Coming Home - Mark & Destani Talk

A tire blows on the highway, we pull off near Covington, and what should have been a quick stop turns into a homecoming we never expected. We sit down as husband and wife, co-hosts again, and tell the raw story of moving from Mobile back to our land, our studio, and the place we once thought we had to leave behind. If you’ve ever faced a hard transition, this conversation names what it feels like when God’s direction shows up as peace instead of certainty.

We also get honest about the year that humbled us: a major financial setback, scraping together change for groceries, and learning what “give us this day our daily bread” looks like in real life. That reset didn’t just affect money, it reshaped our leadership, our marriage, and how we see the church. We talk about inner healing, maturity, and why we’re done chasing a better version of the old model.

Then we share what’s coming next: building the Shepherd’s Tent Partner Community, a partners gathering in August, monthly live podcast gatherings in Covington starting in September, and quarterly equip weekends beginning in October. The heartbeat is simple and deeply practical: church as family, hospitality, discipleship at home, and helping pastors, leaders, and displaced believers find their seat at the table again.

If this vision for a new wineskin and a church that feels like family resonates with you, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

Transcript

Back Together And Big Update

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right. Welcome everybody to another episode of the Family Table Podcast. Guys, I know it's been a little while, but it's because we've been in a lot of transition. But guess what? I'm not bringing back a special guest. I'm bringing back my co-host. She's been upgraded. My wife, Destiny. She's with me. And um, we are. Man, it's been a lot. A lot's happened since our last episode. That's right. We have transitioned from mobile back to Covington.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah. Back in the cabinet at Land.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

And which is shocking. We I think the last podcast we did, that wasn't even on the radar at all, was it? Probably not. No, I don't think so. And Dusty was like, I wasn't sure if you're ever going to have me back on the podcast. I'm like, well, it's because a lot's been going on. But so let me give you the update. Um, we're back in Covington. It's been incredible the journey back home. The provision of the Lord, the direction of the Lord, the peace of the Lord. It's been absolutely phenomenal. I think that if you would have asked us two and a half, three months ago if we would ever come back to Covington, it was like not a chance. It's never gonna happen. Um, but God had other plans, and I'm so thankful for it. It's been so nice to be back. And um I feel like, well, let me just let's just jump in. Let's just tell the story. We're winging it. We have no notes, we're not, we're not doing anything scripted. This is just raw and what it is. But let me tell you what's what's coming up on this episode. We're gonna talk about our transition, we're gonna talk about um our year of reset and relaunch, and we're going to talk about what we're seeing as vision um coming this fall. Yes. And so that's kind of three things our transition to get here, our year that we lived in Mobile was a little over a year, and then vision for the fall. So that that's where we're headed. No notes, we're just chatting. And Dusty and I are gonna try to do these ever like bi-weekly, so every other week. So every week I'm teaching, I'm doing a training for Long Path Creator Academy, I'm doing a teaching for the shepherd's tent, and then I'm yeah, we've got a lot going on. So we're gonna do these bi-weekly, but there's a huge vision coming that's connected to the family table.

The Yeti Game And A Ritual

SPEAKER_00 2:31

So before we do all that, my son said we should play a game. First game is what's in that yeti. Um, anybody that guesses um and you get it right, we're we we were talking about like, do we just give them a shout out on the next podcast? I think that's probably the best thing. Like a shout-out. Because Destiny was like, we're gonna do watercolors and giveaway free stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

And I'm like, We gotta figure out how to do this correctly. Yeah, we gotta figure it out. Because you have to guess what's in Mark's club. But you have to guess what's in the cup, and Mark's cup. Yeah, so cheers. Living our best life, baby.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

So what's in that cup? You never know. Um, maybe you will. Um, but we will definitely tell you next podcast what was in the cup, right? Yeah. All right, so something we did the first time we did this in Mobile is what we're gonna carry on as our tradition. This is what we do around the dinner table at our family meals. Tell tell us where it came from.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

So it came from.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

I think he told this before, but it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Um it was something that just like organic from our personal devotional time. It's something that I do as light a candle to help me just to focus on the Lord, Holy Spirit. But then I read a book um called Habits of the Household. Yeah. And it was talking about creating like rituals and different stuff like that at for a family. And one of the recommendations was light in a candle at dinner time or when you come together for devotion as a family and to say, um, what would you call it? Like a liturgy. Like a liturgy, yeah, liturgy. And it is Christ is light, I am light. And so since then we've been doing it.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

