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Hey everybody, what's going on? 
I am my name is Pastor Ricky and

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this is. 
I'm Pastor Chris and I'm from 

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Freedom Church and Ricky's from.
City Post Church right here in 

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Fort Worth, TX Actually for me 
it's half halt time, like halt 

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time Fort Worth line. 
But you know, we claim the funk.

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And I'm in the West End. 
That's right. 

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And so, Ricky, man, tell us, 
tell everybody, what are we 

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doing here today? 
What's going on? 

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So, you know, a while back, just
been praying about something 

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that the Lord's been impressing 
on my heart. 

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And I know Chris and myself, 
we're both pastors, but we're 

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also planted churches and just 
kind of praying, asking the Lord

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to steer this thing. 
And really wanted to just begin 

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this podcast where we talked 
specifically about ministry 

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stuff, pastoral stuff, like 
stuff about planning churches 

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just from 2 normal guys who just
said yes to Jesus. 

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Yeah, that's right. 
And I'm excited about it because

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we've been in the churches 
together planting churches for 

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we launched in 2020, you 
launched in 2019. 20/18/2018 and

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2018 That's right. 
And so we've been on this 

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journey of church planting and 
and finding out what Jesus wants

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from us and what he's calling 
out of us. 

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And we've learned that church 
planting takes you into a whole 

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nother dimension. 
Oh yeah, it's not for everybody.

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No, not at all. 
So it's it's been really, really

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cool to connect with Ricky. 
And I mean, I'm excited. 

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Let's see what Jesus does. 
Not exactly. 

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And man, so let's just start 
there because I think our our 

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stories as far as church 
planning are similar, but I 

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think before into that man, I 
think it's it's really just 

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thinking about this whole idea 
of calling, you know, nobody 

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wakes up one day and they're 
like, you know, what would be a 

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great idea? 
Let's just plan a church so I 

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could be successful in life, you
know, but a lot of it starts 

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with God calling you to the 
pastoral work. 

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So really we start there like 
your your story, like did you 

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always want to be a pastor? 
Did. 

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Yeah, man. 
So it's, it's one of those 

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things that I never wanted to be
a pastor. 

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Actually, I never wanted to be. 
I, I grew up a worship pastor. 

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I've always loved doing worship.
I've always loved doing that. 

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Still to this day, I still love 
doing worship. 

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But I never wanted to be a 
pastor because my dad's a 

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pastor, because my dad is a 
pastor. 

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I saw all the heartache that 
goes with pastor worship. 

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You know, you, I don't know a 
lot of people don't know this a 

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lot of times, But when you, you 
grow up as a kid and you see 

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your dad on a Sunday morning 
standing on the pulpit preaching

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the word, it's kind of jaded. 
It's kind of, it's kind of 

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underline because you're like, I
know what's actually going on 

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behind the scenes. 
I know the heartbreak. 

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I know like the words that have 
been said and and you still have

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the courage and the boldness to 
stand before the people and and 

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give the word of God in that 
moment. 

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And so I always tell myself I 
would never do that, but I can't

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deal with that. 
I don't want to deal with that. 

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Everybody likes to worship God. 
Everybody thinks he's cool. 

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Like, yeah, so I'll stay there 
and I'll do that. 

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And so I went out. 
I left my dad's church when I 

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about 2015 called to a called to
a church out in Dallas. 

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And and like I said, well, this 
is what I've learned, man. 

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Never say never, right? 
It's true. 

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Never say never and that. 
Sense of humor, man. 

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Yeah, exactly. 
And so I go out to this church 

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in Dallas and you know, I meet 
this beautiful church out in 

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Dallas and they're, they're 
amazing. 

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And, and so I was the best 
musician at my dad's church. 

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I was the best one. 
I was the best singer, I was the

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best musician. 
And then I go to this church and

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everybody has a resume and 
everybody. 

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And when I mean resume, I mean 
like they were playing for big 

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names like the the the band was 
playing like that. 

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Bass players filling in for 
Stevie Wonder's bass player, the

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Germans playing for Israel 
Houghton, the guitar player is 

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playing for Marcos Witt. 
You know, like these dudes are 

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accredited musicians. 
And then I show up and they're 

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asking me like, who did you play
for? 

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And I'm like, I played for my 
dad, you know, like, and so and 

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then I go to this church and 
everybody in this church can 

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sing phenomenal singers. 
All of them are phenomenal 

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singers. 
And so I, I find myself in a 

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place where I'm like, Lord, like
you're humbling me right now, 

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'cause I'm not the best musician
here anymore and I'm not the 

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best singer. 
And I'm like, what do I do? 

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And Lord showed me in that 
season, like you're here to 

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teach them how to worship. 
That's what you're here for. 

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And you're here to bring them 
together and bring them together

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as, as one so that they can 
worship me. 

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And that's where I fell in love 
with pastor. 

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I fell in love with people 
saying yes to Jesus and, and 

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lives being transformed and, and
people actually understanding 

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what they're doing. 
But I didn't, I didn't want it, 

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but I just fell in love with, 
with people seeing Jesus and 

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saying yes. 
That's what I fell in love with.

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And I wanted to take them from a
moment of worship to a life of 

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walking with Jesus. 
And when that light turned on 

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man, it was like, oh, this is 
it. 

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This is what I'm called to 
because worship is great. 

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I tell people all the time, I 
love to worship. 

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Still to this day, I still love 
leading worship. 

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But there's something different 
about letting somebody 

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experience Jesus and then 
teaching them how to walk with 

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Jesus. 
And the pastoral role is that is

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leading sheep to walk with 
Jesus. 

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That's all it is. 
And so that's when I knew I was 

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called. 
How did you know you were called

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to it man? 
You kind of like you. 

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I mean, my parents were both 
youth pastors in, in Florida, 

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you know, Pompano Beach. 
And my mom was called in 92 and 

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then they, they felt like they 
had to become better equipped. 

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So that's what led us to Texas. 
So they were looking to go to 

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seminary and they moved us here 
in 9495, something like that. 

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And I was probably when some of 
you guys were just a thought in 

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the blueprint, but you know, 
like just grew up in the church,

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always done youth ministry and, 
and really fell in love with it.

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And so it's probably like a 
youth ministry team and and men,

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I'll travel and do disciple now,
weekends and camps and even 

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getting my undergrad. 
Like when I felt called in 2004,

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I changed my degree. 
So I went from a kines to rec 

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and leisure because I was like, 
I'm always going to be with 

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students. 
So for those of us who don't 

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know what that. 
Means, oh, sorry, yeah, 

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kinesiology is like a sports 
degree or you could do like 

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sports management, you could get
a physical training, you could 

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be a PE teacher, a coach, all 
that stuff. 

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But that's kind of what I was I 
was going for. 

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But then when the Lord called 
me, I was like, you know what, 

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first of all, I'm a terrible 
student. 

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Like it took me 8 1/2 years to 
get my undergrad. 

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Yeah, because I just kept 
failing and but I was like, I'm 

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always going to work with 
students. 

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So rec and leisure, I got that 
degree in program management. 

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So that's how you you learn how 
to do games and group dynamics 

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and you could run a ropes course
if you want to. 

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All that stuff. 
Yeah, like it's just randomness.

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And all my professors are like 
your brains worth 27,000 a year.

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I'm like. 
Wonderful. 

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Yeah, so, but, but all of that 
in doing use, I just, I've 

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always loved the like the like 
the that generation, like seeing

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young people give their lives to
Christ, surrender to Christ and 

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be and, and and be in the 
church. 

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You know, I I just always felt 
that 2013 I really felt a call 

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to do that, like to to be more 
of the pastoral role. 

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My wife always told me I was 
going to be a youth director and

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and I was like, Nah, I just want
to work. 

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Let me just do what I'm doing 
now. 

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It's nice, but when I graduated 
with a master's in 2015, I 

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really felt that call in my 
life. 

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Like I really felt it. 
I didn't want to be a pastor 

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because my perceptions of what 
pastors look like, you know, 

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they all look like old, tired. 
I didn't, you know, just beat 

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up. 
Always had it with suits on. 

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And it was like, I don't want to
wear suits when you wanna listen

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to. 
Stuff you know. 

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But the desire in my heart was 
so strong and it was so evident 

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that God was calling me to this,
even even to the point where I 

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was being asked to come and 
preach at like random, like just

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random churches. 
And I was like, Lord, what are 

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you doing? 
That never happens. 

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And so really 2015 is when I 
surrendered to the calling of 

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pastoral ministry. 
And and that's when I just 

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started serving in that 
capacity. 

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I love. 
It so no, that's great, man, and

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I think I know that we got a 
whole thing right now, but like 

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my, my biggest insecurity still 
to this day is preaching. 

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It's still my biggest insecurity
just because I, I didn't grow up

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preaching, you know, like I'm 
listening to your story right 

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now. 
Like, you know, you've been a 

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youth pastor, you've always been
in front of youth and your 

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parents were youth pastors. 
And it's just like, how do you, 

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how do you prepare for something
like that? 

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That you're going to, it's your 
job now to bring the word of 

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God. 
Like we were just talking about 

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it a few minutes before. 
It's like, now it's your job to 

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stand behind that pulpit and 
preach the word of God as a 

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pastor. 
Like what, what does that mean 

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to you? 
Like what does that look like 

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for you? 
It's a, it's a, it's a 

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heavyweight. 
I tell people everybody sees 

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preaching as like something sexy
and everybody gets to see you 

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and you get to chop it up. 
And, and I think it's opposite. 

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I, I think the best way I heard 
it is like you're wrestling a 

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bear for a week. 
And so you're wrestling this 

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passage and then you have to 
deliver it to the people of God.

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Like you're delivering the word 
of God to the, the revelation of

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God to the people of God, 
regardless of how many people 

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are in their own. 
Like, there's, there's something

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so important to it. 
And like you, I actually stutter

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a lot. 
And everybody's like, I couldn't

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tell. 
I was like, 'cause you don't, 

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you don't see me practicing 20 
times, you know, in my garage, 

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walking in circles. 
I like, I'm not a good reader. 

