"You Are Seen. You Are Heard. You Are Loved."

0:00 Hey, this is Jimmy and Annette and we are excited to be with you this evening. We are here today, Mr. Chevy is also with us. Annette, tell us where Mr. Chevy is. He's laying down on my lap very quietly. He's not moving. He's so excited because we've missed last week.

0:43 I know, he's excited. Look at him. He's completely... Look at him. He's depressed. He's like, where have they been? Where are they now sitting? He's literally gone. He's laying across your lap like a blanket. That's cute. That's Chevy. He saw us getting ready for the show and he's like, yay, we're back. He literally gets excited. I've never seen a dog get excited like this. He gets excited, then he crawls up in your lap and goes to sleep. Best dog ever by the way. I would definitely recommend to have a Shawn. And we are puppy sitting Gracie for our daughter and new son-in-law. She's outside having a moment. I hope she's okay because we can't see her. She's shaking over in the corner of the yard because she gets traumatized.

1:26 Because her mom is out of town and she has separation anxiety. She's very neurotic. We have a neurotic grand dog. We do. I know, grand puppy. She's strange. She's very strange. So anyway, she's out there having a moment. Tina came over this morning because we walked. Right. I had her walk up the hill. I need to know, how far did you all walk? We did four miles but we didn't go all the way up the hill. We went almost... She said next time we're going all the way up. Yarr freaking machines. I was trying to give her, get used to this. A little taste. She did wonderful. You would think that she's been doing this the whole time.

2:06 Of course, I talked so much. I'm out of breath as I'm talking. And her legs are twice as long as yours. Yes. So one stride to your two, I think. Next time we walk, which is Wednesday, she's talking the whole time. Because I need to have breath. But we did. We walked all morning. She came in and she goes, do you always cover your couch with blankets every day? I said no. Blankets everywhere. It's because Gracie's here. New couch, leather, and it scratches easily. Which we bought it on purpose to do that. But we don't want it overly scratched. Right. It's the leather, it's that bomber look. So scratches are like whatever. But with her claws and her... You add two dogs on it, it gets bad.

2:49 So we have to cover it. And the gaps, it kind of looks ghetto right now. Blankets of all kinds covering. Yes. That's our life. We're puppy sitting. That's what happens, our little grandpuppy. Well, welcome to the show. This is Jimmy Nanette. And we are living up in a down world. And what a world, what a world. As the Wicked Witch of the West said. Remember? What a world, what a world. Is that what she said? Yeah, that's when she got melted. Oh. Honey, remember your childhood trauma? No, you had childhood. Well, that show traumatized a whole generation with the Wicked Witch of the West. She was scary. She was scary. Freaky. Yes. I would not want to be known as the Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz.

3:31 And she was forever top cast as that. How horrible is that? What a world, what a world. As she melted. Creepy, creepy. That's how I feel when I get rained on. I'm getting triggered right now. I feel like I'm melting. I'm triggered. Okay, let's move on. What were we talking about? Oh, the world. We're living up in a downed world. And for you who are listening and joining us, thanks for being with us. We're so excited that you're here because, first of all, we do this because we love you. We do this because we care. Even if we don't know you, we love you because God's put a love in our heart for the world. And so we're looking at, you know, any kind of avenue to get good news out there in the middle of a downed world. Exactly. So that's what it's about. But just so you know, we're also talking about our own pain, our own traumas, our own...

4:15 Victories. Our own victories. I mean, our butt God moments and our fully human moments. And I love what Pastor Robert Morris from Gateway Church, he says, we're divinely human. We're both. We have... If you have Jesus in you, you're divinely human. Here it is. Yes. Because we have the divine in us, but we're also human, and we're going to have human moments. Exactly. Chevy's having a fully dog moment right now as he is crashed. You know, all dogs do go to heaven. I do believe that. Now, I believe all animals go to heaven. Because why would God create animals and then say, well, they're only for earth, but when you get to heaven, you can only... Only your dog or cat.

4:55 That doesn't make sense. We just settled this issue right now for anybody who's wondering what the Bible says. The Bible talks about... When it talks about heaven, it talks about the line, shall lay down with the lamb. There is an indication all through the scripture that there are animals in heaven, especially ours. Yes. And we'll be able to relate and have relationship with all the animals, and we won't have fear like we do with the snake. They're God's creation. Like when I was walking and I told Tina... Oh, yeah, we got snakes big time out there. The only reason why I said this to her, she laughed, I said, when we walk, I don't like to walk by myself because if there's a snake, I need someone to jump up on. So I will be jumping in your arms, and you will be doing weight lifting.

5:38 Brace yourself, incoming. If I see a snake, because I have. I've walked over a coral snake before. Yeah, we have coral snakes out here. And it's scary. We have rattlesnakes. And all kinds of not-poison snakes. But I believe, honestly, we won't be fearful when we see them in heaven, but I believe they'll be there. When the Bible says this, that in heaven the lion will lay down with the lamb, what does it say? Predator and victim. And no, no way. They're going to be in harmony, and that's the beauty of that. The thought of it makes me cringe right now because I'm terrified of snakes. It's innate. I believe it will just all be lifted. That's totally from the Garden of the Spirit. That was not planned, what we said. Totally unscripted. Life unscripted. This is very much unscripted.

6:19 We do have a list, Adam Curry. We like our list. Yes. Especially in that. What you do. No, you like. Well, I like you doing the list. I know. And then I'll add to it last minute. I'm doing the work. I'm doing a lot of the work. So anyway, it's what a producer does. Right. Because I'm producing your show. So let's talk about why we didn't have a podcast last week. Right. So we did miss. We skipped. But it was for a good reason. We needed, well, we planned for a solid year for a trip to go to Nashville to the K. Love Fan Awards Experience. I mean, it was a full weekend experience. When people think of that, they just think of the awards show. Show. It is a whole weekend of events from Friday evening to Sunday evening.

7:03 And I have to say, of all the trips we've taken, we've been to Paris, London, we've been to Dublin, we've been to Belfast. I've been to Guatemala. We've been to many ministry events. This is the best. But I will say, this was my favorite. Mine too. And you know, it's interesting because I looked at the agenda for the whole weekend, you know, because they constantly posted extra items on there and people that would be presenting or people that would be giving a concert. And so I constantly looked at it over the year that we planned this to kind of get an idea of what would happen. I had no idea, no idea that I would come back spiritually refreshed.

