SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Finish Strong, the show that equips men to walk boldly in their faith and finish the race of life with no regrets. The Word of God challenges each of us to run with endurance. In a world full of distractions and challenges, we're here to help you to stay grounded in God's Word, lead with integrity, and live with meaning and purpose. Come along as your host Jeff Drawn helps to equip you by having real conversations with successful men who will tell their stories of perseverance. Clothed in biblical truth, these powerful stories will give you practical wisdom to show how you start. It's how you finish.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

He served as the pastor of First Baptist Church in Lafayette from June 2005 through May of 2019. Prior to his ministry in Lafayette, he pastored in several Louisiana churches, New Iberia, Livingston, and Natalbaney, Louisiana. I'm not sure if I'm pronounced that right. He is married to Lynette, and they have two sons. So he has a budget of about $12 million. Dr. Horn and his 77 employees oversee about 1,500 churches in the state of Louisiana. The convention operates a camp called Tall Timbers in Woodworth and has collegiate ministries all over the state. They're also partners in ministry with Louisiana Christian University, the Baptist Message Newspaper, Louisiana Baptist Foundation, and Louisiana Baptist Children's Home. So with that kind of resume and all those responsibilities, you're probably thinking that Steve has just cruised through life. Well, as you will hear, every journey, including Steve's, have bumps along the way. But it's not how you start, it's how you finish. So let's hear how Dr. Steve Horn has learned to finish strong. Dr. Horn, welcome to the podcast. All right. Thanks for having me. Great to see you today. So episode number seven. So we'll get to the case. Absolutely. So uh well hey, great, great to see you. And we've crossed paths over the years and at Calvary in different places, but just great to sit down and have a conversation. And uh again, just want the listeners and the viewers today just to kind of hear your heart some, uh kind of hear a place of where you are leading a great organization, Louisiana Baptist Convention, uh kind of get your heart for that. So uh so why don't we start from the beginning? So tell us about your growing up years, where you grew up, and uh and all that.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Yeah. So uh well the the the short story is that I grew up in Lafayette, but I'm not a native of Lafayette. My uh my roots are actually a little a little north uh of here in Ala, Louisiana, LaSala Paris. That's where my mother's from, and so that's where I was born, or sometimes, as I say, uh that's where we live. There was no place to be born in Ala back in back in those days. But uh but we moved uh before I started school to Lafayette. My dad was in the oil and gas industry, and so as he worked his way up and got promoted, that required us to move to Lafayette uh the summer before I started kindergarten. Oh, wow. So all of my growing up years were uh were in Lafayette, and uh I I would say that I had a a fairly typical 1970s, early 80s childhood. You know, that's a joke that I've heard, but it's really the truth. You know, mom would send us out of the house and tell us when the street lights came on, we were to come home. And that's that's how summers were spent uh with the neighborhood gang, and we would play, you know, baseball in the streets and uh uh neighborhood wide and hide-and-go seek, and um, you know, and go home for get a sandwich at lunchtime and hit back out. And and when the street lights came on, um we we were supposed to be home. And um so you know, dad was a hard worker, um, probably even honestly uh what some would term uh a workaholic. Uh uh and I you know I didn't know any different. I'm I I I didn't uh and still not bitter about that uh then or now. I thought, in fact, I thought that's everybody. I thought that's what everybody's dad did, you know. And uh he was uh oftentimes gone before we woke up and uh not home yet, uh, or on the phone lining up the next day's business when we went to bed. And um uh mom was a stay-at-home mom, and that's that's kind of why I say kind of typical uh 70s, early 80s uh child childhood. Uh church was a a part of our life. We I I joke uh and when I see uh things on the internet today about uh church is not a uh is a Saturday night decision. Well, not at our house. It it it wasn't a decision. We were going, you know? Uh so we we there was never a discussion ever held uh in my home of whether or not we were going to church. We we were uh we were going. And uh and so um, you know, I didn't I didn't question that. I I uh I went and uh we we would go as um as a family. Yes. And uh maybe the other other big part of my growing up years was uh always involved in whatever the uh sport of the season was, kind of played it all as a as a young kid, and then um I concentrated in high school years in uh in football, uh which uh gave me the opportunity to actually play uh a small college division three, uh, which brought me to Rhodes College in Memphis. Uh I played uh the football team there for my four years uh of college. And you know, as we get into finishing strong, that that experience taught me as much as anything about discipline and commitment and following through and finishing finishing strong.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah. Well that was before the transfer portal. So you transferred out of there, got some NIO money to the college with the qualifier. Wow. So so church integral part of your life. So was faith. So when was there kind of a decision for you personally to Christ?

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Yeah um so remember it really, really well. I have an older sister, didn't mention that, should have. Uh and uh so um uh one night uh I uh I uh our bedrooms were across the hall from each other, and uh I uh I I noticed my mom and dad both in her room. And uh so you know, curious little brother, I'm I'm thinking she's in trouble, and I'm I'm there to I'm there to celebrate that, you know. It wasn't me this time, it was her. And uh it wasn't a conversation that was uh a discipline, it was it was a different kind of conversation that I didn't fully understand, but um you know they were talking with her through questions she had about uh faith and about the gospel and about you know baptism and and all of that. And um subsequently, uh some weeks later, I saw her in our church uh be baptized, and um, and and so that prompted me to begin uh asking uh my own my own questions about about that. And um you know, I kind of you know, kind of God I think gives us these memories uh because he knows we're gonna need them. And uh so I was a fourth grader Sunday night. I mean I can even say that and um you know just begin to really, really ask questions after a after a day at church and um and and really made my decision uh then. And um my parents uh wisely left it up to me uh in regards to you know baptism, but um but I my I followed through quickly on uh being baptized and uh fourth grade. Um and um never I you know thankfully, thanks to the Lord, I uh uh we we went to a very normative Southern Baptist church in Lafayette in those days. Uh not large, less than a hundred, um, but uh really a you know a good a good church. Um and um grew, but but you know, we were uh honestly, you know, uh a Sunday school and very traditional and you know really not a lot geared towards kids, to be honest. Um and so that that deepening of my faith really came pretty quickly and pretty suddenly, but but as a sophomore in in high school um with the call of a new pastor and and uh and really, really, really exciting days. When I was a he was he was called to be our pastor when I was a freshman, and we were literally you know somewhere between 50 and 100 people. By the time I graduated high school, we were 500 people. And so I experienced all that and saw all of that, and it was really exciting. And we're gonna get into this later, but that's part of my call at seeing that.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

