What Happens When the Plan Falls Apart with Johnathan Evans

What happens when life doesn’t go according to plan—but somehow, it is the plan?

In this powerful episode of Full Fledged, JC and Priscilla sit down with Johnathan Evans for a conversation about the stewarding the unexpected. This episode challenges the way we interpret setbacks, detours, and seasons that feel off-course.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Your uncle had no neck during this season of his life.

SPEAKER_06 0:03

Like Jack Loki. Some kind of weapon.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Your neck was right here underneath your chin. Your traps were just like you were like a brick wall.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Yeah, I mean strong. I was I was benching 225 33 times.

SPEAKER_06 0:20

That's insane. Yeah, 33 times.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

I mean, it was just now you're sitting here in a oneseat. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:26

Now in a oneseat.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Hello, JC Shire.

SPEAKER_06 0:38

I mean, look well look what's happening. We're back. I mean, I just I just want to say. What do you want to say? It it I I I said since I've been in college, um, it's been more of a thought to me that like family is like fun to be around. You know what I mean? Because before you're like, everybody's coming over to the house, ew, I don't want y'all to be here. But now it's like, oh.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

When family gets together, you're like, I like my people.

SPEAKER_06 1:00

And I got reminded of it because today, in particular, when we're filming these episodes, like this family that's coming over, and everybody food just came, and you know what I mean? It's like, oh, this is cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Sometimes you don't realize how great things are until you don't have to access it.

SPEAKER_06 1:16

In Lynchburg for four years, and I'm like, yeah, there's nobody out here that I know. Yeah, no family. I mean, no family.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

So it's well, I'm glad to be sitting on the sofa with you. I have a story to tell about where we are, but first, do we need to welcome everybody and do our opening song?

SPEAKER_06 1:31

I mean, we absolutely candy. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Ready? Let's go.

SPEAKER_06 1:34

Okay. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

I always do it too long.

SPEAKER_06 1:42

Yeah, always. Hey. It's on the three.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Okay. Okay. We are so glad that you were here. We are in our onesies. We are sitting on a cozy, comfortable couch. You need to know about these pillows. You need to know about this couch. We are right now in a different setting than all the other episodes that we filmed. And you need to know that where we are sitting right now is my childhood home. This is where my parents raised me and my three siblings. I think we moved into this house when I was seven years old. So that would have been roughly 27 years before you were even born.

SPEAKER_06 2:18

How old are you now?

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I'm 51.

SPEAKER_06 2:20

Lord Jesus Christ. Have mercy on us.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

That's not old, JC.

SPEAKER_06 2:25

You've been in this. How long has this house been around since I was seven? I've been. But you might be 57. So really almost half a century almost. Almost half a century.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

You stretch that out really, really far.

SPEAKER_06 2:36

My bad.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

However, yes, this has been in our family a long time. And for JC, it's got a lot of memories too, because this is where his grandparents were for all the years of your life. You know, so we just have family members, family memories on this couch and in this setting. So it feels feels really good to be in our pajamas and be filming episodes here.

SPEAKER_06 2:58

On the homie podcast.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

On the homie podcast. If there's anything that feels like home to us, this is it. It is this house right here.

SPEAKER_06 3:07

So you should introduce our guests because you know to your family. We're all family, but you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

It's your family too. We have a very, very, very special guest of the four siblings. We have four Crystal, then me, then Anthony, then there's the baby. And the baby was the one born when we lived in this house. I literally remember the day my parents brought the new baby home. Mom was pregnant one day, then the next day she wasn't. And they came home a day or so two later with this little package. And I remember sitting kind of in this exact same space when they brought this baby to us. He's the baby of the family. His name is Jonathan Evans.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Uncle John John. I'm in a onesie.

SPEAKER_04 4:00

You are in a onesie.

SPEAKER_05 4:01

You gotta be in the in the full-fledged homie spirit. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

So you're a grown man in a onesie.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Grown man in a onesie.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

How do you feel about that, John John?

SPEAKER_02 4:10

It's interesting. It's interesting.

SPEAKER_05 4:12

It doesn't make you feel more connected in a way.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

No? No. Okay. No. I feel a little interesting. Okay. But but I'm I'm good. I'm good. I'm playing along. I'm playing along. Let's go. The homie podcast. Yeah, JC said, come on. I said, all right, you know, because JC's my guy.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

That's great.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

And it's much appreciated. I think the people will love it as well. Love to see the new pastor and the onesie. See.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

See, we do have to talk about that as well. We'll get to that in a minute. The first question I have for you, Uncle John John slash, John John slash uh baby J slash whatever we want to call you. Um, first question I have for you is what is one of your best memories from growing up in this house? Ooh. Most funny, uh, best, most memorable, anything. Just what's something that just makes you go, oh man, living in this house, I remember this.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

I remember fighting with Anthony all the time. I remember him dragging me across the carpet. You know how the carpet will burn you if you drag too long. I mean, because Anthony used to be like, get off of my stuff. Get out of my room. Get, you know. So me and Anthony kind of tussled. I remember that clearly because it hurt. Uh, but now we're like best friends. Yeah. So it worked that out. I remember Priscilla always babying me so I could get whatever I wanted from her. Really? Crystal always teaching me because her brain is just, you know, works. Yeah. So she's always got something to say. Um, but it's just, you know, family, just growing up. You know, we all talk about the table. We weren't raised at the table. You know, my dad would tell, you know, us to come to the table and say, you know, mom, can you cook? He'd ask her to cook for two reasons. Number one, because he couldn't cook, and number two, because he couldn't cook. Basically. Yeah. So we get around the table, and um, those were the times because there's no technology.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

You had each other for real.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

We were the entertainment for each other.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Playing games at the table, playing board games at the table, playing charades at the table, playing Uno at the table. Like it was all us. And the only technology we had was a was one of the big big screens, not a flat screen big screen. Like a box. Like a big yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Yeah. When he says big, he does not mean the dimensions of the screen. He means it was a block of furniture. Yeah. That the television and we got to watch television pretty much on Thursdays.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

The Cosby Show in a different world. That was the only television.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

I don't know none of that. Saturdays.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

PGI Fridays is thank God it's Friday, just like a slew of Friday evening shows that were comedy shows, like 30-minute shows, like let's just say like Fresh Prince of Bel Air would have been part of that, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Um, what matters?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Um uh family matters. Family matters. You don't know about family matters?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

JC, see you had to wait. You hear that word, JC? You had to wait to lecture in me. You had to wait to watch what you wanted to watch. You couldn't just everything wasn't quick and accessible. You had to wait till Friday. We had to wait till Saturday morning for Looney Tunes.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Right bunny.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Right, yes. Like we had to wait.

