Dorsey Ross Show
Hello, my name is Dorsey Ross, and I am the host of the Dorsey Ross Show. I am a minister and itinerant speaker. I started the Dorsey Ross Show to interview people of faith who have stories of faith and overcoming trials and difficulties. In this podcast, you will hear stories of all kinds. Some will make you laugh, cry, and even say I can connect with that story or that person. I would love to encourage you to check out these stories of faith, encouragement, and inspiration my guests share on the show. I hope these stories give you hope, to get you through your week and your life. Please share them with your family, friends, co-workers, and anyone who needs a little touch of encouragement today.
Dorsey Ross Show
When God Draws You Home: CJ Moneyway Shares His Journey of Spiritual Awakening
What happens when you finally dig up the talents you've buried? CJ Moneyway-Lonkin takes us on a profound journey from structure to spiritual awakening in this soul-stirring conversation about resilience, purpose, and faith.
From his early years in a two-parent household with strong religious foundations to his transformative time in Detroit, CJ shares how isolation became the very thing that allowed him to hear God's voice clearly. "Sometimes you have to get isolated in order to hear the voice of God," he reflects, describing how what seemed like a simple career move became the catalyst for discovering his true self and spiritual gifts.
The conversation takes a powerful turn when CJ unpacks the biblical parable of talents, challenging listeners to reconsider their own buried potential. "We refuse to build on what God has already sent us with," he observes, "because if we multiply the talent that we already have, then God will multiply that more." His insights on perseverance through adversity offer wisdom for anyone facing life's trials or feeling lost in their purpose.
Now hosting a podcast ranked in the top 2.5% globally with over 200 episodes produced in less than two years, CJ credits consistency and passion as his guiding principles. His upcoming book "Faith Through Trials" explores how faith is planted, tested, and strengthened through life's challenges—insights born from his own spiritual journey. Whether describing prophetic moments before 9/11 or lessons learned from fascinating guests like an 87-year-old bodybuilder who built six companies after arriving in Canada with just $47, CJ's storytelling captivates and inspires.
Ready to unearth your own buried talents? Listen now and discover why CJ believes "we were all born with a seed of greatness" waiting to be cultivated through faith and perseverance.
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Hello everyone, thanks again for joining me on another episode of the Dorshow Show. Today we have a special guest with us. His name is Cohen GJ Moneyway-Lonkin, who is a podcast host, author and entrepreneur Known for his inspiring storytelling and focus on resilience and personal growth. His work, including podcasts and books, explores themes of perseverance and self-discovery. Corin, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me on Dorsey man. I appreciate it today.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me on Dorsey man. I appreciate it Absolutely. I'd like to open up with an icebreaker question, and today's icebreaker question is what's your biggest passion?
Speaker 2:My biggest passion, yeah, is to do something in life and, you know, try to do something in life, man, bigger than myself, so that I'd be able to provide for my family the way that I want to and the way that, you know, I feel that they may deserve. So that's my big passion to keep doing what I'm doing, man, to try to make something out of it.
Speaker 1:Okay, can you share with us your story and about your life growing up?
Speaker 2:Can you share with us your story and about your life? Growing up I mean just coming up two family, two-parent household. I had my mother and father, so there was structure there. But as a young man, as a teenager as some do even to this day I strayed away from the structure and was doing what I wanted to do as far as how I thought life should be and how I thought the path was going. But I had a mother who raised me in church.
Speaker 2:Now that I look back over it some years later, decades later, and I thank her for that, because, even though I strayed away from some things, the Bible say that it trained up a child in a way that they should go and when they get older they won't depart from it. And so, although I had strayed away from some things in life, a good majority of my adult life, man, I just thank my mother for that foundation in the beginning. I thank God for bringing me back into the fold, because the Bible say can't no man come to him unless he draw you into him, man? And so you know, with that opportunity, this is what I'm doing, amen.
Speaker 1:Your life seems to revolve around resilience and overcoming adversity. What one pivotal moment that shaped who you are today. Pivotal moment that shaped who you are today.
