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Speaker 1: Life audio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, welcome back into the build different podcast. I'll

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Speaker 2: be your host today, Dr. Zach Clinton. And I just

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Speaker 2: want to begin by thanking you so much for taking

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Speaker 2: leave us a review. I read them. I appreciate your feedback.

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Speaker 2: And I always love hearing how these conversations are impacting

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Speaker 2: your life. Built Different is proudly sponsored by Liberty University.

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Speaker 2: Liberty University has impacted my life greatly. My friend, I'm

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Speaker 2: a graduate and a big believer in what Liberty University

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Speaker 2: thing is has never changed. That's our mission to train

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Speaker 2: champions for Christ, whether on campus, online, or around the world.

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Speaker 2: All you have to do is go to liberty.edu. Again,

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Speaker 2: that's www.liberty.edu forward slash built different to start your journey

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Speaker 2: to personal growth and professional fulfillment today. All right, my friend,

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Speaker 2: let's dive into today's conversation with a very special guest.

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Speaker 2: Hey everybody, welcome back into the Built Different Podcast. As always,

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Speaker 2: we'll be your hosts, Dr. Zach Clinton.

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Speaker 1: Dr. Tim Clinton.

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Speaker 2: And we are excited because we are here in the

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Speaker 2: Lowe's Arlington Hotel at our AACC 2026 Faith and Flourishing

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Speaker 2: Mega National Christian Counseling Conference. Let me tell you, last

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Speaker 2: night was amazing. It was the opening plenary session. Dad

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Speaker 2: kicked us off. We had Dr. Jack Graham in the house.

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Speaker 2: We had Brian Dawkins in the house. It was an

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Speaker 2: amazing night. Mack Brock has been leading us in worship,

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Speaker 2: posturing our hearts just back to the Lord. But today...

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Speaker 2: It's day two, and we are excited, we are expecting,

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Speaker 2: and we're gonna be kicking off the morning with a

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Speaker 2: dear friend, somebody who's joining us for a podcast this morning,

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Speaker 2: and Dr. Monty Burks. Dr. Burks, let me tell you

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Speaker 2: a little bit about him. He's the director at the

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Speaker 2: Center for Faith at the U.S. Department of Health and

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Speaker 2: Human Services, where he advances faith-based and community partnerships that

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Speaker 2: strengthen recovery systems, workforce pathways, and second-chance opportunities nationwide. He

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Speaker 2: formerly served as deputy director of the Tennessee Governor's Faith-Based

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Speaker 2: and Community Initiative and director of Faith-Based Initiatives for the

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Speaker 2: Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. And recently,

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Speaker 2: he was appointed as the Executive Director of the Great

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Speaker 2: American Recovery Initiative. My friend, we're going to unpack that

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Speaker 2: a lot today, but I got to say this too.

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Speaker 2: He's also a fighter. The man likes to fight.

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Speaker 1: Dr.

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Speaker 2: Monty Burks, my friend, thank you for joining us today.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. Thank you guys for having me. It's such an

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Speaker 3: honor to be with two generational impact people that are

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Speaker 3: now part of my family. I had the opportunity to

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Speaker 3: fellowship with your father, and now I get to fellowship

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Speaker 3: with you. And I see that this is a generational

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Speaker 3: cycle that gets to create opportunity for so many people.

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Speaker 3: So it's a pleasure and an honor for me to

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Speaker 3: be on here with you today. And I look forward

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Speaker 3: to fellowshipping and having some really good conversation for our listeners.

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Speaker 2: Monty, I'm just thinking about, again, you're about to take

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Speaker 2: the stage. You're about to share what God is doing

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Speaker 2: through this Great American Recovery Initiative program. just everything that's

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Speaker 2: happening around the world. Last night, really the theme, obviously

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Speaker 2: faith and flourishing, but a lot of the conversation was

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Speaker 2: around light and darkness. We have 2,500 counselors, clinicians, medical professionals, psychologists, psychiatrists, pastors, teachers,

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Speaker 2: just everybody's in the room from 13 countries, all 50

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Speaker 2: states gathering to glorify God, but also to be equipped,

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Speaker 2: to be strengthened for the fight that's ahead of us.

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Speaker 2: You're a fighter. Talk to us a just immediately that

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Speaker 2: comes to mind that you want to share with them

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Speaker 2: when you take that stage today about the fight that

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Speaker 2: we're in?

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Speaker 3: We're absolutely in a fight. I want to share with

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Speaker 3: everybody here that we have to realize that faith is

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Speaker 3: this country's infrastructure. And let me say that again. Faith

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Speaker 3: is this country's infrastructure. This country was built on ideas

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Speaker 3: that started, originated in our houses of worship. Our houses

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Speaker 3: of worship that they represent, those pews that they come from,

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Speaker 3: were here before this country was founded. which means we

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Speaker 3: have to have an all hands on deck approach to

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Speaker 3: serving people that come through the pews of our sanctuaries

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Speaker 3: or people that should be invited into the pews of

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Speaker 3: our sanctuaries. I saw 13 to 75, every age demographic,

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Speaker 3: every piece of everything last night stood up and worshiped

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Speaker 3: and prayed together last night. On the other side of that,

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Speaker 3: they have an academic system that they all follow that's

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Speaker 3: geared towards serving people and their mental and physical needs

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Speaker 3: and They have to know that they're part of the fight.

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Speaker 3: They don't have to take a sideline. They don't have

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Speaker 3: to abdicate any responsibility, rather embrace opportunity.

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Speaker 1: Monty, as a part of your leadership now inside the administration, people, recovery, addiction, administration,

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Speaker 1: how do they all come together? This is a serious play.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the place that God has put you in,

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Speaker 1: is for real, and it's because there's a real problem.

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Speaker 1: And I want you to address, Monty, a little bit

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Speaker 1: of what you see across the country, what the challenges are,

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Speaker 1: and how significant it is, and how personal it is.

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Speaker 1: It comes right down to our families. Everybody knows somebody

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Speaker 1: who's battling.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, and it is super personal to me, and we

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Speaker 3: can go into that later, but I'm going to tell

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Speaker 3: you how it's infected our community's in a way that's

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Speaker 3: caused isolation and also caused stigma. People don't understand how

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Speaker 3: to deal with each other. So instead of dealing with problems,

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Speaker 3: they push people out the door. Years ago, we saw

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Speaker 3: as professionals that drugs, drug use, drug culture, desensitization of

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Speaker 3: actually the ramifications and long-term effects of drugs walk into

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Speaker 3: our households, walk into the pews of our sanctuaries, come

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Speaker 3: into our communities. And then the opioid epidemic hit and

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Speaker 3: it started taking our people out. Didn't matter what city

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Speaker 3: you came from, your socioeconomic status, where you went to

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Speaker 3: church at. It plucked our people off because we didn't

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Speaker 3: see it coming. The reason that this administration has taken

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Speaker 3: this stance on it is because enough is enough. These

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Speaker 3: are our children, your children, my children, our brothers, our

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Speaker 3: sisters being affected by something that we should have been

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Speaker 3: on the front lines fighting in the first place. Information

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Speaker 3: is powerful. We know now that there is something that

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Speaker 3: chases us. We know now that we have to be

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Speaker 3: a part of The barrier between it and our families,

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Speaker 3: we have to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to the seasoned

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Speaker 3: senior in our congregation needs to be engaged all the

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Speaker 3: way to the two, three, four, and five-year-old. In this administration,

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Speaker 3: under this leadership, we have the opportunity to not only

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Speaker 3: have people that have that lived experience, but also people

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Speaker 3: that have lost family members themselves. They themselves have been

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Speaker 3: through the recovery rooms. They're people of faith. They understand

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Speaker 3: that our church is the largest single demographic in this country.

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Speaker 3: So why not leverage our congregations? Why not create resource

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Speaker 3: for our houses of worship to give them equal parallel

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Speaker 3: playing fields so they can serve people just like secular

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Speaker 3: organizations or any other organization? We know that healing happens

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Speaker 3: in kind and empathetic communities. Man, Sunday school teachers... paraprofessionals, grandmothers, grandfathers, deacons, ushers, greeters,

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Speaker 3: all of these people come into close contact. What they

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Speaker 3: see could be completely different than a traditional therapist or

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Speaker 3: a counselor because people are already coming to that house

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Speaker 3: of worship in a vulnerable state seeking something long-term. So

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Speaker 3: why not commune with them right on the spot? Wow.

