"Big Boys Don't Cry... Well, This One Does"

0:00 This is Jimmy and Annette and we are super excited to be with you. Oh I always need to mention Mr. Chevy because he's with us as well. He is. In his total, I'm looking at, I'm sorry, I'm looking at the look on my dog's face. He's looking at me like this is my favorite place ever to be.

0:44 He's totally chilled out. He was super excited. I set this up like two hours ago. And then we stopped because I said, wait, I heard a sermon today that you have to hear by Willie Robertson. Yeah, Willie Robertson. From Duck Dynasty. And I said, let's stop and go watch this. And you know what? I mean, I was just watching you cry just now. You were sobbing. I was like, okay, when we start this podcast, I need, I need you to be a little up instead of down. No, I'm totally up because it was so powerful. But you were up, but it was just, you know, when you're crying, you just, it takes it all out of you and you were bawling your eyes out.

1:25 I turned and looked at you and you were just bawling. You said, are you asleep? I said, no, I'm crying. I saw your eyes shut and I thought he's asleep. But now you were, your eyes were shut because you had tears in your eyes and it was moving to watch Jimmy. It was so moving. That's what I love about you. I love your sensitivity to the spirit. It is, it is, it's, it's very sexy. I'm just saying. I know. Well, I have to say that. Pause, edit. I'm just kidding. I mean, it's what woman does not love to see a sensitive, caring, loving husband who is so sensitive to the spirit that he cries. I mean, you cry a lot, not just at hallmark shows.

2:08 I, you know, I know you do that commercials, but you really do cry when you hear the word of God spoken and it really resonates with you. And that, that's amazing. Thank you. That's why I married you. Wow. I mean, wow. Thank you for saying that. You know, there was a time in my life I couldn't cry. I know, I know. It was very broken and very hard and angry. This young person, new Christian, young baby Christian. And I didn't thought about this in years, but I was at a church service and it was like a Sunday night. Remember church, Sunday night church. People used to do Sunday nights. I like Sunday night, but it really was cool.

2:50 I liked it too, um, cause you just kind of went really casual and there was just a sweet spirit is more about the fellowship and connection. Right. Missed that. Um, so I was there on a Sunday night and the pastor, um, just started to had a microphone start passing around and say, Hey, does anybody have a testimony? I've been at those services. They are people started sharing it as other people were sharing about their faith and what God was doing in their life. I just begin to weep and I hadn't weep. I hadn't cried in two years. How old were you? I had to be like 21 by that point. Um, my parents had gone through a divorce when I was 17 and I was angry.

3:31 Was it after your mother passed away? No, no, no, no, no. My parents were both alive. Okay. She said they went through a divorce. I was shattered by it, but you know, I'm a guy, so I didn't act like I was shattered by it. So it's all cool with me, you know, but inside I was devastated and, um, didn't talk about it and have anybody. So wait a minute back up. Yeah. Your parents got a divorce when you were in high school, high school. So this is your 21, right? And it's hitting you. Yeah. I mean, well, it dawned on me. I haven't cried. I've never, I haven't been tender because I was so angry. I had the shield just held. It was a shield around my heart and in my mind, even I love God, man, I was growing in Christ, love God.

4:13 So these people start sharing their testimonies and these are all old, young. I mean, just multi-generational and I'm listening and all of a sudden something happens. There's a, something breaks in me because I'm hearing about what God's doing in other people's lives. Now he's moving in mine too big time, but I'm listening to other people and for whatever reason it struck a chord in my heart. And it's like a, it's like all this stuff that was built up, it broke. Wow. It's like a dam breaking and all this water behind it. It's been waiting to be released and I just began to sob. It was embarrassing kind of, but, but it was beautiful too.

4:53 I call it, it was brutal, brutal at the same time. It was brutal and I just was a cleansing for you. She even remembering that's making my heart. Wow. So, um, I actually stood up and said, can I have the microphone? They brought it over to me and I gave a testimony. I said, ever since my parents divorced at that point, three, three years ago, I haven't cried a tear until tonight hearing all you amazing people share about your walk with God. And even while I was talking, I could barely get the words out and I was just so thankful that my heart was tender again. And ever since then, right.

5:34 I've been married to you for 30 years. Very tender, very tender. And you know, I never apologize for it. I'm not ashamed of it. I am grateful because when you've not been able to feel and when you've been numb and then God opens your heart again to be tender and trusting and open, there's nothing like it. It's life changing, totally life changing, changing. Before we talk about change, that's going to be one of our topics today. We, we want to talk about the power of a changed life. We use the words transformed. That means the form is trans. It's changed. Of course, trans is a big word right now, but we're talking about the good way.

6:16 We're talking about the transformation of a human heart that gets touched by the spirit of God. But before we get dive into that, we are going to dive into it. We have other things I want to cover first. First of all, we want to welcome you to the show. We are Jimmy and Annette. We are pastors at Bridge Church in Fredericksburg, Texas. We've been here about seven and a half years at this point. And we want to welcome you to living up in a down world. That is our heart. That is our passion, not only for us, but for you. I mean, we've got, if you've been with us on this journey, we're in, can you believe it episode 24? That's mind boggling. There it is. Yeah. 24 episodes. And so we've told some of our stories about just what God has done and some of the hard stuff, trauma, what we've had to overcome, pain, suffering, all these things.

