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Welcome to 'Changed' a podcast celebrating transformative encounters with Jesus Christ. Each episode unfolds powerful testimonies of profound life changes, providing inspiration for your spiritual journey. Join our community, drawing strength and encouragement to deepen your relationship with God. Witness the irrefutable evidence of lives dramatically changed by His love. We're here to inspire hope, reinforcing God's relentless pursuit, and sparking the desire to seek a life profoundly transformed. Let's chase after God together. Your journey to deeper faith starts here.
Brent Stone (00:00.518)
Hey, welcome to Changed. I'm Brent Stone. I'm the host of Changed and excited, so excited about this podcast today. I have Kevin Phaup here with me. He is a friend of mine. We go to church together. He has so many things that he could talk about today and you know, he's got a pretty incredible background but I'm gonna turn it over to him so he can tell you a little bit about, you know.
Kevin Phaup (00:16.554)
Thank you.
Brent Stone (00:28.682)
what he does, who he is, like how he lives his life now. Then we're gonna get into obviously his encounter story, transformation, and then we'll wrap up with how he's walking that change out. So Kevin, how are you doing today? Thank you for being here. Tell us a little bit, tell the listeners a little bit about you, obviously I know about you, but tell the listeners about who you are, what you do, and then we'll get into it.
Kevin Phaup (00:51.262)
Great, thanks Brent. It's good to be on here today. Thanks for the invite and hopefully we can find some wisdom to share today and some experience about who Jesus is and how he's radically alive. So who am I? So currently I'm a professor at JMU. I teach product design. But I didn't come through that naturally, I guess.
background a little bit, grew up in a Christian home, but really chose a really bad path for a long time through drugs and alcohol and, and getting in a lot of trouble with the law and that kind of stuff in my younger years, up until my mid 20s, before I first encountered the Lord and had a pretty radical transformation at that time. But I don't know if we're going to focus on that today. But, you know, I mean, I went from, you know, basically,
street heroin addict to not over a couple of week process and went into ministry within six months of that full-time ministry. So definitely a radical experience at that time, but I still had a lot to learn, a lot to learn. And unfortunately, I'm a slow learner and I have to learn through doing and experiencing things. So long story short, I stayed in vocational ministry for about eight years, working with troubled teens.
And finally, in my 30s, went back to college and then kind of got on this track to be a professor, design professor. So.
Kevin Phaup (02:30.426)
I guess, you know, the experience or the change shift or whatever started about a little over a year ago. When it kind of started coming to this realization that I'd left, like I said, I talked about left the ministry, you know, and I left for the wrong reasons, man, without like getting too vulnerable on here. I
Kevin Phaup (02:56.782)
I used my own, this school thing, I used it as an escape. Like people were always telling me that I dropped out of high school and they were like, oh, you should go back to college, go back to college. You're a smart guy, this and that, you know? And I was like, man, I hated school. Why would I want to go to college? And, but, you know, honestly, sure. I wasn't doing well in the ministry. I was struggling with some sin in my life. And I felt like the Lord was saying to me, Hey, look, either you have to.
deal with this thing, come clean, talk about it with people, or you have to leave. And virtually I couldn't face the people that I needed to face. I mean, we could do a whole nother podcast on shame sometime and like how the enemy uses that to really control us and keep us oppressed, you know? But I couldn't, so I used this thing to go back to school and as an escape. And so here I am like,
not doing well and looking like, oh, he's better his life, you know, and all this stuff. And so I went into school, become professor, you know, it was like school for like seven years. It was a horrible time in terms of my spiritual walk. The enemy just, you know, had me obsessed with, you know, success and like it almost became my new addiction, you know, and.
I started to forget my family and people in my life and not really treat them in the same way. So that's kind of backstory. I think that's probably enough on backstory, but like what happens is I get invited to go on this mission trip, a little bit over a year ago. And I get this phone call, or hey, because of your history, we're going to deal with these kind of homeless, alcoholics and addicts in England. We're gonna minister to them.
