David Kukoleck grew up in the backwoods of West Virginia and he heard lots of hellfire and brimstone sermons. One day he heard a message from Evangelist T.L. Osborn that completely changed the way he viewed God. Because of his exposure to T.L. Osborn he began enthusiastically sharing his faith with others using the secret ingredient of love.
Connect with David Kukoleck on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gpr.kukoleck
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
David Kukoleck grew up in the back woods of West Virginia, and he heard lots of hell fire and brimstone sermons. But one day he heard a message from evangelist, TL, Osborne. That completely changed the way that he viewed God because of his exposure to TL Osborne. He began enthusiastically sharing his faith with others. Using the secret ingredient of love.
Evangelism Podcast Host (00:29):
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 hope missionary and evangelist Daniel King.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:05):
Welcome to the evangelism podcast. I’m Daniel King and I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a special guest with me, David Keck. Thank you for joining me on the evangelism podcast.
David Kukoleck (01:19):
My pleasure. And it’s my, I honor all the
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:23):
Way. Well, thank you for being here. I originally met you in Accra, Ghana. It was at a T.L. Osborn crusade that was going on there. I wanted to learn from the great missionary evangelist, Dr. T.L. Osborn. And so I, I heard he was doing a, a pastor seminar and then a crusade over there. And, and so it was at that event that, that we met, Dr. Osborn was so innovative in how he ministered to people mm-hmm <affirmative> he would do before the crusade ever started. He, he would do a, a, a five day or 10 day for leaders, and he would start early in the morning, preach to them for three or four hours, take a break in the afternoon, then come back in the evening time and preach to them for another three or four hours. And people would just sit there and listen to everything that he said. And then he would send them out and say, let, let’s go lead some people to Jesus. And so the, the people would go out and start passing out fires and get ready for the crusade. And so after training all the leaders, then the crusade would start and he would minister to the masses of people. So how did you end up at that crusade in Ghana?
David Kukoleck (02:46):
I love to tell this story. I was working, helping actually at a book sale at the old Osborn ministries at 51st & Peoria. And I think they still do it now. Victory Christian Center has a yearly missions type conference and my friends and I were helping to sell the Osborne’s books and the churches books. And I was very excited. I like you wanted to learn all I could from this man who just seemed like a, a normal person didn’t seem to be really anything special about him. So as I’m working the table, I’m trying to pay attention to the people who are questions about books and which one they should buy. And we were instructed as soon as Papa teel starts talking, shut everything down so people can listen. So I said, okay, well, I’m gonna follow. I thought I was gonna follow the instructions.
David Kukoleck (03:56):
And somebody ended up being there and wanted to talk more. Papa had already started talking. And for some reason, like my, my antenna went up and he said, you know, you ought to join us sometime and come see the miracles. You’ll be amazed and your life will be changed. And it is like, my whole focus shifted to what he said. And down deep in myself, I said, okay, I’ll join you. And it was either the next day or the day after that, I ended up at the offices and I talked to the secretary and said, oh, I was working the book table. And Papa Patel said, Hey, you ought to join us. So, and so that’s why I’m here. I would like to join him and long story short. One of the things that really touched my life is when I ended up after a long series of, for the first time ever doing all the paperwork and showing up in a foreign country I out over there to the teaching conference that you were referring to where when Papa Patel teaches the Christians.