Speaker 2:Man, I would say one pivotal moment was I was living in Detroit and I actually was having a conversation, I'm not going to say with myself, but I believe, with my inner spirit, and it was telling me that I had to go back home, which, indiana, and being reluctant and being, you know, in the place that I was at, I didn't want to come back home. And he was telling me, it was saying to me that I needed to come back home because people, they needed to see a change through me in order for them to change. And so I'm sitting up there, I'm like, oh, you're talking about my family, and so that, following where, I say, well, if that's what you want me to do, you need to show me a sign in order for me to want to go back. So I had a dream the following week, man, and it kind of opened up my eyes to some things or whatnot.
Speaker 2:And then come, you know, just now, just to think about it, I had to leave. I had to leave Detroit and come back home because my wife was in Indiana. So that was a pivotal, a pivotal moment in my life. It was to come back home and to get my wife, because the Bible say that you know, he who finds a wife finds a good thing, taking favor from the Lord. So I think that was a real pivotal moment in my life, man, because ever since then I think we just went on our 15th year anniversary this past December and that has been the game changer in my life as far as becoming the man who I am now.
Speaker 1:Were you working in Detroit at that time? Was that why you were there, or what was the reason for you being in Detroit?
Speaker 2:You know, dorsey man, sometimes life it has its challenges, and sometimes you think you're doing something for a particular reason, but God is the ultimate choice maker, decision maker man. So I went to Detroit for a job, but what I found there was much more than a job man. I found myself, I found my spiritual growth there. I found, you know, saying, I found that man from within whom god has sent me forth to be man. And so it was much more than just a job, which I thought was my process of going there, man, but I came back with so much more.
Speaker 1:Okay, what is your book? Faith Through Trials about.
Speaker 2:Well, Faith Through Trials, man, is about what y'all planning on releasing this year. I actually I'm starting a campaign and working on a campaign because my book Both Eyes Open and Both Eyes Shut, I released that November 15th, and so I want to do something to, you know, to collaborate, uh, the 10 year anniversary of that book, and then I want to actually release this, um, Faith Through Trials the same day and have them both done on the same day, man. But Faith Through Trials is a deeply engaging and transformative book that explores the parables of the soul as a lens to understand how faith is planted, tested and strengthened through life challenges, man, A lot of things that we go through in life and a lot of adversity that we face, you know. So, through this powerful storytelling, man, real life struggle and biblical wisdom, the book provides a roadmap, as I would say, for navigating the trials of life, man, with unshakable faith. And so that's just basically the overview and basically the main point of what I'm trying to get through through this book.
Speaker 1:What would you say to people who are facing trials and facing difficulties? What would you say to them to encourage them to keep going, to keep knowing that eventually you'll overcome those trials and those difficulties.
Speaker 2:You know, actually every situation is different for everybody. It depends on the makeup of the person. But a lot of times, life difficulties, we go through, temptations, we have doubt, there's suffering, moral decay within ourselves. The Bible say that having a form of God, but denying the powers thereof, and so that's what a lot of us, that's what we are in our faith, you know, and it can be weakened or destroyed. Our faith can be weakened or destroyed, but in faith. But if faith is planted in good soil, man, open heart, god can use that and it will grow and bear lasting fruit. Man, impacting not just an individual but an entire community, man. So, to answer your question, like sometimes, man, you just got to dig deep down into yourself and the situations that you're in and pray to God that he'll pull you through. Man, we was all born with greatness. Man, we was all born with a seed of greatness.
Speaker 2:And a lot of times where I think where, uh, where we fail at is that when we're looking for things in life, uh, we buried our talent and so we refuse to go back and dig our talents up. Man, if we know the scripture and we know what it talks about it, in one of the parables, uh, he talks about. One took his talent and multiplied it and got five more talents. The other took his talents, got two more talents and multiplied his and got half four talents all together. Then the other one, he took his talents and buried them in the earth.
Speaker 2:And so to me, man, I think a lot of times we bury our talents in the earth and then we complain about what we don't have, but we refuse to.
