Sound United Presents
Sound United Presents is a community-centered podcast that highlights the authentic stories of entrepreneurs, professionals, and everyday heroes. Each episode features guests who discuss their victories, challenges, lessons, expertise, insights, wisdom, and "One-Word." Our goal is to Empower with Sound.
Sound United Presents
Faith in Action
In this episode, we present Pastor Garrick Matlock of the Freeway Gospel Empowerment Center in Warren, Ohio. Born and raised in Warren, Pastor Matlock opens up about his journey—from his roots to his calling in ministry and his work today. This episode is filled with powerful moments of faith, resilience, and purpose, showing how one person’s mission can create a lasting impact.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
- Growing up where community felt like "a big family"
- Founding Freeway Gospel Empowerment Center
- Helping students experiencing homelessness
- Introducing "Sawubona" as a philosophy for seeing others' full humanity
- Challenging the narratives of the black church
- Pastor Matlock's "One Word"
Visit Freeway Gospel Empowerment Center at 403 Atlantic Street Northwest. Scripture School meets Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Sundays at 9:30 a.m., and Sunday worship at 11 a.m.
So press play and be moved by Captain Cole's inspiring story. Ladies and gentlemen, Sound United Presents... Pastor Garrick Matlock!
Be sure to subscribe wherever you vibe with podcasts or visit our website. www.soundunitedpresents.com
Sound United Presents is a community-focused podcast powered by Sound United Podcast Studio. Produced by Kimberly Gonzales and D. Lee Scott
Hello, ladies and gents, welcome to Sound United Presents, a diverse and inclusive podcast focused on local entrepreneurs, professionals and unsung community heroes. Within each episode, our guests will candidly share their stories filled with triumph, failures, humor, lessons learned, insight and some nuggets of wisdom. I'm very excited about this and I hope you are too. Let's get started. Hey folks, thank you for hitting the play button once again on Sound United Presents. I'm your host, deshaun Scott. This is co-produced by Kimberly Gonzalez. Once again, we got a wonderful guest here. As I tell y'all all the time, I'm your host, deshaun Scott. This is co-produced by Kimberly Gonzalez. Once again, we got a wonderful guest here. As I tell y'all all the time, I'm batting a thousand and, as usual, I want to give you a little backstory on this individual, because this one hits home. This one is like a straight to the heart type episode here for so many reasons and you're going to enjoy the conversation. This individual like the other ones, but you're really going to enjoy this conversation, so let me prime this for y'all just a little bit. So this gentleman, warren, everybody here in Warren, we know each other for the most part Now. I can't remember if it was a school thing because I was skipping class a lot, so it might've been a scene and that, but you know I was a habitual class skipper. But fast forward into adult age I would see him a lot in community events doing some wonderful things Youngstown City School District where we were working with the communications team and when they had events and things like that, you know I'd see him and stuff like that. So it was always. You know, you know how you see people and you you know, hey, what's up, and you just catch up and you know find out what they doing. And then you know, you go on and I want to say hope my brother don't kill me on this. Uh, I think it was 2019.
Speaker 1:It was crazy because my brother asked me to be his best man, for his wedding Wasn't a big wedding. He just wanted to, you know, solidify, get married. And I said, yeah, man, like OK, no problem. And then he was like, oh, by the way, can you ask E if she will be my wife's? I think it's made on her, you know the closest one to the bride, I think made on, or something like that. And I was like, oh, yeah, I mean mean like they knew each other, but that kind of honor. You know, it's like that was kind of weird. Me as the best man yeah, my wife is the, you know.
Speaker 1:But we did it. And so I said, well, just give me the details. And then we got closer, he he told me where, and it was a church. And I'd never, you know, I'd never seen this church before. I think I might have passed it a couple times, going to Packard Park or what have you. And so I was like, ok, fine, we go in there and we sit and we chill, and you know, my brother's there, his wife Dee is down there doing a thing with my wife, and Pat's pastor comes up looking regal and I said, you know, I just I can't even tell you, because I did the look and I was shocked, I didn't, I didn't know, it was a surprise. Like hey, you know what I'm saying. Like you know, we about to do this ceremony and I'm running into this brother like, oh man, this is, this is great.
Speaker 1:And so it was a beautiful ceremony, you know. And then that was. I might have seen him one more time after that, but it was some time, and I think then the pandemic hit. I think it was, so it might have been him one more time after that, but it was some time, and I think then the pandemic hit. I think it was so it might have been 2019. And this is where it gets really really interesting. More interesting, so in 2021, you know, y'all know, I've shared with you, at least if you've heard the trailer that you know my wife had passed September 17th of 2021.
Speaker 1:Catastrophic in so many different ways because you know, from being a surprise happening to having to make decisions on the spot of you know what funeral it was, it was a super blur. And if you've been through this stuff whether it's a spouse or whatever, you know it's a super blur and part of that, you know the calling hours and all this stuff I'm preparing for this Cause it's, you know, my decisions that need to be made. You know it's like a celebration of life. You know what. How am I going to do this? And and I said, well, I'm gonna do it in the park and, you know, in the garden, because that's where she was happiest and no, I hope the weather's going to be fine and so many things going on. And then I reached out to a brother who was really, who is really close to our family, um, through his uncle God rest his soul to uh Rob. But, um, uh, mario, and you know, I needed somebody to speak at my wife's celebration of life, um, and me and her would always talk about that Cause I would tell her look, if you get somebody to speak at mine, please make sure they say Deshaun and not Del Sean. And you know, like we would always talk about this stuff and I would talk about it in a way that I felt it would be me and and so I was like I want somebody that that kind of knows Erica and, you know, knows the family and all that. So I put in a lot of work, asked Mario, he, he was great with it Me and him talked and I think a few days before the celebration of life, he, he called me and he was under the weather and he was like brother, you know I don't want to. You know I can't be there. You know, this is important to me. You know, like I got to send, I just it's the thing a husband does, right, I'm sending my wife off. I'm already still numb, and you know, but I just want this to be right. And he refers this gentleman yes, sir, Going back to all the other times that we've connected, and then it's here and I was like, yeah, and we spoke, because I remember how you spoke at the, at Mario's, at Mario's wedding, so it was.
Speaker 1:It was yeah, yeah, okay. So, man, you spoke and and before we even talked about the ceremony, you asked about how I was doing and we talked, uh, some scripture, and we just, and in a way, that wasn't scripture, it was a conversation where scripture was included in it. That it wasn't. It wasn't an emphasis on that, it was just. It's hard to explain, but it's wonderful I'm getting to introduce him. Y'all just bear with me, because I got to lay this primer down for y'all. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:So, the the celebration of life happens. He comes and I am over watching my kids. I'm still shocked because we in a garden where I seen my wife happy, talking to plants and growing tomatoes. I am looking at all the people who loved her, who loved me, who loved us. I am still shocked. All this stuff is going on. It's a nice attendance, and we get up and speak, my son gets up and speaks, my daughter you know she spoke and then this gentleman comes up and I got to tell you as much as my mind was running and trying to pay attention to my kids and just trying to make sure everything is right and for me to try to appear strong on the outside. Get a little choked up, it's alright.
