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Hey, what's up, everybody? 
I guess the first one went OK 

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because we're back with the 
second one. 

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Part 2. 
That's right. 

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Here we go. 
Hope you guys are doing great 

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man. 
It's good to see you guys again.

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Hopefully you had a great couple
week. 

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I know the last episode we 
called it Sunday always comes. 

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How was your Sunday? 
Yeah, man, Sunday was beautiful.

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It's really odd when I don't 
preach, I'm still used to it 

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because, you know, we are church
planters and we get into the 

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grind of preaching every week. 
And so I had a good brother, a 

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good brother of ours, Pastor 
Gabe under from the Tree of 

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Life, come and preach at freedom
and did a beautiful job. 

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Man. 
It's like sometimes you need 

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those preachers that are going 
to come in just gut punch your 

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church. 
And I it, it was really cool 

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because Gabe, but he came and 
talked to him about the parable 

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of the sore and it was 
beautiful. 

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And we there was a lot of stuff 
that he said this this week that

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you know, us as pastors, men 
sometimes that we know 

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everybody's story in the church.
You know, and there's there's 

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things in the church that that 
need correction and there's 

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things that that need to be 
talked about. 

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But this is just me and I, I 
won't say to you, but I never 

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want to share that stuff from 
the pulpit because I don't know,

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I ever want people to feel like,
oh, Pastor Chris used my 

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situation and turned it into a 
preaching. 

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So I never do. 
It talk to him no more. 

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Yeah, yeah, 'cause he's going 
to, he's going to use it and 

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he's going to put it into a 
preaching. 

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And so you get a guest pastor 
that comes in and he just hits 

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everything. 
And he doesn't know nobody. 

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And he doesn't know anybody. 
And so it was one of those, 

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those those beautiful moments. 
It was like, Lord, like, you 

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know, that I've been wanting to 
touch on these things, but I 

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don't want people to feel like 
I'm using them as a sermon 

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illustration. 
And so you get a, a guest 

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preacher in and he just starts 
hitting topics in the church 

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that, you know, people are 
dealing with. 

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And so I'm sitting in the front 
row, like just think saying 

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thank you, Lord, thank you, 
Lord, because this needed to be 

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talked about. 
So it was beautiful, man. 

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It was wonderful. 
And you know, next week I have, 

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I'm not preaching either, but 
my, but it's Mother's Day next 

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week and my wife is going to be 
preaching. 

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So it's still weird. 
Like I said, it's weird for me 

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not to preach, but man, it's, 
it's a beautiful thing. 

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How was your Sunday, man? 
Man, it was awesome. 

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Yeah, it, it really was. 
I, I tell people like there's 

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sometimes as, as church 
planners, you know, like life 

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would get a little bit 
difficult. 

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I know we talked about that. 
It could, it could be stretched,

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but then like there's some 
Sundays that you're just like, 

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wow, you know, like, like you go
home and, and you just sit there

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for a second. 
You're like, that was awesome. 

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That was like, it was, it's hard
to explain to people that 

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weren't in the room or that 
don't attend, you know, So, so 

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as an encouragement to you guys 
that are planning churches, if 

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you feel like there's some 
Sundays that are difficult or 

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they, you know, things were 
messed up. 

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But there's, there's always 
something. 

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And I think it's just God's 
grace and, and his spirit that 

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covers us. 
And yeah, but it was, it was 

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beautiful, man. 
Our worship team killed it. 

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And man, you could just, it was 
just different. 

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There's something different 
about that room. 

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So, yeah, it was good man. 
And tell me. 

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What you think it was, man? 
What do you think it was in the 

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room? 
Yeah, I just, I just, we talk a 

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lot about hearts aligning and we
always pray, say, Lord, let 

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everyone's heart align for what 
you want, you know, for your 

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glory, for your word, for your 
spirit. 

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And I just felt like there was a
shift where everybody showed up,

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like ready to go, you know, 
where everybody's hearts align. 

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Like there was people. 
I just felt like people were 

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prayed up. 
There was a sweet spirit in the 

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room, laughing, joking, like 
joy. 

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And the word was timely. 
And I don't know, like just 

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worship. 
I could just tell like the, the 

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guys really took their time with
it. 

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And man, the, you can hear the 
congregation singing. 

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And so it, it was just like 
everything just kind of like hit

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on all cylinders. 
I love it. 

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You know, that's a good, that 
sounds like a good Sunday, man. 

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Yeah, yeah. 
You go home like that, do it 

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again, you know, like this. 
Is how do we keep it there? 

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How do we stay there? 
And and one other thing, like 

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what you were talking about 
having a a guest preacher, I as 

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you were sharing that I remember
I invited you to come preach at 

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our church And and when you 
came, our church just went 

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through a really difficult. 
Yeah, difficult time. 

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So there was. 
And that was one of the reasons 

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I was like, man, I would love 
for Chris to come 'cause you, 

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you play a big part in our story
and we'll talk about that a year

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later. 
But yeah, you preach to a room 

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that was dense with tension and 
yeah, you know, but, but it was 

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one of those things as we're 
sitting there and I remember you

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preach on Philippians too. 
And but it was just one of those

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affirming texts, you know, that 
that I felt like was needed to 

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be said. 
And then of course, months 

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later, it, it all just kind of 
came out and it was like, wow, 

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like what Chris said was so I 
think God uses like when other 

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people come in to to bless the 
church. 

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So it's not just necessarily 
like, let me just take a break. 

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Like there's a purpose. 
Absolutely. 

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And I, I feel that same way, 
man. 

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It's like I tell our church 
this, you know, I don't, I don't

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trust everybody on this pulpit. 
You know, like I don't trust. 

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I don't trust because somebody 
has a gifting that they can be 

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up on the pulpit. 
The people that I usually bring 

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in and you've you've preached 
that freedom. 

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You know, there's, there's only 
a handful of people that I 

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actually invite to preach 
because I, I need to know their 

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heart. 
I don't, I don't want them to 

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just go up there and be like, 
you know, I'm, I'm trying to get

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my name out there and I'm trying
to like, you know, whatever, 

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Like I don't, I don't need that 
on your pulpit. 

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Like these are, these are hearts
that you're speaking to. 

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These are people's lives that 
are looking for a drink of 

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water. 
They, they want to eat the bread

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of life. 
And maybe, maybe you are a good 

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preacher. 
Maybe you're a good speaker. 

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Maybe you're, you're gifted, but
I mean, just going back to talk 

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what we talked about last week 
as a shepherd, you know, you 

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need to know who's feeding your 
sheep. 

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And so for me, it's, it's one of
those things I, I, I really pray

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I, I tell our church this all 
the time. 

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It's like we don't do special 
guest preachers. 

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Like it's really rare. 
And so when it comes in, it's 

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for a reason and it's on 
purpose. 

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And so when I've had you and 
I've had Pastor Gabe come and 

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even Joel, like we, I, I allow 
them because I know their 

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hearts. 
I know that you guys love Jesus 

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and there is no agenda. 
It's just to come in and, and 

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share the love of Jesus. 
And this is what the Lord has on

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my heart for you guys. 
Man, and I think that that is 

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actually, I know we're kind of 
going down this trail, but like 

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a lesson, because I know when I 
started City Post, I had a 

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thought of like, man, it would 
be great for our church to be 

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like a revolving door for 
ministers, like, like people in 

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training and then we can help 
develop them. 

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But one of the mistakes I made 
as a church planner early on was

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that whole idea of what you just
said, like, oh, you're getting 

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an Mdiv at seminary. 
Oh, you've got to be a good 

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preacher, you know, So I was 
taking people's word for it. 

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I was not looking into like, 
hear like seeing what they they 

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did in the past. 
I just trusted what they would 

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say. 
And so these guys, and now I 

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look back at it and I was like, 
there was an arrogance, like, 

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yeah, I'm I'm getting a a degree
in this, so I'm going to be 

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good. 
And then you hear and you're 

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like, oh, that was trash. 
Like what? 

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Like that That was even. 
I was like, that was that was 

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bad. 
Yeah. 

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I was like, man, I mean, like 
you, you didn't use the 

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Scriptures, right? 
Like you just thought you were. 

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Yeah. 
It's God's gift to like the the 

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heart behind it wasn't good. 
No, and you're absolutely right,

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man, because you know, we can 
look at people's credentials and

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I mean, the worst thing that we 
can do is look at people's, you 

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know, social media following or 
their influence or like, you 

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know, their content that they 
put on. 

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Like, I think it would be a 
great person, this and this and 

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this, but I, I don't know 
anything about like, I don't 

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know their life. 
I don't know what they love. 

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Like, I don't know, like what 
their heart is. 

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I don't know how they handle 
their wife. 

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I don't know how they handle 
their kids. 

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I don't know any of that stuff. 
And so, I mean, then you talk, 

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you bring in a preacher or, and 
you, you always run that risk 

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of, and then there's a, you 
know, a controversy that happens

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down the line. 
He's like, didn't Pastor Chris 

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bring that guy in here? 
Like, you know, like, like that 

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was, that was, and you're 
absolutely right. 

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It's an arrogance. 
It's like, we're going to bring 

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that that guy in here because 
he's got this and the 

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credentials are this and this 
and this. 

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And yeah, man. 
So I've, I've been really, 

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really careful to do that stuff 
to, to really pray on who to 

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bring and if I have a 
relationship with them and what 

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do I know about them? 
Not just their, their preaching,

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but Ricky, I want to know about 
your wife. 

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Like I want to know about your 
kids. 

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Like, I want to know how you 
love your family. 

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Like I, those are the people 
that I want to present before 

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our church. 
Yeah. 

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And then this whole idea of 
like, you actually do what you 

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say. 
Yeah. 

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Yeah, like that. 
That's big for me. 

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So if you, if you're, if you're 
up there yelling at people to 

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make disciples, I want to know 
who you're walking with. 

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Like who are you discipling? 
Like what You know, where do you

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lead at? 
Or you don't. 

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You don't serve anywhere 'cause 
you're too busy with school. 

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Now that's that's not gonna fly.
Or I, I don't, I'm not under a, 

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a shepherd right now. 
I'm not under a pastor right 

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now. 
I'm, I'm a traveling minister. 

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I love hearing that I'm a 
traveling minister. 

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Well, who's your, who's your 
pastor? 

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And then they give you a name. 
And that pastor was like, yeah, 

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that dudes a rose, bro. 
Like they did like man. 

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So it's, it's one of those 
things like, like I said, I, I'm

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really careful because I, I have
a reverence for the word of God,

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man. 
I that's right. 

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Yeah, such a reverence for it. 
And I don't want it to be spoken

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from a place of look how well 
Paul calls it clever words. 

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I come with clever words. 
And I'm just like, that's great.

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But how is your heart? 
Where do you live? 

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And so, so, as I said, I mean, 
guest preachers are great, but 

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I've had to learn to just be 
careful who I allow up behind 

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our pulpit. 
And I, and I got to say it when 

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Pastor Gabe came and was like, 
you know, I, I like to put guys 

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on our, on our pulpit, on our 
altar, that understand that the 

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altar is a place to die. 
Yeah, They understand that 

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first. 
Yeah. 

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That this is, this is a this is 
a gift that the Lord has given 

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us. 
It is a it is a responsibility 

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too. 
So it's it, it was great, man. 

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I I love and Gabe comes cause 
Gabe doesn't mind punching 

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people in the face with the 
yeah. 

221
00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:30,600
You need those enforcers. 
Yeah, dude. 

222
00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,520
Now that's great, man. 
And man, one of the things that 

223
00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:38,240
we were talking about even for 
today is our stories. 

224
00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:41,240
You know, I know last time we 
talked about how you know, our 

225
00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,840
churches like how, how the 
church plants became the names. 

226
00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,000
But what about you? 
You know, like, like I know some

227
00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,080
people know Chris Benitez, the 
worship leader, the pastor. 

228
00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:55,200
But what was your life before 
Jesus? 

229
00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:57,880
Like? 
How did you come to know the 

230
00:11:57,880 --> 00:11:59,160
Lord? 
Pretty much. 

231
00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:03,200
Man, man, Jesus wrecked my life,
bro. 

232
00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:09,400
He's I I kind of shared a little
bit with you last week, but I 

233
00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:12,440
grew up in the church, man. 
Like, my dad's been a pastor 

234
00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:17,320
since before I was born. 
And, you know, my dad was a 

235
00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:19,120
pastor in Dallas. 
I was born there. 

236
00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:25,520
I was born into that church and 
learned how to play instruments,

237
00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,520
learned how to play music, 
learned how to. 

238
00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:29,480
Were you always like a musical 
person? 

239
00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:32,720
Yeah, So I've been a musical 
person since I was like, 5. 

240
00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:35,480
Like, like my first instrument 
was drums. 

241
00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:39,640
Like I learned how to play drums
in the church at five years old.

242
00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:42,080
And so I always had this thing 
with music. 

243
00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:47,560
I always loved music. 
And so I start helping dad in 

244
00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:50,920
ministry, I start leading 
worship, I start doing all these

245
00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,120
things. 
My dad moves to Fort Worth and I

246
00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:57,680
just got, I fell in love with 
music, man. 

247
00:12:57,680 --> 00:12:59,840
That's all it was. 
I didn't understand it to be 

248
00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:01,480
worship. 
I just understood it to be 

249
00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:04,280
music. 
And so for all the young worship

250
00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:07,080
pastors out there who still call
your thing music, you need to 

251
00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,800
die to that. 
All music belongs to the Lord. 

252
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:14,000
And so I grew up loving that 
stuff. 

253
00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:18,440
And So what would happen is, you
know, my dad was a natural 

254
00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,160
church planter. 
So he left Dallas, came to Fort 

255
00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,680
Worth to plant, planted a 
church. 

256
00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:25,400
And so I learned I was playing 
drums. 

257
00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:29,000
And then rent would go up, We'd 
have to move buildings. 

