Barry Meguiar is famous for his Car Wax business and for his Car Crazy television show that aired for 18 years on the Discovery Channel. But his real passion is making Jesus famous. On today’s episode of The Evangelism Podcast, he talks about how God can use a businessman to share the Gospel with people who need Jesus.
Questions for Barry Meguiar:
- How can God use a businessman to lead people to Jesus?
- What advice would you give to other businessmen who want to share their faith?
- Tell me about your mandate to move everyone, everyday, closer to Jesus.
- What do you mean when you say that “Sharing your faith is not a “Yikes!” but a “Wow!”
- Why do you consider witnessing to be a “team sport?”
- Why did God tell you to make “your business your pulpit?”
Learn more about Barry Meguiar at: igniteamerica.com
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Barry McGuire is famous for his car wax business and for his “Car Crazy” television show that aired for 18 years on the Discovery Channel. But his real passion is making Jesus famous. On today’s episode of the Evangelism Podcast, he talks about how God can use a businessman to share the gospel with people who need Jesus.
Evangelism Podcast Host (00:39):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast with Dr. Daniel King, where Daniel interviews full-time evangelists, pastors, missionaries, and normal everyday Christians to discover how they share their faith, their powerful testimonies, and amazing stories that will inspire you to reach people with the good news. And now here’s your host, missionary, and evangelist Daniel King.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:03):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus. Today I have a very special guest, Barry McGuire. He is a car wax businessman who also had a tremendous car show called Car Crazy on Discovery Channel for many years. But the thing that he’s really excited about is evangelism. Mr. Berry, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
Barry Meguiar (01:33):
Thank you. Greatly honored. And we are soulmates in every respect. We’ve not met me each other before, but we are, we are definitely soulmates. I love everything you say and do I just say it? Amen. Amen. Amen. And and thank you for all that you’re doing and the people you’re influencing to get off the bench and into the game.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:51):
Well, thank you. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was with Steve Strang from Charisma Media and I interviewed him for the Evangelism Podcast. And he says, now I got a guy that you have to meet Barry McGuire. We’re publishing a book for him and he is an evangelist through and through. People think he’s a car guy, but really he’s excited about evangelism. And so,
Barry Meguiar (02:14):
Well, I’m both, I’m both. I am a car guy. I love my business. I love waxing eloquent on cars. And I’m a part of this. There’s 30 million car guys just in the United States. And I love this community. I tend, I often meet Christians at car Guy events and, and the best thing in the world is be Christian, know the Lord and, and be able to enjoy the car hobby because the car, people in the car hobby are really quite special and they’re really exhibiting everything. The scriptures tell us to do. I mean, they’re the most generous, caring people on a global basis. There’s, there’s something about the DNA of a car guy. I know it’s hard for you to understand a few moments, but it’s, it’s crazy. The problem is this, most car guys are so good. They think they’re on their way to heaven because they’re good.
(03:01):
And I find it’s easier to reach a scoundrel with a gospel <laugh> than, than it is a lot of car guys who some, I, I call it chumming. I’m always throwing out chum, you know, just try to get the, get their hunger going. And some, I’ve been doing that for 20, 30 years and they’re just so good. They can’t conceive him of God, who would, who would send them to hell. And I say, he didn’t send you to hell, he didn’t send anybody to hell, you know, but you have to make a choice, you know, and they know who Jesus is. They would swear to Sac of Bible, Jesus, the Son of God. They know that. They, they know that. But the thought of bowing down to him and bending their knees and and giving control of their life horses, it’s because they’ve got, you know, a lot of car rides have, they can do about anything they wanna do. And it just breaks my heart that they could hold onto this world so tightly. Like it’s never gonna go away, but it’s falling apart all around us. So I, I often say even so, a couple more Jesus, but then immediately say, wait a minute, <laugh>, I got too many people. I gotta get on the bus before we get for before we’re outta here. You know, so you know what I’m talking about.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:08):
That’s awesome. Well, I really wanted to ask your perspective as a businessman, cuz a lot of people, they have a, a sense that the great commission telling people about Jesus is the job of the evangelist. Someone like me or like a a pastor, someone who is in the clergy. But you’ve been a businessman your whole life, and yet God has used you in a powerful way in the area of business. How can God use a businessman to bring people to Jesus?