And we think you would be a great person to go. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm super busy. We're working, we're trying to build a house. Like, I don't know. And I said, well, just pray about it, you know? And I said, well, what are you guys gonna do on this trip? What would I do? And they said, well, we're gonna go and have these prophetic prayer appointments with people. And I said, okay, so what am I gonna do while y'all do that? Because I don't know anything about that.
Kevin Phaup (05:18.023)
What does that mean? It's funny now because it's like ongoing joke. But anyways, as part of this trip, we start training, if you will, or practicing these prophetic prayer appointments with the people on the team. And people start prophesying things over me and knowing things and saying things that I'm like, well, nobody really knows that. That's kind of interesting. And just really feeling like there was a, they had a finger on what God was.
you know, showing them. And so I basically one night leave one of these meetings and I kind of go have this meeting with the Lord out on our property late at night. I'm like, look, okay, if you want me to believe this, this stuff is true, like these people are really hearing from you that I can hear from you like that. And the funny thing is, this is something about somebody this morning. It's like I was hearing from God.
Already, there's times I would point back into my life and be like, well, I know God was saying this or doing this, you know? But yet I didn't really think of it that way or didn't really engage him in a conversation or engage him in a way of like, I can hear from you for other people or I can hear from you like what's on your heart for a season or a time, you know? I wasn't even thinking about that stuff. But I was already hearing from the Lord. I think I mentioned that because I think there's a lot of people out there who are probably hearing from the Lord. If they're honest, they know.
They've heard from the Lord, they know that voice. They just haven't acknowledged it and given it full space in their life. So I put this out there, I'm like, okay, if you want me to believe this and that I can do this thing, then you're gonna have to give me something that I can't deny. And so immediately felt like in my spirit, in my mind, I start hearing this voice say, okay, you're gonna go on this trip and you're gonna meet this person named Daniel. And I want you to tell him.
like this, it's like a list of things. I'm just writing. And it's funny because like I've never, never written something that like was in my head like that. Like, I don't know, the whole thing was kind of bizarre. Like I just did it, you know? And I was like, okay, that felt real, whatever that was, but we'll see, you know? Long story short, I go on this trip. I meet this guy, Daniel. I tell him these things and I tell him, I'm so like matter of fact with it. I'm like, look, bro.
Kevin Phaup (07:38.478)
I don't know if I really believe this stuff, but this is what I'm going to tell you exactly what happened and we're going to flush this out together. You know, like either this is going to mean something or it's just going to be like, I'm crazy, you know? And so I just like, I don't know. I'm always kind of like that. I like to be like straightforward. I'm not trying to make myself something that I'm not or paint a picture that I don't believe in, you know? And so anyways, we start going through this list and as the list gets deeper, it's just like more and more for him. He's like, he's just.
overcome with God and then as he's telling me, you know, confirming these things that I'm overcome. And then we're just like, here's this, it's just two different countries too. So it was like across the, across the world, God gives me this word for this guy, go and meet this guy. And it just totally wrecks both of us. And it was insane, man. Like, like how does that happen? You know, and I think it was like, maybe like for me that night.
It was like a spiritual awakening, you know, if you will. Like I just began to see and acknowledge, I think acknowledge is a good word. I acknowledge you God in a different way. Like, okay, I am totally missing out on a lot of things that you wanna do Lord. And just went through this process of, with him that night, like kind of sat down at this table. I was like, all right, here's this like journal that I have, God, like, let's go. Like what you give me all the things in my life that we need to take a look at.
you know, uh because I really wanna if this is really how we can operate like I want more of this and I realize this is real and you know, I've I just realized like there's like a greater sense to life. You know, the lord took me in this little like movie reel or something that night and it was kinda like, hey, I was here. I was here. I was here. I was here. I was here like all of these points throughout your life to get you to this moment.
Like, it's not like all of the sudden, you're thinking this just happened over the last month, Kevin, but like, I have been orchestrating this event in your life for this time. And it was powerful, you know? And one of the things that happened out of that list that I sat down with God in Maine is he pointed back to this time where I left the minister and he said, look, you know, you left under these false pretenses and you lied, you know?
