Ep 54: Echoes of Radio's Past (Part 2) - Divine Timing and Global Connections Mark a Playful Journey of Faith and Fellowship
Feb 02, 2024Season 2Episode 54
Pastor/ Artist Fred Kenney Jr.
"Join us as we continue to share miraculous road-trip tales, testaments to the divine timing we've seen time and again. Today we not only recount our adventures but celebrate the sacred connections and protections that carry us forward."
Pastor Teddy (Fred David Kenney Jr.) joins us, again in this episode with his wife, Katie Kenney, weaving these narratives with biblical wisdom and shining a light on how faith and fellowship have been their North Star through storms and breakdowns alike. They share tales of international reach, with their podcast's message of hope resonating in 44 countries/ territories, and recount performances that warmed hearts from Wisconsin's snow-covered roads to Maryland's welcoming churches and schools.
As they journeyed, their van's breakdown became a powerful time of prayer and perseverance, mirroring Moses at the Red Sea, and culminating in a rain-soaked reunion with Pastor Kohl and a divine appointment that affirmed their belief in the power of listening to the Holy Spirit. They wrap up with a heartfelt thanks to their global family and a reminder of the steadfast presence of God's love, no matter how topsy-turvy the world seems. So join us for an episode that's not just a recounting of adventures but a celebration of the divine connections and protections that carry us forward.
"Join us as we continue to share miraculous road-trip tales, testaments to the divine timing we've seen time and again. Today we not only recount our adventures but celebrate the sacred connections and protections that carry us forward."
Pastor Teddy (Fred David Kenney Jr.) joins us, again in this episode with his wife, Katie Kenney, weaving these narratives with biblical wisdom and shining a light on how faith and fellowship have been their North Star through storms and breakdowns alike. They share tales of international reach, with their podcast's message of hope resonating in 44 countries/ territories, and recount performances that warmed hearts from Wisconsin's snow-covered roads to Maryland's welcoming churches and schools.
As they journeyed, their van's breakdown became a powerful time of prayer and perseverance, mirroring Moses at the Red Sea, and culminating in a rain-soaked reunion with Pastor Kohl and a divine appointment that affirmed their belief in the power of listening to the Holy Spirit. They wrap up with a heartfelt thanks to their global family and a reminder of the steadfast presence of God's love, no matter how topsy-turvy the world seems. So join us for an episode that's not just a recounting of adventures but a celebration of the divine connections and protections that carry us forward.
Back to Jersey and then drove down to DC Maryland area, and it was as if God kept the engine perfectly fine until it was time and he took his hand off the radiator cap and that's when the problem started, when we were going over that bridge. And so I told this to this kid and he was like man, you sure are lucky. And I said no, no, no, no, no, no luck has nothing to do with it. Uh-uh, uh-uh, no, the good Lord is the one who got me here, got me to this auto song. God got me to this auto song.
Speaker 3:
Jesus Just be on the stage.
Speaker 2:
You're the only thing. You're the only thing.
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to Plays On Word Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenney Jr, the founder of Plays On Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the word of God.
Speaker 3:
I don't know if we've mentioned, but we've also been streamed in 43 countries and territories 43 countries, yeah Wow. So look what God can do.
Speaker 2:
43 people from around the world have been checking it out and streaming. I know my cousins in Germany, noah and Hannah Kenny. They've streamed it. I know that I know they listen. My buddy, leon is in England and he listens, and of course, our family in Albania. They play it. Tony Reyes, over in the Philippines. I know he's listened and streamed it and I don't know who the other 43, who else? But it's you know. Oh yeah, we have them. Isaac Mubamba, over in Uganda.
Speaker 1:
Right, I know he's just a whole list of them and Aksin Kaunga in Zambia.
Speaker 2:
Yes, they've been on it, but we're going to interview them. But I want to go out there. He's giving us the invite. He said come on out, I want to go out there.
