Podcast Sunday with Antoine Destin

Join us as we talk with Mercy Vineyard board member Antoine Destin. We dive deeper into his testimony and walk with Jesus as he shares his story with our live studio audience of Mercy Middle & High school students. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Yo, welcome and thank you for tuning in to Murphy Podcast Sunday. Mursty Youth is all about connecting with God and connecting with others. Our goal is to provide students with community and stories and testimonies that they can identify with and hope that these testimonies will resonate with us. We believe that sharing our personal stories of faith is a powerful way to present the gospel, encouraging self-reflection, and the sense of shared faith. Well, tune in this week as we talk to board member Antoine Destin. The Holy Spirit is always dealing with Antoine in different ways, so I'm happy to have you here. It's just been an honor. Antoine has been one that has stuck by me since I've gotten to Mercy and has assisted with so many parts of youth ministry, has spoken a plethora of times, has helped me on outside ministry projects, has given me thoughts, ideas, wisdom, uh information about mercy and everything. And so, Antoine, man, thank you for doing this and for saying yes again to podcasting. My pleasure. I don't remember what I said the first time anyway. So it's a brand new interview, exactly. It's a brand new interview. Exactly. So awesome. Awesome. Well, we're gonna get it kicked off. So the first question I have for you, Antoine, is about your your background and your journey. Okay, so share a bit about like your background and your upbringing and how you found your path to following Jesus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

So I'm an actually uh East Coast kid, I'm not from the Midwest. I was born in New Jersey, uh, went to elementary and middle school in Virginia and then back to New Jersey for high school. Okay. And um I'm blessed because my house was always about Jesus. Uh I grew up as a kind of a PK. Anyone know what a PK is? Um so my grandfather was a pastor, and my grandparents, along with my mother, uh raised me primarily. And so we were in church all the time. So the word Jesus is something that has just always been. And um, but that doesn't mean that I've always had the relationship that I have with him today. Yeah. Because when you're a kid, at least for me, uh oftentimes your faith journey is through your parents, right? And it wasn't until I became a young adult and until I really began to have a personal relationship with Jesus outside of my grandparents and my mother.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Yeah. So you know, it's really interesting, Antoine, that you bring that up because, like you, um, I was also, I guess, considered a PK. Uh, my mom was a youth pastor, believe it or not. And I incoherently followed in her footsteps without trying to. Right. But it just like it was like just one of those things. Um, and so I just remember myself growing up as a kid in church, especially as a PK. Uh, there were certain things that was expected of me because I was a PK, which added these like extra pressures about like uh faith being more performative. And sometimes that can draw you away from faith instead of actually drawing you deeper into it.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Have you ever experienced moments like that? It's feeling feeling like, oh, this has to be something I'm performing and not just who I am? That's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

I I would say I didn't feel that pressure necessarily, but would I I went through a spell where I just didn't go to church because I was in church all the time as a kid, and it was like once I got out of the house, I had this freedom, like, I don't have to go to church.

unknown 3:41

Right?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

So don't follow my example. Right. So, but there was this spell between I think when I graduated high school and went to college. Yeah, it was the college years. I call it the dry season. Yeah. When I was not going to church on a regular basis. Gotcha. Gotcha. Um, and Sundays just became a regular day. It wasn't a worship-filled day, a day that I looked forward to. It just became another day, and that's not good. That was dangerous. Yeah. Um, and so thankfully, uh, after college, uh started my career, and it then really began the idea of getting serious about my walk and my faith. But I tell you, what really got me going in in terms of following the Lord and being intentional about my faith journey was meeting my wife and then having children. Yeah. Met my wife, and I'm thinking, like, all right, I need to, I need to do better.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Right. And then as a father, I'm like, I have two boys. Yeah, I want my children to know their heavenly father. Come on. But they gotta know their earthly father follows the heavenly father. Right. Right? So there's a connection there. Yeah, man. And I felt that pull that, you know, I need to, I need to stop taking my faith journey for granted. Yeah, man. I need to be serious. Yeah. And I want to pour into my wife and pour into my children, and I can't pour from an empty cup. Amen. That's a whole word right there.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah. I can I back you up just a little bit because we talked about your college years. Yeah. And you use a phrase, you use uh uh dry seasons, yeah, right. Um I whenever I think about being in the grace of God, right? I think about the the waters of life overflowing into, you know, his the overflowing into every area of our lives, right? Where you feel this fullness. It's this, it's a fullness that you get when you're walking with God. When you're out in the world in the dry season, if you will, you feel like you're in a desert, right? Where you're trying to find water in every pocket or area. And sometimes when you're in a desert, you can see things that are like called a mirage, right? And a mirage is like you see something and you think it's gonna be really good and it's gonna fill you up and it's gonna satisfy you, it's gonna quench your thirst, it's gonna make sure, it's gonna, you know, give you all of these things that you want and need to survive and to live and to thrive, but that is it's a mirage. And and I feel like the world is like that. Can you talk about a time where you thought something was going to fill you up in that dry season and it was a mirage?