258
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,640
And so he'd go to another 
building and they'd be like, oh,

259
00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:33,840
they have a drummer here, so 
learn how to play bass and like,

260
00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:35,360
OK, let me learn how to play 
bass. 

261
00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,000
And so rent would go up, we'd 
move to another building. 

262
00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:41,080
Well, they have a drummer here 
and a bass player, so learn how 

263
00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,560
to play guitar. 
And that's how we just kind of 

264
00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:47,440
bounce about around Fort Worth 
looking for a home. 

265
00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,080
And I finally ended up on the 
keyboard. 

266
00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:55,920
And ANYWAYS, all that's to say, 
I grew up in the church, man. 

267
00:13:56,040 --> 00:14:00,800
And when I turned about 18, it 
was my senior year in high 

268
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:05,840
school, I remember having this 
dumb, immature mindset like I'm,

269
00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,240
I'm grown now. 
Like I'm, I don't got to go to 

270
00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:09,560
church. 
I don't got to do anything I 

271
00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:10,920
don't got to do. 
Yeah. 

272
00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,840
And man, I started drinking 
heavily. 

273
00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:19,560
Like I became an alcoholic 
literally for three years heavy.

274
00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,800
Like, I don't mean like I was 
just drinking on the weekends. 

275
00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,960
It's like I couldn't go a day 
without being drunk. 

276
00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,480
I had to get drunk every day 
and. 

277
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,360
So if you don't mind me asking, 
like what what started that? 

278
00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:33,840
Like, was it just? 
It was just rebellion. 

279
00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,960
It was just rebellion. 
It literally was rebellion. 

280
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:41,720
I I just didn't want to do that 
life anymore because I had done 

281
00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:42,800
it my whole life. 
Gotcha. 

282
00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,960
I just didn't. 
I wanted to see what the world 

283
00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:47,160
was like. 
Gotcha. 

284
00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,120
Plain simple. 
There was nothing like I wasn't 

285
00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,760
church hurt like I wasn't like 
angry with the church. 

286
00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:55,960
What this is. 
I just want to go taste it, like

287
00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:57,520
I just want to go see what it's 
like. 

288
00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:04,040
And, and I, I over consumed and 
I didn't have self-control and I

289
00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:08,360
got lost in it and I got lost in
it for three years of my life. 

290
00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:11,880
And I remember my dad was so 
graceful with me, man. 

291
00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:17,600
He was so gracious with me and 
my mom, like I, I mean, there 

292
00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:19,240
was a time where I ran away from
home. 

293
00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:21,920
Like it's like I'm not, I'm not,
I don't want to be here. 

294
00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:26,680
And my, my parents were just so 
gracious with me. 

295
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,120
Like they were like, Hey, 
whenever you're ready to come 

296
00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:31,960
back to the church, you know, we
need you like we need your, we 

297
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:33,880
need you to play. 
We need you to do this. 

298
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,360
And so there was days, there 
were Sundays where I went up 

299
00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,720
there and I played while I was 
hungover or I was like, there 

300
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,080
was days where I played when I 
was still drunk from the night 

301
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,520
before. 
My parents were just really 

302
00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:49,520
gracious with me, man. 
And, and I'm, I'm forever 

303
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,800
appreciative of it, But man, I 
just remember one day coming 

304
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:58,160
home, just coming home from, 
from a night of just binging, 

305
00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,600
like drinking. 
And I was still a musician in 

306
00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:03,880
the church. 
My, my mom and dad were like 

307
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:08,000
letting me be a musician still 
because I loved music and they 

308
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:12,640
knew it. 
And so I come home and I'm 

309
00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:14,840
driving home. 
And so as a musician, I always 

310
00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,280
have to have, as a church 
musician, you always have to be 

311
00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,880
listening to the church music 
'cause you're like, I got to 

312
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:22,200
play it on Sunday, got to learn 
it. 

313
00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:23,480
I got to play, I got to learn 
it. 

314
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,720
You're familiar with it. 
And so I'm, I remember it's a 

315
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:31,800
Saturday night and I'm like just
coming home from binge and I am 

316
00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,080
hammer drunk. 
Like like hammer drunk. 

317
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,120
But I'm just like, oh, and I'm 
in as I'm driving home, I 

318
00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:41,680
remember like I got church in 
the morning. 

319
00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,720
I had to learn this song and I 
put a song on and it's a fast 

320
00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:47,200
song. 
It's not even like a worship 

321
00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:48,520
song. 
It was like a fast song. 

322
00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,080
It's like, and all it says is 
victory. 

323
00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,880
The victory will be mine. 
If I maintain my peace, he'll 

324
00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:56,640
fight the battle for me. 
Victory, The victory will be 

325
00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:58,680
mine. 
And I remember I'm driving home 

326
00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,120
and I'm weeping, crying. 
I cannot like, stop crying. 

327
00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:07,440
And I remember like in my mind 
like been like, I don't have 

328
00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,119
victory. 
Like who am I? 

329
00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:10,520
I don't even know who I am 
anymore. 

330
00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,359
I don't have an identity. 
Like I am just what everybody is

331
00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,520
telling me I am now. 
I don't even know who I am. 

332
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,160
If my friends say come get 
drunk, I come get drunk and my 

333
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:22,480
friends say let's go out all 
night. 

334
00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:24,800
I go out all night. 
I don't have any say so in my 

335
00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,160
life. 
And so I'm crying and I'm crying

336
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,160
in the in the song just and it's
fast. 

337
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:31,360
I. 
Like, it's not even like. 

338
00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,960
A it's not even like a soaking, 
like it's just like if you 

339
00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,000
maintain your peace, he'll fight
the battle for you. 

340
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:38,560
Victory, the victory will be 
mine. 

341
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:40,520
And I pulled into my parking 
lot. 

342
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:44,040
I'm crying and I'm like, Lord, 
like I don't know who I am 

343
00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:45,640
anymore. 
Like I'm lost. 

344
00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:50,280
I, I really am lost and this, 
I'm about 20 years old at this 

345
00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:53,880
time. 
And so I go inside and I'm still

346
00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,840
crying like and I, I just 
uncontrollably crying and I get 

347
00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:04,200
into my room and I know, I know 
that God is doing something in 

348
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:05,880
me. 
And so I'm like, I don't know 

349
00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,840
what to do with this feeling. 
I have this feeling in me right 

350
00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:10,360
now, but I don't know what to do
with it. 

351
00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:15,720
And so like a good church kid, 
I, I turn on the TV and I turn 

352
00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,760
it on to TBN, 'cause I'm like 
that. 

353
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:19,960
That's the only thing I know, 
right? 

354
00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,280
Like this is before YouTube was 
the thing. 

355
00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:24,240
This is before anything was 
happening. 

356
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,040
All I had was like, TBN, That's 
all you see. 

357
00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,320
Yeah, yeah, that's all I could 
get to Daystar. 

358
00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:34,160
All that's all I could watch. 
And so TBN, it's like two 3:00 

359
00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:38,120
in the morning, bro. 
Like I came home binge and I two

360
00:18:38,120 --> 00:18:41,720
3:00 in the morning. 
And you know, if you remember 

361
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:44,160
TBN always used to have the 
telethons like that would happen

362
00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:48,040
all night. 
And so I remember I'm watching 

363
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,080
this man. 
I don't even remember who it 

364
00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:53,800
was, but he's he's preaching the
gospel. 

365
00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,240
He's like Jesus came and he died
for you. 

366
00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,440
Like he loves you, like you're 
not too far from him. 

367
00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,960
And I remember he says he looked
right into the camera and he 

368
00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:06,240
goes, there's somebody right now
who's watching. 

369
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,880
You just walked into your house 
and you're watching this right 

370
00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:10,680
now. 
And you feel like you have no 

371
00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,480
victory in your life. 
And I was like, and I'm like 

372
00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,200
crying, bro, Like crying. 
Yeah. 

373
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,200
And I'm like, And he's like, but
if you give your life to Jesus 

374
00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,480
right now, like, like, he'll 
come in and he'll give you peace

375
00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,480
and you'll have victory. 
And so he does the sinner's 

376
00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:33,280
prayer over the television and 
he goes say to say this, Jesus 

377
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:35,040
come into my heart. 
I believe in you. 

378
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:37,480
I did. 
And I'm in my room like, and 

379
00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,200
he's like, raise your hands and 
I'm in my room like, oh, like, 

380
00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:42,680
say Jesus come into my life this
and this and this. 

381
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:44,920
And I remember I opened my eyes,
dude. 

382
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,680
And I no, I'm not even kidding, 
Ricky completely sober. 

383
00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:50,960
Wow, just like. 
Different ball game. 

384
00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:56,520
And all of a sudden it was like 
when I opened my eyes and I tell

385
00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,000
this to people all the time and,
and it's hard to believe, but 

386
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,760
for me, I remember I was just 
like, dude, I could literally 

387
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:07,200
pictured the man with eyes with 
fire like in my room, like 

388
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,200
looking at me. 
And I'm just like, and I I 

389
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:14,240
remember like being, what's the 
word like? 

390
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:16,920
Like paralyzed. 
Almost like. 

391
00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:18,240
They just can't. 
Like who? 

392
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,200
Is this like in front of me 
right now? 

393
00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:23,200
And it was the eyes of fire 
right in front of me. 

394
00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:27,520
And I remember like, I felt like
I was talking right to him. 

395
00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,480
He was like, I give you my life,
Like I give you this and this 

396
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:32,800
and this. 
And some people say like, now 

397
00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:35,160
you're probably still wasted, 
you know, like, but I, I 

398
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:39,360
remember like completely sober. 
And, and so that's how I gave my

399
00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:41,240
life to Christ. 
And like, that's what happened 

400
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,320
with me. 
Like, so I grew up in church. 

401
00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:45,280
I didn't even give my life to 
Christ in the church. 

402
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,600
I gave my life in my bedroom 
watching TV. 

403
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:52,400
And and so all those people who 
give TBM a hard time, you know, 

404
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,720
but you never because the Lord 
will use anybody. 

405
00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,680
And so that's how I gave my life
to Jesus, bro. 

406
00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,000
And that's that's where my 
journey started. 

407
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,840
And since that day, like never 
desired drink it to drink again.

408
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,480
Never had the never had 
withdrawals, never had anything.

409
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:13,280
It was just like cold Turkey, 
like the next day I didn't even 

410
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:14,440
want it. 
Like I didn't even want. 

411
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,040
To taste it not controlled by 
it, yeah. 

412
00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:19,240
I didn't even, I couldn't even, 
like I couldn't even smell it 

413
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,560
anymore 'cause when I would 
smell it and it, it'd be like, 

414
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,160
oh, like it's disgusting to me. 
Like that's literally what 

415
00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:27,320
happened. 
The Lord literally set me free 

416
00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,360
in my bedroom when I gave my 
life to him. 

417
00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:32,560
And man, I haven't turned back 
since. 

418
00:21:33,120 --> 00:21:37,120
So tell bro, like, like I said, 
it's, it's beautiful, but that's

419
00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:38,520
where I wanted to go down today,
man. 

420
00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:40,520
So you're watching. 
So just, I just want to let you 

421
00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:42,800
know, like there's a point to 
all of this. 

422
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,800
So, but that's what that was 
when I was driving over here 

423
00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,560
today too, man, I was like, I 
don't even know Ricky's story. 

424
00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,120
Like I don't know how Ricky came
to know Jesus. 

425
00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:53,320
I've known, we've known each 
other for a few years. 

426
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,120
That's true. 
I've never talked to you about 

427
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,920
how did you get to know Jesus? 
Like how did he meet you? 

428
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,880
Yeah, it kind of the same lines 
as as yourself. 

429
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,240
I I grew up in the church as 
well. 

430
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:09,160
My parents were youth pastors. 
The First Baptist Pompano in the

431
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:10,800
Spanish, The Spanish mission 
you. 

432
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:11,800
Know what I mean? 
Yeah, Primera. 

433
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,040
Yeah, Primera Pompano, you know,
no. 

434
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,160
And then just grew up, you know,
going to Sunday school, just 

435
00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:22,280
seeing faithful parents. 
And, but it wasn't until, and I 

436
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:28,000
remember it was, it was March of
92 and I was 12 years old and we

437
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,560
went to a a jam week, which is 
Jesus and me week, you know, 

438
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,440
it's, it's the 9th, you know. 
You got you, Baptist. 

439
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:41,120
Yeah, You got to have like the 
nails and jams and. 

440
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:46,560
All this stuff. 
So I remember Pompano, like they

441
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:51,800
had this big youth event called 
Jam and then so we came and 

442
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,280
while we were there, it was 
Reverend Herman Rios. 

443
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,960
He got a big old Hispanic guy 
man. 

444
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:03,360
And he was up there preaching 
and, and I remember like just 

445
00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:07,080
just hearing and there was 
something he said that really 

446
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,800
like caught my attention. 
And he did the whole like, if 

447
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,600
you would die tonight, would you
be in the presence of the Lord? 

448
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,320
Like, would you be in heaven or,
or, or not? 

449
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:24,240
And I remember like him saying 
that it, it really caused me to 

450
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,360
think through like, would I, 
yeah, I was like, I mean, I, I, 

451
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:30,720
I grew up in church. 
My parents are, are Christian 

452
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,640
like, but, but I didn't have 
that assurance. 

453
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:39,760
And then I remember he, he did 
the whole invitation thing and I

454
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,720
just didn't think twice. 
I was like, I don't know if I, 

455
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,360
if I'm going to be with Jesus if
I die, you know, So I, I walked 

456
00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:50,000
to the front and then, but like,
the best thing that happened to 

457
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,680
me though, was I walked to the 
front and then they took 

458
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:57,960
everybody who made a decision to
the back and they, they put us 

459
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:02,080
with somebody and that person 
explained the gospel. 

460
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,440
And then I remember like sitting
with somebody and he walked me 

461
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,840
through like, this is how you 
make a decision for Christ. 

