1 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,080 All right, so we got a special. Episode coming here, this is 2 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:20,320 going to be with three new guests. 3 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,000 I'm going to introduce the people that we got coming on 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:23,960 here soon. But for right now we're going to 5 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:27,680 start off with the scripture that leads and guides this 6 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,040 podcast. All right, so Revelation 12 and 7 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:34,680 11 says, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,400 the word of their testimony. And they did not love their 9 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:41,000 lives to the death. The power of that is everyone 10 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,640 has a testimony. We all know what a testimony is. 11 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,040 It's your story, it's where you come from, it's how you got to 12 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,960 where you are, right? So the Bible emphasizes your 13 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:54,800 story, your testimony, to the fullest extent as a way of 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,880 encouraging yourself, encouraging others, and bringing 15 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:00,960 glory to God. And that's what the goal is at 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,040 the end of the day. We want to bring glory to God 17 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,560 the best way that we can. I think we can all agree on 18 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,200 that. And testimonies are not strapped 19 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,960 to age, gender, or anything like that. 20 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:17,840 So you don't have to be 86 years old, 55 years old, pastor of a 21 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,880 church or a special musician or anything just to have a 22 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:23,960 testimony. So that's why we've got things 23 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:26,120 that we're doing today to kind of give people that you wouldn't 24 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,400 normally think of, give them a chance to speak it. 25 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,000 So we've got two guys here that are going to be introducing 26 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,520 themselves in a second. But first, I'm going to 27 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,840 introduce, or let her introduce herself, the special guest host 28 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,840 for this episode. Hi, I'm Lexi Holloway. 29 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,960 I'm a youth leader here at Lifegate and a prayer 30 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:47,920 coordinator. So that's a little bit about me. 31 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,000 I've been in ministry about six years. 32 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:54,960 Awesome. And we'll do a special episode 33 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,680 for you so that you can say your testimony, unless you want to 34 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,440 give a little bit tonight. But tonight we'll be focusing on 35 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:04,560 two young men who are the new young generation now that I'm 36 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:07,240 old. So I'm let them introduce 37 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:08,960 themselves first. We'll start with you. 38 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,920 Hello, I'm Hadley Champion and I've been I'm a regulated 39 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:17,200 churchgoer here. My name is Eric May and I just 40 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,320 started coming here about nine months ago when my family moved 41 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:21,960 down here. Awesome, where'd you move here 42 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,880 from? I moved here from Hernando, Ms. 43 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:27,640 Really. That's pretty cool. 44 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:29,840 Three hours away. Three hours away. 45 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:31,440 Is that where you were this past weekend? 46 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:32,520 No, they said you were in London. 47 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:34,200 No, I was in Memphis. Memphis. 48 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:35,840 Why would you want to go to Memphis? 49 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,680 Wait, I was actually in Hernando for the first service of my old 50 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:41,800 church. OK. 51 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,960 And the new building. All right, before I dig into my 52 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,240 questions, I know Lexi's got a couple questions. 53 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:50,600 She knows you guys a little bit better than me. 54 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,840 So I'll let her ask a few and break the ice, and then I'll 55 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:55,240 we'll switch back and forth. All right. 56 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,120 OK, well I have a lot of questions and probably won't use 57 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,680 all of them, but I wanted to come up with a fun one. 58 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:03,920 So that's kind of like break the ice and it's not so 59 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:07,120 intimidating. What is your current favorite 60 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,480 worship song or song that we do in church? 61 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,320 Probably praise the Lord's song. I don't know the name of it. 62 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:14,440 Praise, praise. Yes, the one. 63 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,880 And I like the the we don't sing it when when we went to camp, 64 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,720 the the Jericho walls coming down. 65 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:21,880 Yeah, they want to start dancing. 66 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:23,880 That's probably my favorite. I love that one. 67 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:28,920 My favorite's probably Goodbye yesterday just 'cause it's a 68 00:03:28,920 --> 00:03:31,240 good song to play on for drums so. 69 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:33,520 So you like playing that one more than like listening to? 70 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:35,240 It I like that one, probably the most of it, yeah. 71 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,800 I like that one. And then I'll go another 72 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:39,680 question and then Johnny can kick off. 73 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:44,560 But I wanted to ask you, what kind of part does Lifegate play 74 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,680 in your story? Like so for Eric, you've only 75 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:47,920 been here for nine months, right? 76 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:49,840 And then, Hadley, you've been here. 77 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:51,360 What? Around 2 years. 78 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,600 Around 2 years, so like thinking about your life before Lifegate 79 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:57,880 and now which I know your stories are quite different but 80 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,800 like what part has Lifegate kind of played in your life? 81 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:05,400 It's definitely been opening, definitely an opening experience 82 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,560 to me. The people here have been like, 83 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:11,000 like accepting of me even though I wasn't. 84 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:12,960 I didn't grow up in a Pentecostal church. 85 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,880 And it's just changed my outlook on God and it's changed my the 86 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,120 the way I think of him. And yeah, just everything is 87 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,840 great about Lifegate. That's. 88 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:32,480 Good for me coming here. It was just like, I honestly, so 89 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:35,160 I didn't move around a lot, but I moved around. 90 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:40,920 So I've been in now 4 different churches. 91 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:46,280 So at first it was just, I'm going to another church, going 92 00:04:46,280 --> 00:04:48,320 there just to go, you know what I mean? 93 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,040 But I made friends here, like lifelong friends that I can call 94 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,360 like real friends. I met people that I can call my 95 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,440 mentor, like just people that I know are really there for me. 96 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,400 That's awesome. I'll let whichever 1 you guys go 97 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:05,480 first. But like I said, this is our 98 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:06,800 testimony. This is where we are. 99 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:08,720 We'll make you guys feel a little bit more comfortable. 100 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:10,120 I'll go first. Don't worry, I'll go first. 101 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:12,960 I'll just kind of skim over mine so you kind of have an idea of 102 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:15,120 what where I'm coming from, right? 103 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,600 And so you know, I'm not, you're not on the spotlight. 104 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,200 I feel like. I can relate to both of you guys 105 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:21,920 in a little bit or you might get relate to me. 106 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:27,600 So I've been coming to Lifegate for 21 years, so I don't know 107 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,480 how old you are, but I've been coming to Lifegate probably 108 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:34,400 since you guys were in diapers. I was just a kid, but I came to 109 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:37,240 Lifegate for quite a while. You weren't born 21 years ago. 110 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:37,680 No. OK. 111 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:39,640 I was 18. There you go. 112 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:42,880 Yeah, I started coming here when we were still in the Madison 113 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:44,200 Theater. So every time they mentioned the 114 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,800 theater, I was there. When it was just me, my family, 115 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,080 sister Harville and the penton's, that was it. 116 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,080 Our Sunday school class was just the three of us, so I was there 117 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,280 for all of that. But as I grew up, started 118 00:05:57,280 --> 00:05:59,120 getting a little bit older, started going to middle school, 119 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,360 junior high, I was not concerned at all what was happening to 120 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:04,680 church. Be honest, I was a kid that was 121 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:06,560 coming here just to be here. Parents brought me here. 122 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,240 I had no choice in the grand scheme of things. 123 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:13,960 I wasn't involved. So as I was growing up, the 124 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,160 world was a lot bigger of an influence on me than what the 125 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,680 church was on me. And that a lot has to do with me 126 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,680 just in how I was. Didn't care about 1, cared about 127 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,520 the other one. Long story short, in that case I 128 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,440 I went through quite a bit. I won't go into too much detail 129 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,360 because it would bore a lot of people, but going through high 130 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:38,240 school or junior high and into ninth grade, for me personally, 131 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:39,680 I will Hung out with the wrong crowd. 132 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,240 I got caught up with the wrong people, was doing the wrong 133 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:44,640 things, got to a really dark spot. 134 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,640 And then for in my own self, it just kind of got to the point to 135 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:54,400 where I remember as a 9th grader, I just, I had made the 136 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,280 something click that it was like, if I don't make a change 137 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,800 with what I'm getting with what I'm doing and where I'm at, I'm 138 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,360 not going to make it to 18. I'm not going to make it to 21. 139 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:07,880 That's going to be it for me. So I finally reached out to 140 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:14,040 somebody and in, in consequence, they started, my parents started 141 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,000 working on getting me closer here in church, trying to get me 142 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:17,280 involved with the other guys here. 143 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:20,400 And that's when I met Seth for the first time. 144 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:23,600 I already knew Cam and Coley, but we really weren't close. 145 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,720 But when that all went down and I was like, they were probably 146 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:28,560 feeling like, Oh my God, what's going to happen to this kid? 147 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:29,720 He's going to do something stupid. 148 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,840 They reached out to me, brought me in, and that changed 149 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:37,280 everything for me because all of what was weighing me down or 150 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,760 attacking me in the world just went away. 151 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,880 That being said, I still wasn't completely invested. 152 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,120 Fast forward, we had a, they used to have something called 153 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,480 youth explosion. I think it's called AYC now, but 154 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:50,880 it used to be called youth explosion. 155 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,920 They had youth explosion camp, some back to school rally. 156 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:56,160 This was youth explosion in February. 157 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,160 I didn't want to go. Everybody wanted me to go. 158 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,440 I didn't want to go. I had a bad haircut, at least I 159 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,720 thought I had a bad haircut. I was like, I don't want to do 160 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:06,280 all this. I'm not fixing to travel with 161 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:08,160 these people, whatever. But they forced me to go. 162 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,520 And Long story short, we get there to the service and I'm 163 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:13,120 listening to the guy. I remember the preacher as Court 164 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,240 Chavez is why I love him because he was the preacher. 