Barry Meguiar (04:40):
Well, first off, let me say, I think you clarified it about us anyway, as well as anybody there, there’s the evangelist, the people that are called to be an evangelist, okay? Then there’s a work of evangelism that we’re all called to. And we are, we’re all, all of us are in full-time ministry. I say, you know, you’re in full-time ministry, whether you like it or not. Everything you say or do is moving people closer or further away from God. If you’re a Christian, people are watching you. And everything you say and do is moving whether you want to or not. You can’t get away from it. <Laugh> you can’t get, you can’t escape it. Everything you say and do is moving everybody watching you closer or further away from God. I often also say you are a witness. You’re already a witness. You may be a witness for the prosecution, <laugh>, but you’re a witness.
(05:28):
People are judging are, are, are making their decision on God based on what they’re saying with Christians. Of course, we know that that’s a pretty sad state right now because most people don’t wanna be like Christians. They look in, they call ’em, I had one last sign I was talking to out in the street, and I, I want God, but I don’t wanna be with Christians. I hate Christians. What a, what a clear, pure commentary on where the church is today. We don’t realize how easily we, we move people away from God. You know, the most common one would be after church on Sunday. We go to church, we go to church, we go out afterwards, probably several of us in a little larger group, a little more demanding, stay a little longer than we should. Talking about God, the waiters server knows they we’re from the church.
(06:17):
You know, my, here, there we go again. And then when they leave, they stiff the waiter, you know? Yeah, dude, they just move that server closer, further away from without even realizing it. Praise God. All right, see you later, <laugh>. And this person, that’s a soul that God loves. It’s just been left devastated. Servers don’t like to work on Sunday afternoons because of church people. So there’s, there’s all kinds of ways that share our faith is that, that non-verbal and, and verbal. But the point is, you gotta be in intent. You gotta realize we’re full-time. It’s full-time. It’s not, not part-time. There’s nothing that you and I do, nothing any of us do is Christians. That’s secular. We meet secular appeal, but there’s no such secular, secular conversation. Every conversation, every intonation, everything we’re doing is sacred. It’s, it’s an opportunity to move in closer to Jesus when you realize that it changes your life.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:10):
Now, one of the things I really liked about your new book, ignite Your Life, is that this book is chock full of anecdotes, stories about people that you met, that you helped bring closer to Jesus. Can you share some of those stories with us and, and, and, and tell us about how you can bring people closer to Jesus?
Barry Meguiar (07:31):
Well, first off, you know, the, one of the biggest misconceptions about face sharing is that you’re supposed to share with them and get them on the knees and pray the sins prayer, one step <laugh>. And I started out that way, and I still find people today that think that’s, that’s, that’s the norm. And of course, it’s absurd. It’s, it’s God’s timing. And the average person takes, you know, it’d be 20 encounters before they finally accept the Lord. And we don’t know where we are. Along the scripture’s very clear in that some, some over the seed, so is on, on hard ground. And some it’s furled and some it’s shallow. And so, I mean, that’s, that’s what the scripture say. If we follow what the scripture say, we pretty much ignore about everything. All the evangelism programs say like, you know, get one person saved today.
(08:16):
Okay, well, out of all the people I’m gonna be with today that are going to hell I’m supposed to pick one. Okay? how do I pick that one? And, and then what about all the others? I just let them go to hell. <Laugh>, I mean, help me, help me with this, you know, and living a good life. Most Christ think share living a good life is, is sharing your faith. But living a good life doesn’t get you or anybody else in to heaven. And yet, most evangelicals, I don’t know what that term means anymore, but most people that call themselves evangelicals think that just being good will will get them there. And we’ll move people closer. So if, if attach God to all the good they were doing, we’d be a Christian world because we are doing a lot of good.
(09:00):
But, but it makes us, puffs us up and we feel really good about doing good, you know, and say, well, God must be really proud of you. I was really generous right then. But it brings us glory and not them. So how do you connect? And, and, and I’m sorry, but recitation of a script doesn’t seem to do that real well. I I, I thank God for evangelism approvals. I really do. I know millions of people been brought to the Lord, but because of them, but most of ’em don’t. Most of us don’t go to evangelism programs and we’re not trained. So how do we do it? The real,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:32):
Yeah. I really like one, one story that you shared in here. You said you’re going through an evangelism script and you’d always get to like the second step and you’d lose your place. And then the person you’re talking to would ask a completely different question. You then you’d get mad at them and mad at God. Oh, no. Because they weren’t sticking with the script, and then you’d try and bring them back. All right? So if, if you don’t have a script, how do you live Jesus from the inside so that you can be led in the right direction to helping people come closer to Jesus?
