KB Insider Podcast Episode 14 // LIVE from Kingdom Bound — Part Two!

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Come on. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Hey, everybody, Mike Wing here from Kingdom Bound. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Kingdom Bound Insider podcast. This episode is kind of really cool. We met a few people who do a podcast of their own called the Sunnyside Up Podcast. Via and Ham on are on that podcast, and they came to the festival this year and they got some great interviews. They got interviews with people in the park. They got interviews with some of our artists, some of the friends of Kingdom Bound, some of the partners of Kingdom Bound. So make sure you check out their podcast, the Sunnyside up podcast. [00:00:41] Speaker C: First time at Kingdom Bound? No, this is not my first time at Kingdom Bound. I've been coming since I was, like, his age. Family traditions continue. You're just the next generation. You're bringing them back to Kingdom Bound. I love that. What has been your favorite part of today? My favorite part of today? The worship tent. [00:00:55] Speaker B: Brought her here when she was three years old. [00:00:57] Speaker D: Wow. [00:00:57] Speaker B: Okay. That's a little one, two years old. [00:01:00] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:01:01] Speaker B: So this is like the next generation for us. [00:01:03] Speaker C: You guys having a great day so far? Yes, very much. We have to go save seats at the concert. Yes. Okay. [00:01:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:10] Speaker C: You're doing it for your whole youth group. How many kids? 45 seats. Sorry, how many of you? 40. 40 seats. Out of everything here. The concerts and the rides. Our favorites are, like, the Jesus moments and seeing the speaker, because I think almost everyone in our youth group has bawled their eyes out at least once. [00:01:29] Speaker E: It's amazing. [00:01:30] Speaker C: I just feel like. I feel like it's home. Like, I just feel so welcomed. Is this your first time at Kingdom Bound? Yeah, it is. It's been amazing. We loved it so much. Yeah, it's been really great. Just seeing everybody worshiping last night was incredible. Really? How was Josiah Queen? Amazing. We had so much fun. [00:01:49] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:01:50] Speaker C: So you guys are lined up now. Tell us what you're lined up for. Definitely for King and Country. I love them. You guys trying to get some good seats here? Yeah. I think you're at a pretty good spot in line. You're going to do it. Good job. Okay. I'll have fun tonight. Thank you, guys. You heard it here. They're waiting and they're lined up. So here we go. Yes. And are you guys a family? Are you friends? How are you all know each other? We're a family. And is this your first time at Kingdom Bound? Or have you done this before? Nope, this is our first time. And are you camping? Are you in a hotel? We're camping. And do you guys still love each Other. After all these days camping together. Yes. [00:02:24] Speaker E: Yes. [00:02:25] Speaker C: Okay, tell me, what's the most annoying thing your sisters have done this week? Oh, yeah, no comment. Okay, that's good. That's a good sir. And what has been your favorite part of the week so far? Mine has been Josiah Queen so far, [00:02:39] Speaker B: Many different people from different churches come, [00:02:42] Speaker E: and you end up seeing people you [00:02:43] Speaker C: haven't seen for years and years who are like maybe a couple churches away. And the whole of western New York gathers here to worship in the same space. [00:02:48] Speaker D: And it's beautiful. [00:02:49] Speaker C: It's my favorite part. Guys, welcome back to another episode of the Sunny Setup podcast. Yes. And we're just having the best day. We are back on location at Kingdom Bound Music Festival, meeting all kinds of new friends, having all kinds of guests, and we have a brand new guest with us. We do. I don't even think you guys were ready for all the guests we have today, but here we are. Here we are. Guys, this is Steve. And Steve, I want you to tell us a little bit about who you are and your organization. [00:03:13] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:03:14] Speaker B: Thank you for having me. And I love the name of the podcast, by the way. [00:03:17] Speaker C: Oh, thank you. [00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So my name is Steve Tyber. I'm the president, founder of Eight Days of Hope. The number eight in the Bible means new beginnings. And 20 years ago, a storm hit our country in America called Katrina. Probably remember it. So my dad was living in Buffalo. I was living in Tupelo, Mississippi at the time, doing a corporate thing. And we agreed that we both would bring three friends, and the eight of us, maybe we could rebuild one home in eight days. [00:03:44] Speaker A: Wow. [00:03:44] Speaker B: That was the plan. It was simple. But have you ever had a plan and then you realize that you're not in control? So it was our smallest missions trip we've ever done with eight days of hope, however, we took 684 others with us. Wow. And in eight days. In eight days, we rebuilt 84 homes. 84 in eight days. Wow. Some from the ground up. [00:04:05] Speaker C: Wow. [00:04:06] Speaker B: So it's like Extreme Makeover, but we don't have a bus and my hair is not cool. But 84. And we saw families get saved. We saw volunteers come on a missions trip, not realizing they didn't have a relationship with Jesus. And they too now are brothers and sisters in Christ. So, yeah, it was amazing. 20 years ago, we just celebrated our 20th anniversary. [00:04:28] Speaker C: Wow. Okay, hold on. Back up one second. How many volunteers did you say? Did you say 680 something? [00:04:34] Speaker B: Yes. [00:04:34] Speaker C: So where did you find these? [00:04:36] Speaker B: Said across the country. So yeah. So we are based out of Tupelo, Mississippi, and American Family Radio. Back then they had about 145 radio stations in America. And I was coaching the president's kids in church league basketball. Never played basketball in my life. You know how that goes, your kids on the team. You know, you're a coach. And so I said, would you play one spot, free spot? He said, sure. I thought he was only going to play it at one station. And so. So our largest missions trip ever was after Hurricane Harvey. Wait till you hear this. We took God sent 4,962 people. They lodged at 33 churches. Our feeding bill to feed those volunteers for those eight days was $161,000 just to feed them. Stop it. Our budget was 2.1 million. Raised it in 44 days and we did $15 million. 808 families had their homes rebuilt at Eight Days Open Houston just about six years ago. So four arms of the ministry. We just love being the hands of feet of Jesus. And we're a family friendly ministry. We're just a conduit for saints who want to find a way to give back to those in need. [00:05:50] Speaker C: Wow. I mean, I feel like I'm just still flabbergasted by all these numbers you're throwing at me. [00:05:55] Speaker B: Okay. [00:05:55] Speaker A: All right. [00:05:55] Speaker C: And how much like God is just multiplying it. It's like the story of like the fish and the loaves. [00:06:00] Speaker B: It's the prayer of Jabez. We prayed eight years ago. You know, I was leading a pretty good size building material corporation and, and also leading eight days of hope. But about eight, nine years ago, I stepped away from the corporate world and got to retire early. [00:06:15] Speaker E: Pretty. [00:06:16] Speaker B: Praise the Lord. [00:06:16] Speaker C: Praise the Lord. [00:06:17] Speaker B: And we just prayed the prayer of Jabez. And so now we have four arms of the ministry. We have an arm that goes right away. It's called our rapid response arm. In the last four weeks, our rapid response arm has been to Indiana with tornadoes. It's been to Kansas because of a derocho straight line winds 100 miles per hour or more. And there was flooding in Louisiana. So that's our rapid response team, our rebuilding teams. That's where we build homes from the ground up or do renovations or remodeling. We just wrapped up an outreach in Buffalo, New York. A one off outreach where 1700 people came from 36 states and Canada. Go Canada. They showed up in droves. [00:06:56] Speaker C: And Canadians like to hear