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Speaker 1: What's up its way up at Angela Yee. I'm Angela

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Speaker 1: Yee and Jasmine from the Jasmine brand dot Com is

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Speaker 1: here with me. Yes, and it is a Wealth Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: and we're honored to have Pastor a Ar Bernard here

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Speaker 1: with us.

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Speaker 2: It is good to be with you.

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Speaker 1: Amazing.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: I've seen you a couple of times recently. You were

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Speaker 1: at Jamie Hector's Moving Mountains. You're on the board for

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Speaker 1: his organization.

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Speaker 2: I have been supportive of that organization for GOSS the

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Speaker 2: last fifteen years and very excited to be a part

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Speaker 2: of it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I know he's trying to find like a stable

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Speaker 1: location for the students that he has. It helps them

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Speaker 1: with like educating them with the arts as far as dancing, acting, singing,

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Speaker 1: all of those things. And those kids are super talented.

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Speaker 2: They are amazing. And it's not just the art but

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Speaker 2: also personal development that's all built into it. He's using

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Speaker 2: the arts to attract them and also to teach them

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Speaker 2: discipline and certain principle of life. But at the end

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Speaker 2: of the day, the individuals that they turn out to

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Speaker 2: be amazing.

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Speaker 3: Well, maybe the I mean maybe the location might be

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Speaker 3: good for the village, It might be a good collaborate,

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Speaker 3: you know, maybe in temporary space or a remote space.

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Speaker 1: We have a little time till we get it. I'm working.

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Speaker 1: I want to ask about your background though, because I

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Speaker 1: think about that organization and for myself even growing up

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Speaker 1: in Brooklyn and how a lot of these programs helped me.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: I was in a program also called Prep for Prep

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Speaker 1: that helps kids learn things faster so that we can

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Speaker 1: get into like they put us in private schools, and

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Speaker 1: then the goal was always to go to college. Right,

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Speaker 1: So it set us on that path. It was a

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Speaker 1: free program that you had to test to get into.

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Speaker 1: But for yourself, what was your experience growing up when

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Speaker 1: it came to education and after school activities.

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Speaker 2: Well, I had a very pragmatic role with the church.

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Speaker 2: I was raised Catholic, but I went to the Baptist

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Speaker 2: Church to be part of there the school program because

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Speaker 2: that's where I met other young people. Lutheran Church had

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Speaker 2: a great vacation Bible school, so I would travel during

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Speaker 2: the summer. As a leach key kid played basketball. You

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Speaker 2: had to be part of the church, so I joined

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Speaker 2: the Methodis Church to do that.

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Speaker 4: So I was I was all over that fulfill.

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Speaker 2: Itsthmatic it was practical, but I will tell you it

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Speaker 2: played a powerful role in my life, instilling values and

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Speaker 2: meeting people, creating community. It was for me, it was

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Speaker 2: around sports, but it played a very important role in

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Speaker 2: terms of the amount of time I had on the

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Speaker 2: streets to be influenced by those streets.

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Speaker 1: Right. I saw you speaking at one point in your

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Speaker 1: to your congregation about the absence of your father in

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Speaker 1: your life, and you were talking about Bill Cosby and

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Speaker 1: what he represented the people and white people who didn't

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Speaker 1: even know him were so disappointed and really angry right

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Speaker 1: about what he had what he had done. And so

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Speaker 1: can you talk to me about that, because I feel

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Speaker 1: like that is has been something that's been such an

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Speaker 1: epidemic for a lot of people, right, the absence of

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Speaker 1: a father, And like you said, how it influences you

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Speaker 1: as far as you being a father and not knowing

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Speaker 1: how at first?

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Speaker 2: Well, it all started because I was in Albany speaking

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Speaker 2: to the Black and Latino Caucus, and I had some

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Speaker 2: time in between the morning session and the evening gala,

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Speaker 2: so I turninal television documentary and there it was a

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Speaker 2: documentary about Bill Cosby, and about twenty minutes in by

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Speaker 2: the time I got at to the end of those

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Speaker 2: twenty minutes, there were several faces, some who were victims,

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Speaker 2: some who were indirectly impacted, some who had nothing to

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Speaker 2: do with Cosby but were in the business, and they

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Speaker 2: all had a consistent anger and resentment. And I'm saying, well,

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Speaker 2: why is everybody angry with him? Even those who had

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Speaker 2: nothing to do with him or were indirectly impacted if

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Speaker 2: at all, but were just there for the commentary. And

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Speaker 2: I realized that it wasn't him personally, it was what

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Speaker 2: he symbolized. He was America's dad, and for us as

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Speaker 2: people of color, he was our black dad, showing middle class,

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Speaker 2: upward mobility, all of the values.

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Speaker 4: Things, super success.

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Speaker 2: That's just it. So they were angry because he shattered

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Speaker 2: that ideal that we all look forward to and want

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Speaker 2: to live up to. And I also saw that it

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Speaker 2: wasn't just our community because there were whites, there were

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Speaker 2: Latinos who were in the documentary and they were angry.

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Speaker 2: So it expressed a national need for a father figure

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Speaker 2: in our society, and I saw it. So of course,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to reflect on the fact that I grew

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Speaker 2: up without a father. When I was born, my father

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Speaker 2: rejected my mom and I and that's one of the

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Speaker 2: reasons we left Panama came to the United States to

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Speaker 2: make a new start. So I grew up without a father,

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Speaker 2: and that was a tough deal because the streets were

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Speaker 2: shaping and informing me and at a time that it

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Speaker 2: was very tumultuous here in the United States. Every revolution

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Speaker 2: possible was going on in the sixties when I was

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Speaker 2: growing up. And then of course that led me into

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Speaker 2: the Nation of Islam, which became surrogate father and strength,

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Speaker 2: identification order, all of those things that a father usually

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Speaker 2: gives to a son. And of course I ended up

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Speaker 2: having my own family with sons. But I also learned

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Speaker 2: pro that's that's because I wanted a daughter.

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Speaker 4: That's how that was.

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Speaker 1: I'm kids, Yeah, we keep going, she's a boy.

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Speaker 2: But I understood that not only did I not know

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Speaker 2: how to be a father, I also failed to know

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Speaker 2: how to be a son. So when you grew up

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Speaker 2: without a father, you don't know how to be a father,

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Speaker 2: and you don't know how to be a son. You

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Speaker 2: don't know how to interact. But the need is there,

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Speaker 2: the hunger is there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, man, that was because I just think about, like

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Speaker 1: for me growing up and for all of us, right,

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Speaker 1: like Jasmind, your dad was in your life.