7:45 Okay. Every time we take a vacation, I come back and I need a vacation from my vacation. This time I was so refreshed. I feel like I could run a marathon right now. It's that. You almost did this morning. Well, I almost did. But it was that good. And I was so glad you brought it up at church yesterday. Many people ended up signing up to go to K-Love next year. Let me give a little ovary for those who don't know. So what this is, this is a K-Love is like the number one Christian contemporary music and worship radio station in America, probably the world.

8:25 And they're huge. I mean, it's a huge thing. But through the years, wherever we've lived, you've been able to access it. I mean, we can get it from Kerrville over here. We get another station maybe out of San Antonio. Or you can just stream it online, which is what everybody's doing now today anyway. Broadcast seems to be going out. But it's the same. There's an app and you can stream it right into your car or wherever. And so it's had a huge... What I love about this station, it's not just a radio station. They're a ministry. They have pastors on staff. They actually have pastors on staff. 24 hours a day. 24-7. You can call in and talk to a pastor. Yes. I think it's a remarkable ministry.

9:05 And we talked about personally supporting it and starting to just offer personal... We always want to give into things where we see massive fruit happening. And we've got to witness it firsthand. So they do this thing every year. This was the 10th year they did it. I'm sure they skipped COVID year. But it's just the 10th year, 10th anniversary of what they call the K-Love Fan Music Awards. And it's a big show at the Grand Ole Opry, which was very cool to be at. Very cool. 4,000 people, packed house. I mean, it's sold out. It sells out every year. And it's just this amazing weekend of connecting with beautiful people. Man, I had some really profound spiritual moments.

9:48 You did. Amazing how many single women came to this three-day event by themselves. I know, because they're so ministered to by the radio station that they were like, we want to be a part of this. So we met lots of people. I didn't meet any dudes that were there by themselves, but it seems like everywhere we sat there would be a lady by herself. And some of the people with us would connect with her and then she would connect them with us. What was cool about this, I mean, there's so many good things to talk about. But one of the things that really made my heart... I'm almost emotional talking about it because it was so beautiful. Every time we sat down for another presentation, and we'll talk a little bit about what the different things they did, I would just turn or the person sitting next to me who was a complete stranger from somewhere else in America, would turn and say, hey, my name is so-and-so.

10:43 What's your name and where are you from? Or I would do that to somebody sitting beside me on the other side. And because it was full, you're always sitting by people. And so you were just meeting brothers and sisters in Christ. It's the family. Family. Spiritual family. I mean, we may have differences in the things that we prefer or things that we do on a regular basis, but the one thing that we have in common is Jesus Christ, period. That's spiritual family. That is spiritual family. And so we met so many different people. One incident I have to tell you, this lady Annette was talking to some friends of ours, Christy Clocker and Cheryl Brown.

11:25 Cheryl's from Corpus Christi. And Christy used to be a part of our church, very involved. She's the one who told us that we needed to go. She totally family'd us. Yes. Her and her husband, they moved to another area of Texas out in the country over kind of by north of Conroe, that area. Still part of our family. Oh, they're totally part of our family. So she went last year and she was so blown away. She said, Jimmy and Annette, you guys have got to go. As much as you love music, this is you. This is you. You've got to go. And I signed up that day. So we did. A year ago, we signed up. We started making, we saved for this. We put money back. And so we went to this big event and it was so beautiful. So they're talking to Christy, or Annette's talking to Christy and Cheryl.

12:06 So there's a chair and then another lady sitting there. And it was on Sunday morning and Chris Tomlin was going to be leading worship. Chris Tomlin leading worship was phenomenal. Chris Tomlin with his band leading your worship service. I kept pinching myself going, is this real? This is very surreal. And for those of you who are not involved in the Christian world, just know there's a culture. It's like anything. Everybody has a culture. And so our culture is this. God reached me through music was one of the big avenues in which God reached me, nurtured me, taught me to this day. I play almost every Sunday on our worship team because I love it so much.

12:47 And so even though I'm a lead pastor and I preach, I still lead guitar player because it's in me. God put that in me at an early age. And so God used music to touch me. So to go to something like this, it's just like I'm a kid in a candy store. And you were too. We both were. I felt like that. So I'm sitting there. There's a space between me and this lady. I see her and she's kind of to herself. And I just say, Hey, my name's Jimmy. Where are you from? She told me her name. She's from Detroit. And I said, so are you here with anyone? She said, no, I'm by myself. I said, you came here by yourself from Detroit? It's amazing. And she said, yeah. She said, I said, well, how are you enjoying it? She goes, best thing I've ever done.

13:28 And so I said, us too. We were just talking about it. Another lady walks up and says, Hey, is somebody she had met the day before? Yes. And I said, I met another lady that had nobody with her. And they stood up and gave each other a hug. And I said, what about my hug? And the lady hugged me. And then we introduced ourselves to each other. And that's the beauty of the body of Christ is you can meet people from other places and you already know your family. Yes. And we're going to see each other. I don't know how heaven works exactly, but I know. Yes. We may never see them again in this lifetime. But we will see them. And know that we know them. Yeah.

14:08 Well, another beautiful thing happened. Her friend, another person came up and sat down with her. And she was from Louisiana. And so they're sitting there talking. And then she introduces her to me. And she says, so what do you do? I said, well, I'm a pastor in Fredericksburg, Texas. And then the lady from Louisiana said, Fredericksburg? I know Fredericksburg. We're coming to your church. And then as we were talking, they wrote down the name of the church, our podcast. And they were like, we're going to listen. So for you precious ladies, if you're listening to the podcast, just know you're seen, you're heard, you're known, and you're loved. And it impacted you. It really impacted you. It really did, deeply. You just kept saying, gosh, look at these spiritual family that we're meeting, people that live in many other states, many, many miles away.

14:57 And yet, they're family. And they came and we all were. You were so blown away. You were very emotional. I cried. And then we sit down at the awards and one of the ladies, because they assign our seating when you sign up, which was a year ago. Oh, right. And what are the chances that one of those ladies that you met, that I met. One of the ladies I talked to, precious older lady. Sitting next to us. We all just laughed. I said, we know you. And she said, oh my gosh. She's like, oh my gosh. And so we sat down and so we enjoyed the show together. But that's the power of spiritual family. One of the things that people in the world, and even before I was a Christian, I longed to connect.

