GOD USES YOUR STORY TO CULTIVATE HIS CHURCH | A POD w/ Pastors Ricky & Chris

Hey, what's up, everybody? I guess the first one went OK

because we're back with the second one.

Part 2. That's right.

Here we go. Hope you guys are doing great

man. It's good to see you guys again.

Hopefully you had a great couple week.

I know the last episode we called it Sunday always comes.

How was your Sunday? Yeah, man, Sunday was beautiful.

It's really odd when I don't preach, I'm still used to it

because, you know, we are church planters and we get into the

grind of preaching every week. And so I had a good brother, a

good brother of ours, Pastor Gabe under from the Tree of

Life, come and preach at freedom and did a beautiful job.

Man. It's like sometimes you need

those preachers that are going to come in just gut punch your

church. And I it, it was really cool

because Gabe, but he came and talked to him about the parable

of the sore and it was beautiful.

And we there was a lot of stuff that he said this this week that

you know, us as pastors, men sometimes that we know

everybody's story in the church. You know, and there's there's

things in the church that that need correction and there's

things that that need to be talked about.

But this is just me and I, I won't say to you, but I never

want to share that stuff from the pulpit because I don't know,

I ever want people to feel like, oh, Pastor Chris used my

situation and turned it into a preaching.

So I never do. It talk to him no more.

Yeah, yeah, 'cause he's going to, he's going to use it and

he's going to put it into a preaching.

And so you get a guest pastor that comes in and he just hits

everything. And he doesn't know nobody.

And he doesn't know anybody. And so it was one of those,

those those beautiful moments. It was like, Lord, like, you

know, that I've been wanting to touch on these things, but I

don't want people to feel like I'm using them as a sermon

illustration. And so you get a, a guest

preacher in and he just starts hitting topics in the church

that, you know, people are dealing with.

And so I'm sitting in the front row, like just think saying

thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, because this needed to be

talked about. So it was beautiful, man.

It was wonderful. And you know, next week I have,

I'm not preaching either, but my, but it's Mother's Day next

week and my wife is going to be preaching.

So it's still weird. Like I said, it's weird for me

not to preach, but man, it's, it's a beautiful thing.

How was your Sunday, man? Man, it was awesome.

Yeah, it, it really was. I, I tell people like there's

sometimes as, as church planners, you know, like life

would get a little bit difficult.

I know we talked about that. It could, it could be stretched,

but then like there's some Sundays that you're just like,

wow, you know, like, like you go home and, and you just sit there

for a second. You're like, that was awesome.

That was like, it was, it's hard to explain to people that

weren't in the room or that don't attend, you know, So, so

as an encouragement to you guys that are planning churches, if

you feel like there's some Sundays that are difficult or

they, you know, things were messed up.

But there's, there's always something.

And I think it's just God's grace and, and his spirit that

covers us. And yeah, but it was, it was

beautiful, man. Our worship team killed it.

And man, you could just, it was just different.

There's something different about that room.

So, yeah, it was good man. And tell me.

What you think it was, man? What do you think it was in the

room? Yeah, I just, I just, we talk a

lot about hearts aligning and we always pray, say, Lord, let

everyone's heart align for what you want, you know, for your

glory, for your word, for your spirit.

And I just felt like there was a shift where everybody showed up,

like ready to go, you know, where everybody's hearts align.

Like there was people. I just felt like people were

prayed up. There was a sweet spirit in the

room, laughing, joking, like joy.

And the word was timely. And I don't know, like just

worship. I could just tell like the, the

guys really took their time with it.

And man, the, you can hear the congregation singing.

And so it, it was just like everything just kind of like hit

on all cylinders. I love it.

You know, that's a good, that sounds like a good Sunday, man.

Yeah, yeah. You go home like that, do it

again, you know, like this. Is how do we keep it there?

How do we stay there? And and one other thing, like

what you were talking about having a a guest preacher, I as

you were sharing that I remember I invited you to come preach at

our church And and when you came, our church just went

through a really difficult. Yeah, difficult time.

So there was. And that was one of the reasons

I was like, man, I would love for Chris to come 'cause you,

you play a big part in our story and we'll talk about that a year

later. But yeah, you preach to a room

that was dense with tension and yeah, you know, but, but it was

one of those things as we're sitting there and I remember you

preach on Philippians too. And but it was just one of those

affirming texts, you know, that that I felt like was needed to

be said. And then of course, months

later, it, it all just kind of came out and it was like, wow,

like what Chris said was so I think God uses like when other

people come in to to bless the church.

So it's not just necessarily like, let me just take a break.

Like there's a purpose. Absolutely.

And I, I feel that same way, man.

It's like I tell our church this, you know, I don't, I don't

trust everybody on this pulpit. You know, like I don't trust.

I don't trust because somebody has a gifting that they can be

up on the pulpit. The people that I usually bring

in and you've you've preached that freedom.

You know, there's, there's only a handful of people that I

actually invite to preach because I, I need to know their

heart. I don't, I don't want them to

just go up there and be like, you know, I'm, I'm trying to get

my name out there and I'm trying to like, you know, whatever,

Like I don't, I don't need that on your pulpit.

Like these are, these are hearts that you're speaking to.

These are people's lives that are looking for a drink of

water. They, they want to eat the bread

of life. And maybe, maybe you are a good

preacher. Maybe you're a good speaker.

Maybe you're, you're gifted, but I mean, just going back to talk

what we talked about last week as a shepherd, you know, you

need to know who's feeding your sheep.

And so for me, it's, it's one of those things I, I, I really pray

I, I tell our church this all the time.

It's like we don't do special guest preachers.

Like it's really rare. And so when it comes in, it's

for a reason and it's on purpose.

And so when I've had you and I've had Pastor Gabe come and

even Joel, like we, I, I allow them because I know their

hearts. I know that you guys love Jesus

and there is no agenda. It's just to come in and, and

share the love of Jesus. And this is what the Lord has on

my heart for you guys. Man, and I think that that is

actually, I know we're kind of going down this trail, but like

a lesson, because I know when I started City Post, I had a

thought of like, man, it would be great for our church to be

like a revolving door for ministers, like, like people in

training and then we can help develop them.

But one of the mistakes I made as a church planner early on was

that whole idea of what you just said, like, oh, you're getting

an Mdiv at seminary. Oh, you've got to be a good

preacher, you know, So I was taking people's word for it.

I was not looking into like, hear like seeing what they they

did in the past. I just trusted what they would

say. And so these guys, and now I

look back at it and I was like, there was an arrogance, like,

yeah, I'm I'm getting a a degree in this, so I'm going to be

good. And then you hear and you're

like, oh, that was trash. Like what?

