Avodah Talk w/ Matt Walton
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Avodah Talk w/ Matt Walton
Rebuilding Life After Incarceration: Taylor Wadkins' Journey
Finding redemption after incarceration might seem impossible, but Taylor Wadkins proves transformation is within reach for anyone willing to embrace change. Growing up in a broken home with an abusive father created a foundation of struggle that followed Taylor into adulthood, eventually landing him in jail. What happened next reveals the extraordinary power of second chances.
Taylor's journey illuminates the critical components of lasting change: family support that returned when he needed it most, structured programs like Hope for Prisoners that provided initial guidance, and finding someone who believed in his potential – both personally and professionally. His wife became a catalyst for setting and achieving goals, while his employer offered not just a job, but mentorship that extended beyond working hours.
The most profound shift occurred when Taylor surrendered his life to God during a company Serve Day. This spiritual foundation helped him navigate subsequent challenges without reverting to destructive patterns. What makes Taylor's story particularly compelling is his revelation about happiness: despite previously making "hundreds of thousands of dollars" selling drugs, he's found genuine contentment in his current life built on faith, family, and purpose.
Taylor's transformation extends beyond personal change – it's creating ripple effects through generations. His improved relationships with parents, siblings, nephews, and nieces demonstrate how one person's growth can heal family systems. His approach to fatherhood, with a baby on the way, shows his commitment to breaking generational cycles of trauma and absence.
For anyone struggling to find their way after incarceration or battling addiction, Taylor offers practical wisdom: find motivation in something positive, seek supportive mentors who elevate your thinking, and remember that your past doesn't define your future. His story stands as powerful proof that with faith, discipline, and the right support system, complete transformation is possible.
What's up, guys? This is Matt with Avoda Talk, or the Real Matt Walton. This is your hub for all things Kingdom business business as ministry business strategy. My goal is to provide as much value, minute by minute, each podcast that you listen to, so let's get to it. So, what's up, guys? This is Matt Walton with Avoda Talk, or at the Real Matt Walton, depending on how you found me. And today I am super, super excited because we're interviewing Taylor Watkins today and he is one of my guys that been able to watch grow substantially in a short period of time.
Speaker 1:And so when I first met Taylor, Taylor was just getting out. He was on probation and just really going through the transition and looking for somewhere that he could grow and and so so we ended up in and hired him through a program out here. Actually, you weren't a part of the of Hope for Prisoners at that time. You know I was, you were OK, so it was that that was how we had found about you was was through Hope for Prisoners and did an interview with him and man, just just, I think you guys are going to see why I ended up hiring him today.
Speaker 1:But it's just his heart, his desire, he's got leadership capabilities. He is a leader and he's made tremendous growth. He's come through really, really the trenches and the gutter and he's elevated to a point now to where he's a leader and we're really working with him to become one of our main leaders back there in the shop. And so, without further ado, welcome Taylor. So I know I introduced you, but if you want to just introduce yourself and give people just a brief summary of kind of who you used to be and who you were whenever I first met you, All right, so my name is Taylor Watkins.
Speaker 2:I come from a little bit of a rough background. You know my family was broken a little bit. Dad was abusive just back and forth between mom and dad, you know. So I struggled as a kid and that kind of carried over into my adult life, just made some really bad decisions. So yeah, cool and.
Speaker 1:I think that what's awesome is what y'all are about to hear is is, again, that was who Taylor was, and I really want to get into like, why, what changed? You know, and specifically from the aspect of like this job, how this job has helped kind of catalyst you into, you know, that new Taylor that we get to see and live with every day.
Speaker 2:So before, I went to jail in August. I got out in October. I fought my case for six and a half months and mentally nothing changed at all within that time. You know, I was, and I it did to a certain extent, but it wasn't like I was at my full capability, you know I I still felt like I was lost, you know. But my, my family came back around. My mom and dad weren't talking to me before I went to jail. I went to jail, I fought my case. They were supportive the whole time. It motivated me, it pushed me to continue to try to do better.
Speaker 2:You know, obviously I was on house arrest. I couldn't do much, so I was still under the law. But when I got out, that support continued, it didn't stop and I was still kind of involved with. You know, I was involved with a girl I shouldn't have been with. So instantly I dropped that and I started making decisions to better my life for the long haul. You know, the support continued. I kind of took it upon myself to go to Hope for Prisoners and when I did that I saw life a little different, you know. I saw that there was actually hope and that I had, you know, a future ahead of myself and thank goodness to the program that they helped put that first stepping stone down for me. You know, after that it was all up to me. So I just I rocked and rolled with the program, you know, and I continued to get that support from my mom and dad and it just boosted me into a whole nother altitude, you know.