David Kukoleck (05:09):
And I think I was one of the only Caucasian people out of about 5,000 people that were at that event. As I’m walking onto the field, a gentleman approaches me and says, are you David? Now? I’ve never been in this country before. I, I literally know no one, except the people that are at the guest house. And I said, yeah. And he said to me, okay, I was instructed by the McNulty to find you and kind of take care of you and interpret the teaching for you. I was just shocked because I found out later that the office had told Papa TL my intentions, and I guess that I was pretty serious. And that man went out of his way to help me and told his staff to help me out. When I showed up, I knew nothing. They never contacted me and said, Hey, somebody’s gonna be helping you. They’re gonna sit with you. They’re gonna introduce you to people. I didn’t know that. And so in answer your question, that’s how I ended up in Aragon, literally at a public invitation from Papa.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:26):
And you actually grew up in West Virginia and in West Virginia, the, the churches that you attended as a young man, they preached hell fire in brimstone sermons telling everybody that they were going to hell, but that wasn’t really the message that TL Osborne preach. You were exposed to his message and it really changed how you viewed God. Talk me through that testimony of you went from the hell fire and brimstone of the churches growing up to having a, a new view of, of God valuing you as a
David Kukoleck (07:06):
Person. It was amazing how this came about in my life. You could imagine living, if you can’t imagine living way back in the country in West Virginia, kind of separated from the world, knowing there’s a world, because of course I went to school, but never really seeing and experiencing it. Firsthand, all I knew was kind of the, the four Hills that were around me in my local area. And when I received Christ, it was at one of those little Baptist churches in a town called little Birch river, West Virginia. And this church was kind of typical of most of the churches in the area. The, it was the center of what is known as the Bible belt and most of the churches that I experienced and went to as a young Christian and before I even received Christ were what you’re talking about. They were constantly condemning people and excuse me, telling, telling them basically what everybody know that their life is met stuff.
David Kukoleck (08:20):
And they’re gonna go to hell. And God’s basically the whole message was, God’s not really on your side. You have to get ’em on your side. And when I received the holy spirit, of course, he started the work in me to, to deliver me and tear me away from thinkings and ideologies that were harmful to me and harmful to other people. I didn’t really know how to put that into English back then, but that’s basically what he was doing about a year after I received the holy spirit. It seems like the scriptures just took on a new meaning of hope and life to me. And it’s like the holy spirit started to dig me out of all the ruts that these teachings and condemnation had got me into. It was along these times that I ended up at a friend’s house and not knowing who Dr.
David Kukoleck (09:26):
T.L. Osborn was as my friend and I were talking, he’s flipping to the TV channels and or T.L. Osborn comes on the channel. I didn’t know who he was, but his approach was so different than what I was accustomed to from the churches in West Virginia, that it caught me by surprise. He was surrounded by a bunch of trees in an office, and he was leaning over his little pull pit and just seeming like he was staring right at me. He’s like, he says, you know, we don’t have many friends. We’re gone a lot overseas. And we’re, we’re wondering if, why don’t you write us a letter and become our friend.
David Kukoleck (10:14):
I never heard anything like that. Especially from a preacher on TV. It caught me by such surprise that I just thought, well, I have plenty of time. I can write a letter. I’m used to writing letters. We weren’t even doing email at that time. I didn’t have a, so you wrote TL Osborn, a letter. I wrote him a letter and told him about my life said, will you be my friend? I’ll be your friend. <Laugh> basically, and look in a week or a week and a half. I, I went to the mailbox as I was used to doing, looking for something inspirational from somebody. And here’s a package from out sworn ministries. I opened it. There’s a letter back to me like they had actually read my letter and sent me a free cassette tape. When I popped that cassette tape in my player, I re I realized I wasn’t the only one in the world here was a man saying things that I had actually read in the Bible.
David Kukoleck (11:23):
And that’s really what I was looking for all this time. I, I had read the scriptures daily, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t figure out why the churches I was going to didn’t look like what reading in the, in the Bible. And that really caused a problem inside me, cuz the, the Bible said basically Jesus was the same. And I thought, well, if he’s the same, his, his teaching is surely the same. His church should I think be the same, but I didn’t see it in the church. And when I heard him talking, he was so convincing. It’s like, he actually knew what he was talking about. From that time I started at ordering a slew of material from the Osborne ministry and it seemed like every day I would go to the mailbox, hoping that something was in the mail from the Osbornes. And when I did receive something, my dad had built a, a bridge.
