Classic Episode Welcome

Announcer 0:01

Welcome to A Leading Conversations Classic Podcast. We've searched through early episodes to find some of the best just for you. If you've been with us from the beginning, you may have heard some of these. If you haven't, enjoy this classic episode. Welcome to the Leading Conversations Podcast, sponsored by the Excel Leadership Network. On each episode, JD Pering will have conversations with church planting pastors and leaders from around the country. You can learn more about how to connect with Excel at the end of this podcast. Let's join JD now and listen in on this leading conversation.

Jeff Wells’ Early Faith Questions

J.D. Pearring 0:45

Welcome to the Excel podcast. I am so excited today to have one of my best friends in life. One of my uh comrades, partners, teammates, Colonel Jeff Wells. Uh, thanks, Jeff, for agreeing to do this.

Geoff Wells 1:02

You're quite welcome.

J.D. Pearring 1:05

Hey, I would love for people just to hear this, uh, your story, especially as a kid, some of the stuff that happened that uh made you realize maybe there actually is a God. So tell us tell us a little bit about your upbringing and what happened.

Geoff Wells 1:20

Okay. I come from a family that was a broken family. Uh my earliest remembrances uh in my childhood, I was uh, I guess about uh three. Uh I have uh three brothers uh or by my dad, and uh my mom and my other brothers were all living alone in a little house on the corner of Brooks and Sixth Avenue in Venice, California. And we lived in one of those neighborhoods that was kind of diverse, uh, because I mean we had some of everybody in the neighborhood, black, Asian, uh, Hispanic, white. I mean, it was just it was a crazy little place. Uh and I can remember because my dad used to come every week to to pick us up and take us and visit. Uh and uh things got kind of bad because uh there was uh some anger between my mom and my dad that uh we kids did not understand. A couple years later, my mother met another guy and they got together and we moved. But I used to go back to the old neighborhood and just visit guys that uh I went to school with. But uh it was just kind of crazy. And uh I guess I was about uh 10 or 11. We started going to the first Baptist Church in Venice. The pastor lived right around the corner from us. It was great. Uh they had uh you know, they had a kid's ministry, and uh I got to join the Trail Explorer because I think I was 11. Uh, but then my cousin moved in down the street. We used to spend the days playing, uh just you know, being in the street. That's what kids did in Los Angeles. Uh and my mother

The Eye Injury And Unexpected Healing

Geoff Wells 3:20

always chided us about uh throwing rocks and shooting slingshots. Uh and we didn't listen. We were, you know, boys, being boys. Uh and one afternoon, uh I was I walked out on my back porch, and my cousin was downstairs uh trying to shoot me with his slingshot. And I told him, ah, you couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. And uh then he hit me square in my left eye with a little round berry, and all I could see was red. I knew I was in trouble because my mother was gonna be home shortly, and I knew she was gonna kill me if I didn't die before that. The long and the short of it, uh, they rushed me. I mean, they got back in rush hour traffic, uh, headed for Los Angeles for Queen of Angels Hospital. And uh the doctor there told me that I would not see out of my left eye. Uh but I do, I see him today with vision better than I had when I got shot. Uh so long and the short of it is uh the uh the church uh intervened to help my mom, uh and it made me realize that God did love me and uh that he had something for me to do. I didn't know what that was. But uh after the doctors had given me up for not being able to see, I saw just fine. Uh and that made me question, okay, how could this happen if the experts say you're not gonna see, and you can see. And uh it just brought me to the realization that God did love me and that he intervened on my behalf. And that was that was my faith moment. That was when I said, you know, there is a God, and uh he's more powerful than anybody else in the world. Uh the unfortunate thing is as I grew older, I said, Hey, I've got this and I can take control. So uh, you know, and I I was I was I guess I had some gifts I didn't really know about. Uh I wasn't

Track, Talent And Taking Control

Geoff Wells 5:40

the dumbass.

J.D. Pearring 5:40

You were a gifted athlete, right?

