In this moving episode of The Calling’s radio show, Dr. Chrysandra Brunson brings together a tapestry of voices from faith-driven leaders in our modern world. Discover how the experiences of Mike Mathews, the Vice President of Oral Roberts University, and Steve and Charlene Rose have been woven together through their divine missions. Through a rich dialogue, learn how each guest has responded to God’s calling in their lives and what this means for our legacy and faith.
Welcome, everyone, to The Calling’s radio show to all the dreamers. I’m your radio host, Dr. Chrysandra Brunson, founder and CEO of The Calling, and it is such an honor to be with all of you today. You know, at The Calling, we have realized that so many people are afraid to go after Jesus’s calling on their lives. because they are afraid to fail and that is just plain wrong because if god has given us a dream and we’re not living it out we are wasting it and we do not want to die with regret that’s why at the calling we love to inspire empower and equip people to after god’s calling on their lives treat the best kind of eternal legacy possible to have immediate impact on themselves and their families We love to do this through so many different avenues, through custom tools, programs, workshops, but especially through this radio show where we bring on world-renowned guests to share how they’re going after their God-given dreams and how you can do the same. You guys, we’re in for such a treat. You’re in for such a treat. We have… So many incredible guests to just welcome to the show today. First off, we have the one and only dearest friend, world shaker, vice president of Oral Roberts University, the Mike Matthews. And Mike, we’re so glad to have you. And you are able to introduce us and welcome the one and only Steve and Charlene Rose onto the show. And Steve and Charlene, we’re so honored to have you. Welcome to the show as well. Thank you.
STEVE ROSE :
It’s great to be here. Thanks for having us, Chrysandra.
CHRYSANDRA :
Well, you guys, I’m so excited to be able to have you guys on this show. First off, with each one of you would love to know the leadership positions that you are currently leading and and how the world would probably know you.
MIKE MATHEWS :
OK. Yeah. So Mike Matthews at Oral Roberts University for 11 years. Prior to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I’ve worked at Cray Research Supercomputer Company based out of Wisconsin, where the founder of the supercomputer, Seymour Cray, was born. If people wanted to know about Mike Matthews, you Google me, you’ll find thousands of articles, free books on dreams, visions, but also about heaven. Because, contrary to what most pastors contrived about Jesus spoke more on finances than anything else, it is not true. You can search it. He spoke more on the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God than any other topic. And so I’ve got two books out there, Heaven 3.0 and Heaven 7.0 and technologies trying to keep up with the kingdom of heaven. Unfortunately, religious people are still sleeping in their pew and they’re trying to get caught up with heaven. So you will know me as the person from Wisconsin who go like this a little bit to try and move people out of their pew and graduate and go out into the world and do something for the kingdom of the living God. So great to be on the show.
CHRYSANDRA :
Amen. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mike. And Stephen Charlene, how would the world know you both?
STEVE ROSE :
Well, I grew up on a dairy farm in rural Eden, Wisconsin. Dad always said we are original roses from the Garden of Eden, about 60 miles north of Milwaukee, 70 miles below the shadows of Lambeau Field. And from the earliest age, I wanted to be the guy on the radio, just like you, Dr. Chrysandra. And that worked out. But basically, my 20s were a blur. Although I had success, I didn’t know really who I was. And I came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in 1991 that started with getting in treatment for alcoholism and some other things. That led to being asked to host a Christian radio show with the Green Bay Packers. And so I co-hosted a show with a guy by the name of Ken Rutgers who led me to the great Reggie White, Robert Brooks, Don Beebe, Keith Jackson, and Pepper Burris, Coach Holmgren, a whole bunch of these people who were glorifying God through their ministry, the Green Bay Packers. Well, that led to writing a book called Leap of Faith, God Must Be a Packer Fan that came out in 1996, which led to a television show, which led to us actually in development right now, Chrysandra, for a movie called The God Squad Reunion that would bring the 1996 Super Bowl winning team together that Mike and all of us so remember. So we’re doing that. But back in 1994, I felt the Lord tugging on my heart to start a personal development company. And so I did that, and out of that was born the dream. I wanted to be a professional speaker as well. And so what we share in common here, all of us, is that we just want people to find out who they are in Christ, right? So of the seven books that I’ve written, Charlene and I wrote a book called The Peanut Butter Promise, Spreading Hope to Fulfill Your Purpose. And The Peanut Butter Promise basically just says everyone has a God-given gift, And if you will take those gifts, you will be able to fulfill your purpose. And God will send peanut butter promise partners like Michael Matthews and Dr. Chrysandra, who and together we will each help each other fulfill our purpose. So that’s what we’re here. And Charlene is the she’s the brains and definitely the beauty of the whole company.