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah, that dry season I don't like to think about very much because it wasn't fruitful. When you think about fruit, um, you think about moisture, you think about uh fulfillment, and that season of my life was not that. But God is still still faithful, like he still was blessing me throughout that dry season, drawing me towards him and calling me. It just took me a while to answer. Yeah, yeah. So when I think about uh the mirage that you're that you're referring to, um I can't say I had a specific moment like that because of I was rooted and grounded in faith. Amen. And so it's not like I didn't know, right? I was choosing not to, right? So it wasn't a lack of understanding or knowledge, it was a lack of obedience on my part. Yeah, it was being disobedient to what I know I needed, yeah, but I was refuting it at the time. So I honestly I can't think of a of a mirage moment, but I will tell you, I was instead of instead of um going to church on Sundays, I was um chilling at home, watching sports, um getting ready for school week, work week, things of that nature. So it was just it was a uh a lazy, wasteful season, I would say. Although, even in those seasons, like when I when I think back, like God is always preparing you for what's next. True. And I didn't know that, but because of my dry season, now I can speak to it and encourage people not to follow that path. Amen. Right? And I can speak to it from experience, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Right, amen. Um I'm gonna go back to education and faith. So how is your um education how did your educational experience shape your faith and how you look at community service? Because you're serving in a lot of areas of church, right? You're on the board, you're serving in youth, and you do extra things around here. So, how has that like shaped how you see church and community? How's your education?

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Yeah. Um, so my grandfather was uh again, he was a pastor, um, a man of few words, unless you were talking about two things that was Jesus or sports. Then he could talk, talk a lot. And so it was his modeling, it's the things that he did that inspired me. I saw what he did and how he served and he served and he served, yeah, and he served with joy, and he he just he was just a blessing to other people, yeah. And that model, without him say ever saying it, yeah, that I didn't know it at the time, uh-huh, but that shaped a lot about who I am today because I love to serve. It's a blessing to serve. It is, right? And so, and it's it's not about you, the individual, it's about the it's about others. This it goes to the the second greatest commandment. Amen. It is love your neighbors as yourself, right? And so I try to do that as best I can, even though I'm not, I don't do it perfectly. Yeah, but it's it's my goal and it's my heart to be a blessing to others. If I see a need, even if I'm not necessarily well equipped to fill it, yeah, but the need is there and no one else is filling it, then I feel I feel led or compelled to jump in and serve the best way that I can.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Absolutely. And I've witnessed, I've witnessed you step in spaces and places where it's like, hey, nobody else else is gonna step up, I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