15:38 I mean, God, whether you know this or not, even if you're not a follower of Jesus, just so you know this, you have been wired to connect. You were designed for a relationship. We're designed for a relationship. You're designed for community. With God and with people. Exactly. Community. Common unity. That's what community is. And so when you come into an environment like that where, oh gosh, and then standing outside the Grand Ole Opry while we're waiting for the show, there's this big huge line and all the artists are showing up. It's red carpet. It's the red carpet moment. We didn't go up to it. I was like, eh, I'm good. So we stood back from that and enjoyed the weather. It was a beautiful evening and tons of people.

16:18 And then we just started another conversation with another family. And it was just, you never felt alone. Right. You never felt like you didn't belong. Right. Because it was people from all walks of life. We saw, and I mean this in the right kind of way, we saw people that were physically impaired, or even mentally challenged, and people that were obviously hurting all there, enjoying the music and celebrating in presence of God. But then we saw people that were from upper echelons of society. You could tell. And all together in this place, the ground is level.

16:58 The ground is level. You're going to cry, aren't you? Yeah. It's true. It's because it's beautiful. That's what heaven is. We all, we're all, none of us are like another. We're all unique. He makes us, we're masterpieces. Come on. We're masterpieces. And we're uniquely made and formed. And we're all different with all different characteristics. But the one thing we have in common is love. And God is love. It's love. It's Jesus. You're crying. I'm crying. I know. Oh my gosh. It was really impactful. It was. Which is why we were telling everybody yesterday, they've got to go. They've got to go.

17:38 From the pulpit, I didn't say that. I was just told a story. But I did after you told the story. I told the story about community. Yes. Because of the power of community. And actually it was an audible because I actually planned to preach something else. And on Saturday I felt like God called an audible in my heart. And so I went with the audible instead of the series. Because series is great, you know. But life happens and you need to direct. That's being directed by the Holy Spirit. Exactly. But anyway, back to this idea of community. We are hardwired. We're created to connect. Connection is protection. And so. It's why when we're separated from people like we were at COVID.

18:18 COVID did such damage. It did such a number on us. Oh my goodness. So much damage on COVID. I mean Faith. Okay. Our daughter Faith. She has, well she had a therapist tell her or a counselor at one point tell her she was autistic. We had figured out. You just say she's hyper introverted. Yes. That's another way to say it. We figured out later that she's probably not. But she is hyper introverted. But during COVID when typically someone like her would be like, yes, I don't have to deal with people. She went nuts. I was surprised. She was like, I'm moving to Nashville. I said, what? I'm going to go move with our family there because I need.

19:01 She needed connection. We live out in the country. So there was no connection. We were like, what? Yeah. Okay. If that's what you need. Hardwired connection. Even though she's an introvert. She needs people. She needs people. And we all need people. And so do you. If you're watching or listening to this right now, the bottom line is you need to connect. God creates this incredible community called the body of Christ. Now, albeit people get hurt in the body of Christ because anywhere there's people, we bring our, I'm going to say it because this is what we are. We bring our crap to the table. That's true. We have backers. Our brokenness. We are Mr. and Ms. Dumpty. And so we bring our broken shards into a place.

19:42 And so dysfunctional plus dysfunctional never equals functional. Right? So within a church community or a Christian community, there's always going to be things that don't work right. There's going to be hurt. There's going to be damage. Hurt people, hurt people. Broken people, break people. Traumatized people sometimes beget trauma. But God is the ultimate healer of all of that. So what I wanted to say about that though is that you put all that together, you can't expect perfection. Exactly. You can't expect this blissful, I'm going to go to church where everybody's got it together. Right. Because we're all in process.

20:22 We're going to church because we don't have it together. Exactly. But we're all in process of being healed. You know what I'm saying? And God, sometimes it doesn't happen overnight. It's a process. But we're all together in one place going through the process. Exactly. So we translate that understanding into this trip that we went on where we're in a group of Christians bringing all their brokenness, I'll call it Samsonite. They're bringing all their luggage, all their baggage into this one place and allowing music, allowing the power of music and artistry to lift that load. Exactly.

21:02 And I watched it right, the whole experience I was watching God lift pain, trauma, damage. Well, I think what was interesting, the songwriter's part of… Tell about that. That was amazing. What was it called? Songwriter's Round. This is a Nashville thing. Bluebird Cafe started this years ago. Yes. And they do this at the K-Love Awards on, I think they did it on Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening where the artist would, they would put three or four artists on the stage. They would have either, if they play guitar, they would have their guitar with them. If they had, if they didn't play an instrument, they would have someone have an instrument that played with them.

21:46 They would talk about their song, how they wrote it, how it came about, the season they were in and then they would sing the song. So we heard at least 30 artists, if not more. I think it was more between 30 and 40 artists over the three, four day period. Oh, easily, yeah. But it was, that was, I can't even describe those sessions of what we heard on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night, what that did to my heart. It made me appreciate the song so much more than just hearing them on the radio. Now I have context.

22:28 Oh my goodness, now when I hear it, I'm going to cry again. I almost have this visceral reaction because I feel what the artists felt when they were writing this song, when it hit them. There is something special about that, that you can't, if when you're hearing something on the radio, you're just hearing it on the radio. No context. When you go on, when you hear it, when you, when they go on tour and you attend, they have a chance to tell you. But coming to this, they really can expand it because they're talking about that one song and singing that, but they have the time and energy to really expand on it. I was so moved.

23:09 I think I was in tears. I told Jimmy, this is the most spiritual event I've ever been to. And yet this was an award show, but it was so, I, it just, I can't even, I can't even describe it, which is why we already signed up for next year. We registered immediately for the next show. I can't, we have to. Because music is so powerful for us. It ministers to us in places. You hear truth differently through music than you do through spoken. They're both valid and both needed or what you read or a podcast you listen to or whatever.

23:50 Music touches a different place. It impacts and activates different parts of your brain and your mind. I mean, even from a physiological standpoint and a psychological standpoint. So I love every avenue of getting truth that God wants to give us. And what I thought was interesting is all the songs that these artists were talking about Lauren Daigle, Stephen Curtis Chapman, let's start naming. Rachel Lampe. Rachel Lampe, Tasha Layton. Brandon Heaton, Brandon Heath. Brandon Lake. Brandon Lake. You name it. Cody Carms. Michael Cochran.