Speaker 2:It's alright.
Speaker 1:That this gentleman gets up and gives this. I don't want to call it a eulogy, I don't, I don't, I don't know what to call it. It was just, it was beautiful because with all that going on, that was in my head, it stopped, yes, sir, and as you spoke about Erica, it was if we hung out, it was if you, you knew her. You, yes, sir, uh, but I wanted to give you that primer. So you understand, it is not. This isn't the reason why he's here. When I speak of Erica and I speak to that, it's just this connection. And then all the stuff that he does now and he is an incredible gentleman, probably the prototype of what you know sound United presents is all about. So with that, ladies and gentlemen, now that I've given you that primer and you caught me on on choking up a little, bit because we're not going to delete that.
Speaker 1:It's authentic. Yes, uh sorry. United presents, pastor garrick matlock. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Welcome to the show. I'm glad to be here and it's okay to get choked up yeah, well, that was not an intent.
Speaker 1:I'm saying, you know, but you replaying stuff and I and I remember it vividly, you know, and it was just, and what you did and how you did it and your wife and just the way it was just, it was just great man, and I'll never forget that and I remember. I have it recorded too. I just can't watch it for a while. It might it might be some time before I watch it, but I got it up here. Yes, sir, take your time with that one right there.
Speaker 1:I remember. So as we get started I normally like to let our guests kind of you know, give them their one minute about themselves. You know I want to read off everybody's bio. I like to give the primer things so people know. So tell the audience about yourself a little bit.
Speaker 2:Sounds great. Thank you very much and I'm glad to be here on Sound United United. My name, as you said, is Garrick Matlock. I'm the lead pastor and visionary pastor of Freeway Gospel Empowerment Center. But, most importantly, beyond all of those things, I'm a husband. July 1st of next year will be 30 years. I am a father and a grandfather. A father and a grandfather, and you know I'm a son, I am a brother, and those are things that I really like people to know about me, not so much the things that I do, but the things that really make me who I am, and those people who have contributed into my life, who have supported and encouraged me to be who I am.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay, all right.
Speaker 2:Do you grow up in Warren?
Speaker 1:I did. I grew up in Warren. Yes, sir, so you were a Warren native.
Speaker 2:I am a Warren native. Grew up on the east side, first four years of my life in the Fairview Gardens, yeah, and then after that on the east side on Woodbine.
Speaker 1:Wait, you grew up in the Fairview Gardens.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, wow, first four years of my life, fairview Gardens and then we moved over on to Woodbine 1659 Woodbine but a lot of my time also was spent on the North End because, being that both of my parents worked, and literally like nine to five jobs, my brothers and I would come home from school and we would actually be over at our grandparents' house over on the North End.
Speaker 1:Okay, Okay, Wow, that's Fairview Gardens. My grandmother was one of the as many of them that come up from you know, down south Arkansas, what have you but she was one of the first residents in there and I actually spent a lot of time in there, especially when I got back at 16. But I spent a lot of time there. So when you said that I'm Fairview Gardens, Fairview Gardens.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, and then I didn't know that your family came out of Arkansas, because my family comes out of Fort Nice, arkansas. Matter of fact, my great grandfather who was a pastor here in the city. He was a pastor in Warren, arkansas, and then became a pastor in Warren, ohio.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, yeah. On the paternal side, pine Bluff, arkansas.
Speaker 2:Pine Bluff is the same area that my family is from, so the uh jacobs in the eddington, so we're gonna have to have some more talk man, you just yeah, because my mother's doing a lot of genealogy research, so she's actually trying to get to pine bluff to uh connect some dots yeah, yeah, pine bluff, arkansas.
Speaker 1:So how was life growing up? You mentioned the. You know being on the east side of the North End. But how was life growing up for you? It was beautiful.
Speaker 2:I had my three brothers that I was growing up with and all of our first cousins and then all of our friends, and in that day and time, community was like a big family. I really, really enjoyed my childhood. I enjoyed my teenage years. Outside was a playground, walking through the woods, my mother always said for my brothers and I said that we was like country boys growing up in the city. So yeah, so I love. I tell my children, even right now, to this day, I really don't ever say the word bored. I was never bored. Even to this day I'm still. I'm never bored. It's all.
Speaker 1:There's too much too much to happen. Yes, no, wasn't no screen time back then? No sir, outside running, in, you know running and playing which is you know what? I wonder if that's a thing, because I'm the same way like I don't there's always something to to do. I don't get bored. I mean, even when I was on punishment as a kid, which was a lot, and I say that a lot, which is very true y'all I'd find something to do in that room or something you know what.
Speaker 1:I mean yeah, you, just you stay active. Where'd you go to school at?
Speaker 2:Elementary school I went to Roosevelt and then junior high school, went to HB Turner Junior High School, then high school, on to Warren G Harding.
Speaker 1:So you full Warren G Harding, you didn't do the reserve Harding.
Speaker 2:You were just tradition.
Speaker 1:because you was on the side, I forgot all about Roosevelt.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, went to Rose and the crazy thing about it is that I tell a lot of people that that's how time is Everything that I knew growing growing up? As far as structures, they're now gone. You know, roosevelt elementary is now a community garden. Where hb turner was, it is now a? Uh, a skate park, wow. And then what's left of warren g harding? Uh, the one that I attended is actually it's a, it's a monument?
Speaker 1:do you say the warren g harding? I have no dog in the fight I came up in 89 and part of it was reserve and part of it was a Harding, and you know. So I don't have a dog. I thought people would be like the. You know, I got a friend who says that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, the Warren G Harden. No, my wife was the first consolidated class coming back to being one high school, so she was a reserve girl. And I always joke about it and say you know, those West Side girls love these East Side guys.
Speaker 1:In high school. I mean, were you in any activities, Did you?
Speaker 2:Yes, I was in two, as a matter of fact, to the point to where my parents told me don't sign my name on another thing. So I was a Madrigal singer, I was an acapella, I was president of Madrigals, I played football, played basketball, just to my freshman year, but then, after I was involved in everything I could possibly be in, there were some theater productions where they consolidated students from both Warren Harding and Warren Western Reserve. So I was involved in a lot.
Speaker 1:Wow, ok, no trouble. You didn't get any trouble, nothing like that. Well, just asking.
