Why Trying Harder Isn't Enough W/ Scott Davis

What does it take to truly change as a man? 
How can intentionality and accountability transform your life, leadership, and family? 
What tools do men need to step up and lead in today’s world?

This week on the MOI Podcast, hosts Scott Davis and Colton Herb dive deep into the real struggles men face, from lacking accountability to searching for purpose as husbands, fathers, and leaders. Scott shares his journey from firefighting and ministry to leading life-changing men’s mentorship and retreats in Tampa Bay. Listen as they discuss practical tools, the proven Strong27 mentorship, and stories of churches and men experiencing real growth—restoring marriages, becoming spiritual leaders, and breaking through isolation.

No matter where you are in your journey as a man, this episode equips you to step up, build genuine connections, and make a lasting impact in your family and community. Join the movement to transform yourself and the culture around you, one intentional decision at a time.

Take the Core5 Assessment:
See where you stand in Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness, and Finances—and identify your next step. Complete it and receive a small thank-you from Men of Iron.
👉  https://menofiron.org/score-your-core5/

Keep growing:
🧗 Basecamp (Start Here)
Free, self-paced resources to build discipline and grow in your Core5
👉 https://menofiron.org/basecamp-free/

🏔 Ridgeline (Grow with Others)
Group-based environments built on consistency and accountability
👉 https://menofiron.org/resources/small-group-resources/

👥 Summit (Go Deeper)
One-on-one mentorship and coaching for long-term growth
👉 https://menofiron.org/resources/mentorship-resources/

#mensmentorship #leadershipdevelopment #familyleadership #christianmen #strong27 #menofiron #accountability

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

You got to set these goals yourself so nobody else puts it on you. You take it on yourself, you make the goals, and you tell another man, hold me accountable to this. And to me, that's where it all has to start. Even myself or you or anybody else, if we don't have intentionality and accountability, eventually we're gonna stop doing what we're doing.

SPEAKER_03 0:23

Welcome back to the Men of Iron Podcast. This month, uh, we have a guy with us that is really a brother to me down in Tampa Bay, Scott Davis. He is the boots on the ground for us, and it's super exciting to actually get to do a podcast. I don't think we've done one together. So this is kind of like special, like an inaugural me and you on the pod. So I'm ready for it. I'm hyped for it. What's going on, Scott?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Let's go. Colton. Good to be with you, man. Just down here chilling in sunny Florida. Must be nice. Must be nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