this. [00:06:57] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. A they do. [00:06:58] Speaker C: Yes. [00:06:59] Speaker B: And somebody gave us a $5 Canadian bill. As a donation. [00:07:04] Speaker C: It wasn't worth much. It wasn't worth much. You were like, oh, man. Really? What is this? What is this hunk of junk? [00:07:10] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Some of our leaders from Mississippi said this is the prettiest money we've ever seen in our entire lives. [00:07:15] Speaker C: But it's almost worthless. It's about worth $2. Yeah. [00:07:20] Speaker B: So we help families in Buffalo this past week, and then we have a mass feeding arm. When there's a power outage, like in Laos, Louisiana, a couple years ago, Hurricane Ida, there's no power for 27 days. No. No food, no stores. So we bring our mass feeding equipment in. We have about $2 million invested in mass feeding. The mass feeding can make 8,000 meals per cycle. And they give food to the local church, and the local church hands it out. [00:07:46] Speaker C: Wow. [00:07:46] Speaker B: Why? Because we leave and we want the local church to shine. And then our last arm is an arm that's near and dear to my heart. We've been building safe places, including the largest campus in North America for teenage girls. But we've been building places all over the country where women and children rescued from sex trafficking. So natural disasters, human disasters, 65,000 volunteers, $99.8 million of donated labor. And I believe we're just starting. That's my attitude. [00:08:16] Speaker C: Okay, talk to me about the administrative side to this. Maybe that's the organizational part of my brain. When I'm listening to you, I'm thinking, I love how you did this in retirement. I'm gonna work. You were probably had less on your plate when you were not retired than you have now. So what does it look like to run an organization to this scale? Because you're talking some big numbers. [00:08:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:41] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:08:41] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. To God be the glory. First of all, I mean, who am I? Yeah. I'm just a sinner. Say by I'm one of 65,000. That's the way I look at it. You know, we have 300 volunteer leaders. They don't get paid. We train them. We have about $7 million of equipment, debt free. Everything's paid for. And they're trained to lead volunteers like the two of you and others to do what we do. To tarp a roof, to build a house, to pull wire for electrical, to make a thousand meals, to do it in a healthy way. And so they're trained to lead our volunteers. We only have 15 staff members. [00:09:14] Speaker C: Wow. [00:09:15] Speaker B: And five years ago, we only had six staff members. But here. Here's it is. Here's what I'm learning. We're just a conduit for the church. Our leaders represent 13 different Christian denominations. Baptists working with Methodists working with, Roman Catholic, with Assemblies of God, with non denominational. It's everyone saying, you know what, we're going to set aside our petty differences. You know, should a choir be in robes or should there be contemporary music? Right? Should we embrace speaking and talking publicly or is that not, you know, we set those things aside, we keep it about Jesus and about sharing the gospel. The gospel is pretty. That's one thing. All these denominations, right? The gospel is the truth. So should we just share the gospel and then watch the Lord move? [00:09:59] Speaker C: Wow. And I feel like he has moved in incredible ways. Just as you're talking, I'm like, oh, I feel like we could be here for hours and hours just asking you all the questions, but I really just truly feel like God has blessed the vision that he put on your heart. You know, just when you were going back when you thought you could build the one house in eight days, was it that? [00:10:17] Speaker B: Was it one house? You know, Today we are celebrating that the Lord has allowed us now to build over 12,000 homes. From LA with the fires to Buffalo with blizzards to hurricanes in Florida, Texas, building safe houses in South Dakota, working with Tim Tebow in Tennessee. Frank Reich, an ex NFL quarterback coach, Indianapolis. We just finished a house about three months ago in Houston. Check this out. This house is Elijah Rising. A ministry leads up they were rescuing women during the World Cup. They rescued dozens of women during the World Cup. In the facility that we built, WOW was a transitional house. So they can bring them in, spend a day or two with them, try to find a way to get their IDs, and they start the healing process and then they transition them to another healing facility around the country. So regardless if it's making food, I tell people all the time, can you make a sandwich? Can you drive a car? Can you paint? Can you do drywall? Can you do roofing? Are you comfortable going on a roof? Can you fold T shirts? Do you know we have laundry trailers Whenever there's a flood, we have six laundry trailers with 10 commercial washers and dryers. We pull them in the subdivisions and we let people come to us and we say, we'll do your laundry for you. Or you can use a laundromat, because think about it, if their house flooded, that means their washer and dryer flooded, which means the laundromat down the street flooded. We have seen more people come to meet Jesus in the laundromat. Of our laundry trailer sometimes than doing some of these other things. [00:11:50] Speaker C: So you really are being the hands and feet of Jesus. Like, as you're speaking, I'm just like. Not obviously just you, but like the volunteers and everyone that's. It's just like. It's really the heart of Jesus. [00:12:03] Speaker B: It's practical. See, I don't know about you guys. I've complicated things sometimes. You know, I've known the lord now since 1993. And you're all excited to share six verses and you want to share your 25 minute testimony. And sometimes I'll tell you, the greatest sermon I ever heard is the one I saw. When people see Jesus in the two of you, when they see a glimpse of hope in the volunteers building a safe house or handing out a meal, they're drawn to that and they're like, hey, Leah, there's something different about you. What's going on? I tell the volunteers, be prepared with a two or three minute testimony. If you share a verse, you share one. But I can share my testimony in three minutes. I don't even share a verse. And then you be quiet for a minute, which is hard for some of us, but be quiet and let. Let them ask questions. [00:12:49] Speaker E: Totally. [00:12:49] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:12:49] Speaker B: And then the Holy Spirit moves. It's amazing. [00:12:52] Speaker C: Wow. And I feel like you must have so many stories that you could be from everything that you've done and the people you've met, because we all. We love stories here on our podcast. We love to share stories. We feel like that's such an amazing testimony. Is there one specific instance, a story that stands out, where maybe there was something that had gone wrong and God moved in a big way or something unexpected happened that you could share with the listeners? [00:13:16] Speaker B: Amen. I'll shoot our shirt. Two of them, quickly. [00:13:19] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:13:19] Speaker B: First trip. Ms. Anna May 84. Ms. Anna May Parsons in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. A bunch of college girls from Michigan were going to go on a ski trip for their winter trip, but came instead to serve with 80s Oak Day number one. They're like, we don't know how to do anything, but we're here. Maybe we can paint or something. [00:13:35] Speaker C: Wow. [00:13:36] Speaker B: They end up serving Ms. Anime. And on day six, they were about two blocks away from our headquarters. They came running and they said, Mr. Steve, Mr. Steve, you got to come quick. You got to come quick. I'm thinking somebody is hurt. So literally, it was two blocks from the headquarters I got there. Ms. Anna May, 84 years young, was kneeling on her gravel driveway receiving Christ from these teenage girls, sharing Their testimonies of why they didn't go to Aspen and ski. And God called them to Vay St. Louis. Ms. Anna May saw her sister drown in her home. Her son found away the surging waters of hurricane Katrina. Her sister drowned, and her son was able, with a butter knife, cut a hole in the drywall on the ceiling to get his mom up, but couldn't save his aunt. This lady, 84, met Jesus because of a hurricane. Wow. [00:14:29] Speaker D: Wow. [00:14:29] Speaker B: And then just, gosh, a year ago, I was in Houston. We built a home for women rescued from trafficking. And I'm not handy. I've never handled a power tool in my life. Is that just like the Lord? [00:14:42] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:14:43] Speaker B: Come on. [00:14:44] Speaker C: Yeah, let's go. I was just thinking about that laundry tent, and I'm like, I'm gonna. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna get on a roof. [00:14:49] Speaker B: The only thing I've ever done with a power tool is plug in a blow dryer. But that's a whole nother story. [00:14:54] Speaker C: That's right. [00:14:54] Speaker B: Anyways, so I'm in Houston, and a sweet girl comes up, about 19. He said, Mr. Steve, thank you. And I said, oh, what's your name? She said, stacy. I said, hey, Stacy. She goes, thank you for building a safe house for me. And I said, oh, no. I don't build anything. I do other things. But I am a part of this, and you're welcome. I'll share with the team. She goes, no, you don't understand. I said, okay. I said, I'm here. Tell me your story. She said, for eight months, my dad trafficked me. For eight months, I was in the bedroom of our house. And every night, between six and eight times a night, the doorknob would turn, and I didn't know who was walking in that room. Said, Mr. Steve, for the last six months, I go to bed every night. I don't even have to lock my door. And I know that doorknob will not turn one tie. Wow. That's why we do what we do. God's called us to love and serve the brokenhearted. Find the ministry. It doesn't have to be eight days of hope. Feed the homeless, go to a nursing home, and love on those who don't have a child or a grandchild. Come serve with eight days of hope, but find the ministry you believe in. But here's the deal. People don't sit on the sidelines. Life is short. I want my children and grandchildren to say, you know what, man? Sometimes he made me laugh. But I know he loved the Lord and he used the gifts he had, not with tools, but to do what God's called me to do. So I invite everyone. Go to 8daysofhope.com if you want to learn more about the ministry. Ms. Anna May and Ms. Stacy are the two that I'll remember for years to come. [00:16:29] Speaker E: Wow. [00:16:29] Speaker C: Thank you so much, Steve. I. And feeling like I don't even know how to wind this one down because that was so powerful and in such a short time, but he's right. Go check him out. Go check out eight Days of Hope, and hopefully we'll have some more conversations on the Sunny side. We'd love to have you back for a longer episode. [00:16:47] Speaker B: Come hang out with us. [00:16:48] Speaker C: Yes, we would love that. [00:16:49] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. We would love. [00:16:50] Speaker C: Put us to work. We'll do something. I'll do laundry. [00:16:53] Speaker B: Okay, we got two laundry ladies coming our way. [00:16:55] Speaker C: Actually, I'm really good at clean. We're both cleaners, so we can help clean. [00:16:58] Speaker B: Can you make a sandwich? [00:16:59] Speaker C: I love sandwiches. So she makes fresh sourdough. I'll bring some sourdough. Sourdough. [00:17:04] Speaker B: Fresh goosebumps. There you go. That is weird. I got goosebumps when I heard sourdough. Pray for Steve. All right. It's the last day of Kingdom. [00:17:12] Speaker C: There's deliverance ministry somewhere in one of these tents. Steve. [00:17:15] Speaker B: Okay, so in Houston, remember, when you have 4,962 people, that means every day you have to make 6,000 sandwiches. Oh, wow. You should see Ben Fuller make a PB and J. We had to take him off the line because he kept trying to lick his fingers. I'm like, ben, you can't do that. He said, no, that's okay. The 11 sandwiches I make, I made. I'll take it for the guys on the bus. So that's what he did, but. Yeah, yeah, that's what he did. But come hang out with us, man. [00:17:39] Speaker C: Yes, we would love that. But, guys, thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Sunnyside, and we hope that you guys have a fantastic day. Bye. [00:17:48] Speaker A: Bye. [00:17:49] Speaker C: Need a little sunshine for your soul? Join Leah and Pam on the Sunny side Up podcast for real stories, honest faith, and lasting hope. It's the kind of conversation that encourages, encourages, inspires, and leaves you laughing. The Sunny side Up podcast. New episodes every Monday. I'm gonna start forgetting people's names and different things, or I'm gonna mix up people's stories. They're gonna be like, were you even listening? It's okay. I feel like there's grace for meeting lots of New people. We're just making so many new friends. Like, our favorite thing to do. It's awesome. It's true. And today, guys, we have Sean, and he is part of the I Am Second organization, I guess we would call it. Yeah. And so we want you to tell us a little bit about what is I Am Second. [00:18:37] Speaker D: Awesome, guys. Thank you, Leah. Thank you, Pan, for having me. Yeah. I Am Second is a ministry. A media ministry. Christian media ministry. A lot of us are famously. Well, we are famously known for the videos that we create online. They call them white share testimonies. It's the story of famous athletes, movie stars, rock stars, but also regular people like you and me that have just got inspiring stories of how someone's gone through a difficult thing in life, found Jesus, and then spoke about the difference that Jesus made in their life. Right. And then we put this film on the Internet, and it just goes viral. God just multiplies. It sends it all over the place, and it just does incredible things in society. Right. It kind of gives people an experience or a window into somebody's life about how powerful God can be and move in someone's life. Right. And then obviously, the profession is I Am Second because Christ is first. Right. And, yeah, so that's kind of what we famously known for. What. What a lot of people probably don't know about I Am Second is we have a very large footprint on the ground as well. Like, as a ministry, we have a huge heart for teaching and equipping youth, young adults, and also anybody who wants to hear it with tools on how to share your own story and then also how to share the gospel. And then we gather people and raise up leaders to start Bible study groups called Live Second Groups. And we do this in schools, universities, in neighborhoods, coffee shops all over the place. We are seeing Bible studies form and become actually mobile house churches. Wow. [00:20:20] Speaker B: I love that. [00:20:21] Speaker D: Yeah. And through our organization, I am second, who is a ministry that's birthed out of E3, E3 partners in Dallas. We have seen over 100,000 churches planted last year alone. And so, yeah, we're very excited about how God's moving, you know, through this ministry, through the strategy he's given us, and the power of testimony. Right. [00:20:43] Speaker B: Wow. [00:20:44] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:20:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I love it. I've seen, like, a ton of your videos. It must be in my algorithm, because they're always popping up, and I always watch them. I love them. I. Well, and that's sort of. Lee and I, both of us love stories. Our podcast, too, is basically just sharing people's stories, how God moves in their life. So very similar. Probably not quite as cool. Like, you guys have a very cool setup there. They probably got some good media, Pam. [00:21:05] Speaker D: They. [00:21:05] Speaker C: I know we have a little bit of a duct tape and chicken wire kind of setup, but we, but love what you guys are doing and we agree, I think that storytelling is so powerful. Right. It's just such a powerful way to share what God's doing in your life and kind of takes people by surprise. Sometimes you stumble on a video of somebody, especially in a well known person, you're thinking, wow, maybe I knew them in this capacity, like on a sports field or in a movie, but I never knew this backstory, which is amazing. [00:21:33] Speaker D: Yes. Yeah, yeah. Well, let me share this with you because the power of story is so powerful. I've seen it in my own