Speaker 1:And it just boosted me into a whole nother altitude, you know. That's awesome. And I want to highlight, too, the you mentioned not talking to your family, you know, or them not talking with you, and also that goes to like your other family as well, outside of your parents, yeah, and because I know there's a lot of people out there that are in that right now, you know. And so now, how has that changed?
Speaker 2:Man, I have nephews and nieces are back in my life, my brothers and sisters. It's truly a blessing, you know, because it went full, it went a whole 180. Everything changed. You know, it took some time, don't get me wrong. It took a lot of time. It took time for me to realize that I have to let God work his magic, you know, because he's going to make sure that it happens. But I had to be patient. I had to reassure my mom. Just be patient, let's just, you know, and I let it be God's will. And sure enough, you know, actually, just a month ago about, I'm back in my nephews and nieces lives, my sister's talking to me again, I'm back at the family functions. You know it, man, it's beautiful, that's awesome, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so now we'll kind of go back just a little bit, cause some of the things that I've noticed within you is like just your consistency on some things, because there's so many people that were born, that were born leaders or born with leadership capabilities, but, like we, we have the tendency to use it for for the wrong things and the wrong things, and I was certainly one of those.
Speaker 1:But I feel like from the very first time that you were hired here, the first couple of months, you know, there was, it wasn't like it was bad, but there were some things that were, you know, a little amiss. We had some just a few challenges, but for me, I welcome those things because, especially whenever I can see it in somebody that they've got something special inside of them. You know, it's just a matter of tapping into that. So, and that, without a doubt, is you, and I don't even think we even begin to scratch the surface with you. I think we're just kind of just getting there and it's so awesome. So what were some of those things that you were battling at the beginning and what was that thing?
Speaker 2:that kind of happened inside of you that changed, that ultimately led you to last December, whenever you made one of the biggest decisions of your life. You know and I hope this doesn't sound silly but I met somebody that motivated me to be the best version of myself. And, you know, at first we had ups and downs, you know, but my wife has motivated me to be the best version of me that I could possibly be. I was already there, I was already striving for that, you know. But she came into my life and I told her what my goals were. I hadn't even interviewed here yet, I was still working at the call center, like I was, I think, two weeks out of jail, you know, like I was still. I was still trying to acclimate to what was going on around me. And I told her what my goals were.
Speaker 2:And I kid you, not every single goal that I told her I completed within a year, so that that woman has pushed me to to a whole nother level. You know, I saw a life with her and we got married and I just, I don't know. I mean, I do it for me, you know, but I do it for her and for my family too, you know, because I want to have a firm ground. You know because you know I will be having a baby next January or this January coming up. So I just want to be the best version of me for my family. You know, for me, for my family, for my wife, for my nephews and nieces. You know I want, I want to be looked up to. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:You know I want, I want to be looked up to. That's awesome. So so now and you're living that on a daily basis, I get to see that and am always encouraged by that. So I just want you to know that, like I'm constantly motivated by you and the fact that you show up and you continue to get better, it's awesome to see. I appreciate it. So now I would say, for me, when I started to really notice a lot of the growth was whenever you got put through the fire post-December, whenever we were on a serve day and you're already trajectoring up right, you're already climbing that ladder and doing some big things, but then that really was the catalyst to like launch you forward. So what happened?
Speaker 2:Well, for 26 years, 27 years, I lived life without really knowing God right, Really just without the Lord in my life at all. Yeah, we went and did Serve Day and I surrendered my life and, you know, we had those guys prayed over me, you, donovan, aaron and yeah, don't get me wrong, a week after that man, you know, some turmoil hit my life for sure and I feel like without God in my life during that time, I probably would have reverted back to my old ways, you know. But because I was, I had surrendered and I had really redirected my life again, it definitely impacted me the way I was going, you know, because I felt like I mean, that was a pretty tough, tough situation to deal with, right? So we, we, we live and we learn, and I put all my faith into God and I let him take care of it and the support that I had to help me stay grounded, it pushed me. And then I continued to dive into the Bible and I continued to go to church.
Speaker 2:And what's crazy is I was, I was going to church before that For about a year. I've been, you know, two years now, but a year before I gave my life to the Lord, I was going to church, but I don't think I understood. I never understood, I never really fully wanted to put my heart into that and as soon as I did, my life changed again, you know, and burdens and things that I would stress about began to be relieved and, you know, taken away from me, and that definitely helped, you know, move me forward. Just that, that extra step. It's awesome, man.