And in that, I think a lot of us miss the blessing of service because our society and America and the world says, oh, do your own thing, uh, get your own stuff, only worry about you, don't serve other people. But Jesus reminded us, he said, is the son of man that came to serve and not to be served. So if the one that we call king, the one that we call our Christ, the the Lord, came here to serve and not be served, then our mindsets and our attitudes should be focused on how do we serve others, how do we be a blessing to others, because it's in that service that we become filled with joy, with peace, with patience, with long suffering. And then you see the fruit of the spirit on that person that's serving, and I see the fruit of the spirit evident all over your entire life because your life is based in uh what Jesus called us to do.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yeah. And when you think about it, if we all had a mindset and a heart to serve, no one would ever have any needs. Whew. Think about that. If everyone had a heart to serve, if I want to serve you, right, but you want to serve her, he wants to serve him, everyone is serving everyone, yeah, and everyone is fulfilled, everyone is blessed. Wow. No one is holding on to their gifts because each of you, each of us, yeah, have gifts with an S. Yeah, God has blessed you with certain gifts and abilities, yeah, and they're not to be held on for yourself. Absolutely. Your gifts will be to use to bless others, to edify and build up the bride of Christ, which is the church. Amen. Right? So if everyone thought about the idea of serving in the way that you're naturally gifted, not necessarily stepping out of your comfort zone, yep, but what are you naturally good at? That's the gift. That's it. And how can you then use that gift intentionally to bless others? How do you wake up each morning and think about who in my class could really use whatever today? Yeah. And whatever that whatever is, you could be that whatever.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

That's so good.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Maybe it's the teacher. Maybe you see the teacher struggling. All of a sudden the teacher's like, seems off this week. Well, there's a reason. Maybe it's a matter of going up to that teacher and say, Mr. Durrell, I just want to let you know that I really enjoyed class yesterday. Boom, walk away. All of a sudden, that teacher's like, oh, like I'm making a difference. Yeah. Right? And now, now that teacher feels inspired to continue on. Yeah. But they feel deflated when they got 30 kids in the class, they're not really listening, right? And they're struggling with trying to teach them because of disobedience or or chaos in the room. Yeah. Teachers need uh um lifting up and and being encouraged just like everybody else. Amen. Maybe you could be that encouragement. Yeah, right. So if you have that mindset that I want to be a blessing, I want to use my gift to bless others. I've got the gift of Gab. I like to talk. So talk, talk truth, talk, talk, talk Christ into somebody, right? Speak love into the environment, even when that might be absent because of everything else that's happening.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

And that's so good. And that actually kind of leads me into my next question. Okay. When we're talking about gifting, right? What are your thoughts on the role of young people at church? And and what are some things we can do today to better encourage our young people to take steps toward leadership in church?

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Yeah, I will tell you, you all probably don't know this, but you're blessed to have youth group. You're blessed to have Darrell, who has a heart for Christ and a heart for you to see you draw closer to the Lord. These are foundational moments.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Right. A big part of who I am today is because of my experience in youth growing up. Again, my dry season, it wasn't from a lack of not knowing, it was a it was disobedience. It was going against what I knew wasn't right. Right. Um, youth is so important in the church because you are the future. That's right. Right? The church needs needs youth in order to continue, right? So you won't always be in this room. You're gonna be in the sanctuary, you're gonna be in the pulpit, you're gonna be up singing. Yeah, you're gonna be the ones that's helping to bring Christ to the world. Amen. And the great thing is you don't have to be an adult. You wait to be an adult to do that. You can do that now. And we have some of our youth serving, yeah, right? Yeah. Um, going on mission trips and things of that nature. Now, your mission can be right where you are. You don't have to leave from Minneapolis to go serve. You can serve right here, but you can also go away and serve and bring uh uh love and Jesus to the world. So youth in church is vitally important because we want you all to see how it works so that you can take it and take it to another level. Yeah. Right? You see how mercy runs right now, you see how how preaching happens, you see how singing and worship it happens, you see how youth group happens. Ideally, Lord willing, you become the next Darell. You become the next Pastor Gary. Yeah, right. That's uh that's our heart, right? You become the next Pastor Louise because it's necessary. Because at some point, yeah, we got we won't be able to do this. We'll be old and decrepit. We're already old now, huh?

