Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Overcome for podcast. I'm your host
Speaker 1: Jennica Lopez. Thank you guys so much for choosing to
Speaker 1: watch and listen to the podcast today. I am excited
Speaker 1: to bring and present our guests today. He is a
Speaker 1: member of Bethel Music. Yes, it was like Bethel Music.
Speaker 1: For those or for those that know who don't know,
Speaker 1: Bethel Music is probably one of the biggest Christian music brands.
Speaker 1: I feel that that is pretty out there. Anyways, his
Speaker 1: name is Edward Rivera. I'm so excited to connect with
Speaker 1: you and talk to you today because, you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like people that have grown up in church, like
Speaker 1: we were talking about when we were starting, when we
Speaker 1: were chit chatting before we started, Yeah, there's like a
Speaker 1: specific connection, especially Spanish churches, and you know, I feel
Speaker 1: like there's we all have some.
Speaker 2: Shared stories, stories, trauma.
Speaker 1: Trauma situations, and I said, like they're not unspoken of.
Speaker 1: There's people that talk about it. You know, maybe we
Speaker 1: could just chat and see how it is and then
Speaker 1: obviously talk about your growth and how you got to
Speaker 1: where you're at right now. So who is where did
Speaker 1: you come from? How did you Obviously you grew up
Speaker 1: in church, tell me about like your first experience and
Speaker 1: how growing up that.
Speaker 2: Oh that was.
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, I just want to say thank
Speaker 3: you for having me. I'm so honored to be here.
Speaker 3: And I've been watching your podcast for a minute too.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course I've learned about I've learned about stuff
Speaker 3: I didn't even know, you know, like you have so
Speaker 3: many topics, you talk about so many things.
Speaker 2: It's really cool. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So yeah, I've been doing this for a long
Speaker 3: time now. I started off as a background singer first,
Speaker 3: but growing up in church, like, singing was not something
Speaker 3: I thought I was ever going to do because I
Speaker 3: I just the only people I saw on stage was
Speaker 3: like edemanas you know, like older ladies from church. They
Speaker 3: were playing exactly the sisters of the church. They were
Speaker 3: playing in my church specifically growing up. They were like
Speaker 3: they were the only guy on stage was the drummer.
Speaker 3: Everybody else was keyboard like girls. Okay, So I just thought, well,
Speaker 3: singing is for girls. I never thought about it at.
Speaker 1: All, so like it wasn't like a possibility.
Speaker 3: I didn't even know you could do anything with it.
Speaker 3: I just I wasn't even thinking about singing at all.
Speaker 3: And then until I was seventeen. That's when I like
Speaker 3: really like met I guess met the Lord, like met God,
Speaker 3: and yeah, like that's kind of what started everything. And
Speaker 3: I was just like I I was at that point
Speaker 3: in my life. I was kind of really empty and
Speaker 3: really lonely and just going through it as a teenager,
Speaker 3: you know, and I'm.
Speaker 1: Broken.
Speaker 3: The world is yeah, the world's over. Everything's just gonna yeah.
Speaker 3: So but yeah, I know it was good. Uh I
Speaker 3: met him. I met the Lord at a youth.
Speaker 1: Camp and me too, I thought it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's always youth camp and I went like my mom,
Speaker 3: oh my god.
Speaker 1: You know what though, like, and I'm so sorry to
Speaker 1: cut you off, but these are the things that I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like I'm I think every person I know has been
Speaker 1: saved at a youth camp.
Speaker 2: Which is beautiful.
Speaker 3: Yes the camp if you have it, if you're if
Speaker 3: you're old, still going no, But and.
Speaker 1: I like whether because I love I appreciate, you know,
Speaker 1: being saved at a young age. You know, now that
Speaker 1: I'm older, I feel like it's reborn. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe for you also the same, like you feel reborn
Speaker 1: now that you get older, and you feel like you
Speaker 1: meet not the better version of Christ, but like just
Speaker 1: a new review.