All right. So here we go. Here we go. This is our first episode as co-hosts together, starting um the family table. And it's guys, we're gonna be talking on this podcast, we're gonna be talking about, of course, leadership, we're gonna talk church, we're gonna, but we're gonna talk marriage, we're gonna talk parenting, we're gonna talk about what it actually looks like to open up your home and host people, what hospitality looks like. And we really believe the church can become a family again. And um I think that's already beginning to happen, but we really want to sow that seed and and push that out there. We believe there's a new wineskin coming. We already see you like we have friends that are stepping into this big time, Bobby and Jesse out and Koa in Charleston. They're already walking in a lot of this. Um, I'm watching Jimmy and Tina do this right now. They're stepping in. So proud of them. Bryn and Jen, uh their church in Canapolis has been doing family gatherings for a while now uh since Bryn's been in Mobile. So he travels back every once in a while and speaks. I think like once a month they try to get out there. But we're watching this happen, and we're not the first ones, and um, it's happening all over America, but we want to pour gasoline on the fire, if you will. We want to see that real grassroots movement of the church become a family. And I believe that we came out of big ministry in 2015. We've done that, we've seen that, got the t-shirt, didn't scratch the itch. And then we've planted a church, and and we'll talk about this all throughout the podcast, and seemingly failed in it's not failure, it's never failure as a kingdom person, but in a lot of people's eyes, Covington didn't work out. And we saw the good and the bad and the ugly of building a church that was just a little bit better version of the world we came out of. And if anybody goes back through the sermons, which they're all still up on YouTube, and you would listen to all the messages that I preached and were shared here in Covington, it was clear that we were seeing something new coming. And we were preaching that we were, I saw something coming house to house. It was all about relationship and fellowship. Well, Desi and I were willing to do that, open up our homes and love one people. But when the church fire happened, it was like now push comes to shove. You're no longer a building, you're a body. And there were challenges with that. And I don't blame anybody for those challenges. There's just challenges. And so, because of those challenges, we basically just said, let's put a period here. And we thought maybe it was the end, but I found out it was the end of a chapter and there's a new one coming. And so uh we learned a lot. So we can talk about the lessons we learned when we were in the system, but now we can talk about the lessons we learned while we were trying to navigate into a new wineskin. And man, I'm being honest with you. I think so many people try to put their Superman cape on and talk about how amazing they are and talk about how gifted they are and the great things they're doing. But I actually think it's the failures, I actually think it's the challenges, I actually think it's the trials that really like speak to people because you're going to experience them too. If you're going to leave um what everybody's been used to for hundreds of years, and you're going to say yes to a whole new way, which it's not really a new way, it's an ancient way. You're going to have challenges. For sure. People are going to challenge it, people are going to push back on it, people are going to say things, do things, they're going to want something different. Here's the good news. They can always go back to the old thing. For sure. Because it's available everywhere. But for those of us that really are saying yes to the good news, hosting presence, and not being a face lost in the crowd, but having a seat at the table, there's a new wine skin coming. This podcast is dedicated to seeing that happen. So now, that being said, if you can't tell, I'm fired up.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

I love it. It's been a while, so we got a lot to do with the colour. We got a lot to say, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

So it's all good.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

It's all we're gonna light the candle. You ready? And I'm gonna light the candle. Yes. This is our Circle K lighter, hash uh hashtag mobile. And this is our American dream candle. I found this at Bucky's. I bought this at Bucky's, yeah. Made in Texas. Yeah, it smells amazing, by the way. It's very happy. It does make me happy. Healthy candles make me happy. All right, ready? Yep. Christ is light. I am light. You always say it so like, I am light. All right, so let's jump in.

Why We Left And Returned

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Okay, and you interrupt me anytime because I am the talker of the family.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Um beautiful thoughts, beautiful things to share.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

So, where do we start? We said we were gonna talk about three things. We're gonna talk about our transition. So when we left Covington to go to Mobile, we did not know that coming back was ever going to be on the table. We literally left going, we did everything that we felt like we could do. We poured into leaders as much as we thought we could, we cast as much vision as we thought we could, and it just didn't seem to work. And um the word of the Lord started coming. We talked about this before. Prophets started speaking, and so we really felt like we may never come like, well, we weren't coming back.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

No, I mean we try to sell the house and everything.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, we put the house up for sale. Um, it never sold. We're back in that house.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

And we're back so much.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

We love it so much. We're back in the studio we built for this purpose. So now we have I record on that side for all of my training and teaching. Then this is the table side for these kind of interviews. And I'm gonna go and just jump out on a limb here and say that this table is going to host some really important conversations that I believe are going to impact a lot of people. You and I are gonna have conversations, we're gonna have guests. As you can tell, there's two other chairs here. So we're gonna bring in friends, we're gonna bring in guests, you're gonna be shocked that some of the people dreaming, we're already dreaming about conversations, big people we want to have, so yeah. So you're gonna be shocked at some of the people that are gonna set this table. But we're here, we're on our property. The Lord gave us this property in 2023. It's a miracle, yes, and that was a miracle how we got it. It's actually a miracle how we got it back.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

100%, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

And we're still walking that out, but it's a miracle. And we're just so thankful to be back. Our kids are loving life, we're loving life, being able to have land, not have neighbors on top of us and dogs barking at us at all times. And um, it was a wild thing in Mobile. We're very thankful. We'll talk about that later. Um, but God gave us a gift of a house there, and and that was awesome. And we'll talk about all that. But we're really glad to be back. This is home, there's no place like home. And um so let's talk about how we got back here. And so we were actually starting to pick up our travel itinerary. I felt like the Lord told me at the beginning of the year, you're gonna start traveling again. So God opened doors. We've gone to Oklahoma, Virginia, Michigan, Nashville, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Virginia, yeah. And now Kentucky.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

We're Kentucky, and now we're talking about LA. We're talking about Ireland and Scotland. These are legitimate plans we're making. Texas I'm here for it, yes, and back to LA. Um, the Lord's opened a really cool door in LA for us, and Birmingham, Alabama is another one. And the Lord's just doing some really awesome things, and I'm super thankful for that. Um, but I am traveling again, and it's not that I'm going just anywhere and everywhere, but if there are pastors and leaders out there that are like, you feel like my voice would make an impact in your church, I I'm happy to consider coming. Like I'm not closed off at all. I'm never gonna travel like I used to. 42 weekends out of the year is crazy. I'm never gonna travel like that, but I am gonna travel strategically and prayerfully, and I believe there are some connections that Yahweh wants us to make. And so I do want to tell pastors and leaders out there, um, because I've said for years I would never do that again. And never say never. Never say never. I've learned a lot of humility over the years, you know, and and you learn a lot, and so um I am learning to just I don't make plans. I well, that's not true. I make plans, but it's the Lord that ultimately orders our steps. That's that's Proverbs 16. And um, so I am going to travel again. So those of you that want uh our ministry to come to you, we'd love to be a part of that. Um you can go to marcasto.co and I think it's backslash contact or booking. I don't even know. We'll put in the show notes and um and you can invite us there, we'd be happy to do that. But that's what we did, and so we were taking this trip to Virginia, and we had a great weekend with David and Christy Brackens up there, and God moved so powerfully there, especially on the young people. It was awesome. And we were on our way back, and to get back from Virginia, we drove all of this because we were doing a lot of travel because we I forget all that we were doing at that time.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