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Speaker 1: Monty, I look at the whole substance abuse issue, for example,

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Speaker 1: and addiction is very broad. But I just want to

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Speaker 1: lock in just for a moment. Kids, you know, Growing up,

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Speaker 1: they go out, they hang out, they want to party,

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Speaker 1: experimentation stuff. They don't realize that a lot of what

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Speaker 1: we grew up with is a little different than what

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Speaker 1: they're growing up with. Stuff that's on the streets today

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Speaker 1: is of a whole different world. And I never really understood, Monty,

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Speaker 1: that this is almost like a piece of warfare, too,

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Speaker 1: that literally you've got drugs flooding into this country where

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Speaker 1: there's a real direct attempt to hammer American culture. You

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Speaker 1: know that? I'm serious. And you've got this massive flood.

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Speaker 1: And what I didn't realize, too, was you've got the

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Speaker 1: experimentation piece. You've got kids who are just going out

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Speaker 1: to a party on a Friday night or something. Local kid,

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Speaker 1: good kid, quarterback kid, never has done anything in his life,

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Speaker 1: winds up hitting something and dies. Two kids who are

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Speaker 1: getting caught up in massive addictive stuff because this stuff

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Speaker 1: is highly addictive. It's consuming them. To other people who

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Speaker 1: are in pain and they're getting put on drugs and

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Speaker 1: they don't realize what's happening to them. Next thing you know,

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Speaker 1: we've got elderly people who are just absolutely overwhelmed with

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Speaker 1: this stuff. And Monty, it really has become a national emergency.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. And Tim, you know, one of the things that

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Speaker 3: we have to do better is go and message out

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Speaker 3: from people who trust. Our clinical community, our LCSWs, our counselors,

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Speaker 3: our therapists, all of us that work in that space

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Speaker 3: have to remember that people in the community sometimes don't

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Speaker 3: understand how to work with us. but they do understand

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Speaker 3: what the clergy's role is. Clergy has to start educating.

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Speaker 3: I don't like to use absolutes, but this is a

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Speaker 3: have to, need to, must. Clergy have to start educating

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Speaker 3: their members about the dangers of overprescribing, long-term drug use,

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Speaker 3: what dependency is, how dependency starts, the dangers of not

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Speaker 3: locking up their medication, the danger of not disposing of

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Speaker 3: their medication, and also that any one of us not

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Speaker 3: paying attention to what we do with things that we

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Speaker 3: have control of could create an opportunity for a young

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Speaker 3: person who just stumbles upon something we left behind or

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Speaker 3: didn't pay attention to. Our seniors are just as susceptible

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Speaker 3: to drug addiction as our children because of accessibility. Our

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Speaker 3: children are susceptible because of the media's glorifying and and

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Speaker 3: over-amplifying the fun side and the euphoria of having stuff

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Speaker 3: in your system, partying, playing with your life, living on

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Speaker 3: the edge. The thing that can marry those communities together

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Speaker 3: are people of faith because we cover all the spectrums.

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Speaker 3: We touch all of the different that could be part

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Speaker 3: of a broad messaging campaign to lock up medication, dispose

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Speaker 3: of it properly.

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Speaker 1: It only makes sense that when the world gets dark, Monty,

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Speaker 1: that people begin to reach for anything to calm or

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Speaker 1: soothe the chaos that's going on in their own lives.

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Speaker 1: Kids are growing up in abuse. There's all kinds of insanity.

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Speaker 1: The world's all over the map. And it's just like,

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Speaker 1: give me anything. Anything. To help calm this stuff. And

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Speaker 1: what they do, again, they reach for something. And then

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Speaker 1: it becomes all-consuming. And the very thing they thought would

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Speaker 1: bring relief absolutely destroys them from the inside out. Now

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Speaker 1: we understand the whole, I mean, from food addiction to

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Speaker 1: pornography to everything, people are getting just crushed.

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Speaker 3: Annihilated.

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Speaker 2: Always seeking relief. But I just think about what you're saying, Monty, here,

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Speaker 2: the significance of the people of faith, that the church

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Speaker 2: needs to rise up for such a time as this.

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Speaker 2: I remember seeing a statistic years ago. that some 70

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Speaker 2: to 80% of people would prefer to walk into a church,

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Speaker 2: a mosque, a place of faith, rather than going and

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Speaker 2: receiving therapy or counseling or addictive treatment or help, because

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Speaker 2: that's just where people think that they can find help, hope,

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Speaker 2: and healing. And that is exactly right. But that's why

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Speaker 2: we have to train people of faith. We have to

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Speaker 2: train leaders within these institutions to be able to not

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Speaker 2: just inspire people. And we need to move away from awareness,

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Speaker 2: for goodness sakes. I mean, we've gotten to a place

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Speaker 2: where it's like we are getting decimated by all of

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Speaker 2: the anxiety, depression, addiction, loneliness, suicidality. We're aware from awareness.

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Speaker 2: Now we need to move into activation. That's what the

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Speaker 2: Great American Recovery Initiative is all about. You said equipping

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Speaker 2: people with the resources. And you talked about the administration.

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Speaker 2: I'm thinking about Secretary Kennedy. You guys have sat in

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Speaker 2: rooms with them. You shared rooms with them. I love

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Speaker 2: how he emphasized this. I read that. that recovery is

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Speaker 2: about more than getting someone sober. It's about creating a

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Speaker 2: system that supports them every step of the way. I'm interested,

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Speaker 2: what can we be expecting through the Great American Recovery Initiative?

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Speaker 2: What are some of the resources? What is your prayer

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Speaker 2: for this as you're getting this really underway?

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Speaker 3: Well, a couple of things you hit on. One is

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Speaker 3: it's more than just an immediate respite resource. It's long-term commitment.

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Speaker 3: Through the Great American Recovery Initiative, it's an executive order

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Speaker 3: that's an all hands on deck opportunity for the entire

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Speaker 3: federal government to support the recovery community, to support those

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Speaker 3: who suffer from addiction, to support innovation in and around

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Speaker 3: how people serve those who may suffer. The longest serving

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Speaker 3: community in the country are houses of worship. They've been

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Speaker 3: here since before government. And so part of the Great

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Speaker 3: American Recovery Initiative, we're encouraging those faith-based communities to start

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Speaker 3: applying for federal grants that support people that have behavioral

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Speaker 3: health concerns, people that have been formerly incarcerated. Those who

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Speaker 3: are homeless, you talk about churches, synagogues, mosques, rabbis, clergy, imams, pastors,

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Speaker 3: all hands on deck. Who better to culturally serve a

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Speaker 3: community than somebody that's from the community? A trusted, credible

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Speaker 3: messenger that people believe in could be their access to

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Speaker 3: freedom from addiction. We just have to train... the person

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Speaker 3: that's at the top of that pyramid for those people.

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Speaker 3: Because well-intended people that are misinformed or are not resourced

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Speaker 3: well could actually have good intentions but do bad things.

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Speaker 3: It takes seven to 10 days to become dependent on

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Speaker 3: legally prescribed opioids. Yep. They come from your doctor. Yep.

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Speaker 3: Dependency can be checked when a person has a rational, thriving,

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Speaker 3: loving community that teaches them how to live and move forward.

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Speaker 3: But imagine a person that's surrounded in a community and

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Speaker 3: there's generational cycles of drug use, abuse, all types of

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Speaker 3: mental health issues, mental health concerns, and also trauma. Same

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Speaker 3: seven to 10 days can cause a generational ripple that

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Speaker 3: goes three cycles down because they didn't have the check

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Speaker 3: and balance of community and family. This is why it's

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Speaker 3: important through what we're trying to explain to our communities

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Speaker 3: is families, houses of worship, innovation on the ground, mom

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Speaker 3: and pop thrift stores, Everybody has to get involved because

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Speaker 3: the reason this thing has got in front of us

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Speaker 3: is because people that don't understand have taken a hands-off

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Speaker 3: approach because it's across the street. Well, guess what? It's

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Speaker 3: not across the street. It's in our children's bedrooms. It's

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Speaker 3: under their bed. It's in the shoebox. It's in their drawer.

