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Speaker 1: Mabel says, you are not garbage. You are a child

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Speaker 1: of God, which got me thinking yesterday early voting in

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Speaker 1: Texas through Friday, you left to check outside of Texas

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Speaker 1: where you are. But today and tomorrow the last days

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Speaker 1: in Texas, this being Thursday, October thirty. First, for those

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Speaker 1: of you listening live, which means by tomorrow you have

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Speaker 1: to vote early or you have to wait until Tuesday.

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Speaker 1: And God help you if you do, because that's the

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Speaker 1: day when all the shenanigans. That's the day of the

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Speaker 1: big crowd. If you put it off till then and

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Speaker 1: you have a problem, that's your business. Just don't email

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Speaker 1: me about it. I begged you to vote early. I

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Speaker 1: begged you to vote early. Deer hunters, you're going to

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Speaker 1: leave on Saturday and be gone on your hunt and

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Speaker 1: forget to vote. Vote early. I talked about the fact

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Speaker 1: that this Sunday will be the last chance for the church,

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Speaker 1: for the pastors to talk to their flock about the importance.

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Speaker 1: And I talked about the fact that black churches have

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Speaker 1: as souls to the polls. Used to be a pastor

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Speaker 1: named Manson Johnson in Houston, and he would do what

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Speaker 1: they call the roll to the polls. He would preach

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Speaker 1: his sermon. Finish early you would go out to the

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Speaker 1: bus buses that were waiting. They would roll you to

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Speaker 1: the polls early voting, last Sunday of early voting, they

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Speaker 1: rolled you to the pole. You would cast your vote

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Speaker 1: and come back and there was a big meal that

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Speaker 1: the church provided for you afterwards. Everybody in the church voted.

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Speaker 1: And oh, by the way, what Pastor Manson Johnson would do,

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Speaker 1: which I don't think violates the law, by the way,

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Speaker 1: is he had what was known as a pony that

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Speaker 1: is a list that tells you how to vote, and

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Speaker 1: they he would walk down the down the list. He'd

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Speaker 1: walk down the road and give people that was the

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Speaker 1: these are your recommended candidates. I know this because I

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Speaker 1: was a candidate, and I know this because he had

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Speaker 1: endorsed my opponent. So we would walk behind him and

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Speaker 1: pick those up and give them my note. And he

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Speaker 1: didn't feel comfortable taking away what I gave him. But

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Speaker 1: I know what happens, and I said, white pastors won't

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Speaker 1: do that. White pastors are scared so demand of your

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Speaker 1: pastor that they speak on the issues of the day.

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Speaker 1: So I received from you a number of Folcus one

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Speaker 1: called Cornerstone Chapel. But one of the guys I heard about,

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Speaker 1: or one of the sermons that was sent to me,

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Speaker 1: was by a pastor at First Odessa in Odessa, Texas.

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Speaker 1: And here's just a little clip of that.

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Speaker 2: If we want to stand for morality, we want to

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Speaker 2: stand for godliness, and we want to see some good

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Speaker 2: things happen in America. If Christians do not vote, you

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Speaker 2: can hang it up because it ain't going to happen.

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Speaker 2: It happens because people will go to that election box.

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Speaker 2: So we have two people to choose from. And I

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Speaker 2: want to say this, there should be no confusion whatsoever

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Speaker 2: really about who to vote for. And in fact, I

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Speaker 2: will tell you, and by the time I finished this message,

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Speaker 2: I think you will understand it very clearly that this

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Speaker 2: should be the easiest, most clear cut decision on who

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Speaker 2: to vote for that we've been handed down to us

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Speaker 2: in a generation. In fact, I call it a no

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Speaker 2: brainer because these two parties who I've mentioned a moment ago,

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Speaker 2: are not morally equal. They are not morally equal. What

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Speaker 2: we have witness come forth from the Democrat Party is

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Speaker 2: far more than changing morals. It is demonic. It is

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Speaker 2: anti God through and through, and thus evil and demonic.

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Speaker 1: They promote everything that God hates.

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Speaker 2: If you do not believe in child sacrifice, then this

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Speaker 2: election is a no brainer. If you do not believe

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Speaker 2: in the undermining of the family, the election is a

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Speaker 2: no brainer. If you believe that the Bible teaches that

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Speaker 2: there are only two genders, male and female, it's a

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Speaker 2: no brainer. If you believe that the brainwashing, sexualization, and

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Speaker 2: mutilation of our children is wrong, it's a no brainer.