We were not stopped for a hot minute there.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah, it was a lot, and so to get back, we had to drive right through past Covington, and so we were on I-20, headed towards Atlanta, then to start heading south. And I was like, Do you want to stop at the house? And I was like, and and you were like, I don't care. And I was like, Yeah, I don't know if I really even want to stop.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

You're like, well, just quick stop, check on it, just make sure everything's okay and get back on the railroad.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

And I was still like, yeah, I don't know if I'll even do that.

The Tire Blowout And The Peace

SPEAKER_00 14:36

And so um we get about 20 miles outside of Covington and the tire explodes. I mean, not like a like a gradual, it was like boom and exploded out from under us. Yes. So we get off the side of the road and I'm like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

It's just a miracle in itself that we didn't wreck or something that we were able to pull off and be safe.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Yeah, so I found out something very awesome there because I called through insurance to get a tow truck. It was going to be four hours before they could get to us, and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Just on the side of the road, hanging out. And then all of a sudden, it was it four no, it's not four one one, it's five one one. Is it five one one or six one one?

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Five one one.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Five one one, you call that number. We have free roadside assistants in the state of Georgia, and they'll come put a new tire on for you, or like put your spare on for you to help you get back on the road, and we were like so thankful.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Thank God we were praying because we knew it was going to be a long time until they got there, and we were like, Lord, just speak to someone to stop. And literally, he sent someone that works for that 511, and he was on the other side of their interstate and saw us and like got off the exit and flipped around and it came back and he was like, Hey, just so you know, like there's this contact in case something ever happened, and we're like, Bless the Lord on my soul.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Well, I replaced the tire on our other vehicle and forgot to put the jack back in the van. So that's why we couldn't put on the spare because I didn't have the jack in the van. So he jacks it up, puts our tire on, and I said, Well, it looks like we're stopping in Covington either way. So I drove you all to the house and I said, Listen, go in the house, get like as we're driving there, go in the house, get all the pictures, get everything off the wall. Let's make mobile feel like home. That's literally the conversation we were having.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

And when I drove on the property, I felt the tangible peace of God come on me in a way I don't know I've ever felt like that. It was like supernatural for me. And I was like, what is that? Like it was shocking the peace that I felt.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

But you didn't share it or say any of that.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

No, because I'm like, I've already like jacked this thing up so many times, I'm not about to tell y'all what I'm feeling now. So I'm like, forget this. Like, I'm not saying nothing. I'm keeping it to myself, and maybe it's just nostalgic or maybe it's sentimental or whatever. Um, but I but it was overwhelming to me. So I just kept my mouth shut and and told you what I said. And I got in the car, drove, I let let y'all in, drove the car, went to get the tire, and what about 15 minutes in the tire place, you call uh you call me and you're crying, and you're like, I can't do this. Blissy's playing in the yard.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Yeah, we're sitting by the creek, we're sitting by the creek, she's throwing sticks in the creek, just running around and I can't take pictures off the wall because this is home.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Yeah, and I was like, Oh my god. And that's when I told you I felt the overwhelming peace of God, and I feel like it's time to come home.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Yeah, you tell me you said, well, don't take the pictures down. No, just leave them up, we'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

We'll figure it out.

Ground Zero Money Lessons

SPEAKER_00 17:48

And I'm talking about we, for those of you that don't know, we experienced a major financial setback last year. And I'm not saying this to glorify or make anybody feel sorry, it just is what it is. I made a major investment into somebody that I really trusted that said they were going to take our business to the next level, and it actually took all of our money. We end up like going through some major financial setback and like went to zero, ground zero. Yes. Into the most crazy season we'd ever been in. I mean, I I don't mind telling you all, like, there were times we were scraping change to go to Walmart. And can we tell the $15 change story? Can we tell it?

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Sure. It's crazy, it's part of our process, it was part of our process, and it made us better, it made us stronger.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

And so the business was going great. Like we were serving people and loving on people. Um, the the clientele that I I got, it was interesting. They're trying to learn a whole new world. I'm again, I don't blame them. They paid that they paid and invested into our program. We did any everything we could to see them succeed, and we and we had great relationships with these people. It's been amazing. But then we changed up the business strategy and like we're gonna go after more clients and we're gonna do more things. And as somebody I really trusted, and we made up that investment, it produced a goose egg, half of the stuff wasn't done, and there we are left with no money and and no way to get leads back into our business at that point. And so we're like, what in the world are we gonna do? So we actually one time it got so bad that we were literally gathering change together, got $15 and like 86 cents. I I'm pretty sure I remember that number because of the PTSD of what I'm about to tell you. It's like $15.86. Go to Walmart. We were like making sure we got everything exactly what it needed to be so we could have like our last supper.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

And it was like, Hey, one thing I learned is it's like give give us this day our daily bread. And it's like literally trusting him to provide each day for the meal that we had, and he provided, he sure did, so that was our day.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

I mean, but this this was one of those days.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

We're like, okay, this was about $15 for dinner.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah, this was like literally one of those daily bread stories.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

It is, it really is.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

And so we um get all that change together, we go up there, it takes forever loading that change thing at Walmart, and we're just sitting there, people are waiting on us, they're looking at us like, can y'all hurry up? And I'm like, all we got's change. Like, it's so embarrassing, it was so humbling. I've never done that in my entire adult life, and so I'm like, what is happening? So then after we get all that change loaded up, it malfunctions on us. I'm like, what in the world? And I'm like, Destiny, do not hit like the return money thing. It'll just spit out all that change and stuff. Well, this guy walks over to help us. He's like, Yeah, we're gonna have to move to the next thing, and he hits that button. I'm like, no, like I literally like made a noise, didn't I?