Like that That was even. I was like, that was that was

bad. Yeah.

I was like, man, I mean, like you, you didn't use the

Scriptures, right? Like you just thought you were.

Yeah. It's God's gift to like the the

heart behind it wasn't good. No, and you're absolutely right,

man, because you know, we can look at people's credentials and

I mean, the worst thing that we can do is look at people's, you

know, social media following or their influence or like, you

know, their content that they put on.

Like, I think it would be a great person, this and this and

this, but I, I don't know anything about like, I don't

know their life. I don't know what they love.

Like, I don't know, like what their heart is.

I don't know how they handle their wife.

I don't know how they handle their kids.

I don't know any of that stuff. And so, I mean, then you talk,

you bring in a preacher or, and you, you always run that risk

of, and then there's a, you know, a controversy that happens

down the line. He's like, didn't Pastor Chris

bring that guy in here? Like, you know, like, like that

was, that was, and you're absolutely right.

It's an arrogance. It's like, we're going to bring

that that guy in here because he's got this and the

credentials are this and this and this.

And yeah, man. So I've, I've been really,

really careful to do that stuff to, to really pray on who to

bring and if I have a relationship with them and what

do I know about them? Not just their, their preaching,

but Ricky, I want to know about your wife.

Like I want to know about your kids.

Like, I want to know how you love your family.

Like I, those are the people that I want to present before

our church. Yeah.

And then this whole idea of like, you actually do what you

say. Yeah.

Yeah, like that. That's big for me.

So if you, if you're, if you're up there yelling at people to

make disciples, I want to know who you're walking with.

Like who are you discipling? Like what You know, where do you

lead at? Or you don't.

You don't serve anywhere 'cause you're too busy with school.

Now that's that's not gonna fly. Or I, I don't, I'm not under a,

a shepherd right now. I'm not under a pastor right

now. I'm, I'm a traveling minister.

I love hearing that I'm a traveling minister.

Well, who's your, who's your pastor?

And then they give you a name. And that pastor was like, yeah,

that dudes a rose, bro. Like they did like man.

So it's, it's one of those things like, like I said, I, I'm

really careful because I, I have a reverence for the word of God,

man. I that's right.

Yeah, such a reverence for it. And I don't want it to be spoken

from a place of look how well Paul calls it clever words.

I come with clever words. And I'm just like, that's great.

But how is your heart? Where do you live?

And so, so, as I said, I mean, guest preachers are great, but

I've had to learn to just be careful who I allow up behind

our pulpit. And I, and I got to say it when

Pastor Gabe came and was like, you know, I, I like to put guys

on our, on our pulpit, on our altar, that understand that the

altar is a place to die. Yeah, They understand that

first. Yeah.

That this is, this is a this is a gift that the Lord has given

us. It is a it is a responsibility

too. So it's it, it was great, man.

I I love and Gabe comes cause Gabe doesn't mind punching

people in the face with the yeah.

You need those enforcers. Yeah, dude.

Now that's great, man. And man, one of the things that

we were talking about even for today is our stories.

You know, I know last time we talked about how you know, our

churches like how, how the church plants became the names.

But what about you? You know, like, like I know some

people know Chris Benitez, the worship leader, the pastor.

But what was your life before Jesus?

Like? How did you come to know the

Lord? Pretty much.

Man, man, Jesus wrecked my life, bro.

He's I I kind of shared a little bit with you last week, but I

grew up in the church, man. Like, my dad's been a pastor

since before I was born. And, you know, my dad was a

pastor in Dallas. I was born there.

I was born into that church and learned how to play instruments,

learned how to play music, learned how to.

Were you always like a musical person?

Yeah, So I've been a musical person since I was like, 5.

Like, like my first instrument was drums.

Like I learned how to play drums in the church at five years old.

And so I always had this thing with music.

I always loved music. And so I start helping dad in

ministry, I start leading worship, I start doing all these

things. My dad moves to Fort Worth and I

just got, I fell in love with music, man.

That's all it was. I didn't understand it to be

worship. I just understood it to be

music. And so for all the young worship

pastors out there who still call your thing music, you need to

die to that. All music belongs to the Lord.

And so I grew up loving that stuff.

And So what would happen is, you know, my dad was a natural

church planter. So he left Dallas, came to Fort

Worth to plant, planted a church.

And so I learned I was playing drums.

And then rent would go up, We'd have to move buildings.

And so he'd go to another building and they'd be like, oh,

they have a drummer here, so learn how to play bass and like,

OK, let me learn how to play bass.

And so rent would go up, we'd move to another building.

Well, they have a drummer here and a bass player, so learn how

to play guitar. And that's how we just kind of

bounce about around Fort Worth looking for a home.

And I finally ended up on the keyboard.

And ANYWAYS, all that's to say, I grew up in the church, man.

And when I turned about 18, it was my senior year in high

school, I remember having this dumb, immature mindset like I'm,

I'm grown now. Like I'm, I don't got to go to

church. I don't got to do anything I

don't got to do. Yeah.

And man, I started drinking heavily.

Like I became an alcoholic literally for three years heavy.

Like, I don't mean like I was just drinking on the weekends.

It's like I couldn't go a day without being drunk.

I had to get drunk every day and.

So if you don't mind me asking, like what what started that?

Like, was it just? It was just rebellion.

It was just rebellion. It literally was rebellion.

I I just didn't want to do that life anymore because I had done

it my whole life. Gotcha.

I just didn't. I wanted to see what the world

was like. Gotcha.

Plain simple. There was nothing like I wasn't

church hurt like I wasn't like angry with the church.

What this is. I just want to go taste it, like

I just want to go see what it's like.

And, and I, I over consumed and I didn't have self-control and I

got lost in it and I got lost in it for three years of my life.

And I remember my dad was so graceful with me, man.

He was so gracious with me and my mom, like I, I mean, there

was a time where I ran away from home.

Like it's like I'm not, I'm not, I don't want to be here.

And my, my parents were just so gracious with me.

Like they were like, Hey, whenever you're ready to come

back to the church, you know, we need you like we need your, we

need you to play. We need you to do this.

And so there was days, there were Sundays where I went up

there and I played while I was hungover or I was like, there

was days where I played when I was still drunk from the night

before. My parents were just really

gracious with me, man. And, and I'm, I'm forever

appreciative of it, But man, I just remember one day coming

home, just coming home from, from a night of just binging,

like drinking. And I was still a musician in

the church. My, my mom and dad were like

letting me be a musician still because I loved music and they

knew it. And so I come home and I'm

driving home. And so as a musician, I always

have to have, as a church musician, you always have to be

listening to the church music 'cause you're like, I got to

play it on Sunday, got to learn it.