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Speaker 2: The Democrat Party is anti God and stands for all

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Speaker 2: that God hates, and it's a no brainer.

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Speaker 1: You say, pastor prove that.

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Speaker 2: I can prove that, because Kamala Harris proved that had

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Speaker 2: her own rally. When someone shouted Jesus's Lord at her

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Speaker 2: own rally, she stopped intentionally and said, you're at the

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Speaker 2: wrong rally with a laugh. There's no joke in that.

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Speaker 2: You don't laugh when somebody says Jesus's Lord, and you

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Speaker 2: don't scorn when somebody says Jesus's Lord. That fact alone

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Speaker 2: should make the skin crawl on every Bible believing Christian

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Speaker 2: in America.

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Speaker 1: Right there, it's a no brainer. So a listener sent

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Speaker 1: me that and said, you need to listen to this

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Speaker 1: guy didn't give me the name. I clicked on it.

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Speaker 1: Last night. I went home and I start listening his sermon.

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Speaker 1: It's an hour and forty minutes, I say, so I

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Speaker 1: skipped ahead, and I said, let me just let me

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Speaker 1: just to the meat of this. So let's say forty

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Speaker 1: five minutes in. I start listening, and there's something about

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Speaker 1: this guy's delivery. It feels like mother's milk to me.

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Speaker 1: It's very comfortable to me. And then he said, growing

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Speaker 1: up in Woodville, Texas, in Southeast Texas, deep East Texas. Man,

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Speaker 1: did I light up? Because there's only three reasons that Woodville,

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Speaker 1: Texas exists. These are my people. Number one is to

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Speaker 1: send Kim Cruise to the voice, a little girl that

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Speaker 1: could sing her heart out ar at Seeburger's Niece. Number

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Speaker 1: two is to provide delicious food at the Picket House,

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Speaker 1: and number three is to get their assess whipped by

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Speaker 1: Orangefield High School. These are my people. Woodville is my people.

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Speaker 1: So interesting thing when you go to the website for

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Speaker 1: the church, when you go on the YouTube page. Unlike

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Speaker 1: some folks that you know in public, this wasn't the

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Speaker 1: Byron McWilliams show. In fact, I had to wait. I

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Speaker 1: had to search to find out the pastor's name. There's

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Speaker 1: a church in town at the motto used to friends.

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Speaker 1: Pastor's friend of mine. But we used to kid with

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Speaker 1: him because the motto was where Christ is the main attraction.

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Speaker 1: And I used to say, yeah, but pastor, your name's

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Speaker 1: bigger than his. On the program, this guy's not about

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Speaker 1: Byron McWilliams. This guy's about the word. And I can

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Speaker 1: guarantee you he loses some members out of saying that.

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Speaker 1: But he's not looking at him as consumers. He's actually

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Speaker 1: ministering the pastoring to his flock, and I love it.

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Speaker 1: He's our guest coming up. What ye allow me to

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Speaker 1: introduce myself?

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Speaker 3: My name is Mittor Michael Erry, Genius Well.

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Speaker 1: Pastor Byron McWilliams is my kind of guy. A listener

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Speaker 1: was kind enough to say, hey, here's a pastor who

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Speaker 1: will speak out, and here's a sermon where he does

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Speaker 1: it much in the vein of my dear friend, Pastor

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Speaker 1: Ed Young, who recently retired from Second Baptist Church where

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Speaker 1: he helmed the ship for many, many years. Byron McWilliams.

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Speaker 1: In my opinion, is living up to God's commandment to

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Speaker 1: priests the Word. And you know, I've heard churches refer

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Speaker 1: to congregants as customers. I find that very disturbing. I

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Speaker 1: think they've lost the plot. So I love the fact

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Speaker 1: that I had to go looking for who he is,

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Speaker 1: which means that his name's not the biggest one on

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Speaker 1: the marquee. It's almost as if the Bible and the

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Speaker 1: Word and salvation and the sinners seeking salvation are the

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Speaker 1: primary objective. But let's welcome him to the show. Pastor

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Speaker 1: Byron McWilliams.

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Speaker 3: Welcome, Hey, Michael Barry. How are you doing, sir?

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Speaker 1: I'm good. So I know you're from Woodville. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: about that for a moment. Were you you? You pastored

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Speaker 1: two churches in Southeast Texas. One was first Baptist Church

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Speaker 1: of Buna. We'll get to that in a moment, but

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Speaker 1: it was the first one in Woodville.

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Speaker 4: No, the first one in Sperger.