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Everybody laughs at me whenever,
like the big Bible names come up

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and I'm like, yeah, Mr. L, I'm 
not going to, I'm not going to 

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pronounce this thing like. 
So it's, I take it very 

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seriously. 
And I'm a student of it. 

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I I always love to learn about 
it. 

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I always ask other pastors, 
like, how do you prepare? 

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Yeah. 
No, absolutely. 

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And I think, I think the word 
you use right now is a great 

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word. 
Everybody thinks preaching is 

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something sexy, It's something 
cool. 

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It's something like, oh, yeah, 
we, I, I want to do that. 

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And I, I think because, I mean, 
I don't know about you guys, but

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my timeline and my, my, what's 
the word I'm looking for? 

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It's the, my algorithm. 
It's just filled with preachings

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and pastors and this and this 
and it looks so cool. 

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And, but I don't think a lot of 
people understand the cost of 

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that stuff. 
That's. 

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A great point. 
They don't understand that how 

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long you actually sat with that 
text. 

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There's there's texts now that 
I'm still sitting with that I 

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have not preached because I, I 
haven't fully digested it yet. 

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And So what do you, what do you 
do when you've been sitting with

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the text all week and you still 
haven't digested it? 

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You push it to the side and you 
do a whole nother sermon. 

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Yeah, right. 
Like that's, I don't know if 

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that's what you do, but I, I do 
that. 

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I push the text to the side 
'cause I'm like, I haven't fully

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grasped this yet and I don't 
want to present something half 

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heartedly that I don't even 
understand and just hope that 

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somebody else will understand 
it. 

223
00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,920
Bro and there's there's days 
like sometimes I hear and I get 

224
00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,680
it maybe down the line like 
these bigger like that preaching

225
00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:34,160
teams and they have people and 
and they have to get everything 

226
00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:37,200
in by Wednesday as the the 
person needs to put it in. 

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00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:43,800
No, listen, there's times, dude,
like where I will, I will have 

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00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,760
the text, I'll exposit it, I'll 
have the contact, all that 

229
00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:49,960
stuff. 
But like there hasn't been like,

230
00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:51,560
OK, God, what? 
What do you want me? 

231
00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:56,320
And that won't hit till like 
Saturday where I'll just like 

232
00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:58,920
wake up at like 4:00 in the 
morning. 

233
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:04,160
There's times where I'll, I'll 
wake up Sunday at like 5 or 6 

234
00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,680
and just pray and I'm like, I 
need a pen, you know, I need to 

235
00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:09,280
write something down. 
I got it. 

236
00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:12,560
You know, it's a yeah, man. 
It could be a beating sometimes.

237
00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:14,440
Yeah, for sure. 
That's the and that's me, man. 

238
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That's literally me. 
I'll wake up, I'll, I'll sit 

239
00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:20,920
with the text all week, all 
week. 

240
00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,720
And I know where all the dots 
connect. 

241
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:29,040
And it's one of those things, 
it's just like, OK, so this is 

242
00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:33,720
beautiful, but how do, how do I 
give it to somebody so that they

243
00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,840
can use it? 
And so I I'll sit there and same

244
00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:38,960
thing. 
I'll sit there up to 4:00 AM 

245
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,960
praying, drinking cup, cup of 
coffee just in my office and 

246
00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:46,080
like lower, like you gave me all
this. 

247
00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,400
What, what am I? 
What am I missing? 

248
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:50,120
Right. 
That's exactly right. 

249
00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:52,680
And and that's why I said I was 
like, right now. 

250
00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:55,000
You said it perfectly. 
He said, yeah, you know, you got

251
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,080
to have it in by Wednesday. 
I'm like, man, I'm giving my 

252
00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:59,080
verses and all my stuff on 
Sunday morning. 

253
00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:05,040
Sometimes it doesn't work and I 
have like these little routines 

254
00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,960
in place that help me, you know,
like, OK, by Monday or like 

255
00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,680
Sunday night, I'll copy and 
paste it on my laptop. 

256
00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:16,000
Monday I'll go verse by verse. 
Tuesday I do word studies. 

257
00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:18,800
Like it's just, and it's because
of my schedule too. 

258
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:22,840
So a little bit here and there, 
but man, there's there's just 

259
00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:27,440
some weeks where it doesn't hit 
till and then something else I 

260
00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:31,240
think that we have to touch on 
is as a pastor, and I know we're

261
00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:32,480
kind of going down, but 
whatever. 

262
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:35,480
Yeah, it's like. 
'Cause I say, hey, you watch it,

263
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:36,240
You watch it. 
Yeah, it's. 

264
00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:42,040
Like you, you preach no matter 
what. 

265
00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:44,360
Yeah, Sunday. 
Sunday's always coming. 

266
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:47,800
And there's been. 
And I remember a few years ago I

267
00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:49,960
did a funeral for a 10 year old 
kid. 

268
00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:54,360
I got hit by a truck. 
And because it was an 

269
00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,600
investigation, the family 
couldn't see the child to like 

270
00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:04,240
the morning of and and and that 
I didn't realize how much it it 

271
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:08,600
drained me or took out of me. 
And I remember showing up to 

272
00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:13,080
church and that was a Saturday 
preaching on Sunday morning. 

273
00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:17,040
And and I remember Monica looks 
at me and she goes, man, you 

274
00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:21,040
look white, like, like, like 
your face like there's 

275
00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:25,080
something. 
And it's like, yeah, I know it 

276
00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,600
used to have to show up. 
I mean, been sick. 

277
00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:32,000
There was one time where I was 
in the hospital Friday, 

278
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,600
Saturday, it was just like a 
little minor thing, but I felt 

279
00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,560
I, I was so frustrated that I 
was in the hospital. 

280
00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,200
I couldn't wait to get to church
on Sunday, you know. 

281
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:45,440
So regardless of what happens in
life, the word of God is going 

282
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:50,040
to be proclaimed, you know? 
And you and that I think that's 

283
00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:52,400
even getting back on track, 
right? 

284
00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,880
Like, yeah, how do, how do you 
handle that as a as a pastor? 

285
00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:58,720
How do you handle that as a 
church planter? 

286
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:03,960
You know, like you jump into 
church planting and once again, 

287
00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,200
we're, we're just two regular 
guys. 

288
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,440
We're just trying to figure this
thing out and we're trying to 

289
00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,480
welcome you guys into this 
journey with us. 

290
00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,480
But how do you figure that out? 
How do you go from, I wasn't 

291
00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:19,400
preaching every Sunday to now 
I'm preaching every Sunday and 

292
00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,840
doesn't matter what's going on 
in my life, Sunday's still 

293
00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,120
coming and there has to be a 
word. 

294
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:30,920
And how do you learn to create 
that discipline in your life to 

295
00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,920
even when you're like, man, I 
don't feel like preaching. 

296
00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,720
I don't feel like doing it. 
My, my head is not in the right 

297
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:38,160
place. 
My heart is not in the right 

298
00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,320
place. 
How do you, how do you stand 

299
00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:43,200
before people and, and still say
this is what the word of the 

300
00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:44,360
Lord says? 
Yeah. 

301
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,600
For me, it starts with prayer. 
I mean that that's the number 

302
00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:52,400
one thing And, and I'll be real.
Like there's some days, and I 

303
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,840
started this about two years ago
when I drive to City Post, I 

304
00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:00,280
don't listen to any music and I 
just talk to Jesus. 

305
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,280
I'm in my car and I'm like, all 
right, God, thank you for waking

306
00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:06,359
me up. 
I just pray for and, and I'm, 

307
00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:10,440
I'm praying all the way till the
time I pull in the parking lot 

308
00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:12,960
and, and just talking to the 
Lord. 

309
00:17:13,839 --> 00:17:17,240
But I've become more honest with
my prayers. 

310
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:23,960
So I think a lot of us are good 
at confessing things but like we

311
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,160
could easily get the habit of 
just confession and not being 

312
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,880
honest with our emotions and 
feelings and like just talk to 

313
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,160
Jesus. 
Like man I am not feeling it 

314
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:37,440
today or man last night was 
rough or I am so tired. 

315
00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:40,200
Absolutely, man. 
And that's something I'm even 

316
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:46,080
learning now is that's why Jesus
says the Holy Spirit, he calls 

317
00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,000
him the Helper, right? 
And that's something that I 

318
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,880
lacked a lot. 
And you know, I've done my due 

319
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,960
diligence, I've done my 
preparation, I've done my study 

320
00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,600
and this and this and this, And 
all right now I saw it as Lord, 

321
00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:01,200
I'm going to present it to you. 
I'm going to give. 

322
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,520
It to you. 
But what happens is I've done my

323
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:06,720
due diligence, I've done all 
this stuff, I've done my 

324
00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,360
preparation, but I'm tired. 
My mind, my mentally drained, my

325
00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:13,400
heart is like been poured out 
all week. 

326
00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,560
I've gone to the hospital visit.
I've done this. 

327
00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:18,640
Listen this but Jesus calls the 
Holy Spirit to help her and what

328
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:23,120
I'm learning right now is while 
I'm driving and so that's what I

329
00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:25,000
said me and Ricky we're two 
different kinds of people. 

330
00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,160
Ricky's like I like to sit in 
silence and pray me. 

331
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:30,960
I have to have worship music 
playing like I have to have it 

332
00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:33,560
on blast. 
I have to create that atmosphere

333
00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:38,880
for myself because when I sit in
this in the silence sometimes, 

334
00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,360
like everything that I've been 
hearing always comes back. 

335
00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,840
It comes back. 
So I have to eternal worship and

336
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:50,360
the most grateful prayer that 
I've learned in this season is 

337
00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:52,440
Jesus. 
You called the Holy Spirit, the 

338
00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,960
helper. 
So Holy Spirit, I need you to 

339
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:55,800
help me. 
That's right. 

