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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 (00:00.714)
Hey everybody Brent Stone here with the Change Podcast, excited about another episode today. I'm actually traveling with my family so it's not my usual backdrop here but I am excited because one of my good buddies that I've been friends with for a very long time is on the show today, Glenn Martin. How are you doing Glenn?
Glen (00:22.313)
Doing well, man. Thank you for having me on. Super excited to be on here, and it's been fun to see what you've been doing with the Change podcast.
Brent Stone (00:31.534)
Man, that's awesome. No, I'm, I appreciate that. It's a, it's really good to have you on and, uh, it's going to be really good for the listeners. You got a really awesome story. So I, um, excited just to let you start. Do you mind just telling everybody what, what's your encounter with Jesus was that really changed your life and, uh, got you on the path of just, uh, just train what transformed you and we'll just, we'll start with that.
Glen (00:57.913)
Yeah, well, absolutely. I'm excited to do that. I'm going to go back a little bit before that because I think it yields to the story a little bit better. So, for those of you that don't know me, I grew up in Pennsylvania and grew up in a Christian home. My dad's a pastor, you know, always went to church, you know, always was in church Sunday, Sunday evening, Wednesday night, you know, we were, we were a church going family and,
So for me, the name of God, the name of Jesus, and having a conversion experience was very normal. We had, you know, once a year, we typically have a revival meetings at our church and I'd see people go forward. They did a little different at our church that we didn't necessarily go forward, but I would see people, you know, acknowledging their, you know, desire to change their life. And so this was just normal for me. And so I had kind of made this decision.
I saw a lot of really young people. So this is, there's no right or wrong thing here, but this was just my understanding. But I saw some really young people, 10, 11, 12, which is that wrong? I don't think that it is, but from my perspective, I was like, you are too young. You do not know what you're doing. And so I just kind of made this decision when I was 10, 11, and 12, because I didn't feel called at that time. I was just like, you're an idiot.
I will wait till I'm older and then I'll make this decision because you don't know what you're doing. And so I just kind of went rolling on with my life. Well, as I'm getting older, 14, 15, I'm starting to notice some things and kind of feel like that's probably what it is, but I was just going to push it off because too young. And so I'm now 16 years old and I am actually helping my dad on his farm. We were bringing in hay bales one morning.
It was actually one evening. So probably kind of throughout the day we were doing this. And he has this, it's pretty cool loader. It's like a Kubota turn in the middle loader. Well, if you lift it up too high with a load on it, the sink can tip to the one side pretty bad. Well, we hadn't had this thing that long. And so I'm out cruising around in the field, just having fun, you know, picked up two bales, turned it and bam, the loader like almost chucked me off because I'm a genius and wasn't wearing my seatbelt. But...
Glen (03:25.153)
freaked me out really bad. And so kind of went on throughout the day, but I could just never let go of that feeling. It was just there. And wasn't quite sure what it was. And so go to bed and I'm laying in bed and I'm thinking, you know what? What if I had died today? I don't know where I would go. And so it really started to bother me a lot. So I ended up getting up out of bed, going downstairs, talking to my dad and kind of explaining everything.
And basically he's like, you know, I think that's God calling you to make a decision. And so we, you know, kneeled together with my parents and prayed and, and went through, you know, really John, where it talks about, you know, if you confess your sins and we kind of went through all those different things. And, and afterwards my dad's like, it feels amazing, doesn't it? I was kind of like, yeah, you know, on it, you know, for me.
I knew that I had prayed the prayer. I felt zero difference inside. But I said, you know what, that was my conversion experience. And the next day I'm kind of going throughout my day and I don't feel a lot different. And I feel like, you know, they say Satan attacks. And up to that point, I wasn't worried about Satan. I was just living my life. And then I'm kind of like, man, maybe this is Satan trying to not...
give me peace and so I'm gonna just pray. And so I would pray and I did that for probably weeks, maybe even months. And finally, you know how if you just kind of nagging feelings, if you don't talk about it or go through it, it just kind of goes away. And nothing really ever changed, but eventually I just kind of didn't think about it anymore and I just kind of went on with my life. And all good, I thought, you know, like everything was good to go. And so.
moved on with my life years past, you know, definitely was doing some things that I probably shouldn't have been doing behind the scenes and stuff that I knew wasn't really right. I was, as long as I could kind of get away with it, it was good to go because I'm a Christian and I'll be good. Well, now fast forward, we're going to move the story really fast forward because I think that's important because some of you listening might have had an experience like that where you grew up in church and you...