Barry Meguiar (10:02):
That’s, that’s the key question. And, and it comes to me in several ways. You know what Jesus said? They’ll, they’ll know, you’re my disciple by how well you recite your script. No, not actually, no <laugh>, you know, he said, don’t know. You’re my decided by your love. We don’t need training to love on people. And everybody’s starving for love. And when you love on people when they’re hurting, they won’t turn to tears pretty quickly. It’s amazing. People have this smile, but just right on. That’s why we see so much anger today. You do just a little thing wrong. He gets shot today. I mean the, there’s this veneer of smile, but underneath there’s hurt. And when you come to them, not in anger, but you come to them in love, the Holy Spirit confirms it to them. You know, Jerry Root, the author of the Sacrament of Evangels, you probably read that book when he talks about how God’s already celebrated working with each person. When we come in, we enter into the sacred moment, we’re becoming a, a physical manifestation of what God is already putting in their hearts. So it’s this, the every relation, every conversation is, is amazing. And when you love on people, they just, they just open up. Let’s see if I can thi I mean, there’s, they’re <laugh>. I got a million of ’em. I’ve done, Karen and I have been sharing our faith every day for 50 years. Okay,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (11:21):
That’s amazing. And
Barry Meguiar (11:23):
And because of that, he’s done some amazing things with our lives and our business and whatever. But well, I tell you, I I, I jumped in a taxi one day. I was the Marriott Hotel downtown Detroit. I was going to Cobo Hall, and it was a five minute walk, but it was seven degrees, okay? <Laugh>. So I I jumped in, I said, Hey, I just gotta get a short ride, but I give you a big tip. The guy yells at me, I don’t want a tip. What <laugh>, I don’t want a tip. Excuse me, sir, why don’t you want a tip? I’m a bad person. I don’t deserve a tip. That’s he yelled at. Worse than that, you know, talk about hurting. I, I got so many stories like this. But here’s the thing, mark 1311 says don’t prepare. How do you prepare for those conversations?
(12:12):
You can’t listen. So step one, <laugh>. Oh, and then Luke 1212 says, I’ll give you the word to say when you need them. And that’s the fun part of it, folks, when you just step in and just do it, there’s no preparation that you have nothing. All of a sudden you’re face to face with somebody and their son just committed suicide. Or if they just got the call, they got cancer. I mean, you can’t prepare those conversations. And when you just love on them and tear with them and generally love on them, and then the Holy Spirit gives you the words to say it’s, it’s the craziest thing. There’s no other way to have this kind of intimacy with God than to allow God to speak to you. See this life in front of you changing. In this case, I said this, man do you know God loves you?
(12:56):
No <laugh>. I said, yeah, he loves you. No, he just, he’s so angry, poor man. I said, sir, I I, I’m a student of the Bible. I’m a Christian and I know the Bible really well, and I can tell you for sure absolutely positive, he loves you. Now. He says nothing. I said, you know what? Even, even better do, do you know he loves you as much? He’s ever loved anybody ever dead quiet. I said, you know, it gets even better than that. You know, he loves you. I’m laughing, telling him, I said, do you realize that God loves you as much as he loves his own son, Jesus Christ, that’s how much he loves you. Dead quiet over now, where Coha I get out, it’s snowing. I remember the salt in the windows, the windows going down. He’s looking at me like He <laugh>, he’s speechless.
(13:49):
He’s never heard this. He thinks God hates you. It’s over. And I said, you know sir, God put me in your taxi just now because he wants you to know that he loves you and he wants you to spend attorney with him. And then I gave him a really big tip. I said, God bless you. Have a great day, <laugh>. And I walked, yes, <laugh>. Did I get him saved? Of course not. Did I move him closer to Jesus? You better believe it. I may have stayed you committing suicide that day. And so that basic theme, there’s so many ways to say that never. People come in, they, they have this sentence, they set ’em, everybody, if you were to die today, do you know you go to heaven? Whatever. They’re, they have a million of these things and they do every over and over with everybody.