Speaker 2:We refuse to build on what God has already sent us with man, because if we multiply the talent that we already have, then God will multiply that more. But we just want things on the plate and we want things to come as it is. But that's not how life go, man. So sometimes you have to fight through those difficult challenges, knowing that it's a brighter day at the end of the day, man. But sometimes we give up and we get lost in ourself, man. But if we believe in God and we trust in God, man, then we know that he said that he would never leave us or forsake us, because his words say that the heavens and earth shall pass, man, but his words shall remain forever. So that's what you got to stand at, and sometimes, if we're not standing on that foundation, on that solid foundation, right there, man, we get lost in ourself, man, and so, therefore, that's what keeps us from getting to where God wants us to be in life.
Speaker 1:Amen, that's preaching fire right there. What made you get into writing and get into podcasting, and what is your podcast show about?
Speaker 2:I actually, man, what got me into? I don't know what got me into writing. Sometimes. I believe, dorsey man, you know, like I say, go back to Detroit. That's when I realized that I had a knack on a gift for writing speaker. I've been speaking ever since I was in, uh, early learning school. You know, my mother still got a picture of that when I was sitting up there speaking at early learning man. So I've been doing things like that my whole life, and drama and things of that nature. So I've always had that creative characteristic within me. But I never, you know. But I was a basketball player. I was, I was an athlete, so, uh, that that's what I put my, my, my, my eggs. And I put my eggs in that basket because, you know, I wanted to be the next Magic Johnson or Jason Kidd or something of that nature. That's where I thought my talents was at.
Speaker 2:But once I got to Detroit and I was able to, god separated me from some things and from some people, and sometimes you have to get isolated in order to hear the voice of God. And when you isolated in that aspect, man, you know, it kinds of the distractions in life that we go through every day and that challenges that we face every day, trying to please other people and do another thing. And so when I got into that fold man where he just pulled me by myself and it was just me and him and I was able to hear, I started writing you know, matter of fact, this, both eyes open and both eyes set that I that I wrote. I started writing that in 2016. Like I said, it got published in 2015. But I started with the concept and I was writing. I think the first draft that I had it was called the Ways of the World, just seeing things, how things was going. I was talking about matter of fact. I know it's funny now, but I was talking about Denzel Washington and I think I said Angela Bassett to win Oscars, to win the Oscar Awards, and, sure enough, denzel wound up winning one for Training Day. Angela Bassett didn't win one, but Halle Berry won one for the movie that she played in. I forgot the name of the movie, but I was.
Speaker 2:You know, for some reason, man, I was just on stuff like that. God has given me the ability once I started reading stuff. Man, I could just on stuff like that. God has given me the ability Once I started reading stuff, man, I could see certain things. I'm not saying that I'm a prophet or anything like that man, but when you start dwelling, you know, and if you start dwelling in the bosom of God man, jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, man, he started opening up things. Man starts showing you things that just sometimes other people can't see. Man, you know what I'm saying, like honestly, and I'm going to be honest with you, da, me and Dorsey.
Speaker 2:September 11th man 2001,. I'll never forget this. And they say you only need two witnesses. You know what I'm saying, so I don't need everybody to. You know, oh, he lying, he ain't talking about this. I know for a fact what I know, you know, and I won't get on your show and say something that wasn't true. You know, especially about me, I'm not coming on here to be a liar. Like you said, I got my own brand to protect. I got podcast. I got two podcasts, matter of fact. So I got my own brand to protect. So what I'm here to tell you, this is exactly what happened, and this is what I mean by sometimes foresight, and you don't even know what you're seeing or why you're seeing it.
Speaker 2:September 10th 2011,. I was over my son's mother's house at the time and we was talking and I had seen some stuff on the news at work that they just wasn't showing regular TV. And so you know, at that time we drinking and we having a good time, we talking, I say I say we fit to go to war. And so she's like what do you mean? We fit to go to war? I said we fit to go to war. I'm like something going on. I seen some planes leaving the base or something, but there's something that they wouldn't talk about. So me and her cousin, we going back and forth, we ain't, finna, go to no war, this and that, whatever, whatever.