I want to get his I just want to get us kicked off here. Um, kind of get to know who Scott is. I mean, I know who Scott Davis is. I've I've spent the last two years with you. We've been in Florida together. You've been up here a bunch. And just to get to know you, but like tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you're up to in Tampa. But I want to know before how you got to Tampa. I know some of the firefighter stuff. I know, I know a little bit of your story, but the kind of audience and also even for myself being selfish, like I want to hear a little bit of that backstory.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Yeah, man. Uh from Georgia, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia. That's where I was born and raised. Um I gotta uh first I gotta mention my lovely wife, beautiful wife, Lori. She's she's really the the brains and the backbone of this outfit. We got four grown grown children. It sounds funny to say that, but that's where that's what you hope, right? That they grow up. So uh we got four kids. Uh the oldest one last week just turned 39. So that that gives you any idea where we're at. We got seven grandkids from seven, age seven to 17. They're all still up in Georgia. Um we got down here in Florida in 2014 to help plant a church. So, yeah, you're right. I was a firefighter in Atlanta for 30 years. Um loved that and enjoyed that career. Also been an ordained minister for now 32 years. So doing both of those raising kids and doing the thing was it's been an eventful life for sure. But um, yeah, we got down here to Florida. Um I've been on staff at two different churches down here. Um I guess I could go back and in Georgia while I was still fighting fire. I went to Bible college, seminary, and took positions part-time on staff at different churches. I've done everything from children's pastor, youth pastor, uh associate pastor, education and groups pastor, campus pastor, executive pastor, everything but the lead. So uh yeah. Then we moved to Florida, are doing the same thing. And one of the churches I was on staff at Bridgepoint Church, it was in St. Pete, the main campus. Um they hired me to start one of their campuses in Clearwater, and through that, um, the pandemic hit right in the middle of all that, and so we had to shut down some campuses because we were holding services on the St. Pete College campuses down here. There were several of those. We had two campuses and two different college campuses going. Saw that shut down, and I transitioned into an executive pastor role to help manage. If you were in ministry or anything during the pandemic, you know what kind of craziness that brought. So we got through all that. Uh, but that is where I was on staff there, that's where I met this fella named Dave Zillig. And uh the first day I met him, he had heard somehow that I was into leadership training, done a lot of that stuff in the church, and uh he told me about this thing called equilibrium, this t-shirt I got on right here. And uh this was back in 20 late 2017, and he's like, Yeah, I want to talk to you about it. And little did I know, years later, I would be running equilibrium retreats that Dave came up with and uh God gave him the vision for, and he shared that with Men of Iron years ago, and now I don't even know how many hundred or if thousand men have been through an equilibrium retreat through men of iron, which is pretty doggone amazing. Uh in four years, I think I'm on number eight or nine. I can't remember, I'd have to count them up. But we've had everything from marriages restored uh as men go through this retreat and figure out what they need to do with their life by setting goals. And uh now they didn't go home and it was a miracle, but they had tools. We sent them home with tools that they put into place and uh the wife would graciously stay in the marriage and uh as they work on things he becomes the man God's called him to be, and marriages were healed. Uh we've seen four men baptized and two in the river and two in a swimming pool on retreats down here. It's been crazy, man. God's just been doing some crazy stuff with uh a lot of men down here in Florida. So it's been it's been a ride. That's a little bit about me coming out of Atlanta, go dogs. I'm I'm a Georgia boy at heart, so don't hate on that. Uh they are national champions.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Hey guys, we hope you're enjoying this episode of the podcast. We do want to take a minute and highlight our strong 27 mentorship. Strong27 is the backbone of everything we do at Men of Iron. If you're a guy that feels stuck, if you're a guy that feels pretty good but needs a little bit more to get a little bit further, you need a mentor. At Men of Iron, we will give you everything you need for a meaningful mentorship. It's not complicated, it's not tricky. You can do it and we will resource you to do it. If you are a man, you need a mentor and we want to help you do it. So check out Strong27. The links are in the description.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

No, that's good. When when we when you talked about, you know, you met Dave Zillick, you've you've got kind of connected. What drew you to Men of Iron? Like, you know, there's a lot, there's a lot of organizations out there, we're on the same mission trying to, you know, change a culture, change men. We know that they are the really the pivotal point. So, what drew you to men of iron, what we were doing, what we were up to, that was like, man, this can make a difference down here in Pinellas County, St. Pete, Clearwater area.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yeah, absolutely. We well, for years being a firefighter, I've been around men my whole life, my whole adult life. Um, in the worst of times, you know, firefighters, most fire departments run a 24-hour shift, and that's what we did. We'd be in the station 24 hours and then out of station at home for two days, 48 hours, and then we come back and do it again. So you get to know men pretty intimately, pretty closely. With you raise your kids together, go on vacations together. So you you see the struggles, and all men have the same, same struggles. And I've mentored guys, man, I don't know, 30 years now, something like that. So I've never seen anything that made it as simple as Men of Iron. Because usually, normally it takes a month to three months to get to know a guy, uh meeting every now and then, just to figure out where he's at, what he's doing, where he's at spiritually, and then you got to form a plan and try to help him with biblical advice. And Men of Iron pretty much just puts all that in a box, literally, called Strong 27. It's our one-on-one mentorship program. It's a year long, and uh it's very inexpensive for what you get. You get a mentor at face-to-face every other week for a whole year to help you in the five major areas uh that we call the core five. They're faith, family, friends, fitness, and finances. And if you ask me, I've been around for a minute, every good opportunity a man gets is going to come out of one of those areas, and every uh problem or uh difficulty or bad decision that a man makes usually is in one of those five areas. So when you tell me I can sit across the table from a guy who's fully invested in helping me walk through each one of those five areas with good sound biblical advice to make me a better man. I mean, who in the world wouldn't want that? I'll tell you who. Guys who still think they can do it themselves. And uh met a lot of those and helpful helped them get up out of the ditch. Yeah, usually that's where it ends up when you try to do that. So, yeah, I don't know if I answered your question. I'm kind of rambling, but I'm still I'm still having my coffee here.