David Kukoleck (12:29):
He bought a railroad, the bones of a railroad car and dropped it with a crane over the river and then built a structure over the railroad car so we can drive our vehicles. I would sit, I just remembered this. I would sit on that bridge and slowly open the letter or the package from the Osbornes. And as I would hold it, it with my legs, dangling over the river, running beneath me, I would look at the stories and see the faces of the people that were healed and read the testimonies. And it was like, my whole life became that river. It was like, it was like my whole life was washing down the river and I was getting new life. So that’s that’s. And so you
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:18):
Received inspiration from Dr. Osborn’s definitely example and you received new life. And then at some point you packed up your car and you actually moved to Tulsa and went to Dr. Osborn’s library and were watching videos and just, just learning everything you can then, then, then serving and then heard him say, come with me on a trip. Yeah. And you’re volunteer and say, Hey, I’ll, I’ll go <laugh> you just became a friend. And so you, you went with him and, and so since that time you have been enthusiastic about sharing your faith with others, tell some of the opportunities that God has allowed you to have going to different nations and, and sharing the gospel with people.
David Kukoleck (14:04):
Well, I’ll tell you what, like we were talking before, when, when this whole life works and, and, and functions the best when you love people. And I have found out from that first flight over to Africa, when there was, when, when I was going for missions and for Christ, I was sitting at the airport in Houston, Texas. And it’s like, when you make a, a big decision and there comes time, like it also happened when I had my first child, when he was delivered is like the whole world stopped spending. And you realize what you got yourself into. Yeah. When I was sitting at that airport and all the people from French speaking Africa started gathering in Houston at that bay. Before you get on the plane, all I heard was French. And I had kind of brushed up on French a little bit. But as like this, this cloud came over me and said, what are you doing? You can’t SP eat the language. You don’t know anybody. And thank God for the holy spirit, because like deep inside, he told me like, like a hammer or a gavel fell down. And he said to me, love transcends all barriers. There is no barrier when, and you have love. And from that moment on, I felt like I was in charge of the entire trip. I felt like the authority of God come upon me. And I became the friends of all those people. I love
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (15:48):
That. Love transcends all barriers. Yes it does. And I was looking at your, your Facebook profile. You have a little thing underneath your name there. It says, love is alive. Love naturally heals. The epitome of love is Jesus. He lives inside me. And then you say, I love you. Talk to me a little bit about love for people and why that is so important to have.
David Kukoleck (16:17):
That’s hard to put in the English language. I have had the privilege since receiving Christ of being around some people that have really represented the love of God in a tangible way. There were several, before I actually met papal, I never actually met his wife. She had passed on before I got to Tulsa, but I met of course and spent a lot of time in, in the work of Christ and in the church with his daughter Bishop LaDonna, but their, their influence in several others, Christians influence in my life, the, the love of God that came through them in so many different forms and fashions and teachings and touches and invitations in, in, in some way with all the inhibitions I had at the time, somehow, because of the love of God, it became a part of me. The love of God, like became attached to inside my life and inside my body. And it seemed like the decision to help people and to, to, to go beyond myself, became so much easier. When I caught this infectious substance, the love of God, there became no nothing that was impossible to do. No place is unreachable. Hopefully that’s give
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (18:10):
Me an example of how this love for people becomes tangible. Give me a, a story or somebody that you were able to impact with the love of
David Kukoleck (18:22):
God. I remember this yesterday and it’s so vivid in my mind, if remember correctly, it was on that first trip to west Africa, to a French speaking nation. The, the, the, the love of God inside me, just when I hit that tarmac. And I landed. It’s like I became another person. I, I, I was so alive inside. My spirit was vibrating inside me seeming like day and night while I was sleeping while I was awake, fast forward to through all the teaching conference, to when the public was invited. Those that were from all religions with whatever sicknesses in, in any situation was invited to come and hear about Jesus and receive a miracle. I had taken the Osborn’s advice, advice and showed up a couple days earlier just to kind of get a feel of the culture and to really meet people. I just wanted to meet people that were from some other country and lived a whole different life.