165 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:18,840 So we're watching, I'm listening and I'm like, not invested when 166 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:20,200 I get there. But throughout the service, I'm 167 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,840 like, man, what this guy is saying is, is making sense. 168 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:25,240 This is making a lot of sense to me. 169 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,400 And it's starting to bring back like that idea of maybe this is 170 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:29,800 something I should get invested into. 171 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,200 We get to the very end of the service and he does an altar 172 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,360 call and he does it the old school way where he basically 173 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:40,120 goes, anybody here who does not have the Holy Ghost, raise your 174 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:41,960 hand. I knew I didn't have it. 175 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,760 So here I go raising my hand, hoping nobody's going to see me. 176 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:46,360 You know, just got it like barely hidden up. 177 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,600 Everybody in my row sees me. So they dragged me up to the 178 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:50,960 front. Next thing I know, they're like, 179 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:52,480 Oh my God, you're speaking in tongues. 180 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,200 You just got the Holy Ghost. And I'm like, I was blindsided. 181 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,520 I was a deer in headlights. So that happened. 182 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:01,600 And then when I got back, I started really trying to learn 183 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:03,080 about it. What is this? 184 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:05,320 What it just happened to me. What did I just go through? 185 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,640 Went to camp, started to really get a feel for it. 186 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:14,800 But I will say it was the friendship that I had with Seth, 187 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,560 Colby and Cam that made me not do go back to where I was 188 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:21,920 because we would sit down and we would talk about God. 189 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:24,880 We talked about what God had in store for us, what we felt our 190 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,240 callings were. We studied together. 191 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,960 They really taught me. That's when we joke all the 192 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:32,560 time. But like Mac and Vicki and all 193 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:35,040 of them brought me in. They were like trying to make 194 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,320 sure that I didn't backslide what it's called. 195 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,760 So. That's what happened for me and 196 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:42,440 then of course everything behind me went away. 197 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,280 I got re baptized because I got baptized when I was a kid, 198 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,440 didn't know what I was doing, so I got re baptized to make sure I 199 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:49,200 knew what I was doing. Ever since then it's just been 200 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:52,000 OK. Even if I make a lot of stupid 201 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:53,160 mistakes. I think there's one thing I 202 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,000 won't do and it won't go back on God because I remember where I 203 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:00,000 was before that happened and what my mindset was to where it 204 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,920 is now. And it's just completely 205 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:03,280 different. It's completely flipped. 206 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:05,840 It went from there's no light at the end of the tunnel to there's 207 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:07,200 no tunnel. All there is is light. 208 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:10,680 I just got to keep going. So that's me. 209 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,280 I can go into detail another time, but I don't have that much 210 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,360 time here. So what I'm going to do is which 211 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,360 everyone of you guys wants to go first, I want you to do kind of 212 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:18,680 the same thing. Just tell me. 213 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:21,920 Tell me how it happened. Walk me through the the the, the 214 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:25,600 the lead up to you getting it and what you were thinking as 215 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,760 you were going through. It all so originally I did not 216 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:34,720 grow up and I, I want to say my parents believe, but they didn't 217 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:36,600 you go to church and my dad was military. 218 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:43,240 So we moved around a lot, and then my parents got divorced and 219 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:47,120 then I moved down even more and I started going to a Baptist 220 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,440 Church and I was actually baptized there and I was super 221 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:52,040 young and I didn't know what I was doing either. 222 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,960 I just remember just playing around as a little kid, didn't 223 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,440 know what I was doing. And then we moved away from 224 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,680 there and I was out of church for a while. 225 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:07,080 And then I started going to another church and then didn't 226 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:11,040 stay there for very long. But I like the relationships I 227 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,120 made there, I guess, with some people. 228 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:17,400 But like, once I moved on, I guess they didn't really stick 229 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,480 around. So it's just like they were just 230 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:20,800 there, I guess. Yeah. 231 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:26,000 And then I found a girl, and then I started going to church 232 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,120 with her. And that's how I started coming 233 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:31,600 here. And I went to camp for the first 234 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:32,720 time. I was really nervous. 235 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,160 I didn't know exactly if I wanted to go because it was my 236 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:37,800 first big event like that. It's. 237 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:40,000 Overwhelming. Like I said, when it was like 238 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,280 that for me at that youth explosion, I was it was just, I 239 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,320 felt like I was getting caught up in another crowd that I had 240 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:47,440 no idea what was about to just befall me. 241 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,040 So that's how I think too. And there's a lot of, there's a 242 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:54,040 lot of people there. And seems like my thought is 243 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:57,200 like, if I don't know knowledge about something, I'm like, I 244 00:11:57,200 --> 00:11:59,320 want to know everything before I go to something. 245 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,360 But then it was like, I don't know anyone that was there and I 246 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:03,840 was just kind of felt out of place. 247 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:08,120 But people made me feel welcome, especially our youth pastors and 248 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:13,360 everyone that was so supportive. So I went there and I got the 249 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,960 Holy Ghost. I don't know exactly. 250 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:17,640 I think it was a third day. It was there. 251 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:18,360 I. Think it was. 252 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:22,560 And it was just the eye opening experience like you said, like 253 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,360 it felt like I was free from the sins I've committed. 254 00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:28,760 It just made me feel very, I don't know, explain like open. 255 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:31,800 If so, for me it felt like a weight had been lifted off my 256 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:33,000 shoulders. That's how it it. 257 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,480 Literally felt like it's how I would imagine a football player 258 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:37,960 would feel if someone just pulled the pads off after a 259 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:39,880 football game. That's how it was for me. 260 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:43,320 And I totally can relate to the the overwhelming part because 261 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,120 like for me, the other thing for me when I was first getting this 262 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:50,160 was I didn't know anything about the religion and everybody 263 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,880 around me was talking like they'd be joking. 264 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,200 You know, this scripture says this, and this says this, and 265 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,880 well, this is what I'm like. I don't understand what these 266 00:12:57,880 --> 00:12:59,400 jokes are. I don't know what you're talking 267 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:00,720 about. All this is going right over my 268 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:03,160 head. See, I felt like an outsider 269 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:05,760 when I was supposed to feel like I was involved. 270 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:08,400 So. Obviously it was never done out 271 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:10,440 of malicious intent. People just that's just how they 272 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:12,480 are and I learned to to to jive with it. 273 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:15,320 But I completely understand that feeling that you had. 274 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,320 Yeah. And I go along with what you 275 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,440 said. Yeah, people, they'll say stuff 276 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:23,160 like that and then you don't know what they're talking about. 277 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,720 It's like, well, maybe I'm out of place here, but you just got 278 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:28,120 to realize that some people don't realize that you don't 279 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:30,320 know as much. That can also be a good thing 280 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:32,400 because they can teach you and you can make connections off of 281 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,320 that. And I just continued to go to 282 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:40,400 live life gate and I was like, well, this was I think this is 283 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,720 this is after NAYC. Oh no, before NAYC, like 2 weeks 284 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,840 before NAYCI got baptized. I think it was 2 weeks before. 285 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:51,360 And it was just I got I wanted to get re baptized because it's 286 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:53,560 baptized in a Baptist Church and I think it was under the 287 00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:57,040 Trinity. And I was like, well, I think I 288 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:59,920 should get re baptized. So I got re baptized here and 289 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:01,640 then I've just been coming ever since. 290 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,680 Yeah, so. Can I ask you, when you were 291 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:07,640 going to those other churches growing up, when you come to our 292 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:09,960 church, I know you came here because you were seeing somebody 293 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:13,360 here, but did you ever feel when you walked through the doors and 294 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,520 you were in this, did it feel different just as a church, like 295 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,640 something was different about the way things were done here 296 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:21,360 versus the churches you've been to in the past? 297 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:26,000 It's definitely different. They were more most so the 298 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,200 Church of Christ I went to. I don't remember much of the 299 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:31,600 when I went to, I've only been to a few churches just because 300 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,120 my family weren't very active in the church. 301 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,280 But I just remember they weren't very opening. 302 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,760 I would say mostly to themselves and they wouldn't speak out to 303 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:45,040 anyone. Like you would have a few people 304 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,280 come up to you, but it was just like small talk. 305 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,040 But here everyone was more open. They wanted to get to know you. 306 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,600 They wanted to see what you were really like, I guess, and see 307 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:57,280 like build off of that. And I just think everyone here 308 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:00,080 actually cared for you. Unlike some churches, they don't 309 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,320 really care for you. They just kind of want you there 310 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:03,520 because it makes them feel better. 311 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:07,080 Not then I guess. It makes them think that they're 312 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,320 doing something right when they're getting people in, I 313 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:11,520 guess. Yeah. 314 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,480 So that made a huge impact on you being able to have people 315 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,520 that made you feel like family, I guess was, but the the idea 316 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:19,920 you weren't just a guest, you were like as if you've been 317 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:21,600 coming here for a long time. Exactly. 