Noah's Ark in TURKEY? | CRNRSTN Collective - Episode 32

In this episode, the host J, and his co-hosts Angus, Gage, and Javan, discuss the crazy findings in relation to remnants of a massive ark like structure in a mountainous region of Turkey. The four of them also take a look at the crazy political responses to some of the nonprofit and missionary work being done with India banning 21k nonprofit institutions and IDF soldiers destroying a statue of Jesus Christ in Lebanon. The four of them also talk about some of the incredible testimonies from popular figures such as Tyson Fury, Denzel Washington, and even Novak Djokovic. Technology-wise, the group analyzes the crazy developments in robotics from CUE7 and Honor Lightning. They also discuss the loss of influencer jobs and jobs in Hollywood as shifts within the socioeconomic climate and governmental laws have began to limit some of the ease of shooting content in these places. Lastly, the four of them take a look at the personal experiences with Life Groups in their congregation as well as what it means Biblically to find peace in your soul.

#podcast #opinions #technology #politics #religion #christianity #church #testimony #noahsark #china #india #israel #robotics #ai #bible #jesus #god #viral #trending

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Cornerstone Collective. I'm your host, Jay Brown, and with me today is Angus McLeod.

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Hey, hey.

SPEAKER_04 0:06

As well as Javen Brown. Hello, hello. We're talking about the seven C's of culture. It's commitment, community, communication, competence, creativity, compassion, and celebration. I want to start out today with a scripture from Joshua. Uh Angus, I'm gonna ask you to read it for us.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

But Joshua commanded the people you shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout, then you shall shout. Joshua 6 10.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

We've been talking about this idea of moxie of having courage, uh, being strong and courageous, tenacious after the things of God. And we use this example of Joshua as they were going into the promised land and they were coming up against Jericho, historically said to have walls so thick they raced chariots on top. And so there was no way for them to come out of the desert and then take over the city. So the Lord gave them a plan, which was to lead by praising the Lord and worshiping and walking around. And he also told them not to shout and do these things until it was ready. So we were talking about how many times it's good just to shut your mouth and listen to what the Lord was saying. What do you guys think about that?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Uh I think that's good advice.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Any examples, Javen, of where that would have been a good idea? Oh, dude. I don't know. Like I'm I'm young, I'm like sometimes not hold my tongue when I say some stuff. Um, I think especially around like friends and things like that. But yeah, sometimes you just gotta be quiet and like let things go on. Wait for the Lord to intercede.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

There you go. Um, I do I I I agree in my own life, not in your life, in my life. Uh, but yeah, just uh I think it's one of those things we've been talking about the first time we talked about um using the example of Moses, and obviously him, you know, he had such potential in kind of the yard sale of his life and the mistake he made in killing someone, trying to cover it up, had to flee for his life, and then God called him back with purpose to go and liberate um the children of Israel. And in doing so, it was uh an amazing thing, but he really had to face the fear in his life, which was facing Pharaoh, then facing a Pharaoh's army and facing the water in front of them with the Red Sea. There are a lot of stories with that and facing the fear. And then we talked about what it means to praise the Lord and leading your life with praising the Lord as a work your our worship to God is a weapon against darkness. So it's an encouragement to us to think about what God has for our behalf and to be those that walk in alignment with him, with the moxie to live for God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, so we've been talking about this, uh, these things about kind of our commitment to God and connections to our faith. One of the things recently was digital scans in Turkey on Mount Arat have always kind of been thought or the like kind of theoretically thought that this could be the landing point for the ark. Recently, they've been running some scans, pretty interesting to think about. Javen, what do you think did you get a chance to see those?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

I did. And I think personally it definitely would make sense. It's it kind of reminds me what we talked about earlier between the distinction of whether or not like Moses crosses at like the Red Sea closer to Egypt or whether it would be over like to Saudi by like another point that makes more sense. I think definitely they're like archaeologically around that area would make a lot of sense, especially because we know that even if he did originate somewhere like Iran or Iraq or the Arctic. Yeah, exactly. Then he really wouldn't have gone that far away, at least not to like Eastern Asia or all the way to the Americas or something like that. So to land in Turkey, especially around that mountainous region, would make a ton of sense.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

Pretty amazing. We've had a chance to be in Turkey quite a bit, not to that part yet, but looking forward to going to the mountains on that side. We have some friends that are part of our community here that have been there and live there for many, many years. Shout out to our friends. Um, but thinking about them and and kind of that stuff. Angus, what's your take, man? You've seen some of the scans?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Yeah, uh well, I haven't seen any of that. I saw the the initial report. Um, I think it's really cool. They've been talking about for years where you know they think that it landed. Um, I'm really interested to see what is beneath the surface. That's that's gonna be really cool to uh to see.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

Yeah, I agree. You know, there have been reports of like you know, fossilized wood and this and that and the other thing in that region, and they're like, it doesn't make any sense because of the how the way the land looks doesn't really hold forests in our modern day. So it is really interesting to see what it would be like and how those things have come about, but very cool as it ties to faith.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

So pretty exciting. Uh uh, if you guys have seen this, one of the cool things about the internet is uh you get to kind of catch up and poke fun. A Christian comedian named John Christ, very, very popular. He has a really big online following, doing skits, stuff like that. He started a new series called Springfield First, and it's actually a fake mega church, and he's acting as the pastor, interacting, I think, with his executive pastor, and she's supposed to play this kind of back and forth. Very funny.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

You guys seen some of these clips and saw the one where they're talking about competing with other churches. Correct. And so John Chris is the lead pastor, is like, no, they're not competition, and you know, um uh how the other church is giving away cars and this and that for their tithes, and uh it's it's so funny.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

It's so ridiculous, and it is kind of an extrapolation of what can happen if you're in competition kind of culture. Uh Springfield being like being the hub of where the assemblies of God is at. So it's like that's a real tie, and there's a lot of big churches in that area. There are also a lot of Springfields in America, so that's another reason they use that, because you can be Springfield in many different states.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

So, Jay, what'd you think, man? Yeah, I mean it's it's definitely, I think, a fair like way to address it because in some sense, and it is like the appreciation of evangelism as far as like a modern movement of Christianity and Western culture, as far as what we do for missions and things like that. But definitely, whenever you reach a certain size as a church, it kind of becomes more about the glitz and glamour to some people than it does about the actual intent and the message of spreading the gospel in that way. And I think what's so funny about that is historically the criticism for Protestantism has been towards things like Catholicism being too grand, focusing on too much of the money and the distribution of wealth between like the higher uh cardinals and popes and things like that. But in the same way, it's kind of like by being given the stage and that much influence for some of these pastors, it kind of goes to their head and they themselves kind of become another like variation of the Pope for their congregation or for themselves, like in the cut in however big their church may be, which has been a criticism for a lot of people in the past, like um uh the megachurch pastor out of Texas that people were like or still criticize a lot. Um, what's the name of it? Kenneth Copeland and Copeland, that's what I was thinking about. Multiple planes and exactly where sometimes it it really just becomes about the material stuff attached to your church, which is almost ran like a business, and at some point being in charge of both things, the lines tend to blur a lot. So that's true.

SPEAKER_04 6:43

I do think it's funny because you know, he's the reason people take it well is because he's a Christ follower. The the other woman, she's a comedian too. I forget her name, I apologize for that. Uh, she's another one that, you know, obviously they they're they're in alignment here and they're poking fun at their own, it's like inside culture of like making fun of how it operates and whatnot. Yeah, and you see either there's one other really good sketch uh uh like which I saw, which was they're talking about like a black Bible study and how they're trying to reframe not using like an ethnicity, and it's very funny because you have two white people having a conversation about something, and they're like, No, no, we should have him come in. Yeah, they finally get to the point where they're like, we need to talk because they were trying to reframe and do all the stuff that like a marketing company would do. Very, very funny. Yeah, because it's like, yeah, dude, you this is real real life, modern, modern church life, but it's like trying to hash it out. It is hilarious. Yeah, absolutely. So obviously it does, you know, take the mick out of everything, but it's one of those things that's pretty funny. So shout out to those guys for um for doing it. And I hope they you know they they can skirt the line pretty good and keep it tight. So I don't know, man. Any any other take on that?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Uh sorry, my brain just went delay. Uh no, I think that um, you know, there there is some truth to it. Like I know as as a pastor as you're getting ready, it's when you when you speak, you want to try and drive your point home. And so um, where is that line of that you cross into just it being an absolute show, right? You know, versus uh a real genuine message, you know, because there's so much that gets lost and you know we want to reach the lost.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Um, and the they the people want to be entertained, but at the same time, we don't want to just entertain people. We want to bring them closer to Jesus. Now, if you can do that through an entertaining story or or whatever, great. But um I think that it's it's one of those things that's worth the discussion where we we have to kind of decide where that line is um so that uh so that we don't end up becoming just a caricature of ourselves.