(14:34):
Well, everybody is an everybody. Each person’s an individual. And you allow the Holy Spirit. And the moment you go to script, it gets plastic. It’s static. Cuz something, it’s like you just say it because that’s what you’re supposed to say. But when you love on people, when we love on our friends, we don’t recite a script, have anything prepared. We just love on them. We’re broken for them. And when we do that, people break and they, within five minutes, they’re telling you, you know how it works. Within five minutes, they’re telling you things they won’t tell their best friends. And then you know the point of need. Then God gives you the scriptures and you see the change in front of your eyes and you’re praying, you’re hugging. I I, I pulled up the other day in front of a, a restaurant, my friend, it was kind of an open parking lot, but for some reason he pulled this place right in front of us was a, was a black guy and a tank top tattoo, dreadlocks, all filling his radiator with a great big bottle of water, <laugh>, you know, so I, I said, Hey, can I help you?
(15:33):
He said, no, I got under control. I just have a leaky radiator and I just driven here from Alabama and just, just got in town and I just made sure I had to make sure I have a lot of water. And I said, so what you doing? So I found out that he left his wife and and daughter at home to get a job. He found he could drive a truck if you driven a truck. No, but I have a friend here. He says, I can drive a truck. All of a sudden I’m talking about God’s plan for his life. And he’ll, God wants to guide and direct him and take all that fear off and help. When I was a kid, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t know where I was gonna go. I had, I was kinda the same situation.
(16:06):
I just prayed, you know, trust the Lord with your whole heart game, all this stuff. Before we know it, we’re praying, he’s hugging me, <laugh>. And then we have a little card we give people. At the end of every conversation like that, we have a little card says, seeking God, little business card, seeking God. You can order ’em for free. There’s, there’s no cost to, and it’s a robust site that tells them everything they need to know. It’s testable, these videos to buy whatever. It would take them easily from no knowledge of God to the sinners prayer. And so rather than just leaving somebody like that well, I hope they find a church somewhere. You give them the card and say, would you like to know more about God? They say, yes. I said, oh, here’s a card. You can have it tell you everything you want to know. I mean,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:49):
That’s amazing
Barry Meguiar (16:50):
Privilege of doing that. It’s so, it’s so much fun. It gives you joy when you’re, when you’re bearing fruit. John 1511 says, when you bear fruit, my joy remain with you. And, and your joy remain full. If you wanna have joy, this who, who knew <laugh> having joy is directly connected with bearing fruit, with loving our neighbors. It is the great commission after all,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:12):
<Laugh>. Yeah, your joy is really infectious. It makes me want to go out and, and witness right now and lead someone to Jesus. Because you’re right, the Bible says that all the angels of heaven rejoice when one sinner gets saved. And there’s no feeling like that feeling of, of bringing someone to the point where they, they make Jesus the Lord of their life and they turn away from hell and turn towards heaven. I mean, that is such a, a joyful occasion. Another idea that you have, that I really love is that you consider witnessing to be a team sport. Can you explain what that means and, and why you feel that it’s a team sport?
Barry Meguiar (17:50):
Yeah, well, take the gentleman and the and and the taxi driver. You know, did I get him saved? No, I I, I maximized my time with him. I had a five minute window and I moved him down the line that didn’t get him saved. But God is sovereignly moving each person. And it is a team sport. It is a team sport. What if I, on the times when I lead somebody, the Lord, and that’s a very small percentage of all the people I talk with, but I know there, there may have been 20 people before me, so I’m celebrating not that look what I did, but look what God did through a whole bunch of us, and we won’t know till we get to heaven. All the people played a, a role in that, you know? So yeah, God uses Christians, he brings us in.
(18:33):
He orchestrates their steps and or steps. It’s amazing how that happens. I mean, I got all kinds of stories and I can tell you one just real quick. I, I was going to dinner and I had to get their first so I could give the waiter my credit card before my friend got, there was always a contest between who and to get the bill, right? So my Uber app didn’t work. I said, Karen, we gotta get outside the hotel to, to so the Uber app worked, so we get out. It didn’t work outside either. So Karen says better, you better get that taxi right there. So I said, okay, Sarah, I I, I’ll take that taxi. He says, that taxi’s smoking for, well, there was nobody around me. I said, spoken for. He says, yeah, look back. There’s a lady way back at the right by the front door.