318 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:23,440 Yeah. So that that can change a lot of 319 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,680 things. So leading up to and you can cut 320 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:28,760 me off if you. Need to I did have a a question. 321 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,800 Was there a point that you can remember that like it changed 322 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,280 from just coming to church to like you wanted to have a 323 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,680 relationship with God or wanted something different that you 324 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,640 hadn't had before? I think ever since I've started 325 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:45,320 going to the church, I mean, obviously I haven't been, I 326 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:48,040 ain't go to the alternative as much as I should have, but I've 327 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,240 always been, I've been looking at everyone else. 328 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,400 I was like, I kind of wanted that experience, I guess. 329 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:58,120 And I guess like a few months in I wanted to be. 330 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,120 I got closer and then I went through the breakup and then 331 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,720 like a few weeks after that I was like, man, I didn't make a 332 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:06,040 change. So I started being more active 333 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,760 in church and I met some new friends, this guy Erica Reer, 334 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:14,440 and we just became close and being at bowling and stuff. 335 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:18,920 Yeah, kind of felt that shift. So you mentioned it after and 336 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,680 you know, after you've been coming here for a while, I mean, 337 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:23,440 you had an opportunity where you could have left. 338 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,080 You could have been like, OK, the person I was seeing, I'm not 339 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:27,760 seeing them anymore. I'm not interested at all. 340 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,760 You had a chance to leave, but you decided to stay outside of 341 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,000 just the friendships that you develop here. 342 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,840 Did you feel any kind of pull towards God? 343 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:39,520 Like God was pulling you while being here, that you just didn't 344 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:43,480 want to leave that as well? Yeah, I think, I think so. 345 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,680 I don't think, I don't know any other churches that have been 346 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:49,720 more open to me, like I said before. 347 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,560 And I think that just wanted me to stay here. 348 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:55,480 And I've never been to a different Pentecostal church. 349 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:58,200 And I think that is also a big reason why I just want to stay 350 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,160 here and I want to leave. I mean, even though you said the 351 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:06,200 connections, that is a big part and having, I mean, I'm not 352 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:10,240 against visiting other churches, but I would rather stay. 353 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:12,040 This is like my home, I feel like. 354 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:13,960 Yeah. And church wise, yeah. 355 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:19,280 Well, like, like I remember for me, after I had started coming 356 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,680 back for a while, I loved the family that I felt like I had 357 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:29,520 here, but I also realized like as far as my personal salvation, 358 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:33,520 I was on the right path now. Now I felt like, hey, I'm 359 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,800 working towards heaven. I'm working towards this. 360 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,400 And I felt that like call that pull. 361 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,480 So that was a huge factor for me. 362 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:45,040 That's why I was just like, I was just curious, did you feel 363 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,160 that pull in that regard as well? 364 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:50,680 Obviously something was there because you just, you didn't 365 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:55,640 want to go anywhere, going back to camp. 366 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,080 What made you decide to go to youth camp? 367 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:03,840 I guess my friends and stuff are going. 368 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:06,760 That's a big reason. I mean, I think I saw some 369 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:09,840 videos and stuff and it looked very fun and everyone talked 370 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:14,080 about how good the services and stuff were and I was kind of 371 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:16,200 worried because like the services were long. 372 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,040 I was like, I'm kind of worried because I haven't been to such a 373 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,200 long service I guess. Then I went and I thought it 374 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:23,560 was. I thought it was very fun. 375 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,280 Obviously had no intention. Did you have any intentions of 376 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:27,960 like, hey, I'm going here, I'm going to get the Holy Ghost? 377 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,240 Or was that just the side that just happened? 378 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,000 I mean, honestly, if I'm being truthful, I even though I've 379 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,280 been coming here for a while, I wasn't sure. 380 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,200 I haven't gotten it before. So I was like, I was doubtful. 381 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:39,680 I was. Like. 382 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,080 I was like, I'm not sure if this is a real thing or people are 383 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,040 just saying it and then I can't. I I went and got it and it was 384 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:48,880 like an eye opener. Yeah, I think anyone can get it. 385 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:50,880 It's just you have to have your mind in the right place. 386 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:53,880 Right, where Speaking of that, when, when that happened on 387 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:58,480 night three, walk me through that process. 388 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:00,480 Was it an altar call that you went up there? 389 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:02,360 Did somebody just happen to pray for you? 390 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:04,560 Did you just decide, you know what, hey, I'm just going to 391 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,560 pray and just see what happens? Like walk me through what 392 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:10,560 happened in that scenario. So it's actually sister Lexie, 393 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:14,560 she's like she was telling me how like how it can help to get 394 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:16,640 it and I think it was during alter call. 395 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:20,000 I think it was the night before you got the Holy Ghost that I 396 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:21,560 came up and was talking to you for a second. 397 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:23,320 Do you remember? Yeah, I remember. 398 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,240 I think that was it. And then the next day I really 399 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:28,480 put that into effect. And I mean, all you have to 400 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,760 like, all I did was open my mouth and pray and people, all 401 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:33,040 the church was praying around me. 402 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,800 And it's just like a different experience. 403 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,360 Yeah, some people describe it differently when it happens. 404 00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:42,000 That first initial feeling, I know I was talking about when we 405 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:43,680 were talking to my dad when he first got it. 406 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,480 He got the Holy Ghost when he was in the Marines. 407 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:48,960 My dad was a Marine. He grew up. 408 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,920 He, he called, he, he calls himself a heathen because 409 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,800 Gentiles do nice. My dad grew up there for in 410 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,440 Saint Louis in the Northwest, in the Midwest. 411 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:02,560 Religion is not a thing as it is down here. 412 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,000 I'm not talking just Pentecost. I'm talking religion in general. 413 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:10,080 So for him growing up, there was no influence at all on my dad. 414 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:14,760 There was nothing about religion that interests his family. 415 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:16,440 His family was not having anything to do with it. 416 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:18,240 His dad wasn't in the picture. It was just his mom. 417 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:22,120 Well, Fast forward, he he goes to the Marines right out of high 418 00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:23,960 school because he felt there was nothing else for him. 419 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:31,280 But while he was on tour, one of his bunkmates was a Pentecostal. 420 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:33,920 Just a Pentecostal, right? Wasn't somebody special? 421 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,160 He was another Marine and my dad overheard him talking about 422 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,480 Jesus, talking about the Bible. So Long story short, they 423 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,840 started doing Bible studies. My dad got the Holy Ghost while 424 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:48,560 he was on a basically a wasn't exactly an aircraft carrier, but 425 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,480 a liking to one. While on tour for the US 426 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:54,400 Marines, got baptized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast 427 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:55,400 of Italy. That's cool. 428 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,320 He knew nothing about it, didn't know what the sign was for the 429 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:02,640 Holy Ghost. But when he, when he referenced 430 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,480 it, he said that he just felt like it was almost as if oil or, 431 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,520 or, or or some presence just flowed over him. 432 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,560 He's he didn't know. He started speaking in tongues, 433 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:13,360 didn't know what that was. It kind of probably freaked him 434 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:17,320 out a little bit. I can't remember. 435 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,720 For me, it felt like obviously everything just came up off of 436 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:24,480 me when it happened to me. Outside of just having that 437 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,240 weight lifted, did you feel any Like what was going through your 438 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:32,240 mind when you realized this is happening? 439 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,760 This is legit. Yeah, at first I didn't really 440 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:37,280 believe it. I mean, like you can't. 441 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,440 I wouldn't say you can definitely tell like you're kind 442 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:42,560 of just praying and it's like coming out and not what you 443 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,440 expect to what's coming out. I mean, God is taking over 444 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,160 control. So it's just, I wanted to say I 445 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:50,760 have a different experience from that. 446 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,840 I mean, I guess like my whole body was like shaking I guess a 447 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:58,240 little bit. Well, that's, that's awesome 448 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:00,040 that you. I didn't realize you were so 449 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:01,760 intertwined. With that, I was there. 450 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:04,880 Give me your perspective on He's at the altar. 451 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:05,760 Were you there too? I was. 452 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,560 OK, I'm going to get you too. Eric was there. 453 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,960 He did have a yeah. Yeah, give me your perspective, 454 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,440 Lexi, and then I'll get Eric to give me your perspective. 455 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:16,760 And just so I can see what everybody else is doing, because 456 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:18,080 I asked that a lot when it happened to me. 457 00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,240 I asked Sister Penton, because Sister Penton was there for me 458 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:22,440 what happened? And she was, she was, she was 459 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:25,040 like, I'm be honest, she was like, we were all sobbing so 460 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,640 hard, just so proud of you being up there that none of us were 461 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:29,320 really like. It's hard to pay attention. 462 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,640 Paying attention, we just heard you speaking in tongues and just 463 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,040 knew but we were just we couldn't see. 464 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,040 So I'm curious what the experience for y'all was for 465 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,800 this. Well, my perspective going back 466 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:41,000 to the night before you got the Holy Ghost, you were sitting in 467 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:42,760 like a middle of row. No one was around you. 468 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,280 And I kind of felt impressed that you were wanting something 469 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:48,760 different. And you kind of been listening, 470 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,000 you know, to all the messages that had happened, but you 471 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,320 didn't understand and you didn't know, like when I got the Holy 472 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,320 Ghost, I knew what it was supposed to sound like. 473 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:58,640 I knew what I was supposed to do because I was around this my 474 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,160 whole life, but it never clicked. 