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S3 EP04 | ABIDE | JAIDYN SCHUTES & COOPER MORGAN

• Antoine Herron • Season 3 • Episode 3

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0:00 | 1:06:05

Antoine sits down with the creators of a Young Adult Movement called Abide Nights. Jaidyn Schutes & Cooper Morgan are Christ-followers, musicians, creators, and North Texas natives that are facilitating a space for Young Adults to rest in the presence of God. Check out this conversation about how obedience, availability, and community can foster an atmosphere to experience The Holy Spirit!

Jaidyn's Socials: 
Instagram - @jaidyndenae, @abidenightstx

Cooper's Socials: @thecooper.morgan, @morganmedia05


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SPEAKER_06

I wrote this down in the in the moment I wrote this down. Abide dash. To abide is to seek and rest in God's presence, leading to fill up, to overflow into souls. To abide is to serve when good when in good times or bad. We choose to serve one another. To abide is to choose God always and forever. And yes, that has been the it's like the back of the in the back of our mind before every decision we make. It's like, is this are we putting God in this decision first? Or are we is this what we're really wanting to do?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

And that's like I talk to Jane all the time. I'm like, we need to make sure like this is not putting us in the front of anything. Because I don't want to be the front of anything. Because if I'm in the front of anything, it's gonna go.

SPEAKER_01

So without further ado, I cannot wait to introduce to the humble community Jaden Schutz and Cooper. Is it Morgan? Yeah. Cooper Morgan. Let's go, everybody. Come on, welcome, guys. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00

Good, how are you? So excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01

I'm excited to have you guys here. Well, since you guys are new to our community, I have a little bit of more context to you, I have a little bit of context to you, but I would love just to jump in with whoever wants to start. Give us a little bit of like your background, where are you from, you know, maybe a little bit of how you came to know Jesus and and how you step into the creative space, like wherever you want to jump in.

unknown

Go first.

SPEAKER_06

No, I think ladies should go first. I think ladies should go first.

SPEAKER_01

I don't think rock, paper, sis. Okay, Jaden, kick us off. Kick us off.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I'm Jayden, as he said, and I am from the Sherman area. That's where I've grown up. Um as far as my relationship with the Lord, it's kind of been a lot on my own. Um my family has always grown up Christian, but they've never pushed anything on any of us. Um and so I grew up in a Baptist church in middle school and some of high school, and then I actually was not going for like my last two years of high school. Um I kind of just stayed to myself and kept my relationship private because in my area there's not a lot of people that show their faith. And so it was kind of like wasn't the cool thing to do. So I was like, okay, I'm just gonna keep it to myself. Still had the relationship, but definitely was not just flaunting it and showing it to everybody like I knew I should have. Um and then fresh out of high school, I just started searching for churches, and I actually came down to the McKinney area and found life church with Antoine. Um and I was going there for about two months and joined their worship team. Literally having never done anything with singing, never done anything with worship. I was just like, hey, the Lord put this on my heart, so we're gonna go for it, and it's worked in my favor. And um currently I don't have a church home. I ended up leaving life church a few months ago. Um so I'm searching for a church home now, but I still make sure that I go every Sunday, whether that's just a random church or kind of back to where I was phase one, I guess. But still making sure I'm getting in the word and just keeping keeping my eyes on the Lord. Um, because now we've started this ministry and I can't pour into other people if I'm not being poured into.

SPEAKER_01

So that's good.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

What's good? No, I pre- I appreciate the backstory. Like you alluded to, you know, we uh you started coming to life church, the church I was a part of uh for five years before uh I ended up stepping away as well. The Lord called my family and I out. Um but it was I remember meeting you, and one of our first conversations, you were like, Hey, I have a passion for youth ministry and I also have a passion for music, but I don't know what that really looks like. And I'm like, there's a spot for you here. And so through that, you kind of became like a little sister to me of someone. I'm like, man, if there's any, you know, just a little bit of tiny amount of wisdom that I can give to you, I want to give it all to you as it relates to growing in your voice. Because I, for a long time, people didn't really know how to coach me in my voice. And so I had a couple people that eventually would, but I'm like, if I could save my friends that I'm helping out and developing years and years and years of that, uh, I want to do that. So you were definitely a part of that for me, of like people. I'm like, I want to help, I want to help get you there and save you like 15 years of struggling with your voice and how to find it and all that kind of stuff, all the technical stuff. So anyway, it's been a joy. And even though, here's what I love even though we haven't really talked in like a year and a half, two years, that we could be in the same room again and it's like we're picking up right where we left off. Exactly. Like I love what the Lord does with the kingdom. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Okay, Cooper, give us some context to you, and maybe if you want, context to how you and Jada met too. I think that'd be cool to for us to kind of know how you guys got connected together for that.

SPEAKER_06

For sure. Um, so I was born and raised in a Pentecostal church in Sherman called Faith Church, and it's still my home church. Come on. Um, and so I've I've kind of gotten it all, seen it all, like I've been in it all. I feel like um the high points, the low points, I mean, it's all kind of always known, just super loud, um, which is great. I love it. Um, and then I've always been a drummer. So I like two years old, I started, I would, my dad plays the bass, and um I would go up during our practices, and my dad would always tell me, like, before I get on the drums, like if the drummer wasn't there, um, it's like little Cooper's like gonna come up, and like he'd always tell me, he's like, play really quietly, okay? Don't play loud. Like, I don't know how to play the drums quietly. How do you do that? Right, right. And so, but no, from the very beginning, it's like it's always been drums. I just always had a passion for rhythm. Um, and so doing that all the way till about nine years old. Um, I get enrolled in some piano lessons with one of my dad's friends, and he's like um, he goes on gigs and he plays piano all over his fight, like all over Sherman. That's where I'm from. Um, sorry, I didn't even say that.

SPEAKER_01

Um You're good, you're good.

SPEAKER_06

Um, yeah, he does piano and taught me all these like blues skills that I didn't really know much about at the time, and like I didn't know why I was earning them, but he did it and I picked it up pretty easily. Um, and then like as soon as I stopped with him was right when I went into sixth grade, and that's when I was in putting the band in percussion. Okay. Um now there's a story to behind like why I chose percussion. I was actually not gonna choose percussion. Like, I thought like I knew enough about the drums and everything like that. I actually wanted to do the saxophone. I wanted to play the saxophone.

SPEAKER_01

Bro, I play saxophone. Yes. Oh, okay. We're brothers already. We're brothers already. Okay, let's go.

SPEAKER_06

So I was like, I wanted to do the saxophone so bad. And my mom and dad were just like, no, like you've always been a drummer. Like, do do drums and you'll like it. And sure enough, I listened to them. And my sixth, seventh, and the eighth grade year, uh, I qualified like top five in the region of the state of Texas, like all three years.