life. I've had many. I was one of the first Christians in my family and I would try to be, you know, I try to convert the rest of my family members, like, oh, you want to read the Bible? This is what the Bible says. And you know, and, and it goes in one ear and out the other. And people argue the point that, ah, you're, you know, you're reading a book that's 2,000 years old and how many translations and how many different denominations, who's right? You know, there's a lot of argument that people push back on when you try to share or impart scripture. But when you come with your story, when you're the power in Revelations, it talks about it, right? By the power of your testimony, they'll come to know me. And that's what happened in my life. I saw many of my family and their members actually witness my change, my story and see this difference that started to happen in my life. And then they were actually intrigued about. When I moved to Canada and I joined the organization of Iron Second, my life drastically changed, like over the last seven, eight years. A lot of my family back home was like, wow, man, Sean. Who is Sean? Like, he's a different guy. Who's iron second, Right. And they actually started to watch some of the films to, you know, find out a little bit more about who's iron Second. And I give God all the, all the glory, all the praise because many of my family members in South Africa came to know the Lord through seeds that were planted through videos on the website. [00:23:08] Speaker C: Wow. [00:23:08] Speaker D: So, yeah, just a powerful example of how the power of testimony or story can draw people in and a seed can be planted. Right. Because, you know, people can argue till you're blue in the face about scripture. But they can't argue about your story. Your story is your truth. They can't say to me, sean, that's not true. That didn't happen. I'm like, no, that happened. Jesus came into my heart, into my life, and addictions were broken. Change happened. My life was transformed. You can't tell me that's not true. That is real for me. So, yeah, just powerful how the power of story can break down any wall. [00:23:48] Speaker C: And there's no denying story. Right. Like you said, people can argue scripture. They can argue what version is right or how to, you know, interpret scripture, but when you're sharing your story in the power of testimony, it is so important. And, yeah, I love that Pam said that, because that's all what our whole podcast is about. It's sunny side up. It's finding the sunny side up to, like, the darkest moments in your life. And so we're doing the same thing, just on a much smaller scale than probably you guys are. But I. Yeah, I just love that. So. So did you move from South Africa to be a part of this ministry, or did you become a part of this ministry after? [00:24:26] Speaker D: No. So I had heard about I Am Second being a Christian in South Africa. I'd heard about the story, seen the videos, always been a big fan. Well, when I moved to Canada, I was on a journey to pursue a prophetic word spoken over my life. And it was spoken. I'll just share the word was, sean, you're going to become a part of God's team, the ministry. You'll be planting churches and speaking to thousands of people. Now, you must understand, I was probably a lukewarm Christian at best back home. And so when this word was spoken over me, I kind of. I was a little bit terrified by it. I was like, are you kidding me? Planting churches and speaking to thousands of people. I've never spoke to 50 people. [00:25:07] Speaker E: Wow. [00:25:08] Speaker D: Yeah. And now I'm in an organization, E3, the E3 side, which is equip, evangelize, and establish. We establish local house churches all across the world. And I am part of also the I Am Second brand, which speaks to millions of people, not thousands. And so it's just so good to see how God, when he speaks, man, right down to the. You know, to the full stop at the end of the sentence is accurate, right? And come to be. So, yeah, I was connected with a really good friend of mine in Kitchener who I discovered was a missionary who invited me to come and join him as a Volunteer with. I am second. And when I started to volunteer, guys, I can't even explain. There's no words to explain. God just lit a passion and a fire in me after I used this three Circles tool that we share the gospel with. And I shared this tool with two kids in a parking lot, in a Walmart parking lot. I shared this tool. And I'll be honest, when I started to share the tool, I had doubts. I was like, is this gonna work? This seems silly, right? And I shared the story of the three circles with these two young kids and they both looked at each other, they looked at me and they said, yeah, we wanna give our lives to Christ. And now just in that moment, just realized, okay, I had that come to Jesus moment where I realized, okay, this is what you created me to do, right? And I had a very successful career in corporate sales working for an international company, like making a really good money salary. And I just, everything, my whole purpose for living changed in that moment. And I just decided, okay, this is where I want to be, this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. And so I went on a journey, a slow transition of getting out of the corporate world and into a full time ministry role as a missionary. And so we, we self fundraise missionaries now, raising support to do what we do every single, every single day. It's. And it's amazing. [00:27:09] Speaker C: And it's amazing. And I love, what I love about that too is I feel like, you know, we're always saying we want to live like Jesus and be like Jesus and what we know about Jesus is he was like the greatest storyteller of all time and he reached people by telling stories. And he told different stories depending on the environment he was in or what he knew would connect with someone or relate to somebody. So I feel like it's really no surprise, right? Or we shouldn't be surprised that that same strategy works for us, right? If we share the stories of what God's doing in our life, people, there's something about it that, like you said, it's different than just the facts, like telling someone the facts of scripture or whatever, something that can be debated. There's something special and unique about telling a story that just impacts people and reaches like the deepest part of their heart and really causes like a heart change. And it's biblical, right? The blood of the lamb and the word of her testimony. [00:28:00] Speaker D: I think of the woman at the well, which is, I think in, I think this is accurate. The woman at the well is probably one of the first evangelists, you know, she had a life rough by this conversation with Jesus. And what did she do? The first thing she did was ran back into town and told everybody about it. Like that's the kind of thing we want to inspire with. I am second. Yeah, we want to see you receive a life changing interaction with Jesus, but we don't want you to keep that. [00:28:27] Speaker E: Yes. [00:28:27] Speaker D: Go and share that with everybody. Everybody. And sometimes people like, people want to do it, they want to share, but they don't know how. No one's really given them a model or you don't go in church on Sunday and get a message from your pastor on how to share your story. Right. The pastor is doing a phenomenon. I have massive respect for pastors, churches all over the world because they have a huge big job and that job is to pass to the flock, right? To shepherd the sheep. And you know, we love to come alongside churches and have the opportunity to train the flock. Right. Teach the flock how to get activated in their faith. How can you take simple, reproducible tools and put them to practice straight away? Start with your Oikos, your household, your family, your friends, your neighbors. And so we train this tool called the Oikos Map and we give you direction on who to start with. And then once you start getting, you know, the excitement and the experience of sharing your faith with your low hanging fruit, your Oikos map, it just births something inside a Christian, it lights a fire inside of them. To do this more on the regular, let me go out on the streets. Let me get part of an outreach initiative. Let me go on a short term mission trip. Like we take people on short term trips and we see their, we see their