WEBVTT - The Best Of: Checking In 0:00:00.000 --> 0:00:02.040 It peaks of the planet charlamagnea god here And as 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.400 we come close to closing out this year, I just 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:06.320 want to say thank you for tuning into the Black 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:09.000 Effect podcast network. There have been so many great moments 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:10.840 over the past year. Take a listen to some of 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:13.440 those captivating moments in this special best of episode. 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:16.040 Y'all listen. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:21.599 I am very excited to have on checking in pastor 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:23.759 Mike Todd. 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.479 I am so excited to be here with you. I 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:28.720 feel like you're my sister. We got to meet for 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.400 just a little moment in Atlanta and it was like, 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.239 where have you been all my life? And it's just 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:37.839 really one of those cool, cool moments to connect with 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:41.360 people who actually care about doing the inner work as 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.960 well as all the things that are happening in public. 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.960 So yeah, I wrote a book about relationship goals about 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.600 me and my wife, who I've been dating since I 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:52.960 was fourteen years old, is when I met her, and 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:58.000 literally all the ups and downs, trials, tribulations, crazy moments, 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.160 and our story of redemption and just some things that 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:05.360 people could be helped in relationship because people kind of 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:07.640 fail at that a lot in this day and age. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.840 And I put it out in the middle of a pandemic. 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:14.640 I'd never written a book before. I barely passed math, 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.959 math and English in high school. So it was like, 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:20.520 I mean, let me just share something that I think 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.279 is valuable. And I mean it went crazy and people 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.600 bought it all over the world. And to think that's 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.560 the first time I've heard the two million number, that's ridiculous. 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.200 Like the fact that book has gone on. I just 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:34.480 pray that it's a blessing to people for a long 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.880 long time and help people win in Mayorage, dating and sex. 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:38.399 That's it. 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.640 And he smiled really big too when you got to 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:45.600 say that, because he got somebody, he gets to go 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:47.200 home to his woife. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:52.920 Glory to the living guard. Listen, listen, listen, Lord help 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:53.440 me too. 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:58.919 Oh don't and I have it wasn't It wasn't y'all listening. 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:01.320 It wasn't none of your business. But yes, okay. 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:07.760 Any Another fact is that you are the lead pastor 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.040 of Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:15.120 I am, okay, I am. And there's so many ways 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:15.480 I can go. 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.920 Relationship goes the faith testimony of how you guys acquired 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.600 the building and just your whole journey it would take 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:24.399 hours to talk about it. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:26.200 But I also want to tell. 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.160 People, y'all, he is a phenomenal musician, producer. 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:34.200 I say, a musician, Michelle, you're doing too much to know. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:36.720 We're here to talk about damage but not destroyed, from 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.600 trauma to triumph. I get it, and we're gonna get there. 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.760 But y'all, he's more than. 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:45.000 Pastoring. 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.160 Is call. 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:48.960 That's the thing. 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.560 And we'll talk about a choice that you might have 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:54.520 had to make. Okay, let's just let's do that. 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.240 The choice. Just let's do it. 0:02:57.360 --> 0:02:59.799 The choice that you possibly had to make to lay 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.760 down music to go into ministry. Yeah, now music can 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:05.680 be ministry, but I'm just saying in the form of 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:08.200 ministry that you now you had to lay down the 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.280 desire to be the artist and producer musician. 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.760 So part of part of my journey is I tell 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:16.639 people all the time, you are not what you do 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:19.840 only and a lot of people so many times they 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:24.000 wrap their entire identity off of whatever became successful. And 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:25.840 one of the things that. 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.440 I own, they walk in heavy six minutes in Oh. 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.079 I thought we was I thought we came to do 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.359 it like I thought this was that podcast so we 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.960 could go all the way in. And so the truth 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.840 of the matter is a lot of people, whatever successful, 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.000 they think that's where they should rest all of their 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.920 identity and purpose. But the one thing I learned very 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.760 early on is that God never gives people just one seed. 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:53.760 He gives so many seeds on the inside. It depends 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.480 on what you water. And on the inside of me 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.680 there were so many seeds music and speaking and creative 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:02.920 and all these things, and I decided that at a 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:04.839 young age, I was going to water all of them. 