Um but uh for the first time in the history of the church, there was a a full-time youth pastor uh brought on, and and uh that that man really, really uh dug in his heels with me uh and with a three or four other uh high school students. And uh we we grew as disciples, we read scripture together, he taught us to pray, he taught us to share our faith. And uh so that that uh I say all that to say from fourth grade to tenth grade, I you know, I just kind of go into the motions. And uh at Saltborn High School. Wow. I really saw this is not just uh something you do on Sunday and pick back up the next Sunday. This is something you do every day. And uh the Lord has um honored that, I think, in my life.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Well the blessings of a godly home, right? The blessings of a godly home can't that can't be discounted. Correct. The blessings of having another man pour into your life, right? That can't be discounted. Correct. You know, we talk about a lot in men's ministry about having a Paul and a Timothy in your life, having somebody you're leading along as a Timothy, somebody that's leading you along as a Paul, and so obviously my testimony. That is evident in your life. And so uh so just curious if you had a chance to go back and tell that youth pastor over the years what he's meant to you and and how he impacted you.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Still in still in touch with him. Um and uh had uh uh I hope he knows that. Uh and we have talked much about that. And um so so very and and and the kind of uh the irony is uh about that is we're really different. I mean, we really are different. And um but I I uh I know uh outside of of uh God, but it was God's plan for him to come into my life, I am where I am because of his influence on my life. It's 15, 16 years old. Amazing. No question.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Amazing. So if you're a listener out there or you're watching this on video somewhere, just understand that any little investment you're doing in the kingdom, you know, that was a small little church in South Louisiana. Right. Youth pastor, don't know how many kids were attending the youth group. When he got to how many. But uh but I was just disciplined, I'm discipling some young guys right now in their 20s, so three of us meet, four of us, including me, meet every Tuesday morning, and these guys in their 20s. And so one of the guys in my group just started kind of as a part-time role and kind of a youth pastor role at his church, small little church, and he's got 20 kids coming tomorrow night for the first time he's gonna teach them. And I said, Listen, I said, you have no idea the impact that somebody in that little group of 20 kids that you can have for the gospel. Those those seeds you're playing, that could be the next Billy Graham. That's exciting. That's absolutely right.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

No none of us knew that at the time, right? Exactly. But uh there was a there was a girl in our youth group that uh she is uh married uh to um uh someone who is like the right-hand man to doc Dr. James Dobson. There you go. Um the people in that group in ministry. And really, really, really neat thing that happened. You said it in a in a little small church. Nobody had any idea at all this would take place. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

And the great Steve Horn that came out of that. So so that's uh it's incredible. So uh so other men that invested in your life growing up. So we got your dad as a godly influence, got your youth past, or any other men that kind of invested in you growing up.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

Aaron Ross Powell Well, you know, I've already mentioned the athletic part of this, and uh and so coaches and some listen, some of them were believers and uh some of them were not believers, but I think they all had a part. And uh I looked up to them and I I learned something from each of them, um, some of it more you know, obviously more spiritual than others, some of it just, you know, the the tough stuff of life, right? And uh and discipline and um and college coaches as as well. And um, you know, really again just looked up to those guys. And and I I you know I didn't know, I don't I don't even know if I knew the word mentoring, you know, but that's what they were doing, right? And um and and that's why I wanted my kids to be involved in in athletics. Um I want um them to be in, you know, I just really pray. I pray for uh, you know, I got a 15-year-old now, you know. I remember when I was 15, and so you know, I'm praying for his his Sunday school teacher um because I know the influence that those men are.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

No doubt right. No doubt right. So at what point, you sounds like maybe at an early age, but at what point did you realize, hey, I may want to I want I may want to do this ministry thing? What where where did that start kind of entering the framework?

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Yeah, so as I began to see the excitement of what this person was doing in my life, I I begin to really think, man, that's that's what I that's what I want to spend my my life doing. But I didn't, you know, I didn't know what that looked like. I didn't I mean all the only context I had was my own context, right? And but I knew that it was meaningful to me and I knew that it was exciting, and I I don't I probably couldn't put it into these words then that I can now, but I mean God was doing something that could only be explained by um by God. And so um I I I reached out to him, not my parents, but I reached out to him and um and we had a conversation about that over uh over uh the old Atari, you know. I mean, like joystick, one button, and we you know, we were playing some game on there and and talking, right? And um and we and you know he didn't he didn't put it down, he just we continued to play and talk. And then when he left my house, he said, Steve, and I remember this, I don't remember anything else about the conversation, but I remember this. He said, Well, I'm gonna tell you this. And he he quoted the scripture, God is not the author of confusion. And he said, I think if you're having these thoughts and questions, God's not trying to confuse you about that. And that and that stuck with me. Fast forward to I don't exactly know uh the amount of time that went by, but I I would say not a lot, all right. Um, but he was uh he was preaching on the Sunday morning. Uh senior pastor was out, and so he was preaching. And uh he was a very evangelistic minded preacher. Um and uh so he he he he preached a very evangelistic sermon with a um uh with a a very typical uh in those days drawing of the net um an altar call, if you will. Um and and he said, and I remember this line, he said, um you don't know if this is the last time, we pray it not be, but some of you don't know that this is the last time you have the opportunity to respond to the gospel. And as a 16-year-old kid, when he said that, because in my mind I kind of had already mentally made the leap that okay, this is probably what I'm gonna do, but there's no point in telling I'm 16 years old. I'm a sophomore in high school. There's no point in me telling anybody this. Um I've got you know, I I've got some you know life to live. I you know, uh I don't want to tell my football teammates that this is what I'm gonna do. And so that's that's that was kind of my mentality about it. And this would be something I'd do later. But when he said that, it it was as though God himself spoke to me and said, if that is true about salvation, might that not also be true about other things in life, like this call? And I knew instantly I had not spoken to my parents about it, I had not spoken to anybody except this youth pastor. I knew that at that moment I had to that day make that commitment that that's what I was going to do. And I I never really seriously, seriously wavered from that from that moment on, because the next step that those both the pastor and the youth pastor made in my life was to begin to secure opportunities for me to speak publicly, which was overwhelming, and I told them that. Um, by the way, I would I'm I at this point in life, I I am the shyest person in the classroom. I am the most unlikely person to speak publicly, and I'm making this decision. Um and but I knew in that moment that if I didn't that if I didn't say yes then who knew if if if I would have another opportunity. And um so I never seriously wavered. I think there were some moments in college where I was like, and I really, you know, I don't know about this. You know, I got I got too many questions right now of my own, let alone trying to help other people through their questions. But uh it it was uh you know kind of a semester-length phase. And then uh and upon graduating from college, I immediately went to uh seminary and uh the rest is rest of history.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Wow, wow, wow, what what a what a story, what a calling, and just at such a young age. I mean that that that's incredible. So uh so let's fast forward to First Baptist Lafayette, a big church. Uh you you had served at several other churches. How do you pronounce the town's name that I messed up? Nut Talbany. It's not a lot of things. I've never heard of that before I saw it.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

