tonight on "nightline," prayer with a punch. evangelical christians channeling their faith in god through brutal mixed martial arts fighting. love thy neighbor this is not. so, why do they do it? sound the alarm. we ride along with one of the busiest fire houses in america to find out why some people dial 911 for headaches, tooth aches, even a common cold, and it's costing taxpayers millions. plus, happy birthday to us. a television gamble that debuted 30 years ago today, and has chronicled history's highs and

lows ever since. tonight, join us for a "nightline" time capsule. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, martin bashir and cynthia mcfadden in new york city, this is "nightline," march 24th, 2010. >> good evening. they call themselves warriors, fighting the good fight of faith. but it's hard to imagine that anyone today would encourage christians to be violent. indeed in matthew's goes sell, jesus is quoted as saying, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, then turn to him the other also. but not it seems in all cases or places, because tonight, you're going to meet a group of christians who are not only full of faith, they also love to fight. as ryan owens now reports for our series "faith mather matter"

>> reporter: late friday night at the pure country bar in kentuc kentucky, a fight breaks out. but this isn't your grandfather's bar fight. >> hurt like hell, but -- >> as soon as i tape you, let's pray. >> reporter: and some of these fighters give bible beaters -- >> we thank you for the opportunity to go out tonight and to train and compete -- >> reporter: a whole new meaning. >> lord, we pray that you protect our fighters. we pray we be a representation of you. i was fighting all the way through bible college. i trained in the army on how to fight. this is just a part of who i am. it's part of my dna. >> reporter: the leader of this unorthodox group of warriors is john ran kin, an evangelical pastor and founder of extreme min strips. his church/gym is squeezed

between the goodwill store and the beauty school in a clarksville, tennessee, strip mall. at this church, let's just say they don't quite believe in turning the other cheek. if jesus christ walked in to a bar and saw you in a cage, bloody with another guy also bloody, what in the world do you think jesus christ would think? >> he would probably think, you know, wow, that's cool. >> reporter: you think he would think this is cool? >> you think about it, look at what jesus endured for our sake. he faced his own cage in life, and when he came out, he was a much bigger, bloodier mess than i have ever been. >> reporter: but make no mistake, this sport, known as mixed martial arts, can believe you a bloody mess. it's a come by nation of wrestling, kick boxing and other martial arts that's made the ultimate fighting championship a hit. the action is so brutal it's banned in seven states.

>> when i go into the ring, i'm going in there to fight. and for the reasons we've been talking about is, i want to reach people with the gs pell. >> reporter: at 37, john no longer competes. he now preaches and teaches. >> in jesus name we pray, amen. >> reporter: and tonight, he prays for his students, including mike thompson. >> my biggest fear going into this fight is to not let my teammates down, not to let john down. >> reporter: mike comes into tonight's fight with an impressive record. 19 wins, 17 by knockout. so you think it's possible to be a very good christian and beat the crap out of someone? >> beat the hell out of them. absolutely. >> reporter: also up tonight is john's wife, jen. she's competing in the evening's only ladies fight.

what in the world is nice girl like you doing in a place like this? >> good question. >> reporter: do christians belong in a place like this? a bar on a friday night? >> our goal is to reach lost people, right? you're not going to find lost people in a church, usually. >> reporter: do you think there's any other church on the face of this earth that you would have been open to going to? >> not at all. not at all. >> reporter: when mike showed up about a decade ago, finding god was the last thing on his mind. >> i first came in and i said, hey, i -- i'm a bad dude, i said, i'm tough, i said, i'll fight anybody, i don't care, any weight, any time, anywhere. >> reporter: to say mike's background is rough is an understatement. his parents separated when he was 5. his mother became involved with marvin wayne eddy, a man now serving time for murder. >> it was 1984, and me and my brother, of course, were dirt poor.

he decided that it would be a good idea to go to one of his buddy's trailers and rob it of all the alcohol and drugs that were in there. >> reporter: mike was 8, his brother, just 5. there was snow on the ground as they headed out in the middle of the night. 5-year-old jesse would not stop crying. marvin wayne eddy decided to shut him up. >> so, he started hitting him and of course that made him cry more, and he kept beating him and eventually he picked him up by his legs and swung him up against a tree until he quit crying. >> reporter: jesse never woke up, and died three days later. when that's your start? life, what kind of kid were you? >> i renounced god. i could not wrap my mind around how he could let that happen to my brother, let that happen to me. i fought a lot, and won some, lost some. it really didn't matter to me, it was the rush, you know? >> reporter: after training with

john for years but refusing to set foot in sunday service, something changed. john's other message finally got through. >> he said, god loves you. and he said, and i'm going to show you. and he asked me to come to church and at least hear him out. >> reporter: now mike has been going to church for three years. he's married with an 8-month-old baby girl. is this a way to channel their aggression in a positive way? >> absolutely. they're not going down to the barton weekend and getting in brawl. they're not abusing their wives. what is your routine here in the last few minutes? stay calm. >> reporter: how is that working out? >> not at all. >> reporter: not at all. back at pure country bar, where people have paid 20 bucks a head to watch the brawls, mike's teammate jen lasts just 19 seconds. >> please welcome mike thompson.