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Speaker 3: Yes, didn't live in the house, but it was like

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Speaker 3: a you know, kind of lived out of town. But

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Speaker 3: we had a relationship and we got closer as we

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Speaker 3: got older. But yeah, and you had your your definitely.

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Speaker 1: Had my dad in my life. As many issues as

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Speaker 1: I might have had with him, at least he was

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Speaker 1: making sure he was present and making sure that because

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Speaker 1: I think it's a complicated relationship you know that a

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Speaker 1: lot of us have with our father.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, Oh for sure. I mean yes.

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Speaker 2: I was up the Greenhaven Maximum Security Prison speaking the

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Speaker 2: six hundred inmates, all male, and eighty five percent of

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Speaker 2: them could tie the reason that they were incarcerated back

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Speaker 2: to the father. Womb. Wow, some broken relationship or failed

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Speaker 2: relationship or absentee relationship with their dad. It's amazing how

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Speaker 2: important that is.

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Speaker 3: What is that feeling like as a growing I mean,

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Speaker 3: is there a I know everyone has a different experience.

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Speaker 3: Is it like I feel like I'm missing something, or

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Speaker 3: I see someone with the dad it makes me jealous

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Speaker 3: or I'm lonely for that part?

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Speaker 4: What is that feeling like? What was that feeling like

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Speaker 4: for you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, for me, it was missing something, especially I had

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Speaker 2: friends who had a complete family in attact mom and

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Speaker 2: the dad. I had friends who didn't have a father,

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Speaker 2: so we identified with each other. But that didn't take

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Speaker 2: away from the fact that there were friends who did

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Speaker 2: have a complete family unit, and you felt the absence.

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Speaker 2: You thought about the fact that, you know, who do

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Speaker 2: I talk to? You know? I compartmentalized things, yes, and

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Speaker 2: deal with them as necessary, and I continue with my life.

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Speaker 2: But I'll tell you incident, I'm all my way to

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Speaker 2: the office. I'm forty years old. I'm reflecting on my

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Speaker 2: life and my successes and failures. And that was the

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Speaker 2: first moment in all my life that I stopped to

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Speaker 2: consider that I didn't have a father to share all

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Speaker 2: of this with. It was a moment. It was a

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Speaker 2: deep you know, my eyes welled up. Yeah, I got

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Speaker 2: emotional and I quickly compartmentalize.

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Speaker 1: That grmalize sometimes too, you know, but that was very real.

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Speaker 1: And I want to get to this because this is

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Speaker 1: a wealth Wednesday. So I am so fascinated me being

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Speaker 1: from Brooklyn. Also, like I said, of what you are

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Speaker 1: doing in Brooklyn, and this has been like ten years

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Speaker 1: in the making. Of you finally being able to bring

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Speaker 1: to life this urban village that you've been envisioning for

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Speaker 1: so long. So can you tell us what the urban

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Speaker 1: village is and even how this concept came about for you?

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Speaker 2: Well, you think about real estate, and in New York

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Speaker 2: real estate is a lucrative business, but also volatile and

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Speaker 2: very competitive. We had an opportunity to purchase ten and

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Speaker 2: a half acres of land in nineteen ninety seven into

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Speaker 2: ninety eight. At that time, we needed the space because

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Speaker 2: we were having five services in a converted supermarket to

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Speaker 2: contain our eleven thousand members, and we were looking. So

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Speaker 2: we found that and we purchased that for six million dollars.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: And we developed one portion of it so that we

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Speaker 2: could have a church building and all of the operations

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Speaker 2: that we needed. But there was another four and a

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Speaker 2: half acres that was undeveloped and we were going to

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Speaker 2: expand out and add to it. But then I realized

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Speaker 2: that it was a great opportunity to do something for

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Speaker 2: the community. What could we build? So in the early

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Speaker 2: two thousands we started to think about a larger master

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Speaker 2: plan associated with Sarah City that was close by. That

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Speaker 2: fell through two thousand and eight came, the recession came.

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Speaker 2: We said, let's step back from this because now it's

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Speaker 2: not the time to build. And it came back around

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Speaker 2: and six years ago we started the process of looking

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Speaker 2: for a development partner so that we could actually partner,

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Speaker 2: because you don't want to leverage your land too often,

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Speaker 2: especially with churches. You know, developers come in. Pastors don't

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Speaker 2: have any real estate or development expertise, so they'll say,

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Speaker 2: i'll give you a new church. You give me the

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Speaker 2: air rights, especially in New York, and the air rights

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Speaker 2: is worth a few hundred million dollars and the new

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Speaker 2: church is what ten million, and they don't know. In fact,

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Speaker 2: I work with the Attorney General's Office to deal with

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Speaker 2: some of these developers who were exploiting our people, especially

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Speaker 2: black people up in Harlem and Brooklyn.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what they do is they're like, give us this

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Speaker 1: land and we're going to build this church for you.

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Speaker 1: But then as part of the deal.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, they get more out of the deal.

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Speaker 1: And if you're nuts and you have a background.

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Speaker 3: In five years, let's say you have a background, so

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Speaker 3: you can see, you can peep all this game before

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Speaker 3: he also yeah, okay, so go ahead.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, beat the game. You got that right, and

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Speaker 2: it's necessary, you know, But we decided, let's do something

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Speaker 2: incredibly different. Traditionally, for the last seventy eighty years in America,

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Speaker 2: the response to affordable housing, especially for people of color

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Speaker 2: in underserved communities was warehousing US one income ban. And

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Speaker 2: when you do that and everybody is poor and struggling

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Speaker 2: and you build houses and put them in at the

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Speaker 2: inception of that housing unit, you have all the social

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Speaker 2: problems that will develop and we have to deal with

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Speaker 2: over time. So, Jane Jacobs, brilliant woman, which you talked

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Speaker 2: about great American cities and the dynamics of the city

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Speaker 2: and the power brokers and how it works. I studied

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Speaker 2: that and I wanted to come up with something new.

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Speaker 2: So we created something called the urban village. Two thousand

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Speaker 2: units of mixed income from thirty percent area median income

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Speaker 2: to one hundred percent area median income, which means that

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Speaker 2: you're talking about low income and middle income and providing housing.

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Speaker 2: So two thousand units of mixed income including senior, including

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Speaker 2: one hundred and ten units of actual home ownership. Because

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Speaker 2: we want to change the narrative in East New York

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Speaker 2: that the way up is not out. It's staying there

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Speaker 2: and bringing your intellectual capital, your creativity and innovation to

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Speaker 2: make things happen. Retail, commercial, performing arts center for our

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Speaker 2: child care.