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Speaker 3: It's on their TV. It's on their phone. And we

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Speaker 3: have to make sure that we message well to get

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Speaker 3: communities to be a part of what I call a

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Speaker 3: solution-based process. If there's financial opportunity, there's educational opportunity, I

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Speaker 3: think the first one should be educational first. Understand what

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Speaker 3: you're fighting. If you understand what you're fighting, you can

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Speaker 3: build a strategy on how to fight it. This is

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Speaker 3: where innovation can come in, especially with our houses of worship.

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Speaker 3: You got a piece of dirt you've been on for

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Speaker 3: 250 years. Come on, man. That's a mini hospital of

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Speaker 3: a repository of information and a community connection that can

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Speaker 3: lead generations of people away from addiction. And so we

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Speaker 3: have to make sure the messaging is right and the

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Speaker 3: educational tools come first.

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Speaker 2: Hey, my friend, before we jump back into today's conversation,

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Speaker 2: I just want to remind you that Built Different is

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Speaker 2: proudly sponsored by Liberty University. This partnership means a lot

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Speaker 2: to me personally. You know, I was born and raised

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Speaker 2: in Lynchburg, Virginia, and I've watched Liberty grow tremendously over

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Speaker 2: the years, but I've also experienced firsthand the impact this

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Speaker 2: university can have on a life. I graduated from Liberty.

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Speaker 2: I played four years of Division I baseball here. I

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Speaker 2: met some of my closest friends and most influential mentors here.

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Speaker 2: I met my wife, Evelyn, here, and most importantly, Liberty

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Speaker 2: became part of the story God used to deepen my

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Speaker 2: relationship with Jesus Christ. Today, I have the privilege of

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Speaker 2: continuing that story by serving Liberty Athletics and investing in

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Speaker 2: the lives and mental health of our student athletes. That's

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Speaker 2: why I believe so deeply in Liberty's mission to train

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Speaker 2: champions for Christ. With more than 16,000 residential students and

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Speaker 2: 600 online programs, Liberty gives you the opportunity to pursue

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Speaker 2: your education alongside faculty who want to help equip you

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Speaker 2: for your calling on campus, online, and around the world.

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Speaker 2: To learn more and to take that next step, all

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Speaker 2: you have to do is go to liberty.edu forward slash

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Speaker 2: built different today. We've learned that patterns develop and writing

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Speaker 2: starts taking place. We're really unpacking the neurochemistry of addiction

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Speaker 2: right now. And when you see it, it becomes staggering

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Speaker 2: in terms of More than alarming. But the encouraging piece, Monty,

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Speaker 2: and I want to really highlight this, is you talked

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Speaker 2: about faith. People think, ah, they're just throwing God in there.

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Speaker 1: No, no, no. The research, the research is with us.

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Speaker 3: Yes.

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Speaker 1: Faith is at the heart of this whole thing. And

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Speaker 1: I'm telling you, you go into addiction recovery places, they'll

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Speaker 1: tell you, say, but God. I wouldn't be on a

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Speaker 1: new path. I wouldn't be here. When you see the

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Speaker 1: power of faith come alive... And I'm telling you what,

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Speaker 1: it's turning things upside down for the glory of God. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it is. Hey, for the recovery of people. Monty, I

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Speaker 1: want to ask you, people would say, who's Monty Burks?

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Speaker 1: I mean, why is he doing this? Why is he

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Speaker 1: in this place? Why is he leading this thing? I mean,

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Speaker 1: you've got a story that is so stunning, and God

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Speaker 1: has done something so amazing that when people get around you,

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Speaker 1: It's infectious. And they believe you. Take us back, Monty.

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Speaker 1: Share a little bit of that.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. You know, my friend, Dr. Tim Westlake, often says,

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Speaker 3: we're trying to move America from a pill culture to

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Speaker 3: a purpose culture. And man, that is something that has

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Speaker 3: stuck with me. And it actually takes me back into

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Speaker 3: why I'm in this work. And it reminds me that

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Speaker 3: we've all been given an anointing from birth. From the

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Speaker 3: day we took our first breath, there was purpose everywhere.

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Speaker 3: built into us. And it's up to our people of faith.

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Speaker 3: It's up to you to cultivate that purpose and aim

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Speaker 3: that arrow well. Scripture tells us that that arrow is

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Speaker 3: waiting on the quiver to be shot at the right time.

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Speaker 3: And those arrows coming out of the womb, those are

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Speaker 3: the ones in the quiver waiting to be shot at

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Speaker 3: the right moment. But you've got to train and season

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Speaker 3: and teach and mold that arrow to be as sharp

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Speaker 3: as it can be and as aerodynamic as it needs

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Speaker 3: to be. And you have to put it in the

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Speaker 3: hand of a person who holds the bow, who came

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Speaker 3: before the arrow was ever built. There's just a solution-based process.

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Speaker 3: We have it in front of us. For me, my

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Speaker 3: story is unique because I was one of the arrows

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Speaker 3: that didn't know I was an arrow. My father passed

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Speaker 3: away when I was young. I come from rural southeast Tennessee,

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Speaker 3: middle of nowhere America. I love where I came from,

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Speaker 3: the foot of a mountain, lived by a lake, fished

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Speaker 3: with rocks and sticks. Now I'm not going to talk

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Speaker 3: about that. I can't get in trouble for that anymore,

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Speaker 3: but we found a way to get those fish out

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Speaker 3: of that water. But as a young man, I didn't

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Speaker 3: realize the beauty of what I had around me. I

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Speaker 3: grew up in a town, in an area in a

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Speaker 3: town called Churchtown. There's a little place in my hometown, Winchester, Tennessee.

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Speaker 3: And so they called it Churchtown because the street was

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Speaker 3: like a U, and it was a church on each

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Speaker 3: one of the corners. So you had a church of God.

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Speaker 3: You had a Methodist church and you had a Baptist church.

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Speaker 3: All three, you could see them from each other. This

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Speaker 3: was the culture of Southern rural America. And so for us,

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Speaker 3: it was actually a protective factor. As a child, I

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Speaker 3: could go between any one of those houses of worship.

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Speaker 3: I knew just about everybody. I might not have known

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Speaker 3: all their names, but they knew mine. I got in

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Speaker 3: trouble one day from a seasoned saint. That's what I

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Speaker 3: call the church mothers. I said it yesterday to him.

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Speaker 3: They're the most feared a resource inside of a church.

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Speaker 1: Yes, they are.

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Speaker 2: Oh, man.

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Speaker 3: Any pastor can hear me. This is a message for you.

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Speaker 3: Those ladies who said in the first two pews of

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Speaker 3: your sanctuaries, not your wife, but those church mothers, those

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Speaker 3: are tried and true saints, paraprofessionals. They don't need a

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Speaker 3: degree to tell you what to do. You just do it.

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Speaker 3: They have in their purse, they have Bibles, chewing gum,

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Speaker 3: a banana and a spatula, and they might even have

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Speaker 3: a firearm. And any one of those things can take

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Speaker 3: a man out emotionally at any time during the day. Oh, yeah.

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Speaker 3: But those church, I got in trouble once from a

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Speaker 3: church mother who called me my grandfather's name. She knew him.

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Speaker 3: She knew generations in my family. She corrected me. And

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Speaker 3: I can remember as a child, it made me, even

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Speaker 3: though I might not have been happy about it, I

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Speaker 3: knew somebody saw me. And so as I grew, I

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Speaker 3: grew away from the church, just like a lot of

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Speaker 3: young people do. I went to college, disconnected myself from community,

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Speaker 3: and then I had another community waiting on me. Misery

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Speaker 3: loves company. I was introduced to club drugs when I

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Speaker 3: was in college. My father died. And when he died,

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Speaker 3: I disconnected myself from every other community I had, from school,

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Speaker 3: from friends, and decided to take a dive down a

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Speaker 3: very dark road. And on that dark road, I hit

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Speaker 3: a rock bottom Tim, Zach, that that a lot of

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Speaker 3: people don't survive from. I was expelled from school because

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Speaker 3: I didn't go to class. Thank you, universities, for trying

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Speaker 3: to find out now why people don't come to class.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes it's more than just hooky, absenteeism. There was something

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Speaker 3: deeper with me. I had graduated from a healthy, clean

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Speaker 3: lifestyle to a drug addiction lifestyle. But I was homeless,

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Speaker 3: sleeping in my car, going from house to house. My

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Speaker 3: friends started figuring out, man, you don't have a house.