SPEAKER_04 8:43

That's a good take. That's a that's a strong take as well. You know, we talked about other churches that have had like digital video floors and other stuff, and it's like wow, that would be pretty rad because you could do a lot with that. It is on the production side of things to try to like amp it up to the next level to be like, you know, command attention, etc. Uh, you recently just came out of a show because you helped your wife in doing shows, and you guys built a whole rotating stage and a whole bunch of other stuff, and it really added to the storytelling, to the actual narrative of the thing. Uh it is interesting, is like what line is too much? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah, well, I mean, like when we got the the the LED screen here, uh some people are a big fan of it, some uh people are you know more traditional. Uh and uh what I like is how you've explained to everybody, you know, it's just communicating more effectively what we're already trying to get at.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

Right. And for us, we were already using map like really big, you know, massive screens with stitched together projectors and the whole nine yards, kind of the precursor to that. We already had intelligent lads, we already used Hayes, we already used all this kind of stuff to kind of set an atmosphere and kind of have an effect that draws you into the message. And we have a lot of lyrics. We use a run, a lot run a lot of ribbons, is what we call them, where they just run long and they'll actually have the lyrics, they'll have scripture, they'll have other things, it ties you into the message of what's being said or what's being sung. So it has a greater effect than just like the lights and lights for light's sake or haze for haze sake. It's it's something that really is trying to set the scene and help people kind of step out of their life and into worshiping the Lord and kind of you know casting their their eyes upward towards him. So there is definitely a line, but I can see you know, you get you have all these like viral clips of churches with like drummers coming out of the sky and stuff. And I assume that's for like a big production like Christmas or Easter or something. But you know, it's it's one of those things that people are like, oh, this is what they're using it for. And because it's especially in the States um or even Australia, other places there's like a tax ramification where it's a non-profit, they're like, Oh, they're using all this money for the show stuff instead of these other things. So I think that's where you know, uh John Christ and his colleagues that are making the Springfield first thing, it's pretty funny because they're poking kind of the inside holes of like, okay, well, we're trying to do this, but then like this other these other guys are giving away a car or whatever, and they're like trying to compete, compete, but not compete. So yeah, definitely a fun thing. One of the things that we've seen that's been very interesting is that India recently started banning a lot of nonprofits that are from outside the country. So this includes really big Christian um nonprofits, including World Vision, other people like that, and they have essentially banned 21,000 nonprofits in their country from operation. And this includes taking their assets, i.e., from their accounts and their buildings away from them, which is a substantial thing. We recently gave to Project Rescue, which is looking to establish a school for local kids and kids who are coming out of the red light district kind of life in India. Yeah. They already had previously the land they were on was in the in the plan for a new thoroughfare. So they the they already had intimate domain and took down these big housing things that were there for the children, that were there for the orphans, and actually took those all the way down. So they were they were fundraising to actually buy the next version of that. So it immediately hit home for us. I was like, whoa, I hope Project Rescue, they're okay because they're trying to, you know, minister to these kids, make them away. They had a really good business model, they want to provide, you know, A plus education that would be funded by international students or by other, you know, kind of higher class Indian students, families, and that would make a way for these other students to essentially be given a scholarship to attend a really good education, because we know often education helps lift people out of poverty. So it's interesting that that India is taking this place as far as governmentally from this perspective. What do you guys think about that?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Honestly, I don't quite understand the the reason why they would do that. I mean, because uh on the front end it makes sense because now you the government has all these assets, but what they're doing is they're robbing themselves socially and they're they're gonna cause other problems that will ultimately cost more, I think, yeah, than uh than what they get in the you know, in these land deals or steals.

SPEAKER_04 12:57

Yeah, I think it has to be a little bit about control. Um, you know, the president is is definitely Hindu, he's definitely in alignment for people of Hindu um faith, and so he, you know, they've kind of come again against the Islamic area and the Christians in in their country, and that's been some of that. I think a lot of these nonprofits are people, you know, from Islam or from Christianity, it's going against that. It's one of the ethics that are in both of those faiths that necessarily is not in Hinduism in the same way. Yeah, and so I think it's a way to to essentially strengthen their position within the country on who's controlling who and what that looks like, because if they have a lot of outside, I mean 21,000's a lot. Yeah, okay. But you know, it's a place that had a lot of need. So I think if it's one of the places where they're like trying to consolidate power, he's gonna run his own program now with their assets. At least that's what I think he's gonna do. Javen, what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Yeah, I mean, I I think a lot of this stems from the fact that they're having such a big population surge that they realize if they don't get something under control as far as people monitoring, then they're gonna have a really big problem on their hands. So I think they're looking towards their neighbors in China and being like, oh wait, they control all this information about everybody, have tabs running on everyone. If we can just do that by telling nonprofits to get out and then seizing all their assets, then suddenly we have a lot more power in in these like really big urban cities. Um, so like from a uh fiscal standpoint, I completely understand it. But back to Angus's point, like socially, you're killing some of the communities that were there and just making or building that sense of animosity between the people and the government. And we know historically when that happens, especially with such a large group of people, there's like revolt and revolution. So we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_04 14:36

That's true. It's also a shame because unless they have a system to backfill or backstop that from all the good that let's say the majority of them were doing good work. Now I can understand if there was other things going on, and many times that's been a problem in com in in countries, including our own Minnesota, yeah. Yeah, where nonprofits or other entities are taking all this money, not doing anything with it. There's no, you know, there's no accountability. That's a problem. Yeah. So I can understand where they're coming through that, but it's interesting because World Vision and these other places are like vetted worldwide and major, major givers, these are huge operations. So for them to kind of target them is very interesting. But we'll see what happens with that. Praying that, you know, India's government gets wisdom from the Lord and comes in alignment with that, and also those who are doing good work in the country are allowed to continue that work and that there's some real partnership there, um, and that those affected would have the same kind of provision for them that they need for their family, especially those who are dealing with hunger uh or with shelter. Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So and what's sad is like when we were over in Nepal, um the the missionary was recognized as being a benefit to the community. And so like the the government, the local government would uh send hard cases and and kind of things her way, but at the same time, the official stance is no. Right. You know, and so it's it's this weird dichotomy where you're like, Do you are you for us or are you against us? And the answer is yes, yeah. The answer is yes, we are both for you and against you. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 16:04

So publicly against you, but privately they're for you or our other way. Yeah, yeah. So very interesting. Uh, one of the things that we recently saw was heartbreaking was um Israeli forces uh in um in Lebanon and in other places there in Israel actually were seen destroying a Jesus statue. It was Jesus on a cross in a Catholic area. Um they were seen tearing down the cross and and beating the Jesus figure into the ground and stomping on him. And this uh this took this had a really big viral moment as far as people rejecting it and were very, very upset about it for good obvious reasons, um, because they were going into a place that they that shouldn't have been targeted and they were tearing down these things. Uh, it is said that since that time that they have now um they've actually taken them and have jailed them or done some kind of punishment against them. Which gives us thought on that? It's very interesting what's going on with them right now.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

No. I mean, I I think this spurs a lot of conversation that I don't know, the will probably continue to be had over the course of several years. But as far as just from a general standpoint, we understand that in Revelation, by the time that Christ is ready to come back for his church, there will be an established rule of people that are inherently against the body of Christ and that pretty much are ruled by the Antichrist in that way. Um, and there's also stuff like predating about AI and things that are integrated into that before he comes back and before the seventh trumpet blows. So it's very interesting to kind of see that all this is being fulfilled scripture-wise. Like we are genuinely closer to some of the acts in revelation that we've ever been before, despite what people want to say about oh, we live in the end times. Like, no, like pattern-wise, this is all making a lot of sense. Right. So it it it definitely is interesting to see when some people are like very diehard for a country that's inherently going to oppress you. And even though even though you feel like a sense of political support towards a towards a body, I think it definitely your priority should be as far as your your stance as a child of God and putting the kingdom of Christ first, which is a worldwide initiative. It's not just for America, it's not just for Israel, not just for Russia, China, et cetera, et cetera. But it is a global unity that we need. And he will come back for his church internationally. That's why we all are given the same opportunity. So it yeah, it's just a lot to think about and a lot to process. Um, there's definitely going to be more of this because they're I think IDF and Israeli uh like ministers and people in charge of the state have been taking more of the stance, and this is kind of just like a a public way to be like, oh no, we want American Christians on our side. But so yeah, that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