Geoff Wells 5:42

You're uh pretty fast runner. I was a very fast runner. Uh I ran from the track coach for a while, and then one day he caught me uh with a friend, and uh the next thing was history. My high school, in high school, the the guy used to watch me run every day, and he says, You're gonna be on the track team. I said, No, I'm not. Uh, but he was smarter than I was because he switched me from uh from fourth period gym to sixth period gym and told me if I didn't uh run that I would fail PE. I said, No, I said nobody in the world can fail PE. He said, Well, if you don't run, you will. From there, I met uh another guy who uh became a significant guy in my life, Ted Banks, was my coach in college. I avoided him for a while, but then he caught me and uh I ran track in college. Uh and I was pretty good, but you know, I wasn't anything really to speak about. I I ran with Lee Evans uh the first time he ever ran a half mile, he ran in the 140s, and I was right at 150. So but uh I I think uh for the most part, what happened uh after I finished college, I went into uh, you know, I was on my own track. And

The Army Years And Spiritual Hunger

Geoff Wells 7:10

uh I was following Jeff well and uh I wasn't following God. Um I went in the army and I realized that my life was pretty empty. And uh it wasn't until uh 1980, 80, I guess it was 84, I I went to enjoy the best year of my life at uh Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. And the guy who moved in next to me was a pastor. I said, wow, this is great. Because I started asking him questions that I had about uh about you know God and redemption and those kinds of things. And uh, you know, he answered some of those things for me, but not not enough to make me really feel satisfied. Uh I ended up leaving the army and then one day I got a postcard in the mail. I had moved in here in Elk Grove, and uh there was some church discovery, was meeting in a theater, and I went and I met this guy named J.D. Perry. And uh I the one thing that uh interested me about him was he seemed to walk consistent with the way he talked. And that kind of that kind of struck me. Uh so uh one day I just decided I said we're gonna go to this church and see what this is really all about. And he kept saying that we had to uh let Jesus be the leader in our lives. And I saw him doing that, and I said, I I I can get behind that. So he started taking me to all these crazy meetings about church planning. I said, I don't know nothing about that. I says, but uh I I want to I want to know Jesus better and I want to I want to commit my life to him. So I followed JD as he followed Jesus and uh man that was in 19 uh 97 when that first happened and I'm still kind of following him, follow Jesus.

J.D. Pearring 9:20

That's a long time ago.

Geoff Wells 9:22

Yes.

J.D. Pearring 9:24

Hey, talk.

A Moving Van Fire Resets Priorities

J.D. Pearring 9:25

I know when you moved to uh to Sacramento from the East Coast to retire, talk about what happened on that trip.

Geoff Wells 9:33

Oh interesting.

J.D. Pearring 9:36

Because I think that set you up for uh searching out God a little more.

Geoff Wells 9:41

Oh, it did. Uh well, I mean, we had traveled around the world, and my wife had had collected trinkets from all over the world. Uh, on the 25th of June 1996, we packed them up in a moving van and uh we left for Chicago. We were going to visit my brother-in-law, and my household goods went uh to Maine and then to Indianapolis. Well, it's our paths crossed on uh, I think it was the uh the 8th of July in Chicago. Because we were in Chicago having a great time with my brother-in-law Lester, and uh they caught fire in uh in the moving van as they were going across uh headed for California. And uh the uh I got we got to we got to uh Sacramento and uh I guess about uh the 12th of July. And uh uh we were sitting in my mother-in-law's kitchen. We got a call, they said, Hey, they says, We hate to tell you this, but your household goods caught fire. They told me they says, Hey, they sent them back to Indianapolis, they're in a warehouse, and uh they're trying to see what can be salvaged. I said, wait a minute. Uh Sharon was not happy, and uh and then uh you know there was a guy, a moving company that was going out of business, and he said, Hey, have them ship them to my place. They brought they shipped them here and he laid them out over the entirety of his facility so we could search through and see what was salvageable and what was not. And I just said, Man, I said, this is crazy. Um, but it helped me see that uh, you know, I mean, my plans were were one thing, God planned something totally different. And uh, and he helped me realize that he was totally in control. Uh the people that I interacted with as a result of that fire were fabulous. I mean, they were just we they were just people who really had helping people uh is their is their main aim in life. I said, you know what? I said, this is something that uh then we should be doing. We should be helping people just like they are. And uh it made me want to search more for for what God had for me and what he wanted me to do. I knew I was a servant. I mean, being in the military, you have to be a servant because that's what you do. And uh it just it just strengthened my resolve to to want to to be someone who helped people rather than uh preyed on people for stuff that I wanted.