Speaker 3: A healthier a healthier Yes, understand who Yes, yeah, I
Speaker 3: mean I'll tell you, I'll tell you.
Speaker 2: I have so much. I'm sure you do too.
Speaker 3: Church traumas, church stories, and yeah, like church was not something.
Speaker 3: It didn't wasn't fun for me growing up, so like, uh,
Speaker 3: it wasn't until that youth camp, Like I'm glad my
Speaker 3: mom made me go to be honest, but yeah, like
Speaker 3: it was, it was great. I'm I think everybody should go.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we've obviously like we're obviously talking about traumas.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that like you've learned from then until now? Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, because I feel like there's so many
Speaker 1: things that you can learn.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, no, and I even said it.
Speaker 3: You said it like a better understanding, a better version
Speaker 3: of yourself, I think, or even understanding of even like
Speaker 3: what who he is? Like I think as a kid,
Speaker 3: you just believe whatever they tell you. So they're like,
Speaker 3: if you do this, God's going to be mad at
Speaker 3: you or God's watching you, and you start feeling like
Speaker 3: so afraid and and feeling like that's of becomes the
Speaker 3: foundation of your relationship with God.
Speaker 2: It's like very fear based, yes, and.
Speaker 1: I feel like that still lives till this day? Does
Speaker 1: it like linger for you? Where like at least for
Speaker 1: me where I feel like I feel like I punish
Speaker 1: myself mentally but under like I know that God's not
Speaker 1: mad me, but I know in my head, like I
Speaker 1: think it's that you're whatever you're doing, making like every
Speaker 1: situation I.
Speaker 2: Question myself exactly.
Speaker 3: I think it's just like the accusation, like that voice
Speaker 3: of shame, and you know, like for example, like I'm
Speaker 3: tied it up right.
Speaker 2: I have tracts everywhere too. I love it.
Speaker 3: I love tattoos. But like growing up in church, like
Speaker 3: it was like that is a no no, you know, it.
Speaker 1: Was like laboo forbidden exactly.
Speaker 3: So you start thinking, like, man, is God really this
Speaker 3: mad about like you know, you start it starts to
Speaker 3: mess with your understanding of who he is.
Speaker 2: But the older you get and the more you grow.
Speaker 3: And the more you see things, and the more you
Speaker 3: even understand as the word differently than when you were
Speaker 3: a kid, because before they used to just tell you
Speaker 3: what it meant, and now that you're older, you can
Speaker 3: kind of you're old enough to question some of it
Speaker 3: and to you know, and then just get like a
Speaker 3: better understanding and you grow. So to answer your question,
Speaker 3: I feel like my biggest thing that I've learned, or
Speaker 3: the way that I've grown, is more so my understanding
Speaker 3: of who he is. So twenty eighteen or twenty nineteen,
Speaker 3: when Hurricane Harvey hit in Houston, I was doing a
Speaker 3: job out there, like a background job, and I didn't
Speaker 3: know that there was a hurricane coming.
Speaker 2: So at all, and you see nothing. I wasn't. I'm
Speaker 2: from West Coast, like I don't think about hurt.
Speaker 3: And I get there and they have like this hurricane
Speaker 3: that came and they shut everything down and I was
Speaker 3: like stuck out there.
Speaker 2: It was like the most traumatic experience.
Speaker 3: I couldn't I was out. I was stuck in Texas
Speaker 3: and Houston for like two weeks. I was at someone's
Speaker 3: house first, and like we have to get rescued at
Speaker 3: some point.
Speaker 2: Like it was just nuts.
Speaker 3: But the whole time that's kind of what started everything
Speaker 3: for me. The whole time, I was thinking, well, isn't
Speaker 3: God the one that sends the hurricanes? Because that's what
Speaker 3: they told me growing up, Like you know, it's like
Speaker 3: he's mad at people. So yeah, sending hurricane Yeah, Like
Speaker 3: how many times have they said that God's going to
Speaker 3: punish California and We're gonna be in the water somewhere,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Like it's all these curses
Speaker 3: that people have spoken for so long, and then I'm
Speaker 3: in it and I'm like, well what do I do
Speaker 3: with that information?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Am I did you send me here to die?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: You start to question all these things that I've never
Speaker 3: I questioned God in a way that I never had.