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:07.440 And so when the fruits started coming from all of them, 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:10.560 I had to make a decision to begin to ask 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:14.080 God what was my assignment, not my opportunity. And a 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:18.039 lot of people right now are caught because they have 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.720 so many opportunities and they don't know what an assignment is. 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.760 And that's where I'm here to really tell this generation 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.520 that you only can get an assignment from God, but 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.320 if you good, you can have tons of opportunities. And 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:34.359 so my journey took me to a place where the 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.200 greatest thing that I do is never what can I do, 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:39.600 It's what does God want me to do? And that's 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.200 where I think a lot of people are off right now. 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:43.960 Somebody could offer me a lot of money to do 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.880 something I'm good at, but I knew it wouldn't be 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.680 my assignment and so that thing wouldn't be blessed for me. 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.600 And so I just know that for me, that's what happened. 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.440 In the music and ministry. I would have been successful 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.480 as a music producer. I probably would have produced your 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.159 third album. I probably would have done all of those things. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.479 It's done, and now there's still an opportunity I would 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:06.680 have been I would have been there. But at the 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.320 same token, God's timing is perfect. When you obey him, 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:13.479 he brings everything back around. He wastes nothing. There is 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:15.640 nothing that he's going to put on the inside of 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:17.280 you that he's gonna leave on the inside of you. 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:18.719 It's just about timing. 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.000 And so now is the season where I'm getting to 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.359 walk into a whole bunch of music opportunities. People that 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.160 I love, like Michelle Williams, I'm sitting on the phone 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:27.760 with So if I had a track, I could text 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:28.480 it to you right now. 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:29.600 Do you understand what I'm saying? 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:34.080 Like, following his purpose leads me into the thing that 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:35.880 I love, and that's a passion. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.159 Wow. I don't have no title or anything in church. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:40.560 But I'm hearing siki. 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:44.120 First the Kingdom, Oh yeah of God in Matthew six 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:44.720 thirty three. 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.320 Yes, and then everything else gets at it. And a 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.000 lot of people are seeking the things. They're going after 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:54.159 the things instead of him, and they go after the 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:56.480 things what I say, instead of the king. And the 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:58.680 King actually knows the playbook, he knows the lay of 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:00.560 the land, he knows what he wants for you to do. 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.280 And I've just found in my short. 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:07.239 Little life of a lot of impact comes from places 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:09.279 I didn't think it was gonna come from, because I 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.760 did it in the timing that God wanted it to happen, 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:13.760 not in the timing that I wanted it to happen. 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.320 And the more you. 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.200 Like lean into that and get into that lane, you 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.880 don't have to worry nothing I'm doing right now. I 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:22.760 have to hold up. I just got to show up 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.800 like I'm not trying to hold things together. I'm not 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.960 trying to finesse and do all of these things that 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:30.440 a lot of people have to do. And that's what 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.159 causes stress, that's what causes burnout, and that's what causes trauma. 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.320 And so a lot of people have to really reel 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.719 themselves back in to figure out what's my assignment, not 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:41.080 just what's my opportunity. 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.520 Executive producer, pop culture expert. Once again, did I say 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:57.679 executive producer? Executive producer of the Emmy nominated amazing show, 0:06:57.800 --> 0:06:59.040 The Sherry Shepherd Show. 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.799 Please welcome My and John and Murray. 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.240 Sherry Shepherd was a friend of mine and also a client, 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.080 and so like the we met. 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:09.240 At Doctor Bobby Jones. 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:11.280 Funny enough, I used to do an artist and treat 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.200 price a year in Las Vegas, and Sherry was a 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.280 big reader of my column. She came up to me 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:17.880 in the hallway one day and was like, Hey, I 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:19.120 know you don't know who I am, but I'm a 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:20.880 big fan of your work. And I was like, oh, 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.320 you're the little black actress and all the big white sitcoms. 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:25.840 Of course I know you. And we became friends. 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.840 John and John really, John really will say that like 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.520 that line, go ahead, and she left and we. 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.080 Shary's information and we became friends. 