I got to play, I got to learn it.

You're familiar with it. And so I'm, I remember it's a

Saturday night and I'm like just coming home from binge and I am

hammer drunk. Like like hammer drunk.

But I'm just like, oh, and I'm in as I'm driving home, I

remember like I got church in the morning.

I had to learn this song and I put a song on and it's a fast

song. It's not even like a worship

song. It was like a fast song.

It's like, and all it says is victory.

The victory will be mine. If I maintain my peace, he'll

fight the battle for me. Victory, The victory will be

mine. And I remember I'm driving home

and I'm weeping, crying. I cannot like, stop crying.

And I remember like in my mind like been like, I don't have

victory. Like who am I?

I don't even know who I am anymore.

I don't have an identity. Like I am just what everybody is

telling me I am now. I don't even know who I am.

If my friends say come get drunk, I come get drunk and my

friends say let's go out all night.

I go out all night. I don't have any say so in my

life. And so I'm crying and I'm crying

in the in the song just and it's fast.

I. Like, it's not even like.

A it's not even like a soaking, like it's just like if you

maintain your peace, he'll fight the battle for you.

Victory, the victory will be mine.

And I pulled into my parking lot.

I'm crying and I'm like, Lord, like I don't know who I am

anymore. Like I'm lost.

I, I really am lost and this, I'm about 20 years old at this

time. And so I go inside and I'm still

crying like and I, I just uncontrollably crying and I get

into my room and I know, I know that God is doing something in

me. And so I'm like, I don't know

what to do with this feeling. I have this feeling in me right

now, but I don't know what to do with it.

And so like a good church kid, I, I turn on the TV and I turn

it on to TBN, 'cause I'm like that.

That's the only thing I know, right?

Like this is before YouTube was the thing.

This is before anything was happening.

All I had was like, TBN, That's all you see.

Yeah, yeah, that's all I could get to Daystar.

All that's all I could watch. And so TBN, it's like two 3:00

in the morning, bro. Like I came home binge and I two

3:00 in the morning. And you know, if you remember

TBN always used to have the telethons like that would happen

all night. And so I remember I'm watching

this man. I don't even remember who it

was, but he's he's preaching the gospel.

He's like Jesus came and he died for you.

Like he loves you, like you're not too far from him.

And I remember he says he looked right into the camera and he

goes, there's somebody right now who's watching.

You just walked into your house and you're watching this right

now. And you feel like you have no

victory in your life. And I was like, and I'm like

crying, bro, Like crying. Yeah.

And I'm like, And he's like, but if you give your life to Jesus

right now, like, like, he'll come in and he'll give you peace

and you'll have victory. And so he does the sinner's

prayer over the television and he goes say to say this, Jesus

come into my heart. I believe in you.

I did. And I'm in my room like, and

he's like, raise your hands and I'm in my room like, oh, like,

say Jesus come into my life this and this and this.

And I remember I opened my eyes, dude.

And I no, I'm not even kidding, Ricky completely sober.

Wow, just like. Different ball game.

And all of a sudden it was like when I opened my eyes and I tell

this to people all the time and, and it's hard to believe, but

for me, I remember I was just like, dude, I could literally

pictured the man with eyes with fire like in my room, like

looking at me. And I'm just like, and I I

remember like being, what's the word like?

Like paralyzed. Almost like.

They just can't. Like who?

Is this like in front of me right now?

And it was the eyes of fire right in front of me.

And I remember like, I felt like I was talking right to him.

He was like, I give you my life, Like I give you this and this

and this. And some people say like, now

you're probably still wasted, you know, like, but I, I

remember like completely sober. And, and so that's how I gave my

life to Christ. And like, that's what happened

with me. Like, so I grew up in church.

I didn't even give my life to Christ in the church.

I gave my life in my bedroom watching TV.

And and so all those people who give TBM a hard time, you know,

but you never because the Lord will use anybody.

And so that's how I gave my life to Jesus, bro.

And that's that's where my journey started.

And since that day, like never desired drink it to drink again.

Never had the never had withdrawals, never had anything.

It was just like cold Turkey, like the next day I didn't even

want it. Like I didn't even want.

To taste it not controlled by it, yeah.

I didn't even, I couldn't even, like I couldn't even smell it

anymore 'cause when I would smell it and it, it'd be like,

oh, like it's disgusting to me. Like that's literally what

happened. The Lord literally set me free

in my bedroom when I gave my life to him.

And man, I haven't turned back since.

So tell bro, like, like I said, it's, it's beautiful, but that's

where I wanted to go down today, man.

So you're watching. So just, I just want to let you

know, like there's a point to all of this.

So, but that's what that was when I was driving over here

today too, man, I was like, I don't even know Ricky's story.

Like I don't know how Ricky came to know Jesus.

I've known, we've known each other for a few years.

That's true. I've never talked to you about

how did you get to know Jesus? Like how did he meet you?

Yeah, it kind of the same lines as as yourself.

I I grew up in the church as well.

My parents were youth pastors. The First Baptist Pompano in the

Spanish, The Spanish mission you.

Know what I mean? Yeah, Primera.

Yeah, Primera Pompano, you know, no.

And then just grew up, you know, going to Sunday school, just

seeing faithful parents. And, but it wasn't until, and I

remember it was, it was March of 92 and I was 12 years old and we

went to a a jam week, which is Jesus and me week, you know,

it's, it's the 9th, you know. You got you, Baptist.

Yeah, You got to have like the nails and jams and.

All this stuff. So I remember Pompano, like they

had this big youth event called Jam and then so we came and

while we were there, it was Reverend Herman Rios.

He got a big old Hispanic guy man.

And he was up there preaching and, and I remember like just

just hearing and there was something he said that really

like caught my attention. And he did the whole like, if

you would die tonight, would you be in the presence of the Lord?

Like, would you be in heaven or, or, or not?

And I remember like him saying that it, it really caused me to

think through like, would I, yeah, I was like, I mean, I, I,

I grew up in church. My parents are, are Christian

like, but, but I didn't have that assurance.

And then I remember he, he did the whole invitation thing and I

just didn't think twice. I was like, I don't know if I,

if I'm going to be with Jesus if I die, you know, So I, I walked

to the front and then, but like, the best thing that happened to

me though, was I walked to the front and then they took

everybody who made a decision to the back and they, they put us

with somebody and that person explained the gospel.

And then I remember like sitting with somebody and he walked me

through like, this is how you make a decision for Christ.

This is what it means, forgiveness of sin.

And like this is what you're saying yes to.

And I remember at that moment I prayed with him and that's when

I gave my life to Christ. And I remember like coming back

out and you know, I was fine and nothing hit me.