340
00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,200
That's what I've learned in this
season because it's, it's one of

341
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:04,400
those things like you, you go 
from, I didn't preach for years 

342
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:10,040
and now I'm preaching every week
and now I have to carry this 

343
00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,200
weight. 
But I know that the Lord has 

344
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,000
given it to me. 
That's why he says yoke is easy 

345
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,400
and it's burning this light. 
It's not draining me, but I 

346
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,480
don't want to present it 
incorrectly. 

347
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,240
I don't want to say anything 
from my emotions because I've 

348
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,960
been emotionally drained. 
I don't want to say anything 

349
00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:27,800
from my mind because I'm 
mentally drained. 

350
00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:32,040
So I don't want to speak from a 
place of anger or frustration or

351
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,000
weariness. 
And so that's where my prayer 

352
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:37,200
this season has been. 
Holy Spirit, help me. 

353
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:38,360
You're the helper. 
Help me. 

354
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:40,520
Yeah. 
And then also like Speaking of 

355
00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:43,640
the Holy Spirit too, you know, 
the Holy Spirit is our comforter

356
00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,320
and it's like, you can't be a 
comforter if you're comfortable.

357
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:52,760
So it's it's like a it's good 
that, that we're in that tension

358
00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,360
of life where it's like, Oh my 
gosh, like here we go. 

359
00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:57,680
Because I think that's where 
that's where the Holy Spirit 

360
00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,720
shines. 
Like he, he, he just crushes us 

361
00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,400
with his grace and he gives it 
to us. 

362
00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:07,520
Also I think another way. 
As you're saying, it's like all 

363
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:13,280
these thoughts, you know, when 
you preach, you are, you're 

364
00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:16,920
asking the Holy Spirit like, OK,
what are you trying to show me 

365
00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:21,000
in the text? 
And, and you, you so I can 

366
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,280
preach to yourself first. 
So what I started doing is that 

367
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,680
so instead of I always like, 
Lord, give me a word for your 

368
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:30,960
people, but then teach me 
something through your word. 

369
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:36,440
And then really my, my points 
and my notes are what he showed 

370
00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:38,840
me. 
And then I share with the 

371
00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,640
congregation what the Holy 
Spirit convicted in my life. 

372
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,200
And it's amazing how it works 
because then people come up to 

373
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,920
you after when they're like, 
how'd you know? 

374
00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,080
You know, like why, why y'all 
nosy in my, my business, you 

375
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,320
know, like, and really that's 
how the Holy Spirit works where 

376
00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,200
it's like, honestly bro, like 
I'm not even thinking about you.

377
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,720
However, you know, these are 
things that he showed me, but 

378
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,360
the Word of God is just 
convicting, so it ties it all 

379
00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:09,280
together, which is pretty sweet.
Yeah. 

380
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:13,640
And I think for me, when I do 
that, I do men. 

381
00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:18,440
I think even when I preach for 
my own conviction, it can come 

382
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,400
out harsh. 
Like, yeah, no, you're really 

383
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,800
bad and that's real. 
And so I'll have to read my 

384
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:27,520
sermon over and over and over. 
And I've, I've literally read my

385
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,960
sermon and like, you're so 
angry. 

386
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,120
And so then I have, I will have 
to rewrite it and then I'll read

387
00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:39,480
it again like you're so angry. 
And, and I, I see it as as the 

388
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:44,000
peace of God, like coming over 
me, like, hey, you're beating 

389
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,400
yourself up too much. 
Why are you doing that to 

390
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:47,040
yourself? 
Stop. 

391
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,240
You don't like there's grace, 
there's mercy, there's love for 

392
00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,600
you there. 
It's a conviction, but you're 

393
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,040
beating yourself up too much. 
And if you're beating yourself 

394
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,360
up when you preach, you're going
to beat up other people. 

395
00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:02,400
And so that's where I'll have to
look at my sermon before I 

396
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,360
preach it over and over and over
because I've done that too. 

397
00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:07,520
And I'm like, I'm preaching from
a place of conviction. 

398
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:10,440
And, and I'll say it from the 
I'm preaching to myself right 

399
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,640
now, but I'll say it, but 
sometimes I can be really hard 

400
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:15,480
on myself. 
And so it's like. 

401
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:17,160
The way it comes out. 
Yeah, the way it comes out, it's

402
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,240
like I'm actually just angry at 
me. 

403
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:20,320
I'm not angry. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah, people. 

404
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:22,320
Like what's wrong? 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

405
00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:23,720
Like, don't you know, you could 
go to. 

406
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,240
It's so true we're. 
Terrible. 

407
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,280
Friends so it's not bad, but 
that's what because it's like, 

408
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:35,760
but I I think understanding 
church planting is is 

409
00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,520
understanding that you being 
called to be a pastor now yes, 

410
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:45,360
you're called to be a pastor and
the the pastor can't beat up the

411
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:47,560
sheep. 
Yeah, you can't do that because 

412
00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,840
yeah, because if you if a pastor
beats the sheep, then the sheep 

413
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:53,720
die. 
Yeah, that's what happens. 

414
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,400
You you can abuse the sheep so 
much that they can die. 

415
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,160
And so you want to be a gentle 
shepherd. 

416
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,720
You want to be the Good 
Shepherd. 

417
00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:06,400
And that's where my heart goes 
back to is I get so nervous now 

418
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:07,680
that I'm a church planter, you 
guys. 

419
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:13,040
So I guess it's just one of 
those things that Jesus gives us

420
00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:15,360
the same title that he calls 
himself. 

421
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,640
He says, I'm going to call you 
to be a shepherd. 

422
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,120
I'm going to call you to love my
sheep. 

423
00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:23,560
That's what he did to Peter. 
Peter messed up. 

424
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:24,880
Peter was terrible. 
Peter. 

425
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:28,480
Peter denied him. 
And he said feed my sheep. 

426
00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:33,600
He was calling Peter a shepherd.
And Peter heard the same sermon 

427
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:36,680
about Jesus saying I'm the Good 
Shepherd. 

428
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,160
Yeah. 
So the same title Jesus has, he 

429
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,320
gives to Peter the same title 
that Jesus has, he's given to me

430
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,640
and you. 
And so Jesus says feed my sheep.

431
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:47,680
He doesn't say beat my sheep. 
Right, Right. 

432
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,400
And that's, that's just a whole 
other. 

433
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:52,960
Yeah. 
Place for me, man. 

434
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,040
Yeah, you can't lead. 
You can't lead with force. 

435
00:23:56,120 --> 00:24:01,600
It's, and I know sometimes it 
comes off that way, 'cause I'll 

436
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,720
be honest, like even even a 
conviction I've had is with City

437
00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:10,640
Post I, I want to make sure I 
preach to men, you know, like 

438
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:15,120
our, the men of our church. 
And what I discovered is like 

439
00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:21,280
with men, we want things direct,
truthful and, and you know, like

440
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,880
all that emotional stuff does 
not fly. 

441
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:28,840
So there's sometimes where like 
you, you try to drive a point 

442
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:32,040
because you, that's in my mind, 
that's the audience, that's the 

443
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:36,760
guy I want to hear this message.
But I have to remember that, you

444
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:40,840
know, like there's all sorts of 
generations, all sorts of people

445
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:45,680
are all sorts of context. 
So you can't let that you can't 

446
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:49,800
let that sway the message. 
So making sure that you stay 

447
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,960
true to God's word. 
And also just one other thing I 

448
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:54,640
learned. 
God's word does not need our 

449
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,720
help, you know, like, and, and I
used to do that. 

450
00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,720
I'd used to try to be 
provocative. 

451
00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:03,560
And I remember there was one 
Sunday I was preaching out of 

452
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,880
Hebrews and I said something 
about Mary and I made a crack 

453
00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:08,920
about it. 
And I was like, Jeez, don't need

454
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,720
his mom, you know, like and, and
I was just trying to be. 

455
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,040
I was just don't. 
He don't need his mom like he's 

456
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:23,160
God, you know, And there was 
some brothers in the back who 

457
00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,040
are Catholic. 
And I remember during one of our

458
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,840
car shows, he came up to me and 
he goes, you know, Ricky, like 

459
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,360
my wife loves this place, like 
we love this church. 

460
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:37,320
We, we haven't gone to church, 
but you know, like what you said

461
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,280
about like, we're Catholic and I
and I, and I thought about it 

462
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,720
and I was like, you know, and I 
apologize. 

463
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,160
And I was like, I was just, I 
was doing too much. 

464
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,960
I was like, you'll never hear me
try to push something like that 

465
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,760
again. 
And it wasn't that I was, it 

466
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,600
wasn't about boldness. 
It was actually more about 

467
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:02,720
you're trying too hard to draw 
attention to the Word, and God's

468
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,000
Word doesn't need our help. 
Yeah, that's absolutely right, 

469
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,760
man. 
And I think we have to catch 

470
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:12,760
ourselves as as young pastors 
and young churches, we have to 

471
00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:16,360
catch ourselves, like trying to 
make it and going back to that 

472
00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:18,120
word, trying to make preaching 
sexy. 

473
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,680
I get to stand up on the pulpit 
and I get to be courageous and I

474
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,120
get to be bold and I get to 
preach the word of God for what 

475
00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:29,600
it is. 
And what pierces the heart, what

476
00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,000
brings men to repentance, the 
Bible says, is the Lord's 

477
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,840
kindness. 
And it's like, no, like I got to

478
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,360
say it how it is and, and, and 
Amen. 

479
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:40,840
Well, we should, we should 
preach the word boldly. 

480
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:42,960
We should. 
But if repentance is not 

481
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,160
happening, then we haven't shown
the Lord's kindness. 

482
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:47,640
And that's what First 
Corinthians says. 

483
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,760
He goes without love. 
It all sounds like just clanging

484
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:53,240
cymbals. 
So people are not going to hear 

485
00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,800
his word because they're not 
like he doesn't love me. 

486
00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:59,280
It's like he's, he's trying to 
like wag his finger at me and 

487
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,520
they're totally going to be 
turned off by. 

488
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,000
Man, that's good, bro. 
Like I said, and and like I 

489
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,840
said, for everybody who's 
watching, we're, we're just 

490
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,120
figuring all this stuff out. 
Yes, we really are. 