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Speaker 1: We love that party we.

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Speaker 4: Child care. I think that's brilliant.

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Speaker 2: I don't know how much time we have, but but

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Speaker 2: that was inspired by a woman who took on a

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Speaker 2: supervisory night job at McDonald's all right, so she can

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Speaker 2: make more money for her family. Her and her husband estranged.

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Speaker 2: She leaves the children, daughters at home alone so she

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Speaker 2: can go and work.

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Speaker 1: Very hard.

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Speaker 2: Decision burns the house down and the children die. They're

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Speaker 2: holding her for negligent homicide. We get involved with the

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Speaker 2: district attorney and say, hey, you've got to think of

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Speaker 2: the circumstances involved here. That inspired me because how many

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Speaker 2: of our women don't have child care at night, And

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Speaker 2: that's where they get the fifteen percent differential in pay,

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Speaker 2: that's where they get the supervisory roles, that's where they

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Speaker 2: experience it more hour.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, think about it. My mom actually, because my parents

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Speaker 1: were still together, she was able to stay at home

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Speaker 1: when we were really young to take care of us,

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Speaker 1: and then when we got a little older, she started working.

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Speaker 1: But we did go home than I. We were last

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Speaker 1: key kids, like you said, and we did come home

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Speaker 1: and kind of like let ourselves in the house at

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Speaker 1: a really.

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Speaker 4: Young age, probably younger than you should. And it's not

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Speaker 4: a necessity, and it's.

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Speaker 1: Something where to happen. It would have been, you know,

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Speaker 1: and my mom.

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Speaker 4: Did graveyard shift.

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Speaker 3: My parents were never together and my my mom did

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Speaker 3: graveyard shift, and I would go across the street to

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Speaker 3: someone that used to watch me and then I would come.

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Speaker 3: I mean, but it was like there was no twenty

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Speaker 3: four hour child care and also my mom couldn't have

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Speaker 3: afford it either.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, child care is super if you've been looking for

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Speaker 1: child care for your daughter.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I have a two year old, and it's like

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Speaker 3: what can I ford? And also like who do I trust?

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Speaker 3: And I want I don't I want them to look

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Speaker 3: like her. You know, it's a whole bunch of different variables.

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Speaker 2: And there's a lot involved with it because we have

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Speaker 2: to change policy and laws because there's nothing to govern

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Speaker 2: twenty four hours. Most of it governs just daycare. So

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Speaker 2: you're talking six am to about eight pm at night.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: One of the regulations, health regulations, security regulations, that's a lot.

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Speaker 2: What's involved, So we have to go through all of

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Speaker 2: that process just to create this and implement it.

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Speaker 1: You know, this is fascinating to me because so you

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Speaker 1: talked about teaming up at a developer, right, how do

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Speaker 1: you determine who is the right person or the right team?

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Speaker 2: A shared philosophy. My philosophy for urban village four pillars.

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Speaker 2: Number one people putting people first. Environment, creating the right

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Speaker 2: environment that's holistic, that's going to give them a quality

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Speaker 2: of life, that allowed for upward mobility programs, having the

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Speaker 2: right programming built in that addresses everyone's needs from little

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Speaker 2: children right up to seniors. And sustainability. It has to

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Speaker 2: be sustainable, because you can create something that's affordable, but

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Speaker 2: you can't sustain it, and balancing sustainability and affordability is

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Speaker 2: always the challenge when you're building affordable housing here in

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Speaker 2: New York City especially, So I wanted someone who understood

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Speaker 2: that we wanted to create a quality of life, allow

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Speaker 2: for upward mobility, and be very creative and give the

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Speaker 2: best quality material building materials up front and create more

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Speaker 2: than just housing, but created Destiny Nation and a community

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Speaker 2: of people. Jane Jacobs, You know, she was clear that

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Speaker 2: community is where you have all the amenities within a

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Speaker 2: thousand foot walking distance. Anything beyond that, it's no longer community.

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Speaker 2: You shouldn't have to take a cab or an uber

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Speaker 2: or whatever just to get to your local grocer.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and we talk about food deserts all the time,

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Speaker 1: and so we want to make sure that also people

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Speaker 1: have good you know, organic because sometimes the supermarket I

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Speaker 1: used to have to go to, stuff would be expired.

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Speaker 1: You know, you couldn't find fresh and the lights would

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Speaker 1: be falling down.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, sometimes you couldn't. My mom wouldn't like to get

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Speaker 3: her meat from there. She wanted to go somewhere else

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Speaker 3: to have fresher meat.

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Speaker 1: And you know, and it's more expensive to a lot

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Speaker 1: of time.

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Speaker 2: That's that's that's very very important. What you just said.

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Speaker 2: We were bringing in a fresh grocer. So we're going

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Speaker 2: to have a supermarket. But you know, in the early

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Speaker 2: days when my wife and I first got married, were

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Speaker 2: raising our children, we were in the South side of Brooklyn,

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Speaker 2: it was gangs, it was drugs, was prostitute, the whole deal,

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Speaker 2: and the local supermarkets exploited the community. Of course, the

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Speaker 2: price you're paying twice the price for can of Hawaiian punch.

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Speaker 2: I can I say brand names.

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Speaker 3: I forgot of a Hawaiian punch too. I love that

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Speaker 3: though nice and sugary. What's the timeline like right now?

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Speaker 2: We are scheduled shovels in the ground next year.

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Speaker 3: Yah.

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Speaker 2: And the tough thing of course getting approvals, land use approvals,

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Speaker 2: getting all of the funding lined up. And we're excited.

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Speaker 2: So the first phase will be four buildings, one A

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Speaker 2: and one B. And participation of the state has been great,

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Speaker 2: and we're working on our Mayor of New York City.

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Speaker 1: Okay. I saw he was at the Christian Cultural Center.

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Speaker 1: I want to talk about that because you talk about

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Speaker 1: faith and politics and those two things coexisting, and you

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Speaker 1: have been constantly involved in politics some you know, people

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Speaker 1: have a problem when you get involved. They get have

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Speaker 1: a problem when you step up away from it. And

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Speaker 1: so for you right now, I saw Mayor Eric Adams

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Speaker 1: was at the church, and I saw like some back

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Speaker 1: and forth about that.

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Speaker 4: You were in a comment, Yeah, you using him.