>> reporter: mike is hoping to give the crowd their money's worth. he starts out on the attack, hoping for his trademark knockout. >> all right, spin him out the came. spin him out the cage. >> reporter: but -- he's quickly slammed to the ground. by the second round -- his opponent brings him to his knees. mike loses. >> it feels like my heart is ripped out. i feel that i failed my family. i failed god. i failed everybody. >> reporter: how do you think you failed god? >> he's given me gifts and he's given me tools and i didn't use them to my ability. i'm very upset with myself right now. >> reporter: but mike's faith is not toppled. by sunday morning, he's back in

church, battle wounds and all, and still reliving the fight. >> when i hit him, i saw his eyes flutter and i was just too excited. i wanted to end it quick. >> reporter: a warrior for christ who believes you can both love thy neighbor and put them in a head lock. i'm ryan owens for "nightline" in kentucky. >> fighting for the gospel. our thanks to ryan owens. and when we come back, from faith to firefighters. for this busy engine company, too often a 911 call isn't for this. for all thments that make every day special. fancy feast created a way to celebrate any moment. fancy feast appetizers. [dinner bell chimes] simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or sea bass and shrimp in a delicate broth,

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health care reform may now be law, but that has done little to squelch the debate over the best way to fix a broken system. but less than two miles from that political fight, you'll find the foot soldiers in the same battle. they signed up to fight fires, but too often it's dubious medical calls to which they're expected to respond. as john donvan now reports. >> reporter: washington, d.c. this is engine ten, seen from the inside. and the urgency right now, a call came in literally 30 seconds ago, house on fire. >> smoke on the second floor! >> reporter: they're one of the busiest fire houses in the country. they call themselves the house of pain because of the grueling pace. on any given day, they will respond to about 25 calls in a

24-hour period. and they love this. love putting out fires. >> we advanced our 400-foot attack line and they got to the second floor and helped extinguish the fire in the attic. >> reporter: but here's the thing about engine ten. what makes them so very busy, the vast majority of the 7,000-plus calls they answer each year, it not this at all. it's not to put out fires. instead, it is this. a medical emergency. what doctors would describe as a house call. and they get these kinds of health-related calls nonstop. this time, someone dialed 911 about this woman, thought to be on pcp. combative and running into the street. this man is leo ruiz, a paramedic firefighter with the training and the skill or an army battlefield medic. we followed him and his fellow firefighters over several days and through several shifts to see how for them the job they signed up for, putting out fires, has been taken over by

these medical calls. >> sit up for us. take a deep breath. we're going to bandage it up real tight. we're going to try to get you, okay? don't get upset. we don't want you to get upset. >> reporter: engine ten covers a neighborhood called trinidad, where most people are poor an don't have insurance. and don't have the means to see doctors the way the rest of us do. they get sick, they call 911. and 911 calls in engine ten. they call the community they serve the vortex of sickness. >> the vortex of sickness. >> what's that? >> trinidad. just an area where we run a lot of sick people. a whole lot. if they drank more of this, they'd cut down on health care costs. >> paramedic engine, please respond. unconscious person. >> reporter: that's not to say they don't get there fair share

of real medical emergencies, like this one. a 24-year-old man in full diabetic coma and with the whole team inside, they find him unconscious. >> what's your name? what's your name? oh. what's your name, man? >> it looks to me like his sugar is low and we can fix that real quick. >> reporter: they find an all too familiar scene. >> start an iv. get him some sugar through the iv. >> reporter: it's not the first time this patient has called 911. >> when's the last time that happened? >> happened in a long time. >> long time? >> all the time. >> all the time. i gave you a shot in your arm, okay? that -- it's going to raise your sugar slowly. you had it before? >> reporter: but at times they can't help but feeling that some residents are overusing the system. the ones they call frequent

fliers, who dial 911 again and again. >> here we go. >> reporter: just minutes after reviving that man from a diabetic coma -- >> ready? >> reporter: another call -- >> medical. >> yeah. going on another medical. three in 30 minutes. >> reporter: but it brought them back to the very same address, same patient. he had said he fainted again. but he had not. he wanted them to come back because he thought they had stolen money from him. >> oh. oh, okay. because they sent the ambulance back. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> you okay? okay, all right. all right. he thought he lost some money. so he called the ambulance. >> reporter: this may not seem like such a big deal, but consider this. it costs taxpayers about $3500 every time this engine leaves the station. that's about $3500, 25 times a day, just for this one engine company. >> that's what you call 911 abuse. >> reporter: and that's what wears on them at times.