475 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,240 Like, how do you do it? You know, like how do you speak 476 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:04,840 in a different language? You don't know that's 477 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,800 impossible, right? So anyway, I felt inclined to 478 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,160 come and talk to you And, and we kind of had a a moment that I 479 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,680 was just, I just asked you, you know, what do you know about the 480 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:16,560 do you know anything about the Holy Ghost? 481 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,120 Or is that kind of are you feeling, I feel like you're 482 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:21,320 wanting the Holy Ghost, but you don't know how to go about it, I 483 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,360 think is how I worded it. But anyway, we had that and that 484 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:28,840 conversation and then Fast forward to the next night and it 485 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:34,880 was a really powerful service. It was brother, thank you, 486 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,160 brother Nate White. And it was really powerful 487 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,200 service. And everybody's worshiping and, 488 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,640 and you were down in one of the aisles and all of the guys were 489 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,560 surrounding you and our our youth guys. 490 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,800 And then some of our girls were like on the outskirts. 491 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,960 And so I remember coming up and I think Sister Misty was there 492 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:54,840 too. Brother Jamari wasn't there, but 493 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,400 there was just a few different of our counselors that were with 494 00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,240 you. And I remember coming up and I 495 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,480 was praying for you. And I remember like putting my 496 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:03,760 hand on your shoulder or your chest maybe. 497 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,440 I can't remember. And it was just like, I felt 498 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,360 like like electricity, like fell, you know, and that's what 499 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:13,320 I felt. And I, I never heard you speak 500 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,200 in tongues. I just, I felt that. 501 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,000 And I was like, I don't know if he got the Holy Ghost, but I 502 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,440 know something happened. And then, you know, service kind 503 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,960 of moved, our ultra call kind of moved on and we ended up 504 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:23,640 outside. And then that's when you came up 505 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,080 to me and you're like, I got it. I was like, what? 506 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:29,240 Like that was very excited. But that's my perspective. 507 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:37,240 Mine was so I was next to him and like the last two nights, 508 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,000 like he, he would be up, he would be at the altar and he'd 509 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,160 be like, dude, why is my hand shaking? 510 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,280 Why is my hand shaking? Because he'd be standing in 511 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,680 there and his hand just be shaking like out of control. 512 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,160 And but that happened. And then the third night when he 513 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:56,480 did receive it, I was right next to him and then his hand was 514 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:58,440 shaking right. And he had his eyes closed. 515 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,120 He used his praying. And then the weirdest thing 516 00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:02,200 happened. We were outside. 517 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,200 He told us he's like, there's no room in here, go outside. 518 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,240 Yeah. So we were outside, and then he 519 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,080 came up and he was like, dude, I got the Holy Ghost. 520 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:10,920 Yeah. I was like, bro, that's crazy. 521 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:12,400 That's good. When I was running outside. 522 00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:14,600 I could have ran around the whole building. 523 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:18,000 I was so excited that. Was crazy, but yeah, that was my 524 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,160 point of view of it. That's awesome. 525 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,040 All right, so we get the Holy Ghost at camp. 526 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:28,920 Now. It's like, it's like a whole new 527 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,800 world, as Aladdin says, we get back. 528 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,040 And how long was it between getting the Holy Ghost and you 529 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,040 deciding that you wanted to get baptized again? 530 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:39,320 What was that time difference there? 531 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,080 Does anybody remember? I'm thinking it was like a month 532 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,840 or so because the very beginning of June was camp and then the 533 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,920 middle of July was in AYC and it happened in between that. 534 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,360 Yeah, I think the only reason why I really waited was because 535 00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:54,840 I wasn't sure. I don't, I wasn't sure about 536 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,200 getting rebaptized because I don't know my people's 537 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:01,400 perspective on that. I've heard people say so you can 538 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,160 get this baptized as many as you want. 539 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:06,240 I guess it's just like depends on how you think of it. 540 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,960 And I was like I don't know exactly because I was baptized 541 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,120 in a Baptist Church before and then I switched over to the 542 00:26:14,120 --> 00:26:18,000 Pentecostal so I wasn't sure and plus I was young for the Baptist 543 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,240 Church but I just wanted to make sure and people were very open 544 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,440 on the idea of getting re baptized so I was. 545 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,360 Do you remember you came up, I don't know if it was the night 546 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:28,360 you got the Holy Ghost for the next night, but you said 547 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:31,680 something about brother Nate keeps saying and need to be 548 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,080 baptized in Jesus name. Just like kind of it wasn't a 549 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,640 message, but just in his message he mentioned it has to be in 550 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:38,920 Jesus name, which is what the Bible tells us. 551 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,000 And you're like, and I don't think when I got baptized it was 552 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:43,960 in Jesus name. So I feel like I need to get it 553 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,040 done. And so that's, I remember that 554 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:47,880 was like right after you got the Holy Ghost. 555 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,320 We were still at camp. Yeah, that definitely opened my 556 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,440 eyes. You know, because. 557 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:55,680 I mean, Baptist Church usually don't do it in Jesus name, so 558 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,320 yeah, I had to make sure. Well, it seems to me that when 559 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,400 all this went down for you, this is like all new stuff. 560 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,920 It seems to me like you had a little bit of a sense of, OK, 561 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,400 I'm invested now. Now I want to make sure that 562 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:10,160 I'm, I'm set. I want to make sure that I've 563 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:14,120 done everything that I need to do in order to be saved fully. 564 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,120 And it sounds like that's what kind of led you to be like, you 565 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:19,320 know, even if even if you're questioning in that, that's OK 566 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,360 because you want to be able to say, did I do this correctly? 567 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:24,800 Because if I didn't, I want to make sure I did it. 568 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:25,920 Correctly, you want to have that surety. 569 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,200 Right, Yeah, I I went through the same thing. 570 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,760 Wasn't over the name because I got baptized twice. 571 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:36,520 First time I got baptized I was 9 or 1099 I think. 572 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,200 My dad baptized me at the Huntsville church and he 573 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:43,600 baptized me in Jesus name. But as I said earlier, I had no 574 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:46,360 idea why really. I was told I had to do it. 575 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:48,200 And that's the only way you're going to get make make it to 576 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:49,640 heaven. As a kid, you got to got to be 577 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:53,760 baptized, but when nobody told me was you have to mean it when 578 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,680 you do it. You have to feel like it has to 579 00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,960 be something special. So after I got the Holy Ghost 580 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:05,800 myself, it was actually the next time we went to Congress. 581 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,600 When I got convicted, it was almost like God told me. 582 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:12,280 So Hey, look, I know you already did it, but you didn't know what 583 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:14,320 you were doing. Now you know what you're doing, 584 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,640 and now you know why you need to do it, so you need to do it 585 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,200 again. And so I actually, that's when I 586 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:20,800 came home. When I told my dad, I was like, 587 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,360 I know you did it right, but I didn't do it right. 588 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,240 So I got baptized again. I was too embarrassed. 589 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:27,960 I'm gonna be honest. I was too embarrassed to like 590 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:29,360 mention it at all here at the church. 591 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,200 So I was like, Dad, grandma's got a pool in her backyard. 592 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,040 Take me to her house, baptized me in her pool. 593 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:36,760 I'm good. Between me and the Lord, we're 594 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:38,440 good. Was he open with the idea of 595 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:39,960 that? Say that one. 596 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:41,600 More time. Was he open with the idea of 597 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:42,040 being? Yeah, he. 598 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,120 Actually, he actually was like, he kind of got a little, got a 599 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:47,800 little defensive with me. He was like, I baptized, I said 600 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:49,680 it right, I did it right, I did it right. 601 00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,000 I was like, Dad, you did it right. 602 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,760 You got to do it again. I didn't do it right. 603 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:56,480 My. Heart was not in it. 604 00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,640 I wasn't repenting. I didn't know what I was doing. 605 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,040 So even though I've already been buried in that name, I want to 606 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,040 do it again. This time to know, hey, I've 607 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:09,200 done it right myself. So that was my reason for 608 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:10,880 getting baptized that second time. 609 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,720 And it did feel like it did feel like there was a difference that 610 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,760 second time that it happened. And I imagine you probably felt 611 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:18,520 the same thing. You get baptized for that first 612 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:22,640 time in the name and you're like, OK, now I feel it's weird. 613 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,720 It's like now I feel clean, now I feel like I'm a new person. 614 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,360 So since all that's gone down, that was last year. 615 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:33,920 No, this this year. Yeah, this. 616 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:35,960 Year that'll happen. This year, man, that's four 617 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:37,400 months ago. Good. 618 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:39,600 Gracious, I can't even remember last week. 619 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:45,160 So since that's happened, then what's your, what's your, what's 620 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,800 your like perspective of everything right now? 621 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,040 Are you, Is it, is it? Hey, I've got it now. 622 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,640 I'm invested in this church. I'm invested in this belief and 623 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,080 you want to learn more about it. Yeah, I think so. 624 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,360 And like, I think even though I just opened doors and so I think 625 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,080 I need to be more active in the church. 626 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,200 Yeah, I mean, I can always do more, but just opening doors and 627 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:05,680 so isn't it. Don't I want to learn the 628 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:07,720 guitar? But I haven't put much effort 629 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:09,440 into that yet. I haven't learned it either. 