SPEAKER_01 20:57

I was like, no, your face and like your I knew what you were thinking. I was cracking up inside.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

But it ended up printing a 10 and a five and then gave us 86 cents. So we're like, what in the world?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

But it gave us the best laugh.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Oh man, looking back, like we've never, like, I'm I'll turn 40 next month. We've never been in a financial place like that. We went all in on the business. But I'm gonna tell you, what I learned in that season was number one, the first lesson I learned, I've always been taken care of in the ministry. Like anytime I've been preaching, teaching the gospel, pouring into other people, we've never had a financial concern. I believe that when you serve people well, when you when you do something to change their life, they will always turn around and honor and give. And so, and they've and we've lived that way our entire life. And we've had incredible people and families stand with us. Um, you know, like uh thinking back from Cleveland to uh South Carolina to Covey. And we had one family that literally paid our salary for seven years. That was the Sanders. They were amazing to us. And literally, we could not have made it through that season without them. And we learned a lot. And so it was, yep, it was amazing. And so, like, we've had other families stand with us and and just provide for us in many ways. And I would never want to say their names publicly and unless they wanted me to. But the Sanders, you know, I've mentioned them before. Everybody knows that story. And we're still very grateful for them and what they did for us. And so you have that. And so God's always provided. Well, then when the church fire happened and God put me in the set gave me the word for business and media, I think what I did is I over-corrected and I went all the way over into business and media. And it was like I wasn't doing ministry stuff anymore. I wasn't traveling. I wasn't doing that. I was going all business. And what I felt like the Lord's taught me in this previous season was you, you sometimes we overcorrect and we end up in the other ditch. And the Lord's like, I'm not trying to make you one or the other. This is the day of the king priest. And you are, you still have a ministry as as a priest, and you have a business as as king. And I'm going to show you how to work these things together. And so if anybody asked me what was our process like in Mobile, um, that's a whole nother podcast. But if you, and we're going to talk about it. I wanted people to know we are going to talk about that at some point. Maybe, maybe we get to it today, maybe we don't. But if I could describe what happened in Mobile, I would say it this way, uh, among a lot of other things. Is it was like God grounded the plane, stripped the interior, put two we two new wings on it, and upgraded the whole inside, and then said, now you're ready to fly. Yes. That's where I feel like we're at, is we're we're in flight. We're flying now, and everything's upgraded, and we've learned so much. We're humbled. Uh we've we're we're we're we've been humbled. We've healed, we've got we've healed, we've grown. I have gone through inner healing stuff, which I never thought I would ever say that. Like I literally have, it was like I've always been like the guy that's like, just have an encounter. Just you all you need is an encounter. And and that is true, but we've had to do encounter and inner healing and heart work, hard conversations, and literally, you know, like I will never criticize inner healing ever again. I'll never criticize neuroscience, psychology, any of that. Like it has helped me become another person. Would you agree? Yes, sir. And and so we've healed. So I I'd say humility, greater, a greater humility. And I know it's like, I can't believe you would say that. It's like, no, I'm I can say it because we've been humbled.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Humbled, yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

And we've experienced things that we never thought we would ever experience. And I look back now and I'm thankful for it because there's a trust there that I didn't have before, and there's lessons learned that I could not have learned any other way. And uh there's a gratitude for what we have that is beyond anything.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

For people, you know, and you kind of know how to and you know how to show up for people too. Yeah, you know, it's like, oh, I see you.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Like I agree.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Here's something that I can do a Walmart gift card or send groceries to your house. And I'm so thankful because we've had people that have blessed us, like just sweet, like out of the blue, just on their own. It's a surprise, like, hey, where are you at? You're gonna be home at this time.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

I'm gonna send you groceries, groceries, meals, gift cards, people that didn't know what we were going through that were like showed up for us like that really before.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

And it's like, again, the I'm gonna provide for you today. And it's like every time we were like, How is this gonna work out? How's it gonna show up? How are we gonna do this? It's like, here I am. Yeah, you know, yeah, just thankful.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Because if people don't remember when we went through the church fire, you know, the Lord like we got the insurance money, and I felt the Lord say, sew it. And we sewed all of it into another ministry. And I felt like that was good and right because we were like, I literally heard the Lord tell me, like, I asked the Lord, why would you have me give all of that away? Like, we could use that for our salary, we could have used that for provision for ourselves, like to continue on some type of ministry. We could have used that to get another building, we could have used that to get better equipment, to rent a facility. And I literally heard the voice of Holy Spirit and I submitted it to my brothers, I submitted it to spiritual authority. Like I felt like the Lord said, You're giving that money away because I don't want you to build back what you built before. And so, like, it's not like we went into that season of business and and all of that with deep pockets, like we had nothing. We went all in on business. We went all in and the Lord provided, and then we had this huge setback. It was crazy. So we we learned a lot in that process. And so, um, yeah, I mean, I feel like we talked about the transition and just like we again back to the house, like the blown tire trying to, you know, take pictures off the wall, we couldn't do it, and then we were like we went in this process, we were like, okay, we're really doing this, we're coming back, and um it's been really special. We've only been back for a month, I think. Has it been a month yet?