Speaker 2:I can tell you what I was. I had a serious case of senioritis and probably my senior year of high school was probably the most dissatisfying year of school. I was kind of done with it. It was the only thing I really loved back at that time was I did love Madrigals, I did love acapella and I did love all of my Spanish. I was in Spanish four by that time. I had acquired the language so I was able to speak fluently. My Spanish teacher, from Spanish one through Spanish four, never allowed us to speak a word of English. So I was pretty much almost fluent after my second year. But there was an extra work I did Back then.
Speaker 2:There was a such thing that was called a phone book, white pages and yellow pages, but in the white pages I would look up every Hispanic surname that I could find and I would actually call them on the phone, just so that I could practice Spanish.
Speaker 1:Wow, yes, yes, yes. Yes, you used the phone book for educational purposes. I used to use the Yellow Pages to prank call.
Speaker 2:Well, now, we had our share of that too.
Speaker 1:Ordering something, or yeah, yeah, anyway, that's another Deshaun discussion there. So, going through, even whether it was when you were younger or when, you know, you started high school or middle school, did you have a? I like to know like did you have a dream career?
Speaker 2:Like did you want to grow up? And the years of watching the Cosbys, seeing an African-American family of a doctor and a lawyer, and I can say in high school, the dream was always college, matter of fact, my parents had put that inside of my brothers and I that you were going to go off to college. And then, you know, the Cosby show follows up with a different world. So we think that college is going to be a certain thing. So myself and a great friend of mine, jeff Butts, who you know, at one point we had talked about that we were going to be attorneys. So by the time I got to college I thought that I said you know, I want to help people and I thought that the way to help people was through psychology.
Speaker 2:All it took me was about one semester and I decided no, I don't want to do psychology. So I became a political science major. So political science and public policy analysis. But eventually, within that major, there was a time that I had gone off one summer for to be a leader at a youth camp. To be a leader at a youth camp, and one night in the tent I just was in some time in prayer and I just began to pray and just really told the Lord that whatever you want me to do, wherever you want me to go, that's what I'll do. And he told me to start a Bible study when I go back on campus. So I founded a Bible study, started off with three individuals in my apartment, including myself, and then by the end of the third semester we administered to well over 200 students on campus. So it was a very, very powerful time in my life, so my first jump into college. As a matter of fact, I can say that it was a very powerful time. I've met people that are still friends and brothers and sisters to this very day. But my father called me one day while I was at school because during college, you know, life still happens In 1991, my cousin Rekia.
Speaker 2:She had passed away. She had had leukemia. We had saw her going through remission several times, but then eventually she did lose her life. Many things after that. But then my father called me and told me that Packer Electric was hiring and asked me I was about to enter into my final semester and said would you like to take this job? And I took the job. I took the job and I had a lot of credit hours up under me, but I had an opportunity as well. So I took the job and I didn't finish school at that time. And I didn't finish school at that time. But since that time I had gone back to seminary and I went to Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary and ended up graduating with high distinction, with a degree in Christian philosophy and apologetics. Ok, how did you?
Speaker 1:So where did you when you started college? Where did you go? The University of Akron, ok. Is it the Zips? The Zips, okay, yes. And then you got close to graduating. Yes, a lot of credit hours under you, the opportunity came to work at Packer. What year was that? When that? I'm trying to think 94., because I was going to say it was a year when Packer started hiring like crazy. Yes, started hiring like crazy. Like you know, everybody was getting. You know, the smart ones went and took the opportunities. The ones like me was like nah street is street is where it's at.
Speaker 1:You know you working folks go right ahead. That kind of takes me to my next question. Because what I mean, what inspired you to just to, to go into ministry? Because you on a college campus with activities galore good and bad, yes and you decide you had this calling to to do this. Was that the beginning? Did you see that? Did you see that, even going down further into the future, even with with Packard, right, right there, you know that opportunity. But did you have something like you know when I get, you know when I get in my 30s or when I'm going to be doing this? I mean, was that on your heart, in your mind?
Speaker 2:Not at the capacity that it is right now. However, back then I had been active in ministry since I was about 12, 13 years old. My parents were active in ministry and they brought my brothers and I along so early on, and that's one thing I love about the black church tradition. A lot of people, even when I had entered into public education, they looked at the amount of skill that I brought to the table. But a lot of those skills were learned inside of the black church and where we learned how to serve From a young age. Children were promoted, whether it was through music, whether it was through oratory.
Speaker 2:Back in the day, we all had Easter speeches. We learned public speaking in the church. So we didn't we didn't have effective oral communication courses. What we had was you have this Easter speech and you're going to start off with a short one when you're younger and you're going to say happy Easter everybody. And then, as you get older, you're going to get, and we were promoted inside of the church and we were encouraged inside of the church to do a lot of things. But my parents were always ones that were active in the community as well. So that portion of literally saying faith without works is dead. They understood that their faith was not just for the building, that their faith was actually for the community as well.
Speaker 1:So I don't want to, I don't want to gloss over what you you know, because there is the ministry, yes, but you also like with Youngstown City School. So you're a counselor.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm actually I'm an administrator and I work for Well I'm a McKinney-Vento liaison. So what that means is that I actually work with all of the scholars inside of Youngstown City School District and their families that experience homelessness. So homelessness is defined differently according to McKinney-Vento than it is according to HUD. Yeah, so let's just define any time that a student does not have a fixed, adequate or regular nighttime residence, they're considered as experiencing homelessness. Okay, and that's called what now?
Speaker 1:McKinney-Vento, mckinney-vento, yes, okay, all right, I just want to, because I sounded right. I thought first it was McKinley, but it's McKinney-Vento, mckinney-vento. Okay, yes, and how long have you been doing as an administrator with the school district have you been doing as an administrator?
Speaker 2:with the school district. How long have you been doing that? This is going on my third year with Youngstown City School District, okay, okay, were you doing anything with them prior? Before that, I was actually in McKinney. Well, and that's where it comes down to. I was working formerly Maurice Claret under the red zone.
Speaker 1:That's when I was yes, okay, yes, so and at that time I was a qualified behavioral health specialist.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:Cool, cool. Okay, that makes sense now. So a little clarity. You was with, was it Red Zone, the?
Speaker 2:Red Zone Right.
Speaker 1:And so that's when I would see you often.