7:06 And yet we always end it with a, but God Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses, all the Kings men couldn't put Humpty together again, but God can. That's really our heart. And that's why we call this living up in a down world, because we want to help you in spite of what is going on in this crazy world. It does feel like chicken little was right. The sky seems to be falling. I know, but you know what? I'm not fearful. No, I'm not either. Because I still know who I am and I know God. I know even if something did happen, I know where I'm going. It's a better place. I just refuse to live in fear. I just refuse.

7:47 I just can't do it. Girl, I'm so with you. And when it begins to come in, because you know, the enemy's real. No doubt. I just, I just tear it down with the word of God. How does that work? Well, I mean, you speak the word of God, but you got to know what the word of God says. When you speak the word of God to the enemy and you just, you just speak back what God's word says to him and he has to flee. And you know, I just, I have to, that's something I've had to work on most of my Christian life. I hear you. I mean, because of those echoes, those tapes, it's like tapes run in your mind from the past until you, you're no good. You're a loser. This isn't going to work out. You're not going to make it.

8:27 And so those tapes and those are lies from the enemy. Those are absolute lies. And so you got to replace those tapes. You got to, you got to overwrite the tapes. You're back in the day with cassettes, right? You'd have your favorite mix tape, right? You're rocking to the, to the seventies, your mix tape. You know, you got air supply and little river band and all this stuff going, I know I'm going way back. I'm thinking high school. You got your favorite mix tape and then you accidentally record over it and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I lost that. That was like my favorite mix tape. We got to rewrite and overwrite the tapes that the enemy keeps bringing up. Don't you remember what you did? Don't you remember what a terrible mistake you made? Oh, you're so bad.

9:09 You're not changed. You're no different. And you've got to replace that with the truth of God's word. Word said, yes, you have to. Yeah. That's what brings change. So we're here to help you do that. That's our passion for you. God has done so much in our lives, but we're still on the journey. I mean, we're, we're kids at this thing, right? We're only absolutely young, always in progress, always, always ever learning, ever grown. We won't have attained it until we're with Jesus. It's right. It just, we won't, but we, but we're here and we have an assignment here. And I, that's brings me to exactly where I want to talk to our listeners about because our assignment in doing a podcast, this isn't work for us by the way it's work.

9:54 But if it's not, if it's something fulfilling and you love it and you can't wait to do it, then it's not work. Exactly. Exactly. And we love this because we know that man, because of just God's providence and, and podcasting being an option and opportunity. Thank you, Adam Curry and your friend that developed this, what 19 years ago, because this platform has been created, I believe by God's heart. It's an avenue to get God's word out to the world. And that's our heart. I looked at a, on rss.com, it's our hub, you know, where everything goes through. They have an analytics page and it shows that our podcast is going all over the world.

10:35 And so for those of you that are listening, wherever you are, I'm not talking about America, I'm talking about the world. We want you to know something. God loves you. He has an amazing plan for your life. We want to encourage you in that and help you live up in a down world. I do love the newsletter that you got out yesterday because I saw that you took a picture of our little studio here with the cross in the background and you had it highlighted. That was beautiful because you really set it up that this is the whole point of the podcast. This is our why. Yeah. This is not just about you and I, although I mean, God's using us and our stories, I believe to help people, but all our whole point is to point people to Jesus.

11:26 Period. If we don't, then we've, then we're not, we're not fulfilling the purpose. I believe that God has for us is about bringing a message to people of hope, a message of life. And you do it every Sunday. I don't have that opportunity like you do. So this is my opportunity to do what I believe God's called me to do. I love it girl and my goal is to tee up the ball, hand you the driver swing for it. Just, just give it a, just rip grip it and rip it girl. If you, if you remember for years, I ran a women's ministry for years and years and years, and I've just not had that opportunity here, even though it's our church, it's just, um, the opportunity hasn't presented itself for me to do that.

12:13 And so it's really good for me now looking back, I didn't want to do this because I, I didn't know the purpose of this when we first began and God began to just infuse purpose into this way. I see it is you have a voice and you have something to say and God has provided this platform for me to hopefully set you up. I'm just turning knobs and sliding stuff and stuff like this. Oh wow. I'm applauding for you. Oh, is that what you're doing? Oh, I appreciate it. Actually, this is more about, yeah, that's it. That's it. That's my heart for you. But really it is. I so want you to have this platform. And so anyway, let's dive into what we're going to be talking about today.

12:56 Again, thank you for listening. Thank you for supporting. We'll talk, we'll get some shout outs here at the end, but, uh, I gotta talk about one thing though that was really special for me this last week. It's going to sound weird. And uh, so Adam and I, Adam Curry, who's become just one of my truly dearest friends on the planet. He's probably one of the best friends you've ever had since, since I've known anybody else. Cause I've had some amazing people in my life. God's been so gracious, but there's something, something amazing. It's happening here and I don't want to get all weird about it, but that sounds really rude when it's talkless away, but we had a bro date. I know a bro date last week. We gave Tina and I a chance to have retail therapy.