491
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:11,360
We're trying to learn how to be 
pastors. 

492
00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:14,880
We're trying to learn how to 
carry the Lord's house. 

493
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:19,120
We're going to learn how to lead
people to Jesus and Ricky. 

494
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:20,840
Ricky has done a phenomenal job,
man. 

495
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,320
Tell me about City Post, man. 
How did you guys start? 

496
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:29,440
Yeah, no, it just I felt called 
to plant a church in like 2017. 

497
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,400
I was serving at a local church 
here in Riverside. 

498
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:38,840
It wasn't the healthiest place. 
And when plans went awry, it's 

499
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:40,920
funny, like when you talk about 
like God's sovereignty. 

500
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,800
And I think God uses everything 
for his glory and even these 

501
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:49,640
crazy situations, you know, the 
truth was me and Rach, we were 

502
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,800
actually going to sit down for 
about 3 months and we were going

503
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,960
to ask God what's next. 
So we were going to leave, we're

504
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:58,760
going to serve out. 
And then just just to just go 

505
00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:04,880
visit and see what was next. 
In that time, you know, I 

506
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,640
started doing like more stuff in
the city and I feel like I 

507
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:10,920
became a missionary in my own 
city. 

508
00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:16,360
And I just started seeing people
that didn't know Jesus, people 

509
00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:19,240
that hated God hanging out with 
them. 

510
00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:23,680
And I was like, man, what does 
it look like to be a pastor or a

511
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,600
church for these folks? 
And that's when it really 

512
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,320
started to, to come into my 
heart. 

513
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:33,120
So yeah, I just, I didn't know 
what to do. 

514
00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:37,200
I knew I was called to plant. 
So I grabbed like some of my 

515
00:28:37,200 --> 00:28:40,520
best friends, my parents, and I 
asked them, I was like, hey, I 

516
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,480
feel called to plant a church. 
Do you guys see this? 

517
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,400
Just tell me the truth. 
And my mom and dad, they were 

518
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:46,960
the first ones. 
They're like, we want it. 

519
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:50,080
Like let's do it. 
We want something different. 

520
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,440
So that was the genesis of City 
Post Church. 

521
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,880
And then we, you know, started 
with a Bible study. 

522
00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:01,320
And what about like 8 of us and 
walked through Nehemiah and 

523
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,400
created like a blueprint. 
And just like I said, trying to 

524
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:10,400
figure out I, I didn't have like
training or which I wish I did. 

525
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,240
If you're a church planner like 
it's, it's OK. 

526
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:18,320
To get help, absolutely. 
And we all need it. 

527
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,600
Even when I plan. 
I grew up in church, you know, 

528
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:25,840
and, and I think us as church 
planters and preachers and 

529
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:29,360
pastors and people who are 
gifted, just because you're 

530
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,360
gifted doesn't mean that you're 
called to plant. 

531
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,480
That's so true. 
I'll say that again, somebody, 

532
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,240
just because you're gifted at 
preaching, you're gifted at 

533
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,840
leading worship, whatever you're
gifting is doesn't mean that 

534
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,000
you're called to plant. 
And I think you said something 

535
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,560
right now that I would highly 
recommend you do before you 

536
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:51,040
plant, take a break. 
You said, you know, you were 

537
00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,880
going to take three months off. 
And that's exactly what me and 

538
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,280
my wife did. 
You know, 'cause when you're in 

539
00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,120
church, man, you're, you're in 
church. 

540
00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:02,360
When you're serving, you're 
serving all the time and you 

541
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,520
never truly get a chance to take
a break. 

542
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,200
And so when my wife and I 
decided that we were going to 

543
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,840
come back to Fort Worth, our, 
our hope was not to come back 

544
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,160
and plant. 
Our hope was just to come back 

545
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,400
and help my dad again with this 
trash. 

546
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:20,680
And, and So what we did was we 
took three months off. 

547
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,760
We took three months off. 
And did you know when you're, 

548
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,680
when you're in church man, you 
don't get to go visit any other?

549
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:27,760
Church. 
No, he's always on. 

550
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:29,840
Yeah, he's always on. 
You always got to be there. 

551
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:34,000
And so for three months we we 
went to visit other churches, 

552
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:36,640
churches that we always wanted 
to go to on a Sunday morning, 

553
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,520
but we never could. 
So, you know, we went to Upper 

554
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:45,440
Room and we went to Fellowship 
and we went to a bunch of the 

555
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,520
big churches, right. 
Like we want to see how the big 

556
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:51,440
machines work, you know, like, 
you know, yeah, yeah, we just 

557
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:53,440
wanted to go see. 
We want to see how it worked. 

558
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:57,800
And I remember that that was 
like one of the best times for 

559
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,600
me and my wife because we 
didn't, we didn't have the 

560
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,880
obligation to serve. 
We didn't have the obligation 

561
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,160
to, hey, come back and help us 
with this and this and this. 

562
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:10,600
I mean, I got antsy at a bunch 
of churches that I went to, you 

563
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,680
know, like they're like, hey 
man, can you come help? 

564
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,480
And I'm just like, we got to 
leave. 

565
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,240
Like I got to go. 
And it was like that. 

566
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:21,040
So, but I remember it was like 
one of the best times and, and 

567
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,560
me and my wife still have notes 
from all the churches that we 

568
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:28,560
went to, like all the churches 
that we like, oh, we loved this 

569
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:30,520
and this was great here and this
and this, this. 

570
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,000
And then we wrote like, don't 
judge us, but we wrote stuff 

571
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:36,720
that we didn't like. 
You know, we wrote stuff like I 

572
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,040
felt like I was like we were 
being herded, like like in some 

573
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:44,600
churches that didn't feel too 
genuine. 

574
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:48,240
Like, you know, you know, 
there's a story, man enough. 

575
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:49,960
I didn't want to get in trouble 
for saying it. 

576
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,360
But there is a big church that 
we went to. 

577
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:53,480
OK. 
And I'm not going to say the 

578
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,560
name. 
What does it rhyme with? 

579
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,200
It was it was really, it was an 
amazing church. 

580
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:02,920
It's a church that I had always 
wanted to visit. 

581
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:07,480
And, you know, there's humongous
parking lot, humongous 

582
00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:09,240
sanctuary. 
And I was like, man, like we've 

583
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,800
never been here, waited years to
come to this church on a Sunday 

584
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,320
morning. 
And we walk in and the greeter 

585
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:20,400
comes up to me and he goes, on 
behalf of the blah, blah, blah 

586
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:22,840
of this house, I just want to 
welcome you. 

587
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,400
And the restrooms are this way 
and the kids area is that way. 

588
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,640
And the sanctuary will be 
seating in a few minutes. 

589
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,360
Thank you. 
And I was just like, what's your

590
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,480
name? 
And it was like, it wasn't James

591
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:38,160
script. 
Yeah, it was a script. 

592
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,920
And I remember leaving there and
be like, and the but the service

593
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,080
was phenomenal, right? 
Like I love the service, 

594
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,200
preaching, worship, everything 
was amazing. 

595
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:48,840
But I remember. 
But like, and I just didn't feel

596
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:53,760
like and authenticity here. 
I didn't feel like, I didn't 

597
00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:56,480
feel like we were welcomed as 
family. 

598
00:32:56,480 --> 00:33:01,600
We just herded like cattle and 
so, so that was one of the best 

599
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,240
times. 
So if you are considering being 

600
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:07,480
a church plant, I would 
recommend me highly. 

601
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:12,480
I would recommend take time off,
spend time with your family, 

602
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,200
spend time with your kids, 
because once you jump in, there 

603
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,880
ain't no pause button. 
Yeah, there's no pause, but 

604
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,320
Sunday is always coming. 
I think that's what we should 

605
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,160
call this first Sunday. 
Sunday and Sunday's coming. 

606
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:27,840
That's right. 
That's so true. 

607
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,800
No, And I'm glad you said that 
because even when we started 

608
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:37,600
meeting for Bible study, I mean,
we met on Sundays at 5 and Rach 

609
00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:40,200
and I like we didn't go to any 
other churches, you know, we 

610
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:44,400
waited for that Bible study. 
So our Sunday mornings were 

611
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:47,720
empty. 
Like so we we hung out together 

612
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:49,200
and, you know, we just had 
Elena. 

613
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:53,400
So we were able to, you know, 
just kind of be the new mom and 

614
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:57,760
dad, you know, and, and just 
live life for a little while 

615
00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:01,520
and, and that actually helped us
to breathe and then also like to

616
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:05,720
seek the Lord because it's, it's
really when, when you have that 

617
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,199
calling on your life, you're 
like, OK, we're playing the 

618
00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:10,560
church, I think. 
And, and this is not to 

619
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:12,880
anybody's fault. 
It's just, it could be human 

620
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,159
nature. 
You start thinking about like 

621
00:34:16,159 --> 00:34:18,679
you just start looking on 
YouTube where you start to like,

622
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:20,600
OK, what can this thing look 
like? 

623
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,880
And, and instead of just saying,
OK, Lord, what are you? 

624
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:30,040
Where are you guiding us to? 
Like what people who instead of 

625
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,080
like having those thoughts, you 
think of the service. 

626
00:34:33,639 --> 00:34:36,440
It's like, Nah, man, it's like 
the beginning. 

627
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,960
It's it's like, no, like where 
are you guiding us? 

628
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:44,880
And I know for us at City Post, 
we said central N, So central N 

629
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,800
is like river, Riverside, 
Diamond Hill, Northside. 

630
00:34:48,199 --> 00:34:51,040
So at first we were like, we're 
going to just focus all our time

631
00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:53,520
and efforts in central North 
because we feel like that's 

632
00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:57,440
where the Lord is having us. 
And then over time, you know, he

633
00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:01,480
directed us to to Riverside, but
but we just started serving, 

634
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:04,560
like we were just feeding 
people, hanging out with people,

635
00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,960
feeding football teams, working 
in schools. 