Speaker 2:At some events, it was under that, yes absolutely, and at that time, yes, I was doing a lot of behavioral intervention through the Red Zone.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Do you got any, because we'll move to ministry in a minute, but is there any exciting highlights of you in that realm of education, working with students and stuff like that? Oh, it's beautiful. I've had the opportunity here recently. Back last June I spoke at a national conference that had. You know, some of my heroes are there Principal Baruti Kafele. I had a chance to meet with him and speak with him and hear him talk. But then I also was able to do one of my presentations. One of my presentations was because, you know, I've been a professional storyteller as well for some time, so my presentation actually was called From Story to Glory Creative Connections that Foster Schoolwide Success creative connections that foster school-wide success. So I enjoy, and I did that back in June of last year in Atlanta and then in February of this past year. Well, this year I was able to speak in New York City and I was able to do the exact same presentation. So it's been a good ride.
Speaker 1:So what prepared you for doing all this? I know the answer is because you mentioned it earlier, but I just want to hit it back again. As you said, did the church kind of help you with the oral communication like the? You know the build up to do this national stuff.
Speaker 2:now it did the church did, but then also the black home grew up in a day to where, as there weren't all of these what I like to call divisive devices, right now everybody has a TV in their own room. That wasn't something we grew up with. Tv was in one room and everybody spent time together. And there was a time the TV went off, literally Not because it was just turned off that happened too but because once the national anthem came on, once the national anthem came on, the TV went off and you had to wait till the next morning until programs the programming started again if you wanted to watch it again. So that meant that there was a lot of time in the home that was spent doing storytelling and I loved entertaining my parents and my brothers with just making up stories and doing different sound effects and doing impersonation. So storytelling in the home also helped me with what I do today.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, as you're working at Packard and then you know you're doing stuff with the school, so I'm trying to, I want to forward this off very clearly because I want to get to the church. And when you, when you founded the church, or, um, you know when did that happen? And it wasn't the cause, the name I have for it now freeway gospel empowerment center, right, yes, but you had other things. Like, when we spoke, it was something else, cause I remember it was rest, restoration. I want to get this right Restoration, life, christian life, christian life right, ministry, ministry. So I remember that because when I called you, I was like, hey, I want to make sure this and you inform me that you know, cause we hadn't talked, for it's been a while, since October 2nd of 20. No, no, I won't say that because we we followed up, even after Erica's event. So it was some time there, right? So tell us about this when did the, when did the church form? When did when did you decide to start to do this?
Speaker 2:So I got the vision for the church in April of 2003, while I was still working at Packard. We officially launched the church February, the 11th of 2007. And it was called Restoration Christian Life Ministries and it was coming from this passage. We got the name from the passage in Isaiah 58 and 12, where it says that you will be called repairers of the breach, the restorers of cities in which to dwell. And it really resonated with me because I saw my community needing a lot of healing. And when I say my community, I'm saying that my community in all of its nuances and variances, the community that was outside of the church as well as the community that was inside of the church. There's a very unique phenomenon that we say inside of the church, which I don't necessarily resonate with, that we call church hurt, which we don't call anything else by that. It's a unique type of terminology that we have, but I do understand. We were talking about pain that happens inside of community and inside of the church community. So I wanted to be a place initially and this is how God started us off initially really being able to heal people who had been hurt inside of church community, and we began to work through that. Ok, yeah, so that was Restoration Christian Life Ministries.
Speaker 2:Sixteen years later, february the 11th, we changed the name. The name Restoration Christian Life Ministries is still a part of our ministry, it's an active part of what we do, it's one of our pillars to say, but our name is Freeway Gospel Empowerment Center. Now, and what? And that comes from Galatians five and one it is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Be therefore steadfast and don't be entangled again by a yoke of slavery. So freeway, where we are given to really teach people and help them live in a way that's free, to try to live their lives as burden free as possible. That's where freeway gospel empowerment and there's a few different pillars that we have with that.
Speaker 2:So we have Restoration Christian Life Ministries. We also have the Way Operation Bible Institute, which is our center for theological, ministerial and missiological training, and then from that we also have what we call Coffee Life Outreach. So coffee we use as a pneumatic or as an acronym. There was a gentleman that has a restaurant in Sharon named Joseph. It's called a Haitian sensations, and I saw a sign in there one day about coffee, which I really love. I love coffee. So the coffee was a pneumatic and it stood for Christ offers freedom for everyone, everywhere, wow.
Speaker 1:Wow, what's the so the mission like? What's the overall mission?
Speaker 2:The overall mission, our mission and our vision statement for the church is love God and all people, transform lives, deploy saints and we're talking about deployment. That we're talking about deployment of the word. Saints means holy people. That means that we don't just go out with knowledge of the word, we go out and we embody what the word is. We go out and do our best to live clean, pure, holy lives.
Speaker 1:So one of the things about you and because, going back in history, so we never as a family and I just say you know, me and the kids, we I remember we got baptized, I think in 20, maybe 2017 or something like that, but we wasn't frequent church. You know, going to church and things like it was more. So my defense was always it's in my heart, right, it's in my heart. Or, if you know, if I want to talk to God, I'll go in my closet. I can talk to him in the closet, I can talk to him anywhere. But the underlying was like I just didn't want to go to church.
Speaker 2:That was the thing right.
Speaker 1:So I'm finding all these other justifications. So what I like about you and there's a few other pastors? The church I remember growing up was the Temple of Love. My grandmother would take us there.
Speaker 2:I don't know why.
Speaker 1:I remember the stories, but I remember some of it. I was little when I say this y'all, so I wasn't like in my teens or nothing, but I used to run down the pews and touch all the ladies legs, got you and it's probably why I'm a leg man, oh yeah. And then they you know my grandma they say uh, stop. My mother say stop, leave that.
Speaker 1:And they'd be like he all right, let leave him be I'm just doing that but then I remember the polyester socks I have to wear, those shoes I have to wear It'd be hot. And you know, soon and very soon, you know, I remember all of that stuff there and I think that's probably why because I didn't understand it then I just knew I didn't want to be there, right, and I would go with my grandmother when I got later my teens, and because it's my grandmother, we go across the street and sit and I'd be like you know, man, I wonder what they're doing around the corner. Or you know, Duke Street.
Speaker 2:Like what's happening over there.
Speaker 1:You know I'm in this church. You know what I mean. I'm ready to get out of here, so, but I always had faith and my decisions and a lot of times we raised our kids to fear God and stuff like that. But talking to you, a lot of times and I'm getting to the point there are some men of the cloth, ministers, that they're very, it's just very rigid, right, in my experience, like just very rigid. When I talk to you and a few others, the way that you, it's more understanding and inclusive, it's I guess that's the way I'm trying to put it. So, having conversations with you about you know what we're going to talk about it's just more like you're not offended and you're not going to you understand, right? It's just not. It's uh, what's the word? It's, it's not structured, it's just very dogmatic sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, like you're scared to ask certain questions because it's like an offensive thing or something. But but you know what I mean and so this is part of the reason too. I really want to get your because I'm curious about that, concerns about, like, where we go on in the world and why are things happening, and things like that. So I'm very this is just like a very good Peaceful conversation that I can have with you and then your feedback talking to you before, so I know you're going to have good answers for this and your insight. So I'm going to I'm going to start these off. The role of religion how do you, how do you see it evolving today? Because it seems to me like it's so. I don't know, man, it's so sometimes, sometimes not everywhere, but it can be so divisive, or have you? Or there are people who just you know they lose in faith because of all this external stuff going on. Like, where do you see it evolving?