SPEAKER_02

Wow.

SPEAKER_06

And mind you, like each year, like so sixth grade you compete and you compete against seventh graders. Seventh graders compete against eighth graders. It's like all the way from like eighth to ninth, you know, you get the just. Um, but yeah, did that and then ninth grade, I wasn't really for a marching band. It wasn't really kind of like my people, I guess. And so I was just like, you know, this is where we draw the line. I'm just gonna keep playing on my church. But everything I had learned in those three years um put me like at a better spot where I am now because um we did these things called like scale test for so not only percussion is just like snare and the the bass and the toms and all that stuff, it's also the marimba, the vibone. You have to learn your way through those things. And if we didn't get a scale right, it would be every Friday. If we didn't get a scale right, it'd be like a zero or something, mark off or something like that. But you wanted to get these right, and so I tried my best all the time. I practice the scales all the time, and I'm like, I don't know why I'm even doing this. And now I look back um playing piano and being an MD for uh a bide, it's just like all these things are like just work so well, and I'm able to just flow so much easier now that I know scales that I learned. Was that almost 10 years ago now?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Um, but yeah, did that. I'm still throughout high school, still still at the same church. Um, and then high school, you know, I kind of get in the mindset of being a high schooler. I I just don't really, I'm not very loud about my faith. Kind of more on the like people just kind of know, like, oh, he like he goes to church, he's a church boy. Like people kind of know that about me. Um, but it's not something that I'm promoting as much as I do now. And that's like my one thing I tell. I still have a few like cousins that are still in high school or um or friends that are still in high school and that go to church with me. I'm just like, like, don't be afraid of like telling your testimony, like don't be afraid of telling people who are like like what God has like really brought you through, like what he he has like made you overcome to like get to where you are, you know. And like that might be the smallest thing ever, but I'm just like the fact that you can even mention God in a conversation to somebody at your age is something very huge. And so, um, but no, now so catching back up to now, um I graduate, I go to UNT for a semester, and then after that realized I wanted to be completely online. Um, and I also do media and I'm on my path to selling health and life insurance right now.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_06

And so it's uh it's a it can get pretty overwhelming sometimes. And then all of a sudden it's like, here's a bide, and you know, you think, oh, a bide would just add so much more stress. I'm like, this is actually one of the easiest, like worship groups I've ever, you know, been a part of. Everything is just like it's so perfect that I'm just like, I can't say it's not from God. Like, I'm just like everything from the way that all the team and Jaden and I have we've all met um to like the way that our first like our venue was chosen. Like, I I believe like there's a huge testimony in how the venue and what we where we perform or not perform, but where we have our like abide nights. Yeah. So um, well, besides that, Jaden and I met. I'm answering that. I'm not going trying to go in order. You're fine. No, you're fine.

SPEAKER_01

I'm I'm with you.

SPEAKER_06

Okay. Um, but Jaden and I met, so she knows Zach Brickhead. He is our drummer, and then there's two two others named Um Samantha and Zach, and they are married, and they are also singers and an acoustic guitar player. Yeah. They're all great. And Jaden and I and all of the crew, we all met. Um, literally, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

I couldn't I made a Facebook post and I was just like, because I've had this vision on my heart for like a year and a half, two years when I originally came to Life Church and said I had a passion for it. Um, because we don't have anything like this in our area. I always had to come down here to go to a young adult's worship night or even just a worship night in general.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um like to Dallas, Dallas. Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

A good worship night that's not performative and like, oh, we have to have an 18-hour set. I mean 18-minute set, like just letting the Lord do his thing. Yeah. Um so I made a Facebook group and I just kind of or not a group, I made a Facebook post and just kind of put my vision out there. And Zach, he was actually one of my youth leaders in middle school. And he commented, and there is actually like a young adults Bible study group that they all go to. And him, Cooper, and Zach play at that. And so Zach was like, hey, this is something I'm interested in. I'll play, but I also know other people that would be interested. And then Zach and Samantha commented, and they're from Whitesboro. Well, from Sherman live in Whitesboro.

SPEAKER_03

Got it.

SPEAKER_00

Um, and they were just like, We've been wanting to start something like this forever. We just haven't had the people to start it. And so they messaged me. So then I had coffee with Zach and Sam, and then other Zach. We made a group chat, and he was like, Hey, I have the perfect person to play keys. Because I was like, Hey, we need this, this, this, and this. Do y'all know anybody? And he was like, Yeah, I have the perfect person.

SPEAKER_01

Jared wasn't messing around. Well, here's what I need. This, this, this. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_00

So then he reached out to Cooper and Cooper was like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

And then it just let's go down from there. I mean, but I haven't even told I've really spoken to anybody about this and applied yet. Um, but so when you texted Zach, or when you and got in contact with Zach, I was actually like maybe four hours right before you did that. Like, I was with him. We played at a church service that morning. And so I left him and then he texted me. He was like, Hey, how would you feel about joining this group? And I literally had the plan of every Friday night I wanted to host worship nights at my house. Stop it. And like, stop it. You might be saying I'm lying and you might be saying I'm not true, but you can ask my people at my house. Like, I I really because we just renovated our house and we have like a really big back porch that could easily, and I was gonna call it back porch worship. And I was like, I had this whole plan of like when I wanted to do it on Friday nights, like when people just have plans to like do something that's really not that good, and you're like, oh, let's just go and chill and like you know, do some worship. Like, I think that would be so great. Um, but then it just all of a sudden just God went away from like not even my memory, but just like I just felt like everything else just started adding on top of it. It's just like I don't even know if I'll be able to do this because like I'm the only one that's gonna be leading it. But as soon as like that happened, Jada was like, Oh, we need your help, like we need your help here to start this thing up. And um I'm fortunate enough to know the keys and and stuff, and I don't really get the opportunity to play at my church, and so um I chose, I was like, Yeah, like let's do it. Um Wow. And and so Yeah, yeah. So none of us really knew each other before this, and we've only known each other for like maybe six months, two or three months. Wow, we're tight.

SPEAKER_01

It is funny how when you think about any, you know, whether it's secular or Christian, but just any like movement that's happened, you know, any group that we love, like any famous band or group that you love, it's like when you when you peel back the layers of origin stories, it's a lot like that where it's like, yeah, we were just kind of a bunch of people doing our thing. We all got kind of put in a a group together, whether it's like like a like an actual group or like a group chat or something like that. And I know this person, they knew that person, but those people actually know each other. It's funny how, and especially in this context, the Lord orchestrated this interaction to be able to produce what you guys are doing. Like I just think about all of the things that the that the Lord moved out of the way and put in y'all's path to be able to meet each other. Like that, that to me alone is crazy enough. And the fact you've only known each other for a couple months and you guys are doing these events, which we'll get into in here in just a second. But uh, I think just for me, I'm taken aback just hearing y'all talk about that because that the way the Lord had to orchestrate y'all's lives, even to be able to have context to each other, to have availability to do this is uh amazing in and of itself. Yeah, I guess crazy.