13:38 Oh my gosh, this is going to get expensive. I know that, but I gotta tell you, we went out and we just made, we went to this great restaurant here in town. We live in Fredericksburg, Texas, which is like amazing place to live. We love living here. And so we went out to this great steak house. It's relatively new. I think the second time I've been there and we just had an evening of conversation and great food and just this exchange of life between healthy men, who are confident in who they are, who are growing in their faith, growing in their friendship and this exchange across the table. And I gotta say, I noticed, I don't know if Adam noticed this or not, there were people all around us listening.

14:22 They were totally eavesdropping. Oh, I love that. We were talking about God. We were talking about world events. We were talking about technology. We were talking about podcasting. We were talking about all these amazing things. And I noticed, and he may or may not have, but I noticed people were listening. Yeah. Well, there's also a light that shines through both of you because you have Jesus in you. So when you're, wherever you are, people are going to be drawn to that light. So I believe exactly what you said, that people were, they wanted to listen to you because you have something to say and maybe they weren't sitting at your table, but I believe God was in that conversation, in that restaurant where they could hear what you were saying.

15:03 I believe that. No doubt. Just by two guys going to a restaurant is a witness to the world. We're not weird. We're not gay. I mean, we're just dudes. We're bros, brothers. And we're doing life together and we're iron sharpening iron and we're growing. And I think it's the coolest thing. And so we're like, dude, this has got to be a regular thing. Although we've got to put a cap on the girl's spoon, but it's going to be a regular thing. It's okay. It wasn't that bad. I know. And while me and Adam are doing a bro date, what were you and Tina? Well, we were just girl shopping, you know, lock and Tara over in San Antonio. Yes. And it was good. I mean, I always enjoy spending time with her because like I said, iron sharpens iron and I'm doing a Bible study with her every week.

15:44 That's cool. Call the God I never knew, which is Holy spirit. Pastor Robert Morris. Right. So we have, we just have, you know, we've, we've only known each other less than a year. So we're both in our, you know, sixties, which I hate saying. So we have a lot of catching out to do. I know. I need to embrace this. I know. So we have a lot of catching up to do. And so it's amazing. Our conversations have been so amazing because we're seeing, they're seeing how God was in their relationship from the beginning. They met eight years ago. They've been married four. But how God instigated all these things to happen to get them to where they are today.

16:31 You have a great story. What a great story. And so your story, which was great because this weekend when we had Pastor Brian, a former youth pastor and his wife from Nashville here, we had huge conversations this weekend with them. And I loved hearing Adam's story and Tina's story about how they came to know Christ. It's all about the shoes. It started with the shoes, Tina's shoes. She rocks some amazing shoes. Oh my God. There's your trick. But you know, but the story, not their story of how they met, but the story of how they, how they came to terms with they need Jesus. And to hear that story again, which is why I love when we introduce them to other people, because they get to share that over and over and over.

17:19 I will never get tired of hearing their journey of faith. I will never either. It's beautiful. There's something compelling and powerful about a testimony of people who have come from a place of just not, not being against God at all, just not knowing Him and getting to know Him. But what's beautiful about their journey is they decided to do it together. Yes. That's powerful. Her and I were talking about that on our walk today about how powerful. Naomi had said the same thing to her. And when she was visiting with her yesterday at church, she said, most couples don't come to that realization together. And I know that from experience from church.

18:00 Typically it's the female and the male is follows along or does eight feet behind. Yeah. Right. Their story is so powerful because they were together on this. And you know, to me and Tina and I were talking about this too. The older you get, the more set in your ways and where you don't think you need a savior. When you're young, you know, you hear music and you get kind of low. It's a, it's a, it can be a draw to you and you get, you hear a sermon and you cry. But when you're older, it's, it's harder for older people to come to know Christ. They're sad.

18:40 They're sad. They're sad in their ways. They've lost their dreams. They're disappointed and disappointment, disillusionment to a degree where they blame, they could, right. Right. A little harder. They don't have that. Correct. It's beautiful. And I'm never going to get tired of it. Exactly. There, if you think about it, Jimmy, you know, what we talked about that we're going to talk about a little bit is a, as a changed life. Yeah. They're the epitome of a changed life, not a life that changed, right. But a changed life. Cause there are great people before Christ entered in. And yet when the Holy spirit came and they accepted Christ, there was just their trajectory accelerated exponentially.

19:26 And so to watch that and I feel like we've got a 50 yard seat at the game. Yes. We're 50 yard line. I don't know what that means. Cause I don't watch football. That's when you're the best seat in the house. I know I'm kidding. But getting to watch that and, and my heart and I know yours is, is to this fire that's burning in them is to keep pouring. We're the cheerleaders on the sideline. Totally. If you want to use football. Oh wait, no, that's, that's gay. Okay. Well, well I'm the cheerleader on the sideline. I think of Will Farrell and Sarah. Oh my gosh. Of course you would. Of course. I'm not a cheerleader. I'm coach. Coach. You're the coach on the sideline and I'm the cheerleader because I'm, I'm just watching their story play out.

