Testimonies: Why Your Story Matters

Join the HOTLCast crew as they dive deep into why sharing our stories is so transformative. Through personal experiences and honest conversation, Ryan, Matt, Mark, and Cody, explore how vulnerability breaks down isolation, builds authentic community, and reveals God's work in our lives. Whether you're struggling to open up or wondering if your story matters, this episode will inspire you to share your journey with courage.

Transcript

 Welcome back to the HOTLCast Hey, 

how's it going? 

I am one of your hosts Cody Moorhead. 

That's Ryan. This is Matt. 

And this is Mark. 

I'm in a different corner. I'm, I'm the only one with a last name. That's great. Congratulations. Mark. How does it feel? Do you feel like you're in a parallel universe? 

I'm like in the new corner.

Now 

we're in the new podcast studio. In the 

new Hoddle 

house. In the new Hoddle house, and it's echoey. 

Is is it isn? It 

is, it is. It is it? 

If you're loud enough, it is. 

Mark said it, it it feels like eight bit and I, 

no, that's not that, that, that's not, 

it's what you said. 

No. 

You said a bitty. I'm just saying 

No, I now we're gonna get 

pulled for copyright 

stuff.

I said I test the audio every time. Now we, that 

artist isn't big enough to have copyright. 

We, we lost it 'cause of the, um, audio issues the one week where everything sounded a bit crushed. So now I have to double check the audio before we record every time. 

Oh, cool. 

And now you know how the sausage is made behind the scenes.

So, 

and if you're like me, you have no idea what he just said. 

I dunno what those things mean, huh? Uh, no, it's actually, once it's all said and done, it's gonna be, we're really excited because we're gonna be able to film in this space. We're gonna be able to use it. Like it's gonna, it's gonna look really cool.

And we got some, we got some people who are really excited about some signs and some things to put behind us so that when we do film, it'll, it'll, it'll really go well. So, yeah. And we'll be able to. Kind of get some more permanent setup for cameras. So we will be coming to you live via video feed a couple times, like through this.

So we're looking forward to it. It should be good. So 

a video AutoCast. That'll be fun. 

Yeah. Video huddle cast will be good. Like we're, we're looking forward to, and there's, there's a, we're we're talking through doing re reviving the lodge cast, so, which is a student led podcast. So we're excited about that too.

We got a lot of students who are excited about being a part of that. So yeah. Should be good. But anyways, uh, so this past Sunday we had pizza with the pastors and we had a three 30 update. And overall it was just, it was another week of rules of us and Jackson. What did you guys talk about? 

Oh, we talked about, uh, just peaks and valleys and, and really just an opportunity for me to, uh, give my testimony.

Absolutely. So Ryan got to give his testimony, Rick Jackson, and it was awesome. And, uh, I know after speaking to other people who went, they were really, they were really moved by that, so, yeah. Yeah. So what do you think is so Ipor uh, powerful about testimony? I've been thinking about this lately because we're, we're gonna be doing a series.

Um, for youth where we talk about your story and like how, why your story matters. So why do you think testimony like just resonates with people so much? 

Yeah, well, I mean, I, I don't know. Uh, I guess, uh, I, I would disclaim this with, I often either sound very wise or very aloof. So here are my thoughts. Um.

You know, I, I, I think that that in some aspects, you know, just in the, in the frame of reference that we were talking about on Sunday, you know, this idea of peaks and valleys is that it, when you're in the peak, it, it, it's easy to see God, but it's also able to claim God's glory for yourself. Yeah. Right.

And when you're in the valley, it, it's the opposite. So when you, when you make that trek from a deep, dark place back to God. It's, it's hard to deny the, the, the power and the awesomeness of God, and, and it's hard to take credit for that. 

Yeah. 

It's, you know, it's when it's obviously God working testimony is powerful.

Yeah, I would agree with that. I, I think that, I think ultimately when Jesus, I don't know, I, I, I think that ultimately when Jesus connected the most with his disciples. It was through story and those stories that connected with them that made them see a, a part of themselves or like connect with a part of themselves.

So I think when we talk about testimony, I do think, like, I think you're right, it's the power of seeing how God moves in somebody's life. But it's also more than that. I think it's, it's like, okay, I can actually relate to that. Like that's something I've felt that way before or, and I think the cool thing is we all have had a pretty similar experience.