It's in uh Tangible Hole Parish or Okay. Uh yeah, tangible Hope Parish. Okay, great. So right on the line of Livingston and Tangible Hope Parish, that's where we were.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

So it's been a fit it's been a few years at different churches, various churches. I was there.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

I was there three while I worked in my MDIV, and then I was at uh the church in Livingston, which actually was in the little community of uh Satsuma. You see it off of I-12, and I was there essentially through my PhD years, and then came to New I went to New Iberia and uh and then and then the Lafayette. So four churches in all, yeah being the final stop before this before this role. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Well tell us about First Baptist Lafayette. I know it's a big church, lots of history there. Yeah, yeah. You had great success there. Tell us about your time there.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

Yeah, so the big story about First Baptist Lafayette was that I followed uh uh uh something of a regional legendary pastor, uh Perry Sanders, somebody on the podcast uh listening might recognize that name.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

I do.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

And um the significance of following him is that he had been the pastor there for 47 years. Uh and um So you're following Nick Saban. I'm following Nick Saban and the the old adage or you know, and that got brought up to me when I began to talk to people about it. You know, it wasn't so much the Nick Saban uh story in those days, but they brought to me uh, you know, Bobby Bowden had um retired and the first guy didn't do so well. And uh and you know, there was that comment made to me, you don't want to be the guy that follows the guy, you want to be the guy that follows the guy that follows the guy. And so I heard that from lots of folks. Uh and um it was a planned transition, not in the sense of the transitions that that Calvary has done back to Dr. Alley and David and now Todd, but uh uh but uh in the sense that uh upon being called I was agreeing to co-pastor with Perry, uh Brother Perry for a year, and uh and then I would be uh uh the the pastor. But I wasn't on staff like David and Todd where I was called um by the church uh and the understanding would be that we would co-pastor for for a year. And uh and then I had lots of people tell me uh don't do that, don't do that, that's uh that's not gonna work. And uh I don't know, the um the church was ready, uh Brother Perry was ready. I mean he was 80. Um so he was ready and uh it was great, it was wonderful. He was my number one cheerleader. And so um uh I the I think the the the interesting thing was not so much that he had been there 47 years, but that he was 80 and I was 34. Amazing. And uh that was overwhelming. So I was I was you know, I was the pastor, but I was the youngest on the staff, I think. Yeah, maybe maybe one other person younger.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Yeah. Um but um So what kind of fat challenges did you face in that transition and over those years at first baptism?

SPEAKER_03 21:01

Well a lot of people have asked me that through the years, and uh it's kind of interesting. I have received lots of calls through the years about other people going through that transition thinking that I'm something of the expert on how to make that transition. And I I don't consider myself to be the expert. I just kind of consider myself to to just, you know, we we we did what was the next right thing. And um and um I understood fully um what uh what I was being asked to do, even though a lot of people were telling me it's not gonna work, don't do it. I understood fully what I was being asked to do, and I and I didn't um you know begrudge that. I I I I entered into it knowing that that was the the circumstances and the and and the situation. And Brother Perry was great about it. And basically he said to me, uh we had a couple of staff um opens openings, and he said, I want you to I want you to lead the search on those in those um uh for those new uh staff members. I want you to lead the uh the staff meetings, um the real Really, what I want to do is I want to preach every other Sunday. I said, okay. And what was really great to me about that is that it took a lot of pressure on doing those, learning those other things. It took a lot of pressure off of me to uh have you know Sunday sermon every every week. Exactly. And um so I took that opportunity. My wife, one of the things that my wife and I did on the Sundays that I didn't preach, we visited a different Sunday school class together. Um and um you know, I told the teacher I don't want to teach it, I just want to be there. I want to meet people, I want to be there, I don't want to teach, I don't want to be called on. Um, and uh that was really, really helpful uh to us and um I think helped me to build some uh relationships. But the challenges, um, you know, it's 2005, all right? So does that ring a bell? We I start on Father's Day and Katrina hits in August. And although Lafayette wasn't uh impacted directly, uh of course Rita came the month later in Lake Charles. And so what happened in Lafayette is that I mean I think there's estimates that the population grew by like a hundred thousand people. And we had we had uh 10,000 people at one point in the Cajun Dome as uh evacuees, and uh lots of opportunity, lots of ministry opportunity. And quite frankly, what I what I remember about that experience is that it was it it was a jolt into leadership that um it it it really didn't matter who was leading, somebody had to lead. Yeah. And it really um expedited, I think, the leadership uh that the people needed, um the church needed. And um Brother Perry wasn't, you know, uh it wasn't that he wasn't interested. He he again he he was helpful and he said I'm eighty years old, man. Yes, you should get after it. You know, get after it. And so we we didn't really have any challenges um to to speak of. I know people still don't believe me on that, but we just really, really didn't. And I sought to honor him. Um he wanted a place to hang his hat, uh meaning an office. Come in. Okay. No problem. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

And uh and uh we'd have staff prayer times, and he would come in and pray with us and drink coffee, visit with the staff, and leave, and and uh what a great job of j honoring the past, but yet ushering in the future and you getting uh Katrina and Rita dropped in your lap as an unexpected Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:42

So uh my challenge, I I think, after that was all over, and then um, you know, and that was, you know, I don't know if you ever say that's over, but you know, once the immediate was over, uh another another aspect of what happened that I inherited was that the church sanctuary had burned to the ground in uh 1999, I believe it was. And um so, you know, no plans to to build, no money to build. And so really the end of Brother Peary's tenure was rallying the church to rebuild um a sanctuary. And that's what they did. They rebuilt a sanctuary. And uh what I inherited was a great facility for worship, but all of the 1950s, 60s education children's space accompanying this state of the art, all the bells and whistles worship space, and we would have young families visit us and say to me, I mean, this is a quote, Pastor. Uh you know, we've been to your children's area and we've been to your worship. We certainly know what your priority is, and it doesn't feel like you care much about our kids.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Uh a stab in the heart, right? Because it wasn't true, yes, yes, but that was their perception. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