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Speaker 3: You don't have a home, do you? And I was like, actually,

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Speaker 3: I don't. And I was like, I'm really trying to

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Speaker 3: get my life together, but I couldn't get my life

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Speaker 3: together with people who didn't have their life together. All

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Speaker 3: of us were barely hanging on. And I went to

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Speaker 3: a restaurant to eat one day. And this is where

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Speaker 3: the power of the community that we're in, this is

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Speaker 3: where it makes sense. And this is why it makes sense.

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Speaker 3: A woman walked up to me and put her hand

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Speaker 3: on my hand when I was about to eat brunch.

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Speaker 3: It was March 3rd, 2000. It was cold outside. I

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Speaker 3: had on shorts and a tank top. The woman walked

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Speaker 3: up to me because she saw that I was clearly

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Speaker 3: out of space, out of character. I didn't think she

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Speaker 3: knew me, but she actually had met me before. But

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Speaker 3: she put her hand on me and said, hey, I

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Speaker 3: would love for you to go with me. And I

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Speaker 3: was like, I'm a Southern guy. Go where you are.

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Speaker 1: Who are you?

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Speaker 3: Put my chest up. It's guys. Guys, anytime somebody challenges emotion,

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Speaker 3: we're notorious for doing the peacock chest, wanting to look

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Speaker 3: big and strong, and actually we've been broken. But she

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Speaker 3: continued to minister to me in open public while I

426
00:22:30,250 --> 00:22:32,369
Speaker 3: was trying to fix my food. Now, she was one

427
00:22:32,390 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 3: of those two front pew ladies that I just discussed.

428
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,240
Speaker 3: And she just talked to me for a good 30

429
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,960
Speaker 3: to 45 seconds. And man, I said, okay, I'll go.

430
00:22:40,340 --> 00:22:41,980
Speaker 3: Where are we going? I didn't even know where we

431
00:22:42,020 --> 00:22:43,540
Speaker 3: were going. She just put her hand on me. The

432
00:22:43,580 --> 00:22:45,560
Speaker 3: reason that I went with her is because she spoke

433
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:47,379
Speaker 3: to me from the culture that I'd grown up in.

434
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,780
Speaker 3: I grew up in the pews of the sanctuary. My

435
00:22:49,820 --> 00:22:52,159
Speaker 3: uncle is a bishop. My mother's a missionary evangelist. My

436
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,290
Speaker 3: grandmother was a lifelong Sunday school teacher. She spoke to

437
00:22:55,380 --> 00:22:57,970
Speaker 3: me to the seeds that were planted in me from

438
00:22:58,150 --> 00:23:01,550
Speaker 3: years ago. And it was the right moment for me

439
00:23:01,609 --> 00:23:04,050
Speaker 3: to accept that I was broken. But the person who

440
00:23:04,070 --> 00:23:06,510
Speaker 3: got me to accept it was not somebody that I expected.

441
00:23:06,930 --> 00:23:08,210
Speaker 3: I got in the car with her and cried for

442
00:23:08,210 --> 00:23:10,720
Speaker 3: 10 minutes while she sang to me. And she took

443
00:23:10,740 --> 00:23:13,619
Speaker 3: me to an AA meeting, respectfully to the fellowships. That

444
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:15,600
Speaker 3: was a meeting that was at her church. And when

445
00:23:15,619 --> 00:23:18,580
Speaker 3: I walked into the meeting, again, respectful to fellowships, that

446
00:23:18,660 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 3: wasn't my path. But that was the first time I

447
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,920
Speaker 3: realized that it wasn't just me. I wasn't alone. There

448
00:23:25,940 --> 00:23:29,540
Speaker 3: were other people who had life controlling issues and had

449
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:31,810
Speaker 3: nowhere to go. And so I walked into this church,

450
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,109
Speaker 3: and I saw the church, and I was like, okay,

451
00:23:34,130 --> 00:23:36,169
Speaker 3: I can go in here. I know this. I used

452
00:23:36,190 --> 00:23:38,490
Speaker 3: to sing. I worshipped. I did all this stuff. I

453
00:23:38,510 --> 00:23:41,609
Speaker 3: can go in here. We went around back, opened the door.

454
00:23:42,470 --> 00:23:44,530
Speaker 3: There was a big thing of cigarettes butts in a

455
00:23:44,550 --> 00:23:47,869
Speaker 3: big flower pot, and I smelled coffee. Now, anybody in

456
00:23:47,890 --> 00:23:50,210
Speaker 3: the recovery space knows if you see cigarettes and coffee

457
00:23:50,230 --> 00:23:51,830
Speaker 3: going into a recovery room, it's going to be on

458
00:23:51,869 --> 00:23:55,660
Speaker 3: fire that day. That means every bit of stress has gotten,

459
00:23:55,900 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 3: it's left outside with the cigarette butts and you're going

460
00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:00,020
Speaker 3: to let it, it's going to project itself with the

461
00:24:00,060 --> 00:24:02,219
Speaker 3: coffee when you go in. That's the energy needed to

462
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 3: get on, to get up and get it out. And

463
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,020
Speaker 3: I walked in and there was a police officer and

464
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:07,880
Speaker 3: the police officer looked at me and pulls up a seat.

465
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:09,840
Speaker 3: And I looked at him and realized I knew him.

466
00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,280
Speaker 3: The guy had arrested me before. See, I was radical

467
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:15,120
Speaker 3: in my addiction. That's why I'm radical in my faith, Tim.

468
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,520
Speaker 3: That is why I'm so loud because I made waves then.

469
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:20,200
Speaker 3: I'm going to make waves this way. I'm going to

470
00:24:20,220 --> 00:24:21,420
Speaker 3: make sure I tell you the truth about where I

471
00:24:21,460 --> 00:24:23,540
Speaker 3: came from. And also the truth about where I'm trying

472
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 3: to go and also create opportunities for anybody that wants

473
00:24:26,300 --> 00:24:28,300
Speaker 3: to go with me to come on. I need them

474
00:24:28,340 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 3: because one day my legs won't work anymore, but theirs will.

475
00:24:31,300 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 3: But that guy opened, he pulled that seat up and said, hey,

476
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,650
Speaker 3: immediately in my mind, I went into a mind state

477
00:24:36,770 --> 00:24:40,570
Speaker 3: because of the long-term drug addiction that this was a setup.

478
00:24:41,030 --> 00:24:42,710
Speaker 3: I can't believe they brought me to sit beside this guy.

479
00:24:43,470 --> 00:24:46,110
Speaker 3: I immediately pushed myself away from him and he pushed

480
00:24:46,130 --> 00:24:48,670
Speaker 3: the seat up farther. I sat down with him and fellowshiped.

481
00:24:48,930 --> 00:24:50,710
Speaker 3: That was the day to change my life. That was

482
00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,550
Speaker 3: the last day for me. still had to go to court,

483
00:24:53,590 --> 00:24:55,649
Speaker 3: still had some trouble I had to deal with. But

484
00:24:55,710 --> 00:24:58,430
Speaker 3: because of that opportunity in the back of that church

485
00:24:58,710 --> 00:25:03,820
Speaker 3: in nowhere America, I had surrendered and was done. And

486
00:25:03,859 --> 00:25:05,960
Speaker 3: then I had community and people. I went to a

487
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,940
Speaker 3: treatment program, that same church fellowshiped with me for years.