(19:14):
And it was her taxi. I said, well, how long will it take to get a taxi? He’s owe about 15 minutes. Becauses a busy time. And, and I blood star. I said, <laugh>, I gotta get to this restaurant, right? So finally I hear, sir, sir, and I turned around and this lady, and she says, just take my taxi. I said, w why would I do that? She’s my husband’s upstairs. I don’t know what he’s doing. <Laugh>, I don’t know how long you can just take this taxi. I’ll take the next taxi. I said, okay. We’d jump in the taxi and burp. We’re spinning rubber of the guy in, in his first sentence of profanity. What the hell? You know, where, where the hell do you wanna go? I forget how he said it. It was just like, wow. So we started, God
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:59):
Brought us another one.
Barry Meguiar (20:01):
He brought us another one. You know, I mean, it’s so much fun. If you, if you’re not thinking about Spur, you’re saying, let me get out of this car as fast as I can. But when you have these things, how do you realize God’s in it? It’s like an adventure. It’s so you ask questions and you find out his wife just died from painful cancer. Agging cancer she’d been through for months, couldn’t stop the pain she had just died. He had to work. His kids were outta control and total com, com rebellion. He was just beside himself. And God gave you the script just so easy. He just effortly say, effortly say, I said, Jesus, you know, Jesus says, come under me all who are all of you who are heavy burden, and I’ll give you rest burden, heavy aid. I’ll give you rest.
(20:45):
And he yells at the same intensity, man, do I need to rest <laugh>. So we’re, we’re feeding him scriptures, Karen and I both, we finally get there, we get outta the taxi. And I said to him, he said, I need to get in church. I said to him, if, if you would trust me with your, where, where you live and your cell number, I’ll find a church for you and, and send it to you. So you know we’re, oh, would you do that? So he’s writing it all down. I said, can I pray for you? He said, yes. So the three of us in front of the headlights of the taxi, in front of the restaurant, people walking in, and we laughed later about how that must have looked and we’re praying and we’re all tearing and just, just emotionally involved with each other. My point is this, he, he had to stop my Uber app.
(21:30):
Think of what he went through for that. That guy was hungry for God. He didn’t know, but he was hungry for God. He was right. So he, God starts my Uber app from working. He keeps the, the gal’s husband upstairs, right? He gives her the generosity, say, go ahead and take my taxi. And then it happened to be his taxi at that moment who look at all he orchestrated, make it so I had the opportunity to share it with him. I didn’t know the end of the story. There’s other people involved, other team players in the part of that story who know glory. But to be a part of the team and, and just get off the bench. If you’re sitting on the bench, you at to peak and, and everything falls apart, you no longer have hunger for the word. You’re no longer praying, everything falls down.
(22:14):
You’re at worry. 80% of all Christians are in fear right now, living in fear right now. It’s tragedy. But when you’re sharing your faith, nobody has to tell you to read your Bible. Man, you’re digging as fast as you can, try to get answers to all the questions. And you being asked, you say, God, help me. I don’t know what I’m doing. Help me. Thank you for ringing Bob into my life. And I pray and you’re praying and everything’s working. It’s the whole, your whole spiritual life is working. You’re alive. That’s why he says he wants us to share of faith. And I’ll give you one last scripture, which is powerful. Do you know, there’s actually a scripture says, why from from Genesis to Revelations. He says, do it. But in Isaiah 43 10, he says, why? He says, I appoint you as my witness so that you’ll believe, so that you’ll believe. Now I would say so that they will believe. No, he says so and he didn’t say this show. You’ll believe more. He says so that you will believe. That’s why he wants you to share your faith. Because once you step into that world, your entire life changes. And it’s joy every day. Every day is joy. It’s adventure. It’s, it’s ignites your life. That’s a good name for a book Ignites Your Life, <laugh>,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:25):
Hey, that is a good name for a book. And you’ve written it, ignite your life. Now, one of the things about car Guys is that you, you never have to convince a car guy to talk about his car. All you do is ask the first question and then they can talk forever about all the details, everything they’ve upgraded and, and polished and made it in
Barry Meguiar (23:45):
Minutia. Yes,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:46):
<Laugh>. And, and I think the same should be true as Christians. We shouldn’t fear sharing our faith with others. If you love Jesus as much as a car guy loves his car, then you’ll talk about Jesus everywhere you go. Do you think that’s true?
