SPEAKER_04 0:00

What's up guys? Welcome back to the Tyler Reagan Exchange. Today we have on one of my close friends, Nathan Rouse. He is um longtime friend of mine, and he has a great podcast with Tyler. And um, yeah, they talk a lot a lot about um their faith and scripture-based things. So it's a great podcast. Tune into it now.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Um yeah, you can get that set up however you like. I like a nice little lean. Makes me feel invested and involved. A nice little lean. A nice little lean in. Um, what was I saying? Oh, uh, where are you going? I tried to do the other that new camera we got. We got what what's it called? Yeah, it's a little handheld one that we use. And I did it. Basically, my Bonnie wanted to record a video for Bryson's Instagram, and she wanted to record us having dinner because he does some wild crap at dinner. And so I just set it up to record it, and she texted me today and she was like, You did it wrong. It was in landscape. I was like, You wanted me to get all three of us like that was the only way I could do it without us being half a mile away with the camera. And she was like, All you had to do was blah blah de blah blah. And I was like, Oh, so I'm just an idiot. Yes. I'm not an idiot, sick. Um, but do you do you know about Bryson's Instagram?

SPEAKER_05 1:32

Starfresh Chronicles, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen it.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah, it's um it's a stress. I I seriously, when we started it, um we so when we found out about Bryson and everything, we it was at 20, the 20-week ultrasound, right? So we had no clue what to expect. The next three to four months were honestly just depression. Like we we did, we didn't know if other people had this condition, like we didn't know anything, right? Then we started doing research, started getting connected with people. It was we we turned, well, the Lord turned our depressionslash like just no hope into like, okay, God's got a plan for this, right? And so when we when he entered the world and as beautiful, he was so beautiful, it was great and awesome. We get him home, we're like, man, a lot of family members are gonna ask for videos. A lot of family members are gonna want to know about like his prosthetic journey. And like to be able to keep because my wife has like my wife has the largest family, I think, on the face of the planet. The first time that I went to a family event, I want to say there was just over a hundred people at that family, dude. A hundred people, she has like 35 cousins, and not like cousins, cousins, not like second and third, like cousins, cousins. Right. And um, she walked in, she was like, All right, I hope you get to know everyone, and bounced. First time we've been dating like six or seven months, and I was like, No way. And uh one of her sister's husbands came and saved me and was like, We're just gonna go play pool, and then we'll figure this out slowly together. I said, bro, thank you so much. But we're like, we need to start a social media that way we don't have to make like we don't have to send all these, like yeah, he's doing this right now. And then that thing popped off, dude. We had no clue that's where it was gonna go.

SPEAKER_05 3:18

Yeah, how long did that take?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Honestly, it was one video. Like really, yeah, we had like we probably had like 5,000 to 6,000 just of like cloak. My wife has a good amount of followers on social media, and so like a lot of her friends and family and um like friends of friends, they they started following. So it was kind of a close-knit, five to six thousand followers, and then we posted one video of a day in a life of him, and it popped off on TikTok, and then when he got his first prosthetic legs, we did a whole like day of it. Like, we got here, this is what they did, this is how it worked, this is how we figured out standing, so on and so forth. And um, that video had like 20 million views across on on TikTok and about 10 million views on Instagram, and then after that, it like it just took off every single video. Yeah, wow, and there was like it was never our intention to be like, oh, everyone check out what's going on in Bryson's life. But once we got there, we started making connections. We've got my wife is like really decent friends. There's an offensive lineman for um the 49ers that his son was born almost like like the same way Bryson was. Really? Yeah, and they connected through social media, and um he actually during one of the playoff games this year, they did like a I don't I don't know what they called it, but it basically was a sponsor cleat sponsored cleat type thing where um he did like a whole orange is like the color for uh so April, so right now actually is limb difference awareness month, and the color is orange, so it's like an orange ribbon. And he did like a whole cleat on that. And I was like, Money, and she's like, Yeah, I'm friends with his wife. And I was like, What? How did I not know about this? And she was like, Oh, we just talk all the time. And I was like, sick, you know he plays in the NFL, right? She's like, Yeah, and I was like, he plays in the NFL. Can I be friends with him? She was like, eh, we'll get there one day. But yeah, so we definitely didn't see it coming.

SPEAKER_05 5:18

Yeah, what was that like? Like when you first found out about his condition.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