SPEAKER_03 9:53

No, you're good. What can what can you say? I want to give, you know, the people that are listening, you're down in St. Pete. What's the landscape of it like down? Because everywhere is different. I'm in Berks and Schuylkill County. I know it's completely different down in St. Pete Clearwater area. Like, what's the what's it look like from men there, um, the demographic, like who you're trying to impact, what's it made up of, um, and what's a kind of the lay of the land really for what you're doing in St. Pete Clearwater?

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, so uh I'm in, I'm kind of over the whole Tampa Bay area. So Tampa Bay, depending on who you're talking to, has seven or nine counties involved that are usually counted, and it's somewhere just under five million people. Um, the county that I live in in Clearwater St. Pete area is called Pinellas County, and it hugs the coastline. It's not very uh deep, but it's long all the way up the coastline, like 28 miles, and uh a lot of little cities in there. Um so geographically that's what it looks like. You're surrounded by water everywhere you go. We got the bay on one side, we got the gulf on the other side, and there's who knows how many lakes. I mean, there's water everywhere. It's a beautiful, beautiful place. It looks like paradise. Um, but it's it's the landscape spiritually is pretty dark. There's a lot of churches down here, and there's some big churches. There's a few multi-site churches that are really big. But when you look at it, that's a drop in the bucket because uh there's a Barna research study back in um right before the pandemic it came out. And just for the county that I live in, Pinellas County, which is one of those uh eight, there's one million full-time residents. And I out of that uh over 400 something thousand of them are males. Now, out of that, uh I broke it on down because I want to know what I was working with. There's 218,000, and this is a current number now, 218,000 men between the age 20 and 60. So that's that's the target for me, that's where I wanted to start. Here's the the downside of this whole thing is in that study, it did a survey, and um in Pinellas County, out of that one million residents, 85 percent of those people claim no religious belief system or affiliation to any church or religion. That's huge. And so that showed me a little bit of what I was working with. Um thankfully, I'm coming up on my fourth year in October. I'll celebrate four years with Men of Iron. We're around 3,500, something like that, uh, on impact of 3,500 men. But when you put that up against 218,000 that are still out there as adult grown men, uh, and 85% of them claim no belief system whatsoever, that's a daunting task. But that's why I feel like just uh when I met Dave and it started with Men of Iron, it was because of the um Holy Spirit-led leadership that wanted to do the same thing to go after these men. And uh it was very quickly, I think Dave introduced me to Garrett, um, who had a a big hand in Men of Iron where it is today uh from the inception uh all the way up until 2021, 22, something like that. Um so yeah, I mean it was it was a challenge, which I've never ran away from a challenge. I love those. So it's a big challenge, and we we've seen God work. We just need more people to get after it down here. I have a great local board that we call the Iron Table. I'm surrounded by seven very godly, strong men that are business leaders but also church leaders, and they know my heart very well. Um as a matter of fact, I think I've pastored most of them at some point down here in the last 12 years. So they're absolutely going after it with me, uh, which is a great, great help. Uh, but they own businesses, they're busy, they're busy guys, so we're doing it, we're getting after it.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