488
00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,290
Speaker 3: They introduced me back to college. I went to Middle

489
00:25:11,310 --> 00:25:13,770
Speaker 3: Tennessee State University, my alma mater. The story's on the

490
00:25:13,790 --> 00:25:16,709
Speaker 3: front page of our school, how the church led me

491
00:25:16,830 --> 00:25:21,210
Speaker 3: back into school worked at the school, graduated, started to teach,

492
00:25:21,470 --> 00:25:23,740
Speaker 3: stood on soapboxes around the country and told the truth

493
00:25:24,100 --> 00:25:27,580
Speaker 3: about how the power of our faith community can lead, guide,

494
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 3: and support those while they're broken. That's my story. That's

495
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 3: how I ended up here. Everything else felt like dominoes.

496
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,160
Speaker 3: I was recruited to work in government to start faith-based initiatives.

497
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,580
Speaker 3: I am from Southern rural America. We don't trust government.

498
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:41,780
Speaker 3: That is just the nature of where I'm from. So

499
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:43,780
Speaker 3: being given an opportunity to work in government to me

500
00:25:43,820 --> 00:25:45,790
Speaker 3: was like a, wait a minute. No, I think I'm

501
00:25:45,810 --> 00:25:47,959
Speaker 3: just going to you know, stay home, do things with

502
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 3: my family, entrepreneur, build. But that's when God tugged at

503
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 3: my heart. He tugged at me and I reached out

504
00:25:54,300 --> 00:25:56,660
Speaker 3: to my mentor and some other people that were close

505
00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:58,020
Speaker 3: to me and said, what should I do with an

506
00:25:58,060 --> 00:26:00,820
Speaker 3: opportunity like this? They said, you stand up and they said,

507
00:26:00,859 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 3: pick up your mat and walk. I didn't know they'd

508
00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:06,740
Speaker 3: seen me like that, but it made sense to me

509
00:26:07,220 --> 00:26:10,340
Speaker 3: because what I'd done is I had hindered myself, not

510
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,679
Speaker 3: realizing that there was a more, there was a greater

511
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,270
Speaker 3: purpose for me in that moment. And it wasn't just

512
00:26:15,330 --> 00:26:18,409
Speaker 3: about me. It was about the opportunity I would create

513
00:26:18,530 --> 00:26:21,170
Speaker 3: for other people. The product of that is I built

514
00:26:21,190 --> 00:26:24,609
Speaker 3: an initiative in Tennessee where we partnered with over 1,400

515
00:26:24,609 --> 00:26:29,980
Speaker 3: houses of worship. 1,400. And that's just the houses of

516
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,120
Speaker 3: worship themselves. Trained them on everything around addiction and mental health.

517
00:26:34,060 --> 00:26:37,060
Speaker 3: We made them partners with state government. We started a

518
00:26:37,340 --> 00:26:40,100
Speaker 3: certification process for them to follow a best practice model.

519
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,189
Speaker 3: Mental health 101. Brain science behind addiction 101. This is

520
00:26:43,210 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 3: what you can do as clergy. You don't have to

521
00:26:44,540 --> 00:26:47,280
Speaker 3: have a degree for this. Now, the big product was

522
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,100
Speaker 3: over seven years, those houses of worship from their pews

523
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 3: referred over 30,000 Tennesseans into treatment and support services. You

524
00:26:55,100 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 3: don't have to have a background in anything to open

525
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,060
Speaker 3: the door for someone to find freedom. Freedom is beautiful, man.

526
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:04,660
Speaker 3: And we all know where it's at. Sometimes people just

527
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:06,060
Speaker 3: don't know how. We have so many people that are

528
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,400
Speaker 3: trapped in open cages. They don't realize how to walk

529
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,640
Speaker 3: out because of the heavy weight that's on their back.

530
00:27:11,230 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 3: And there are many other things we were able to

531
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 3: do with that, but that is what got the attention

532
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,480
Speaker 3: of Governor Bill Lee, brought me in to work with

533
00:27:17,500 --> 00:27:20,260
Speaker 3: his cabinet to build one of the first faith-based initiatives

534
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:24,459
Speaker 3: in the country that was really dialed into kids that

535
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,840
Speaker 3: were graduating from foster care and people that were incarcerated.

536
00:27:26,859 --> 00:27:29,800
Speaker 3: It's actually the same people. Eighty-one percent of children who

537
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:35,460
Speaker 3: come out of the foster system end up homeless or incarcerated.

538
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 1: People don't realize they time out. They wind up homeless.

539
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 3: They wind up homeless or incarcerated by 21. Wow. And

540
00:27:42,020 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 3: that's the prison population. That is a significant portion of

541
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,240
Speaker 3: prison population. Wow. And this got me on the radar

542
00:27:47,580 --> 00:27:49,840
Speaker 3: to work in this administration beside Robert Kennedy, who's also

543
00:27:49,859 --> 00:27:52,820
Speaker 3: a person who's in long-term recovery. The entire Great American

544
00:27:52,859 --> 00:27:55,850
Speaker 3: Recovery Initiative leadership team are all people in long-term recovery,

545
00:27:56,090 --> 00:27:57,810
Speaker 3: every single one of us. It's the first time we've

546
00:27:57,830 --> 00:28:01,150
Speaker 3: had this alignment, and it's under this administration that understands

547
00:28:01,170 --> 00:28:03,470
Speaker 3: that champions are forged in fire.

548
00:28:03,490 --> 00:28:03,830
Speaker 2: Come on.

549
00:28:04,170 --> 00:28:06,590
Speaker 3: That's where we came from. That means that we're not

550
00:28:06,630 --> 00:28:08,130
Speaker 3: afraid to to throw the rock.

551
00:28:08,330 --> 00:28:08,609
Speaker 1: That's right.

552
00:28:08,630 --> 00:28:10,189
Speaker 3: You just get, put it in my hand. I'll hit

553
00:28:10,210 --> 00:28:11,770
Speaker 3: every giant that I can. If I miss, I'll throw

554
00:28:11,810 --> 00:28:14,230
Speaker 3: another one. That's right. And that's where we came from.

555
00:28:14,270 --> 00:28:16,629
Speaker 3: And that's, that's how I met Tim. And now it's

556
00:28:16,670 --> 00:28:17,560
Speaker 3: how I've met you, Zach.

557
00:28:17,710 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 2: Yes. No, that's what I think about the story of Job.

558
00:28:19,740 --> 00:28:22,580
Speaker 2: He said, fortunate the fire, right? Job 23 verse 10.

559
00:28:22,580 --> 00:28:25,100
Speaker 2: Job is so frustrated because everything in his life, he's

560
00:28:25,140 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 2: looking for God desperately in front of him, behind him,

561
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,119
Speaker 2: to his right, to his left. He cannot see God,

562
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:32,700
Speaker 2: but he says, but he knows the way that I take.

563
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:34,540
Speaker 2: I can't see him, but he can see me. And

564
00:28:34,580 --> 00:28:37,420
Speaker 2: when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

565
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 2: Then all of a sudden you see all of the doubt.

566
00:28:39,140 --> 00:28:41,820
Speaker 2: You see all the frustration. You see him asking God

567
00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:43,380
Speaker 2: to remove the day on which he was born from

568
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,700
Speaker 2: the face of the earth. But then in Job chapter 42,

569
00:28:45,700 --> 00:28:47,860
Speaker 2: verse five, when God finally got the chance to speak,

570
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,580
Speaker 2: to remind Job who he was, he says, man, I'd

571
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 2: only heard about you through my ears, but now I've

572
00:28:52,260 --> 00:28:55,390
Speaker 2: seen you with my eyes. What I love about your story, Monty,

573
00:28:55,890 --> 00:28:59,240
Speaker 2: is that you've been through the fire. You've been pruned

574
00:28:59,370 --> 00:29:01,190
Speaker 2: through the fire. You've been forged through the fire, but

575
00:29:01,210 --> 00:29:03,270
Speaker 2: there were people that stepped into your life along the

576
00:29:03,310 --> 00:29:05,910
Speaker 2: way that helped you see God through a different light,

577
00:29:05,930 --> 00:29:09,530
Speaker 2: that helped you see yourself through a different perspective. Everybody

578
00:29:09,570 --> 00:29:11,770
Speaker 2: needs a little people feel. I'll never forget first time