24:30 Oh, Cochran and Company. One of my favorites. What I loved about what they were talking about is most of the new songs that we're hearing today came out of the pandemic. The pain that they experienced through the pandemic. Because we think we look at these artists, we look at preachers, we look at people that are in the spotlight and think, oh, they don't have a problem in the world because they have all this money or they have all this fame. No. The artists, when they write these songs, they write out of what's happening in their life. Exactly. Or if they're not writing, when a songwriter is writing a song for them to listen to, they can say, nope, that doesn't register with me.

25:16 That's not me. I don't connect with it. Yes. What I love is they look for songs that they can connect to because it's when they sing it with their emotion, when they feel it, that's when we feel it. Can I give an example? Yes. Brandon Lake. Oh my gosh, Gratitude. So there's a great song that Brandon Lake wrote. He wrote it actually in Sydney, Australia, right outside the massive amphitheater that's very famous on the bay. He wrote it and the song is called Gratitude. He wrote the song and he even thought to himself, when you're compiling songs for an album project, sometimes you think, gosh, this feels like a hit or this feels like this isn't going to get traction.

25:59 Then sometimes you go, this may not. He wrote Gratitude sitting there and didn't feel like this was going to get traction. So they cut the song in the studio and he got it back and he was listening to it and he was like, this does not connect at all. Which is crazy. Well, because it's too clean, it's too perfected. He sent it back. They did four iterations of that song and finally Brandon said, you know what? None of this is touching me. He said, I'm going to get on a stage. I'm going to have a crack because it'd be during a service. I'm going to have a band. I'm going to do it live and I'm going to sing my heart out. I'm just going to sing it with an acoustic guitar. I'm just going to go with it.

26:40 And so he gets on the stage and so the version you hear on the radio that ended up making it was the live version that he cut doing it in real time from his heart. Very few edits, just straight up throw up some microphones and record. And that's the one that became song of the year. He's artist of the year. He had three different categories, maybe worship artist of the year, worship song of the year. Anyway, he won three different categories and it's the first time he's ever won anything. And he's just like so blown away. And he says, he has gratitude, which I love. He told the story. He said, this wasn't even, we didn't even know if this would make the album.

27:20 Which is crazy. And it becomes the number one. And now it's given him the desire to just to look for more songs like that, that will minister to the hearts of people and connect them to God. That's the whole point of Christian music is to connect us with God. It's not so we can feel good because we like the tune. It's so we can connect with God, therefore we can connect with people. I'm looking at a picture here. I just pull up my pictures because I took a billion pictures. That's me. Brandon Heath, Brad Breams, I think his name, Rachel Lampe, Cody Karnes, and then a group called Consumed by Fire. Oh, they were amazing.

28:02 All on the stage together. And each of them doing this writers round and telling stories about the songs. They had three of those sections. This was the emerging artists, which some of them are already been established. It was kind of a weird category. But it was so casual. They're sitting on stools with a guitar or keyboard. And you know what happened to me during that time? Talk to me. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They, most of them had acoustic guitars because most of them played the acoustic guitar. And I felt like the Lord, the Lord reminded me of when you would play your acoustic guitar and we would sit in the living room, we would have people over and you would lead us in worship.

28:45 And it was the most powerful times of our life. And we have not done that in years. I remember a few weeks ago, you said, you know, I just don't feel called to sing anymore. That's just not my thing. And I said, yeah, you're right. During this time watching that, the Lord said it's time for him to get out his acoustic guitar. And I said, for real, just for your sake, listening, I didn't hear that. And that did. I did. I know. But I really, but what did you do? You went and got it. It's hanging on the wall. Acoustic guitar out of, I put up actually one of my electric guitars in a case in the closet. I know it's a miracle. It's freaking me out.

29:25 You hung it up. Pulled out the acoustic guitar, tuned it up, which it was freakishly in tune. I hadn't played the guitar in years. Because God is in this, Jimmy. It was actually almost in tune. And then I picked it up. I started strumming it last night. And I thought, you know, it's time to sing again. It's time to kind of revisit some of my roots. It's your roots. That's what brought me to you. I mean, literally when we were first. I led worship that first time. And then while we were, when we were first married, we would have people over. We would have a connect group. That's how we started a church, River of Life in Brownwood, Texas. We started a church with young people. I used to take groups of young people down to Mexico, down the Baja side of Mexico, down past Ensenada, down in this little village called Guerrero.

30:10 We do these mission trips with students. And half the trip was worship. We'd sit around in a circle and worship God. And it was powerful, powerful times. I started a worship band at the church. So amazing. It really was. Some amazing young people. I was on that band. I was in that band, which is crazy. Matt Paddock, Joey Bullman. I mean, just amazing young men. It was Casey and Chris. Matt and Joey are both pastors now. Yes, and Casey and Chris are pastors. Casey and Chris are pastors. And we would be asked to go to different events and be the actual worship. Oh yeah, we did. We did some stuff outside of that. It's amazing. Crazy.

30:51 So amazing. We did youth camps. Yes. And God told me this weekend, I know it was Him. I don't hear an audible voice, but I felt it in my heart. God said it's time to revisit that. You were very emotional when you were telling me that. And tears, because I know it was God. Because I had agreed with you a few weeks ago when you said, yeah, I'm just not really that. I'm older now. I'm older now. Other guys can sing. And I was like, yeah, you're right. And the Lord said, no, you're wrong. You still have a voice. And you know what? It doesn't matter what kind of voice we have. What does the Psalm say? Think about it. I don't know. A clanging voice.

31:31 It doesn't matter. No, it says make a joyful noise. Is that what you're saying? I'm making a joyful noise. The thing is, the Bible talks about us worshiping with all of our heart and our mind and our soul and our giving everything to Him. Why not get your guitar back out and not just play lead guitar? I know. That'll always be my first love. But I did. I pulled my guitar out, it's hanging on the wall now. And it's on the wall of fame. So I'm giving you time to practice. No, I strummed it a little bit this morning and last night and it felt really good. Yeah, I'm going to lean back into it.