Speaker 2:Today what I tend to see and it depends on what we're looking at One thing I tend to see happening with the church and let me, let me let me do some things. Historically, 2015, I saw some things really, really change. And let me go back even a little further in 2008, with then candidate Barack Obama running for president, I saw a very clear divide that in some instances, used theological terminology to veil political aspirations and it was phony concern about the stances of where then candidate Barack Obama, and what I really saw was the stench of racism. 2015, with the death of Michael Brown and the conversation that surrounded it and that was amplified by way of social media, which many people sat behind their keyboards as keyboard warriors and really pushed a lot of divisive type things, sadly, some within side of the church community who may have been In position to do certain things really great, but we're not schooled on the subject matter nor the history of those who have experienced the pain, of those who look like Michael Brown, and it became a wedge inside of the church. So there are, in a lot of places, some healing that's going on, but we have a lot of work to do. There's been a lot of damage done that we have to go back to and look at. What was the church's response to Trayvon Martin? What was the church's response to Tamir Rice? How do we respond with Michael Brown? How do we respond as it relates to George Floyd A lot of very popular African-American evangelical preachers?
Speaker 2:They found themselves divided with those that they were at once really close to, and the problem was this is that people passed each other using the same terminology but really talking about two different things, about two different things. When we were speaking of historic pain, many of them were speaking in terms of theology. We were talking about ethics. How does your gospel ethics and your faith ethics respond to the very real pain that's being felt amongst this specific group of Americans, whereas some said, well, the answer is simply just to give these theological. At that time we didn't really need a bunch of scripture quoting. What we needed was scripture in action in the form of the pursuit of justice justice very well spoken.
Speaker 1:And this this goes back to my long explanation of just being having you here and having this discussion. Why very, very well spoken? I remember michael brown, um because I grew up in u city and um where he was, which is ferguson yes, isn't, isn't far from there at all, but I remember man, I just remember seeing that young man, that cheat over him for a long time, yeah, and then you know it comes out. You know the issue he may have with the police officer I forgot that police officer's name but but, to your point, the media took it over and it was everywhere. You know it was it. It made me angry.
Speaker 1:And with President Obama, when that was happening, when he was a candidate, I remember that I actually canceled my cable. We had, we had cable and my kids, my kids, can testify to this it was getting. So because I used to like CNN. I mean CNN was was different back then, a lot of different back then. I mean CNN was different back then, a lot of them were different back then. But I remember it just started getting so race heavy and how they did the pastor and I don't know if he was a pastor, I don't know his official title, but you know they were labeling him this and that he was too extreme and all this other stuff.
Speaker 1:I remember seeing that and I remember making a decision and I told Eric. I said I'm about to cut it was. It was going into the summer too, because it just started the whole political cycle. You know, yes, I said I'm getting rid of cable, like that was the only thing that I could do to detach. And I said if I want to do anything, I can go online. At that time, if you remember, it was Earthlink, that's what we had. I got rid of Spectrum or whatever it was called and just rocked online with that, but I remember it was so divisive man.
Speaker 2:It was and it was, and the ripple effects of it. They're still here today. We still have a lot of healing that we have to do, and it can only happen in genuine conversations. Whereas we can't go in the echo chamber, we have to be in a place to where, as we literally Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu at the decline of the apartheid regime, they developed the truth and reconciliation groups that actually came together under this Zulu and Osa philosophy known as Ubuntu. And Ubuntu really deals with and the wording says I am because you are, and what it deals with is that we have to be able to genuinely see one another's humanity.
Speaker 2:I was speaking with somebody the other day and said that admittance is not repentance. We have these, these really catchy one liners, where we say things like you know, slavery was America's original sin. Ok, that's admittance. Repentance deals with turning a different way. But we have to ask the question what residue from that brutal institution? What still resonates today? What still affects people today, today, what still affects people today?
Speaker 2:Let me tell you this when you said that about Michael Brown's laying there in the street with that sheet over top of him, my wife is the the youngest of nine. My mother in law was born in 1933. She lived in the Greenville and Greenwood areas of Mississippi. She remembers going down in the Money Mississippi after Emmett Till was killed and she remembers him being under a tarp, his body being swollen. She said it's swollen, looked like a mule. Same thing with my wife's auntie, juanita. God rest her soul. But here it is. We have individuals in our families that we've sat with. For some people, emmett Till and the pictures of Mamie Till. They're pictures in the Jet magazine or they're a motion picture that has just been before us. We sat in the living room with those who breathe the air of Emmett Till. It's not far from us. My great grandmother, lydia Matlock. She was born in 1902. She was a sharecropper down in Greenville, alabama. My mother-in-law used to have to pick 200 pounds of cotton See, because we can call it Jim Crow, but it was just slavery by a different name. And we have to look at those things today and to see how.
Speaker 2:What is our Christian response to the mistreatment, the oppression of peoples? And I'm not just talking of those who are of our you and who look like us, of those who are of our you and who look like us, those that are down at the southern border. One way that you're guaranteed to mistreat people is when you misidentify people, when you begin to reduce them as no longer being people, and you do it with imagery and you do it with words. That's the reason why I love the Zulu concept. There's a word that I really resonate with, and it's Sawubona. We say it at church Sawubona.
Speaker 2:Sawubona means I see you. That means I see all of you. I see your pain, I see your failures, I see your hurts, I see your aspirations, I see your dignity and your worth. And because you are human, I'm going to look first at the fact of who you are before I really begin to dive into what you may be doing. We call it in Christianity the Imago Dei. Every human being is the Imago Dei. God said let us create man in our image, male and female. He created them. So every human being is, by way of God's design, designed to be an image bearer of who God is.
Speaker 2:So when I look at you, beyond what you're doing, my supervisor, dr Martin Freeman, one question he asked. He says we need to stop asking the question of people. What's wrong with you? He said we need to ask the question what happened to you, because many people have adverse childhood experiences and there are things in life that trigger certain responses. So how can we? A gentleman I work with named Larry Thompson, with Responsibility Center Discipline, says that how do I reprogram the brain, how do I coach the brain into a place that it can go from autonomy of just desiring self-control and moving into mastery, to where we are able to say that the God given self-control that he has given me has put me in a position that I can make healthy decisions for myself as well as for my community.