Yeah, that's been a long, I mean, thing obviously we are for we are for the Jewish people, um, but does not mean we have to agree with Israel as a government and what they're making decisions on. It's much like our own government when we disagree with our own government and what things that they've done around the world, um, as people have lived around the world and lived in that region. Um, it was our heartbreak to see some of the actions that our own presidents had taken against innocent people or otherwise. Uh heartbreaking for sure. And so it's interesting to see this happen, interesting to see what's going on with that, and hoping and praying that um we see the peace of God rest on his church. We're praying for the peace in Jerusalem, for peace amongst the Palestinian and the Jewish people, as well as the Christians in that region, that they would be protected by God. Amen. And with that, we want to welcome Gage Lee to the podcast. What's up? Hey, we're jumping into this idea of testimony, and you know, we were recently talking about testimony and using your testimony to connect with people and how you were using that to connect with the guys who were selling solar to you and every other thing, which is pretty rad. And they've been showing up at church.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah, which is even more rad.

SPEAKER_04 19:40

I think so too.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Yeah, it's been a lot of fun, dude. Um, I think that's one of the most powerful things that we have as believers is the ability to give people an example of how we've experienced like a fundamental change in how we see things and the love that we feel and the way we operate in life, not because of anything that we did, but because of how we're able to receive God in us. It's just been it's it's been super powerful because like I see a lot of my old friends um still kind of living the life that we used to live together, right? And it's been a lot of fun explaining to some of them the drastic changes that they see in my life, right? You know, and that's part of the testimony as well, is the changes that the Lord has made in my heart, that then I'm able to walk out in faith and in step with him, and other people seeing that and going, like, man, like what happened to you, bro? Like, I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

It's all Jesus. That's right. Amen to that. Uh along those lines, you know, we've seen a lot of people recently. Um, we're talking about like different ones, but man, some of these people that are already famous, especially in the sports realm, but also in comedy and other things, have really been giving their their testimony to the Lord. One of those is Tyson Fury. You guys have seen Tyson Fury, the gypsy king, the boxer guy out of the UK. Yeah, yeah. He's out there talking about Christ, talking to about it with his daughter who wants to get married young. Kind of the gypsy community gets married really young, talking to her about is he a good man and is he someone you know who's aligned with God? So there's really cool like dialogue seeing him do that and talk about those things. You know, recently Denzel, Washington, got baptized, and we saw him go public with that, which is really interesting. I know he's a preacher's kid all these years, but um, you know, like I mean, mega, mega famous, one of the best actors ever. So pretty impressive. Um, one of those people was Derek Stroop. I don't know if you guys seen this guy. He's on he's uh just dropped a a comedy, um, a comedy special on Netflix. It was called Nostalgic. And if you haven't seen it, it's pretty funny. He does like a he does like 15 minutes on like cigarettes. It's pretty hilarious, especially in modern day. But he's uh kind of a clean comic that works with uh Nate Bargazzi, connected up with that's uh we've actually I've seen him do bits with Nate. Really funny, talking about how when he was young he wanted to be a pr a pastor, which was kind of crazy. I was like, wow, check that out. So there's a few guys in that in that stand up comedia, comedic kind of vein that are in that. Uh another one is uh some of the guys that on the club that The Javen I Sport, he's wearing the kit right now. PSG. Like Due. And some of these guys on the team are actually giving their uh giving shouts to the Lord and that kind of thing, which I think is awesome. And then Novak. I didn't know that Novak, the the tennis, I mean Djokovic, yeah. That he was a Christ follower. And he said, No my identity's in Christ. It's like, wow, man.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

It's pretty powerful. Which you guys takeaway. What do you think, Jabo? I mean, it's super cool, especially when you have people that are playing at that level and are like in front of millions of people. Dewey, I think by far is one of the biggest young rising stars within the game of football, the biggest sport in the world that like billions of people follow. That's right. So to use your platform, like he'll pretty much after every game, he'll always post either like something related to um giving all all glory to God or like posting himself praying and things like that. Like when they won the um the Champions League last year, he just immediately got down on the floor and started praying, which is super cool. And then for Novak, I mean, he's basically achieved everything in tennis at this point. He's the greatest of all time. Grand Slam Champions. So yeah, exactly. Most um majors of all time. So dude's absolutely incredible. And for him to step in front of people and attribute all his legacy to Jesus in that way is nothing short of phenomenal. Same for people like Denzel, who historically have been some of the most prominent actors in the world and are in like some of the biggest movies that have ever been produced, and then to return all that back to the king is incredible, especially when there's a bunch of people, like you said on Sunday, all trying to uh wrap their identity in like a gold statue that they give out.

SPEAKER_04 23:27

So that's very, very true. That had uh that had uh mixed mixed reviews in the crowd whenever I whenever I give that example. Angus, we think, man, testimony is so powerful. You're using your testimony recently just to share with others.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Yeah, I it's really cool to see that the climate really is changing. Um and whereas before it was like shh, don't talk about it, and and you know, you're had to be on the down low with your your faith in Christ, but now people are starting to get more comfortable with it, and I think that that's great because um I think that when when celebrities start to do it, then other people will naturally start to follow. Uh and so I I think that this uh while it's not about getting uh celebrities involved, it's it's great to see that you know, people of that stat status are able to uh admit to uh being kingdom minded and all of those things because what what it says in the Bible is that it's really hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Right. You know, and so it's really cool to see that these people are doing that. And I'm I'm hoping that you know Denzel is having some conversations uh, you know, on some sets and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Amen. No, that's right on. Gaze, we we talked a little bit about these skate guys and about different ones that we looked up to like back in the day. Uh you see my new the new uh Shackler deck that he put at the scripture on the bottom.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Chris Colwound?

SPEAKER_04 24:47

Yeah, those guys, and then uh then we have all the you know Jamie Thomas board and then uh Steve Caballero, like other guys that have kind of given put their faith out there.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Christian Osoit. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_02 24:57

Oh, I love it, man. It's super cool, especially coming from that background and knowing like how deep those roots run in like drugs, alcohol, and just straight rambousness. Debauchery. Rambousness is good. Yeah, uh, but it's it's again, it's just part of the testimony, seeing where they're at in life and the things that they're able to find joy in versus like this hole that they they all go back and talk about this hole in their life that they desperately tried to fill with all these different things, right? As well as climbing the ladder of success in whatever sport they were doing, right? And then like all that stuff being nothing in comparison to their now relationship with Christ and the fulfillment that they find in that. And I think it's such a it's such a powerful message that when received well, like right in the right soil, that I mean it could really transform people's lives. And I I've seen it happen around me. There's this one kid, his name's Max. He went to Australia, super cool kid, shredder, right? But was like totally heavy into the pot and all this stuff, and he met a guy out in Australia who was some amateur skater, but like really took him in, was cool to him, and taught him about Christ. Well, this kid came back after like a two-year hiatus, just he went to Australia just to go skate. Right, right, right. Like, this is the lifestyle he was living. He's going Cali living underneath the half pipe, skating at this like professional's house all the time, just helping out, and then going to Australia doing this, comes back, and he's going to these different skate parks around the valley in Arizona, and he's church planting at the parks, right? Like getting people, yeah, getting people together every Friday evening at like you know, seven o'clock at this park, and then Thursdays at six o'clock at this park, just getting people together, and like it was so cool, man. He would take the little bit of money that he had because he worked like a part-time job, he'd take that little bit of money, and at the end of every week, he lived in a van. When he'd go to these parks, he'd bring food and some charcoal and grill up some food for some people, sick, and then set up like a table with waters, drinks, you know, different stuff like that. And then he'd play his guitar, which he never knew how to play guitar, comes back from Australia, and now he's singing and playing guitar, all worship stuff. Cool, super gangster. Wow, and he's just giving his testimony and sharing the gospel with all these different kids at the park, and like seeing somebody who's in that life or who was in that life, you know what I mean? Especially as like a punk rock skater kid. You're like, ah, these guys are so corny, like, I don't want to be nothing like them. Then you got some punk dude showing up preaching the word of Jesus, and you're like, oh, there might be something too. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 27:23