We're all fundamentally flawed, right? We're, we're. We can't do it without Jesus, and Jesus is the only freedom we have from the stuff that we've gone through. So like, if that is your testimony that that is the testimony of us as followers of Christ. So anytime we tell our story, it's, it's a way for people to connect with that and helps them draw closer or convicts their heart that they, these are the things they haven't done or they need to do.

So like I, I think that's why it's a big deal. But yeah. Shh. Yeah, 

we're doing a podcast. 

Yeah. Mark. We're doing a podcast. 

I'm sorry. I leaned back in the chair and it made noise. 

Might as well just put on the suit. I 

don't actually know that I got picked up in the mics though. Hopefully 

that would be great if he just got up and started putting it on.

Hey, get the mic to the night. 

Give the mic to the night. 

Yeah, the night over there. That's, that's a real coat of armor. I can't, 

we have armor in this room. 

Yep. 

A genuine, yeah. Suit of armor. 

And this is literally all that it takes to get people off topic. Whenever you're in the midst of something like this, the chair made a noise.

Yep. You know, whenever you're talking about testimonies, I think it's important to recognize that it's part of being vulnerable with other people that gives them the ability to then feel like they can be vulnerable with you. If they don't feel like they can open up and say to you, Hey, these are some of my scars and warts and flaws and hangups and hurts and heartaches.

If you don't have that ability, then they're never gonna wanna open up and say, yeah, these are the things that I'm actually struggling with. You know, I got to go back and watch your sermon after the fact, Ryan. And I thought, man, the things that you share and the way that you share it, and the way that you kind of just lay it bare for people to be able to say, you know, these are my unspeakable things, these are my unmentionable things that I.

I can't put out there for just everybody. These are the terrible, awful things. You find a way to do that, not just through Save a Warrior, but also through preaching now, where you're able to say, you know, you've got these problems over here. Listen to what God brought me through and because he brought me through this, I want to use that to give hope to you, and hearing the way that you've kind of leveraged some of the harder things in your life, to be able to take those moments and say, yeah, this is my hard stuff.

This is the things that I don't just, you know, unpackage for everybody, but I'm gonna unpackage them for you because I think it might give you a chance to find hope and healing is incredible. I think it's great. 

I appreciate that, man. I appreciate that. You know, I, I think that for, for me, I thought I was terminally unique for a really long time.

I thought, man, if people just knew, you know, how broken I am, like, oh, oh, nobody wanted to have anything to do with me. And, and what I realized is. People didn't like me when I pretended to be somebody else too. You know, I mean, because, because in, I love that. In my experience, people in general are judgy and, and we have a sinful nature.

And one of those ways is, is judgy. And so somewhere along the line it's probably Larry Turner advice, but, uh, somewhere along the line I heard that, you know. 7 billion people, six, 7 billion people in the world, most of them don't really care about you or your day, or, you know, and, and they're probably gonna judge you.

So let 'em judge you for who you are instead of who you aren't. I love that. And so for me, I tend to, I tend to exist that way these days where somebody's like, man, I, I don't like you. I'm like, some days I don't like myself, so I totally, I can see how you, I get it, you know? 

Um, I love that. I've, I've said that before.

Yeah. Some days I don't like me either, so 

Yeah. 

I might not be your cup of tea. 

I could totally get behind that idea. I walk my club, we making shirts. Yeah, 

I, I dig that. I dig the idea of like, I, I like what you said too, like most of them are, like, most of the people don't care about what's going on, like in your life.

Like Yeah. If you think about it, there's. What, 8 billion people now, 

and I don't have 

to make them wrong for it. Right? You way, it's not even close to a majority of those people that care about what's going on in my life. So, um, but I also think, I think a lot of times the testimony thing is, I don't know if you guys feel this way.

I've always felt this way, and I think it's true of most people. That we do play the comparison game a lot. Mm-hmm. And, and I, I don't know. I can't, I don't know if like, maybe this is just a cultural thing. Maybe it's just a American thing. Maybe I don't, but I don't think so. I think it's, I think it's like deeply rooted in us and I think it's because a lot of times we let shame drive the conversation that goes on in our head.

Right. And the shame of like. Well, I'm the only person that deals with this and nobody else knows how I feel because it isolates us. Right. And it makes us feel like, okay, if, if, if I'm the only one that's going through this, well then, like nobody else will, will be able to relate. And I, it, you know, it pulls us away from being in community because I love how you said terminally, terminally unique.