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Speaker 2: He was the guest. He was a guest preacher. I'm

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Speaker 2: telling you, I thought he came to just share, but

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Speaker 2: you know, he was a guest preacher. Look, when it

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Speaker 2: comes to this tension between the public square and faith.

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Speaker 2: There is no incongruency for us. Jesus taught personal transformation

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Speaker 2: as well as social reform, So it's not one or

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Speaker 2: the other. It's the two working together and reinforcing each other.

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Speaker 2: Within society. You change the individual, right, you you? You?

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Speaker 2: You then tell that individual that they have responsibility to

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Speaker 2: make a difference in the world in which they live. Uh,

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Speaker 2: that's real. And whenever we gravitated to one over the other,

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Speaker 2: we've suffered. How many preachers I've seen take on social

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Speaker 2: and begin to push for social change, but neglect personal development,

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Speaker 2: growth and personal transformation. So then you have an incongruency

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Speaker 2: because the preachers live in all kinds of ways. But

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Speaker 2: he's doing a good thing, which he's doing a good

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Speaker 2: thing in the community, and the people are saying, well,

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Speaker 2: there's an inconsistency there. How do we reconcile that? So

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Speaker 2: it takes both and we're all under construction, we're all imperfecting,

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Speaker 2: but we want to have a set of values and

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Speaker 2: standards that we strive for, especially as we try to

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Speaker 2: make a difference in society.

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Speaker 1: And even with politicians, you have to hold people accountable too.

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Speaker 1: We all see people running for office, and you're definitely

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Speaker 1: on the list of places that a politician has to

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Speaker 1: stop to get you to get the votes. But it's

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Speaker 1: important to make sure that they are also accountable. If

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Speaker 1: you come to the church and you're talking and making promises,

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Speaker 1: people should be able to feel like you're accessible, be

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Speaker 1: able to voice their concerns, and also make sure that

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Speaker 1: if you do get elected, well you did say X,

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Speaker 1: Y and Z, so now what's happening.

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Speaker 2: And that's important to have them come to church. And

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Speaker 2: we don't have all elected officials just select well, we

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Speaker 2: got a great record, we got a great record. I'll

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Speaker 2: tell you, I tell you come to CECCU. But our

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Speaker 2: people are an intelligent, voting population. So when that elected

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Speaker 2: official comes to that platform, okay, they can't play games.

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Speaker 2: The people are going to read them right away. They're

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Speaker 2: going to know if you're genuine or if you're fake,

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Speaker 2: and they're going to make decisions on that basis. So

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Speaker 2: that's why we bring them in. We give them three minutes.

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Speaker 2: You know, some of them abuse that, but and I

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Speaker 2: tell them the rules are, you can't bash any other

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Speaker 2: politician anyone else running, and if you do, the music

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Speaker 2: starts playing. If that doesn't work. I've come up on

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Speaker 2: stage and I'll I'll sit you down. I've done it

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Speaker 2: in the past, so there's strict rules. But it exposes

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Speaker 2: the people to a heart to heart with that elected official.

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Speaker 2: Let them make their case as opposed to reading about

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Speaker 2: them through commentary and opinions that are pair in media

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Speaker 2: right because media will spend it according to their political leanings,

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Speaker 2: et cetera. But on that platform that's true and pure.

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Speaker 2: There's no filters, there is there's respect for the environment.

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Speaker 2: It's a worship service on a Sunday, so there's respect.

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Speaker 3: Have you ever thought about running from mayor?

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Speaker 2: You know? January sixth, twenty thirteen, the Daily News released

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Speaker 2: an article theyked leaked that I was going to run. Hey,

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Speaker 2: I saw and I started getting calls from all of

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Speaker 2: the individuals who were already campaigning.

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Speaker 4: A minute but you were sitting down picking up Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So I was intrigued by the idea. Now, my congregation

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Speaker 2: they were very upset. Fifty percent said yeah, you need

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Speaker 2: to go in there and make a difference, and the

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Speaker 2: other fifty percent said, no, you're our passing. We don't

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Speaker 2: want to give you up to politics. You don't with that,

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Speaker 2: you know. So it was tension in my congregation. But

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Speaker 2: I said, let me let it play out. So I

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Speaker 2: let it play out for four months I was doing interviews.

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Speaker 4: That's a long time to let it play out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well until you have to file. You know. That

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Speaker 2: was the deadline for me. And it wasn't something that

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Speaker 2: I needed to do. In fact, it would have hindered

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Speaker 2: my ability to speak truth to power because now I

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Speaker 2: have to think about voters and a voting block that I,

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Speaker 2: you know, get into. So no, I want the freedom

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Speaker 2: to be able to speak the truth when I need

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Speaker 2: to speak the truth to power.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I do feel like it is important. Like

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Speaker 1: back to Mayor Eric Adams, you're trying to get some

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Speaker 1: things done here, so's you can't not engage if you're

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Speaker 1: trying to get things to happen.

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Speaker 2: You have that, mister Mayor. But you know what I

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Speaker 2: will tell you. I've known him for many, many years

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Speaker 2: and we've had private conversations, and he wants to do

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Speaker 2: the right thing. And he first had to understand the

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Speaker 2: cyst them and structors and organizations and entities that are

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Speaker 2: already institutionalized in trenched in the system, and how do

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Speaker 2: you work through all of that to affect new change,

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Speaker 2: and that's a learning curve for him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes he just says things and I did vote

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Speaker 1: for Mayor Eric Adams, and but sometimes I like it

437
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Speaker 1: and then but sometimes it'll get him in trouble because

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Speaker 1: he might say something that is wowdy stuff.

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Speaker 4: I'll tell you that.

440
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:29,800
Speaker 1: But it's also very I think relatable for the average

441
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:34,120
Speaker 1: person because it seems very unpolitician like to just say

442
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,439
Speaker 1: whatever you want to say when you feel like saying it,

443
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:38,560
Speaker 1: but then it doesn't go over well in the New

444
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:39,399
Speaker 1: York posts.

445
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, what news outlet is reporting on.

446
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:44,880
Speaker 1: It, exactly depends.

447
00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 2: He's unscripted for the most part, you know, and he

448
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:50,439
Speaker 2: is who he is. And I'll tell you. And you

449
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:52,480
Speaker 2: keep making the same speech over and over again, and

450
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,200
Speaker 2: you add to it and modify it and change it,

451
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,840
Speaker 2: it becomes very easy for you to communicate it right

452
00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,840
Speaker 2: and adjust it to whatever audience you're speaking to. Like

453
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 2: when he was in church, he adjusted it to that

454
00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:03,960
Speaker 2: church audience.