You know, what's the adage perception being reality? And so I don't recommend this. Um, but you know, before my first year was up, I uh I said to the leadership, I know we just I know we just spent millions of dollars, but we gotta spend more millions of dollars on a children's uh building. And that's not exactly what they wanted to hear, uh for sure. Uh but you know, uh thankfully uh we we did that, we did that in a very successful way. Uh and then, you know, interestingly enough, and then we got that done, and they're like, well, what about some adult education space and and new uh, you know, fellowship hall kind of thing. And so um we did that uh almost right after that. And um it was uh it was about seven years of building and raising money to build. And you know, a lot of times in churches, that's a recipe for disaster. But um I I can't explain it all, Jeff, that God just blessed every step of of the journey and um didn't quite meet my goal of leaving uh without any debt, um, but it was very, very manageable debt uh when I when I left. I think that they're completely out. And I'm doing some, you know, some now new projects for them.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

So I know I know they're thriving as a result of your leadership. And uh David Brooks, our pastor here, used to say everything rises and falls on leadership, and so I know that your leadership and at that church is continuing to have an impact on that community and and the kingdom. So hope that's the case.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

So what so what transitioned you from being a pastor and saying, okay, I'm I've been training all my life to be a senior pastor, and now I'm gonna go into executive leadership. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

Yeah. Well, that's a you know, that's a story, um uh maybe kind of different trains, different tracks. One one track is that I had been president of the convention, which is uh an elected voluntary position, but I did that like in uh, I believe, 1415, maybe 1516. So I, you know, that got me kind of known in the state. Um and um that so that's kind of I think that's kind of how my name got mentioned. Um how I began to think about it is um every step of my journey, uh because it kind of uh this this came out simultaneous to my first year in ministry, was uh uh Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God. I don't know if you're familiar with that. Yeah, it's very familiar. Um but that came out in the first year of my ministry, and in the first year of my marriage, by the way. I didn't even talk about that, but but but uh my wife and I married in June and I started and started my first uh started pastoring my first church. I actually I missed my first Sunday because we were on our honeymoon. They call me, they called me the week before we got married, and then I started seminary in August. And in the summer, she was a school teacher, so the summer of our our our first year marriage, we did that together. I mean, that was the first Bible study we ever did together as a married couple. So and I've taught it dozens of times. It's very, very influential. And if uh and I'm not all of our listeners will will be familiar with that, but basically uh Blackaby's thesis is you can know the will of God. You can come to know the will of God. And he and he outlines this path uh that we we begin that the Holy Spirit still speaks today, which I'm I think obviously we believe, but that he speaks specifically through his word, uh, through prayer, uh, through circumstances, and the church, which he identifies as as other believers. And so there's other others other believers begin to speak into your life. That can be the very voice of God. And then, you know, just one more preliminary thing about that before I get into my story, and Blackaby says rightly that that all of that has to line up. I mean, you your circumstances are gonna say one thing and then and then the Bible says something else. Like, for example, you know, somebody says, you know, I believe that um God wants me to leave my wife. No, God didn't say that because his word doesn't say that you can do that. Um and and so you know, that's kind of a uh an exaggerated example, but the point is that all oh all four of those things, if it is the voice of God, they ought to be lining up. And so every place in my life, Jeff, where I've made major decisions or even sometimes led my church to make major decisions, I literally have gotten out a notebook, and uh I I draw four columns and I label each of those columns, and I just begin to jot, jot things down. So that's very much part of my story. Wow in this in this. What a great strategy, by the way. I did you know, I I loved, I grew up in Lafayette. I mean, my I have an older son that I knew if we moved, he was gonna stay in Lafayette. My mother's in Lafayette, my in-laws are in St. Martinville from a personal and my things were going well to the church from a personal reason, personal way of looking at it, there's no reason to move. But enough people were asking me about it that I told my wife, well, we gotta start the process. We gotta get the notebook out, you know. And um so um this this kind of all happened in the fall leading up to Christmas, and they were collecting resumes. They uh they had my resume, but you know, you know, really no contact. And I, you know, um but as we got to the beginning of the year, and I had a I had a mentor at the time, a guy by name who was Pastor Sommergrove Baptist in Shreeport, a guy by name of Rod Masteller. Uh he's with the Lord now, but he was, you know, an older man in my life that I really considered as uh wise and someone that you know had befriended me uh and and um you know really looked up to him. And uh he was gonna be one of my people, you know. He was he had moved to Texas by this time. So I sent him on a uh I sent him on a Sunday night, I sent him a message, hey Dr. Rod, I'd love to be able to visit with you uh tomorrow by phone um if you got the time. And uh he says, uh, hey great, I've been wanting to talk to you about something as well. Um and uh so we uh we arranged a time. So um, you know, one of my disciplines in life is you know have some plan of reading scripture going on, because I think that's important. I mean, not going look for a scripture to support you, but in in the in the pattern of reading, God begins to speak.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

And so that morning before I before I called him, I was reading in Isaiah. Um and specifically came to a verse in Isaiah chapter 30, verse 21, uh, that says, uh, and and I could get emotional about this, Chev, all right. Um, but a verse of scripture that says, uh, whether you walk to the left or the right, there'll be a voice in your ear that says, This is the way, walk in it. And uh so I'm like, well, sounds like something I want to write down. It's not so literally Notebook worthy. Notebook worthy. Literally, that morning I had made those four columns and I wrote that in the Bible column, Isaiah 30, 21. And um, and uh then at the point in time I I called uh Dr. Rod and uh he said, Hey, I know you want to talk to me about something, but let me get mine out of the way real quick. He said, Yeah, man, I read an badist message that Dr. Hankins are retired, and uh I think you ought to consider that.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

I said, Well, Dr. Rod, uh interestingly enough, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Um they have my resume. Um, and um I I don't know. I think I I they I was asked to submit it and I consented, but that you know that's all I know. And so we talked for half an hour about you know things that were going well at first Baptist Lafayette, and you know, why should, why shouldn't, all of all of those kinds of things. And um, and I'm you know, I did a lot of listening. And he says, Well, hey, let me pray for you. And uh I said, Okay. And so he prays, and and uh and and he prays all the kind of things that you that you think he might pray that you know Steve would understand the will of God. And Jeff, um, I'm not gonna say the decision was made that morning, but at the end of his prayer he said, and God, I pray that it will be as it was to Isaiah, that Steve hears the voice of the Lord saying, This is the way, walk in it. Wow. And I I I I couldn't say goodbye to him. I was I knew that I had to do two things. I knew I had to write, I knew I had to write that down.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 34:57

