Culture & Christianity: The Allen Jackson Podcast

Allen Jackson: Welcome to Culture and Christianity. The guest today is pretty exciting for me. He has been a very influential figure in Nashville in the broadcast arena for a long time. Ho Pines was the sports director at our CBS affiliate, Channel 5, for 35 years in Nashville, really in the golden age of local television, when we all went to our local stations to get sports news and scores. This predates ESPN, the internet, and all of the media sources we have today.

He's with us today because he's engaged with a national initiative for prayer. The first week of March, first four days of March, it's GAP 26. He's going to give you all the details. Big picture, God's moving in the earth. He's using people who have won Emmys, who are in the Hall of Fame for sports in Tennessee, have been a big impact in Middle Tennessee, and now they're making a bigger impact for the kingdom of God. You can be one of those people. Say yes to the Lord and do what He puts in front of you, and He will multiply the outcome. I think you'll enjoy Ho Pines.

I have someone who was a big part of my life, although at a distance, for a long time. Ho Pines is with us today. Welcome, sir.

Ho Pines: Nice to be with you, Pastor. What a joy it is to be in the house that you lead.

Allen Jackson: When I hear your voice, I feel like there ought to be a volume knob here somewhere. I got to know Ho on television. He is a legend. I hate to say legend because that makes you sound old.

Ho Pines: I'll take it.

Allen Jackson: But you have had a profound impact upon Nashville and Middle Tennessee. You were on our Channel 5, our CBS affiliate, as the sports director for 35 years. That's amazing. You started at six and you ran that all the way into your 40s. You won six broadcast Emmys. You were the best sportscaster in the Southeast. And in 2014, you were inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. That was just your side hustle.

Ho Pines: Well, I was very privileged to be in the business to begin with. I didn't start out to be in television. Growing up, my heroes were not athletes. My heroes were movie stars because I was born in a small community in South Georgia, about 5,000 people, and I didn't see a professional football or baseball game until I went to Georgia and the Braves came and the Falcons were there. Florida State was my football team back in those days, and that was way back yonder.

Allen Jackson: That was a bit of a day or two ago. You graduated from the University of Georgia and then got a job in Nashville. That's almost like treason or something.

Ho Pines: To most people, it was. People will judge you very quickly when you're on television as a sportscaster in a town like this about who you give the most coverage to and how you slant it. So, I was always not making everybody happy, as you can imagine. Kind of like a pastor sometimes, perhaps.

Allen Jackson: I've read about that. So, was Vince Dooley the coach when you were at Georgia?

Ho Pines: He was. He came there in '65 and I came there the same year.

Allen Jackson: He had a pretty good run.

Ho Pines: Yes, he did. He was a great coach. He brought a lot of guys from Auburn with him. Erk Russell was the defensive coordinator, and I did a show with Erk for a number of years on radio that was syndicated across the Southeast. That was a good time. That was a great time.

Allen Jackson: We were talking before we started taping that your job really fell into the golden age of local television because you were essential to our community. That's where we got all our sports news. We didn't have ESPN and the internet and all the 24/7.

Ho Pines: No. And I could handle technology at that level. I'm lost now, Allen. I don't know about you, but I'm lost.

Allen Jackson: I've got a big yellow legal pad and some crayons. Your faith, when I knew you on television, I didn't hear your faith as a leading edge of who you were. It wasn't like you were a pagan, but it wasn't on your broadcast. Your faith has become a lot more prominent part of your life. Tell us about that transition.

Ho Pines: You analyzed it very well. I got saved when I was at the University of Georgia. I had a wife and two children, and I don't blame this on anybody for what happened to me. I backslid. I was a prodigal son. But I wasn't disciplined. I wasn't discipled. I wasn't disciplined either. They go together. But I wasn't discipled, and I'm not blaming that on a church or anything else. It just was the way it was.

So, I didn't stay with it, and I bumped along for a number of years, letting God in, letting God out, choosing what I wanted to do and telling God, "Don't look over here, I'm about to go do this," and so on and so forth, until it got to the point one day He said, "Okay, timeout." And I mean, He didn't speak to me audibly, but He spoke to me. He gave me that warning. I took it as a warning. Get yourself straight. And I did. And when I did, I fell hard.