455
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:07,119
Speaker 1: That must have been quite a time based on the

456
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:08,160
Speaker 1: com I mean it.

457
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:13,120
Speaker 2: Was, Yeah, they were fired up. The chat was exploding as.

458
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,720
Speaker 1: We're talking about finances and economics with your background, right, Also,

459
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:20,760
Speaker 1: I want to discuss personal wealth too, because I do

460
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,760
Speaker 1: feel like some people think that when you're in public

461
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 1: service that you should really be uh not personally have wealth.

462
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,040
Speaker 1: And that's always been a conversation and struggling. Yeah, I

463
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:36,840
Speaker 1: mean to be honest, like I know a lot of

464
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,679
Speaker 1: people who are activists, and people get mad if you

465
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,520
Speaker 1: make money, if you have a nice house, you know,

466
00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 1: if you have money in your bank account, if you

467
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:47,440
Speaker 1: have a nice car, and things like that. So uh oh,

468
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,159
Speaker 1: taking the phone, go ahead.

469
00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:52,800
Speaker 2: You know, I was I was in a meeting and

470
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 2: I was just talking about a quote from somewhere by

471
00:23:57,880 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 2: the name of Bayered Rustin. I don't know if you'm

472
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 2: with Buyed rust And he was the architect of the

473
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:08,399
Speaker 2: civil rights movement to Marshall and Washington work closely with

474
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:14,280
Speaker 2: doctor King Bayard Rusting. And interesting story, you know, because

475
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 2: he was gay and that was a big problem at

476
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,119
Speaker 2: that particular time. Well that's just it. It was illegal,

477
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,080
Speaker 2: so he had to really work behind the scenes. But

478
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:32,280
Speaker 2: he was brilliant in terms of crafting systems and processes

479
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 2: in order to make social reform work. But he said

480
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:40,120
Speaker 2: something very powerfully. He said, let us be raised about injustice,

481
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:44,680
Speaker 2: but let us not be destroyed by it. And often

482
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 2: you think that when you take on social justice issues,

483
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,120
Speaker 2: you've got to sacrifice your life and your family fully

484
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 2: to the point that it destroys you, it devastates you,

485
00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,399
Speaker 2: And that's not true. You can balance both, make a

486
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:06,919
Speaker 2: difference in society, champion you know, the fight against injustice, discrimination, marginalization, disenfranchised.

487
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,560
Speaker 2: At the same time, have a life, right, build that life,

488
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,960
Speaker 2: and I think you should. You have responsibility to do that.

489
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,400
Speaker 2: You know, it's a wonderful passage and Book of Ecclesiastes

490
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 2: says it's a poor man's wisdom is soon forgotten. And

491
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:23,920
Speaker 2: it's true. If you got all this wisdom and you're broke, poor, disgusting,

492
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:26,240
Speaker 2: what good is the wisdom? What good is your wisdom

493
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:27,200
Speaker 2: is not working for you?

494
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I'm working towards and I feel like also

495
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,880
Speaker 1: like Jasmine and I, we just invested in this thirty

496
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,199
Speaker 1: unit building in Detroit, right, and a portion of the

497
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 1: units will be for women who are formerly incarcerated, who

498
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 1: are getting their life back on track because it's really difficult,

499
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,440
Speaker 1: you know, when you come out of prison to actually

500
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,800
Speaker 1: get housing. It's difficult to do a lot of things

501
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 1: obles right, and so to make all of those things happen.

502
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: And I think it's the numbers. Eighty percent of women

503
00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:57,359
Speaker 1: who are incarcerated are mothers also, so not only is

504
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,720
Speaker 1: she on house, but then also having to deal with children.

505
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,200
Speaker 1: And we wanted to provide a space that would be

506
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:07,400
Speaker 1: really beautiful. It's in midtown Detroit, so it's a great location.

507
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,439
Speaker 1: We're redoing the whole building. The roof just got finished

508
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,679
Speaker 1: getting redone. We're going in a couple of weeks just

509
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,399
Speaker 1: to check on all the you know, just for us

510
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,080
Speaker 1: to get our first inspection. And so we're really moving ahead.

511
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:20,200
Speaker 1: But I see a lot of negativity sometimes when you're

512
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 1: trying to do something positive and people will be like, oh,

513
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,800
Speaker 1: this is just benefiting you and you know, and so

514
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,640
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering because it's a huge project that you're

515
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:33,160
Speaker 1: taking on, right, and sometimes people doubt that you're doing

516
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 1: it for the right reasons, because yes, we don't want

517
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,920
Speaker 1: to starve, and we want to make sure that the building,

518
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,959
Speaker 1: like you said, can also it won't exist if we

519
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:41,679
Speaker 1: can't pay them mon.

520
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. You look, and it's your philosophy of life.

521
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 2: Life is both threat and promise. Opportunity with opposition. Opposition

522
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 2: with opportunity. That's the game. That's just the way it is.

523
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,560
Speaker 2: So you can't get surprised when opposition shows up because

524
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:03,240
Speaker 2: you're exercising an opportunity or engaging an opportunity. I take

525
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 2: it the way it is. All good things are upstream.

526
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,200
Speaker 2: Sometimes you got to paddle hard to get there.

527
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:11,119
Speaker 4: But it's worth it said, as are.

528
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,879
Speaker 2: Upstream, sometimes you have to paddle hard in order to

529
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 2: get there.

530
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:15,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, some of the best things have been some of

531
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:18,240
Speaker 1: the biggest challenges that happen in life because I feel

532
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,400
Speaker 1: like when things come too easy, you also don't appreciate

533
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:21,560
Speaker 1: it as much.

534
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,440
Speaker 2: I agree one hundred percent. Yeah, And that's why when

535
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:30,760
Speaker 2: people have skin in the game, they treat it differently, right,

536
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:33,240
Speaker 2: And we want to make sure that people have skin

537
00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 2: in the game. But look, it's about doing impossible things, yeah,

538
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 2: making them possible.

539
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,199
Speaker 1: And setting a precedent because this is not something on

540
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,439
Speaker 1: a smaller scale. Things like this have existed right on

541
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: a smaller scale. This is a huge undertaking.

542
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 3: Very and it's how do you keep the momentum and

543
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 3: how do you keep yourself still focused? And you know,

544
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 3: because it's been years and now you're coming up on

545
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:55,239
Speaker 3: a year where you're going to break ground, Like, how

546
00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 3: do you keep yourself?