20:07 We get the privilege of watching the story play out every day. And then to, okay, cheer them on. Right. Yes. But also to coach and to say, man, you're doing so good and so proud of you. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. Absolutely. Keep running through the tape. Keep those legs. Tell us what books you're interested in reading because some people might send them a book that might not be the, they mean well, beautiful people supporting them more new age crew, you know, or something. So we were, that's how we coach them. So the heart of what we're talking about is not just about Adam and Tina, but it's the power of a change in life. So speaking of cool people and change lives, Renee, Dan and Renee Seacrest, we went out with them.

20:51 Oh my gosh. Just the coolest people. Dan is, uh, uh, he worked for a Boston market for years. He was one of their, one of their top guys in Boston markets. I used to love that place by the way that we loved it when we were in California. We ate there all the time. You don't hear about it. Yeah, not so much, but he's moved on and he's doing a lot of other things. Semi retired doing consulting, just the coolest couple who loved Jesus passionately, who, who were, who love us, which was so evident. I love our relationship with him. He came and talked to me at church and just thanked me and said, we had such a wonderful time with you guys. We went out to dinner in Bernie, Texas, by the way, it's not Bernie as in B E R it's a German name.

21:34 B O E R N E I Bernie, just any, any, you're right. German. And, uh, we had this amazing steakhouse with them. But again, it was another evening of iron sharpening iron, building one another up, sharing our stories, sharing our lives of transformation. By the way, he's a killer musician as well. He's on our worship team, great bass player, great keyboardist, but also just a great man of God. I'm watching God grow him exponentially. Yes. That's it. That's that was wonderful time. Wonderful, wonderful time. Brought them back to the house, just rocked some amazing desserts from high street cafe out of comfort, Texas.

22:17 Okay. I'm kind of deserted out. That sounds kind of crazy. But wow, we've had all these guests we've had all week. It's been one dessert after another. So as we enter into our sabbatical, we probably need to enter into a fast, you know what? Bad word. I know, but I am considering that I am so much more spiritual than I know. I know. But I think it might be good for us. But anyway, I just want to give a shout out to Dan and Renee because they are just precious people. They listened to our podcast. Yeah. She's listened to every one of them. Oh my gosh. Said I just started listening. I love these guys. And, uh, so yeah, they're quality quality. You're wonderful. Great people. Yeah.

22:57 So thanks for an amazing, amazing evening. And let's talk a little bit about Brian and Naomi Mandel. I mean, you talk about some cool people. Yes. He was our, he was our youth pastor for years in Abilene. Then when we moved to Nashville, we brought him there and they've just, um, so he's been, so he was a youth pastor for eight years and then this weird fortuitous situation came along with what's called the escape games. I've probably heard of there's 35 locations. They're in very prime, prime property locations all over America. And he has been the one of the developers of that company. He's a senior.

23:38 Very well. And, uh, and God's doing some cool stuff. These guys, they're on fire for Jesus. They are. Goodness. Boy, this weekend, Naomi is a rock star. She just, she, she, it was as if she was in our living room and she had a pulpit in front of her and she was just preaching to Tina and Adam and they were just lapping it up. You know what I love about life or friends? I call them lifers. There's a few people that fit in that category lifers, lifers are the kind of people that you might not see them for a few years or talk to them, but every once in a while, but when you're together, it's like literally right where you left off. Those are lifers and Brian and Naomi are lifers.

24:19 Yes. It was really cool having them. We had them Friday noon through last night. Yeah, exactly. I mean, and yet I never, man, it was so good. We talked the whole time about Jesus, what God's up to in the kingdom, right? Yes. It was absolutely. We had Adam and Tina over, so they got to meet them and get some hang time with them. We had our kids over, our daughter, Faith and her new husband, Brandon, so proud of them. And, and we just had these amazing God conversations. I feel so full because all we've done is had God conversation after God conversation after God conversation. And it just, it is, I feel like this is going to be really a bad thing, except I feel like a tick who is full.

25:05 I know when I'm going to pop. I know. Didn't see that coming. I know. I've heard that somewhere. You've probably said it in a sermon in the past. Oh, I'm sure I have. But I just feel so full of the word and just the love of God. Just being around people. I never get tired. This is how you, this speaking of change lives, this is how you know a life is transformed is you never get tired of talking about the things of God. And I never tire of it. Let's have a conversation. Let's talk about what God's up to. Amen. Yes. Yes. Hey man, so I got preaching. You did. Well, totally not in church. We're in your, totally. We're in your little office studio.

25:45 So tell us, okay. So you listen to, we went to this on Mondays. We practice Sabbath. We don't take a Sabbath. We receive a Sabbath from the Lord. It's a gift. And so today, and we always, one of our things we like to do after a really long weekend, preaching, teaching, I played on the worship team, two services, two services, and then we hosted all weekend. So we were a little tired. We woke up this morning, right? Let's be honest. So you decided to go for a four mile walk through the hills. You and Tina are machines and you are not human. So anyway, I stayed in my office and played my guitar for a solid hour worship God on my guitar.