630 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:13,440 Yeah, I mean, that's awesome. I mean I. 631 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:15,640 Will say being active is definitely going to make a 632 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,720 difference. This is what I we were talking. 633 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:22,400 To the brides and he and brother Kevin mentioned it, but you 634 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,040 know, basically we're talking about just. 635 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:27,160 How to get the most out of it. And you know, what we likened it 636 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:29,800 to was I don't know if you've you're a finance guy at all or 637 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:31,960 what that pay attention to stock trading or anything like that. 638 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:36,520 But when I was at the when I was at the dealership, lost a lot of 639 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,440 money, but I learned a lot about it. 640 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:41,560 And the biggest thing? Was for the stocks that you 641 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,240 have. If you buy stocks, you invest in 642 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,400 those stocks, you're paying attention to those stocks and 643 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,480 you're, you're like, if they go down, you're not happy. 644 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,360 If it goes up, you're good. Like you're you're invested the 645 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:54,920 stocks you don't buy. So I don't. 646 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,280 Care what happens because I'm not invested in those stocks 647 00:30:57,280 --> 00:31:00,040 it's. The same thing here at church, 648 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,360 the more you invest into it, the more you put into it, the more 649 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:05,880 you can get back out of it. And the good thing about this is 650 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:08,560 it's never going to go down. The stock is never going to go 651 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:09,600 down. It's always going to be making 652 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,760 its way up, so. That was a big thing for me. 653 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,520 Like I said, if it weren't for Seth and Colby and Cam and us 654 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,240 just, we all collectively decided we need to get more out 655 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,680 of this. I mean, it's you just. 656 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:23,760 You don't, you don't have that investment to kind of keep you 657 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:25,680 anchored and and you need to have that little bit of an 658 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,320 anchor to keep you keep you held down. 659 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:29,840 So. I agree. 660 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:34,640 There was a preacher who said one time that living hard for 661 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:38,560 Jesus is easy and living easy for Jesus is hard. 662 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,720 And kind of in that perspective, if you're going after everything 663 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,440 you're, you know, you're living the fullest that you can for 664 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,360 God. It makes your relationship with 665 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,320 God easy. But if you are just only serving 666 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:52,920 God on Sundays and Wednesdays and barely ever, you know, 667 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:55,400 reading your Bible outside, it makes life a lot harder. 668 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:57,560 It makes wanting to even come church hard. 669 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,160 And, and kind of in that perspective of ministry. 670 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,120 Like once I got involved in ministry, my whole perspective 671 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:08,480 shifted and I felt purpose or fulfilled in a different way. 672 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,120 And I think if I didn't have that, I, I don't know if I would 673 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:17,200 even be as close to God as I am, if that makes sense. 674 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,280 Not that you have to have ministry, but I mean, that's a 675 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,000 part of your relationship with God. 676 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,080 You know, we're one to be more like Jesus and he's served, 677 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,080 right? I mean, it's different capacity. 678 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,160 But so if we're, you know, if we get closer to God, I think it's 679 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,360 something that's going to organically happen that we're 680 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:37,240 going to want to get involved. So I guess one of the last few 681 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:41,960 things that I kind of want to as far as your testimony is I want 682 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:45,680 you to so for your opinion on this, let's let's pretend that 683 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:48,080 I'm someone who's never gone to church. 684 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:50,320 I don't know what the Holy Ghost is. 685 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:54,360 And I go, I go, Hadley, tell me about this. 686 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,280 Like, what's your advice to someone who's who was in the 687 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,320 shoes that you were in before everything happened to you? 688 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,560 What's what, what do you say to that person who's who's still 689 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,600 maybe in that I'm I don't know where, what what is this? 690 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,800 Yeah, I mean, first of all, tell them to try to come to church as 691 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,880 soon as possible. I mean, we do many, I mean we 692 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:17,760 bowl and stuff like that's to get people to come to church. 693 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,440 I think that could be a for like a a good. 694 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,320 Obviously mine was for a relationship, but I mean even 695 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,680 someone just trying to build friendships, people that need 696 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:30,000 friends, they can start coming to like we if they're invited, 697 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,800 they could come to like bowling and stuff. 698 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:36,240 Like if they're invited to small events and then they could go to 699 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,560 love the people at the church and then they go to the church 700 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:41,240 more and they find out what they really want in a church. 701 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:45,480 Yeah, absolutely. Eric, what's your opinion on 702 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:46,240 that? Yeah. 703 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:52,680 My opinion on that is just to like, I feel like as a visitor, 704 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,720 if you're visiting, I feel like it's more on the church to get 705 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:59,200 the visitor. Yeah, so, but in that case that 706 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:03,680 the church doesn't get the visitor, just don't close 707 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:07,600 yourself off. Like don't be like, Nah, I can't 708 00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:10,400 go to that. And even though I do that 709 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:16,280 sometimes, but if you're new, you let don't try not to close 710 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:21,600 yourself off. Try to be open just like because 711 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,159 the people in the church will try their best not to hurt you. 712 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:27,840 And I feel like most times people do get hurt from the 713 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:31,080 church. It's just little things that it 714 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:32,679 almost seems like they want to get hurt about it. 715 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:39,400 But yeah, I think just don't close yourself off and that's 716 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,719 like the main thing, I think. Yeah, I agree. 717 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,360 It's definitely easy to have that like negative mindset about 718 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:48,600 attending things, especially if you've been hurt before by 719 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:50,199 anyone, not just somebody from church. 720 00:34:52,159 --> 00:34:56,920 Awesome, So what do you feel like we could do? 721 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:58,680 And this will be for both you guys if you want to share the 722 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:00,480 mic. What do you feel like we as a 723 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:05,120 church could do to better reach people that are in your age 724 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:08,520 range who may be in the area that you guys are in? 725 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:12,680 I'm not saying that we're doing anything wrong when this 726 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,480 ultimately goes to pastor, but what I'm saying is you can 727 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:18,280 always do better for sure, obviously. 728 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,880 And we want to make sure that we can reach everybody that we can. 729 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:24,960 I mean, I, it's been, it's been 10 years since I was in your 730 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,560 spot and the things that affected me, it would have 731 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:29,840 helped me to get into church are probably a little different now 732 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,240 just in that, that 10 year gap. So between the two of you guys, 733 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:37,000 what, what do you feel like we could do better to better reach 734 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,800 those people? As you mentioned, it's on the 735 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,680 church to get the visitor. How can we do that better? 736 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:43,240 What are some ways that you think would be better 737 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:47,120 opportunities? There I would say I mean I'm not 738 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,120 sure what y'all's thoughts on this, but like maybe going like 739 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:53,200 missionary stuff like I know we have I think we have some people 740 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,280 doing that currently yeah but maybe even I mean people don't 741 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:57,800 like it. We're going door to door just 742 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:01,240 leaving cards everywhere. I mean, it is pretty expensive 743 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:04,080 buying cards, but I've seen many cards and Chick-fil-A and stuff 744 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,160 in the bathrooms and I've seen, I'm pretty sure I've seen a 745 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,400 couple people pick them up and be like interested in that. 746 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,080 Especially our Andreage. Everyone's on the social media. 747 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:17,600 So I'm I'm sure we have a big social media platform, but even 748 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:21,160 more trying to grow that more, we'll get more people involved I 749 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:24,040 guess and they'll be looking at it and be like, well, this seems 750 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:28,840 interesting. But I think definitely people 751 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:33,320 nowadays need to, they need, I don't know, short form content, 752 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:34,960 something to get them interested in it. 753 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:35,560 A. Hook. 754 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:38,720 A hook, yeah. Just to get them interested in 755 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:42,680 wanting to come in, yeah. Yeah, sounds like more exposure. 756 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:46,640 Yeah, I agree with Hadley on the door knocking thing because 757 00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:48,800 that's that was like it's kind of old fashioned now. 758 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:50,720 Everyone's like no soliciting, get away from my door. 759 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:57,640 But yeah, I agree with that. But another thing is so like, I 760 00:36:57,640 --> 00:36:59,720 feel like if you're talking about our age range, you're 761 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:03,680 trying to reach our age range. I feel like. 762 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:06,640 So if I were to go reach out to one of your friends that aren't 763 00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:11,160 in church, it wouldn't work as well as if you went to reach? 764 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:14,680 Out to them. So it's I'm not trying to say 765 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,480 don't reach out to younger people, but I feel like it's 766 00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:22,480 almost up to us too. Like our friends, like we reach 767 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,120 out to them and then y'all get to know them better. 768 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,280 So then y'all can like fellowship with them and stuff. 769 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:33,560 Are you going to say something? But yeah, not saying that or but 770 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,360 if you wanted to reach out to them, I'd say yeah. 771 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:39,520 Short form content. So anything social media, 772 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,400 because, I mean, our age is always on social media. 773 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:44,640 So yeah. Well, that's why I started this 774 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:48,000 just OK, how can I reach as many people as I can reach? 775 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:53,440 So So would you guys say then that for as far as people your 776 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:58,840 age, a lot more of the the a bigger difference could be made 777 00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:02,000 if if the other people that are in your age range hyphen slash 778 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,360 youth made more of an effort to reach out to the other people, 779 00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:09,880 there could be more of a change. How, how could a, let's say, I'd 780 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,040 say hyphen slash youth because you guys are right on that edge. 781 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:15,040 How can a group like that, What would you say to your fellow 782 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:19,480 hyphen people and fellow youth people to to to maybe start 783 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:21,720 something to try to reach more people outside of knocking on 784 00:38:21,720 --> 00:38:24,600 doors? Yeah, definitely. 