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Yes, speak for yourself.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

No, but don't let these gray hairs fool you.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

I feel you so now that's the reason why. That's so good.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Youth is so important because you all are what our job is to pour into you, so then you can be ready to serve when you become adults. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

That's so good because our ceiling, think about this, should be your floor. Our ceiling should be your floor. Explain that. When Jesus told his disciples, Greater works will you do, right? You guys seen what Jesus did, right? He he healed the sick, he made the blind see, he picked up the lame to make them walk. He literally brought someone from death to life, right? And then he told his disciples, greater works will you do. Jesus was shaping and forming his disciples to do greater things than he did, because the next flow of that anointing should be greater, right? And so the ceiling, my ceiling, like as far as I'm gonna go in God, right? And everything that the Holy Spirit would allow me to deposit to you should fill you up and make you become greater in your faith, right? We grow from glory to glory in our faith as Jesus reveals himself and we are made into the image of God because of how faith to faith works, right? So uh you, as you grow older in your faith, as you grow older in your journey, greater works will you do than than than Lil Darrell, right? Greater works than you'll do than those who are who are raising you up in your faith. And it is our job, it is our goal to equip you in your faith and in your knowledge to become stronger believers and become a stronger witness for Jesus in the world. Because believe it or not, all of you guys have been shape, form, fashion for a time as this to speak to your next generation, speak to your generation, and do greater things than we can ever imagine or think of.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Do we have any uh Wolves or Lynx fans in the room? Okay. So we got a few. Okay. So if you're a Wolves fan, you know who Anthony Edwards is. If you're a Lynx fan, you know who Nafisa Collier is. Yep, right? They are great at what they do. Yes. They will tell you that without the the the um great individuals before them, they would not be who they are. That's right. There is no Nafisa Caulier without a Maya Moore. Come on, right? There is no Ant Edwards without a Kobe or a Jordan or LeBron. Come on. Or his favorite play was Kevin Durant. Yep. Right? There they there are they are great because they saw greatness before them, which allows them to become great even greater. Right? That's the goal. There is no, this might be before your time, there is no Kobe Bryant without a Michael Jordan. Yeah. Right? So there is no Grace without a Darrell. Come on. Amen. Right? Amen. I mean, Grace is gonna be a phenomenal strong believer in her faith, not only because of her dad and her mom, but because of what she's seen with her youth director. Yeah, right? It's about taking the next generation to another level. That's right. Right? And the foundation is what you're getting today. So you can take it to another level. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

As I'd like to say, a whole nother, whole nother level level. That's right. That's right. So um I want to talk about challenges. I, you know, I think a lot of times when young people see older people in their faith, they like think, oh, it was easy for you. Like it was easy for you to get there because you're older, right? Or you it was easy for you because you didn't have to go through A, B, C, or D, right? Yeah. I want you to talk about like what are some challenges that you faced as a even as a black man in your career, uh, challenges you face faced in faith, or even in being in a faith community that's multi-generational, what are some things that you had to go through that you saw the Holy Spirit help you overcome?

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Yeah, I would say um being bold in my faith, not being apologetic about it. I I I remember this one story. So I was um, I used to live in Charlotte, and I was leading a sales team uh back then, and I was preparing, um, I was preparing to become a deacon at my church at the time. And so I was in my office and I had a book that was talking about uh Christ and serving and being a deacon, yeah, and it was on my desk, and then one of my employees came in, and I don't know why, but I turned the book over and pushed it to the side. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, why did I do that? Yeah, because there was nothing wrong with the book being on my desk, but what I was trying to do, I was I called myself compartmentalizing my faith. Meaning, okay, I've got my faith with Christ, I've got my work life, I've got my personal life. Yep. Yep. That's crazy. Yeah. My my faith journey is my life. That's foundational for everything, and then everything else flows from there. Amen. So, what I should have done is left that book right side up, and who knows? He he might have seen that book and asked me about it, and that would have given me an opportunity to share Christ. Amen. Instead, I shied away from it for the sake of compartmentalization, which makes no sense as a believer. Yeah. Right? No matter who I encounter, whether I'm at work, whether I'm in the community, where I'm at my home, like I am Antoine, the son of the child of God all the time. Come on, brother. Right? And that I should not shy away from that. So I struggled with being bold in my faith. I struggled with the idea of truly letting people know who I belong to. Yeah. Right, first and foremost. It was almost like, you know, I well, other believers can know, but I don't know if you're a believer or not, so I don't necessarily want you to know that I believe, right? Yeah. Um I struggled with praying for people out loud. Right? I would say I'd pray for you, but I wouldn't pray for you out loud. I go home and I pray for you. Gotcha. Right. So now, if someone says, Yeah, I'm struggling with all right, can I pray for you right now? Yeah. Right? Being bold in my faith is something that I'd say I struggled with until I became a young, young adult.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Thank you for sharing that because I believe a lot of young people, especially today, uh Christianity, the you know, just the word Christian is offensive sometimes. And I think a lot of young People struggle with boldly living their Christianity out because they don't want to be exiled, they don't want to be alienated, they don't want to be talked about or the weird one.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Right. And I think when we are able to boldly hold on to our faith, boldly proclaim the name of Jesus, not only are you like leading into who God called you to be, but you never know whose life you are you can save. You never know whose soul you can save just by being bold about who you are and whose you are, who you belong to. And I think it's a power in discovering that, like even that self-reflection of saying, why did I put the book away? It's a power in like you rethinking that. I believe the Holy Spirit showed, like, put that on your heart. And I bet now every opportunity you get to share Jesus, you share him.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