And I knew that I had to call my wife and say, and I remember and I said, um, I think we're in trouble. And what I meant by that is we didn't really want to leave life yet. And she said, uh, well, what do you mean? And I told her. And she said, you know, yeah, if any if this is anything like every other time that we've prayed about something, um, we might be fixing a move. Is that what you tell me? And I said, it's early. They may, they may the committee may choose somebody else. But if this continues on this path, I I don't know. We gotta start, we gotta we certainly can't close a notebook. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

Only God. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

You're gonna make me emotional here because that is like I don't know, you know, and of course a lot of other things had to had to happen. Um, but as it progressed, I will tell you that um, you know, kind of kept going back. I just don't think that those things happened in that.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Absolutely. Absolutely. What a God we serve. What a what a great, great God we serve. And um and by the way, that experiencing from what I hear they're revamping that for this next generation that recently. I haven't heard anything about that. So I highly recommend that it had a huge impact on my life as well, and of a lot of people. So uh okay, so let's talk about the convention. So you've been in there for several years now, and so uh so how are things going? Kind of what did you inherit, and then kind of where are things have have gone since you've been at the helm?

SPEAKER_03 36:32

Yeah, well, um so you know, it's a different day. And I'm I I'm not, you know, it's uh I think that uh much like I have a one of uh we have a kind of a close fraternity of other state directors, and uh they some of them have been at this a little while, and um one particular man has been at it 20 plus years, uh he he draws an analogy that um, you know, Southern Mount's life kind of mirrors and follows American politics a couple of years behind. And uh, you know, he has a long dissertation about all the examples of how that is uh true. And so, you know, um I think what that means for us presently is that uh kind of a distrust of government and uh and kind of there's a distrust of denomination, convention. Big organizations in general. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Big organizations in general is kind of distrust, distrust. And so we have to really work hard to gain trust and gain uh a relationship. Um great great friend of mine back in Lafayette, um uh you know, when I um when I announced this decision, uh he called me up a couple days later and he said, I got a question for you. I got two questions for you. I said, okay. He said, You're gonna Yeah, he said, I just don't think you're gonna like this. I said, uh why why you say that? He goes, well, you just like I know you, and I know you like to preach. And uh I said, well, if it the job's like I think it's gonna be, um I'm gonna get to ple preach all I want to preach. And that's that's proven to be true, by the way. And uh and I'm thankful for it, because I don't think I'd like it if I didn't do that. He was right about that. And uh the second thing is, and again, you know, best of friends, he says, You think you're gonna be any good at that? And I laughed and I said, Man, what a question. I said, look, I don't know. I don't know, David. Um, but um if it's what I think it is, and that it's mostly about relationships, I think I got a decent chance of being pretty good about it. And uh I I think, you know, six and a half years later, it is all about relationships. Um and that's how you that's how you gain uh trust is uh is through relationships. So work real hard at that um and um do that, of course, in a variety of ways, but uh that is uh that is how we're we're we're functioning. We have to give our churches a reason, because they don't have to, right? We have to give them a reason to want to cooperate uh with us for uh our our our larger work um you know right off the bat, you know. So I started in June of 2019, went around the state and trying to build relationships, did the case. Right before COVID, right? So do you have the timing of all these things? Katrina Freedom of COVID. All of these listening sessions that I did throughout the state kind of packaged that all up to really launch some things and then COVID is. And then on the heels of COVID, um catastrophic hurricanes, Laura uh I forget all the names now, but Laura uh there was one Delta, I think. And they started we you know, we started naming them by the Greek letters. Alphabet that year. Uh it's just a terrible, terrible thing. And so we spent a lot of time just doing what was in front of us. And uh really I think the last year has felt more like I thought it would be. And um and we've had a good year. We've had a great year, but we've had a we've had a good year uh in uh in 2025 and looking looking to even do that better in 2026. I hope I don't uh prophesy my own doom here, but we we're we're launching uh uh this week um another uh another um uh listening session tour. I'll be going around the state, got about 40 of these planned in different corners of the state throughout the first six months of the year. Um just just just saying that, just like we're not here to tell you anything, uh we're not here to give a state of the uh convention address. We're here simply for you to talk to uh to me, to us. And I'm looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

And so what are you hearing from the various churches? So we have 1,500 churches, and just I know you haven't been on your listening tour yet, but in general, what do you hear from churches of the best way you can support me is X?

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Yeah, so um well um so we we identified three three things that we want to do, because we're not the church, right? We want to assist the church, you're right, we're strengthen the church. And so the way we communicate that is that we do want to seek the lost together with you. And there's certain things that we can do that that maybe you as a church can't do. Um, like you know, there's a certain population not going to anybody's church and not going to anybody's church. We want to seek those. And we're, you know, we do various things to do that. We want to strengthen the church. That's the second thing that we say that we do. We want to, everything we do, we want to be able to say this is strengthening you. We're not supporting you, we're strengthening you. Because if you support somebody, what are you gonna do? You're gonna keep supporting them.

SPEAKER_01 41:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

We want to strengthen you so that you don't really even need our support. Uh and then and then, you know, it is the nature of our work that we are uh the conduit uh to help them to support our cooperative missions and ministry. And that, you know, that's the that's the grunt work of it all. But it is an important part because we are that that conduit to help them to be involved in missions around um uh the world and and in our state uh and and everything. So what are we hearing about those things? Well, um I I one of the things, honestly, that we've heard the most about is, and it's related to the hurricanes, is that there is a huge insurance crisis in our uh in our state when it comes to property casualty insurance. And uh there were once upon a time, when I started in 2019, uh there were three major church uh insurance carriers, and really one of them have completely bailed out, the other two about are doing about a third of the business that they were doing before uh 2020. And so those that uh can get it, can't afford it. And we estimate out of our 1,500 churches, we estimate that somewhere between conservative 200 and maybe as high as 400 are completely naked when it comes uh to windale uh insurance. Wow. Which means that if we have another year, summer like 2020 or 2021, we might have 400 churches that cease to exist. And that that that is troubling. And so a large part of where I have spent my energy in the last three years is uh helping us to put together um uh uh a cooperation that will be a self-insurance cooperation. And um that has been a big learning curve for me. Uh again, the Lord has blessed us with incredible relationships uh with uh with some folks at the government level, at the insurance level. And um we are we are close. I really believe that 2026 will be the year that we are able to launch this multi-denominational effort, by the way. It's not just for us, but multi-denominational effort that we have been pretty much carrying. Um and I really believe that uh by by June 1, we will we will launch that self-insured co op of our churches. And uh that is something that uh really uh because You know, it's be any any every dollar that we save our churches in a matter like insurance is going to help them have more dollars for ministry. Absolutely. And that's how that's how I see this. Absolutely. And um and again, God's really orchestrated some things for us uh to happen.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Um what about the legislative process? Have you been involved in that process and and getting involved there?