SPEAKER_06

It's it's really wild. I I mean when people ask me about it, it's just like you're just witnessing like right on the spot. I'm like, literally, like we had no plan for this. It was just like God put everybody in like by I don't even think Zach Burkhead commented on your Facebook post. He just texts yeah, he just texted you straight up. And he I love it. Hey, man, Zach is one of those people he's always willing to find find the right people, and he's always willing to help.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I believe that he finds is great.

SPEAKER_06

And and not only not only just just Zach, but the people that God had put in like our way are the most helpful people, the kindest people, the most giving people. We've we've had coffee shops reach out that just want to just go and serve coffee for free at our event. Wow. And it's just like you don't get that anywhere else. And so I think it's so great, but I I kind of want to tell them the story about how our event venue or our where we where we do it.

SPEAKER_01

So bro, do it, yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, so basically we had one of two, so she went to this church called Parkside Church, and we knew some people, and that's in Denison, Texas. Um, and we went in there and we thought we found like the perfect room.

SPEAKER_00

They gave us like five different rooms. They're like, you can do it here, here, here, or here. And we have a sound system in every single room.

SPEAKER_06

Wow, and like this is this isn't like the bottom-of-the-line sound system. This is like we could have had in ear's first time um doing this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I promise you, the room was like maybe just like four of these rooms in one room. So it was it wasn't the biggest room, but it would definitely make like the first time super crowded.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Um, sure. Well, literally within the same day, um, they had texted or something. Zach had told me that there was some problems that they didn't know was scheduling-wise, and we told them that we wanted to kind of have like you know, people talk and preach and kind of just share their testimonies and stuff like that. And I don't know if they were like the hugest fans on it. Um they the scheduling was an issue.

SPEAKER_00

The person that was supposed to be there wasn't gonna be available to be there.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And he was willing to just let us come and use the space without him being there. But then when he proposed it to the staff, they were just kind of like, Well, we'd really love for somebody to be there. Yeah, just so that we can see what's being taught and making sure it doesn't go against our church and all of that. So and then it was just really hard to find a date that like we wouldn't have had have even had our first one if we would have went with that venue. Right. Like we would just now be preparing to have our first one because they were thinking like the end of June. Makes sense. And we were like, no, like we're ready to start. Like we want to do, we want one every single month.

SPEAKER_06

No, so so that unfortunately did not work out. Um, but I just in the back of my head, I'm thinking I I have a buddy who well, he doesn't live there anymore. Uh his he's he's grown out of his place, but he used to live on this ranch called Willowwood Ranch, it's in Bells, Texas. Um, it's a giant ranch, it's 500 acres, and they have a chapel and events center. It's a wedding venue. And so, like, you don't even ever think wedding venue um for a worship night. And um, I've done a a worship set in the chapel there, and so like I had automatically started just thinking like I could I know this family really, really well, and they're always gonna be supportive of like what we do. And also another big thing is like if we use this space so much, they're not gonna start charging us an arm and a leg for like what we're doing. And obviously, we wouldn't have a problem, like you know, if something did come up like that, obviously the Lord will provide a way. But um, I call, I call up, I call her Mama T. Her name is Tracy. Come on, uh mama T. Mama T.

SPEAKER_01

Shout out, Mama T. If you're if you're watching right now.

SPEAKER_06

I call I call Mama T. I'm like, hey, Mama T, I I have this idea, and she's like, all right, let me know. And so I tell her, I was like, we have this worship group, and we need an event venue for it. And I think your place would be your wedding venue would be so great. And I want to ask your opinions on it. And I basically give her like the whole logistics of like what we're trying to do on the phone call. And she just like, she's like, that sounds so great. Like, that is so awesome. Like, I am so for that. Come on. And um, she was like, We're always trying to promote um ministry, um, you know, worship events, all this other stuff. She's she was like, at Willow Wood, we're always trying to promote that kind of stuff. And so I was like, well, let's get everybody together. And let's come and we'll all meet uh Mama T. And we all did. Well, I think we did.

SPEAKER_00

Most of us did. Yeah. And it just so happened, I actually graduated with her son.

SPEAKER_01

Stop.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

All these connections. Okay.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. So it um we get there and the room is too big. I'm like, we need to take this room and cut this room in half. Sure. And so we did. And we and it worked out perfect where it's already an event venue. So she had drapes we could put in the middle of the room and basically split the entire room in half.

SPEAKER_01

Cool.

SPEAKER_06

And we were we it's so it's still so big that if even if we doubled in size in the same, like with the same size of room, it would still be big enough.

SPEAKER_00

Still be big enough. So we have so much space to grow.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it it's like it's like we were given, you know, so much like room to be basically prepared for because no telling where this room goes. Um, but she was more than happy to like let us use this. And wow, it's not like for free, but it is what we were looking for. Yeah, it was 100% what we were looking for. Woof. And so, yeah, and and not only that, not only that, she was willing. So she they have sound system for all their events and stuff like that. She was willing to move all of her sound system from a separate barn to the actual event center just for us because we would be using it so frequently. And every time we go there, we're allowed to have practices there, we're allowed to have photo shoots there.

SPEAKER_00

Um, we practice we had our t-shirt photo shoots at the venue.

SPEAKER_06

Ah I saw that. Which t-shirts dropped today, by the way.

SPEAKER_01

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_06

But um, they have a chapel with the most beautiful piano, and it like has amazing acoustics, and we just go in there and just basically just have like another worship night as our practice. Wow, and um it's great. I mean, it's it is so awesome, but I'm super excited to see like how much that room expands slowly.

