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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Build Different is a production of the American Association of

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Speaker 2: Christian Counselors. To support this podcast and learn how you

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Speaker 2: can help us to promote all our biblical content, spread

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Speaker 2: the Gospel, and provide mental health resources and training to

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Speaker 2: people everywhere, just go to aaccfoundation dot org. Again, that's

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Speaker 2: Aaccfoundation dot org. Welcome to Built Different. I'm Zach Clinton,

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Speaker 2: your host, and each week I come to you exclusively

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Speaker 2: on the Life Audio podcast Network. I'm proud to partner

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Speaker 2: with Life Audio and bring you entertaining, life changing, family

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Speaker 2: friendly podcasts for a new generation. I Built Different. Our

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Speaker 2: mission is to provide encouragement, hope and challenge to help

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Speaker 2: push you past your limits and reach goals you never

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Speaker 2: thought possible. Colossians two, verse six says, So then, just

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Speaker 2: as you received Christ Jesus's Lord, continue to live your

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Speaker 2: lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him.

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Speaker 1: Amen.

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Speaker 2: Now let's roll Hello everybody, Welcome back into the Build

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Speaker 2: Different Podcasts is always I'll be your host today, doctor

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Speaker 2: Zach Clinton, and we're actually backstage in Garland, Texas at

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Speaker 2: the Curtis Coohwal Center for about where four thousand women

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Speaker 2: will be showing up here in a couple of hours

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Speaker 2: for an extraordinary women event to really grow in a

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Speaker 2: relationship with God, but also growing community and in relationship

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Speaker 2: with one another. And it's always fun is whenever we

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Speaker 2: come to different cities and we're going on tour, we

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Speaker 2: love to reach out to friends, like minded individuals that

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Speaker 2: I have seen and I have respected for countless years.

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Speaker 2: And today we have a very special guest that lives

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Speaker 2: not too far down the road that said, you know what,

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Speaker 2: I would love to come over and join you at

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Speaker 2: the Curtis Cohoal Center and let's have a conversation backstage

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Speaker 2: here for build different. And so today we're joined by

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Speaker 2: a very special man, Steve Weatherford. Steve, when he comes

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Speaker 2: to mind, many of you might think of him as

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Speaker 2: a super Bowl champion, or an lead athlete, or just

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Speaker 2: a high level performer. But what I see is a leader,

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Speaker 2: a man who calls other men up to live lives

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Speaker 2: on mission. And I see an incredible husband, an incredible father,

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Speaker 2: somebody that I want to imitate because I believe that

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Speaker 2: he is imitating the life of Christ. And so, Steve,

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Speaker 2: my friend, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks

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Speaker 2: for making the trip over here.

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Speaker 1: Today. I'm excited to be with you. I feel like

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Speaker 1: this has been a long time coming. I just got

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Speaker 1: to meet doctor zach Out in the parking lot and

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Speaker 1: I told him, I said, man, I feel like I

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Speaker 1: already know you because I've been following your events, your

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Speaker 1: social media, and just everything that you've been doing over

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Speaker 1: this last I would say probably twenty four months after

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Speaker 1: Doug Elks came into my life and just got activated.

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Speaker 1: I think shortly thereafter he caught on with you and

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Speaker 1: he just said, man, you got to follow this guy

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Speaker 1: and everything that he's doing. And then now we find

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Speaker 1: ourselves here in an empty stadium that's about to be

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Speaker 1: filled up with women that are hungry for an encounter

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Speaker 1: with God. And it's an honor, man, it's an honor.

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Speaker 2: I'm really looking forward to this. Like you said, this

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Speaker 2: is a long time coming. Shout out to Doug for

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Speaker 2: connecting us, because I know you have really poured into

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Speaker 2: and invested in his life. And like you said, he's activated,

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Speaker 2: he's mobilized. He is preaching the good News of the

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Speaker 2: Gospel everywhere. He's on fire. So thank you from a

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Speaker 2: friend of Dougs. Thanks for what you've done in his life.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for what you've done in mind from Afar and

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Speaker 2: now what we're about to happen up close. I can't wait, Steve,

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Speaker 2: I want to start here. God is clearly doing something

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Speaker 2: special in your life, especially over the last several years

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Speaker 2: when it comes to leadership, when it comes to the

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Speaker 2: entrepreneurial mindset in business and calling men up. As I mentioned,

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Speaker 2: you wear a lot of different roles, a lot of

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Speaker 2: different hats. What most excites you in this season and

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Speaker 2: what has God really been revealing about himself as you

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Speaker 2: try to prioritize all of these different things.

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Speaker 1: That's a great question. What do I feel like God

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Speaker 1: is using me right now to do that? I just

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Speaker 1: like I'm in disbelief, Like man, you chose me. Let's see,

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Speaker 1: in about eight days it will officially be eight years

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Speaker 1: since I had a radical encounter with God. And I

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Speaker 1: feel like it's like the greatest honor ever that God

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Speaker 1: would use me, that other people could encounter Him in

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Speaker 1: his Holy spirit because I grew up in church. You know,

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Speaker 1: But I grew up in a church where yet you

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Speaker 1: gotta wear your khakis, you got to tuck your shirt in,

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Speaker 1: you got to follow the rules. And I didn't fit

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Speaker 1: in so well there, you know, and I'd also see

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Speaker 1: the men that were inside of the church play the

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Speaker 1: part but not live the life. And and so honestly,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't even sure that God was real. And if

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Speaker 1: he was real, he's good because I saw some terrible

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Speaker 1: things happen when I was a child. Some terrible things

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Speaker 1: happened to me by the hands of a Christian man

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Speaker 1: when I was twelve. And so when you ask me,

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Speaker 1: like what am I most excited about, I think some

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Speaker 1: of the events that you know that that we host

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Speaker 1: with our industries, it is really awesome. But even like

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Speaker 1: more basic than that, like how do I want to

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Speaker 1: be used of God? I think my favorite thing ever, Zach,

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Speaker 1: is when I get to pray with somebody and you

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Speaker 1: get done praying and they open their eyes and they

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Speaker 1: forget where they were, Like I know, I know that

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Speaker 1: they were in the presence of God. And it took

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Speaker 1: me thirty six years, and like trying everything super bowls, money, cars,

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Speaker 1: being famous, being known, being loved, people buying your jersey

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Speaker 1: when you're only a punter, like all of that, and

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Speaker 1: at the end of all of it, I still have

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Speaker 1: a hole inside of my chest. And I didn't know

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Speaker 1: what would fill it. And then I went to a

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Speaker 1: men's conference just like the ones that you host and

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Speaker 1: the ones that I host at a smaller scale, and

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Speaker 1: I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that was undeniable, like,

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Speaker 1: no longer did I wonder to myself, I wonder if

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Speaker 1: God's real? I no longer did I wonder to myself?

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Speaker 1: Is God good? I knew after that moment. It was

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Speaker 1: like there's the BC Steve, and then there's the after

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Speaker 1: this event where like, yes, I'm on fire, Yes I

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Speaker 1: know that God is real, but I wasn't really quite sure,

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Speaker 1: like how do I follow him? And how do I

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Speaker 1: be more like Christ? And that's why I think these

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Speaker 1: events that you host and providing mentorship and discipleship after

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Speaker 1: the event, because it's not enough for me that men

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Speaker 1: would be awakened and know that God is real and

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Speaker 1: God is good, but what does it look like for

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Speaker 1: them to be trained up and activated? Just like our

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Speaker 1: friend Doug Elks. I mean, I had a phone call

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Speaker 1: with him a couple of days ago and I'm like, hey, Doug,

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Speaker 1: you know I'm looking for a report. How many have

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Speaker 1: you led to Christ this year? Because I picture Doug

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Speaker 1: as underneath our umbrella, you know, so the souls that

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Speaker 1: these win and we're adding them to the tab and

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Speaker 1: he's like, oh, twenty one hundred. There are churches that

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Speaker 1: don't lead twenty one hundred to Christ. But it takes

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Speaker 1: one man to get activated, to get raised up, and

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Speaker 1: to be set on fire. So I would say the

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Speaker 1: thing that I'm most excited about is helping men to

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Speaker 1: encounter God and then after that they've been spiritually awakened.

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Speaker 1: What does it look like for them to get equipped

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Speaker 1: and activated? And when I say activated, and I'm not just like, oh,

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Speaker 1: they don't watch porn anymore. No, what does it look

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Speaker 1: like for men to be so urgent and so desperate

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Speaker 1: that other people would encounter Jesus and follow him the

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Speaker 1: way that God has commanding us to. I hope that

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Speaker 1: answers your question. But that's the season that I'm in

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Speaker 1: right now. Nothing else matters but that. I mean, yes,

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Speaker 1: I have a wife, and I have six kids and

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Speaker 1: responsibilities just like any other man. But I know, beyond

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Speaker 1: a shadow of a doubt, I'm going to stand before

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Speaker 1: God one day and I know he's going to say, Steve,

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Speaker 1: what did you do with the time on the earth

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Speaker 1: that I gave you the talents that I give you,

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Speaker 1: and I know that I'm richly gifted and the treasures

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Speaker 1: that I've given you, Like the fact that I can

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Speaker 1: sit on this podcast right now and thousands of people

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Speaker 1: are going to hear what comes out of my mouth,

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Speaker 1: I better be pretty like pretty resolute that if God's

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Speaker 1: not telling me to say something, don't say it. And

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Speaker 1: so I'm in a season of continuing to get mentored myself.

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Speaker 1: But also, you know, the spiritual blanket that I have

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Speaker 1: over me, I'm also able to put a blanket over

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Speaker 1: other men as well, and I can't think of like

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Speaker 1: a greater thing to do with my life.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna stop this right there and jump in to say,

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Speaker 2: you're listening to Built Different. I'm Zach Clinton. We need

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Speaker 2: to break for a brief message from our sponsors. I'll

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Speaker 2: be back with our guests to keep the conversation flowing

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Speaker 2: right after this. You're listening to Life Audio, my friend.

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Speaker 2: You know, when I see you, and I see all

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Speaker 2: the things that God is doing in and through you,

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Speaker 2: it challenges me. It emboldens me and my faith to

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Speaker 2: continue to go out to a life in congruence with

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Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit. But as you mentioned that word urgency,

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Speaker 2: I want to start there because we're going to talk

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Speaker 2: about masculinity and leadership and all of these things today

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Speaker 2: because they all coincide to what God has called you

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Speaker 2: and really called us even through Agnight to do. When

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Speaker 2: we talk about urgency as a father, as a husband,

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of people would say, well, you know,

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Speaker 2: because I need to prioritize other things. I need to

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Speaker 2: be over here with my family. I don't feel maybe

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Speaker 2: the call into ministry as much like I can't go travel,

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Speaker 2: I can't go do all of these events because I'd

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Speaker 2: rather just stay home. You have found a way and

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Speaker 2: what I've even just witnessed from Afar to prioritize both

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Speaker 2: and say, you know what, I'm gonna go out and

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna do these things night. Sometimes it's going to

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Speaker 2: be a red eye home. Sometimes it's going to be

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Speaker 2: day trips. Sometimes it's going to do whatever is required

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Speaker 2: to make sure that the goodness of the Gospel gets

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Speaker 2: to the masses, but also just simply reaches the one

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Speaker 2: while also being the husband and being the father that

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Speaker 2: God has called you to. When it comes to that,

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Speaker 2: we talked about this before even press record I don't

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Speaker 2: like the word balance. I don't like the word margin.

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Speaker 2: I like the word priorities. Steve, how have you learned

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Speaker 2: in this new season of life since you have had

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Speaker 2: that radical transformation with the Lord to prioritize both your

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Speaker 2: family being home, being the husband and father he's calledy

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Speaker 2: to be, but also being urgent in the advancement of

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Speaker 2: the good News of the Gospel.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question, and I think it's a

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Speaker 1: question a lot of men struggle with. I had this

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Speaker 1: thought years ago because I played professional sports for ten years.

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Speaker 1: There's a difference between an amateur and a pro, and

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Speaker 1: not just in sports, but in life. And I believe

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Speaker 1: that amateur men make decisions based upon their feelings and

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Speaker 1: pros make decisions based upon their commitments. I mean, just

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Speaker 1: think about like when your alarm clock goes off in

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Speaker 1: the morning. An amateur man is going to hear the

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Speaker 1: alarm and do a body scam and think to himself, like,

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Speaker 1: how do I feel whether or not I should respond

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Speaker 1: to this alarm that's going off, And a pro is

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Speaker 1: quite the opposite. The decision is made far beyond or

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Speaker 1: far before the alarm clock goes off, and he already

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Speaker 1: knows what his priorities are. He already knows what he's

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Speaker 1: committed to, he already knows what his standards are, he

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Speaker 1: already knows what his schedule looks like. And so pros

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Speaker 1: and amateurs go through the same temptations. But if you've

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Speaker 1: already got your commitments decided and you can make decisions

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Speaker 1: based upon those commitments, then there's a whole lot less

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Speaker 1: of micro decisions to make. And I would say that's

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Speaker 1: a philosophical answer, Okay, Steve, like, take me a little

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Speaker 1: bit deeper into like the leadership of what commitments are.

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Speaker 1: Once I had that radical encounter with God April eighteen,

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, I knew what it looked like to train

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Speaker 1: from nutrition for my stretching, everything related to being an athlete,

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Speaker 1: and so I knew how to execute, but I didn't

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Speaker 1: know what does it look like if I take this

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Speaker 1: tenacious ability to be disciplined for something and now put

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Speaker 1: that on my relationship with Jesus.

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Speaker 2: You know, Steve, you say Jesus made me differently and

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Speaker 2: he did it on purpose. Man, that's so good. And

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Speaker 2: I wish that was something that a lot more young

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Speaker 2: people understood and knew about themselves.

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Speaker 1: And when God brought a man into my life that

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Speaker 1: was a picture of possibility. I said to myself, I

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Speaker 1: want what that guy has. And I feel like people

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Speaker 1: might look at your life and be like, man, I

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Speaker 1: want to have an impact like that. And I feel

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Speaker 1: like a lot of people might want to do what

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Speaker 1: you do, but in order for them to do what

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Speaker 1: you do, they have to be willing to do what

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Speaker 1: you did. And I didn't know what I need to

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Speaker 1: do in order to get the fruit that that man

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Speaker 1: had in his life. And so I asked him to

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Speaker 1: mentor me, and he helped me to get clear not

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Speaker 1: on not on my identity in regards to like super

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Speaker 1: Bowl champion or fittest man in the NFL, or any

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Speaker 1: of these other things that you see if you google

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Speaker 1: my name. I needed him to get clear on, like

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Speaker 1: what's my kingdom identity? Like what are my core values? Is?

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Speaker 1: What is my kingdom vision? What is my ten year vision?

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Speaker 1: What are the standards and the habits that I need

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Speaker 1: to put in place right now? What are the seeds

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Speaker 1: that I need to sow now so I can have

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Speaker 1: a harvest nine months from now or nine years from now.

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Speaker 1: Very soon, your wife is going to get pregnant right

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Speaker 1: and once that seed gets fertilized in her womb, that

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Speaker 1: seed nine months after that something great is going to

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Speaker 1: get birthed. But in order for something great to get

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Speaker 1: birth out of us as men, we have to be

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Speaker 1: willing to sow seeds and not get the harvests right

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Speaker 1: away and the and then the season and the life

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Speaker 1: and the era of like Instagram, everybody wants it quick,

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Speaker 1: like for you and I as content creators, like we

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Speaker 1: know if we can't grab people's attention in the first

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Speaker 1: three or four seconds, we've lost them. And so that

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Speaker 1: makes it very difficult to train people in the way

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Speaker 1: that they should go according to Christ, because they want

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Speaker 1: it now. And I would say for me as an athlete,

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Speaker 1: circling back to your question, I remember when I was

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Speaker 1: fourteen years old, I made a decision that I wanted

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Speaker 1: to be a pro athlete, and I wanted to do

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Speaker 1: these great and mighty things. And I remember stealing a

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Speaker 1: magazine from the dentist's office and cutting out all these

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Speaker 1: pictures of these men that had incredible physiques and these

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Speaker 1: athletes that were doing amazing things. And at the time

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Speaker 1: it was like Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson and Dion Sanders.

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Speaker 1: And I remember one day my dad came into my

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Speaker 1: room and all of a sudden, I had these pictures

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Speaker 1: of these half naked guys on all over my wall.

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Speaker 1: My Dad's like, is there something I need to know?

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Speaker 1: But I'm like, no, no, Dad, no, you know I

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Speaker 1: don't have a preference for men. That's what I want

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Speaker 1: to look like, that's what I want to be when

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Speaker 1: I'm older. And that was the picture of possibility. And

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of men don't get crystal clear

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Speaker 1: on who do I want to be, what do I

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Speaker 1: want to have, and how do I want to be?

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Speaker 1: And they're not clear enough. And if you're not clear

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Speaker 1: enough with the vision, I mean scripture says it, write

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Speaker 1: down the vision, make it clear so those that read

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Speaker 1: it can run with it. But also for you, if

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Speaker 1: you're constantly reminded of what you're paying the price for,

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Speaker 1: you don't negotiate the cost very often. And so one

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Speaker 1: of the first things my mentor did with me after

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Speaker 1: I had this radical encounter with God was step one,

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Speaker 1: like who are you Steve? No, no, not like what

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Speaker 1: do you do? Because I think if you ask, most

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Speaker 1: men like hey, tell me about yourself. They're going to

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Speaker 1: tell you what they do. And God's not calling us

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Speaker 1: to be human doings. He's calling us to be human beings.

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Speaker 1: And so at the foundational start of it, once I

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Speaker 1: was like, Okay, God, you're real, God You're good. How

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Speaker 1: do I follow you? I feel like it first starts

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Speaker 1: with identity. And we went through an exercise where I

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Speaker 1: wrote down four or five of the men that I

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Speaker 1: either know or that I know of. And at the time,

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Speaker 1: it was like Bruce Lee, like, when I think about discipline,

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Speaker 1: I want to like Bruce Lee's the picture of it.

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Speaker 1: And I had these other several men, you know, some

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Speaker 1: of them were like my dad for his faithfulness, my

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Speaker 1: grandfather for his generosity, and we wrote all we wrote

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Speaker 1: these names down and then we asked. He asked me,

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Speaker 1: he goes, what are the character attributes that they have

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Speaker 1: that you want? And then I wrote those character attributes down,

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Speaker 1: and then we wrote down the commonalities and we came

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Speaker 1: up with an I am statement for me. And at

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Speaker 1: the end of that exercise, I was able to say,

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Speaker 1: my name is Steve Weatherford. I'm a man of integrity, honor,

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Speaker 1: and accountability. I'm a son, and I'm a war of

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Speaker 1: the One most High. And that wasn't just something I

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Speaker 1: wrote down because it sounds cool. Previous to encountering God,

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Speaker 1: I was not a man of integrity, like I would

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Speaker 1: change who I was, how I spoke, or how I

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Speaker 1: operated dependent on who I was around. And it was

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Speaker 1: actually something I hated about myself because I was so

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Speaker 1: insecure I would need to have a costume change everywhere

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Speaker 1: I go. So the first thing that I wrote down

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Speaker 1: that I want to be, that I am was integrity.