579
00:29:11,810 --> 00:29:14,430
Speaker 2: I sat across from a young man, my very first session,

580
00:29:14,470 --> 00:29:16,290
Speaker 2: I just came out of practicum and internship, right? So

581
00:29:16,330 --> 00:29:18,380
Speaker 2: I'm a newbie. I'm like, dude, what am I doing

582
00:29:18,390 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 2: in here? You got to put things into practice real quick,

583
00:29:20,780 --> 00:29:23,280
Speaker 2: thrown into the fire. This kid comes in, he spits

584
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,320
Speaker 2: at my feet, he cusses me out, and he stares

585
00:29:25,380 --> 00:29:27,460
Speaker 2: at me with his arms crossed like, I want nothing

586
00:29:27,500 --> 00:29:29,660
Speaker 2: to do with you, brought by his grandmother. And I'm thinking,

587
00:29:29,660 --> 00:29:32,900
Speaker 2: what did I just get myself into? But man, over time,

588
00:29:32,900 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 2: as he began to trust and he began to sit

589
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,300
Speaker 2: with me and I just kept showing up for this

590
00:29:38,300 --> 00:29:41,050
Speaker 2: young man, all of a sudden, you saw this disposition

591
00:29:41,090 --> 00:29:43,210
Speaker 2: begin to change. And over time, he began to allow

592
00:29:43,250 --> 00:29:46,250
Speaker 2: me to be a part of his story. And God

593
00:29:46,290 --> 00:29:49,790
Speaker 2: began to rework it. And he began to do something new,

594
00:29:50,290 --> 00:29:52,430
Speaker 2: something for his honor, for his glory, but for this

595
00:29:52,490 --> 00:29:54,910
Speaker 2: young man's good. And I'm just thinking about the Cigna

596
00:29:54,950 --> 00:29:58,310
Speaker 2: Research Survey, about 20,000 participants that were researched. I think

597
00:29:58,350 --> 00:30:00,530
Speaker 2: of addiction, what it does, it sends a spiraling into

598
00:30:00,570 --> 00:30:02,729
Speaker 2: a pit of shame. What shame says is if you

599
00:30:02,790 --> 00:30:05,550
Speaker 2: really knew me, you wouldn't love me. Shame sends us

600
00:30:05,630 --> 00:30:09,170
Speaker 2: into a spirit of hiddenness. But man, we need people

601
00:30:09,310 --> 00:30:12,100
Speaker 2: as a part of our story, just like you had, Monty,

602
00:30:12,140 --> 00:30:15,720
Speaker 2: speak to just the loneliness epidemic, the shame that comes

603
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:19,420
Speaker 2: after addiction and the need we have for other people.

604
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:23,270
Speaker 3: Yes, and that, I think that you saw Even though

605
00:30:23,290 --> 00:30:30,230
Speaker 3: the young man couldn't see it himself, you, through training, experience, relationship, community,

606
00:30:30,870 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 3: and also family, saw a powerful, young, moldable man that

607
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 3: just needed the right resource to love him. I think

608
00:30:39,940 --> 00:30:42,060
Speaker 3: one of the things that makes the most sense to

609
00:30:42,100 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 3: me is that, yes, I was chosen to be in

610
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 3: this role before I ever knew it. So were you.

611
00:30:47,900 --> 00:30:50,370
Speaker 3: And so was your father. I think that in a time,

612
00:30:50,570 --> 00:30:53,360
Speaker 3: this time, in such a time as these, that the

613
00:30:53,460 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 3: work that we're all trying to graduate into, gravitate toward,

614
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 3: is something that all of our clergy leadership pastors, anybody

615
00:31:01,860 --> 00:31:05,010
Speaker 3: that's in a significant role, has to understand that this

616
00:31:05,090 --> 00:31:08,710
Speaker 3: is the battlefield now. It's not a tomorrow fight. It's

617
00:31:08,750 --> 00:31:13,890
Speaker 3: a now fight. When David had the rock and David

618
00:31:13,910 --> 00:31:16,850
Speaker 3: threw the rock and David slayed the giant, the Goliath,

619
00:31:17,410 --> 00:31:19,370
Speaker 3: David had trained his whole life to throw that one

620
00:31:19,410 --> 00:31:21,710
Speaker 3: rock in that one moment. He didn't realize that he

621
00:31:21,730 --> 00:31:23,690
Speaker 3: was ever going to throw that rock. There are so

622
00:31:23,730 --> 00:31:27,540
Speaker 3: many people that have been seasoned with this work and

623
00:31:27,620 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 3: have not yet been given a chance or don't know

624
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,460
Speaker 3: why they've been seasoned. They don't know why they've been trained.

625
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:37,770
Speaker 3: I have listened to people for years from our houses

626
00:31:37,830 --> 00:31:40,910
Speaker 3: of worship give some of the best advice that makes

627
00:31:40,950 --> 00:31:43,990
Speaker 3: the most sense. And some of them are 90, 95

628
00:31:43,990 --> 00:31:46,950
Speaker 3: years old. And you look back and you're like, okay,

629
00:31:46,970 --> 00:31:50,430
Speaker 3: you're almost a century old. Under your belt, there's some

630
00:31:50,470 --> 00:31:54,110
Speaker 3: knowledge there. There's also some survival there. Tell me more.

631
00:31:54,790 --> 00:31:56,570
Speaker 3: And then you listen to the stories of how they've

632
00:31:56,630 --> 00:31:59,050
Speaker 3: made it through. And it's been some of the most

633
00:31:59,190 --> 00:32:03,190
Speaker 3: heartwarming moments for me because I get to transition that

634
00:32:03,230 --> 00:32:06,730
Speaker 3: to the young ones. It's like we are stewards of

635
00:32:06,820 --> 00:32:09,820
Speaker 3: not only information, but of our faith. And we have

636
00:32:09,860 --> 00:32:12,020
Speaker 3: to make sure that our people that are in our

637
00:32:12,060 --> 00:32:14,820
Speaker 3: pews don't let a hurt habit or hang up stop them,

638
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:17,850
Speaker 3: but it creates an opportunity for help. I'm honored to

639
00:32:17,890 --> 00:32:19,910
Speaker 3: be on your podcast today because I feel like now

640
00:32:20,350 --> 00:32:23,410
Speaker 3: we're together aligned in the work, and we're going to

641
00:32:23,450 --> 00:32:25,090
Speaker 3: make sure that all of those people in those pews

642
00:32:25,430 --> 00:32:26,290
Speaker 3: have a purpose in this.

643
00:32:26,910 --> 00:32:31,660
Speaker 1: When people begin to see where they're at and get honest,

644
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,840
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden they acknowledge that they're powerless,

645
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:43,970
Speaker 1: they can't break free, and then they surrender, and they

646
00:32:44,010 --> 00:32:48,020
Speaker 1: cry out and say, I need help. And when God

647
00:32:48,100 --> 00:32:52,160
Speaker 1: begins to show up in their life, things change. Not

648
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: long ago, I was at a Celebrate Recovery event at

649
00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,340
Speaker 1: a church in north of Nashville, packed out, packed out.

650
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,980
Speaker 1: And I was going to speak for a little bit.

651
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:06,380
Speaker 1: I said, no, you know what? I'm going to go

652
00:33:06,420 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 1: out and sit among this group. Nobody knows. I'm just

653
00:33:11,220 --> 00:33:12,459
Speaker 1: going to go out. I'm going to sneak out and

654
00:33:12,550 --> 00:33:15,250
Speaker 1: sit in there. I'm going to tell you what. It

655
00:33:15,270 --> 00:33:18,130
Speaker 1: was different. You know why? Because I saw people in

656
00:33:18,170 --> 00:33:26,770
Speaker 1: there who literally, they were singing, they were worshiping God

657
00:33:27,370 --> 00:33:31,290
Speaker 1: differently because they had been set free. It's for freedom

658
00:33:31,950 --> 00:33:34,750
Speaker 1: that Christ has come to set us free. Kiss the sun,

659
00:33:35,310 --> 00:33:38,150
Speaker 1: Paul wrote in Galatians 5.1, and you'll be free indeed.