that many of the 911 calls they answer aren't really what you'd call emergencies or even close to life and death. sometimes it can be a cold -- >> a cold isn't really an emergency. >> no, it's not. >> reporter: or a headache. >> she said she had a tooth had ache. more than anything, that's something you go for your regular doctor for. not really the emergency room. >> reporter: but according to d.c.'s fire chief, there's nobody else to do this job, and so they're going to do it as well as they can. >> i think they put on the badge and i think they've sworn to protect the people no matter what it is. but it does drain the system. it does cost taxpayer money. now -- >> reporter: you can't say no to them. >> i can say no, but i have to figure out a strategy where i can meet their needs and not break the backs of the firefighters. when you look at the poor people, no one else has taken on that responsibility. no one else is doing it. >> see your arm.

>> reporter: and perhaps the community has found a way to fill that game themselves. >> maybe it's something that's been ingrained in the culture of the neighborhood here. you're sick, call 911. doesn't matter what it is. you always have an ambulance that will come. fire department will always respond and take you to the hospital. >> reporter: but that is the system, and the interesting thing about the house of pain and the vortex of sickness, firefighters actually line up to get assigned here, and those who get in are like a family. >> there's only a few that can be on ten engine. >> reporter: who do the medical runs because they have to do them. but when a call comes in like this one at 11:00 the other night, they really snap to, because this time there was a fire to put out, and that's the job they love to do. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in washington, d.c. >> glaring example of a system on the brink. our thanks to the firefighters of engine ten and to john donvan. and when we come back, 30 years of "nightline" in three

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with martin bashir. >> seldom on this broadcast to we indulge in

self-congratulation but i wonder if you'd allow us an exception tonight. but "nightline" debuted exactly 30 years ago. anchored by the great ted koppel and a program that from day one critics questioned. but here we are, three decades and more than 10,000 stories later. he here's john berman. >> reporter: it starts here. >> this is abc news "nightline." >> reporter: after months of america held hostage, covering the iranian hostage crisis -- >> this is a new broadcast. >> reporter: a new show, a new name, a new late-night gamble. >> again, today, iran is the major story. >> reporter: one critic said, to judge from its premiere, it's not likely to see america held spell bound. oh yeah? really? well, here's 30 years for you, mr. critic. >> good evening. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. >> good evening.

>> good evening. >> reporter: first ten years. crisis. >> the state department today revised its figure on the number of hostages held in tehran from 49 to 50. >> reporter: gadhafi. kermit. >> you're looking very well street indeed. >> i tried to wear my more dapper stuff to look as good as you. >> five seconds. four, three, two -- >> reporter: and epic anchor. epic questions. >> did you have an affair with miss rice? >> reporter: epic hair. >> that is, i'm not bald, and yes, for what it's worth that is my own hair up there. >> reporter: live from everest. >> for the first time, a live television picture of mt. everest. >> reporter: live with jim and tammy faye. >> i do like to shop, but i am a bargain hunter. >> reporter: living proof of middle east tensions. >> we need a symbolic divider between our israeli guests on the one hand and our palestinian guests on the other. >> reporter: next ten years, the three ms. mandela -- >> i should know better about

this matter, mr. koppel, than you. >> reporter: madonna -- >> i thought that once again i was going to be able to bend the rules a little bit. >> reporter: and morrie, before he made tuesdays famous. >> be kind to yourself. you didn't create your illness. so, you shouldn't be punishing yourself for having that illness. >> reporter: a race for the ages. >> it's over. >> it's hard to believe. >> reporter: and the ageless complexities of race. >> i heard him refer to all of the giants in our community as "you people." >> if we are going to reach our hands out to one another, you can't lump us all together anymore than we can lump you all together. >> reporter: the last ten years. a time of tragedy. >> this is no movie. >> reporter: a time of war. >> brian kennedy. >> reporter: a time to remember. >> the names and the faces of the fallen tell their own story.

>> reporter: "nightline" and america -- >> for all of us here at abc news, life from new york, it's saturday night. >> give it up for "nightline." >> i'm on "nightline." >> reporter: a legend says good-bye. >> trust me, the transition from one anchor to another is not that big a deal. >> reporter: a new team. new politic. new questions. >> are you writing this book simply because you need some money? >> no. obviously not. >> reporter: new limes. >> i know that it's not possible that this child could be mine because of the timing of events. so i know it's not possible. >> reporter: the investigations. the interviews. the insanity. so, mr. critic, 30 years later, we're still here. so, happy birthday to us. happy birthday to "nightline." >> our thanks to john berman. even more of these moments can be found on an interactive "nightline" page at abcnews.com.

we'll be right back, but first, here's jimmy kimmel with what's coming up next on abc. >> jimmy: tonight, gerard butler, gabrielle union, and singer jamie cullum. all attractive people because, well, we're shallow.