SPEAKER_03 44:21

That was the first step because it will be authorized and administrated, not administrated, but overseen by uh the insurance commission's office. And so we had to get a legislative approval, which was actually the easiest part. Um Because they realized the crisis. Because they realized the crisis. They realized the crisis. They're a little bit suspect about uh our success. Um but they you know they've blessed us with the green light to try to do this. Right, right. And uh, what a war they call. They actually even um subsequently, just recently, we were able to announce that they uh believe so much in it that they gave us $2.9 million to build out the infrastructure for it. So we're in the process of uh of using that money to build out the infrastructure of it uh to launch, hopefully by June 1. Great, great.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

What a worthy cause. And uh and if you attend a Baptist church and you're listening to this and your church participates in the cooperative program, it's helping do things like this.

SPEAKER_03 45:19

And that's the message that we want to communicate. There are still some things that we can do together that, you know. And I I told a guy this this week, look, Steve Horn didn't get a didn't get a meeting with the insurance commissioner or with the governor. Well, he's in a Baptist did. I just happen to be the guy holding the card that could get us that in that invitation. Yes. Um but that is the you know, that is part of the reason I I I tell people all the time that I believe churches it's the best of both worlds. I mean churches are ought to be independent. We use the word autonomous. They ought to be. I mean it's a very biblical way. Um but where it's effective and efficient to do so, we ought to be able to cooperate our efforts together because there is, I believe, a collective influence.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 46:11

Um and and so that collective influence, uh, if this happens, which I trust it will, um, the collective influence is going to be part of what made it happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

And there's no cause better in the history of the world than advancing the local church. Correct. Uh and then letting it do its thing. So uh and I know a lot of this falls on local church, but evangelism and reaching the lost. And I think I sent you this survey from Barna that came out. You know, Barna did a survey here recently. It says uh 23 percent of Americans representing 60 million people say that they're not affiliated with any organized religion, any denomination, anything like that. And so that's an alarming statistic, you know, and it seems like it's climbing. Yeah. Um what from a personal standpoint, but also from a convention standpoint, let's talk about that and how are we reaching some people call them the nuns. They're just not affiliated. Yeah. And so so how are we approaching that as a as a convention and and you personally?

SPEAKER_03 47:10

Yeah. So uh we believe the people in Louisiana that are studying this believe that the number in Louisiana is 30 percent. And what's significant about that number is that um in 2024, for the first time, that number became the largest group. So there's more nuns. And when I go on the road, I talk about this, there's more N-O-N-E-S than Catholics in the state of Louisiana. Amazing. Growing up in South Louisiana, that's kind of mind-boggling to me.

unknown 47:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

That in the state of Louisiana right now, uh, we believe that there are more nuns N-O-N-E-S that claim no religion whatsoever than there are Catholics. So what do we do about it? Well, we have to change the way that we think about evangelism, which is that's a big that's a big statement for me to make. Because I you know, look, I and I what I don't mean by that that we don't we don't openly share the gospel with the Bible in our hand. I don't mean that. Because I believe the scriptures that tell us the word of God will not return void, all right? Um and so but at the same time, we gotta balance that with the fact that and and here's the way that my friend Jamie Dews, the president of the seminary, puts it, and he and his training is in philosophy. And here's the way he puts it, and it's something that's really resonated with me and something that I observed. Um recently, our method of evangelism could have, could be that we just stack evidence upon evidence upon evidence to prove Christianity. I mean, that's what the Least Strobels of the world did. Uh case for Christ, case for uh faith. Um that's what he did. He just stacked evidence. There's there's some other names that are very familiar. All the apologetics, all of them. All of those apologetics. And that's how they're how they did their apologetics. And and Jamie says the reason they did their apologetics that way, because there was this there was this notion among the skeptics or among the nuns that Christians were inferior in their intellect. And so they stacked this evidence to say, we're not inferior in our intellect. We got better data than you do, we have better evidence than you do. But Jamie says, and this has really resonated with me since I've heard him say it and I've dialogued with him about it. The nuns of today don't just believe that Christians are are deficient in their intellect, they actually believe that they are dangerous. And you see how that plays out in uh something like the uh the murder of Charlie Kirk most recently.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Yeah, I mean the political.

SPEAKER_03 50:05

They believe that Charlie Kirk's message was dangerous, not just wrong, but dangerous. And um, I think we have to get our head wrapped around that notion that uh uh stacking evidence is not going to be what wins the day. But it's gonna be what's that word, relationship again. Build a relationship to say, I'm not dangerous. I I I got some of the same questions you have, but I've worked through I've worked I've worked through those uh questions. Now let me give you some good news. Simultaneous to me preparing to speak with you today, I came across an article that 2025 was a very good year. And a very good year, actually, in regards to Barna putting out some research this in the most recent days, that uh church attendance sp is spiking. And where is it spiking among young adults? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 51:05

So there's hope. Absolutely. We were just talking about that in our group this morning that it's the younger generation.

SPEAKER_03 51:11

So we missed the generation. That's the that's the you know, that's whatever. I don't and I don't want to get into some beliefs about why that happened, but but we miss, you know, my generation. Yes. You know, your generation, but there's a generation behind us. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 51:27

And they're passionate. They're passionate about what they believe in, but they want something to grab on to.

SPEAKER_03 51:32

And they're and they're empowered by this idea that uh I don't have to be laughed at because I believe these things.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

Exactly. Exactly. Uh my brother, I just spoke with him this weekend. He's a pastor in Nashville, and uh this church has six locations. Uh he started 25 years ago, and he was telling me that most, almost all the people that go to his six locations are under 40 years old. And just the explosion of the younger generation is just unbelievable. So those numbers are bearing out. So it's exciting times. It is exciting times. We're getting a little gray, but hey, we're able to pour in that next generation and and all that. But yeah, but you you look at Jesus himself, though. I mean, he wasn't throwing data. He wasn't he could throw out every any number you wanted to throw out. Correct. But he was about relationships and he was about loving people and love God, love others, right? So uh so let's fast forward five years. Five years from now, looking at the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Uh what what would you love to be able to look back five years from now and say, okay, this is what God did?

