apparently I'm in a much much different place. Yeah, thank

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We want to talk a little bit about how you got from where you were to where you are.

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It sounds like so what would you say? You said you, you know, had to take one day at a time, one day became a week and so on. And you did some specific things regarding caring for your wife. What bill would you say were a couple of maybe the bold actions the things you took that really broke the pattern for you that helped you to move out a word that stuck place that place of that Malaysia or attitude someplace different just to get you started in the process of pathway or some of the things that you did, I started thinking

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real specifically, I'm here I am here for purpose and the purpose isn't a job and the purpose isn't a position and the purpose isn't a ministry. There's a purpose within me. There's a reason why I'm here. It's not that I've lost it. I just had my eyes blinded to it.

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And I started to do some just some basic things I just started to pursue the concept of the idea and what what is my contribution for the rest of my life? What am I going to do and one thing I love to do, I'm a planner I love to plan it's crazy I struggle sometimes in execution but I am a master planner I'm a master planner to the point where I said I'm going to become a certified project manager okay which I am I love to plan things and so I just started planning my life a whole lot better one of the things that is really kept me solid and kept me going and moving is a morning routine okay good what morning Tell me about it a little bit even go deeper on that you I'm after bold actions that we take. And this sounds like one of these things you did in good a little more discipline in your life. Tell us a little bit about how you actually do your morning routine. I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to stay up It seems a little bit random.

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But it gets very specific. I went downstairs and I sat on the sofa and watch TV at four in the morning the dumbest thing in the world. I just started waking up early in the morning and I said well, there's a reason for me to wake up I'm going to start making it purposeful. So I created for myself a morning routine, my routine that started then and has

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and goes even even today, even this morning I get up I take a journal and I write I've got two pages two sides of a journalist for things that go on it on the one side, I write down a portion of Scripture and I just kind of right and go a little deep into that portion of Scripture whether it's three verses five verses or just one verse. Sometimes I stick on one verse for four or five days because I'm just stuck there and I want to get everything out of it. Under that I write down my prayers pressure my wife pressure my daughter, prayers for projects, prayers for myself, prayers for others on the other side of the page.

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I'm very specific. I write down the same thing. Every morning, I write down a statement that it evolves. But right now, it's pretty solid as to how I feel. And to have my purpose is, and I say that to myself every morning, I write it down every morning for very specific purpose. I want it to be the primary thing that drives the rest of my day. Under that I read just a little bit about what happened that hang on a second there. Bill, you said you had this very specific state of that you write every day? Is this a continuous statement or just like one for each phase of your life? Or that has that specific statement? Has it changed over time was just like a mission statement type of thing or affirmation. You could say you could say it's a mission today, but you could say it's affirmation. And I've got it right here. And I can read it. If you don't mind. I would love to hear it. Okay, this is what I write this down every day. Don't just say it but I read it them because writing is it is a very powerful thing. I don't type it out. I write it out and I'm kind of stuck on that I'm going to stick with it.

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This is this is what I do. Every day. I write this down and say I am a speaker, author and life coach who serves growth minded people aspiring to become their best selves. I help them discover their personal life map and embrace the journey ahead. By becoming a conquering spirit over self and circumstances. My passion is to empower a movement of strong fearless conquerors of action, and like the result of which the world cannot ignore. That's awesome. And I noticed that you turn this your statement of motivation, you know, some people call something like a like a mission statement or a credo or something like that, but you call it your statement of motivation is tell me a little bit about that. Is that to motivate yourself or to motivate your people that you serve, or How's that?

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Well, one thing I love to do is when I was talking about planning right me it has to do with helping other people.

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The very fruit Ironically, the very first weekend I was ever a youth pastor in a church fresh out of college, I had all these ideas and all these thoughts and minds. And there was a special speaker the church. I don't remember her name. I remember she's a female. No clue. She was she said one thing to me. She said, find a need and meet it.

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And I thought that was the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Because I was just at a school and thought I knew it all. Of course and later in life. The more you think about it,...