SPEAKER_06 7:16

I can already see this about to be pastor teaching, kind of look, I can see it already.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

This is just it's just different generations. This is how we grew up. And waiting is the problem with you guys' generation. And the Bible said, I can see it coming already. I can see it coming. Yeah, we had to wait. So it was fun just because it was us.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

It was us. We had family talent shows in this room right here where we're sitting. Family talent shows.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

But he grew up with that too. Because at Christmas, you know, Nani would have I said Nani. They know who Nani is.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Nani is our mom. So Lois Evans is their Nani. And she would have talent shows over here with the grandkids and stuff like that. So lots of traditions.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

And Poppy would do the Bible studies before any gifts got opened.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

You know, all of that. So it's just great.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 7:59

So question. So growing up in obviously the household of like Tony Evans, you know, Lois Evans, you know, all this stuff, like being the baby in this environment, looking back on it, like what do you think was cultivating you along the way that now being the personality you are, however, it like, oh shoot, like that actually, you know what I mean? Like did something.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Well, a lot more is caught than taught. And so while my dad was teaching all the time, I was just catching. I was catching his presence. I was catching my mom's availability and care. I was catching the teaching that was at the table. I was catching the idea of family time. Like now that I have my family, I'm just repeating the blueprint. You know, unfortunately, a lot of people just don't have a blueprint. So it's really just catching family, it's catching time, it's catching the preservation of what's really important. And I think I caught that to the degree where I can have something to give. Um, and so all that's good, but I mean being the baby is the best. I could say that. Because I watched them get in trouble.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Spoil brat.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

I watched them get in trouble, then did the same thing and didn't get in trouble. That is crazy. Because my parents were like, oh, what time? So that was a good thing, too.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

I just want to reiterate though, something you just said for real. Like, you are a very playful person in general, but you're a very playful dad. Like, you're gonna make a joke about everything, you're gonna throw the kids around, y'all gonna be wrestling on the floor. That literally is what dad did. And I don't think that a lot of people realize they think Tony Evans, or they're thinking radio ministry. And his his preaching persona is definitely who he is, but they don't know this part, the living room part. He's actually extremely playful.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Cracking jokes, going off on mommy running all over the place trying to tickle her. He's trying to tickle people, throwing folks around, like he, you know. So my point is you caught that. That's not something he literally taught. You just caught that. And that's the thing about you. Like, we're gonna have a guest too that is your father, which I'm looking forward to because people really want to. They that's been one of our number one requests was like, can we get Jerry Shire senior on here? Um, but there are things that you guys don't even realize you're catching from your dad. One of them is availability. Like, y'all think it's normal that dad is just around all the time. But growing up, most people did not have an experience where the dad, maybe their mom was around a lot, but their dad's working all day long, every day. Y'all don't know that life.

SPEAKER_06 10:29

Sure don't.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

So you're gonna, when you have your family, to you it is gonna register as normal that dad is as present as mom. And that's just because you would have caught that from your father's choices and his decisions.

SPEAKER_06 10:39

Yeah. And I think like uh uh touching on something that you said, like humanizing people is I think so important to like ministry in general. Like, I mean from a personal experience, like I remember I can't remember if I said this one time, but I was watching like um a preacher, and um this person had said something about struggling with praying. And I was I don't know why it like caught me differently, and I was just like, Wait, this person struggles with praying just like and so like my point is like even I think in settings like this, like this podcast where people look up to you and see your ministry and everything, or like mom, same thing with you or whatever, and they're able to be like, Oh, wait, no, this she's actually just a mom, you know what I mean? Like, she actually just be making like fun. Uncle John really make making jokes and wrestling with kids, you know. I think it puts a person to the ministry instead of just a voice, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

So because we all have a tendency to do that. We put people on pedestals that we admire for any reason, we do it too.

SPEAKER_06 11:33

Oh, a thousand percent. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

And it's really cool to just kind of whatever, you know, see them as humans. So, anyway, John John. John John, you have been on quite a journey recently. Let's get into it. I I think that we need to kind of tell because that because there's there's principle within the story. There's this, you know, the the testimony of this whole journey the Lord took you. I'm talking about from high school, like oh yeah, yes. So let's start with being in this house. That's how far back I want to go. We're gonna ask you questions along the way. Okay, but being in this house, the struggles you had with education, all of just start with all of that so people can get the framework of how where you are now, it's just like this conglomeration of these things that you didn't even realize the Lord was weaving this whole web of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

So mom was the encourager, but dad had his finger to the book. I remember when I'm little, my dad would keep pointing down to the book, keep pointing down to the book, and that is whatever book I had to do for school.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Because I didn't want to do it, and I really couldn't do it that well. Um, and so my mom my mom encouraged me. She's like, You're you're smart, you're smart. But I had to go get tested because they were like, what's wrong with this boy? This boy can't read, he can't write, he can't, he's not doing any of the things that his three previous siblings were able to do easily.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Did you know this? Did you know the girls?

SPEAKER_02 12:58

I had no idea. Yep. Nope. So my dad would keep wanting to come on. And he just sat there with me and was patient. And and he would just, I mean, because I'm reading slow, Jason. I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

You were tested for what? Do you even remember?