Glen (05:48.689)
you've had an experience and you're kind of like, I'm a Christian. Well, I thought I was a Christian. And so now fast forward, I get married, moved to British Columbia, and this story takes a little bit of a turn, right about six months into our married life where I was really trying to figure out just my life. Wasn't enjoying the church a whole lot.
loved my marriage, but man, we were, we were just broke. Like we didn't have a lot of money. And so my life is consumed with trying to figure out a create income and that I don't like the church. Like there was those two aspects of my life that were just hateful. You know, if you could say it's like, this is constantly stressing me out. This is constantly stressing me out. And what's so awesome about this, why I'm so excited to be here this morning is it was in December of 2013, where I
Glen (06:43.465)
Brent Stone, obviously who you know here on this call. So Brent, that's the other person on this call, I had known about, I knew some things that he did and I actually gave him a call in December of 2013 for some other things. It was in relation to business and whatnot, but I didn't know that at that time, that conversation was what was going to change my life in a lot of ways, but ultimately what was going to lead me.
to a proper conversion experience with Jesus. And Brent and I started that relationship and I just left him be that mentor to me that I didn't have. And we started building that friendship and he started helping me break down walls of who I thought that I was and who I really actually was. Right? And through this whole timeframe, if you will,
We're building business, we're building friendship, we're doing these different things together. Well, fast forward now from 2013 to let's just, I think it was 2018, we were actually at a business event, I believe it was at the Greenbrier. And so there was an optional Sunday morning worship service and sure, I'm gonna attend the morning worship service. I've gone to church all my life every Sunday. And so go to the worship service and they, you know,
there's a message preached and it was a tearjerker. Like I was, it was a, it was a great message. And then they do the altar call at the end. And you know, anybody that's ever gone through this, you know what it feels like to have conviction knowing that you need to make a decision and you don't want to. And, and so I'm sitting there and I'm like, man, my wife's sitting right beside me. And I'm like, she's a Christian.
I thought I was a Christian, but man, right now, I don't feel like I was. Like, I definitely feel like I need to make something right, and I don't know why. And so I'm sitting there and, you know, the music's playing and I'm just like, no, I'm not going to get up. Like, I'm a Christian. This is a, this is so weird. And you know how it keeps playing and then they're like, yeah, you can keep playing the music a little bit longer. And you're just like, no, stop. You know, and it keeps playing. And sure enough, as, as.
Glen (09:02.121)
the music keeps playing. I just looked over at Carl, I was like, I don't know, I have to go forward. And I stood up and it was like that moment, I just started crying like crazy and I go forward. And there's a bunch of other people up there, but then we had a prayer and you can kind of feel the peace that comes, and I never felt that before. And I was like, wow, this is amazing. And then afterwards, one of my friends comes up and he's like, man, I'm so proud of you. And he's like, can I pray for you? And he laid hands on me and prayed.
I never had that before. I never had anybody lay hands on me. And I was just like, this is amazing. Also weird, but it's amazing. And you know what? Like I could physically feel, or not physically, I guess it would be spiritually, I could spiritually feel things that I had overcome through hard work and just purpose and discipline.
the desires going away. And for me, I talk a lot about this on my Facebook, so this is not a shocker to anybody that knows who I am, but I used to start with pornography a good bit, even into our marriage for just a little. And when I met Brent, a lot of the business pursuits that I had at the time started to give me a, I don't know what the right word is, but kind of a sense of purpose in life. And so it was able to help me to.
walk away from it and I didn't struggle with it anymore, but it wasn't like that the desire had really gone away. It was just I didn't have the need to go and do it and I could now, I now had something else to do and so the desire was there sometimes, but I never would go back. That morning I remember walking out of that service, walking down that hall in the Green
Glen (10:54.005)
something pornographic gone, like it's not even there. I hadn't been doing it for years, like we're talking probably six years, seven years at that point. Yeah, I guess it would have been, no, 2013, 2018, five years at that point, where it's not like I was even, you know, you could say struggling, because people that struggle, it's like they go to and they come, but I felt the desire leave. It's like a smoker, you stop smoking, but.
you kind of still want to, you know, I don't know what that's like, I've never done it, so I'm probably not saying it the right way. Desire, gone. And I was like, that, that was my conversion experience. Now I knew that I was a Christian. And it was just such a cool thing, you know, having all those years transpire between, you know, when I was like 16 to when I was 26, if you were, I think it was 26, 27.