And so I would encourage you guys to think about the opportunities that you may have missed and like ask the Holy Spirit to present other opportunities to you so you can win someone to Jesus. I'm telling you, it is one of the most amazing experiences that you can have in this life is to win a soul to Jesus. Because every time a soul is won, all of heaven rejoices. All of heaven rejoices because of that one soul. Because it's not just that one soul, because every person that we win, those that person has other people attached to them. And every person that we lose, that person has people attached to them. So we have to think about it that way as well.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

And the thing is, there will be um losses that I'll say really are gains. What I mean by that is because you are a follower of Christ, there will be people who oppose you. Yes. Right? Because we we live in spiritual warfare. That's right. And so there will be people who will look at you and and not like you simply because you're a follower of Christ. Yep. And you have to grow into being comfortable with that, if that makes sense. No one wants to be disliked. Yeah, however, if you're gonna dislike me because I proclaim Christ, then dislike me all you want. Right? There's but there's a there's a humility in my boldness to being a believer. Yeah. What I mean by that is I'm not I'm not any better than anyone else. Even if you're not a believer, I'm not better than you. Come on. Right? There's humility there. Yeah. But but anything, I am concerned about your soul. I want you to know Christ like I know Christ. Right. So I'll give you an example. There was one time I was at a um at a wedding, and I was at it uh at the reception, and everyone at the table was drinking except me. And so I don't drink for a couple reasons. I don't like the taste of alcohol. Yep. And the Bible says, do not be drunk with much wine. So I don't want to be drunk. And so, since I don't like it, why do we even why even engage in it? Right? Now, if if um you, when you turn 21, decide to drink, there's nothing wrong with that until you become drunk. Drunk. That's when it becomes a sin. Amen. So I say that because some of your parents drink, and that's not a sin. No, right? It's only a sin when you become drunk. Amen. Because now you can't control yourself. All right. So back to my story. Um, there was one person at the table that realized I wasn't drinking. And they said, Um, do you like, are you a Jesus freak or something? Well, actually. Not as you say so. Right. And at that point, like I was, I was pretty bold in my faith in. So I didn't mind that. And I could tell, like, it bothered him that I wasn't drinking. Like everybody else was drinking, but for whatever reason, because I wasn't, he was bothered by it. So much so he kept making comments. He's like, you know, there's some health benefits to drinking, right? Oh my goodness. I said, and I don't I said to him, I said, look, if you want to drink, that's fine. I'm not judging you by drinking. Yeah. Right? But he felt uncomfortable and subconscious about what he was doing because I wasn't doing it.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