32:14 I'm also looking at pictures, by the way. While we're doing this podcast. Yeah, I'm scanning pictures. Because I can't see because you've got the computer. Right, sorry. But I'm scanning pictures that I took. Oh, wait, I can see if I look. So this is one of Mercy Me. It's the two guitar players, Michael's one of them. And then of course, the lead singer Bart Millard. And up on the platform with Steven Curtis Chapman. I know that was special. Robbie the other guitar player. And you've gotten to be very good friends with Michael. We got to spend time with Michael. Michael Schuizer is just, man, if he hears this podcast, he listens to our podcast. Michael, you're such a joy. I love your passionate spirit.

32:55 When you're on the stage, I mean, it's not play acting, bro. It's just you being you. It's just fun. You're fun. And you've got energy. So he and I were texting each other during the award show. And they got group of the year. Yes, which was. Which was so they were totally shocked. Because they think, oh, we've been doing this for almost 30 years. We're texting each other. And I'm like, dude, you just got group of the year. Congratulations. And it's so cool. But I'm watching I'm looking at this picture I took of them with acoustic guitars up on the platform with the king of Christian music, the undisputed king, Steve Curtis Chapman, who massive impact on my life.

33:36 He has so much humility. He's had 50, 50, not five. He's had 50 number one hits on the Christian music charts. Unbelievable. Number one is ever will ever probably touch that now. And he's still doing it. He had a number one song this year. It's very good song. Oh, so I just so appreciate Stephen, but also just Bart and Robbie and and Michael. Man, these guys are just they're just down to earth. They're real guys. They don't have that celebrity thing on them at all. We were Michael was looking for us after the show because it's mayhem. I mean, four thousand people getting out of the four hundred.

34:16 Yeah. Getting out of the grand old Opry. We had to catch buses back to our hotel shuttles. So it was kind of mayhem. And he wrote me, goes, where are you? I'm like, dude, we're already in the parking lot about to get on the bus. He wanted us to meet his I wanted you to meet Abby, my wife. And so we didn't get to meet Abby this time, but we will another time. But we do our second home. We'll be back. We did get to catch up with Michael at the at the hotel where we're at. We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Gaylord, which is a cool place. It's kind of like Disney in a bubble. I had no idea. It was cool. It was fun. It has its own splash park. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. So we stayed there. But when they did this acoustic set and played, then we got to hang out.

34:59 Michael and us just after the show. So we just it's just fun to talk to. Just a good guy. And so down to earth. I love his heart. He has I got to meet his son. Remember, he was the one taking us around when we went to the Mercy Me concert. And he is so sharp. What I thought was interesting is when Michael said he wanted his dad to take him to an auto show because he is into cars big time. And we were like, well, that's cool. And he goes, but it's in Poland. Poland. Poland. What? But his wife said Detroit. Yes, L.A. Yes. You need to create a memory. So go to Poland. Take him to Poland. So he's going what? Next week? I think it's a couple of weeks. Yeah.

35:39 Yeah. But anyway, congratulations to Mercy Me and the guys, the boys. I call them. I just love those guys and so. I'm proud of them. I am too. I feel like a dad. I love their music more now that I've gotten to know Michael and we got to meet all of the group and you're in this text chat with everybody. I appreciate them even more now than I did. That's the value of. It's the value of relationship and it's the value of context. When you know where songs are birthed from, it makes you appreciate the song even more. I know those of you listening know that just in your own experience. So yeah, fantastic time there.

36:20 I'm looking. Also, here's another bonus on the Nashville trip. All of that was freaking amazing. Then the next level of bonus is that we got to spend time with our kids, with Mark and Alicia. Alicia is our oldest daughter. She lives out there and market. They've been married. Which keeps us connected. How long have they been married? Two years. This two years they've been married. You're doing great. Got to see your grandson Carter for two seconds. He's a 19 now. Is he 18? 19? He will be 19 in June. So he's all of 19, which means hi, bye. How you doing? Great. See you. We're the old guys. We're the old people.

37:00 So yeah, whatever. I get that. I was exactly the same way. They kept apologizing for Carter not wanting to hang out with us. I'm like, Oh, I was so Carter. I was worse than that. No worries. We'll catch up with him in five years. So when life starts happening, when real life hits, we'll catch up with him. But we had such a sweet time with Mark and Alicia. We are so blessed by our kids. And I had to go with Alicia to get her eyes examined. Oh my gosh. This is when you know you're getting older. This is when I know when the doctor says it's time for bifocals. For our daughter. What? My daughter is going to have bifocal. She's 45. And I was 45 when I had mine. Man. I know.

37:41 Time flies when you're having fun. Yeah. So I'm, we're definitely old now. She's rocking the bifocals. Yeah. But they look good on her. So we made our big trip to Costco in Nashville. Yeah, it was wild. So yeah, here we are. It's funny. We're getting old. Oh, you know what though? Like a fine wine though. I'm telling you, I, the only thing I don't like about getting old is how I feel when I get out of bed in the morning and every bone in my body cracks and pops from racing motocross and playing football. See, I didn't do any of that. So I don't have all that that you have. I enjoy this. The, I think perspective gets gained as you, as you get older perspective happens and it can be such, it makes life joyful at this season.

38:27 So anyway, who are you texting? No, somebody's texting me. I don't know who it is. Phone's blowing up. I know. I'm just making sure. Hey, we're doing a show here. Well, our daughter is on the road back from Oklahoma. That's true. I have to check our youngest. Yeah. I have to keep an eye on her. Oh, I see. Oh, they're going to stop at Buc-ee's. Yay for that. Oh, we need to tell them to get us some. Oh my gosh. Buc-ee's. That is such a Texas thing. I guess it's Texas. I think it's everywhere. So what's next up? I think we've got so much. We're all over the map today. Oh, I mean, for one connecting with Christie and her friend Cheryl, we already talked about that. Such a cool thing. Worship got all that, man. Tina and Adam signed up to go to Caleb next year.

39:07 This is going to be so cool. But they don't know, and I don't know if we've talked to them about it, but we're going to hear. They're going to hear this first. They'll hear this when they listen to the show. We're having dinner with them tonight, but I want them to hear this first. But they may have an opportunity for Adam to do the award for podcast. So Michael asked, he said, hey, do you think that Adam would be interested if, do you think, do you think Adam might be interested in actually presenting at the Caleb Awards the award for podcasting because that's another one of the categories. I'm thinking that might work. He's brought it up, but we're going to bring it up to him. He's hearing it now for the first time. Michael's out in the woods at Montana doing some dude thing.