When you think of when you think of Tampa Bay, when you think of what you're up to, what would you say is like the biggest struggle men are facing in Tampa Bay? I think for each area we we can put our finger on like for the most part, you get your arms around like okay, it could be drugs and alcohol, it could be just not being the being the dad, could be fatherless. There's tons of things that can go to, but what's going on in Tampa Bay that you're seeing kind of day in, day out that you could maybe put your finger on?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Yeah, you know, um really to be honest, I can name all the stuff that men struggle with down here, and it's it's the same. It's the same as everywhere in the world. But what I've seen and heard the most out of the last two years is the lack of accountability and and open transparency with another man. Um, and I think that's where it all goes back to. You know, all of us, any man that hears is hearing this, uh, you can have good intentions. You can try harder, all the stuff, but if you're not intentional about what you're trying to do, and you don't have somebody else holding you accountable to that, and that's what another thing I love about Men of Iron, you have goals, you have smart goals. You've got to set these goals yourself so nobody else puts it on you. You take it on yourself, you make the goals, and you tell another man, hold me accountable to this. And to me, that's where it all has to start. Because even myself or you or anybody else, if we don't have intentionality and accountability, eventually we're gonna stop doing what we're doing. I mean, how many times have you gone back to the gym? In my life, it's been a lot. Uh, how many times have you stopped eating so much ice cream and and sugar? Uh, in my life, it's been a lot. But now I have Lori, she she holds me pretty accountable to that stuff. But that's my point. It nobody's that strong on their own. And that's what I hear over and over and over. I just don't the men tell me I just don't have anybody I can talk to. I don't have anybody I can call. I don't, you know, I got a bunch of buddies, I play golf, I go fishing, I do the stuff, I have the fun, but when it hits the fan, I'm not gonna tell nobody anything about that. And that's the sad part because uh I think a lot of that's been thrown on men from society of what a real man is. And I know you and I have had that conversation a lot. I've been around some real manly, manly men. Uh takes a pretty brave man running to a building when it's collapsing on fire, and they're tough. They're tough men, mentally and physically tough, but spiritually and uh accountability-wise, they're weak. Um and and that's all of us. If we until we get to that point to where we're willing to have that person and make that call and do that for someone else, you're just man, you're just uh what treading water. Eventually, if you're in the middle of the ocean out here in the gulf and you gotta tread water, it may take longer for some of us, but you're gonna go down eventually. You're either gonna drown or get eaten by the shark. And uh nobody's that good. You can't swim that far. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Yep. No, that's so good. I think it's so important that the accountability, I think that's one thing that I think a lot of guys miss the mark on. Right? They're scared of it, they have fear in it, they don't want that in their life, they don't, but they don't know the power of it either, right? To invite that into your life is huge. It's a game changer. I think sometimes it's one of the biggest things that may even get overlooked, even within even in church, um, to hold somebody accountable, even in just regular life, like even get outside the church, like just to have someone hold you accountable to a goal, right? I'd think of all the times when I grew up in sports, like a coach, a coach on me holding me accountable to you know my practice or doing the way I should or coaching me in some way, and then hold hey, when you go home, like you need for me. I was not that big in sports, so it's like, hey, you need to go home and work out a little more, you need to hit the gym a little bit more, so you're big enough for this sport and holding me accountable in those areas, like those types of things, I think it's huge with inside church and without outside accountability is huge.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