462
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,640
This is what it means, 
forgiveness of sin. 

463
00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:14,840
And like this is what you're 
saying yes to. 

464
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:19,720
And I remember at that moment I 
prayed with him and that's when 

465
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,360
I gave my life to Christ. 
And I remember like coming back 

466
00:24:23,360 --> 00:24:26,080
out and you know, I was fine and
nothing hit me. 

467
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:31,120
But then like when when I saw 
like my mom, my dad, like the 

468
00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:35,960
youth group, I just lost it. 
I just remember crying and I 

469
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,520
didn't know why. 
I was just kind of like, I don't

470
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:43,400
know why, you know, And then, 
yeah, a few weeks later got 

471
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,280
baptized like, but it was the 
same situation. 

472
00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:53,000
It was, it's always been like my
decision, you know, like I, I 

473
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,320
didn't want to, I didn't want to
do 'cause my parents. 

474
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:57,560
So I just remember walking to 
the. 

475
00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:59,800
Front. 
Like, hey, I want to get 

476
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,240
baptized, you know, and, and so 
it's always been like that 

477
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,680
trajectory. 
But I will say, 'cause I think 

478
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:09,880
an important part of my story 
and, and you'd kind of hit on 

479
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,600
it. 
So living the Christian life. 

480
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:20,240
But I, I got to a place in 
college where I was like, man, 

481
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,520
you know, I think I want to make
like new friends. 

482
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,840
And I was dating a girl and then
I was like, this ain't working. 

483
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,360
And people got mad at me. 
And I was like, yeah, I don't 

484
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:32,040
need y'all, you know, like, 
that's Dick. 

485
00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:36,120
And what's ironic is that I was 
teaching the middle schoolers at

486
00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:41,160
our church at the time. 
And so when I went to UTAI, just

487
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,880
saw this group and I was like, 
hey, you guys seem pretty cool. 

488
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,600
Y'all look like athletes, like I
love sports. 

489
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:52,320
And so I joined this fraternity 
and it was one of those like 

490
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,760
fight the power type 
fraternities, you know, like it 

491
00:25:55,760 --> 00:26:01,560
was like Latinos and got to stop
and and. 

492
00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:03,920
That's right. 
Take our people. 

493
00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:10,880
And like I joined it and, and 
what that did though it, it 

494
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,560
wasn't like the, like the beer 
drinking stuff that you see on 

495
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:19,800
TV, but that and then I joined 2
Hispanic organizations at UTA 

496
00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:24,000
'cause I thought this whole idea
of like networking and meeting 

497
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:28,080
people and of course like girls,
like they, they have cute ones 

498
00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:29,400
there. 
So I'm gonna go there, you know.

499
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,560
But what that did was it pulled 
me away from church and my 

500
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:38,120
calling. 
So I spent all my weekends doing

501
00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:40,920
philanthropies on different 
campuses, fundraisers. 

502
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:45,120
I was out Wednesday, Thursday, 
Friday, Saturday, you know, and 

503
00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:48,400
then Sunday cookouts or sleeping
like it. 

504
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:52,720
It was just this constant 
rotation of everything except 

505
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,880
that what God wanted me to do. 
And it was a good stuff, some of

506
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,720
it. 
And then I started dating a girl

507
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:03,360
that had no business dating from
TCU and, and it was just like 

508
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:05,720
this. 
And I say all that because on 

509
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:10,880
paper my life looked amazing, 
friends, popular, all that 

510
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,560
stuff. 
But then I failed, you know, 

511
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,560
classes. 
I came to a realization where I 

512
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,600
was like, man, I broke all the 
time. 

513
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,840
And I'm not doing good in school
and I'm not in church. 

514
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:28,600
And finally, summer of O4, we 
were at a camp at UMHB, 

515
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:30,920
University of Mary Hart and 
Baylor. 

516
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:35,360
And I couldn't participate as a 
leader because of how my life 

517
00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:38,960
looked. 
So I helped with recreation, but

518
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,240
I still got games because I'm 
getting my degree in that right.

519
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,000
And I was like ever sit in the 
back auditorium? 

520
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,280
I don't remember the worship or 
what the guy preached on, but 

521
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,440
that's where I heard the voice 
of the Lord and I and I, it was 

522
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,440
clear as day and I will fight 
anybody on it, But I remember 

523
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:57,720
Jesus saying, are you going to 
follow me now? 

524
00:27:58,000 --> 00:27:58,880
Come on. 
Or. 

525
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:00,920
Are you going to continue? 
To live the way you want. 

526
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,360
And I remember. 
Sitting in that seat, I said, 

527
00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:09,880
Lord, I want to follow you. 
And there was like this change, 

528
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,840
like it was so drastic, like 
like I didn't care about 

529
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:15,880
anything else except following 
Jesus. 

530
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,360
And I remember coming home, I 
didn't care. 

531
00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:23,120
I dropped my letters, I quit 
everything, broke up a home 

532
00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:26,160
girl. 
Like it was one of those just 

533
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:33,240
complete surrender and, and, and
kind of you talked about like 

534
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,400
your alcoholism. 
There was nothing after that in 

535
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,000
my life that held me captive. 
Come on. 

536
00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:42,840
You know, like sometimes you're.
Like I can't be there because 

537
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:44,440
I'm scared I'm going to sin 
again. 

538
00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,040
Not me. 
Like I was like I'm done. 

539
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:52,920
Like there was no like I am free
from anything that held me a 

540
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,040
slave. 
It was beautiful. 

541
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:59,000
But that's when I really, I 
changed my major, like 

542
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:02,360
everything. 
So that's when like I really 

543
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,120
surrendered my life to Christ, 
like to say, Lord, I'm going to 

544
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,200
follow you now, like whatever it
is that you tell me. 

545
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:10,960
And yeah. 
And it just been trucking ever 

546
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:11,880
since. 
That's beautiful. 

547
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:13,480
Yeah, man. 
'Cause like I said, we've all, 

548
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:15,720
we all get to go through that 
journey, right? 

549
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:20,640
Like, yeah, even for me, like 
grow up growing up in church, 

550
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,600
like I've done the altar calls 
and I've done, I've gone up 

551
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,760
there and I've, you know, I 
mean, I went to VBS and I 

552
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:31,600
remember at Travis Ave. 
Baptist Church, I went to VBS 

553
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:35,840
there and I remember people 
asking like, and I was a kid, 

554
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:37,320
like, do you want to give your 
life to Christ? 

555
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,120
And I was like, yeah, I want to 
give my life to Christ. 

556
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,440
But then you still have those 
years where it's like you said 

557
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,920
yes to the Lord, but there's a 
distance and, and you're like, 

558
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,760
how do I get back? 
And then one day the Lord just 

559
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,760
speaks. 
Like he just talks. 

560
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,880
And you like I said for you, it 
was like, I hear the voice. 

561
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:56,760
I heard it. 
You got to follow me or not. 

562
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,880
For me, it was the same way. 
It's like like you're right here

563
00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:03,400
in front of me and I can, I can,
I can see the eyes of fire, like

564
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:06,480
I can hear your voice and it's 
like, I'm going to follow you. 

565
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:08,400
I'm going to go whatever you 
want me to do. 

566
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,760
And it's in those moments, man, 
it's like, and this is what I 

567
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:13,400
tell our, our people all the 
time. 

568
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,080
People can deny the church all 
that they want. 

569
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,320
They can say, man, they're, 
they're a bunch of hypocrites. 

570
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:21,280
They're a bunch of, you know, 
whatever. 

571
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,320
Like they're, you know, I don't 
like the church and whatever, 

572
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:26,720
but people can't deny your 
story. 

573
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:29,320
They can't like, you can't like 
what? 

574
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:31,720
I just don't like the church 
because people are act different

575
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:33,800
and people do this and people do
that. 

576
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,160
And I'm like, yeah, but you 
haven't met the Lord, You 

577
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:39,720
haven't met Jesus. 
And you can't take that away 

578
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:43,720
from me because I was there. 
I, I saw it, I heard it. 

579
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,600
You just like you, I heard him 
talk. 

580
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:47,840
This is, this has nothing to do 
with church. 

581
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,600
This has everything to do with 
my relationship with the Lord 

582
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:52,560
and your relationship with the 
Lord. 

583
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:58,120
And so our stories matter, man 
like, and it's a big part of of 

584
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,640
who we are and and where the 
Lord leads us. 

585
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:05,320
It's something I always say to. 
Our folks, like we live in North

586
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,600
Texas, you know, like church is 
a culture. 

587
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:12,520
It's I, I would even say we're 
like the belt buckle of the 

588
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:15,240
Bible Belt right there. 
We're we're like Oklahoma. 

589
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,400
Yeah, it's like we. 
We're this is what you're 

590
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,720
supposed to do? 
But there's a difference. 

591
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:24,640
Between a churchgoer and a 
follower of Christ and and I, 

592
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,480
and I kind of like what you just
said, man. 

593
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,280
It's like when you experience 
Jesus. 

594
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:33,720
The the it's it's. 
Like, you can't argue it. 

595
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,760
Yeah, you can't deny it. 
And I know like some people, 

596
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,760
they're like, man, why do you do
what you do like? 

597
00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:41,200
And he's like, how do you 
ballot? 

598
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:43,120
I was like, I I can't like I 
was. 

599
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:49,080
So it was so radically 
transformed that it's hard. 

600
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:49,640
To. 
Explain. 

601
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:51,600
Yeah, man. 
And that's what I said, it's 

602
00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:55,640
like for me, man, it's just that
like, dude, once again, we're 

603
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:58,440
going down a rabbit hole. 
But like I feel like Jesus now. 

604
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,760
Like it's, it's just one of 
those things, man. 

605
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:05,520
Like you hear the voice of God, 
Like you hear the one who said 

606
00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:08,320
let there be light is literally 
talking to me. 

607
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,840
And it's just like, how could I 
say no? 

608
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,080
How could I be like, no, it's 
not real. 

609
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,160
Like it's not fake. 
All that's not real. 

610
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,440
It's like. 
And so to somebody else that's 

611
00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,440
watching or somebody who's who's
hearing our stories right now is

612
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,400
like, Nah, Chris was still 
drunk. 

613
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:26,960
Like Chris was still. 
And that's why. 

614
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,560
And oh, Ricky, Ricky was just 
feeling guilty. 

615
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:31,720
Yeah, he was just. 
Yeah, emotional. 

616
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:34,520
Yeah, he was just emotional. 
I'm like, no, it's not. 

617
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,480
It's not that because I mean, 
Ricky, you could have left that 

618
00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,720
day and be like, oh, I heard 
something, but I was probably 

619
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:43,960
emotional. 
So I left and I I didn't do 

620
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,240
anything about it. 
I couldn't, I could easily say 

621
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:48,720
like, Oh, I was, I was too 
wasted. 

622
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,560
And there's no way like no, 
because the next day fruits 

623
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,680
start to show already. 
I quit. 

624
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,160
I left everything. 
I left all my majors, I left 

625
00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,240
everything to follow the Lord. 
Nobody does that naturally. 

626
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,160
Exactly the same. 
Thing with me like. 

627
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,040
The next day I didn't even 
desire a drink. 

628
00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:06,800
Like I could walk into a bar and
not even be tempted. 

629
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,480
It's like, how does that happen?
It's not in our own work. 

630
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,680
It's something happened. 
We heard the voice of the Lord. 

631
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:19,360
We we saw Jesus in that moment 
and it is it's from that moment 

632
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,400
that the Lord has carried us to 
right now. 

633
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:23,040
That's good. 
Bro yeah. 

634
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,160
And and I like you said 
something before we started, 

635
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,320
like I was like, I gotta write 
that down because I feel like as

636
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:33,560
a church planner or let's just 
say as a follower of Christ 

637
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:37,280
first, you know, like nothing is
wasted in your story. 

638
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,840
And I think that's the beauty of
being redeemed in Christ. 

639
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:43,840
Because I've heard the arguments
like, man, I don't, I don't want

640
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:46,640
to like do that whole Jesus 
thing because I'm not going to 

641
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:48,200
be able to listen to rap music 
anymore. 

642
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:49,960
I'm not going to have to dress 
different. 

643
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:54,080
And people have this perception 
of like, it's this physical 

644
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:56,840
change, like, like I have to 
change. 

645
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:02,280
And it's like, no, like you be 
who you are and, and God has 

646
00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:04,200
knitted you together in your 
mama's womb. 

647
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,000
He's giving you gifts, talents, 
likes, dislikes, personality 

648
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,920
traits. 
But when you're redeemed, he 

649
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,760
takes all of that and uses it 
for his glory. 

650
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,639
Now, you know, so nothing is 
wasted. 

651
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,320
And I would even say like your 
past as well, you know, like, so

652
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,760
all of your past, like Roman 
says, like everything ends up 

653
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,199
working for the good of those 
who love him. 

654
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:32,960
So Jesus redeems your past. 
He uses your story, all hurts, 

655
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,400
successes, everything belongs to
him. 

656
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:40,840
And I think he, you said this, 
he like he uses your story to 

657
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:42,639
cultivate your church plant. 
Yeah. 

658
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:44,360
Absolutely. 
So in all. 

659
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,199
Of us that are church planners, 
there's a little bit of our 

660
00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:52,120
story inside of the vision and 
the mission he's given us. 

661
00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,360
And I always, I always like to 
say like your, your biggest 

662
00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:59,160
misery is gonna be your biggest 
ministry, you know? 

663
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:01,960
So that's the. 
Thing that like I, I always get 

664
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:06,440
tongue twisted but like the 
thing that irked you yeah is not

665
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:10,640
going to be a thing that like 
God uses yeah you as a solution.

666
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,400
Yeah, absolutely. 
And that's that's where you 

667
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:17,480
start to learn to create what 
you value in in your church 

668
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,160
plant as a church planter. 
Yeah. 