547
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 2: I will take the process keeps you motivated or discovery,

548
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,640
Speaker 2: And you've got to keep yourself motivated because you you've

549
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 2: got to go through so many hoops that you have

550
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,359
Speaker 2: to jump through, and you have to build relationships and

551
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,320
Speaker 2: you have to reaffirm those relationships. And then there is

552
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 2: negotiations because we started out with the buildings at a

553
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,600
Speaker 2: certain height and that was a problem for the local

554
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,720
Speaker 2: elected official because they were concerned about density, having too

555
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,800
Speaker 2: many people in a small space, you know. But our

556
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 2: project considered density, We considered porosity of air and light,

557
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 2: what you experience, the distance between buildings. We considered all

558
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 2: of that because we wanted to make a great living

559
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 2: experience for the people who were there. But we have

560
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,240
Speaker 2: to negotiate the heights of the buildings. We have to

561
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 2: negotiate some Yeah, and you're going back and forth, back

562
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 2: and forth, and you're going back to the architects. They're redrawing,

563
00:28:55,200 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 2: refitting things, and then calculating to make sure that it's

564
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 2: going to work financially.

565
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,280
Speaker 4: It is a process on a much smaller scale.

566
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 3: Angela's working on a house, and she's from you know,

567
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:09,280
Speaker 3: and it's always something. It's the winning I need, I

568
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 3: need to look at I'm I was like, oh my gosh,

569
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,320
Speaker 3: this is making my head hurtly listening to you. It

570
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,719
Speaker 3: makes me so Now listen to him talk about something.

571
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:17,880
Speaker 1: But listen, I have one house I'm working on that

572
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:20,680
Speaker 1: he's working on the years a bill. Imagine what this

573
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 1: is like.

574
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 4: It's not like, oh my.

575
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 2: Gosh, it's about nine buildings, Oh my god. And it's

576
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 2: going to take about seven to nine years.

577
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: But it's all in phases. So I think that's important

578
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: for you to understand. So in the next probably you

579
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 1: said by twenty twenty six you'll.

580
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 2: Have well next year, we're looking at shovels in the ground. Okay,

581
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,960
Speaker 2: So the first phase should take about first two to

582
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 2: three years. In fact, it's not bad. That's not bad. Yeah,

583
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 2: And the success of the first phase or first phases

584
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 2: creates momentum for the rest of the project. Going back

585
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:52,760
Speaker 2: to something that you mentioned early on my background, Yeah,

586
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,600
Speaker 2: I was in banking for ten years. I had no

587
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,120
Speaker 2: idea that I was called into ministry. But I will

588
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 2: tell you that banking background has been become very very

589
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 2: instrumental in terms of being part of our success. You know,

590
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 2: understanding numbers, organization all that. I was an operation specialist.

591
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:10,360
Speaker 1: See.

592
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 3: I think that's essential for pastors, especially like pastors.

593
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,720
Speaker 1: For everybody, by the way, just even being able to

594
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 1: have some type of financial education should be part of

595
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 1: And you know, maybe we won't be as as well

596
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 1: versed in it as you are, but I do think

597
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:28,760
Speaker 1: that things like that are essential, even real estate and

598
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 1: understanding air rights, and you know, all of those things

599
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 1: are important for people because you never know where you'll

600
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 1: end up later.

601
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:38,960
Speaker 2: And you know, look, they don't give you financial courses

602
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 2: in schools the way they should. We don't take it

603
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,240
Speaker 2: upon yourself to develop your knowledge and understanding these things.

604
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 2: All right, you're not going to know what's going on

605
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,840
Speaker 2: and people can take advantage of you. We should be

606
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 2: financially smart, financially aware, at least to know the fundamentals.

607
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:03,080
Speaker 1: Right now, let's switch gears a second, because years ago

608
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,720
Speaker 1: when we first met, we talked about your book Four

609
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:07,080
Speaker 1: Things Women Went from a Man.

610
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 4: I saw that title.

611
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,960
Speaker 1: Know if those four things have changed now, because you

612
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: know it's twenty twenty three now. Back then it was

613
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 1: maturity decisiveness, consistency, and strength. Right now, do you feel

614
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 1: like there are any amendments that you want to make?

615
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 2: Not at all, Not at all.

616
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 4: At a fifty.

617
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,000
Speaker 2: We went through a process of one hundred and fifty

618
00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 2: values and interviewed women from all walks of life, backgrounds,

619
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 2: economic status, all of that. And when we presented these

620
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,400
Speaker 2: four things, right, they said, well, you know, yeah, well

621
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 2: that fits under there. That fits under there. So we're

622
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 2: able to whittle it down to those four elements and

623
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:50,720
Speaker 2: they still stand true. The book is evergreen. It's one

624
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 2: of those books that you can read again and again

625
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 2: and get something out of it, because every time you

626
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 2: read something, you're maturing, you're moving from the level. The

627
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,280
Speaker 2: level stays to stage, season to season. So when you

628
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:01,360
Speaker 2: come back, you come back with fresh eyes and you

629
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 2: see the same thing, but you see it from a

630
00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 2: totally different perspective. And that's the way I intended to

631
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,240
Speaker 2: write the book. So the book is evergreen. It just

632
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,200
Speaker 2: comes up again again and a new generation embraces it.

633
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 2: But think about it. You know, the number one complaint

634
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 2: amongst the women that we interviewed about their male friend

635
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,240
Speaker 2: or husband or whatever, is that I just wish he'd

636
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:23,640
Speaker 2: grow up. Well, what did they mean by that? They

637
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,480
Speaker 2: simply meant. I wish he'd take responsibility for his words,

638
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,480
Speaker 2: his thoughts, his motives, his actions, his attitudes, and his choices.

639
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,080
Speaker 2: Number one, Number two, I wish he'd have some decorum.

640
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,640
Speaker 2: I wish he knew how to find there's the reaction,

641
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,920
Speaker 2: there's the reaction, right. I wish he'd know how to

642
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 2: conduct themselves, because what happens. Men will will retreat into

643
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 2: adolescents when they're faced with the situation that they feel

644
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,960
Speaker 2: they can't handle. And the problem with that, when a

645
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 2: man regresses to adolescents because of a situation that he

646
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,640
Speaker 2: can't face, he forces the woman to act like his

647
00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 2: mother and agains and then gets mad at her for

648
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 2: mothering him.

649
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,479
Speaker 4: That is, to keep doing that is exactly how she is.

650
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,760
Speaker 3: What is your wife's biggest complaint or was her biggest

651
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:12,480
Speaker 3: complaint about you?

652
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 2: Maturity decisive? When I finished the man, I learned a

653
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:20,560
Speaker 2: lot from her. We celebrate fifty one years of marriage.