I didn't I can't I can't put fully into words. Well, for me, it was like take care of Bonnie. For me. Because when we were sitting in the room and my wife's enters. So from a medical perspective, if we're in a medical office, she pretty much knows what's going on. I'm a barber and was a youth pastor. I've got no clue what's going on. So they're doing the ultrasound. We're in there 10, 15, 20 minutes. I'm just no clue what's going on. 35 minutes. She's like, I'm getting a little worried. Something's wrong. I was like, they haven't said anything. The the lady's been super nice and smiley. If something's wrong, she'd be upset. She was like, No, it's called a bedside manner. And I was like, Okay. I I was like, everything's fine, it's not that big of a deal. 45 minutes. They're like, hey, we're gonna go get a doctor, we'll be right back. She's like, Tyler, something's definitely wrong. And I was like, no, it's fine. They just want to, this is normal. And she's like, it's not normal. I know more than you. And I was like, valid. But um, then they came back in and they were like, hey, um, you know, your son is not gonna develop past the elbows or knees. Uh we wanted to let you know that in the state of North Carolina, an option, one of your first options could be abortion. And um, obviously, Bonnie like sat up. She's like, no. I was like, yeah. And then it was just like for me, it never it didn't process for a really long time for me. It like even when we got home, like she was going through it, going through it. And I was a nerd I was. I literally went out into her yard and picked her little like wildflowers and like brought them back like a little kid. I was like, look at this one. She was like, Thanks, Todd. I was like, I had no clue how to be helpful at all. Cause like, what do you say? Right, there's nothing like, but my focus was like, how can I make sure that she's fine? Which obviously there's not really a way to be fully fine. But so it I didn't really process it until probably the second or third trip back and um started saying things like in my head, like, I'm never he's never gonna be able to hug me, right? I'm never gonna feel that feeling, I'm never gonna be able to hold his hand. I'm never like all the things I'm never gonna be able to do is what I was telling myself. Um, and so I just went down a really depressive path. I started laying in bed at night and just like ticked off at God. And I was like, I don't know why you do this to me. Like I've served faithfully for 10 years in youth ministry. Like, yeah, I've I've had my issues, but like I've given you my all. Like I've I've lived poor, like I've done all, like I've gone days without eating, not because I wanted to fast, but because I didn't have anything. Like, I've done everything you've told me to do, and this is what you do. Um, and I was like very much pointing my finger at God, and it was like, how dare you? How dare you, how dare you? Um, and then I was actually reading um in I was reading the story of Abraham, and we were I this was like my first time back as a youth pastor, it's gonna sound bad, but I just stopped reading the Bible. I stopped reading the Bible, I stopped listening to worship music. I was like, I I want to talk right now, and I don't want to hear from you at all. I because I'm mad, which may not have been the healthiest thing, but I'll this is the way I was processing. So uh I went through all of that and um I went started talking about or started I came back and I was like, I'm just gonna read, I'm gonna go and read the read Genesis. And I came to Abraham and um his yes to going to the promised land had um zero information, it was just go, right? And so with hit he knew nothing and he said yes to the plan God said he had for him. I had information and I was trying to say no to the plan God had for me. So I had like a kind of a come to realization where it's like, okay, I just need to accept this. And it wasn't like that, like it wasn't instant, like everything's okay. But I started working my way back to kind of uh realization that God's no, because my plan was I wanted a kid with hands and feet, I wanted him to play baseball like I did. I wanted to coach him in basketball, like I had all these plans, right? Um, and God's no is sometimes way better than my plan or my yes, and so um, yeah, so it was a long journey. And then when he came out, he was just perfect and beautiful. He's four pounds on the dot, just screaming bloody murder. Um, but he he's great, and like he can hug me, which has been like, I was like, didn't think that I would feel this, but he can hug. Um, and honestly, I was talking, I was talking to a buddy of mine the other day about this. I don't know if I want a kid with hands and feet. I would be fine with a couple more just like him. No way. Yeah, I was holding my uh niece the other day, uh, my my wife's sister's kid, and I was just holding her. We were I was at my nephew's baseball game, and she was just sitting there, and bro, those little hands kept ripping my beard out. I said, Bryson can't do this. I said, This is annoying. Um, so I handed her back. That's the cool part about being an uncle. I can just hand her back. But enough about me. Um, what uh what's new, like what do you do? You you you told me before you're learning Spanish.

SPEAKER_05 10:34

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm learning Spanish right now, and it's just a part of um, I guess, my journey to start working locally. Right. I've been doing door-to-door sales, and so I'm encouraged to go outside of you know North Carolina in order to get you know more sales. And um, I don't want to keep having to do that. Like I went off to West Virginia for six months and I had an apartment out there and was just on my own, just going door to door all over West Virginia for six months. And I was just thinking, like, why am I doing this? Like the goal is to kind of get back home, but it's almost like if I keep doing this, I'll be gone for a little bit, and I gotta come back and I just gotta keep doing this process. I don't want to do that. Right. So I'm learning Spanish in order to be able to kind of plant roots here and start helping a bunch of people, make a bunch of connections, and just help people with uh I guess what I like the skill set that I've been building for the last five years. And um, it's super beneficial that I've already built a relationship with somebody in the past um that I can go work for, work with. And the Spanish is just gonna take me that much further. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

So and it's kicking your butt, right? It's kicking my butt. Yeah. So but it's gonna be worth it.

SPEAKER_05 11:45

It's definitely gonna be worth it. I think I I built the skill of studying. That's like something I'm really good at. I can focus on one thing, I can't juggle a bunch of different ones, but I'm able to do that. But you can like lock in on one thing. I can laser focus on one thing. Okay. And so I wake up at like 6 45 and I study for like seven hours straight, take a break, and I come back home, and then I just you know immerse myself in like you know, passive learning. But I just do that every day, six days a week. That's crazy, dude.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

Five or six months. It's impressive. Yeah, for sure. Um so I gotcha. I think I gotta lean in. Yeah, I told you, the lean is where it's at.

unknown 12:23

I don't know why.

SPEAKER_05 12:25

I'm gonna break it. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Joey, cut this part. And Garrett, I guess. Yeah, take a picture of the timestamp. This is the cool thing about recording.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

You just cut it out.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Is that better? We good? Is that better? You got it? Um, so I've heard a lot about you. Because when no, no, no, for real. I I was I was in youth uh serving as the youth pastor at Awakening Church, right? Um, I had all these kids, right? And I had several of them that just kept throwing your name around, right? You came to volleyball like once, you came to basketball once, right? And so one time you had super long hair.

SPEAKER_05 13:08

That's right. I think that was basketball, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

It was crazy long, and then the next time you didn't have it, and I was like, is this the same tall person? Um so what so your relationship with those students, you served you helped in another youth group, is that correct?

SPEAKER_05 13:25

Yeah, I was I was like one of the youth leaders. Okay. I was like, there was a guy who's actually on staff there, right? Um so he was kind of leading it and I was just helping out. So I was there for about a year and a half, yeah, two years. And same thing, bro. I've heard so many things about you. Like all those kids would come to me and be like, you gotta meet, you gotta meet Tyler. Right. So it was first it was Kaylee Leighton, yep, and then Caden, and then him. And so just a bunch of people were saying the same thing about the same thing about you. So it was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

So did you you said a year and a half?

SPEAKER_05 13:53

About a year and a half.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

So what how how work through that year and a half with me? Like, how much did you you do? How what did you enjoy? What did you you didn't have to not enjoy anything? But if you didn't, what what did you not enjoy?

SPEAKER_05 14:04

I'll start with what I enjoyed, just hanging out with the kids. I think I speak the language of fun really well, and so that's like all kids know. Yeah, and so I just know how to have fun and like play games, and so I just built a relationship with the kids. And you know, like after after church, like in between church and and lunch, like we'd go get lunch, we'd go to the trampoline park, we'd just go do, you know, random fun things. And for me, that was just the most fun, just like building a relationship with them because all they want to do is have fun, there's like no stress, it's just you know, let's have a good time. So that was the best part. I would say the the part I didn't enjoy was kind of like seeing what I wasn't really good at, like as far as like leading the kids, like I started to see like where I kind of fell short, like as far as being like a spiritual leader instead of just like a friend. Okay, and so that was probably one one thing I didn't really expect, and it was kind of you know like a slap in the face. And so what kind of how did you get to that realization?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Like, is that something that you like looked at internally and you were like, Man, I may not be at best at this, or did you have a conversation with someone?