Speaker 3:
So Well, hey, you know how that starts. You get someone who wants us to come. We drove to Wisconsin this year, yeah let's talk about that this past year, I mean, and this is like five years in the making. I'm telling you, if you have not heard that podcast I think that was, I forget what number it was, we can look it up, but that was even from the perspective of the pastor. That was a pretty cool interview. Yeah, that was like five years in the making. Yeah, right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, Dave was talking about this madman. Dave looked at me and he was like this guy's out of his mind, this guy's nuts. But I kind of like him. Yeah, it was. You know, I always look for that guy because he's such a blessing just to be around. He's got a calming influence. He's a very calm character, you know. He's just straightforward calm. And I guess it's the cheese, the Wisconsin cheese, I don't know, but we had a fantastic time when we were out there. They showed us all kinds of great love out there, you know, Wasn't that a fun trip.
Speaker 3:
That was incredible.
Speaker 2:
Even though the was it the wiper stop or no, it was just we got caught in the snow. It was the first snow storm of the year and it started when we were there and I was like uh-oh, and it followed us all the way back to Jersey.
Speaker 3:
I was like I can't believe this storm is following us and you know when we were planning this, months and months and months prior. You know we were trying to figure out dates and you know that coordinated with the church and he said October, november. But you're getting a little iffy, yeah yeah, he even said that. You know, the later in the year that you go, you know. So, yeah, so that was. I mean, we rolled up there and it was spring, it was beautiful.
Speaker 2:
The next day, or whatever. It was like what?
Speaker 3:
Like, yeah, I think we were getting ready to go home and we were like, what happened?
Speaker 2:
It was like a good Lord just holding everything back.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, check that out. On social media too, we posted a bunch of stuff on Facebook and it was just like what?
Speaker 2:
So, speaking of the good Lord holding things back, how about when we went to Maryland, to the Bel Air Baptist and the Christian school down there, and we did our Pete play, one for the school and then one for the church?
Speaker 3:
Is that this past year? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was this past year. Yeah, because what my point is what I'm getting into is.
Speaker 2:
We did that. We did like a Friday or a Saturday, and then Sunday we went to Bishop Ways. Go ahead, bishop. Yeah, good brother, bishop Way.
Speaker 3:
Jackie Cole's church, that's right holding it down.
Speaker 2:
And we went there and on the way back is when we had our challenge. We did a bunch of plays. It was in the middle of our Pete tour. And then that Sunday we went to the service and Bishop Way, he said Pastor Kenny, go and come on up and close out the service. He said I do the benediction for us. And so I came up and I just prayed and then to close the service and they had to go somewhere and we were like all right, we're gonna get on the road and head back home. And this is after a pretty grueling part of the tour, because I believe the week before, or maybe four days, three or four days before, we were in Lambertville. Remember we were in Lambertville, that's right, we were in Lambertville for that whole Shad Festival and that weekend of doing the Pete play we did three.
Speaker 2:
I have two or three Pete plays and we preached this that Sunday morning and then we made our way down to Maryland and we drove around and so now it's Sunday, we leave Bishop Ways and we're driving through Annapolis yeah, I think it was Annapolis, yeah and we're making our way and we're going over this bridge and all of a sudden the check like three different check engine lights type of lights came on. One said power loss. I never saw that before. I was like what Check engine temperature gauge started rising. I'm like, oh man, what's going on here? And I noticed that we lost power. It felt like it dropped down to two cylinders were working on a V8. So we pull over.
Speaker 2:
To make a long story short, we pull over once we got over this bridge and I'm like man, I got to let this thing cool off. I don't know what's going on, so let it cool off for about 10 minutes. Started back up, started driving and about a minute into it, temperature starts rising again. I'm like, oh man, this is not good, I don't know what's going on here. So we pull into the restaurant right there because we need to get some lunch and I'm just like man, I'm too tired to deal with this right now. I was fatigued beyond belief, just tired, and I'm exhausted Now. I got to do a three and a half hour drive home, right outside of DC, right, you know, I'm just like, oh man, so we pull over, we eat and I'm thinking, let me just let this whole engine cool off and see what's going on.