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Speaker 1: The second thing that I wrote down was honor. And

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Speaker 1: the reason I wrote down honor is I made my

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Speaker 1: whole life about me, like I moved God out of

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Speaker 1: the way because I wasn't quite sure whether or not

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Speaker 1: he was real, and I put myself there and everything

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Speaker 1: I did, and you know, maybe as a professional athlete,

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Speaker 1: it worked to my advantage because I made everything about

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Speaker 1: me so I could be great, and I justified it

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Speaker 1: that way. But then I would go home with my

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Speaker 1: wife and my kids or with my friends, and I

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Speaker 1: would still operate the same way. And I also hated

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Speaker 1: that about myself, and so I decided to put on

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Speaker 1: in my I am statement in my declaration of independence,

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Speaker 1: like what makes me separate from the world. This statement

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Speaker 1: does what I believe in, what I declare out of

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Speaker 1: my mouth, because death and life is in the power

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Speaker 1: of the tongue. And so I decided to make myself

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Speaker 1: a man of honor, and to me means making your

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Speaker 1: life about God and other people. And for my first

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Speaker 1: thirty six years I did the opposite. And then I

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Speaker 1: decided that accountability was going to be my new identity.

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Speaker 1: And what does accountability mean to me? Accountability means to me.

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Speaker 1: One day my body will expire and my spirit's going

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Speaker 1: to go up to a heavenly place. And because I've

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Speaker 1: confessed with my mouth and believe in my heart that

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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ's Lord, I've repented of my sins. My name

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Speaker 1: will be in the Lamb's Book of Life, and it

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Speaker 1: will be written in Jesus's blood. Nobody can ever take

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Speaker 1: it out. But after that, I don't go to heaven yet.

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Speaker 1: I actually go into the throne room abba Fathers, and

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Speaker 1: I stand before him and I sit on what's called

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Speaker 1: the Beama set, the judge mint seat of Christ. And

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Speaker 1: He's going to bring three things into the room. The

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Speaker 1: time that he gave me, the talents that he gave

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Speaker 1: me and the treasures that He gave me, And I

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Speaker 1: want to live my life in a way where I'm

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Speaker 1: continually keeping that picture in my mind with everything that

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Speaker 1: I do. And I know I'm not going to be perfect,

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Speaker 1: but if I can wake up every single day and

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Speaker 1: focus on the end, keeping the end in mind, I

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Speaker 1: really don't have to like remind myself to be bold,

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Speaker 1: or to be urgent, or to have joy, because I'm

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Speaker 1: constantly reminded of what I want the end to look like.

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Speaker 1: Just like when I was fourteen, I had in my

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Speaker 1: mind the end was being a champion athlete, having money

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Speaker 1: and having people celebrate you. But now now it's like, man,

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Speaker 1: when you're ninety five or one hundred, who knows, Maybe

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Speaker 1: it's next year for me, Zach. I don't know, but

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Speaker 1: I know that I'm going to live life with a

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Speaker 1: ridiculous urgency to love well and tell everybody I can

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Speaker 1: about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not just out of

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Speaker 1: the book like it's a cool story, No, Like what

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Speaker 1: did that story do for me in my life? How

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Speaker 1: did it save my marriage? How did it break my addictions?

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Speaker 1: How did it take me literally in one day my

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Speaker 1: whole life has been about competing with other men as

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Speaker 1: an athlete, and in one encounter with God and that

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Speaker 1: was it. Like, yes, the training and all that other

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Speaker 1: stuff was good, but in one moment with the Holy Spirit,

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Speaker 1: I went from being obsessed with being better than other men,

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Speaker 1: competing with other men, and as soon as I encounter God,

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Speaker 1: I knew that I don't need to be better than

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Speaker 1: other men. God's never going to compare you to me

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Speaker 1: or me to you. Why am I spending my whole

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Speaker 1: life comparing myself to other men? So literally, in one moment,

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Speaker 1: I went from competing with men to living a life

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Speaker 1: of how do I complete them with what I've been given?

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Speaker 1: And then the end of my I am statement says

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Speaker 1: I'm a son and I'm a warrior of the One

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Speaker 1: most High. The reason, the deep meaning that I have

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Speaker 1: for declaring that I'm a son is that I'm worthy.

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Speaker 1: That statement that I'm a son that reminds me that

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Speaker 1: I'm worthy because the enemy used to attack my mind

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Speaker 1: with the things that I did or the things that

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Speaker 1: were done to me that made me feel broken, dirty, perverted, unlovable.

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Speaker 1: So that statement reminds me that I'm worthy. And then

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Speaker 1: the end of it is that I'm a warrior for

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Speaker 1: the one most High. That's my reminder for urgency. That's

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Speaker 1: my reminder that every day that you wake up, don't

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Speaker 1: play defense, Steve, stop playing defense. Take territory away from

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Speaker 1: the enemy, because he's already beneath your boot. And if

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Speaker 1: you ever feel like he's beating up on you, you're

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Speaker 1: listening to the enemy. So I hope that under I

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Speaker 1: hope that explains priority, because I believe once I got

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Speaker 1: my identity in order, I think there's a I think

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Speaker 1: there's a way to absolutely be led by the Holy Spirit.

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Speaker 1: But unless you put leadership standards in place and an example,

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Speaker 1: I guess I can probably answer this part of it too,

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Speaker 1: is you know, how do you keep your how do

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Speaker 1: you keep your wife and your kids in priority to

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Speaker 1: make sure that like as on fire as I am

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Speaker 1: for Jesus and and I want to just want to

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Speaker 1: be a soul winner, and I want to disciplement, and

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Speaker 1: I want to help families be restored, how do you

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Speaker 1: not forget about your family? Like, how do I not

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Speaker 1: take this pursuit of kingdom and do the same thing

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Speaker 1: with God that I did in the NFL, where like

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Speaker 1: all of this sudden, my ministry becomes an idol, just

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Speaker 1: like the NFL became an idol. How do you stop

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Speaker 1: that from happening? Zach? Thank you for asking. So one

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Speaker 1: of the things that I've done is like, as I

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Speaker 1: got on fire for Jesus and I'm traveling these different places,

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Speaker 1: I started to notice similarities and I was like, okay,

433
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,240
Speaker 1: and I'm having conversations with my mentories, like what's the

434
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,520
Speaker 1: enemy telling you? Whenever you're preaching the gospel and hundreds

435
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,119
Speaker 1: of people are getting saved, It's like he's telling me

436
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:08,640
Speaker 1: that I'm missing it at home. And so we put

437
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:13,960
Speaker 1: some things in place that silenced the enemy. An example

438
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,080
Speaker 1: would be, once per week, I take my wife on

439
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 1: a date two and a half hours uninterrupted, really getting

440
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 1: into her world, how is she feeling, asking a lot

441
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,400
Speaker 1: of questions, having a paper and pen while I'm on

442
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,159
Speaker 1: a date, which seems real corny. But at the end

443
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 1: of the day, if we sat down with our wives

444
00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,159
Speaker 1: and we began to ask questions and she sees us

445
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 1: writing things down, do you think that she thinks we're

446
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,399
Speaker 1: locked in and that that she matters. So that was

447
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 1: one thing that I put in place to make sure

448
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:45,600
Speaker 1: that I'm never getting off the page with my wife.

449
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 1: I have four daughters. Another thing that I do is

450
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:52,239
Speaker 1: every Tuesday is Daddy Daughter date night. Four daughters. That

451
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,840
Speaker 1: means all of my Tuesdays are spoken for. And the

452
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,479
Speaker 1: reason that I started doing that particular standard or habit

453
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:01,879
Speaker 1: is I talk to my dad and my sister. Carol

454
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,159
Speaker 1: Anne is like one of the most amazing women that

455
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 1: I know. She loves Jesus, she's a great wife, she's

456
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,600
Speaker 1: physically fit, just all. She's the real deal. And I

457
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,080
Speaker 1: was like, Dad, like, what did you do with Carol

458
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,359
Speaker 1: Anne that helped her to end up how she is?

459
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 1: She's amazing? He was like, man, just once per month,

460
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 1: I'd take her to breakfast before school and I would

461
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:26,040
Speaker 1: ask questions and get into her world and take a

462
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 1: genuine interest in her. And I believe that it's the

463
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,360
Speaker 1: time that we spent together that helped her have a

464
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,160
Speaker 1: continue to have a great relationship with me to where

465
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:38,920
Speaker 1: I could have influence in her life, but for her

466
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,359
Speaker 1: to know who she is. And so the simple standards

467
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:48,159
Speaker 1: of dating my wife every week, dating a daughter every week.

468
00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 1: I've got a sixteen year old daughter and we started

469
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,359
Speaker 1: doing that when she was four and I added it

470
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 1: up the other day. We've gone on like one hundred

471
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 1: and thirty four daddy daughter date nights over the last

472
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 1: like twelve years. So by the time she graduates from

473
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,400
Speaker 1: high school, that'll be one hundred and sixty eight times

474
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:09,000
Speaker 1: that I said no to everything else and said yes

475
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:14,880
Speaker 1: to like undivided present time with my daughter. And then

476
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:17,040
Speaker 1: I think one other thing I think would be helpful

477
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,439
Speaker 1: for men to hear is once per week, I have

478
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,600
Speaker 1: a meeting with my family. We call it the General's Tent,

479
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 1: and we come together and we talk about vision, we

480
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 1: talk about vitals, and then we talk about virtues.

481
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,480
Speaker 2: What a great idea to have these regular family meetings.

482
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:36,560
Speaker 2: Unpack that a bit more for us. How do you

483
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 2: involve all the kids in these meeting times?

484
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 1: The first five minutes of the meeting is we just

485
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 1: kind of passed the mic around and we all sit

486
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:47,879
Speaker 1: on the couch and I ask each member of the family, like,

487
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,400
Speaker 1: how much joy and how much love did you experience

488
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:53,600
Speaker 1: in this last week? Rank it from one to ten,

489
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: like what's your joy meter and what's your love tank?

490
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 1: And we make it fun for the kids, and you know, seven, eight, nine, ten,

491
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:01,719
Speaker 1: and you know, if we hear somebody in the family

492
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,639
Speaker 1: say five, we'll circle back to them like, hey, like,

493
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 1: why is your love tank at a five this week?

494
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:08,959
Speaker 1: Or why is your join meeter at a five? And

495
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 1: it gives them an opportunity to begin to talk about

496
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: their feelings and let us know where they're at. So

497
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:18,400
Speaker 1: collectively as a family, every single week we know where

498
00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: they're at, and we're able to adjust and make sure

499
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,480
Speaker 1: that because like you said, we're never going to be

500
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,159
Speaker 1: able to have things even or balance. That's such a

501
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 1: like it's a sweet word to say, but you know,

502
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,480
Speaker 1: as a father and as a husband, as an entrepreneur,

503
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,119
Speaker 1: as an evangelist, like, things are never gonna be even,

504
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 1: but we can put things in place, like I know

505
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:40,920
Speaker 1: that every single one of my daughters is going to

506
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 1: get individually twelve dates this year at minimum, so that

507
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:47,960
Speaker 1: can be even. But the amount of time that they're

508
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 1: getting weak to week is not going to be the same.

509
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,359
Speaker 1: But if once per week they're letting us know where

510
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:55,480
Speaker 1: they're at, their vitals are think about you go to

511
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,239
Speaker 1: an emergency room, you go to an emergency room with

512
00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 1: a broken arm, They're not actually going to creature broken

513
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: arm first, They're gonna have you get on the weight scale,

514
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,359
Speaker 1: They're gonna take your temperature, they're gonna see how tall

515
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,880
Speaker 1: you are, they're gonna check your vitals, and then they're

516
00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,600
Speaker 1: going to tend to the thing that's wrong. And in

517
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 1: the general's tent, that's the first thing that I do

518
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,360
Speaker 1: with every member of our families to get their vitals.

519
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 1: And the next thing that we do is we talk

520
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: about virtues aka what does it mean to be a Weatherford?

521
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: And every single one of my children, with the exception

522
00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: of my four year old, could tell you our family

523
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 1: mission statement, but then give you a breakdown of what

524
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 1: every word actually means. We are the Weatherfords. We're a

525
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:36,879
Speaker 1: fearless and disciplined family that honors and grows always in

526
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: always with a joyful spirit of excellence. So the next

527
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: thing that we do is we asked them like, hey,

528
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:45,719
Speaker 1: what core value did you do really well this week?

529
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 1: And where'd you suck? Right? And I'm teaching my kids

530
00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 1: just like I was taught as an athlete, watch the

531
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 1: game film, like what did you do well in this

532
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,439
Speaker 1: last week? Let's celebrate it. You were disciplined this last week.

533
00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 1: Awesome job Ace, Oh you really struggle with honor Okay, well,

534
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 1: how can you be better in the next week? Moving forward?

535
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,240
Speaker 1: Because when I was with the New York Giants or Jets,

536
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 1: or the Jacksonville Jaguars, or the Kansas City Chiefs or

537
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,360
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Saints, we didn't just go to practice

538
00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:14,920
Speaker 1: and then go home. We actually spent a whole lot

539
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 1: more time in the film room watching the game, watching

540
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:23,400
Speaker 1: the practice, learning, adjusting, doubling down on our strengths than

541
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,919
Speaker 1: we did actually out on the field. But if you

542
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,120
Speaker 1: do a good job reviewing the game film, you don't

543
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 1: have to spend as much time in the weight room

544
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,720
Speaker 1: because you're working smarter, not harder. So the second part

545
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: of it would be virtues, and then the last part

546
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 1: of our meeting would be going over vision like and

547
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:45,840
Speaker 1: I think most men don't cast vision for their family,

548
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 1: for their wife, for their children. And we have a

549
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 1: lot of kids that grow up with anxiety because they

550
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: a they don't know who they are and they don't

551
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,040
Speaker 1: know what like what's my life going to be? Like?

552
00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: They have this overwhelm because they're constantly comparing themselves to people.

553
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 1: So we have an opportunity to recast the vision of

554
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:07,840
Speaker 1: like where we're going as a family and it, you know,

555
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: just like for the different things that you're doing a

556
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 1: month from now, when you find out that your wife

557
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 1: is pregnant, it's going to change things. It's going to

558
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 1: change the vision, like, Okay, well we've got to get

559
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,760
Speaker 1: this thing in place and that thing in place. And

560
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 1: so for my family, I'm constantly casting vision, but I'm

561
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 1: also the vision for this next week. Hey, like Dad's,

562
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 1: I'm flying to Kansas City. I'm going to go speak

563
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,520
Speaker 1: at this group called Leader Cast. There's going to be

564
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 1: this guy there and that guy there, and this is

565
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: what I'm believing for. And then I'm gonna come home

566
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 1: on Friday and I'm gonna sit down with my friend Zach.

567
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 1: We're going to do a podcast. We're going to magnify

568
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,840
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. And then Saturday, I'm flying to Illinois.

569
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 1: I'm going to go preach at my college roommates church,

570
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 1: and I haven't seen him in twenty years. And this

571
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:59,040
Speaker 1: is just an example of we had this meeting on Wednesday,

572
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,400
Speaker 1: and normally we would have it on a Sunday, but

573
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,960
Speaker 1: because of travel that I'll be gone this next Sunday.

574
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 1: I make sure that every single week that we have

575
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: a general's tent, that I date my wife, that I

576
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 1: date my daughter, and circling it back to the question

577
00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 1: of balance, the reason that I've done these things is

578
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 1: because I sat down with a mentor and we said,

579
00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 1: what can we do to silence the voice of the enemy.

580
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 1: So no longer when I'm traveling and sitting somewhere like

581
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 1: this with you and the enemy is like totally missing

582
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,240
Speaker 1: it with your wife. You're putting in more time traveling

583
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: and talking about Jesus than you are with your own family.

584
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,320
Speaker 1: And that's fine. There may be more time that I'm

585
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:44,040
Speaker 1: ministering and I'm evangelizing, but I know that I have

586
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 1: two and a half hours every single one hundred and

587
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,560
Speaker 1: sixty eight hours. That's what a week is, two and

588
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,560
Speaker 1: a half hours that is one hundred percent dedicated to

589
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,720
Speaker 1: what do you need, babe? What's in your world? What

590
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,640
Speaker 1: are your worries, what are your fears? And how can

591
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 1: I stand in the gap for you? And so that's

592
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,400
Speaker 1: one way that my life is not balanced. But I

593
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 1: keep it healthy because I have mastery of my one

594
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: sixty eight And that's really what it comes down to.

595
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: If we can master our one hundred and sixty eight

596
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 1: hours each week and continue to watch the game film

597
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,640
Speaker 1: and improve on that as a family, as a leader,

598
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 1: and as a marriage. The enemy really doesn't have a shot.

599
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:30,720
Speaker 1: But if we don't stay vigilant to every seven days

600
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 1: to do that, all it takes is two or three

601
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 1: weeks for me to miss that meeting. Yes, and I

602
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,720
Speaker 1: notice it like my my family's beginning to fall apart

603
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 1: because cracks get made because I'm the one that's re

604
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 1: reminding my family, Hey, how did this last week go?

605
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 1: And checking in on them. So I think if anybody's

606
00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 1: listened to this, I would implore you those are those

607
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:57,959
Speaker 1: are very easy, very like practical, tactical. It's not like

608
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:02,520
Speaker 1: wo woo philosophical and you say, well listen to the Lord. No, yes,

609
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,280
Speaker 1: listen to the Lord. But I'm telling you, practical and tactical.

610
00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:08,000
Speaker 1: These are things that you can do to ensure that

611
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,120
Speaker 1: you never lose your marriage, that you never lose intimacy

612
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,880
Speaker 1: with your kids, and you can continue to pursue things

613
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:15,680
Speaker 1: a way that God is calling you to pursue them.

614
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:19,160
Speaker 1: Because God is never going to call us away from

615
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,240
Speaker 1: our wife and away from our family in a way

616
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 1: that's going to damage them. But if we lead ourselves. Well,

617
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,480
Speaker 1: we don't have to live in either or, and most

618
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:28,560
Speaker 1: men think I need to live in either or. Oh,

619
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,720
Speaker 1: my wife, my kids are this age, and like, well,

620
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:33,880
Speaker 1: you know, it's just not a good time for now.

621
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 1: You're just not mastering your one sixty eight. You're not

622
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,800
Speaker 1: getting the most out of what God gave you. You're

623
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 1: limiting yourself by thinking it's an either or. It's not

624
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: an either or, it's a both, And it's.