And for some people, that's peer pressure. They may feel pressured, like, oh, well, I need to I need to drink just to make this other person feel better about themselves. Right? Yep. And I'm not doing that. Yeah. Because I don't need to. I shouldn't have to. Right? Um, so that's that's being bold in your faith to where understanding that there are gonna be some people that oppose you simply because you proclaim Christ. Yeah, man. And you have to be okay with that.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Amen. That's a whole word. I hope y'all caught. If y'all catch anything, I hope y'all caught that. Like being bold in the face of people trying to pressure you to do what they're doing, just to be like them. Um, that is one of the biggest tricks of the enemy for young people is to make them think, oh, because all my friends are doing this, I have to do it too. Right? You don't have to do what your friends are doing. As a matter of fact, they may even end up respecting you more for taking a stance for doing something that they're doing. Because a leader is not gonna just follow because for the sake of following to get along to go along. A leader will say, you know what, I'm I'm making a stand and I'm not gonna do this. And guess what? If they're really your friends, they're gonna respect you. But if they're not your friends, you may want to reconsider that relationship.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 27:22

An example of that too is in circles that I operate in. A lot of people, most people know that I that I'm a believer, right? And so there have been times uh at work when after hours, um, guys are talking and using foul language. They know I don't use that language, right? But they'll say, it's like they catch themselves. Yeah, they'll say a word like, oh, I'm sorry, Antoine. Right? And I'm just like, hey, don't apologize to me. Yeah, right. But it's it's it's it's a respect thing. They respect the fact that I don't, and because I don't, who knows? Like my modeling of how I speak and how I carry myself can impact them in a way to where they decide, you know what, maybe, maybe I don't need to express myself in that way. Yeah, I can express myself in a way without using foul language. Amen. Right? So be bold to and be comfortable with being the example, even if you're standing alone, because you're not alone. Absolutely because Christ is with you, but you may be alone in that room of of you know 30 people. You're the maybe the only one. Yep. And that I will tell you, that's not easy, but you will God will bless you because of it. Amen. Right? Because you're putting him above all the other people that are doing things that they shouldn't be doing.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

That's real. Amen. I'm gonna switch gears here and ask you about vision and future or for our future. So you're a church board member, you're a youth volunteer, you've been part of Mercy for a while. Um, can you tell me what aspects of Mercy's youth future that you're like excited about, that you that you see happening with our group now, and what you're excited about for a future?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Yeah. So the programming that Darrell's put together for you all is purposeful in that we meet on Sundays, right? And that's important for us to to worship and learn and grow together. But doing life outside of Sundays is important, right? It's not it's not like, well, I'm a I'm a believer on Sunday and then six days uh six days of the week, I'm just I'm just wilding out. Right, exactly. I'm not living the way I should. Yeah. And so it's purposeful to make sure you show up on you know Friday night hangouts and and you know, the high school hangouts, which is on pause right now, yeah. Uh, and and all the other activities that come along with it is super important. So you know how to actually do life together as believers. That's right. Um, a lot of your parents are part of what we call small groups, right? Which meet during the week. Yep. And it's usually some type of Bible study or or reviewing the message in deeper, deeper fashion. Yep. Um, but it's journeying together so that you can be there for each other in good and bad times. Come on. So uh if you have a milestone in your life where someone turns 16 or someone has a birthday or someone, whatever. So as a group, you're celebrating those things. Yeah. Conversely, if there's a loss of life, you have death in the family, um, and you need uh support, whether it's it's moral, physical, just some type of support, then you're journeying together with your small group. They should be there for you to make sure that you have what you need. That's right. Whether it's being prayed up for, whether you need meals, right? Doing life together is important outside of Sundays. And so that's why the programming that Darrell puts together is very intentional for you all to meet together outside of just Sundays.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Okay. Yeah. And I can't remember what the question was.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Um what are you excited about the future for personal youth? But good, thank you for that. I appreciate that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Seeing the vision of like I'm I'm excited about the opportunity for um, I know um you're working on um Mercy Youth worship. Yes. Yeah, I'm excited about that. Actually, having a worship group of of youth will be is is fantastic. Um, I'm excited for maybe the next iteration of the high school hangout. Me too. Yeah. Um, I'm excited for how I'm going to see each of you raise up as new leaders within Mercy Youth and within our church. Yep. Like I've seen individuals that used to be a part of Mercy Youth who are now in the, I say big person church, who are now serving and doing great things for Christ and for the church. So I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Um, just excited for your futures because I see the foundation that you're that you're establishing right now, and you're going to continue to grow. Just like you're growing in stature, you're growing in your faith and your knowledge and understanding of who you are in light of Christ and who Christ is. Yeah. So I'm excited to see you continue to advance and grow.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