Like I love that so much because. I, I think the idea that my story is so unique and nobody can connect makes it to where I don't share my story and I don't, I don't ever get the affirmation that like, Hey, I felt the exact same way before. Or when we share how the sin that we've gone through, like it's like this.

Keep, keep us from like sharing and bearing one another's burdens because, well, if I tell them, obviously they've never felt like this, so they're not gonna be able to understand. And if I tell them they're gonna view me like this from now on. Yeah. Instead of how they're really gonna view you as like. As who you are and who God has made you to be and who you, where you've messed up or where you've struggled or so on and so forth.

It's like, I think, I think that's really powerful how you said that. I love that terminally unique. I, I think that's awesome. 

Well, yeah, man, and, and it's hard, it's, it's hard to be vulnerable, right? It's, it's hard to share and. And so like the language I have for that is like, there, there, there's a, there's a cost associated and there's a payoff associated.

Yeah, absolutely. So like when, when I get to pretend like everything's fine, um, there, there's a payoff, right? I get to be right. I get to look good. Yeah. You know, I get to avoid looking bad. Um. You know, I, I get to, I get to, uh, make others wrong. Why? Why? I get to maintain a good stance, and that's awesome. And, but there's also like, there's a cost to it and, and the cost is, is me.

Right. Everything. My vitality, my, my self-expression, my ability to show up as the best version of myself. Yeah. Right. My connection with my community, all that. And, and, and I used to think like, I didn't have that language. Once I got that language, I was like, oh. I'm not so special. And then you look around and then you can notice, oh, everybody else is doing the same thing.

We're all pretending. We're not pretending, and we all have stuff. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. And the moment you're like, Hey, I got stuff, somebody's like. Oh yeah, I got stuff too. Oh, here's my stuff. Oh, your stuff doesn't look like my stuff, but it's stuff cool. Isn't that isn't crazy. Now we can be friends. You know?

Isn't that crazy? Like, as soon as you say, Hey, I've got, I feel this way. And like, it's like you, you thought nobody else knew how you felt and everybody's like, I know. Exactly. I've had this situation. I've had, it was like even down to like I told my wife yesterday. So we got, we got a family who's, who's, who's in it, like in the throes of it right now in the hospital.

And um, you know, shout out. We've been praying for this family. Um, the Wilkins and Penny Wilkins is in the hospital and she had the exact surgery. I had it. She's the fourth person in the last two months that I know of that's had the exact surgery that I had, and I'm like, I, I'm like, and not, not, because I was like, oh, so are you 

patient zero is what you're trying to tell us, 

or no?

What I'm saying is like, as soon as you say, like as soon as you feel like you're the only one, like. And you, you, you, you, as soon as you get rid of that and you go, I've, I'm going through this and this is how I feel. You just have people come outta the woodwork and go, I know how you f Like I'm, I've been there.

Like I, 

people are dying to tell their story. Exactly. Yeah. They just need permission in a safe place to do it. They need some of you. Gives a, gives a darn. 

Yeah. 

And they, they need to say place to do it in. It's so true. A 

hundred percent. So I, and I, I know I got 

excited 

about that. Yeah. It's so true. It's so true.

We could tell. Yeah. I, I like, I just was like, I was sitting there exactly. I was sitting there talking to them about it and I was just like, Hey, like, and he's like, well, what are you gonna expect? I'm like, oh my gosh, this is exactly what I went through this. Like, because I'm sitting here with Kevin telling him like, okay, this is what she's gonna feel like this is how things are gonna go.

Like this is like, it's gonna be a long road of recovery. Make sure she doesn't come back too soon, like. You know, it's okay if she's out longer than she wants 'cause she's gonna be out longer than she wants anyways. You know? And just being able to say like, Hey, yeah, I've been there. Like, I think it's huge.

But that's part of the value of testimonies too, because I look at, okay, so whenever I went through my divorce, I was pastoring a church and I went to the board there and I'm like, okay guys, here's the situation and kind of how all of this was playing out. And they're like. Yeah, we need to have some conversations with you and conversations with your, you know, now ex-wife and kinda walk through some details.