Speaker 1:How this brings up a great follow up to this question. Because you know, when I I had some church doing, we exposed our kids to some church, right, but it was always we knew what was right was wrong. We raised them that way. But out in the neighborhoods, when I talked to the youth the still, you know, talk to youth every now and then on certain things, it seems like there is just just I don't know.
Speaker 1:I look at crime and kids. I watch a lot of YouTube. That was the one thing I was going through with grief. I was watching, I was watching this stuff that Erica would normally watch and I'd be like you need to turn that off. That made no sense, right? And it was these crime things that happened Young man dating a girl and because she wanted to get out of the relationship, he kills her. Young man does Like it was, like I'm sitting and I'm looking like how can these kids just take a life like that just blows my mind when you think about.
Speaker 1:It's not in a defense position where you it's either me or you. It's literally like you've taken a life and and and there's no, there's no fear. Like you know, I'm going to go to hell for this. I mean, there's nothing. You know what's going on here in this world, and so my question to you is how do you, as far as when it comes to young people, how can the church remain relevant? Because a lot of what I, you know, see like, if you have some of these young kids out here, hey, you going to church, nah, what? Nah, I ain't going to church. You know what I mean. Or there's no fear. Maybe it's just my generation and I look at it. Maybe our generation was the one that did it wrong. You know what I mean. I have no idea, but how can you know you engage the youth? What?
Speaker 2:needs to be done. We need to think of what we're doing. We cannot just put together programs. We are too program centric. Yes, we put together programs and we don't talk about lifestyle.
Speaker 2:There was a famous gangster in New Jersey and a pastor got in a car with him and he wrote one day and they saw a young boy walking down the street and he asked that gangster. He said tell me something. What would make that young boy right there choose you over me? And the gangster told the pastor. He said it's simple. He says it's a matter of presence. He said because when his mother sends him to the store to go get a loaf of bread, he has to walk past me and I'm going to give him an extra $5 to go and pick up something for himself. He says he's not going to see you until Sunday or at a funeral.
Speaker 2:So the reality is is presence? The church cannot make itself absent. We cannot come into communities In our own community, jump into the church, go in, shout, praise and cry and then drive out with our eyes blinded, as though we don't see what's all around us. We can't see the young boy that's standing out there who's angry angry about why my father was not engaged in my life, angry about the fact that my mother's working three jobs and this teacher got the nerve to be wondering. I just watched my brothers and sisters all night long and the teachers are asking me about where my pencil is or why I'm tired.
Speaker 2:So we've got to be present. I can say in my life and what I've learned? There's nothing. Humans need humans. That's just a reality. Humans need humans. The question is is that will the right one show up? Because there are those who are going to speak into your life so that you can be the best you, or there are going to be those that come into your life that want to use you for some purpose that God never designed you for. So there's a twofold thing that has to happen is that we got to stop having church and start being church. The word is the Ecclesia, the called out ones of God. The commission is go ye. Therefore, jesus first says come to me, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Speaker 2:Matthew 28 says now go and make disciples of all nations. The church has left this and we think that we can use something different to reach people other than literally going out to reach people. Different to reach people, other than literally going out to reach people. We can reach them with just a recognize sign saying you know, sinners are welcome. Well, try that same logic with a fisherman that gets into a boat and say fishes, fish are welcome. But he doesn't have a fishing pole. See how many fish he comes home with that day.
Speaker 1:Chances are not, so we got to be actively involved in the lives of those that we desire to reach. Do you I mean just briefly, do you off the top of your head, are there ways like, do you have you know tactics that that may be? Yeah?
Speaker 2:yeah, there's this real good skill that I've learned a long time ago. It's called kindness.
Speaker 2:Right, you know when you're in the store. How about not looking down at your cell phone just so that you don't have to engage with people? How about turning around and seeing that child in the buggy and saying that you know, I like those shoes you have on? Wow, is that Spider-Man on your shirt? That is excellent. Be intentional about paying attention to somebody and to let them know that they're noticed. Purchase a coffee for the car that's behind you. We can be intentional. You see some children outside with a lemonade stand. Even if you don't want to drink their lemonade, it looks like it's been sitting out there all day. Well, that first sip is syrup.
Speaker 1:I ain't got no pancakes.
Speaker 2:That's exactly it. You don't know if you're looking at a parfait or lemonade, there's just layers to it. But the reality is, is that you actually go engage with those children? Yes, you know, do something. I watched my father as a child that you actually go engage with those children. Yes, you know, do something.
Speaker 2:I watched my father as a child. Our neighbors they were some dirty young men, I mean. They looked like they just rolled in the mud. But I watched my father one day say that we were going to go get ice cream and that he was going to be taking our neighbors with him. And we was like Dad, you know, we like playing with them, but you're going to literally take them in the car.
Speaker 2:But my father did everything. He said look, I love you guys and I want you guys to participate in getting this ice cream. He said so what we're going to do is I'm going to bring you in, I'm going to get you all cleaned up. And my father washed those guys up one by one. We watched our parents in the middle of the night. We watched our parents in the middle of the night. They would get up and, yeah, they would get up in the middle of the night and they'd go out and some of our friends and those that were part of our youth group that were going through very, very dangerous things, volatile things, hurtful things in their home, they would go up and they would go and get them. We got to be actively engaged.
Speaker 1:I spoke to him. We got to be actively engaged. Do you think the black church has the same or more power regarding social injustice than in earlier eras? And the reason I ask that is because, when I think back and it's to the civil rights, and even before then the black church was, it was a powerhouse. Yes, sir, what's your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:Is it the same now or is it less? Is it more? Eddie Gillard wrote a piece some time ago and he said that the like basically that the church has lost his powers, lost his prophetic edge. If I look at the media cycles and things like that, I would. I would think so because it highlights certain black churches, because it highlights certain black churches, but I don't believe that they look at the whole picture. There's things that the black church is still doing.
Speaker 2:We say, well, where's the black church when there's black on black violence? Yeah Well, I'll tell you where they are. The black church when there's black on black violence, we're on our knees. We're in the homes and in the living rooms of those that have been affected. Sometimes we are actually down on our knees with the victim, with their blood literally on our hands. Where's the black church?
Speaker 2:The black church on one Sunday morning gets called, and that was my church got called when young people were drowned over on Pine Street around Buckeye Curve, and these were my students. I called them my kids. These were young men that would come up to me before school starts and say Mr Matlock, can you show me how to tie a tie? Mr Matlock, can you come and pick me up for church. There was times that I would fill my car up with seven and eight kids that were lapped on top of each other just to drive them to church. So is the black church responding the same? Yeah, but the cameras aren't. Yeah, you know, just because the cameras aren't present don't mean that the black church ain't present and powerful.