But then like when when I saw like my mom, my dad, like the

youth group, I just lost it. I just remember crying and I

didn't know why. I was just kind of like, I don't

know why, you know, And then, yeah, a few weeks later got

baptized like, but it was the same situation.

It was, it's always been like my decision, you know, like I, I

didn't want to, I didn't want to do 'cause my parents.

So I just remember walking to the.

Front. Like, hey, I want to get

baptized, you know, and, and so it's always been like that

trajectory. But I will say, 'cause I think

an important part of my story and, and you'd kind of hit on

it. So living the Christian life.

But I, I got to a place in college where I was like, man,

you know, I think I want to make like new friends.

And I was dating a girl and then I was like, this ain't working.

And people got mad at me. And I was like, yeah, I don't

need y'all, you know, like, that's Dick.

And what's ironic is that I was teaching the middle schoolers at

our church at the time. And so when I went to UTAI, just

saw this group and I was like, hey, you guys seem pretty cool.

Y'all look like athletes, like I love sports.

And so I joined this fraternity and it was one of those like

fight the power type fraternities, you know, like it

was like Latinos and got to stop and and.

That's right. Take our people.

And like I joined it and, and what that did though it, it

wasn't like the, like the beer drinking stuff that you see on

TV, but that and then I joined 2 Hispanic organizations at UTA

'cause I thought this whole idea of like networking and meeting

people and of course like girls, like they, they have cute ones

there. So I'm gonna go there, you know.

But what that did was it pulled me away from church and my

calling. So I spent all my weekends doing

philanthropies on different campuses, fundraisers.

I was out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you know, and

then Sunday cookouts or sleeping like it.

It was just this constant rotation of everything except

that what God wanted me to do. And it was a good stuff, some of

it. And then I started dating a girl

that had no business dating from TCU and, and it was just like

this. And I say all that because on

paper my life looked amazing, friends, popular, all that

stuff. But then I failed, you know,

classes. I came to a realization where I

was like, man, I broke all the time.

And I'm not doing good in school and I'm not in church.

And finally, summer of O4, we were at a camp at UMHB,

University of Mary Hart and Baylor.

And I couldn't participate as a leader because of how my life

looked. So I helped with recreation, but

I still got games because I'm getting my degree in that right.

And I was like ever sit in the back auditorium?

I don't remember the worship or what the guy preached on, but

that's where I heard the voice of the Lord and I and I, it was

clear as day and I will fight anybody on it, But I remember

Jesus saying, are you going to follow me now?

Come on. Or.

Are you going to continue? To live the way you want.

And I remember. Sitting in that seat, I said,

Lord, I want to follow you. And there was like this change,

like it was so drastic, like like I didn't care about

anything else except following Jesus.

And I remember coming home, I didn't care.

I dropped my letters, I quit everything, broke up a home

girl. Like it was one of those just

complete surrender and, and, and kind of you talked about like

your alcoholism. There was nothing after that in

my life that held me captive. Come on.

You know, like sometimes you're. Like I can't be there because

I'm scared I'm going to sin again.

Not me. Like I was like I'm done.

Like there was no like I am free from anything that held me a

slave. It was beautiful.

But that's when I really, I changed my major, like

everything. So that's when like I really

surrendered my life to Christ, like to say, Lord, I'm going to

follow you now, like whatever it is that you tell me.

And yeah. And it just been trucking ever

since. That's beautiful.

Yeah, man. 'Cause like I said, we've all,

we all get to go through that journey, right?

Like, yeah, even for me, like grow up growing up in church,

like I've done the altar calls and I've done, I've gone up

there and I've, you know, I mean, I went to VBS and I

remember at Travis Ave. Baptist Church, I went to VBS

there and I remember people asking like, and I was a kid,

like, do you want to give your life to Christ?

And I was like, yeah, I want to give my life to Christ.

But then you still have those years where it's like you said

yes to the Lord, but there's a distance and, and you're like,

how do I get back? And then one day the Lord just

speaks. Like he just talks.

And you like I said for you, it was like, I hear the voice.

I heard it. You got to follow me or not.

For me, it was the same way. It's like like you're right here

in front of me and I can, I can, I can see the eyes of fire, like

I can hear your voice and it's like, I'm going to follow you.

I'm going to go whatever you want me to do.

And it's in those moments, man, it's like, and this is what I

tell our, our people all the time.

People can deny the church all that they want.

They can say, man, they're, they're a bunch of hypocrites.

They're a bunch of, you know, whatever.

Like they're, you know, I don't like the church and whatever,

but people can't deny your story.

They can't like, you can't like what?

I just don't like the church because people are act different

and people do this and people do that.

And I'm like, yeah, but you haven't met the Lord, You

haven't met Jesus. And you can't take that away

from me because I was there. I, I saw it, I heard it.

You just like you, I heard him talk.

This is, this has nothing to do with church.

This has everything to do with my relationship with the Lord

and your relationship with the Lord.

And so our stories matter, man like, and it's a big part of of

who we are and and where the Lord leads us.

It's something I always say to. Our folks, like we live in North

Texas, you know, like church is a culture.

It's I, I would even say we're like the belt buckle of the

Bible Belt right there. We're we're like Oklahoma.

Yeah, it's like we. We're this is what you're

supposed to do? But there's a difference.

Between a churchgoer and a follower of Christ and and I,

and I kind of like what you just said, man.

It's like when you experience Jesus.

The the it's it's. Like, you can't argue it.

Yeah, you can't deny it. And I know like some people,

they're like, man, why do you do what you do like?

And he's like, how do you ballot?

I was like, I I can't like I was.

So it was so radically transformed that it's hard.

To. Explain.

Yeah, man. And that's what I said, it's

like for me, man, it's just that like, dude, once again, we're

going down a rabbit hole. But like I feel like Jesus now.

Like it's, it's just one of those things, man.

Like you hear the voice of God, Like you hear the one who said

let there be light is literally talking to me.

And it's just like, how could I say no?

How could I be like, no, it's not real.

Like it's not fake. All that's not real.

It's like. And so to somebody else that's

watching or somebody who's who's hearing our stories right now is

like, Nah, Chris was still drunk.

Like Chris was still. And that's why.

And oh, Ricky, Ricky was just feeling guilty.

Yeah, he was just. Yeah, emotional.

Yeah, he was just emotional. I'm like, no, it's not.

It's not that because I mean, Ricky, you could have left that

day and be like, oh, I heard something, but I was probably

emotional. So I left and I I didn't do

anything about it. I couldn't, I could easily say

like, Oh, I was, I was too wasted.

And there's no way like no, because the next day fruits

start to show already. I quit.

I left everything. I left all my majors, I left

everything to follow the Lord. Nobody does that naturally.