But we think personally that God is gonna use this to make you a better pastor. Because at the end of the day, how many people in this nation get divorced? It's like 65% or something now. You know is the divorce rate. And they said, now you are gonna be able to be a pastor in such a way that you'll be able to speak into something that not every other pastor has ever dealt with.

And you'll be able to kind of come alongside those people and say, Hey, I genuinely. Know how you feel. And that gives value to some of the life experiences that we go through. You know, we, we read in scripture all the time where God will take things and use them for his glory and for his benefit. And no, I didn't wanna go through a divorce.

You didn't wanna go through a long decortication, you didn't wanna go through. Any of those sorts of things. You certainly didn't wanna go through any of the stuff that you had gone through with the war or anything like that, but now that we've gone through each of those things in our role that we're serving in God, it gives each of us a unique perspective and a unique opportunity to then look at the people that God puts in front of us and say.

Just like what you had said before, you've got stuff, well, I do too, and some of my stuff resembles some of your stuff. Here's how I was able to work through it, and just because the way I got there is looking different from the way you got there. God's gonna prepare to take you through something in an extremely.

Personal way that it's not gonna look like the way he got me there, but he still got me there and he wants to do that for you too. And that has tremendous value because then we're able to kind of go through this entire human condition and say, not only am I not alone because God is constantly with me, but he keeps putting people in my path on a regular basis that have gone through things where they can speak into my life and speak into the things that are happening and I can learn from them.

That's one. Having a multi-generational church is such a huge deal because whatever age you are, there's always somebody that exists that is older than you, that is able to look at what they've gone through in life and say, I know what that feels like. I know what that looks like. I would love to be able to talk to you about it.

And I That's so cool. I love, I love testimony 'cause I know for me the, when I was at a point where I wasn't sure about my faith and I was trying to figure it out. Hearing the way that God had moved through people's lives was like, whoa. Like, like when I heard about how people were before they met Jesus and the men that I looked up to, and I'm like, you were like that before you were a Christian.

I'm like that. That doesn't make any sense to me. Like anytime I've heard your guys' testimonies, I'm like, no. Like that doesn't, how does that get there? Like Rob Freeman's the one that always comes to mind when he tells me about his testimony. I'm like, he's like one of the most loving, gracious patient people I feel like I see interact.

And he like is always working to do that and that, but he's been, it's 'cause of how God has worked on him and worked through him and used him to be able to get him to that point. And so like that's, that's always been the coolest thing to me to hear how. When people give their lives to God. That kind of, for me was like that confirmation of, oh, this is legit, this is real.

This has actual impacts in people's lives and I wanna understand it too. So like that kinda kicked it off for me when I was coming to this church and hearing all these stories and it was like part of the fire that like started in me. So 

yeah, I love, I love the, I've always loved storytelling. I love the idea of storytelling.

Like, I love that there's, you know, there's a point. There's a point to it, right? Like that there's, when you start, I don't know if you guys know anything about writing or storytelling, but there's you scatter plotting, and there's, you know, storyboarding and there's all these things that you do to make sure that, like when you're writing or when you're telling a story, there's a cohesive flow like that.

There's a point to it. And that the point is the payoff at the end, right? So you have the, the setup, you have the tension, you know, then you have this, you know, the plot, like this is the plot, and then you have the payoff, right? So what's the climax and how does the climax resolve? And when? When I think about like our testimonies, we are getting to see a portion of the story of our life and the plot and the payoff, and we're communicating that to somebody in a way that resonates with them.

This is where I go. I struggle to understand how people cannot see God's hand. World because everybody that shares their testimony has a common thread and plot throughout it. It's this idea that I was broken, I wouldn't, was in need of a savior, and Jesus saved me from my sin and my brokenness. How in the world is that the storyline for every single one of these testimonies that people give and people don't go, okay, there's definitely a design to this.

It's one of those things. 

You know what I mean? 

It's like where once you see it, it feels so obvious. It feels so clear. 

Yeah. 

Pregnant women at the mall, right? Ryan? 

Pregnant woman at the mall. Yep. Yep. Or like those videos where it's like you see 

and you're like, 

oh, I can't believe I didn't notice this all along.

It's everywhere. 

Or you've seen those videos where like the guys are throwing the basketball, it's like count how many times they throw the basketball back and forth and you watch the whole video and then end, they're like, did you see the Pando walk across the screen? Yeah. And you go and watch it again.