Speaker 2:
So then I go back out and open up the hood and I look and there's no cap on the radiator. I couldn't believe it. There was no cap on the radiator. And I'm looking and the radiator's bone dry. No-transcript. Wait a minute, what? And my first thought was who would steal a radiator cap? That's just cold blooded. And then I'm like maybe it popped off or something. I'm looking, could it have popped off? It didn't pop off, but all the coolant boiled off, boiled out, and I'm like, oh man, this is not good.
Speaker 2:
So I took the water that I had in the van which was like a half of a liter of water If that poured it into the radiator. And then I rigged, I made this cap I forget what from duct tape or some other things and just taped it up. You MacGyvered it. I went for MacGyver on that. Yeah, a lot of these young kids part of it. Yes, you don't Google that, you'll understand. Yeah, some of the old heads know. So then I'm like, oh man, this is not good. So, hopefully, man, we let's see how far we can get with this. And we started driving and it and it drove for about three minutes at that time and then all of a sudden started started up again and I'm like, oh man, this is terrible. So we pulled into a.
Speaker 1:
A wah, wah made it to the wah wah.
Speaker 2:
I got a couple gallons of water and some coolant and I really topped it off and I'm like, okay, all right, this might work. And I still had the rigged cap and I'm like I gotta get to a auto parts place somehow. Now, keep in mind, this is after being completely fatigued. I'm tired, but God gave me peace. I had a peace and I felt like I was being tested yeah, or every just feel like like there are eyes on you. You know, you feel like there's eyes on you and it's like, okay, wait a second, this is a test here. You know, and I believe God, let me know, Dude, this is a test, Okay, and that helped me to to pass, in the sense that I didn't, you know, I could have easily let my flesh take over and been frustrated and been angry, all upset and started, you know, kick the van or whatever, but I had a peace about it and I remember God just gave me a like a little vision of Moses standing at the Red Sea when Pharaoh's armies armies was coming at him before the Red Sea was parted. And that was the only glimpse I got.
Speaker 2:
And I found an auto zone online. I found an auto zone about five miles away. But we had to go over this pretty big bridge with no shoulder. And I remember thinking to myself oh man, I gotta go over this bridge here. I don't think it's gonna. I don't know if it's gonna make it over the bridge. What if it breaks down? There's no shoulder, I'm gonna. If it breaks down on the bridge, I'm gonna back traffic up for miles.
Speaker 2:
This is a disaster and I remember God, just and it was let me give you this on top of it no-transcript Pouring, so as I was rigging the cap and under the hood I'm completely soaking wet. But I remember thinking to myself Okay, I think we're gonna have to go over this. And by this point Katie had people praying right.
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So this is an important part of it too, because, you know, at this point we obviously had reached out to, to our family and we had a lot of people praying, and Some of the people that were praying were Pastor Cole and his wife, debbie, who happened to live Not very far from, maybe six miles away from, that auto zone, so they had they actually volunteered to come out and to bring us the cap. So here my husband saying, I think we're just supposed to go over there, and I'm thinking, okay, logically, this doesn't really make sense to me, because if we break down on that bridge we are in trouble and they'll bring it to us. But you know, you had such a, there was such a piece about you and there was just like I think this is we're so, this is something we're supposed to do so was challenging me to trust.
Speaker 3:
Yeah. So I was like alright, well, I trust the Lord and I trust you, so we're just gonna.
Speaker 2:
Well, I'm thinking to the Lord. I said Lord, I trust you, but you realize Katie is trusting me because I trust you. So if this doesn't work, I'm gonna really catch it. I mean, that was the conversation. I mean clearly like it's like I'm really kind of we risk this right.
Speaker 3:
You know when someone can bring it to us. But I really feel more to the story.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, he was saying he was really saying you know you you, are you gonna trust me?