I was broken. I was broken in a lot of ways, but not many people knew it. All of our stories are different, the way we come to the Lord and the way He deals with each one of us. But this has been the most exciting experience of my life, the last 15 years of my life, because I have really come to know Him in a very special way, come to know Jesus and love Jesus, and just can't imagine life without Him. God is so good. If we'll just allow it, just turn yourself loose. He said to me, not the Lord, but He said to me, "Come to the edge," and I said, "No." "Come to the edge," He said. I came. He pushed me and I flew. That's what happens.

Allen Jackson: Most people have this imagination that somehow God will limit your life or take the joy out of it, that He's going to diminish you. And it's a lie from the pit. The best days of my life are the days I cooperate with God. I don't know why that's not intuitive, but it's true. Well, you've gotten involved in a pretty exciting project that really is what gave rise to this conversation today.

Ho Pines: I am, and there are a lot of people alongside me in this. It's called GAP 26. It's the Great American Prayer Revival, and it's taking place all across this country right now. It has been for over a year. Hank Erwin, who many people won't know, but a lot of people might know, he's the father of the Erwin brothers, who produced some pretty fine faith-based films in the last 10, 15 years, like *The Jesus Revolution* and many more. *The House of David*, boy, that's a great series.

So anyway, Hank was a two-time Alabama senator. I said, "I don't know how you hooked up with me. I'm a Georgia guy, you're an Alabama guy. We just talk to me when we have to." Anyway, that's how that came across. But he's a great guy. The Lord gave him a vision that told him, "I want you to do a revival. I want a national revival. This country is ready for it, we need it."

So Hank called me. I barely knew Hank, but he had done some investigation and he said to me, "I want you to help me put this thing together." And I said, "That's not what I do." He said, "Oh, yeah, I've already prayed about it." I said, "But I haven't prayed about it." He said, "But I prayed about it and the Lord said you're the man that's going to walk alongside me and help me." And I prayed about it and I said, "Whatever, Lord." That's how I got involved in it.

So it's a God thing, and we have a great bunch of men and women who are dedicated, who are working every day and have been for the past year. We've been praying every day. What GAP 26 is all about is bringing America to prayer all across the country. We have all 50 states involved, and Hank Erwin has traveled to all 50 states at one time or another. We have what we call ambassadors in each state who said, "We will take over the state for you. We are the man or woman that will lead GAP 26 in our state."

So it's been a wonderful thing to see. One of the great things about being close to God is watching the people He puts together. People come from places you don't even know where they come from or how they get there. It's just a beautiful fabric of His work. So we've got lots of people involved, and we're going to have on four nights at the conclusion of this month, we'll be going four nights on March 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th from the Wonder Center in Dickson.

We're going to be broadcasting for two hours each night around the world and streaming. Holly McClure, who was with TBN for a number of years, she's in Texas right now working out there, but she's going to co-host it with me. So we have two hours every night lined up. We're going to begin first on March 1st with what we call Revival Sunday. We're going to be talking about and going to different sites across the country where things are happening.

We know only God can engineer a revival. We can't do that. We can say we want to pray all year and have a great four nights of revival. We hope so. If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn't, it doesn't. We're still talking about the things that need to be talked about for this country, as you preach about. Thank you for the boldness that you take a lot of times up in your pulpit. There are not many people out there like you. For you people who love this man, like so many people do here, be thankful for him because you tell it, you speak the knowledge and the information and the depth at which we need to hear it.

Allen Jackson: You're kind. I'm afraid of the boss. If we don't tell the truth, we have to answer to Him.

Ho Pines: Exactly. We have a lot of pastors involved. Charles McGowan, you know Charles McGowan. Charles is on our board. Charles is a wonderful man of God, and he was at Christ Pres for so many years. So we're starting on that Sunday night, and it's called Revival Sunday. It's going to be the kickoff. And then on the next night, on Monday night, it's Youth Night, Gen Z. Do you think they need to know a thing or two about maybe what we might talk about? So we hope people are going to tune in for that.