SPEAKER_00

Um and even when it does expand, like there's space for us to move outside.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

As for our first venue, yeah, would have just been a parking lot and a highway.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

This is 500 acres, so we can definitely find a spot outside if we need to. No, 100%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I love that. I love that. There's oh man, there's so much with what you guys are saying that I'm like, pew, pew, pew, pew. But man, okay, for first of all, how cool is it? And that literally just I don't think I've ever said something like this out loud before. How cool is it that while the first venue could have worked, the Lord orchestrated a wedding venue for his bride to commune with him. Like, I'm my mind is blown, like just at the imagery of that, of like, how cool is that like analogy of like this is what the Lord wants for us. And you guys are facilitating that. You guys are facilitating an atmosphere where the bride of Christ can commune together and commute with him. Yeah. And so, how cool is it that the literal venue is that? And just from like a tactical, practical, all things you were saying, it's like you guys have room to morph and shift that thing however you need it to be, to be able, you know, as you grow, as you expand, as you you know, like all the things, you're able to make it fit what you need it to fit. And I think obviously this is the perfect venue for that. But also, like, and I just for anybody that's listening, you want to start something, you feel like the Lord's putting something in your heart, like, do not despise humble beginnings. Like, this is really what this reminds me of. Because when the Lord has called you to do something, He will make a way. And what I'm hearing in y'all's y'all's stories, I'm not saying it hasn't been hard. I'm not saying you haven't had to plan and strategize. Obviously, you guys have had to do that. You've had to practice, you've had to make sure, like, you know, the sets are good. And hey, do we vibe well together? Like all the music things. But outside of that, it doesn't sound like you guys have had to strive to make this happen. No, which means this is really the Holy Spirit's leading. And I think that's how you could tell the difference between I'm a creative that just wants to do something versus no, the Lord has divinely orchestrated this to happen. Yeah, so that to me is just is just awesome. So, okay, you you said something that I'm gonna I'm gonna dive us into to talk about a bide. But for anybody that's listening, you're like, they said Sherman, they said, you know, you said Dallas. And if you're not from this area, like if you use the blanket term DFW, like DFW is big, we know this. Yeah, these guys are from Sherman specifically, which there's a lot of multiple cities and towns within DFW. And you guys are from Sherman. And the reason why I highlight that is because while you would think Sherman and Dallas are not that far from one another, it's far enough to where you could stay in your own little circle in your own little bubble of life. And even something like this, like you're looking for a specific niche, young adults, event, venue, atmosphere. But you got to drive 30, 45 minutes to do that. And I'm not saying it's bad, but just for you to be like, I want to bring something up this way, something in this area. So people they can do that if the Lord puts that upon them, but they don't have to.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and to use like a weird example, it's like, you know, Burger King and Whataburger and Chick-fil-A can all coexist, and that's fine. Like, you know, you know, it doesn't have to be like, well, that young adult event versus my, it's like, no, no, we're all trying to reach the kingdom together. So why the name Jaden Abide? What what does that mean to you? Yeah. What did the Lord put on your heart when you're like, it has to be abide? And then from that, the vision for the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So we actually picked Encounter to be the name at first. And so then we went to I love that one. We went to Parkside, and their youth was actually called Encounter.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So we were like, okay, that might be a little we were like, that might be a little confusing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And we would probably have sixth graders showing up.

SPEAKER_01

Listen.

SPEAKER_00

So we were like, okay.

SPEAKER_01

You're like, that ain't the vibe. That ain't the vibe.

SPEAKER_00

But encounter was just the conversation between me Zach and Samantha. So Encounter wasn't Cooper and Zach, and Me Zach and Samantha. So it wasn't all of us. So then we all got together and we were like, okay, what's what's another? And Abide was actually on my list right under encounter. And Cooper was like Abide. Because I was like, I want it to be something that's like meaningful of like just sitting and resting in his presence. And he was like, Well, what are some s synonyms? And I was like, so I Googled, I was like, synonyms for resting. And abide came up, and I was like, okay, well, that was already on my list to begin with. So what do we think about that? And then Cooper kind of just started like to abide means to follow it.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. I mean, dude, we just we were sitting in the foyer at Parkside, and it was just me. Um, Zach had to leave early for a flight, but um like on the phone, like he he was so for it. And I like as soon as we came up with a name, uh, I called Zach and basically reiterated what the name means. So, like, I mean, I was just talking, I'm like, abides not only to like to it's not only to follow, but it's also worship, and it's to abide yourself to like the rules and the standards of what God has for you. Um, but also abiding is resting, and it's it's just finding that resting place in worship. And so I I like I just it I kind of looked it up and I have it on my phone, like what I wrote it down in this in the moment. I wrote it down what it means to abide, and I can look it. I'm gonna read it off right quickly. Abide. Let's see here. Sorry, this might take a little bit.

SPEAKER_03

You're fine.

SPEAKER_06

Okay. I wrote this down in the in the moment. I wrote this down. Abide dash. To abide is to seek and rest in God's presence, leading to fill up, to overflow into souls. To abide is to serve when good when in good times or bad. We choose to serve one another. To abide is to choose God always and forever. And yes, that has been the it's like the back of the in the back of our mind before every decision we make. It's like, is this are we putting God in this decision first? Or we is this what we're really wanting to do?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

And that's like I I talk to Jane all the time. I'm like, we need to make sure like this is not putting us in the front of anything. Because I don't want to be the front of anything. Because if I'm in the front of anything, it's gonna go.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and that's how I am like, yeah, I had this vision, but like I want people to ask the question of who even started this thing? Yeah, because I don't want like if you go to our Instagram, I don't want my face, my face, my face, my face, sure of like, yeah, like I don't want to boast of the fact that this was the vision that God gave me. Like it's just as much for everybody else as it is for me. Yeah, and I think we were also, because he said to overflow, we were also gonna call it overflow. But then he put that together and encounter is like, yes, you can encounter the Lord, but to abide is to sit in that encounter. So it's kind of like abide covered all of it.

SPEAKER_01

Some nuance. Yeah, some nuance that's that was needed.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. It's like that was my vision for it all was like I just want a place where people who maybe like personally I've just experienced like going into a church and feeling like a lot of it is performative and scripted, or not necessarily being able to, if the Lord is moving, they're more worried about like, oh, I have to stay on my time.

SPEAKER_03

Sure.

SPEAKER_00

And I can't go to this place that the Lord's putting on my heart because I'm gonna go over time. Yeah. So it was kind of like I went into this and I was like, it could be four hours long, it could be one hour long, it could be six hours long. Yeah. Like, yeah, however long it needs to be is how it's gonna be. And kind of just like nitpicky things, it was like everybody, their way of worship just aligned. Because personally, my way is like I don't have to fill every space when I'm leading worship. Yeah, like if there's a big interlude in a song, I can just sit and abide in your presence and instead of trying to ad lib or fill that space.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Like it's okay to just sit there. Yeah, and everyone else leading with us agreed in that. So it's kind of like our first night, we had a lot of moments where we just sat, but it was the most powerful silence.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

It's a loud silence. Yeah, it's a really loud silence.

SPEAKER_03

For sure.

SPEAKER_06

Um, I the in the word overflow, like I always think of like one pastor had made this reference where he had like a cup of just like dirty water. And I don't know, every y'all probably have seen this, but the guy he basically takes hose, puts it in the dirty water, and then the water just all of a sudden just starts rejuvenating and recleaning itself. And I'm just like, that's what we want, but we don't want just them being clean to like the very top, and then like that's it. Like we want them to be like overly clean, like we want them to leave and have so much that it just it just flows off of them. Like people know like what they've been through. Yeah, and that's that's kind of the goal behind abide, is like we don't only want to abide, but we want to abide so much that we just overflow into other people's lives. And so good, and then through that, other people flow into, you know, it's a whole domino effect.