636
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:12,000
Like we were just everywhere, 
like all over that place asking 

637
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,240
the Lord, like, OK, Lord, where,
where is it? 

638
00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:15,600
Where do you want us? 
I love that. 

639
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,680
Yeah, it was so after we came 
off of our like months of 

640
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:24,720
looking around and just going to
churches that we like because to

641
00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:27,360
be honest, I I had never visited
anywhere else. 

642
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,600
Yeah, ever. 
And so that that was the first 

643
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:32,080
time that me and my wife got to 
go do it. 

644
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,000
And like I said, me and my wife 
are, we're worshippers. 

645
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:36,640
Like we got to have the music 
off. 

646
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,680
We got to have this stuff going 
to do it and we have to be. 

647
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,920
So I was like, I don't even 
know. 

648
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,520
I don't think me and my wife 
could just have a Sunday off. 

649
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:47,920
We just like because we love the
atmosphere of being in worship 

650
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:51,240
and being in corporate worship 
together. 

651
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:53,240
And I think we've always loved 
that. 

652
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:59,120
And so when we finally came 
back, our hope was, you know, 

653
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,240
the church is great. 
Like it's, that's amazing. 

654
00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:04,320
And we launched in 2020, we 
launched in COVID. 

655
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,080
So we're like, we, we can't even
have service if we wanted to, 

656
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,640
you know, like, and so that's 
where we sat down and said, OK, 

657
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,960
we, we know what kind of 
atmosphere we want. 

658
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:18,160
We know what kind of culture we 
want, but we don't want to be a 

659
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:20,000
church that's an inward looking 
church. 

660
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:25,320
And so our hope was how do, how 
do we reach people right now in 

661
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:29,240
this season without being able 
to gather? 

662
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:34,160
We can't gather, you know, like,
and so we just started hitting 

663
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,920
Diamond Hill area because that's
what we planted because my dad 

664
00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:40,160
was a pastor in Diamond Hill for
years and years. 

665
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:44,360
And he had a building. 
And so we went there with my dad

666
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:47,640
and my dad was like, you know, 
hey, I'm too old to start over. 

667
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:51,360
You know, the world's over, the 
world's over. 

668
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:53,880
I can't start over. 
You take the ball and run with 

669
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:55,640
it. 
So we said, well, that's not 

670
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:57,240
fair. 
How how are we going to take 

671
00:36:57,240 --> 00:36:58,440
over? 
And we can't even gather right 

672
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,520
now. 
So, so kind of the same story, 

673
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:05,000
you know, reach out to a lot of 
my really good friends, people 

674
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,080
that I had done ministry with 
before and loved them. 

675
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:11,200
And I remember telling them I 
was like, but we're not going to

676
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:13,760
be a church that just looks 
inside. 

677
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:16,040
We can't be yeah, especially not
right now. 

678
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:20,280
Got to be outreach. 
And so we, we started just doing

679
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,920
little outreaches around Diamond
Hill where we could actually 

680
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,400
reach people. 
And so one of our first 

681
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:31,840
outreaches was, you know, we 
went to the laundry mat that's 

682
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:35,760
down the street from us, and we 
gave out dryer sheets and soap. 

683
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,160
And we'd be like, you know, hey,
here you go, man, we love you. 

684
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:40,000
We're from the church down the 
street. 

685
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:44,320
And we'd hand it to them and 
we'd be like, you know, and 

686
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:46,560
yeah, yeah, yeah. 
Just take. 

687
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,480
That and then and then just 
threw it in Rand. 

688
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:51,160
Yeah. 
And so then we have our first 

689
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:54,040
Easter as as a church and it's 
2020. 

690
00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:55,440
We can't gather, we can't do 
anything. 

691
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,520
So we we're like, how do we 
touch the community? 

692
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:04,440
And so we went to a three thrift
store and we bought hundreds of 

693
00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:08,400
Easter baskets, hundreds of 
them, and we just filled them up

694
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:10,920
with eggs. 
And what we did is in Diamond 

695
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,880
Hill, we just went around every 
single house and we put a bag 

696
00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:19,920
basket full of eggs in their 
front yard and say we can't 

697
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:21,960
gather but have an Easter egg 
hunt on us. 

698
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:25,840
And so we would do that. 
And so whenever the doors open 

699
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:30,600
in 2021, our church just got 
flooded, just packed with people

700
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,240
in. 
And I think COVID did a lot in 

701
00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:37,320
that in the church that year, 
because I feel like it gave 

702
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:40,720
people an opportunity who had 
been wanting to find some place 

703
00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:42,480
near to actually go someplace 
near. 

704
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,760
And so when our doors open, it 
just flooded with people. 

705
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:47,000
That's great. 
Go fast. 

706
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:52,240
And but at the same time, we 
didn't want to. 

707
00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:56,400
It's been and it's so easy to 
just become an internal looking 

708
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:59,280
church. 
And so our heart just continued 

709
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:02,840
with outreach. 
And, but everything that we had 

710
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:06,040
learned from those 90 days of 
just me and my wife going to 

711
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:10,000
these other churches and looking
is like we're welcome. 

712
00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:13,000
We're welcoming people in now. 
Now what? 

713
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:15,160
What do we want them to walk 
into? 

714
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:20,000
And so, so for those of you who 
think that church planting is 

715
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:24,360
just preaching and the service 
on Sunday morning, it's a lot 

716
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,840
more than that because 
everything matters when they 

717
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,520
walk into your, to the, the 
church plant that you're 

718
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,960
offering, everything matters. 
And I don't know about you man, 

719
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,680
but I've heard so many people 
say like, they'll come to your 

720
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:40,800
church plant or they'll come to 
your church. 

721
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:43,160
And like I said, we're going all
the way off script right now, 

722
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:49,920
but they'll say stuff like, I 
want something that's just a 

723
00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:54,000
little bit more established. 
And that's, that's almost like 

724
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,400
sometimes like that's the 
biggest heartbreak ever because 

725
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:58,560
you're like, I wish people would
understand. 

726
00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,440
Like we're not established. 
We just we don't have all the 

727
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:02,880
bells and whistles. 
Right, that's right. 

728
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:07,240
And and to your point about like
understanding what's the church 

729
00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:10,440
that we want to be, because I 
know when we went into the 

730
00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:13,720
middle, we were meeting at 
Charles Nash Elementary School. 

731
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:21,600
RIP, they're shutting them down.
But anyway, thanks forward. 

732
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:29,960
But when we got in there, our 
heart was for the city and we 

733
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:34,120
one of our our ministry verses 
was Jeremiah 29 seven, which 

734
00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:36,920
was, you know, seek the welfare 
of the city, pray to the Lord on

735
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:40,920
its behalf, because in its 
welfare or well-being you 2 will

736
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,480
find it. 
So we were asking ourselves, 

737
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,960
what does it look like for us to
seek the well-being of the city?

738
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:52,120
And then also like Mark 1516, 
preach the gospel to all 

739
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,720
creation. 
So like, what does it look like 

740
00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:57,520
for the gospel to revitalize 
dead places? 

741
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,840
And we wanted to use our money 
for that. 

742
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:07,880
And so we decided early on that 
we weren't going to spend a lot 

743
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,920
of money on things that we're 
going to be hard to sustain. 

744
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,560
So, and I know I'm going to get 
in trouble for saying this, but 

745
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:15,840
I'm going to say it. 
Let's go. 

746
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,040
So we are not going to do pipe 
and drape. 

747
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,560
Come on. 
People are like, this gym is 

748
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,560
huge and there's only like a few
of us and it's going to feel so 

749
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:27,440
out of whack. 
And Oh well, like, you know, I'm

750
00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:30,400
saying like that's not that 
we're not trying to build. 

751
00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:33,760
We we're not trying to attract 
church coers. 

752
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:38,240
We want, we want make disciples.
So a lot of like the money we 

753
00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:42,040
bring, bring in, yeah, we used 
it for equipment stuff we need, 

754
00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:46,640
but the rest of it went out to 
feed people, work on the art 

755
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:50,480
court, you know, revitalize 
places people aren't eating and 

756
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:53,920
COVID, bro. 
Like that was a, you know, like 

757
00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:57,240
we, we went to Greenwood 
Greenway, which is a 

758
00:41:57,240 --> 00:42:01,200
neighborhood by Charles and Ash.
And we just went and gave people

759
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:03,640
groceries. 
Like we knocked on their door 

760
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:06,520
and people are just hungry for 
human interaction. 

761
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:12,280
And so so decide. 
But we had a lot of people stick

762
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:15,480
their head in that gym. 
Oh, you guys do new church and 

763
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,000
they look around and be like, 
never saw them again. 

764
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:20,800
You know, they're like, yeah, 
ain't about this life. 

765
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:22,520
They're like, where's your kids 
ministry? 

766
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,360
Oh, just follow up, Miss Eileen.
They're going to the portable 

767
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:28,520
right now. 
So there wasn't anything because

768
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:30,400
we were just building. 
We're just trying to figure out,

769
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,080
but that's, that's who we wanted
to be. 

770
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:35,160
So it wasn't that we were not 
organized. 

771
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:39,000
I'm not like, don't hear me. 
Like we had a plan. 

772
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:43,760
We had teams, we had trainings, 
but it was on the the external 

773
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:46,280
piece that we were like, you 
know what, that could wait. 

774
00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:51,000
No, absolutely, man. 
And that's that's why I said you

775
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,200
should go into church planting 
with a plant, right? 

776
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:56,360
And that was really that that 
three months that me and my wife

777
00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:58,120
went out. 
It's like we were trying to 

778
00:42:58,120 --> 00:42:59,920
create a plan, like what does it
look like? 

779
00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:02,160
What is necessary and what is 
not necessary? 

780
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,200
And so it's like one of the 
biggest things that we learned 

781
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,720
was, you know, kids ministry you
have to have. 