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.000 And so whenever Sherry would do appearances when she was 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:40.560 co hosting the View, sometimes whenever topics and stuff she 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.040 wanted to work through, she'd bring me on to help 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:45.560 her figure that out. If she had to go do 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:47.840 a promo run for a movie project or something, she 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.680 had me come and help her finess her sound bites 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.080 and stuffing. And so what I did not realize then 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.040 was that it really was setting me up for my 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.560 life as a producer was now it was teaching me 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.600 how to get the best out of people. It was 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:03.440 teaching me how to connect with people so that they 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:07.760 could be their best. And so when I was a 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.400 prior to this executive producer roun with Sherry, I had 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:13.480 done a bunch of consulting, producing for some awards shows 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.200 and some specials. I have both produced and directed some 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:20.680 episodes and TV ones uncensored. But the executive producer role 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.480 is you're the boss. You know, you hire, you fire, 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:25.560 you have one of the final. 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:27.160 Says on creative. You're leading the team. 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:31.040 And so there were people when Sherry said I will 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.319 only go on this journey with John that was looking 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:34.800 like how did he get the lete for a whole 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:35.520 of all those people? 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:37.640 And you know, how is he in this position? And 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:38.680 the truth of the matter is. 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.000 The late great Bill Getty who helps create the view 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.040 with Barbara Walters. He helps mentor me through this process 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.000 of going on this executive producer journey along with Twitch. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.199 He was at Ellen, along with Heather Gray who was 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:52.400 at the talk, and along with my dear friend Kat 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.320 mackenzie who was at GMA three. But Bill says something 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.440 to me, he said, John, Throughout the course of my career, 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:01.880 I've seen celebrities give their hairdressers executive producer credits. 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.720 Their dog walkers executive producing credits. He said. 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.880 Sometimes crazy celebrities would sometimes want to give people EP 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:09.560 credits just to put money in their pockets so they 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:11.079 wouldn't have to pay them. 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.480 This salary directly. He said, But you have a superpower here. 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:16.920 There's nobody who knows Sherry as good as you do. 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.200 There's nobody who's going to get the performance out of 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:21.400 her the way that you will because of that relationship. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:22.400 And you, guys are. 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:24.400 Going into a situation where people who need to learn 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:26.880 her and you're almost like the Sherry whistler. He says, 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:29.720 that's an invaluable asset. So, he said, despite the fact 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.280 that you know this genre, despite the fact that you're 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.000 great with people, you're going to be a great leader 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.679 and you're really going to help produce this wonderful content. 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.320 If they were just paying you for the relationship alone, 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.000 he said, it's worth every day. And it really shifted 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.080 my perspective walking into this space, and it prepared me 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:46.920 for a lot of what I was going to encounter 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.480 as we were embarking on the journey of the Sharferry Shop. 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:51.520 So so good. 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:54.880 And you have been walking with Sherry Shepherd for a 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:58.760 number of years in a four way to some of 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:03.240 the shows. She was say, call host on the View. Yeah, well, 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.360 and now you two. She if I'm not mistaken, correct 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:10.520 me if I'm wrong. I think she made a promise 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.960 like John, when I get my talk show, you're coming 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:13.440 with me. 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:14.480 Yeah. 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:17.600 So you know, Shery and I had a very unique 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.920 relationship because when Cherry was approached to join The View, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:24.920 she had aged, she had managers and all that stuff. 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.000 She said she was praying and she asked, he I 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.120 want to talk to somebody who's now on my payroll 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:32.679 and I really want to get objective advice from them. 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:35.200 And literally I was in Chicago, I was doing a 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.280 speech at Burrell Communications. I was out shopping, walking down 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:41.480 Michigan Avenue, phone rings and Sherry, I answer it, and 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.480 she told me about her offer to join The View 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.800 and we talked about it, and that particular year it 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.400 didn't happen because they brought Rosie O'Donnell on the show 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:51.439 and they didn't want to add a second co host. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.840 Fast forward about eight months later, Sherry started guest co 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:58.360 hosting on The View again. The whole Rosie and Elizabeth 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.480 blow up happens, and then all of a sudden, they're 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.120 looking to bring Sherry on the show again as a 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.960 permanent co host. Well her team at the time. The 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.640 negotiations didn't go very well and ABC took their offer 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:13.280 back from her, and Cherry called me and she cried, 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.960 she's really upset, and I coached her on how I 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.640 thought she could resurrect the deal. I basically told her, 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:21.600 I need you to call Bill Gaddy. I need you 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.200 to share his heart, your heart with him and tell 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:26.360 him why the financials, the MAFE math. 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:31.320 And so she did exactly as I said. Bill Gatty told. 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.440 Her, if you take this deal, the rest of the 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.080 money's going to come, and she said those were the 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:38.240 exact words I had said to her. 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:38.960 So it was almost like. 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.200 God was using him to confirm what I said. The 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:44.640 deal happened, and the rest is history, and Sherry's never 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:48.760 made another major decision in the entertainment industry again without 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.199 talking to me. So that set the foundation of our relationship. 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.600 When she went into guest hosts for the Wendy Williams 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:58.440 initially in twenty nineteen, Cherry said, Hey, can you come 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.000 in and help me? In addition into you just helping 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:04.160 produce me and my approach to the questions, I want 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:05.760 you to come and help write the show. Helped me 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.160 structure the show, and so I came in. I helped 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.760 write her monologue for the top of the show, you know, 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:12.880 helped her with the guests and things like that. What 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.360 most people don't know is this particular company had offered 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.920 Sherry a deal in twenty nineteen to embark on a 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:20.199 talk show journey. 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:21.760 And things didn't work out. 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.160 The pandemic didn't happen, and so twenty twenty one, Sherry 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.720 happened to be in New York City. She was filling 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:30.199 in at the View that week for somebody who was 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.280 out all week, and she got a call to comment 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.440 and fill in for Wendy again. This was the season 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:38.080 which Wendy didn't have everybody was guest hosting that particular season. 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.240 As Sherry called and said, do I really want to 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.400 do this? This is something I should do. And I 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.280 said to her, well, don't look at it like you're 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:46.560 going back to co host this time. How about go 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:48.320 in and do a five day pilot show. 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:48.680 America. 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.800 What the Sherry Shepherd Show would look like. You've been 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:54.040 taking all these meetings. People are uncertain about the market. 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.760 They want panel shows. Let's show them that you can 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:58.560 do a single host show and that you can. 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.520 Own this space. And she said, well do it if 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:02.480 you come and do it with me again. I came 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:03.600 in five shows. 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.520 I helped her write the shows. You know, it was 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.800 a tough time. We're coming out the pandemic. There are 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.240 all these testing and protocols, and we got to sit 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:13.439 in the hotel for hours and build out this show 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:16.080 and we helped her hand picking to the guests and 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:18.280 the segments that she did. And by the end of 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.120 the first week, the ratings were through the roof. The 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.600 research was great, and everybody was saying this should be 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.120 the Sheriffy Show. And so Sherry came to me and said, 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.559 I know you're talking to one of the news agencies 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.839 about coming on as a contributor. I know you're off 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.160 for another cable show, and I know this big company's 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.360 talking to you about a podcast. What would it take 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:39.080 for you to walk away from everything that you have 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:41.600 going on to come on this journey with me? And 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:43.360 I said what, I got to pray about it first, 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:45.280 and so I came back to her the next day 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:47.560 and I said, listen, come on this journey with you 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:51.600 if I have this title, if I have these responsibilities, 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:52.920 and if they pay me my money. 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.520 And she said, cool, I won't have a deal unless 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:56.080 you have a deal. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.600 And Sherry called our team and said, listen until John's 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.800 dealers don't send me a contract. 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:16.240 Give it up for producer, singer, singer, writer, binger. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.320 And the most gospel artist ever in history, Yes, the 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:21.560 most amazing. 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.440 Y'all know his voice? Producer, What do you want me 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.040 to say? Artist, artist, artist, he. 