26:27 I liked your guitar. I was rocking the strap this morning. So then we left and went straight to the gym. Straight to the gym for your second workout. You're a machine. And I love to lift weights. And so that's another one of my favorite things to do. And so we've been doing this, we met in a gym and doing this for 30. I listened to about 30 minutes of no agenda. Adam Curry's amazing podcast and got it. May have super stoked. So I can't wait to jump in. I got to listen to all over it, but I'm keyed up about it. So, and then as we're, as we're starting to hit home, I said, what did you listen to? And you said, I listened to Willie Robertson and he was, I've never heard him.

27:11 I knew he was a Christian. I know the whole little snippet. I know about Sadie, his daughter and all that, but I've never heard him personally preach and it was phenomenal. And I said, let's, before we do a podcast, we got to go just watch it. Cause I listen to it online. We sat down, I put my headphones on. You said, wait a minute, no, we got to go. We need to go listen to this. And I was like, ah, I'm ready to record. And then we go in there and I cried through the whole thing. And I said, I knew you need to listen to this because it was, he, he, he, it was about a life change versus a, um, wait, hold on. Say help me say it.

27:52 A, a life change versus a change of life. Okay. Okay. And so do we have just a life change and we don't have the transformation or are we going to live a changed life? That continues. And so that just, it just, again, another thing that just hit me hard. It was like, I want to be known as the one who lives a life that's changed. I gotta say something. When you get spiritual, I know what it does to you. I mean, we're doing a podcast, so be careful what you say. But I'm just, I just look at you and I, this is the girl I'm married.

28:35 This is the girl that I saw, you know, when we first got together and I was like, she's so hungry for God. So when I hear you talk about the things of God and I just, I honestly, I, I wish and pray that people could have the kind of relationship we have where when we both start talking about the Lord, there's something that elevates. Yes. So I had to pause, had to press pause on you. Sorry to distract, but I'm just like, wow. So why did it make you cry? Cause you were crying so much and, and I, and we started to talk about it and I said, no, let's go straight in there and record. I don't want to talk.

29:17 You becoming a podcaster. Well, I am. I've learned from the best Tina and Adam, this is what they say. So tell me what was it that made you cry? I think part of it is that, uh, when really was talking and he's talking at gateway church, right? The heart of very affluent Dallas Fort worth, no knock on that just is what it is. Right? I mean, he's in the heart of that and here he is in a headband. His hair is all jacked up. He's wearing the old like Levi's five Oh one jeans and tennis shoes that are no name, no brand. He's just himself. And yet he is talking about being consumed with the love of God for people.

30:01 Yes. And he's telling story after story of just these people who don't know who he is. Jordan, Peterson met him and said, Oh, what are you doing at the conference? He said, I'm actually one of the keynote speakers yet. Really? You know, like looking him up and down, looking him up and down, like you're a speaker, you know? So I love the fact that this, this family, the Robertson family have received the mantle that God gave to them in the call to evangelize, to share their faith, to be bold in their faith. Absolutely. We all know it's duck dynasty, right? A lot of drama. It's funny. It's a great hilarious show and they're rough around the edges and yet there's this life that emanates out of them.

30:46 Exactly. It's light. And so as I was listening to him tell stories about sharing his faith with people and baptizing a guy in a cow pond and a stock tank, stock tanks, I didn't know what a cow pond was until he described it as a tank. That's a manmade little tiny lake or pond and it's for the cattle. It's literally ranch. That's where they go. They poop. They drink water. I mean, it's, it's the deer come, the cows come, whatever else comes. So, so I get that because I grew up in West Texas. So he baptized someone. And that guy, it was really shallow and you have to really, really want to do that.

31:27 I got a bat. I got to get you all wet. So 18 degrees outside, 18 degrees outside there on a deer hunt. This guy gets born again, gives his heart to Christ and says, man, I want to be baptized right now. And Willie's like, for real? Like right now he's a, yeah, he's it's 18 degrees. This could kill you. Cause yeah, I know the old man has today. No, it can literally kill you. It's hilarious. But I can totally picture that because growing up where I grew up, we had stock takes that we had one on our property. We, we had cows and all that stuff. And so I know what a stock tank is. I know what's inside of it. It's gross. I've never even been in the presence of a cow. Yeah. You don't swim in a stock tank. I grew up in the city. I don't, I'm not a, yeah.

32:08 So this guy wants to be baptized. He's like, man, I'm ready to be baptized. I want to, I want to follow Jesus. The beauty of that struck me because I know what's in the stock, gross. That's why you're crying. No, part of it. I mean, just part of the fact that that guy didn't care. He just wanted Jesus and he wanted to follow the Jesus and believers baptism. He said, I don't care if it's in a church. I don't care if it's in a warm hot tub and he saw it and he said, let's just do it right now. Right here. I mean, love that. That is powerful. It's the heart. It's the real deal. And you're like, well, you know, it's dude in a church where it's really the warm water and Adam Curry, we have neon lights and fog machines.