CHARLENE ROSE :
I’m the stand on the back of the picture. I hold it up. But anyway, I also, I authored, as you said, Chapter 7 in the book, The Peanut Butter Promise. And it’s seven seeds of service. And they pertain to my grandmother, just spending the last three years of my life with her and the things that she taught me without knowing anything. She was teaching. She really ingrained in me some beautiful things about serving others like Christ. And I always called her my Jesus with skin on. And so that that chapter of the book, it ends with the last thing saying meeting the need. But isn’t that the whole thing? the whole thing behind serving. Jesus Christ came to serve, not to be served. And so He shows me that. He shows me that. And in this chapter, I teach other people as I had… I used to run a health store and I used to have employees and stuff. And the way I taught them is the way that I learned through my grandmother and through Christ how to raise people up. So anyway, I’m known for… speaking i do a lot of speaking with women i i’m a mentor and i’m also a bible teacher i also i just i really really love my church and my church family and outside of our church i love everyone so it’s just i want to change lives and so um just like jesus so every day i put him on and we go for a walk And I go with them. So it’s one of those things where that’s what I’m known for, that I just share the faith and the hope that I have in Christ with other people.
CHRYSANDRA :
It’s such an honor to be with each one of you, truly heroes in the faith, each one of you. And I have to know, how did you guys meet each other?
STEVE ROSE :
Yeah, that’s kind of a long story.
MIKE MATHEWS :
Mike, go ahead. Yeah, Chrysandra, how did Steve and I meet each other? Yes, yeah. Back in the year 2014, I had spoken at Epcot Center about technology and Everybody else is just talking about technology. They asked me a question. I said, oh, I prayed for a blind student on the campus of Oral Roberts University. The gentleman who heard that said, I’m going to give you three Green Bay Packer tickets to take the blind student to the Packer game. And I said, wow. OK, so I drove him up and his family’s all excited. Just a wonderful time. And long story short. The Green Bay Press Gazette did a full cover story on the blind student coming from Oral Roberts University. It was an incredible journey, many different things about that. But that weekend, I had known about Steve because of his book, God Must Be a Packer Fan. I said, he must be a lunatic like me because who would write a book like that? And so anybody who’s considered a lunatic, maybe some heretic, loves connecting with other people like-minded, right? Birds of a feather flock together. Right. So we connected that weekend, went to, I think, a Starbucks, and he got to meet David Jones, who was the blind student. And just a great story. And Steve was probably the number one personality in Green Bay that worked with the Green Bay Packers, right? And like with everything else, you know, we believe God creates seed, perpetual law, according to scripture, seed time and harvest. And so Reggie White and so many others planted a seed that athletics would eventually start sharing the gospel. So today, 75% 5% of all NFL quarterbacks profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But it’s those original seeds from people like Reggie White and Steve Rose that now we’re seeing it everywhere. And so sometimes it’s hard because, hey, I’d love to be a Packers, but the people who are just, that’s all they see. I got to pull them out of their cobwebs and say, no, no, no, no. Do you know Bo Nix yet from Denver Broncos? This guy, he’s, oh my goodness, Reggie White. He was wonderful. of a kind speaking on behalf of everyone now there’s many of them right so i’m so blessed to watch the harvest so that’s where steve and i met and so this last thanksgiving we hadn’t connected for a couple years and last thanksgiving i’m up at the green bay packer game i texted him say steve and next thing you know he said hey mike i’m working on this movie and so forth and i said okay let’s connect again and see what god’s up to At that time, there was a movie coming out called The Green and Gold, which was being sponsored by Culver’s Restaurant. Oh, let’s see, Quick Trip and the Green Bay Packer organization. So I went up to Green Bay to do a little video clip on The Green and Gold, which starred Craig T. Nelson. And so that’s how we connected.