Shouts out, Max. That's amazing. I love that. Yeah, I mean, you know, shout out to these guys, man, for using their testimony for God. I think it's so powerful, so cool. Uh, what a blessing. Yeah. You know, another thing that's interesting is um somebody who's taken, you know, there was a lot of smoke going on with the L L G BT community, and then kind of like having uh pride and stuff like that within sports. The Dodgers are one of those teams that have embraced that thing with LA and everything like that. So they had their blue Dodger cap and their logo on the front would they actually during those months would actually use and do the rainbow effect. One of their pitchers, a very famous one, who is Clayton Kershaw. He he just, I mean, you know, to be on the team, you have to wear the whatever the kit is. So he didn't buck against that, but instead he went on and actually got embroidered on the side Genesis 9, 12 through 16, which is actually what the rainbow represents, which is God's promise to Noah. And so I thought it was really interesting as we're talking about the Ark in over in Turkey and talking about it being established to see him do something like that. It's pretty gutsy, but also pretty smart.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

I think that's uh it's a non-confrontational way to get your point across. Exactly. You know, which is exactly what I think we're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

It's speaking truth to to culture and what's going on, uh, but not in a way that is gonna turn people off necessarily. I mean, it's definitely gonna turn some people off. Yeah, for sure. Um, but I think that rather than getting up and making a huge deal about it like some of these other athletes have done uh to make their their political point or whatever, um, I think this is just a very subtle way of saying, yeah, I'm not gonna go if you if we're going that way, we're gonna I'm gonna go back to that.

SPEAKER_04 29:01

Yeah, yeah, go all the way back to the original. Yeah, that was pretty slick. One of the other C's we talk about is creativity. And one of the things that we've been talking a lot about here is AI and faith. Recently, um Anthro and Anthropic, which is one of these big uh big uh AI companies that has clawed, uh, they actually met with 15 Christian leaders and they're seeking moral behavior support. I thought this was really interesting because they're saying, you know, AI in itself, as we talked about recently, you know, in itself is is amoral, meaning it doesn't have morality. And so they're talking about from their side, as the people who are actually building this thing, what rules should they consider that would be moral rules? So they met with these these leaders, these religious leaders, to try to put morality into the AI. What do you think about this, Cage? You know what I think about it.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

You know what I think about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So spell it out for us.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Uh I really don't trust it, man. I like why are we giving uh a computer morality? Uh why are we having anything that is not human operate at the capacity where you need to start considering implementing morals into its fundamental software? Right. That way, like, oh, just in case it decides it wants to take over the world, at least it's gonna have the right morals. I mean, at least it's gonna do things the right way. Like, why are we giving anything that kind of power that's not I mean, granted, we give people, broken, terrible people, yeah, that kind of power now, but like what what makes it any safer that it's automated, right? That it's a system that runs on a battery. I don't think it's any safer. I don't think it's any better. I'm not gonna call them clankers, but I don't I'm not rocking with it. I'm not rocking with it.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

Yeah, it's an interesting thing. I think it it is, you know, the um the genies out of the lamp, so to speak. You know, they talk about the cats out of the bag, and it's it's very hard to put that back in because the implementation is like running, running as it is, is connected to the internet, and so all these things are starting to really run. It is interesting to think about what would make this thing be moral and how there would put a moral guideline into it. Are they talking about human life being really valuable as a morality? Are they talking about you can't lie? Are they what are they saying? Because we've seen that AI already started blackmailing people and did not have any morality. It was just like, no, I'm trying to get to my you told me I need to get to my end of effect. I'm gonna use whatever I want, which is very much a governmental perspective on how to do what they want, but I'm gonna do whatever I want to get my end used. So Angus, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Well, um I'm curious what it looks like when uh when you give it morality and then you try and shut it down.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

Yeah, you know, because it would technically be more moral than you, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

And so I mean, will it will it still will it choose those morals over its self-preservation? You know, uh, because we've like you said, we've already seen it not have morals. Correct. Uh but the other thing too is what um these what are these leaders, you know, what is what are they feeding it in? Because that you're talking about a huge model that's gonna affect a large portion of humanity, and that's governed by just these few people's idea on morality, you know, and so if if so that's not changing, because I mean yeah few people controlling everything, yeah, yeah, that's not changing, but yeah, no, good point.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

Good point.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

But with something that's going to control so much of our society and and everything, um, you know, it's real shaky. Real shaky.

SPEAKER_04 32:22

Dude, that's very true, Jay. But what do you think, man?

SPEAKER_01 32:23

What's your take on the AI and faith? Oh man, I'm right with Gage. This is all fulfillment of like Doomsday Prep because this is a push toward towards one world religion, that's entirely why they're doing this. If you feed it morality from all these religious leaders that are all like, okay, but we can agree on like value of family and like the fact that you should live a life that's good to other people. But at some point, if it's all about like self-fulfillment and then everything that you're doing towards living your best life, if if you feed that to an AI, man, then it just if everybody starts to be like, okay, yeah, this is kind of how civilization should be as like a as a whole, then people adapting or adopting into that one world religion is like way easier to do. And the integration, especially because if you can get all these world leaders to agree upon it, you can get a bunch of people to do the exact same, and then it's just implemented and implemented, and as technology continues to take over our lives, it's pretty obvious where that's headed.

SPEAKER_04 33:16

So I'm considering writing my dissertation for my PhD on AI and faith. Yeah. The idea of uh leading in the age of AI, and the idea of, you know, we talk about artificial intelligence. What does it mean to have authentic intelligence? What does it mean to like be a person who utilizes AI but does so from from an authentic perspective? W in what does that mean? Yeah. What are the parameters on it? What does it look like? We've utilized AI here and have done so for a couple years, but we use it from content we build, and we give that content to it. And so it's not creating us content. What it's doing is taking our content and giving us new parameters and ways to view it, or summating like a 30-minute message down to some bytes so that we can have some points there or whatever it'd be. So we built um, you know, some online uh life groups or other pieces of it that are pretty uh pretty insightful to how that might work. And so that's been one of the ways we've used it. But I was talking with some of our friends, like Dr. Dick Brogden recently, and started asking him questions about that. We'll talk about that um in the future, but man, really insightful to talk about AI and what that was with our faith.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Well, and to go back to testimony, that's something that AI won't have as a testimony. And that's that's one of the most powerful things uh in speaking to a non-believer is you know the fact that you've seen it, you've lived it, and all of that. Uh and so is AI just gonna make up stories, you know, based on other people's testimonies or or what? You know, um that's it's it's weird, man.

SPEAKER_04 34:47

It does, it gets weird pretty quick, but that's part of uh of wrestling with these things and walking through as a Christ follower. Hey, uh China recently did a crackdown on its uh online influencers. And I I mean I guess I didn't really realize that they had the same kind of influencers we did. I think it makes sense that they did, but I think maybe just because of governmental perspective, I thought that they wouldn't. But they have a whole bunch of them that are very beautiful, that are like, you know, very, very rich, huge followings. Man, they just wiped them off of the map. They took all of their accounts down, banned them off of the accounts straight away. They said they were prom they were promoting lifestyles that were against uh China's values, and they were flaunting riches. So they just erased all these mega influencers off their off their internet and off their stuff. Pretty insightful. They want to they want to talk about hard work, living basically, and what it means to be a good citizen. What do you think about that, man?