Christian lives just come on fire when they get back from the trip. So we have 58 volunteers this year on our team for Kingdom Bound. And I think 80% of all the people that are on our volunteer list have all been on a mission trip with. I am second. And that's what happens. You come on mission with us, you can't come back. Not changed. They come back completely transformed. And all of a sudden they're breaking our doors down to come on mission with us. They want to do more. Right? And so that's what I'm so excited about, seeing how God moves in the regular Christian like. So Kingdom Bound is this huge fishing opportunity. We throw the net really wide at Kingdom Bound and we do so much networking here with the US and the Canadians, you know, alike. Right? [00:30:40] Speaker C: There's so definitely mostly the Canadians. Yeah, mostly for the Canadians. Right. [00:30:46] Speaker D: We're right on your border. So we're your neighbors, right? [00:30:48] Speaker C: That's right. [00:30:49] Speaker D: We love it, man. Guys, we love Buffalo. We love Rochester. And yeah. So we excited about more opportunities, you know, to come on this side of the pond and do some work with you guys. [00:30:59] Speaker C: Maybe we need to send our kids. [00:31:00] Speaker D: Yes. [00:31:01] Speaker C: That's amazing. I was literally just thinking that, like, I'm going to send my kids over to your tent and be like, hey, can you have a conversation with them and like, really hype them up. [00:31:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:10] Speaker D: That's amazing. [00:31:11] Speaker C: Wow. Thank you so much for sharing. I feel like we could. I know we're in a time constraint, which is too bad. I feel like we could just sit and chat forever. I have so many more questions I'd love to. To ask you, but people can pop by your tent if they have more questions. [00:31:22] Speaker D: Please. Yeah, we have tents all over the park. And also people might not know this, but we've actually got a tent in the campgrounds. Every year we stick up a prayer tent in the campgrounds and we always have some staff there, you know, if you want some one on one time, some prayer and deliverance, whatever it is. I mean, and we there to serve. [00:31:40] Speaker C: I love that. And obviously if people aren't there or here. Sorry. They can find you online. [00:31:46] Speaker D: Online. [00:31:46] Speaker C: Yes, I am second.comiamsecond.com guys. Well, thank you. So guys, thank you for sharing with us. [00:31:52] Speaker D: Amazing to be here. [00:31:52] Speaker C: It's been amazing. And that's it, guys. We're wrapping up another episode. So thank you for being here and we will see you next time. Bye. Bye. [00:32:00] Speaker D: Awesome. Thanks, guys. [00:32:01] Speaker C: Okay, we are headed into the concert. All these people have been waiting for good seats for King and Country. So we're gonna. It's only 4 o'. [00:32:07] Speaker B: Clock. [00:32:07] Speaker C: These are Die Hards. These are the Die. I literally think it doesn't start till like seven. I know. So we're gonna go up, we're gonna chat with people and see what their experience has been like so far in the park. Yeah. And we. And we've loved every moment hearing different people's stories about their connection with Kingdom Bound. And like we're. Yeah, we're excited. So I'm going to run all the way up to the front. You're going to follow us for the journey. Okay. How long have you been coming to Kingdom Bound? This is my second year. Okay. [00:32:33] Speaker D: This is my first year with our kids. [00:32:35] Speaker A: So I've never been here before. Neither have the kids. [00:32:37] Speaker C: And what has been your absolute favorite Part. Yeah. [00:32:40] Speaker A: Just like. [00:32:42] Speaker C: Yeah, I hear that he brought a pretty big crowd last night. Was it crazy? Was it crazy? Oh, yes. She says, mommy, I've never been this pumped in so long. Think it'd be more pumped tonight than last night, or do you think you can't even top it? I don't know. [00:32:56] Speaker A: We'll see. [00:32:57] Speaker C: We'll see. We'll have to circle back to you tonight and see. And what about you? What's been your favorite part? It's like a glimpse of heaven. Just like worshiping with this many believers. It's really cool. We. We ran all the way from over there and got good feedback. [00:33:09] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:33:09] Speaker C: And this is my first for King and Country concert, so I'm really excited. I heard they're really good. They are. They're so good. You're gonna love them. There's a reason they come back year after year, because everybody loves them. Yeah. No, we came two years ago. Yep. And I used to come as a teenager. Okay, so now you're bringing your daughter back, carrying on those family traditions. Yes, it's like. [00:33:29] Speaker A: It's like a pilgrimage. [00:33:30] Speaker C: I came here from New York. [00:33:31] Speaker D: I got a flat tire outside Binghamton. My wife and I, sweating on the [00:33:35] Speaker C: spot, side of road day. [00:33:36] Speaker D: We just. It's like a. It's like a summer boot camp for Jesus. [00:33:40] Speaker A: It really is. My wife and I love it. [00:33:42] Speaker C: I love that you guys persevere. No flat tire is going to stop you. You're just going to keep going. You made it. And you've gotten here early for. For King and Country tonight. [00:33:49] Speaker D: Yes, absolutely. [00:33:50] Speaker C: Because yesterday we kind of navigated a [00:33:52] Speaker A: little poorly, and my wife, I wanted [00:33:54] Speaker D: to make sure I had a seat for her, so I came early and stuff like that. [00:33:57] Speaker C: What a sweet husband. Husbands. Take notes, Take notes. Get here early. We hope that you enjoy the concert tonight. It was great to meet you. [00:34:04] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:34:04] Speaker C: How long have you been coming to Kingdom Bound? In total, about 15 years. 15 years. Okay. You're the record holder so far. This is the longest standing attendee we found. Yes, that's right. [00:34:14] Speaker D: Still standing. [00:34:15] Speaker C: Congratulations. I wish I had, like, a trophy or a medal for you or something. What is your favorite part of Kingdom? Obviously, there's something that brings you back every year. What would you say that is? [00:34:24] Speaker A: This is something we look forward to. It's the highlight of our family, but in a sense that this is a place that can come together with other Christians, other believers and worship like this [00:34:33] Speaker B: and be, you know, encouraged and run [00:34:36] Speaker D: a positive environment like we see here [00:34:38] Speaker C: and do you guys stay on site or you come in for the day? [00:34:40] Speaker A: No, we actually. [00:34:41] Speaker D: We stay over at a hotel. We stay for the whole week, but we stay here in the hotel. [00:34:45] Speaker A: I'm. [00:34:46] Speaker C: That's amazing. [00:34:47] Speaker B: Not a big camera. [00:34:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Hey, I hear you. I'm not. I'm not really a Tank kind of gal. I. Yeah, I need the cozy hotel. But how excited are you for King and Country? [00:34:55] Speaker D: For King Country, Absolutely. [00:34:56] Speaker C: Yes. And we are here at Kingdom Mound Music Festival. Interviewing lots of very interesting and amazing people. And today's guest is no exception to that. That's right. This is Judy. And we just met Judy. So this is like, we don't know anything. We're starting from scratch. This is great. But tell us, who is Judy and how long have you been coming to Kingdom Bound? And what is your favorite part of Kingdom Bound? [00:35:20] Speaker E: So we started bringing our children when they were teenagers with another family. They invited us along to come to the concerts, and we just loved it so much that we chose, in a large sense, well, God led us to be a part of the Kingdom Mountain family. So we volunteer. Now, we've been staying here on grounds since 2019 because couldn't get enough of being here, and it was just such a more enriching experience to stay on grounds, for sure. [00:35:51] Speaker D: Wow. [00:35:51] Speaker C: Yeah. It's like you want the whole experience. [00:35:53] Speaker E: You do. [00:35:54] Speaker C: So do you guys. Are you guys campers? You do cabin. Do you bring a trailer? Like, what do you do? [00:35:58] Speaker E: We stay in a