Then it's going to be on the next night, a night for men to come together, and we're going to talk to them about the things that men need to talk about, need to hear. And then we're going to wind up with Family Night to wind it all up. So we've got something programmed and planned for each night, and things will be happening across the country that we'll take you to via stream and TV and that sort of thing where people can actually watch what other people are doing.

We've got Delaware that's going to put up a 40 by 60 tent there on the state capital for prayer and for worship that week. And we've got in Nebraska, the Cowboy Church, and they're doing a small rodeo. So that's what we're doing. That's what we're about. It's just saying we're praying for this country, who needs to return to the God that it was at one time when we were founded.

Allen Jackson: It's our heritage. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We have a heritage of a Christian faith in this nation. We've never been a uniquely Christian nation in that there were only Christians here, but the values that have shaped us as a people have come from that Judeo-Christian worldview. If we don't come back to that heritage, we're going to lose our liberty and freedom.

Ho Pines: Well, how privileged are we to be here at this time in the history of the world? I mean, it's right. That's how I feel, and that's how most of the people I'm working with feel. God ordained us to be here for these reasons. We're trying to do our best with what He's given us to do, and we're calling people. Our culture's in such trouble, our society's in such trouble. We've got to shine that light.

Allen Jackson: You don't have to look far to see that our economy is in real turmoil. Our nation is $37 trillion in debt. Inflation rates have made it hard to buy and sell a house, even a car. We're all feeling it. When you go to the grocery store and you spend that extra dollar or two on every item, it gets personal in a hurry. The most important thing we can do during uncertain times is to invest ourselves in knowing God better. Read His word, pray. That's the only place we're really going to find the stability we need for the disruption that I'm pretty certain is ahead of us.

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God not only put us here, I believe if He did, I believe He's given us what we need to be effective. So we don't have to be frightened or filled with dread. If we'll yield ourselves to the Lord, He'll bring the victory.

Ho Pines: I have been pondering on that lately. It's easy to get in a down mood. And then when you realize, what am I doing? My eyes just have not been on Christ. When I put my eyes back on Christ, I don't have that problem. That's the kind of message that I know you want to get out and we want to get out to people across the world. If you'll just trust Him. And that's hard to do for people who live in the natural. He wants to take our natural and put His super on it. Right? We've got some supernatural going now.

Allen Jackson: That's awesome. You did this last year, right?

Ho Pines: Well, it was a little bit different. Last year was November 4th, the day before the election. Now, we didn't tell anybody how to vote. We just said go vote, and we were praying. We did five hours, one night, and we went all across America to different places that we had designated and people agreeing to put on events and prayer and tell us what's going on there. Alaska, Hawaii, we were in Utah, we were in Virginia, we were in California. It was a great night and the Lord just did some wonderful things. After that was over is when we sat down and said, "Oh, it's over. What do we do now?" Then we started thinking, and then we just came up with this idea. Hank came up with this idea, let's just keep it going until Jesus comes back.

Allen Jackson: That'd be a good day. I want to be busy about His business when that happens, don't you?

Ho Pines: Exactly. Just, Lord, send me in. I'm ready to go.

Allen Jackson: So if people are listening, one of the things that's always at the center of this podcast is what can we do? So somebody listening to this, how can they help? How can they be a part of this? Can they come to Dickson and be a part actually of the live part of that?

Ho Pines: Yes, they can. That studio holds about 400, 450 people. So we're going to try to have an audience there every night starting on March 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. So you can certainly go to that. Go to our website, and that is gap-event.org. We've got anything you want to know about us, how you can contribute, how you can be a part of it. If you don't find it there, call me. I'll give you my number.

Allen Jackson: So if we wanted to get a Sunday school class or a small group or some group of people, we could either visit and be a part of it, or we could stream it and watch it in our homes?

Ho Pines: Yes. That's what we're asking people across the country to do and that's what they're doing. Pastors have gathered and have been praying with congregations and designating certain homes. Take your small group, for instance. Do that in your small group. We're not the gurus on this thing. We're kind of walking through it like you are, but we are the initiators of getting America together. It's never happened before in the history of this world. 250 years it's this year. And so we're just privileged to be a part of that. In the Declaration of Independence, God's mentioned four times. Something's going on. He means for that to trickle on down to where we are today. God is on the throne.