CHRYSANDRA :
Well, this is I mean, just to be able to hear this, the dream of the Green Bay Packers and and just God using this team and the leaders in such a profound way is mind boggling. I will say it’s, you know, being a Denver Bronco fan born in Colorado, it’s hard to swallow a little bit, but we’ll just let it go. But I do want to know, you guys take us back to the origins of Green Bay and the leaders and how did this all originate? Because I think that this really is historic and it says a lot with the time and generation that we are all in collectively and what Jesus is doing.
MIKE MATHEWS :
Yeah, you know, I’ll just say one thing, Stephen, and I’ll let you take over is going back to Vince Lombardi. Vince Lombardi had a very famous one line statement amongst all his quotes. He said, priorities, God, family and football. And that’s still true today. Put God first, family second, whatever your hobby is third, and it works out good. But the Oneida Nation in Green Bay, an Indian tribe, is like most Indian tribes, very honoring. So if you go into Green Bay now, you’ll see an honoring statue of almost every player. And there it is, Reggie White, number 92 statue is all about faith. And so I’m so appreciative of the honoring because where there’s honor, there’s glory. And it’s funny that they call them the glory days in Green Bay, Titletown, USA. And so it wasn’t by surprise that God has chosen to use little Green Bay, Wisconsin. No offense, Green Bay, Wisconsin. to shine around the world. But now see the harvest of so many people.
CHRYSANDRA :
And I’m going to pause you both. I’m going to pause you guys right there. We do have to go to a short break, but you are listening to all the dreamers radio show. We have the one and only vice president of oral Roberts university, Mike Matthews, and the sensational leaders of Steve and Charlene Rose, author speakers, and now upcoming movie producers and directors. Stay tuned. Twist and shout with Lee and Co. They are the premier oldies band delivering the rock and roll vibes you’ve been missing. Great songs, great memories. Book them at LeeandCo.com. Hi guys, this is Chrysandra Brunson, host of To All The Dreamers. I am so happy to introduce personal training, nutritional guidance, and behavioral change coaching. Healthy, happy, and heavenly for your wellness, spirit, soul, and body. Contact Mimi Kroger at healthyhappyandheavenly.com. Continue to grow in the calling God has for you through ORU Online.
STEVE ROSE :
You can earn your degree without changing your busy schedule. 100% online and 100% on your time. Learn more today. ORU.edu slash calling.
CHRYSANDRA :
At Ignite Brilliance Coaching, you will get 34 years of science teaching, a decade of university-level instruction, and over 10 years of instructional coaching to empower educators with the tools, mindset, and confidence to thrive. Contact Ignite Brilliance Coaching on Facebook. We are back. Thank you for listening to all the Dreamers radio show. We are thrilled, you guys. We are in the land of faith, family and football. Talking all things about the Green Bay Packers and the. seeds that were planted so long ago to be able to bear fruit that we’re living in right now as a generation, having the remarkable Stephen Charlene Rose, as well as Vice President Mike Matthews. And Steve, you were just about to dive in to the history of the Green Bay Packers and how Jesus started this movement through this team.
STEVE ROSE :
Amen. And what I was actually going to say was Mike would probably be the best to lead off on this, which he did. Yeah. Mike talked about Vince Lombardi came to the Green Bay Packers. And, yep, it was faith, family and football. And then in the 1970s, when I was very young, we learned that there were some believers on that team. Bart Starr was a believer, Carol Dale. And we find that there were many of the other people. And then, of course, Reggie White, you know, was praying for a place to come play in 1993. And Coach Holmgren of the Green Bay Packers heard that Reggie was going to go where God wanted him to go. So Coach Holmgren left this humorous voicemail. He said, Reggie, this is God. Come to Green Bay. And Reggie appreciated the humor while everybody was buying his wife fur coats and take them to all these places and buy them in vehicles. They took them to Red Lobster, listened to him. He saw the authenticity of the town. But ultimately, Dr. Chrysandra, he recognized that this is where God wanted him to go. And so he ushered in the Holy Spirit into And they started something called the Accountability Group that we want to deal with in the God Squad reunion movie. And it was just so incredible. And then in 1996, you just sense that something really neat was going to come out of this group of people. Sure enough, they won the Super Bowl. And, you know, it’s certainly not, you know, we know God is no respecter of persons, but what we were, the point we were trying to get across in God’s, in the God must be a Packer fan was that where God is honored, he will honor that. Mike talked about that. And so the guys use their platform very, very well. And so, yes, there are definitely some deep spiritual roots. But here we are 30 years later. It’s a little different. That’s why we were so encouraged recently when we saw the Falcons playing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the game in Tampa the other day. I said, Charlene, look, that’s New England and Buffalo. They were just in this epic battle. And right in the middle of it was potential MVP football. quarterback drake may and i thought this is really cool so such a blast of encouragement and yes you’re the quarterback out there beau nix wow praise god hallelujah for him and the rest of these people it’s only a game which is what we losers say after we lose to certain people but i will say this i know how these guys operate they are just uh they made denver think that they could win but once it gets to the super bowl that’s going to be a different story yeah
CHRYSANDRA :
Right. Well, and just to be able to see this, how did you guys see this flame of faith start taking over from Green Bay? I mean, just to remind all of us.