660
00:33:38,950 --> 00:33:42,330
Speaker 1: They were tasting freedom. It wasn't that they weren't in

661
00:33:42,350 --> 00:33:46,930
Speaker 1: a battle. A lot of them are still battling. But man...

662
00:33:47,490 --> 00:33:49,390
Speaker 1: There was new life. There was a new day. There

663
00:33:49,430 --> 00:33:52,330
Speaker 1: was light now because it was getting real dark. For

664
00:33:52,370 --> 00:33:54,340
Speaker 1: many of them, it had gotten so dark that they

665
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:57,380
Speaker 1: felt like life would be better off without them, but

666
00:33:57,500 --> 00:34:01,660
Speaker 1: not now. And I'm telling you what, that was like, oh,

667
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:05,300
Speaker 1: my goodness. There was power. There was energy. And they

668
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:09,060
Speaker 1: were in a new fight. They were in a new fight. Monty,

669
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:10,880
Speaker 1: what I love about you, and I know we're fighting

670
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:11,780
Speaker 1: things here for a moment.

671
00:34:11,900 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 3: Yeah.

672
00:34:12,370 --> 00:34:14,840
Speaker 1: But you trained as an MMA fighter.

673
00:34:15,010 --> 00:34:15,820
Speaker 3: Yes, I did.

674
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,739
Speaker 1: Come on, dude. And I can see why, because you

675
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:22,419
Speaker 1: had to fight your way all the way. It's always

676
00:34:22,460 --> 00:34:25,839
Speaker 1: been a battle. Now you're in a new fight. You're

677
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 1: bringing that stuff. That's what I love. That's what I

678
00:34:28,620 --> 00:34:32,609
Speaker 1: love about D1 athletes, for example. They bring it. They

679
00:34:32,630 --> 00:34:34,930
Speaker 1: bring it. They bring it all. They know what it

680
00:34:35,010 --> 00:34:38,049
Speaker 1: means to face adversity and to get where they need

681
00:34:38,070 --> 00:34:39,370
Speaker 1: to be if they're going to be in the lineup.

682
00:34:39,390 --> 00:34:39,870
Speaker 1: You hear what I'm saying?

683
00:34:39,890 --> 00:34:39,969
Speaker 2: Yeah.

684
00:34:40,670 --> 00:34:42,609
Speaker 1: And if you're going to get something done, we've got

685
00:34:42,630 --> 00:34:46,330
Speaker 1: to go. Monty, this is a big fight. It really is.

686
00:34:46,430 --> 00:34:50,850
Speaker 1: It's destroying families, the church, everything, communities across this country.

687
00:34:51,130 --> 00:34:54,710
Speaker 1: We're losing people. We're in a fight. But there's light,

688
00:34:54,770 --> 00:34:58,910
Speaker 1: and you're bringing it. Bring us home. Talk to us about, hey, God,

689
00:34:59,530 --> 00:35:02,190
Speaker 1: this is what I'm praying you're going to do. And

690
00:35:02,250 --> 00:35:03,989
Speaker 1: talk to the people out there who are literally in

691
00:35:04,010 --> 00:35:05,029
Speaker 1: the fight of their life right now.

692
00:35:05,410 --> 00:35:05,810
Speaker 3: Absolutely.

693
00:35:05,830 --> 00:35:06,990
Speaker 1: Everybody knows a somebody.

694
00:35:07,140 --> 00:35:09,980
Speaker 3: Everybody knows a somebody. You were at Long Hollow Baptist

695
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,860
Speaker 3: at the Celebrate Recovery Conference. That's right. Pastor Robbie Gallaty,

696
00:35:13,380 --> 00:35:15,460
Speaker 3: good friend of mine. Robbie's also a former MMA guy.

697
00:35:15,500 --> 00:35:19,360
Speaker 3: Come on. Yes, he is. And so he and I

698
00:35:20,590 --> 00:35:24,730
Speaker 3: shot a movie together called The Forgotten Pandemic during COVID.

699
00:35:25,130 --> 00:35:27,229
Speaker 3: It was around, and The Forgotten Pandemic was the people

700
00:35:27,270 --> 00:35:30,310
Speaker 3: that suffered from the opioid epidemic, the lives that we lost.

701
00:35:30,790 --> 00:35:37,660
Speaker 3: And so the fight, God has chosen... Fashion warriors, ministry warriors,

702
00:35:37,900 --> 00:35:40,660
Speaker 3: ministerial warriors to get in the fight. What I would

703
00:35:40,700 --> 00:35:43,590
Speaker 3: say to anybody that can hear me right now is

704
00:35:43,610 --> 00:35:47,590
Speaker 3: that everything that you're going through has purpose. Every piece

705
00:35:47,670 --> 00:35:50,890
Speaker 3: that you think is broken can be fashioned into something great.

706
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,630
Speaker 3: And every single experience that you've had It can be

707
00:35:54,650 --> 00:35:57,190
Speaker 3: the medicine for the next person to not have to

708
00:35:57,290 --> 00:35:59,969
Speaker 3: suffer the same. The fight that you're fighting has been

709
00:35:59,989 --> 00:36:03,290
Speaker 3: fought by somebody else. A little different, times a little different,

710
00:36:03,330 --> 00:36:06,359
Speaker 3: circumstances may be a little bit different. But in reality,

711
00:36:06,390 --> 00:36:09,120
Speaker 3: it's all kingdom work because once you survive, the first

712
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,399
Speaker 3: step forward should be with a hand back to pull

713
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,160
Speaker 3: the next person behind you. We have to remember that

714
00:36:14,219 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 3: the purpose that we've been giving, the anointment and the appointment,

715
00:36:17,870 --> 00:36:19,910
Speaker 3: It means we can't give up on those who are

716
00:36:20,010 --> 00:36:24,109
Speaker 3: still walking in it. Broken people need healed people because

717
00:36:24,150 --> 00:36:27,370
Speaker 3: broken people can break other people. But healed people know

718
00:36:27,430 --> 00:36:30,290
Speaker 3: how to access tools and resources to help other people

719
00:36:30,370 --> 00:36:33,810
Speaker 3: find that goodness, that greatness, and that freedom. I call

720
00:36:33,870 --> 00:36:38,030
Speaker 3: recovery freedom. Recovery has four pillars, health, home, purpose, community.

721
00:36:38,430 --> 00:36:41,370
Speaker 3: So does freedom. Our houses of worship are built to

722
00:36:41,410 --> 00:36:45,029
Speaker 3: provide every single one of those supports. But let me

723
00:36:45,090 --> 00:36:47,890
Speaker 3: remind you, houses of worship, I'm not talking to just

724
00:36:48,090 --> 00:36:50,379
Speaker 3: one of you. I'm talking to every single one of you.

725
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:56,520
Speaker 3: You can't forget why we are here. Kingdom Work 101,

726
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 3: fish on the other side of the boat. Those knuckleheads

727
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,549
Speaker 3: in the community were somebody's child. That's somebody's generation. That's

728
00:37:02,610 --> 00:37:08,670
Speaker 3: somebody's gift. Somebody prayed for them. So why don't we reach, support, give,

729
00:37:08,890 --> 00:37:12,290
Speaker 3: and guide them into the pews of our sanctuaries, not

730
00:37:12,330 --> 00:37:14,090
Speaker 3: only as a person that's been through it, but as

731
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:15,980
Speaker 3: a leader that can lead people that we can't touch.

732
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:19,400
Speaker 2: Money, I want to close this way. You just mentioned

733
00:37:19,420 --> 00:37:21,359
Speaker 2: the idea that we have to move away from what

734
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,500
Speaker 2: is wrong with someone to what happened to somebody.

735
00:37:24,700 --> 00:37:24,899
Speaker 3: Yes.

736
00:37:25,660 --> 00:37:30,860
Speaker 2: We serve a God of second chances, third chances, fourth chances,

737
00:37:31,060 --> 00:37:34,340
Speaker 2: the next chance. I remember sitting down with the strength

738
00:37:34,380 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 2: conditioning coach at Liberty University football program. His name's Chad Scott.