So there was basically 11 years transpired where I was a Christian, quote unquote, because I thought that I was, even though from that initial time I kind of knew, I just didn't know how to move past it. Pretty cool. So you never know what God's going to do. And I would have never thought that would have been the turning point. And I wasn't looking for it, right? Because I didn't know that I actually needed it.
Brent Stone (12:02.414)
Sure.
Brent Stone (12:14.506)
Well, it's really cool because I mean, you're a Christian, you prayed the prayer, you're saved, right? But then it's like when you, you know, a couple of years later, you felt this conviction to then, you know, rededicate or, you know, you didn't really realize what the urge was, but then you went and you were obedient to that call and then you had some more breakthrough that was like very evident to you.
Glen (12:23.766)
Right.
Brent Stone (12:42.954)
And you could feel it in your spirit. And that's, that's just so powerful. That's so awesome. But, um, and I want you to continue if you're still going through this, but I also am excited for you to kind of share people how you've walked out that change since then, because you've started, you've started a ministry really to help men overcome, um, their addiction to pornography. And I was hoping, you know, please talk about that a little bit. And then for anyone watching this.
Um, if you want more information from Glenn on that, I'll, I'll put the, in the description, I'll put some of the links for Glenn's, um, Facebook group and some of his material in that, in the bio. So for anyone that's looking for that, but, um, yeah, please continue on, you know, how you've walked out that change and then, and then continue anything else that, um, I may have just cut you off from, I didn't mean to, I just wanted to make sure I could say that.
Glen (13:36.198)
No, you're fine. How have we walked that out over the years? I mean, 2018 to 2023, almost 2024 now. In the beginning, it was for me a confirmation that this business opportunity that I was a part of, it has a really big place to help a lot of people that don't realize they need what I experienced that morning. And so
for a long time, that was my primary focus, was just running that, was building kind of a, I would call it a marketplace ministry of just connecting and growing business for the purpose of them having that same experience at a Sunday morning like that. And so that was what I felt like I should do. That was what I believe was the right thing to kind of live that out. And obviously,
I've got several businesses not here to talk about that. So it's not like I've stopped any of that, but it's, you know, I would say it's transitioned quite a lot since that beginning stages. And so I knew, and I, I remember telling Carla this, that I believe at some point I'm supposed to help men specifically, maybe young men, you know, teenagers, single guys to.
break some of these habits or to just understand what it looks like to be a real man. I'm not saying I'm the model of a real man, but that's what my desire was, was to, now I hope that I am, and I'm striving to be that model of a real man, but that was what my desire was, and I was like, I don't exactly know what that looks like. Is it inside the church? Is it, I don't know. And that was kind of a, I don't know, but sometime.
And you probably, a lot of people I think have those things where it's like sometime I want to do, but you don't see a clear path forward. And, and so I just kind of held it and just kept doing what I believed that I was supposed to do. And, and, you know, the years kind of progressed and some things in my life change job changes, you know, into different sectors and then going full time into business and, and
Glen (15:52.861)
I don't know, God must know that I like business, so he speaks to me at these events, but I was actually at a different style of a business event about a year and a half ago now. That's probably been closer to a year ago. And again, knowing that I wanna now do something specifically in regards to pornography. And I had been kind of exploring it for about a year, talking to people, I had started, I have a Facebook group that's dedicated just to men.