Kevin Phaup (10:01.586)
to everybody basically, you know, you lied to your wife, you lied to the guys you were working with in ministry and you weren't honest about what was really going on and you buried that like it didn't matter. And that has been something that has just been like complete oppression in your life since that point. You're not moving forward, right? And so the first thing the Lord asked me to do is to confess that, you know, and I did, I confessed that with my team in this country, the team of...
you know, people who were over there doing this ministry with me. And then I called my wife and said like, Hey, like we got to talk about this. And then when we came back to the States, I called these guys I was working with and told them to and talked about it. But what happened was like immediately, as soon as I confessed that thing. Uh, man, it was like an explosion of, I describe it like this too. Um,
I went, there was a lot of tears, you know, it was a lot of tears, but it was like, I felt God's love for me. And I also felt like I understood who I was. For like the first time in my life, it was like, Kevin, I've called you to this life, you know, this is like the spirit person that's inside of you that I really created. You've you've jumped it up with all the stuff of the world and the flesh and all your sin and everything, you know, like you've jumped it up pretty good.
But here's the core of who you are. And it was like this freedom of like releasing that person. And immediately the team there like prayed for me, anointed me. And you know, I mean, I think from that day forward, it has just been like a completely different life. Yeah.
Brent Stone (11:44.693)
That's awesome. That's so awesome. I love hearing it. We've talked a little bit about your background and there's so many incredible things along the way that you also have that could share maybe at a later date. How have you walked out change over the last year since this?
Realization, you know when you confessed this stuff and you just felt this awakening inside What what have you done since then tell everyone about what's going on?
Kevin Phaup (12:21.242)
Sure. So even like immediately on this trip, I began to walk in this gift of prophecy, man. Like, you know, just like, I was actually telling somebody today who was feeling like they're like kind of new to this. And I was saying, you know what, like, some days I kind of wish I was still just as new as I was, because that and that trip and those 10 days that we were there after that.
I never once questioned what the Lord was doing because I was so moved to faith by what he had done that I knew that everything I was hearing and speaking to people into their life was 100% from him. I didn't question it at all. And so it was immediate for me. And when I left to come home, I also I think it's the Lord's grace in my life, I guess, you know, like.
There was this urgency that he put into me as we processed during that trip, that hey, when you get back, you need to surround yourself with people who can speak into your life, many counselors, you know? And he's told my wife and I at that point, like, hey, the next year is gonna be a year of rebuilding you to something completely new because I have something for you. And...
maybe we'll share what that is later too. But we're literally just past that year mark and all of a sudden, bam, God like dropped something in our life. But the last year has been this statement that I'll tell a lot of people, Brent, is that guys showed me if you've got a fire going and you stop putting stuff on it, that fire will go out, right? We all know that, right? But...
It is, it's already going. Whatever you throw on there will burn, right? And this thing will get bigger and bigger. And he just said like, hey, just keep putting stuff on the fire, right? Like I think what happens to a lot of people, I'm bringing this up because, I'm not saying I got it all figured out. I'm saying I listened to that voice and it's true in my life. Because I think a lot of people have these encounters with the Lord and they're like, wow, wow. And then they kind of don't do anything with that. You know, like, are they just like,
Kevin Phaup (14:46.766)
let it fade, if you will. But I think if you just keep putting things on that fire, and for me, what does that look like? It looked like going to Asbury Revival, going to things wherever I felt like I saw the Lord moving, I would go. It looks like signing up a church to continue to use this gift, right? So we did all these prayer appointments, and I saw this gift develop even in 10 days, and I was like, well, I don't want that to stop.
I loved what I was experiencing there. Why would I want that to stop? So how do I do that here? And so that looks like, you know, signing up at grace to like grace covenant to, um, pray every Sunday for like two service, you know, both services for as many people as I can pray for who would come forward. Um, so that I can continue to experience that, you know, and then, yeah, way beyond that now it's like, uh, we're, we're kind of connected. My wife and I are connected to several different local ministries.
where we're going in and prophesying and praying over people, where we're acting as intercessors for our just, you know, whole communities, regions, state, Christians, all that kind of stuff. And looking for every opportunity, right? Now we're really getting into evangelism and going out on some of the local campuses or even the bar scenes, the party scenes, and, you know, looking for ways for people to encounter Jesus at those places too.