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Speaker 1: Okay, where that is?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: Now, so take me I grew up Woodville, and I agree.

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Speaker 1: Take me through high school and then and and how

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Speaker 1: you end up in your first job in the ministry.

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Speaker 3: Okay, all right, that's a good idea.

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Speaker 5: I did not actually graduate from Woodville. I moved away

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Speaker 5: to the middle of my junior year in high school. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 5: we had a tragedy in our family and so that's

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Speaker 5: why we moved to Houston.

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Speaker 4: And Uh, but I grew up in Woodville. All of

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Speaker 4: my greatest growing up memories are in Woodville.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 3: But in middle of my junior we left. I went

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Speaker 3: to Spring High School. Uh.

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Speaker 5: The best thing about Spring High School was the end

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Speaker 5: of my senior year I met my what who would

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Speaker 5: be my one day wife and uh, absolutely the best

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Speaker 5: thing uh graduate, she was her.

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Speaker 1: No, I'm glad you clarified that, pastor, because I was

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Speaker 1: a little confused.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to do that's right. That's right. Graduated.

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Speaker 5: Man work my way through college at the University of

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Speaker 5: Houston and got a degree in accounting. I was in sales,

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Speaker 5: and then after that I went to work for a

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Speaker 5: large old company, Sholl Oil Company in Houston, and I

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Speaker 5: worked there for a number of years. Felt a call

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Speaker 5: to ministry. I was going to Champion Forest Baptist Church

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Speaker 5: in Houston at the time, and man felt a call

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Speaker 5: to ministry and it was undeniable, and so slowly began

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Speaker 5: to pursue that as God led and one thing led

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Speaker 5: to another, I had to do all the education thing

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Speaker 5: and all that went with that. And then one thing

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Speaker 5: led to another and we go to our first church

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Speaker 5: in April nineteen ninety seven, and that would be first

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Speaker 5: Baptist Church in Spurger, which nobody in West Texas, no

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Speaker 5: where Spurger is so and that one.

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Speaker 1: Year did you feel your call to the ministry?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 5: I was thirty one years old, so that would have

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Speaker 5: been nineteen ninety four.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Now did you not seminary from there? Or what

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Speaker 1: did you begin to do at that point?

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Speaker 3: I did? I did.

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Speaker 5: I began at the Houston campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological

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Speaker 5: Seminary and uh and it did all of my Masters

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Speaker 5: of Divinity work there and UH then from there after

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Speaker 5: I after I came to Odessa. Actually I had to

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Speaker 5: sit because of accreditation and whatnot. You have to wait

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Speaker 5: three years before you in our doctoral program. And I

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Speaker 5: did that and then UH started my doctoral work when

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Speaker 5: I got to Odessa and was able to knock that out.

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Speaker 1: So how long were you in Sperger.

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Speaker 3: Three years and nine months?

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Speaker 1: And then First Baptist Church of Buna. So you're getting

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Speaker 1: back closer to Woodville at that point.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and then it was actually closer to Woodville.

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Speaker 1: Oh is it really okay? But yeah, I've never been

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Speaker 1: to Spergersberger. We played Spurger much like what though we

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Speaker 1: whipped Spurger in pretty much everything we ever competed against them.

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Speaker 4: And then I had no doubt.

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Speaker 1: And then Buna And how long were you at first

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Speaker 1: Baptist Church of Bunah Just.

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Speaker 5: A little over three years and wonderful ministry. Loved those

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Speaker 5: people over in Southeast Texas. Man, but God was very

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Speaker 5: clear when he called us out to West Texas. And

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Speaker 5: it was a major transition. I mean, moving from Southeast

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Speaker 5: Texas where all of my roots are there, all my

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Speaker 5: family are there, and packing my wife and I kind

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Speaker 5: of felt like, man, we're headed to the mission field.

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Speaker 5: We're moving that far away.

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Speaker 3: But Mann a lot of great, great people in West Texas.

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Speaker 1: And I got to tell you, I didn't have almost

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Speaker 1: two hours because it was when I got home last

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Speaker 1: night to listen to the whole sermon. But I wanted

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Speaker 1: to see what it was about, because this listener was

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Speaker 1: so keen of this is a guy doing what you

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Speaker 1: claim you want people to do. And I said, all right,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna fast forward on this and where I landed.

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Speaker 1: It's almost as if God intended this where I landed.

