SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey, how's everybody doing? Uh welcome to uh our MSCC pod. And uh I'd like to uh welcome Sean Sr. to the podcast. Hey, good to see you. Hey Sean. Glad you're here. Yeah. Welcome. Thanks for having me. Awesome. So hey, you've been um, where do we start? You you've been attending Mount Salem for how long now? It's been quite a while.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Yeah. Um, so uh we've been here like in this area since uh like late 2021.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Yeah, you guys are COVID, you guys are a COVID family, right? Like right, like it's the whole the whole experience through COVID is kind of like a weird dynamic of like like uh because we were running two services for some of uh you know in that time frame 2020, 2021. Like we because of the the nature of you know that, but you guys started attending in in 2021.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Yeah, so we hopped around a little bit different churches. Um we knew somebody from St. Thomas, and so we tried is it it's faith, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean it was just the once, so I can't remember, but yeah, and then we realized it was a bit of a far drive. But we were ended up we ended up going back home towards uh Roslin's family a bit more often than we should have. We knew like the goal was always to find a home church. And so, you know, like Roslin was like, well, you know, there's the church just down the road. Um and so then we started coming here. Oh man, just like m definitely consistently in like 2023. Yeah. And so and then yeah, and then like I'm trying to think of when I even started playing in worship band, but uh um it was probably around that time, I think, too. Anyway, time goes by too fast.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

It's it's a weird phenomenon, especially when you like you start rolling in COVID with young kids and like how time moves. Like it's a it's a weird dynamic to like your days can sometimes seem like they drag, but your weeks can go so fast and the months just like zip by. And like with with you know, in those COVID years, it was crazy because you were you were basically going from one announcement to the next and you're trying to figure out what life looked at and the alterations you could make and what that well, you know, what that meant for your family and how you could do life. And like I know here it was really, it was a really wild experience. I mean, Trevor could speak to some of that. We were, you know, how do we how do we facilitate a church service in an Elmer uh environment that was pretty hot? Yeah, like the the the COVID situation in Elmer was very lively. Okay. It was it was a hotbed for um you know people not being happy with the way um government was doing things. And I mean, in retrospect, there's there's a lot of things that I I still I still would like to have conversations with uh individuals that are in those positions and kind of kind of like dialogue that out a little bit. Um I think there's uh I think there's some trust that needs to be rebuilt. I don't really I haven't really heard anybody come out and say anything about decisions that were made, you know, plus or minus, pro or con, and say like, yeah, we screwed that up, or yeah, we couldn't have done that. Or, you know, there's been there's been a lot of podcasts and a lot of people that are unofficially talking about it. Yeah um, but you know, our lived experience was a very interesting thing because uh, you know, doing church in that environment, moving your family here, raising young kids and that sort of thing. So uh let's let's do a little bit of deep dive. Like I when I when I first heard your name, and I'm sure you get this a lot, um, you know, I it was Sean Sr. I'm like, all right, so you know, um, what's his last name? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's the first thing you'd love to do. What's his last name? Senior. Yeah. And is uh is there a Sean Jr. and all that kind of stuff. So I'm sure you get that. And I apologize for being really cliche, but um, what's your background, like culturally speaking, where you guys come from in terms of like background, family to coming to Canada? Uh, what do you know of that from your history? And yeah, um, you know, what what led you from where you were to Mount Salem?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Uh so senior is a it's a Mennonite name, actually.

unknown 3:49

Really? No. No.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

It's uh You had me at hello, Sean. Uh Irish, um just like the just like the pretty general UK thing, like Scott, maybe a little bit of Scottish. My sister just did an intra ancestry test. We were surprised the amount of Scottish, English, you know, kind of just a mixed thing. So but my on my mom's side, my grandma came uh um over from Ireland uh when she was a kid, uh would have been the uh like the potato famine kind of time, I suppose. Yeah. And so like that's my mom's side, my dad's side. They've been here for a long time. They lived kind of up north in like the Ottawa Valley area. Okay. And um yeah, so like I guess that's yeah, as exciting as it gets for family history. But yeah, senior is yeah, it's an interesting last name. There's not many of us around. No. No. Uh in that area, there like in the Ottawa Valley area, there's some. Oh, really? Okay. And then like in the Peterborough area, because that's where my uncle uh and some of my other family live, there's yeah, there's some more seniors there, but not too many.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

So your dad's family would be more like English-Scottish, your mom, your mom's side, your grandma's side is more uh Irish. Irish, Irish. It's a whole United Kingdom mess, right? Like it's that whole like a yeah. I I I share a similar background on my grandmother's side. Um, and she would always like try to explain to me as I was a a younger kid. And I came back to it a few times while she still had her um the capacity for her to be able to dialogue with her thinking before uh Alzheimer's took over to be able to ask her some of those questions. But um, she would relay a whole bunch of English history and she would like, oh, they're from this part and this happened from here. And like she would try to piece it together for me. And I'm just like, like it was obviously history is messy in many ways, and there's the migration movement of people and how that impacts, you know, family ties and stuff like that. But at one point she told me that uh like relatives on the coasts of like Normandy, like I think they were English colonies on the French coast or something like that. And I I I I haven't like historically gone back, but I I think somewhere in my memory, you know, back in grade six or seven, we had like done some, you know, Canadian history and like and we taught like and I'm like, really? So there's family members that were in those colonies that came like yeah, I'm like, wow, okay, that's wild. Yeah, it's cool. But like, yeah, okay. So background, yeah. Um, so where where did you grow up? You grew up in the Peterborough area?