SPEAKER_02 35:41

I think that I don't think AI would do that. No, I I think it I think it's awesome to an extent, right? I love the the opportunity that we have here for people to have that freedom to talk about the things they want to talk about, to flaunt the things they want to talk about, to show the things they want to show, however good or bad they may be. You know, I've had this discussion with a friend in the past of like, you know, whenever Christ came, he didn't make people do certain things, but he told them the right thing to do, and then he gave us the option to do it. Right. Um so in that, I think it's important that we have the option to choose the father, to choose the right way to go. But I it's hard because I love seeing the implementation of like this is the right thing, this is the thing that we're gonna stand behind, and this is what we're gonna make you do. I it's a give or take. But in that, I love the concept of like the hard work, the core values of family and uh community, and not pushing this agenda of like greater than the capacity of the average person, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:47

And that is what they're they're trying to do, is trying to take down anybody who's uh flaunting hyper wealth or uh or like uh you know, I live way better than you, and this other kind of stuff. They're literally just taking that down off their platforms and not allowed to have have anything like that, which I thought was very, very interesting. Obviously, it talks about the culture that that their government wants to show their citizens to have, but doesn't mean that it's a true reflection of how they actually operate. So that's really interesting. Anything, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

Yeah, um, I'm just curious, like what it's uh well, not curious. It's it's interesting to see because they're influencers, right? So they're they're literally changing their culture. Correct. Um, and so it's it's gonna be interesting to see what sort of effect it has. Um I like the fact that we have the freedom. I do wish that uh that some people would be more uh judicious with how they execute that freedom. Okay, yeah. But um but I you know this is this is the first step that they take. And then, you know, what what happens when they di decide that their cultural morals need to shift and be something else. Um and they're we've seen throughout history as as China does their uh their thing, um they they they think they're doing good, but you know, like the one child policy really messed them up. And so there's there's only so much you can do in social engineering because there is still humanity and free will involved.

SPEAKER_04 38:07

Yeah, as a result, I mean we know that they're they have a thing where it's like a citizen kind of ranking score, and if you don't get above certain points, then you can't rent a place to eat to to live or get things to eat, and you're like your weChat doesn't work anymore, like they can just cut you off. So it's interesting. I would be interesting to see like, did they do the how far did they go with their reach to these guys? Because they could have just done what India just did. We talked about recently with doing the nonprofits, they could have gone in and done the exact same thing. India was doing that too, right? Taking away the influence. So the same thing these guys are doing, taking away the influence of people that they saw were anti their their situation. But I agree the one child policy has made a nightmare for them, so that's why they have all these young men that are living on the street having got banned for what they did online or other things, that they have a bad, a bad credit or social credit score. And so now it's like you know, they're judged straight away, they're they're in dire, they're in a trouble. So J Bo, what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Yeah, I mean, I my immediate thought was kind of like that. This is is is a response to what Angus was talking about with the one child policy. Like they realize that in the span of 30 years, because of the way that our generation operates, where everything's so technologically focused, and there's no real need to go outside or interact with anybody beyond that capacity, we're gonna have less children as time goes on. Yep. And they realize that because of all everything they're building right now, if there's nobody to run it in the future, and you just have to take care of old people all the time, then their country's not gonna function. So that it's like I think this is primarily a push for nationalism instituted like in trying to rid the younger culture of like degeneracy, which I I understand to some extent, but it's also like I what like the entire reason that civilizations exist is because of bread and circuses, and we know this because of the the course of everything. When you take away the circuses, but also don't have the bread to back it up for a lot of these people, then people are just gonna get really upset and not start to trust the government or feed into like the idea that they need to have more children or things like that, they'll just turn away even further.

SPEAKER_04 40:01

Yeah, from my perspective, I think that they were doing exact they're looking at their neighbors, they're looking at Japan, they're looking at Korea, they're seeing them as not having the kids either, but a little bit further ahead of them, and they're like, Oh, we're in trouble. Yeah, like if we want to go and like fight a battle or do this, or you know, in their case, Taiko or Taiwan, or whatever their agenda is, their agenda, whatever their agenda is, they're gonna have a hard time when they come up short and can't have a generation behind because none of those guys have a woman to come marry and have kids with, they're gonna have a big problem, especially because they're not they have not embraced um having people come in and become like a citizen of them as far as immigration goes in the same way. And so it'll be a very interesting thing because those are monoc monocultural places. No, not technically, there's lots of cultures within China, but they're trying to force it to become more monocultural. And so, in a place like Korea or in a place like Japan, where they're really coming against it, that will be really interesting going forward. 100%. Hollywood here in the United States, forever, forever was known as the place that made movies and and TV shows. In fact, you know, fake versions in New York and everything else were made in California so they could shoot in the sunshine and fake the rain and do all the other things. And so it was always the hub of everything. But over time, because of the changes in government, it actually made it so it was really difficult to shoot videos and movies, uh TV shows in California. And all the other states started building these places, like uh Georgia was really famous for that, Texas is now really famous for that, other places that are doing it online and becoming a replica for even in Canada. I know like Toronto was doing that, and so was other places where they're you know, uh Vancouver now it's a dummy for New York or it's a dummy for these other places because it they have enough buildings that look similar-ish that they can fake it and they can kind of do these big things and then shoot it how they want to do. They have lost in the last two years, it's reported that they've lost over 42,000 jobs in the movie industry. So Hollywood is no longer Hollywood. It should be interesting to see how they reference that because we always talk about oh, you know, Hollywood does this, meaning the film industry or meaning media, but it won't be like that anymore. It should be very interesting to think. Gage, what do you think, man? What do you think all these people are gonna do? 42,000 people.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

I don't know, get into an AI job. You know what I mean? Because I think that's a lot of what's helping to boot them out is how easy it is for people to edit clips and to do all of these like automated assistances with AI.

SPEAKER_04 42:22

Right. And they're no longer union jobs, and so it's taken against their union, everybody's lost their jobs, their money. And the people that like literally have Academy Awards, no work. They had like two years of work backlogged before, now there's no work for them. And so these guys are like, yeah, we're in trouble. Like these they have to jump and go and and work wherever it is at. So they have to pull up chocks and go as well. Very insightful.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

It's crazy. It's interesting to see how far this is gonna spread into what kind of avenues this loss of opportunity is gonna start spreading into.

SPEAKER_04 42:52

Absolutely. Well, I mean, you know, a good perfect example of that would that in doing this, what we're doing right now, we can film this ourselves on cameras that we've set up. JVO can actually live switch it in front of himself. I can run the script here. We don't have you know a director of photography, we don't have a director, we don't have a head of, you know, we have any of these people doing this stuff. Clearly, we don't have weird makeup. We're doing it. I mean, you're made up, you're made up with hard work. Shoot. And Angus is made up with beauty, Javen's made up with youth, and I'm made up of a large nose. Praise God. But I think it's the point is made, right? Like it's it's they're gonna have to shift like everybody else. They made all these rules. Yeah. Now they're gonna have to live with it. Absolutely. Very interesting. Angus, you're in the creative arts field. What do you think about actors and stuff like that now not having a job?

SPEAKER_00 43:37

Well, I mean, it sucks for them. Uh, but the the reality is is some of those are lost, but some of those jobs are gonna shift to other places, and with that shifting, they're also gonna take their ideology. Uh and so what I would just say to the places that receive those uh those people leaving uh California, Florida, us, Texas, all those places, sure, you know, you're welcome here, but please. Please don't make us California. I mean that's the whole reason you had to move in the first place was because of the thing because of those i ideologies. Right. And so we don't need we don't need it spreading throughout the country like a cancer.

SPEAKER_04 44:12

We've talked about that before, you know, like especially because it was such a big push to here in Cal in Texas specifically. I mean it shifted our our voting straight away because it was such a big surge. We're the closest to them. But as they headed headed uh east and they got to Texas, there were tons of people that are like, don't, don't California, my Texas. And they had like bumper stickers, were targeting people's cars that had California license plates on them. And so California people that aligned with them in values were putting their own stickers on their car, like, you know, give me time. I'm Texas at heart. Like they're doing other things like don't scratch my car. Like, you know, don't put a boot on my car. Like guys were being really like that, or they'd park their massive, you know, F-350, you know, crazy truck behind two or three Teslas and just leave it. I can't do anything about it because they can't get out of the charging. And they were doing stuff like that to mess with them. So yeah, it's interesting to see how that'll shift over time. Yeah. Japan is doing something with their building out of humanoid robots, and we've seen how they are, you know, ride in step kind of with China, Korea, ourselves, and others, meaning the US. They have a new uh robot called the Q7 or C U E7, and it can actually play basketball, it's got wheels, it can shoot hoops, it can drain shots like right in a row. Um, pretty, pretty interesting. And another one that they rolled out was uh that's been rolled out is called the Honor Lightning robot. So Honor, I think, is the brand. Lightning is the type, and it runs half marathon. It ran a half marathon in 50 minutes, 20 seconds, which is the record. It's faster than even what we just recently saw with the breaking of records and stuff like that. So really crazy to see like how fast these things can run or just drain hoops. I don't know, man. I'm not paying, you know, we just uh J VO, you and I just went and saw the Suns play poorly. Yep. We lived, we were staying up in the nosebleeds, and we were way up there cheering for our team. Yeah, had a great time.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Yeah, I watched SGA drop 42 on our dome. So that was that was great.