Exactly the same. Thing with me like.

The next day I didn't even desire a drink.

Like I could walk into a bar and not even be tempted.

It's like, how does that happen? It's not in our own work.

It's something happened. We heard the voice of the Lord.

We we saw Jesus in that moment and it is it's from that moment

that the Lord has carried us to right now.

That's good. Bro yeah.

And and I like you said something before we started,

like I was like, I gotta write that down because I feel like as

a church planner or let's just say as a follower of Christ

first, you know, like nothing is wasted in your story.

And I think that's the beauty of being redeemed in Christ.

Because I've heard the arguments like, man, I don't, I don't want

to like do that whole Jesus thing because I'm not going to

be able to listen to rap music anymore.

I'm not going to have to dress different.

And people have this perception of like, it's this physical

change, like, like I have to change.

And it's like, no, like you be who you are and, and God has

knitted you together in your mama's womb.

He's giving you gifts, talents, likes, dislikes, personality

traits. But when you're redeemed, he

takes all of that and uses it for his glory.

Now, you know, so nothing is wasted.

And I would even say like your past as well, you know, like, so

all of your past, like Roman says, like everything ends up

working for the good of those who love him.

So Jesus redeems your past. He uses your story, all hurts,

successes, everything belongs to him.

And I think he, you said this, he like he uses your story to

cultivate your church plant. Yeah.

Absolutely. So in all.

Of us that are church planners, there's a little bit of our

story inside of the vision and the mission he's given us.

And I always, I always like to say like your, your biggest

misery is gonna be your biggest ministry, you know?

So that's the. Thing that like I, I always get

tongue twisted but like the thing that irked you yeah is not

going to be a thing that like God uses yeah you as a solution.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's that's where you

start to learn to create what you value in in your church

plant as a church planter. Yeah.

And I love that your misery becomes your biggest ministry.

Yeah. Because that's the way I have

learned what I value the most as a church planter is it was those

cringe moments that I had in the church.

Yeah. It's like if I invited a friend

here and I there was a cringe moment, I remember I would, I

would, I would meet with him after church and like, hey, man,

sorry, sorry about that. And so want to come back,

understand. So it's those cringe moments and

you're like, man, I, I want to protect people from this.

And so like, you begin to value them.

Like you begin to value them those things.

And so I mean, one of the things that for me was was honor.

It was, it was a big place of honor.

Like I said, my my dad was the pastor for years.

And you know, when you do church plant with family, like there's

a lot of dishonor that goes on with family like brothers and

cousins and sisters and 'cause you know, you have a you, there

is not a, a line of I'm talking to my pastor right now.

It's like I'm talking to my uncle or I'm talking to, you

know, my dad, I'm talking to my cousin.

So there is no like pastoral, like pastoral honor or there is

no even like Christ brotherhood and sisterhood on it's like, Oh,

I always talk like that to my cousin.

That's crazy. And so it's, it was one of those

things that I was like, no, like we're going to honor each other

as brothers and sisters in Christ and not as family like

carnal family, because sometimes we say out of pocket stuff to

our family, you know what I mean?

And then you forget like, oh man, I was talking to Ricky that

I don't even know. Do you have sisters or brothers?

I do. I have one older.

Brother and one younger sister. OK, so you're the middle.

Child Yep oh that's why you started to church.

I get that's why you started to church.

So come better got to prove them wrong like.

Mom. And Dad, do you love me now?

No, no. But you know, like I said, a

brother, an older brother can come to you and talk to you

sideways because that's just my little brother.

Or your sister can come and talk to you sideways.

Oh, that's just my, my brother. But then you forget like, oh,

sometimes I need to talk to you as a pastor or sometimes I need

to talk to you as a spiritual leader.

And they're like, well, you don't know nothing.

This is this. And then you just miss the

honor, right? And so one of mine was honor in

our church because just like a lot of dishonor that I saw in my

dad's church that I was like, so you'd invite a friend and you

know, I'm going to spill a little bit of tea right now, but

I'm just going to say it. I'd invite a friend to church,

right? And first time coming to church

and they want to hear the word and my dad would be preaching

and somebody in the back row or in the third row black.

But actually the scripture says this and this and this and and

then my dad's now having a full dialogue just with this person

in the church. Like, yeah, let's see.

But you have to understand in the Hebrew it means this and

this. But Paul says this.

And it's like, now it becomes a debate in the middle of Sunday

morning service, in the middle of Sunday morning service.

And so I have a friend there that's like looking back and

forth like. And so then I have to explain at

the end, like, sorry about that, man, this and this.

And so it became a high level of honors.

Like I'm going to make myself available to talk to anybody who

wants to talk after this. But when the, the, the word is

being spoken on the on the pulpit, on a platform, let's

have some honor, Let's have some respect for the way it's been

spoken. So it's, it's one of those

things, man. So those your greatest misery

becomes your greatest ministry. And that was one of my cringes

in the church is like, oh, like, and then so how did you?

Implement that like when you planted freedom church, how did

like if if how did you implement that the very get go like in the

DNA of the church so I I. What I told people is you are

great like This is why I say honor.

It's the the parable, the Good Samaritan, right?

This Good Samaritan comes and picks up the man who's been

robbed and beaten and he puts him up on the horse and he

doesn't he doesn't make this the, the guy follow the horse.

He puts him up on the horse and says, I'll, I'll take you there.

And so that's the way I've always seen honor.

It's like you before me. You are higher than me.

So when you're talking. Like I'm not going to cut you

off and I'm not going to be like, no, I like this and this

and this. Like you're, I'm going to give

you your platform. I'm going to give you your place

to speak. And then when you're done, then

I'll speak. But that's that's where the

place of honor came. So even when we're having core

team meetings, we were barely starting.

Everybody has an idea, everybody has an opinion how the church

plant should work. And so I'd be casting vision.

And while I was casting vision, it would be like, Hey, but what

if we did this and this and this and this and this and this?

And so one meeting I literally came and I was like, hey, guys,

like we need to have honor for each other when we're speaking.

We need to have honor for each other by just by showing up on

time. We need to have honor for each

other with, with everything that we do.

So when somebody's speaking, let them finish, then you can talk.

And so that's how we start. Like before we even had church,

it was just like, let's listen to each other first and then we

can talk. But we don't need this whole,

we're going to cut off each other.

We're we're not going to do that.

And, and so that's how we started Honor.

Now Honor has turned into something even more beautiful at

the church for him. It's like we honor each other's

ministries and we honor each other's giftings and we honor

each other's time and we honor like it's so it's, it's

something that the Lord planted and he's growing it into

something even more beautiful. It's like we honor, we honor

guest people when they come in. We honor like we, we honor the

first time guest, but we also honor the person who's been here

every single week, like since the beginning.