782
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:10,280
You got to. 
You have to have a kids 

783
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:14,560
ministry, must your, your 
facilities has to be able to 

784
00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:19,120
withhold kids ministry, you 
know, a place for people to 

785
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:22,520
gather some sanctuary. 
And then one of the biggest ones

786
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:26,760
that we flew under the radar 
that we weren't ready for was 

787
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:29,520
parking. 
That was the biggest one. 

788
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:32,640
And for those of you who are 
planting a church and you're 

789
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,960
doing it in your house, it's not
going to last very long because 

790
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:38,840
people can't park. 
And if they can't park, they 

791
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,680
would just drive away and. 
They're not going to park three 

792
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:45,280
blocks away. 
And so that was that was the 

793
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:48,320
biggest one. 
It was like our parking lot was 

794
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:52,720
really small, very, very small. 
And so when the doors flooded 

795
00:43:52,720 --> 00:43:58,120
open in 2021, we only had like 
20 parking spots. 

796
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:04,080
And so I remember our team was 
like, we had an amazing team and

797
00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:06,480
we still have an amazing team. 
They were literally playing 

798
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:11,360
Tetris with all these cars in 
our 20 parking lot, parking lot.

799
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:16,160
And, and I would always get the 
the news like, yeah, man, we had

800
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:19,360
like 15 cars pulled in. 
They couldn't park till they 

801
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:23,320
just left. 
And, and so for those of you who

802
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:26,040
wanted to plant churches, I'll 
say it again, everything 

803
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:28,000
matters. 
All of it matters. 

804
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,280
And but this is how you know 
that you're called to it because

805
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:35,680
you care everything you care. 
You don't just care about your 

806
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:38,040
preaching on Sunday. 
You care about how's it going in

807
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:40,440
the kids? 
How's it going in the welcome? 

808
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:42,400
Like, how's is the parking lot 
packed? 

809
00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:44,080
Like, what do we got to do? 
You care. 

810
00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:45,680
And that's that's what a 
shepherd is. 

811
00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:49,480
A shepherd is not just a guy who
stands up on the platform and 

812
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:53,720
says, Hey, look at this really 
cool preaching that I I made. 

813
00:44:53,720 --> 00:44:56,400
No, it's like I checked up on my
kids ministry. 

814
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:58,080
I checked up on the parking lot 
team. 

815
00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:01,400
I checked up on everybody 
because they're all the people 

816
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:05,160
that the Lord has given to me. 
He's he's trusting me with. 

817
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:09,560
That and so, and I think that 
there's another element that we 

818
00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:11,880
haven't talked about, like when 
you talk about like church 

819
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:16,720
planners, is this, am I giving 
God the best that I have come 

820
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:18,600
on? 
And the thing with church 

821
00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:22,000
planning is that it's really 
easy to get into a space and 

822
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,720
say, we're not even going to be 
here that long. 

823
00:45:24,720 --> 00:45:25,840
We're going to be here for like 
a year. 

824
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,920
So let's just do bare minimum. 
And we're going to we're going 

825
00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:32,640
to skim on things because I'm 
saving for a bigger space. 

826
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:38,920
And I know I was convicted and 
when we moved into, we found a 

827
00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:42,640
little liquidation store in 
2021, had no business being in 

828
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:43,760
there. 
We hustled our way in. 

829
00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:48,840
But I remember when we first 
started, I was looking around 

830
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:52,560
and like we had our speaker set 
up and cables everywhere. 

831
00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:55,920
And I just felt like this is the
Lord's house. 

832
00:45:56,360 --> 00:45:59,240
It doesn't matter where. 
It's like the presence of God is

833
00:45:59,240 --> 00:46:03,120
going to gather here. 
Is this the best I could give as

834
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:05,000
a pastor? 
And the answer was no. 

835
00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:07,080
I was like, I could do much 
better. 

836
00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:11,680
And I was like, so like, man, 
you work hard, you know, and 

837
00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:16,240
it's and, and nobody, people are
not going to understand that 

838
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:19,560
unless they pastor, you know. 
Yeah. 

839
00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:23,120
And I think that's that's one of
our biggest thing is, is it's 

840
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:26,080
not even just, I don't know 
about you, man, but I, I still 

841
00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:27,960
do this. 
Like sometimes I just, I just 

842
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:30,760
walk through the sanctuary and 
I'm looking at stuff and I'm 

843
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:32,280
like, man, we could do better 
with that. 

844
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:33,720
We have to fix this. 
We can do that. 

845
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:36,640
And it's not that we're being 
nitpicky and it's not that we're

846
00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:40,120
being perfectionist, but I think
I understand is like, this is 

847
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:42,920
not my house. 
And I think that that happens a 

848
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:45,040
lot. 
Like, this is not mine. 

849
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:47,960
Like I can't just be like, yo, I
just throw my shoes wherever I 

850
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:49,440
want to. 
Like, it's my house nose. 

851
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:51,400
Like this is still the Lord's 
house. 

852
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:54,520
And. 
And I think that that urgency, 

853
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:58,280
that sense of urgency between 
pastors is vital because if I 

854
00:46:58,280 --> 00:47:00,640
don't honor the Lord's house, if
I don't, there's cables 

855
00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:02,200
everywhere, but I don't really 
care. 

856
00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:05,120
It doesn't matter then then the 
rest of your team will feel like

857
00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:06,880
that. 
And so. 

858
00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:08,560
Yeah. 
And, and I think one of the 

859
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:12,920
most, most dangerous things that
you can say as as a a church 

860
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:17,240
planner, as a pastor is it's not
that serious, you know, and, 

861
00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:21,920
and, and that is, yeah, yeah, 
it's like, so when you look at 

862
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:23,640
something like, you know, that's
not that serious. 

863
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:26,680
It's like we would get over it. 
And that's very dangerous 

864
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:29,600
because then that begins to 
bleed into the culture of your 

865
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:31,080
church. 
And. 

866
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:34,200
And we want to give God our 
best. 

867
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:37,240
And so, and I just, I think 
that's something that people 

868
00:47:37,240 --> 00:47:40,640
don't really understand. 
It's not that, Oh my gosh, like 

869
00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:42,120
we're trying to get people in 
here. 

870
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:44,880
No, dude, the Lord does that. 
Yeah. 

871
00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:48,240
But it is. 
You want to honor the Lord. 

872
00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:50,240
It's like leading with that fear
of God. 

873
00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:52,000
And I want to give God the best 
I have. 

874
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:55,520
Yeah, that's what I said. 
And that's why when anything 

875
00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:59,480
concerning the Lord, anything 
concerning His and never want to

876
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:02,960
say, no, it's not that serious. 
Yes, because it still belongs to

877
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:03,880
him. 
Exactly. 

878
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:08,320
Every every chair, every pants, 
every cable, every speaker, 

879
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:10,360
every classroom, it all belongs 
to him. 

880
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:12,440
And then I'm like, no, it's not 
that serious. 

881
00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:15,080
Like that's that's a terrible 
like that. 

882
00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:16,800
Like when you said that right 
now, it's like, oh, like, 

883
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:18,200
because I've heard that before, 
you know. 

884
00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:22,080
And so, yeah, I just want to 
encourage you guys as church 

885
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:24,560
planters like me and Ricky are 
talking right now. 

886
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:27,920
But this is how I know that 
Ricky is called the plant and 

887
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:32,160
I'm called the plant because all
of it matters not because it's a

888
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:34,240
presentation. 
It's not a presentation to 

889
00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:36,080
people. 
It's the Lords. 

890
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:38,640
And we want to Stewart what the 
Lord gives us. 

891
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:42,040
The Lord doesn't just give us 
people, but he's giving us. 

892
00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:45,720
Resources. 
Yeah, everything. 

893
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:48,920
Chairs, speakers, cables, 
everything. 

894
00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:51,880
He's given it to us, but it all 
comes from him. 

895
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:55,400
And so when I say stuff like 
it's not that serious, yeah, 

896
00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:57,840
then the Lord's like, why can't 
trust you with anything, right? 

897
00:48:58,080 --> 00:48:59,800
Yeah, because you don't take it 
that serious. 

898
00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:02,000
And so that's why I know that 
I'm called. 

899
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:03,200
That's how I know Ricky's 
called. 

900
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:07,000
Because, yeah, we don't just 
we're not just worried about how

901
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:08,440
many people are showing up on 
Sunday. 

902
00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:11,600
We care about all of it. 
We care about every single piece

903
00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:13,440
of it because it all belongs to 
the Lord at the end. 

904
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:15,480
Oh, man, that's great, bro. 
Yeah. 

905
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:19,600
So like, I guess if there's a a 
young pastor, a young church 

906
00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:23,320
planner, if there's somebody 
that is thinking about getting 

907
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:28,840
in the ministry role, what would
be maybe something that you 

908
00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:33,800
would tell them that might be 
like a hidden, like a snake in 

909
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:38,480
the grass or something that they
might not see to be aware of? 

910
00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:43,600
Yeah, I would say if you feel 
like you're having this call to 

911
00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:48,200
become a church planter or 
pastor, The biggest thing that 

912
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:51,280
I've learned for myself, and 
we've talked about this before, 

913
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:56,320
Ricky, the call of pastor is the
call to die. 

914
00:49:56,480 --> 00:49:58,280
That's so good. 
That's what it's called. 

915
00:49:58,560 --> 00:50:02,440
The the pastor is called to die,
the shepherd is called to die. 

916
00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:05,400
And and that's straight from the
voice of Jesus. 

917
00:50:05,720 --> 00:50:07,520
Jesus said, I am the Good 
Shepherd. 

918
00:50:07,840 --> 00:50:10,840
And the Good Shepherd lays down 
his life for the sheep. 

919
00:50:10,840 --> 00:50:13,320
That's right. 
And so when you call yourself, 

920
00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:17,440
when you put that label of 
shepherd on you, the Jesus only 

921
00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:20,000
represents one kind of shepherd 
and it's the Good Shepherd. 

922
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:23,480
And so when you say I'm going to
become a shepherd, your whole 

923
00:50:23,480 --> 00:50:26,400
job is to mirror the Good 
Shepherd. 