669
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,680
And I love that your misery 
becomes your biggest ministry. 

670
00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:25,120
Yeah. 
Because that's the way I have 

671
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:31,400
learned what I value the most as
a church planter is it was those

672
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,080
cringe moments that I had in the
church. 

673
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,200
Yeah. 
It's like if I invited a friend 

674
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,800
here and I there was a cringe 
moment, I remember I would, I 

675
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,800
would, I would meet with him 
after church and like, hey, man,

676
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,760
sorry, sorry about that. 
And so want to come back, 

677
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,000
understand. 
So it's those cringe moments and

678
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,840
you're like, man, I, I want to 
protect people from this. 

679
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,280
And so like, you begin to value 
them. 

680
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,320
Like you begin to value them 
those things. 

681
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:06,000
And so I mean, one of the things
that for me was was honor. 

682
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,880
It was, it was a big place of 
honor. 

683
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:11,640
Like I said, my my dad was the 
pastor for years. 

684
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:17,160
And you know, when you do church
plant with family, like there's 

685
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,200
a lot of dishonor that goes on 
with family like brothers and 

686
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:24,440
cousins and sisters and 'cause 
you know, you have a you, there 

687
00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,840
is not a, a line of I'm talking 
to my pastor right now. 

688
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:31,440
It's like I'm talking to my 
uncle or I'm talking to, you 

689
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:33,760
know, my dad, I'm talking to my 
cousin. 

690
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:39,920
So there is no like pastoral, 
like pastoral honor or there is 

691
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:45,920
no even like Christ brotherhood 
and sisterhood on it's like, Oh,

692
00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:47,800
I always talk like that to my 
cousin. 

693
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:50,280
That's crazy. 
And so it's, it was one of those

694
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,960
things that I was like, no, like
we're going to honor each other 

695
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,840
as brothers and sisters in 
Christ and not as family like 

696
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:02,280
carnal family, because sometimes
we say out of pocket stuff to 

697
00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:03,720
our family, you know what I 
mean? 

698
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:08,080
And then you forget like, oh 
man, I was talking to Ricky that

699
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:09,920
I don't even know. 
Do you have sisters or brothers?

700
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:11,080
I do. 
I have one older. 

701
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,520
Brother and one younger sister. 
OK, so you're the middle. 

702
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:15,800
Child Yep oh that's why you 
started to church. 

703
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:20,520
I get that's why you started to 
church. 

704
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,720
So come better got to prove them
wrong like. 

705
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:25,400
Mom. 
And Dad, do you love me now? 

706
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:32,120
No, no. 
But you know, like I said, a 

707
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:34,760
brother, an older brother can 
come to you and talk to you 

708
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:37,640
sideways because that's just my 
little brother. 

709
00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,400
Or your sister can come and talk
to you sideways. 

710
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:44,200
Oh, that's just my, my brother. 
But then you forget like, oh, 

711
00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,360
sometimes I need to talk to you 
as a pastor or sometimes I need 

712
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:49,120
to talk to you as a spiritual 
leader. 

713
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,040
And they're like, well, you 
don't know nothing. 

714
00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:53,200
This is this. 
And then you just miss the 

715
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:57,440
honor, right? 
And so one of mine was honor in 

716
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:03,440
our church because just like a 
lot of dishonor that I saw in my

717
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:08,280
dad's church that I was like, so
you'd invite a friend and you 

718
00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:10,520
know, I'm going to spill a 
little bit of tea right now, but

719
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,480
I'm just going to say it. 
I'd invite a friend to church, 

720
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,400
right? 
And first time coming to church 

721
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:19,960
and they want to hear the word 
and my dad would be preaching 

722
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:23,280
and somebody in the back row or 
in the third row black. 

723
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:28,160
But actually the scripture says 
this and this and this and and 

724
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:31,440
then my dad's now having a full 
dialogue just with this person 

725
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:33,360
in the church. 
Like, yeah, let's see. 

726
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:35,880
But you have to understand in 
the Hebrew it means this and 

727
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:37,760
this. 
But Paul says this. 

728
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:41,720
And it's like, now it becomes a 
debate in the middle of Sunday 

729
00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:44,600
morning service, in the middle 
of Sunday morning service. 

730
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:48,040
And so I have a friend there 
that's like looking back and 

731
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:50,320
forth like. 
And so then I have to explain at

732
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:54,120
the end, like, sorry about that,
man, this and this. 

733
00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:56,600
And so it became a high level of
honors. 

734
00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,600
Like I'm going to make myself 
available to talk to anybody who

735
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:04,640
wants to talk after this. 
But when the, the, the word is 

736
00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:09,600
being spoken on the on the 
pulpit, on a platform, let's 

737
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:11,880
have some honor, Let's have some
respect for the way it's been 

738
00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:13,640
spoken. 
So it's, it's one of those 

739
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,880
things, man. 
So those your greatest misery 

740
00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:20,960
becomes your greatest ministry. 
And that was one of my cringes 

741
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:24,960
in the church is like, oh, like,
and then so how did you? 

742
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,280
Implement that like when you 
planted freedom church, how did 

743
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:32,960
like if if how did you implement
that the very get go like in the

744
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:39,520
DNA of the church so I I. 
What I told people is you are 

745
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:41,360
great like This is why I say 
honor. 

746
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,200
It's the the parable, the Good 
Samaritan, right? 

747
00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:47,720
This Good Samaritan comes and 
picks up the man who's been 

748
00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:50,920
robbed and beaten and he puts 
him up on the horse and he 

749
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,640
doesn't he doesn't make this 
the, the guy follow the horse. 

750
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:56,840
He puts him up on the horse and 
says, I'll, I'll take you there.

751
00:39:57,240 --> 00:39:59,080
And so that's the way I've 
always seen honor. 

752
00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:02,320
It's like you before me. 
You are higher than me. 

753
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,120
So when you're talking. 
Like I'm not going to cut you 

754
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:06,920
off and I'm not going to be 
like, no, I like this and this 

755
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:08,720
and this. 
Like you're, I'm going to give 

756
00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:10,400
you your platform. 
I'm going to give you your place

757
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:12,720
to speak. 
And then when you're done, then 

758
00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:15,280
I'll speak. 
But that's that's where the 

759
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,840
place of honor came. 
So even when we're having core 

760
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:20,120
team meetings, we were barely 
starting. 

761
00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,560
Everybody has an idea, everybody
has an opinion how the church 

762
00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:28,840
plant should work. 
And so I'd be casting vision. 

763
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,440
And while I was casting vision, 
it would be like, Hey, but what 

764
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:34,800
if we did this and this and this
and this and this and this? 

765
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,240
And so one meeting I literally 
came and I was like, hey, guys, 

766
00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:40,320
like we need to have honor for 
each other when we're speaking. 

767
00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,360
We need to have honor for each 
other by just by showing up on 

768
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:44,600
time. 
We need to have honor for each 

769
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:47,360
other with, with everything that
we do. 

770
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:50,680
So when somebody's speaking, let
them finish, then you can talk. 

771
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:53,480
And so that's how we start. 
Like before we even had church, 

772
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:57,480
it was just like, let's listen 
to each other first and then we 

773
00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:59,400
can talk. 
But we don't need this whole, 

774
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:00,840
we're going to cut off each 
other. 

775
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:02,280
We're we're not going to do 
that. 

776
00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:05,120
And, and so that's how we 
started Honor. 

777
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,280
Now Honor has turned into 
something even more beautiful at

778
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:10,920
the church for him. 
It's like we honor each other's 

779
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:13,800
ministries and we honor each 
other's giftings and we honor 

780
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:16,560
each other's time and we honor 
like it's so it's, it's 

781
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:19,800
something that the Lord planted 
and he's growing it into 

782
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,840
something even more beautiful. 
It's like we honor, we honor 

783
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,840
guest people when they come in. 
We honor like we, we honor the 

784
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:29,000
first time guest, but we also 
honor the person who's been here

785
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,520
every single week, like since 
the beginning. 

786
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:35,520
And so it's just something that 
that we value at our church. 

787
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:40,120
That's good bro. 
What are like some like two or 

788
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:45,200
three other examples, you know 
like of some things that that 

789
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:50,320
you like when we playing freedom
because of my experience or 

790
00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:53,880
because of something God showed 
me that I want to make sure that

791
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:58,440
we we address it or align it or 
it becomes part of our DNA. 

792
00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:01,000
So one of. 
The other things that it was was

793
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,480
really cringe for me. 
This is why I said this is great

794
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:07,400
for me. 
It was like we. 

795
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,040
I have a few so I'm. 
Trying to think which one? 

796
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:14,720
I think it's authenticity. 
Yeah, that's a good one. 

797
00:42:14,720 --> 00:42:19,600
That was one of my greatest 
values because I grew up in a 

798
00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:23,960
church that not everybody was 
always everybody. 

799
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:27,480
You're the pastor's kid, man, so
you know everybody and you know 

800
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:29,960
everybody's business and you 
know the way really people are. 

801
00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:33,400
And authenticity. 
Was something that was not 

802
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:38,200
always there and so and I this 
is how I tell it to people it's 

803
00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:42,440
like you know if I say what's up
Ricky good morning how you doing

804
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:46,520
and Ricky's like I'm just 
blessed and highly favored. 

805
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,640
The Lord is, the Lord is on my 
side today. 

806
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:52,080
Like this is the day the Lord 
has made. 

807
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:57,400
And, but you like, you were up 
all night, like arguing with 

808
00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:00,840
your wife, like you, you've been
like verbally abusive towards 

809
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,640
your kids and, and this and 
this, but you come to the church

810
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:06,080
and you, what people call it is 
the church mask. 

811
00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:11,000
You put the church mask on. 
And, and I remember just as a 

812
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,840
kid just being turned off by 
that, like just in general. 

813
00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:18,760
And it's like, man, like I feel 
like I don't have real friends 

814
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:21,960
at church. 
Like there's people that I do 

815
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:25,040
church with, but they're not my 
friends, 'cause I don't know the

816
00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:28,360
real person. 
And so one of the things that we

817
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:31,840
became very, very adamant about 
is like, it starts with your 

818
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:34,000
leadership. 
Like you need to be authentic. 

819
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,680
Like you need to be genuine. 
You need to be real. 

820
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:39,800
Yeah, be real with people 
because it's contagious. 

821
00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:42,400
Like when I act like myself, 
Ricky, you start to act like 

822
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:44,080
yourself. 
Like when I and. 

823
00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:49,240
And we know and we can tell when
we both of us are putting on our

824
00:43:49,240 --> 00:43:51,840
pastoral hat and like we're 
talking as pastors. 

825
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:55,520
But then it's like, oh, we can 
also be silly and goofy too 

826
00:43:55,520 --> 00:43:57,760
because we're being authentic 
and genuine with each other 

827
00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:01,320
because it's contagious. 
And so that was something for me

828
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:03,800
that in our church, I was just 
like, that's what I value. 

829
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:08,040
I value authenticity because 
when I act like myself, you'll 

830
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:10,680
act like yourself. 
And then we can actually become 

831
00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:13,880
friends. 
And it's not just church. 

832
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:16,880
What's the word like church 
associates? 

833
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:20,760
Like that's just somebody 
because yeah, we all have those 

834
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,080
people, man, like and I and we 
all have those people that were 

835
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:27,440
just like, that's my church 
friend, but that's not my 

836
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:31,240
friend, friend. 
And so that's what we that's 

837
00:44:31,240 --> 00:44:34,720
what I've been really adamant 
and and creating in our church 

838
00:44:34,720 --> 00:44:38,520
is a place of authenticity. 
And sometimes it gets me in 

839
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:42,560
trouble. 
Like, you know, I'm a big 

840
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:44,040
roaster. 
Like, I have to make fun of 

841
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:45,800
people. 
I like, Like right now it's just

842
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:47,400
like you're the little kid, like
mom and Dad did. 

843
00:44:48,720 --> 00:44:50,280
I love to do that. 
Yeah. 

844
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:52,360
I love, I love to joke and stuff
like this. 

845
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:54,160
So it's gotten me in trouble 
sometimes. 

846
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,640
But then people come up to me 
and just say, man, I I 

847
00:44:57,640 --> 00:44:59,840
appreciate it. 
Like, I feel like you're my 

848
00:44:59,840 --> 00:45:01,920
friend and we can do that with 
each other. 

849
00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:04,920
And so, yeah, man, that's, 
that's something that I value as

850
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:05,920
well. 
It's authenticity. 

851
00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:10,200
So what about you, man? 
What What has been your greatest

852
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:13,040
misery that turns into your 
greatest ministry? 

853
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,840
There's a few I I think off the 
top of my head. 

854
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,560
I've, I've never, and this is 
gonna sound bad, but just just 

855
00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,680
go with me on it. 
The churches, I've always been a

856
00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:27,040
part of the, the pulpit hasn't 
been the strongest. 

857
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:32,160
And so the preaching I just, I 
just remember I was a teenager 

858
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:35,280
and it and it wasn't 'cause I 
wasn't paying attention and I 

859
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:37,280
wasn't on my phone. 
Like we didn't have cell phones 

860
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:41,920
anyways, but like, you know, 
like I'm not like, but I, I 

861
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:46,720
really did truly try to like 
listen, because I, I've always 

862
00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:48,560
been a really like inquisitive 
person. 

863
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:50,840
Like I've always asked 
questions. 

864
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:58,160
And so when I hear like bad 
preaching or somebody that that 

865
00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:02,480
doesn't like prepare or care, 
that just cringes my heart 

866
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,200
because I'm, I'm here thinking 
like the folks that are sitting 

867
00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:10,400
in, in the audience, like 
they're here and they're not 

868
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:12,760
getting a revelation from God's 
word. 

869
00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:13,880
They're just getting your 
opinion. 