SPEAKER_03 52:36

Well, I already spoke about the insurance stuff. So I really hope that five years from now we we are we have hundreds of churches that are in this collective pool uh together, the shared pool together, sharing the the burden. And uh that will be such a win, and I think we'll see that be a win financially for again ministry dollars, um not going to insurance, not going to overhead, but going to ministry. And I I I you know one of the things my greatest hopes uh in that sort of world would be would be that. You know, in addition, you know, just you know I don't want to sound like uh you know like I'm supposed to sound, but you know, just believe that there could be a spiritual awakening. And uh the way I define that is something that is of such a scale that the only way that it can be explained is God did it. And I've seen that, I've I've seen that happen. I told you my story. I mean I've seen that happen. I want to see that again. I want to see that just you know, we're just not able to explain. You know, it wasn't some initiative Louisiana Baptists had, wasn't some initiative the church had. But as we begin to step, step back and look, we just say, man, God, God did absolutely. And uh you know, suits me fine if Louisiana Baptist is behind the scenes and all that, and you know, we we just you know, we're just kind of smiling about it. You know, empowering everybody else. Empowering everybody else to do it. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Well, and back to the black of me, you know, see where God's working and go move in that direction. And so that's that's kind of what we want to do. So just uh as we're we're closing up here, we're gonna get hit a lightning round here in a second, but just you know, just curious from a personal standpoint. I mean, you're a busy guy. I mean, I just listed off all the things that you're doing, we've talked about all these things, but you're also a husband and a father and a friend and a son. So how do you balance all those things and also you know, kind of what what guardrails do you have in your life? You know, there's a big target on your back by the enemy that would love to take out Steve Horn. You know, you're doing all these things, you've been a pastor for many years, you're leading this great organization, so there's plenty of shots that he wants to take at you. So kind of maybe how have you balanced, but also kind of what guardrails have you put in your life to not fall away like so many guys do and actually finish strong?

SPEAKER_03 54:55

Yeah, well, so um it's a it's a great question and one that has a multitude of answers to to it for me personally. Um, somewhere along the way where you know you you said in the introduction that, you know, not everything's perfect, and and man, not everything's been perfect. Um my dad is one who fell away. Um and uh and that as heartbreaking as that is, it is the daily reminder to me that it can happen. It it can happen. I saw it. You know, all the things I've seen first, the good things I saw firsthand. Well, I saw this, not so good thing first uh happened firsthand. And uh it's a you know, it's a daily, daily burden. Um he's still alive, but um and so I I think that's been helpful to me in a weird sort of way.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:47

Uh my wife and I talk about it all the time. Yeah uh that we know it can happen if we don't if we don't pay attention. And so uh so that's one aspect of it. Another aspect of it is uh, you know um athletics did did teach some discipline for me. And so and this bleeds over into you know not just the spiritual side but also the the ministry side, which you know there's an overlap, of course, but you know, I've always been a pretty disciplined guy. I mean, I really believe you can do most anything that you discipline yourself to do. Um and so um you know I'm pretty rigid you know about about schedule uh as a pastor. Um I was very rigid barring um a funeral. I was very rigid about taking Friday off, which meant that I had to be ready for Sunday by Thursday night. Yeah. And I just I was just rigid about it. I mean, I just you know, just like my I found out early on that my wife liked it better. Uh if I stayed late Thursday, she had me Friday. Yes. And um so um uh that's that's another part of it, just just discipline in a lot of a lot of different areas of my life. Um very disciplined about being in the word um because I really believe that. I mean it's part of what I preach. I I I tell people all the time, every time I've ever had somebody in my office and counseling kind of thing, I uh you know, at some appropriate point I would say, well tell me about your tell me about your Bible reading habits. And I believe, Jeff, that that there's this, there's this if if there was possibility to to graph uh our unfortunately our roller coaster ride with our obedience. And there was a way to graph our time in God's Word, that those two graphs would mirror each other. And that's what I preach. And so um very rigid about uh you know, following basically for uh 20 plus years, I've alternated every other year and the even numbers I read through the Bible, and the odd years I read just through the New Testament because I think there's a there's a discipline about reading a little slower and letting it kinda and so that's been my practice since uh 2002. Uh and so this year I'm reading through the Bible. Um and uh so and I'm also participating in the uh the uh rooted plan that uh that our that our church is doing uh kind of as a as an additional part of that. And um I I'm just you know if if if anybody hears anything today, I hope that they hear. I really, really do believe that um being in God's Word every day has a way of keeping you from sin. But I also believe that sin has a ke has a way of keeping you from being in God's Word.

SPEAKER_01 58:41

Absolutely, absolutely. So you've got to just do that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 58:44

And so, you know, finishing strong, here's my key. Here's my most simple key to finishing strong. Finish today. I mean focus on today. Finish today. Absolutely. And uh I don't think anybody wakes up on a given morning and says, Today I'm gonna commit adultery. Today I'm gonna become an alcoholic, today I'm gonna be addicted to porn. Uh I think it's all all gradual. Well, if every day we could say, We're not gonna do that, I'm not going there, that's how that's how we finish uh strong. Uh you know, shift to you know, just family. Um you know, I I I think being a pastor has its limitations for family, to be sure. But it also opens up, you know, like um I I was a little bit I'm I'm in more control of my schedule as a pastor if I allow myself to be in control than uh somebody who has to be at the office from this time to that time. Yeah. You know, so uh, you know, being a part of my kids' school activities, ball activities, I could usually could figure out a figure out a way to do it if I discipline myself to do it.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

Exactly. Um, and every guy out there can do that, right? I I I think so.