trailer. [00:35:59] Speaker C: Okay. Amazing. And is that something your family would do normally? Are you guys big campers and travel? No. So that's, like, special for getting in bound. [00:36:06] Speaker B: I would. [00:36:07] Speaker E: My husband would not. [00:36:08] Speaker C: Okay. Was he a little bit bougie? He needs, like, the hotel and the. [00:36:12] Speaker E: He would prefer. Yes. [00:36:13] Speaker C: Yes. That's okay. That's amazing. So how old are your kids? [00:36:19] Speaker E: So my daughter is 26 and married. We are now grandparents. [00:36:23] Speaker C: Wow. Congratulations. [00:36:24] Speaker E: And she did say that maybe in the future we could bring her here, so. And we have a son who is 23 as well. [00:36:33] Speaker C: Okay, so your prayer is like, let my grandbaby get here. Because I just. I do feel like Kingdom Bound. It's like, there's just something about stepping on the property that it is like a holy ground. Like, when you step onto this property, it is holy ground. You just feel it. [00:36:49] Speaker E: And you could feel the holy spirit working here. [00:36:51] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. [00:36:53] Speaker E: Absolutely. [00:36:53] Speaker C: Absolutely. Do you have a favorite memory of Kingdom Mound or, like, a favorite moment where, like, either you truly felt God's presence, like, in a. More like standout way than I will say. [00:37:05] Speaker E: And I was telling our friend a little bit ago, but last year, I had a father who had just gotten out of prison, so I volunteer up at the main gate, checking people in and such. He brought his very young, like, preteen son to this event, and he didn't even have a vehicle. He had rented a U Haul to get here. Wow. And they were in the park. I think they were in the water park. And they lost their backpack with their keys to the U Haul, the key, the tickets, everything. And he came back to the main gate, and to me, you know, for. For whatever reasons, God led him. And the first thing I did was put my hands on him and said, it's going to be okay. And we pray. [00:37:58] Speaker D: Oh, wow. [00:37:59] Speaker E: And we helped them to stay calm because obviously this man had had a very difficult life and was trying to bring his son to God. And, you know, they found all of their stuff. Wow. And it was just such a beautiful gift. And yesterday, this man and his son were here. They came again and found me and said, thank you so much. You provided such comfort. And I said, that was not me. That was God. [00:38:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:33] Speaker C: That's amazing. [00:38:34] Speaker E: Just that joy that we feel, blessing other people. It's such a blessing to us. [00:38:41] Speaker C: So how does the transition go from, like, because you're a volunteer now, you obviously love that role of being a volunteer. How did you transition from, we're coming, we're camping, we're participating to now, hey, let's get involved in a different capacity. Like, how did that go? [00:38:57] Speaker E: Well, primarily through God. [00:38:59] Speaker C: Okay. [00:39:00] Speaker E: Led my husband to a friendship with one of another board member. [00:39:06] Speaker D: Okay. [00:39:07] Speaker E: And we were brought in in that sense and just. Are able to just. We tell them wherever we're needed. Wow. That's. You know, what. Whatever you need for us to do, we are here, here to serve. [00:39:20] Speaker C: And it really is such a partnership of a million different volunteers. Right. So many different people. [00:39:26] Speaker E: You don't see all the little people that are doing so many things behind the scenes that need to be done just to make this experience so powerful for people. And it's. It is such a blessing. Yeah. [00:39:40] Speaker C: And one thing we keep hearing throughout the day, the. The thing of the day is just like, family. This is all about family. And Kingdom Mound really is a beautiful family. And I. I'm seeing that through the different people we're interviewing and. And. And the different conversations I'm having. And it really is just such a beautiful thing. [00:39:57] Speaker E: It truly is. [00:39:58] Speaker C: Wow. [00:39:58] Speaker E: And it's, you know, God calls us to Community. And this is just another family community that we've developed with the Kingdom family, for sure. That's beautiful. [00:40:09] Speaker C: And I love how you're highlighting how God works in any situation, really, because you can be on the main stage ministering to people. You can be welcoming people in the gates. You could be emptying the trash. You can be selling merch. Like, every little role works together to provide an experience and people to encounter God. And. And I love how, as a volunteer, you take that seriously, because, like that example you showed, that story, if that man had come to you and you were impatient or dismissive, like, you know, it's not my fault you lost your keys or whatever, like, that would have completely changed his. But the way that you were able to be very Christlike in your approach to him made such a difference. The fact that he found you this year and wanted to see you again. So that's amazing. [00:40:52] Speaker E: Yes. There's so many stories like that throughout the years that we've been doing this, that it's just. We are exhausted, I'm sure in pain by the end of the week, but it is so worth it. Yeah. [00:41:06] Speaker C: And it really is all about being the hands and feet of Jesus, and that is something we're learning. And, like, as people that are kind of new newbies here or whatever, like, we honor you for helping and, you know, hearing that call and stepping into that, because it's so easy to be like, oh, like, I think I just want to attend. It's so much easier. Right. But they really do need the help and the volunteers. So we honor you in that and thankful. Like, thank. Thank you for serving so well. [00:41:29] Speaker E: And don't get me wrong, we love the music. We are big music fans in my family. My husband plays guitar and is a music minister at our church. However, it's the blessing that we receive doing the volunteer work. [00:41:43] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it's kind of like a wedding, right? Where, like, it's exhausting and so amazing, but you just wouldn't change it. And it's an incredible experience. You put so much into it, so probably that's what does that. Is that kind of what this week feels like for you? Yes, yes. [00:41:58] Speaker E: Having done a wedding with my daughter. [00:42:00] Speaker C: Yes, yes. Like a similar vibe where it's like you love every moment, but you're just exhausted in the best way at the end. And just serving in the local church is like that. Right. It's like you can go in feeling so, so tired and so exhausted, but you walk in that place. We. I Serve with the young adults at our church. And I. There's weeks where I'm like, I just don't want to go. I'm so tired. Like I've been a parent all week. I'm working whatever it is. And then I get in that place and you feel so filled. Yeah. By giving back. And it's like reminding ourselves that it's not just about us. Like there's. There's so much more. So I love that. [00:42:35] Speaker E: Yes. And there's such a need. [00:42:37] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:37] Speaker E: There. And when you feel needed, it blesses you. [00:42:40] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:42:41] Speaker E: So tremendously. [00:42:42] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:42:42] Speaker E: Sure. [00:42:43] Speaker C: So serve guys. That's. That's the bottom line. So if people are listening to this and they come and they love Kingdom Bound and they feel like, hey, maybe I want to make that transition the same as Judy did from just a tender to volunteering, how would you suggest people go about doing that? [00:42:57] Speaker E: So on the Kingdom Bound website there is a spot and I don't know where it is on off the top of my head, but you. There is a way to connect. [00:43:07] Speaker C: Okay. [00:43:07] Speaker E: With volunteering. [00:43:09] Speaker B: Okay. [00:43:09] Speaker C: Sure. Yeah. Amazing. So guys, go to the Kingdom and website. Take a look. It's never too late. Next year they're already starting to grab and volunteer. So thank you so much, Judy. [00:43:19] Speaker E: Absolutely. [00:43:20] Speaker C: Thanks for being a part of