625
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,960
Speaker 2: A both and Steve, those are such practical, tactical ways

626
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:51,160
Speaker 2: that we can continue to live the urgent life at home,

627
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 2: at home camp, like you said, but also afar and

628
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 2: going out and making sure that we're testifying of the

629
00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 2: good news of the Gospel. I love the word that

630
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,920
Speaker 2: you can painting the picture of These are pictures of

631
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:05,960
Speaker 2: possibility or pictures of potential that you would even see

632
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 2: and that you would begin to think about as a kid,

633
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,720
Speaker 2: because now as a man, you're starting to recognize the

634
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,760
Speaker 2: importance of vision. Resilience I think is often kind of

635
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 2: breathe through two different aspects reflection, which you talked a

636
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,840
Speaker 2: lot about being able to go back watch the game film,

637
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,680
Speaker 2: being able to reflect. We understanding the importance of sports.

638
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 2: You have to be able to watch film. You have

639
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:26,720
Speaker 2: to be able to go back and say, I either

640
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 2: win or I learn, I never lose. I'm going to

641
00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:32,920
Speaker 2: make the adjustments, not excuses. I'm going to reflect, but

642
00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:37,200
Speaker 2: then also repetition. It's what I do repeatedly, not occasionally,

643
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 2: that ultimately would determine who I become. My dad was

644
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,200
Speaker 2: sitting down with seven time NASCAR Cup Series champ Jimmy

645
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 2: Johnson years ago, and my dad and Jimmy did a

646
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 2: lot of life together, and my dad kind of reiterated

647
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 2: this one point that Jimmy would always make, and he

648
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:56,680
Speaker 2: would say, tim limits begin where vision ends. Is this

649
00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 2: idea that, man, your mission is not separate from your vision.

650
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 1: You have to be able to see it.

651
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 2: I'm reading a book right now called you Are What

652
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 2: You Love, and so often in our lives, even in

653
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,120
Speaker 2: the world of counseling and mental health, right we live

654
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 2: in a world today that is the most destigmatized mental

655
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 2: health generation that's ever walked the face of the earth.

656
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 2: Everybody is feeling something and oftentimes we kind of, I'll

657
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 2: say this, we put all of our weight on our feelings.

658
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:23,319
Speaker 2: So because I feel this way, I identify as this

659
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,279
Speaker 2: thing or this person, and sometimes that can be more

660
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,480
Speaker 2: dangerous from or harmful than it is helpful. But what

661
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:31,800
Speaker 2: this book gets at is we're not just thinking things.

662
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,040
Speaker 2: We can't just tell ourselves to think differently, and then

663
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,280
Speaker 2: all of a sudden our actions sometimes follow.

664
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:38,479
Speaker 1: We are what we love.

665
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 2: So the question that is posed all throughout this book

666
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:45,440
Speaker 2: is what do you want? What do you really desire

667
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 2: for your life and for the lives of those that

668
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:50,879
Speaker 2: you love? And it's built around two things, imitation and initiation.

669
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 2: Who will I surround myself with that I can imitate

670
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:57,600
Speaker 2: because they're imitating that of Christ? And then how can

671
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 2: I initiate these habits every day in my life consistently

672
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,280
Speaker 2: to become the man that God has called me to become?

673
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:05,800
Speaker 1: Steve, you haven't.

674
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:08,160
Speaker 2: Always been like this, though, and I know you're no

675
00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:10,440
Speaker 2: stranger to suffering. You already alluded to some of that

676
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,319
Speaker 2: when you were just sharing briefly about your testimony. And

677
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,000
Speaker 2: I've watched several interviews of years in the past because

678
00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:18,600
Speaker 2: there might be somebody out there today like Steve, I

679
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,080
Speaker 2: don't get it. Man, Like eight years ago, before this

680
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,920
Speaker 2: radical transformation, you won a super Bowl. You're the League's

681
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 2: fittest man, like you had all of these things going

682
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,279
Speaker 2: for you. That sounds like a great life. Like, what

683
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 2: are you talking about? That wasn't what it was cut

684
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 2: out to be? You talk about how on the night

685
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 2: you guys won the Super Bowl, it was arguably the lowest, darkest,

686
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 2: most depressing night of your life. Take us back to

687
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 2: that moment and help us really understand that there is

688
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:49,720
Speaker 2: nothing in this temporal earth that can satisfy that God

689
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,440
Speaker 2: shaped void within our hearts.

690
00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:56,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, the night doctor Zach's talking about was February fifth,

691
00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:01,720
Speaker 1: twenty twelve. About Fort's crazy Say, it's been fourteen years ago,

692
00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 1: but even decades before that. When I think about going

693
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 1: into kindergarten, and I have two brothers and I have

694
00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:16,360
Speaker 1: a sister, I thought to myself, well, I'm not like

695
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,520
Speaker 1: my brother and my sister, but maybe when I go

696
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:21,120
Speaker 1: to kindergarten, I'll find some other people that are like

697
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:24,640
Speaker 1: me that I can relate to. And I remember getting

698
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,319
Speaker 1: sent to the principal's office the first five days in

699
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 1: a row, and it was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where

700
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 1: they didn't have to call your parents and they could

701
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,040
Speaker 1: just paddle you. And I remember very early on five

702
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:38,239
Speaker 1: or six years old, realizing just how different I am

703
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 1: than everyone else. And because I was different, I was

704
00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,719
Speaker 1: punished for that. That's how that was my perception in

705
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 1: my mind. And I have what the world likes to

706
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:54,759
Speaker 1: call and I reject this label ADHD. You know, I

707
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,600
Speaker 1: believe I just have a very creative and active mind.

708
00:36:57,600 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 1: I don't have an attention problem. I have an interest.

709
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:04,800
Speaker 1: If I'm not interested, I can't pay attention. And I remember,

710
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,240
Speaker 1: like eight years old, was the first time I ever

711
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,920
Speaker 1: really felt celebrated by anyone. And it was when I

712
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,319
Speaker 1: got into sports and I was playing soccer and I

713
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,040
Speaker 1: remember walking off the soccer field and other parents coming

714
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 1: up to me telling me how great I am. And

715
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,840
Speaker 1: I had never really received words of affirmation before. And

716
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 1: I have a wonderful dad, very very present, but he

717
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,120
Speaker 1: grew up with an old school dad that never used

718
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:34,719
Speaker 1: words to tell him who he was. And so I'm eight, nine,

719
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,279
Speaker 1: ten years old and now I don't know who I am.

720
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:40,920
Speaker 1: I don't fit in in my family. It's very obvious.

721
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,319
Speaker 1: I don't even fit in in school. I go to

722
00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:46,759
Speaker 1: Sunday School and I don't fit in there, Like I

723
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,360
Speaker 1: got kicked out of Sunday School that's supposed to be

724
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 1: the place everybody's welcome, right, And I remember sitting outside

725
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:56,440
Speaker 1: the door and they're doing like Bible trivia and I'm

726
00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 1: screaming out the answer of Philippians four thirteen from the

727
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,239
Speaker 1: oh way and the teacher, which most of the time

728
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,879
Speaker 1: was my mom, was like, I'm sorry, Steve, and you're

729
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:09,520
Speaker 1: not eligible to win the tutsi role because you're outside

730
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 1: in the hallway. And I just remember some of my

731
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:17,120
Speaker 1: earliest memories of myself as I hated myself. But when

732
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:19,080
Speaker 1: I was eight or nine years old, and I remember

733
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:22,680
Speaker 1: walking off of the soccer field after we beat a

734
00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:24,960
Speaker 1: team like five to nothing, and the other parents were

735
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:26,920
Speaker 1: coming up to me like, man, Steve, you weren't on

736
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:30,680
Speaker 1: our team last year and we got destroyed by this team.

737
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:34,319
Speaker 1: And because of you, we destroyed them. And my son

738
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:37,279
Speaker 1: scored his first goal today. I'm gonna go take him

739
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,760
Speaker 1: for pizza, and it's because you passed them the ball.

740
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 1: You're great. And I remember getting in the car with

741
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 1: my dad. I'm like, Dad, like am I the things

742
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:48,920
Speaker 1: that they said that I am? And I remember my

743
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,960
Speaker 1: dad just saying, you need to focus on what you

744
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 1: can control. He didn't affirm it, but he didn't deny it.

745
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:59,600
Speaker 1: And then I remember the next real defining moment that

746
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:02,480
Speaker 1: I had changed everything for me was I got invited

747
00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:04,400
Speaker 1: to a different church. And I grew up in a

748
00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:10,000
Speaker 1: very strict Southern Baptist church in Baton Rue, Louisiana and

749
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,440
Speaker 1: didn't want to have anything to do with it. And

750
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:18,279
Speaker 1: I got invited to co meet Baptist church and I

751
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:21,040
Speaker 1: was eleven years old, and I remember walking into that

752
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,800
Speaker 1: church and they had a Power Team concert. You're probably

753
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,920
Speaker 1: a little young to remember the power Team, but the

754
00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:29,320
Speaker 1: Power Team was pretty much it was like a collection

755
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:33,120
Speaker 1: of like WWF wrestlers that loved Jesus, and they would

756
00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:37,840
Speaker 1: go from city to city and do school school assemblies.

757
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 1: They would visit churches, and they would do all these

758
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 1: incredible feats of strength, like rip phone books in half

759
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:47,399
Speaker 1: and break Major League Baseball bats over their knee, and

760
00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:51,719
Speaker 1: take three inch bars of iron bars and bend them

761
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 1: over their head and break bricks. And I'm like, I

762
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:58,560
Speaker 1: remember walking in to this church and seeing like fire

763
00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:00,640
Speaker 1: and all this stuff on the state and these guys

764
00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:02,879
Speaker 1: and cut off teachers. Remember looking back at my dad,

765
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 1: I'm like, is this allowed in a church? And my

766
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:08,879
Speaker 1: dad was like smugly, he was like, I guess here

767
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:10,279
Speaker 1: it is. And I'm like, well, can I go up

768
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:12,879
Speaker 1: to the front. And I grew up in the nineties. Man,

769
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:17,799
Speaker 1: I loved Hulk Hogan, Oh, Macho Man, Randy Savage, and

770
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:21,239
Speaker 1: I remember watching those guys on TV and my dad

771
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 1: discouraging me from wanting to be like them because he's like, man,

772
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,799
Speaker 1: all they do is care about themselves and this and that,

773
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:30,879
Speaker 1: and he wasn't wrong, but he'd like flip the TV off,

774
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,279
Speaker 1: he'd walk away, and I'd flip it back on. I'm like, yeah,

775
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:38,680
Speaker 1: but they're so cool. And then I see these guys

776
00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:41,160
Speaker 1: that are talking about the same Jesus as the people

777
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:44,160
Speaker 1: at my church, but they were doing it with a

778
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:46,440
Speaker 1: tank top on, with a mullet on the back of

779
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:50,600
Speaker 1: their heads, and they're doing unbelievable things. And I remember

780
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 1: when the main guy walked out. His name was Keith Kraft,

781
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:57,120
Speaker 1: and he shared his fifteen minute testimony of how he

782
00:40:57,239 --> 00:40:59,800
Speaker 1: died when he was four years old and the prayers

783
00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:02,319
Speaker 1: of his grandmother brought him back to life. And then

784
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 1: he put up on the screen a picture of the

785
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 1: Dallas Morning news how that story was real and it

786
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:12,080
Speaker 1: was in the paper and I was like, wow, God,

787
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:15,239
Speaker 1: maybe God is real. And as he began to talk

788
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:19,839
Speaker 1: about Jesus, he started weeping, and I'm like, how I've

789
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:23,080
Speaker 1: never seen a guy this big, this strong, this assertive,

790
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 1: this confident, but then also this gentle and this kind

791
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:31,960
Speaker 1: and this like compassionate, Like that's what I want to

792
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,799
Speaker 1: be like. And I remember he had a cop come

793
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,040
Speaker 1: up and put on a pair of handcuffs and he said,

794
00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:40,399
Speaker 1: these chains represent the bondage that the enemy has on you.

795
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:42,919
Speaker 1: And then he had another cop come up and put

796
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:44,799
Speaker 1: two pairs of handcuffs on him and I'm like, my

797
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,279
Speaker 1: little chin's on the stage at eleven years old. And

798
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,640
Speaker 1: he counts down from ten to one, and then he

799
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:53,160
Speaker 1: breaks the chains and he says, he said, if you

800
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 1: feel like you don't fit in, if you feel like

801
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:58,200
Speaker 1: you've made some mistakes and you feel like you're separated

802
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:00,200
Speaker 1: from God, I want you to know that there is

803
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:03,240
Speaker 1: only one way for you to have a relationship with Jesus,

804
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,080
Speaker 1: and it's through Jesus Christ. And if you want to

805
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 1: give your life to Jesus, tonight, I'm going to count

806
00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:09,839
Speaker 1: to three and I want you to raise your hand.

807
00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:12,799
Speaker 1: I didn't just raise one hand. I shot both of

808
00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:16,320
Speaker 1: my hands up. I'm like, I want what that guy has.

809
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 1: That was the first picture of possibility that I saw.

810
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,319
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I want to be just like that guy.

811
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:26,280
Speaker 1: And so after that night, I ended up going home

812
00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: and telling my mom I'm different. I felt different. She

813
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,040
Speaker 1: didn't have to tell me to read my Bible or

814
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:36,080
Speaker 1: say my prayers. I wanted to be just like Jesus,

815
00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,640
Speaker 1: and that guy told me that's the way to do it.

816
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,120
Speaker 1: I remember back in the day, like Sundays would be

817
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:44,239
Speaker 1: the day that they would put a bunch of coupons

818
00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:46,400
Speaker 1: in the Sunday paper, so the Sunday paper was a

819
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,279
Speaker 1: lot thicker, and I would take that newspaper and I'd

820
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:51,759
Speaker 1: rip it in half in Jesus' name. I would take

821
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:55,320
Speaker 1: my mom's iron hangar and I'm bending them in the mirror,

822
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:59,400
Speaker 1: you know, imitating, imitating the guy that I saw. That

823
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:02,640
Speaker 1: changed my life. And I had like six months where

824
00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:05,320
Speaker 1: I just remember, it's just like I don't fit it

825
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,040
Speaker 1: in my family, but like Jesus made me differently, and

826
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,520
Speaker 1: he did it on purpose, and he also shared a

827
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 1: Bible verse that night Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven. For

828
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:16,560
Speaker 1: I know the plans I have for you, declares the

829
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:18,799
Speaker 1: Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

830
00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:21,120
Speaker 1: plans to give you a hope in a future. And

831
00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:23,440
Speaker 1: I hung my hat on that. I'm like, I'm not

832
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,160
Speaker 1: like my family, but God's got a great plan for

833
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:31,839
Speaker 1: my life. And six months after that event, I went

834
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:34,840
Speaker 1: to a new school. It was called Family Christian Academy,

835
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,000
Speaker 1: and I had a teacher that I believed like recognized

836
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:41,879
Speaker 1: the gap that I had of like words of affirmation

837
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,960
Speaker 1: and physical touch, and so almost every day I walked

838
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:48,359
Speaker 1: into this teacher's room, he had something encouraging to say

839
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:50,359
Speaker 1: to me, a pat on the back, a hug, these

840
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:54,160
Speaker 1: different things. And I didn't realize that at the time

841
00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:56,600
Speaker 1: he wasn't doing that to build me up and to

842
00:43:56,719 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 1: encourage me. He was actually grooming me. Because after school

843
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 1: he asked me to stay in his office and he

844
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 1: did awful things to me, like things that you should

845
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:11,080
Speaker 1: never do to a little boy. He stole my innocence.

846
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 1: I felt so broken, so dirty, so perverted, so unlovable,

847
00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:20,360
Speaker 1: and I never told anybody what happened because I was

848
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:22,920
Speaker 1: scared to death. I already didn't know where I sat

849
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 1: with my dad. I knew he was always there, but

850
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:29,400
Speaker 1: I genuinely didn't know if he liked me or loved me,

851
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:34,120
Speaker 1: because you're so quiet. His dad was like Clint Eastwood.

852
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:36,799
Speaker 1: So if you compare my grandfather to my dad, my

853
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:42,280
Speaker 1: dad was very, very loving, but my grandfather was extraordinarily cold.

854
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:44,799
Speaker 1: And so I was scared that if I told my

855
00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,680
Speaker 1: dad what happened, he's going to say, well, well, you're

856
00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:50,560
Speaker 1: gay now, and I don't want you anymore. So I

857
00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:55,480
Speaker 1: didn't say anything. But shortly thereafter, about six months after that,

858
00:44:55,560 --> 00:44:58,360
Speaker 1: I was introduced to pornography. My friend gave me a

859
00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:00,880
Speaker 1: VHS tape and I knew I I wasn't supposed to

860
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:03,799
Speaker 1: watch it, but I did, and it was interesting, it

861
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,040
Speaker 1: was exciting, and I liked it. And then I discovered

862
00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:10,880
Speaker 1: if you put pornography together with masturbation, all these fireworks

863
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:12,719
Speaker 1: go off in your brain and it's almost like doing

864
00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:17,560
Speaker 1: a drug. And so that became like my hidden little

865
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:25,080
Speaker 1: coping mechanism. Anytime I felt rejected, abandoned, unlovable, depressed, anxious,

866
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:29,160
Speaker 1: I could go and I can do that little activity

867
00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:32,200
Speaker 1: and I would forget about all of that stuff, and

868
00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:36,720
Speaker 1: so this quiet addiction happened for me. And I remember

869
00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:39,040
Speaker 1: going into high school at one hundred and eight pounds

870
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:43,360
Speaker 1: five foot eight, so not necessarily short, but very very skinny.

871
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:48,120
Speaker 1: And I told myself, if I'm gonna be worth anything,

872
00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:51,719
Speaker 1: I've got to get bigger, I've got to get stronger,

873
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:53,680
Speaker 1: and I got to be a winner. And so I

874
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:57,719
Speaker 1: played four sports in high school, was worked incredibly hard,

875
00:45:57,760 --> 00:45:59,560
Speaker 1: and went from one hundred and eight pounds as a

876
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:03,120
Speaker 1: freshman and graduated at two twenty five and never touched steroids.

877
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,960
Speaker 1: So I gained I literally doubled in size again to

878
00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:07,879
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventeen pounds, and four and a half

879
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:11,240
Speaker 1: years ended up getting a bunch of scholarships and awards

880
00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:13,480
Speaker 1: and these different things. And I remember calling my dad

881
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:15,560
Speaker 1: when I got a scholarship. I'm like, Dad, You're never

882
00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:18,080
Speaker 1: gonna believe it. I'm the first one in the family

883
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,719
Speaker 1: to get a full ride scholarship to the University of Illinois.