SPEAKER_00 6:15

So no, uh Cambridge. Cambridge, okay. So yeah, my my parents met in um oh my goodness, I don't want to get this wrong and have my mom so mad at me. Sorry, Mom. Uh yeah. So they they um so that would be the uh um uh just up north, so like the Barrie area. Okay. And uh then they moved down to Cambridge. And so I was born in Cambridge and uh grew up there until um I was uh so I went to so I went to a Bible college in Montana. So I lived in Cambridge. Montana. Yeah, yeah. So okay, wait, okay. So you're in Cambridge.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah. All right. So we're going through teenage years, we're we're graduating high school. And then okay, so how do you how do you get to okay, so what church were you going to? What was God doing in your life? And then why did we end up Montana? Yes. Montana Bible College.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Okay, so that's random. Yeah, it is, but I mean, I'll tell it's they'll speak a little bit about it because it's a pretty cool place. So uh so I'll go back. So um high school and just you know, like youth and like you know, still involved with the church lots. It's it would be um so it's forward church in Cambridge. Um and so that's where I kind of grew up going. And then uh yeah, it just after high school there was there was the time to decide to do something and didn't know if I wanted to be in ministry or not. And so, like, I mean, I got lots of family on um on just mostly my mom's side, but lots of family in ministry. And so it was just like the question, get that kind of thought going either direction, whether I have a calling for it or not. And so, you know, I've I heard of friends who had gone to this this school in Montana. It's called Montana Wilderness School of the Bible. And uh so you know what the school is, it's just like a uh general theology. You do like a a course a week. And on the weekends, because the courses finish up on the Friday, the weekends are open to hike. Like they're in the mountain, you're in the mountains, so it's pretty neat. And so you hike and you just kind of explore and stuff like that. So it was actually pretty cool. If anybody uh like, I mean, um wanting to know uh what to do next after high school, um, reach out because I can tell you all about it. It's a very cool school. Um and just Montana Wilderness, School of the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

School of the Bible, MWSB. So but okay, so how did you hear about this place?

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Uh so a friend of uh our family, uh, I don't know how they found out about it, but they told me about it. And they're like, hey, consider this place. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

And so why did they think of you for this place? Like there's gotta be something about your dynamic, and then they say this place, and they're like, Sean would like really fit here. Like, are you like outdoorsy? Is that like you? Like you like being adventurous that way? Like that is like something they've known about you. Like there's all sorts of Bible schools like all over the place. And you say you have established people in your family that have like you know, are serving in ministry and stuff like that. Montana Wilderness School of the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Yeah, no, I I felt like I fit right in. Like, so I I do like being outside and doing all that kind of stuff. And like, I mean, like I never really experienced like the whole like, you know, like the like the Americans sort of like the hunting and the shooting and all that kind of stuff. But like, I mean, just for being outside and like being in nature, that's that's my thing. And it's beautiful. Yeah, oh, it's unbelievable. And so, like, you know, hiking, I didn't really done any real hiking when dealing with like um uh thin air and stuff like that, because you don't realize what it's like to actually climb a mountain. Get out of breath. Yeah, and being like fully out of breath. But anyway, so I enjoy it. It's wild, right? Yeah, it is sure for sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Like all of a sudden you're like, why am I breathing so heavy? Why is my heart pounding like this? It's crazy. It's crazy. It's because you don't have oxygen. Like your body's trying to tell you something right now. Yeah. It's a wild experience.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah. And so what they do is then you show up there, like you're there for a little bit, and then they um they they send you on a pack trip, basically. They send you on like a big trip that gets you to kind of know some people really quickly. Right. Because you're yeah, like so they drop you off in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, which is such a massive area of just the wilderness. And so they you can go, you can choose like a 1530 or I think it was like a fi I we I chose the biggest one because a friend of mine in my dorm said, Oh yeah, you'll be fine. Like I just I would do that hike in in in Crocs. It's no big deal. So I said, okay, I guess I'll do the and it was like f I think it was like 50 miles. You did a 50 mile hike. Like in a in a week or just under a week. It was it was nice. It wasn't the walk the walking part was very fun. No. But the site we got to see probably the best of the majority of the of the pack of pack trips because we were doing like proper passes, you know what I mean? Yeah, like stuff you'd see in like Lord of the Rings or something. Like it's just unbelievable sights. So it was really cool. That's wild. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Oh, that'll be stuck in your head forever. Yeah. Oh, that's really cool. I love like I there was um I was working on a uh it was uh like a like a castle. I don't know how to describe it. So I was helping to build um the house was uh I don't know if it was steel construction, but it was like block, I think it was block construction. So the initial um structure was blocked, but the roof was gonna be all trusses. So we got bring we got brought in to put the roof on this place, and we're talking like 23,000 square foot. Like we're talking it's a monstrous, it's a it it was a castle, like a French castle, beautiful down south of um west of London, uh outside of Lambeth, just absolutely gorgeous property, gorgeous place, uh just just crazy. And uh um so I I was the uh site supervisor who was doing this place. I I went into his his um the supervisor building little cat, yeah, little trailer there, and I went inside and he had this beautiful poster. And like through our relationship, I was there for a couple months putting the the roof on, it was huge. Like it was a massive roof on this place. It was just crazy. We would boom up like one section on the end, and that was like like two houses worth of trusses, and that would take us like a week, and then we'd have to do a different section and then boom them up, and then we'd do the middle section, and then we had to sheet it, like it was just crazy how big this thing was. It was just massive. Like we had one of the biggest zoom booms that you could like have on a job site, like with the telehander, like it was it was a huge one, it would only reach up like halfway up the roof with sheets crazy for us to be able to supply what we needed for that, and it was all like three-quarter inch ply, like heavy stuff to like work with. It was ridiculous. So I walk into this guy's this guy's uh the the the site um office, and uh I'm like, dude, man, this poster is beautiful. It's like just beautiful scenery on this poster. I'm flipping through the photos, and he's like, Yeah, he's like, uh, you know where that is? And I'm like, I have no idea. He's like, oh, that's northern Ontario. I'm like, it was gorgeous, like the rivers and the like just the the forest trails and the different pictures. He's like, oh dude, if you want to see, like most people will never experience how beautiful Canada is because we just don't go explore. Yeah. And I feel like that's like Montana. Like, how many people are gonna stop and go, hey, I'm gonna go to Montana because I want to check out how beautiful the hikes are and how you know, if we actually knew, like it's pretty wild some of the some of the stuff that's just available right to us, but we just don't take that step to go say, wow, like this creation is absolutely gorgeous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