Allen Jackson: Absolutely. Well, Ho, I appreciate what you're doing. I think it's so important. Your life's made an impact in Middle Tennessee over a broad period of time. I respect you for taking that influence that God gave you and using it for the purposes of His kingdom. Not everybody's going to celebrate that. I think it's not just a testimony, I think it's a model for a lot of the people listening to us. If God gives you influence, if He gives you the gifts and the abilities to be successful, I think the purpose of that is to use that influence for the sake of the kingdom of God. Raymond Berry, I love Raymond Berry. He lived in Murfreesboro and came to church. He has a good church. But he said to me that if God gives you that influence, it's for a purpose of His kingdom. I've never forgotten it. Raymond found that in his life. He's walking off the field from the greatest game ever played, and the Lord revealed Himself to him. The next chapter of his life is different. It still involved with football. But I think you've modeled that in such a beautiful way.

Ho Pines: Thank you, sir. He was a pleasure to interview. I had him on my talk show on Channel 5 a number of times. He was just the prince of a guy, so good. He and Johnny Unitas. I did play-by-play for the Colts before they left Baltimore. I remember the Colts in Baltimore. That takes me back a ways. But Johnny U was my color man. I'm going to tell you what, it was like traveling with a rock star. Everywhere we went, people just wanted his autograph. He would stand and he would shake their hand, he would talk to them, pat their babies, kiss their wives or whatever. He was such a great guy.

Allen Jackson: I was a kid and I remember we had a friend that had a color television. I'm going to date myself. We went over to their house to watch the Super Bowl when the Colts played the Jets. I was so disappointed because I kept waiting for the Colts just to crush that smart-mouth Joe Namath.

Ho Pines: They were supposed to. They were supposed to.

Allen Jackson: And that didn't work out so well.

Ho Pines: Didn't work out that way. Joe Namath built a career after that on that, too. He's still doing commercials.

Allen Jackson: That's amazing. I just believe that God's going to pour out His Spirit across this country in the coming days between now and March 1st. I just feel it. We all feel it. We don't know what He's going to do, how He's going to do it, but we're just trying to do our part to bring America back to their knees. We all need to be on our knees in whatever form you want to do that. Just get on your knees at night and talk to God, talk to Jesus. I'm telling you what, He's standing there waiting.

Allen Jackson: We don't have to wait for GAP 26 to start to pray for our nation. We can start tonight. GAP 26 can be the crescendo of days and weeks of prayer individually and corporately. Prayer isn't telling God what to do, prayer's an invitation into the God in the midst of our circumstances. I want to be guilty of inviting God's help. He doesn't always answer my prayers in the way that I thought He would or the way that I wanted Him to, but He's always been faithful to me.

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There's so much happening that is discouraging and disappointing. The knuckleheads have too many cameras and have too many keyboards. What I really appreciate about what you and Hank are doing is it's really an expression of hope that the God we worship has a history of transforming not just lives, but cultures. We have to believe that He can do that in the 21st century where we live. It might as well start with us. Don't ever think anything's too big for God. We can bring prayer into our homes. Don't lose your focus because the people you want to pray aren't praying. You start to pray. We get upset because my pastor won't do this or that, or my husband or my wife won't do this or that. If you and I will decide to be the people God created us to be and tape that accelerator to the floorboard and go honor the Lord with our life, God will bring about the outcomes that will cause His enemies to stand and just shake their head.

Ho Pines: We may be the only Jesus somebody sees today or hears. So we have to take advantage, we have to do it because if we don't, who will?

Allen Jackson: If we don't, somebody else will and then I'm going to be really sad. I never was one that enjoyed sitting on the bench. I don't want to sit on a bench and watch somebody else play. I didn't want to do it in sports and I certainly don't want to do it with the kingdom of God. When I see people that are moving with the Lord, I want to do anything I can to add momentum to that or to join them or to be a part of that. I'm not going to stand on the sidelines or sit in the bleachers and criticize the people that are engaged. That makes no sense to me.

Ho Pines: Well, you can get on board with GAP 26, go to our website once again, and we'll do whatever we can for you. If you want to contact us, contact us. We've got phone numbers there. We're not afraid to talk to people.