SPEAKER_05 15:09

Or so it was more internal than everything. Like there was different occasions. I remember one time, like we were you know listening to Dakota was the guy like doing all the teachings. And so I remember one time I was you know sitting over there with with Caitlin Walker and then one of one of the other students, and I just started like goofing off like during the during the teaching, and I was like, What am I doing? I'm a I'm a leader. And like I I was sitting here, I I drew, I drew like two eyes and a face on on right here and started doing this, like in the middle of the teaching. And just like, what am I doing?

SPEAKER_01 15:41

I'm one of them.

SPEAKER_05 15:43

It just didn't make sense. Like after, yeah, after after the teaching, I was like, you know, I don't know if I'm cut out for this. Like, you know, either either I'm gonna have to leave or I'm gonna have to like actually improve and like change and start being an actual leader. So um that's kind of how it played out. Just a bunch of different occasions, kind of like that, situations that kind of just made me realize like I'm not really being a leader, I'm just hanging out.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Is that so is that something so it sounds like you left because you said a year and a half, so you're like, I yeah, I'm not gonna grow up. So not really. But um, so is that something you want to invest back into once you're done with Spanish?

SPEAKER_05 16:18

I would love to. Yeah, I would definitely love to.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

But you've been traveling art, right? So it would make things tough until you can lock in.

SPEAKER_05 16:24

That's like one of the reasons that I left. Right. Um, I left and then about two weeks later went to West Virginia for six months. Okay. So that was like part of the decision. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Um, but a pretty big reason to step away is a good thing.

SPEAKER_05 16:37

Yeah, it's hard to kind of make a six-hour Sunday. So I definitely would like to get back into it because I I I don't know, I just enjoy it so much and I feel like natural, I kind of have a calling. So like I'll I'll go back to church and you know, during the services afterwards, like all the kids, like we kind of just like form one big huddle. Right. And so, like other other leaders there have kind of just been like speaking it like into my life, like, dude, all the kids really enjoy hanging out with you. You guys have a great relationship. I think it's something that you should kind of step into. And so I definitely would love to take that opportunity, take that leap of faith at some point. Right. Um, just kind of waiting for the Lord's timing. Right. Definitely gotta do Spanish first.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

But clearly it's taking up a lot of your time, so you gotta lock in. But hey, once it's done, it's done. Then it's it is who you are. You're that guy that knows Spanish, which will be a cool title to have. Um, so when it comes to the leadership side, because I'm interested. So obviously, like you gave an example of kind of goofing off, right? But I mean, sometimes personally, as someone who did give the teaching every single Sunday, I didn't care about the goofing off as long as it wasn't like long-winded. Like if, like if, if, like if Caleb and which has happened before, Caleb and somebody else starts snickering or something, I'm fine with it for a little bit. Because like for me, for the way mine you can laser focus, yeah, for seven hours on Spanish. I'd make it maybe 10. Like I can bounce, but I would come back after a minute. Does that make sense? Like, I it even in a message, like if I'm listening sometimes, I'll bounce for a second, but I'm right back.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

If that but if if I'm not allowed to bounce for a second, I'll just disappear into a state of fog, right? So I'll notice that in students to be like, okay, it's okay for them to as long as they come back within a reasonable at a time and don't distract everyone, like it's fine. Um, so personally, like I think you're fine. But um, what areas of leadership I guess from a ministry perspective, are you like, man, this is how like obviously you're good at building relationships. All the kids that I've ever heard from adore you, right? They think you're great. Um, you clearly are good at communicating, and now you're about to be able to communicate in two languages. Um and then you have you love the Lord and you have a drive to serve him. So, like from a leadership perspective, that is you've already got all the building blocks, right? You've got everything you need to start rolling from a ministry perspective. And ministry obviously doesn't have to be full-time, it can be a youth leader, it can be um someone that disciples individually, like obviously giving a thousand different things, but like what's one thing when it comes to leadership? I'll simplify this question when it comes to leadership that you're like, this is what I want to be good at. And I'm spleership spiritually. Like, what's something that you're like, man, I want to improve here?

SPEAKER_05 19:28

I would just I would say one thing is having like the answer to to questions um and setting an example, like you know, actually being a leader in something to where people have um like if they have an issue, they're drawn to come ask you about it.

SPEAKER_03 19:41

Right.

SPEAKER_05 19:41

Um, I think that's that's huge. Like leading from the front, I think that's really big. And then whenever someone actually comes to you with a question or seeking advice, you're actually able to help them. Right. So that's one thing. Leading from the front and then being able to like um delineate how how they can do it as well. Right. So that's actually one thing I've heard about you. Like all these kids were telling me, like, go talk to Tyler, this dude's just full of wisdom. And so that's like I don't know about that. I don't know. That's you know, I've I've got probably three different people I can name that have said that about you. And so that's like something I really admire in other people. And so I kind of since that's something I want to work on myself, I notice that in other people, you know, a whole lot. So, you know, for you, I mean, how do you think you kind of built that up?