And so it's just something that that we value at our church.

That's good bro. What are like some like two or

three other examples, you know like of some things that that

you like when we playing freedom because of my experience or

because of something God showed me that I want to make sure that

we we address it or align it or it becomes part of our DNA.

So one of. The other things that it was was

really cringe for me. This is why I said this is great

for me. It was like we.

I have a few so I'm. Trying to think which one?

I think it's authenticity. Yeah, that's a good one.

That was one of my greatest values because I grew up in a

church that not everybody was always everybody.

You're the pastor's kid, man, so you know everybody and you know

everybody's business and you know the way really people are.

And authenticity. Was something that was not

always there and so and I this is how I tell it to people it's

like you know if I say what's up Ricky good morning how you doing

and Ricky's like I'm just blessed and highly favored.

The Lord is, the Lord is on my side today.

Like this is the day the Lord has made.

And, but you like, you were up all night, like arguing with

your wife, like you, you've been like verbally abusive towards

your kids and, and this and this, but you come to the church

and you, what people call it is the church mask.

You put the church mask on. And, and I remember just as a

kid just being turned off by that, like just in general.

And it's like, man, like I feel like I don't have real friends

at church. Like there's people that I do

church with, but they're not my friends, 'cause I don't know the

real person. And so one of the things that we

became very, very adamant about is like, it starts with your

leadership. Like you need to be authentic.

Like you need to be genuine. You need to be real.

Yeah, be real with people because it's contagious.

Like when I act like myself, Ricky, you start to act like

yourself. Like when I and.

And we know and we can tell when we both of us are putting on our

pastoral hat and like we're talking as pastors.

But then it's like, oh, we can also be silly and goofy too

because we're being authentic and genuine with each other

because it's contagious. And so that was something for me

that in our church, I was just like, that's what I value.

I value authenticity because when I act like myself, you'll

act like yourself. And then we can actually become

friends. And it's not just church.

What's the word like church associates?

Like that's just somebody because yeah, we all have those

people, man, like and I and we all have those people that were

just like, that's my church friend, but that's not my

friend, friend. And so that's what we that's

what I've been really adamant and and creating in our church

is a place of authenticity. And sometimes it gets me in

trouble. Like, you know, I'm a big

roaster. Like, I have to make fun of

people. I like, Like right now it's just

like you're the little kid, like mom and Dad did.

I love to do that. Yeah.

I love, I love to joke and stuff like this.

So it's gotten me in trouble sometimes.

But then people come up to me and just say, man, I I

appreciate it. Like, I feel like you're my

friend and we can do that with each other.

And so, yeah, man, that's, that's something that I value as

well. It's authenticity.

So what about you, man? What What has been your greatest

misery that turns into your greatest ministry?

There's a few I I think off the top of my head.

I've, I've never, and this is gonna sound bad, but just just

go with me on it. The churches, I've always been a

part of the, the pulpit hasn't been the strongest.

And so the preaching I just, I just remember I was a teenager

and it and it wasn't 'cause I wasn't paying attention and I

wasn't on my phone. Like we didn't have cell phones

anyways, but like, you know, like I'm not like, but I, I

really did truly try to like listen, because I, I've always

been a really like inquisitive person.

Like I've always asked questions.

And so when I hear like bad preaching or somebody that that

doesn't like prepare or care, that just cringes my heart

because I'm, I'm here thinking like the folks that are sitting

in, in the audience, like they're here and they're not

getting a revelation from God's word.

They're just getting your opinion.

And, and I remember growing up just trying to understand, like

trying to grasp. So like, I would try to go to

conferences and camps, like to try to eat, you know, and I was

like, why can't our church be like this?

But we had an incredible youth ministry.

So that's where I learned a lot about the Bible.

So when I planted City Post for us, like the the biggest

priority was the proclamation of God's word, you know, over

everything else. Our church needs to be known.

Hey, they teach the Bible. I love that.

And and so we were just really passionate about that.

I know I am. Yeah.

That's why I just walked through texts and and I know like for

some people it's like man, and y'all are still in Colossians.

It's been like 8, like 4 Colossians is beautiful though.

No, it is that's what I'm saying like, but it's, it's like this

love for his word and this reverence.

So real passionate about that. Also, I was discipled in the

missional movement in the early, maybe mid 2000s.

And so I always looked at the, the ministry of Jesus.

How did Jesus do ministry? And Jesus always went.

So one of the things that I remember growing up with is I

like, churches would always be like attractional, you know,

like we would spend everything on how, how do we attract

people. And in my mind, I remember I got

to a place where I was looking around and I was like, how can

we never like do stuff in the community?

Yeah, like we know it's been years and then you start asking

like, like we haven't had baptisms in like 2 years, you

know. And so I, I remember that pushed

me out to bring like, and, you know, just be more missional

minded. I want to make sure that city

post followed that, that, that what's the word?

I'm looking for that same model of ministry that Jesus did.

And then I think I just do one more 'cause I like you.

Like it's like a bunch. Yeah, there's a bunch.

I think one more is having a culture of acceptance.

So like anybody that walks through the door of City Post

Church should feel welcomed. Our message is not going to

change, you know, say like come as you are, but we're praying

that the Lord changes you. And so I just wanted to create a

church where people just feel welcome no matter where they are

in life, what they look like. It doesn't matter.

Like you're, you're always welcome to come.

And, and that that takes work, believe it or not.

So absolutely. Man, it is and it's not

something that people grasp really quickly.

You know, 'cause and I, I know people love to say this, but

like, oh, we're, we're introverts, like we don't

distance this. And I, I understand all that I

do, but you're right. It's, it's something that you

have to cultivate in your church.

Is, is, and I think that we're, we're, we're running the same

lines. Is like acceptance is like

understanding, like the people who are greedy, you are

authentic. They're being genuine.

They want, they want you to feel welcomed here.

It's not a script like we talked about last week.

It's not a script. It's not scripted like the, the

authenticity that that that is available when you walk through

the door. It feels welcoming.

I feel like I can put my guard down.

I can actually be myself here. And yeah, but I, I love that you

hit on that man that you know, you, you were hungry to know

God's word from the pulpit, from the pastor.

And I think that I grew up with that.

My dad is a great teacher. He's always been a great

teacher. And and that's why he would, my

dad would teach more than he would preach.

And so This is why we got to the place of, well, you know, the

Bible says, and my dad's like teaching back and forth, like,

And so it's like, that's where it got to.

And so, but I, I, I, I have fallen in love with that, like

being a teacher as well from the platform.

But at the same time, I love to. I love.