870
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:18,200
And, and I remember growing up 
just trying to understand, like 

871
00:46:18,520 --> 00:46:21,440
trying to grasp. 
So like, I would try to go to 

872
00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:25,920
conferences and camps, like to 
try to eat, you know, and I was 

873
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:28,640
like, why can't our church be 
like this? 

874
00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:31,200
But we had an incredible youth 
ministry. 

875
00:46:31,280 --> 00:46:34,080
So that's where I learned a lot 
about the Bible. 

876
00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:39,560
So when I planted City Post for 
us, like the the biggest 

877
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:43,800
priority was the proclamation of
God's word, you know, over 

878
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:47,000
everything else. 
Our church needs to be known. 

879
00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:49,360
Hey, they teach the Bible. 
I love that. 

880
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:53,400
And and so we were just really 
passionate about that. 

881
00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:55,000
I know I am. 
Yeah. 

882
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:59,880
That's why I just walked through
texts and and I know like for 

883
00:46:59,880 --> 00:47:03,760
some people it's like man, and 
y'all are still in Colossians. 

884
00:47:03,760 --> 00:47:06,640
It's been like 8, like 4 
Colossians is beautiful though. 

885
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:09,240
No, it is that's what I'm saying
like, but it's, it's like this 

886
00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:11,880
love for his word and this 
reverence. 

887
00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:17,640
So real passionate about that. 
Also, I was discipled in the 

888
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:22,360
missional movement in the early,
maybe mid 2000s. 

889
00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:27,640
And so I always looked at the, 
the ministry of Jesus. 

890
00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:31,480
How did Jesus do ministry? 
And Jesus always went. 

891
00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:35,640
So one of the things that I 
remember growing up with is I 

892
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:40,200
like, churches would always be 
like attractional, you know, 

893
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,400
like we would spend everything 
on how, how do we attract 

894
00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:46,600
people. 
And in my mind, I remember I got

895
00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:49,120
to a place where I was looking 
around and I was like, how can 

896
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:52,640
we never like do stuff in the 
community? 

897
00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:56,600
Yeah, like we know it's been 
years and then you start asking 

898
00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:59,320
like, like we haven't had 
baptisms in like 2 years, you 

899
00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:01,840
know. 
And so I, I remember that pushed

900
00:48:01,840 --> 00:48:05,120
me out to bring like, and, you 
know, just be more missional 

901
00:48:05,120 --> 00:48:06,760
minded. 
I want to make sure that city 

902
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:11,520
post followed that, that, that 
what's the word? 

903
00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:15,840
I'm looking for that same model 
of ministry that Jesus did. 

904
00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:18,360
And then I think I just do one 
more 'cause I like you. 

905
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:20,280
Like it's like a bunch. 
Yeah, there's a bunch. 

906
00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:25,360
I think one more is having a 
culture of acceptance. 

907
00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:29,160
So like anybody that walks 
through the door of City Post 

908
00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:33,040
Church should feel welcomed. 
Our message is not going to 

909
00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:36,040
change, you know, say like come 
as you are, but we're praying 

910
00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,480
that the Lord changes you. 
And so I just wanted to create a

911
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:44,320
church where people just feel 
welcome no matter where they are

912
00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:47,520
in life, what they look like. 
It doesn't matter. 

913
00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:49,960
Like you're, you're always 
welcome to come. 

914
00:48:50,720 --> 00:48:53,520
And, and that that takes work, 
believe it or not. 

915
00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:56,840
So absolutely. 
Man, it is and it's not 

916
00:48:56,840 --> 00:48:59,680
something that people grasp 
really quickly. 

917
00:49:01,040 --> 00:49:04,360
You know, 'cause and I, I know 
people love to say this, but 

918
00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:06,720
like, oh, we're, we're 
introverts, like we don't 

919
00:49:06,720 --> 00:49:09,360
distance this. 
And I, I understand all that I 

920
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:12,760
do, but you're right. 
It's, it's something that you 

921
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:14,160
have to cultivate in your 
church. 

922
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:17,640
Is, is, and I think that we're, 
we're, we're running the same 

923
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:20,040
lines. 
Is like acceptance is like 

924
00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:23,280
understanding, like the people 
who are greedy, you are 

925
00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:24,800
authentic. 
They're being genuine. 

926
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:27,480
They want, they want you to feel
welcomed here. 

927
00:49:27,480 --> 00:49:30,160
It's not a script like we talked
about last week. 

928
00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:32,800
It's not a script. 
It's not scripted like the, the 

929
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:35,600
authenticity that that that is 
available when you walk through 

930
00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:38,400
the door. 
It feels welcoming. 

931
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:40,160
I feel like I can put my guard 
down. 

932
00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:45,080
I can actually be myself here. 
And yeah, but I, I love that you

933
00:49:45,080 --> 00:49:50,560
hit on that man that you know, 
you, you were hungry to know 

934
00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:53,240
God's word from the pulpit, from
the pastor. 

935
00:49:53,720 --> 00:49:55,560
And I think that I grew up with 
that. 

936
00:49:55,560 --> 00:49:58,960
My dad is a great teacher. 
He's always been a great 

937
00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:03,280
teacher. 
And and that's why he would, my 

938
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:05,200
dad would teach more than he 
would preach. 

939
00:50:05,720 --> 00:50:09,880
And so This is why we got to the
place of, well, you know, the 

940
00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:12,880
Bible says, and my dad's like 
teaching back and forth, like, 

941
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,080
And so it's like, that's where 
it got to. 

942
00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:21,160
And so, but I, I, I, I have 
fallen in love with that, like 

943
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:25,880
being a teacher as well from the
platform. 

944
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:30,840
But at the same time, I love to.
I love. 

945
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:34,320
To share the. 
Gospel and like, you know, it's 

946
00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:38,520
funny because my dad will be the
first one to take you down the, 

947
00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:44,360
you know, the, the Hebrew 
meanings and the, and the even 

948
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:47,120
the like word studies. 
All of the the deep stuff, 

949
00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:49,240
right? 
And I used to be like, Hey, I 

950
00:50:50,520 --> 00:50:55,640
don't know, I some of that, some
of the Theos and Atheos and I 

951
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:58,240
was like, like, what is, what 
are we, what are we talking 

952
00:50:58,240 --> 00:51:01,160
about right now? 
And so I, I know that I have a 

953
00:51:01,160 --> 00:51:04,320
great teacher with me that I can
sit down and I can go in depth 

954
00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:05,120
with. 
That's cool. 

955
00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:10,080
And and so I have fallen in love
with that because the way my dad

956
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:13,400
talked, I have fallen in love 
with that to just sitting with 

957
00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:17,080
scripture and teaching our 
church the same thing is like 

958
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:23,000
everything in the Bible matters.
Every word, every number, every 

959
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:27,560
number, every census, every 
lineage, all of it matters. 

960
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:32,400
And our churches, like one of 
the greatest compliments that I 

961
00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:36,760
have gotten recently is man, 
it's easy to teach here. 

962
00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:40,640
It's easy to teach at your 
church because your people, they

963
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:44,040
want to learn and they want to, 
they're hungry for the word and 

964
00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:47,480
they want to know more and they 
want, and I was like, thank you,

965
00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:50,840
Lord, because you don't have a 
lot of churches that are like 

966
00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:52,600
that. 
They don't, they're like, just 

967
00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:56,160
just tell me how to be a good 
person and then how to drink 

968
00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:58,880
coffee And like, that's cool. 
Like that's all they want. 

969
00:51:59,280 --> 00:52:03,360
But I believe that you're 
cultivating it, man, that and 

970
00:52:03,800 --> 00:52:05,320
and our church is getting the 
same way. 

971
00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:08,640
It's like we want to know the 
word of God tell us the truth. 

972
00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:12,240
We want to know this stuff. 
And so that's, that's like I 

973
00:52:12,240 --> 00:52:17,120
said for my story, that's where 
my values have been poured into 

974
00:52:17,120 --> 00:52:20,080
the churchmen. 
And you know, everything else, 

975
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:22,720
even the outreach to that was 
one of my biggest ones. 

976
00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:27,360
That's one of our big values at 
the church is through my church,

977
00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:31,600
my dad's church, we never did 
outreach, never ever. 

978
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:35,960
I gave us, if we did outreach, 
it was like we're having a 

979
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:38,880
garage sale. 
It's a fundraiser for. 

980
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:43,360
The Yeah, we're doing a. 
Car wash being a test and. 

981
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,600
I'm like. 
This is not really outreach, but

982
00:52:46,600 --> 00:52:52,360
that's cool that we're outside. 
And so when we launched, I was 

983
00:52:52,360 --> 00:52:55,840
like, no, we're going to go out 
there like it was, it was really

984
00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:57,960
cringe for me that we never did 
outreach. 

985
00:52:57,960 --> 00:52:59,600
And I was like, you know, we're 
going to be a church that goes 

986
00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:01,680
out all the time. 
And I always tell people. 

987
00:53:01,680 --> 00:53:06,560
Too like there's no better way 
to Share your story or the 

988
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:10,760
gospel with somebody then like 
partnering next to them. 

989
00:53:12,640 --> 00:53:16,280
One of the things I know like 
when with City Post is we, we 

990
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:20,400
were big believers of 
partnerships, like we call them 

991
00:53:20,400 --> 00:53:24,760
Kingdom partnerships because it 
was like you do more together, 

992
00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:29,440
but if you don't know Jesus, we 
want to come next to you. 

993
00:53:29,840 --> 00:53:32,240
So that way you can know the God
that we serve. 

994
00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:37,000
Now early on, I think one of the
mistakes I made was not training

995
00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:42,320
our people up to share their 
story and to share the gospel 

996
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:45,800
message and to to just kind of 
be more vocal. 

997
00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:50,320
So early on we would do stuff 
and it was like serving, we're 

998
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:55,040
serving. 
But the point of serving is to 

999
00:53:55,040 --> 00:53:58,360
connect people to Christ. 
You know, I mean, that's the 

1000
00:53:58,360 --> 00:54:00,080
reason we do like the car shows 
here. 

1001
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:02,640
That's why we do. 
And then and then of course, 

1002
00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:05,080
like thinking about who the Lord
is sending you, like how do you 

1003
00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:08,520
connect with those folks? 
So like, so everything that we 

1004
00:54:08,520 --> 00:54:11,560
partner with everything that we 
match up, there's a, there's a 

1005
00:54:11,560 --> 00:54:14,160
purpose for that. 
And, and you're going to get 

1006
00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:15,960
pushed back, you know, 
especially like more of the 

1007
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:19,160
Calvinistic churches and, and, 
and that's cool. 

1008
00:54:19,240 --> 00:54:22,240
You know, not every, you know, 
like not, that's not everybody's

1009
00:54:22,240 --> 00:54:25,320
style, but that's OK. 
And I that's something that 

1010
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:26,960
you'll learn as a church 
planner. 

1011
00:54:26,960 --> 00:54:31,680
It's like not everything is 
going to fit certain molds, but 

1012
00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:34,360
like you follow what the Lord is
leading you to. 

1013
00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:38,520
Yeah, and like I said, because. 
Not every mold is is built for 

1014
00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:43,240
every church because like I 
said, your story is what's is 

1015
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:47,040
it's what's influencing the 
church, how you met the Lord and

1016
00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:51,760
that's why I mean your story in 
itself, man, It's like, are you 

1017
00:54:51,760 --> 00:54:54,120
going to follow the Lord or not?
Like I got to hear the word. 

1018
00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:57,000
I have to understand this. 
Are you going to fall in for me?

1019
00:54:57,000 --> 00:55:02,560
It's like I was coming to church
wasted hammer drunk, but I'm 

1020
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:04,840
still in church and I'm like, 
no, like we need to be 

1021
00:55:04,880 --> 00:55:06,440
authentic, like we need to be 
true. 

1022
00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:10,120
Like we can't, we can't have 
this church mask on all the 

1023
00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:12,040
time. 
And so it's it's like our 

1024
00:55:12,040 --> 00:55:15,440
stories, like always lead back 
to what the Lord actually want 

1025
00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:17,280
intended for us. 
So there's a there's a 

1026
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:21,200
demographic of people that would
naturally be drawn because you 

1027
00:55:21,200 --> 00:55:24,240
have a similar story. 
And the same thing for me, 

1028
00:55:24,240 --> 00:55:26,560
they'll be naturally drawn 
because they have a similar 

1029
00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:29,080
story. 
And that's, that's where the 

1030
00:55:29,080 --> 00:55:33,520
Lord uses all of the Kingdom to,
to glorify himself. 

1031
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:35,760
That's what Jesus does. 
He's like, I'm going to use your

1032
00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:39,720
story to glorify me. 
You thought it was going to be 

1033
00:55:39,720 --> 00:55:43,760
like for you to just feel better
and do better things and to do 

1034
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:46,160
big things like, no, I actually,
I was going to use it so 

1035
00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:49,280
somebody would know me. 
And I, I think that's, that's 

1036
00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:51,840
the thing that I'm, I'm even 
learning about church planting 

1037
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:56,760
right now, man. 
It's like I have, because I have

1038
00:55:56,760 --> 00:56:00,400
given my life to, to doing this 
for the last six years. 

1039
00:56:01,520 --> 00:56:05,640
The Lord keeps going farther and
farther into my story, farther 

1040
00:56:05,640 --> 00:56:09,560
and deeper into my heart and, 
and still asking me to uproot 

1041
00:56:09,560 --> 00:56:11,800
things, still asking me to take 
the things. 

1042
00:56:12,240 --> 00:56:17,040
And so as the Lord pierces me, 
like as, as Scripture is, is 

1043
00:56:17,040 --> 00:56:21,360
piercing my heart still, my 
story is still going right. 

1044
00:56:21,600 --> 00:56:25,760
So like, when stuff comes up, 
it's like, oh, man, like, why 

1045
00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:27,160
was that? 
I never aware of that. 