Speaker 2:
Because? And then it came back, that whole picture, that little flashed, a little shot of Moses with his back up against the Red Sea and all the people Grumbling saying dude, do you see the smoke, the dust from all the chariots from Pharaoh's army coming to get us? You brought us all the way out here, our backs up against this water. We have no boats, we have no way to go. And Moses, you know, the Lord instructed him. He said hold the staff over the water.
Speaker 2:
And I believe Moses was a guy you know there must have been at some point. I mean, was he just full of complete faith or was he like man? I hope this works, you know, I don't know, but I wanted to be the guy that just was full of faith. And I do want to have fake, phony faith. I want to hear from God. And I was like Lord, I really hope I'm hearing from you right now, because not, this is gonna be bad on so many levels. And I said, katie, you gotta, you gotta just trust me. I really think the Lord wants us to go over this bridge. And she looked at me like really, okay. Then I was like all right, all right.
Speaker 2:
All right, all right, and she was basically what she was saying was all right, I'm gonna trust that, trusted you're hearing from God, and so that I looked up to the Lord and I'm like Lord, I'm trusting, I'm hearing from God, you know. And so I started over the bridge and I don't know how many, I don't think I took my eyes off the needle for the. You're looking down, I was looking up and down and up, but I didn't take my eyes off the needle.
Speaker 3:
Oh, you're looking up and down so you could get over the road, but I know every time I was down it went right back to that needle.
Speaker 2:
Right back to the needle my eyes are blue, and yeah, and and and.
Speaker 2:
So we got over the bridge, we made it to AutoZone. It's pouring, cats and dogs raining. It's raining like crazy. And Then Pastor Cole comes out and meets us there. He came and met us at the AutoZone, in the ring. God bless this guy. He was like you know what, I'm gonna come, I'm good, you know, I want to be there and talk about a servant. What a great guy. And so we're sitting there and we got to the AutoZone.
Speaker 2:
I go into the AutoZone, I'm in line and I see this, this young guy, this young kid behind the counter. He's maybe 1920, something like that, 1819-20. I told him. I said, man, we've been driving around for like 300 or 400 miles without a radiator cap. You know, because we, when we were at Lamberville, we didn't have the radiator cap. It was as if God has had his hand on we drove to Pennsylvania, pennsylvania, and then drove all around and then drove back to Jersey and then drove down to DC, maryland area, and it was as if God kept the engine perfectly fine until it was time and he took his hand off the radiator cap. And that's when the problem started, when we were going over that bridge.
Speaker 2:
And so I told us to this kid and he was like man, you sure are lucky. And I said no, no, no, no, no, luck has nothing to do with it. Uh-uh, uh-uh, no, the good Lord is the one who got me here, got me to this AutoZone. God got me to this AutoZone and he looked up and he said yeah, yeah, I don't really believe in God. I've had a pretty hard life and I don't really believe in God. And I looked for the camera, as if Alan Funk from Candy candy camera was looking, and I'm like, I'm like I can't believe this man Really. I said, man, you know you might not believe in God, but God believes in you. Okay, and God absolutely sent me here to tell you he loves you and cares about you. Dude, and there's no other explanation for for this you didn't. Nobody's driving as far as we did with no radiator cap. It's a pressurized system to separate mission trips to two different mission trips.
Speaker 2:
And so, anyway, this young guy I got his contact is, I got his name. Let me tell you the rest of this story. I got his name and so when I I told myself I'm gonna pray for you, bro, and On the way out he got me a new radiator cap. Good to go, it ran rock solid back to Jersey as if nothing ever happened, even ever happened. Got back to Jersey and I wrote this, this guy letter, this young guy With the gospel in it, and I put a gospel of John in in the package and just explained to him that God loves him enough to engineer some craziness for a servant like me to come and share the gospel with him. And but they got sent back.
Speaker 2:
A week later got sent back to my house in New Jersey and I'm like, oh, I was like why is this sent back? Cuz I didn't get his address. I just got his name. So I called up the auto zone. I say hey, man, so and so See, there, they're like no, he doesn't work here anymore. I'm like what do you mean? He doesn't work there? How does he not work? What? Oh yeah, he left a couple days ago. I was like what?