39:49 So he's offline for now. So I don't even think they've chatted about that. So yeah, we'll bring it up tonight. And that'd be really cool having Adam, the pod father who invented podcasting. They've already got their, they've already signed up for Caleb. So we're all going together next year. So we're going to have a blast. I can't wait doing that. And also just seeing Adam get introduced to a lot of these people that have no idea that he's the one who started podcasting. Exactly. The very fact that any of us do this. But they'll all, if, believe me, because they're all in the music industry, they're going to remember Adam. Well, the older ones, not the young ones. They will remember him from MTV in the eighties and nineties.

40:30 Not, um, and, uh, Oh, Ann Wilson, not Rachel Lamp. They're not going to know. No, Rachel's a little, she's not not remembered that. I don't know. I won't do it. She's not in her forties. Um, anyway, moving right along. I don't want to do that. Oh, he'll totally know who he is. So yeah. Um, and then another neat opportunity, I got to bring this up just to boost my brother. Um, Adam, he got invited to do a major, major, um, uh, it's like MC, right? I mean, I thought it was just presenting an award for the aspire. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah. I think it's just presented.

41:10 No, no, no keynote speaker. Oh, okay. Keynote speaker. We're going to talk about it tonight. So we'll know more. We'll connect with them tonight, but he's been invited to be a keynote speaker at a Christian. It's like, it's the largest Christian podcasting conference gathering, uh, which we get to attend. We're going to go with them. It'll be a great time. But he was invited and asked to be the keynote speaker, which is so cool because he just became a Christian a year plus ago. So now he gets to present an award. I mean, that's just amazing. I love what God's doing in Adam. Yeah, it is fun. It's a fun ride. I said, y'all can't do anything Christian without Jimmy and I.

41:51 Yeah. You need to talk to us. That's right. Yeah. We want to help. We also want to weed out. We need to be in that environment. Oh, we're going. It's going to be awesome. I'm, I'm super excited. Maybe we'll get an award someday. Who knows? So a couple of other things is you didn't say anything. No, no, no. Did you say us getting an award? Oh my gosh. First of all, we love fountain by the way. I'm always going to promote fountain. Fountain is amazing. They've been promoting us. They have been. They've been wonderful. These guys are great. It's been amazing. So fountain is a great podcast platform. So I don't know what you listen to. You may be on Apple, you may be on Spotify, Amazon, whatever. There's a billion of them out there now platforms, but I want to recommend fountain.

42:32 You should check it out because what fountain does is you actually earn Satoshi's. You earn Bitcoin just by listening. Exactly. Although mine's not been doing it lately. I need to reach out. Something's wrong. So I got a glitch. So anyway, no big deal. They're working on all that, but it's a, it's a great platform. Can listen to podcast, your favorite podcasts on there. You earn Satoshi's and then you can bless the podcast you're listening to. It's called value for value. Again, another Adam Curry thing. If this show is bringing value to you, then bring value to us. I mean, because that's what this is about. Bless it forward. Bless it forward. Now that's a good way to put it. And that's what I've been doing. I've been, I've been actually loading. When people give to us, we give it to other people.

43:14 Yeah. I've been loading my Bitcoin wallet and then blessing forward when I'm listening to a podcast and if they're on a platform that supports it, I'm going to, I'm going to encourage them by saying, thank you. Great point. That added value to my life. I'm going to add value to yours. So it's value for value. That's the whole point of podcasts. We're wanting to bring value to your life. Exactly. It's not just about getting to know us. It's about what we can do to help you. That's right. To encourage you. Lift you. To live up in a down world. Exactly. This is all about. So going down our list, we have a list Adam, that's for you. Oh, what about the ceiling fan thing? I noticed there's a note on here about a ceiling fan. Okay. Two months ago, you told me. Wow.

43:55 You really emphasize two months. It's not so much how you peek the meter when you do that. I actually looked it up. Sorry for the distortion. And it was two months ago, you said, will you please order us a new ceiling fan for our porch? Because ours is broke because the wind, we had a horrible storm. It's a back porch outdoor ceiling fan. And you said, I need it to be here this weekend so I could put it up. You put it up finally, Saturday, two months later. And the appropriate response is thank you. Oh, well I did say thank you. And I stayed out there and got sunburn for four hours watching you put it up. Oh my gosh. But I enjoy the sun. Blame me for the sunburn. I know. But I was telling Tina, she goes, oh, I like that ceiling fan.

44:35 I said, yeah, it took two months. Only two months. But you finally got it up and it looks good. And you know what? Our garage was not cleaned out fully because we had that ceiling fan in the garage. It has been bothering me because ever since we purged and cleaned everything out, our garage has been perfect until two months ago. So let's talk about today. Okay. What's today? Walk out in the garage. Everything is gone. Absolutely spotless. I'm so glad. Everything's gone. Finally. Okay. Finally, you got to it. Because you're so busy. I know. You're so. Moving right along. Yes. All right. So what was the next thing? Okay. Click, check, ceiling fan, me.

45:17 Okay. Got it. I do want to share this. This is something that's been powerful and it's really the power of community. It's bouncing off of experience at the K-Love Awards, but also bouncing off of yesterday. So this is Monday when we're recording. This is our Sabbath. We take this day to really chill. I don't see this as work is what we're doing right now. We're just sharing our life with you. But yesterday, I almost lost it several times in the pulpit crying, looking out over our church family. So we missed a week at church. I had Bill Loveless step up to the plate, did a great job, fabulous job for me.

45:59 But I have to be honest, it's so weird. It's hard for you to be gone. It's weird to miss a Sunday at our church. Not because I'm wanting to be in control or be the man. It's just, I love our church. You love what you do. I love our church family. They're our family. It felt like we were gone for a month. It did. It was bizarre. I didn't like it. It's a weird feeling. So yesterday, walking back in the door, I'm giddy. I'm hugging everybody. They're like, man, Jimmy's excited. What's going on? It's because I love them and I miss them. I was visiting with JB Rieger. Oh, I love them. I love JB. And Martha, they're precious. And Debbie. Debbie. Debbie Rieger. They're the most precious people. They really are. Always come in with a huge smile.