What are you seeing for down in Tampa for pastors and church leaders when you when you're meeting with these guys? And what are they telling you that men need in the church? I think we get into these conversations and I'm and I'm teeing it up a little bit because I have these same types of conversations, and they're you know, doing the pancake breakfast, you know, once a quarter, and they're like, Man, I'm not seeing any men's lives being changed, or I'm not my guys aren't stepping up. So, like, what are these guys saying to you? And how's that conversation go? Because I've no we we've had it, but I want everyone else to hear those kinds of conversations.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Yeah, you know, that's that's one of the I guess kind of most frustrating things about the work we do. Um, number one, even to be a rep uh like myself for Men of Iron, you have to have accountability. You have to have a mentor yourself, which uh I love the fact that Dave Zillig on the he's uh he's on the board of directors for Mint of Iron, the creator of Equilibrium. He had already been my mentor for a couple of years, so it was an easy transition to keep him doing that for me, and then build our local board, our iron table from there. But when I go in and and talk to these pastors, and and that's where I went, I went to the churches because I have to have mentors for these men. Um, and in a place like this where 85% of the people don't even believe anything, you got to get back in the church to find the godly men. And and it's working. Uh it's a slow kind of process. Uh and I think that's one of the things the church has severely gotten wrong over the years. They're trying to make it a community of men to have a place to come and just have friends. That'll work a little bit. A very small percentage of your men in your congregation will jump in on that. And that's still what I'm seeing here. The pancake breakfast, uh, go do a service project together, rebuild the widow's porch, whatever it is, that's all good stuff. But the problem with that is these guys can go play golf, they can go fishing, they can they can find community anywhere. And we we want to see spiritual growth because we know that none of the churches are gonna get stronger until the men get spiritually stronger. And you're not gonna make them spiritually stronger eating. Pancakes and rebuilding porches. That's all good stuff, but you gotta have a process. You've got to be intentional about what you do with these men. And so when I present the the whole all of our programs, all of our small group materials, all of our studies to the pastors, and I give them a uh a process that that can last over a year, that you can intentionally engage your men in things that are uh they're fun, but they're challenging. And I found out even mostly in the younger set today, they want a challenge. They they want to they want to do something that's gonna mean something in eternity when they leave this world. Um so the challenge is to grow yourself first as a spiritual, godly man. And through that process, they find out, hey, I do have a purpose. I have a purpose not only in the church to serve, but I have a purpose in life to lead my family, to be a spiritual leader in the workplace, even in the community. If I become a community leader, uh even in politics, whatever they're doing, they figure out if I put God first and grow in this area, he's the one that leads my steps. And I end up where he wants me, and then you're utilizing the gifts, talents, and abilities God placed in you so you have joy from that, right? And I think that's what men struggle with. They're trying to find a spot, and maybe they'll try a pancake breakfast or two, and it scratch the edge for the day, right? But then the first hard thing comes along, they don't have the spiritual tools or the maturity in Christ to deal with it. So that's where we come in, and we try to help these guys. The pastors who listen to that and they buy into that see great results. And we can sit here and talk a whole podcast about that, about the results we've seen. The ones who want to go ahead and keep struggling and doing it theirself, it's it's gonna be a struggle. It's just uh the mindset has to change about what you're doing. And it doesn't have to come from them. It's okay. It's okay. God's blessed other people. There's a lot of great resources out there in the world on men's ministry, that a g a lot of them. But you gotta use them. That's like saying I'm gonna frame a deck, go buy the hammer and the saw, and then put it in the closet. You know, your deck's not gonna get built. So you gotta have the tools, and you gotta use the tools. So, the like I said, we've got a lot of churches down here that are jumping on board and they're seeing the results, and the results are men grow spiritually. Out of that, they learn and have the heart to give and it of their resources to fund the mission of the church, which is reach the community for Christ. They also grow to the point that they want to serve, so you got servant leadership now in the men of your church. How about that, pastors? That's a new thing, right? And then out of that, they start serving and leading their homes and their workplaces and their communities. It's because they dealt with the root of the problem, is how they seek God and how they uh understand that He has a purpose for their life. So you get them there, and then He that's what God does. He just starts opening the doors, right? He says, Hey, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 25:56