Barry Meguiar (24:01):
Oh God, there’s no question. It’s, it’s true. Here’s the point. Whatever you’re excited about to talk about, I’m excited about cars, I’m excited about shiny finishes. So I love talking to you about how I can make a perfect finish in your car. Use McGuire’s car wax. It will look like a jewel. And I, I’m so excited about talking about that. I’m excited about that. So I talk about it a lot. Question for all of you listening to us right now, or are you, are you talking about God much? If, if you’re not talking about God much, you, I’m not saying you’re not going to heaven, you’re on your way to heaven, but I’m talking about having fun and doing what you’re supposed to do. If you’re talking about God, if you’re not talking about God, then he probably is no longer your first love.
(24:45):
And the easiest way to describe that is a new Christian, you know, a new Christian. You can’t stop them from sharing their faith because God, you just save me for help. <Laugh>, I’m on my way to heaven. He’s my first love. So next year you’re gonna share it, you know, and in, at the letter, in the letter to the church at Ephesus, in the revelations chapter two, he says, I, I, I thank, I know you’re doing all the good stuff and you give sacrificially, you know, good teaching for bad, you know all that. You’re there, but I have this against you. You’ve left your first love and, and you’re no longer doing the first work. The first thing every Christian does is share their faith. If you’re no longer loving him first, then you’re no longer sharing him. So if you go to Romans that’s repeated over and over, love your neighbor as yourself, as you’re, if you’re as concerned for your neighbor as you are for yourself, as concerned for their salvation as you are for yourself, you, you, that’ll, your whole conversation will be different, right?
(25:43):
You, you’ll do everything you can to get them into heaven. So you’ll fulfill all 10 commandments because of the two. Because now it’s not out of obligations, because I don’t wanna do anything. Can I indulge and do that? Can I look at that? Can I laugh at go to heaven? Yeah, sure. But does that helping you get people to Jesus? That’s the question. And the big one is Romans a 28, probably the most, maybe the second most well-known and mis misunderstood scripture in the Bible where he says, I’ll make God sense. He doesn’t lie. I’ll make everything in your life work together for good. Wow. Take if you knew God was going to make everything work for good in your life, even the bad stuff, take everything. That’s his promise to you. But there’s two things you have to do to get there. One is God, having him His first love, loving him more than anything else, nothing separating us.
(26:32):
And secondly, in the part that’s hardly ever preached, if you love me, to those who love me, to those who live for my purpose, not your purpose, stop trying to find your purpose. He didn’t have a purpose for you. He has a plan for you to fulfill his purpose. His, there’s no question on that theologically, his purpose is to seek and save the loss. And so when you live your life to seek and save the loss, to live your neighbor as yourself, to love God first and do the first work it all, the whole weight of scripture comes down to this point. When you do that, then you’re in sync with God, and then you have God flowing through you. And that’s when you know nobody can take your faith away from you. 80% of Christians need to hear this today. 80% of Christians are living in fear.
(27:21):
If you’re living in fear, you can’t li you’re not living in faith. If you don’t have faith, you can’t share your faith. That’s the bottom line for us. We gotta get people out of fear. And it’s so easy. Just do the basic simple things. God tells to do love on people. I had, I had a lady at, at our home this weekend and a great duress. She loves the Lord, but save just having a heyday with her. And it was so easy to change her from this, this poor me thing, folks. She was just confessing, confessing, confessing, bad stuff, all this bad stuff, you know better than this. You know, the scriptures, let me just remind you. And over a period of a day, all of a sudden, she just, she just hugged me before I, I came and joined you. She goes, I can’t join.