1046
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:29,680
And now it's like I'm still 
implementing stuff into the 

1047
00:56:29,680 --> 00:56:33,160
church plant. 
Like one of the biggest ones 

1048
00:56:33,160 --> 00:56:36,600
that that hit me was nobody ever
taught me how to walk with 

1049
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:37,880
Jesus. 
Wow. 

1050
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:40,480
Nobody. 
I, I knew how to pray. 

1051
00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:42,200
Yeah, I knew how to go to 
church. 

1052
00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:44,960
I gave, I, you know, I did the 
gospel prayer. 

1053
00:56:44,960 --> 00:56:46,480
I mean, I did the sinner's 
prayer. 

1054
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:52,040
And then I had the moment in my 
room with the Lord, but then the

1055
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:54,080
next I didn't know, I didn't 
even know how to walk with the 

1056
00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:55,800
Lord. 
I didn't even I didn't know how 

1057
00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:59,120
to what the gospels were. 
I didn't know how to read my 

1058
00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:01,360
Bible. 
I didn't know how to I didn't 

1059
00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:03,280
know how to pray for somebody 
else. 

1060
00:57:03,280 --> 00:57:05,480
I knew it, but I didn't 
understand it. 

1061
00:57:06,160 --> 00:57:09,440
And and so that's where my 
heart, like one of the valleys 

1062
00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:11,880
that are church now is just 
discipleship itself. 

1063
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:15,400
Like, I don't want to just get 
you to say a prayer. 

1064
00:57:15,400 --> 00:57:18,840
And then because what happened 
with me was basically was you 

1065
00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:20,120
gave your life to Christ. 
Cool. 

1066
00:57:20,120 --> 00:57:22,320
Now figure it out. 
Yeah, that's basically what 

1067
00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:23,680
happened. 
Just keep coming to church. 

1068
00:57:23,680 --> 00:57:25,640
Yeah. 
Just keep coming and you'll 

1069
00:57:25,680 --> 00:57:29,000
figure this thing out. 
And I'm really hard for 

1070
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:33,560
discipleship was like, if I get 
Ricky to give his life to Jesus 

1071
00:57:33,560 --> 00:57:37,560
today, I share the gospel with 
him and he has his Jesus moment.

1072
00:57:37,560 --> 00:57:39,040
Like, I had my Jesus moment. 
Yeah. 

1073
00:57:40,560 --> 00:57:42,280
What would I tell Ricky to do 
next? 

1074
00:57:43,480 --> 00:57:46,720
And I never got that and. 
So This is why. 

1075
00:57:46,720 --> 00:57:49,640
My Hartford discipleship just 
skyrocketed because it was like,

1076
00:57:49,640 --> 00:57:54,240
I don't ever want people to, to 
leave the church because oh, 

1077
00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:56,560
well, like I just kept coming to
church and my life never 

1078
00:57:56,560 --> 00:57:58,360
changed. 
It's like, yeah, because nobody 

1079
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:00,000
ever showed you how to walk this
life. 

1080
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:04,080
And that's one of our biggest 
ones at our church right now is 

1081
00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:07,320
discipleship is teaching people 
how to walk with the Lord, 

1082
00:58:07,640 --> 00:58:11,200
teaching people how to pick up 
your cross and die, teaching 

1083
00:58:11,200 --> 00:58:14,680
your people how to have the 
discipline just to sit down and 

1084
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:17,600
sit with the Lord and pray and 
read. 

1085
00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:20,800
And then the accountability to 
to have that. 

1086
00:58:21,120 --> 00:58:25,000
And so that's, that's one of the
things for me is like, like, I 

1087
00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:26,280
wish I would have had that 
growing up. 

1088
00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:28,240
Nobody ever sat down and 
discipled me. 

1089
00:58:28,240 --> 00:58:31,960
I had my dad, who's a pastor, 
but he wasn't very. 

1090
00:58:32,320 --> 00:58:34,400
What's the word I can use? 
He wasn't very. 

1091
00:58:37,040 --> 00:58:38,760
Fluent in. 
Discipleship. 

1092
00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:40,760
Gotcha. 
I could ask him a question about

1093
00:58:40,760 --> 00:58:42,000
the Bible. 
Hey, what does the Bible mean 

1094
00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:44,400
about this? 
He'd be like, Oh yeah, it means 

1095
00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:46,280
this. 
And the Hebrew word is that and 

1096
00:58:46,280 --> 00:58:48,120
the Greek is teaches it this 
way. 

1097
00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:51,000
And I'm like, OK, cool. 
See you later. 

1098
00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:52,800
Thank you. 
Yeah. 

1099
00:58:53,120 --> 00:58:53,960
Yeah. 
And that was it. 

1100
00:58:54,600 --> 00:58:58,400
And so I think even as a church 
planter, I will tell you. 

1101
00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:03,600
As a church planter. 
People are always interested in 

1102
00:59:03,600 --> 00:59:05,200
the new thing. 
Yeah, that's true. 

1103
00:59:05,200 --> 00:59:06,120
You're always. 
Going to get people. 

1104
00:59:06,120 --> 00:59:09,160
Because like, oh, Ricky's doing 
a new thing, let me go check it 

1105
00:59:09,160 --> 00:59:11,880
out. 
Yeah, hey, Chris is doing a new 

1106
00:59:11,880 --> 00:59:13,200
thing. 
Let me go check it out. 

1107
00:59:13,760 --> 00:59:17,560
But when you get that person 
into the room and you lead them 

1108
00:59:17,560 --> 00:59:22,280
to Christ, you're doing them a 
disservice if you don't teach 

1109
00:59:22,280 --> 00:59:26,600
them how to walk with Him. 
You're good at presenting Him, 

1110
00:59:26,680 --> 00:59:28,400
and you're good at sharing your 
story. 

1111
00:59:28,880 --> 00:59:32,000
You're good at telling people. 
The Lord save me and He can save

1112
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:34,880
you. 
But if you don't have a plan for

1113
00:59:34,880 --> 00:59:38,880
them to continue walking with 
the Lord, those people will 

1114
00:59:38,880 --> 00:59:41,560
drift away. 
They're they're not anchored. 

1115
00:59:41,640 --> 00:59:44,000
They've given their life to 
Lords, but they're not anchored 

1116
00:59:44,000 --> 00:59:48,400
and they would just drift away. 
And a lot of times that's on us.

1117
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:51,840
Yeah, it is funny. 
Like we, we touched on this a 

1118
00:59:51,840 --> 00:59:55,920
little bit on Sunday where Paul 
in Colossians, you know, he 

1119
00:59:55,920 --> 01:00:02,040
talks about us having like the 
reason why he wants us to be 

1120
01:00:02,040 --> 01:00:06,920
encouraged in heart and to walk 
with Christ is so that we have 

1121
01:00:06,920 --> 01:00:11,040
like an understanding and of the
mystery, which is Christ in you,

1122
01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:14,040
the hope of glory. 
And and talking about word 

1123
01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:17,120
studies like that word 
understanding is Sonis, which 

1124
01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:20,440
means applying like biblical 
truth to your everyday life. 

1125
01:00:20,440 --> 01:00:24,040
Come on. 
So in order sonisis. 

1126
01:00:24,040 --> 01:00:29,400
You know, so in order for you to
to really understand God's 

1127
01:00:29,400 --> 01:00:33,640
truth, it means that you don't 
only like know it through 

1128
01:00:33,640 --> 01:00:35,640
knowledge. 
We have to you have to do it. 

1129
01:00:35,720 --> 01:00:38,080
Yeah. 
And to what you're saying is 

1130
01:00:38,080 --> 01:00:40,240
true because it's like, I think 
a lot of people get the 

1131
01:00:40,240 --> 01:00:42,960
knowledge piece. 
Yeah, but but they don't do it. 

1132
01:00:42,960 --> 01:00:45,360
Yeah. 
So if you get the knowledge, but

1133
01:00:45,360 --> 01:00:48,280
yet you don't put it into 
practice or action, then you're 

1134
01:00:48,280 --> 01:00:50,840
going to walk around saying 
like, how come I'm not growing? 

1135
01:00:50,960 --> 01:00:52,720
Yeah. 
How come this doesn't work? 

1136
01:00:52,720 --> 01:00:55,160
Yeah. 
And and that's what discipleship

1137
01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:58,680
is, is like you're, you're 
teaching people what it looks 

1138
01:00:58,680 --> 01:01:02,200
like to take what the scripture 
says and apply to everyday life.

1139
01:01:02,360 --> 01:01:05,680
And then you're there with them,
encouraging them like, Hey, man.

1140
01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:10,120
And I know one of the things in 
our men's groups, like we always

1141
01:01:10,120 --> 01:01:13,440
talk about like man, like it's. 
Going to suck sometimes. 

1142
01:01:13,480 --> 01:01:18,200
Like it's, it's, it's not easy 
to, like there's going to be 

1143
01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:20,600
spiritual control attacks. 
There's going to be times where 

1144
01:01:20,600 --> 01:01:22,280
you fall into your sin. 
There's going to be times where 

1145
01:01:22,280 --> 01:01:27,560
you, you battle, there's going 
to be like, it's not always like

1146
01:01:27,560 --> 01:01:31,280
a cakewalk, you know? 
And it's OK because Jesus is 

1147
01:01:31,280 --> 01:01:32,920
with you. 
And that's the promise. 

1148
01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:38,720
So it's like, how do we get 
people hear God's word, know it,

1149
01:01:39,200 --> 01:01:41,960
but then, OK, let's start 
applying it to your everyday 

1150
01:01:41,960 --> 01:01:44,400
life. 
And then once you start doing 

1151
01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:51,080
that, that's when you start 
truly understanding God's word 

1152
01:01:51,080 --> 01:01:53,160
through his Spirit. 
Yeah, you know, absolutely. 

1153
01:01:53,160 --> 01:01:55,760
And that's. 
I think, I mean, you hear on the

1154
01:01:55,760 --> 01:01:59,240
head, man, it's like we're 
really get the word information 

1155
01:01:59,240 --> 01:02:02,240
driven generation. 
Like I can get anything now. 

1156
01:02:02,240 --> 01:02:04,120
Like I don't even have to go to 
my dad anymore. 

1157
01:02:04,560 --> 01:02:06,440
I just Google it. 
What is it? 

1158
01:02:06,440 --> 01:02:07,920
What does this mean? 
What does this mean? 

1159
01:02:07,920 --> 01:02:13,320
And then you get 27 pages of 
articles and information and 

1160
01:02:13,320 --> 01:02:14,920
then we just retain the 
information. 

1161
01:02:14,920 --> 01:02:17,600
So this is what we tell our 
discipleship people all the 

1162
01:02:17,600 --> 01:02:21,040
time. 
It's like you can come in here 

1163
01:02:21,040 --> 01:02:25,360
and we can teach you how to read
Genesis to Revelation and we can

1164
01:02:25,760 --> 01:02:27,880
we can memorize a bunch of 
scriptures. 

1165
01:02:27,880 --> 01:02:31,600
But if you don't ever put these 
things into practice, if you, if

1166
01:02:31,600 --> 01:02:34,240
you only are a hearer of the 
word and not a doer of the word,

1167
01:02:35,240 --> 01:02:37,400
then your life doesn't change. 
Nothing happens. 

1168
01:02:37,400 --> 01:02:43,320
And so the way we phrase it is 
discipleship is not about 

1169
01:02:43,320 --> 01:02:45,320
information, but it's about 
transformation. 

1170
01:02:45,320 --> 01:02:46,000
That's right. 
Yeah. 

1171
01:02:46,000 --> 01:02:49,480
And so if you have all the 
scriptures in your head but 

1172
01:02:49,480 --> 01:02:52,280
you've never applied them, 
you'll never see anything change

1173
01:02:52,280 --> 01:02:55,920
in your life. 
And so the for for me, that's 

1174
01:02:56,160 --> 01:02:58,040
right. 
Walking with the Lord has been 

1175
01:02:58,320 --> 01:03:01,120
like my biggest joy. 
Like teaching people to walk 

1176
01:03:01,120 --> 01:03:02,640
with the Lord has been my 
biggest joy. 

1177
01:03:03,080 --> 01:03:05,400
I tell people all the time. 
I tell our discipleship groups 

1178
01:03:05,400 --> 01:03:09,200
all the time. 
This is like I'm still trying to

1179
01:03:09,200 --> 01:03:12,040
get better at preaching on a 
Sunday morning. 

1180
01:03:13,200 --> 01:03:15,160
I don't. 
I still don't know how to do it 

1181
01:03:15,160 --> 01:03:17,680
as well as I want to. 
I wish I could flow a lot 

1182
01:03:17,680 --> 01:03:21,560
better. 
So I, I don't like, it's almost 

1183
01:03:21,560 --> 01:03:26,760
like a working for me when I'm 
preaching, I'm just like, ah, 

1184
01:03:26,800 --> 01:03:30,120
like, yeah, and I'm putting my 
and yeah, it's a grind. 

1185
01:03:30,120 --> 01:03:32,240
That's exactly right. 
And so I always getting off and 

1186
01:03:32,240 --> 01:03:36,680
I'm very like self critical of 
myself and I'm like, I get off 

1187
01:03:36,680 --> 01:03:38,840
and I tell my wife like, man, I 
think I just feel like I did 

1188
01:03:38,840 --> 01:03:41,800
trash today and she's like, no, 
it was really good. 

1189
01:03:42,040 --> 01:03:44,720
So I I tell people like, that's 
still a hard thing for me, but 

1190
01:03:45,040 --> 01:03:50,440
sitting in a room with four or 
five guys and discipling, I get 

1191
01:03:50,440 --> 01:03:54,120
more life doing that than I do 
on a Sunday morning on a pulpit 

1192
01:03:54,680 --> 01:03:58,280
because I'm like, this is where 
life change actually happens. 