884
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:24,360
Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, like the heavens are going to open up,

885
00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:26,400
Speaker 1: and my Dad's going to be like, oh my gosh,

886
00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:28,760
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you. I never would have thought

887
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:32,080
Speaker 1: you've worked so hard and sacrificed. And the first thing

888
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:34,479
Speaker 1: he said to me was, well, if you get caught

889
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:36,880
Speaker 1: doing these things that you know you're doing, they're going

890
00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 1: to take that scholarship away. So I just remember, like,

891
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:43,040
Speaker 1: you know, like a knife in my heart because my

892
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:46,520
Speaker 1: dad was right. But my dad had the habit of

893
00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,560
Speaker 1: every time something great happened, he felt like in his

894
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:53,040
Speaker 1: spirit he needed to help me recognize the errors of

895
00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:56,920
Speaker 1: my life that still needed improvement instead of celebrating what

896
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:00,399
Speaker 1: I had done well. So it actually turned my mind

897
00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:04,240
Speaker 1: to being very critical of myself. And as an athlete,

898
00:47:04,239 --> 00:47:06,920
Speaker 1: if you're critical of yourself, you're probably not going to

899
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,040
Speaker 1: have as many weaknesses because you're going to spend a

900
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:12,319
Speaker 1: lot of time trying to fix them. And so my

901
00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:16,680
Speaker 1: mind had a negative bias, meaning I would pay attention

902
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:19,200
Speaker 1: and I would ruminate, and I would focus on what's

903
00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:22,880
Speaker 1: not right and never celebrate what happened or what was good.

904
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:26,160
Speaker 1: So I go to college and it wasn't enough to

905
00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:29,720
Speaker 1: be an All Big Ten or All American in football.

906
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:31,799
Speaker 1: I needed to run track too, So I was ended

907
00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:36,920
Speaker 1: up being a decathlete, becoming successful and setting records in

908
00:47:37,040 --> 00:47:43,200
Speaker 1: that and I remember the next big defining moment that

909
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:45,400
Speaker 1: I had was after college was over and I had

910
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:47,880
Speaker 1: achieved all these different things. I went to the New

911
00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:52,560
Speaker 1: Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent and competed against

912
00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:54,919
Speaker 1: a guy that was a ten year NFL veteran. He

913
00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:57,800
Speaker 1: was a pro bowler, and there was really very small

914
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:00,120
Speaker 1: chance that I was going to make the team, but

915
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:03,279
Speaker 1: he ended up getting injured. I performed really well, and

916
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:05,200
Speaker 1: the next thing you know, the coach calls me into

917
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:08,799
Speaker 1: his office and says, congratulations, You're going to be our

918
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:11,239
Speaker 1: punter for the two thousand and six season. And I

919
00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:14,680
Speaker 1: remember going outside of that meeting calling my dad. I'm like, Dad,

920
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:19,320
Speaker 1: you're never going to believe this. They're swing our last

921
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:21,880
Speaker 1: name on the back of the New Orleans Saints jersey.

922
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:26,359
Speaker 1: I'm number seven, Dad, Can you believe it? I'm a pro, Dad,

923
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:28,640
Speaker 1: You're never going to believe this. They just gave me

924
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:32,279
Speaker 1: My locker. To my left is number nine. Maybe you've

925
00:48:32,320 --> 00:48:36,600
Speaker 1: heard of him, Drew Brees to my right, dad, number five.

926
00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:39,280
Speaker 1: You want to know who that is? Reggie Bush. Dad,

927
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:42,279
Speaker 1: I'm a pro. And the first thing he said to

928
00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:46,719
Speaker 1: me was Steve, that's really great, but I want you

929
00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:50,560
Speaker 1: to know your contracts different than Drews and different than Reggie's.

930
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 1: If you have a bad game this weekend, when you

931
00:48:53,239 --> 00:48:55,880
Speaker 1: come to work on Monday, those guys are still going

932
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:59,640
Speaker 1: to have that locker. You probably won't. And he was

933
00:48:59,719 --> 00:49:02,640
Speaker 1: just and I have these conversations with him now because

934
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:04,960
Speaker 1: we're very, very close. He travels all over the country

935
00:49:04,960 --> 00:49:07,400
Speaker 1: with me and the different events that we're doing. But

936
00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:10,800
Speaker 1: because he grew up with a father that had negative

937
00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:14,560
Speaker 1: bias and a very critical person, that's all that he

938
00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:18,200
Speaker 1: knew and he wanted the best for me. And so

939
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:21,920
Speaker 1: I just remember these different defining moments, and you know,

940
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:24,840
Speaker 1: even like the super Bowl. Fast forward seven more years

941
00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:28,760
Speaker 1: and we beat Tom Brady in the New England Patriots,

942
00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:30,880
Speaker 1: forty seven miles from where I went to high school.

943
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:34,080
Speaker 1: My dad, my mom, my grandma, all my friends are there,

944
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:37,399
Speaker 1: my wife, my son, and I remember the confetti's coming down.

945
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:41,600
Speaker 1: I don't think to myself, where's my wife, where's my son?

946
00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 1: I think to myself, where's my dad? And I remember

947
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:47,960
Speaker 1: they give the Lombardi Trophy and I got it in

948
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:49,920
Speaker 1: my hand and my dad. I was like, Dad, come

949
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:52,839
Speaker 1: up here on the stage and I remember handing this

950
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:55,560
Speaker 1: to my dad and I'm thinking to myself, zech when

951
00:49:55,600 --> 00:49:58,600
Speaker 1: my dad gets his hands on this, he's going to

952
00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:03,000
Speaker 1: think to himself, proud of my son. And I handed

953
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,200
Speaker 1: it to him, and I'm expecting the heavens to open

954
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:08,120
Speaker 1: up and for Angel was to be like, oh, you

955
00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:11,120
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like the moment, and it didn't happen.

956
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:14,040
Speaker 1: My dad grabbed the trophy and wanted to go show

957
00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:16,960
Speaker 1: it to his mom, and so I remember getting back

958
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:19,160
Speaker 1: to the hotel room long past and I had the

959
00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:22,840
Speaker 1: greatest game of my life, had the Super Bowl record

960
00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:25,239
Speaker 1: for most punts put inside the ten yard line. After

961
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:27,880
Speaker 1: my first punt, the very next play was Tom Brady

962
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:31,080
Speaker 1: getting sacked in the end zone. I had a great

963
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:33,400
Speaker 1: impact on this game. And I remember getting back to

964
00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:36,640
Speaker 1: the hotel long after. People were telling me how great

965
00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:40,840
Speaker 1: I am, and now I'm I'm alone with my own thoughts,

966
00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:44,080
Speaker 1: and I remember dropping my bag and sitting on the

967
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:47,240
Speaker 1: bed and then I hear this noise up at the window.

968
00:50:47,760 --> 00:50:51,319
Speaker 1: So I walk over downtown Indianapolis and I look down.

969
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:53,360
Speaker 1: It looks like Marty Girl, two o'clock in the morning,

970
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:56,920
Speaker 1: and it's just filled with people in the streets high

971
00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:59,960
Speaker 1: five and taking pictures, taking shots of fowl clauses having

972
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:02,200
Speaker 1: the time of their life. And then I noticed they

973
00:51:02,239 --> 00:51:05,759
Speaker 1: don't even have Giants jerseys on. They're just happy to

974
00:51:05,840 --> 00:51:09,080
Speaker 1: be in a place where something great happened. Seventeen floors up,

975
00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:11,960
Speaker 1: I'm watching them. I played in the game, had the

976
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:14,080
Speaker 1: greatest game of my life in the game, and I

977
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:16,480
Speaker 1: know that I'm getting a multi million dollar contract just

978
00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:21,560
Speaker 1: a few weeks after this, and I don't feel any different.

979
00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:24,880
Speaker 1: And I remember this wave of depression coming over me

980
00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:29,560
Speaker 1: because I'm like, I did the thing and nothing's different.

981
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:33,719
Speaker 1: And I feel like for men or women listening to

982
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:36,719
Speaker 1: this story, like maybe you didn't have a goal of

983
00:51:36,800 --> 00:51:40,200
Speaker 1: winning a Super Bowl or these different things, but maybe

984
00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:43,759
Speaker 1: you've achieved some things that thought that it was going

985
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 1: to change how you feel about yourself and it didn't.

986
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:50,560
Speaker 1: Maybe it was a new job or a new car,

987
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:54,839
Speaker 1: or marrying this woman or achieving this physique, and then

988
00:51:54,880 --> 00:51:57,880
Speaker 1: you get there and the thing that you thought was

989
00:51:57,960 --> 00:52:01,120
Speaker 1: going to change didn't. This is the moment that I'm

990
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:07,359
Speaker 1: meant And I'm thinking to myself, like all of the sacrifice,

991
00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:10,600
Speaker 1: all of the early mornings, all that delaying the gratification

992
00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:13,319
Speaker 1: for this moment, and this is all that I get

993
00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:16,640
Speaker 1: out of it, and then I thought it started to

994
00:52:16,640 --> 00:52:20,280
Speaker 1: think to myself, maybe the thing that I'm after isn't

995
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:23,600
Speaker 1: inside of the National Football League. And so a couple

996
00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:26,200
Speaker 1: of weeks later, I signed a five year contract for

997
00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:31,040
Speaker 1: thirteen million dollars four million dollars signing bonus, like everything

998
00:52:31,080 --> 00:52:33,839
Speaker 1: that a man could want. And I'm married, I've got

999
00:52:33,840 --> 00:52:38,360
Speaker 1: four kids at the time, but I'm still I'm still

1000
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:42,360
Speaker 1: struggling with like who am I not to mention, still

1001
00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:51,920
Speaker 1: actively using pornography, pain pills, just completely lost. But on paper,

1002
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:54,640
Speaker 1: if you saw my life on Instagram, people be like, man,

1003
00:52:55,280 --> 00:52:57,000
Speaker 1: I want to be just like that guy. He's got

1004
00:52:57,040 --> 00:52:59,600
Speaker 1: the wife, he's got the kids, he's got the career,

1005
00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:02,359
Speaker 1: he's got the money, he's got the physique. But they

1006
00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:06,960
Speaker 1: had no idea that inside of myself, I was scared

1007
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:10,080
Speaker 1: to death that if people ever really realized who I am,

1008
00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:13,160
Speaker 1: they could never love me, they could never cheer for you,

1009
00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:15,959
Speaker 1: they would never buy my jersey and put my last

1010
00:53:16,040 --> 00:53:20,600
Speaker 1: name on their back. And so I was pretty much

1011
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:23,640
Speaker 1: having a costume party everywhere that I went because I

1012
00:53:23,680 --> 00:53:26,319
Speaker 1: felt like such a piece of crap. I became a

1013
00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:29,759
Speaker 1: people pleaser and I just tried to be what other

1014
00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:33,760
Speaker 1: people wanted me to be because inside I hated myself.

1015
00:53:34,719 --> 00:53:36,640
Speaker 1: And so I ended up playing three years of that

1016
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:40,239
Speaker 1: five year contract and retiring out of nowhere, and my

1017
00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:43,239
Speaker 1: wife and my dad and my coaches and my friends, like, dude,

1018
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,040
Speaker 1: what are you doing. You're walking away from X amount

1019
00:53:46,080 --> 00:53:49,360
Speaker 1: of dollars for six months of work. It's not that hard, Steve,

1020
00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:51,600
Speaker 1: You're a punter at the end of the day, Like

1021
00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:55,239
Speaker 1: they weren't wrong, But I just knew that there was

1022
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:58,520
Speaker 1: something that I was supposed to do or be, and

1023
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:01,080
Speaker 1: if I continued to do what I was doing and

1024
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:04,000
Speaker 1: being in the NFL, it was only going to lead

1025
00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:07,440
Speaker 1: to like deeper and darker because of everything that I

1026
00:54:07,440 --> 00:54:10,080
Speaker 1: had put into it and how little did it gave

1027
00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:12,520
Speaker 1: me back. And this is where I feel like my

1028
00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:17,520
Speaker 1: testimony gets really supernatural. I retire from the NFL, my

1029
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:23,520
Speaker 1: marriage is falling apart. I go to a psychologist, psychiatrist, hypnotherapists,

1030
00:54:23,680 --> 00:54:28,480
Speaker 1: hyperbaric oxygen therapy, doctor medication, self medication, and now I'm

1031
00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:31,480
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur building a fitness business. And I started taking

1032
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:34,680
Speaker 1: adderall because, like the doctor said it would help. And

1033
00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:40,239
Speaker 1: now I'm working seven days a week, fifteen hours a day,

1034
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:44,560
Speaker 1: because as an entrepreneur, there's always something to do, and

1035
00:54:44,600 --> 00:54:47,720
Speaker 1: so that drives my marriage into an even darker place.

1036
00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:50,440
Speaker 1: So I'm taking adderall to keep up with the workload,

1037
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:53,760
Speaker 1: smoking weed to come down from it, taking pain pills

1038
00:54:53,760 --> 00:54:56,799
Speaker 1: for the loneliness and the bitterness of the resentment that

1039
00:54:56,880 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 1: I have for myself. And we moved out to San

1040
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:03,759
Speaker 1: Diego from New York City, and within a couple of

1041
00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:08,480
Speaker 1: weeks of us be there, because I'm so low and

1042
00:55:08,520 --> 00:55:11,800
Speaker 1: depressed and anxious, I sat my four kids down. This

1043
00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:14,759
Speaker 1: is probably my biggest regret. Sat my four kids down

1044
00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:19,439
Speaker 1: with my wife, and because I didn't feel loved by

1045
00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:22,040
Speaker 1: my wife, I told my kids, well, your mom doesn't

1046
00:55:22,080 --> 00:55:27,880
Speaker 1: love me anymore, and so we're getting separated. And I

1047
00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:31,680
Speaker 1: found an airbnb, actually wasn't Airbnb at the time, it

1048
00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:38,520
Speaker 1: was on Craigslist. I lived above somebody's garage for seventy

1049
00:55:38,640 --> 00:55:43,600
Speaker 1: nine dollars a night in San Diego, and I lived

1050
00:55:43,640 --> 00:55:48,800
Speaker 1: there for about seven days and just laid in bed,

1051
00:55:49,239 --> 00:55:52,359
Speaker 1: had pills and a half a pound of weed next

1052
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:54,839
Speaker 1: to the bed and a pistol, thinking to myself, like

1053
00:55:56,920 --> 00:55:59,839
Speaker 1: I wish I could just go to sleep and not

1054
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:04,920
Speaker 1: because everybody that thinks they know me, they don't know me,

1055
00:56:05,360 --> 00:56:08,000
Speaker 1: and I think that they would be better off without me.

1056
00:56:09,120 --> 00:56:12,000
Speaker 1: Because the people that I love the most, I'm hurting

1057
00:56:12,040 --> 00:56:14,880
Speaker 1: the worst and I don't know why and I can't

1058
00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:20,880
Speaker 1: fix it. And while I was staying in that apartment

1059
00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:24,040
Speaker 1: above the garage, I had somebody that interrupted my life

1060
00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:27,880
Speaker 1: and said, hey, I know I don't know you that well,

1061
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:30,680
Speaker 1: but I think you should come to church. And I

1062
00:56:30,719 --> 00:56:33,719
Speaker 1: was like, what church because I hadn't been to church

1063
00:56:33,760 --> 00:56:36,719
Speaker 1: in fifteen years since high school. And they said, well,

1064
00:56:36,719 --> 00:56:39,880
Speaker 1: it's a church in San Diego called C three and

1065
00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:43,680
Speaker 1: the church is called Awaken Now. And I said, okay,

1066
00:56:44,480 --> 00:56:47,160
Speaker 1: I'll come, and I called my wife. I said, hey,

1067
00:56:47,960 --> 00:56:49,960
Speaker 1: would you go to church with me? So I pick

1068
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:52,399
Speaker 1: her up and we show up at this church about

1069
00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:56,120
Speaker 1: ten minutes late. Because I know about those greets at

1070
00:56:56,160 --> 00:56:58,879
Speaker 1: the door, the overly joyful ones. They're like, hey, how

1071
00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:01,440
Speaker 1: are you? And I knew if they come up to

1072
00:57:01,480 --> 00:57:04,279
Speaker 1: me asking me how I am, I'm at the end

1073
00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:08,680
Speaker 1: of myself. I would have said broken, depressed, I hate

1074
00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,880
Speaker 1: myself and I hope I die. So I just showed

1075
00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:14,800
Speaker 1: up ten minutes late. Walked in. And I remember walking

1076
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:17,960
Speaker 1: into the church and I could feel just like energy.

1077
00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:21,120
Speaker 1: And I'll look at the people as worship is going on.

1078
00:57:21,160 --> 00:57:23,520
Speaker 1: They got their hands raised up like men that look

1079
00:57:23,600 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 1: like you and me, like real men. Some of them

1080
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:28,640
Speaker 1: have tattoos on their necks and cut off t shirts

1081
00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:30,600
Speaker 1: and backwards hats. I'm like, man, this is not like

1082
00:57:30,640 --> 00:57:33,200
Speaker 1: a church that I'm used to, church that I went to.

1083
00:57:33,240 --> 00:57:35,640
Speaker 1: You gotta tuck your shirt in, wear a collared shirt,

1084
00:57:35,640 --> 00:57:40,120
Speaker 1: wear your khakis. And I just saw real men, real

1085
00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:43,120
Speaker 1: families worshiping. And some of these men had tears coming

1086
00:57:43,160 --> 00:57:46,160
Speaker 1: down their face, but they didn't look sad. They looked

1087
00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:48,760
Speaker 1: like it was like joy or something. And so I

1088
00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,720
Speaker 1: just watched people worship and I found the darkest place

1089
00:57:51,720 --> 00:57:54,960
Speaker 1: that I could find in that auditorium, and I sat

1090
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:59,120
Speaker 1: there and the pastor walks out and his name's doctor

1091
00:57:59,160 --> 00:58:02,320
Speaker 1: Matt Hubbard. And he was like thirty seconds into his

1092
00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:06,760
Speaker 1: sermon message and he stopped and he goes, hey you,

1093
00:58:08,360 --> 00:58:09,960
Speaker 1: I don't know who you are, but I feel like

1094
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:11,720
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is telling me that I have to

1095
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:14,680
Speaker 1: deliver a message to you right now. He goes, I

1096
00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:17,600
Speaker 1: don't know who you are. I don't know where you're from.

1097
00:58:17,880 --> 00:58:20,200
Speaker 1: But the Lord is telling me right now that you've

1098
00:58:20,240 --> 00:58:23,400
Speaker 1: been gone for a really long time, and he wants

1099
00:58:23,400 --> 00:58:25,480
Speaker 1: you to know that you're home. He wants you to

1100
00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:27,160
Speaker 1: know that he loves you. He wants you to know

1101
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:29,919
Speaker 1: that he sees your broken heart, he sees this hurt.