924
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:30,280
And so if you're not prepared to
die to yourself, if you're not 

925
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:34,400
prepared to die to your pride 
and your unforgiveness and die 

926
00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:38,480
to this celebrity mindset and 
sexy preaching, if you're not 

927
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:42,560
prepared to die to that, the 
Lord will put somebody else 

928
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:45,640
there that will do it. 
And that's, that's been my 

929
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:48,440
biggest take away from from 
doing this. 

930
00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:53,320
This, that's the snake in the 
grass, is you have to learn to 

931
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:56,040
die to yourself more than 
everybody else in your church. 

932
00:50:56,320 --> 00:50:59,720
And if you're not ready to do 
that, then what you're going to 

933
00:50:59,720 --> 00:51:03,400
do is you're going to end up 
hurting yourself and you will 

934
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:04,880
hurt people. 
That's true. 

935
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,440
That's what will happen because 
you didn't want to die to 

936
00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:10,360
yourself, even though the Good 
Shepherd is supposed to lay down

937
00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:11,680
his life. 
That's good, man. 

938
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:15,000
Yeah, and I think for me as I'm 
as I'm listening to that 

939
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:18,280
because, man, I love it. 
You said that a lot of people 

940
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:20,800
think like died of my sin. 
I was like, yeah, but you're 

941
00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:25,520
talking about dying to your 
dreams, your wants, your future 

942
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:29,160
plans. 
I would even say you're saying, 

943
00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:32,960
Lord, my kids belong to you. 
So whatever you want to do with 

944
00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:35,520
them, you can do it. 
Like that's that, that gives me 

945
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:40,440
ghost pimples, bro. 
But it's, it's but when I think 

946
00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:47,560
something to be aware of, like I
think some of that the Lord's 

947
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:50,640
been showing me lately is that I
wish I would have known earlier 

948
00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:53,640
is anything that causes 
division. 

949
00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:59,120
So as you're planning your 
church and as you're anything 

950
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:02,320
that divides the body, you got 
to attack it. 

951
00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:06,360
You you have to go after it and 
you have to eliminate it because

952
00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:11,080
you know, Jesus says the world's
going to know that y'all belong 

953
00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:14,040
to me by how you love each 
other. 

954
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:17,200
And then we see it all through 
Scripture like there's nothing 

955
00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:21,400
greater than a United Church. 
So if there's something in the 

956
00:52:21,400 --> 00:52:26,480
church that is causing a 
division, you have got to go 

957
00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:28,600
after it, you know, and it could
be anything. 

958
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:31,680
It could be like something 
somebody said. 

959
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:35,080
I mean, it could be like 
equipment sound like. 

960
00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:40,960
I think the enemy uses anything,
anything to just infiltrate the 

961
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:43,720
body of Christ, to cause people 
to fight each other. 

962
00:52:44,120 --> 00:52:46,520
And I think that's the that's 
the biggest thing, man. 

963
00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:52,840
Even you you saying that is 
because it's the passage job. 

964
00:52:53,320 --> 00:52:58,360
Yeah, it's the separate job. 
And I think that even as church 

965
00:52:58,560 --> 00:53:02,280
planters, this was this is a 
really big immaturity of mine 

966
00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:05,720
when I first started. 
But it was like, why can't we 

967
00:53:05,720 --> 00:53:09,240
all just be happy? 
Like, why can't we all just have

968
00:53:09,240 --> 00:53:11,800
a good time? 
Yeah, exactly. 

969
00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:16,800
But it, but it was just like, 
like, I I didn't want to be 

970
00:53:16,800 --> 00:53:19,400
confrontational. 
I didn't want to have to do that

971
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:21,320
because I was just like, oh, 
we're barely growing. 

972
00:53:21,320 --> 00:53:24,200
Like we're barely starting, but 
I didn't know that it was the 

973
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:27,640
Lord testing me to say like, 
there's a wolf in there and the 

974
00:53:27,640 --> 00:53:29,040
only one who can get the wolf 
out. 

975
00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:30,760
It's not the sheep. 
That's true. 

976
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:32,760
It's the shepherd. 
The shepherd has to get it out 

977
00:53:33,040 --> 00:53:34,880
because the wolf is what causes 
division. 

978
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:37,040
The wolf is what causes fear in 
the church. 

979
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:39,400
That's the wolf. 
And the only person who can 

980
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:43,360
knock it out is the shepherd. 
And so the Good Shepherd has to 

981
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:44,760
go in there and lay down his 
life. 

982
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:46,400
That's right. 
And take out the wolf. 

983
00:53:46,400 --> 00:53:49,360
And I mean, division is a big 
thing, man. 

984
00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:52,880
Even when you first start, some 
people think that, Some people 

985
00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:55,840
think it's, you know, years down
the line, no. 

986
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,960
It's right away. 
Like it's, it's immediately, 

987
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:01,720
yeah. 
'Cause everybody, everybody or 

988
00:54:01,720 --> 00:54:04,400
people think like, I can do it 
better, I can do it better. 

989
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:08,160
And we have to understand, it's 
like we're called to die when we

990
00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:10,360
do this. 
And even like people that come 

991
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:13,920
into the church, we've had this 
happen a few times where it's 

992
00:54:13,920 --> 00:54:16,520
like, oh, this poor little 
Hispanic church, they don't know

993
00:54:16,520 --> 00:54:19,800
what they're doing. 
They're so, and, and you know, I

994
00:54:20,040 --> 00:54:22,520
heard that there's a term like 
they call them pirates, you 

995
00:54:22,520 --> 00:54:26,120
know, but they'll come in and 
then just start kind of like 

996
00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:31,040
whispering stuff into people's 
ears and like trying to like 

997
00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:34,960
infiltrate leadership and, and 
try to lead you in a different 

998
00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:36,720
direction. 
You're like, hold on a second. 

999
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:39,240
You know, it's like, no, no, no,
no, like we, we know what's 

1000
00:54:39,240 --> 00:54:42,800
going on. 
So you as a pastor, you have to 

1001
00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:46,040
fight that and you can't just 
like like how you said that 

1002
00:54:46,040 --> 00:54:49,600
because I was like that too, 
where no, let's just, you know, 

1003
00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:54,720
be kind, you know, then you're 
like, no, you have to like call 

1004
00:54:54,720 --> 00:54:57,920
that out. 
And we've had to do that a few 

1005
00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:00,400
times. 
And it gets easier as you go. 

1006
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:05,400
It's hard at first. 
And that's why it's sometimes 

1007
00:55:05,400 --> 00:55:10,280
it's the worst like feeling. 
But now I'm starting to learn 

1008
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:14,400
like, I thank the Lord for that 
stuff because I think the Lord 

1009
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:19,560
that he provokes us as shepherds
to, to actually step in because 

1010
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:24,000
he's, he's, he's literally 
asking you, will you take care 

1011
00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:27,840
of the sheep that I gave you? 
And he's provoking you to 

1012
00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:29,760
actually take a stand and do 
something. 

1013
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:32,640
And we're like, oh, like we, we 
just started like, I don't want 

1014
00:55:32,640 --> 00:55:33,880
to, I don't want to mess this 
up. 

1015
00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:37,880
And but what it's done for me, 
it's given me a boldness to, to 

1016
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:39,920
love the Lord's sheep. 
Like that's what it's done. 

1017
00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:42,680
It's given me a courage to be 
like, no, we're like, we're not 

1018
00:55:42,680 --> 00:55:45,800
going to allow that in here. 
And and we call it out fast. 

1019
00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:49,320
We don't, we don't just like, 
like what let's let's play this 

1020
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:51,880
out. 
This, this, this I, I have 

1021
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:54,880
gotten a boldness to where I'm 
like, I've seen this before. 

1022
00:55:55,240 --> 00:55:58,480
Oh yeah. 
And now I can address it a lot 

1023
00:55:58,600 --> 00:56:02,840
quicker than I used to because 
before it was like, well, let's 

1024
00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:04,680
just see. 
Let's just see what if they if 

1025
00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:07,080
they keep doing it or let's just
see if that those words keep 

1026
00:56:07,080 --> 00:56:09,080
going. 
But now it's like, oh, I've seen

1027
00:56:09,080 --> 00:56:11,320
this before and I know how to 
stop it. 

1028
00:56:11,320 --> 00:56:14,920
I know how to grab the staff and
be like, hey, this is not this 

1029
00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:15,880
is not happening. 
Yeah. 

1030
00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:17,480
And. 
I and I'll give you an example, 

1031
00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:21,840
like we had a lady come in like 
a year and a half ago, but she 

1032
00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:23,560
just started showing up out of 
nowhere. 

1033
00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:28,040
And then she just like came into
like our, our Sunday morning 

1034
00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:31,640
prayer meetings. 
But if something was off, like 

1035
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:35,200
we could all sense it. 
Like my spirit kind of felt it 

1036
00:56:35,640 --> 00:56:37,960
said some off off the wall 
things. 

1037
00:56:39,160 --> 00:56:41,440
And then, you know, try to sell 
some of her books. 

1038
00:56:41,440 --> 00:56:45,280
And like, I looked at her 
website and it was very like, 

1039
00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:51,400
like America, you know, like, 
yeah, like Christian 

1040
00:56:51,400 --> 00:56:54,240
nationalist. 
And. 

1041
00:56:55,120 --> 00:56:58,920
But my final straw was that she 
showed up. 

1042
00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:02,120
We had our next steps class for 
people that wanted to join the 

1043
00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:05,920
church. 
And she just like, pops in there

1044
00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:08,720
and hasn't been coming very 
long. 

1045
00:57:08,720 --> 00:57:10,200
It's like, how do you like, 
there's some. 

1046
00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:12,560
And I just asked her. 
I was like, hey, you know, this 

1047
00:57:12,560 --> 00:57:16,760
is for people that are serious 
about getting to know our 

1048
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:18,360
church, so I'm going to have to 
ask you to go. 

1049
00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:20,440
And I was like, but you come to 
our service. 

1050
00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:22,840
It's just like these meetings 
are for that. 

1051
00:57:22,840 --> 00:57:24,480
Yeah. 
She never came back again. 