MIKE MATHEWS :
You know, Chrysandra, there’s a there’s a saying in life that many people maybe never heard of, but it says the higher the gloss, the cheaper the merchandise. True of cars, people and furniture. And so when you take Joe Namath or other people with high polish, all the glitz and glamour, Maybe God uses it sometimes. However, he chooses obscure places like Bethlehem, a manger, to birth things in so that mankind can’t take credit. Take a city like Green Bay, hardworking people. However, they’re the only football team in the NFL The city owns the stadium. Just good, hard-working people own the stadium. It’s not billionaires who own the stadium. And then they fund it through ways where everybody’s a stockholder, such as myself and so forth. So long story short is think of the NFL today going to play in Brazil. The London, Paris, around the world now. But why? Well, because God has a way to get his message from a small place all the way out to other places. So Reggie White, the night he dies would have been December 26th of 2004, was the exact same night as the Indonesian tsunami happened. The earth shook when he died. So anytime somebody significant dies, you’ll find out earth responded. That’s a reality. When God spoke the beginning of earth into existence, the earth formed. At the end of time, when the trumpet sound, his voice is sounding, other things happen. When Jesus is on the cross, crucified, earthquake happens and dead people get out of their graves and walk into Jerusalem, right? So Reggie dies on that night and the earth shakes. But Reggie gets aired after his death on ESPN for one hour about a dream he had before he dies. And that is the word salvation in Hebrew. And so here it was like, what a treasure that this Reggie White, who is peculiar, interesting, small town, turned down the big cities. God used that. But now to watch it. And that’s why I got to encourage people. Hey, don’t focus on the Green Bay Packers, even though it looks like I idolize them. It’s not true. I just leverage what I can. And so I believe that God chose this little town of Green Bay in Wisconsin for this reason. And a lot of people would never know this. During the 1800s into the early 1900s, Wisconsin was the number one welcoming state for Jewish people. 200 communities opened up their communities to allow Jewish people, immigrants from Hungary, anywhere in Europe to come. In fact, the prime minister named Golda Meir was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And so he has a special place in his heart for people who would open up their heart to other people. And so I believe Reggie opened up his heart to people when he’s in Wisconsin, opened it up for the gospel to be spread. But now to just watch one person. No, he was in a couple of movies. He wrote a couple of books and he was passionate. And now to watch so many other people be passionate, whether we mentioned Tim Tebow’s name, whether we mentioned other people’s name, it’s spread abroad. And incredible that you don’t have to be finding one athlete who’s proclaiming Christ, they’re openly proclaiming Christ. And they look to God as their answer. And so we’re so appreciative to even say Little Green Bay, Wisconsin, or better yet, Wisconsin was the home for Steve Jobs, Seymour Cray, the founder of the supercomputer. And so to be, you know, have my roots there is wonderful, but yet to go out from your roots and expand the gospel is wonderful. So to be at Oral Roberts University is unheard of in my family and right around the world. I’m not stuck back in Wisconsin or stuck in Illinois. I’m around the world meeting people. And that’s what Reggie White would want everyone to do.
CHRYSANDRA :
I didn’t know that history. And I think that just even the impact of how Jesus responds to his children passing into their new home. Just for Steve and Charlene, for you guys to respond in faith, you know, just to be able to begin writing down these stories and then being able to broadcast these stories and now to be able to film them, you know, what was that original seat of faith like?