1102
00:58:30,040 --> 00:58:32,440
Speaker 1: And he just continues to go on and he's saying

1103
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:35,439
Speaker 1: these things. I turned around to see who he's saying

1104
00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:38,840
Speaker 1: those things about. Yeah, nothing behind me but the wall.

1105
00:58:39,880 --> 00:58:42,360
Speaker 1: He's talking directly to me. And here I am, the

1106
00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:45,920
Speaker 1: first time, not like, oh, the fourth time, the first

1107
00:58:46,160 --> 00:58:50,320
Speaker 1: time that I've been to church in fifteen years. This

1108
00:58:50,360 --> 00:58:52,600
Speaker 1: guy that I've never met picks me out of a

1109
00:58:52,640 --> 00:58:56,080
Speaker 1: crowd of over four hundred people and says things to

1110
00:58:56,120 --> 00:58:59,440
Speaker 1: me that he, even with the most extensive Google search,

1111
00:58:59,480 --> 00:59:02,480
Speaker 1: he would know I ever know those things. And I

1112
00:59:02,520 --> 00:59:04,840
Speaker 1: walked in and sat in this dark place, and all

1113
00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:08,760
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the spotlight sweeps up and now it's

1114
00:59:08,800 --> 00:59:10,640
Speaker 1: on me as and I didn't realize it at the time.

1115
00:59:10,720 --> 00:59:14,520
Speaker 1: He's prophesying over me. Yes, And he does that for

1116
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:17,959
Speaker 1: like a minute straight. And the other people in the church,

1117
00:59:18,040 --> 00:59:20,720
Speaker 1: I guess they're used to this. And as soon as

1118
00:59:20,760 --> 00:59:23,320
Speaker 1: he's done, they just go back to him and pull

1119
00:59:23,320 --> 00:59:25,440
Speaker 1: out their bibles, and it's like it was like a trance,

1120
00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:27,720
Speaker 1: like this guy was like doing a sermon and then

1121
00:59:27,760 --> 00:59:31,400
Speaker 1: he stops and then bang bang bang bang bang, and

1122
00:59:31,440 --> 00:59:33,400
Speaker 1: then he was done and then went back right back

1123
00:59:33,440 --> 00:59:35,400
Speaker 1: to a sermon like it was like normal. And I'm like,

1124
00:59:35,600 --> 00:59:39,080
Speaker 1: I'm freaking out, man. So he gets done with this message,

1125
00:59:39,120 --> 00:59:41,439
Speaker 1: they go back into worship, and I sneak out of there.

1126
00:59:43,280 --> 00:59:44,720
Speaker 1: I sneak out of there and go get in the

1127
00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:49,480
Speaker 1: car before worship's over, because I'm like, in my ego,

1128
00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:52,600
Speaker 1: I'm thinking somebody might have recognized me, you know, because

1129
00:59:52,640 --> 00:59:54,440
Speaker 1: I just retired or whatever. So I go on and

1130
00:59:54,520 --> 00:59:56,040
Speaker 1: get in my car and I look at my wife.

1131
00:59:56,120 --> 00:59:59,680
Speaker 1: I'm like, how did that man know those things about me?

1132
01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:04,520
Speaker 1: I'm shook, and she goes, I don't know. I go,

1133
01:00:05,800 --> 01:00:08,720
Speaker 1: maybe maybe this is what we're supposed to do and

1134
01:00:08,720 --> 01:00:11,760
Speaker 1: where we're supposed to go, that that God would fix

1135
01:00:11,840 --> 01:00:15,160
Speaker 1: me or heal mirror whatever, because I'd gone to all

1136
01:00:15,200 --> 01:00:18,320
Speaker 1: these different doctors, like praying that one of these doctors

1137
01:00:18,400 --> 01:00:21,520
Speaker 1: is going to like diagnose me bipolar or something, so

1138
01:00:21,560 --> 01:00:24,080
Speaker 1: like that would explain these extreme highs and lows and

1139
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:27,760
Speaker 1: suicidal thoughts and self hatred and self condemnation, but nobody

1140
01:00:27,800 --> 01:00:30,640
Speaker 1: would diagnose me. So then I go to this church

1141
01:00:30,680 --> 01:00:35,440
Speaker 1: and this man says, this thing is about me. I'm like, okay, God, like,

1142
01:00:36,040 --> 01:00:38,600
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to church now. And two months

1143
01:00:38,600 --> 01:00:41,640
Speaker 1: after that, I got invited to go to their men's

1144
01:00:41,640 --> 01:00:46,240
Speaker 1: conference that's called a merge, and I got special permission

1145
01:00:46,640 --> 01:00:50,479
Speaker 1: for my oldest child. His name is Ace. He's eighteen now,

1146
01:00:50,760 --> 01:00:53,200
Speaker 1: but my oldest child Ace to come to the event

1147
01:00:53,560 --> 01:00:55,960
Speaker 1: because it's thirteen and up. And one thing that I

1148
01:00:56,000 --> 01:00:58,520
Speaker 1: didn't mention. After we won the Super Bowl, I remember

1149
01:00:58,560 --> 01:01:02,520
Speaker 1: pulling my son out of the confetti's coming down, and

1150
01:01:02,520 --> 01:01:04,560
Speaker 1: my son says to me, because he's four, he knew

1151
01:01:04,600 --> 01:01:06,200
Speaker 1: what was going on, Dad, we did it. We won

1152
01:01:06,320 --> 01:01:08,480
Speaker 1: it all. When I get older, I want to be

1153
01:01:08,720 --> 01:01:13,600
Speaker 1: just like you. I'm like, well, if you're gonna be

1154
01:01:13,680 --> 01:01:18,040
Speaker 1: like me, in my mind, I need to teach him

1155
01:01:18,040 --> 01:01:20,480
Speaker 1: to be very critical of himself the way that I

1156
01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:23,040
Speaker 1: was critical of myself. I need to be to him

1157
01:01:23,120 --> 01:01:25,440
Speaker 1: the way that my dad was to me. And so

1158
01:01:25,560 --> 01:01:28,800
Speaker 1: from age four to age eleven, I trained him hard,

1159
01:01:29,440 --> 01:01:32,840
Speaker 1: like if you had fifteen points and eight rebounds. Well

1160
01:01:32,880 --> 01:01:35,920
Speaker 1: you should, you should add twenty two points and twelve rebounds,

1161
01:01:35,960 --> 01:01:39,560
Speaker 1: like nothing was ever celebrated, nothing was ever enough. And

1162
01:01:39,600 --> 01:01:43,440
Speaker 1: so my son hated me, and I resented him because

1163
01:01:43,440 --> 01:01:48,160
Speaker 1: he didn't appreciate what I was helping him with. And

1164
01:01:48,240 --> 01:01:52,320
Speaker 1: so we go to this event called a merge, and

1165
01:01:52,360 --> 01:01:54,120
Speaker 1: my son didn't want to go, and my wife didn't

1166
01:01:54,120 --> 01:01:56,440
Speaker 1: want to let me bring him, but I begged and

1167
01:01:56,520 --> 01:01:58,640
Speaker 1: I pleaded, and so he comes with me. And the

1168
01:01:58,720 --> 01:02:01,240
Speaker 1: first thing that they gave us was a burden board.

1169
01:02:01,880 --> 01:02:03,760
Speaker 1: They gave you a piece of wood. Gave me a

1170
01:02:03,800 --> 01:02:05,520
Speaker 1: piece of wood, and there's two holes on the end

1171
01:02:05,560 --> 01:02:07,560
Speaker 1: of it and then a string, and they give you

1172
01:02:07,600 --> 01:02:10,200
Speaker 1: a marker. They say, go spend fifteen minutes with God,

1173
01:02:10,600 --> 01:02:12,960
Speaker 1: and I want you to write down everything on this

1174
01:02:13,080 --> 01:02:15,640
Speaker 1: burden board that you brought into the desert that you

1175
01:02:15,720 --> 01:02:19,480
Speaker 1: want God to take away. So I was like, okay,

1176
01:02:19,800 --> 01:02:21,880
Speaker 1: and I was already at the end of myself. I mean,

1177
01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:26,760
Speaker 1: God didn't do something that weekend, Like I was okay

1178
01:02:26,760 --> 01:02:29,360
Speaker 1: if I died. And so I sat down and I

1179
01:02:29,400 --> 01:02:33,560
Speaker 1: wrote down guilt, I wrote down shame, I wrote down self, hatred,

1180
01:02:33,680 --> 01:02:40,160
Speaker 1: self condemnation, lust, porn, pills, alcohol. I wrote down, am

1181
01:02:40,240 --> 01:02:43,680
Speaker 1: I gay? Just all of the disgusting things about myself

1182
01:02:43,680 --> 01:02:45,440
Speaker 1: that I didn't want anybody to know. I just wrote

1183
01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:48,320
Speaker 1: it down and I put it on my back, and

1184
01:02:48,360 --> 01:02:51,640
Speaker 1: I'm walking to the circus tent and I'm looking at

1185
01:02:51,640 --> 01:02:54,120
Speaker 1: the guys that are walking in front of me, and

1186
01:02:54,200 --> 01:02:57,800
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys have on their back what

1187
01:02:57,920 --> 01:03:02,160
Speaker 1: I have on my back, and I'm like, maybe I'm

1188
01:03:02,200 --> 01:03:05,360
Speaker 1: in the right place. So I go into this tent

1189
01:03:05,400 --> 01:03:08,040
Speaker 1: and there's already been worshiping, and I feel that same

1190
01:03:08,200 --> 01:03:10,800
Speaker 1: energy that I felt in that church the first time.

1191
01:03:10,840 --> 01:03:18,640
Speaker 1: I'm like, yes this. I sit down and the main

1192
01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:22,240
Speaker 1: pastor walks out, Pastor Jurgen, and he announces the first speaker.

1193
01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:24,280
Speaker 1: The first speaker walks out, and he's a big, old

1194
01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:27,920
Speaker 1: six foot six, big old, strong pastor with a white

1195
01:03:27,920 --> 01:03:30,520
Speaker 1: head of hair. Instantly got my attention because I'm like, man,

1196
01:03:30,520 --> 01:03:33,720
Speaker 1: I haven't seen tony pastors look like this guy. And

1197
01:03:33,760 --> 01:03:36,360
Speaker 1: he grabs a microphone and as soon as he speaks

1198
01:03:36,360 --> 01:03:39,320
Speaker 1: into the microphone, I don't even remember what he said.

1199
01:03:39,760 --> 01:03:42,480
Speaker 1: I felt like I got hit by a lightning bolt

1200
01:03:42,760 --> 01:03:46,400
Speaker 1: of energy, and all of a sudden, my chest starts vibrating.

1201
01:03:46,400 --> 01:03:48,360
Speaker 1: The hair in the back of my neck stood up

1202
01:03:48,680 --> 01:03:51,880
Speaker 1: and I felt like I was floating up out of

1203
01:03:52,040 --> 01:03:54,280
Speaker 1: my chair. Then people sit next to me must have

1204
01:03:54,320 --> 01:03:56,360
Speaker 1: thought I was crazy because I grabbed the sides of

1205
01:03:56,400 --> 01:03:59,400
Speaker 1: my chair told on and I'm looking around to see

1206
01:03:59,400 --> 01:04:02,960
Speaker 1: if it's happening to anybody else. It's not. And so

1207
01:04:03,000 --> 01:04:07,120
Speaker 1: as this guy continues to talk, this energy intensifies. So

1208
01:04:07,160 --> 01:04:09,240
Speaker 1: I look at my friend Nick Unsworth, who's sitting next

1209
01:04:09,280 --> 01:04:11,080
Speaker 1: to me. He's the guy that invited me. I go, Nick,

1210
01:04:11,640 --> 01:04:15,080
Speaker 1: who is this guy? He pulls out his program and

1211
01:04:15,120 --> 01:04:19,040
Speaker 1: he's like, uh, Keith Kraft, and I don't recognize the name,

1212
01:04:19,120 --> 01:04:21,360
Speaker 1: but I google it and the third image that pops

1213
01:04:21,440 --> 01:04:22,960
Speaker 1: up is the picture of the guy that's on the

1214
01:04:23,000 --> 01:04:26,640
Speaker 1: stage busting bricks in Jesus' name for the Power Team,

1215
01:04:27,200 --> 01:04:32,440
Speaker 1: and I'm like, that's the guy. And so he preaches

1216
01:04:32,480 --> 01:04:35,680
Speaker 1: his message for thirty minutes and I can't hear physically.

1217
01:04:35,760 --> 01:04:38,920
Speaker 1: I cannot hear a word he's saying. It just sounds

1218
01:04:38,920 --> 01:04:43,600
Speaker 1: like sound waves woww kind of like the Muppet Baby's

1219
01:04:43,680 --> 01:04:48,720
Speaker 1: mom wow wow wow wow wow. I'm just feeling energy.

1220
01:04:48,760 --> 01:04:51,800
Speaker 1: And so he gets done and I run around the

1221
01:04:51,840 --> 01:04:54,760
Speaker 1: side of the tent and I'm throwing people out of

1222
01:04:54,800 --> 01:04:56,840
Speaker 1: the way because everybody's trying to talk to him. It's

1223
01:04:56,840 --> 01:04:58,800
Speaker 1: like the Bible. I'm freaking just trying to get to

1224
01:04:58,840 --> 01:05:01,360
Speaker 1: the hem of the Rabbi. And I get up to him,

1225
01:05:01,400 --> 01:05:03,760
Speaker 1: I'm like, past year, You're never gonna believe this. But

1226
01:05:03,800 --> 01:05:06,480
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety four in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, you came

1227
01:05:06,520 --> 01:05:09,280
Speaker 1: to co meet Baptist Church and you changed my life forever.

1228
01:05:09,600 --> 01:05:11,720
Speaker 1: You gave me a picture of possibility, and you gave

1229
01:05:11,760 --> 01:05:14,600
Speaker 1: me permission to go for the dreams that God put

1230
01:05:14,640 --> 01:05:16,360
Speaker 1: inside of me. And he was kind of like blown away.

1231
01:05:16,400 --> 01:05:19,600
Speaker 1: He's like, well, like send me a message on Instagram,

1232
01:05:19,600 --> 01:05:21,800
Speaker 1: and I'm like, okay, I will, yeah, And so I'm

1233
01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:25,440
Speaker 1: walking back to my seat and I had three revelations

1234
01:05:25,520 --> 01:05:28,720
Speaker 1: about God that changed me forever. I knew in that moment.

1235
01:05:28,920 --> 01:05:32,200
Speaker 1: I knew that God was real, and I knew that

1236
01:05:32,240 --> 01:05:35,280
Speaker 1: God was good. I didn't realize what I was experiencing

1237
01:05:35,440 --> 01:05:38,120
Speaker 1: in that moment was the presence of God. And with

1238
01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:40,400
Speaker 1: the presence of God, wherever the presence of God is,

1239
01:05:40,440 --> 01:05:43,720
Speaker 1: there's freedom. So I was experiencing freedom for the first time.

1240
01:05:43,760 --> 01:05:47,360
Speaker 1: I was experiencing joy, and I was experiencing unconditional love

1241
01:05:48,160 --> 01:05:50,280
Speaker 1: from a whole life. I had been trying to earn it,

1242
01:05:50,560 --> 01:05:53,640
Speaker 1: trying to perform, to be good enough, and in that moment,

1243
01:05:53,720 --> 01:05:58,200
Speaker 1: in that encounter with God, I realized that through Christ Jesus,

1244
01:05:59,400 --> 01:06:02,640
Speaker 1: I'm I'm more than enough. And so I get back

1245
01:06:02,640 --> 01:06:06,080
Speaker 1: to my seat and I'm looking for my son because

1246
01:06:06,120 --> 01:06:08,560
Speaker 1: like in all the excitement, I just forgot he was

1247
01:06:08,600 --> 01:06:11,040
Speaker 1: with me. And I go and I'm like, Nick, where's

1248
01:06:11,080 --> 01:06:13,120
Speaker 1: my son? And he was like, man, I was going

1249
01:06:13,200 --> 01:06:16,200
Speaker 1: to tell you about what happened, but you had this

1250
01:06:16,280 --> 01:06:17,880
Speaker 1: look on your face. I was just gonna let you

1251
01:06:17,920 --> 01:06:21,080
Speaker 1: talk first. I'm like, where's my son? He goes look

1252
01:06:21,160 --> 01:06:23,640
Speaker 1: up at the front of the altar, and my son

1253
01:06:23,760 --> 01:06:25,920
Speaker 1: was given his life to Jesus for the first time.

1254
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:29,840
Speaker 1: I was eleven, my son was eleven. It was the

1255
01:06:29,880 --> 01:06:35,240
Speaker 1: same man that God used. And I'm like, okay, God,

1256
01:06:36,040 --> 01:06:38,800
Speaker 1: you can have it all, you can have all of me.

1257
01:06:39,360 --> 01:06:41,600
Speaker 1: But I'm still reminded in that moment, in this like

1258
01:06:41,800 --> 01:06:45,640
Speaker 1: encounter that I'm inside of, I'm still reminded I still

1259
01:06:45,640 --> 01:06:47,880
Speaker 1: have all this junk on my back and I don't

1260
01:06:47,960 --> 01:06:49,800
Speaker 1: know how to get it off. But I know that

1261
01:06:49,840 --> 01:06:52,400
Speaker 1: God is real, and I know that I have hope now,

1262
01:06:53,560 --> 01:06:55,720
Speaker 1: but one thing that always sent me sideways. And I

1263
01:06:55,720 --> 01:06:58,600
Speaker 1: feel like people that are listening to this may resonate

1264
01:06:58,680 --> 01:07:01,600
Speaker 1: with you as well. We hear the verse like, oh,

1265
01:07:01,600 --> 01:07:04,320
Speaker 1: God's got a great plan for your life to prosper you,

1266
01:07:04,440 --> 01:07:06,880
Speaker 1: not to harm you. But after I got abused by

1267
01:07:06,920 --> 01:07:11,160
Speaker 1: that man, I thought to myself, like, kind of freaking

1268
01:07:11,200 --> 01:07:13,400
Speaker 1: plan is this that you have for me? Plan for

1269
01:07:13,440 --> 01:07:16,000
Speaker 1: me to get sexually abusing him, to do all these nasty,

1270
01:07:16,080 --> 01:07:19,320
Speaker 1: awful things to me? Kind of God? Are you? Is

1271
01:07:19,360 --> 01:07:21,840
Speaker 1: God even real? And if God is real, is he good?