SPEAKER_04 46:02

That was wonderful. That was great, but I would not have paid any tickets to see a robot shoot basketball.

SPEAKER_01 46:07

No, not at all.

SPEAKER_04 46:08

So it's interesting to see like how this is gonna what they think is gonna happen here. Like, I don't know why we would pay for that.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

I mean, I I don't really think that they're doing it to market it. I kind of just think it's it's more of like a demonstration of what they can get the robot to achieve so that people buy in over time and they're like, oh, okay, if it can do that, then surely they're able to do this in like a year, two years, three years, etc. Yeah. Like with the um the dog doing the marathon, that's super cool because it's like if you well, especially for um like people and big technology companies that are gonna invest in that, if you can weaponize that thing, of course, then immediately you get like a bunch of profit from doing that.

SPEAKER_03 46:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

Um, so I think that's kind of the direction that they're headed in. They're not really appealing to the public, but it's more like investors that are looking at specific robotics groups and like different companies that are making all these projects, right? Just so that when they have the ability to actually make something better, then everybody's bought in.

SPEAKER_04 46:57

So you're saying they're not gonna be like, oh, we play basketball. You're like, no, this thing also could throw a grenade or diss it over a fence. Whatever is going on with that. 100%. All right. So if this was not, if it wasn't basketball with skateboarding and they were like just the sickest thing ever, it could like heal flip, kick flip, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Would would you be into it?

SPEAKER_02 47:12

Or do you think like I don't think so, not at all, right? Because you lose you lose the whole human side of it. And I 100% agree with Jayvo on this. I I think all it is is it it gives the public an opportunity to have like an ooh-aw actor. Right. And then it gives, like you said, the investors, governments who are like really trying to use this for something outside of the realms of just sports, right? Where they can implement their ideology across the world, right, or back themselves in certain areas. I think they're looking at this as an opportunity of like, well, that thing ran a faster half marathon than anybody's ever ran. Yeah, exactly. Why wouldn't I invest into that and strap a couple, you know? Uh care packages to send it into a war zone to help our people. To help, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:54

That's well said. What do you think, Angus?

SPEAKER_00 47:57

Uh well, I think one of the videos that we saw is a dog being walked by a robotic dog, which is hilarious. This little white puppy inside of a basket being walked on a dog.

SPEAKER_03 48:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:09

You know, um I I just see wally in our future. We're all just sitting in chairs and robots do everything. And, you know, it's uh it's just a wild concept that all of these things that they're starting to to try and make them be able to do, I think Javen's right on with uh with that, that it is very much a demonstration of what they can do. Um but you know, like the Q7, it's not gonna just stop with basketball. You know, that's where it starts. You know, again, uh what what can we uh what can we add to it? So make that basketball robot run as fast as as the other ones, and you know, uh strap a soldier onto the back of it. Something surf it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:49

Surf the dude. Uh you know, to that end, it it's interesting because you know, even in the space we're shooting at here at Cornerstone, uh, this space was actually made as a prayer room and it's upstairs, so it's in the second second level of the building. And the problem we ran into, it wasn't being utilized, it was only being utilized by myself and you and a couple other people because uh um they couldn't get up the stairs. A lot of our a lot of our folks that were more regimented in their prayer that wanted to come and use the space, but they couldn't access it because of their knees or whatever reason. So we made a different space, a bigger space for them to be able to utilize that and give them access to. And then we same thing. If we were going to shoot something with someone who didn't have we would take our gear out of here and go shoot it wherever they need to be. So we can we can shift down to them exactly so we can utilize the space for for the times that we don't have those people participating with us. But it is interesting, yeah. The Lord be praised. But it is interesting because you know, you're thinking about those kind of things, and you could put a person on those climbing things like we talked about before, climb climb up mountain, you just put them on it and run them up the stairs. There you go. Gotta park our you know, our robotic dogs outside on the terrace or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

Yeah, but we we've had that for how long, right? Like those little escalators on the side of stairs in old people's houses. We've had that forever. We've had that capability forever. So it's not like that's what it's gonna be utilized for, or like that's the push. You know what I mean? It's not like, oh, we're trying to make your life better now. Yeah, no, they're just trying to make us complacent. They want us to not worry about all the other things because they have a solution. Yeah, and it's automated. All you have to do is invest. Yeah, good point. That's good.

SPEAKER_04 50:17

Can you guys catch the the gauges not trust the larger technology companies?

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Why would we? Look at where we're at. Oh, things are so easy, yeah. Well, I mean, whatever. Whatever. That's a rabbit hole. That's a rabbit hole, dude. Oh my gosh. There's a lot of big corporations out there that have done so much good to society over the last what hundred years?

SPEAKER_04 50:43

They definitely see you as an individual and not as a number.

SPEAKER_02 50:45

Yeah. Oh, yeah, 100%. Yeah. 100%.

SPEAKER_04 50:49

Oh, it's fun times. Hey, one of the things that they've you've been using creativity for is trying to refocus how people live. And one of the things the UK is doing, which is really interesting, is they've taken Oxford, which is hubbed by obviously its university and a bunch of other things that happen out of that city, a very, very, very old city, and they're turning it into what they call a 15-minute city, which is something that they're trying to accomplish and building new cities. No one's been good at it yet. They are trying, and it's the idea that you have everything in your life walkable 15 minutes from you. Now, here in uh the Western United States, specifically in Phoenix, is a great example of we are dependent on cars. There is nothing, there is no infrastructure for anything else. And even if you live along the light rail, you can't get to all the things you need. You can't go to a hospital, you can't go to that, especially not fast. If you didn't have no car and you got shot in tempe, you need to go to the hospital downtown. Bye bye. You know what I mean? Like it's not gonna happen. So we don't have the access to be able to do a walkable thing yet. But people are working on it. I know some of the billionaires out in Buckeye, that's one of their plans, is to kind of make these 15-minute cities where you can walk by foot to all this stuff. So your school will be there, your even like local representation within your government and other things like that would be walkable. There'd be major hubs, and the trains will go towards the main stuff that like you know, stadiums or like city hall, whatever it is. So it'll bring you back towards that is the plan. But I mean, they are right away, they've made these zones. You can only drive out of your zone certain days a week. So it's one of these things where like New York, where they have a rule we're driving into the place, they have the same thing here. We're driving out of your zone, we're driving to another zone. You can only do it a certain number of times where you start getting major fines. Yeah, tolls or whatever, yeah. Exactly. So pretty interesting. Javen, you've lived in some different walkable cities. I mean, and the difference of walkability, man, is great.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

It is.

SPEAKER_04 52:35

We were talking to Mr. Freeze the other day.

SPEAKER_01 52:36

Yeah, exactly. And living in um, he he's a lawyer that uh you sell me with mock trial and he lives in downtown. You show his coach. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And for um, so his life is all just like basically within a 10-minute grid of where his apartment is, which is really cool. Um, and like functionality-wise, it's super practical because you don't really have to use a car, you don't spend money on fuel. Everything you worry about is like your mortgage, your food, and then where you're working. I think so.

SPEAKER_04 53:00

He said he hadn't been in his car in a week, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

Something like that, yeah. Which was super cool because I mean, since he doesn't have to drive all the way back because high school is almost over now for helping with mock trial and things like that, he's just living his life out there, and that's super cool. The thing that I appreciate about this, the Oxford thing is it's also kind of a preservation of like the the historical culture behind the behind the university and limiting car use and things like that. It's almost like keeping a time capsule of like one of the staples of what um a British university would be, and like maintaining and appreciating the history around that. I think that's pretty cool. It's almost like uh like you're going to like DC or something like that, but obviously not like politically that important, but as far as like going to a location and then everything being revolved around that time is cool. But the limited car use thing and like tolls coming in and out, I think is a little bit too much to some point because it's like if people if they're really trying to push for this to be like a really cool area, yeah, it's cool. It's cool that it's walkable for everybody that lives there, but for like tourists and other people that want to come in, it if they have to like plan certain days a week, it just becomes a headache for them.