Speaker 3: So that kind of catapulted like this curiosity in me
Speaker 3: to like want to know him a little deeper and
Speaker 3: want to know who he is.
Speaker 1: Because that's what I was gonna ask you, like, how
Speaker 1: did your relationship shift? Like because there's people that like
Speaker 1: saved saved young Christian their whole lives and then they
Speaker 1: kind of just I mean like they just don't want
Speaker 1: to have a reallyship.
Speaker 4: With God at all?
Speaker 2: Right, right, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And I feel like, Okay, thank you God that I'm
Speaker 1: able to understand and still question, how like for you,
Speaker 1: how did you manage to that shift, like you know,
Speaker 1: to not create that bitterness or to not create that
Speaker 1: you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, like church or with God or anything.
Speaker 3: Man, I think I had to dev I had to
Speaker 3: own my relationship with him. So before I had a
Speaker 3: relationship with him through church, through ministry, through singing on
Speaker 3: a stage, through other people, I didn't. I don't think
Speaker 3: I actually really knew who he was, like I was.
Speaker 3: I knew who they told me he was, but it
Speaker 3: didn't line up with like a lot of what they
Speaker 3: told me was was like him was being him as
Speaker 3: angry and bitter and and upset with me, and I'm
Speaker 3: just like, you know, freaking all the time, scared, am
Speaker 3: I gonna go to Hell today or something?
Speaker 2: You know, Like, But I think the shift was owning
Speaker 2: that I said.
Speaker 3: Like I said, after that hurricane situation, I decided to
Speaker 3: be like I'm going to go on my own journey
Speaker 3: of figuring out who you are because I need to
Speaker 3: know you as good because I feel like you abandoned
Speaker 3: me there, you know, so I'm like, I don't know
Speaker 3: who you are, Like it was just like it was
Speaker 3: just it just threw me off. So I started to
Speaker 3: read on my own and ask questions. I asked a
Speaker 3: lot of questions. I said, why do we believe this?
Speaker 3: And like why can't what's so wrong about tattoos? And
Speaker 3: you know, I started to question. But when you question,
Speaker 3: I don't know if you have that same experience.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't actually don't know your church experience.
Speaker 3: But if you question, it's if you question the pastor
Speaker 3: if you question, it's almost like you're questioning God. Yes
Speaker 3: you know, so then you don't even trust your own
Speaker 3: thoughts or your own stuff. But I've developed my own
Speaker 3: relationship with him. I've been able to like he know,
Speaker 3: his voice is so certain that like I don't care
Speaker 3: what people tell me, like if they know it was
Speaker 3: like if people start coming for me for like how
Speaker 3: I dress or how I look. I I know my
Speaker 3: own truth. I have my own foundation, so that shame
Speaker 3: doesn't hit me as it's like I'm shielded by truth.
Speaker 1: You're and you're secure exactly where in what your foundation is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go on a quick break and we will
Speaker 1: be right back. Welcome back, you guys.
Speaker 3: I'm actually curious to know your church history, Like do
Speaker 3: we share traumas? Yeah, you know everybody away from church.
Speaker 3: I don't want to be a part of this.
Speaker 1: I know, no, But that's the thing is a lot
Speaker 1: of those people probably grew up in those situations and
Speaker 1: are left and that left and just don't and they
Speaker 1: have this specific image of what God is like, and
Speaker 1: that's you know, and that what's that's what makes me
Speaker 1: sad is that there's so many souls and so many
Speaker 1: people that happen in situations. Grew up question grew up
Speaker 1: in a Catholic even household where it was just super
Speaker 1: strict and super like this this, this this bad and
Speaker 1: I'm luckily like my parents weren't like that. My mom obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, I grew up Christian because my uncle's a
Speaker 1: pastor and it was very important that you know, God
Speaker 1: is there's a foundation. My mom wasn't the perfect Christian, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, we weren't going to church every Sunday. But then
Speaker 1: I went with my sister. At that point, I was
Speaker 1: already old enough to take myself to drive, and you know,
Speaker 1: I was in the worship team. I was very committed,
Speaker 1: and you know it, it got to a point where
Speaker 1: it was just like it just didn't feel peaceful anymore.