I love it. You get me fired up over here. When you're talking about giving these guys the tools, I know you're working with some churches down there, and you've been giving tools to guys over the last couple years. Yeah, what are some of those churches and what are some of the stories, right? Because I think sometimes we we talk about giving the tools and we and we talk about these things, but I like to highlight the stories. I like to highlight the churches that are actually equipping their men because not every church is doing it. Like to your point, like some people are still doing the pancake breakfast and hoping for change. Nothing wrong with the pancake breakfast, but you're not giving the tools to the guys. So, what are some of these churches that are you know stepping up to the plate, going to give their guys tools, and what change have you been seeing down there? Because you've been doing it for a little bit longer than I have. So you've definitely had you have definitely some more stories than I do of what God's doing down there in Tampa Bay.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yeah, so I mean, I'd I'd have to start with my my own home church, Countryside Christian Church. Shout out Pastor Glenn, Pastor Andrew, uh Davis down here. They're doing a great job leading this church. Um there's thousands of men that come to the church. It's a multi-site church, but we started uh I think the first study we did there about two and a half years ago was our Anchored Man series, which is it's just a five-week study. And um the first night we had 130-something men come, and that just really kicked off a spark in the church. Um since then, I think I've had four retreats of full of eight men each at each retreat coming out of countryside church. We've baptized two people on the retreat in the Swanee River down here at the retreat who gave their heart to Christ and said it's time for me to do this. But we've seen men come out of addiction. Like I said, we've seen marriages healed. Um men start serving, start giving. Uh all the things I mentioned, and it's it's not a miracle from men of iron, but men of iron is a tool that God uses to put the men on the right track, to learn the right things, and to be held accountable. I can't say that enough. You gotta have those two things, intentionality and accountability. Now, I'm not saying that a church can't use another program or method or even something they come up with. But if they're not intentional about it and consistent with it and they're not held accountable to it, eventually they'll stop doing it. So some of those churches, um, countryside Christian church, man, we're we're rolling. I don't even I can't even remember now. I think this we're gonna launch our fourth season of Strong 27 coming up the first of the year, next year. Um but we just had a men's Sunday, this past Sunday, and uh we had over 500 men in the in the altar uh dedicated their life to be a godly man. Um so we're kicking off a study from one of our new uh devotional books called Faith Restored, and we're gonna do a six-week men's Saturday morning, 7 a.m. You know, most men look at you like you're speaking Chinese to them if if you say, be here at 7 a.m. on Saturday. But these men are hungry for it, you know. But it's the culture we've cultivated. You you've they've seen the results in other men, so they're they're wanting that closer walk with God, and and their wives are loving it. They're 100% backing that up. So Mission City uh is another church, Mission City Church over in um Largo, Florida. It's 20, 25 minutes from here, from where I'm at. Um of my local board members, uh the Iron Table Director, Chuck D'Amico, is uh big, a big help and volunteering with the men's ministry there. And uh Brett Griffith over there, shout out Brett Griffith Griffith and Pastor Cody uh for what they're doing with Men of Iron over there. We've had a couple of men's nights. They have another one coming up this November. Um, and they're doing a dinner for Strong 27 people, the men and their wives who've men who've been through Strong 27 already, and they're inviting new men to come and hear about it. So we'll be speaking at that and doing that in October, getting them ready to launch again. I think it's their second, second or third launch for them. So it it should be that way because the more you do strong 27, those men become the testimonials of what has happened in their life. And even there, uh Pastor Josh at Mission City has been a mentor, I know at least one season, maybe two. Um, and one of his uh proteges, we had we have things down here called snowbirds, and they they flock down here uh when it gets cold up north, and then when it starts getting hot, they fly back up there. But the reason I bring that up, Pastor Josh was his protege, was someone who moved back north, and uh for the summer they still met online, they kept their regular meetings, and I saw him not long ago at one of our men of iron golf outings, and he was telling me that he was still meeting with his protege, which is amazing. So, this this is the lead pastor at a church. Uh, I think the church runs between 800 and 1,000 on Sunday, and uh they're gearing up to go again next year with Men of Iron. Um there's several several big churches down here that are some of their campuses are doing uh men of iron now. One is um Calvary Church right here in Clearwater, their safety harbor campus. Uh they currently have 20 to 25 men involved in two of our studies and looking to do strong 27 there. Um let's see, we have Bridgepoint Church coming on shortly uh this fall. We're talking with them. Uh Seminole First Baptist Church down here has seen results in two studies, and they're looking to do Strong 27 as well. Gold Street Garden Church, one of our guys at Countryside. Uh he he's he's like a volunteer for men of iron. He's everywhere I go, uh Sean Kozlowski. And uh he has now moved to Gold Street Garden Church and has become the men's director. So they're on the cusp of launching something big over there with men of iron. But it's through the testimonials. I can't stress that enough, is the the proof is in the men's lives. It's the changed life. And isn't that what happens? I mean, you can't get close to a fire without getting hot and eventually getting burned. The same thing with Jesus. You can't get close to Jesus without becoming more like him. And the Holy Spirit, that's your choice if you don't. But eventually, if you stay close enough long enough, you're gonna change. You're gonna become more like him. That's his goal. So these are men that they're taking this message to these other churches, and they're like, that's what we need. That's what we need. So it's it's uh really a blessing to be a part of something that actually brings change to a man's life. And when their wives come up on Sunday and tell my wife, I don't know what your husband's doing with this men of iron thing that my my uh husband's involved in, but tell him, please don't stop because he has started doing family devotions. He started praying out loud. I've never heard him pray out loud. Now he's praying out loud. He's making sure we're at the church events, he's helping me with the children, getting them ready because he won't he sees the importance now of teaching his kids about Jesus. I mean, fathers have to stand up and see that that is the really the only thing that's ever going to matter in their life if they don't know Jesus, they can succeed in everything else they do, and it's an empty life. And so that's where problems come from, chasing the other things of this world. So that's what excites me, and I'm passionate about. It's not it's not a job, it's not just something else to do. Uh I mean, I retired from being a firefighter after 30 years. Uh I'll probably always pastor be in the ministry, but this is something that I think is gonna be part of my legacy when I leave this world. I want to be able to think and know uh in my heart that I I had a small part of bringing a tool to a man's life that literally changed him and everything about him and everybody around him. That's incredible. That's incredible. Where else can you do that? Gotta be fired up over here, Scott.