SPEAKER_01 27:39

I don't even know. At least a month.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

I think so. And I've done a lot of traveling in that time. But now that we're here and we're settled, it's like, okay, what are we gonna

Recapturing Original Intent In Covington

SPEAKER_00 27:52

do? And vision has just begun to explode. Like you shared with me even today, like things that the Holy Spirit was showing you this morning, and I've been sharing with you like vision that I'm seeing for what the shepherd's tent looks like moving forward. And again, I just kind of feel like Holy Spirit said, talk about Mobile in another episode. Like, talk about what that year looks like, and let's just jump in and talk about what we're seeing for the shepherd's tent, what it looks like for Covington. And um, and again, we are, I can say this uh with confidence, at this point, we are not relaunching in any way what look like what we did before. Like we're not looking for a building, we're not looking to have weekly services, we're not trying to gather people on a consistent basis, like uh, or I should not consistent basis, I should say, but like a weekly basis. But what I am seeing, and I feel like you're in full agreement with this, and if you're not, then we're gonna have that conversation here publicly in front of everybody. But um I feel like what the Holy Spirit's showing me is we're we we have been given an opportunity. This is the language I got when we were still Mobile. You're being given an opportunity to go back to Covington to recapture original intent. Yeah. And one of the first words, we're gonna end up talking about Mobile, some anyways, one of the first words that um Apostle Damon gave to us when we were back is he said he had a dream and he heard the audible voice of God say, I sent Mark and Destiny to Covington to raise up the shepherd's tent, and it got turned into the sheep's tent. And I wrestled with that for over a year and was like, I don't even really know what that means, but I kind of do, but I kind of don't. And the Lord began to birth in me during that year that we were there. Like, I sent you there for leaders. I sent you there for pastors, I sent you there for a a new generation of leaders in the church, and you turned that thing back into what you own what you knew to do, which is church. And and there was some the the original idea we had was we were going to do life with a handful, and then we were going to do gatherings for pastors and leaders and have pastoral retreats and do all those things, and we never did that. We end up getting like our house got full with 70 some people like right out the gate, which was beautiful, and I loved all of that.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

It was all necessary, yeah. The whole process.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

He wastes nothing.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

Was so necessary for where we're at, what we're gonna step into.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

He wastes nothing. And even the things that are quote unquote considered failures are the things that like set you up for your your calling and and what kingdom men consider success. Yes, and so, anyways, like what happened was that thing just became a church so quickly, COVID came, and I wanted to keep gathering because I love those people. We end up getting a building, and when you get a building, there comes an expectation with it. And then there the expectation of the people, but then there's pressure you put on yourself, and it's like, okay, now that we have a building, now that we've got to have these ministries and we've got to put these people in leadership and we've got to do all those things, and now we have a full-blown church, and it's like, but that's not what the Lord said to do. I think I'm never gonna say that there's never gonna be a church down the road, but I'm saying like that was not the order he showed us when we first moved here. It was God was gonna give us land, we were gonna build pastoral retreats, we were gonna focus on pastors and leaders, and one day a church would come out of that, we believed. And so, all that to be said, like we there was a word that came. I'm getting all this out of order, but we'll hopefully you can piece this together. Like, there was a word given even before, like while we were kind of in that transition after the church fire, and Apostle Damon said that there were going to be three pastors that were gonna move to Mobile for a reset and a relaunch. And we did not think, even when that word came out, that we were gonna be one of those, but we now know we definitely were one of those. God sent us there for a reset, and then he had that word about sheep's tent, shepherd's tent. And so, like, I had a year to really sit still, heal, inner healing, my mind, my heart, to really sit down with notebooks and look at what God said originally, still not thinking that we'd ever go back to Covington and do that. Yeah, but just like what, why, why would you say all of this? And why would all this be here? Not realizing he was setting us up for the reset, to come back and reset. And so here we are, we're back in Covington, and we get a chance to capture original intent. And for that, I'm like, I could cry. Like, I'm so thankful that Yahweh saw fit to reset and relaunch us. And to all the people that took the journey with us in Covington before, don't ever lie to yourself and say that wasn't real and that wasn't amazing. We had awesome times. That was amazing. But if if anybody has to take the uh the blame for why it didn't work, I'll take it. Um, and to say to those people, like, I'm sorry. Um, I never meant to build something that we would have to shut down. Um, it was always our intent to love and serve and help, and we were going to do that till the day we died. And but the Lord literally, I believe the Lord literally shut that expression down. And so if you were hurt by that, we're I'm sorry. If you were wounded in that, I'm sorry. That was never our intent was to hurt or wound anybody. And um, and then processing transition. Transition sucks no matter what. Like it's just so freaking hard. Like it's just so hard on everybody. Like it's hard on the leaders, and it's hard on the people who come to a ministry like that. And we we don't even like when somebody sits in the seat we sit in at church, like on a weekly basis. We don't like change, we don't, and we certainly don't like transition. And so I feel like sincerely being able to say, like, from a whole place in me and a hill place of like not saying this from like even like guilt, but saying this from an honest place of like, I'm sorry if you got hurt in that. But we're back now and we're ready to capture original intent, and that means that we're going in an entirely different direction. It's not gonna look anything like it was before. So, do you have anything to say before we like talk about vision, like things that prepared you to come back or anything like that? Are you good? She's a wise woman, woman of few words. Okay, let's talk