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Um, so a lot of it is like I mean, I don't first off, let me back up. I don't think that I'm that wise, I don't think that I've got it all figured out, I don't think I have all the answers. Um a majority of the time I live my life asking questions. So, like, I'm a youth pastor, I was a youth pastor and now we're planning a house church, um, and I'm a barber, right? So if someone sits down in my chair, right, I I'm not just gonna start telling them about life. I want to know them, right? So a majority of my life is based on questions. So I ask questions a lot of times. Even when I'm giving answers, Caleb and the other two in that room can all attest to it. I ask questions to get to my answer. So if he asks me or you were to ask me a question, I'm gonna ask you a couple questions before we get to wherever we need to be. Because most of the time Sometimes it's something But there's a reason behind it because it's like if I just gave you answers every time you asked me a question, or if I gave him answers, or if I gave whoever answers every time that um I was asked a question, then all it would be is me just spitting off information, which may or may not be true, which may or may not be helpful. It's just me spitting stuff, spewing information. And I don't think I think God can use it, but I think that there's always something deeper to a question, right? And so if uh we were to sit down and you you were to ask me, like, why did you get into barbering? Right. You care about why I got into barbering, right? But there's also there's gonna be this like, okay, you got into barbering, and I think in this Includes myself. I think everyone, if you ask the question, why did you get into something? You're going to take a step back and look at yourself and you're like, okay, I'm going to base why I'm doing what I'm doing off why they're doing what they're doing. And there's like a not a comparison, like negatively, but it's like, okay, do I have like if if I was to ask Caleb, like, why did you get into Taekwondo? Or if I asked you, why did you get into selling what you sell? There would be some like, this is why. And there would be like for me, I got bullied into barbering. It was not my brand. Yeah. I have a friend. I have a friend, um, and I work with him currently. And he literally was like, I was like, I need, I need to make have a career. Like, youth ministry is great, but like I have no money. And he's like, You're gonna go to school and you're gonna be a barber and you're gonna work over here. And I was like, Okay, I'll think about it. And he goes, No. You're gonna go to school, you're gonna be a barber, and you're gonna come work over here. And I was like, okay, cool. And we finished that dinner, and like a week later he calls me, he's like, Have you applied for barber school yet? I was like, No, I'm still thinking he's like, if you don't do it, I was like, yo, chill. So, like, obviously, now I look at barbering and I'm like, well, these are all the reasons I go to work every day, right? But my initial lead into was not because I have a passion for the art of hair, right? And so um I think getting to the depths of the whys, why you're asking the question, why you're getting to where you're what why you're coming to me for anything, that why is the most important thing to everything. So um I do everything in my power on a daily basis to study scripture so that I can line every answer up with scripture and every why I can compare to a why in scripture. Um, I uh have done my best. I did a lot of this. I don't do this as much anymore. I listen to a lot of podcasts and a lot of leadership stuff, but early on in my my youth youth ministry days, I did a lot of study just on communication itself. Um and like basically the the way our mind works when we communicate, um, how sometimes we need to like step back and let someone figure it out on their own. And sometimes you just need to dive in and like if if it's direct force for rude, sometimes you need to do it. But there different people can can handle that, and some people can't. And so um, I I've done a lot of study on communication, not enough to say that I'm anything special, but enough to try to do my best to recognize okay, is this a question? Have you ever had a person ask you a question and it's like all they really want you to do is is justify what they're doing?

SPEAKER_05 24:32

Affirm them, yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

And it's like, okay, so for example, in youth ministry, I'm sure you can think of a thousand examples, but um let's just use um like nicotine pouches, right? Um, there's there's been hey, is Tyler, is it is it a sin for me to use a nicotine pouch? Why are they asking me that question? Because they want me to say either no, it's not a sin and they're justified in what they're doing, or they want me to say yes, it is a sin and they ignore that and do it anyways, right? And you can take nicotine pouches or anything else and add it to the whatever it is. All it is is either I want you to affirm me, or you're gonna give me the answer I don't want to hear, and I'm not gonna listen to you anyways. So we gotta get to the why, right? And so, um, like with that question, if you were to if someone was to ask, hey, is nicotine a sin? It's like, well, nowhere in the Bible are are zins mentioned. So we've got to get into a deeper study of what scripture says about self-control. And and I don't think zins are our problem right now. I think we need to get into the depths of of why you need the affirmation of blanker and get deeper into that and ask the why to get to the why of why are we asking this question? So um I don't think I'm good at all at answering. I feel like I've been long-winded just answering this question, but I think the why itself is so wide open that, and I think that's why I've been long-winded. It's so wide open that you could go in a thousand different avenues and and and learn so much about so many people at their at the deepest part of them, and not just information. Information is cool, it's great, um, it's wonderful. It's not who people are. People are the are are are the why. Are you giggling? Um, so yeah, uh, like I said, I don't think I'm special, I don't think I'm great at um doing that at all. Um, but one of my favorite parts of youth ministry, the last like four to five years, we did a question night every month. Um, and basically me and my wife sat in front of however many students were there, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, and was like, ask us literally anything you want.

SPEAKER_05 26:57

Do any questions stand out?

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Ah so many. Uh do you know you know Abby Davis? Yeah. Abby Davis literally this was probably her third or fourth week there. She was like, So, what's your thoughts on Melchizedek being the preincarnate Jesus? That one has I've to this day never gotten a question that just she's like, What's your thoughts on that being that? And I'm like, Well, first off, I've heard this before, but I've heard it as a a laughing theory. It's not, I don't think that's what it is, and we had to go into a whole thing, but had to get to why she was even asking that. And turns out Abby just likes to argue about stuff, so that was just one of her ways to try to argue again. You know, it's like, um, but yeah, that was, and then honestly, not any specific question, but just every time Malachi would ask me a question, I was like, no way, this just came out of a human being's mouth. And to this day, I still ask that I think that same thing every time he talks.

SPEAKER_05 27:57

I'm like, no way, he just isn't the book that you got him uh like you need some help or something. Yes. That was the one you've got to do.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

I was like, and it's true. But um, but yeah, question nights were the best. I that's there's a lot of things that there's a lot of things I miss about youth ministry. Um, and I've only been gone a couple months. But um Oh, you're gone? Yeah, I'm out.

SPEAKER_03 28:21

What?

SPEAKER_01 28:22

No way. Yeah, so we uh stepped away February. Um we my my wife and I are planning a a house church in Trinity. Well, house church like network is the goal, but that's right. Yeah. So um we uh we found a a guy to step into our role, um, which is it's really cool because he's about to be engaged to our first ever middle school student. So, like the first person ever, the first girl ever, the first person ever to be in our youth ministry, go all from sixth to twelfth grade and graduate. And now she is about to be engaged to the guy that's running the youth ministry that I stepped away from, which is crazy. That's so cool. I'm old, so old. It blows my mind that she's at this stage and she's great and he's great, and we're beyond blessed to have somebody come in and and follow um with the right heart. Like he's changing everything, right? The name's changing, um, the his processes are completely different than mine, but his heart is just lined up. So yeah, super blessed. But yeah, stepped away in February um and uh excited about the next couple chapters. But yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:36

You said you spent 10 years.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

10 years total. I spent eight years there. Um, I interned for two years at a place in Louisville or other side of Winston, Clemens area. Um, two years interning there. I did some kids' ministry, but it was primarily youth ministry. Um, so 10 years total in youth ministry, eight years there total. But um, yeah, it was a long time.

unknown 29:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yeah. Um but has that ever been something you've been you've been interested in? Like actually going into full-time ministry, has that never been a thing to cross your mind?