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Speaker 1: You were you Within three seconds you mentioned Woodville and

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Speaker 1: you talked about your mother wearing gloves up to her

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Speaker 1: elbows and that that was church. And you start talking

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Speaker 1: about your church experience was very similar to mine at

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Speaker 1: Old First Orange in Orange off of Iten just before

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Speaker 1: you get to sixty two on your way to Louisiana,

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Speaker 1: if you headed as, it's still there, just off the highway,

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Speaker 1: and it Boy, your storytelling I was going to listen

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Speaker 1: to about three minutes and I ended up listening for

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Speaker 1: about twenty and your storytelling, it just felt very comforting

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Speaker 1: to me. You know, this was a similar shared experience.

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Speaker 1: And I loved the sense of conviction and fearlessness, fearlessness

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Speaker 1: with which you delivered God's word. And I thought, man,

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Speaker 1: that is a man. That wow, that is a servant's heart.

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Speaker 1: That level of fearlessness really, and that's when I reached

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Speaker 1: out to you. How big is that church? First, Odessa,

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Speaker 1: it looked like a big church.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, we are a large church. We've got you know,

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Speaker 5: a couple thousand members. But I mean, you know, of

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Speaker 5: course you know how that works. Everybody doesn't come to church,

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Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying. But it's still a good

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Speaker 5: sized church, I mean, you know, and uh uh oh,

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Speaker 5: we have a television ministry and everything like that in

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Speaker 5: the area that's been here for a long time, and

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Speaker 5: so God is blessed from that.

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Speaker 1: All right, hold with me for just a moment. I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about, Okay, why you do what you do.

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Speaker 1: Why you particularly took that on. Because you can preach

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Speaker 1: health and wellness and prosperity, health and wealth every Sunday

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Speaker 1: and never upset anybody. But that's not. Your job is

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Speaker 1: to discomfort the comfortable and disrupt the bad habits we

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Speaker 1: get into. And the fact that you do that is

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Speaker 1: very interesting to me, Pastor Byron Williams of First Odessa,

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Speaker 1: but more importantly from Woodville, Texas. From moment make normalcy.

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Speaker 1: You and I need to take a trip over the

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Speaker 1: picket house. That just needs to happen. Pastor Byron McWilliams

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Speaker 1: of First Odessa is our guest pastor. Why, knowing that

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Speaker 1: it will probably offend some people, maybe cost you some members,

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Speaker 1: why do you speak out on why people should vote

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Speaker 1: and how they should vote and what the issues are

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Speaker 1: facing Christians in America today.

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Speaker 5: Why do that, man, Michael, That's the question right there. Ultimately,

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Speaker 5: I would say that it goes back to the time

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Speaker 5: that Donald Trump ran for the first time and Hillary

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Speaker 5: Clinton was the opponent, and at the last debate they had,

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Speaker 5: Hillary Clinton stood flat footed and said she's going to

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Speaker 5: aboord a baby all the way up to the end

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Speaker 5: of nine months, and I set there praying and I think, God,

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Speaker 5: how do you want me to address this as a pastor?

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Speaker 5: Because my people need to hear from their pastor. And

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Speaker 5: I took both platforms at that time looked at him.

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Speaker 5: The Democratic platform look like it had been written kind

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Speaker 5: of by the Antichrist, and the Republican platform looked like

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Speaker 5: it had been almost a Sunday School lesson because it

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Speaker 5: referenced God so much. I brought those into the pulpit

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Speaker 5: with me, and I preached a message using those the

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Speaker 5: dichotomy of those, and looking at that, I prayed about

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Speaker 5: what do I need to do here, because I don't

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Speaker 5: want to offend unnecessarily. But what I have found is

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Speaker 5: that if you preach the word of God, you're going

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Speaker 5: to offend people. That's just the bottom line. And so

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Speaker 5: I prayed about when God, if he wanted me to

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Speaker 5: preach a message like that, this go around and this

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Speaker 5: last Sunday is when he gave me the message to preach,

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Speaker 5: and man, God calls the shots. I can't do anything

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Speaker 5: other than what I believe He desires me to do.

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Speaker 5: Nobody else tells me what to preach. It's just I

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Speaker 5: go to him, I pray, I seek God's leadership, and

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Speaker 5: then I step in and hopefully can deliver exactly the

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Speaker 5: message that He desires me to preach. So that's really

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Speaker 5: how it came about. I've never really shied away from

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Speaker 5: tough subjects. You said something earlier about being fearless. No,

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Speaker 5: there is fear involved, but the fear cannot be allowed

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Speaker 5: to stop me from speaking and saying what God wants

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Speaker 5: me to say.