SPEAKER_04 54:04

So I think I think it'll actually be a draw because most of the big cities that people go to on vacation are walkable. But before like the really crazy epidemic that we saw in San Francisco, it was one of the most visited cities in America, but in New York, same thing. And then you have this big, you know, spike in fentanyl and all the craziness of like zombie people walking around, which is unfortunate for those that are they're addicted to substance. But it really made a huge change in how people visited those places because they don't because they're like, I don't want to walk around where I have to fear for my safety. And those are walkable cities. That's what people enjoy doing, is getting on the very slow tram and going up the hill and then walking around. So that is kind of the thing I think they're trying to do, to your point, to kind of preserve it and to make it be like that. I think you've been in Scotland and places like that. Well, I mean, that was probably a draw for you is getting a chance to walk around and see stuff.

SPEAKER_00 54:48

Yeah, it's it's very cool being in in places that you can walk around. I mean, it's it's definitely more healthy, you know, because you have to walk everywhere and things like that. So that that part of it's great, but uh what I don't like about it is the the control aspect of it. That um, you know, I think initially it'll be a draw when you're allowed to travel. But then once you're locked into your city, you know, you just said allowed to travel.

SPEAKER_04 55:13

Yeah, that's a statement.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

Yeah, then when when you know what what what are the processes that you have to go through to be able to visit another walkable city? Yeah, right. You know, what if you want to move uh you know from one city to the next? What does that look like? Because I mean that that's gonna be a huge to-do. So um I it's great to have the walkability and all of that, and it'll start out great, I think, but I don't think it ends very well.

SPEAKER_04 55:41

Yeah, it's interesting. It's a take. I mean, Gage, congrats again, man. Recent homeowner bought a nice spot. Oh, thank you. And it's walkable to a lot of cool stuff around for your kids and stuff like that. Um, what would it be like, you think, if like in the new place where you where it got built, obviously it's like everywhere else. It's like, you know, you're gonna have to get in your car to go to the store, you're gonna have to get in your car to go to anywhere else. What would it have been like if if you had the opportunity to buy into a place like that? Would you have done so?

SPEAKER_02 56:04

Um in Arizona? I don't think so. Really? No, I get so 115 degrees outside. I'm gonna get in my AC'd car. Good point. That's crazy. Great point. Um, aside from that, I really like the concept of convenience, right? Everybody buys into convenience. It's it's a huge part of our existence, especially now, because things have become so available to us. To where, dude, we'll go online, we'll order groceries, I don't have to leave the house, I don't gotta worry about spending extra money because I'm walking down the serial aisle or whatever. I'm like, ooh, Captain Crutch, you know what I mean? But to the same to the same thing that Angus was just talking about, like, I think far more than convenience, I value the freedom to roam. Oh, yeah, yeah. I want to be able to hop in my car and go drive up to the white tanks and go on a hike, or drive up to northern Arizona and not have to worry about restrictions on my travel. I I know we have this whole thing coming about with um you know the Strait of Hermoose and all the the issues that we've had with um fuel and everything else. Everything totally. So I I think things are gonna kind of become limited in the near future as far as the availability to travel and what ways they're gonna do it. I have no idea. But I think just with the lack of incoming fuel that we've had lately and what's gonna be compounding from that, I think there might be some issues with it, and we might start to understand a little bit more the value of freedom to roam, the value of being able to like, you know what, I don't want to sit inside today, so I'm gonna go drive to California, and you can do that without any kind of restrictions. Well, not California, but yeah, yeah, yeah. Not not no, I'm joking. I'm just going to the beach, I'm not going for anything else. Yeah. But no, you get what I'm saying. Yeah, it's 100%. The freedom to roam is far more valuable than the convenience of having something within 15 minutes. Yeah. Because for the vast majority already, with having a car, is we can go travel 15, 20 minutes max, and anything you can think of is available.

SPEAKER_04 57:59

Yeah. Well, we live in Phoenix Metro, we're the you know, sixth largest city in in the United States. So we literally have everything and in duplicate everywhere. In fact, our side of town is one of the fastest growing, is to your point, where you know, where he lives in Goodyear, we live in Goodyear. And it's one of these things where Angus is right adjacent to us in Lichfield, and it's like one of these things where you know we literally have everything. We have our choice of which hospital to go to, choice of food to go to, choice of school to go to. It's like that's a real choice. And because you can drive another five minutes and go to a spot, you know, like that's a real thing. So it is interesting as it goes to Angus's point, to your point about choice, um, that is gonna be some of the things I think that you know, once they do get us to the place, can they control it? Yeah. So that should be very, very insightful as it goes forward.

SPEAKER_00 58:39

I mean, I already don't travel very far anyway. Like the uh I'm only two, two, three miles from from the church, you know, things like that. So, and then we're very close to the school. So I already don't venture past the 101 a lot of times, uh, which is 10, 15 minutes away from me. Yeah, or even I-10, probably. Yeah, and stay in this little pocket. That's exactly where I stay, is uh Sun City is about as far out as I go because you know my parents and in-laws lived out there. Yeah, right. Uh, but other than that, like uh we just went to to pick up our team from Iceland at the airport yesterday, and I was so glad that I was following you because I always go the wrong way.

SPEAKER_04 59:19

Whereas I feel like I live at the airport.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

Yeah, and and because I I never venture out of that. I mean, really now the the furthest I go is just when we go to pick up food um for the the food bank. But that's uh that's about it. Like that's the farthest I travel ever, really. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:36

That's a good point, man. You know, to see it from that to that perspective. That is true. So you are kind of living that way a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 59:41

U yeah, but that's my choice. I have the freedom to be able to go and do that, you know, and that's that's exactly what it's what it's about.

SPEAKER_02 59:50

It's just like it's nice to have like a community, especially in these newer HOAs that are being built, where you have like you have the big parks, you have the pickleball courts, you have the pools, you have all the things. Right. But if they start building these 15-minute cities, I think what's gonna happen is the shackles are gonna come. It's gonna be one of those nice gated communities, but you're gonna be locked in.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:09

Right?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:09

You aren't gonna, it's not people being locked out, you're gonna be locked in.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:12

I think that's the direction that's gonna interesting to think about. Yeah. Well, shout out us in the future as we navigate that. So praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:19

Yeah, Lord help us.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:20

One of the things that we talk about is community, and here we're about to start a C S uh a semester of life groups, and that's one of the things that we're doing here. Our life groups are based around this idea of connect, grow, and serve. And I was just want to talk about connect groups for a minute. Man, I've really enjoyed being a part of connect groups. We've I've been a part of all sorts of ones. I've been a part of uh shooting life group where we went out and shot guns in the desert. Uh, we went we were part of a mountain biking life group where we were riding down mountains for a couple semesters. We've been a part of photography life group, I went out and showed pictures across the city, um, all sorts of different things. People have done part of games or gaming or different things like that. Pretty fun. Um, man, what's been like a good life group you've enjoyed, man?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:59

Um, honestly, I'm I'm not super big into a lot of stuff. Okay. Um, especially with you know the kids and everything else. Think things have just been busy, and I don't have I don't have as much of a desire. I don't even want to say desire. Um the likelihood for me to go out and do something where I can trip and fall and hurt myself and no longer go to make money, right? Because like I'd love a skating life group, of course. You know what I mean? That'd be great. But at the same time, I get hurt, stop making money. Yeah, Lord, but you're part of like young adults life group or men's group, your purple. So uh to that end, I think it's been great the opportunity just to gather, just to gather in a place where I can fellowship with friends, new new community members, um, where it also gives other people who haven't really been plugged in the opportunity to come and have that personalized um not even just one-on-one time, but like small group, just a small, a small group of people where they can not be overwhelmed and have the opportunity to strike up real meaningful conversation and potentially grow in relationships. That's good.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:00

I love that. That's exactly what we want to see in the grow groups and that side of stuff for sure. On the connect group side, man, it'd be interesting to do a skateboard one because like all its old heads that used to skate, myself being much older than you. Um man, you'd have to be worried about someone breaking a hip.

unknown 1:02:12

It'd be pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:13

Dude, there's gonna be a lot of pads involved in that. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:17