SPEAKER_05 30:10

You know, initially, initially when I kind of gave my life to Christ, I thought that's what everybody was called to do. Like if you're a believer, that's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to, you know, move to Africa. Be a pastor, South America, you're supposed to be a pastor and go share the gospel and you know, live that kind of lifestyle. And I don't think that anymore necessarily. I think there's a million different ways to serve the Lord. I think you could serve the Lord just by having a family and volunteering and serving at your church on Sundays, and so um I don't even know what the question is, man. I started just talking.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

That's the second time. Make sure Malachi doesn't clip that. This is for you specifically. Last time there was a we had a guy on there. I'm gonna tell the story, but you take a take a picture of this, and I'll tell you when it takes about there's a guy on here, and he started talking, and he looked at it, was me and two, they were run a run club here in Greensboro. It's me and both of them, and he started talking, and I literally asked, like, what's the mission of your run club? And he started talking about nothing. It didn't make any sense. Like you were going down the train, right? Because the question was, have you ever considered going into full-time ministry? You were you were I was going, I was going down the path. And then you're like, wait, let me step up. He he took my question and went the other way. I was like, Where are you going, dude? And then he sat there and he kind of smiles just like you just did, and he goes, Yeah, I have no clue what the question was. Like he I don't think he ever knew what the question was. But um, so that was your question.

SPEAKER_05 31:44

Okay, full-time ministry. Yes, full-time ministry.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

Take a picture, right there. All right.

SPEAKER_05 31:49

All right, so full-time ministry. I have thought about it initially when I came to Christ. I was thinking that's what I was supposed to do. And I'm at the point now where I don't think full-time is what I'm called to do. Okay, perfect. But I think part-time, I think definitely something I should be doing. Yeah, I just need to find my lane and just start going. Um, but I I would like to have some type of whatever I do for work, like whatever that's gonna be, I want to use that for ministry. Right. I don't want to, I don't think I'm called to work in a church necessarily, but whatever my business is, use that for the Lord. Right. Um, that's kind of what I'd like to do.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Yeah. Have you ever done any like individual discipleship? Like sit down one-on-one, let's go through the word of God together and and help you help them go through and decipher what scripture says. Have you ever done that before?

SPEAKER_05 32:36

A handful of times.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Yeah, yeah. Um, I think um this is this is just a challenge. Like, I'm I'm not one, I'm not gonna sit here and be like, hey, you should do this or you shouldn't do this. That's not my goal here. But um, one of the most rewarding things that I've ever had outside of your the four walls of a church of a church building, right? Outside of of doing all that. And the thing that I found the most rewarding is one-on-one discipleship or one-on-two or one-on-three, whatever it is. Um, where I get to sit down with either a student, it hasn't always been students. There's been peers as well that are like early in their faith that are still trying to figure some things out and be like, all right, we're gonna go through um a blank amount of scripture. Um, so like uh six months ago, I started with two guys. We went through the entire New Testament and we're finishing Genesis right now, right? And every single day, seven days a week, we read one chapter, we write down our notes on that chapter, and we send in a group message every day, right? Um, which seems pretty simple, right? But it has been the most rewarding thing to watch. One, you always learn when you're reading scripture, right? Um, you always grow closer to the Lord, and then you're gonna go closer to the people that you're reading that same text with. Um, you get to see uh individuals that may uh not be where God wants them to be start stepping into that because I think scripture just brings stuff alive like that, where um where before it wouldn't. Like I just had a conversation with the two that I'm discipling right now, and I brought up how scripture and reading scripture is not about gaining information, it's about getting to know the creator, the person that wrote it, the person that put it on the page. It's about getting to know him and his heart and who he is and why he does what he does. Um, it's not just about being able to memorize a verse, though that's cool and that's good, it's not about that. It's not about what we can gain from a knowledge perspective, it's about what who we can know, right? And um there's two of them. One of them was like, yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

The other one was just like, yo, I've never thought of that before.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

And I was but seeing like like this is an individual that's been in church that knows scripture, like that's a great person, right? That is serving the Lord already, awesome, right? But just a small little interaction like that, just he was like, dude, that's gonna change the way I read the Bible. It's great, right? And so um, if that isn't something that you've done consistently, I I and I this is not, I challenge everyone with this. Um, obviously, from everything I've heard, like you're mature in your in your faith, right? So you could be able to just be like, hey, let's just read the Bible together and work through it. And I'm telling you, it'll change your life. It's the best thing in the world.

SPEAKER_05 35:22

Yeah, I'm just I'm just I I definitely agree. I I'm so surprised that you have you found two people that are six months every day consistent like that. That's incredible. I mean, I've I like I said, I've done it with a handful of people, and the hard thing is just you know, consistency, yeah. Um, you know, from both sides. It's just really difficult. Um, so I I think part of what's making it so difficult is trying to do it in person, you know, every so often. I think that's a great idea just to do over text, and like if you guys are able to meet up in person.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

But that yeah, and that's basically what we do. It's like if we can do it, let's meet. But outside of that, like I'm gonna see what you're thinking every day, which is cool. But yeah, it's I'm telling like I can't emphasize enough how great it is. And like you'd be surprised how dedicated some people will be. Like, so I started with two six months ago. Currently, currently I'm reading in in different parts, but currently I'm reading with eight different people and they're every single day. And so with four, five of them I'm in Genesis, two of them I'm in the New Testament, and then one I'm in Revelation with, which is the New Testament. But um, and all of the like in in my like the church, and I'm not gonna go on a rant, but I think the church doesn't give people enough credit. I feel like if if you are locked in it, dude, you said you can sit down and study Spanish for seven hours in the morning, right? Most people would look at you and be like, you're a psychopath, right? You're not, you're dedicated, right? And I think there are a lot of Christians that want to be dedicated, and the church doesn't believe in them enough.

SPEAKER_05 37:02

So, like in what ways?