unknown 35:22

Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 35:24

Let's go. I love it. Hey, one of the questions I want to ask you before we get into the end of the pod, what's your vision for Men of Iron in Tampa Bay? Like, tell me the vision. Like, you know, at the end of the day, we come together and it's like, man, this is, you know, for me, it's Berks and Schuylko of like, man, I just want to impact one guy so it changes culture. Yeah, that's definitely the vision. That's our vision's, you know, what we want to do. But what's the big picture for you? When you sit down at the end of the day, you're like, man, you talk about these churches, these men actually taking it seriously, the ripple effects beginning to happen in Tampa. You know, we're sowing, we're sowing. We may never see the harvest, but we're reaping some as we're going. But what's your vision for the Tampa Bay area for the end of this year and even going into 2027?

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Um, I mean, to me, it's it should be this for anybody that's a believer and a follower of Christ. It's to see your city change. Um, and down here there's a lot of cities. Tampa's a city, but there's a lot of other small cities within Tampa Bay. And we may not be in every church with Men of Iron, there's a lot of churches. I would love to be in every church uh with oh almost five million people, but if if we can get a life change in a man and he affects his peer circle, starting with his family, and we can see God move through that effort, that's what gets me up in the morning. I want to see uh not just men of iron praised, I want to see Jesus Christ praised. And then when they they ask the man, how did how did you do this? How did all this happen? Then he may bring up, I got involved with this thing called men of iron, and it changed my life. Actually, Jesus changed my life through the men of iron process. And that's the thing, if you don't have a plan, what did they always say, if you you don't have a plan, you plan to fail. I mean, because if if you don't have a process that you can stick to, and men are like that, right? We're builders, we're fixers. We want to, we don't read the instructions, but we we want to we want to do something that matters. So I guess my my vision for that would be uh now it's starting to happen. I saw a guy in in a town down here about two weeks ago that I've never seen before at any of the churches I've been in, and um with a men of iron t-shirt on, and I I hear people around towns talking about their church and their men's program, and I pick up on maybe it's one of the churches I'm working with, and they're talking about men of iron and what they're doing and how it's making a difference. So to me, that's the goal is to see Jesus Christ change a city using a tool like Men of Iron. It and it can happen, it's happening right before our eyes, the eyes down here. Um I'll be excited one day if they do another um research on on this place, a survey down here to to see where we're at. Yeah, uh what kind of progress has been made with the gospel, because ultimately that's what a and I know you feel this, Colton, you've done it and you're still doing it. That's what a rep is. I see myself like uh a missionary. We're down here carrying the gospel to the leaders. Uh not to say that ladies and women don't lead because they do. That's probably the reason the church is still around, because the men abdicated their thro their positions of leadership and they took it and they did, they kept it rolling. So now it's time for the men to wake up and uh walk alongside their wives, but lead their families, lead their communities, lead in their careers, lead in their churches, and become the leaders and godly men that God's called them to be. And uh to be a part of a movement like that is pretty exciting because uh we're seeing it happen. It's a slow roll, but it's gonna pick up momentum and we're gonna see it change the whole Tampa Bay area. Love it.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