(28:07):
I got my mojo back. I’m back. I’m good. I just <laugh>. And it was just understanding the truth that she already knew. It. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s like Pat Boone wrote a book a long time ago. It’s like having a big check account and not cashing any checks with it. God wants to pour out his blessings on us, but we restrict him by our lack of faith. If we don’t have, if we don’t have faith, if we’re wavering, if we’re part of the 80% that have fear, then we follow that category in James one where he says, if you’re wavering, I don’t, I don’t, don’t expect me to answer any of your prayers. You may be praying like crazy. I’ve done that in the past. I’ve been 50 years doing this. And I went through a two and a half period year period where I was worrying like crazy.
(28:48):
I was trusting, I knew God was solve, put solve the problems sometime, but I was worrying like crazy in the meantime. And a preacher on the radio said to me, said one day as I was driving down the street, who’s your God? I, well, I got that one straight. Okay, that one, he’s, I ain’t gonna have to get Who’s your God? I thought, oh, I’ve heard f i I started change the, I’ll tell you who’s your God, but whatever feels your prayers is your God. And we are so easily prone to pray for this ministry or this urgency, or this problem, or this cancer or whatever the problem is. And it’s like, God, help us, help me with my God <laugh>, you just can’t do that. God is God. He will never let us down. And when, when we’re in perfect harmony with God, when we live for his purpose, to seek and save the loss, and when you do that, it, it ignites your life, guaranteed. It’s so simple, <laugh>.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (29:43):
That’s awesome. Well, as a minister, I wanna say thank you to you as a businessman because over the years you’ve been very successful in business, but you haven’t just kept all your success for yourself. You’ve also done a, you’ve helped so many other ministries. You’ve helped James Dobson with Focus on the Family, David Wilkerson, the Assemblies of God Missions Board. You have poured your time and talents back into the kingdom of God. And I think that’s so valuable for businessmen to understand that they have a very essential role to play in the kingdom of God. And, and so what advice would you give to businessmen who want to be used by God in a powerful way?
Barry Meguiar (30:25):
What a great question. You know, at, at one point I thought God was calling me into full-time ministry. And it was, believe it or not, it was 1976, okay? 1976. And I, I prayed the most fervor fair of my life. I, I, I love my business, I love everything about my business. I, I, I could see where we were just starting retail. Now we’re the number one selling car wax in the country right there. We’re just starting. And I had this dream, I believe God gave it to me. This was my baby. But I was feeling like he was taking me into full-time ministry because I was having so much fun sharing my faith. And so I prayed, I said, God, if you want me to leave my business and go into full-time ministry, I will do that. I, I said it through tears.
(31:10):
I will do that, but I’m almost gonna have to hear from you with an audible voice because I need to know for sure. And if it’s for sure that I’m gone, I’m, I’m with you all the way either whatever way you want me to go. So about 20 minutes later, a a a guy came into my office, secretary said, there’s a Dave MCT here to see you. And I thought, well, that’s strange. I knew this guy. I didn’t really know this guy. He, he, he tended my church, but I didn’t know him. He’d spoken from the platform a couple times. So I knew he was a missionary kid, grew up in Africa about my same age, but I’d never even exchanged a glance with him. Here he is walking into my office. And I said, well, hi Dave, how you doing? He, I was in the area, thought I’d stop by and just ask how’s, how’s it going?
(31:54):
So I made a snap decision. He wasn’t into shiny paint finishes. So I, I started telling you about experience I was having, and this was the defining moment of my life. And I think it answers your question. He said, God’s given you a wonderful ministry here, hadn’t he? I said, wait a minute, maybe after you pray the prayer, that was a pretty astounding statement. He was raise, I’d seen them overlapping, but still, I’m a businessman. I’m a Christian. I see these two different things. He, he says God’s given you a wonderful ministry here, hadn’t he? And I said, why would you say that? He said, well, a, a pastor can’t reach the people you’re reaching, but as a businessman, you can. And he gave me this line in 1976, it’s obvious that your business is your pulpit. Wo that means they’re overlapping.
(32:45):
There’s no separation. My business is my pulpit. Yeah, it was amazing. I just, oh my goodness. So I told you, I just prayed this prayer, not 20 minutes ago. He told that, explains it. I said, explains what? He always drive me up Red Hill. I just dropped missionaries off at Orange County Airport in Irvine. I was driving up Red Hill, the closest main street to my office. And he said, and God spoke to me and said, go see Barry McGuire. And I’d seen your building, I’d seen your name on it. I put together with the name at church. But I, I argue with God all the way to your office saying, I don’t know this guy. I don’t know what kind of business he’s in. I you gonna make a fool outta myself, but God wouldn’t let me go. What if he had not been obedient?