654
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:22,360
Speaker 4: I learned time.

655
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is with.

656
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 1: Some bumps in the road, And I feel like it's

657
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,280
Speaker 1: really hard for people to be honest enough to talk

658
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 1: about mistakes because sometimes people try to put together, put

659
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:36,520
Speaker 1: up this front of like perfection in their relationship instead

660
00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 1: of discussing the issues that actually have occurred, like maybe

661
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 1: it almost you know, like you yeah, yeah, because then

662
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,400
Speaker 1: people look at you and you might have thought that,

663
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:48,160
Speaker 1: like you feel like people will look at you. It's

664
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,320
Speaker 1: like you're not perfect. Why are you telling me this

665
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 1: when you had those issues.

666
00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:59,080
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, in our culture which celebrates and worships even celebrities

667
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 2: and high profile individuals, et cetera, and people in power,

668
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:07,560
Speaker 2: it's important for them to know that you go through

669
00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,799
Speaker 2: some of the same things that they go through. And

670
00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,040
Speaker 2: I will tell you, being a high profile pastor in

671
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:18,280
Speaker 2: a high profile church with a high profile family and marriage,

672
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,839
Speaker 2: we want to get out in front of anything that

673
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 2: may come up. So we don't want it to leak that, oh,

674
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:27,480
Speaker 2: they're having trouble in that marriage. No, we put it

675
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:29,680
Speaker 2: out there. Hey, by the way, she got mad at me,

676
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,080
Speaker 2: and this was the problem, and this is how we

677
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:34,239
Speaker 2: work through it. The biggest thing was in nineteen eighty

678
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:38,360
Speaker 2: four when I committed what was called a center transposition.

679
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:42,360
Speaker 2: I put ministry and everything else before my wife and

680
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,799
Speaker 2: my family. So I took responsibility for that, and I

681
00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,760
Speaker 2: had to make adjustments. But what led up to it

682
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 2: was the tension in the relationship that was based on bitterness.

683
00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:59,920
Speaker 2: Bitterness is an anger and resentment that builds up over time.

684
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,319
Speaker 2: Dangerous to it is because it's a frustration that's based

685
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 2: upon unfulfilled needs and unresolved problems, and you begin to

686
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 2: see everything through the lens of that bitterness that hurt

687
00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:17,520
Speaker 2: and resentment, and you actually poison the people around you.

688
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,080
Speaker 2: Bitterness is to the soul what acid is to the body.

689
00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 2: It will disintegrate.

690
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:25,280
Speaker 4: He's got a good pull for everything.

691
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:26,719
Speaker 2: People remember that stuff.

692
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: So familiar and for your And you have a son

693
00:35:34,040 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 1: who's a pastor also.

694
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:40,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, and not because he's my son. Because we observed

695
00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:44,399
Speaker 2: that he had a calling on his life. We never

696
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,080
Speaker 2: placed that on him. He ended up coming to me

697
00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:49,600
Speaker 2: and said, Dad, you know, I think this is my

698
00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:52,919
Speaker 2: life calling. And he said, what do I do next?

699
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 2: This is in two thousand. I said, okay, I'm going

700
00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,400
Speaker 2: to take you through a process. So I had him

701
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,040
Speaker 2: start working. I said, you're gonna have to work in

702
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,000
Speaker 2: every department of the ministry because if you don't know

703
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 2: how to run the business, you could be the greatest

704
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,799
Speaker 2: preacher in the world, the business will collapse eighty five percent.

705
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,279
Speaker 2: Talk about business. Eighty five percent of small businesses in

706
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 2: America failed within the first five years, not because they

707
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,440
Speaker 2: didn't have a great product or skill, but because of

708
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 2: poor management. So you've got to know how to run

709
00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:21,000
Speaker 2: the business operations. So I said, okay, so you know,

710
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:22,600
Speaker 2: he said, okay, where do I start? I said, We're

711
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:24,720
Speaker 2: going to start in the janitorial division.

712
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 3: You'll clean the sanctuary toilets, clean the toilet And he

713
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,279
Speaker 3: was I found out seven years later how upset he

714
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:33,759
Speaker 3: was with me.

715
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,279
Speaker 2: But he didn't say anything, did what he had to do,

716
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:39,560
Speaker 2: and what happened in the process, he built a great

717
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 2: relationship with the staff and the volunteers and became their advocate.

718
00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:48,279
Speaker 2: Now that was preparation for when he would step into

719
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 2: a position of leadership, because now they know him and

720
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 2: they don't feel like, oh, and did a silver ladder,

721
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,279
Speaker 2: you know, and the leadership is being handed to him

722
00:36:58,480 --> 00:36:59,960
Speaker 2: because he had a silver spoon in his mouth.

723
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,200
Speaker 1: No, he earned he had it harder than anyone. Yeah,

724
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:04,160
Speaker 1: that's right, because no one else would have had to

725
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:04,400
Speaker 1: do that.

726
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:06,279
Speaker 3: I'd like, well, let me read that. Maybe God wasn't

727
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:07,080
Speaker 3: calling me to this.

728
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, he went through it. And after this first after

729
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:11,799
Speaker 2: seven years that he did that, he came back to

730
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:15,560
Speaker 2: me and I said, uh, wax on wax aw. He

731
00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 2: got so upset, you know, the karate kid wax. But

732
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:21,280
Speaker 2: he was learning in the process.

733
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think when you have a business, it's

734
00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,200
Speaker 1: also important to know every aspect of that business. Right,

735
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:28,360
Speaker 1: even for me with the juice bar, like when we started,

736
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 1: I was cleaning the bathrooms. Did not enjoy that. But

737
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:33,319
Speaker 1: you know, making sure that you know how to do everything,

738
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:35,840
Speaker 1: take apart the machine, clean it, because how are you

739
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:38,239
Speaker 1: going to help anybody else learn how to do those things?

740
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:40,120
Speaker 1: And you never know when you might be called upon

741
00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,960
Speaker 1: to have to do those things because of an emergency,

742
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,600
Speaker 1: and that happened like during the pandemic, people calling out sick,

743
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,320
Speaker 1: people getting COVID. Now who has to come to work,

744
00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:50,280
Speaker 1: you know, So it is important.

745
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 2: I think every business I did, I started out as

746
00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:55,920
Speaker 2: I was a church janitor, I was the preacher, I

747
00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,279
Speaker 2: was a praising, worship leader, you name it, I did it.