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Yeah, well, at the time, you know, this is dyslexia. Yeah. So dyslexia, ADHD, ADD, all of the things. But dyslexia was the thing that really I mean, I was active. That's the hyper thing. But dyslexia was the one that prevents you from reading comprehensively.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

You were transposing numbers and letters and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

So I did not know then, so I'm jumping the gun a little bit, but I had to learn how to memorize to read fluently to not be embarrassed in class. Oh, wow. So I had to just memorize the word because I couldn't sound out the word because it would be like education. Like it, that's how I read. So I couldn't flow. I couldn't flow read. So I would be in class nervous when you do the popcorn reading and everybody got to take a turn. And so I would jump ahead and like, okay, they're at this part. I know they're gonna stop here. So let me see if I can memorize my part before it gets to me so that I don't look silly in class. So I went through all I had to go to boy. I'm so oh no, don't do it, don't do it.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

I love you so much. I'm sorry, we made fun of you. We made fun of you.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Yeah, this is nice.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

And they and so, so, so my siblings, that's why she's yeah, that's why she's hugging it. Right now, because she feels bad.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Because Anthony was like, You are an idiot.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Um and so I had to go through that. I had to go to a place, remember this? So after elementary, kind of that time frame, I had to get out of the public school system and I had to go to a place called Martin Tutoring and Counseling.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Okay, now wait, wait, he was held, so he had to re not only go to a little tutoring school, but he was held back a year. He had to repeat the grade.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

I had to repeat the fifth grade. Wow. So I repeated the business to me. I went to Martin Tutoring and Counseling, where I could get a teacher with me all day. And so it was probably six or seven kids in that school where they just got personalized training. So I did that, Sylvan Learning Center.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Two years, I think you were in that.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

I did that for two years. I had to do Sylvan Learning Center, I had to have my own personalized tutor. Um, and I'm just like, yeah, I it's gonna be hard for me to imagine me being successful when I'm so unsuccessful all the time. Because school is all the time, it's a kid's Monday through Friday. Yeah. So they're they're seeing themselves in there all the time. And all the time I could only see that I'm unsuccessful in a failure. Wow. So I'm impressed as we get older by my dad and Priscilla and Crystal and Anthony and all the things they're able to do and the cadence they're able to have and how they're able to live, the way they're able to have successes, but I knew it wasn't gonna be me. So my path, I was gifted in athletics. I said, that's my path. Okay, so I'm I'm going. So I went to Duncanville High School, you know, played football there. We won the state championship, you know, had accolades, got 33 offers to go to college. But but, however, yet and conversely.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Howsoever.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

So I had all these letters, Michigan, Ohio State, all those kinds of things. I was playing well. And um, but they were unwilling to wait for me to pass my SAT. I could not pass my SAT.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Did you know that, JC?

SPEAKER_06 16:33

Oh my gosh. I'm just sitting here thinking, like, man, I would be the one that'd be like, this guy's an idiot.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah, you would be teasing him.

SPEAKER_06 16:40

I would be teasing him.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

You're the because you are the brother of the three brothers. You're the smart one.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

He's the one that just can do it easy.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

But also he teases his brothers.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:49

Okay, okay, let's not make it sound like I'm mean or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Because he learns easy. He learns easy. It's always been easy. Yeah. Oh, this is this is easy, you know, he's just he's learning like this. He's doing life the same way. Oh, this is I can get to the city.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

And when you're a sibling, you tease your siblings.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

So you don't have to get a high score to get a scholarship on the SAT. But I could not comprehend what was happening. Yeah. And I also couldn't focus with a time crunch. So I couldn't do the time crunch, and then I gotta go fast. I can't. So I'm just like, okay, A B C D E. Okay, that gets me far enough down to where I can get back on a schedule to just make my time. So I'm panicking every time I take the test. So do you remember how many times you took it, Jonathan? I took the SAT three times, failed all three. And then um I remember this, yeah. And I had to weave in and out of playoff games and to try to figure out how to take it. So I took it about three times, failed every time. So now all the scholarships went away except for two.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Can you imagine you have all of these offers and you're watching them dwindle one by one by one?

SPEAKER_06 17:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

And you've already struggled your whole high school, well, educational experience, feeling like I'm always in a state of being defeated.

SPEAKER_06 18:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

And now you're watching all those scholarships.

SPEAKER_06 18:05

And I have and I kind of have a question about this before you go on, so I don't want to like miss it or if like forget it. So, like you you said, yeah, I wasn't good at school and sports was my path. So, like, what's the differentiation now, looking back at it, where it's like, um, you know, I'm not good at this. Let me cater to what I'm gifted at, but also not just giving up because something's hard. Like, what's a great question? How how do you differentiate that looking back now?

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Well, yeah, looking back now.

SPEAKER_06 18:30

Right, looking back now. Because then I was like, Because some people may be in it, right? You know what I mean? Like, like people, even like me, like it's hard, I'm not gonna do it, or I'm gifted at this, so I'm just gonna go. But like, how should I actually stick through the hard navigate the hard?

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Well, looking back now, I know that God used the difficulty and the struggle for actually the pentacle point of where he wanted to take me. Because the strength would come through the difficulty. All the strength would come through the things that I had to learn while not being able to overcome, while not being able to be successful. Like I said, I had to learn how to memorize. I had to learn how to memorize reading in order to read. And now everybody's wondering how I preach every Sunday with no notes. Well, because notes mess me up. The same thing that messed me up when I was in when I was a kid was trying to read and follow along. So when I was trying to be like everybody else, everybody else, you know, you use notes, that's normal. Yeah. To use notes, when I started uh speaking um and then preaching, I would use notes because that's what everybody else did. But I would be stumbling, I wouldn't know where I was at, I would be confused, I'd be like, ah, and then I got counsel from um Jim Cymbala one time, a pastor in in New York. He said, Um, spend spend enough time with Jesus, rely on the Spirit of God, and and don't use notes. Because he didn't use notes. And I was like, Don't use notes. You know, so then I tried it and I was and it set me free. I was like, oh my goodness, I can look at the people eye to eye. I don't have to worry about anything written. I don't I can just stay up here.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

But he had exercised the muscle of memory because it was hard for him to read. So embedded within the difficulty was actually the exercise he needed. So to answer Jay-Z's question, which is how do you know though, if the struggle is something you're supposed to abandon and focus on something else? Or if doing so is gonna abandon this muscle that you don't know the Lord is gonna exercise? Like, how do you know when something is actually it's time to just focus on football? Or no, I need to stick with this challenge. Is that what you're asking? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Well, there's a simple answer to that question. You can't get out.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

You can't get out. Meaning school was school. School. You had to be at school.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There are situations that are people that that people are in right now that I would, just like me, I would always beg to get out. We can't get out. God is not allowing you to get out, he's letting you sit there. And no matter what you try to do, all you do is dig yourself deeper into where he has you because he's not letting you out. And and and when you have trials, tribulations, and struggles, all the the natural reaction for us is to what? Yeah, lead run away.