(33:28):
I I would’ve been a failure as a pastor, not a pastor. I’m a full-time ministry, whether I’m not a pastor, my business, my Pope, but wherever you are, folks, if you’re in business, your business is your pulpit. It’s secondary. Don’t ever let that capture your prayers and, and your joy. Don’t ever God, your joy’s in God. And we love him. The more I spent time serving him and sharing him, the more he blessed my business. Like there’s a wake behind me. I keep looking at, my business keeps getting bigger. Now I’m working hard for the business. But my joy, my everything, my focus is how can I, even when I get turned down in sales calls, my goal is I wanted to move them closer to Jesus <laugh>. I don’t care if I get the sale. Cause I know when I live that way, he promises me that everything’s gonna work for good.
(34:11):
You live in this promise. That promise is yours. He’s promising you, I’ll make everything your life work together for good if you, when you live for my purpose. It’s so simple. And, and who knew it works <laugh>. I mean, the scriptures actually work. And after 50 years in this tiny little business to where we are now and the influence we have to move people closer to Jesus. And it’s a joy. It’s just so much joy. Take my business away from me. Take my house. I don’t care. I got joy. You know? And it, it just ignites your life. I mean, I think you enjoy the book because it tells a lot of it. It’s, it’s a book of scriptures. The scriptures will set you free. The the scriptures will ignite your life. My life story is just trappings around it to kind of put in perspective what the word of God is really saying.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (34:58):
Well, if you’re listening, I encourage you to get a copy of the book. It’s called Ignite Your Life by Barry McGuire. This would be a great book to read. And if you have someone in your life who is enthusiastic about cars, maybe grandpa or an uncle who has a, an old car that they, they love to wax and polish, this would be a great book to give them, to be a witness to them. I, I guarantee they’ve heard of Barry McGuire and they, they would love hearing the story of how excited he is about sharing his faith. And if you wanna be excited about sharing your faith, get a copy of this book. It will really encourage you. I’d also encourage you to go to the website, ignite america.com for more information about Barry McGuire and Brother Barry, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast. I just love your enthusiasm. I love your joy, and it really is a pleasure to get to know you. God bless you,
Barry Meguiar (35:53):
Greatly honored, greatly honored. Bless you, Daniel.
Evangelism Podcast Host (35:55):
Is there evidence for God’s existence? How do we really know Jesus was raised from the dead? Can we trust the Bible? Do miracles happen? Does God care about me as an individual? In Dr. Daniel King’s book, proof God is real. You’ll find the answers to these three vital questions and more Is God there? Does God care? And do I dare to follow him? In his powerful, easy to read book, Daniel provides seven convincing proofs of God’s existence. You’ll learn about the evidence of cause. Design, logic, morality, scripture, miracles, and religious experience with proof God is real. You’ll read about topics like, was Jesus the son of God or just a crazy preacher? If God does exist, is he interested in your life? If God is there, why do bad things happen to good people? “Proof God is Real” Daniel King shows you, God is there and he cares for you. Plus, how to take a leap of faith and start a relationship with a God who deeply loves you. Order “Proof God is Real” today by calling 1-877-431-4276 or find the book on Amazon.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (36:58):
Thanks so much for listening today. I am excited about telling people about Jesus, and I want to invite you to be a part of helping us to rescue people from Hell and take them with us to heaven. There’s two things you can do to help. First of all, can you go find the Evangelism podcast on Apple iTunes and leave us a positive review by giving a review, you will help other people find these valuable resources about sharing our faith. And second, would you become a financial partner with King Ministries? Every single dollar that people give us enables us to lead at least one person to Jesus. And so that means for only $1, you can help start a party in heaven. And so today I want to invite you to become a monthly partner. You can start out for just a dollar, but if God puts it on your heart to do more, of course you can do more. But please go to king ministries.com and become a monthly partner with us today to help us to lead more people to Jesus. Thank you so much, and God bless you.
Evangelism Podcast Host (38:19):
For more information about how to share your faith or to financially support our worldwide evangelistic outreaches, visit king ministries.com. Again, that’s king ministries.com.