Allen Jackson: I've never known Ho Pines to be afraid to talk to people.

Ho Pines: No, I love to talk to people. I love doing talk shows. You're excellent at it. You should have been in television as well. Well, you are a TV preacher.

Allen Jackson: I did that reluctantly.

Ho Pines: But now you wouldn't change it, I bet. Right? Most days I'm okay with it. There you go. No, listen, you talk about a huge footprint, you got a huge footprint too, my friend.

Allen Jackson: So do you have like a sport coat Hall of Fame?

Ho Pines: No. Yeah, you know, I got, listen, I retired 14 years ago. This is one of the relics that I wore.

Allen Jackson: Was there a clothier's men's shop that sponsored you?

Ho Pines: Am I allowed to ask that? Okay, wait. You remember leisure suits?

Allen Jackson: I do.

Ho Pines: Back in the day, now we're talking back in the '70s. Leisure suits, everybody wore them. And yes, I did commercials for a leisure suit company here in town. Man, I'm telling you what, I had more leisure suits.

Allen Jackson: Can I find some video of that? We'll make you famous all over again.

Ho Pines: Half the audience out there won't know what we're talking about. But leisure suits were big. But yes, you had to have clothes and you had to wear makeup, you know, all of that kind of thing. But it was part of the process, part of it. Here again, I'm just so thankful to be in my career during the years when local television was the thing. Not anymore so much. So much competition out there. But people, you keep listening to Allen Jackson and people like him across the country and you will get all the knowledge and all that you need about our Lord and Savior. Just come taste Him. Just get involved and put your foot in the water. Once you do, I don't think you'll ever take it out. And once you do, He's got you for life and you're going to be in a heavenly place. We'll be there, we'll greet you when you get there.

Allen Jackson: That's good preaching. My guest is Ho Pines. The initiative is GAP 26. It's really a call to prayer for our nation. All 50 states, a whole variety of expressions. The epicenter of that is in Dickson, Tennessee, March 1st through the 4th. They can go to gap-event.org to get all the details. Find out all about us. And by the way, at the Wonder Center, we've got four, five Indian tribes that are going to be represented. They're going to be there in their full regalia. We have almost the whole Indian nation that's going to be involved through their networks. You've been working on this. Hank has been working on it. I've been helping, but we've got a great team. When God puts people together like this, how can you miss? It's a slam dunk home run, walk-off home run every day.

The question we always try to answer is what can we do? We can pray. And if your calendar permits, you can be in Dickson. If it doesn't, open your home, invite some people in. Let's make this a thing. Because we want people to come out in person, but you need to call us and kind of make reservations because we could fill up with 400 seats pretty quick, especially now that we've been on his podcast. That'll do it for sure.

I don't want to talk about prayer, I want to pray. So let's ask God for His blessing on this. Father, I thank You. We serve at Your pleasure, and I'm grateful that there is so much evidence that You're moving in the earth. Lord, I thank You for what You put in Ho's heart for GAP 26, and I pray that You'll take he and Hank's efforts and add to those Your blessing. Stir the hearts of Your people from coast to coast and border to border, in cities and villages and communities and homes and churches, Lord, to begin to pray as we've never prayed before. I pray that we would respond in such a way that You would be able to bless America again. Lord, You have blessed us over and over again, but we are in need of Your guidance and direction. I pray You'll use this event to add momentum to what You have begun, in Jesus' name. Amen. Ho, thank you. It's been a pleasure. It is an honor to sit down with you. I feel like I need to go check the scores, so we'll come back and do an update and celebrate what God does. You've got an assignment. Don't just be hearers about what God's doing, get involved with it. Tell a friend, share the message, go check out the website. Let's make this thing impossible to miss. Let's make Him so busy over these next few weeks that He won't keep giving out His phone number. God is moving in the earth, and we want to be a part. Thanks for being a part of the podcast today.

Thanks for joining me today. Before you go, please like the podcast and leave a comment so more people can hear about this topic too. If you haven't yet, be sure and subscribe to Allen Jackson Ministries YouTube channel and follow the Culture and Christianity podcast. You can do that on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Together, let's learn how to lead with our faith. We can change our culture. I'll see you next time.