where it's just kind of walk of faith, you know, and a lot of that comes back to not all of that is about prophesying some of that's about praying some of it's about healing and whatnot, but for me my confidence in that comes from developing this gift and this Stewarding this thing of like hearing from the Lord. So when I go out To on a campus like how do we decide who we're gonna talk to? Well, Holy Spirit lead us to who we're gonna talk to You know
and listening to and looking for those ways that he's speaking to us. And I in the same way that we went to Battelle on this trip and, you know, on this mission trip and they had like appointments, right? Like we scheduled appointments. You know, I feel like these random things that we're doing on the street, they're their appointments, they're like, God, like scheduled these appointments for these people, you know, there's no, no doubt. And I felt like I had that appointment with him, you know, just over a year ago.
Kevin Phaup (17:08.218)
like he was showing me that like, hey, I orchestrated this dude. And now you're at this kind of perfect place in your life to receive it, you know. And I think it's kind of worth sharing to that. So for me, that was about the time between I left ministry and had this experience. It's about 14 years. It's a long time, man, to not to have like encountered the Lord.
been in vocational ministry and then kind of not like really lived my life for him. I wasn't a bad person. I was going to church. I even had to, I felt like I had to repent for that. Like I had to repent for like just going to church. Not for that I was wrong with going to church, but my only mentality was I'm just gonna go to church. And that's like somehow I'm gonna mean something.
doesn't really mean anything if you don't have a relationship with him and if you're not really like orchestrating your life that way. So I actually had a moment where the Lord's like you need to repent from that. And I was like, wow, that's pretty, pretty crazy, right? That's like a lot of our culture things that way. But anyways, so I had this 14 years, right? And I felt like immediately felt like, okay, well, that's a long time, like I started feeling regret, you know, like I've lost something. I'm gonna tell you, man, like I felt like
Brent Stone (18:20.749)
Yeah.
Kevin Phaup (18:32.514)
had that time of prayer and confession on this trip. And I would say within about three days, I started having this feeling in my heart, like God has restored what I lost in 14 years. And I think that the Lord can move like that. I hope that encourages somebody out there. Cause I know we all have like done something or not done something and feel like, oh man, like I have totally lost it. And 14 years can feel like a huge thing, but
And the Lord can just restore that. You know, the enemy wants you to believe that that's a thing that keeps you from trying, right? Oh, it's 14 years. Well, then if I can get you to lock in on that, then maybe it'll be 15 or 16 or whatever. But if you can seek like restoration, then it can happen like immediately.
Brent Stone (19:21.29)
Yeah. No, that's so good. I was having this conversation the other day with, uh, with Mike and, um, we were talking a little bit about people in like high stress jobs or executives or, uh, small business owners, whatever the case is and how a lot of people just have like this anxiety, this stress that it's like all up to them. They got to do it all. And if people would just turn more over,
to the Lord and just say, hey, you know what? God exists outside of time and he can do more with a second than we can do with trying to be productive with our entire life. Like he can make something happen in a second and we could strive our entire life, you know, 70, 80, 90 years, 100 years, and still not accomplish what he can do in just a split second. And
Kevin Phaup (20:18.767)
Right.
Brent Stone (20:21.566)
Anyway, that 14 years that you referenced, I mean, he had absolutely has given that back and then and then multiplied it. And so that's something that I felt for a long time from the time I was a child. And then I had, you know, my transform transformative experience, you know, May 31st. I almost felt like he was telling me like this time that I had lost, like I was going to get back. And he's delivering on that right now. It's it's amazing.
Kevin Phaup (20:51.87)
It's 100% too. And I think it also showed me like it's not really lost. There was lessons learned, you know? And 14 years, like you said, like 14 years feels like a lot to us, but to him it's like, no biggie, you know? It's like a timeout, right? Kevin had a certain timeout for a little bit and like learning your lesson, you know? And I really do believe that, you know? It wasn't...
Brent Stone (20:51.938)
But yeah.
Brent Stone (21:01.195)
Yeah, sure.