this, guys. This has been amazing. Thank you for another episode. We will tune in soon. Bye. Amazing money for people who need. Wow. Selling Chick Fil A sandwiches. I mean that is definitely a God inspired idea. [00:43:32] Speaker A: Yes. [00:43:33] Speaker C: If that wasn't gone and smart, I don't know what it is. Okay, tell us about your favorite thing about Chick. Oh my gosh. Well, about Chick Fil A, but about Kingdom Bound being at one track, man, I love helping and serving and I love the music. [00:43:47] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:48] Speaker C: I mean, I'd have to say the same thing. And I like to see friends and stuff. Yeah, that's amazing. Well, guys, thank you so much. Good luck. We hope you raise time. Good luck. Yeah, I hope you guys and literally guys come and get yourselves a Chick Fil A sandwich. [00:44:00] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:44:00] Speaker C: I wish that I could just pull this from here and take a bite, but I can't. But thank you guys. Enjoy, Harper. Okay. Harper, how long have you been coming to Kingdom Bound? This is actually my first year. Wow, this is exciting. We love newbies. So what do you think so far? Tell us everything. Honestly, it's just a very cool environment seeing everybody just praising and worshiping God. Like I've had different experiences of praise and worship with a good amount of people, but I'VE never experienced something like that this before. I love the worship tent. [00:44:27] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:44:28] Speaker C: I do love the heart of the artist. I love all the ministry, the worship. We are really finding that it's the connection and not just like the bigger bands, but everyone just keeps saying it is just like the heart of worship behind the entire event. We had spent some time apart, and I apologize if I get emotional, but we had spent some time apart and had actually, like, I filed for divorce the whole time we were together. He was very against me. Me being of faith, and he wouldn't allow me to go to church. He wouldn't. Didn't want me to bring up the Bible or God, and he didn't want me to talk to our daughter about it. And while we were apart, he sent me a message one day while I was at work and said that he was getting our daughter and they were hopping in the car and they were going to church. Wow. And he's here. I've come every year all these years without him because. And this is his first year at the. This year, God moved his feet to come and be willing to come today. And even if it's not really his thing. It's not. But he's here and he's listening, and he's soaking it in. And that's all I have prayed for for 15 years that we've been together. Can I give you a hug? [00:45:30] Speaker D: Yes. [00:45:31] Speaker C: You sure? Thank you. You get to see so many different artists. You get to meet so many different people. There's so many good ministry moments and lots of room to grow in your faith. And, I mean, the theme park's amazing. The campground's amazing. I'd say do it for sure. You definitely won't credit. We are on location still today. We are at Kingdom Mountain Music Festival. The worship music is playing, and, like, I hear it slightly in the background, and I just, like, start singing in my head, and then I forget the next question. So bear with me. Yeah. Leah's going between, like, worship and interviewing in her mind. She's just going back and forth. It's true. And here we are. I know, I know. We've been spending the day interviewing a lot of good guests and meeting new people. So we're meeting a very new friend right now. So this is a friend of Chris's that you were introduced to us, and so we're excited to get to know you. That's right. So tell us a little bit about who you are. [00:46:23] Speaker A: Well, I'm Jim Labar. I'm a pastor of Harvest Chapel. Free Methodist church in Fredonia, New York. Been pastoring for about 20 years. Chris Hoisington on and off has worked with me as a worship leader. So we were just talking outside of this and he said, hey, you should come talk to these girls. So yeah, okay. [00:46:41] Speaker C: And now you're sitting here frozen in a seat being like, what do I say? [00:46:46] Speaker A: I, you know, I was just coming to enjoy a day at Kingdom Bound, hang out. [00:46:49] Speaker C: You know what, you have such a radio. I was just thinking that you should be doing this more. Yeah, yeah. People must be telling you that before. [00:46:56] Speaker A: Have you heard this usually when people show up at church, like have you done radio? I said it's usually a backup career. Oh yeah, like that's that. [00:47:03] Speaker C: I mean I, I hear it like strongly so. Or like a sports announcer. I feel like you could be like saying the. I don't know a lot about sports, but you know the things that they say, calling out the things that happen in sports. Touchdown. [00:47:15] Speaker D: That's right. [00:47:16] Speaker A: Touchdown. I thought you were from Canada. Shouldn't it be goal. [00:47:18] Speaker C: Oh, that's true, that's true. See that just shows how much we do not know about sports. [00:47:23] Speaker A: That's fair enough. So about 20 years ago, maybe the church that I served as a small church in Niagara Falls, USA for a while and we were looking for a worship leader and I knew of Chris and a mutual friend connected us and it worked out that for about six or seven years he was our part time staff worship leader at that little church. [00:47:45] Speaker B: Wow. [00:47:45] Speaker C: And your little church trusted that big hair. [00:47:49] Speaker A: That was one of the coolest things. It was such a gracious, loving church and people just took right to Chris and I knew that, I knew that things were going well because if, I mean, I don't know if we can make this all about Chris Hoisington, but you know, his willingness to go where the spirit leads and the church was a really reserved church when I got there. A woman who would play hymns on the piano, which was lovely and she had a great heart for it. But as we transitioned to a different style of music, when Chris would lead us in songs where it wasn't a pre scripted song, but he's just singing, leading a phrase. And then when I heard like the 70 year olds behind me singing along with what he just taught them in the moment, I said, yep, this is a good moment in worship. The Lord is here, present, people are connecting. And I think that's one of the gifts in small church especially. People know and love one another and they trust one another a little Bit to maybe take some risks. [00:48:47] Speaker C: Yeah, I love that. Now are you lead pastor? Associate pastor? [00:48:51] Speaker A: Yeah. So I, I, I am a lead pastor. Yeah. And I'm no longer in Niagara Falls. That was about a 11 years ago now that we moved to a college town, Fredonia, New York, Halfway between Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania. [00:49:02] Speaker C: Okay. So close to here. [00:49:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Just about an hour and a half. [00:49:06] Speaker C: Okay. And tell us like a little bit about like your church. [00:49:11] Speaker A: So my church currently is this great church in a college town. We have a few staff members as well as myself and yeah, it's, it's been great. So when our worship leader that was at that church moved on a couple of years ago, I got back in touch with Chris and hence how I'm here because he's been helping us out with worship. But yeah. [00:49:32] Speaker C: And what do you find the difference? You find there's a difference. Having a church community within student, a largely led student body. Do you have a big student population at your church or is that your goal to kind of minister to students? [00:49:45] Speaker A: We definitely see that as a mission field and we love when students plug in and are apart. What we like to say is there are on campus ministries that do a good job of meeting students in that place where they can encourage one another at similar life stage. But what we have to offer as a local church is being a part of a multi generational family, like a church home away from home if they have a church background or just an opportunity to step out of the echo chamber of 18 to 22 year olds and be a part of something where they can get some surrogate grandmas and grandpas who will love them, ask them how they're doing, bring them meals. Yeah. But