And there was somebody in a panda suit dancing around the whole time. Like it, it, it was a 

suit. 

It was a person in a panda suit. Yeah. It may 

have been a real panda. 

It was probably a real panda. 

Oh my goodness. That's scariest panda I've ever seen. If that's the case. Oh goodness. 

But yeah, I, I just think things like that, I just think you, you go, you, you watch it and you go, okay.

I know. And we, every year, so I, I'll tell you, so I probably, I like, who knows, I, I, every year I do this thing called communications camp at the high school. So I do it with high schoolers and like I, I get to work with a bunch of other adults and like we're sitting there. And my partner that I work with, her name's Leanne McMichael.

Shout out to Mr. McMichael. She's awesome. But she is like, we're both followers of Christ and she, her husband is the pastor at Gateway Church in Stead. And when we sit down in our group and we have kids talk about the things that are going on in their life and like some of these kids are followers of Christ, some of 'em aren't like, but when we hear 'em talk and we just go.

You know, they have all these questions like, how should we do life? Like, how, what? You know, like, what are the things that we need to avoid? Like, how do we build relationships? How do we build friendships? Like, I'm feeling empty. Like, you know, like we're just going, like we, you know, we're in a, we're not in a space where we can go.

Know where we can just like break open the Bible and like, 'cause it's a, it's a public school space, right? Mm-hmm. Like, but like, we're just, we're both going, we know, like, we know, we know what the answer is, dude. We know like, we know how you can fix this. Like, we know, we know what can fix this. It's not you, it's Jesus.

And like, you know, it, it, so you, you, we end up having these answers that are very much like, they're all based on Christ. Like, Hey, listen, here's how you navigate friend relationships. Like, you keep short accounts, you do like, you know. But it's like when you start talking about testimonies, you start talking about how we interact with people.

Like how do the why? Why do these all matter? Like to me, the biggest tie in is like the same story has been happening to individual people for the entire. Length of history. It's the exact same thing. Yeah. Kingdoms come and go. Right? Right. Regimes start and fall. Empires crash like, but at the end of the day, the individual story of the gospel has been the same since the very beginning.

We, we realize how far apart from God we are. We understand our brokenness. We realize that we need a savior. We commit our life to Jesus. And then we go and try and tell everybody about what that's done for our life. And so like, that's why I think testimony is so vital. That's why I think it was commanded in the formation of the church that somebody was to bring a testimony.

Someone who used to bring a hymn, somebody was to bring a, you know, a, a a message and like, and the commit ourselves to the reading, you know, the letters to the apostles. Like that was a humongous part. Of the church. You know, giving testimony is a humongous part of like gathering together as followers of Christ.

Like when, when you, when you share yours, I mean, the reason that's so powerful is because that work that God does in and through you is the same work God is doing in someone else. And sometimes they just need that affirmation that they're, they're doing that too. 

No, I'm with you, man. And you know what's, what's cool too is I kind of add onto that.

I, I think that for a lot of people it's really hard. People who are finding a hard time in their life connecting with God. Yeah. Right. Um, they, it's, it's, when you're in the valley, it's hard to see that, right? Yeah. But it isn't, it isn't hard to see Rob free. You know, it isn't hard to see, to hang out with that guy from, for, for, yeah.

Four hours and see the 30 hours worth of service he does to, to, you know, in, in the name of God. So for me, it, it's like same idea for me, me too. Like I heard the testimony as somebody who, who told me nothing. He told me all about Jesus by telling me, he wasn't telling me about Jesus. He specifically said that, you know, like I'm not talking about God.

He, everything he was saying was talking about God. 

Yeah. 

But I wasn't in a space to hear that. Right. But I wasn't in a space to look at him and go, wow, you got something that I want. 

Mm-hmm. 

And I'll do whatever I gotta do to get there. 

Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. Well that's huge. I mean, I think as, uh. As we wrap up the huddle cast this, you, you might need somebody to tell you this, so let's, we, we can tell you this, have the courage to share your story and your testimony with somebody of what God has done in your life.

Not nec, not what you've done, but what God's done in your life and why, why it's brought you to the place that you're at. And, uh, I, there's power in that. There's definitely power in that. 

So, yeah, you can change your whole direction 

without a doubt. So thank you for joining us. We're glad you could listen.

Have a great week. 

See you next time. 

Love God. And love people. 

Bye-bye.