And not only that, but like the drive from here to there is is beautiful as well. Because you're gonna you can mean you you take it through the Canada way, which is like I think it actually works out to be in the shortest way, you're you're going through Alberta. You know what I mean? Like you're seeing kind of like cool stuff the whole way along. And then yeah, once you actually get to Montana, there's a lot of open like prairies and stuff. Like there's a lot of Is it the same mountain range?

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Like the rocky mountain range, like the whole, like down through that corridor.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Is that the same ones that are in Montana? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, and then but like you, you know, there's a lot of bit of like you know, there's some boring driving and stuff like that in Montana. But then when you hit the mountains, it's just like, yeah, it's stunning. So it's really cool. Oh, that's wild.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

All right. So yeah, so Montana Wilderness School of the Bible. Yeah, that's one year. You're there for a year. Okay, so you get done that and you come back home.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yeah, and didn't know what I wanted to do. Uh just kind of hung around in Cambridge again for a little bit and then uh decided I want to be a paramedic. Okay. Yeah. And so um I can't remember why, but it took me to Newfoundland. Yeah. So they got they have they they have a program out that way that's um take that takes on the same information as like what Ontario uh courses do, except it's just condensed. So it's the same information, same information. Um you have to have like a fairly high GPA to even stay in because if you start failing, you're just you're done. Right. And so um yeah, it was a condensed program and got through that and uh started working in Newfoundland. And um just I I kind of just missed Ontario to be honest. Uh Newfoundland's a beautiful place, but it just never felt like home, I suppose. And so uh they're they're they're they have ambulance services there, so private-owned ambulance services. Oh okay. And so I thought, you know, I would really like to work back in Ontario and I felt like you know, being home and I could grow there and all that kind of stuff. And so um, yeah, to not go into a crazy amount of detail of my experiences in Newfoundland, unless you want to hear about that, um came back to Ontario and kind of a little bit one thing led to another, and then I ended up doing what I what I do now. So yeah. So it just um my uncle was looking to retire who owned the business before me. This like what I do now. That's a fab shop, right? Yeah, so we make laundry carts. Right. And uh so he was looking to retire and yeah, I didn't have anything else going on other than you know, potentially um challenging the Ontario uh paramedic like uh test, like the equivalency test, right? And so yeah, instead of doing that, I thought, well, I'll just do this instead, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Okay, so you you go to you go to paramedic school, you're working as a paramedic, you come back to Cambridge. What was it with the conversation? Like your uncle approached you and like, hey man, like had you worked for him before? Have you done stuff with him before? Or was this just kind of random? Have you thought about this? Or did you just catch wind that he was looking to retire and you're like, oh, I could do that. Kind of like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah, and but it was my dad who just kind of said, Well, he's my dad's my accountant, uh, and was my uncle's accountant, so he kind of already knew that they were like, Dad, we're kind of just done. It'd been long enough. I think he'd own the business for like 40 years or something. And so and before him, you know, it's it the business has been around since the 60s. Oh, wow. And so, yeah, so he owned it for like about 40 years and just, you know, he was just done with it, um, understandably, because you know, it's it's stressful enough running your own business and stuff. So anyway, so my dad said, uh, would you be interested in that? So I worked I've worked there for a bit, and then um I guess it was 2015 that I officially kind of bought it, I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

So by laundry carts, you're not laundry hampers, not laundry baskets, you're talking about like the metal framed like carts that they would be in institutions that they would put the big um liner in that then would get filled with the clothing. So like your medical, you know, hampers is what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

You got it, exactly. So yeah, it um So they have to be welded, they have to be like Yeah. And so when we were in Peterborough, like we were one of the original ones who made like the style you would you could picture in, I don't know if you how many movies you've seen, but like if there's like a prison escape. Right. Right. And they toss the guy in there and they throw laundry on top and they wheel him out of the that those were that's the basically the the um the product that we used to make. And we made those in Peterborough um in the same shop since the 60s. And then uh sort of sorry, during COVID, I'm trying to get all my timeline right. During COVID, uh we had to leave. So um around this area there's you know like wise line tools. Right. So we uh rented from a company that was very similar to that, and they were growing and they needed our space. So we had about, I don't know, maybe like 6,000 square feet on the upper floor of this very old building, and they said, we'll just we have to take over the whole building. We're just growing too fast. So um it was a bit of a scramble. We I sent all my machines because we had um presses and welders and all that kind of stuff to bend and and um fabricate wire. And uh we sent them all kind of different places, right? Knowing like we're gonna have to need we're gonna need some help for a little while making these products. And then we just thought if we can find somewhere that's just big enough to bring things back in and just like final assembly and ship them from there, that's and then that's where we ended up that's what we ended up doing. So um we wanted to be kind of well, our main goal was beyond the other side of Toronto. So because my family's in like the Cambridge-ish area, going through Toronto's just it was getting to be a disaster.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And that even in 2015, it was it was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Yeah. And so yeah, and by the time Rosalind and I got married, Rosal's my wife, she would by the time uh we got married, it was uh um 2016. And so yeah, lots of back and forth. Well, you had a big pile of stuff going on at one time here.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Wasn't it? So when did you meet her? Because like, okay, so you come back from Newfoundland.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Okay. Have you already met her at this time?