it's a constant turnover. That's the challenge, of course, is four years later, it's a whole new set. [00:50:26] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, okay, you have been in ministry for how long? [00:50:31] Speaker A: Ooh, ministry for how long? So the church I grew up in, I started as the youth pastor unintentionally in 1999. So that would be 26, 27 years. [00:50:41] Speaker C: Okay, so a long time. So obviously ministry is both beautiful and chaotic and comes with its own set of challenges. So what has been your biggest hurdle that you could talk into for like ministry? Life and ministry. [00:50:56] Speaker A: Life and ministry. Biggest hurdle. [00:50:59] Speaker C: Boy, sorry. I know we're going deep. We're going deep. We're just this nice easy question. Sorry, I gotta wanna know. [00:51:08] Speaker A: Yeah. I have been very blessed. The churches that I've worked at have been filled with people who are loving and gracious and kind. I know some friends who have had some struggles in other ways and it's always a challenge because we have this mission the Lord has given us to go and make disciples and reach people with the gospel and then raise them up and help them live into the flourishing fullness of Christ and his kingdom. But we're still people. So there's gotta be relational stuff. And so that's usually the most challenging is where the relational stuff comes. And it's not always about a right or a wrong, but it's just some preferences, things. And how do you navigate that with kindness? How do you agree to disagree? Well, those are usually the things that keep me up. If there's anything happening, it's these people. I see the relational disconnect and how can we still be the body of Christ, still be church together with those differences? [00:52:06] Speaker C: Yeah. And Chris had a lot of amazing things to say about you, which is, is amazing to hear because a lot of times nowadays, especially the phrase church hurt is pretty prevalent and it seems like you can't have a conversation these days with another believer without that inevitably weaving its way into the conversation where people experience church hurt, either from their fellow congregation members or a lot of times even from pastoral staff. How do you combat that where you're not, you're trying to look out for that. And, and obviously like you said, people are people. We're human. It's, it's probably impossible to have a church where no one is ever hurt. But is that something as a pastoral staff, that's top of mind for you or how do you navigate that? [00:52:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean that concept of church hurt breaks my heart because I grew up in church. It's been a part of my life the whole go. And I've seen people experience church hurt, hopefully, Lord willing, with much prayer. I haven't contributed much to that. I'm fully self aware that there have probably been times where I've disappointed people, let them down. But I guess maybe some of it is recognizing what we do have this very serious mission, this high calling. At the same time, one of the phrases that we've used around our church is that we try to take Jesus very seriously, but not ourselves so seriously. I love that. So we try to operate from a posture of humility of I could be wrong about this. And so to give some grace, some wiggle room, of course there are essential things that we might have to say, well, this we need to find some commonality on. But those are a small core of essentials. And the rest how can we again be the body of Christ together? But yeah, it's hard. That's hard. [00:53:57] Speaker C: Yeah. I have another question for you. I think first mentioned that you were married. You. So you have a family. So how do you balance ministry and family? Because I know that's a big thing in the, the church world. And you know, oftentimes ministry is not a full time. Sorry, it's more than a full time job. Right. You're. You can be working like 40, 60, 80 hours a week. And one saying that I kind of hold on to because we've been in ministry like a lot of our life is like, do not sacrifice your family on the altar of ministry. [00:54:25] Speaker A: Right. [00:54:25] Speaker C: And it's something that I've heard over and over again. So, like, how, how would you speak into that? Like, how. What have you done well in your life with your family? And what, like, what's a piece of advice you can offer somebody? [00:54:37] Speaker A: Yeah. I think one of the things early on and again, maybe because I was serving in a smaller church where there was a little wiggle room and when my wife needed to pick up a job, there were seasons where my 3 year old would go to the office with me at church and sleep on the pew that was in the side room while I was doing some work. And that was afternoon nap. So, you know, we've been very intentional to keep with our family. Like I'm the same person at church as I am at home, for better or for worse. It's just that genuineness, authenticity that I strive to maintain. So the gospel message should be not only affecting who I am as a pastor, but as a husband, as a father. [00:55:20] Speaker C: Yeah. And it's your first ministry. [00:55:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It has to be a family. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we definitely take advantage of my. I set my own schedule. So if I need to make sure that a board meeting doesn't happen on a night where there's a volleyball game because we've got four daughters and we just, we do that. [00:55:37] Speaker C: Yeah. I love. And I feel like that's such a good principle to have, just as any believer. Right. You don't have to be in ministry to understand the importance of authenticity. Where wherever you are, like what they say, who are you when no one's watching. Right. Are we representing Christ in a Christ like way? Even if we're not pastoral staff, if we're just, you know, with our friends at school or in the community or to your neighbors, would they be shocked to know that you go to church on Sunday and you claim to be a Christian or would they say, yeah, that makes sense. They live different. They live a Christ like walk in their life. Right. So I love that. Yeah, I love that you prioritize that. [00:56:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And because the church tradition that we're a part of is the Free Methodist Church, so we are baked in the holiness movement. And while sometimes in the history of our movement that's gotten a little bit into legalism, which is not the intent, but it's really about holiness is about wholeness or integrity, about allowing the spirit of God to transform us from the inside out. And so that idea of being a full person in Christ, that's been really important for us to kind of lay that out as a. This is just who we are as we walk. [00:56:49] Speaker C: And I love that. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for sharing. Before we go though, I want to know what is your favorite thing about [00:56:55] Speaker A: Kingdom bout my favorite thing about Kingdom [00:56:58] Speaker C: Bound and you can't say Chris. You're not allowed to say Chris. That's a cutoff. [00:57:05] Speaker A: Should it be this year my favorite thing about Kingdom Bound is doing this podcast with you two. [00:57:08] Speaker C: Yes, that works. We will give you brownie points if you say that. [00:57:13] Speaker A: Yeah. And the cool thing this year, you know, growing up, I grew up 15 minutes away from here. My parents still live in the house. It's 15 minutes away from here. And as a kid, if you had told me going to Kingdom Bound that one day, so I've got a 20 year old daughter who's about to sing on the worship stage, like, I wouldn't have guessed that. [00:57:28] Speaker C: I love that. [00:57:29] Speaker A: And it's not because she's on the platform, but just to have a daughter that I've raised who loves Jesus, loves the church and wants to serve. That's cool. [00:57:37] Speaker C: Yeah. That makes you happy? That's like, I'm a success. I'm winning it. Yeah. If my children love God and follow God, then I. I made it. That's right. [00:57:45] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:57:46] Speaker C: Well, thank you. Thank you so much for sharing and being on and it's been another amazing episode. So guys, thank you for tuning in and we hope that you're having an amazing day. Stay tuned for more. Bye.