46:40 Full of life and a hug. Always. I was like, I missed you guys. And he said, yeah, we've been out too. They've been traveling, trying to see family. It's that time of year, right? Everybody kind of hits the road. So they've been out. And we were just talking about that before the first service about how much we love our family. Our church family is family. It is. And it's not just spiritual family. I was late coming into church because I was sitting down. I wondered where you were. I played lead guitar yesterday. I was in the foyer sitting down in the couch talking. I'm up there jamming going, this is when you should be looking at me and smiling. That was an awesome lick you just played. I was too busy fellowshiping with people. Where's my wife? Where's my support? It was funny. So anyway, where's my one fan?

47:20 Your one fan. So I played on the worship team yesterday. It's the best seat in the house. I always say this. It's the best seat in the house because I get to watch people worship God. But it's hard too because you watch people that just stand there with their hands folded. I just totally look past that. Because too, we don't know what they're going through. Exactly. There are people who feel like they're unworthy to worship. That's true. Even though they're there, even though they might like the song, even though it might actually possibly be in their range for a dude, they're hurting and they're feeling unworthy. That would be hard for me. I have so much empathy in my character that it would be hard for me to watch.

48:05 I would want to get down and go down and go, just let it go. Let me put it this way. It used to bother me years ago. Now I look out and I have compassion. That's true. There are reasons why someone doesn't feel like they're worthy to worship and it breaks my heart for them. That's true. The shame. Because they're already worthy in God's eyes. He's not looking at their past. You can say it every week, but it's still... It's got to be a revelation to them at some point. Someday it'll register. Right. That's my prayer for them. Exactly. Yeah. Yesterday was beautiful being back in church and preaching on community, which I did, the power of community, connections, protection, and it was joyful for me to be with the family of God.

48:48 I'm so thankful. We pastor a church called Bridge Church, if you're new to the podcast, and it is our joy to do so. It's like anything you do in life, you're going to take hits, stuff happens. Not everybody thinks you're amazing. Some people think you suck. Oh, wow. They do. They do. Then they leave the church and whatever. Or they stay. They stay and they're mad. They're like, hey, you might want to go. Take off. See you. But that's just life. That's in any job, in any profession. So it's not just church. Anybody that's in leadership is going to go through that. It's because we bring our brokenness, our collective brokenness together, and sometimes we operate out of that instead of the Spirit.

49:29 Right. So anyway, yesterday was great. I loved being back with our church family. You did a one-off message instead of sticking. I did. Called an audible. Although it was still no perfect people allowed. It was. It always will be. It was. It was. An Old Testament person, not character, person. You were actually just talking about all of us in general. It was really good. Well, I was talking about out of the book of Acts, it says that right after Peter preached the first gospel message that was ever preached. At the church. After the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter two, there was a result from that. The result is that they gave themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread together. And prayer.

50:09 And so these four devotions. Which is what we do in church. They devoted themselves. They gave themselves to it. And I just, it was kind of just a reminder to the body. We need to give ourselves to these four devotions. These are the things we devote ourselves to. And so it was that. And it was also a celebration for me of, of we're back. We had a great time, but I also want to celebrate what we have here as a church family. And if you would ever want to listen to our watch, you can, we video our services. You can watch our worship. You can watch our, the messages. And so you can find that at bridgefbg.com. And you go right down the front page and scroll down and you'll find all of that.

50:53 So bridgefbg.com. I was proud of you because you said you called an audible and you explained what an audible is. Which people who don't know football don't understand that. But people who know football understand. But I appreciate that because what you were in essence saying is I was being led by the Holy Spirit to go a different direction today. I can't tell you what I'll do next week. I was very confident that it was the Holy Spirit. God may change everything because you're willing to let go of something to go with what God wants you to do. And I think that's really important because too many pastors and we have in the past have felt like we have to stay with the course. Because you know, that's what we...

51:34 Plan, run the play, so to speak. Things happen. Think about what happened with COVID. You had to make a total shift. Everybody did. So you have to always every week be willing to hear the Holy Spirit and say, God, what do you want me to say to the body from you? And then go with that. And I love that you let the church know, you know what, I was going this way, but God called an audible. I've got to go this way. It's good for them to know that you're listening to God because they want to know their pastor is hearing from God to give them a message. Whether they receive it or not is up to them. But to me, that's important. And I think you did well.

52:16 Thank you. I really appreciate that. I love you so much. I love you more. Oh, I love you more. Wait, okay. Okay, stop. All right. So we digress. We go back to being 30. Yes. So anyway, we love each other very much. Yes, we do. And I trust you and I appreciate. Thank you. I know the Holy Spirit in you, guiding you. I know the Holy Spirit guides you and leads you. Thank you. Thank you for trusting me in that because sometimes after being married for 30 years, some spouses don't trust each other. Well, I trust you 100%. I trust the Holy Spirit in you because I pray for you. I trust you more. So I know prayer works. It does. It does.

52:56 And God's good. And sure enough, there was confirmation from the congregation of people saying, gosh, that is exactly what it is. One of the things that happened in the church I have to share before we end. I know we're getting close. Yeah, time to land the plane. Many weeks ago, I had this desire. I told Jimmy and I told our staff that I felt like the Lord said we need to do a widow and widowers dinner because we've had so many funerals in the last few months. And I don't ever want anyone to feel alone and forgotten. Yeah, or unseen or unheard. Yes. And so I bring it up to Jimmy and I say, you know, I feel like we're supposed to do this dinner for widows and widowers.

53:43 And you didn't say, what? You said, if God told you that, then we've got to do it. We brought it up to our staff. One of our staff members wanted to take it a little bit further and add divorces, which is great. We'll do that. We'll do that another time. This was not the time. I actually said, okay. And then I stepped away and said, you know, that's not what the Lord told me. Glad you stuck to your guns. And I did because we've had that happen before. And that does not derail division. Not that I don't want to do divorces. I want to do a separate one for them. I think that's really important because widowers would say they don't get it. It's different. Divorces would say, no, it feels like that, but they don't get that.

54:25 So I feel very strongly about it. So I brought it up to staff. They agreed. We sent out personal invitations. We put a slide out. We have approximately 20-something people in our church that are widowers and widows, which I did not know until we did some investigation. We have 15 sign up. That is huge to me. I hope they all show up. We're doing this tomorrow night. So tell them what we're doing because I'm super excited about this. Oh my gosh. We have some people that cater our meals that are going to be catering a meal. Our staff is going to serve them. We're each going to sit at the tables with them and we are going to serve them.