Speaker 2:So that morning I went home and I'm laying in the bed. I was staying with my cousin at the time, me and my cousin Petey. A big shout out to my cousin, old Pete, and I'm laying in the bed. Man, you know I'm kind of drunk and hungover, dorsey, man, I'm just giving it to you 100. And he came running in my room and said man, they just the towers, man, they just, you know, knocked down the towers. So you know I'm in the drunken state over. So I'm thinking he talking about something that just happened in Michigan or something you know, whatever, whatever. So I didn't get up to see what he was talking about. And then he came in there the second time and said man, he just knocked down the second tower. So now you got my attention. So now I get up and I'm looking at the TV and I'm just sitting up there and amazement, like wow, you know what I'm saying Because I had just talked about this the day before.
Speaker 2:To a matter of fact, I told my son, mother here in Indiana, I was telling her the same thing or whatnot. And man, once it happened and everything went that way, both of them called me and told me how did you know that? I said I don't know. You know I'm saying I mean just honestly, I didn't know. But it's just when you start getting attached in your spirit world man, in your spiritual being, man, and you know it's just like Job said, dorsey man, job said that your word esteems me more than my necessary foods. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:And once you start tapping into feeding your spiritual man, as if we feed our own bodies in the natural man, god will begin revealing some things about you, and sometimes there's some things that we may not like, because there's some things that we may not like, because there's some things that we got to change about ourselves, and I think in that aspect, in that way of life, I think a lot of, especially, men I can only talk about men because I'm a man A lot of men, a lot of us. I just did an episode on my other podcast, planting Seeds, with CJ. I just did an episode called Manhood, the man in the mirror, and what's difficult about that, dorsey man and you being a man yourself, sometimes men, we don't like to look in the mirror because sometimes, when we look in the mirror, we don't like a reflection of what we see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how has your faith been a guiding force through adversity and how has your faith guided you through challenges and into success?
Speaker 2:Sometimes life it's challenges. You know, a lot of times we want to take the easy road out and say you know, a lot of times we want to use, we want to take the easy road out and and and say you know just just all the good things. But, man, I've been one that I've been tested, my feet been to the fire, I've been through some things in life. I've had some ups, I've had some downs, I've had some turbulent times, you know, and some things that probably could have, you know, took me under or whatnot. But, man, once I start, once I start seeking man, he say seek and you shall find. He say knock and the door shall be open. Man, you know, and once I start seeking man and once I start searching for the, for the true and living God man, a lot of these things and a lot of the, the things I had been going through, whatever man, it started becoming second nature man because, like I say, he said that he would never leave us or forsake us, man, or that he would never put more on us than we can bear. You know and just know that God is with you, man, regardless of what you're going through, that things can be better man. But, as I said, you know, going back to what I was talking about not too long ago, in order to get to that point, a lot of times you have to look at yourself, you have to examine yourself. What do I need to change about me? Where am I failing at? What am I doing that's not aligning to the purpose that God wants me to live? And so if I'm not willing to sit down and ask myself that question, or if any man or woman is not willing to sit down and ask themselves that question, then we're going to still be getting tossed to and fro, man. You know, that's just the bottom line.
Speaker 2:The Bible say that when going back to the book of Job, even in the beginning because it baffled me when I saw it at first it say as the angels went up to the heavens, satan went up with him and God seen him and asked him what was he doing here? Or what was he doing? And he said I'm just going back. And you say I'm just going to and fro the earth seeing who he can devour and I was one of those whom he was devouring. And but he said have you tried my humble servant, job?
Speaker 2:And so sometimes, man, we have to take that Job approach because we're going to get tested, we're going to lose some things. You know what I'm saying? There's going to be some sacrifices to have this thing and have this full-fledged love and trust and believing in God man, and that's why I was at it in life. It got to such a down point in my life. I didn't have nothing else to believe in, nothing else to turn to but God, and once I started seeing a transformation in my life, I knew that it was true, and so there's no turning back from that for me.