785 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:27,000 We're all in different circumstances. 786 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,160 Everyone has a different job, different things that they do. 787 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:31,920 They have many different connections. 788 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,400 We're not all in one place huddled up together. 789 00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:38,760 We have many connections that we can make with our age group and 790 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,080 be like, hey, are you interested in coming to something? 791 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,680 Which obviously I haven't done a good job at that because I'm not 792 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,120 very outgoing person. I can't really go. 793 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:49,960 I need to be more outgoing and go up to more people and be 794 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:51,600 like, hey, are you interested in going to something? 795 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:55,440 Obviously not a stranger, but even someone that I'm decently 796 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:57,960 close with, I should be able to tell them something and be like, 797 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,720 hey, do you want to come to this bowling thing and hang out with 798 00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:02,440 our church or whatever and see how you like it. 799 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,760 And even if you get a rejection, you get to learn to be strong 800 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,560 enough to take it and just be like, well, even though this 801 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:11,480 person maybe doesn't want to come, but there's other people 802 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,560 that want to come or they need to come and they just don't have 803 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:17,680 the ability or the time, I guess, to come but. 804 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,000 When I was in car sales, there were two sayings that we got a 805 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,880 lot as salespeople. It was, it takes three Nos to 806 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:26,840 get a yes. So out of every four people you 807 00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,920 talk to that you ask are you can, you know, whatever reason 808 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:32,240 could it be 3 people are going to tell you no one person's 809 00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:34,560 going to tell you yes. And the reason why they told us 810 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:38,080 that was because at the end of the day, the whole mindset was 811 00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,560 that means if you talk to 30, say you talk to 40 people, you 812 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:45,520 get 30 Nos, but you got 10 yeses and those 10 yeses can go a very 813 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:48,880 long way. So I guess it it, it sounds like 814 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,880 it just say it face the rejection as you would as if you 815 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,840 were a door to door salesperson, but have that. 816 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:57,120 Positivity of but if I get a yes. 817 00:39:57,800 --> 00:39:59,720 Then that one makes all the difference in the world. 818 00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:03,560 Right, you could also apply that to one person. 819 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:06,360 So like I have friends that I've invited to things and they say 820 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,720 no but maybe the 4th time will be a yes for the same person. 821 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:11,760 Yeah, that makes a lot of sense there. 822 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:17,720 Can you repeat the question? Again, I didn't forget say to 823 00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:22,200 other hyphen or young people or youth to kind of get them. 824 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,800 Like what do you think helps get other people, their friends 825 00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:28,040 involved? Like what would you say to 826 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:33,280 encourage them? Or would I say I would try to 827 00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:39,640 like obviously, like I'm not saying that the church isn't 828 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:42,440 fun, but make church sound fun, You know what I mean? 829 00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:44,960 Like don't like be like, hey, do you want to come to church with 830 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,280 me on Sunday? Because then it just sounds like 831 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:49,960 you're just going to a funeral almost. 832 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,160 You got to make it sound fun. You get like, the music is 833 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,720 awesome. The preaching is great. 834 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:57,440 Like you got to make it. You got to make it sound like 835 00:40:57,680 --> 00:40:59,480 you like, not saying you don't like it. 836 00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:01,280 You got to make it sound like you like you know what I mean? 837 00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:03,240 Just lie to him. If you don't like it, just tell. 838 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:07,720 Him, but that's probably what I'd say is just to amp it up a 839 00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:09,480 bit than it already is. Yeah. 840 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:13,080 All right, so we got a lot from Hadley's, and now let's get some 841 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,400 more from you. You, you went to a couple 842 00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,080 churches before you came here, but they weren't like other 843 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:20,440 religions, as far as I know. You've you've been in Pentecost 844 00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:22,800 for a little bit. Give me a give me a little back 845 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,000 story on you. And then lead it into how you 846 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,320 got the Holy Ghost and how you decided that you were going to, 847 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:30,360 you know, make this thing your thing. 848 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:34,120 So I always grew up a good boy. I was a good boy. 849 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:37,920 I was going to church every day with my family, you know, ever 850 00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:39,960 since I was young, I remember going to church. 851 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:41,600 I would sing in church when I was little. 852 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:49,120 I would always, when we had communion, I'd be like, like, 853 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:51,840 let me drink some. Let me drink some of the like, 854 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,480 quote UN quote wine, yeah, juice, and then eat some of the 855 00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:55,760 bread. And he's like, no, you can't, 856 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:57,080 you can't take it. The Legos. 857 00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:59,320 I was like, OK, do you understand? 858 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:02,200 Yeah. But yeah, I always grew up in 859 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:06,000 church. We moved around because of my 860 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,920 mom's job. So probably I was at my first 861 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:14,840 church from when I was born to seven years old. 862 00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:18,760 And then I moved to my second church, which was in Cookeville, 863 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,320 TN. And I was, it was from 8:00 to 864 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:27,440 when I was around 13 years old. And that church was where I got 865 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:29,880 the Holy Ghost and where I was baptized. 866 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:35,040 So it was in, I was around 11:00. 867 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:38,120 So I was, I was a little older than you were when you got 868 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:43,760 baptized and all that. But I was 11 and I remember I 869 00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:46,440 got baptized before I got the Holy Ghost. 870 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:55,040 So I got baptized and then it was almost like like it was, it 871 00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:58,840 was weird because I've never really like felt anything like 872 00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:00,760 that before. Because I remember coming up to 873 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:03,320 my parents, I was like, I mean, I was young. 874 00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:07,920 So I was like, hey, I really think I should get baptized. 875 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,680 I feel like I'm ready for it. And so I got baptized. 876 00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:17,400 And when I went under, it was almost like everything stopped 877 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:19,440 for a second. And then when I came back up, 878 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:20,920 everything, like everything was still stopped. 879 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,440 Everything was like slow motion. Yeah, it was quiet. 880 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:27,240 It was all quiet. And I just started lifting my 881 00:43:27,240 --> 00:43:29,440 hands. But I didn't receive the Holy 882 00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,160 Ghost then. But I felt it like I was. 883 00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:34,960 I started crying. I got out of the water, and then 884 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:39,800 I went to go with my parents. And then after that, probably a 885 00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:42,480 year later, is when I received the Holy Ghost when I was just 886 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:44,920 12, turning 13, about to turn 13. 887 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:50,480 So yeah. Walk me through the process of 888 00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:52,560 getting the Holy Ghost. Was it at like a regular Sunday 889 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:53,840 service? Was it at camp? 890 00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:57,280 Was it intentional that you go up to the altar like they were 891 00:43:57,280 --> 00:43:58,240 you drawn up there? What? 892 00:43:58,240 --> 00:44:01,240 What happened? So it was like a revival service 893 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:04,840 and it wasn't necessarily like a camp or anything, but it was 894 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,840 like just one of those like weekend services. 895 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,320 Like it's one of the services you go Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 896 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:11,680 you know what I mean? Yeah. 897 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:17,640 And it was on the, it was the Friday, I believe. 898 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:24,720 And all my, all my like, youth group was up there with me and I 899 00:44:24,720 --> 00:44:30,040 was praying and like, I'm like, I'm a very emotional person. 900 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:33,000 Like I'm sensitive, but I don't like to show it sometimes. 901 00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:37,120 But I was up there and I just started crying like real bad. 902 00:44:37,720 --> 00:44:40,080 And I was like, Lord, I need, I like, I need the Holy Ghost. 903 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,200 Like if I don't get the Holy Ghost, I can't make it to 904 00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:43,880 heaven. You know what I mean? 905 00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:45,000 So you almost. Had like a little bit of a 906 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:48,560 desperation. Yeah, it was almost like I was, 907 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:50,760 I was emotional about it, you know what I mean? 908 00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:54,160 Like I was like, I can't, like live without. 909 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:55,680 I can't live without it well. Yeah. 910 00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:58,040 I mean, that could weigh on you a lot that like I said, for for 911 00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:01,800 a lot of us when we went through it, it was eternity is on the 912 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:05,040 line from a certain perspective and that's what it was on me is 913 00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:07,760 eternity is on the line. If I don't get this, if I can't 914 00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:11,160 figure this out, then. Literally the rest. 915 00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:15,720 Of time is is not going to be good and it's not even like I 916 00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:17,280 want to avoid the negative of it. 917 00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:20,120 It's I want to be in the positive of eternity. 918 00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:22,040 It's like that's what it was for me. 919 00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:26,600 I got to get this because I got to be in the throne room when 920 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:28,680 all that's when all of the church gets raptured. 921 00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:29,840 Like I want to be a part of that. 922 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:32,320 I want to see all that stuff go down so I can, I can definitely 923 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:36,000 understand the desperation to, to get there. 924 00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:40,480 And I think, I think sometimes it, it's crazy how some people 925 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:42,000 get the Holy Ghost in different ways. 926 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:44,120 That's why I like to ask people about it because there are some 927 00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:46,320 people where they don't get it until they get desperate. 928 00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:50,280 It's not that they don't want it, it's that they get to a 929 00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:54,880 point where it's like, if I this is all that matters, if I don't 930 00:45:54,880 --> 00:45:56,000 get this, I'm not going to get it. 931 00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,080 And you desire it that badly. Sometimes that's what it takes 932 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:01,760 for some people to get there. And then you have other people 933 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:04,840 who don't know anything about it, but you just just, it 934 00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:07,200 clicks, you know what I mean? And you and you get it. 935 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:09,400 And then you're just so thankful that you didn't have to get to 936 00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:11,000 that point to where you were desperate about it. 937 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:18,960 So from that, what would you say to somebody who let's say that 938 00:46:18,960 --> 00:46:21,120 you have somebody here who doesn't have the Holy Ghost, but 939 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:23,800 they want it, but they can't figure out why they're not 940 00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:26,280 getting it? Did you when you got to that 941 00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:28,880 point, was there something that clicked in your brain, in your 942 00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:32,760 mind when you're praying that that just you had made for some 943 00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:35,200 people, it was I, they realized that they had to just they 944 00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:37,320 couldn't, they had to accept the fact that they were not in 945 00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:39,320 control. They had to relinquish that 946 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:41,520 control over their life, over their decisions. 