Speaker 1:And it's really cool to see too. Yeah, because whenever, when you, when we started talking and I don't know if you remember, but at the very end of that I was like, hey, whenever you're ready, you know, and you're like man, I'm ready, like right now. Yeah, and you know, and you're like man.
Speaker 2:I'm, I'm, I'm ready.
Speaker 1:Like right now, and you know what, what happened?
Speaker 1:What I always tell people when they're giving their life to the Lord is is, you know, nowhere in scriptures to talk about things getting easy.
Speaker 1:You know, and in fact we see a lot, a lot of things get more difficult, but just like Christ, with the joy that was set before him to to conquer death and sin and to be seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. You know, it's kind of like our perspective of things. You know, we try to look at things as Jesus does. We go through some very difficult times, him being our cornerstone in those times, whenever we get to the position of where you were in, and then we come out of the other side victorious and stronger because we allowed for God to take us through that and to bring us through that and to refine us and sanctify us through that whole entire process and it's so beautiful. And so, before we get into kind of getting to the latter part of your story, I want to ask how has you know coming here with all the structure and kind of the disciplines and some of the demands here to consistently elevate your game? How has that impacted your life? Serve days, prayers, leadership meetings, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, shout out to the prayer calls on Mondays, because I think that kind of helped me having more of a personal talk about God right with a group of guys, instead of a church or something that you're still kind of unclear about. It doesn't. It doesn't impact you like it does when you're with a group of guys that you're comfortable with. You know what I mean and that's what helped push me to that surrendering my life. You know, coming to work every day and the motivation behind.
Speaker 2:We got a blueprint right here that has kind of funky writing on it. We can't really read it, but we got to figure it out, you know, like the job demanded that I figure it out, you know. So, with coming to work and having challenges like that, it helps my family life, you know. It helps me be a better husband at home, because now I'm thinking about the next step. You know I go home and I clean the dishes or I'm cooking. I'm probably going to wash this pan right now so I don't got to do it later. You know it just kind of it's a, it's a foundation, you know, and it's, it's continued to get stronger because of this place, you know.
Speaker 1:So very grateful no-transcript, just some friction with a few different things. And I remember I pulled you into the office and you were like I am not used I don't remember your exact words, you may remember it better than I do, but I am not used to a boss like having these kind of conversations with, like, the owner of a company. And and I don't remember my exact response, but it was something along the lines of like yeah, it's just the way that we operate, man, because I care so much about you, the individual, and I want to see you thrive, even if that means like we may have a little bit of friction right now, but for the better for the better good. So just speak on that for a minute.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we, we got, we got. We bumped heads. I think it was like my second month here and I felt like I was doing good and I had other other expectations and I wasn't. I wasn't meeting those expectations and in my head I thought I was doing great, you know, but we, we bumped heads on that and I'm I'm actually, I am grateful for that, you know clash that we had for a second, because I think it definitely built our relationship a little bit. It made me not afraid to speak my mind.
Speaker 2:So if I have something I feel like is necessary to say, I'm gonna say it, you know. So, you know, I man, so it's, it was, it was period, right, and it passed and we got past it and I'm I'm grateful that you know we were able to get past it and you know I'm grateful that you put time into to my life. You know I clock out and you're still invested in in me and that that means the world to me. You know, because I am taking the things that we talk about with that hour after work and I take them home and I, you know, talk to my wife about them. I talk to my mom and dad about them, you know, and it's it's changing a lot of things.
Speaker 2:You know, the way I treat my wife impacts my, my mom and dad, you know. So everything that I'm carrying from here to the home is impacting my whole family. It really is because I I, because my mom told me this, she says, taylor because of the way you treat Jessica, it's helped your dad fix some of the things that he knows that he's doing wrong, right, or that he can improve on, and it's making their relationship better. So that right, there is a blessing, because I love my mom and dad With all my heart. Those are my best friends. So I'm super, I'm super grateful that the things that we, we talk about and we we has such an impact that is now really impacting my family. It's awesome, man.
Speaker 1:It's uh, it's really cool to see because he's not just using words, he's not just talking Um, I get to see this lived out on a day-to-day basis, and so it's really really cool out on a day-to-day basis, and so it's really really cool. Taylor's one that has taken the possibility of this life and really ran with it, and I think the ceiling has started to be peeled back a little bit now. I think that you're starting to really understand and see things the way that I see you and really it's the way that the Lord I believe that Jesus sees you and your capabilities and what you have the ability to do. You know, and we so many times, we have a natural ability, but we refuse to do all the steps in between that natural ability and the final result in order to get better along the way. So, so many people, it's easy for us to stay disciplined during the eight hours while we're at the shop, but as soon as we leave, we lose all of that and it comes unraveled to where we find ourselves climbing this uphill battle on a day-to-day basis. Because we climbed up it, we reached it during the day, we stayed disciplined and then we fell back down in the evening time, and it's not to say that that doesn't happen every now and again, right.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're human beings, we're always trying to get better and we sometimes we slip up a little bit, but I don't even have to know everything that you do Like.