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Speaker 1: Do you get complaints?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah I do.

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Speaker 5: It is at We live in West Texas, and I

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Speaker 5: will tell you that West Texas is probably one of

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Speaker 5: the reddest places in Texas, and I love that, But

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Speaker 5: I don't think it would matter where I live. I'm

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Speaker 5: going to preach the word, and if I was in

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Speaker 5: Southeast Texas still I would preach there. I preach the

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Speaker 5: same way when I live there. People do complain at times,

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Speaker 5: but people who know me, they know my heart, and

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Speaker 5: they know that my desires to lift up and exalt

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Speaker 5: the Lord Jesus above everything else. And I just feel

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Speaker 5: strongly that if the church is silent during these perilous times,

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Speaker 5: if the church is silent when we see all of

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Speaker 5: the evil that is going on, I'll stand before God

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Speaker 5: and I will I will have to give an account

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Speaker 5: of why I did not speak up and why I

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Speaker 5: did not warn the sheep whom are under my responsibility

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Speaker 5: as their shepherd. That's so, Yeah, I get complaints, but

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Speaker 5: the complaints are not going to stop me from doing

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Speaker 5: what God wants me to do.

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Speaker 1: I note your involvement and leadership, rather impressive resume of

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Speaker 1: service and leadership in the Southern Baptist Convention and International

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Speaker 1: Baptist Church. It's it's obviously you are well respected among

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Speaker 1: among ministers. When you when you look at that service

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Speaker 1: and you look at churches across the country, obviously a

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Speaker 1: lot of pastors are not willing to do what you're

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Speaker 1: willing to do.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: Why do you think that is?

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Speaker 3: Mm, that's a great question. Uh, I thought about that.

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Speaker 5: I think fear is certainly the biggest issue for most

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Speaker 5: and and I struggle with that.

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Speaker 3: Okay, because I'll tell you why.

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Speaker 5: I think if I'm going to let fear stop me

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Speaker 5: from speaking the Word of God, that's not really fear,

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Speaker 5: it's cowardice. And I can't stand that. I think there's

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Speaker 5: a fear that some pastors have have of losing members.

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Speaker 5: And let's just call it what it is. They don't

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Speaker 5: want to lose somebody that tithes and gives to the

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Speaker 5: church because there's budgetary issues. But again, my God does

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Speaker 5: not just own a cattle on a thousand hills. He

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Speaker 5: owns a cattle on every hill, and he can provide,

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Speaker 5: and he does provide. And then I think there is

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Speaker 5: the fear in the mind of some that they're dishonoring

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Speaker 5: the Lord by standing up and speaking, you know, in

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Speaker 5: what they call politics. I think it's dishonoring to the

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Speaker 5: Lord to not stand up and not speak truth regardless.

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Speaker 5: And that's our calling. And you know, for the first

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Speaker 5: time in American history, you have the pulpits in America

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Speaker 5: that are practically silent, and world history has an American

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Speaker 5: history has never had silent pastors out there, you know,

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Speaker 5: just just sitting and watching that which is devastating to

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Speaker 5: our culture, devastating to the generations that are coming behind us,

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Speaker 5: and they're going to sit by quietly and watch this

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Speaker 5: take place and not stand up and speak out against

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Speaker 5: it and seek to lead God's people to deeper, to

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Speaker 5: deeper holiness toward in honor of Him. I just can't

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Speaker 5: abide by that. So I think it's fear. I think

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Speaker 5: it's fear of losing members. I think it's that big word, fear,

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Speaker 5: you know.

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Speaker 1: I genuinely believe, not just a political comment, genuinely believe

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Speaker 1: it is much deeper than that, that there is a

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Speaker 1: move by the devil to silence the church. And I

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Speaker 1: think that a number of people have succumbed to that.

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Speaker 1: And I'll tell you, I don't know your finances. I

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Speaker 1: don't know your church is financing. I will tell you

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Speaker 1: when I see these churches constantly in the middle of

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Speaker 1: a building fund, constantly in the middle of some fund

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Speaker 1: to enrich the pastor constantly trying to do something bigger.

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Speaker 1: You know, there was a prayer of job as Era

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Speaker 1: where everybody wanted to expand their lands, and I found

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Speaker 1: that to be very, very unbiblical. But just like at

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Speaker 1: the individual level, just like with the United States Treasury.