Servant Leadership That Puts Others First

J.D. Pearring 12:34

Well, you know, Jeff, you're a servant and you're a leader. So let me just ask you this. Um, give us some encouragement on being a servant, and then give us your uh last question would be just encouragement on uh encourage us as leaders, because you've you do both.

Geoff Wells 12:52

Okay, well, I you know, as as a servant, uh you you gotta you gotta be willing to listen and you have to be willing to you have to be willing to to give. Uh and I you know I say that because your focus can't be you, it has to be the other person. Uh, you know, Jesus, Jesus said that loving God and loving others uh were the two greatest commandments. Well, the way you show love for others is to be willing to serve them. That means there's nothing in it for you except, you know, uh helping them gain what it is you're serving them to do. I tried to do that uh when I was in the military, and you know, I still try to do that today. If there's something that I could do for somebody that is going to put them in a better stead, I you know it doesn't bother me to do that. I don't have to get anything out of it other than the fact that that I'm serving them. Uh as far as as far as leaders, you know, I I just I've always been one who was who was not going to just be quiet about things. Uh, you know, I I would look to see what was going to be most beneficial for for the body, and then I would try to make that happen. As a leader, uh you know, you you you you get a picture of what things are supposed to be or things or need to be, and then you move toward that and you help others move toward that. And a lot of it you have to work to get the buy-in from others. Others you just say, this is what we need to do, and you move toward it. People will people will, if people follow you, know you're doing the right thing. So I mean, and that's that to me, that's that's really what leadership is. It's the ability to influence others to move towards something that you see as is being a reasonable goal.

J.D. Pearring 14:48

Well, Jeff, you've been such a servant, I mean, throughout your whole life. It's just who you are, servant, but you also take the initiative to lead. And uh any last thing you want to do, any word of encouragement, uh challenge

Leading With Vision And Inviting Others

J.D. Pearring 15:00

you want to give us?

Geoff Wells 15:03

Hmm. Boy, it'd have been nice if I had known I was gonna be trying to do this. You know, I I you know each day I think you just you just you just look at what's ahead of you and you say, uh, you know, you you you you ask that God is gonna help you get there. And you know, along the way, you just can't be afraid to enlist others to uh to move toward that with you if it's something you do. That's what was so good about Sunday. Uh, I saw I I came on three different conversations of people in my group saying, this is what we do, and this is what we think it will benefit you to join that. Why don't you come on and join us? So it's about making those connections, and that's kind of what I see. That's what I really like about Excel. Excel says, you know what, our job is to get you connected. What we do is infectious because it's work that God has given us, and uh they see that and they want to they want to be a part of it. I think that's why I'm still hanging around with you after uh these all of these 29 years.

J.D. Pearring 16:16

I don't know if it's been that long. Um it's getting it's getting longer and longer every time. But uh and I think I'm hanging out with you. So hey, thanks for being on today. Thanks for your leadership, your friendship, your partnership. Um, you've meant so much to me, and I'm looking forward to many more years serving together. Thanks for being with us.

Geoff Wells 16:37

Thank you.

Excel Network Connection And Subscribe

Announcer 16:40

Thanks for joining the Leading Conversations Podcast. We hope that you found it both helpful and encouraging. At Excel Leadership Network, our focus is on the church planter rather than the church. If you'd like to find out more about us, visit our webpage at excelnetwork.org. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. See you next time with another leading conversation.