SPEAKER_00

And it's like, yeah, even so much to like we put so much thought into the setup of it.

SPEAKER_01

Like which I love.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, our first venue was a stage. And I was like, I don't want a state, like I don't want us to be the center of attention. I literally want to be able to reach out and if I need to pray over a person that came, like I can just reach out. Like I don't have to put my mic up and then tumble down some stairs and then go get to them. Like, I just want to be able to reach out and they be there. Yeah, and they feel like they're literally standing right next to us instead of it being a performance. Right. That's been probably our biggest thing is like we don't want this to feel like a performance. Right. And even bringing like special guests in, like, we've been trying to be so nonchalant about that, even though we want to tell everybody and we're so excited, it's gonna be great. Or like, and he even knows the vision behind it as well because it's something that we've conversated about before even starting it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So like bringing him in, he knows the vision and the heart behind it. Yeah. So it's like he knows he's not coming to do a performance.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_00

So that's just kind of been like our biggest thing is not making it a performance and literally just like our set list. I think we we stayed pretty on our set list, but there was a lot of moments where we just went off of the city.

SPEAKER_06

Well, we played we played five different songs that weren't on the set list last time.

SPEAKER_01

Like, come on.

SPEAKER_06

So, I mean, it it it's not a performance.

SPEAKER_01

No, I I love that you guys are talking about. I want to I want to jump into this river for a second because I think this is important, and I don't think a lot of people have this conversation, especially with with creatives like you guys. I feel like either it's one-sided or it's not talked about at all. So I'll preface this by saying, I am a local church pastor. Like our community knows that, like you know that. Like, so I I get to be a campus pastor at the church that I'm at, and like I love being a local church pastor. The local church is the hope of the world. We need the church, we need the ecclesia, we need that mechanism that the Lord has been using since the book of Acts to be able to reach people like never before. Yeah, and and we also need things outside of that mechanism of a Sunday morning to help reach those that maybe would not come. Yeah. So I think sometimes, and I and I know you guys are not saying this, but I think sometimes there's this competition of like, do we want something more like an abide night to reach Jesus or to reach people for Jesus, or do we want something more like a Sunday morning to reach people for Jesus? And it's like, why does it have to be either or why can it be both? Yeah, because what I believe, and you guys correct me, but I believe an abide night can push somebody to find a local church. Oh, yeah. Like I believe if they encounter the Lord and they talk to you guys and like, where do I go from here? It's like, get connected somewhere. So those things don't have to be in competition. But also, we don't, we should not put an expectation on an abide night to look like a Sunday morning. And we shouldn't, vice versa either. We should not expect a Sunday morning to feel like an abide night. It's like, no, go to that to get what you feel like you need for that specific event for the Lord because you're right, there is this tension in a Sunday service or Saturday or whatever you have, of like, I want to sit in this moment, but we we are on time. We do got other elements. We want to honor the, you know, multiple services or whatever, whatever have you. So we want to honor that. So it's like same thing with like a podcast. I've talked to my community about this. It's like to expect that this is a sermon, don't come here for a sermon.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Because we're gonna be talking humble when we talk about the real stuff. That's my whole thing with this. We're gonna be talking about things that you wouldn't necessarily hear on a Sunday morning from a pulpit. And that's okay. Yeah, this is the forum for that. So we don't need to be in competition, we need both. So I appreciate you guys nuancing that because I think it's a conversation we don't really have too often in this community.

SPEAKER_06

It's uh it's so wild though, like the young adult space, though. Everybody's just so hungry. And 100%. And people say that all the time, and I'm like, it's so true. Like, I I'm currently doing um creative director for a semi-pro baseball team. And um, literally, like one of the guys like last night, and literally a girl that I'm working with on the social media team, it's just like I tell them about it, and they're like, oh, when is it? Like, when can I go? And I'm like, Well, it's the last Tuesday of every month. And so it's just like people want to hear about it. And when people see that you're not afraid of like your faith, and you're not afraid just like just automatically just start talking about it, like we're on the spot. Um, they also will open up to that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

And and and so whether that's on whether you're on a baseball field, whether you're like in like a stadium or whatever, wherever you're at, it will like God will interact like right there with both of y'all. And um, like that's what I'm really trying to push is like me trying to be more open to talk to people about it and telling people like, hey, I'm a worship director or whatever, somewhere else. And as soon as I say worship, they're like, Oh, where do you go to church? Like, where like what you what else are you doing? You know, just like all these other things, topics just open up. Yeah. And you're like, I didn't even know I've just met this person like maybe five seconds ago. Yeah. So I think it's so crazy because growing up, I've never, I've I've never known about the um, like I've always been just like a Sunday, Sunday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, like that was my church service. Like, and now that I'm kind of growing into my person, like like my own, my own self as an adult. It's just like seeing all these things that um have always kind of been there and like really opening up my eyes to um what is what are you doing to benefit yourself with like your relationship with God? And like, are you doing are you doing everything you need to do? Yeah. Like, are you really trying to do something or are you just marking it off the list? You know? Um, and being intentional is another thing we talk we talk about a whole lot is you need to make sure you're being intentional with every little thing you do. And I'm talking to Jaden, I'm like, the set list, we're gonna be very intentional about it. Yeah, um, I look into all the lyrics and make sure the lyrics flow together. I want to have a main message behind our worship so they'll correlate with whoever's talking that day, and it'll all be just one theme that the Holy Spirit hopefully puts in someone's head.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, bro. Um, yeah, bro. But yeah, it's the Holy Spirit work works through the planning as well. Yeah. And I think sometimes it's hard for us worship types to uh agree with that or even like surrender to that. It's like, no, it's not, it's not just the performative aspect um or the execution aspect is another way to say that. It's also in the planning. Um, okay, I I want to ask this question because I have two amazing, incredible, Christ-centered, Holy Ghost-filled young adults sitting beside me. And I think a lot of times people will talk about young adults, but they're not a young adult. I'm not a young adult anymore. I I I've been grieving that for about seven years now, but it's fine. I'm grieving, I'm not a young adult anymore. No, but I still I but I still resonate with like a lot of what you guys are saying and going through. But I've I've done research, I've talked to different people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I just want to hear from y'all, super raw. Why do you feel like there is such a hunger for the things of God right now within young adults?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Um, so kind of go back to high school for me. It was like I said, the first or the last two years of high school, I was not involved in a church. Like people would just like I was just a normal person. Yeah. Like you could look at me or talk to me and you wouldn't know that I was a Christian. Not like just because I wasn't loud about it. And but I look back and I'm like, God m was intentional about that because if I would have started worship eight years ago and started worship in high school, then maybe my heart wouldn't be as on fire as it is being two years into it and just hungry to start something.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And it's like maybe my passion would be in a different age group if I didn't start technically start my journey as a young adult.