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Speaker 1: When you take on all these debts, you put yourself

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Speaker 1: in a situation. I tell young people this today, when

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Speaker 1: they get their first job, do not go lease a

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Speaker 1: BMW or a Mercedes and take out a loan on

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Speaker 1: a big house you've just started your job, because then

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Speaker 1: you can't leave when you're compromised. And I think that

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Speaker 1: that has affected a lot of the church. Pastor Byron McWilliams,

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Speaker 1: can you hold with us for just a moment, the

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Speaker 1: First Odessa. Yes, and by the way, you can find

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Speaker 1: him on YouTube or any other site if you want

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Speaker 1: to see his sermons. And from what I've seen, yes,

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Speaker 1: they are wonderful, we think, sweet tee, we don't you think.

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Speaker 5: So.

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Speaker 1: You can find Pastor Byron McWilliams on YouTube, not by

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Speaker 1: his name, by the name of the church, because he

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Speaker 1: doesn't puff his own name up. It's First Odessa. They

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Speaker 1: they seem to post most everything they do in their

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Speaker 1: service for people to enjoy, learn from, grow from. I'm

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Speaker 1: guessing they have a department that handles that. But you

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Speaker 1: can get a lot of his sermons if you subscribe

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Speaker 1: to our blast. Jim Mudd our creative director will put

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Speaker 1: a link to the sermon, in particular that I was

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Speaker 1: sent by a listener, which is why I read my

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Speaker 1: emails for things like that. I would have never known

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Speaker 1: of this fella or this church. You'll get the sermon

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Speaker 1: about why it is important for Christians to participate. Civic

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Speaker 1: engagement is very, very important, Pastor. I do want to

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Speaker 1: take a moment and step back. I know you left

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Speaker 1: Woodville in your junior year of high school.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was my junior year.

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Speaker 1: Okay, how many times would you guess you've eaten at

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Speaker 1: the Picket House?

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Speaker 3: Oh, buddy, the Ticket House is wonderful ruppet in it's

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Speaker 3: picket House. Man.

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Speaker 5: My wife is listening and she she texted me a

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Speaker 5: minute ago and she said, oh, man, I want some

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Speaker 5: Picket House fried chicken.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so because it is good stuff.

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Speaker 1: This is I love their website because they don't screw around.

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Speaker 1: I've read their entire website, which doesn't take that long

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Speaker 1: on the show before, but it goes like this. The

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Speaker 1: world famous Picket House restaurant serves boarding house style all

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Speaker 1: you can eat fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, country vegetables, cobbler, biscuits,

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Speaker 1: and corn bread and all different condiments for you're liking.

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Speaker 1: Are you a fried chicken man, or are you going

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Speaker 1: to have the chicken and dumplings.

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Speaker 3: No, I'm gonna have both, man. Why not have both

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Speaker 3: of you?

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Speaker 2: There?

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Speaker 1: I need you to prioritize. We prioritize on this show, pastor.

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Speaker 3: Then I'm going to prioritize fried chicken.

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Speaker 1: Are you going darker or white?

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Speaker 5: Me?

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Speaker 3: I'm a both. If I have to prioritize.

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Speaker 1: What's that.

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Speaker 3: I said, I'm going to prioritize white meat. If I

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Speaker 3: have to prioritize there.

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Speaker 1: Okay, that's a terrible choice. But okay, let's see country vegetables.

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Speaker 1: What is your favorite country vegetables?

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Speaker 4: There turn the greens man cobbler.

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Speaker 1: What's your favorite? What's your favorite flavor of cobbler?

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Speaker 3: Peach?

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Speaker 1: Are you gonna are you gonna go biscuits or corn bread?

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Speaker 2: Oh?

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Speaker 3: I'm doing corn bread all the way.

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Speaker 1: This is my favorite. At the end, they've got guidelines.

438
00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 1: It says number one, there are no individual menus. They're

439
00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 1: not even playing like you want to come here and

440
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:28,520
Speaker 1: play by the rules. You're gonna have a great meal,

441
00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,119
Speaker 1: but don't start all this separate tabs and all that.

442
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,159
Speaker 1: Number two, pick up your own silver wearing drinks as

443
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,960
Speaker 1: well as refills of drinks. Number three ask for condiments,

444
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,320
Speaker 1: extra towels, or whatever you need. We're not wasting a

445
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: bunch of stuff around here. Number four return your dishes

446
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 1: to the kitchen window. That's not asking too much. Number five,

447
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 1: A plate launch is available upon request. See, these are

448
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,840
Speaker 1: people that were raised right in my household, and I

449
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,640
Speaker 1: guarantee you were raised the same way. My parents set

450
00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,120
Speaker 1: out very strict rules. And guess what we didn't get.