SPEAKER_06 21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Yeah, run away. But you can't. Why is this something that's persisting so long? And Holy Spirit, where are you trying to lead me and guide me and show me and use me? And because he works all things out for good, if it's not good yet, God's not done yet.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

You you just sounded like a pastor, right?

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Yeah, but because you asked the pastor a question. You asked the pastor a question. He did it to himself. He did it to himself, but you can't get out. That's how you know. It's like, man, I'm in this, so God is gonna use this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

And and to go back to John John's testimony, I I'm jumping ahead just to add, just really, actually, this is where you are in it. To play football, he had to be a student. See what I'm saying? So I remember by the time you graduated high school, which I remember us all being like, John John graduated from high school, like it was a big deal. And then he was going to college. Like he didn't even get to the point where Poppy had to work really hard to get the title. Time restraints taken off of the SAT.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Yeah, that was next.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Um, yeah, so that he could take it with no time restraints. That's how he passed the SAT.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

But here's the blessing, though, is that while I was struggling and getting tested when I was young, that was the paperwork that would give me the ability to have extra time. Because you could you can't just tell them, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

No, we have to have a I think it's called a 504.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

It's it's a it's a paperwork that's specific to say this child actually is is being it's unfair to put a time restriction on them given the way they're so my struggle put me in a position to get a pass that nobody else gets so that I can go further. So so I got I got um no time and then I switched to the ACT because you could take the SAT or the ACT. So I said, Well, let me try the ACT, and they gave me no time. So here here's no time restraint. No time restraints. So one I when I took an IQ test once, the lady, and this was the IQ test, they were trying to determine some things. The lady was like, Do you feel like you care or you don't care? And I said, I don't care. You know how young people, I don't care. And she said, I don't think so. I think you care a lot because even though you struggle, you're hyper diligent. You'll sit here forever.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

And try and try and try. So you'll be really frustrated, but you'll be frustrated for hours. So then when I took, and I didn't believe it until I took the ACT, I took it from eight to four.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

All day.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

All day. And I did not get tired because I knew what was on the line. My scholarship was on the line, but it actually took me from eight to four to go through every question, then go through every question another time, then a third time to make sure I wasn't confused. Because when I when I was taking tests, I'd get confused. I was like, oh, I thought they were asking this, and those kind of things, because somebody wasn't saying it to me or showing a picture. I was reading it, and that was my problem. So I took it from eight to four, and then three weeks later, this is now they only got two scholarship offers now. I got UTEP, University of Texas El Paso, and Baylor.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

And Baylor.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

And so they stayed around and they found out I had no time on a test. And they said, Ah, we think we're gonna stay around. We think he'll pass it. So I remember the letter came in the mail three weeks later. I take it, you know, they send it off. And I'm at Auntie's house in in Duncanville, and I get the letter and it says ACT score. And I mean, I'm talking about you talk about spiritual, all of a sudden I'm spiritual. I'm praying.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Come on, Lord, come on.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

I did the best I could, and I knew if I failed at this time, I can't go back. Yeah, because I've done eight to four. I can't do better. Yeah. So I'm walking around the house in circles. I don't open it up for like an hour. Just nervous about it. Right. I opened that thing up and passed with flying colors. So now I'm running around. I jump in the car, I drive to the church. My dad is in an elders' meeting. And so I um I go in there, knock on the door. He says, Son, I mean, I'm in the elders' meeting. I'm in the elders' meeting. I said, Dad, I passed. He said, Elders meeting over. Man, he opened that door. They was in there, you know, preachers, fried chicken, brisket. They in there, that's the preacher meeting. They do the elders meeting, they in there eating, and he said, My son just passed his test. And then the elders, I'll never forget this. The elders all stood up and gave me a standing ovation. Wow. So you got my dad in there and all those elders standing up because they knew my dad was telling them what was going on, the struggle I've had my whole life. You know, the elders were elders we had in the church that were consistent for a long period of time.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Yeah, decades.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Decades. So they stood up and gave me a standing ovation. And uh my dad said, Man, I'm so proud of you. But my dad would find a way to help me. I told the church this. I said, My dad would do anything to try to put me in a position to be successful. And I just took advantage of it, and then that's how the scholarship started. So I went to Baylor, chose Baylor out of the two. Pause. Pause.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

So so this was kind of what I was getting to, and I didn't want to skip over to play football, which was his passion. He still had to be in a position where he was challenged. He's at Baylor. Now he's got he's still in school. It's not like he can avoid school to do the passion. So to his point, you you keep pressing in. Because I remember you being very diligent in college. Like you didn't actually, I don't think you took advantage of all the extra help they had for you and stuff. Because you were at that point, he was so it was a decision. It's gonna take a lot of work. I'm gonna struggle, but in order to play, I have to do this. So the challenge was in front of him. But when life, in other words, puts you in a position where you are constantly being challenged and you're constantly being pressed and you're constantly having to push against resistance, um, to keep going means that you're exercising muscles that will be not only required in the moment, but you're exercising the muscles that you don't even know need to be in full right positioning for what's coming a decade later.

SPEAKER_06 26:56

And I think um another thing that you touched, both of you guys kind of touched on is in order for you to like do the eight to four, you were saying it's because I knew I had to play. Like in order to do the challenge, I knew I had to I had to, you know, I wanted to play at Baylor, so I did all the help and all the homework I, you know, I had to do so, like I think uh something that is is important in that something that you both noted is like having the why be strong enough. Because some people's problems are like they have real serious, like you know what I'm saying? There's stuff that people were legitimately going through. And the only way that perseverance can can happen or take place is having a why that's strong enough. I had a stronger why though.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

What was your stronger why?

SPEAKER_02 27:41

A stronger why than um playing football. Okay. Is that I was I was tired of failing. I didn't want to fail anymore. And I didn't want all the time. I didn't want to feel like a failure.