SPEAKER_03

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_00

So it's kind of like it's hard to sometimes it's hard for a young adult to go into a space and you have icebreakers, you have pressure to talk to someone, or you have pressure to like make friends, but for a bite, it's like I wanted to create a community for people that maybe don't like doing those things. Like you can just come by yourself, you can show up, you can encounter the Lord, you can leave.

SPEAKER_01

Got it.

SPEAKER_00

Instead of being like, hey, let's play this game, and you have to go talk to every person.

SPEAKER_02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00

Not anything against that, but just creating a space that yeah, creating a space for that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, just something different than that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01

No, you're you're fine. I was just gonna say real quick, I think, I think with that, like you said, you know, you nuanced it really well where you're like, there's nothing wrong with that. And and I think anybody listening can pick up on that. But I appreciate the caveat because there's always somebody that's like, so what do you say? You're saying that's no, nobody's saying that. Yeah. However, if everybody's doing that, then what's the alternative if I want to encounter Jesus and find community in a way that doesn't look like I have a bunch of things to do to find community. So I love how you nuance that where it's like you could just come, you could sit, you can abide, you can rest and dip. Yeah, and there's no pressure. Yeah, I think it's great.

SPEAKER_00

Because that pressure can pull somebody away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Also also without that pressure, it's just like everybody wants to know each other automatically. It's like you get in the same room with the same Christians, and it's just like, oh, like where are you from? Oh, I'm from there too. You know, it's just like all these connections to start making because we're not forcing anybody to come. Yeah, we're not forcing anybody to meet each other. It's just like God is just putting these people in line with each other.

SPEAKER_01

So you guys have seen that happen organically through these nights.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Or through your first night. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_06

Insane. I think to go back to your question about why the young adults are so hungry. Yeah. I'm just like the the world is such a cruel place. And I feel like the more cruel it gets, the more hungry the young adults get. Because we are the future of the church. And I believe that the Holy Spirit will convict us even heavier as soon as, like, as soon as the enemy just starts to stir something up new, it's feel like in our heart, we're just like, oh, we need to go to church. Like, I feel like I need to go to church. I need to go like see with someone. Like, it's just like the conviction is so much heavier as a young adult. And some people just don't know how to deal with that. And so they go with the wrong ways. But that's why I think it's very um it we should all be very open to people and talking about our faith and talking about our testimony.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Um, because that people like it's on the forefront of people's hearts. They just don't want to admit it. Yeah. And it's majority of people. And so that's what I truly believe is like the world is such a cruel place that they people look like some people might have it, might look like the only option they have is to go to something that is temporary, yeah, or that doesn't really fill their heart with what they need. And so they go to that and they're just like, I'm like, it's just not that one thing that I need. Um, and so I feel like the young adults are so hungry that's it God is really at the forefront of their heart. They just don't know it yet.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

And so it's like the imagery of like you might think you're sinking down into sin, but like really just God's like his hand is like right there. Just you need to grab it, you know what I'm saying? And so I feel like us as young adults, like we have the responsibility to, you know, ask people like, how are you doing? Like, what like what you've been doing late? Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Um not incredible.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I think it's kind of coincidental that like looking at the bigger picture, the Lord made me and you a young adult at the same time. Yeah, and he made me and that person a young adult at the same time. For such a time as this, we're not young adults together.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

But I'm a young adult with this happening.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Looking at the bigger picture.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Our generation really is hungry, but let's say our generation was the generation before ours. We they weren't as hungry as we are, not in a bad way, but it's just like No, you're right.

SPEAKER_01

It's the Lord is intentional.

SPEAKER_00

It's all intentional who he made a young adult at what time.

SPEAKER_01

Well, millennials, speaking from the generation before, millennials, our tension was we wanted church to be cool.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So that was our biggest tension growing up. I remember just being like, so a lot of stuff you see now is our fault. Like I was just saying, it's humble when we talk about the real stuff. Like everybody that grew up in church and you're my age or a little bit older, like you know, like it this is our fault because we wanted church to not feel boring. We don't want church to feel like, like, if I'm gonna come here to encounter God, I want this to be dope in some kind of way. So that's lights, that's music, that's games, that's whatever. So I think some of the dare I say, gimmicky stuff, which again is not all bad, but I think some of that came out of the heart of how do we reach at that time the young adults, my people, how do we reach them? So everybody was like, well, we gotta do all this stuff. And so y'all's generation comes and goes, we don't actually care about any of that. And so I think, but but it sounds funny, but I think there is the the the bottom line here is like we've got to be intentional about reaching the generation that God has for us now, yeah and not try to project what we want. And so the reason why I asked that question very humbly is because I can make a lot of assumptions, but you guys are in it. You guys are leading it. And so, like, as someone who gets to be a little bit more removed, I'm like, instead of being mad at those Gen Z or whatever, it's like, how can I partner with you to see what the Lord wants to do through your generation? Because, like you said, man, the church needs you. You guys are the leaders of the church of now. And so, how can I partner with you to one be like, hey, I tried that, don't do it, or hey, that's awesome, keep going. And how can I come alongside you guys to make your dream happen?

SPEAKER_06

We we need we need the older generation. I feel like that's the biggest thing right now is like some of the older generation like will think like, oh, you're just kids. Like, oh, you don't like you you don't have as strong as a voice. Well, they want to be so technical basically, some people might think they want to come in and like think they know so much and then want to you know change everything instead of supporting it. Yeah, and because if they support it, we're open ears to like what they have like and we've been lucky enough that we haven't really had anyone older come in and be like, what you're doing is wrong.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe you should do this instead.

SPEAKER_06

It was the craziest thing. Like, we were dude, our volunteers are so great. Like they're they're so great. We well, first of all, besides like what I'm about to tell you, after we got done with the first of by night, um, I was talking with some of the visitors, and I didn't even realize it, but like all of our stuff was already taken down, and we spent like two hours setting up. Wow, and so I was like, guys, like you didn't have the duty of this.

SPEAKER_00

Like, we were gonna stay here afterwards, but you know, they did all that and without being asked, or like I had an agenda for setup, but they just turned down went completely over my head, and then I was we were obviously having conversation with people that came and just but it's like the kind of people, the kind of people that God had put to be a volunteer here.

SPEAKER_06

The we were rehearsing and like as we were rehearsing, like we had a whole set planned just for our volunteers to like just you know sit down and just like worship like as a set for just them. And they were setting up and they were worshiping at the same time.

SPEAKER_00

Like we had we were so time crunched that we didn't even get to do our volunteer set that we wanted to, but we still had to do a sound check. Yeah, but our sound check was that worship set. Like oh cool.