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:32.520 Does it all and she is gospel artist. Life was 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.960 life thing and twenty three life was life thing. It 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.760 was a lot that happened. And you know, we you know, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:40.560 we're just still taking it one day at a time 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.160 and still trying to figure out, you know, what the 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:46.440 new normal looks like you know, you know, it's very 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:48.880 much kind of like how life was after the pandemic. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.880 You know, you you had to figure out what the 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:53.120 new normal was for you. 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.200 And so yeah, you know, that's what. 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.800 I'm having to do and and I'm having to do 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.440 it at my own pace and own race. Uh, you know, 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.480 it can feel very daunting, but one day to time, 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:07.960 one day at a time. 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.920 You say, at your own pace, at your own race. 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.040 But you decided to share. 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:17.240 It with the world. 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.000 Why did you decide to share that portion with us? 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:24.120 Well, because I was already in the creative space. I 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:28.920 was already documenting the making of the album. And so yeah, 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:33.840 so as a creative, you don't know how not to 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.120 translate what you go through like it's someone like, as 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.640 a creative, I was going through that. Then it's going 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.200 to affect the songwriting. So if I have a camera 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:47.520 front of me, I'm going to naturally incorporate the moments 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.040 that I'm experiencing in the moment that I'm in. I mean, 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:53.840 I mean, you know, for you know, in my humble opinion, 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:58.920 I think for real, deepcore creative people, they don't know 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:03.520 a separation of art in reality. You know, there are 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:08.560 is there reality? So you know, uh, you know, you 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:13.440 just you just naturally continue in the lanes that are 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:18.200 very organic and very second nature for you. And you 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:19.680 know that second nature for me. 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:23.680 Did the album change? 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:26.920 Like did you were your album starting off in one 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:30.800 way and then things happened with your father? 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.440 Did it kind of? Did it change the album? New album? 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:35.560 Oh? 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:36.240 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.880 The name of the album originally was called The Rebirth 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.720 of the Fearless Hero. That was that was the name 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.160 of the album. I was taking different titles from different albums, 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.640 and and uh, yeah, it was it was going to 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.920 be one project that was going in another kind of direction, 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:58.480 and uh, this ended up being, you know, the background 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:05.040 music for a very tumultuous, life changing experience that I 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:06.280 was having in real time. 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:11.240 I can only imagine that it was scary for you 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:15.840 to release that information to us, right, But at the 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:21.800 same time, you became, if you weren't already, a lot 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:27.240 of people's hero for being able to share, especially a 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:32.600 man to share and be vulnerable on camera. I always 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.480 say there's a difference between being transparent and vulnerable. When 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.720 you're transparent, you can tell the world anything. Hey I 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:40.959 stelled my toe, Hey I was late for a meeting today. 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.680 But being vulnerable, you actually told us how it made 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:49.439 you feel, which being. 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:51.520 Vulnerable for me feels yucky. 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:55.720 I hate feeling vulnerable and then having to voice how 0:17:55.840 --> 0:18:02.280 it made me feel. I feel like I'm watching it 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:04.160 all over again, just talking to you. 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.159 Yeah, And I don't know what other way to be is. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:07.679 I don't know. 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:15.159 Me talking and me sharing is very much just a 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.560 part of my nature. It's very second nature for me, 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.840 so as I don't know how to have the separate 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.359 space where these things in my life exist over here. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.600 But then I'm going to do music and share the 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:33.040 gospel and yeah, and talk about Jesus over here. Now 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:38.000 they are synonymous in the expression of who I am 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:42.200 as a broken individual, and so I wouldn't know different 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:42.680 to do. 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:48.680 Yeah, it's like every time you come out with a project, 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.720 it's like we're hearing Kirk for the first time. It's 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:56.840 like you somehow you keep our anticipation, you keep everybody 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.240 so excited, and you're all. 0:18:59.240 --> 0:18:59.920 Well to us. 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.199 I don't know if you ever feel that way, but 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:05.520 it seems like you're always winning. 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.600 Except for that, of course, by the grace of God 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:10.120 his hand on your life. 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:15.359 And every time you come out, you stay relevant. 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.360 Just I just y'all. 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.640