Speaker 1:I think that's what happens sometimes. We have to get to that point, you know, where the only thing is to do is to look to God, is to trust in him, even, like you're saying, you know, to look at ourselves and see hey, what do we need to change in ourselves? What do we need to do differently, you know, to have God work in our lives.
Speaker 2:That's the bottom line, man. That's the key. It said that the most important thing for a man to do is to see the face of God, man, because at the end of the day, dorsey man, at the end of the day, it say that every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess and every man will be judged by his own, his own accord. So it ain't what mama did, it ain't what grandmama did. So it ain't what mama did, it ain't what grandmama did, it ain't what daddy did, it ain't what your brother and your uncles did. They was all pastors, they was ministers, they was elders in the church, they was this and they was that, and so they may have passed away. And so now they in glory because they lived that life like that. That don't mean that you did. That don't mean that you did. That don't mean that you did so, whatever they did, that ain't going to get you there, because we all going to be judged by our own, our own accord. What did you do? That's going to be the question at the end of the day. What did you do? That's what I try to focus on, man, on what I do. You know what I'm saying and what I'm trying to do to have a better community man, to make a difference in somebody's life.
Speaker 2:You know, the Bible says this too, man. I'll leave it on that, dorsey. The Bible says this too. It say that 99 kept going and one got lost and they rejoiced over that one that was lost. Then the 99 that didn't stray away, man, and a lot of times we lost you know what I'm saying and we don't know that God is. He is more happy to find us, that whom was lost. But now we found in those that stayed the path, the whole course, man. But sometimes we don't feel like we worthy to be loved, or sometimes we just feel like the word of God is just not true, or we try to make it to be what we want to be.
Speaker 1:But that ain't how it is, man. God's word is God's word and we can't change that. Yeah, your podcast ranks in the top 3% globally, which is no small defeat, excuse me, no small feat.
Speaker 2:What do you think sets you so apart and resonates with listeners? Well, I didn't update that but not to toot my own horn either, dorsey man, but it's in the top 2.5% now, as of about three weeks ago or whatnot, and I haven't posted it or whatever, because I'm focusing on something else and to me, man, it's not about accolades or things of that nature. Man, one thing that I'm trying to do, like I've done, just had to, as you know about that. I just had to set my, my calendar for as far as release dates or whatnot, and, uh, man, I got I'm, hmm, did like 200 podcast episodes in less than two years because of my anniversary Two-year anniversary was in October.
Speaker 2:And one thing I would say, man, is just consistency. You learn as you go, a lot of times, the more and more you do something, repetition, you get better at it, and then, as you know too, being a podcast host yourself, that you start finding yourself, you find your niche, you find who you are, you take a deeper look at who you are, and so I just try to build a comfortable space, man, for my guests, man, to just let them do and say what they want to say, lead them into certain questions, man, and people just walk away with, say what they want to say, lead them into certain questions, man, and people just walk away with. A great experience. I, you know, and I know that I'm just not saying that, but just the interviews that you know that we get, uh, from pod match and things of that nature. So we see what people saying, man, and how people actually feel about what you're doing. Like, I don't I haven't even touched into everything that I probably can get into. You know what I'm saying Because, as you know, with your podcast and things, when you're building a brand from the ground up, it's not easy. It's definitely not easy. It takes a lot of work, and so that's what I would say man, what got me to where I am now? Man in the garage.
Speaker 2:I'm also on the network. I'm on the network Believe Network. They reached out to me. I've been there since September. Actually, man, I got to get back with Alex pretty soon. Big shout out to Alex and Pod matching his team. He just hit me up the other day wanting me to come on their network again. It's the second time he's asked me. I don't think I'm going to turn him down this time, but so I just say, man, just being consistent man and just having a passion and loving what you're doing, man, because everything is not about money, man, it's about the passion that you do it with man, and when you come that way, you don't look at people's status. You know what I'm saying. It's not about status, it's about doing what you, what you uh have a passion to do, man, and enjoy doing, and so that's just something that I try to bring on my cj money way show.
Speaker 1:I think that's why it's doing as good as it's doing sure what's the biggest lesson you learned from the incredible guest that you interview on your shows.