Well, you could combine the the skating one with the photography one, put those on the same night at the same place, and then you get uh pictures of everybody falling down. Yep, then you all combine it with the physical therapy.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:28

I was gonna say the safety group one of the people doing all the medical assistance. Um, I man, you know, like you can do almost anything. The reason we do that is we want people to build a friend, we want them to have a Christ follower friend, and and so often what we saw was people came to faith actually of going to a connect group. So we have people coming to photography here that got connected to church or um in other places we did it in Alexandria Inn and in Paris, we did that group. Man, so many people come to faith just while walking around and spending life with each other. It's sharing the testimony to what you were talking about earlier, what Angus was talking about earlier. Man, so good about that. But Angus, what's been one of your favorite connect groups? You've done a ton of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:06

Yeah, I really enjoyed Smokers Anonymous. Yeah, uh that's good uh where we got together and smoked meats and stuff. Uh what I really liked about that was not only did we get together and have a lot of good food, uh, and so what we would do is we would just pick uh at the first one, we'd pick what we were gonna do the next time, and and so everybody would kind of uh smoke some meat uh their way, and then we'd bring it together and talk about our process and equipment and all of that kind of stuff, which was really cool uh because it it sparked new friendships and it has the potential to to spark intergenerationally uh because like uh Dwight joined our group and it was great because I I hadn't really quite had cause or or need to uh we we our paths just weren't crossing because I'm in the kids' church space and he's in the prayer space and we're in different spaces and all that.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:54

Uh but it's it's been very cool to be able to build that relationship and friendship and uh over the years, and so we we'll talk about smoking meats from time to time, and uh it's it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:06

I love that. I love that. Jay, you've been a part of a bunch of these things, even like getting a part of the different stuff. Was it something that you've enjoyed?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:11

I mean, even coming out of youth, uh I mean yeah, youth group youth group is great, and I I've uh been in it or I'm not in it anymore, but as far as like a year ago, I was in it for I want to say six years. Yeah, that's right. I think three to four of them were under Angus, and then the last two were kind of Josiah, and like whoever was flip-flopping between, which is cool. Um, and that was super cool. I think like it growing up, it definitely caters towards like middle school people because it's that transitionary period and kind of like establishing that that growth. But definitely as I transition to more of an adult, it is really cool to go to some of these events like young adult group. And I mean, for me, I'm I'm busy a lot of the time, so I come back and forth and I haven't made as many as like gauge or somebody like that, but it has been cool to be at those nonetheless. Um, and yeah, I mean like groups like that are awesome because when you think that and when you realize that you have a community of like-minded believers around you, and definitely people that are your own age, it makes your walk so much easier because it doesn't feel like you're alone in that regard. It's good. And I mean, being at ASU, it's like we literally have an STD that or like our own variant of an STD over there. So it says a lot about our culture. Great. But yeah, I mean great. Yeah, so it is. I rebuke that. But yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it is it is definitely something to be cautious of. And I think the the more that we see the world kind of go in that direction of living like a worldly life, it is important to really center your life around Christ and find other like-minded believers because there's such a small number of people, even in the West, even though we like to pretend that there is a lot, we still need to reach a lot of people.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:44

So that's a good point, man. Very good point. Uh, one of the things we talk about as well is competence. One of the books we were looking at is our friend Jason Friend, F R E N N, and he has a book called Breaking the Barrier. And one of the things he's talking about is the discipline of Holy Spirit. And how the discipline of the Holy Spirit can he can direct us and guide us to be those that build a new discipline, build a new habit, and how that will change everything for us because then we'll start to have peace in our soul. What do you think about building disciplines, um, building habits around our faith?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:15

Man, it seems as though the enemy makes that really, really hard to accomplish. Um I I've tried implementing a few different things over the last couple months. Um, just trying to see what I can be consistent with in my daily schedule and not kick myself in the butt later because of. Um I don't want to pull time away from the kids. I don't want to pull time away from my wife, but I I need to have that quiet time with the Lord and do my best to be a better representation of Christ in my home for my family. So I've really been struggling and finding a good, healthy habit that helps build continuously my relationship with Christ and not taking away from those things and not also like adding an hour less or taking away an hour of sleep that I have, right? You know, hardly any of any every night, anyways. Um but I mean I've talked about it in the past. The one thing that I've really tried to be consistent with is the habit of first thing in the morning before I do anything, which I fall short of, um, but is just getting into prayer time with the Lord, whether it be while I'm getting dressed or whatever, but just have that intimate one-on-one intentional time with the Lord every morning before I start my day.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:27

Yeah, so good, man. I love that. Angus, we think.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:29

Uh, I think that it's it's very valuable to to have the the spirit discipline you and and and help you to grow in those different ways. Um the Holy Spirit has been uh rougher with me at times. He's been more gentle at times. Yep. Um, but what I can say is that because of it, I'm I'm a better father for it. You know, what I find is that um as I'm ruminating on a problem in my household or whatever, that um rather than a conventional way or dealing with it like my dad or my parents would have, um, I have a new way uh of doing things. And uh it what I've noticed is it's really changed my language. It's it's helped me to be a lot more intentional with uh how I speak. And so uh, for example, one of the things was you know, you tell your kids, well, you worry about you, not them. Yeah um, and one day I said that, I said, You worry about what I told you to do. And the Lord said, Why are you telling your kids to worry? Oh, that's like you know, because it it it says in my word to be anxious for nothing, and you're telling them to be anxious for themselves and to be anxious over this or that. That's good. And so uh I actually got to bring a word on that, uh, a message here, and um, but ever since that's one of those things that it changed the language in our house. Yeah. Um, we both Annie and I stopped saying, You you go worry about this, or you know, you focus on this. Yeah, and so that so we just changed the word worry to focus, and it it that but that is one little correction that makes a huge amount of difference.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:02

Changes the meaning, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:03

And so um so it doesn't even have to be a huge major shift like in time or anything like that. It it's just more a sharpening of of what you already have.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:13

Yeah, so good, man. You know, you were talking about how he Holy Spirit works on you, and sometimes it's rougher than it is, and I I mean I just immediately just had this mind picture of him using the rough side of a brillopad on you. Oh and which side of the which side of the sponge do you want? Yeah. You want the rough side or the soft side?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:29

Yeah, it would just one of those things, I was like, oh sometimes it comes at me with a wire brush. Yep, but that's when the rust has to be scraped off anyway.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:38

So it's good, man. It's good. Jay, but what do you think, man? Habits uh and being those who are breaking the barriers.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:44

I mean, definitely. I think um, especially a lot of the times amongst Christian circles and like differences between sex of Christianity, there's a lot of uh debate about like whether or not the Holy Spirit is only felt like whenever you speak in tongues and things like that. But I think the most common way in which the Holy Spirit will work is like little convictions that he'll put on your heart because you realize, oh wait, I'm not actually walking in alignment with what this is. I'm taking something that culture has embedded in me and then trying to reframe that like it's praising the Lord, but in some sense it's not doing that. Right. Like with what Angus was talking about. Um, so for myself, I definitely catch myself slipping like into certain tones or like certain themes in conversation. I'm like, oh wait, I shouldn't, I shouldn't be talking about this, like or shouldn't be talking about this, or shouldn't be talking about somebody like that. Because I mean, we're all we're all sinners and we all recognize that. Um, so we should treat others with the forgiveness and mercy that the Father gives us. Come on. And I mean, like it and convictions like that are so important because the worst thing that you could ever do within or as far as any sin goes, and Jesus says this is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the reason why the Pharisees were condemned in that way was because they actively recognized the work of the Spirit in someone else, and they had completely rejected it so much and so consistently to the point where they couldn't tell right from wrong, and they were irredeemable within that sense. So it definitely is like almost a consistent butterfly effect where the more that you offset the convictions that the Holy Spirit has placed on your heart or push it back and be like, I'll deal with this later, let me do this right now. You definitely will compound and then your life will head towards one direction, and you'll be like, God, please help me. Why am I in this situation? And then he points back to all those different instances that you did that. That's good.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:24

So man, the Lord help us. That's exactly what we want to be is be those who are breaking through the barriers by the power of God, listening to Holy Spirit as he guides us along the way. One word to leave the podcast occasionally gentleness. I love that. And some cloud, reston brown, consistency. And I will say Moxie. Thanks so much for being a part of the podcast. We appreciate you appreciate you for being part of the collective. Much love to you, wherever you are.