SPEAKER_06

I don't know that I don't know the guys, I can't remember the guy's name, but I didn't even realize this till like uh after we were done rehearsing. But there was a guy like while we were rehearsing, like just walking around our building just praying. Yeah, he was just walking around praying, and I'm like, it's it's something like that that would just be like you have people here that are so supportive, and it's just like we have everything to give, and this is something we need to take very seriously.

SPEAKER_00

Um and kind of you mentioned the coffee shop. I want to talk about that a little bit. Um so they actually go to Life Church McKinney. Okay, and they live in Denison, which is where I live, which is I've never met anybody that goes to Life Church McKinney and lives in Denison, just because it's kind of a trip. Um but I think I know who you're talking about. They opened up a coffee shop. You have to tell me after this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um they opened up a coffee shop in Denison inside of a cookie shop, and they are very new in their faith. They recently went on a mission trip to Guatemala, which is where coffee beans are made. And so they are donations only. Like you don't go pay seven dollars for your coffee. Yeah. You pay nothing, or you can just donate.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

They give that those donations back to Guatemala for water.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Because they get their coffee beans from Guatemala, so they're giving back to take water. And so I had originally reached out to them because I loved the story, first of all, and I knew that they were Christian-based. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I kind of just told them the vision. I was like, hey, we would love to have you. Like, not even asking for in a donation. Like, we wanted to pay them to come out.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And they're like, we'd actually love to just come out every single month and do two hours of free coffee. Just because like we love what you're doing. And like they hopped right in our volunteer huddle, they prayed over everything, they were worshiping with us, like the greatest coffee ever.

SPEAKER_06

It was actually Come on now. Jesus is a coffee. You can't go wrong.

SPEAKER_00

It was really like even though it was coffee at 7 p.m., like I'm that guy though.

SPEAKER_01

A lot of people are like, You're crazy. I'm like, I'll drink coffee at 7 p.m. I will. So it's really good.

SPEAKER_00

But it's just like it's so crazy how the Lord has placed little bitty pieces just like that into the night.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like we could have had uh we could have had Seven Brew come out, but they wouldn't have been faith-based. Or we could have had Starbucks come out and they wouldn't have been faith-based. Right. But no, we had Rose Claire Coffee and Christians and they're praying over the night just. That part. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That part. That's not even just them.

SPEAKER_00

Like just a stranger coming in and we're in a big huddle with 30 other people, and they have the courage to the first thing popcorn prayer.

SPEAKER_06

Not even dude, I'm telling you, all these people that are literally like, we could go down the entire list of people, and like I promise you, like, all of them praying for it. But like, it's not even just the people who are praying for it. It was the people who are telling you that you're praying for it. Like, our photographer uh walked in, and the first thing she says, she's like, Oh my gosh, I've been praying this entire car, right? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's that's awesome.

SPEAKER_06

And I'm like, it's just people we've never met these people before.

SPEAKER_00

Like, I I mean, maybe our first above night was our first time meeting the majority of these volunteers.

SPEAKER_06

And it was just like we knew them like right off the bat. It was so wild. Yeah. Um, not wild, wild in a good way.

SPEAKER_01

I know what you're saying. It is wild. Yeah, it's it's extremely wild that a bunch of people who would otherwise be disconnected are connected in a vision like this. That is wild, bro. But that's what the Lord does. Dude. You look, it's the whole narrative of scripture is a bunch of stuff like that. We're like, how did that even make sense? And the Lord will, even in our mess, even in our brokenness, even in us being disconnected, will find a way to bring us together. And to me, what I hear is a couple things. One, whatever the Lord wants to get into the earth, he will get into the earth. Number one. Number two, if there's people that are willing and obedient that are open and they're they're vessels that are willing to be to be filled with him, he will use those people. And number three, you can't stop a move of God. Yeah, you just can't. Like it again, if God wants it to happen, he's gonna make it happen. He's gonna bring the people, the resources, maybe that come out of nowhere. He's gonna bring the provision. Like that this tells me this is truly God wanting this to happen and not just Jaden and Cooper's amazing ideas. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So I'm I'm super proud of you guys for jumping into this, for taking a risk on something, for believing in something. Because there are a lot of, here's what I'd say too, there's probably a lot of people like you that maybe feel a certain similar way, and maybe the Lord's asked them to start it, but they weren't obedient to start it. Uh, but you guys were. And so here we are, and here you are, jumping into something that so many people need. Because I think with the young adult conversation, too, I think the other part uh that you guys have kind of alluded to, but it's like people are hungry for something real.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Right? It's it's not this fabricated like, let me try to like make something up so that way it presents itself as real. No, something actually real.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That we just come here, the Lord is here. Take what you need because he's available and he's he's the hope that you need. He's the answer that you've been looking for. And so you guys are cultivating that, and I think it's special. So, okay, real quick, as we kind of wrap up our time here, if people come, say they're like, I want to come to an abide night, what what can they expect at an abide night if they come through?

SPEAKER_00

Um really just like you walk in the doors, and from the moment your tires hit the parking lot, there's someone, hey, welcome in, hey, welcome in.

SPEAKER_01

It's like people like jump out your window and just jumping out at you. Come on, welcome team. Come on, come on. Yeah, love it, love it.

SPEAKER_00

Um but I think just as soon as they walk in and they see the minimalism of the setup, they're off they're automatically just like okay, this is gonna be powerful without a lot of extra.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So it's like, yeah, we had snacks, but the snacks were barely touched. Like everybody just wanted to be in the worship. It's like we had people asking for a moment to like an intermission because they're like, we didn't want to walk away to go use the bathroom or go get coffee or go grab a snack. So it's like I think that just speaks a lot of volumes as to what everybody received when they came to that night. Like normally you wouldn't have a problem stepping away from a church service.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like most of the time when the message comes on, people are getting up and okay, worship's over, I'm gonna go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, depending on depending on the denomination. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so it's like for sure. The fact that people came to us and they were like, I need you to have like a five-minute break, a five-minute downtime to where we can go use the bathroom codes.

SPEAKER_06

We did not recommend this at all. Like, we yeah, we were literally gonna do the same thing. Uh I am one of those people to be like, look, tell me your brutally honest opinion. Like, I don't want anything but the truth. Like, you can hurt my feelings if you want to hurt, like all that stuff. But like, I feel like as a team, we are learning how to be completely open ears to like what people want and like what are people really truly needing. And that that might not be what we want to do. And I'm just like, there's some things that we had to implement that we didn't have the first time um that will, you know, make people feel more comfortable um and enjoy the time a little bit more better, or we're better. Yeah, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02

We're following.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, good. Um, but I mean, yeah, it's just things like that. I mean, walking in, we have uh a little welcome team, and they'll, you know, you'll meet every single one of them. All of them will try to come up to you and give you a hug. And you know, what's your name? Like where you're from, like we'll do all that stuff. But as soon as you walk in, um, we have music playing, uh, the atmosphere is good, uh, vibes are high. I mean, it might you might be the first one to walk in and there's not really many people in there, but we'll find you someone to talk to. Like I all of us worship leaders, we all talk to everybody. We don't just go and hide ourselves. We're out front, we're greeting people, we're we're just like everybody's one team.