SPEAKER_06 27:54

Right. Okay, how is that good or bad? I feel like there's pros and cons to that. There's gotta be, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Um, it's it's bad to the degree that I felt like a failure. I've had a lot of encouragement and all that, but when you live in it all the time, and all the tests are you failing this test, you gotta get taken out of the room for to be in a special area where you can take a test because you're not like the other kids and you need more time and all of those different things. And I wanted to um I wanted to press to the degree where I was like, you know, my mom would always say, You're you're gonna be, you are smart, you're smart in a different way, but you'll find out what that is, but you're smart, you're you're just as smart as everybody else. I didn't feel like I was just as smart as everybody else. Right. Um, and so I when I got to college, I wanted to play. And okay, no pass, no play. So we understood that. And but I wasn't really worried about passing. Um I just wanted to be normal. I wanted to be, you know, growing up, I just felt like the outcast, abnormal when it comes to school. Right. Not sports. Because JC, you know your uncle now. Oh no. You know. Yeah, you still can't guard me, but I feel like but you could tell, even though now you're a college basketball player, I can't guard you. Right. Plus my knees hurt. But you could you could tell you could tell when you were younger, when I would go out there and start shooting. Right. You'd be like, you'd look at my form and go, oh, yeah, Uncle John John got. Yeah, you could tell. You could tell. You could tell. Absolutely. So that I just wanted to know. Oh Lord, you just needed validation. You could tell, even though it was football. But I wanted to, I wanted to, I wanted to not feel and and be in a situation where I was taken out of class. I didn't utilize any of the those resources they had for me when I went to college. They had it to where I can take my all of my tests in a room by myself with no time and don't worry about class times and all that. And I didn't do any of that. I just said, I'm just gonna dedicate, study harder, stay up later, so I can stay in the room with everybody else. Um, and so that was another motivation for me.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Here's the thing nobody would have known that you felt that way. You you did not portray, give off, convey, you were not defeated. You didn't walk around like I'm so sad because I feel like I don't feel nobody would have known that. So, so even now, and you know, I've known we've known each other as adults now our whole life. So I already know this story, but even now when I hear you say that you had that feeling, every time I hear you say that, I'm always like, really? Because you were always so do you feel like you were playful and energetic and such a character to cover up that feeling? Or do you think, no, that's genuinely how I was? But why didn't we know in the moment? And I'm thinking about the parent or the person who doesn't know that the person next to them that's making them laugh, and because you you were a character, you always been a character, you were always doing the most, you were the joker of the family. We would have had no idea that you had these feelings. So is there something we should have perceived then? Or do you think no? I was either intentionally covering it up, or I was just dealing with it on my own. Like I, you know, I because it's hard for me to place that you felt that way.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

No, I understand that. I think it's the latter. I think I think I place things in boxes. So I felt that way about school and I wanted to change that. But I don't think I was using the playfulness and all of that to cover up an overall feeling inside of who I really was and how I really felt.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Okay. So it was just about one part of your life.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

Yeah, just about one part of my life that was a major part because it's most of your life. Yeah. When you're that age, yeah. And that age is a it was a major part of my life. But I don't feel like, and I feel like that is a danger though, that sometimes the funniest people are the ones that are crying on the inside the most. Um there it's a cover-up. Um that wasn't that wasn't my story. I felt I'm not really um I'm not really hyper emotional. I just know this is the reality. What are you gonna do about it? Yeah, you're a decision maker. You can decide I'm doing a thing and do it. And because I think it's a well, people are different, but you know, we grew up outside. So it it it's it's just like you're you're either gonna fight through it or you're gonna whine about it. And if you whine about it, we all gonna be like, oh, he's whining about it. You know, like it's like you don't you gotta make a quick decision and just kind of decide. So um I think I'm just make decisions. This is what needs to happen. And so I go through, go through college, go through Baylor, um, get picked up by the Cowboys in the NFL 2005. You know, that's DeMarcus Ware, uh, all the people that know football people, Mary and Barber, all, you know, a great class. You don't remember me because they were all better than me, but who cares? I was there. Uh so you got I got in there. Um, but here, here it goes. So the education part now is kind of over um in those terms. And um through college, I had gotten opportunities uh to lead chapel service for the team, um, do FCAs and stuff like that. So I started speaking like you. That happened in college.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

I will say we do need to pause.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

When he says he just finished Baylor, he said that casually and then started in the NFL. You need to know when your uncle graduated from Baylor, we were like, what?

SPEAKER_01 33:16

He made it through high school in college? Yeah, seriously.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

That was like a major, like, how in the world? We would have never thought that because you didn't like school. Like we would have never thought that.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

I did three and a half.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Yeah. Three and a half. You said that casually, and I just need to sit there for a second and say, no, that was a remarkable accomplishment. Because it was a fight the entire time.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

Yeah, it was a fight. Yeah, okay. NFL. Right. Yep, finish Baylor, then I go to the to the NFL.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

And you were saying you were leading chapters. Through Baylor.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Yeah, through Baylor. That's the drops, right? So God was dropping when I was in Baylor because I started speaking. I led my first chapel service as a sophomore in college, nervous. Um, but we had 70 players except Christ and four coaches. That's big. Almost everybody in the room stood up, except accepted Christ for the first time. I remember one of my coaches came up to me and said, That's one of the best gospel messages I've ever heard since Billy Graham. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

And I was like, Were you were you like 19, you think, 20?

SPEAKER_02 34:13

Yeah, so a sophomore, so maybe 20.

SPEAKER_06 34:15

Yeah, well, I haven't heard anything like that. So Pastor was obviously in your I just haven't heard that from me. So you don't need that.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

But I I am so those were drops in college. Yeah. Um, while I'm running away from ministry, I use football to run away from ministry because I knew I couldn't do what my dad does. I knew that I couldn't do what my dad does.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Your dad is Tony Evans.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Because my dad's Tony Evans and his brain is is on something different. Right. Meaning he's a scholar. Right. Yeah. So I'm watching him read a book a week by practice easy. I'm watching him retain all the all that he reads. I'm watching him go up and just know correlate this verse from that verse and that verse. And I'm sitting there like, yeah, nah. Yeah.

unknown 34:58

No way.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Let's catch the ball. Yep. No way. Can't do that. So I go to the NFL, and here starts another phase of life where I thought that that was my past, but I'm now experiencing failure again. So I go to the Cowboys, I get cut. I go to NFL Europe, I get hurt. I go to San Diego, I get cut. I go to uh Houston, San Francisco, Buffalo, Tennessee, Washington.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

I mean, he was bouncing around for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

I was bouncing around trying to find a home, like trying to make a destiny, trying to make my purpose take place. Because you know, I wanted to play football, play for 10 years, made some money, go sit on a beach and decide what I want to do. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Your uncle had your uncle had no neck during this season of his life. Like Jack Low Key. Some kind of weapon.