1272
01:07:21,880 --> 01:07:24,680
Speaker 1: And if He's good, that must mean I'm bad? And

1273
01:07:24,720 --> 01:07:28,200
Speaker 1: this is my punishment. And as I'm walking back to

1274
01:07:28,280 --> 01:07:33,040
Speaker 1: my chair, I'm realizing that God didn't author that thing

1275
01:07:33,120 --> 01:07:35,360
Speaker 1: that happened to me. And as you're listening to this,

1276
01:07:35,480 --> 01:07:38,160
Speaker 1: I want you to know, if you've experienced like extreme

1277
01:07:38,280 --> 01:07:42,840
Speaker 1: torment or loss, or death or disease and cancer, you

1278
01:07:42,960 --> 01:07:45,720
Speaker 1: or somebody in your life, God did not author that

1279
01:07:45,840 --> 01:07:49,400
Speaker 1: thing that happened. However, if you give it to him,

1280
01:07:49,440 --> 01:07:53,160
Speaker 1: if you release it, if you stop dragging that burden

1281
01:07:53,280 --> 01:07:55,479
Speaker 1: along with you, and you give it to God. God

1282
01:07:55,520 --> 01:07:57,360
Speaker 1: will use it the same way. I feel like God

1283
01:07:57,440 --> 01:07:59,520
Speaker 1: is using that awful thing that happened to me when

1284
01:07:59,520 --> 01:08:01,520
Speaker 1: I was an inn twelve year old boy. I didn't

1285
01:08:01,520 --> 01:08:03,400
Speaker 1: even have hair on my body, and I got this

1286
01:08:03,440 --> 01:08:06,440
Speaker 1: guy doing these terrible things to me. But now I

1287
01:08:06,480 --> 01:08:09,440
Speaker 1: know I realized, like God didn't author that there's evil

1288
01:08:09,560 --> 01:08:12,160
Speaker 1: in the world. But there's a scripture in the Bible

1289
01:08:12,200 --> 01:08:14,120
Speaker 1: room in Is eight twenty eight that says that God

1290
01:08:14,160 --> 01:08:17,879
Speaker 1: wants to take everything from our past use it together

1291
01:08:17,920 --> 01:08:20,720
Speaker 1: for good, not just the Super Bowls, not just the

1292
01:08:21,080 --> 01:08:23,360
Speaker 1: wonderful things that you He wants to take the awful

1293
01:08:23,360 --> 01:08:25,800
Speaker 1: stuff too. But in order for God to take what's

1294
01:08:25,840 --> 01:08:27,920
Speaker 1: happened in our past and use it together for good,

1295
01:08:27,960 --> 01:08:30,840
Speaker 1: we have to release it. And I'm dragging it in

1296
01:08:30,880 --> 01:08:35,639
Speaker 1: like this massive suitcase of shame, pain and regret and

1297
01:08:35,760 --> 01:08:38,960
Speaker 1: doubt of God, anger at God. And I dragged it

1298
01:08:39,000 --> 01:08:43,760
Speaker 1: into that tent. And the very next day they had

1299
01:08:43,760 --> 01:08:47,920
Speaker 1: this big bonfire and it was a releasing of the burdens,

1300
01:08:48,640 --> 01:08:51,920
Speaker 1: and they said, each person comes up to the front

1301
01:08:51,960 --> 01:08:54,000
Speaker 1: of the line, and they said, I want you to

1302
01:08:54,000 --> 01:08:57,280
Speaker 1: place your hand on your burden. And scripture says, if

1303
01:08:57,320 --> 01:08:59,920
Speaker 1: two of you place your hand to anything, our Father

1304
01:09:00,080 --> 01:09:02,519
Speaker 1: and Heaven would do it. And I was so desperate

1305
01:09:02,520 --> 01:09:05,639
Speaker 1: for God to take that pain away and give me purpose,

1306
01:09:06,439 --> 01:09:09,200
Speaker 1: and so I prayed a dangerous prayer in front of

1307
01:09:09,240 --> 01:09:13,160
Speaker 1: this massive bonfire. I rededicated my life to God and

1308
01:09:13,320 --> 01:09:16,160
Speaker 1: asked him to take all that stuff from the past

1309
01:09:16,560 --> 01:09:18,920
Speaker 1: and begin to use it together for good. Because I

1310
01:09:18,960 --> 01:09:21,360
Speaker 1: knew that God was real, and I knew that leaving

1311
01:09:21,479 --> 01:09:24,000
Speaker 1: that place, I was going to give him everything that

1312
01:09:24,080 --> 01:09:27,400
Speaker 1: I had. And so I rededicated my life. I threw

1313
01:09:27,439 --> 01:09:29,320
Speaker 1: that into the fire, and I asked the Holy Spirit

1314
01:09:29,360 --> 01:09:31,679
Speaker 1: to fill me and lead me and be my comforter

1315
01:09:31,760 --> 01:09:34,400
Speaker 1: and be my counselor and to be my guide. And

1316
01:09:34,479 --> 01:09:38,559
Speaker 1: I left that place and I went home. I got

1317
01:09:38,600 --> 01:09:41,599
Speaker 1: on my knees and I repented to my wife. I said,

1318
01:09:41,640 --> 01:09:43,559
Speaker 1: this is the man that I used to be, and

1319
01:09:43,640 --> 01:09:45,960
Speaker 1: the nasty things that I did that you don't even

1320
01:09:46,040 --> 01:09:50,599
Speaker 1: know about. If you would give me another chance, I'm

1321
01:09:50,600 --> 01:09:52,280
Speaker 1: going to be a man of God now. And I

1322
01:09:52,320 --> 01:09:54,960
Speaker 1: feel like God has sent a man into my life

1323
01:09:55,560 --> 01:09:59,280
Speaker 1: to teach me how to do it. And that pastor

1324
01:09:59,320 --> 01:10:01,200
Speaker 1: that came back in to my life, I began to

1325
01:10:01,880 --> 01:10:04,559
Speaker 1: sew into him that he would coach me. And he

1326
01:10:04,640 --> 01:10:06,920
Speaker 1: gave me one hour every thirty days. And because I'm

1327
01:10:06,960 --> 01:10:10,160
Speaker 1: an athlete, Zach like, you don't have to tell me twice. Yeah,

1328
01:10:10,320 --> 01:10:12,120
Speaker 1: just say, hey, this is what you're gonna get if

1329
01:10:12,160 --> 01:10:15,000
Speaker 1: you do these things. And so month over month, I

1330
01:10:15,040 --> 01:10:17,599
Speaker 1: would get with him and we would do identity work

1331
01:10:17,640 --> 01:10:20,880
Speaker 1: and we would do vision work. And if he said

1332
01:10:20,920 --> 01:10:22,920
Speaker 1: cut this off and never do it again, I cut

1333
01:10:22,920 --> 01:10:25,160
Speaker 1: it off. If he said poke this out, I poked

1334
01:10:25,200 --> 01:10:27,160
Speaker 1: it out. I picked this up. I picked it up.

1335
01:10:27,640 --> 01:10:30,760
Speaker 1: I just I was coachable. And nine months of that

1336
01:10:30,840 --> 01:10:36,800
Speaker 1: mentorship went by, and I looked at my wife. I'm like, man, like,

1337
01:10:37,240 --> 01:10:41,000
Speaker 1: we're unstuck from places like I've been stuck my whole life.

1338
01:10:41,040 --> 01:10:44,640
Speaker 1: We've been stuck our whole marriage. Maybe we're supposed to

1339
01:10:44,800 --> 01:10:48,320
Speaker 1: leave San Diego and move to Texas to be closer

1340
01:10:48,360 --> 01:10:52,360
Speaker 1: to my mentor. And and she said, all right, well,

1341
01:10:52,400 --> 01:10:54,400
Speaker 1: let's pray about it. And this is the first time

1342
01:10:54,439 --> 01:10:58,160
Speaker 1: this season is the first season that I'm actually hearing

1343
01:10:58,200 --> 01:11:00,400
Speaker 1: from God, Like when I pray, I can hear his

1344
01:11:00,479 --> 01:11:04,160
Speaker 1: spirit speak to me, and I make up in my mind.

1345
01:11:04,200 --> 01:11:07,080
Speaker 1: Scripture says that if we have unforgiveness, then our prayers

1346
01:11:07,080 --> 01:11:10,800
Speaker 1: are hindered. And I believe after having that encounter with

1347
01:11:10,880 --> 01:11:14,280
Speaker 1: God and beginning to get discipled, I was able to

1348
01:11:14,400 --> 01:11:17,640
Speaker 1: forgive myself. I was able to forgive my dad. I

1349
01:11:17,720 --> 01:11:21,000
Speaker 1: was able to forgive my abuser. And now now I'm

1350
01:11:21,040 --> 01:11:23,000
Speaker 1: hearing from the Lord. So we began to pray a

1351
01:11:23,000 --> 01:11:26,240
Speaker 1: prayer like God highlights something and we're supposed to relocate

1352
01:11:26,720 --> 01:11:31,040
Speaker 1: that I could learn more and grow faster. And for

1353
01:11:31,160 --> 01:11:34,080
Speaker 1: ninety days we didn't hear anything. And then it was

1354
01:11:34,120 --> 01:11:38,240
Speaker 1: in January, right about the time that COVID was happening,

1355
01:11:38,479 --> 01:11:41,000
Speaker 1: and I knelt over my wife's bed like a little

1356
01:11:41,080 --> 01:11:43,000
Speaker 1: kid and prayed out loud, God, I feel like you're

1357
01:11:43,000 --> 01:11:47,000
Speaker 1: not highlighting anything, but if you would just slam a

1358
01:11:47,080 --> 01:11:50,120
Speaker 1: door shut, I'll take my wife. And at the time

1359
01:11:50,160 --> 01:11:52,439
Speaker 1: now we have five kids and she's pregnant with our

1360
01:11:52,520 --> 01:11:55,599
Speaker 1: six I said, I'll take our five kids and my wife,

1361
01:11:55,640 --> 01:11:57,840
Speaker 1: who's seven and a half months pregnant, and we will

1362
01:11:57,960 --> 01:12:02,240
Speaker 1: run through whatever door that you leave open. Four hours later,

1363
01:12:02,600 --> 01:12:04,800
Speaker 1: our landlord called us and said, hey, we loved you,

1364
01:12:04,880 --> 01:12:06,920
Speaker 1: we love your family, but we're a little nervous about

1365
01:12:06,920 --> 01:12:09,240
Speaker 1: this COVID thing. We're going to sell the house. You

1366
01:12:09,280 --> 01:12:13,840
Speaker 1: got fifty days to get out. And I'm like, okay, Lord.

1367
01:12:14,080 --> 01:12:16,519
Speaker 1: So then we packed up everything that we own, gave

1368
01:12:16,560 --> 01:12:19,799
Speaker 1: some stuff away, whatever, whatever, and we just started driving

1369
01:12:19,840 --> 01:12:24,479
Speaker 1: to Texas. And that was about four and a half

1370
01:12:24,600 --> 01:12:26,960
Speaker 1: years ago. And then when I got to Texas, I

1371
01:12:27,160 --> 01:12:33,360
Speaker 1: entered into like intense, high level discipleship and I was

1372
01:12:33,400 --> 01:12:36,559
Speaker 1: just able. I was just able to watch my mentor.

1373
01:12:36,680 --> 01:12:38,839
Speaker 1: I'm an athlete, you know, because you talk about imitate.

1374
01:12:38,960 --> 01:12:40,960
Speaker 1: You can tell me and speak to me on zoom

1375
01:12:41,000 --> 01:12:43,080
Speaker 1: and I'll do my best to be coachable. But if

1376
01:12:43,120 --> 01:12:45,240
Speaker 1: I can watch an athlete, if I can watch a

1377
01:12:45,320 --> 01:12:49,280
Speaker 1: man how he handles easy situations, hard situations, how he loves,

1378
01:12:49,320 --> 01:12:52,040
Speaker 1: how he forgives yes, I'll just imitate it, of course.

1379
01:12:52,120 --> 01:12:56,080
Speaker 1: And that's what I did for three years. And about

1380
01:12:56,120 --> 01:12:58,960
Speaker 1: two years ago. At the end of that three years,

1381
01:12:59,400 --> 01:13:02,679
Speaker 1: the Lord came to me in a dream and told

1382
01:13:02,720 --> 01:13:05,840
Speaker 1: me the same covering that that man has given me,

1383
01:13:07,320 --> 01:13:10,439
Speaker 1: I'm now supposed to give other men. And I'm like, okay, Lord,

1384
01:13:10,479 --> 01:13:13,439
Speaker 1: what does that look like? And I felt like the

1385
01:13:13,479 --> 01:13:16,400
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit was telling me to invite men into my

1386
01:13:16,520 --> 01:13:20,920
Speaker 1: home and provide the same experience that that event provided

1387
01:13:20,960 --> 01:13:23,960
Speaker 1: for me that they could encounter the Holy Spirit, that

1388
01:13:24,080 --> 01:13:27,360
Speaker 1: a man would teach them who they are according to God.

1389
01:13:27,960 --> 01:13:31,800
Speaker 1: And that's when Champions in Christ Ministry was born out

1390
01:13:31,840 --> 01:13:34,400
Speaker 1: of a dream that God gave me and I had

1391
01:13:34,439 --> 01:13:37,479
Speaker 1: seven people come over the first time, and the first

1392
01:13:37,520 --> 01:13:39,639
Speaker 1: time we did this event, it's called the Launching Pad

1393
01:13:39,760 --> 01:13:45,519
Speaker 1: Leadership Experience. We went through this and I had like

1394
01:13:45,560 --> 01:13:48,200
Speaker 1: this work book and they fill all this stuff out

1395
01:13:48,240 --> 01:13:50,320
Speaker 1: and then at the end of the day, we put

1396
01:13:50,360 --> 01:13:53,360
Speaker 1: worship music on and I didn't give the guys an

1397
01:13:53,360 --> 01:13:56,240
Speaker 1: option to worship. I said, this is what we're going

1398
01:13:56,360 --> 01:13:58,599
Speaker 1: to do. We're going to worship. And maybe you've never

1399
01:13:58,680 --> 01:14:01,120
Speaker 1: sang out loud with your voice or put your hands up,

1400
01:14:01,120 --> 01:14:04,400
Speaker 1: but we're going to do it today. And these men

1401
01:14:04,479 --> 01:14:08,240
Speaker 1: began to worship. And at the end of worship, I

1402
01:14:08,280 --> 01:14:10,720
Speaker 1: took those men through a prayer of deliverance that I

1403
01:14:10,840 --> 01:14:13,519
Speaker 1: was taken through and I was listening to Holy Spirit

1404
01:14:13,560 --> 01:14:16,640
Speaker 1: and laying hands on them. And because I'm an athlete,

1405
01:14:16,880 --> 01:14:19,280
Speaker 1: I know in order for me to improve, I got

1406
01:14:19,320 --> 01:14:22,240
Speaker 1: to get feedback. So the first event was over and

1407
01:14:22,560 --> 01:14:24,960
Speaker 1: I sent out feedback for hims and did some debris

1408
01:14:24,960 --> 01:14:26,880
Speaker 1: phone calls with guys and I'm like, hey, tell me

1409
01:14:26,960 --> 01:14:29,280
Speaker 1: what was good, what can improve and maybe something that

1410
01:14:29,400 --> 01:14:32,760
Speaker 1: changed your life. And seven out of seven guys said, hey,

1411
01:14:32,760 --> 01:14:36,400
Speaker 1: that workbook stuff was great. I learned a lot. Man.

1412
01:14:36,439 --> 01:14:38,920
Speaker 1: When we were worshiping and you laid your hands on

1413
01:14:39,000 --> 01:14:42,360
Speaker 1: me and we prayed, I experienced the Holy Spirit for

1414
01:14:42,400 --> 01:14:46,439
Speaker 1: the first time, and I'm still changed. Something shifted inside

1415
01:14:46,439 --> 01:14:49,720
Speaker 1: of me, and I'm like, okay, Lord. So then the

1416
01:14:49,720 --> 01:14:53,400
Speaker 1: next month when we did the launching pad, instead of

1417
01:14:53,439 --> 01:14:58,200
Speaker 1: doing ninety percent leadership and ten percent Holy Spirit, was like, okay, Lord,

1418
01:14:58,400 --> 01:15:01,280
Speaker 1: let's go eighty twenty. Then I'd get the feedback for him.

1419
01:15:01,320 --> 01:15:03,639
Speaker 1: They gave the same feedback that it was the encounter

1420
01:15:03,760 --> 01:15:05,479
Speaker 1: that they had with the Holy Spirit at the end

1421
01:15:05,479 --> 01:15:08,200
Speaker 1: of the day that changed everything. So then the third

1422
01:15:08,240 --> 01:15:11,120
Speaker 1: time we did, I'm like, okay, seventy thirty, fourth time

1423
01:15:11,240 --> 01:15:13,960
Speaker 1: sixty forty, and now we've gotten to about our tenth

1424
01:15:14,080 --> 01:15:21,360
Speaker 1: launching pad, and now the feedback is I encountered God

1425
01:15:21,400 --> 01:15:24,840
Speaker 1: for the first time. I've been changed forever. And that's

1426
01:15:24,840 --> 01:15:27,559
Speaker 1: probably about the same time that that Doug Elks came

1427
01:15:27,560 --> 01:15:31,200
Speaker 1: into my life. Is through a friend of a friend.

1428
01:15:31,720 --> 01:15:33,960
Speaker 1: They said, Doug you need to go to Dallas, Texas,

1429
01:15:33,960 --> 01:15:36,639
Speaker 1: and you needed to go to this launching pad event

1430
01:15:36,840 --> 01:15:42,080
Speaker 1: because Doug loved the Lord. Doug knew the scriptures, but

1431
01:15:42,600 --> 01:15:45,040
Speaker 1: Doug had never had and this is his words, not mine.

1432
01:15:45,080 --> 01:15:49,640
Speaker 1: Doug had never met and encountered the power, the presence,

1433
01:15:50,120 --> 01:15:53,840
Speaker 1: the unconditional love and joy of the Holy Spirit. And

1434
01:15:55,040 --> 01:15:57,960
Speaker 1: that's when he got lit on fire and really began

1435
01:15:58,120 --> 01:16:03,440
Speaker 1: to be a spirit field fire breathing evangelists that everywhere

1436
01:16:03,520 --> 01:16:07,519
Speaker 1: is everywhere he goes, the Holy Spirit just opens people's

1437
01:16:07,560 --> 01:16:11,679
Speaker 1: hearts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And then after

1438
01:16:11,760 --> 01:16:16,040
Speaker 1: doing that for ten rounds, now I'm realizing some of

1439
01:16:16,080 --> 01:16:18,519
Speaker 1: these guys that come in and get touched and get

1440
01:16:18,560 --> 01:16:22,040
Speaker 1: anointed by the Holy Spirit are changed forever. But then

1441
01:16:22,080 --> 01:16:25,000
Speaker 1: there's a faction of fifty percent of the guys that

1442
01:16:25,040 --> 01:16:27,519
Speaker 1: I touch, baith with them six weeks later and they're

1443
01:16:27,560 --> 01:16:31,639
Speaker 1: watching porn again, and I'm like, Lord, I know you're

1444
01:16:31,680 --> 01:16:33,920
Speaker 1: not just using me. That these men would have like

1445
01:16:33,960 --> 01:16:38,160
Speaker 1: an encounter one time and then go back to their vomit.