947 00:46:42,080 --> 00:46:44,080 They had to realize that everything they wanted, they had 948 00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:45,920 to let go and and so forth and so forth. 949 00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:48,000 Is there something that clicked in your mind when that happened, 950 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:51,880 that when you got to that point that was like, hey, you, It 951 00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:56,920 just, it worked? So for me, it was being afraid 952 00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:00,720 of what other people would think, seeing me crying and like 953 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,720 it was, it was like a pride thing because I don't want to 954 00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:07,200 look like a wimp. Just like Ryan has not run out 955 00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:10,600 my nose and I'm just like huffing and puffing and my hands 956 00:47:10,600 --> 00:47:13,200 are up. And when you, when your eyes are 957 00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:14,480 closed, you think everyone's looking at you. 958 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:19,080 For me at least. And I didn't, I didn't want to 959 00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:21,080 go through that. It's very vulnerable. 960 00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:23,760 Yeah, it is. Well, I mean, what is it? 961 00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:27,200 There's a lot of people who are scared about that, even adults. 962 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,440 Even adults. Even people who already have the 963 00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:33,400 Holy Ghost. They're scared to go to the 964 00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:37,160 front and pray because they're scared of what other people will 965 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:41,080 think. And what's crazy about that is 9 966 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,840 times out of 10, I won't say 10 times out of 10, but nine times 967 00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:46,520 out of 10, we make that up in our mind. 968 00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:51,160 And those people that we're scared of will judge us, are 969 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:54,880 actually hoping and praying for you to do that because they want 970 00:47:54,880 --> 00:47:57,720 to see you be better. They want to. 971 00:47:57,720 --> 00:47:59,600 See that breakthrough? Or have that breakthrough. 972 00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:01,280 So there. It's the opposite. 973 00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:04,400 It's crazy how that happens. It's like you're, you're we can 974 00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:06,120 say it's the enemy. We can say it's the flesh, we 975 00:48:06,120 --> 00:48:07,720 can say it's ourself, whatever we want to say. 976 00:48:07,720 --> 00:48:10,800 But but one thing is telling us is literally the complete 977 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:13,400 opposite of what God is trying to tell us. 978 00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:16,160 So it's you're not alone when you when you think about that. 979 00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:19,160 Yeah, so that's what I'd, I'd tell someone, just not to be 980 00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:21,840 afraid of what other people think, because that was a big 981 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:24,240 thing for me. Just that pride factor there. 982 00:48:24,240 --> 00:48:27,240 Yeah. Yeah, but that's huge. 983 00:48:29,240 --> 00:48:29,960 Tell me. OK. 984 00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:33,800 Well, we've kind of already talked about it, but why do you 985 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:38,480 think especially people your age find it hard to believe in God? 986 00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:41,520 You know, we, we've talked about like how we want people to get 987 00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:45,400 involved and like how we want to try to, you know, encourage 988 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:48,120 people, especially our friends to come to church and try to get 989 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:50,760 connected. But just in the belief in God 990 00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:54,720 and in and why church matters. Why do you think it's harder for 991 00:48:54,720 --> 00:48:56,240 for people your age to kind of believe? 992 00:48:56,560 --> 00:48:59,040 Some people don't want to believe, they want to do 993 00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:02,400 whatever they want and they want to follow the world. 994 00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:06,880 And you'll tell them people think along the lines of 995 00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:09,320 someone, they don't want someone controlling them, quote UN 996 00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:10,880 quote. So they want to do whatever they 997 00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:13,560 want. But once you get out of that 998 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:17,280 belief and you realize that God is the one that created you and 999 00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:21,160 that he doesn't have just control over you, but he's he's 1000 00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:25,080 there to help you. And I think people nowadays, 1001 00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:27,520 like our age, they don't want to. 1002 00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:29,960 They want to be free. They just want to do whatever. 1003 00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:32,440 And even if it's bad or hurts them, they're like I'm just 1004 00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:36,040 going to do it anyways. So it's not really a struggle to 1005 00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:39,360 believe, but like, they don't want to for it to be real. 1006 00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:41,680 Because if it's real, then they're gonna have to change. 1007 00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:43,840 Yeah, that's what yeah, I think that's how I think. 1008 00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:49,440 I also think that some people who do want to believe it is 1009 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:51,760 just a struggle because the world has a strong pool right 1010 00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:52,280 now. I think. 1011 00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:55,760 I think it's getting worse. People are just getting worse. 1012 00:49:55,760 --> 00:50:00,440 And like trying to tempt people into doing bad things and people 1013 00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:03,600 are age, I wouldn't say they're weak, but they just want to do 1014 00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:04,840 whatever, like I said. So they're I. 1015 00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:07,720 Do believe there's a stronger pull for your age group, though, 1016 00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:09,880 than there is for, you know, adults. 1017 00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:13,400 Yeah, I just think people, especially when you're young, 1018 00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:16,680 like your hormones are going wack and stuff and you're just 1019 00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:20,160 like, well, maybe the adults are telling me something, but I 1020 00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:22,760 don't want to listen to them. So after you graduate high 1021 00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:25,360 school, you're like, I'm my own person, I can do what I want 1022 00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:26,840 kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. 1023 00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:29,120 Yeah. So I think even if you do 1024 00:50:29,120 --> 00:50:32,760 believe there's strong pools and you just got to get to that 1025 00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:36,120 mindset of I know something is going to be tempting me, but you 1026 00:50:36,120 --> 00:50:38,960 just got to get overcome and just keep going to church, read 1027 00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:40,520 your Bible and. What's more important? 1028 00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:41,680 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. 1029 00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:44,640 What about you, Eric? What do you think? 1030 00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:49,680 I think it's just, it doesn't like, it's like almost like 1031 00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:54,120 storybook ish. Yeah, like all the miracles. 1032 00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:55,760 It's crazy how everything happened. 1033 00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:57,320 It does almost doesn't seem real. 1034 00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:03,120 Yeah, but it is 'cause if you think about it, the whole New 1035 00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:05,520 Testament, even the Old Testament, but the New Testament 1036 00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:10,160 is all about people that's seen or the people talking about what 1037 00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:12,560 they seen Jesus do, right? Like all the miracles that he's 1038 00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:16,880 done and just everything that he did, it's almost you, you have 1039 00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:21,000 to, you almost have to believe it because it's people's like 1040 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:23,840 they, I, they weren't there witnesses, right? 1041 00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:28,000 What happened? So I think the hardest thing 1042 00:51:28,720 --> 00:51:34,400 about people our age believe in it is like just the fact that it 1043 00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:39,520 was real, like what Jesus did and what he did in the Old 1044 00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:44,560 Testament, like was just that's, but it was real, yeah. 1045 00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:47,680 Yeah, it's hard to wrap your mind around, especially when 1046 00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:50,320 there's things in the Bible and things about God that we don't 1047 00:51:50,320 --> 00:51:52,720 have the capacity to even understand. 1048 00:51:52,720 --> 00:51:54,240 Like our brains are not that big, right? 1049 00:51:54,240 --> 00:51:57,120 He's how can we understand a God that's all knowing, all 1050 00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:00,400 powerful, everywhere at all at once, right. 1051 00:52:01,200 --> 00:52:04,960 But I do find that, yeah, I think it's the experience that 1052 00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:09,160 you're kind of referring to that like, once you experience it, 1053 00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:11,840 then it all kind of clicks because if you don't have that 1054 00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:15,080 experience with God, then it's just words in a book. 1055 00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:16,560 And that was, you know, passed down. 1056 00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:22,880 I want to ask you a question. So you, you grew up in church, 1057 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:25,760 your parents were in church. This is this is a topic that 1058 00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:28,760 some of us wrestle a lot of people with about. 1059 00:52:29,920 --> 00:52:33,400 But there's this, there's this idea that's being pushed on 1060 00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:36,960 younger people, as you hinted to, that even if your parents 1061 00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:40,440 are in a certain religion, you don't have to do it. 1062 00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:45,360 And if you do, they almost try to convince you that you were 1063 00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:48,360 coerced into it or you're forced into it or whatever the case may 1064 00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:53,640 be, which is not true. So can you just kind of shed a 1065 00:52:53,640 --> 00:52:55,480 little bit of light on that for me, for your, from your 1066 00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:57,040 perspective? And that even though you grew up 1067 00:52:57,040 --> 00:52:59,720 in this, you, you made this yours. 1068 00:52:59,720 --> 00:53:01,320 You didn't just do it because your parents did it. 1069 00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:04,640 You made it yours. And you, you, you accepted it, 1070 00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:10,720 so to speak. So I was in Cookeville, the 1071 00:53:10,720 --> 00:53:12,720 church that I received the Holy Ghost and I was baptized in 1072 00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:17,600 from, as I said, 8 to around 13 or 14. 1073 00:53:18,520 --> 00:53:21,120 So that was right out of 8th grade. 1074 00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:27,960 So going into high school, just like you, I moved from there to 1075 00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:31,600 Hernando, Ms. and I started going to a new school in high 1076 00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:34,840 school. So I made a couple friends. 1077 00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:39,800 I made, I made two friends that really impacted my life from 9th 1078 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:43,840 grade to 12th grade, not necessarily in a good way, but 1079 00:53:43,960 --> 00:53:47,240 it wasn't horrible. But I mean, yeah, it was 1080 00:53:47,240 --> 00:53:49,960 horrible. So ninth period year I got 1081 00:53:49,960 --> 00:53:53,040 there. I mean, they were nice. 1082 00:53:53,120 --> 00:53:55,960 They were friends, you know, trying to get you in the friend 1083 00:53:55,960 --> 00:54:01,520 grew, you know, I was a new kid. So yeah. 1084 00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:06,000 And then 10th grade goes by, we get closer, start hanging out, 1085 00:54:06,480 --> 00:54:11,600 going to sleepovers. 11th grade, they start getting into trouble. 1086 00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:18,200 Like, as in indulging in different stuff. 1087 00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:21,560 I wasn't there for that, but I was their friend. 1088 00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:22,520 You know what I mean? Yeah. 1089 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:30,840 So 12th grade hit. And that year was like, I 1090 00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:34,600 didn't, I still didn't do anything, but I was with them 1091 00:54:34,600 --> 00:54:38,640 while they were doing this. So I almost felt like, why would 1092 00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:44,600 I, why am I here right now? Like, so after school we would, 1093 00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:47,520 we would get out early because we were seniors, right? 1094 00:54:48,120 --> 00:54:50,920 And we would get out of school around 12 O clock, go to our 1095 00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:54,920 cars and then go to Chick-fil-A and we would eat Chick-fil-A, 1096 00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:59,240 just have lunch. And then we would leave 1097 00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:02,040 Chick-fil-A and I'll hop in my friend's car. 1098 00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:05,040 All of us did. It was like 5 of us. 1099 00:55:05,680 --> 00:55:07,880 And they would be in the car playing music, blasting music. 