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Um so yeah, for sure. I'm just trying to think. So technically, uh the first time I guess we sort of probably met was uh when we were born. So uh I was born uh July 15th uh 1990. Um and two days later she was born in the same hospital. So um our families knew each other very early on. Okay. And in Cambridge, like she went to the same uh church. And so we knew each other growing up. Oh okay, so childhood. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

And so then this is an Albert and Josie story. They've just known each other forever. It's just been for you know, Romeo and Juliet, although no, I'm just kidding. But like, okay, so you know each you took you went off. Have you guys like prior to you going to, you know, um Montana wilderness school of the Bible, and then coming home and then deciding paramedic and you're gonna what kind of like interact uh have you guys been like dating? Have you guys been like obviously, or did that not happen until you came back from New Brunswick?

SPEAKER_00 20:18

And I'll I'll have to give my dad credit. So when I came back from Newfoundland. Newfoundland. Um Yeah, so then we were we were dating. I took off to uh Peterborough while we were dating. And so it was my dad who said, Hey, um, what about Rosalind? What about her? I I know I knew Roslyn very, very, very well, right? Right. When we went to each other's birthday parties and everything, right? Right. And he's like, like, you know, to to date. And I'm like, okay. So I asked her on a date. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

You know those, you know those TV shows where they always play up the guy, it's not really like thinking, you know, like it's just you just knew her the whole time. It wasn't really like considered that way. Exactly. You just you you thought about her specifically in one way, and it wasn't until your dad was like, hey dude. Yeah, makes me sound so stupid. No, it doesn't. No, but like I I like I I get like having a compartmentalized view of of things. Yeah. Until somebody makes a suggestion to change that algorithm that you've predetermined in your head. You just had her as, you know, she was a friend. You grew up with her in church, you've known her your whole life. Like that was just that was that was that. It wasn't anything more until dad come along and go, Hey, what are you thinking? Yeah. Oh, that's not a bad idea, Dad.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

And it wasn't. And so, yeah, and it and it was and it was great. Like, I mean, we're we're best friends. So it uh from that first date, you know, we dated all the way through, like uh till we got married in 2016, and it's been it's been great ever since.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

So that's wild though, because you're you're coming back, you're moving away from being a paramedic, you're taking over uncle's business. You're now you have to figure out that business. You have to learn the machines. You have to learn how to do the like to make the the laundry carts. You have to like, you know, that's a big learning curve. And at the same time, taking over the business you're now taking on, you know, dating, um, you're gonna get married. And then the business starts to become, you know, it's gonna start moving to that stage where you need to move it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Yeah. That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. And so yeah. I mean, it's just it feels a bit like a whirlwind now, like looking back on it.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Um so what's set your direction towards Mount Samuel? Obviously, you need to move the equipment, the guys needed more space. They like, you know, you and you wanted to like move it this side towards the other side of Toronto. Yeah. And obviously, this is a lot farther than the other side of Toronto. Definitely. Although Toronto, now when you leave, it feels like it's like one blur from when you're pulling out of like the end of Mississauga along the 401, and then all of a sudden you're like Milton, and then it just feels like you're like Guelph and then your kitchen or Cambridge. It's like it's almost like a block with very few green spaces in between.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Like that. It's just like I get it. Get to the other side of that because soon it feels like that'll be completely filled in. But why like how did you end up here specifically?

SPEAKER_00 23:12

So yeah, when because it was just uh worrying about being on the other side of Toronto, uh, we weren't specific enough in kind of So did you have somebody searching for property for you? A little bit, yeah. We had a real estate agent and um we were looking as far north as not north, like but we were looking in Arthur. We found a place in Arthur, we found a place in Cortland, we were looking kind of Tilsonburg area, and because I think we were looking though that distance already, and we were already traveling those distances, we thought, you know, it's really only an hour to the Brantford area where Rosen's parents are, and at the time my parents were in Cambridge, a little bit longer. Yep. And so we didn't figure like that was we were used to the you know two and a half hours at best from Peterborough. Yeah. If not, you know, like I mean, I remember uh Thanksgiving. I think it took us like five hours. So I mean, you know, it's just ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Were you guys pre um were you guys doing that that run pre-407? Or did they just open it up and you guys were able to hit the 407?

SPEAKER_00 24:05

I remember, yeah, no, I remember when like since we had been there, the 407 was starting to get closer and closer. And then it eventually connected to the 115. Right? You got it.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

It was all the way up to the 115 because I know I I I roll that thing to go out to my my brother, my brother has a cottage up in the Bob Cajun area. Okay, nice in the Lindsay area with his wife. So like I you 407. Like Absolutely. My brother's like, Are you gonna take the 407? I'm like, dude, I'm not from your area. He's like, I hate everything because I don't pay the money. And I'm like, I I know you've got you've got grandma's like ability to pinch dollars and cents. I don't have the desire to want to experience Toronto that way. Yeah. I much prefer to have my hour of time that I'm not sure I'm gonna have if I take that road. So I'm gonna take the 407. Yeah. No. And once I get out past like most of Toronto, it's it's so nice going out to the 115. Like it's chill.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Like it the traffic just dies down and like it's not crazy anymore. But did you ever get to be able to do those trips when it connected?