STEVE ROSE :
Yeah, well, I mean, it’s just an incredible thing, Chrysandra and Mike, to be chosen for anything in ministry, right? I mean, we realize that we are just products of God’s grace and mercy. And so it’s just been such an honor, as you say, to have that seed of faith put in and to realize that God uses all of us. Yeah. We are his skin. We are his voice. And so it has just been a wonderful thing to watch this bloom over the years, 30 years ago to now, 30 years from now. And it is just such a phenomenal opportunity. We are honored and we appreciate being able to be here and talk about this right now.
CHARLENE ROSE :
I think too, what’s coming up with the God Squad reunion is you talk about what happened then and where are they now? What impact has Reggie White and Jesus Christ through Reggie White, where are they today? What have they done with that? Where are their lives now? That’s the incredible part of this is that you’re bringing what happened then to today and saying, okay, guys, let’s talk. Where are you at now? How’s your faith? What kind of impact did it have on your life? So that other people can hear that there’s this testimony that goes on that football is not the end all be all. Once they’re out of football, there’s still life to live. So that football position that they played and their achievements and accomplishments do not describe who they truly are. who they are as a child of God. And so we wanna hear about that. We wanna promote that and show other football players who are playing now, this is what you need to think about is what today is going to do for you tomorrow.
CHRYSANDRA :
You guys, we’re coming up towards the end of our show. It goes by so fast, but would love to have you all on sooner than later. Before we do go to a close, just want to be able to ask each one of you real quick your tip and wisdom to be able to give a listener right now. What would be a quote or a verse?
MIKE MATHEWS :
Yeah. So I would say that, you know, people always have family shame, upbringing shame from they lived here, there. But the truth is, God set the whole world up so that we could despise the shame and go to our calling. So I would encourage everybody, despise the shame. In fact, this is God’s story that tells everyone out there, don’t give up. Don’t be shamed. Look to him. And all of a sudden, things look completely different. You can end up even at Oral Roberts University. God is able. If you lose the shame and trust him.
STEVE ROSE :
Amen. I love Ephesians 3.20. Now to him who can do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what we can ask or imagine. And with all of the things that I’ve gone through, I just want to encourage everyone out there. There is nothing that you can do. that can prevent you from fulfilling the plan that god has for your life if you will just repent get on a new plant path be in your bible prayer witness to people there is nothing you can do to mess up your life badly enough to not have the plan for god has for you to come true amen
CHARLENE ROSE :
I think, too, trust God. I love Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 that says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. You’re not going to be able to figure it all out. But acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your path. So if you can get to a place in your relationship with God that you can trust him with all your heart, you won’t have to rely on your own knowledge, your own knowing. And he’ll direct you. He’ll show you how to get there. He’ll get you there. And you can do all things through Christ who strengthens.
CHRYSANDRA :
Well, you guys, I know that everyone wants to be able to stay in touch with each of you and to be able to be part of this movement, the upcoming movie with you, Steve and Charlene and Mike, your your new book that we will be talking about here on another show soon. So how can everyone get in touch with you?
MIKE MATHEWS :
You know, the easiest way in today’s world, if you have a digital footprint, is just type my name in Google, Michael. Matthews, Michael L. Matthews with one T and you’ll see hundreds of articles, free books you can download. My digital footprint is because of God from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, all the way around the world. Just Google Michael L. Matthews, Matthews with one T and enjoy the reading.
STEVE ROSE :
Beautiful. I would go to peanutbutterpromise.com. They’ll find a grid there, contact Charlene, and I will respond from there. Just say, you were the one on the beautiful show with Dr. Chrysandra Brunson there, and that’s probably the best way to get a hold of us. And then we can also take you to thegodsquadreunion.com, thegodsquadreunion.com. You’ll see an amazing four-minute and seven-second story reel, and pray for that. It needs prayer. It needs prayer.
CHRYSANDRA :
Amen. You guys go follow each one of them right now. Be part of this historic movement, starting with the Green Bay Packers. I guess just a magnet through them and their legacy. As Paul says in Ephesians 4, 1, as a prisoner of the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Till next time, dreamers, keep dreaming big.