739
00:37:38,180 --> 00:37:39,969
Speaker 2: And I love what he says. He said, every day

740
00:37:40,010 --> 00:37:43,070
Speaker 2: your feet touch the ground, you're given two things, a

741
00:37:43,170 --> 00:37:47,370
Speaker 2: chance and a choice. Today could be the chance that

742
00:37:47,450 --> 00:37:50,350
Speaker 2: everything begins to change. Today could be the chance that

743
00:37:50,370 --> 00:37:52,089
Speaker 2: you get to reach out to somebody else. But with

744
00:37:52,130 --> 00:37:55,799
Speaker 2: that chance, you have to make that choice. I just

745
00:37:55,820 --> 00:37:58,120
Speaker 2: want to know from you. Dad has taught me from

746
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,040
Speaker 2: the time I was just a little boy all the

747
00:38:00,060 --> 00:38:02,989
Speaker 2: way up through that. It's in our moments of powerlessness

748
00:38:03,250 --> 00:38:05,750
Speaker 2: that God draws us closer to and reveals the character

749
00:38:05,770 --> 00:38:08,130
Speaker 2: of his heart the most. What have you learned throughout

750
00:38:08,170 --> 00:38:10,570
Speaker 2: your journey about the God of another chance?

751
00:38:11,350 --> 00:38:15,509
Speaker 3: That another chance isn't just a second. It's one of many.

752
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:19,339
Speaker 3: And that when you can submit, surrender, and then do

753
00:38:19,380 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 3: a moral inventory of yourself, the same God will give

754
00:38:23,140 --> 00:38:25,759
Speaker 3: you the opportunity to take all those broken pieces and lead.

755
00:38:26,340 --> 00:38:29,120
Speaker 3: It's happened many times for many other people in my

756
00:38:29,219 --> 00:38:33,160
Speaker 3: own Personal journey, when I hit rock bottom, God made sense.

757
00:38:34,020 --> 00:38:37,839
Speaker 3: Faith made sense. My relationship with Christ made sense. But

758
00:38:37,860 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 3: it wasn't until I was broken until it did. But

759
00:38:40,180 --> 00:38:42,350
Speaker 3: the good thing about it was when I was broken,

760
00:38:42,390 --> 00:38:44,350
Speaker 3: when I reached my hand out, he reached his back.

761
00:38:44,930 --> 00:38:47,630
Speaker 3: I've survived three heart attacks. I've got three stents in

762
00:38:47,650 --> 00:38:48,070
Speaker 3: my chest.

763
00:38:48,210 --> 00:38:48,669
Speaker 1: No kidding.

764
00:38:48,690 --> 00:38:51,390
Speaker 3: I'm a former MMA fighter. I fought that too. And

765
00:38:51,430 --> 00:38:53,009
Speaker 3: by the power and grace of God, each one I

766
00:38:53,050 --> 00:38:55,299
Speaker 3: was able to walk away from and still continue in

767
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,160
Speaker 3: this type of ministry work. So when I tell you

768
00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:01,200
Speaker 3: that we've been fashioned for this work, everything that was

769
00:39:01,219 --> 00:39:03,500
Speaker 3: supposed to take us out didn't. It was actually just

770
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:05,960
Speaker 3: a timeout and a learning lesson. And that's what God

771
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:08,880
Speaker 3: has shown me is that everything that's happened is a

772
00:39:08,989 --> 00:39:12,259
Speaker 3: part of the toolkit to help someone else find freedom.

773
00:39:12,890 --> 00:39:15,870
Speaker 3: And the voice that you both have, everything that comes

774
00:39:15,910 --> 00:39:19,049
Speaker 3: from this podcast hits people that we don't know see it.

775
00:39:19,670 --> 00:39:21,690
Speaker 3: This is just another tool that we have to continue

776
00:39:21,710 --> 00:39:23,549
Speaker 3: to use to make sure that we open the door

777
00:39:23,570 --> 00:39:25,069
Speaker 3: for other people to find that freedom.

778
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:27,740
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about jumping up and let's just like chest

779
00:39:27,780 --> 00:39:30,480
Speaker 1: bump and then let's see if we can go one round. Hey,

780
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,080
Speaker 1: I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm

781
00:39:32,140 --> 00:39:34,620
Speaker 1: as good once as I ever was.

782
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,299
Speaker 3: I don't believe it. Zach, I don't believe it. Your

783
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 3: dad looks like he could still drop 17 pull-ups in

784
00:39:39,500 --> 00:39:40,380
Speaker 3: a heartbeat.

785
00:39:41,460 --> 00:39:43,580
Speaker 2: He's still sharp. I can say that. Monty, as we close,

786
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:44,940
Speaker 2: I just want to ask you this. Where can our

787
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,040
Speaker 2: audience go to find out more about you? Maybe to

788
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:50,080
Speaker 2: get plugged in, to actually... be engaged with all that

789
00:39:50,100 --> 00:39:52,279
Speaker 2: God is doing through the Center for Faith at HHS,

790
00:39:52,300 --> 00:39:54,430
Speaker 2: but also the Great American Recovery Initiative.

791
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:58,650
Speaker 3: Faith at HHS.gov. You can either email or look us

792
00:39:58,710 --> 00:40:01,630
Speaker 3: up online. We have a wealth of resources on our website.

793
00:40:01,950 --> 00:40:04,150
Speaker 3: If anybody wants to connect, I will send them information

794
00:40:04,190 --> 00:40:07,170
Speaker 3: about Great American Recovery Initiative, how faith-based communities can be

795
00:40:07,210 --> 00:40:11,250
Speaker 3: involved and partner. We also provide free technical assistance through

796
00:40:11,310 --> 00:40:14,250
Speaker 3: SAMHSA for faith communities that want to explore the grant

797
00:40:14,290 --> 00:40:16,500
Speaker 3: process and This is open to any one of our

798
00:40:16,540 --> 00:40:18,219
Speaker 3: faith partners. I don't care if you have a three-person

799
00:40:18,260 --> 00:40:21,859
Speaker 3: congregation or a 30,000-person congregation. If you provide ministry work,

800
00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 3: we have a TA center that will help guide you

801
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 3: through what it looks like to be a part of

802
00:40:26,180 --> 00:40:28,180
Speaker 3: the process. Part of the work that I was brought

803
00:40:28,219 --> 00:40:29,790
Speaker 3: here to do was to make sure we clear those

804
00:40:29,850 --> 00:40:32,290
Speaker 3: lanes and open those doors. It's amazing.

805
00:40:32,310 --> 00:40:34,140
Speaker 2: Monty, our friend, thank you so much for joining us.

806
00:40:34,150 --> 00:40:36,230
Speaker 2: Thank you for being here. Thank you for your obedience

807
00:40:36,750 --> 00:40:38,590
Speaker 2: and just saying yes to the Lord and being the

808
00:40:38,630 --> 00:40:40,469
Speaker 2: leader that you are. You're impacting a lot of lives,

809
00:40:40,510 --> 00:40:41,870
Speaker 2: including our own. Thanks for joining us.

810
00:40:42,010 --> 00:40:42,610
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.

811
00:40:43,230 --> 00:40:46,470
Speaker 2: To our Built-Different audience, I'm just reminded of 2 Corinthians 1,

812
00:40:46,469 --> 00:40:48,009
Speaker 2: verses 3 to 4, that we serve the God of

813
00:40:48,050 --> 00:40:50,390
Speaker 2: all mercy, the God of all comfort, who comforts us

814
00:40:50,450 --> 00:40:52,970
Speaker 2: in our times of trouble so that we might comfort

815
00:40:53,070 --> 00:40:55,610
Speaker 2: others in their times of trouble with the same comfort

816
00:40:55,630 --> 00:40:58,489
Speaker 2: we ourselves have received from God. As Monty said, you

817
00:40:58,550 --> 00:41:00,590
Speaker 2: might feel like you have hit rock bottom, but the

818
00:41:00,630 --> 00:41:02,900
Speaker 2: good news is that God is always the rock at

819
00:41:02,940 --> 00:41:04,960
Speaker 2: the bottom. My friend, we love you. We love being

820
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:06,350
Speaker 2: a part of your life. Thanks for joining us.