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Yeah, nearing the end, it was it was connected and we did it. But I mean, for some reason we never got a transponder, and I think that was ridiculous. I mean, we should have had one. Uh so we just paid like the full thing. And I can't remember what it was. It was insane though. It was like oh it was like 70 bucks or something to do the whole thing to Milton, right? Yeah. So that's 115 at um what was it? Bowmanville is the word connected? I can't remember. Uh all the way down to Milton was was was pretty wild. So anyway. But yeah. Um so yeah. Uh so realtor. What's that? Realtor found something here. Yeah. And she said, you know, it's a little bit further and stuff. And we said if it's as long as the property works, like I mean, there's potential for growth and all that kind of stuff. That was what we were really aiming for. Like it was so hard to find something in our budget with a monster like shop or something like that. You know what I mean? Like space to actually so we knew um the biggest we were gonna get is probably a couple thousand square feet, and that's what we ended up with. And it's tight. But uh the business has changed. Um with just having other people make things, bringing them in. You know, it it works okay. Yeah. Uh the problem is now we're we're seeing some growth. And so yeah. Yeah, we're we're we're wondering what we can do.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Um, where you're at, is there like I know this is kind of a sidebar to the story, but um I thought they relaxed some of the property restrictions in terms of being able to expand your shop.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

And so we've kind of started the with we've started the process and we've gone one whole direction with one builder and um kind of met a bit of a dead end a little bit just for us financially at the time. And now we're kind of starting it up again because we've had just like, you know, it's just been we've had some more successful years, and so we will um see where that we'll see where we're at again with with Malahyde and uh yeah, see what see what we can do. But the goal, of course, is to just have a bit more space. Yeah. And uh I know some Malahyde people. I know they're really wanting businesses to succeed here.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

I know they're exactly I don't know why they wouldn't. You know what I mean? So anyway, yeah. Okay, so now we're in the the Mount Salem area, and you guys are um we're skip ahead of 2021-ish around there. And you guys are searching for churches and you guys started coming here um during COVID. I bet you that was a wild experience. Like it's I it's hard to remember back. Like it was so hard to connect with people.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Yeah. And so like I mean, we didn't come a ton during like the early years of of being here. Um So they were mass like they were mask gears, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:29

You guys you guys came in during masks, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:31

We were still probably going back to uh like Cambridge mostly for those mask gears. Yeah just because I mean, like I said, because we just really hadn't set ourselves up and established like we should have done that a lot earlier. But we we I think I came we came to one service here when when when masks were wild. It's crazy to think back. Now's the time, I think though, like it's been long enough for most people to really you can really start to reflect reflect, right? And I'm hoping so.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

There's still some hot people about it, but like there's some things that have like that are surfacing that you're kind of like, yeah, we knew. Yeah. I remember we had the discs around the microphones. Remember that, Trevor? The the little discs, because that way it was it was safe. Um, there's so much good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

There's so much good science. But anyway. Yeah, there was kind of some fun stuff too. Like uh just really quickly. So like I picked up uh disc golf during during COVID. And it's just it was one of those sports that people just like, what am I gonna do? And so you you know, they kind of started that for a time, they were closing golf courses. Yeah and so but I remember it was really funny because except one of the Tilsonberg Go ahead. Sorry. It's it's uh it's a walk in a park. Really what is what it is. And you know, can they stop you from playing catch? No. Well, I would I would argue catch would be worse because you're both touching the same disc golf. You're not so you're whipping it against a basket. So anyway, I remember when uh you know, I remember when at one point I went to a course and they had put garbage bags on the baskets. Really? And you just think like, you know, what what could possibly anybody do?

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Oh, there's so much. There's just I would love to have some people come in and let's do some dialogue on some conversations like that. I think it would be really healthy for the health industry for like to actually talk about that experience. I think it would do really good for them to have dialogue uh with people that aren't health providers to be able to kind of be like, hey, let's talk this through because there's been no talk. No. And I I think that's a mistake. I think there's so much ground that we could actually find in the middle. There's so much ground that we could actually get some understanding, which I think needs to happen because man, like the whole thing is built on trust. And right now there it's it's been eroded from some of the stuff that's just been left kind of like unsaid, un you know, let's let's go back and rehash some of the moments. I remember for us, our COVID experience, we were doing a lot of like uh the kids were young, obviously, um a lot younger, about half like you know, I think four or five, something like that. And uh, we were renovating the backyard. But one of the one of the cool things that we had was we had one of those uh, one of those like jeeps that the kids could ride in. Yeah. And with the remote control that went with it. You had the remote control. Yeah. So like you could the kill switch that was with the remote control was like perfect, especially when like like Jasper was driving and he wanted to like really go and you know he wasn't quite ready for what was that hit the kill switch to you know, keep him alive. But man, we went on walks that were like huge. That thing would that thing would last probably four to five kilometers of battery power. Like we could go like through uh probably almost half of Almer back to the house with the kids. And that really, it really helped. It got us out, it allowed us to have a little bit of that, like, you know, we're out fresh air, we're not like confined, we're feeling like it was a really like there's some really good stuff that that came from it in terms of like the relationship with the kids. I know for a little bit I ran a JK SK uh school in our basement because they had to do video schooling from the school system, and that was kind of like what we were doing for a while. So I got to be teachers to like like four like four of the kids, and I was it was hilarious. But it's such a like I go back, I still have some videos in my phone. I'm like, oh, that's when that was from. We were doing why do I have a picture of him holding his homework? Like oh, I was sending those pictures to the school teacher. It's so weird to know to think how do you forget? Right. Like it was such a crazy time. I know, and it's not long ago, but the brain is kind of like, let's go on to like, because that was a wild experience, right? Remember trying to figure out how do you open a plastic bag at a grocery store when you can't lick your fingers? Because your mask is on and you don't cough when you go to the grocery store, right? Like, you know, so you would I my little secret was I'd grab one of those uh disinfectant wipes as I walked in. I keep it in the shopping cart, yeah. And then I would you'd be able to grab it and then you could open up the little the bags. Because I mean, how do you put your peppers in the bag if you can't lick your anyway? So, all right, so here we are attending Mount Salem. Uh obviously now, I man, I understand you have uh an like a long background, uh attending church and you know, God trying to lead you, you have ministry background in your family. Um so now even attending Mount Salem, uh we're 2026, um towards the end of last year. Um we've we've wanted to try to um create pathways for people to onboard their faith experience. Yeah. Um and one of those pathways that we've we've we've been investigating over the years has been alpha. So can you give me a little bit of your history with alpha um leading up to you know January?