SPEAKER_01 37:04

So I I like, for example, there's a book, I'm not gonna name drop it, but there's a book that I've seen a church run with where basically it's like we're gonna read the Bible together, just like I was just discussing, and we're gonna meet once a week. And it basically and it even says in these words, you only have to read it five days a week. How many days a week do we have? We got seven. Seven. So even in that, it's like, we'll give you two days to skip out. And it's like, is reading the Bible the only thing that has to do with our faith? No, but if we can't discipline ourselves to take, I think the longest book or the longest chapter in John is like 50 some verses, it takes you four minutes and like 52 seconds to read it. Even if you don't take notes, it's four minutes and fifty some seconds seconds. Like you don't have that much time for the Lord, even just to get that much. You know what I mean? So it's like I feel like the church doesn't give enough credit as a total to be like, man, these people can accomplish things, so let's challenge them to do it enough to where we're willing to hold them accountable for it and be like, hey, you can't give God five minutes.

SPEAKER_05 38:17

I agree 100%. I definitely don't think we challenge people enough. And oftentimes I think people rise up to a challenge. I agree. Like, you know, you'll play up to your competition, you'll play down to your competition. If people set low standards, you're gonna live up to those. 100%. You may not even hit those. So I think we got to set higher standards for people. Um, so I agree with that a hundred percent. Yeah, and you know, seven days a week being in the word is I don't know. There was some study that um one of my friends sent me, and it was basically that if you're in the word three or four days a week or less, there's like an insignificant difference in the way that you live your life. But if you're in it for five, six, or seven days, it is drastic. It goes from like 20% difference to like 80 or 90, it's just incredibly different. So if we can have people in the word seven days a week, should change everyone's life. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Yeah. So all right, we're gonna go down this road. How how do we hold how do you think we could hold people accountable? Let's just talk about it. Spitball.

SPEAKER_05 39:11

So are we talking about fellow Christians or just anybody?

SPEAKER_01 39:14

I'm just talking the church. So um like let's just make it broad. Let's not personalize it to any church, but just like, how does the church keep the church accountable?

SPEAKER_05 39:27

So for men specifically, um, I Joby Martin says you need um like four different men that you're gonna you know tell that they are something bears, I forget, but basically you're gonna you're gonna knight four different people and say that you are going to hold me accountable um going forward, and you have to let them know. And that that takes a ton of humility to kind of get to the point where you can do that because a lot of people are just too prideful to even, you know, go talk to somebody about you know holding them accountable. I think that's the best place to start for men. Find some other guys that are either like around your maturity level or even better, you know, more mature than you, right? And then tell them that you want some help with this, help me to be accountable, hold me accountable. This is what I want to, these are the standards I want to live by. This is what I want to do. Please, if you see me messing up, go in the wrong direction, just tell me, let me know. Exactly. Hit me, yeah. So I I think that's where we're the where we should start. Just talking to other men and telling them to hold us accountable. Because I think it's so easy to you know portray yourself as doing well in front of people, and then in private, you're not doing right what you should be. So I think I think having people that you're close to and are actually going through life with, right? Um, if you tell them to hold me accountable, I think that's the best place to start.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Yeah. That's that reminds me, I agree wholeheartedly. It reminds me, we did the little slapping motion. There was actually two students. Um one of them is actually helping me with the house church plant, but there were two students that when they were like juniors, they they got on this we're gonna hold each other accountable thing. And every time that they would sin, because it was like a specific sin that they were both struggling with, they would confess it and then they would slap like literally they'd send now. No way, that's funny, right? Yeah, that's awesome. One of them was an offensive lineman that was just under 300 pounds. The other one I doubt was over 120 pounds. Not a great combo for slapping, dude. But they would, I remember vividly, like right now, as we're talking, I can think about at my apartment when when I this was early in ministry. I remember them stepping to my back porch, closing the sliding door, talking for like two seconds, and I like glance over and I see one of them just bop, and then he like and he got up, and apparently both of them had messed up because then he just like gave it right back, and I was like, dude, they came back in. I was like, Are y'all good? What happened? Yeah, accountability. Okay, like I'm not gonna argue with it, you know, but yeah, so we made that motion. I was like, dude, that actually happens. What does Joby Martin call it? It's it's not coffin bears, it's like tote bears or something. Because it's in reference to to dropping down the person that needed help to Jesus, right? That's the that's the oh, I forget what he got. Because I you said that and I was I was like, I'm this is not gonna leave my mind because I don't remember what he said. But anyways, so yeah, I agree. Uh a group of people men to keep you accountable is number one. Um and then I I think calling sin sin is a thing that the church struggles with a lot. Like actually being like, okay, this is a sin and we're gonna say it's a sin and we're not gonna be okay with it. Um and that's as simple as like gossip and and gluttony in in all capacities, whether it's sports or or food or like just overconsumption, like all those things. I feel like the church as a whole, they will call certain sins sin, but other sins can slide, if that makes sense. Um, and dealing with it aggressively. Uh and once again, we preface this at the beginning that is within the body of Christ. One of the things I've lived by for the longest time is um my expectation for an unbeliever is nothing. Exactly. Why should why should why should they act like Christ if they don't know him? Right? My goal is to help them get to know him, not to correct their their function of life, right? And so when I say deal aggressively with sin, I mean specifically within. Like if you call yourself a believer, you don't need to be doing blank and you need to deal with it aggressively.

SPEAKER_05 43:40

So like what's one sin or like one thing that you think the church or Christians kind of get confused? Like they just can't get it straightened out.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Uh when you say confused, do you mean like like they're split? Like they they so I think gossip is I think gossip is the the the silent killer of the church, of church growth. Um And it's because it's worked around a lot. Like, like you let's use Caleb as an example here. So say Caleb takes me off. And I'm guilty of this. Like, I'm not saying this as if like I never never gossip. But say Caleb really ticked me off. And I come to you and I'm like, hey, um, I just want to talk to you about how how I could deal with with Caleb. This is what he did, and this is how I'm mad about it. And this, I just think he's the worst for doing this. And honestly, I'm just I just don't like him anymore. And I just and I just wanted your advice on how to deal with it. And then say you were like, Well, you know, this is how you should handle it. I'm like, okay, cool. And then I never do it. That was just me opening with, give me advice, and then I'm gonna rant to you about how much I can't stand Caleb. Indirect gossip. Yes. And so, like when I was growing up, it was always like the moms were like, um, I have a prayer request, and then they would just lay out all the tea. And it's like, but we need to pray for them. It's like you just laid out some bad gossip, but you just but at the end, let's pray for them. That ain't how it works. So um, I think that would be the thing that I I would say is probably the most because it's not talked about a lot. Like, um, all you got all the keys and not keys in the main ones that the church hits on that that a lot of time they get hate for, which uh most of it I don't think you can argue really in scripture. It's very blunt about um immorality, like sexual immorality, um, lying, obviously, murder, obviously. Like there, there's there's your definites, and it's like you can't really argue your way out of this unless you're really lying, like pulling some bull crap. Um, but things like gossip just and then all through the New Testament, if you look at all of Paul's letters, you find constantly and consistently unity. Unity and and gossip cannot coexist. They can't. So it's like, how can we be united in Christ if if all we do is gossip? So that would be the one I would probably say.