David Kukoleck (19:34):
That was attractive to me. I wanted to know them and I wanted to know their, their, what they understood. So I had done that. So I felt very comfortable with these people, cuz I, I felt like they were just people just like me, cuz I had been there for a couple days and I, I took a taxi through the city. It was a very large city and ended up being dropped off right outside the, the meeting grounds, which I found out was used to be a field. And one of the churches had hired some bulldozers and they literally plowed down the entire field of all the brush and the weeds. And it became a dust storm. The slightest wind would just kick the dust up. And I was walking around there just talking to people and meeting people that were showing up. And as I was doing this, I, of course I was probably one of the, if not the only white skinned person on the entire field at the time, because it was a long time before the meeting started. I noticed over on the side, there seemed to be a commotion. And for whatever reason I was attracted to it. Well, I went over there and there was a crowd of people gathered around something. I didn’t know what it was. And when I appeared in here is a woman rolling on the ground. And in my understanding, and from what I had picked up in my life, it seemed like she was really battling a, a devil.
David Kukoleck (21:20):
What, what struck me as strange and, and almost like angered me is, is that it seemed like these people were, were not helping her <laugh> they were yelling and
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:35):
Seemingly in some countries I’ve seem to try to beat the devil outta people. Yeah. Which doesn’t seem like a very loving thing to do, but it doesn’t
David Kukoleck (21:42):
Seem like it works. They’ve been beat enough. And so I knew what I was doing. It was like, I split all those people. And, and I remember the one man was like kicking dust on this woman. And not only was the devil humiliating her in front of all these people by doing this to her, but added on top of that. She was becoming even dirtier by this man kicking dust on her. And I knew there’s gotta be a better way, you know, to help this woman before I knew what was going on. It was like, I, I parted those people and I melt down next to that lady and put my hand on her and I’ll tell you what, what, what came out of me was like a, all I can describe, it was like a force of power. Like something came out of me. And I looked at that woman,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:45):
I mean, in Matthew nine. Yeah. It says that Jesus was moved with compassion. It was like, compassion was a component of his power. Jesus is God, God is love. He was moved with compassion. It seems like you, you began to operate in that same compassion that Jesus has. It. It’s a
David Kukoleck (23:04):
Perfect way to put how I felt it like brings the, the Bible to, to life when you put it that way. And that’s a, it’s like how I felt I literally was moved seemingly without making a decision. I don’t wanna say God really did it. I did make a decision. I was there. So I had decided to be there. But when I saw that lady, it was like a, a, a, a force just moved me cuz I, I didn’t want her to be like that anymore. Something was not right. And I put my hand on her and really the rest is history. It’s like, she, like, she came to her mind like, like her eyes were open, but it’s like her eyes opened. It’s like, it’s like something inside her. The devil was, was gone. You can’t imagine how I felt, not just for her, but for me I felt like I was a, I was a representation of Christ. And I, I like, I became really what I was here for to help people. And it takes so many different forms when you really help people. And like you said, love when, when you’re immersed in the love by the holy spirit, the love of God, as Paul said, you become a different person and you, your whole life changes again, even, and being born again. You’re like born again again by the holy spirit. And so hopefully that helps.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:56):
I think that’s such a, a wonderful illustration that, of how love transforms people. David, as we finish up the, the podcast today, would you pray for those who are listening that would be filled with the compassion of Jesus, the love of Jesus for people just, just pour your love into this prayer and, and just pray for, for everyone who’s listening to be filled with that same love and compassion that you felt for that, that woman on the field there in Africa. I, I would
David Kukoleck (25:28):
Love to do that. I’m raising my hands right now because as I’m raising my hands, I, I, I feel for everybody that’s listening. Maybe that’s been in the condition that I was in without no hope yet. You’re a Christian. And you, you have been looking inside and I want to help you through the holy spirit now to experience what I have experienced. And right now I’m praying. And I’m, I’m asking our father to touch you in a way and to, to send the holy spirit to you right now, and to touch in the very deepest part of your soul and fix you and heal you with the love of God. Father, send your spirit, immerse people in your fiery love right now, transform people’s lives. Wrap your arms around people, let them know how much you love them, how much you value them, let a tangible feeling and a presence of the holy spirit wrap around and deliver people by the power of love
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:57):
Mass. Well brother, David, thank you so much for being on the evangelism podcast as wonderful to have you with me today. My
David Kukoleck (27:03):
Pleasure. Thank you for the opportunity.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (27:06):
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Evangelism Podcast Host (28:26):
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