Speaker 2:
So I asked the guy. I said can you give me his phone number or anything? The guy didn't want to give me his phone number. He did say oh, he's on Facebook. So he gave me his Facebook contact. I had Katie reach out on Facebook. Katie reached out and it, yeah, we found him. We found him. The Lord found him. Little research, but we found him. He was actually grateful. He was grateful. I sent him the Bible and the letter that the Lord had me write and he was grateful and he went on to share with me that his parents, his moms and his wicking stuff and his dad is like a Satan worshiper. So I was like, wow.
Speaker 2:
Yeah it was real heavy. I was like oh my goodness man, the guy is mad, cool. Major spiritual warfare.
Speaker 3:
The kid is core. Yeah, it was major spiritual warfare.
Speaker 2:
I told him, I said I'm praying for you, bro, I am praying for you and I believe the Lord has something planned for that that guy he doesn't even know it yet and I've shared with him and I've continued to stay in contact with him Just said, dude, the Lord loves you, man. And that's important for people to know, Because the enemy has people bamboozled in the thinking that God doesn't care about him, or God doesn't care because bad things happen, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Speaker 3:
And I don't know, did you mention this? But he had said that no one had ever reached out to him or spent the time like that with him before he was really moved. Yeah, it's important, and I say that not with pride at all, because I just say that, because clearly that's the reason why we had to go over the bridge for that young dude. And so when you listen to that still small, strong voice, when the Lord speaks to you and tells you you need to do something, and then when he is so, graciously, shows you why you were supposed to do that, I mean how blessed, how blessed are we to be like, oh, thank you Lord, I'm so glad I didn't complain.
Speaker 2:
Yes, yeah, there wasn't I mean, you were really Well, that was because of him.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, you were calm, I was calm.
Speaker 2:
We're like all right, my normal flesh would have been like what is going on here.
Speaker 3:
I can't believe this.
Speaker 2:
You, unusually, I did remember saying Lord, really like, really Lord, like, after all the ministry we just did. You can't cut a brother some slack. Can you help me out, man?
Speaker 3:
It's a pretty big outtie. Look how important the ministry was. We went on two trips without a radio. How many like? There are a couple other people like you know, like car dudes, that said that doesn't happen.
Speaker 2:
And it just brings to my mind James says count it all. Joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For it, you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Speaker 2:
Just James, chapter one, verse two. You know, count it all joy. And I remember saying, remember saying I'm trying to count this all joy, I really need your help here and I just felt like, okay, this is a test, this is unusual. So I just want to encourage you guys with that. We have so much more we could talk about. I mean we could. We want to interview Bill and Louise Cole, some of our and so many of our supporters that are on the team that have helped to hold us up and lift us up and to do the work we're doing. So we'll, we'll get back again. Katie Kenny, thank you very much.
Speaker 3:
Yes, I'm, I'm really, you know, I'm moved by by so many of the interviews that we get to, to just hear the testimonials, the testimonials of the people that we, the God introduces us to and we, just we. Thank you for your support With this, this podcast. I you know we were talking about all the places that we've been streamed and I was gonna read them off, but I can't pronounce some of them, so we'll probably put them in a list for you. And how cool is this? From the last time we checked, doing some just some work, and I just told you there were 43 countries, territories were up to 44, so look at the good.
Speaker 2:
Anyway, well, thank you, thank you guys for for just being part of this, and Please continue to listen and continue to share this with people that need to hear about the the good news of Jesus Christ because, besides the fact that he's coming back soon, sooner than later, sooner than when we first started this broadcast, the world needs to know that he does love them. You know, people need to know that God loves them and that the world has been bamboozled and been had the wool pull over. Things are upside down right now, but God's way is the right way. With that being said, we're gonna. We're gonna head out and we will see you guys next time on, please, on word radio. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you. The Lord be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and Give you peace.
Speaker 1:
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