451
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,520
Speaker 1: We didn't need to be We didn't need to fight.

452
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 1: My parents set out strict rules, and you understood the rules.

453
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,920
Speaker 1: And I think those rules give you comfort and security.

454
00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 1: You don't have to keep testing them. I see these

455
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 1: parents raising children where they're begging the child, can we

456
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:15,280
Speaker 1: please please go? We got to get home. Can we

457
00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:18,200
Speaker 1: please please go and get nah? Please, little billy please

458
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,400
Speaker 1: can't stand that? Okay, So let me ask you a question.

459
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,880
Speaker 1: You probably can't answer this, But a friend of mine

460
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:27,680
Speaker 1: who lives in the Gooodville says, Picket House was great.

461
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:31,000
Speaker 1: Now it's only good the Blacks sold to the Pentecostals,

462
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 1: and the Pentecostals are doing the best they can, but

463
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,440
Speaker 1: the quality of food went down when the Black's left.

464
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 5: Okay, So here's what I can tell you. When I

465
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,200
Speaker 5: was growing up, there a woman by the name of

466
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 5: missus Bean, and she was a black lady. I went

467
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 5: to school with her with her son.

468
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 1: Please tell me her son's name was Butter.

469
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 5: No, it wasn't Butter. I can't help you there, buddy,

470
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:58,680
Speaker 5: you know, but that's good. And she cooked fried chicken

471
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 5: and it was the best fried chicken in person to

472
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,320
Speaker 5: ever on the face of the earth. It's hard for

473
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 5: me to compare between the two now because they still

474
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:08,879
Speaker 5: cook great fried chicken. So I'm not gonna say that

475
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 5: it's just good. I'm gonna probably say it's still great.

476
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,000
Speaker 5: We still go there every time we come home.

477
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:15,679
Speaker 1: And how often is that?

478
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:18,840
Speaker 3: Oh not enough?

479
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 1: Man?

480
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:20,680
Speaker 3: A couple times a year. We make it back over

481
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:21,359
Speaker 3: to East Texas.

482
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:22,560
Speaker 1: You still have relatives there.

483
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 3: My mom still lives outside of Woodville.

484
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh really, what's her name?

485
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:30,439
Speaker 3: Yeah? Her name is Earlene.

486
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:35,200
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, I love her already. I love her already.

487
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: So I got a message from one of our county commissioners.

488
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,120
Speaker 1: Are our best county commissioner here in the Greater Houston

489
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 1: Ry Harris County, and he said, my mom is from Woodville.

490
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 1: My grandfather, Stanley, who I was named for, was a

491
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,439
Speaker 1: deacon at First Baptist Woodville. I love Woodville. And I said, well,

492
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 1: what's your mother's full name? And he said ethel Lee

493
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:59,920
Speaker 1: Stanley and her dad is George Thomas Stanley. And my

494
00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,440
Speaker 1: name is Thomas Stanley STA N D. L. E. Y. Ramsey,

495
00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,280
Speaker 1: and he's Tom Ramsey. He grew up in Crockett, but

496
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:09,919
Speaker 1: his family. I love all that East Texas stuff.

497
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:10,159
Speaker 4: All right.

498
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 1: I got a little trivia for you, hotshot, because I

499
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,640
Speaker 1: suspect you might know this, okay, growing up in Woodville

500
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:19,400
Speaker 1: as you. Did you know that it is in Tyler County?

501
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.

502
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,359
Speaker 1: Woodville is the county seat of Tyler County and was

503
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:30,560
Speaker 1: named for whom.

504
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 3: Ah, that's a great question. I was gonna.

505
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,080
Speaker 5: I would love to say John Henry Kirby, because Kirby

506
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,919
Speaker 5: Lumber Company and everything had such an impact there. But

507
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 5: it had to be somebody related to the Wood family.

508
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:46,240
Speaker 5: And uh, I don't really know the ultimate.

509
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: It was named after the second Governor of Texas, George

510
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:52,360
Speaker 1: Tyler Wood.

511
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:55,720
Speaker 3: He was good, he was just he was.

512
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: Defeated for No, I had to look it up. He

513
00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: was defeated for reelection. Okay, okay, And it turns out,

514
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: you know, I thought, well, who was the first governor?

515
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,320
Speaker 1: And I would have thought, well, maybe it was Sam Houston.