Speaker 1:One hundred One hundred. I agree with that too. You know the media, and now social. You know social media has its good and its bad, but it's just. It's that sensationalizing or the only focus of one thing, but that was powerful. The church is involved. We're just on our knees with those.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir man, this goes back to why, you know when I said just having these conversations with you about this and that's why when Pastor Mario, when he called me and said our brother Deshaun Scott, he's hurting, his wife has gone on and he needs you, it was without hesitation. In the movie Harriet the character that played Harriet she says that I've learned to live now in my life, that when God speaks, that I move without hesitation. It was without hesitation. My brother was hurting.
Speaker 2:Whatever assignment that I was doing in that moment, god said it's over. This is the new assignment for you to go. He said you've completed what I've done, what I have for you to do. Then get to Deshaun, get to his children, because our people are in pain, they're in suffering. I don't mind Programs, events and things like that, I don't, but if it's not making impact in those areas where it's most important, then what are we really doing? We need to make an impact. We need to be able to be trusted enough to go into those very fragile areas of life and those individuals to trust us there, to know that we're there to do no harm, but rather to build them up.
Speaker 1:So with all this stuff, with all this stuff, you got going on the calling, you know the ministry and the education and just helping people in general. How do you?
Speaker 2:balance that out just for some you time and with your wife and things like that. Well, one thing with my wife we just had a discussion and I told her. I said sometimes I don't do it well because oftentimes I have to have the wisdom. I need the wisdom to be able to discern between what's good versus what's best. And there's been a lot of times I've given my time to what's good, even when it wasn't necessarily necessary for me to be engaged in that. Someone else probably could have taken that up. So I grow up, I mature, I learn, and one thing that I've come to learn is how to prioritize my personal health and my personal peace, because it's only then when I can be the best for my wife, Because it's only then when I can be the best for my wife, for my children, my grandchildren, for the church, for the community. So I'm very intentional. I'm just now actually getting back in the pulpit after taking off about like seven weeks just to just to rest.
Speaker 1:OK, that's important right, yes, sir. So what do you like when? Do you you when? Rest, is that just like resting? Do you take up any like? Do you golf? Do you you kind of I?
Speaker 2:like sleeping me too man, I sleep.
Speaker 2:I I like watching um, some good, inspirational television. I enjoy reading. I like going to explore, seeing different things, taking in some aspects of nature that I may not have seen before. I like some dining. I like going to sit someplace with my wife. We just went to this really cool restaurant in Cleveland and celebrating our anniversary. It's called the RH Rooftop Restaurant. Man, it is fabulous, is it? Yes, it is. What kind of food they got Good, good restaurant. Man, it is fabulous, is it? Yes, it is. What kind of food they got good good, no, they have. That. It's a a really um, distinguish me. It's a lot of things that I tend to like.
Speaker 1:They have a espresso bar that is just like you did say you like uh, yes, yes, sir, so they have espresso bar there.
Speaker 2:they have um some fine wines that are there, but then they also. The food was just exquisite. My wife had a wonderful salmon and that's my yeah. There you go. Oh, my goodness, it was it was got to go. Nice.
Speaker 1:Nice. What nugget of wisdom would you give the 18 year old Garrick Matlock? Would you give the 18 year old Garrick?
Speaker 2:Matlock, keep dreaming, continue to keep, always, always, love people.
Speaker 1:But don't give anybody permission to waste your time. I like your one word. You know I always explain this that everybody has a one word, something that closely connects with them, completely or closely. What is your one word and why? Sawabona.
Speaker 2:I see you, we're in this thing together. So Sawabona and the way that you respond to Sawabona, I see you is Shiboka, which means I exist for you. Shiboka, shiboka, okay, or Sibona, and Sibona means I'm here to be seen, that means I've shown up, I'm fully present, that we're here, I got you. So from those two words and I use, I mean, sibona is just the key of all of it, but I see you.
Speaker 1:And to be seen. That's a beautiful thing, and the other one, shibuna. That's the response to it.
Speaker 2:Sibona, sibona, or you can say sibona or shiboka.
Speaker 1:See, I feel like everyone a lot of my friends know dashawn always just getting random t-shirts made. You know, I got one that says ineligible bachelor gotcha. I bought three of those. It's another discussion there. Uh, non-verbal communication. Yes, yes, yes, you know the one I'm wearing, but he was around when I got this done in 2019, but I feel like that's a, that's a powerful to put on there, and I got one that says babu.
Speaker 1:So I always got to brag about this because my, my, uh, my daughter, uh, when she just had my granddaughter, she was like um, you know what do y'all want to be called? And you know, erica was like I'm gonna be called gg. And I was like, oh, here we go with this one. And she said no, grandma, goddess, so it's just the letter G, that was her thing. Got you Deshawn being who he is. I said I'll get back with you in about a week and a half. So I'm researching because I don't want to be called pop, pop grandpa, I don't want to be anything that is normal. So I'm going down and I discovered the word Babu. Yes, sir, and in Swahili it's grandfather yes, indeedy. See, thank you very much. And my grandchildren call me.
Speaker 2:Babu.
Speaker 1:Yo.
Speaker 2:And my wife. They call her Bibi Yep. Bibi is grandmother.
Speaker 1:Yep, because I tried to get E. She was like nope, grandma, goddess, b and E, right, I was like, but it'd be dope, you know. And then I told my son. I said you also know that he will call me babu before he calls you dada because of the b, it's easy to right. Yes, so, and I was right, you know. I mean, so there's some strategy in that, you know. But it's crazy because my grandkids, uh, especially my granddaughter, she's at that point she'll say babu you know, and you know as a grandparent.
Speaker 1:That hit your heart. Man, like you know you could be anywhere. You hear that, you know that it is dedicated to you right, oh, they're getting what they want you know they say granddad, you know you. A sea of people. Everybody might turn around, but babu, yes, sir that's you, that's you, babu.
Speaker 2:Can I have ice cream?
Speaker 1:of course you man, that is a small world, so I'm not the original now, but that's okay. Sorry, I'm in a good group, but great mind yep, yep, because I sure said, I'll get back with you. And they was like oh, here go, dad, with this. You know, I was like yeah, let me find something. There was another one too, but that, uh, babu, and I got it on a shirt, you know, and I put the two dots over the a, you know, because people, babu, I'm like no, no, no no, that's not right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that is not be careful what you're saying now. So we come into the part of random questions, okay, and I always ask the guest this and I have some random questions for you. Are you ready to partake?
Speaker 2:in these. Let's do it all right.
Speaker 1:If you could instantly change something in the world, what would it be?