55:10 And then we're going to allow them to share their stories because everybody needs an opportunity to share their stories and be able to tell what they feel, what's been going on, how this affected their life. I am so stoked. Yesterday I did not know this. I did not know why God put this on my heart other than the fact that we've been doing many funerals. But I'm telling you, yesterday a woman came up to me who said, I know why you're doing this. You're doing this for me. And I said, what? I did not know she was one of the widowers.

55:52 I didn't remember her name on there because I don't want to concentrate on who they are because it's about what they've been through. And I didn't know her story. She came up to me after the service and she said, Annette, I am so excited that you're doing this and I've never shared this with anyone, not even my closest relatives who she lives next door to. And she said, I have never told anyone this, but when my husband passed away seven years ago, she was at a different church, no one contacted me afterwards. I've had no contact, nothing. My heart, I just began to weep.

56:36 The Lord showed me that the reason why I was doing this was for her. And then if it's for her, then there's many out there who feel the same way. And she said, thank you for thinking of me because it didn't happen in our church. It happened somewhere else. But I told her, I said, God wants to bring you healing. And the way he's going to do it is through us doing this dinner for you to show you that you matter, that we know you're here. You're seen. We see you. We see you. We know you. Now that we know these people that are coming, they will be seen even more.

57:20 And we want to elevate you and show you that you're honored, that God sees your pain. And isn't that what everybody longs for? Maslow, of course, in college, we learned about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Number one is belonging. But really, if you translate that into what it really means is we all want to be seen. Isn't that what, if you look at social media, it's all about, I want to make an impact. I need more likes. I want to be more followers. I want more friends. I want more whatever. And it's all about being seen. People are desperate to be seen. They're crying out. That starts in adolescence when you're in junior high and you're all dressing alike because you don't want to be like everybody else, so you all dress alike because you want to be seen, right?

58:07 Exactly. But that translates all through our life. That never goes away because it is a truly basic human need. I think the greatest thing we can help others find is that not only are they seen by us, they're seen by God. He sees you. He feels your pain. He catches every tear. And you know, we've been in ministry together 30 years. Almost 39 for you total. We've never done this. We've never had a dinner, specifically. But the Lord, when He put it on my heart, I thought it was because we've had all these funerals. When she came to me yesterday, it was not me.

58:49 I turned to her. I said, Linda, this is for you. God did this for you to heal your heart so that you can go on because she's never even told her own family. I'm so excited about this. I left. I literally felt like I was walking on air. I was just like, Lord, I'm living for tomorrow night. I am too. I'm so excited about having dinner with Tina and Adam tonight because they're our best friends. I get to be at a table with these precious people. One of the gentlemen that I talked to when I told him God put this on my heart, he said, I want to share about why.

59:29 Yeah, he wants to tell a story. And it's powerful. I'm not going to share it now. I'll wait till afterwards because I want to make sure he's OK with it. It's intense. It's intense. I mean, like shocking. He just developed the whole program. OK, well, now if you share your story, maybe that will open. And that's what he said. We're going to create it all. I want to open it up to where other people will want to share their story. OK, this is probably the most exciting thing, even though there's only 15. I can't tell you're excited at all. I'm more excited about this than anything besides the K-Love Awards, obviously, because that was a travel trip. But just in our church, doing something that elevates and helps people feel loved.

1:00:10 And it's falling into what Jesus said. You're truly blessed in true religion, he said. This is powerful. True religion is ministering to and loving widows and orphans. That's what the Bible says. I've really seen a correlation between orphans and divorces. When you've been left by someone abandoned and rejected, you are an orphan. So that's the next one. We will do one just for divorces. Then we're going to do one for divorces. You and I can relate to that hugely. I can't relate to the widows. That level of rejection is almost unbearable when you're the one who's on the receiving side of that.

1:00:56 And you talked about it. You said this on Saturday. And then Linda reiterated it, which I was surprised because you said, this is not a club you want to belong to. Yeah. You don't sign up for this. There's a lot of clubs we sign up for. You don't sign up for the orphan club either. But not the widow club. And that's what she said. We've had an unusual, even in our own church, and I'm sure this goes for most churches or many churches, especially churches that have a broad spectrum of ages, we have a broad spectrum. There's a lot of parents who've lost children. Yes. It's shocking. I almost think we need to do another one for that one. I don't think in the same thing. But you know what? I think God's in that.

1:01:37 This matters. It matters. I think whatever matters to God should matter to us and we should do something. And why not? Let's just let this year be the year of, let's show people who have certain circumstances that they did not sign up for. Show them that they matter. I'm all in. And that we're in. There you go. You just got us. I'm all in. Next one is divorcee. Next one is people who've lost children. Yeah. And whether it's five or 50. Exactly. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. No. How can we let you know that we see you? Exactly. And that we hear you? Yes. And we may not have experienced exactly what you've gone through because we've experienced some of this, but not all of it.

1:02:22 But it shows we care as a church. We care. And we're listening. Not just a support group. We want to hear your story. Because a lot of these people go to support groups. Yeah. But what about a church that says we care too? What? I know. There you go. It's the body of Christ being the body. I believe that's a God thing. So church being the church is the way I say it. Exactly. Church being the church. Exactly. Loving people. And you know what? Big churches can do big things, but you know what? Small churches can too. And we're a small church. We're actually a big church in a small community, but we're a small church. Yeah. In essence. And you know what? Yeah. Let's just show the love of God to people. Love our people well. You know what?

1:03:02 If we do nothing else in this next year, let's be known for loving people well. Exactly. I think that is our motto this year. Loving people well. Yes. There you go. Woo. I love that. Shock and awe. I got to tell you, this has been so much fun. Wow. One of our favorites, I think. Here we go. Hey, we love you guys. Thank you for listening. Oh, thank you for your support and your encouragement. You guys are rock stars in our eyes. We want to love you guys. We love you guys. We want to love you well. We want you to know you're seen and heard. Yes. Thank you so much for the things you've written in, the notes, the text, the questions. We're all in with you. Keep them coming. Keep them coming. We love you. We love you.