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Yeah, it would it would just be basically through uh my family, uh who my parents and um uh other members of my family getting involved with it. And then I to be honest, I wasn't I had I hadn't even done the program yet. Right. And so it was it was what it started for me was Albert and I were at the uh police college at swimming lessons.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

And we were sitting there in you know, on the uh you know you know where we sit. Yeah in the greenhouse. For people who don't know, I actually would come and it was the winter, so you're wearing like pants and a sweater, a jacket, whatever. I would I would bring a change of clothes as well. Because I would put shorts on. Oh, and I'd put a t-shirt on and I would that's because that's the only way I'd survive up there. It's so hot. It was so I don't even know what the what would the temperature have been.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Oh, it must have been like 35, 40. Like it was so hot. Some days it was just absolutely crazy. Yeah. And you'd see me get up and I'd be like, I I would I'd go outside. I'd have to take a walk outside. I thought you were smoking, but yeah. I'm sure the security guard did too. He's going outside for a puff. But I'm just like, I'd be out there with my jacket open and I'm like, all right, I can do this. And then I would wait and I would wait, and then I'd come back in, I look through the door, the time's almost up, and I'd go meet the kids in the change room because man, it was so hot.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Like I don't know how well I guess then they could just they don't have to heat the heat the pool, they heat the air. They heat the air. But the pool is froze free frigid. Oh, I think it's like I remember I went in when the kids were younger, and it was yeah, anyway. So uh Albert and I got talking. That was actually the first time we had a really good talk, which was was awesome. And I just told him I just said I want to get involved more involved. I had by that up to that point playing been playing drums and and I enjoy that. And um I do feel like that is like uh like a service, but I felt like I could do some more. And so he said, Well, how about social media? And I'm like, I don't have Facebook or Instagram or anything, so I'd be a terrible choice for that. And uh then he said, Well, you know what? Like, and I think he was either maybe he was just trying to think of something or I don't know how I don't know why he thought to offer alpha, but I said, sure, like if you want me to do it, then I'll give it my best shot. Um not gonna make any promises for you know a success or anything like that. But um, so I started doing lots more research. I had some people who have been doing it for and running it for many, many years, like 20 years. Yeah. Um met with them and you know, I went through the whole course and everything like that and made sure that um it made it it like made it made sense for me. Like uh anyway, so so we we ended up running the program.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

And uh so describe if for people who are tuning in, maybe you weren't here for alpha um or maybe you're wondering, maybe kind of have an idea of what alpha is or you've heard about it a little bit. If you were to describe it, uh coming into it, what would you say uh to those that are curious that alpha is?

SPEAKER_00 35:09

It would be like the it's just a low pressure, um uh open uh space, I suppose, to ask questions. And that was like my absolutely my my favorite part of it. It's like, you know, the videos are great. They're you know, because like the guy who runs his name is Nikki Gumble, he um has been running it since like I think like the late 80s. Yeah. And he uh has really turned the program around from what it was to what it is now, which is just uh people who are exploring faith and people who want to uh know more, people who are new Christians, whatever. And so like the people who definitely get the most out of it would be those type of people who just w have questions and they think like, who am I gonna ask these questions to um it's not always the right environment in a small group or Bible study to ask whatever you want, right? It could derail the whole group, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Well, yeah, unless it's a space that's dedicated to whatever questions. Yeah. Right? Like so I think yeah, okay. So I I I know um when I first came to Mount Salem uh 2016, I think it was 20, 2015, 2016. I know I I taught a uh a junior uh a junior youth class and we did uh the alpha course for youth in that class. And I I thought the material was great. Yeah. Like it's a great, like what you're saying, like the video provokes opportunity for you to have questions that you've wanted to get answers, and then the group then now can discuss some of what was said in the video or related to. Like they could be distant, but a lot of times you're kind of like, okay, what do you guys think of like what was just said? And like it's kind of almost like a preemptive leading to some of the questions that most people have about faith. Because all of us, at the end of the day, we're all coming back to the same kind of general questions. I know everybody's gonna say, well, mine are a little bit. No, at the end of the day, we all kind of have the same kind of questions, but we're gonna come at it from our own life experience and what what has been going on through our story that we're gonna ask questions about to kind of seek like the whys and the how and like you know, what where was God and like those kind of everything, all those kind of they're hard questions in many ways from the human experience to find good answers to. But to be able to have like a platform where you can say, nah, let's let's ask them, let's let's settle in on things that are not easy to answer. Yeah and let's and let's talk about it. And all of a sudden, wait a minute, we're gonna actually talk about. Yeah, we're gonna talk about it. You know, I and I think, you know, I don't know, personally speaking, I love the fact that sometimes you can sit there and go, man, I don't I don't really have a good answer for that.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Yep. And that's okay. And especially in like the the format for you.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