Speaker 2:If I can instantly change something in the world, I would change racial hostility.
Speaker 1:If you had a superpower but you could only use it on Monday, what would it be?
Speaker 2:I would make the work week not start on Monday.
Speaker 1:If you could wear only one color every day, what color would that be? Blue, blue. Every man should own a.
Speaker 2:Riding lawnmower. And let me explain that one. Yeah, please do, because my yard's small. Okay, I don't care how much work you do during the day, if your wife happened to come in and see you sitting down with a remote control for some reason, that just infuriates them, no matter how much you've done. So I tell a lot of young men that invest in a riding lawnmower because your wife just wants to see you doing something. So even if you don't drop the deck down, even if you don't drop the deck and you just drive around the yard and listen to Sound United Presents it, at least look like you're doing something. And she's going to Sound United Presents. Right right, at least look like you're doing something. She's going to be happy, right right? Yep, he working.
Speaker 1:If you could choose a vacation spot, 21 days, all paid, you ain't got to do nothing. It's your vacation. You're there for 21 days. Where would it be? Somewhere in the Caribbean. Okay, no distinct place, yet you just know it's the Caribbean, yeah somewhere in the Caribbean.
Speaker 2:It's that halfway place, those blue blue waters. I've been to St Thomas, I've done mission work in Belize, but Megan's Bay in St Thomas, that is something to see.
Speaker 1:Especially when the cruise ships ain't there. Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:We went every year.
Speaker 1:Our honeymoon and then a couple of anniversaries and we stayed at the Sugar Bay Got you Because it was all inclusive. And once I learned what all inclusive meant, because at first when we got there I was like man, I ain't paying $11 for no hot dogs. Eric Blake Bay, you have a band on. Like what that mean that just mean we paid. She's like no, it's all inclusive. Once that mean that just mean we paid. She's like no, it's all inclusive. Once I learned what all inclusive meant.
Speaker 2:oh, brother, I was wow, when I, when I was at saint thomas, my, I had a roommate from college uh, good friend of mine, fellow brother that was at the bibles, attended my bible study. He's from saint thomas, so, uh, I went around with his family. So when I got there, I didn't try, I didn't go as a tourist, I went as a local and I quickly learned how to utilize words that they were using. So when it was time for me to pay for T-shirts and things like that, I said no, man with the power from La Cosman.
Speaker 1:What's the?
Speaker 2:price for locals Yep, yep.
Speaker 1:Because we would go down in that shopping district. Let me just say E would take me down to that shopping district Because if it wasn't the beach Megan's Bay, smith Bay, which is another good one and it's more there's hardly much there. It's beautiful, just as clear, but it's less people there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we would go snorkeling down, like in Kooky Point.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, and right there at Kooky Point. So Sugar Bay was right there. It was an orange structure. Yes, sir, that was there. But that was one of our favorite places and we would continue to go there. Because I actually pitched them on our honeymoon to do photography for them, because I was like people up in Ohio don't know nothing about you and they like to travel. So I literally pitched to get us to go every year for two years to go down there, just do pictures for one day, and every year for two years to go down there, just do pictures for one day, and we'd stay for, you know, nine days or something like that. It's beautiful. The only thing to stop my little eric was like just a side hustle. She's like how you pitching people on our honeymoon, right, and then every anniversary we go, we go to saint thomas, but the only thing that stopped that was, uh, hurricane maria. And then it got hit with that other one. Oh, maria hit him really, yeah, and so know that was like man. That hurricane killed my hustle, yeah.
Speaker 2:Was it Hugo? It wasn't.
Speaker 1:Hugo, it was Maria and it was one other one. Yeah, there was another one, because the one scraped them, but the other one just boom. Right, I knew it was Maria because it just we didn't go after that and that might have been 2017 or 2018.
Speaker 2:Rico, some of them actually came here because of Hurricane Maria, because so much had happened with their schools that they wouldn't have been able to continue.
Speaker 1:So they actually, and it was, it was bad. So you being there, you understand like the media they was.
Speaker 2:They wasn't even touching the surface, it was, it was bad and there's some individuals that still to this day the the residue and the damage that happened from those hurricanes, like in as well. I mean especially I can say from testimonials of my students, man um puerto rico was hit so bad that it there's still some lasting effects to this day small world man babu, saint thomas this was meant to be brother. I'm telling you that's it.
Speaker 1:There's a connection, god's hand. Where can people get more information about the church or stay connected with you?
Speaker 2:The church is on. We're right on. Come in and see us. That's one of the best ways. That's what we like to do. During COVID we were on Zoom, but you know, after COVID was over I had to tell people. You know, come off of Zoom and come on inside the building. You know, don't sit at home on Zoom and I'm just looking at your name and you rubbing your feet together eating Cheetos. You know, christianity was expected to be practiced in community. So we're at 403 Atlantic Street Northwest and we meet on Wednesdays at seven for scripture school and then Sunday morning scripture school starts at 930. Sunday morning worship begins at 11 o'clock. 403 Atlantic Street Northwest. So come in and see us.
Speaker 1:So good to have you on this.
Speaker 2:Thank you, this has been delightful.
Speaker 1:It's an honor for me. I'm so ecstatic about it, just great. So I thank you for being on here and we'll have you back to that round table I was talking about confidentially the round table. I won't go into details because people, what round table you talking about? When is it? I'm in the works, but thank you for being here.
Speaker 1:Thank you um, you know you, you are very impactful, very impactful and I'm speaking for me because I I can always remember there's a lot that I don't remember Just that whole process, right that, just that, there's a lot that I do remember. And on that do remember side was just our conversations and the reach out and stuff like that, but I do. Thank you so much for being on the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you and I'm a sound United fans. Oh yeah, you about to sign the thing and everything is swag coming for everybody, everybody.
Speaker 1:We gonna hook you up, but hey, folks, thank you for hitting the play button. Really appreciate it. I hope you got a lot from Pastor Matlock and we will be signing out 3, 2, and 1. This episode was produced by the Sound United Podcast Studio, led by Kimberly Gonzalez. Photography and video was produced by the Sound United Podcast Studio, led by Kimberly Gonzalez. Photography and video content produced by the D5 Group. And be sure to visit our website, soundunitedpresentscom, where you can catch up on all the episodes and get some behind-the-scenes content. I'm Deshaun Scott. Thank you for listening. Ready to launch a podcast or create standout audio content. Sound United Podcast Studio has everything you need Studio rental, consulting, content development, marketing support, and we even offer remote editing services. And we can help you whether you're local or nationwide. So book your discovery. Call at wwwthesounducom. That is wwwthesounducom. Or do it the old-fashioned way and call 330-238-7157. That is 330-238-7157. It's time for you to empower with sound.