SPEAKER_05 46:05

Yeah, it's incredibly divisive, and you're absolutely right. I remember there was one scripture I was thinking of, I think it's in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, like verse 10 or something, that's talking about how we should be united as one. And I was listening to a teaching up and you know, when I was in West Virginia, this this pastor had an incredible teaching on unity in the church and was just talking about how something even small among the elders should not be dividing them, and had like an example basically just showing us how serious it is. Right. Like, because up until that point, I really didn't think like you know, division on small things mattered that much. Right. But according to scripture, it is, it's incredibly important. All these small divisions amount to a lot, right? And so it's really important to be united and one instead of you know being all over the place. Right. And so I would agree 100%. It's it's way more important than we think.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Yeah. And I think, yeah, I agree. I think a lot about unity. It's something that God's really working on in my heart right now. I'm not gonna, I don't want to go into it because I'm not my all of my thoughts haven't been formed, but God's definitely working on me in unity. Because if we're all united through the Holy Spirit that lives in us through the power of the salvation of the blood of Christ, if he lives inside of us, it's one spirit. Why do we not move as one spirit? Why do we have 1,500 different denominations and 1,500 different beliefs on this and that and the other? So um, obviously that has to do with pride and us laying that down at the foot of the cross and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_05 47:35

So on that, do you think like a lot of these small divisions matter? Like, let's say, like, for instance, like yesterday I had some Jehovah's Witnesses come to my house, and I was just thinking, um, because I don't really know a whole lot about Jehovah's Witnesses other than the Trinity, they kind of view it differently. Jesus not being, you know, a part of that, right in a different position. And so on that, do you think there is a a difference there that is going to lead to one group being saved and the other not?

SPEAKER_01 48:05

So with Jehovah's Witness, yes, because it's more than the Trinity. There's a lot more that that is they believe in like a new revelation from someone that I that I my sole belief is scripture, right? I believe um why that it was put together for reasons, so on and so forth. If there's a new revelation from 200 or yeah, 200 years ago, 300 years ago, I'm gonna be very happy. I I I'm not gonna believe that because it's it's not I I don't know why God would speak again for someone to change everything that we see already in the scripture that we've believed in for the last thousand, a couple of thousand years, right? Um so with Jehovah's Witness, then I would say yes. But like one of the things that I grew up was like, if you're not if you're not this, you're wrong. I think that everything matters. I want to be pretty clear about that. I think everything matters, even up to the smallest scale, in the fact that it doesn't need to be something that's just brushed under the rug. Um, like me and in in my, and I'm not gonna get into what I believe and what he believes, but we have a very um strong disagreement on once saved, always saved. We believe almost the same thing. There's one small wording that's different, but we believe the exact same thing about what salvation is and how it's acquired, right? Um, so me and him will probably um argue until we the day we die, but we have unity. Does that make sense? Like, I think they matter in the fact that we should constantly be sharpening one another and and taking scripture and being like, well, this is what this says, and this is what this says, and go back and forth while also staying united. Um that's not something that should divide us, right? Um, because we we believe in the same salvation. So while while I think everything matters, I think we should always be talking. I don't think we should ever just sweep something under the rug and be like, well, you know, I I believe differently than that, but I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut. I think that all that, I mean, in a relationship, if if my wife did something that upset me and I just swept it under the rug, six months later, that's gonna come riding up to the surface in a disagreement and it's not gonna be healthy for us, right? Same thing applies within the the body of Christ. If we're just gonna slide little disagreements under the rug, just talk about it and believe that we are united through the Holy Spirit and we're gonna figure it out together through his power, not through anything that we have or any pride or or possession that we have about scripture. That's that's what I would say.

SPEAKER_05 50:45

So if everything matters, like detail matters, do you think we could fall into the trap of like oversimplifying scripture? Like if we just say, well, you know, Jesus broke it down. The two main commandments are the one main commandment, love God, love other people as yourself. Like we could basically simplify everything and just you know live by that as opposed to actually getting into everything else that scripture says. Do you think that's like a trap that we shouldn't fall into?

SPEAKER_01 51:09

We shouldn't fall into oversimplification. Right. Yeah, I don't think we should fall into. I think it is not that simple. I think that scripture has so much to say about so many things. Um, I think we should stand on the pillar of love God and love others. Um, but there's a lot more in the house than just the pillars. Um, you can't just just live at the pillar, right? If if if you look at the beams of a house, right, you have your main structural integrity right there in the middle of the house, that wall that holds everything up. That's the most important part of that house. If it's not there, nothing else matters. Right. But it's there and so is everything else. We can't just forget that the rest of the house exists, right? Um, and so I would say we cannot oversimplify, but we need to realize that we're centered on something. And in that centering, um, we're unified. And in that unity, we can have disagreements about what color um the cabinet should be, or or what um what what the how the the plumbing works in the house? We we should get into those conversations as long as we're constantly looking back to the centerpiece, we're constantly looking back to the pillar of where salvation is and and that that we should love God and love others. But we can't just do that.

SPEAKER_05 52:18

Right, it's not just that, it's more than that. Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

So details matter.

SPEAKER_05 52:22

Yeah. So on that, um, what do you think our responsibility is to not just focus on the pillar, but like the other things? Because there's so many things to do in life. Like you're married, you got a kid, you're about to have this barbershop, you've got you know, a podcast, a bunch of other things. Like, what is your responsibility to go and look at all the other details? Um, you know, because there's a lot, it can be overwhelming, and there's a lot of things to balance in life. Like, what do you think as Christians, our responsibility is to actually pursue like an increasing knowledge and application of all that information?