Speaker 1:You're doing all of those things and so it's awesome. You know we, when we meet, there's always a little bit of homework involved and you always come back with with hey of prison or maybe they've been out for a while and they're struggling to find their footing or maybe they're, you know, running, going through you know, some challenging times. Your story is inspirational because it's like man, I can go through all of this being locked up, being struggling with addiction, fighting cases. You know stuff with family and still come out on top and still and still lead people. But the one of the best things that you best decisions that you made was what happened in December and surrendering your life to the Lord, because then that's the foundation for literally everything that that you have going on and will have going on. What is? Just a couple more things I want to talk about, like looking ahead, what are you specifically working on now that you hadn't been working on in the past. That's going to put you where you believe that you can be in life.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm working on being a dad, right, so that definitely is going to push me to a whole nother level. I already know, you know, and you know, just staying grounded, knowing what I want, you know, which is I have a great life right now and I do want to touch on this for a second. Before I made. I made hundreds of thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars, right from the age of 18 till I went to jail, and I have never been more happy in my life than right now. And I don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars, you know, but I'm more happy right now and more content and at peace than I've ever been in my entire life, you know, and I'm super, super, super thankful that God gave me a second chance you know, because I was definitely headed in the wrong direction.
Speaker 2:You know, my mom told me that she thought I was going to end up dead or in jail, and I'm grateful I ended up in jail, you know, but that was my second chance right there. It's just motivated me to really push forward and understand that there's more to life than selling drugs.
Speaker 1:So, on that note, how would you? Because there's kids right now, men, right now, women that are just getting out, and maybe they've been out for a little while and they're really struggling, you know what do you say to them man, press into the Bible Press, into the Bible press, into the Bible press, into prayer.
Speaker 2:And if that, if that's not your forte, always remember that things can be worse, right Cause they can be worse than than what you're feeling at that time. Find something that you love to do and press into that and and explore that and try to find some motivation in your life to keep you going, not to fall back, not to fall short, just to keep going ahead and you'll find the light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 1:Awesome man. My encouragement on the backside of that is man, if you find somebody it doesn't always work out like this, but if somebody believes in you, wants to mentor, disciple you and come alongside you, your response should be let me do everything that I can or that is asked of me so that I can continue going to those next levels. And obviously that individual that does that needs to have what you want, you know, or some version of what you want, because it's hard to follow behind somebody that doesn't. So maybe you have to find somebody or maybe that person will find you, but do it. Do what they ask, you know. Do what they ask, do the advice that they give you, because if you can find that right person or maybe they found you they really that really cares about you as a human being.
Speaker 1:You get cheat codes in there that will like launch you into a whole nother dimension of life, and Taylor's done that. So I'm not like telling Taylor what to do here. Taylor does that. I mean we talk pretty consistently, you know, but for sure you know every three weeks and there's always advice that's given to you, always, always, even the next day. You know it's like that one day we were talking about budgeting and you came back the next day like, yeah, I went home and told my family all this kind of stuff like put that in motion, so that right, there is awesome. And that's what sets you apart, because so many people, you know they fall into an opportunity. Maybe they're living in an answered prayer, but because they refuse to continue to go to the next level, they stay stuck at some things and that's not you. Encouragement, man this is kind of a doubling up on the last question I asked you, but just some encouragement. What final thoughts I guess I would sum it up with.
Speaker 2:You know I would just say just find motivation in something. Just find motivation in something and continue to look for support from somebody, whether that is a mentor or, you know, a pastor or just somebody that can help elevate your thinking, so that you don't fall back into the old lifestyle that you're trying to get away from Love that man.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Well, cool. We're going to do a part two of this, absolutely. We're going to get in a little bit deeper on some things. Really, I think people need to hear your story. I want to know more about you and more about your story as well, so we'll definitely do a part two. But if y'all got any value out of this, please like, share, subscribe, download it If you're on podcast and comment FYP. If you're on Instagram or TikTok, this will help curate your feed. And please again comment, like, download whatever it is if this has made an impact in your life, because we're going to keep doing this. But thank you, taylor. Thank you, sir man. I'm encouraged by you. Tune.