748
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 2: I sang because I had to. It doesn't matter whether

749
00:38:04,560 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 2: I had a voice or not.

750
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,240
Speaker 1: And you also have a school.

751
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,840
Speaker 2: Charter school. Yeah, we have charter school culture, large academy.

752
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:18,960
Speaker 2: That's my problem. That's why I've learned to manage my

753
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:19,879
Speaker 2: time and.

754
00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:22,680
Speaker 1: Also have great people in positions that can help run

755
00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:25,520
Speaker 1: your businesses. I think that's important, very very important.

756
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 2: Personnel is a problem. Personnel is also the solution, having

757
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,560
Speaker 2: the right people, having the right systems and structures in place,

758
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:36,319
Speaker 2: making sure that they work together, overseeing them and delegating

759
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 2: and understanding basic principles. People don't do what you expect,

760
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,360
Speaker 2: only what you inspect. So you're going to make sure

761
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:44,319
Speaker 2: that no matter what you give people to do, you're

762
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,200
Speaker 2: going to inspect it to make sure that they're keeping

763
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 2: up with it. So you know, there's a whole set

764
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 2: of principles that will help you be successful along the way.

765
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,719
Speaker 2: And you learn and you grow, and you can't be

766
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:58,640
Speaker 2: afraid to make mistakes. Successful people have experienced a lot

767
00:38:58,680 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 2: of failure.

768
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 4: I think we forget that.

769
00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:08,080
Speaker 2: Babe Ruth the batter, right, I love baseball. He had

770
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,799
Speaker 2: more strikeouts than he did home runs. But that's how

771
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 2: he got those home runs because he wasn't afraid to

772
00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,800
Speaker 2: strike out. And you can't be afraid to fail. Failure

773
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,959
Speaker 2: need not be fatal. In fact, Failure is the wound

774
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:21,239
Speaker 2: for success.

775
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:23,800
Speaker 1: I've definitely made a lot of failures.

776
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:25,080
Speaker 4: So say, there you go.

777
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:33,160
Speaker 1: We are Aarbernard shining lights on people now. But honestly,

778
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:35,160
Speaker 1: thank you so much. And if people want to learn

779
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:39,319
Speaker 1: more about this project, about the Christian Cultural Center, all

780
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:41,400
Speaker 1: things past to a Arbernard. How can people get in

781
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:41,879
Speaker 1: touch with you?

782
00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:44,160
Speaker 2: Well, my universe is quite large, and I have some

783
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 2: incredible people who are making sure that there's easy access

784
00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 2: to it. So we are redoing my social media and

785
00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:55,160
Speaker 2: all of that. But they can go to Airbernard dot com.

786
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 2: They can go to Innovative Urban Village and that will

787
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:03,640
Speaker 2: give him a complete presentation of the project. All of

788
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 2: the numbers involved are renderings of what it's going to

789
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 2: look like, what's going to be built into it. They

790
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:14,359
Speaker 2: can go there, and of course CCC info dot org

791
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:17,640
Speaker 2: for Christian Cultural Center, the church which I'm being slowly

792
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:18,839
Speaker 2: moved out of now that my.

793
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 1: Son has taken over. You're not there vous by the way,

794
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:27,239
Speaker 1: he's doing an amazing.

795
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:29,840
Speaker 4: Job, and you got to go, yeah, we have a

796
00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:30,440
Speaker 4: church one day.

797
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I already told you that, make a plan to

798
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:35,959
Speaker 1: make that. I can't just watch online all the time

799
00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,360
Speaker 1: with this modern technology. I mean, it's a it's a

800
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:43,240
Speaker 1: blessing to be able to do that as we're traveling.

801
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:44,880
Speaker 1: It's nothing like being there in person.

802
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,920
Speaker 2: Well, I will tell you live streaming online virtual presence

803
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:52,880
Speaker 2: made a big difference for us. During COVID. Many churches

804
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:57,239
Speaker 2: collapsed because they didn't have the infrastructure, they didn't have

805
00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:59,840
Speaker 2: the equipment, and at that time it was not like

806
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 2: we could suddenly order it because everything was backlogged. Oh yeah,

807
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:05,800
Speaker 2: we could get people trying to order things from China

808
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,440
Speaker 2: and all of that. So we started live streaming three

809
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:11,520
Speaker 2: years before COVIDO, so we were already in place, and

810
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,879
Speaker 2: that virtual campus, which is global, continues to grow.

811
00:41:16,239 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 1: Wow. And that had to be a tough time for

812
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,160
Speaker 1: you also, just not being able to be in the

813
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:22,640
Speaker 1: presence of your congregation.

814
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:28,600
Speaker 2: It was, but we were able to through technology build

815
00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:33,120
Speaker 2: a closer relationship. You know, in human relationship, distance is

816
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,560
Speaker 2: never measured in miles, it's measured in affection. So if

817
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:39,399
Speaker 2: you can create an environment or an atmosphere, whether it's

818
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:43,600
Speaker 2: with the television or with the radio, where people feel

819
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:47,600
Speaker 2: that warmth and sense of invitation to be with you

820
00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 2: in conversation, all right, that grows right.

821
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:53,600
Speaker 1: Well, we appreciate you so much for coming through. I

822
00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 1: know you're going to be stopping by more often and

823
00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:56,760
Speaker 1: we're going to be checking in with you. Also.

824
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:00,560
Speaker 2: I look forward to this relationship and what we can

825
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:03,520
Speaker 2: do to help people think better of themselves and have

826
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:04,240
Speaker 2: a better life.

827
00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, and me being from Brooklyn, like, I want to

828
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:08,840
Speaker 1: make sure that whatever I can do to be supportive,

829
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:11,440
Speaker 1: you know, even when it comes to like I have

830
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,800
Speaker 1: a coffee company, a juice bar, all of those things,

831
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,120
Speaker 1: figure out some ways that we can be as involved

832
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:19,640
Speaker 1: as we can. Because I love this whole idea and

833
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,120
Speaker 1: I understand the importance and wait of it.

834
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:26,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, partnership, collaboration, that's what's going to make a difference

835
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:29,120
Speaker 2: out into the future. And thank you for what you're doing.

836
00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:32,879
Speaker 2: Congratulations again and again and again. And you show as

837
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 2: and all of these different elements that you're putting together

838
00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:38,920
Speaker 2: to reach people and their different appetites.

839
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:41,840
Speaker 1: So God bless well, thank you. This is truly a blessing.

840
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:44,000
Speaker 1: I just want to say that it's way put Angela

841
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:45,480
Speaker 1: Yee past the a ar Bernard