And so I had been kind of exploring it, not really sure where it was going to go, but just trying, you know, to be obedient to what I felt like I should do at the time. And, and so, you know, grew my Facebook group within like 30, well, actually, I think it was within like 10 days, over 400 people. And I'm like, wow, this is pretty amazing. Obviously, there's something here. But I, again, still didn't really know where to take it, you know, kind of weird. It's like, I still don't know where to go with this. But
you know, we're going to start doing some just zoom calls. And so we had some zoom calls with guys and we would just kind of talk and we would just share. And that was awesome, but it didn't feel like we were maybe moving the needle forward like I wanted. And about a year ago at this business event, I'm hearing all these people talk about systems and strategies and business opportunities. And for whatever reason, I can't even tell you what was said, but it clicked in my mind, even with everything else that I've got going on with family and...
business and church and all these commitments, I have time, I just have to do it the right way. And that was in, you know, close to the start of the weekend and I just started having other conversations with people and they give me ideas, you should do this, you should try that, or you should do this, or you should try that. And since then it's been literally a month later, you know, I felt one morning that I should make a post on Facebook, I made it on my wall.
actually just in my Facebook group actually that morning. Later that day, wouldn't you believe it, I had two people reach out to me that wanted help and they're like, the one guy said, you know what, this morning I prayed that God would help me. And he said, Facebook of all places, I open it up, I see your message and I was like, all right, God, here I am. And he reached out, you know, we've been working together and he's been doing amazing. But you know why that's so amazing for me is because
Brent Stone (18:13.384)
awesome.
Glen (18:16.273)
I was just trying to follow the steps, didn't know what they looked like. And every time I felt, probably not every time, but I've tried that when I believe that I should do something, I've tried to do it. And it's been really amazing to see how God has kind of led that. And obviously that's not my whole spiritual journey. That's not how I've lived out that transformation 100%. I've got three children. We try to be very active in our church. We try to...
I try to talk about God on sales calls. I am not ashamed that I'm a Christian, and so I'm willing to say that. You know what? I'm a Christian. And so why should you trust me? Why do you? Number one, I'm a Christian, so I believe that. And I try to share those things. It's not me pushing something down someone's throat, but it's trying to be I'm not ashamed of what and how.
I believe the Bible and live that out. And if someone else doesn't believe that, that's amazing. I don't know if it's amazing, but it's okay, because I believe that maybe that one thing can start to trigger things in their mind, because they're prob, here's what I do know, they're not probably on a journey, they are on a journey that maybe God is saying, hey.
your words that morning led them to finding somebody else where they found this church that led them to this church that led them to actually getting into the Bible in the proper way. And I don't know, but it's a growing experience for me and I think ultimately any Christian is constantly growing and changing every day. And so if you talk to me a year from now, I don't know. I don't know what I'll be doing, but we're gonna, I'm gonna continue to try to.
live out what I believe God wants me to do, whether it's in ministry helping guys, whether it's in talking to people through business opportunities, I don't know. But we're going to keep pushing that ball forward and I'm going to try to do my part to let God lead as much as possible. I know I get in the way a lot, but I'm going to try to step out a little bit more.
Brent Stone (20:29.258)
We all are, we're all trying to step out of the way more and let God lead more and more, man. That's so awesome. Well, dude, this is great. Um, is there, is there anything that, um, if, if you were telling people that, you know, if you, if, if there's guys, you know, watching this right now, that, you know, want to know like what the first steps to take to either, um, work with God to get, you know, over this addiction or
Glen (20:31.726)
Exactly.
Glen (20:36.437)
but.
Brent Stone (20:57.99)
maybe they should just reach out to a support group like yours. Like, what should they do? How should they go about that?
Glen (21:05.925)
It's a big, honestly it's a big conversation, but here's what I would say. I'll kind of, this might be like a five minute answer, so I want to give a proper answer here that I believe can be action steps to be taken. So what a lot of guys want to do, we all have our phones, and we all like our phones.
Brent Stone (21:19.095)
No, that's fine.
Glen (21:32.705)
Probably more than we should, but here's what I know. It makes everything very accessible. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, throw in there something that started yesterday. There's a lot of opportunities to be distracted, to be stimulated, and whatever it might be. Then you've got Safari, and you've got all the different browser applications, and you've got, I've never had these, but you've got dating apps, and you've got all the things that distract.
people from their life, which then keeps them in bondage to this addiction. And so what a lot of guys, what happens to a lot of people is, or guys, I'll just use that. They want, they're like, man, I'm just struggling with pornography like crazy. I'd like to get out of it. And typically that first conversation is, well, where are you accessing it? Well, my phone or my laptop. And I'm like, okay, how? Like are you going around filters? Are you trying? No.