Speaker 1: And it was also because of decision decisions of people
Speaker 1: around me where it was like okay, like this isn't okay.
Speaker 1: Like and I'm not saying like and I'm not shaming
Speaker 1: those people, you know, but it was like the way
Speaker 1: you see God in those times, it's like you're supposed
Speaker 1: to be like the most perfect and the most holiest,
Speaker 1: and everyone's trying to be like just like Jesus and
Speaker 1: you know, forgetting that sin ever existed, you know. So
Speaker 1: it was kind of like you're just carrying a lot
Speaker 1: of weight and a lot of shame, and it's like
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel okay, this doesn't feel.
Speaker 2: Like God, you know.
Speaker 1: So and I left and I left, you know, and
Speaker 1: it was like obviously, you know, they have like specific,
Speaker 1: very specific.
Speaker 4: Roles on how to be on the worship team or
Speaker 4: to be.
Speaker 2: Able to serve anything, to do anything.
Speaker 1: And for me, I just feel like at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, I'm still serving the Lord whether I
Speaker 1: do anything. What, you know, if I go to church
Speaker 1: every Sunday, you're not like, I'm still serving him and
Speaker 1: I know it's pleasing him. So it's like and that's
Speaker 1: where it was hard for people, at least for me
Speaker 1: to make that shift and to like, you know, for
Speaker 1: people to understand. And that's where you also lose friendships.
Speaker 2: That's where you.
Speaker 4: Also lose family members, and.
Speaker 1: You know, it stays in the people have a very
Speaker 1: old school mindset and it's.
Speaker 2: Just not wonder where it comes from.
Speaker 3: Well, Like, I don't like to use that word because
Speaker 3: a lot of people talk because it's been tabooed.
Speaker 2: But deconstruction is like such a big taboo word in
Speaker 2: the church.
Speaker 3: But I don't feel like I deconstructed. I feel like
Speaker 3: I reconstructed. I feel like I didn't want to lose
Speaker 3: my faith, but I was definitely going to get to
Speaker 3: the core of like what is it that I believe?
Speaker 2: Why do I believe it? And I'm going to stand
Speaker 2: on it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So once I started to get to the root
Speaker 3: of it, then you start to see, like would you say,
Speaker 3: you start to notice that like that doesn't feel like God,
Speaker 3: or that doesn't look like God, or what you're saying
Speaker 3: up there doesn't sound like who I know God to be.
Speaker 3: So you start to kind of be like, what do
Speaker 3: I do with that information? So I think it's super healthy,
Speaker 3: like to go through that, like what you did to
Speaker 3: question to do that, it's super healthy. I think that
Speaker 3: as long as you continue to anchor yourself in that faith,
Speaker 3: I think you're good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's what like, I think, that's what I
Speaker 1: live off today. Like as long as I have a
Speaker 1: good foundation, my relationship with God is you know, I'm
Speaker 1: feeding all the right places.
Speaker 2: You don't have to prove that to anyone, No, And.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I realistically don't. And I've learned that
Speaker 1: over the years to take that pressure off, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I don't like it sounds bad, but
Speaker 1: like being labeled as a Christian sets this perfect like
Speaker 1: you have to be this certain way, and it's like no, like, yes,
Speaker 1: I'm Christian, but I also you know, I do other things,
Speaker 1: and but I'm okay with what I'm doing. I'm okay
Speaker 1: with what I'm doing, and I'm at peace and I know.
Speaker 2: And that's what matters exactly.