516
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 4: No.

517
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 1: Sam Houston's not elected governor until twenty three years after

518
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:15,080
Speaker 1: the Alamo. He was the seventh governor. Our boy, George

519
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:19,639
Speaker 1: Tyler wood was the second governor. Did you happen to

520
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 1: know a lawyer from Woodville with the last name Kenny

521
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,200
Speaker 1: because I had a law school classic named Robert Kenny

522
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: and his dad was a big deal in Woodville.

523
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 4: I did, yes, sir, So he would have been family

524
00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:30,680
Speaker 4: were there.

525
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, he would have been a little younger than you.

526
00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:36,879
Speaker 3: Yeah.

527
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 1: What's the hardest part about being a pastor?

528
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 3: Oh?

529
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 5: Man, the demands just from it's the hardest part. But

530
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:48,399
Speaker 5: it's the best part. The demands and loving your people

531
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 5: and shepherding your people. You know, that's that's the hardest part,

532
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 5: right there, I would say, But it's the best part,

533
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 5: you know, standing up and preaching, that's wonderful. I love

534
00:27:57,640 --> 00:27:59,400
Speaker 5: to do that and I thank God for the privilege

535
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,600
Speaker 5: of getting to do that. But you know, I'm going

536
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 5: to preach regardless. If I don't have a church, probably

537
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 5: I'm find I'm will find somewhere to preach and somehow

538
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:12,240
Speaker 5: to spread the Word of God. But loving the people

539
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 5: and loving my people here. We've been here twenty years, man,

540
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:17,720
Speaker 5: And when I first got here, I was like, seriously,

541
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:19,919
Speaker 5: we're moving to West Texas, away from everything I know.

542
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,639
Speaker 5: And but my family fell in love out here with

543
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,439
Speaker 5: the people and with the area, and so you know,

544
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,040
Speaker 5: it's just good people and they love the word of God.

545
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 1: Is the most political thing you have to go through

546
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,880
Speaker 1: every week deciding which family you'll have dinner at. There,

547
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 1: There'll have Sunday lunch at their house.

548
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 3: No, I don't have to do that that much now.

549
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 4: That was more in my other two churches, but not

550
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 4: now I am.

551
00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 3: You know. I try to love.

552
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,080
Speaker 5: Them all, and there's some you know, obviously in every

553
00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 5: church there's people that are easier to love than others.

554
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 5: But my goal was to love them all. God's called

555
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:57,600
Speaker 5: me to shepherd them all, so that's what I desire

556
00:28:57,600 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 5: to do.

557
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 1: You will appreciate this. With the challenges and demands on

558
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 1: your time and energy. When I got elected to city

559
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 1: council in two thousand and one, I went to ed

560
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 1: Young because I couldn't keep up. People wanted me to

561
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: go to their kids' bar mitzvah. They wanted me to

562
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 1: go to their kids wedding. And I'd been elected citywide.

563
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 1: It's a big city and a lot of people had

564
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 1: invested in me. They put a lot of time and energy.

565
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:19,360
Speaker 1: And my wife said, why don't you go talk to

566
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 1: Pastor Young. He'll be able to handle this. He's got

567
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 1: thirty thousand members and they expect a lot more out

568
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 1: of a pastor and a city councilor. And I did,

569
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,040
Speaker 1: and he gave me the book Good to Great by

570
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: Jim Collins and told me to read that. And he

571
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:32,480
Speaker 1: told me that when somebody wants to have a meeting,

572
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: don't have it. Say what let's talk about what you

573
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 1: need to talk about right now. And he gave me

574
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: about three or four bits of advice that have stuck

575
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:40,960
Speaker 1: with me to this very day. So I have, from

576
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 1: a distance an appreciation for what you do and how

577
00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 1: you do it. But I will tell you that the

578
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:50,000
Speaker 1: highest compliment I can give you is that you I

579
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:55,719
Speaker 1: don't like the whole televangelist preacher, rock Star megalomaniac megachurch.

580
00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,840
Speaker 1: Thing from when we talked last night. You talk about

581
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 1: shepherding your and and tending your flock, and I love

582
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:07,959
Speaker 1: that about you. Pastor Byron McWilliams, First Odessa, that you

583
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,240
Speaker 1: might be a shining example of what the church should be.

584
00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:12,760
Speaker 1: Afford a nice.

585
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 3: Meal, Michael Barry.

586
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 5: That's gotten harder because of Kamala Harris's policies