Speaker 2:Man, that longevity is for real man. I interviewed this guy named John Brinks man, dude, like 87 years old, but I mean my man got a body to die. For you know, and I'm not even a kid, you know, I mean this dude, 80 years old man, he was like a bodybuilder or something, but his story was resonating, though, you know, like he was telling me, my family, telling my wife about this last night. But his story was fascinating because he came to Canada with like $47. He's built six companies and he realized when he was 61 years old he got diagnosed with uh, adhd. So he said he always felt like he was different, even growing up. But at 61 years old he realized, you know, got diagnosed with this, uh, and so that kind of.
Speaker 2:You know, to me that's one of the stories although I have a lot of, but that's one that just sticks out to me, man, because sometimes you never know what state you're in mentally or whatnot, or why you different than other people and things that he had. Man, he persevered, he went through this man got six functionally operating, generating millions of dollar companies. Man, so you can do whatever you want to do in life if you put your mind to it, and so he was a big inspiration to me. Man, it can happen, things can happen, man. So that was one of them that I would say.
Speaker 1:Right, as we get ready to close here, what advice or knowledge would you give to my listeners and those who might be interested in getting into podcasting? What would you say to them?
Speaker 2:Well, first, one of those who's interested in getting to podcasting, my thing would be if that's what you want to do, do it. Don't worry about where you're doing it at, or you know what type of equipment you have or whatnot. Start off with what you can afford. Be passionate about what you're doing and be consistent. That's the number one goal. Be consistent in what you're doing. Show your guests love.
Speaker 2:If you're doing an individual podcast with no interview, with no guests, just still be passionate with what you're doing and make sure that you're putting your stuff out on time every week, and when people start looking for you, they're looking for you to be on. If you say that you're gonna have your podcast out tuesday at three o'clock pm, then you're gonna have your fans looking for your podcast to come out tuesday three o'clock pm, and so if you wait until thursday and every week that is a different day you're gonna lose people. So all I'm saying is stay on the schedule, be consistent with what you're doing, and then you'll see how things go. What's the other question you asked me, dorsey?
Speaker 1:Just to give my listeners a word of knowledge or a word of encouragement.
Speaker 2:I will go back to what I said earlier as far as digging up your talents. But we was all born with a great talent that God sent us forth with, and whoever's having doubt or having concerns about some things in life, man, go back and dig up that talent, that thing that you was great doing when you was 16 years old, or when you was 18 years old, but you didn't really like that, it didn't fit what you was doing. That was your talent and, as I said before, your talents multiply other talents, but first you have to multiply the talent that you have. So never give up on your dreams. Whatever your dreams are, go for them.
Speaker 2:Don't let people discourage you from your dreams. Don't let people discourage you from what God has shown you because they didn't see it. We go back to the book of Joseph, when Joseph had a dream. His brothers didn't understand it, his father didn't understand it. But sometimes people ain't going to understand what you see because they don't see what God has shown you. So never, let nobody kill your dream. Keep moving forward and do what God has commissioned you to do, and don't worry about the naysayers. Just keep it moving.
Speaker 1:Amen. Where can people find podcasts and your podcast and also your books?
Speaker 2:Well, my podcast, my social media you can find me. Just Google me CJ Moneyway or the CJjcjmoneywayshow. All my links will come up Facebook, tiktok, instagram, linkedin, everything. My book is on amazoncom. Like I said, I haven't released my Faith Through Trials yet. That will be coming out, hopefully. That's my target date November of this year, so be on the lookout for that. But yeah, you can find me at Plant Seeds with CJ. Google that up. I'm on Red Circle Platform right now. I think I'll be changing pretty soon. But yeah, I'm not hard to find, just Google me up CJ Moneyway.
Speaker 1:Well, CJ, thank you so much for coming on the show. We greatly appreciate having you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me on Dorsey man.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate it. Well, guys and girls, thank you so much for tuning in, for listening today. I hope you were encouraged by this guest and by this message today and please go and, you know, check out this episode and my other episodes as well, and until next time, god bless God bless you.