To share the. Gospel and like, you know, it's

funny because my dad will be the first one to take you down the,

you know, the, the Hebrew meanings and the, and the even

the like word studies. All of the the deep stuff,

right? And I used to be like, Hey, I

don't know, I some of that, some of the Theos and Atheos and I

was like, like, what is, what are we, what are we talking

about right now? And so I, I know that I have a

great teacher with me that I can sit down and I can go in depth

with. That's cool.

And and so I have fallen in love with that because the way my dad

talked, I have fallen in love with that to just sitting with

scripture and teaching our church the same thing is like

everything in the Bible matters. Every word, every number, every

number, every census, every lineage, all of it matters.

And our churches, like one of the greatest compliments that I

have gotten recently is man, it's easy to teach here.

It's easy to teach at your church because your people, they

want to learn and they want to, they're hungry for the word and

they want to know more and they want, and I was like, thank you,

Lord, because you don't have a lot of churches that are like

that. They don't, they're like, just

just tell me how to be a good person and then how to drink

coffee And like, that's cool. Like that's all they want.

But I believe that you're cultivating it, man, that and

and our church is getting the same way.

It's like we want to know the word of God tell us the truth.

We want to know this stuff. And so that's, that's like I

said for my story, that's where my values have been poured into

the churchmen. And you know, everything else,

even the outreach to that was one of my biggest ones.

That's one of our big values at the church is through my church,

my dad's church, we never did outreach, never ever.

I gave us, if we did outreach, it was like we're having a

garage sale. It's a fundraiser for.

The Yeah, we're doing a. Car wash being a test and.

I'm like. This is not really outreach, but

that's cool that we're outside. And so when we launched, I was

like, no, we're going to go out there like it was, it was really

cringe for me that we never did outreach.

And I was like, you know, we're going to be a church that goes

out all the time. And I always tell people.

Too like there's no better way to Share your story or the

gospel with somebody then like partnering next to them.

One of the things I know like when with City Post is we, we

were big believers of partnerships, like we call them

Kingdom partnerships because it was like you do more together,

but if you don't know Jesus, we want to come next to you.

So that way you can know the God that we serve.

Now early on, I think one of the mistakes I made was not training

our people up to share their story and to share the gospel

message and to to just kind of be more vocal.

So early on we would do stuff and it was like serving, we're

serving. But the point of serving is to

connect people to Christ. You know, I mean, that's the

reason we do like the car shows here.

That's why we do. And then and then of course,

like thinking about who the Lord is sending you, like how do you

connect with those folks? So like, so everything that we

partner with everything that we match up, there's a, there's a

purpose for that. And, and you're going to get

pushed back, you know, especially like more of the

Calvinistic churches and, and, and that's cool.

You know, not every, you know, like not, that's not everybody's

style, but that's OK. And I that's something that

you'll learn as a church planner.

It's like not everything is going to fit certain molds, but

like you follow what the Lord is leading you to.

Yeah, and like I said, because. Not every mold is is built for

every church because like I said, your story is what's is

it's what's influencing the church, how you met the Lord and

that's why I mean your story in itself, man, It's like, are you

going to follow the Lord or not? Like I got to hear the word.

I have to understand this. Are you going to fall in for me?

It's like I was coming to church wasted hammer drunk, but I'm

still in church and I'm like, no, like we need to be

authentic, like we need to be true.

Like we can't, we can't have this church mask on all the

time. And so it's it's like our

stories, like always lead back to what the Lord actually want

intended for us. So there's a there's a

demographic of people that would naturally be drawn because you

have a similar story. And the same thing for me,

they'll be naturally drawn because they have a similar

story. And that's, that's where the

Lord uses all of the Kingdom to, to glorify himself.

That's what Jesus does. He's like, I'm going to use your

story to glorify me. You thought it was going to be

like for you to just feel better and do better things and to do

big things like, no, I actually, I was going to use it so

somebody would know me. And I, I think that's, that's

the thing that I'm, I'm even learning about church planting

right now, man. It's like I have, because I have

given my life to, to doing this for the last six years.

The Lord keeps going farther and farther into my story, farther

and deeper into my heart and, and still asking me to uproot

things, still asking me to take the things.

And so as the Lord pierces me, like as, as Scripture is, is

piercing my heart still, my story is still going right.

So like, when stuff comes up, it's like, oh, man, like, why

was that? I never aware of that.

And now it's like I'm still implementing stuff into the

church plant. Like one of the biggest ones

that that hit me was nobody ever taught me how to walk with

Jesus. Wow.

Nobody. I, I knew how to pray.

Yeah, I knew how to go to church.

I gave, I, you know, I did the gospel prayer.

I mean, I did the sinner's prayer.

And then I had the moment in my room with the Lord, but then the

next I didn't know, I didn't even know how to walk with the

Lord. I didn't even I didn't know how

to what the gospels were. I didn't know how to read my

Bible. I didn't know how to I didn't

know how to pray for somebody else.

I knew it, but I didn't understand it.

And and so that's where my heart, like one of the valleys

that are church now is just discipleship itself.

Like, I don't want to just get you to say a prayer.

And then because what happened with me was basically was you

gave your life to Christ. Cool.

Now figure it out. Yeah, that's basically what

happened. Just keep coming to church.

Yeah. Just keep coming and you'll

figure this thing out. And I'm really hard for

discipleship was like, if I get Ricky to give his life to Jesus

today, I share the gospel with him and he has his Jesus moment.

Like, I had my Jesus moment. Yeah.

What would I tell Ricky to do next?

And I never got that and. So This is why.

My Hartford discipleship just skyrocketed because it was like,

I don't ever want people to, to leave the church because oh,

well, like I just kept coming to church and my life never

changed. It's like, yeah, because nobody

ever showed you how to walk this life.

And that's one of our biggest ones at our church right now is

discipleship is teaching people how to walk with the Lord,

teaching people how to pick up your cross and die, teaching

your people how to have the discipline just to sit down and

sit with the Lord and pray and read.

And then the accountability to to have that.

And so that's, that's one of the things for me is like, like, I

wish I would have had that growing up.

Nobody ever sat down and discipled me.

I had my dad, who's a pastor, but he wasn't very.

What's the word I can use? He wasn't very.

Fluent in. Discipleship.

Gotcha. I could ask him a question about

the Bible. Hey, what does the Bible mean

about this? He'd be like, Oh yeah, it means

this. And the Hebrew word is that and

the Greek is teaches it this way.

And I'm like, OK, cool. See you later.

Thank you. Yeah.

Yeah. And that was it.

And so I think even as a church planter, I will tell you.

As a church planter. People are always interested in

the new thing. Yeah, that's true.

You're always. Going to get people.