Partner Gathering For Turning 40

SPEAKER_00 35:07

about it. I'm not sure how long we've been recording, but I think it's probably a good time to shift gears here. But one of the things that I know that we're still called to do beyond a shadow of a doubt is this media thing. And I believe God is gonna show us how to bring about cultural change in the church even through media. So one of the things that I feel um to begin is, well, let me back up before I talk about the podcast stuff. Okay. This August is my 40th birthday. Yes, it is. August 24th, I turn 40 years old.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

40 and 30.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

And then Destiny's birthday is two days later, and she doesn't turn 40 yet, so she still gets to stay in her 30s. But we celebrate our birthdays together always. And so I turned 40 this August, and Disney asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. I told her some things I wanted to do privately with a family that we love dearly and we're so close to, and we're gonna do that. It's gonna be fun. But I said I want to do a partner's gathering for my 40th birthday. And so for the first time ever in the history of our ministry, whether it goes back to Mark Casto Ministries, if it goes to the circuit riders, if it goes to the shepherd's tent, every those transitions, this is the first time in the history of our ministry where we're having our first ever partners gathering. Now, it's only going to be one day this year, but next year we're planning like a full experience, like several days, and we may we may do it in Covington or we may go somewhere else. I mean we've been thinking about it. There's we went and visited a place in Miami not too long ago, and I'm like, we'll have a partner's gathering in Miami. Um, but we are doing a partner's gathering this August. Yes. So all of you that are watching this, listen to me clearly. If you're a partner, what is a partner of our ministry? It's anybody that sets up a monthly recurring donation of any amount. It could be if all you can do to honor this ministry is a dollar a month, you're a partner of ours. If all you're able to do is 10, 15, 25, some of you are able to do more. I have partners that do a lot for for our ministry. I'm so thankful. But it's not lost on me when I see the partner. I have a partner, a lady that's that's probably close to 80, and she sends us five bucks a month, and that moves my heart just as much as the people that give us large donations to the ministry. It's it's the heart that matters, and it's so amazing. So a partner is anybody that sets up a monthly recurring gift to our ministry. You can do that at markcasto.co backslash donate. It's in the description below. You become a partner, and we're gonna bring you in for a day at the courtyard Marriott here in Covington. It's gonna be three sessions, two meals. We're gonna do uh there it like if you want to stay at the courtyard Marriott, they're giving us a special room rate for that. We'll have details going out to our email list about that soon. Um, they've given us an amazing discount. If you've never stayed at a courtyard Marriott, it's one of my favorite hotels on the planet. So we have one in Covington now, which they built while we were gone. So I'm like, we came back and the city got upgraded. It's like, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Get ready for us.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Yeah. So we're going to the courtyard. We're going to do two meals. And um, if you want to join us for those meals, we'll have an option where you can pay a ticket that will pay for your meals. And listen, we've got two amazing, like a lunch and a dinner prepared. And like, you will not be able to eat two mail, two meals like what we're gonna have for the price we're gonna give you if you went and ate by yourself. So I'm excited. I can't wait to announce more of that when those details are finally settled. But let's just say you're gonna eat well, it's gonna be awesome. And we're gonna have three amazing sessions together, and we're just gonna spend a whole day together. So come in on Friday night, wake up Saturday morning, boom, ready to go. And uh, we're gonna do a full day, and uh, I'm gonna do some teaching, we're gonna do some QA, we're gonna do some ministry, we're gonna hang out and just have a blast together. So I would love to invite you to number one become a partner. Number two, come join us in Covington in August, and we'll give an exact date and all the details in in the upcoming days. But go ahead and jump into partnership. And here's the beautiful thing about our partner thing is um we're building community every day. Yes. So, like online right now, we have the Shepherd's Tent Partner Community. I'm uploading sermons that I've preached, previous sermons that I preached, so there's a whole sermon library. I have new resources that we're gonna be putting in there for pastors and leaders that are feeling this transition out of the institutional back to family. And for those of you that feel displaced and you're like, I don't even know where to go to church, but I have no church to go to that that preaches this gospel that worships like this. Well, that's probably a good indicator that it's time to open up your home and become the leader God's called you to be. And we're gonna provide resources in that partner community for people like that. And there's more coming on that. But the partner community is already gathering online, and so we're doing a monthly vision call, which is me and you talking to our partners. We're gonna start, we've said we're gonna do that back in May. We've missed May and June. Um, so we got to do it in July. But we've had a lot going on. Yeah. So we're gonna start in July with a Zoom call where we see our partners face to face, share with you vision, things that we're working on, behind the scenes stuff, uh, intimate stuff. It's gonna be great. And um, yeah, so that's the partner stuff, right? Secondly, anything you want to say about the partner thing? You're supposed to talk while I drink, you know. That's what I'm done now. Okay, second thing. So, 40th birthday partner gathering. Okay.