I just go into my browser, I have dating apps, or I have this or that that's been really tripping me up, and TikTok's really bad for me, and stuff, and I'm like, do you still have it? Yeah. I'm like, okay. Well, here's the biggest issue right off the start. If you're going to try to overcome something, you have to first get rid of it. If you're an alcoholic and you're like, man, I really wanna quit alcohol, but I'm not throwing that beer away that's in the fridge, because...
just not gonna do it, but I'm definitely not gonna drink anymore. I just really like the way the bottles look. You know, like, you're just like, what? Why would you do that? No, if you're serious about it, you're throwing them in the garbage, you're dumping them out, you're, you know, telling your wife, don't let me leave the house alone. I don't want to go to the, you know, the ABC store. Like, don't let me go to these places because I'm serious about this. Like, I have a problem. I might need some more help because
This feels bigger than what I can control, but at first I'm gonna at least get rid of it. That's where a lot of guys stumble is they're like, yeah, well, it's probably just me. Well, it might be you, but at first, delete all your social media apps if you know they're triggering you, lock down your Safari with someone that can do all these different things and make sure that you can't access it.
Glen (23:56.565)
Simply like that's the first step like we're going to cut the supply You're gonna get out of credit card debt cut your credit cards up like that's the first, you know, it's that same mentality Now you have a benchmark to start on so I would say start there first The second thing that you need to do is find a mentor or find an accountability partner That's not your wife and is not a close friend now it could be a close friend, but typically it's going to be someone that is
a stronger spiritual person in your life. They're not too close to you to be willing to tell you the hard thing. Your friends typically, they're kind of like, and that's tough. Do better next week. And you're like, I will. And then you don't. And they're like, you need to do better. They're like, I will. You need an accountability partner that actually holds you to the fire. They hold your feet to the fire and really keep you accountable to the decisions that you said you made. And if you you're like, man, I slipped up, they're like
How? Well, I bought another phone. I found an old phone that I had. Give me the phone. Right, like, we're not trying, that's the simple stuff. Now, some of you are like, man, I've done that, but I can't, like, I feel like I just can't get over it. There's obviously, there's a lot of scientific things when it comes to the way your brain responds and some of these different aspects that you might literally need help walking through, and that's what a lot of the things that I do with guys is.
help them walk through and understand some of those things and start to deal with the emotions and what's going on underneath, which drives a lot of this. But in the beginning, please cut your access and get an accountability partner or mentor that can help you. And then if you're like, dude, I don't care what this is, I'm going to seek somebody out, then find somebody that can help you with the mental games and the scientific aspect to it so you can.
Walk it out in freedom, you understand it, and now you break this. And if you're a husband, you need to do it today. And if you're a father, you need to do it right now. If you're a single person, you need to do it right now. Like, stop dragging this into your life because it's going to hurt your marriage, it will hurt your kids, and if you're single, it will hurt your future relationships if it's not already doing so. It's that important, and I really believe it's that important.
Glen (26:21.625)
And so do some of these initial things, and if you still need help, I mean, there's a lot of people that do this kind of stuff. And I'm obviously very passionate about it because I know what can happen on the other side of it. But please do those first two things. You will be amazed at what that does for you, and then you can dig into further help later. And I think that that'll be, that'll be, that'll do more for you than you ever go on.
Brent Stone (26:36.974)
sure.
Glen (26:50.633)
Hopefully that answers that question.
Brent Stone (26:51.438)
It's awesome. Yeah. So, well, let's do this. Um, so definitely as far as like, uh, steps to, as we're closing up today's episode, I think this really, really important that, you know, probably should people should reach out. Uh, maybe Glen can pray with you, you know, so he could just, you know, help you get on that journey.
And we'll have some contact information for Glenn or, you know, or other, you know, resources that he suggests, but I know his are really good and I know he's had success stories from, from many, many men getting over this. So it's really awesome. But, um, Hey, Glenn, thank you so much for being on here today. Thank you all for tuning in and watching this and we will hopefully retain your viewership and your listenership. Please subscribe for, for more incredible testimonies like Glenn's here today.
We'll love you all and hope everyone has a awesome rest of your day. Thanks Glenn for being on today.
Glen (27:52.565)
Thank you, Brent. Really enjoyed being on and I appreciate what you're doing.