32:52 I'm just kidding. So you know, but it's all the convenience is comfort and somebody's waiting with the towel. No, this is 18 degrees on a deer hunt. That was, he says, I want to be baptized right now. The purity of that cameraman who was with him, he said, of course the cameraman follows Willie Roberts all the time. Right. And he said, well, I'm not going to do it there, but can we go back to the person's house and let's do it in the bath. Did it in a bathtub with all the guys. I just think so. All these dudes watching him in a bathtub in a bath in a bathtub, get baptized. How beautiful is that? Absolutely.

33:32 You know, all that really struck me, but it also conjured up some, some memories that I have. So I was youth pastor for many years and because I wasn't raised in church, I didn't become a Christian until I was 18, almost right. 19 really, really, really more into 19. And so not going to youth camp, not being raised in a church. I mean, I was really raw and rough around the edges. I mean, all I ever wanted to do is play, play guitar in a band and be on a stage. I mean, rock and roll. I mean, I grew up in classic rock era and now we call it classic rock. Wasn't in. So that's all I wanted. And I just didn't have a lot of ambition about life.

34:13 And then God grips my heart. And suddenly, not suddenly, but over a period of time, I find myself being at a Bible school, learning about ministry. And then now I get invited to be a youth minister at a church and I'm in this beautiful, wonderful church and Comanche, Texas, of all places, central Texas, little bitty town, central Texas. And I loved getting to be a part of that church. And I was there for four years and I was the youth minister. And then I became the associate pastor later with Pastor Don Longoria, wonderful man of God. Still consider him a pastor and a mentor in my life from a distance.

34:54 So here I was as a youth pastor, but I was still rough, long hair, plain and... You're still rough right now. I know. I'm playing in a Christian rock band. We had this great band. We did all these youth events. And so naturally, guess what kind of young people, kids in high school were attracted to me because I'm a guitar, I'm a lead guitar player. I've still got long hair. I still wear rock and roll t-shirts. And here I am in a Baptist church. Not a fit, but I was a misfit if there ever was one. But here I was. And so we did these big youth events. We'd fight the whole community out. We'd see a lot of kids come out for what we call fifth quarter rallies. Our band would rock and jam out in the parking lot with big lights.

35:37 And it was a magical time, honestly, in youth ministry. And what happened was a bunch of skaters and kids that were jamming on Metallico, the black album, they were all into it. They were coming to our meetings because they loved the music and then they knew I was rough around the edges. We started drawing all these young people that were really rough around the edges. Of course, our church was like, oh my gosh, these are the wrong kind of kids. I'm like, no, this is who Jesus is going after. I still don't understand that. Why would a church want to turn away people that don't look like them? In their defense, they just didn't. Honestly, they didn't know any better. I know, I just don't get that. I have great compassion for that and great grace for that.

36:20 So it was shocking. But God was drawing these rough kids, especially the skater crowd. Man, I love the skater guys. They were raw. They were honest. They were intellectual. They were sharp. And I had these great conversations just sitting on the tailgate of a pickup out in the parking lot at night with these guys. And I remember someone let me know, they came by the church and they said, look, this group of guys, and these are guys that had given their hearts to Christ. Man, I was helping them, was discipling them. He said, they're over in another town, it's like 20, 30 minutes away, and they're drunk. They're just smashed to other minds.

37:01 And it just got all over me. I jumped in my 72 Volkswagen Bug. I know. Had a great cassette player though. Oh my gosh. And I drove over to this other town and I found them. I hunted them. I prayed the whole way. Lord God, these guys just gave their lives to Jesus. And here they are drinking and partying. And I was that kid too. So I knew exactly what was going on. I said, God, somehow help me find them. And I felt like the Lord led me to drive to the downtown. There's a drag, you know, every town in Texas has a drag. I went down on the drag. Sure enough, I found them.

37:42 I pull up behind them. I'm flashing my lights in my Volkswagen and we pull over in a parking lot and I just, they're all, they're smashed. And I get it. I was that kid. So we get out and I just said, man, guys, I'm not here to berate you. I'm not here to put you down. I'm not here to call you out. I'm here to call you up. And I'm here to tell you, I love you so much that I drove from Comanche to get over here to just tell you, I love you. But more importantly, God loves you. And I just, I broke in front of these guys. I just started to cry and it wasn't a weird cry. It was just a, it was pure and it was passionate.

38:25 It was from the heart. And I said, watch these guys break right in front of me. All three of them, there's three of them. And man, they were just like repentant and sorry and apologize. We all drove back to Comanche in a little, little train. I mean, they were in a car and I was in the car and I said, let's just go home. And I went home that night and you know what? Those guys became faithful in our youth group and some of them did, some of them didn't, some of them went on. And yet I just will never forget the overwhelming feeling that no matter what I've got to drive, I'll go wherever I need to go to reach these young people. I'll never forget it because it imprinted my heart and gave me such a love for these young people.