1446
01:16:38,960 --> 01:16:41,479
Speaker 1: And then God revealed to me that I'm supposed to

1447
01:16:41,560 --> 01:16:44,439
Speaker 1: do what my mentor did for me, take these men

1448
01:16:44,600 --> 01:16:49,280
Speaker 1: through twelve months of mentorship, and so everything that my

1449
01:16:49,360 --> 01:16:52,040
Speaker 1: mentor brought me through, plus some things God was revealing

1450
01:16:52,040 --> 01:16:54,360
Speaker 1: to me, I put into a twelve week not a

1451
01:16:54,400 --> 01:17:00,200
Speaker 1: twelve month, a twelve week intense high accountability group coach

1452
01:17:00,280 --> 01:17:02,960
Speaker 1: where I would take twenty men at a time and

1453
01:17:03,000 --> 01:17:05,320
Speaker 1: I would take them through. Like Month one with my

1454
01:17:05,439 --> 01:17:08,080
Speaker 1: mentor was all about identity, So week one with those

1455
01:17:08,120 --> 01:17:11,040
Speaker 1: men was all about identity. Week two was all about

1456
01:17:11,120 --> 01:17:14,400
Speaker 1: Kingdom habits. What are the standards, what are the things

1457
01:17:14,439 --> 01:17:17,040
Speaker 1: that we need to do that the world does not

1458
01:17:17,200 --> 01:17:20,320
Speaker 1: do that will help to solidify and help us to

1459
01:17:20,439 --> 01:17:23,320
Speaker 1: grow in the Lord, and then core values and then

1460
01:17:23,520 --> 01:17:27,000
Speaker 1: vision and then mastering your one sixty eight like kind

1461
01:17:27,000 --> 01:17:28,679
Speaker 1: of like what I shared with you, Like I teach

1462
01:17:28,720 --> 01:17:31,000
Speaker 1: men how to watch the game film from their life,

1463
01:17:31,320 --> 01:17:33,960
Speaker 1: watch the one hundred and sixty eight hours, and improve

1464
01:17:34,000 --> 01:17:36,920
Speaker 1: on it week over week. So leadership things mix with

1465
01:17:36,960 --> 01:17:41,879
Speaker 1: the power of the Holy Spirit. And this next Friday

1466
01:17:41,920 --> 01:17:45,320
Speaker 1: will be the sixty fourth launching pad that we've done,

1467
01:17:46,040 --> 01:17:52,720
Speaker 1: and we've graduated twenty twenty classes. I call it the

1468
01:17:52,800 --> 01:17:56,000
Speaker 1: Kingdom Man Accelerator. That twelve weeks of discipleship that we

1469
01:17:56,080 --> 01:18:00,559
Speaker 1: take men through will graduate the twentieth class. So we're

1470
01:18:00,600 --> 01:18:04,000
Speaker 1: almost we're almost that five hundred men that we've like

1471
01:18:04,160 --> 01:18:10,639
Speaker 1: intensely discipled and activated. And the testimony stories of these

1472
01:18:10,720 --> 01:18:13,639
Speaker 1: men and what they're doing, because a lot of these

1473
01:18:13,680 --> 01:18:19,160
Speaker 1: men end up like god Birth's ministries from that experience, yes,

1474
01:18:19,960 --> 01:18:22,360
Speaker 1: and they can't think of doing anything other. I mean,

1475
01:18:22,360 --> 01:18:25,960
Speaker 1: you do medical sales, you know, for ten years, and

1476
01:18:26,000 --> 01:18:28,280
Speaker 1: then you have a radical encounter with God and then

1477
01:18:28,280 --> 01:18:32,519
Speaker 1: you get intensely discipled for twelve weeks, going and selling

1478
01:18:32,600 --> 01:18:37,680
Speaker 1: medical devices loses a little bit of its luster, and

1479
01:18:37,760 --> 01:18:41,320
Speaker 1: so it really is an awakening at the event, but

1480
01:18:41,560 --> 01:18:48,000
Speaker 1: then an activation through discipleship. And that's where I'm at

1481
01:18:48,080 --> 01:18:51,400
Speaker 1: right now, is just giving my whole life to activating

1482
01:18:51,439 --> 01:18:52,759
Speaker 1: men and restoring families.

1483
01:18:53,040 --> 01:18:58,320
Speaker 2: Say this, that was one of the most powerful, profound,

1484
01:18:59,000 --> 01:19:05,120
Speaker 2: impactful testimonies that I have honestly ever heard. The podcast

1485
01:19:05,360 --> 01:19:09,720
Speaker 2: is so good, just even moving me to tears, to

1486
01:19:09,760 --> 01:19:13,160
Speaker 2: the point just to see the brokenness and like to

1487
01:19:13,600 --> 01:19:16,280
Speaker 2: what I appreciate about you so much is your authenticity.

1488
01:19:16,880 --> 01:19:20,880
Speaker 2: Like there's nothing fake about Steve Weatherford, Like wearing your

1489
01:19:20,880 --> 01:19:23,920
Speaker 2: heart on your sleeve, sharing about the challenges, the hurts,

1490
01:19:24,000 --> 01:19:26,800
Speaker 2: the hardships, the hang ups, but then the hope that

1491
01:19:26,840 --> 01:19:29,880
Speaker 2: you found in the person of Jesus, and there's an

1492
01:19:30,000 --> 01:19:34,840
Speaker 2: evident change, like there is something different about Steve for

1493
01:19:35,000 --> 01:19:37,479
Speaker 2: the good and in all the right ways. And man,

1494
01:19:37,600 --> 01:19:41,960
Speaker 2: that's something that I hope and pray you're contagious. I

1495
01:19:42,000 --> 01:19:44,559
Speaker 2: hope and pray that I would catch that right as

1496
01:19:44,600 --> 01:19:48,080
Speaker 2: I just even am here listening and observing and witnessing

1497
01:19:48,120 --> 01:19:50,120
Speaker 2: what God's continuing to do and and through your life.

1498
01:19:50,240 --> 01:19:53,000
Speaker 2: Like that to me and my friend, is what the

1499
01:19:53,040 --> 01:19:56,720
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit is capable of doing through every person in

1500
01:19:56,760 --> 01:19:59,439
Speaker 2: our audience listening today. And I have just to follow

1501
01:19:59,520 --> 01:20:03,479
Speaker 2: up thought because there were two thoughts that you've actually mentioned.

1502
01:20:03,520 --> 01:20:06,160
Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit used through you to communicate to me

1503
01:20:06,600 --> 01:20:09,760
Speaker 2: before we ever met face to face, the first one

1504
01:20:09,760 --> 01:20:11,920
Speaker 2: that you said, and it goes right back into this

1505
01:20:12,080 --> 01:20:15,280
Speaker 2: idea of discipleship, because I think in the westernized culture

1506
01:20:15,640 --> 01:20:20,240
Speaker 2: discipleship we place more of say this, We talk a

1507
01:20:20,280 --> 01:20:23,439
Speaker 2: lot about absorption. We like knowledge, we want to be

1508
01:20:23,479 --> 01:20:27,080
Speaker 2: able to retain and recite, and we don't place enough

1509
01:20:27,080 --> 01:20:31,320
Speaker 2: emphasis on action. So we know exactly what Jesus said,

1510
01:20:31,400 --> 01:20:33,599
Speaker 2: but we don't always live our lives as Jesus lived

1511
01:20:34,000 --> 01:20:36,280
Speaker 2: and I remember one theologian put it this way that

1512
01:20:36,320 --> 01:20:39,960
Speaker 2: in the westernized culture we're about three thousand Bible versus overweight.

1513
01:20:40,760 --> 01:20:43,920
Speaker 2: Maybe we should start placing an emphasis on doing the

1514
01:20:43,920 --> 01:20:46,840
Speaker 2: things that Jesus did by spending time with him, as

1515
01:20:46,920 --> 01:20:49,559
Speaker 2: John Marcomer wrote in his book Practicing the Way, spending

1516
01:20:49,640 --> 01:20:52,439
Speaker 2: time with Jesus to become more like Jesus, to do

1517
01:20:52,560 --> 01:20:56,040
Speaker 2: and to walk as Jesus lived and moved and breathed.

1518
01:20:56,080 --> 01:20:58,720
Speaker 2: And so this idea of you said this that your

1519
01:20:58,800 --> 01:21:02,960
Speaker 2: family of choice is as are more important than your

1520
01:21:02,960 --> 01:21:05,720
Speaker 2: family of origin. And I think for men, they need

1521
01:21:05,760 --> 01:21:08,160
Speaker 2: to hear that, because you know, it's hard for men

1522
01:21:08,200 --> 01:21:10,120
Speaker 2: to open up. It's hard for them to be vulnerable,

1523
01:21:10,160 --> 01:21:12,000
Speaker 2: it's hard for them to allow walls to be broken

1524
01:21:12,040 --> 01:21:14,479
Speaker 2: in their lives, to let other men specifically. And he

1525
01:21:14,479 --> 01:21:17,320
Speaker 2: talked about accountability earlier on. And I think it's this

1526
01:21:17,400 --> 01:21:20,200
Speaker 2: idea that the three most dangerous words we could say

1527
01:21:20,200 --> 01:21:23,479
Speaker 2: are I got this. We weren't created to carry these

1528
01:21:23,520 --> 01:21:26,080
Speaker 2: things along. They're too heavy. My dad always reminded me

1529
01:21:26,120 --> 01:21:29,280
Speaker 2: in a positive way as a kid, Zach, nobody's that good.

1530
01:21:29,439 --> 01:21:30,880
Speaker 2: He would tell me all the time whenever I was

1531
01:21:30,920 --> 01:21:33,040
Speaker 2: trying to hold something in. He could tell you, just say, Bud,

1532
01:21:33,280 --> 01:21:35,360
Speaker 2: you're just not that good to do it on your own,

1533
01:21:35,920 --> 01:21:38,080
Speaker 2: Like I'm here for you, I love you, Let me in.

1534
01:21:38,600 --> 01:21:40,559
Speaker 2: What a privilege it was to have people like that

1535
01:21:40,600 --> 01:21:43,400
Speaker 2: in my life. For you, speak to the man out

1536
01:21:43,439 --> 01:21:46,599
Speaker 2: there listening who's trying to do life alone about the

1537
01:21:46,600 --> 01:21:49,760
Speaker 2: family of choice he needs to be investing in.

1538
01:21:50,040 --> 01:21:55,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've all heard the quote blood is thicker than water,

1539
01:21:57,760 --> 01:22:02,639
Speaker 1: and that speaks to the people that you're born into

1540
01:22:03,720 --> 01:22:08,320
Speaker 1: being more important or more priority than other people that

1541
01:22:08,400 --> 01:22:11,160
Speaker 1: don't have your last name. And I think that's a

1542
01:22:11,200 --> 01:22:13,439
Speaker 1: lie from the enemy. I've actually done a little bit

1543
01:22:13,479 --> 01:22:17,240
Speaker 1: of research of where that quote actually came from, and

1544
01:22:17,320 --> 01:22:21,280
Speaker 1: the enemy took that thought and perverted it. That quote

1545
01:22:21,320 --> 01:22:24,559
Speaker 1: actually started back in the Roman days, back in the

1546
01:22:24,560 --> 01:22:27,760
Speaker 1: Biblical days, on the Roman battlefield. It's the blood of

1547
01:22:27,800 --> 01:22:31,240
Speaker 1: the battlefield. It's thicker than the water of the womb.

1548
01:22:32,240 --> 01:22:35,400
Speaker 1: That means the people that you do battle with, that

1549
01:22:35,479 --> 01:22:38,360
Speaker 1: you do life with, that don't have your last name,

1550
01:22:38,520 --> 01:22:43,280
Speaker 1: oftentimes are closer and more priority than the people that

1551
01:22:43,320 --> 01:22:47,240
Speaker 1: you were born into this world as. And I would

1552
01:22:47,320 --> 01:22:50,080
Speaker 1: agree with it. You know, if I look at who

1553
01:22:50,120 --> 01:22:52,960
Speaker 1: I feel most close with. It's the people that I

1554
01:22:53,040 --> 01:22:55,840
Speaker 1: do battle with that I do ministry with. Like we

1555
01:22:55,880 --> 01:22:59,200
Speaker 1: said Doug's name a few times, I'm very close with Doug.

1556
01:22:59,240 --> 01:23:02,559
Speaker 1: I would say. Doug would view me as a father

1557
01:23:02,800 --> 01:23:08,840
Speaker 1: voice in his life because of the moments of collective suffering,

1558
01:23:08,960 --> 01:23:16,120
Speaker 1: either physically or in prayer. Suffering together creates intimacy. And

1559
01:23:16,200 --> 01:23:21,360
Speaker 1: another thing that you spoke of as you talked about

1560
01:23:22,040 --> 01:23:27,280
Speaker 1: men being overweight with Bible verses, and I would say, yes,

1561
01:23:27,560 --> 01:23:30,599
Speaker 1: it's not enough to know and to recite a lot

1562
01:23:30,640 --> 01:23:36,280
Speaker 1: of Bible verses. Which of those promises do you practice?

1563
01:23:36,320 --> 01:23:40,559
Speaker 1: Bruce Lee says, fear not the man that practices ten

1564
01:23:40,640 --> 01:23:45,120
Speaker 1: thousand kicks one time. Fear the man that practices one

1565
01:23:45,240 --> 01:23:49,720
Speaker 1: kick ten thousand times. And that speaks to mastery, That

1566
01:23:49,880 --> 01:23:55,080
Speaker 1: speaks to there's seven, four hundred and thirty seven promises

1567
01:23:55,120 --> 01:23:59,960
Speaker 1: from God in the Bible, and my mentor didn't put

1568
01:24:00,160 --> 01:24:02,840
Speaker 1: me in a hurry to try to memorize all of them.

1569
01:24:03,360 --> 01:24:06,480
Speaker 1: He said, man, let's take four or five of these promises.

1570
01:24:06,800 --> 01:24:09,400
Speaker 1: Let's live them out, you know. And the one of

1571
01:24:09,439 --> 01:24:12,080
Speaker 1: the first ones that he mentioned to me was Romans

1572
01:24:12,080 --> 01:24:15,880
Speaker 1: twelve to two do not be conformed to the patterns

1573
01:24:16,160 --> 01:24:19,000
Speaker 1: of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of

1574
01:24:19,040 --> 01:24:21,639
Speaker 1: your mind. And so a lot of our first year

1575
01:24:21,680 --> 01:24:25,760
Speaker 1: of discipleship was about renewing my mind, Like, how do

1576
01:24:25,840 --> 01:24:28,479
Speaker 1: you stop thinking like you're thinking and start to think

1577
01:24:28,560 --> 01:24:32,120
Speaker 1: more like Christ? Because if scripture says that you're a

1578
01:24:32,160 --> 01:24:35,639
Speaker 1: new creation in Christ, that you have the mind of Christ,

1579
01:24:36,840 --> 01:24:40,400
Speaker 1: practice it practice. You had thirty six years Steve that

1580
01:24:40,479 --> 01:24:43,800
Speaker 1: you thought this way. Now, let's take one year. And

1581
01:24:43,840 --> 01:24:45,960
Speaker 1: that's when I came home from that radical encounter that

1582
01:24:46,000 --> 01:24:48,840
Speaker 1: I had. I had made a covenant promise with God.

1583
01:24:49,120 --> 01:24:51,400
Speaker 1: I said, God, I know that you're real and I

1584
01:24:51,560 --> 01:24:55,200
Speaker 1: know that you're good, but I'm still waking up at

1585
01:24:55,200 --> 01:24:59,000
Speaker 1: like three o'clock in the morning, like protecting myself. My

1586
01:24:59,080 --> 01:25:01,400
Speaker 1: mind's still not right. And so I told the Lord.

1587
01:25:01,439 --> 01:25:03,880
Speaker 1: I said, I'm gonna give my life and I'm gonna

1588
01:25:03,880 --> 01:25:06,160
Speaker 1: follow this man that you definitely put in my life.

1589
01:25:06,160 --> 01:25:09,559
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do every single thing that he says. And

1590
01:25:09,600 --> 01:25:12,080
Speaker 1: at the end of this one year, if you change

1591
01:25:12,080 --> 01:25:15,439
Speaker 1: my mind and you heal my heart, you can have

1592
01:25:15,560 --> 01:25:18,479
Speaker 1: everything that I have. So anytime a microphone is foot

1593
01:25:18,520 --> 01:25:21,320
Speaker 1: in front of my state my face, I won't speak

1594
01:25:21,720 --> 01:25:24,760
Speaker 1: I won't teach. I will share the testimony of what

1595
01:25:24,800 --> 01:25:27,479
Speaker 1: you've done with me. And I encourage you go find

1596
01:25:27,600 --> 01:25:30,720
Speaker 1: any clip of me from the last four years, and

1597
01:25:30,760 --> 01:25:32,800
Speaker 1: if you can find one clip of me that I

1598
01:25:32,840 --> 01:25:35,000
Speaker 1: don't share my testimony, I'll give you all the money

1599
01:25:35,040 --> 01:25:37,880
Speaker 1: in my bank account. You can't find it, because I

1600
01:25:38,000 --> 01:25:40,800
Speaker 1: made that covenant promise with God. If you save me,

1601
01:25:41,120 --> 01:25:43,360
Speaker 1: I'll use the rest of my life to tell every

1602
01:25:43,439 --> 01:25:46,439
Speaker 1: single person about you. And another thing that I wrote

1603
01:25:46,479 --> 01:25:54,240
Speaker 1: down in regards to mastery is it's not enough for

1604
01:25:54,360 --> 01:25:58,040
Speaker 1: us to know a lot but not do it. And

1605
01:25:58,800 --> 01:26:01,880
Speaker 1: for me, I believe that my life has been profoundly

1606
01:26:02,160 --> 01:26:06,519
Speaker 1: changed by applying the word not knowing the word, because

1607
01:26:06,600 --> 01:26:08,439
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sitting here with it. You're just listening

1608
01:26:08,479 --> 01:26:11,400
Speaker 1: to a podcast with a doctor and a punter. Right,

1609
01:26:11,640 --> 01:26:14,880
Speaker 1: he's a whole lot smarter than me. But you know

1610
01:26:14,960 --> 01:26:17,360
Speaker 1: one thing that levels the playing field, and what I

1611
01:26:17,439 --> 01:26:23,000
Speaker 1: lack in intelligence obedience, And I've learned in two things.