SPEAKER_03 59:59

I think so. You know, I th I think all the time about these guys that work offshore and stuff like that and how miserable that must be, you know, not being able to be everywhere. Um and that but they figure that out when they're home, they're home, you know. I think that's the key. I think when you figure it out that you remain disciplined about it. And um, you know, I hope when I went to First Baptist Life Yet, you know, they asked me about this. And um and I said, you know, look, I I want to be successful as a pastor, but not at the expense of my family. And if that's what it means, I have no interest in that. And um and I told them on my last Sunday, I thanked them for letting me be a pastor that could be a dad and that could be a husband. And I quickly said, Now you'll have to ask my family if I was for the results of that, yes, with that. It's always a good thing. But you gave me the opportunity. You gave me the opportunity to do that without, you know, without ever there being a complaint that I, you know, did something. Um and I and I mean that. I'm really I'm really thankful. You know, um my this role is different other than being a pastor. I rarely get called after hours. Yeah. And so my wife loves that, by the way. And it's been a great change for our family uh for me to to be home and know that the phone's not gonna ring and I got to shoot out somewhere. You know. I love that. There are some there are some it's probably more travel uh than uh um than I did as a pastor, but we we've learned how to deal with that too.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:35

Wow. Well, I I know that's invaluable to the listeners. I mean, I love that grafting of the time you're spending in God's word versus being pulled into sin and all that. I've never, you know, we've been doing ministry here, men's ministry here for 20, 20 years or so, and I've never sat down with a guy and talked about what he was going through and I asked him about how's your alone time with the Lord, and it's never really good. I've never unless they lie. And I'll go back to the study. I mean, there was a study done by Dallas Theological Seminary. This study, I referenced this a lot, but they studied a hundred pastors that had fallen away from the faith and why they fell away from the faith. And their number one reason was they their their personal alone time with the Lord had taken a backseat to everything else. And so uh so there's so much value in that. So let's have a little fun. We'll do we're gonna close it up here. So three people. If you had the opportunity to eat dinner with any three people alive or dead, uh they're alive while they're having dinner with you. But uh but who who would those three people be?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

Well, it seems too simple to say Billy Graham, but as the preacher, I'm gonna say Billy Graham. And here's why I got a little bit more specific. I think Billy Graham did better than most people in ministry about how to balance that political uh world with the the spiritual world. And I really, I really um uh you know thankful for him to kind of model that for us. I'd I'd probably like to talk to him a little bit about how about how he uh how he did that.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:08

And by the way, I I saw one time his biggest regret. He looked back was not spending more time. Now, of course, I'm sure he spent a lot of time, but he said I would have spent more time alone with the Lord. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:21

Um so that'd be one um a second person um that I that probably not gonna be well known to our listeners, but is a guy by the name of Jim Dennison. Um I happened to point Jim well, matter of fact, uh he spoke several years ago, probably about 10 years or so ago, at the uh Governor's Prayer Breakfast, which is an annual event, and he was the speaker, didn't know of him at all. But man, really, really challenged me. And and um he is a guy, he's a former pastor, but he he kind of um you know promotes himself as being uh uh a commentator on uh Worldview. Uh and and and he writes a daily article. Uh and man, it's in my inbox at 6 a.m. Uh listeners can look at it, jimdenison.com. And uh man, uh there's probably only been one or two times that I ever read that and thought, I don't know if I believe that. I don't know if I like that, I don't know if I agree with that. Um and so he's a guy that I wouldn't that I would love to be able to know one-on-one and talk about some of those things. And then um the third person, um you know, I'm again athletic world and stuff, and so you know, kind of the goat of my of my today would be wouldn't be Nick Saban. I think that'd be a cool experience. I've had lunch, I've had lunch with Dale Brown and a man that's a everybody I would have had the opportunity to to have lunch with Dale Brown and uh and so I think that that would be kind of cool for Nick Saban.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:48

I've I've started my career in the LG Athletic Department. I work in the L Shield Athletic Department. So I was there when Dale Brown was a coach. And uh just what a gem of a guy. Uh there's not another, not ever gonna be another Dale Brown on this. I said very little in the lunch, by the way, you can understand that. But one thing about Dale Brown, I don't care who you were, the value of the handwritten note. He would write, and I'm sure he still does to this day, he writes handwritten notes to people, encouraging words. I got a few from him. I mean, just I mean, the the power of words written by his hand, right? Amazing guy. So um, okay. So uh said you don't listen to a lot of music while you drive. So let's talk about your podcast. What's your favorite, let's say non-faith related podcast? Non-faith-related podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:32

Uh, you know, I since I gr since I live so long in Lafayette, I really follow even a touch more than uh than uh uh LSU, although I didn't cheer for LSU. Uh I follow UL, Lafayette Athletics a little a little bit more. And so I listen to uh my favorite podcast will be a guy by the name of Kevin Foote, who's a local reporter down there. And uh he's a Saints Astros uh fan and uh but but is knowledgeable at UL because he that's his you know that's his beat. Yeah. And so that's my that's probably my favorite. He's funny, he's sarcastic, uh, and he's pretty passionate. And he's a Christian, and he's a believer. Oh, yeah. And I've gotten to know him a little bit, and so that's my that's my favorite. Kevin, Kevin Foote. That's great. I'll check that out.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:14

Uh okay, so last question. Um so you pass away today, today's Tuesday. Um by Friday, they're probably having your funeral. So I don't know how the you know church world works like that, maybe a couple days later. So what do you want to be said for you? What do you want to be remembered for and when they're talking about Steve Horn?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:35

Yeah, that I was the same person on the platform that I was in my living room. I don't want my kids to sit there and say, oh, wait a second. What? I want to be knowing that uh they knew me like the public knew me. That's what I want.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:49

Wow, what what a worthy, weather worthy goal and uh God-honoring goal that is. And and so that would be you finishing strong, right? That's me finishing strong.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:58

That's correct.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:59

Absolutely. That's correct. Well, Dr. Steve Horn, thank you so much for joining us today. Spending time with you. All right, thank you. In 2 Timothy 4 7, the apostle Paul's in prison facing his impending death, and he says these words is a reflection on his life and ministry. I've fought the good fight, I've finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And so, needless to say, Paul's life didn't start out strong. Persecuting Christians, killing Christians isn't exactly the blueprint that God has for man's life, but God had other plans. He said, I want that man. So Paul switched jerseys and made it his life's mission to spread the gospel no matter the circumstances. He made the decision that he would never give up, he would never back down, and he ain't made the decision that he would finish strong. So, as you just heard from Steve Horn, life's not easy. But if you're a follower of Jesus, God has said the same thing about you. I want that man. So, how will you respond to that? The purpose of this podcast is not just to give you another to-do list or heap guilt or shame on you from how you started or where you've been. The purpose of this podcast is to inspire you to action by hearing how godly men like Steve Horn don't just make lofty goals, they make commitments. Because commitments are greater than goals. Finish strong is a daily decision that requires a daily commitment. It's not how you start, it's how you finish.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:27

Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you want to encourage other men, share this podcast and leave us a review. Finish strong