39:10 It imprinted a seed and who knows what who's watered that seed over time. I will say this crazy enough on social media, every once in a while I hear from one of them. Really? It's really cool. That's awesome. God's worked and God's done a work in that, in that one young man's life. And they'll never forget you. I'll never forget the, the Stoney school teachers that spent multiple hours with me every week discipling me, teaching me from the age of 10 till I was about 13 in a church. I'll never forget them. So you have to ask the question, what motivates a person to give away an evening, a day, an afternoon to sit with another person, to simply say, I'm not here for me.

39:58 I'm here for you. And I'm here because God put this on my heart to be with you. It's understanding a calling that we all have. That's a change to life. That's a change to life. It sure is. I know I've noticed a crop in doing this 38 years. I'm not exactly a newbie and I've seen so many people get excited about God, get excited about Jesus, step over the line, get baptized. Oh my gosh. Their front row, then six months later, eighth row, then their 20th row, and then they're out. They're out the door. It's like, what is it? Life happens, but they don't have the foundation to withstand when the tornado comes or the wind blows.

40:46 I think there's a couple of things going on. It's not even just that. Cause a lot of people blame the church. Well, the church didn't disciple them. The church didn't take care of them. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. When I was a young new Christian, I was so self motivated because I knew God saved me. You were really saved. It makes you wonder if some were not saved. That's what I wonder about. I'm just throwing that out there for thought. I think there are a lot of people who are, what's the right word? They're in a dangerous place because they think they are and they may not be.

41:28 Jesus said that you must be born again. You must be born from above. And then he said this, you must be born of the spirit. This is all John chapter three. You must be born of the spirit. I think there are a lot of people who they get an adrenaline pump. They get a dopamine dump and they're like, I feel so good. And then when the good wears off, the adrenaline wears off, the dopamine wears off, the pump wears off. Then it's like, wait a minute, this is going to cost me something. Wait, I got to give up something. I got to lay my life down for this. Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not what I signed up for. And they bail. And I'm not mad at those people. I have a massive compassion heart because I'm like, oh, you are so close to the kingdom of God.

42:16 Because there is a dying to self that has to happen, a giving up of your life before transformation comes, before change, a changed life. So just from your perspective, Annette, because we come from different backgrounds, similar but different. We come from the same area, West Texas, but we had vastly different backgrounds and stories. What does it mean for you? What does a changed life really mean? A changed life. See, when I get up in the morning, the first thing I think about is the Holy Spirit. So I say, good morning, Holy Spirit. I want to get in a devotion first thing. Sometimes I'll get sidetracked because I'm not perfect.

43:00 I'm one of those not perfect people, no perfect people allowed kind of in our church. And I'll go, you know, I'll look at an email or something and I have to just sit there and go, wait a minute, I need to start my day with Christ. And so I do my little devotion. The thing is for me is he's with me all day long. You know, we have this dialogue that goes on. You know, we talk to ourself all the time. And instead of me just talking to myself, I turn that dialogue into talking and conversing with God because we all do that, right? We all talk to ourselves. It's an inner monologue. It's an inner monologue.

43:40 And so now I have this, and I call it dialogue because I'm listening to what he's saying. So it's not just a monologue to, you know, I'm not just the only, I'm just not just talking to God. I'm listening. And I go through my life really seeking him daily. And as a Christian, that's what it's all about is to seek him. He gives us an assignment and it's the person you walk with. It's the person you live with. It's the person you work with. It's the person you play with. You know, we have an assignment to be the light so that we're drawn, people are drawn to us.

44:22 We don't have to go up and ask every single person if they know Christ. We should be, people, we should be so compelling that people want to know what is it that makes you smile? What is it that makes you have a good day? What is it? You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. And I love that. It's wonderful. There's a scripture that I learned as a young Christian, a new Christian, actually I was shared the youth minister, Ricky Ketron back in the day said, man, you need to learn this verse. And so I looked it up and he shared it with me and I remember laying on my bed in a duplex in the, in the total tech ghetto of Lubbock, Texas. It called it the tech ghetto. Now it's like really nice, but back then it was a ghetto and I'm laying on my bed.

45:04 I'm reading this verse out of my first real Bible and it stuck with me and it's it's second Corinthians five 17. Oh yes. I love it. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold all things are new, have become new. Isn't that powerful? Yes. A new creation. It's an, it's what one person termed a new creation reality. When I love this goes along with what we talked about last week, which in Jude one, one, we are called that we are loved and we are kept and you literally preached on that this Sunday because we thought about it every day.

45:47 You were just like, not, not preach on what I was going to. This is it. I have to, I even posted about it. I did a devotional today, which is on our website, living up and down world.com shameless plug. Yeah, go there. I have devotional that I brought them every day or on there, but I could not not talk about that. Right. It is so imprinted me one of the most powerful scriptures I've read and I can't even tell you how long it, it, it just, it, it just rings so loud in me. Every day you shared it with a girl. You are the catalyst. Oh, I just remember you're the talent.