SPEAKER_06 35:47

Just no neck when he was playing football.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Your neck was right here underneath your chin. You your traps were just like you were like a brick wall.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Yeah, I mean strong. I was I was benching 225 33 times. That's that's insane. Yeah, 33 times. I mean, it was just now you're sitting here in a onesie.

SPEAKER_04 36:08

Now I'm in a onesie.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

On the homie podcast. Right, right after you just led church service. Yeah. A blue onesie. Blue onesie with white tips. Yeah, this is you go from the NFL to a onesie.

SPEAKER_04 36:27

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Life changes fast.

SPEAKER_04 36:30

So you're being bounced around all the time. Bounce around.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

So that's just cutting. You're getting cut. You're getting cut, you're getting traded, you're getting hurt, um, all of those different things. And Kanika was like, I think Kanika's my wife, by the way. Yes, they met at Baylor. Met at Baylor. Um, but you know, Kanika was like, I think, I think we're done. I think this is working out.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

I didn't sign up, but it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

And I told her, I told her, I said, no, God is gonna, you just gotta keep pressing. Because in my life, I learned how to you just fail, but you gotta keep pressing and this is where you want.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

This is why y'all need women in your lives, because sometimes it takes the sounding board of a wise woman to stand there next to you and all your resolution and vision and all that and go, yeah, but now's a good time.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

Yeah, I don't know. When I read the Bible, it says, Because you listen to your wife, and then they get punished.

SPEAKER_04 37:18

What? That's not what the Bible says.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Well, I know. You had a little Eve problem, you had a Sarah problem. Abraham, Abraham listened to Sarah, who told him to go be with Hagar.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

And I said, Because you listen to your wife.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

If I have ever heard of mishandling of anyways, that's not true. That's not true. You know how they clips the bit of it. Oh, that is funny. No, she was like, You're done. I think I think we're done. And I'm fussing. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. This is how I'm gonna provide, this is what I'm I'm called to do, you know, all of those different things. And um, I got a call from Jim Zorn, who had moved from Washington to Kansas City, and he said, I think you're better than the guy we have. Um, go work out. We're gonna bring you in for a workout and put you on the team. And I looked at Kanika like this.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

I told you.

SPEAKER_04 38:14

I told you we're still like.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

I told you. Then I went out to work out on a field by my house to get ready. And while I was working out, I popped my Achilles tendon and she looked at me like this. I told you. And there you go. So I'm on the ground crying and laughing at the same time. All the fellas that were out there with me, they ran over. They're like, what happened? I grabbed my Achilles, they said no, because that's like it's over. You dirty. Yeah, it's out. That's it. Yeah, it's over.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Because they heard if I remember you telling me they heard the pop, like his Achilles tending poppy.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

They could hear it, they knew what happened, and it's you just you just hear it pop, and uh, I'm down, you can barely walk.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

And you know your career is over at that point.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

That's why I'm laughing because God was like, I'm not gonna continue to allow you to press and walk in a direction that I'm not ultimately calling you. I was using it, but that's not where we're going.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

So, in other words, you should have listened to your wife.

SPEAKER_06 39:09

Yes. And then, okay, so I don't know if this is prematurely entering into this conversation. But um the the direction that he was calling you towards that we see now, um, you didn't really wanna. No, it wasn't really your your your thing, your jam. Like, matter of fact, if I recall correctly, you did not want, like it was like I don't want to, like, absolutely not. Absolutely not. So, you know, uh, talk to us a little about that. Like, like you didn't want to do it, and he still called you to do it.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

And like, like, just and before you answer the question, let me just clarify for people that might not know, and we're getting ahead in the story. But just recently, Jonathan, the baby, was installed as the senior pastor of Oakliffe Bible Fellowship Church, which is phenomenal. And this is the church that our parents started before he was born. I was one year old when the church started, and our parents have pastored and shepherded this church for basically 50 years. And the only other pastor that this church has had is Jonathan. He's the new pastor of Oak Cliff. So when when JC is asking you about sort of running from what you're doing now, I wanted to make sure people knew that's what that is. You you had no interest in being a pastor.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Right, no interest in being a pastor at all. I'm literally the Moses guy. Like, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? Like, don't don't ask me to do this. It's too big for me. I don't even like reading like that. You know, like when I like when I spend time in God's word, I spend time pretty much, I mean, especially back then, in a few verses. Yeah. Like I'm not really going far. And now, and now I'll, you know, I give the church one verse and then pre- I mean, also all of that's together. But so I just I just didn't want to do it. I mean, like I said, you know, I know you're a LeBron guy. I'm a Jordan guy.

SPEAKER_06 40:52

Right.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

But at the time I was like, you know, it's like trying to be Michael Jordan's son and trying out for the Bulls. It's like a dumb idea. Yeah, yeah. Like, it's not smart. It's not smart. The only thing you can do is go look silly.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

I I hear that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

Does that apply to LeBron and his son as well? Well, I'm just I'm talking about great players. I know, but I was asking a question. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean Does it?

SPEAKER_06 41:19

Yeah, it's it's happening currently, so I won't give my opinion. Uh you know.

SPEAKER_02 41:23

Anyway. Yeah, not speaking on that. Uh just um, yeah, so so that that was um intimidating. It's intimidating to even think that that's a possibility that God wants you to do something that has already been done so great for so long, so consistently over a long period of time. Plus, I was like, do I want to write a five-page paper every week?

SPEAKER_00 41:42

Yeah, like what a message prep is.

SPEAKER_02 41:45

Yeah. Yeah, so message prep, writing a paper every week, doing all the things that I ran from and despised and made me feel like a failure. Do that every week. Yeah, that sounds awful. No, sounds awful. Sounds terrible. No, we're not trying to do that. Yeah. So I tore my Achilles, and God said clearly, because I was crying and laughing, because he said, I'm not, you can't keep walking that way. It's over. And I remember Jacob. He wrestled with God, and I've been wrestling with God for years. Like, I don't want to do it. I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna go this way, I'm gonna go this way. And God was like, No, I'm gonna touch you and I'm gonna change how you walk. And so now I put on a boot and crutches and limped in the seminary. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 42:25

That's a whole that's a whole something right there.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

That's a whole something.

SPEAKER_06 42:28

That's a whole something.