Speaker 1: And my foundation is my foundation. Your foundation is your face.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: Everybody has their own rules and that that's why I
Speaker 1: generally love to live by like you know what christ
Speaker 1: is my foundation. That is the one I'm running to
Speaker 1: be whatever, and without having that pressure on my friends
Speaker 1: or anybody else.
Speaker 4: Like you know, I'm.
Speaker 1: Perfectly imperfect, but I'm still loved and I'm still seen,
Speaker 1: and I'm still you know, a lot of beauty from ashes,
Speaker 1: from what you know, from what my from what my
Speaker 1: journey with God has been. He's created a lot, created
Speaker 1: a lot of good things, and I'm grateful. And you know,
Speaker 1: everyone has their own journey, and it's it hasn't been perfect.
Speaker 3: It's been long and scary, and you know what, it's
Speaker 3: hard even for me. I'm not gonna lie to you
Speaker 3: like it's hard even for me as a I didn't
Speaker 3: sign up to be a Christian influencer.
Speaker 2: I don't even like that word or that label or
Speaker 2: that name.
Speaker 3: I didn't sign up what I because social media isn't
Speaker 3: what it is now right. So in the beginning, you
Speaker 3: just post because it's for your friends and you.
Speaker 2: You love sharing.
Speaker 3: They celebrate you, and then all of a sudden you
Speaker 3: realize that there's like people following you, and then they
Speaker 3: start to they start to have opinions about what you're
Speaker 3: doing and how you should live because they have a
Speaker 3: different man. Okay, So I sing a lot in the Spanish,
Speaker 3: you know, Spanish side, and a lot of the audience
Speaker 3: is from Latin America, and how we do church here
Speaker 3: in America is so different. Yes, especially so we would
Speaker 3: I'm a part of the I was I grew up
Speaker 3: as some as a god. I don't know if you know
Speaker 3: anything about that. But there was a Spanish side, and
Speaker 3: there was a white side, English side. When we called
Speaker 3: it the white side, but it was English side, and
Speaker 3: it was night and day Spanish side, so many rules.
Speaker 3: Boys said on one side, girl said on the other side,
Speaker 3: and then we would go to the When we would
Speaker 3: do the English side or the English part of the
Speaker 3: ag some as a god, it would be like a party.
Speaker 3: It'd be like fun, it'd be like so many things.
Speaker 3: So I know that that comes from culture and tradition
Speaker 3: and stuff from like that, from like the fifties, and
Speaker 3: a lot of like people that hold onto those beliefs still,
Speaker 3: but they're trying to put their own personal history or
Speaker 3: their own personal beliefs onto me. Yeah, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: I can't carry that. I didn't grow up that way.
Speaker 3: I don't believe that, you know. I remember one time
Speaker 3: this I went to go sing somewhere. It was a
Speaker 3: youth conference and I went. It was like one of
Speaker 3: my first times to like singing on my own, and
Speaker 3: I wore these shorts and that's like a no no
Speaker 3: in Spanish world. So I wore these shorts, and like,
Speaker 3: I thought it was cool because it was youth and
Speaker 3: like I do, I do. I've done youth stuff with
Speaker 3: basketball shorts before, you know, at the time. And this lady, well,
Speaker 3: she's like a big she was like a main pastor
Speaker 3: for that whole thing. She grabs me right I'm about
Speaker 3: to go on stage. She pulls me off and she's
Speaker 3: like and she's like, she tells me something in Spanish,
Speaker 3: but onlinkin though, because she's like, Mama said, I'm not collecta,
Speaker 3: but I gotta look at this.
Speaker 2: And I was like, what does she say? What's collecta? Behind?
Speaker 2: I was just like, what's a collecta?
Speaker 3: And then she told me and then I got what
Speaker 3: she said and she told me she was like go.
Speaker 2: And I was like whoa. Like that just threw me off.
Speaker 3: And I remember being like super hurt by that and
Speaker 3: being like why does it even matter?
Speaker 2: You know, Like how I'm up there.
Speaker 3: I don't sing in suit and a tie in my
Speaker 3: house by myself, you know, privately, So why would I
Speaker 3: feel like I have to dress up for you?