Monthly Live Podcast Gatherings

SPEAKER_00 41:39

So second thing, starting in the month of September, we are gonna have our first shepherd's tent gathering. Yes, okay. This is not gonna be your normal standard church service, okay? This is going to be a live podcast with a special guest. We can't tell you who it is yet. We can't say who it is, so you have to wait and see. We're gonna do that here in Covington, special guest. We're gonna do a live podcast into a time of QA and then a time of ministry with the person that's coming. So if you ever want to be in the room for a great conversation about the kingdom, plus get to ask questions to our guest and then have time of ministry, it's gonna be one of the coolest experiences we've ever had. Like I told you, we're building something way different. And so we're gonna do those once a month, every month here in Covington. So if you're in the Atlanta area or anywhere in driving distance, you're gonna want to get the emails, you're gonna want to get the updates. When we announce the guests who are coming in, we're gonna be having conversations with these people, QA, time of ministry. It's gonna be phenomenal. I'm so excited. The guests and the people that the Lord's gonna bring in. And here's the cool part we're not gonna charge a dime for any of these gatherings. Here's why. We're believing that you all are gonna show up, you're gonna become partners, and you're gonna give to our ministry to help support the work of the ministry. I just believe that people are hungry for a new wine skin. They're hungry for something different and new, and they're gonna stand with us as partners and people that believe in our ministry and these conversations, these QAs, these, this, this ministry time is gonna be so valuable. So the only way we can do that is we've got to have partners stand with us to make it happen. Okay. So every month, be checking on the dates. We're gonna be bringing in a guest a month live podcast QA time of ministry. Are you excited about that? I'm super excited. It's gonna be awesome. Yeah, it is. And like we're kind of praying about are we going to share a ticketed meal to share before those? Like, that's something we gotta lean into a little bit, but it's like I want to because it's the shepherd's tent family table, I feel like getting Back to the book of Acts and like eating together, fellowship. Yeah, it's important. So we're probably getting ideas here right now as we're podcasting candles on the table. But I think it would be cool to start with a dinner. Christ is light. I am light. That's going to be beautiful. And have a dinner together, jump in the podcast and go. So that's probably what we're going to do. All right. Third. So birthday partner celebration. Once a month Shepherd's Tent services here in Cubington, which is next month, September. September. Not next month, but the next month after the partner gathering. It's July. Let's slow it down.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Like we've been playing it. I'm like, I feel like I'm already in August. Yeah. Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

And yeah, so it's going to be so

Equip Weekends For Home Leaders

SPEAKER_00 44:45

fun. Third thing, this is for pastors, church leaders. And again, all this is going to happen in our partner community and also happen live. So I told you already a minute ago in our partners community, we're going to be creating resources for pastors and leaders. Now, it's not just for our partners are not just pastors and leaders. There's a lot of people that are that have followed our ministry, appreciate our ministry. We're going to be talking to the church and still teaching and preaching to the church. But we do are we are going to put a pastor church leader section in the partner community. And we've, I've already told you, we're creating resources and doing things for for you there.

SPEAKER_01 45:24

And eventually I want to have like creator time together, creative devotion and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

So what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 45:33

What does that look like? Um it would just look like us coming together with whatever creator supplies you want to bring. And um I probably just share some stuff that the Lord's been sharing with me and my secret place with him, and then having a time to express that or whether it's something and maybe have a time for people to share, maybe some whispers that they're hearing and direction, and them be able to just learn how to get it from like what they're hearing and saying onto paper or whatever that looks like.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Come on, let's go do it, girl. All right, so so alright, let's let's talk about this. This sounds really fun to me. Like I cannot wait for this. Starting in October, we're gonna have our first ever equip weekend for pastors, church leaders, and those who have been displaced from the church because of systemic exodus, and they're going, I I don't have a place that preaches the gospel, I don't have a place that worships you know freely and hosts presence like what I've seen happen in Mobile or Ohio or wherever. And I want to, but I gotta have something. Like there's no such thing as an isolated Christian. Yeah, there's no such thing as being an island to yourself. Like you have to be joined to the people of God. Like I believe every leader should be connected to a father, and I believe every person ought to be connected to a body. Like I believe that with all of my guts. And so, um, for those of you that are like, but Mark, I I feel that call, I want to do it, but I'm not sure how to do it. And I don't know if I have it in me to do it. Desi and I want to host a weekend where we can invite you in, and we're gonna do this every quarter. So fall, winter, spring, summer, okay, we will have equip gatherings four times a year, two days, come together, and we are gonna pour, we're gonna bring in some guests at times, and we're gonna pour in our very best to see family tables established all over the place. That's what we're calling them is not shepherd's tents all over the place. We're gonna say family tables all over the place. And that's a big part of this podcast, is gonna be we're gonna be talking to all of our family table leaders. We're gonna be talking to people who are opening up their homes to become a family table. Before the church was ever known uh for wearing the cross, they were known by setting at the table. And there's there is something happening where God is not only allowing us to recapture original intent, but even this podcast and those gatherings are gonna remind God of Acts 2 again. And I think like I'm great with cloven tongues of fire and gifts of the spirit and all that kind of stuff. But what I'm really excited about is what happens when we're no longer a face in the crowd and now we're a face at the table. And I think that's gonna be really amazing. And so for two days, those pastors that want to see that switch, these displaced people that want to open up their homes, we're going to literally pour into them for two days and go, you have what it takes. We're putting resources in your hand. We're gonna teach you everything from hosting presence to hospitality to uh liturgies, to um creative things you can do with kids at your home, marriage, parenting, like actually making disciples, spiritual formation happening, like we're going to be like give just pouring it on for two days, plus all the stuff we're gonna do in the partner community to help equip you. So if that's you, join the partner community as we begin to roll out new resources, but also just know we're about to have a major equip gathering. Again, I want to do that free. The only thing I think we're gonna do at those places, again, is when we have mills, we're just gonna ask for you to cover the mill. Right? I think that's pretty much it. But we want to do it for free because we're believing again that people are gonna see the vision, they're gonna hear our hearts, and they're gonna see what we're what we're um but agreeing with God for, and they're gonna stand with us and give and sow and pour into what we're doing, and we'll be able to keep all of these events free. Um, so it's gonna be amazing.