1193
01:03:58,800 --> 01:04:02,080
Like in on a Sunday morning, we 
can get you to the feet of 

1194
01:04:02,080 --> 01:04:04,840
Jesus. 
But if I don't, if the next day 

1195
01:04:04,840 --> 01:04:07,800
I'm not meeting with you and 
saying, hey, man, what are we 

1196
01:04:07,800 --> 01:04:08,840
doing now? 
Yeah. 

1197
01:04:09,040 --> 01:04:12,880
Then that that just becomes a 
moment and it becomes like I 

1198
01:04:12,880 --> 01:04:16,360
said earlier, how many times did
I go to the altar? 

1199
01:04:16,640 --> 01:04:20,120
Yeah, how many times did I go to
AVBS and they're like, who wants

1200
01:04:20,120 --> 01:04:21,040
to give the life your Christ and
I? 

1201
01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:23,080
But I didn't know how to walk 
with the Lord. 

1202
01:04:23,840 --> 01:04:27,200
And so This is why. 
My story, man, you're, it always

1203
01:04:27,200 --> 01:04:29,640
goes back. 
Your story always cultivates 

1204
01:04:29,640 --> 01:04:33,240
your church. 
And so for me, it was like, I 

1205
01:04:33,240 --> 01:04:37,200
wish somebody would have just 
sat with me and just said, hey, 

1206
01:04:37,200 --> 01:04:39,840
like this is how you read. 
This is how you do this. 

1207
01:04:39,840 --> 01:04:41,840
And it's funny. 
I always say that too because I 

1208
01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:45,520
remember like it later on in 
high school, early college. 

1209
01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:49,520
I had my parents. 
I mean, they were youth pastors,

1210
01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:51,560
you know, And but it was just 
them, too. 

1211
01:04:52,200 --> 01:04:56,520
And I always think to myself, 
what if, like, what if I had 

1212
01:04:57,000 --> 01:04:59,800
somebody from the church, like, 
whether it was like a college 

1213
01:04:59,800 --> 01:05:02,080
student, a young man, even, like
a grown up. 

1214
01:05:02,160 --> 01:05:04,320
Yeah. 
That said, hey Rick, let's just 

1215
01:05:04,320 --> 01:05:06,480
meet like. 
Let's hang out. 

1216
01:05:07,080 --> 01:05:11,440
Or or like, you know, an all 
guys group that would meet once 

1217
01:05:11,440 --> 01:05:15,880
a week or something like 'cause 
when it came to dating and I was

1218
01:05:15,880 --> 01:05:17,360
like, who am I going to ask? 
Like I ain't talking to my 

1219
01:05:17,360 --> 01:05:18,960
parents about that. 
My brother don't know. 

1220
01:05:19,240 --> 01:05:21,320
Like you know, he knows videos. 
I'm the middle. 

1221
01:05:21,320 --> 01:05:24,240
Child nobody else. 
I was like, girls didn't like me

1222
01:05:24,240 --> 01:05:26,080
till like. 
Later on in high school, so I 

1223
01:05:26,080 --> 01:05:29,440
was like, I'm way off. 
I was like, I just learned from 

1224
01:05:29,440 --> 01:05:31,240
the locker room, which is not 
good. 

1225
01:05:32,760 --> 01:05:35,800
That's a terrible place. 
That's a terrible to learn 

1226
01:05:35,800 --> 01:05:37,080
anything. 
It's terrible. 

1227
01:05:37,960 --> 01:05:42,880
But I always, I always wonder to
myself, what what would that had

1228
01:05:42,960 --> 01:05:48,800
like, might have looked like if 
I just had somebody to like, I 

1229
01:05:48,840 --> 01:05:51,160
don't know, text with her? 
Yeah, I don't know, man. 

1230
01:05:51,160 --> 01:05:52,320
It's just one of those things. 
So. 

1231
01:05:52,320 --> 01:05:53,440
Yeah, man. 
And that's what I. 

1232
01:05:53,480 --> 01:05:54,880
Said even for me, it's the same 
way. 

1233
01:05:54,880 --> 01:05:58,000
It's like, maybe I would have 
did this a lot earlier. 

1234
01:05:58,040 --> 01:06:00,040
Yeah, yeah. 
If somebody would have just. 

1235
01:06:00,040 --> 01:06:01,720
Dismounted me like maybe I would
have. 

1236
01:06:02,080 --> 01:06:04,280
I would have walked into my 
calling a lot earlier. 

1237
01:06:04,280 --> 01:06:07,160
Maybe I would have, but the Lord
knows everything, right? 

1238
01:06:08,160 --> 01:06:10,880
He knows what timing, He knows 
all that stuff. 

1239
01:06:11,360 --> 01:06:16,480
But I think it was being exposed
to discipleship that I was just 

1240
01:06:16,480 --> 01:06:21,040
like, oh, I missed that. 
And I didn't get that. 

1241
01:06:21,680 --> 01:06:23,320
And I didn't realize that I 
didn't get that. 

1242
01:06:23,320 --> 01:06:25,480
I was just doing the church 
motions. 

1243
01:06:25,480 --> 01:06:28,040
Like it's just like, go to 
church, go to church and be a 

1244
01:06:28,040 --> 01:06:29,840
part of the youth group, be a 
part of whatever. 

1245
01:06:29,840 --> 01:06:32,600
And I go to the conferences and 
it's, it's great. 

1246
01:06:33,200 --> 01:06:35,520
But then you get home and you're
like, I don't know what to do. 

1247
01:06:36,200 --> 01:06:38,080
So I tell this to people all the
time, man. 

1248
01:06:38,080 --> 01:06:40,720
Like when I gave my life to 
Jesus that night in that room. 

1249
01:06:42,120 --> 01:06:43,720
And I didn't. 
Want to drink anymore? 

1250
01:06:44,000 --> 01:06:46,640
I'd literally may not allow him 
thinking about it. 

1251
01:06:46,640 --> 01:06:48,680
Like do you know what I would do
man? 

1252
01:06:48,680 --> 01:06:53,520
Like I I literally turned off my
phone and when I would get home 

1253
01:06:53,520 --> 01:06:56,240
and because I knew myself like 
if one of my friends calls me, 

1254
01:06:56,240 --> 01:06:58,520
I'm going to go out. 
So I'll turn off my phone and 

1255
01:06:58,520 --> 01:07:01,440
the bill literally like you're, 
it's going to sound really 

1256
01:07:01,440 --> 01:07:02,920
weird, but I would just sit in 
my room. 

1257
01:07:02,920 --> 01:07:05,920
Just be proactive. 
I would just sit in my. 

1258
01:07:05,920 --> 01:07:11,680
Room then like, or I'd get home 
like from my, my job and go home

1259
01:07:11,680 --> 01:07:16,040
and just sit in my room. 
And, and then one day I was just

1260
01:07:16,040 --> 01:07:17,480
like, man, I can't, I can't just
sit in my room. 

1261
01:07:17,480 --> 01:07:20,160
Like I got to do something. 
So I just opened my Bible and 

1262
01:07:20,720 --> 01:07:24,840
just started reading my Bible. 
And then it was just like, OK, 

1263
01:07:25,960 --> 01:07:30,160
let me learn how to pray. 
And, and so then I started like 

1264
01:07:30,280 --> 01:07:32,960
reading the Bible. 
This I pray our father whole lot

1265
01:07:32,960 --> 01:07:33,640
in heaven. 
Hallowed. 

1266
01:07:33,720 --> 01:07:36,280
OK, cool. 
Like like like I said, it's it 

1267
01:07:36,280 --> 01:07:40,280
sounds elementary, but 
especially because I grew up in 

1268
01:07:40,280 --> 01:07:44,680
church, but nobody was there to 
just hold my hand and just like,

1269
01:07:44,680 --> 01:07:46,920
Hey, like, let me teach you how 
to pray. 

1270
01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:49,160
Hey, let me I have my dad in the
next room. 

1271
01:07:49,320 --> 01:07:53,000
That's a great teacher. 
But like, it's, I guess it, it 

1272
01:07:53,000 --> 01:07:55,200
was that weird. 
Like, that's my dad though. 

1273
01:07:55,200 --> 01:07:57,480
Yeah, it's, it's kind of like my
dad. 

1274
01:07:58,160 --> 01:08:01,120
I wanted somebody who was like 
my age, somebody who was going 

1275
01:08:01,120 --> 01:08:03,960
through the same thing I was. 
And I just didn't have that. 

1276
01:08:04,280 --> 01:08:10,360
And so I I remember feeling the 
the emptiness of it and, and 

1277
01:08:10,360 --> 01:08:13,760
almost feeling like. 
Like, oh man. 

1278
01:08:13,760 --> 01:08:17,439
No wonder people leave like even
as at the end, like because they

1279
01:08:17,439 --> 01:08:21,520
don't have like they don't have 
that discipline to just like not

1280
01:08:22,040 --> 01:08:25,399
fall into flash and not fall. 
Like for me, it became a really 

1281
01:08:25,399 --> 01:08:27,960
big discipline. 
It was literally like get home, 

1282
01:08:28,000 --> 01:08:30,840
turn off your phone. 
Like it wasn't. 

1283
01:08:30,840 --> 01:08:32,160
Put it on silent. 
Turn it off. 

1284
01:08:32,160 --> 01:08:34,080
Turn that thing off. 
And like put it on the. 

1285
01:08:34,080 --> 01:08:36,760
Charge and just leave it there. 
And then I would just literally 

1286
01:08:36,760 --> 01:08:39,279
just sit in my room. 
Like I would listen to worship 

1287
01:08:39,279 --> 01:08:44,240
music or I'd watch TV and yeah, 
that's what I would do. 

1288
01:08:44,240 --> 01:08:47,479
And I was like, and I did, bro, 
I'm not even kidding. 

1289
01:08:47,479 --> 01:08:50,240
I did that for about like 2 
years. 

1290
01:08:50,600 --> 01:08:51,399
Really. 
Yeah. 

1291
01:08:51,560 --> 01:08:54,240
Oh man. 
And it was like, yeah, for two 

1292
01:08:54,240 --> 01:08:58,160
years it was like, I did like, 
it was like I'd go to work, be 

1293
01:08:58,160 --> 01:09:04,000
at work all day, come home, you 
know, just chill in my room, 

1294
01:09:04,920 --> 01:09:08,319
turn the the thing off. 
And then I was just like then 

1295
01:09:08,319 --> 01:09:10,279
and I'd go to church. 
Yeah, that's what I. 

1296
01:09:10,279 --> 01:09:13,439
Would. 
Do and what was funny is like I 

1297
01:09:13,439 --> 01:09:16,000
was literally teaching myself 
everything I was I was I taught 

1298
01:09:16,000 --> 01:09:19,760
my like and I did a terrible 
job, but I I was teaching myself

1299
01:09:19,760 --> 01:09:22,560
how to fast like, you know, I 
was like, you know, like all 

1300
01:09:22,560 --> 01:09:24,560
right, let me teach how to fast 
and I remember like. 

1301
01:09:25,960 --> 01:09:29,120
I want to say I want to. 
Apologize publicly, but I I got 

1302
01:09:29,120 --> 01:09:33,240
like, you know when you don't 
know how to fast like you like 

1303
01:09:33,240 --> 01:09:35,800
your body, you get angry. 
You're naturally like agitated, 

1304
01:09:35,800 --> 01:09:37,920
irritated. 
Yeah, you're not doing like. 

1305
01:09:39,080 --> 01:09:42,880
And so like, I remember like I'm
fasting, I told my whole family 

1306
01:09:42,880 --> 01:09:46,080
like I'm fasting, like, you 
know, like I'm just not going to

1307
01:09:46,080 --> 01:09:49,359
eat, blah, blah, blah. 
I must say this man, we'll, 

1308
01:09:49,359 --> 01:09:51,880
we'll, we'll close because I 
know it's taking a long time, 

1309
01:09:51,880 --> 01:09:57,200
but I, I remember fasting and. 
I had. 

1310
01:09:57,200 --> 01:10:00,280
I had a. 
New car and my brother like 

1311
01:10:00,720 --> 01:10:05,000
pulled into the side of me and 
he opened the door and I don't 

1312
01:10:05,000 --> 01:10:07,000
know what was wrong with his 
door, but his the door would 

1313
01:10:07,000 --> 01:10:10,200
swing really fast, right? 
And I'm like, bam, it knocked my

1314
01:10:10,200 --> 01:10:14,200
mirror, broke it off the car. 
And I was like, what? 

1315
01:10:14,680 --> 01:10:18,080
The fascinating speaking in 
tongues. 

1316
01:10:19,000 --> 01:10:22,680
And I said all that stuff. 
And then my my dad was like, 

1317
01:10:22,680 --> 01:10:24,320
hey, aren't you fasting? 
Like, what's wrong with you? 

1318
01:10:24,320 --> 01:10:26,760
And this and this and this. 
And I just like, yeah, he 

1319
01:10:26,880 --> 01:10:29,400
everything blah. 
And I was like, lost it. 

1320
01:10:29,520 --> 01:10:33,960
Like lost it that because I was 
literally trying to teach myself

1321
01:10:34,280 --> 01:10:38,360
how to do this. 
And like I said, I had to go 

1322
01:10:38,360 --> 01:10:41,760
through all that learning by 
myself because I didn't have 

1323
01:10:41,760 --> 01:10:45,120
anybody just to sit with me. 
But yeah, this is a healthy way 

1324
01:10:45,120 --> 01:10:46,880
to fast. 
This is how you start. 

1325
01:10:47,240 --> 01:10:51,440
You don't start like cold Turkey
food. 

1326
01:10:51,440 --> 01:10:54,960
Like that's what I did. 
I did that for five days, bro, 

1327
01:10:54,960 --> 01:10:56,240
Like no food. 
No. 

1328
01:10:57,240 --> 01:10:58,800
And I was just like, you better 
than me. 