SPEAKER_02 42:29

Limped right in the seminary. Wow. And um, so I started taking classes. Now here's what happened. When I got to seminary, limped in, started going to class, and I started becoming very interested. I said, Why am I feeling this way? I don't like this. I hate that I love this.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Right. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See, that's kind of what's happening to you right now, JC. I wouldn't know, you know, and I don't mean about the pastor part. I know I tease you. Everybody who watches this past this podcast, you know that I'm always like, all right, Reverend. You know, I'm always teasing you. But I'm just like, in general, there have been a couple things in your life that you didn't know you loved till you started doing it. And then you were like, oh man, it's like the Lord can turn your heart towards something that you don't know till you're in it. And then he starts bringing you around and you're like, I didn't know that I had an interest in this.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

Yeah, so um, where was I? Seminary.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

You were just saying that you loved it.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Yeah. I started, I started liking it, then I started loving it, and it had hard parts. I mean, who wants to write a 20-page paper on suffering? Yeah, you know what I mean? Like parts, you know, you know, but just being in God's word um started changing things for me while I'm in there, okay. While I decide to to go the first step of what God tells me to do, I get a call from the cowboys to come back. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 43:54

Do they know that your Achilles has been torn up at this point and they still wanted you to come back?

SPEAKER_02 43:58

Okay, here it is. Okay. They called me to come back. I said, okay, I'd love to.

SPEAKER_06 44:04

You need to be able to do it. I walk back into the God just ain't.

SPEAKER_05 44:09

He's just sitting there, like, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 44:11

Yeah. I come back, crutches and all. Oh. I'm sure Kanika was like. I come back. So I walk in the locker room. I walk in the locker room, and Demarcus Ware comes up, a good friend of mine. He's a great guy. He's a gold jacket guy now. He comes up to me because we came in the same class. This is now 2011, 2012. And he's like, Jay, you're back. He said, You got hurt? I said, Yeah. He said, That don't matter. We're going to get you healed and we're going to get you on the field. I said, No, I'm not coming out there. He said, But you're back. What do you mean you're not coming out there? Where's your locker? I said, I'm not back to be on the field. He said, What do you mean you're not back to be on the field? He said, They called me to come back to be the chaplain.

SPEAKER_06 44:52

Uh uh. And that's where the word comes in. And there it is. There's the pastor punchline.

SPEAKER_05 44:58

Right there.

SPEAKER_01 45:00

So he said, What? You know, he was like, What do you mean? You're going to teach us about the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 45:09

But think about the rapport he had with all these guys from all those years he did play with them.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

Yeah, so now I'm 13 years as the chaplain. Um, but my first time really running out of the tunnel after being traded and cut and going all over the place was as the chaplain. Wow. God was like, I'm gonna bring you back to the league, but my way, not your way. You're gonna run out of the tunnel my way, not your way. And um, and you're gonna be around those guys. And they once they found out, oh, you played, they listened totally different when I did chapel. Now they're coming to my room. The Cowboys used to get me a room. I'd fly to away games, they'd get me a room, and I'd say, Why you get me a room? They said, Because we want guys to have access, come to your room if they need counseling or stuff. So guys would come and say, So you played? So tell me about your story. Because they would be sitting in dark rooms. You know, they you know how performing is, and you got to watch film, yeah, and you on blast, and ESPN got you, and Sports Center got you, and the whole world's, you know, trolling you. Yeah, so they would be in dark rooms, depressed, um, you know, experiencing cut. Man, I I think they're gonna cut me. I don't know. My agent is telling so they're balancing a lot of things people don't see or understand. Yeah, but I knew now why the Bible says we serve a great high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. Because Jesus lived the experience, he went from just having the knowledge of it to the experiential knowledge of it. And that's when ministry is at its greatest. When you when you just can't preach about failure, you've experienced it. You know, you've I knew what it was to get cut, traded, carted off the field, hurt, have to rehab for a year, because God took me through all of that uh before bringing me back. Yeah. So that's why you can't quit.

SPEAKER_06 46:45

This this whole story is like a a big picture, overarching theme. If I could put a word to the title, it's just like sovereignty. Like that's just literally it's literally what it is. But it's all a part of it. It's all in God's hands. Like he he had a purpose for the failure, the struggle, like it was a reason. There's a purpose in it. There's a purpose in the the not being able to read as well as everybody else, and to get cut and uh was seminar, like like all of it was just a means to accomplish his will. Yeah, exactly. And I think the the the scary and like part of it is knowing that you could still be trying to go to the NFL right now.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Well, not right now, right? Because he's 864 years old.

SPEAKER_06 47:31

Yes, striving. You can still be striving. Yeah, and and and not be doing what you're doing, which is ultimately relaxing into God's plan.

SPEAKER_00 47:38

Yeah, relaxing into God's plan.

SPEAKER_06 47:40

And like, like, I mean, his will is gonna be accomplished regardless, but the fact that we have the ability to exclude ourselves out of it based off of our actions, it is it's like kind of scary. You know what I mean? Like I think about that often.

SPEAKER_00 47:52

Like God's will is gonna be accomplished with or without you, right? It's not like you're you get to have the privilege of having been a part of his purposes being served. That's cool.

SPEAKER_06 48:01

Wow, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:02

So it it was uh it was amazing. So we I I did that, and uh again, that's as far as I kind of wanted to go. Now I kind of knew though, because now I'm doing the chaplaincy, but I'm working in the church with my dad, like for real, for real. And so I'm helping out in different areas, all of those different things, and getting more opportunities to speak. Like when my dad's out of town in August, he'd say, You take the whole month. So I would take the whole month. But I knew God was doing something. Now I'm kind of on to him. Right. You like, I think I am at least like because now you have me preaching every week for the cowboys. It's like he's you know what I mean? Yeah, your message only got to be 15, 20 minutes because they don't want to listen long, they just want the point. Um, but I'm starting to learn how to figure out how to develop craft of messages. All of that is happening, so I'm like, ah, here we go.

SPEAKER_03 48:48

Shoot!

SPEAKER_02 48:50

Here we go. Here he goes. Yeah. All of that is happening, and then um, and so I'm working at the church doing all those different things, and then you know, fast forwarding, a moment, a moment hits where I get moved to executive of next gen, and so we're doing that.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

And then I get unpack that for everybody that doesn't know what next gen is.