SPEAKER_00

We even we even started, I think like 25 minutes later than we were supposed to start seven. Started at like 7.25 just because we wanted to be out there to meet everybody. You were just chatting it up. Which I think is kind of just like a what we're supposed to do. Yeah. Like that's the whole intention behind the night. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I was gonna say, if that's what the the night's designed for, then it lends itself to that organically, which I think is great. Which again, I think sometimes people are like, well, it needs to look like this. And it's like, no, it doesn't have to look like anything. Um, and if you felt like that was more valuable for your time to start 25 minutes later, then I'm trusting the Lord work through that. And yeah, but I love that you guys have the freedom to do that. I think it's great. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_06

I mean, it's it's really fun too. I really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00

I think it's just like you'd think about we would probably be pulling our hair out, stressed out, trying to make it perfect.

SPEAKER_06

It's like one of those things that I we we did like the photo shoot the other day, and I'm just so open ears about everything. I'm like, you have an idea, let's do it. Like, what are we gonna do to make this idea work? And like if it's like completely off the rails, that it's totally impossible. I'd probably just feel like we can find a way to do that, but simpler, you know? Yeah, yeah. Um, but I'm just like, I I'm trying to be the most open to everything and truly like if it if it doesn't feel right, we're not gonna do it. But I mean, we have to be open and just try new things and see what really God's trying to do through this. And I think that's the fun part is just being open and like trying new things. It's like not being origin, like well, over channel, obviously, but like not being like, you know, trying to be like somebody else. Yeah, you know, just completely original, completely new, and that's what's so fun. I don't find any stress in it or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00

There was there's actually a moment literally talking about that. Um, at our photo shoot the other day, we were talking with our guest speaker, our guest um worship leader, and he was asking just like the technical things of like in ears and all of that. And he was like, Is there any way we would be able to have a click? And we were like, honestly, we don't know because we don't really know much about the sound area. Um and he was like, Well, I'll have a guy that would come out and set it up. We're like, okay. And he goes, Oh, okay, that was easy. I love how open y'all are to doing everything. And I'm like, I mean we don't know what's gonna happen. If you're like if you're really strict on who you allow in, that might push people away, and what the Lord is meaning to happen might not happen if you're not open to allowing it to happen.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

We all we also don't know who that guy's gonna bring. I don't know who this guy is. Yeah. So I'm like, what if this guy brings someone who's just truly in need of something? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And so um it's also like we're putting 100% of our trust into the Lord and that he has his hands over and he'll protect and he'll bring the right people in. He won't bring in sour apple or anything.

SPEAKER_01

So good. Yeah, so good. Yeah, I think you guys are doing doing amazing work. And so you know you've only had one so far. Uh, but June 30th is the next one. Super excited for that. Um, I will drop all of the uh all of your handles and stuff like that for a bide and uh in in the description below as people are watching this. But uh my my prayer is that you know, if you're 18 to 25, show up, pull up. Like this is for you. And if you're not in that, like me, then maybe find a way to help out or volunteer or be a part of cultivating this, getting it off the ground. But you've heard from these guys, uh, what the Lord is doing is truly special. It's original, uh, it's not fabricated, it's not trying to look like anything else. It's truly what the Lord wants for this time. And so, guys, as we wrap up, any any final thoughts to our community before we end?

SPEAKER_00

Just be there.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's all I gotta say.

SPEAKER_06

That's our thing is you gotta you gotta be there. I mean, we bring your friends, bring the family. I mean, even if you're not like if you're your first time there, like we don't care how old you are, how young you are. I mean, 18 to 25 is the range, but I'm like, if like you want to go, go. Like, no one's gonna like check your ID when you walk in. Like, we're not doing that. This is not I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. This is not club of mine. Like, we're not doing that. We're gonna, we're gonna welcome everybody in. Um, and like it's gonna be it's gonna be great. So, um sorry, club of mind it's crazy. Because like no, I get it. I get it. When people see these like young adults are like, oh, it can only be 18 to 25. Like, no one's gonna check your own. Yeah, it was me. Like, we're not carding people either. Yeah, and so yeah, June 30th, uh Willowed Rant, Willow Wood Ranch and Bells. Um, we want everybody to show up and be there.

SPEAKER_01

So come on. Yeah, I love it. Well, you guys heard it from them. Uh, this has been Jaden, this is Cooper, Antoine. Of course, you know who I am. Uh, super excited for you guys to be a part of this episode. Follow their stuff as you see it in the description right now. Uh, what God's doing is truly pivotal. And personally, I believe and what I want our community to cultivate is that when we see people, especially creatives in the Christian space, doing amazing things for the Lord, that we want to get behind that in any kind of way possible, whether that's prayer, which we need to do that because prayer is the secret sauce of everything that we do and it's powerful. And with prayer, maybe there's a tangible way outside of that that you can get involved as well. But if the Lord puts that on your heart, even financially, to help donate to what they're doing, like be obedient to that because we believe in helping people get things off the ground. So thank you guys for being here. Uh, super excited for another episode of Humble. You guys have heard me say it before, but like share this, add people to our community. I I don't say audience on purpose. This really is a community where we are talking about our real journeys as it relates to us growing in Jesus. And if you need someone to come speak for you, lead worship for you, to be a part of advancing the kingdom in your circle. I would love to be a part of that. Just hit me up. I would love to be a part of what God's doing because I want to help people just like these guys. I want to help whatever's in your heart come to life. That's we're stronger together, guys. So, with that, this is Humble, where we talk about the real stuff. Cannot wait to see you for another episode. See you guys later. Peace. Thank you so much for checking out this episode of the Humble Podcast. And here's my prayer is that something that was shared through the content today resonates with you in a way that changes your life. And I can actually use your help with something. While you're watching this, would you mind subscribing to what we're doing on YouTube? As you do that, that helps other people to be able to see and value what we're doing, just like you do. But also tap that bell icon so you never miss an episode. Next, if you are listening on Spotify and on Apple, leave us a review or comment so that way other people can see what God is doing. And lastly, I would love to invite you into the Patreon community. Simply go to patreon.com slash humble podcast and you can become a patron where you can financially support what we're doing. That gives you access to perks and rewards and like special QA's and different things like that that I'm doing so that way this community can actually be one where we foster vulnerability and we talk about our real stories and our real journeys with Jesus. Thank you so much for doing that, and I cannot wait to see you next time.