Kevin Phaup (21:19.49)
wasn't for nothing and there's something about the magnitude of that creates the experience that I had too you know like it's uh what's the story where it's like you know for the for the one who's gonna love Jesus more right the one who's forgiven for much or for little right and so you know even though that feels like oh it was a huge thing to overcome but you know that just means the reward of that is like greater you know so it's perspective.
Brent Stone (21:39.02)
Yeah.
Kevin Phaup (21:48.198)
How you look at it.
Brent Stone (21:48.223)
Yeah.
Brent Stone (21:51.842)
That's awesome, man. So good. Is there anything else that you wanted to just wrap up with encouragement for our listeners and viewers? Is there anything that you'd want to share in closing with them?
Kevin Phaup (21:52.965)
Yeah.
Kevin Phaup (22:05.934)
Yeah, I think if I had to say something, I would just say.
Kevin Phaup (22:13.902)
stop, like stop and pause, you know, and take the time. I mean, like our life is, is passing us by like rapidly. And we as a culture, especially in America, and we are just like caught up in all of the things, man, they're not from him. And we're so distracted, you know, you and I were just having this talk about all the stress, right? beforehand. And it's like, man, what are you stressed about, man? Like you got like,
You know, the Lord says that he's going to provide for us. Like he's going to take care of those things. Like, I don't know, just, I just say, stop, man. Like stop running, stop ignoring it. I think those are the things like in my life. I had probably many opportunities within those 14 years, you know, that I could have, you know, pause or stopped or, you know, done something different. And I think I buried a lot of that, you know, but you're not going to regret.
making this time for the Lord. And I think like, not to really put a plug for a vision quest, but why not? I mean, like a vision quest, right? We're getting ready to do this men's retreat that both you and I are part of. And I mean, that's one way, right? It's just an example that I wanna use of like, all right, the men are gonna like carve out some space in their life to say, I'm gonna go give a couple days to God to see what he wants to say and encounter him.
And I think so whatever that looks like for whoever's watching this thing, you know, find the space, carve out the time, you know, tell your spouse, I need a day away. I need something and like re like a line, you know, and start to pray and believe, you know, that he's going to show up and he's going to encounter you. Um, yeah.
Brent Stone (24:06.898)
Yeah, I think it's interesting. You know, we're talking about Vision Quest. When people designate and set aside time out of their calendar, it's almost like, you know, we tithe our money, we can tithe our time. We can basically say, hey, father, just do with this time what you will and expect that he's going to show up. And I think so many people, they just don't know if they believe he's gonna show up. And that's why people don't take the time.
And it's just so sad. It's what the enemy wants us to believe is that, you know, the enemy is just like, Oh, like what, what the guy's going to take time out of his busy life to, you know, help you, you know, like, I mean, the enemy wants us to think these things, um, you know, like, why, why are we so special that he's going to take time? But he wants to spend time with all of us. And I remember last year going into vision quest, it was, you know, right after getting exposed a couple of weeks prior to that to just prophetic prayer.
being prayed for prophetically and then praying for other people prophetically in like a group environment. And I was excited. So I was excited to go and I was excited to sign up for my prophetic prayer appointment. And that was like a burning bush moment for me. And Kevin would know because Kevin was one of the guys that I didn't know at the time that prayed for me, which is really cool. So I was going to share a little bit about this on another episode is I'm not going to share the whole thing here.
Kevin and another gentleman, you know, the other gentleman I've never seen before, Kevin, I mentioned before in previous episodes, I've like said hi to like three times at church before, like we actually sat down at this prayer appointment at VisionQuest. And then we've since become friends. But it's just, it's really wild that like, you know, you start going after God in a big way and he starts showing himself to you in all these different ways. And he obviously came and he showed himself to me that day.
I mean, that was just like a hug that I got from him during that prayer appointment. And so many people, if they could just experience what that's like, it's irrefutable. Like, I mean, there's just nothing that can match that when you have pain in specific areas of your life. And then all of a sudden he speaks directly to that only things that he would know how to speak to in ways that are just so precise that just give you freedom.
Brent Stone (26:30.574)
And that's that, you know, we're going to do that again at Vision Quest this year. And. It's going to be, it's going to be so good, but for a variety of reasons, but that's going to be one of the big ones. And then we have incredible, incredible speaker this year. That's going to be going over some really awesome stuff with everybody. And it's going to be transformative for sure. But yeah. Hey.