That's so good, man. Thank you so much for that. Um, I got one last question. So, any advice that you might have for young leaders, what advice would you offer our students to that are aspiring toward leadership? Uh, and maybe there's leadership roles in church or community or outside a community? Uh, what are some things that you would say to a young leader as you're a leader, and how did you kind of get to where you are as a as a leader?

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Um embrace it. Embrace the opportunities. Um I would say anyone familiar with the term imposter syndrome? Imposter syndrome.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

I guess.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

All right, so imposter syndrome is I I call it noise. It's it's really when the devil tells you that you're not good enough or you can't do something. Right? Yep. But yet God has equipped you to do it and do it well. Amen. But you have you have the this voice, like you can't do that. Right? You you shouldn't be in the position that you're in, or you know, who made you the leader? Yeah, right? God made you the leader. So walk into that, right? And and understand that you're going to make some mistakes, and that's okay because we actually learn more from our mistakes and our successes. So when you make those mistakes, it's learning from it. It's like, well, what did I, what went wrong, and how can I make sure that doesn't happen again, right? Um learn from it and be better as a result.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

So I I would say just um as a youth, you you know what you're good at, even at this age and stage, you already know that that you're good at something. Like lean into that heavily, right? Don't take that for granted. That's your gift. How do you then use that gift and grow that gift? Um again, I'll use I'm I'm a sports guy, so I use a sports analogy. I like it, right? So again, the Fisa Callier, Anthony Edwards, they have a gift. They were blessed with an athletic gift. Yep. However, they have to cultivate it by practicing that gift to get better. That's right. Your spiritual gifts are the same. God has gifted you in in the manner that He has, you still need to practice that gift. Yeah, you have the gift of song. Who can sing in here? Raise your hands, y'all all can sing. If you can sing, right? Yeah. So that's a gift. Don't be stingy with your gift. Your gift is not for yourself, it's not for you to wake up every morning and just sing to yourself. Don't sit on your gift. Your gift is to be used to bless someone. Your voice can make someone else's day. Amen. If you have the gift of song, use it to bless others. That's right. You get to enjoy it because you're with yourself all the time. But what about us? We want to hear it too. Stop being stingy, right? Don't be holding out on us. Yeah, exactly. So lean into that gift, cultivate it, like work on it, right? And that's that's what I would recommend that you do is as young people and young, you're all leaders in a in a in a unique, your own unique way. Amen. So even if you don't feel like you're a leader, you are a leader. That's right. Okay. There's different types of leaders. Some leaders are vocal leaders, some people are model leaders. I mean, they don't say a whole lot, but you, but they are a leader. Another example, I'm sorry, but uh Jaden McDaniels on on the the Timberwolves. He never says anything, his facial expressions never changes, but he's the best defensive player on the team. And so he's leading by example. Right. So the other people on the team say, I gotta get after it because Jaden is getting after it, even though he doesn't say a word. So you may not be a vocal leader, but what your skill that you bring still is inspiring somebody else, whether you know it or not. Amen. Right? So lean into that gift, understand what that gift is. And if you don't understand what your gift is right now, because it's it's it's still bolding, it's still building, excuse me, ask your parents, what am I good at? Yeah. They will have a list for you. You're good at blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right? And you're like, okay, yeah, I guess I am good at that.

SPEAKER_00 36:22

And then lean into that. Amen. Thank you. Thank you for your word today. Thank you for being on Podcast Sundays. Absolutely. You just locked in for another episode of Podcast Sundays. If you want to learn more about Mercy Vineyard, please visit us at mercyvineyard.org. That's www.mercyvineyard.org. For more episodes and Podcast Sundays, you can find us there. And we are a group that is focused on connecting with God and connecting with others. We will see you next time on Podcast Sundays. God bless.