Speaker 2: You know? So I have I have that.
Speaker 3: I felt a lot of that pressure, like you, and
Speaker 3: I think I had to just like you said, re
Speaker 3: recognize that, like this is my relationship. I'm good. I
Speaker 3: know I'm good. I don't have to prove it to y'all.
Speaker 3: I don't have to post to prove it to y'all.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I like that that's your mentality because it's like you
Speaker 3: really don't owe anyone.
Speaker 2: You don't have to prove your salvation to anyone.
Speaker 1: Exactly as long as you're good.
Speaker 2: Come on exactly. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Yes, we're gonna.
Speaker 1: Go on a quick break and we will be right back.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, you guys. So I want to talk about
Speaker 1: how you got into Bethel. Oh yeah, like that journey.
Speaker 1: How's it going now, dude?
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 3: I love that I get to be like the like
Speaker 3: somebody representing for our people and like our culture and
Speaker 3: be able to bring what our own history and our
Speaker 3: own experience growing up in our own church culture and everything,
Speaker 3: bringing that into this space.
Speaker 2: It's so cool. I get to be a bridge between
Speaker 2: them both.
Speaker 3: So anyway, So it started, like I said, I was
Speaker 3: doing background work and after the hurricane, I had a
Speaker 3: severe I had PTSD and like severe chronic anxiety and
Speaker 3: a lot of stuff going on and Bethel really was
Speaker 3: The Lord really used Bethel to help to give me resources.
Speaker 3: I had no grid for mental health. I had no
Speaker 3: idea what it was. I thought people who had it
Speaker 3: were crazy.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I just didn't think anything of it.
Speaker 3: And that church was like had so much resources and
Speaker 3: tools on psychology and a lot on that type of
Speaker 3: that gave me so much help.
Speaker 2: So it gave me a lot of healing.
Speaker 3: And in that I decided to serve and sing there
Speaker 3: and make that since it was my church, I was
Speaker 3: just going to help there, never dreaming or thinking that
Speaker 3: it was going to become what it is now. And yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean it just I started, they started to use
Speaker 3: me to do like different services and then one of
Speaker 3: the videos kind of blew up and then it just
Speaker 3: kept going from there. So it was really cool.
Speaker 2: I think the Lord's favor has been on that for sure.
Speaker 1: And I I definitely and I love that what you
Speaker 1: said about, you know, bringing our culture, because I think
Speaker 1: that's what has been my favorite thing to listen to,
Speaker 1: Like it brings some type of healing, like an inner
Speaker 1: child healing, like when you hear those songs modern eye
Speaker 1: and just like it's like a breath of fresh air,
Speaker 1: and I agree, and I definitely can definitely agree that
Speaker 1: Bethel has been a pillar of that has helped me
Speaker 1: with my mental health as well, like psychologically, like it's
Speaker 1: helped me. They've also really helped me understand God in
Speaker 1: a better way to like try to see it differently,
Speaker 1: like I see.
Speaker 4: Like wow, like.
Speaker 1: This is what This is totally different from what I
Speaker 1: knew before.
Speaker 4: You know how it is it? Ben or Bill?
Speaker 2: John?
Speaker 3: Bill, Bill, have you ever read that God Is Real?
Speaker 3: There's another book called I was gonna say that too.
Speaker 3: I was gonna bring that book up, and I was
Speaker 3: gonna bring another one called God Is Good because that
Speaker 3: answers a lot of my questions of during that time.
Speaker 3: I was like, how can God be good if this happened?