46:27 I'm just the producer. No, that's a, that's a Tina Adam. But it's still the same and I'm tweaking and pushing sliders here and doing stuff, you know, stuff like that. But, um, you, you shared that with me again after a workout on a Monday, wasn't it? That's why I like to have a cast after a Monday because I'm rocking out during a workout and then here you are listening to the word of God. Maybe I'm a little more spiritual than you. Oh no, I'm just kidding. Wow. Wow. Okay. You set off. Well, I just, that's, uh, uh, sometimes I listen to music, but these days, I'm in a season. I just have to hear it's the only thing that helps me get up in a down world.

47:11 I hear you. But what I love is that you get in the word of God and then you like filter it to me. I get the Cliffs notes. I tell you all about it in the car. And then we watch it and you know, so, and it's, it can be random. Sometimes I'll just pull up YouTube and I'll just put a name in and it'll come up and I'll listen and it's just what I need in the moment. Isn't that what a relationship is about is like God speaks into one of us. And then we're like, you gotta hear this. You've got to listen to this. And I do that too. We, it works both ways. It's a beautiful exchange. And uh, I love that. And so when you brought up Jude one and we looked at that scripture, I was, I was, I was slaying to you as it did to me slayed by it.

47:56 Yes. I mean, and then you told called into this podcast and then he read the book of Jude. He was like, Oh my gosh, this and fat. Okay. That's the whole point of this podcast. There you go. Point you to the word to Jesus himself. And that's it. Yeah. So let's just go ahead and give up while we're doing this. This is our why. Our why is that we want you to know the person of Jesus Christ, not religion, not just church, but the person of Jesus Christ. Go to church. Exactly. Does not make you, it doesn't make you a Christian no more than going to McDonald's makes you a Big Mac.

48:37 Exactly. I loved Big Macs growing up. I'm weird. I loved them. But anyway, I'm suddenly hungry. But anyway, we haven't had dinner and it's like eight o'clock. Yeah. So anyway, our whole point of doing this is because we, our heart is to point you to Jesus. And I want to say thank you for, they've had many people write in and say, you know what? I'm, I'm stepping back into my faith podcast. And also because of what Adam and Tina are doing with a curry and the keeper, they, they continue to share their faith journey and share what God's doing. People are coming saying, you know, I'm coming back. I'm so excited.

49:17 This is the whole point of podcast period. It started with the God casters. It's going to end with the God cast. Come on now. I mean, God dropped this into Adam's heart. 19 didn't even know why. Didn't know for sure, but look what God's doing. So we want to thank you for listening. And I just kind of do some shout outs. I mean, my gosh, we could preach for hours, but I'm going to do some shout outs. Listen to this. Some very cool stuff that's happened. Listen to this. Um, RG at RG BTC. Love this. God bless you and bridge church. Chimin and net boost. Thank you for the boost.

49:57 My friend. We so appreciate that. We love Satoshi's. It's just fun getting feedback. Yes. Value for value is an amazing thing. It's amazing platform. And it's a way to say, you know what? I value what you're doing. I value what you're saying. I value who you are and I'm going to send some value your way. And that could be through Satoshi's. It could be through simply on PayPal through living up in a world.com or, or, or emails. It's just a way of saying thank you for what you're doing. So thank you. I love this. Sir, by his grace says this just keeps getting better. Loved in capitals. I love that. Loved how biblical show 23 was I'm driving to Idaho from Florida and had a wet few hours as massive downpours and storms today through Alabama and Mississippi.

50:47 Y'all's shout out. Sure pet me up. I sure love Roman. So do we, my friend. T Y F Y C thank you for the something boost. I'm slowed down on the Tina said what it was, but thank you for your calm. I don't know. I can't remember now. Sorry. I'm sorry by his grace, but thank you for the comments, brother. And the boost blessings to you, Adam, the pod father, Curry. I want to always make sure I give him kudos and credits. He says this, I love it when an episode makes me want to read the discussed scripture right away.

51:27 Jude on deck. Great episode. It gave us an amazing striper boost. Adam, I need that file for the, the wave file for the striper boost. It's really awesome when you do that. Thank you. And then also Eric for being our second big, our donor through. Thank you, Eric, for that gift. Thank you, Eric. Such a great brother. We appreciate you and thanks for encouraging us and supporting us. It means a ton. It really does. It makes what we're doing just so worthwhile and then we can bless it forward. Exactly. Which is so our heart. And one more shout out to Mr. Adam, the pod father, Curry for being our founding donor.

52:10 He is. Boom. He was our first one. I know. Thanks brother for the encouragement and the support. We love you and family. We want you to know we love you and our heart for you is Jesus. Our heart for you is the good news. It's very simple by the way. It's simply this. Jesus lived the life we should have lived and he died the death. We should have died in our place. And then after he died, three days later, he was raised from the dead, proving that he's the son of God and proving his love for you. And that he says this, that if anyone would believe in him, he would come into our lives.

52:52 He would forgive us of our sins and he would be with us forever. The scripture says we will not perish. That is our heart for you. God bless you. Thank you for listening today. We are so. Oh my God. I love you. Hey, blessings to you our friends. We love you. Much love. Have an amazing week on purpose. We'll see you next week. God bless you. Bye bye.