1052
00:57:24,760 --> 00:57:26,920
Yeah. 
And I think she finally, like, 

1053
00:57:26,920 --> 00:57:30,560
realized, All right, I, I can't 
do what I want here, you know? 

1054
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:33,200
No, absolutely. 
And there there's those people 

1055
00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:35,680
that do that man, and they 
bounce from church to church. 

1056
00:57:35,920 --> 00:57:38,360
Yeah, that's true. 
And they're, they're looking for

1057
00:57:38,360 --> 00:57:42,480
a place where they, where they 
will be, and I hate to use this 

1058
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:45,480
term, but a place where they, 
their giftings will be 

1059
00:57:45,480 --> 00:57:49,680
entertained and that. 
And it's like, and then you come

1060
00:57:49,680 --> 00:57:52,480
to like a church plant and like 
all they need me here. 

1061
00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:53,360
That's right. 
I could. 

1062
00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:54,760
I could blow this thing. 
Yeah. 

1063
00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:58,240
Yeah. 
And and so that's why even as a 

1064
00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:01,880
young church planter, I, I thank
the Lord for those opportunities

1065
00:58:02,080 --> 00:58:05,520
because it's like he's giving 
you a chance to be a shepherd. 

1066
00:58:05,680 --> 00:58:07,680
He really is. 
He's giving you an opportunity 

1067
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:10,520
to be a shepherd, to take care 
of everybody else in the church.

1068
00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:16,120
And I had something not similar,
but something that happened like

1069
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:17,720
that in our church plant as 
well. 

1070
00:58:18,240 --> 00:58:24,640
And I had to had to give 
correction in a way where it was

1071
00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:27,920
in a loving way, but it was 
firm. 

1072
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:33,960
And I remember, I remember 
calling my wife after I did 

1073
00:58:33,960 --> 00:58:36,480
that. 
And I was like, yeah, I just 

1074
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:38,080
told him like, they can't do 
that. 

1075
00:58:38,280 --> 00:58:40,640
And they if they if they don't 
like that, then they they would 

1076
00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:43,360
have to go. 
And they were like, and they 

1077
00:58:43,360 --> 00:58:45,880
just hung up. 
And I told my wife I was just 

1078
00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:50,000
like, I'm like after I, after I 
had done that first initial 

1079
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:53,680
confrontation, I told my wife, 
like, man, I wish somebody else 

1080
00:58:53,680 --> 00:58:55,800
would get out of line now, like.
Because I'm ready now. 

1081
00:58:57,560 --> 00:59:00,960
I'm. 
Ready now, like because I guess 

1082
00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:04,240
it was that first one, first 
implementation that you're like,

1083
00:59:04,360 --> 00:59:07,320
you know, like I didn't know it 
was going to come so soon. 

1084
00:59:07,320 --> 00:59:09,960
And then you do it. 
You're like, alright, Lord, like

1085
00:59:09,960 --> 00:59:12,680
now I feel, and now I feel like 
you've given me a staff. 

1086
00:59:12,680 --> 00:59:15,520
Like now I feel like, like 
you've given me the authority to

1087
00:59:15,520 --> 00:59:17,520
do that. 
And because you forget like, 

1088
00:59:18,120 --> 00:59:22,000
like if and so I'll say this, 
and I know we're about to cut it

1089
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:26,640
off here, but I'll say this for 
those of you who are church 

1090
00:59:26,640 --> 00:59:29,560
planters, you understand the 
weight of all this. 

1091
00:59:30,280 --> 00:59:37,440
So the weight of this is when 
the church does well, people say

1092
00:59:37,440 --> 00:59:41,360
that's a great church. 
When the church doesn't do well,

1093
00:59:41,800 --> 00:59:44,440
people say that's not a good 
pastor. 

1094
00:59:46,360 --> 00:59:48,040
So I'll say that again. 
So you understand why. 

1095
00:59:48,720 --> 00:59:53,280
Yeah, when the church does well,
people will say, man, that is a 

1096
00:59:53,280 --> 00:59:55,800
great church over there. 
They're doing great things. 

1097
00:59:56,520 --> 00:59:59,480
But when the church does not do 
well, what they will say is. 

1098
01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:02,360
The pastor's not doing great. 
Yeah. 

1099
01:00:02,960 --> 01:00:06,600
It's, it always rises and falls 
with leadership. 

1100
01:00:06,600 --> 01:00:10,160
And if your eyes are not on 
Jesus the entire time, Oh yeah, 

1101
01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:14,280
the church is not going to do 
well and all the eyes will be on

1102
01:00:14,280 --> 01:00:17,000
you. 
And so I need, I just want to 

1103
01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:21,960
encourage you guys right now as 
you are planning to plant a 

1104
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:24,640
church, are you praying about 
planting a church? 

1105
01:00:25,040 --> 01:00:27,960
Me and Ricky are already in it. 
I've been in it six years. 

1106
01:00:27,960 --> 01:00:32,800
Ricky's been in IT 8, right? 
And we're just telling you what 

1107
01:00:32,800 --> 01:00:36,600
we've already seen already, and 
I want to encourage you. 

1108
01:00:39,120 --> 01:00:41,680
Is your eyes on Jesus or is it 
on the platform? 

1109
01:00:41,680 --> 01:00:44,960
That's good bro. 
Is your eyes on serving the Lord

1110
01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:49,120
and being a shepherd or is it 
being a star on Instagram or a 

1111
01:00:49,120 --> 01:00:52,720
star on Facebook or having, you 
know, reels about yourself? 

1112
01:00:52,720 --> 01:00:56,440
Like you need to really check 
your heart and check yourself. 

1113
01:00:56,640 --> 01:01:00,040
And I can say, Lord, is this 
something that you're calling me

1114
01:01:00,040 --> 01:01:02,040
to? 
Because if you're calling me to 

1115
01:01:02,040 --> 01:01:04,280
it, it's going to make me look 
more like you. 

1116
01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:07,240
It's going to make me look more 
like the Good Shepherd. 

1117
01:01:07,600 --> 01:01:11,480
It's going to cause me to die to
myself more and more and more. 

1118
01:01:11,840 --> 01:01:15,560
And I guess I, I could finish 
this with with this question to 

1119
01:01:15,560 --> 01:01:17,320
you is like, Are you ready to 
die? 

1120
01:01:17,840 --> 01:01:20,800
Yeah, yeah. 
And I mean all I got. 

1121
01:01:21,000 --> 01:01:25,880
I love what you said and I 
really give your life and last 

1122
01:01:25,880 --> 01:01:29,360
thing and then we'll pray. 
Just remember Colossians one 

1123
01:01:29,400 --> 01:01:30,680
Jesus says I'm the head of the 
church. 

1124
01:01:31,800 --> 01:01:34,680
So what Chris says, right? 
It's like, is this going to make

1125
01:01:34,680 --> 01:01:37,680
you look more like Christ or 
make you look more like 

1126
01:01:37,680 --> 01:01:39,520
something else? 
And remember, anything without a

1127
01:01:39,520 --> 01:01:43,800
head is dead, but anything with 
two heads is a monster, so. 

1128
01:01:43,960 --> 01:01:45,960
Say that again. 
Yeah, I mean, anything without a

1129
01:01:45,960 --> 01:01:49,320
head is dead, but anything with 
two heads is a monster. 

1130
01:01:49,880 --> 01:01:54,080
So if Jesus is the head of the 
church, it's not you and Jesus 

1131
01:01:54,840 --> 01:01:56,760
that the church belongs to, it's
Christ. 

1132
01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:00,400
So Chris and I both understand. 
Like, because we're going to die

1133
01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:03,760
to ourselves. 
Freedom Church is not Christmas 

1134
01:02:03,760 --> 01:02:06,440
church, right? 
City Post is not Ricky's church.

1135
01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:08,040
Yeah. 
It all belongs to Christ. 

1136
01:02:08,040 --> 01:02:09,720
Yeah. 
And we follow his Lordship. 

1137
01:02:09,720 --> 01:02:12,360
Amen. 
So, man, when with that. 

1138
01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:13,840
This was good, bro. 
Yeah, bro. 

1139
01:02:13,840 --> 01:02:15,440
You want to pray us out? 
Yeah, let's pray. 

1140
01:02:15,440 --> 01:02:16,800
Let's pray. 
Lord, I thank you. 

1141
01:02:16,800 --> 01:02:19,320
I thank you for this opportunity
that I just get to sit here with

1142
01:02:19,320 --> 01:02:20,320
my brother. 
Yeah. 

1143
01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:23,200
And talk about your goodness, 
Lord, and how you're challenging

1144
01:02:23,200 --> 01:02:27,040
us and how you're taking us from
one level to another level, 

1145
01:02:27,040 --> 01:02:28,840
Lord. 
And Lord, I ask you that you 

1146
01:02:28,840 --> 01:02:31,960
would just keep our eyes on you,
keep our hearts towards you. 

1147
01:02:31,960 --> 01:02:34,160
Lord, I thank you for anybody 
who watches this. 

1148
01:02:34,160 --> 01:02:36,880
Lord, I ask you that it would 
build them up, that it would 

1149
01:02:36,880 --> 01:02:39,440
edify them, that it would 
challenge them, Lord, to love 

1150
01:02:39,440 --> 01:02:41,360
you. 
Not to be a church planter, not 

1151
01:02:41,360 --> 01:02:44,320
to be a pastor, but that they 
would learn to love you more and

1152
01:02:44,320 --> 01:02:47,680
more and to understand, Lord, 
that that you are with them and 

1153
01:02:47,680 --> 01:02:49,640
you are for them and that you 
love them. 

1154
01:02:50,080 --> 01:02:51,560
So Lord, I thank you for this 
time. 

1155
01:02:51,560 --> 01:02:54,400
We love you and we praise eat in
Jesus name, Amen. 

1156
01:02:54,520 --> 01:02:55,520
Yeah, man. 
Love you guys. 

1157
01:02:55,520 --> 01:02:56,280
We love you guys.