Kevin Phaup (26:33.926)
Good.
Kevin Phaup (26:55.25)
Yeah. I think, you know, another way of putting it, I talked about the fire earlier, like keeping things on the fire, you're kind of talking about this, you know, I had this experience with him, and then there's more, you know, like, there's more to be had. And I think, like, it's almost like that, I think of like the snowball, you know, like the snowballing effect of like, it just keeps kind of getting bigger and bigger. And, you know, that's
Brent Stone (27:04.672)
Yeah!
Brent Stone (27:12.258)
Yeah.
Kevin Phaup (27:21.438)
Prior is really interesting, like prior to me going on this trip, this mission trip for like a year, but was already moving to prepare me for this thing. And there was some there was some pretty cool encounters along the way there woke me up in the middle of the night one night like spoke to me in a way that almost like freaked me out. You know what I mean? But we were really going in.
after the Lord in our small group and saying like, we were really focusing on the passage in 2 Corinthians chapter three, about going from glory to glory and being transformed from one degree of glory to another. And we started going back to Exodus and reading about Moses like encountering the Lord. And we're just like, man, like we wanna encounter the Lord like that? Like, what would it look like to be transformed physically by an encounter from him? And so we're just really going after it. And then he shows up to me one night and wakes me up like that. And
I still wasn't really clueling in, and then this event happens. But the reason I'm sharing that is because that verse has stuck with me. I think that not so much, a lot of people, it does mean a lot, there's a lot in there. A lot of people are like, it's great because it sounds good because we are always getting transformed and going from glory to glory, and that sounds really great, and it's true.
Uh, but also I think the Lord is saying in that is that we can't really ever completely understand or like reach or achieve like what he is or has to offer, you know, like there's continually have this new revelation of his glory and who he is and how we experience him. And I feel like in my life right now, um, I'm going to really trying to be more and more attuned actively attuned to this. There's two worlds happening, right? There's the natural.
and there's a spiritual and there's two beings happening. There's the flesh and there's this kind of spirit man inside of me, you know? And it tells us, you know, the Bible says like, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, right? And our flesh really wants to take over. So I'm like so actively trying to kill that thing, you know, like, no, we call it like, a lot of us will say like, we need to press in until my spirit man can come out in these kinds of prayer sessions.
Kevin Phaup (29:41.478)
and really connect with the Holy Spirit. You know, you gotta press through all the kind of flesh stuff that's happening. And so yeah, I just wanted to like put that out there too. Like I think when I say stop, like earlier, he said, what would you say? Like stop and really reflect on what's going on, you know? And the Lord is talking to me a lot about.
Isaiah, I think 43, he says, I'm doing a new thing. He says, do not perceive it. And then later, like, Jesus talks to the disciples and all these miracles are happening. And they're like, but what about the bread? And he's like, you know, he's like, bro, like, miracles are happening around you. And you're thinking about bread, you know, like, you're thinking about eating, which that would probably have been me. But like,
I think what God's been showing me is to be asking that question, Brent, like being attuned. Like, God, what are you doing right now? What is happening at the supernatural level and the spiritual level? And let me focus on those things and be attuned to it. And it's really starting to change how we live our life, and me and my family, and how I kind of think about everything. So it is encouraging people that this is the reality is that there's another reality.
that most of us are not tapped into because we're being blinded by this flesh and by all that stuff. And we're not really focusing on what God is doing inside of us.
Brent Stone (31:14.238)
Yeah, man, that's so good. Well, let's do this for today. This has been incredible. And I just I would encourage everyone that's watching, listening to just if you have anything that you'd like to comment on or whatever, drop comments in there. I'll put any kind of social media handles or anything for Kevin. If he wants to be found, he can we put we'll put that in the show notes. And then and then.
If you have anything for him specifically and he doesn't wanna be found, just send it to me and then I'll make sure that he hears about it. But anyway, thank you, Kevin, for being on with us today and we appreciate you tuning in and we are excited about continuing this journey with all of you. Thanks so much.