I don't I don't really have a good, I mean, I can give you a bunch of ideas, but man, I don't I don't know if the answer that I have actually will satisfy your question. Yeah. Because you might be saying a certain like sentence in your question, but what you're asking is something a little bit different than what the words are asking. Yeah. Right. So like there's that aspect to it too. So your experience with alpha, um, kind of can you give us a descriptor? Uh, how many weeks are they here? What is kind of like the general idea? Uh obviously, questions about faith, people seeking people general and like what we know today, like studies are saying people are more open to faith conversations than like what we've seen in a in a very long time, if not ever. Um, and that's that's a cool uh opportunity. Uh there's a window of opportunity that's here uh for those faith conversations to happen. So if you were to give us some description, Alpha, what what what do what are people looking at in terms of like, hey, what's the commitment? What's the what what what do you do? Okay, so there's a video, there's people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

What else can you so I mean just to maybe quickly run through um the format of what what takes place is that uh the doors are open, I guess, at 6.30. And I think moving forward it'll probably run the same way, because it did run really well that way. Um we can everybody can kind of mingle, we put out some food, all kinds of stuff like that. But like I mean, this time around, um it was more just like coffee and kind of like snacky stuff. But you know, there's the potential of even um doing like a a meal, right? Because that's what actually they recommend when you go through the course material of like being a leader and running one, is that a lot of in a lot of cases when it's in someone's home, you know it's easier to actually do something like that. And food brings people together. Right. And everybody knows that. Um seven o'clock is we usually when we would start the video. Um some people like to come early, some people come right at seven. They know the videos, like I was trying to be like kind of right on the ball with that. And the videos are great because they are not cheesy. Um and actually, just as a side thing is that um they're releasing, they've um they're uh making and I think they're releasing a whole new video series um sometime next year.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Yeah, so they've been really good at modernizing the videos so that they stay within the cultural context of the group that's now coming through them. Like they're trying really hard to stay up to date. So yeah, as most people of faith would know, there's there's time lags sometimes that happen with absolutely when when we watch videos. So we could be we could be watching something from the 70s and the the content can be phenomenal, but the fact that it's from the 70s can be a roadblock to people watching. They're like, why are we watching something from the 70s? Like that's weird. So like I think it's really fantastic that they're modernizing the videos and making them really like up to date, and like I think that's really cool because then then it's speaking to now.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