1329
01:10:58,840 --> 01:11:01,080
Yeah. 
Irritated, quite mad at 

1330
01:11:01,080 --> 01:11:04,360
everybody. 
And so I mean, that's like I 

1331
01:11:04,360 --> 01:11:09,320
said, all that story, like now I
have pushed it into our church 

1332
01:11:09,320 --> 01:11:10,960
plant. 
That's what I have done. 

1333
01:11:10,960 --> 01:11:13,600
Now it's it's one of those 
things that I'm like, I don't 

1334
01:11:13,600 --> 01:11:15,640
want people to go through that. 
I don't want people to feel like

1335
01:11:15,640 --> 01:11:17,160
they're doing this by 
themselves. 

1336
01:11:17,400 --> 01:11:19,040
And so. 
And you know what's awesome to 

1337
01:11:19,040 --> 01:11:20,680
see? 
Too, And I know like we've, 

1338
01:11:20,680 --> 01:11:25,440
we've shared this. 
What's really cool is how like 

1339
01:11:25,440 --> 01:11:28,320
you start seeing it multiply in 
the church. 

1340
01:11:28,960 --> 01:11:32,640
Like I, I see our, our group of 
guys, you know, we have our 

1341
01:11:32,640 --> 01:11:38,320
men's group on on Wednesday and 
it's like, it's a great time, 

1342
01:11:38,320 --> 01:11:40,440
man. 
Like I remember like we have 

1343
01:11:40,440 --> 01:11:43,440
like a text thread and I said I 
was like, man, I I couldn't stop

1344
01:11:43,440 --> 01:11:45,080
laughing. 
Like some of the comments that 

1345
01:11:45,080 --> 01:11:46,600
were made. 
It just like carried over the 

1346
01:11:46,600 --> 01:11:49,320
next day. 
And I'm just like cracking up 

1347
01:11:49,320 --> 01:11:53,840
and, and you just feel grateful.
But what's, what's really cool 

1348
01:11:53,840 --> 01:11:59,280
is to see like inside of the 
church, how now it's like, like 

1349
01:11:59,280 --> 01:12:03,240
these three are like hanging out
or like, like these two are 

1350
01:12:03,240 --> 01:12:07,640
going to like this guy. 
And and so it's like sub. 

1351
01:12:07,760 --> 01:12:11,520
I said, I want to say like 
subgroups, but at the same time 

1352
01:12:11,520 --> 01:12:14,640
it's is people are starting to 
lean on each other. 

1353
01:12:15,280 --> 01:12:17,400
And I think that's so healthy 
for a church. 

1354
01:12:17,400 --> 01:12:20,400
Almost to the point as a pastor,
you just kind of like have to 

1355
01:12:20,480 --> 01:12:22,920
like that Homer Simpson meme 
where you're like trying to hide

1356
01:12:22,920 --> 01:12:25,520
in the place a little bit 
because it's it's just a 

1357
01:12:25,520 --> 01:12:29,600
beautiful thing that these 
friendships and brotherhoods and

1358
01:12:29,600 --> 01:12:33,960
like, you know, sisterhoods are 
like being developed because of 

1359
01:12:34,000 --> 01:12:35,680
like that whole discipleship 
piece. 

1360
01:12:35,840 --> 01:12:38,640
And now it's like multiple. 
It's like happening. 

1361
01:12:39,120 --> 01:12:40,160
I love it. 
Yeah, man. 

1362
01:12:40,240 --> 01:12:43,360
So anybody who's. 
Watching anybody who's watching 

1363
01:12:44,040 --> 01:12:49,240
today, I want to encourage you, 
your church planting should not 

1364
01:12:49,240 --> 01:12:52,080
start with your preaching. 
It should start with where are 

1365
01:12:52,080 --> 01:12:54,480
you going to take your people? 
What's the journey you're about 

1366
01:12:54,480 --> 01:12:57,360
to take them on? 
Because I guess it, anybody can 

1367
01:12:57,360 --> 01:13:01,720
get up on a pulpit and have a 
gifting to preach, but you don't

1368
01:13:01,720 --> 01:13:04,040
know how to walk with people. 
You don't know how to lead them.

1369
01:13:04,040 --> 01:13:05,200
You don't know how to disciple 
them. 

1370
01:13:05,520 --> 01:13:09,800
And you'll do them a disservice.
And you'll end up with a Chris 

1371
01:13:10,120 --> 01:13:13,080
that's trying to figure out how 
to pray by himself at the house 

1372
01:13:13,440 --> 01:13:16,800
and trying to learn how to fast 
by himself at the house and 

1373
01:13:16,800 --> 01:13:19,680
trying to learn how to read his 
Bible by himself because nobody 

1374
01:13:19,680 --> 01:13:22,440
wants to sit with him and teach 
him. 

1375
01:13:22,760 --> 01:13:25,680
And, and I would, I would 
challenge you, if you're a 

1376
01:13:25,680 --> 01:13:29,040
church planter, what is, what is
your discipleship goal? 

1377
01:13:29,040 --> 01:13:31,960
Do you value discipleship? 
Do you value that? 

1378
01:13:31,960 --> 01:13:36,320
Do you want somebody to do that?
Or are you just, are you OK with

1379
01:13:36,320 --> 01:13:40,160
somebody giving their life to 
Christ and then asking them to 

1380
01:13:40,160 --> 01:13:41,480
figure it out? 
Good luck. 

1381
01:13:41,520 --> 01:13:43,440
Yeah. 
And so I would, I would 

1382
01:13:43,440 --> 01:13:46,640
challenge you if you're a church
planter, what is your what's 

1383
01:13:46,640 --> 01:13:48,680
your discipleship goal? 
What do you, what do you want 

1384
01:13:48,680 --> 01:13:51,360
for people? 
What do you value in your 

1385
01:13:51,360 --> 01:13:54,120
church? 
Because your story will be. 

1386
01:13:54,120 --> 01:13:56,400
Implemented. 
Into your church plant. 

1387
01:13:56,400 --> 01:13:59,000
Whether you think it does or 
not, it does. 

1388
01:13:59,720 --> 01:14:02,240
And because it's your heart, the
Lord has given it to you. 

1389
01:14:02,440 --> 01:14:03,720
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

1390
01:14:03,720 --> 01:14:08,040
And I think I'll end with with 
on that same sediment is because

1391
01:14:08,040 --> 01:14:11,120
your story is cultivated in the 
church. 

1392
01:14:11,920 --> 01:14:15,600
You don't get discouraged if 
there's some people that, that 

1393
01:14:15,600 --> 01:14:20,040
don't align with it, you know, 
like we're, we're the body of 

1394
01:14:20,040 --> 01:14:22,880
Christ. 
So there's multiple churches 

1395
01:14:22,880 --> 01:14:27,480
with maybe different visions, 
different styles, traditions, 

1396
01:14:27,800 --> 01:14:31,520
but the same head was Jesus. 
And those are like the, the, 

1397
01:14:31,640 --> 01:14:36,200
those gospel centered churches. 
So if I know we've had people 

1398
01:14:36,200 --> 01:14:39,240
that have come in and be like, 
Nah, nobody's wearing a suit in 

1399
01:14:39,240 --> 01:14:41,560
here. 
I am, I'm out or and and that's 

1400
01:14:41,560 --> 01:14:44,240
OK. 
Like there's nothing, there's 

1401
01:14:44,240 --> 01:14:46,560
nothing bad about that. 
And that's something that I've, 

1402
01:14:46,600 --> 01:14:52,280
I've grown to learn and grown to
appreciate that we have all of 

1403
01:14:52,280 --> 01:14:56,720
these churches who worship one 
God and, and we're all unified 

1404
01:14:56,720 --> 01:14:58,080
together under the name of 
Jesus. 

1405
01:14:58,080 --> 01:15:02,920
And, and do not be discouraged, 
actually be encouraged and be 

1406
01:15:02,920 --> 01:15:06,480
like, Hey man, that's cool. 
I have friends whose church, 

1407
01:15:06,480 --> 01:15:10,160
like, goes, you know, does that 
or like, I would love to connect

1408
01:15:10,160 --> 01:15:12,680
you, you know, So that's OK. 
Yeah. 

1409
01:15:12,720 --> 01:15:13,800
You know? 
No, absolutely. 

1410
01:15:14,400 --> 01:15:16,600
Be encouraged by that. 
Like you say, Ricky can reach 

1411
01:15:16,600 --> 01:15:19,120
people that I can't and I can 
buy he can't. 

1412
01:15:19,600 --> 01:15:22,360
And so and. 
Like I said, nobody wears a suit

1413
01:15:22,360 --> 01:15:25,920
in my church. 
And I said I was like, but 

1414
01:15:25,920 --> 01:15:27,600
that's OK. 
That's exactly right. 

1415
01:15:27,600 --> 01:15:31,760
Because our stories, they 
matter, the Lord did. 

1416
01:15:31,920 --> 01:15:34,320
If the Lord wanted us to die to 
our stories, He would. 

1417
01:15:34,440 --> 01:15:36,040
He would erase that history from
us. 

1418
01:15:36,040 --> 01:15:39,120
But I know how I was raised. 
Ricky knows how he was raised 

1419
01:15:39,800 --> 01:15:43,680
and he allows that store to be 
implemented in this in the 

1420
01:15:43,680 --> 01:15:47,720
journey that we're on right now.
And so if and he if he asks us 

1421
01:15:47,720 --> 01:15:50,160
to die to a piece of it, then we
die to it. 

1422
01:15:50,600 --> 01:15:54,240
But when he doesn't, he's using 
it for his glory at the end. 

1423
01:15:54,240 --> 01:15:57,240
And so, yeah, man, I appreciate 
it. 

1424
01:15:57,240 --> 01:16:00,560
Like I said, I love you guys. 
For those of you guys who are 

1425
01:16:00,760 --> 01:16:02,800
still praying about being a 
church planter, I would 

1426
01:16:02,800 --> 01:16:05,520
challenge you. 
Don't just think about a Sunday 

1427
01:16:05,520 --> 01:16:10,360
morning thing because a Sunday 
morning is is like 20% of this 

1428
01:16:10,360 --> 01:16:12,360
thing. 
Sunday morning service is like 

1429
01:16:12,360 --> 01:16:16,320
20% of it as like you got six 
other days in the week. 

1430
01:16:17,280 --> 01:16:19,320
What are the people who are 
coming to your church plan? 

1431
01:16:19,640 --> 01:16:21,960
What is their journey like those
six days a week? 

1432
01:16:21,960 --> 01:16:24,720
Do you have a plan for them? 
You're not just shepherding them

1433
01:16:24,720 --> 01:16:27,520
on Sundays. 
You're shepherding them for as 

1434
01:16:27,520 --> 01:16:30,400
long as as they are with you in 
your church plan. 

1435
01:16:30,520 --> 01:16:32,120
Do you have a plan for them? 
That's right. 

1436
01:16:32,120 --> 01:16:33,560
So. 
That's so true. 

1437
01:16:34,040 --> 01:16:36,000
Yeah, man. 
And I think one more thing I'll 

1438
01:16:36,000 --> 01:16:38,200
say, like, as you're talking 
Hebrews 12. 

1439
01:16:38,600 --> 01:16:43,000
Come on, Hebrews. 12. 
You know, talks about Jesus, how

1440
01:16:43,440 --> 01:16:45,840
he's the author and perfecter of
our faith. 

1441
01:16:45,920 --> 01:16:48,120
Yeah. 
So that means that he's the 

1442
01:16:48,120 --> 01:16:51,160
author of our faith. 
He's the one that is writing the

1443
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:52,040
story. 
Yeah. 

1444
01:16:52,280 --> 01:16:55,120
So what he does is that he makes
your story history. 

1445
01:16:55,160 --> 01:16:57,200
Yeah. 
You know, and, and so we 

1446
01:16:57,200 --> 01:16:58,920
continue to. 
I love that. 

1447
01:16:59,520 --> 01:17:00,880
Yeah. 
But I was like, Ricky, me, 

1448
01:17:01,120 --> 01:17:06,600
Ricky. 
Me Ricky is good hey so. 

1449
01:17:06,960 --> 01:17:10,240
Man, we love you guys and. 
Chris want to pray? 

1450
01:17:10,240 --> 01:17:10,840
Us out, man. 
Yeah. 

1451
01:17:10,840 --> 01:17:12,680
Let's pray, Lord. 
Thank you. 

1452
01:17:12,840 --> 01:17:14,240
Thank. 
You for this time. 

1453
01:17:14,320 --> 01:17:19,520
Thank you for just letting us go
down This the, these moments 

1454
01:17:19,520 --> 01:17:23,680
that we've had with you. 
Jesus, I, I thank you because 

1455
01:17:23,680 --> 01:17:27,160
you always take us back there, 
no matter what season we're in, 

1456
01:17:27,720 --> 01:17:30,040
no matter what part of this 
journey that we're on, Lord, you

1457
01:17:30,040 --> 01:17:32,800
always take us back to that 
moment where we first met you. 

1458
01:17:33,440 --> 01:17:36,560
And I thank you for that, Lord. 
I thank you that you use our 

1459
01:17:36,560 --> 01:17:41,400
story to glorify yourself, Lord.
You use the, the hurt and the 

1460
01:17:41,400 --> 01:17:45,360
pain and you use the triumph and
the victories, Lord, to glorify 

1461
01:17:45,360 --> 01:17:47,440
yourself, Lord, and, and I thank
you for that. 

1462
01:17:47,560 --> 01:17:50,000
I thank you for every single 
person who's watching. 

1463
01:17:50,640 --> 01:17:53,760
Lord, would you use their story?
Would you use what they've gone 

1464
01:17:53,760 --> 01:17:57,520
through to glorify yourself? 
So Lord, we love you and we 

1465
01:17:57,520 --> 01:17:59,640
thank you. 
And all of this is for your 

1466
01:17:59,640 --> 01:18:01,480
name. 
It's in Jesus name we pray, 

1467
01:18:01,800 --> 01:18:03,640
Amen. 
We love you guys.