Now, if there's a guy out there listening to listening to this podcast, maybe it's a church leader, maybe it's a pastor, how do they get connected with Scott Davis in the Tampa Bay area? Because if they're gonna hear this and they're hearing what you're saying, they're like, hey Scott, you know, I've been doing that pancake breakfast, or we've been trying to build our own thing. I had a conversation the other day with the church that said the same thing. We're trying to build our own discipleship program. And why should he's like the guy was like, Why do we need to reinvent the wheel? They're strong 27. Like, what are we doing? And like those things, but how does a guy get connected, a church leader, a pastor with you down in Tampa, so that they can get connected for what with what we're doing here at Men of Iron?

SPEAKER_01 40:38

Yeah, um, before that, I want to comment on that last thing you just said. I I've ran into that so much, and you know, to me, um not to call any specific people out, but it that's rooted in pride. I'll just go ahead and say it. One of the things I remember from Bible college, I don't remember a whole lot, but I remember this. One of my professors said, There's nothing new under the sun. And if you see something that's working, just give that another man created, just give him credit and use it because God gave it to him for the kingdom, right? So it's like a man alongside uh a highway or an interstate, and he steps off in the woods, and he's trying to get to this destination, and he says, I'm gonna take my machete and I'm gonna clear all these trees and make a road, and it'd be my road. I'll get there on my road. Well, maybe 20 years later he'll get there, but he's gonna be so worn out and wasted so much time. He's no he's of none effect. You know, you you kill yourself trying to do something where you could take a 20-foot uh step over and get on a superhighway and get there and be refreshed and ready to be used by God. That's the way I see men of iron. Just use the tool that God's given somebody already. You don't have to reinvent it. I mean, this the Bible's been around how long now? I mean, we don't need a new one. So just use what we have. So if you want to get in touch with me down here in Tampa Bay, get the the best thing to do is get on our website at menofiron.org and you can see everything we do. Um shout out Caden, he's doing a great job on this on this website and on social media. Look for us on social media on YouTube, uh, Facebook, Instagram, all that stuff. We're on all of it. And once you get on, you can find me, Scott Davis in Tampa Bay, the rep in Tampa Bay and Pinellas County. Um my email is Scott D at menoviron.org. Send me an email. You can even, I think you can even get my phone number on the website. Text me, call me, do whatever you gotta do. I want to get face to face with you. I want to talk to you. I want to see what you're doing. And if it's working, I'm gonna use it too. So let's do that. That's our uh what's our verse, Proverbs 27, 17? It's iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. So come on. It's a challenge. I'm throwing the challenge out. Shout out, pastors. Um I need some sharpening. So how about you? Let's meet up.

SPEAKER_03 43:25

I love it. Well, thanks, Scott, for just coming on the podcast today, talking about what's going on in Tampa Bay. I love hearing what's going on in different areas because we get so excited. I get so excited about what's going on in Berks and Schuylkill, guys' lives being changed, and to hear other stories, like hearing stories from afar, it gets you fired up again. Like, all right, we're we're on to something here. Something good's happened. God's at work, and just to be able to play a small part in a man's life, because we know how the ripple effect goes. Like we the one man gets it right, the ripple effect that happens. So I appreciate what you're doing down in Tampa. I I think sometimes we are a couple states apart, but it's the same mission. We're on the same mission here, and we're here to change a culture one man at a time, whether it's in Burks, Schuylkill County, or whether it's in Tampa Bay. Like that's what we're on here to do. And I just appreciate your time and thanks again for being on the Men of Iron Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you, brother.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

Well, thanks again for joining us. Tune in next week. We're going to be jumping into a man's finances, what that looks like, different pieces of that. If you want to get connected with Scott, though, please reach out to him. Check out our website. You can find all of his contact information there. And thank you for joining us on the Men of Iron Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

Thanks for listening to the Men of Iron Podcast. Be sure to like, subscribe, and share. At Men of Iron, we exist to change a culture one man at a time, and we'd love to have you partner with us. So go to menoviron.org to see how you can get involved or donate at menoviron.org forward slash donate.