1612
01:26:23,240 --> 01:26:26,519
Speaker 1: If you can be available to God and obedient to God,

1613
01:26:26,640 --> 01:26:29,080
Speaker 1: he'll freaking use you. And I feel like that's what

1614
01:26:29,120 --> 01:26:31,280
Speaker 1: I'm doing right now. Like when you called me, I

1615
01:26:31,400 --> 01:26:34,000
Speaker 1: know what your mission is. Our mission's aligned. So I'm

1616
01:26:34,120 --> 01:26:37,439
Speaker 1: gonna be available, and when I stand here or I

1617
01:26:37,479 --> 01:26:40,800
Speaker 1: sit here and I speak, I'm gonna be obedient to

1618
01:26:40,880 --> 01:26:44,920
Speaker 1: what God has me to share. And I believe God's

1619
01:26:44,960 --> 01:26:48,559
Speaker 1: really calling men to do two things. Give God something

1620
01:26:48,600 --> 01:26:52,600
Speaker 1: to work with and give men something to respect. And

1621
01:26:52,680 --> 01:26:54,760
Speaker 1: I believe that if I live my life as a

1622
01:26:54,800 --> 01:26:59,439
Speaker 1: man of integrity, honor, and accountability, men will respect me.

1623
01:27:00,080 --> 01:27:02,439
Speaker 1: But if I can be a man of integrity, honor,

1624
01:27:02,520 --> 01:27:06,160
Speaker 1: and accountability, God could use me. So I'm a whole

1625
01:27:06,160 --> 01:27:10,679
Speaker 1: lot more focused on being those things in a day

1626
01:27:10,840 --> 01:27:14,479
Speaker 1: than I am accomplishing things. But what I'm noticing is

1627
01:27:14,560 --> 01:27:17,639
Speaker 1: the more I focus on the being, the more're doing

1628
01:27:17,720 --> 01:27:20,240
Speaker 1: gets done.

1629
01:27:20,439 --> 01:27:25,679
Speaker 2: Steve, as we close, you have like lit a fire

1630
01:27:26,520 --> 01:27:30,520
Speaker 2: in my belly just to continue to go and testify

1631
01:27:30,680 --> 01:27:35,479
Speaker 2: the goodness and share my own testimony with urgency on mission,

1632
01:27:35,960 --> 01:27:38,719
Speaker 2: with a vision like we've chatted about all these things today.

1633
01:27:39,479 --> 01:27:42,720
Speaker 2: But how I want to wrap up is Henry David

1634
01:27:42,720 --> 01:27:44,360
Speaker 2: Throw puts it this way. The massive men leave with

1635
01:27:44,400 --> 01:27:48,080
Speaker 2: quiet lives of desperation, dying with a song left in

1636
01:27:48,120 --> 01:27:48,759
Speaker 2: their hearts.

1637
01:27:49,400 --> 01:27:50,639
Speaker 1: And I see that all the time.

1638
01:27:50,840 --> 01:27:53,360
Speaker 2: You see that all the time I sit across from

1639
01:27:53,360 --> 01:27:56,160
Speaker 2: men just like this in counseling sessions, and men who

1640
01:27:56,160 --> 01:27:59,479
Speaker 2: are broken and who feel like they're being buried and

1641
01:27:59,560 --> 01:28:02,760
Speaker 2: beaten and bruised by life and they're being robbed of

1642
01:28:02,800 --> 01:28:05,920
Speaker 2: the blessing that it has to hold. And I always

1643
01:28:06,040 --> 01:28:08,000
Speaker 2: leave the door open for our guests to share a

1644
01:28:08,080 --> 01:28:10,240
Speaker 2: final pressing where that God has placed on their heart.

1645
01:28:10,640 --> 01:28:14,599
Speaker 2: But specifically for the man out there today who finds

1646
01:28:14,720 --> 01:28:19,120
Speaker 2: himself in the chasm between expectation and reality, which is

1647
01:28:19,160 --> 01:28:25,400
Speaker 2: always disappointment, finds himself discouraged, finds himself at a place

1648
01:28:25,400 --> 01:28:29,600
Speaker 2: where he just feels depleted by life, depressed. Whatever it

1649
01:28:29,680 --> 01:28:34,280
Speaker 2: might be. You shared something months ago, maybe years ago

1650
01:28:34,360 --> 01:28:36,080
Speaker 2: now that from when I saw it, and I have

1651
01:28:36,160 --> 01:28:38,560
Speaker 2: it in my notes, happened before this.

1652
01:28:38,720 --> 01:28:39,240
Speaker 1: Last night.

1653
01:28:39,280 --> 01:28:40,840
Speaker 2: I was just going over and I was just thinking

1654
01:28:40,880 --> 01:28:43,200
Speaker 2: about our time together and praying over it, and I

1655
01:28:43,240 --> 01:28:45,439
Speaker 2: came across the quote and it was really a post

1656
01:28:45,439 --> 01:28:47,840
Speaker 2: that he said, like, will you be the one?

1657
01:28:48,600 --> 01:28:49,840
Speaker 1: Will you choose to be the one?

1658
01:28:50,280 --> 01:28:51,800
Speaker 2: There's a lot of men who feel like they have

1659
01:28:51,840 --> 01:28:53,759
Speaker 2: to fall in line or they have to remain silent,

1660
01:28:53,800 --> 01:28:56,280
Speaker 2: And you know, there's generational patterns who alluded to earlier

1661
01:28:56,360 --> 01:29:00,160
Speaker 2: in generational sins you know, of addiction and divorce and

1662
01:29:00,240 --> 01:29:03,320
Speaker 2: whatever it is, pride and ego or a spirit of

1663
01:29:03,360 --> 01:29:05,760
Speaker 2: critique that they have just fallen in line. And you know,

1664
01:29:06,120 --> 01:29:08,880
Speaker 2: that's just how I'm supposed to be. I turned out okay,

1665
01:29:09,240 --> 01:29:11,599
Speaker 2: And then we begin to project those things onto our family,

1666
01:29:11,600 --> 01:29:16,080
Speaker 2: because families tend to reproduce themselves. But you could quite

1667
01:29:16,160 --> 01:29:18,479
Speaker 2: literally be the one. And you said in the post

1668
01:29:18,520 --> 01:29:21,720
Speaker 2: that I hope and pray that what runs in your

1669
01:29:21,760 --> 01:29:25,760
Speaker 2: family would run into you. And that changed my life, man,

1670
01:29:25,920 --> 01:29:28,240
Speaker 2: just the way that I viewed different things that have

1671
01:29:28,360 --> 01:29:32,439
Speaker 2: happened generationally. I've experienced things that I've seen generationally in

1672
01:29:32,520 --> 01:29:37,559
Speaker 2: other people's lives. It's just this opening revelation of Man,

1673
01:29:37,840 --> 01:29:41,800
Speaker 2: you could be the one. What's a final word of hope,

1674
01:29:42,320 --> 01:29:46,160
Speaker 2: encouragement and motivation to that man out there today?

1675
01:29:48,479 --> 01:29:50,920
Speaker 1: I feel like a quote in a Bible verse. I

1676
01:29:51,040 --> 01:29:53,280
Speaker 1: do my best when somebody asks me something like that,

1677
01:29:53,680 --> 01:29:57,040
Speaker 1: is this What do I have from the Word of

1678
01:29:57,080 --> 01:29:59,840
Speaker 1: God that I can declare? And the one that co

1679
01:30:00,640 --> 01:30:04,160
Speaker 1: to mind as faith comes by hearing and hearing by

1680
01:30:04,200 --> 01:30:09,600
Speaker 1: the word of God, get around men that know the

1681
01:30:09,640 --> 01:30:12,040
Speaker 1: word of God and live it out. I feel like

1682
01:30:12,120 --> 01:30:16,599
Speaker 1: that's something that has absolutely changed my life. And I

1683
01:30:16,640 --> 01:30:19,559
Speaker 1: was predisposed as an athlete that if you want to

1684
01:30:19,560 --> 01:30:23,240
Speaker 1: be great at something, get a coach, get a mentor.

1685
01:30:23,360 --> 01:30:26,920
Speaker 1: And then the other quote that I'm thinking of if

1686
01:30:26,920 --> 01:30:30,600
Speaker 1: you say that, is a quote by John Wesley, and

1687
01:30:31,280 --> 01:30:35,759
Speaker 1: he said, light yourself on fire, and men will come,

1688
01:30:35,880 --> 01:30:39,559
Speaker 1: and people will come from all around just to see

1689
01:30:39,600 --> 01:30:43,160
Speaker 1: you burn. And I believe through mentorship, I was able

1690
01:30:43,240 --> 01:30:46,960
Speaker 1: to get lit on fire. And that's why I'm sitting

1691
01:30:46,960 --> 01:30:50,679
Speaker 1: here with you. Is my life is not my own.

1692
01:30:50,920 --> 01:30:55,559
Speaker 1: Every breath that I draw, it's God's got a purpose

1693
01:30:55,600 --> 01:30:58,520
Speaker 1: for that. And if it's not to sing his praises,

1694
01:31:00,080 --> 01:31:02,800
Speaker 1: I'm not interested. And I feel like I've had enough

1695
01:31:02,840 --> 01:31:05,720
Speaker 1: of what this world has to offer that I don't

1696
01:31:05,760 --> 01:31:08,839
Speaker 1: want any else. Like I've had enough of the natural life.

1697
01:31:08,920 --> 01:31:12,080
Speaker 1: I want the supernatural life. And I believe that that's

1698
01:31:12,120 --> 01:31:15,240
Speaker 1: your mission as well. And Scripture says one puts a

1699
01:31:15,320 --> 01:31:17,840
Speaker 1: thousand of flight and two puts ten thousand to flight.

1700
01:31:17,880 --> 01:31:20,639
Speaker 1: And I believe that that's what this conversation is going

1701
01:31:20,720 --> 01:31:23,320
Speaker 1: to do for other men, is it's going to give

1702
01:31:23,360 --> 01:31:27,040
Speaker 1: them a picture of possibility, just like God did for me.

1703
01:31:27,680 --> 01:31:31,840
Speaker 1: But we are living a life of followable excellence. God

1704
01:31:31,920 --> 01:31:34,479
Speaker 1: is not a respector of persons. A matter of fact,

1705
01:31:34,520 --> 01:31:37,080
Speaker 1: if you look at who Jesus Christ chose to be

1706
01:31:37,160 --> 01:31:40,920
Speaker 1: his disciples, they were between the ages of sixteen and

1707
01:31:40,960 --> 01:31:45,480
Speaker 1: twenty two. They were fisher men and just rough individuals.

1708
01:31:46,040 --> 01:31:49,479
Speaker 1: And so God wants to use you, he wants to

1709
01:31:49,600 --> 01:31:54,120
Speaker 1: activate you, he wants to equip you. But you've got

1710
01:31:54,120 --> 01:31:57,720
Speaker 1: to be available, and you've got to be obedient. And

1711
01:31:59,160 --> 01:32:02,360
Speaker 1: if you're believing for a miracle, I would say, come

1712
01:32:02,400 --> 01:32:04,879
Speaker 1: to one of his events, come to one of my events.

1713
01:32:05,040 --> 01:32:09,559
Speaker 1: Get around the place that miracles happen if you need one.

1714
01:32:09,560 --> 01:32:11,960
Speaker 1: And that's what changed everything for me. It was an

1715
01:32:12,040 --> 01:32:15,920
Speaker 1: invitation and I said yes to the invitation, and when

1716
01:32:15,960 --> 01:32:19,080
Speaker 1: I showed up, God showed up. Matthew seven to seven

1717
01:32:19,120 --> 01:32:24,000
Speaker 1: says ask and you'll be given. Seek and you'll find

1718
01:32:24,640 --> 01:32:27,760
Speaker 1: knock and the door would be open. But it requires

1719
01:32:27,840 --> 01:32:31,840
Speaker 1: us to do something before God does something. And so

1720
01:32:31,960 --> 01:32:35,360
Speaker 1: my encouragement for you is, don't listen to this podcast

1721
01:32:35,920 --> 01:32:39,720
Speaker 1: and just take it as entertainment, like take it and

1722
01:32:39,880 --> 01:32:42,679
Speaker 1: apply it. And I believe if you do what I did,

1723
01:32:42,760 --> 01:32:44,800
Speaker 1: God will do for you what He did for me,

1724
01:32:45,000 --> 01:32:47,800
Speaker 1: He'll take your pain, he'll give you purpose, he'll take

1725
01:32:47,800 --> 01:32:50,400
Speaker 1: your shame away, and he'll give you a new name.

1726
01:32:50,720 --> 01:32:53,439
Speaker 1: And I believe that that's what changed everything for me.

1727
01:32:53,640 --> 01:32:58,400
Speaker 1: Is like, you know, God changed some of his disciples' names,

1728
01:32:58,400 --> 01:32:59,920
Speaker 1: and I feel like that's what he did for me.

1729
01:33:00,160 --> 01:33:02,559
Speaker 1: You know, there was Saul and then he became Paul.

1730
01:33:02,600 --> 01:33:06,360
Speaker 1: There was Simon and then he became Peter. I'm an

1731
01:33:06,400 --> 01:33:08,320
Speaker 1: evangelist and the only thing that I want to do

1732
01:33:08,400 --> 01:33:10,880
Speaker 1: for the rest of my life is introduced people to

1733
01:33:10,960 --> 01:33:14,120
Speaker 1: the Man, the God, man that saved my life.

1734
01:33:14,320 --> 01:33:18,600
Speaker 2: Steve Weather, for my friend, you are a gift. Be available,

1735
01:33:19,320 --> 01:33:23,800
Speaker 2: be obedient. Thank you for just continuing to bestow your

1736
01:33:23,840 --> 01:33:27,040
Speaker 2: wisdom and your knowledge and the experiences and the encounter

1737
01:33:27,160 --> 01:33:30,040
Speaker 2: with God that you've had onto other people. I believe

1738
01:33:30,080 --> 01:33:33,559
Speaker 2: that God has is and will continue to use you

1739
01:33:33,640 --> 01:33:36,320
Speaker 2: man in the ways that you couldn't even fathom. Thank

1740
01:33:36,360 --> 01:33:38,320
Speaker 2: you for joining me today. Thanks for making the drive

1741
01:33:38,360 --> 01:33:40,000
Speaker 2: over here. Where can our audience go that to find

1742
01:33:40,000 --> 01:33:41,880
Speaker 2: out more about you and get plugged.

1743
01:33:41,560 --> 01:33:43,840
Speaker 1: In with you. Oh man, that's a great question. I

1744
01:33:43,880 --> 01:33:46,320
Speaker 1: answer all of my dms on Instagram. I'd say that's

1745
01:33:46,400 --> 01:33:49,920
Speaker 1: probably like the fastest way to get a response. And

1746
01:33:50,560 --> 01:33:52,880
Speaker 1: if this podcast really spoke to you, and maybe there's

1747
01:33:52,920 --> 01:33:56,439
Speaker 1: some questions that you have or maybe you need prayer,

1748
01:33:58,600 --> 01:34:02,000
Speaker 1: just DM me Weatherford five. Maybe we can put the

1749
01:34:02,000 --> 01:34:04,639
Speaker 1: link in the show notes of this podcast. But yeah,

1750
01:34:04,640 --> 01:34:06,320
Speaker 1: if you got a question and you need prayer, just

1751
01:34:06,360 --> 01:34:10,479
Speaker 1: send me a message. I'll make myself available. And I've

1752
01:34:10,479 --> 01:34:12,960
Speaker 1: also got a free free event. That event that I'm

1753
01:34:12,960 --> 01:34:15,960
Speaker 1: talking about, the Lunching Pad Leadership Experiences, is free. It

1754
01:34:16,000 --> 01:34:18,559
Speaker 1: happens once per month. I just want to serve men.

1755
01:34:18,600 --> 01:34:20,599
Speaker 1: I want to see families restored. I want to see

1756
01:34:20,600 --> 01:34:24,680
Speaker 1: men get ignited, get activated, and live the life that

1757
01:34:24,800 --> 01:34:27,720
Speaker 1: God is calling them to live. And sometimes it's hard

1758
01:34:27,720 --> 01:34:30,960
Speaker 1: to see the unique greatness that God placed inside of

1759
01:34:31,000 --> 01:34:33,519
Speaker 1: you from inside of your own bottle. You need to

1760
01:34:33,600 --> 01:34:36,200
Speaker 1: get around some great men that will not only point

1761
01:34:36,200 --> 01:34:38,479
Speaker 1: it out, but call it forth in Jesus name.

1762
01:34:38,680 --> 01:34:41,200
Speaker 2: I want Steve, You're a gift, my friend. Hey, I

1763
01:34:41,200 --> 01:34:43,639
Speaker 2: love you, I appreciate you. I'm grateful that we got

1764
01:34:43,640 --> 01:34:45,639
Speaker 2: to meet in person, but like you said, I feel

1765
01:34:45,640 --> 01:34:48,120
Speaker 2: like I've known you for a long time. Thank you

1766
01:34:48,160 --> 01:34:49,800
Speaker 2: for coming today, Thank you for being on the show.

1767
01:34:49,920 --> 01:34:52,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, first of many Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

1768
01:34:53,240 --> 01:34:55,439
Speaker 2: Everybody out there today, I'm build different audience. I just

1769
01:34:55,439 --> 01:34:57,360
Speaker 2: want to say thank you so much for joining us.

1770
01:34:57,400 --> 01:34:59,240
Speaker 2: I will one hundred percent put all of the things

1771
01:34:59,320 --> 01:35:01,400
Speaker 2: that Steve just made in the show notes. Make sure

1772
01:35:02,040 --> 01:35:04,519
Speaker 2: that you reach out because he will answer. He's a

1773
01:35:04,560 --> 01:35:07,200
Speaker 2: man who again is so faithful, so obedient, and isn't

1774
01:35:07,240 --> 01:35:09,640
Speaker 2: that the Christian life. Isn't that what spiritual formation is

1775
01:35:09,680 --> 01:35:12,960
Speaker 2: all about. As Eugene Peterson said, it's long obedience in

1776
01:35:13,040 --> 01:35:17,160
Speaker 2: the same direction, be available right, find people that you

1777
01:35:17,160 --> 01:35:19,720
Speaker 2: can imitate, but also be the man or be the

1778
01:35:19,760 --> 01:35:23,040
Speaker 2: woman that wants to initiate these types of things in

1779
01:35:23,080 --> 01:35:25,439
Speaker 2: your life as well. We're for you, We're praying for

1780
01:35:25,479 --> 01:35:27,080
Speaker 2: you each and every day. We love being a part

1781
01:35:27,080 --> 01:35:30,080
Speaker 2: of your life. Thank you so much for joining us today.