1100 00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:12,320 It was like, oh, you hear that? They just blasting music and 1101 00:55:12,320 --> 00:55:16,440 then these guys start pulling out vapes and they started 1102 00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:19,280 vaping. And then they're like, like the 1103 00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:21,240 car was smoky. I was so scared. 1104 00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:24,160 I was so scared someone was going to see me but I wasn't 1105 00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:27,560 doing anything but just them seeing me in that car with them. 1106 00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:30,320 Associated. Yeah, just like guilty by 1107 00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:32,200 association, right? Like that's a real thing. 1108 00:55:33,040 --> 00:55:35,080 And I just felt guilty just by being there. 1109 00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:40,800 And it was, it was really bad, like, and it's hard to get away 1110 00:55:40,800 --> 00:55:45,520 from that because you're scared that you're like, hey, guys, I 1111 00:55:45,520 --> 00:55:46,960 can't hang out today. Or like, I don't want to hang 1112 00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:47,880 out today. And then you'll be like, oh, I 1113 00:55:48,160 --> 00:55:51,120 don't want you to hang out. And then you're like, oh, I got 1114 00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:52,680 to make something up. Yeah, I feel that. 1115 00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:54,360 Pressure. I mean, I have nothing going on. 1116 00:55:55,320 --> 00:55:58,800 I'm young. I want to, but I know I can't or 1117 00:55:58,800 --> 00:56:03,840 I know I shouldn't. So it's like, never mind, I can 1118 00:56:03,840 --> 00:56:07,520 go. So I go and same thing. 1119 00:56:08,720 --> 00:56:12,320 Probably the whole senior year until I moved here, which was 1120 00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:16,600 just like to get away from that. That was just amazing moving 1121 00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:20,960 here. So that that was probably like 1122 00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:25,520 the like the hard part of my life for for now. 1123 00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:36,640 So you're here now, you seem to have sold out to this it, it 1124 00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:39,320 sounds like the whole time that you were with this, this other 1125 00:56:39,320 --> 00:56:41,560 group, you were with them because that's what you were 1126 00:56:41,680 --> 00:56:43,240 used to doing. That's what you were comfortable 1127 00:56:43,240 --> 00:56:45,160 with. But you didn't, you didn't think 1128 00:56:45,160 --> 00:56:48,120 that was the right thing. You knew what you knew what was 1129 00:56:48,120 --> 00:56:52,160 going on was not good and was not a good crowd to be in. 1130 00:56:53,040 --> 00:56:55,840 So it sounds like you're just looking for any, any reason or 1131 00:56:55,840 --> 00:56:59,960 excuse to get away from that to get to while that's going on. 1132 00:56:59,960 --> 00:57:03,160 Are you thinking back to when you were in church and you were 1133 00:57:03,160 --> 00:57:06,120 getting the Holy Ghost and you're living for God and almost 1134 00:57:06,120 --> 00:57:10,360 kind of like you, you, you realize that's where I, I need 1135 00:57:10,360 --> 00:57:13,040 to be. That's what that's what I need 1136 00:57:13,040 --> 00:57:14,960 to be doing, not what is going on right now. 1137 00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:20,360 Yeah, most definitely. Because like when they would 1138 00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:23,640 invite me to sleep overs, I would ask my parents and they'd 1139 00:57:23,640 --> 00:57:25,640 say no. You're like, if any, if 1140 00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:27,400 anything, they can come to our house. 1141 00:57:28,560 --> 00:57:31,720 And then I'll be like, no, but I want to go to their house just 1142 00:57:31,720 --> 00:57:35,000 because just because of the fact, the simple fact that if I 1143 00:57:35,000 --> 00:57:38,880 didn't go the next day, they'll be like, yo, dude, you should 1144 00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:40,560 have came. Like we had so much fun. 1145 00:57:41,200 --> 00:57:46,480 And that really almost like it almost hurt me because I knew 1146 00:57:46,480 --> 00:57:50,160 him from 9th grade to my senior year. 1147 00:57:50,840 --> 00:57:52,440 So I was like, I didn't want to miss out on anything. 1148 00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:55,360 Yeah. That was, yeah. 1149 00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:58,160 So you have other people who are going through that too. 1150 00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:01,480 They're in the wrong crowd. They know they're in the wrong 1151 00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:03,480 crowd. They know there's something 1152 00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:06,640 better for them. They know that some people may 1153 00:58:06,640 --> 00:58:09,200 not know that it's God, but they know there's something better 1154 00:58:09,200 --> 00:58:12,600 out there. A lot of people get stuck in it 1155 00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:15,120 and they don't want to leave, like you said, because that's 1156 00:58:15,120 --> 00:58:17,200 what you're comfortable with. That's what you're used to. 1157 00:58:17,440 --> 00:58:19,840 It's almost a nerve wracking thing to walk away from it. 1158 00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:23,800 You feel like you're forced to stay because that's what you're, 1159 00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:28,160 that's what you've always known. But obviously that's not the 1160 00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:29,960 case. You can walk away from it. 1161 00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:32,320 You can get out of it. So what would you say to 1162 00:58:32,320 --> 00:58:36,520 somebody who was that age who's in that cycle to be like a word 1163 00:58:36,520 --> 00:58:39,640 of encouragement to them to, to say, hey, you, you can leave 1164 00:58:39,640 --> 00:58:41,440 this. How, how would you talk to 1165 00:58:41,440 --> 00:58:43,640 someone like that Who, who comes to you and says, Hey, I'm in the 1166 00:58:43,640 --> 00:58:45,280 same boat that you were in. What do I do? 1167 00:58:45,800 --> 00:58:49,320 First thing I'd say is don't ever think. 1168 00:58:50,320 --> 00:58:55,240 Like don't ever think because I thought this a lie, I was like, 1169 00:58:55,640 --> 00:58:57,920 I'm going to get right with God as soon as I get out of high 1170 00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:00,760 school. That was the biggest thing for 1171 00:59:00,760 --> 00:59:03,960 like for me. Like that was probably the worst 1172 00:59:03,960 --> 00:59:09,440 that I've ever had because you never want to wait, like to 1173 00:59:09,440 --> 00:59:12,160 pursue God. But it was just a big thing for 1174 00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:14,160 me. And I would tell them not to 1175 00:59:14,160 --> 00:59:17,760 think that at all. Because if you get into it now 1176 00:59:19,200 --> 00:59:21,240 and you're still in school, whether it be college, because 1177 00:59:21,240 --> 00:59:23,000 college, you can experience the same things. 1178 00:59:23,480 --> 00:59:29,480 But if you're in school now, like and you change, other 1179 00:59:29,480 --> 00:59:30,680 people will see that changing you. 1180 00:59:31,040 --> 00:59:33,400 And they might mock you like they might judge you for leaving 1181 00:59:33,400 --> 00:59:36,120 the friend group. But you just got to try your 1182 00:59:36,120 --> 00:59:40,440 hardest to reach out to them and be like, this is the right way. 1183 00:59:40,440 --> 00:59:44,560 Like this is the right things to do and the right I'm the right 1184 00:59:44,560 --> 00:59:47,120 person to be around. Yeah, yeah, I'm the good 1185 00:59:47,120 --> 00:59:48,520 influence. Yeah, I mean, I can understand 1186 00:59:48,520 --> 00:59:49,840 that. Like I said, when I was before I 1187 00:59:49,840 --> 00:59:51,600 got saved, I was in the same boat. 1188 00:59:52,000 --> 00:59:54,080 I'm with people that I know I shouldn't be around, but that's 1189 00:59:54,080 --> 00:59:56,160 just that was my comfortable space. 1190 00:59:56,560 --> 00:59:58,160 And you know, they're doing the wrong things. 1191 00:59:58,440 --> 01:00:00,720 And even though some for me sometimes, even though I thought 1192 01:00:00,720 --> 01:00:03,000 in my head I'm not going to do this, I'm not going to do that, 1193 01:00:03,440 --> 01:00:05,480 before long I'm doing this and I'm doing that. 1194 01:00:05,720 --> 01:00:07,320 I won't think that and I won't do it. 1195 01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:09,120 They're taking it a little bit far here. 1196 01:00:09,720 --> 01:00:11,120 I will do that. And then for you know what, 1197 01:00:11,120 --> 01:00:12,200 you're, you're in that same boat. 1198 01:00:12,200 --> 01:00:14,880 It's like they keep raising the bar and you just slowly keep 1199 01:00:14,880 --> 01:00:16,200 edging up to it. Slow fade. 1200 01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:18,160 Yeah, that's how it was for me. Like I said. 1201 01:00:18,160 --> 01:00:20,480 Then it got to a point to where it was like, oh, I'm all right. 1202 01:00:20,480 --> 01:00:24,280 I went from being 50 yards away from the edge of the Cliff to 1203 01:00:24,400 --> 01:00:26,440 inadvertently walking all the way up and now my toes are 1204 01:00:26,440 --> 01:00:29,040 hanging off to where it's like if I take another step. 1205 01:00:30,000 --> 01:00:31,440 You better fall off. That's it. 1206 01:00:32,840 --> 01:00:35,720 So that I, I, that's where I said for me, it hit that. 1207 01:00:35,720 --> 01:00:37,760 It hit that towards like I got to make something's got to 1208 01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:41,560 change, but I didn't know. I should have known, but I 1209 01:00:41,560 --> 01:00:44,600 didn't know that this was that change that I needed. 1210 01:00:46,560 --> 01:00:51,440 So for that, I guess I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll get Hadley's opinion. 1211 01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:55,400 How about let's say I'm a youth and I'm going through high 1212 01:00:55,400 --> 01:00:58,800 school and I'm in those groups or I'm, I'm living life a 1213 01:00:58,800 --> 01:01:01,520 certain way, but I don't know anything about church. 1214 01:01:01,920 --> 01:01:05,040 I don't know what this is. And let's just say that that 1215 01:01:05,040 --> 01:01:06,360 person's listening to you right now. 1216 01:01:06,360 --> 01:01:08,720 What do you say to that person who doesn't know what church is, 1217 01:01:08,720 --> 01:01:11,920 but they know they're in a bad spot and they're just thinking, 1218 01:01:11,920 --> 01:01:13,960 what do I do? How do what what what's? 1219 01:01:13,960 --> 01:01:16,400 What's the best advice that you can give to someone like that? 1220 01:01:17,680 --> 01:01:20,600 If they're open to it, I would say like the nearest church, I 1221 01:01:20,600 --> 01:01:23,480 guess. Obviously we're Pentecostal, but 1222 01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:26,480 I mean, if that's not available, maybe even YouTube or something 1223 01:01:26,480 --> 01:01:32,720 online and just getting to know people that are Pentecostal or 1224 01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:35,520 people at your church that can teach you about something like 1225 01:01:35,520 --> 01:01:36,840 that. Because they're like my school 1226 01:01:36,840 --> 01:01:41,480 did have, they did have like a group that was for church. 1227 01:01:41,480 --> 01:01:44,000 It was, it was like church. They did like Bible verses and 1228 01:01:44,000 --> 01:01:46,840 stuff. And I would just say to be more 1229 01:01:46,840 --> 01:01:50,520 knowledgeable and like if they do want to go, then make that 1230 01:01:50,520 --> 01:01:53,440 commitment and don't be scared and don't be afraid what other 1231 01:01:53,440 --> 01:01:56,200 people think. Like making better connections 1232 01:01:56,200 --> 01:01:58,640 with other people. Yeah, I think that's a big part 1233 01:01:58,640 --> 01:02:00,120 of it. Yeah, for sure. 1234 01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:01,160 Yeah. OK. 1235 01:02:01,160 --> 01:02:01,800 All right. Yeah. 1236 01:02:02,440 --> 01:02:05,800 I mean, I feel like if you are connected to the wrong people, I 1237 01:02:05,800 --> 01:02:06,760 mean, they're your friends, right? 1238 01:02:06,760 --> 01:02:11,000 You care about them. And so it can be hard, but I 1239 01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:13,240 mean, even I'm friends with people that don't believe this, 1240 01:02:13,240 --> 01:02:15,240 right? I mean, at work or people who 1241 01:02:15,240 --> 01:02:19,560 have backslide and, but they can't be my, my inner circle, my 1242 01:02:19,560 --> 01:02:22,320 core people, because then that's where the influence starts. 1243 01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:25,360 So I think you're spot on. Like as long as you have those 1244 01:02:25,360 --> 01:02:28,520 people that kind of hold you accountable and encourage you 1245 01:02:28,520 --> 01:02:30,880 when you feel like you're going to fall, it's it's definitely 1246 01:02:30,880 --> 01:02:32,120 about making the right connections. 1247 01:02:32,760 --> 01:02:37,800 Yeah, like I said, for me, I knew instantly when my group 1248 01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:40,520 went from the group that I had at school to the group that I 1249 01:02:40,520 --> 01:02:45,480 had here, everything changed. And it's it's it's sad that 1250 01:02:45,480 --> 01:02:48,200 human beings are this way. But The thing is, is you are who 1251 01:02:48,200 --> 01:02:50,000 you are around, right? Yeah. 1252 01:02:50,680 --> 01:02:53,920 And when you when you surround yourself with people who are a 1253 01:02:53,920 --> 01:02:56,520 certain way, you'll end up being like them whether you want to or 1254 01:02:56,520 --> 01:02:59,880 not. And that is another reason why I 1255 01:02:59,880 --> 01:03:02,200 think we all will tell everybody, hey, get involved as 1256 01:03:02,200 --> 01:03:04,560 much as you can, because then you're forcing yourself to be 1257 01:03:04,560 --> 01:03:08,680 surrounded by people who are also involved, you know? 1258 01:03:08,680 --> 01:03:10,600 There's there's several scriptures for stuff like that 1259 01:03:10,600 --> 01:03:11,720 but. Like the most one that comes to 1260 01:03:11,720 --> 01:03:14,240 my head is when he talks about being unequally yoked. 1261 01:03:14,240 --> 01:03:17,560 Most people link like in that marriage, but that's not the 1262 01:03:17,560 --> 01:03:21,760 case all the time. You don't want to be pushing the 1263 01:03:21,760 --> 01:03:24,920 plow with somebody who's not caring to push the plow in the 1264 01:03:24,920 --> 01:03:26,440 same direction that you're pushing it. 1265 01:03:27,080 --> 01:03:29,720 If your goal is to go north, because this is the direction 1266 01:03:29,720 --> 01:03:31,440 you want to go. And the person who's supposed to 1267 01:03:31,440 --> 01:03:34,000 be helping you push is actually trying to pull you down South 1268 01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:37,080 the opposite direction. You're not going to make it very 1269 01:03:37,080 --> 01:03:39,280 far. So what you need to do is find 1270 01:03:39,280 --> 01:03:41,280 someone who's going to step beside you and say, I'm, we're 1271 01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:43,120 both going to be pushing in a certain way. 1272 01:03:44,680 --> 01:03:48,920 So to close out my story, because right now it sounds like 1273 01:03:48,920 --> 01:03:52,200 I've just been in trouble ever since where I used to live at. 1274 01:03:52,480 --> 01:03:58,440 But coming here, I feel like a big part of my story was Sister 1275 01:03:58,440 --> 01:04:00,360 Pen really, because she was my teacher. 1276 01:04:00,400 --> 01:04:05,120 Yeah, so. And she's just, I, I felt loved 1277 01:04:05,400 --> 01:04:09,120 by Sister Pen when she's my teacher and even now, even 1278 01:04:09,120 --> 01:04:10,920 though she's not my sister. Teacher. 1279 01:04:10,960 --> 01:04:12,760 Music director now, Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 1280 01:04:13,080 --> 01:04:14,960 And that's a big part too, because she's like, Eric can 1281 01:04:14,960 --> 01:04:17,400 play drums. Yeah, I'd love to hear you play. 1282 01:04:17,800 --> 01:04:22,560 And then not even like 3 months of you being here. 1283 01:04:22,560 --> 01:04:26,880 I was already playing drums here and it was just like, that was 1284 01:04:26,880 --> 01:04:30,640 the first person probably make me feel like. 1285 01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:33,200 Like connected and welcome, yeah. 1286 01:04:33,200 --> 01:04:35,080 And just being at the school with the friends that I had 1287 01:04:35,080 --> 01:04:40,680 there, it wasn't like nothing. There was no bad to go to, you 1288 01:04:40,680 --> 01:04:41,920 know what I mean? Yeah. 1289 01:04:42,280 --> 01:04:45,360 So yeah, that's that was the finishing. 1290 01:04:45,400 --> 01:04:46,760 Part of my story. That's awesome.