Speaker 3: I'm seeing people drown, I'm seeing houses it. I was
Speaker 3: thinking like how can God be good? And that, like
Speaker 3: I'm telling you that being there and getting all those
Speaker 3: resources in that book God Is Good like helped me
Speaker 3: so much. And not only that, but I got to
Speaker 3: see it reflect like he got to I got to
Speaker 3: see that book kind of reflected in his life, like
Speaker 3: he lives out what he's writing because his wife just
Speaker 3: passed from cancer, and like the fact that his response
Speaker 3: was to worship when she passed is just like, how
Speaker 3: do you even have the mental capacity to even think
Speaker 3: that way? Because the way I would be, I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm just being real, like the way I would be
Speaker 3: like so upset with the world or like you know,
Speaker 3: how could you do this?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: But like the fact that I get to see it
Speaker 3: modeled is really special, Like, yeah, it's not just people,
Speaker 3: it's not just someone that's just telling you about it,
Speaker 3: Like he's living.
Speaker 1: He's living sure, And that actually reminds me I actually
Speaker 1: did that when my.
Speaker 2: Mom passed away. Did it help you?
Speaker 4: It was hard?
Speaker 1: It was hard, and it was because I remember the
Speaker 1: song I was singing it is how He Loves Us?
Speaker 1: He loves that one, but no, and they changed the
Speaker 1: lyrics and I'm like, I honestly don't.
Speaker 4: To be honest, I don't remember.
Speaker 1: I do not remember that moment in my life at all,
Speaker 1: Like I just remember like like like flashes.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that is definitely.
Speaker 2: How can you get through something like that without like
Speaker 2: without the option of having him as hope, Like that's.
Speaker 4: What I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I guess you can't.
Speaker 4: You like that's the only reason why.
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, I'm not gonna be mad. This
Speaker 1: is the only hope I have, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he becomes real like the book exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: So it's like then I started remembering those little things
Speaker 1: and you know, overall, God is good, guys, God is
Speaker 1: good no matter what.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right.
Speaker 4: So what are the next steps for you? What is
Speaker 4: something like?
Speaker 1: Obviously you're in this realm, you're here for writing camp,
Speaker 1: what writing?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 4: What's the next steps for you?
Speaker 1: What are you looking to do?
Speaker 2: Honestly, I love songwriting so much.
Speaker 3: I I love it more than being on a stage,
Speaker 3: to be honest, Like, I love that I get to
Speaker 3: do that.
Speaker 4: But it's something, it's different, it's so different.
Speaker 3: I love to see how far a song can get.
Speaker 3: I love to the creativity. It's like it's like art,
Speaker 3: it really is. So so that's what I really I'm
Speaker 3: looking forward to doing. I was just telling you before
Speaker 3: that I'm writing all kinds of music. I used to
Speaker 3: be so afraid to like go outside step, outside of
Speaker 3: the church genre or outside of that because of these
Speaker 3: voices and because of exactly and you know, traditional they
Speaker 3: tell us. You know, they're supposed to You're not supposed
Speaker 3: to be like you keep the world out and we're
Speaker 3: our own little world. And I don't believe that personally.
Speaker 3: I believe that we're supposed to carry our b salt
Speaker 3: and light into that space.
Speaker 2: So how are we gonna? How am I gonna? You know?
Speaker 2: My goat My heart has been.
Speaker 3: To get into the industry more on the mainstream side
Speaker 3: and just like be a light in that space, whether
Speaker 3: it be through writing or whatever. Like, I just want
Speaker 3: to continue to serve his people in that capacity. So
Speaker 3: that's what I'm looking forward to writing and recording more.
Speaker 3: And I know we got some more projects coming out
Speaker 3: with Bethel. We have the album coming out in January,
Speaker 3: the new one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm featured on it. I wonder.
Speaker 3: I don't even remember if I say in Spanish afloat
Speaker 3: in Spanish s or not. I don't remember, but I
Speaker 3: love flowing and Spanish in there.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I got to wear this like because I know their audience.
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm going to wear this hat and
Speaker 3: I'm gonna put this Mexican flag right on it, like
Speaker 3: right on the side of it, and just like represent
Speaker 3: for my people.
Speaker 4: Love that and this is what you're doing.
Speaker 1: And it's a it's like I said, it's like it's
Speaker 1: a breath, refresh air.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: It's definitely like like wow, like this is what it
Speaker 1: should have felt.