SPEAKER_01 52:55

So I think the number one thing is kind of what we talked about earlier. Um Matthew says, at the end of Matthew, it says, go um into the uttermost parts and make what disciples, right? And so um disciples are uh the the most the the best word we could use, like we use disciple, but most people don't even know what that word means. It's it's an apprentice, right? So if you're gonna disciple someone, they're going to live life with you. So you're applying by showing them how to live out scripture, you're working through the details by going through scripture with them and by impacting that person. Um, a guy that example, a guy that I um that I discipled three or four years ago, he is now discipling someone else. And in his discipleship, that person accepted Christ and he's about to get baptized, right? I didn't disciple the guy he's discipling, right? But I discipled him who isn't discipled him, now gets to baptize him. Praise God. And then he's gonna do the same thing, and we're gonna continue to go like that. I think that we try to um oversimplify and bring everyone to one message with one speaker instead of empowering the body of Christ to build disciples, not bring to people to church. As much as I love church, right? It's great. Our goal is not to bring people there, our goal is to literally embody like empower the church to be the church and build disciples and grow disciples. So um I would say uh that our number one focus would be to disciple people when it comes to the juggling thing. And if we do that well, it's go things are gonna go well, right? Um, and then outside of that, I'm gonna bring Caleb in for a second. What is my least favorite excuse on the planet? I think too many people are just they they're like they think they're more busy than they are. When I'm awake, I'm ready to serve the Lord. My rest comes in him. Do I have to sleep at night? Yes. But when I'm awake, I I don't think that I should be like even I play 2K at night. You think I give a crap about 2K? No. I have people that I play with. There's there's one that's sitting out there right now. Um, that he uh he was in my youth ministry. We're now really good friends. I love him. I love and he lives in in Raleigh, so I don't get to see him very often. So I love just interacting with him, continuing that relationship. Um, there's one that I'm discipling, he's on there. There's one that doesn't know the Lord at all. And so my goal is to bring him to a saving knowledge of Christ. Um, there's one that needs love more than probably anyone else in the world, and so I like just showing him love. Um, and so that even in 2K, which is the stupid basketball video game that I suck at, um, there's there's a goal. And so uh I just I think that people need to stop being lazy.

SPEAKER_05 55:57

I would agree. I think Tim Tebow, you know, he put it well. He said, I want to get to heaven well rested. Yep. That one hit me hard. Same thing where you're like, whoa. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

Yeah. I beat Tim Tebow to it though. I do want to not not to claim it, not to be prideful, but how long have I been saying that's a bull crap excuse? Forever, dude. Because we it was because of the reading the Bible thing. We come in, I'm like, hey, did you guys read your Bible? No. I'm why? Well, I was tired if I hear that excuse one more time, and uh, I had a whole rant session about how nobody's as tired as they think they are, it's a bull crap excuse, blah blah blah. I stand on it though. Yeah, but I I I would say that's that's a big thing. What do you think about that? You disagree about being lazy? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:41

Oh no, I think we're super lazy here in America. I think we're incredibly lazy. Um I think we are addicted to comfort and preach. So I I think it's it's really important for us to kind of get out of that, step out of our comfort zone and do things that we don't want to do. That's where growth happens. Yeah. And I think we've coddled people too much. And I think kind of the culture in America is get to the point where you can do nothing. Like work hard so you can do nothing. Yeah. Um, make a ton of money so you can go on vacation. Right. So I think that's just kind of the rhetoric that has been pushed to everyone in America. It's work really hard so that you cannot work really hard. And I don't think that's biblical at all. I think we can work a lot harder than we think we can. And if you've never done anything hard, like you really don't understand how much you can do until you do something incredibly hard. So I'd encourage like any young man to find something that he thinks is like next to impossible, that he really actually wants, and then just pursue it. Like go ahead and do it because on the other side of that, you're gonna realize how much more you can do. Right. It's like climbing a mountain, seeing another higher mountain, and then being like, I just climbed a ginormous mountain. I can go do that one easy. I'm gonna go do that next. Yeah, exactly. So I that's good. I think I think the first step into not being lazy is to just go do something hard. Right.

SPEAKER_01 57:59

So and go to the gym. Go to the gym. Every young man should be in the gym. Uh or lifting or running or something. You should physically be doing something. But I agree with you. I just want to, it's not that hard. It's you know what I mean? It's not that hard. Just go lift some weights. Go for a run. Go see some basketball.

SPEAKER_05 58:15

Do you do cardio and lift weights or just one? I do both. You do both.

SPEAKER_01 58:18

I don't run. I do either a biker or the incline. Um, I don't do a stair stepper. Heck nah, bro. You don't do the stair climber? Screw the stair climber, dude. That thing is the worst.

SPEAKER_05 58:32

Have you ever done the Versa, the LeBron?

SPEAKER_01 58:34

Yeah, I'm good on that, dude. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 58:37

I saw a video of him doing that. I was like, that's not that hard. I did it for like five seconds last time I touched it.

SPEAKER_01 58:43

Um, but yeah, I I really want to get into running. But I also don't at all. You know what I mean? Every time that like I have a client, I had him on the the they're the why not run club. We had them on the podcast, they're great guys. Every time I see him post, I'm like, man, I really want to do that. But I hate running so much.

SPEAKER_05 59:05

Dude, if you if you want to run, like get the motivation to run, go listen to David Goggins for like five minutes. No, dude, David Goggins pisses me off. Bro, I bought his audiobook and I listened to like I listened to like one chapter of him running the hundred miles in a day. And as soon as I got home, I went and ran Winston Sam Lake. I've never run more than three miles in my life.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

Just kept going.

SPEAKER_05 59:25

But I just went there, I just ran seven miles straight, no stopping, just because like, you know, I was so motivating after hearing, motivated after hearing his story.

SPEAKER_01 59:32

So did did you read the rest of that book or listen to the rest of that book? I've listened to only half of it. First half. I got near the end of that book because I listened to the same thing and I was motivated and I was vibing.

SPEAKER_00 59:41

I was like, this is I man, I got some and then he just got to another story. He's like, I had I had both broken legs, my shins were screwed up, my back was messed up up, and he just went through all these, and I still ran. And I was like, bro, I got asthma.

SPEAKER_01 59:57

I got to a point where I was like, David, I think you're a psychopath, honestly.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:02

But he is, he definitely is.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:03

I think he's got problems, and he just takes it out by running. But, anyways, well, I think we're at the hour mark. I think that flew by. That was awesome. That was a really good podcast. But um, I'll have to have you back on because I think we have a lot more that we could talk about. But I agree. Appreciate you going on, buddy. Thank you, dude.