Yeah. So okay, so videos. Yeah. So the videos are, like I said, they're not cheesy. Like they were actually filmed probably, I think they're filmed like almost 10 years ago now, but they feel very modern, very like applicable. Um there's different parts to the videos, but they all kind of follow the same sort of format. The beginning starts with some kind of on the street, like uh um quick little interviews. And they ask the question or they pose it on the kind of the video and then they ask these people in the street, and it's really interesting to see all the different types of answers. And then he jumps into, you know, kind of like some lessons to to do with whatever that week's topic is and some kind of some thoughts, and then they usually do like some sort of interview with um um some pretty powerful stories. Right. And so, but the some of the stories, some of them are not very relatable because they have some pretty wild stories, you know, to do to do with people who have you know spent like there's one guy who spent almost his entire life in prison. Uh but like I said, so like um some powerful stories to really kind of get you thinking. And uh but they're anyway. So the videos are about half an hour long, and then after that, you take a little break, get some more food, and then uh we just chat. And so it really does feel like it's just that simple. Um the groups that we had were, you know, we tried to have about two tables worth of people. Um, someone who was kind of the leader for that group. Really, it's not a formal thing at all. They're typically what all we ever actually got to ask, you know, if you were leading a group, was what'd you guys think of the video? And that's as far as it got before the the conversation just went its own way. Right. If you know what I mean. So there's lots of questions that are outlined in the kind of the course material, but never we never got to those questions because it's just, you know, once people got comfortable uh after a few weeks went by and people kind of got to know each other a little bit better. And I know a lot of people that that came to the program already knew each other, but it's different when you can be open and um trust that um you can say what you can say what you want without judgment. Yeah, right, which is a huge thing. Yeah. Um and that's an unusual thing. Yeah, for sure. And so like that was like I I really kind of tried to drill that home early on, especially. What you're gonna say here is judgment free. We're not gonna repeat it anywhere else. I won't repeat it now, we'll never say it, won't even say it to my wife, whatever. Like these stories um that people shared are great in the way that it you say one thing, you're open, but now everyone else feels like they can be open. Right. And it was like there was actually a moment a few weeks in where it shifted, where people just really started to feel comfortable with each other. And the yeah, and so the um the conversation uh just guides itself because of that, if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Yeah, I think it's a beautiful thing because uh and that's something that we have long tried to do in the office. We we have a joke that you know, in the office it's like Switzerland, it's like the United Nations. You can say whatever you want. Okay, like it's a free free zone to say things. And it won't Be held against you as your final thought.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Because we have thoughts that, like, well, what about this? Well, it can, it can sound like, oh, well, what are you talking about? That's like you're you're you're unhinged in what you're thinking. No, no, like, but what about this perspective of this specific thing? Like, can you can you answer that? Like, how how but if you don't say it, then you don't get to hear it come out of your mouth, which can be very like good for you to hear. Yeah. And you don't get to see people's reactions, and you don't give them a chance to speak to that response, or learn how to frame it in a way that can actually continue the conversation without it being something that it like takes it away from what you were looking for. Like when you say a certain like perspective, you're like, no, no, I'm not talking about that. Like the defensive response that comes, or like the argument that's like the normal argument for that. No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about what about like this? And you can, oh, like it now you can understand. But if you don't have that trust to be able to like provoke that conversation to get that ball rolling, where everybody's kind of like giving you room to explain yourself, yeah, or room to like further develop what your statement was supposed to like be leading to because you have an honest question about something that you're wondering, how come? Yeah, you know, having that space is so rewarding. Yeah. Because we don't have that today. Like it's very rare. Like to be able to dialogue with people and be able to say, no, what do you really mean by what you're saying there? Because I would take it this way, and some people would take it that way, but I don't think that's what you're saying. And you're like, no, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, oh, so, but in unless we can like dig down and like go back and forth and really kind of like connect. Yep. I and I and I I think that's a really cool thing that there's that space for that to happen. For sure. Especially around this thing of faith. Yeah. And I I think that's a that's a beautiful thing. I know I was here for one night and I thought it was, I thought the conversation was just unbelievably rich. Like I just like, man, this is really good conversation, like really connective, like and like from many people that were present. Like it's just like everybody was like adding, like it was like, wow, this is really good.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Yeah. And it did help that there was some very wise people who she would show up week after week and really help help like, you know, uh drive the conversation along and everything like that. But still, everybody's opinions mattered. And so, like you said, with with um listening to s something somebody says, and you know, they get to they get to hear themselves say it and you get to respond. It's just it's a really it's a really cool thing.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Yeah, especially if somebody's had this on them for like 10, 12 years and they've needed to ask. Now they've been able to ask it, they might never ask that ever again. But they've finally been able to say it. Yeah. Man, that that's there's some healing that can happen there too for people in their lives. Like that's a that's a beautiful thing. All right. So Alpha moving forward, run through the whole thing, wrapped it up, completed it. All right. So what would you say like moving forward? Um what where do you think like um you'd like to see Alpha, you know, settle? Um, what would be your thoughts? I I I thought the experience from what I've heard from everybody was it was it it did really well running through for the first time with a group that was there. There was a lot of learning, there's a lot of growing, there was a lot of connection. And I think that's part of it. Like if we were to stack this as a church, as a church, we would be like, there's a lot of good potential for like an a group of people from alpha to end up as a small group to continue those conversations moving forward. Um would you see that as like a likely outcome from some of the alpha? Um you know, what what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 47:41

Yeah. So I um have I had my own opinions about what I thought it could do. And but I tend to overthink things. Yeah. So anyway. Yeah, Trevor knows about that. Um doesn't it doesn't take long to figure out that I, to a fault, can overthink things. And so I didn't know which direction to take it. And I wanted uh an opinion. So me and Albert were meeting once in a while, and so I said, What do you think um is best for? And he says, I don't know, it's up to you. And so I said, Okay, now I gotta figure something out. And like it's not like he doesn't have his own opinions and things like that, but there is just the he just, you know, it's you guys have said it's you there's the potential of having it at the church. You can do it with the small groups, all that kind of stuff. I th it does feel like after praying about it, it does feel definitely like it's a great small group thing. Uh um, and especially with the vision that the church has these days uh as a stepping stone, or um you know what I mean, like it's just it can just be that program that now I think one of the coolest parts is that uh we had some you know people come through with in the program uh who are now basically trained to lead it. Right. And so that was one of the best things that came out of the program is that knowing that I looked around the at the table, both tables one night, and thought every single one of these people could lead one of these groups now. Because it doesn't take a scholar. It doesn't take uh someone who you know, um it just takes a real person. You know what I mean? Right. Like it takes someone, any anybody could do it, it w and then going through the program is pretty much everything you need to be able to um uh uh just understand how the conversation conversation is supposed to flow. Right. And as long as you can, like for for leading a group, as long as you can you know hear what people have to say, not necessarily correct them on it. Right. You know what I mean? Like sometimes there's certain things that just like facts about life could maybe use them correction, but for the most part, if it's an opinion, it's like thank you very much for sharing that. We really, really appreciate that. We'll think about that going forward through this week. And I did every week, and I know many other people did, of course. Uh and it just like yeah, to just to know that other people have the same kind of thoughts as you as well, right? Uh and so anyway, so um we're well equipped at this point. Um I've got a WhatsApp group for everyone who's been coming. Okay, cool. Uh we're well equipped to go forward and um put alpha into small groups easily for sure. And you know, we have the leaders and we have people who are passionate about it now to go forward with it. Yeah. Super cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

Well, Sean, I want to say thank you for coming on to share your story uh and to man, there's there's a lot of stuff we could drill down into uh with you know how God has led you, which is I think really cool. Uh thank you for uh serving in our church community for what you and your family do. Thank you so much and appreciate you joining the podcast today to share a little bit about your life, your family, and Alpha. Thanks so much. Yeah, thanks for having me. Looking forward to seeing you guys soon. Thanks for tuning in.