SPEAKER_02 49:10

Okay, so yeah, I'm just overseeing young adults and children at the church. So I'm just overseeing that area. So, okay, so I'm in there, in there, executive team meetings, learning. But I had been walking with my dad for probably maybe over the last 15 years closely in his office, in the meetings, you know, like all the all the things. So now something happens, and that is we the siblings, you know, get a call from dad. It's been a year, year and a half, two years now, something like that, that um he's stepping down.

SPEAKER_00 49:47

Yeah, starting to transition out.

SPEAKER_02 49:49

Yep, yep. Starting to transition, yeah, he's he's stepping down. And so we're like, you know, they probably were like, what? You know, because we don't know OCBF without Tony Evans. Of course. So who does our whole does? Yeah, yeah. Well, you're right, who does?

SPEAKER_00 50:02

But our entire lives, all I've ever been at is a church where my father is the pastor. Like I've never known any other church.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

And I'm I don't mind stepping in, but not I know Judah, right? Y'all, like what you doing? Yeah, so that was that was a little bit of a scary moment for me because I knew what it meant. You knew what you already knew. Yeah, as soon as you got the card, like you're like, oh, it means me.

SPEAKER_04 50:26

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Oh, this is where we're going.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

And it's like, you know, now um, it was one of those moments where it was like, boom. Yeah. And God dropped, he said, You have no more time.

SPEAKER_00 50:40

This is it.

SPEAKER_04 50:41

This is it.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

This is a little bit off topic. Can I just say this? But I will never forget Will Smith sharing his story basically, like your obviously it's a different story, but sharing exactly what you just shared. And there was this moment, he's at a party, Quincy Jones' 80th birthday. So executives from everybody's there, all of Quincy Jones' friends are there. And Quincy Jones says in front of everybody, basically, Will Smith, read this, uh, read this audition thing for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, basically. And he's like, I I I can't, I'm not gonna do that. And Quincy Jones says, Come here real quick. And he takes him into an office and he said, Out outside at this party is the executive of Warner Brothers. I I'm not saying the right people, but this executive, this is if we try to get on their calendar, it will take a year. They're in there now. It's time. And he went out there and basically did this thing in front of a some people at a party for Quincy Jones' 80th birthday, made it entertaining for everybody at the party, and that's what that's how you got the fresh Prince of Belair. Basically, when the moment was there, instead of sort of waiting till everything looks and feels comfortable in the way you want it to be, you better be ready when the opportunity arises. And you had been in prep basically throughout your whole life, but 15 years up close. And then when that moment just kind of created itself, and there it is, even though it still felt jarring to you, it was like you recognized, well, let's go.

SPEAKER_02 52:06

Well, let's go. And I created another box, like you talked about. Um were you feeling like you were covering up your emotions earlier? Would you no? I was just like, here it is. This is now the new decision. This is now what you have to do, this is now what you're called to do. Um and so that means God is going to give you the ability necessary to do it. The staff is in your hand. What is that in your hand? So I was gonna use what was in my hand. I was gonna do um, you know, a couple of verses. I wasn't gonna try to go outside of myself. I was going to um not try to be somebody you're not, basically. And so for the last year, I've been the you know, the lead pastor, and you know, every Sunday going up there like this. I can't believe this is working out.

SPEAKER_01 53:01

Song.

SPEAKER_02 53:02

Wow. I can't believe it. And everybody's been so great. My siblings, my wife, my children, uh, the family for sure, but even OCBF, you know, because they that shift is a lot. That's a big shift for the for the all the people. It was a big shift. But they've just been like, We love you, we behind you, we we got you, we we in it together. So the atmosphere has been an atmosphere which God is saying, Hey, you know, the all the wells have been dug, you know, the cities have been built. Just cross the Jordan.

SPEAKER_06 53:34

Yeah. I think and in in kind of more closing, it's like I think it's it's encouraging, at least to me and for a lot of people, probably, where it's like something that you didn't want to do that you're that you're in right now, you can say and still see God's glory in it, even though you didn't want to do it. Absolutely like it's not like you're here and I'm like, this still sucks. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02 53:58

That's why I see his greater glory.

SPEAKER_06 53:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:00

Because I didn't want to do it and didn't think I could.

SPEAKER_06 54:02

And yeah, and now you're in it doing phenomenal at it and seeing like like enjoying the process. Like, like, like having like having a I don't even know the word I'm looking for, appreciation for where you are. You know what I mean? Like, so people who are like like really scared that God's plan might not look like their plan, I think it's encouraging to hear you say, Well, yeah, his plan was not my plan, but now that I'm in the part that wasn't my plan it is still it is great. It's better, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 54:34

It's better and more fulfilling. It's awesome. Yep. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 54:36

That's great, Uncle John John. Uncle John John sitting here in a blue onesie.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

Right. We figured it out. God figured it out. Yeah. Now we're just gonna keep trying to figure it out. You know, it's called walking by faith. Yep. That's all you can do. Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 54:52

Well, and well, I don't even know what else to say at this point. That was that was phenomenal. It was great, except Kanika. I think you should just come over and wave. Uh stand by John Jonathan. Just wave so everybody can see his sweet wife.

SPEAKER_02 55:05

The one that spoke. The one that clocked you.

SPEAKER_00 55:08

I mean, she could have saved you a surgery and all that. Just sneak on in there, Niks, and just wave. Let's see, this is your camera right here. Right here. Just wave Kanika. Isn't she pretty? She's the voice of wisdom that Jonathan should listen to more regularly.

SPEAKER_06 55:23

Yes. Go and Nikki Shangri Shangri, go down.

SPEAKER_02 55:26

So they get to you. There you see it. There you can see it. Okay, yeah. This is who I should listen to, but this is the one who's been riding with me, Roland. Ride or die. Yeah, ride or die. And super, super sweet and supportive, like and on an extreme level. So we're excited.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

Also, he married her really for us. Like, she's our me and Crystal's best friends. And so we don't really care about their marriage. We just care that he brought her into our lives. So another sister. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:57

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 55:58

All right. Love you, John John. Love you, Nikki.

SPEAKER_06 56:01

Love y'all. We've been blessed and encouraged.

SPEAKER_00 56:03

Yeah. Jonathan, thank you. We appreciate that. Thank y'all for joining us for full fledged The Foamy Podcast.