Speaker 2: To ask your question, Yeah, scared, where do I want
Speaker 2: to go? What was like? Tell me like your top
Speaker 2: two favorite or the like songs that you can recall
Speaker 2: like growing up singing as a kid. But oh my god,
Speaker 2: I love that song.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I still throw it in there sometimes, Yes, I
Speaker 2: love it.
Speaker 1: It's exactly remember I wanted, oh my god.
Speaker 2: Those yes.
Speaker 3: So for those of you who't know, coos are like hymns,
Speaker 3: like Spanish hymns, like old school church songs that they've
Speaker 3: sang for like ages.
Speaker 4: Yes, you know what.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this counts, but it was Israel
Speaker 1: and Jesus is the center, Jesus at the center song,
Speaker 1: He's at the center.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's a good song.
Speaker 1: And then they would translated oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Did you ever hear the Spanish version?
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, love that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah he did. He was really good.
Speaker 3: He was like one of the first people that started
Speaker 3: translating and doing stuff yeah in Spanish before it became
Speaker 3: like cool to do that. Yeah, not everybody wants to
Speaker 3: do do you remember? Yeah, I can't believe you do.
Speaker 3: That's like blowing my mind right now.
Speaker 4: You know what song that they would always have me do?
Speaker 1: It was the super high pitched super like.
Speaker 4: Oh god, I can't remember.
Speaker 3: They had They had a lot of bangers though they did.
Speaker 3: But actually, wait, there were a lot of covers of
Speaker 3: hillsong song exactly, that's true.
Speaker 2: Band credits. Yeah, favorite kill song cover band.
Speaker 3: But I've been able to see the growth actually, like
Speaker 3: in the Latin Spanish Christian side, Like I remember when
Speaker 3: it was just Michael Sweet and like three people.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: That's a new one, that one, And now there's like
Speaker 3: so many and the growth. That's a classic one right there.
Speaker 3: He was like one of my favorite songwriter like worship
Speaker 3: songwrit like songwriters.
Speaker 2: He had this one.
Speaker 3: That's the one I got saved to actually and it
Speaker 3: was like, uh then, oh.
Speaker 2: My, I love that, just weep to it. I don't
Speaker 2: even know why I was weeping crying.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Well, it has been it has been wonderful speaking to
Speaker 1: you and obviously getting to know you and sharing trauma,
Speaker 1: trauma bonding.
Speaker 2: But we made it. We're healing, our faith is still intact.
Speaker 2: We're still good.
Speaker 1: We're there.
Speaker 2: Please come to church. It's not as bad as it's
Speaker 2: better now.
Speaker 1: It's it's not just you know, yeah, just Christ the
Speaker 1: song and music that the Lord loves you.
Speaker 4: It's true.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to like you know, I think
Speaker 1: more than anything, I know that there's people that some
Speaker 1: somebody is bound to relate to this and to understand,
Speaker 1: you know, the traumas and stuff.
Speaker 4: And I want to let you guys know that.
Speaker 1: It is okay. I think those moments shape us and
Speaker 1: they push us to just understand and know God differently.
Speaker 3: And I see them as invitations to get to know
Speaker 3: Him in a different way for sure.
Speaker 1: And make sure you guys please follow Edward. I don't know.
Speaker 1: This man's Instagram is private, you know, so that's a
Speaker 1: person that's coming off.
Speaker 2: I'm going to take it off of private.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: I'm just taking a little break.
Speaker 1: Okay, when you're when you're off your break, what is it?
Speaker 2: It's Edward RIVERA.
Speaker 4: There you go.
Speaker 1: But yes, thank you so much. I appreciate you taking
Speaker 1: the time out of your day to come on the podcast,
Speaker 1: and I wish you the best, and I'll be listening
Speaker 1: and making sure.
Speaker 2: To be keeping on me.
Speaker 1: No thank you makes you guys like common subscribe follow
Speaker 1: Edward and I will see you guys next Tuesday. Bye.
Speaker 1: Overcome for podcast is a production of Iheartmichael podcast Network