Pastoral Retreats And Funding The Vision

SPEAKER_00 50:00

Um, fourthly, we're going to eventually announce hosting our pastoral retreats, and that's where we're literally gonna take pastors and church leaders who are like, I need a break, I need a timeout, I need a place to go and just get a reset. And guys, I'm believing again for partners and our business to just explode so that we can literally scholarship all of these pastors. And no pastor ever has to pay for any gatherings that we do. And it takes thousands of dollars to do those gatherings. It like it for you to like find an Airbnb or a nice place or a nice hotel to host 20 leaders is like a lot of money just to for the lodging, not counting the food and the material so that we can create manuals and different things to pour into them. Like those gatherings cost thousands of dollars. Again, I'm just believing God. People are gonna go, I want to support Mark and Destiny, what they're doing for pastors, what they're doing for leaders, what they're doing uh for home leaders and these home churches are gonna, these family tables for family, for marriages, for parenting, like seeing the church become a family again. Like we're gonna be talking about rediscovering the ecclesia and koin and ea and how they're gonna come together. And it's gonna be uh it's gonna be amazing, man. Like I'm just so excited about it. And uh I feel like this is the first time that we're inheriting a vision where we both feel at home in it because everything I've ever done was around my gift to preach. And um, and the shepherd's tent before made space for you in that. Like, I'm not saying that, like your personality was in that as well, but I'm saying like this vision feels more not more like me or you, it feels like us, and I'm really excited. So this is the first episode as us co-hosts, and um, we've got a lot of amazing things coming. 40th birthday partner celebration, shepherd's tent gathering starting in September, equip gathering coming in October is our first one for these pastors and home church leaders, and then pastoral retreat. We're gonna announce that as soon as we can get the funds up to be able to host one, we're gonna do it. And um, so guys, I just want to say thank you for being a part of

Gratitude Next Steps And Closing

SPEAKER_00 52:33

this today. I know this was like it's probably probably went an hour, and um, but I think it gave you a little inside peek into some of our life. We're gonna tell you all kinds of stories. Like in the next episodes, like we're gonna tell you more about our transition. We'll tell you more about our time in mobile. We learned a lot of lessons in mobile. Um we learned a lot, we grew a lot. We grew a lot and um it's that was awesome. And um, and then we're gonna start sharing the resources for the family table. So there'll be a podcast where we're gonna talk about like devotion as a family and we're gonna start releasing liturgies um that we're gonna put in the partner community. And so all the resources are gonna be available there. And again, like I said, what do you have to do to be a partner? It's not that you have to give $100 a month. If you can, that's amazing. Um, if you're able to do more, that's amazing. Um, but if all you got is a dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, twenty dollars, if that's all you can sew, that makes a difference too. It adds up. And so when and and we're going to do our best as good stewards of the of revelation and good stewards of relationship and good stewards of our own heart, we're gonna do everything we can to give value to our partners and the and to the people we get to minister because of our partners. So if you believe in this podcast, if you believe in what we're doing, the shepherd's tent, the family table, if you believe in the things we share that is coming, then just know your partnership is going to be used well. And um, Destiny, I love you. Thank you for walking with me through all these transitions. You've been nothing but amazing, full of love, grace towards me, and uh, and even in our hardest days, we always came back to this place, looked each other in the eyes, and we're just like, we're more in love now than we've ever been. Like we're growing, maturing as people, and um, and getting more healed. I can't wait to share with you guys if I talk too much on this, I'll end up sharing it now.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

Communication.

SPEAKER_00 54:51

We've learned communication, but also like a lot of things that were happening in our world that we didn't even see as dysfunction and father wounds and childhood wounds that the Lord like took us back to. And I can't wait to share those. I don't think I'm ready to share my Nashville encounter. I try to share with people now and I end up breaking down. I can't even like get through it. But I had probably one of the deepest inner healing encounters I've ever had in Nashville about a month ago. And so we got a lot to catch up on. Yeah, and so if we feel the grace, maybe we'll do it every week. I don't know. We'll figure it out. But at least right now it's we're thinking bi-weekly, but if more comes, I know you'll enjoy it. So we love you guys. Thank you. Seriously, thank you. We both are saying thank you for believing in us, thank you for praying for us, thank you for standing with us. You've watched us go through so many transitions, you've watched us go through so and we're we're saying yes to a new thing. Like we're literally by the spirit saying yes to anything that's new, trying to figure it out. And there's one thing that people will never be able to say about the Castos, and that is that we were risk takers. Like we took a risk on every whisper from God, and we didn't wait, we didn't try to figure it out. We went full bore. Like somebody said the other day, an entrepreneur is somebody that has all the materials to build build a plane. He jumps off the side of the mountain and builds the plane while he's in the air. I'm like, God, I hope that this plane will fly. Like we put a plane together, now it's time to fly. And um it feels so right. It does.

SPEAKER_01 56:28

Feels so right. I feel like more than it ever has.

SPEAKER_00 56:31

Like, yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_01 56:32

All of this was to get us to hear and just beauty and glory. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

Go ahead. So, to our partners, to people that have followed our ministry, we so appreciate you guys and thankful for your support, your prayers. And we're looking forward to seeing you in August. Yes. You've come to Covington. We're looking forward to seeing you at the live podcast events. We're looking forward to seeing you at the equip gatherings. Like, we're going to make amazing relationships in these next few months.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

Beautiful memories, too.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

Like, it's gonna be amazing. So we love you guys. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the family table. Oh, blow it up.

SPEAKER_01 57:11

I need away, say a prayer. That was good.