Because like, oh, Ricky's doing a new thing, let me go check it

out. Yeah, hey, Chris is doing a new

thing. Let me go check it out.

But when you get that person into the room and you lead them

to Christ, you're doing them a disservice if you don't teach

them how to walk with Him. You're good at presenting Him,

and you're good at sharing your story.

You're good at telling people. The Lord save me and He can save

you. But if you don't have a plan for

them to continue walking with the Lord, those people will

drift away. They're they're not anchored.

They've given their life to Lords, but they're not anchored

and they would just drift away. And a lot of times that's on us.

Yeah, it is funny. Like we, we touched on this a

little bit on Sunday where Paul in Colossians, you know, he

talks about us having like the reason why he wants us to be

encouraged in heart and to walk with Christ is so that we have

like an understanding and of the mystery, which is Christ in you,

the hope of glory. And and talking about word

studies like that word understanding is Sonis, which

means applying like biblical truth to your everyday life.

Come on. So in order sonisis.

You know, so in order for you to to really understand God's

truth, it means that you don't only like know it through

knowledge. We have to you have to do it.

Yeah. And to what you're saying is

true because it's like, I think a lot of people get the

knowledge piece. Yeah, but but they don't do it.

Yeah. So if you get the knowledge, but

yet you don't put it into practice or action, then you're

going to walk around saying like, how come I'm not growing?

Yeah. How come this doesn't work?

Yeah. And and that's what discipleship

is, is like you're, you're teaching people what it looks

like to take what the scripture says and apply to everyday life.

And then you're there with them, encouraging them like, Hey, man.

And I know one of the things in our men's groups, like we always

talk about like man, like it's. Going to suck sometimes.

Like it's, it's, it's not easy to, like there's going to be

spiritual control attacks. There's going to be times where

you fall into your sin. There's going to be times where

you, you battle, there's going to be like, it's not always like

a cakewalk, you know? And it's OK because Jesus is

with you. And that's the promise.

So it's like, how do we get people hear God's word, know it,

but then, OK, let's start applying it to your everyday

life. And then once you start doing

that, that's when you start truly understanding God's word

through his Spirit. Yeah, you know, absolutely.

And that's. I think, I mean, you hear on the

head, man, it's like we're really get the word information

driven generation. Like I can get anything now.

Like I don't even have to go to my dad anymore.

I just Google it. What is it?

What does this mean? What does this mean?

And then you get 27 pages of articles and information and

then we just retain the information.

So this is what we tell our discipleship people all the

time. It's like you can come in here

and we can teach you how to read Genesis to Revelation and we can

we can memorize a bunch of scriptures.

But if you don't ever put these things into practice, if you, if

you only are a hearer of the word and not a doer of the word,

then your life doesn't change. Nothing happens.

And so the way we phrase it is discipleship is not about

information, but it's about transformation.

That's right. Yeah.

And so if you have all the scriptures in your head but

you've never applied them, you'll never see anything change

in your life. And so the for for me, that's

right. Walking with the Lord has been

like my biggest joy. Like teaching people to walk

with the Lord has been my biggest joy.

I tell people all the time. I tell our discipleship groups

all the time. This is like I'm still trying to

get better at preaching on a Sunday morning.

I don't. I still don't know how to do it

as well as I want to. I wish I could flow a lot

better. So I, I don't like, it's almost

like a working for me when I'm preaching, I'm just like, ah,

like, yeah, and I'm putting my and yeah, it's a grind.

That's exactly right. And so I always getting off and

I'm very like self critical of myself and I'm like, I get off

and I tell my wife like, man, I think I just feel like I did

trash today and she's like, no, it was really good.

So I I tell people like, that's still a hard thing for me, but

sitting in a room with four or five guys and discipling, I get

more life doing that than I do on a Sunday morning on a pulpit

because I'm like, this is where life change actually happens.

Like in on a Sunday morning, we can get you to the feet of

Jesus. But if I don't, if the next day

I'm not meeting with you and saying, hey, man, what are we

doing now? Yeah.

Then that that just becomes a moment and it becomes like I

said earlier, how many times did I go to the altar?

Yeah, how many times did I go to AVBS and they're like, who wants

to give the life your Christ and I?

But I didn't know how to walk with the Lord.

And so This is why. My story, man, you're, it always

goes back. Your story always cultivates

your church. And so for me, it was like, I

wish somebody would have just sat with me and just said, hey,

like this is how you read. This is how you do this.

And it's funny. I always say that too because I

remember like it later on in high school, early college.

I had my parents. I mean, they were youth pastors,

you know, And but it was just them, too.

And I always think to myself, what if, like, what if I had

somebody from the church, like, whether it was like a college

student, a young man, even, like a grown up.

Yeah. That said, hey Rick, let's just

meet like. Let's hang out.

Or or like, you know, an all guys group that would meet once

a week or something like 'cause when it came to dating and I was

like, who am I going to ask? Like I ain't talking to my

parents about that. My brother don't know.

Like you know, he knows videos. I'm the middle.

Child nobody else. I was like, girls didn't like me

till like. Later on in high school, so I

was like, I'm way off. I was like, I just learned from

the locker room, which is not good.

That's a terrible place. That's a terrible to learn

anything. It's terrible.

But I always, I always wonder to myself, what what would that had

like, might have looked like if I just had somebody to like, I

don't know, text with her? Yeah, I don't know, man.

It's just one of those things. So.

Yeah, man. And that's what I.

Said even for me, it's the same way.

It's like, maybe I would have did this a lot earlier.

Yeah, yeah. If somebody would have just.

Dismounted me like maybe I would have.

I would have walked into my calling a lot earlier.

Maybe I would have, but the Lord knows everything, right?

He knows what timing, He knows all that stuff.

But I think it was being exposed to discipleship that I was just

like, oh, I missed that. And I didn't get that.

And I didn't realize that I didn't get that.

I was just doing the church motions.

Like it's just like, go to church, go to church and be a

part of the youth group, be a part of whatever.

And I go to the conferences and it's, it's great.

But then you get home and you're like, I don't know what to do.

So I tell this to people all the time, man.

Like when I gave my life to Jesus that night in that room.

And I didn't. Want to drink anymore?

I'd literally may not allow him thinking about it.

Like do you know what I would do man?

Like I I literally turned off my phone and when I would get home

and because I knew myself like if one of my friends calls me,

I'm going to go out. So I'll turn off my phone and

the bill literally like you're, it's going to sound really

weird, but I would just sit in my room.

Just be proactive. I would just sit in my.

Room then like, or I'd get home like from my, my job and go home

and just sit in my room. And, and then one day I was just

like, man, I can't, I can't just sit in my room.

Like I got to do something. So I just opened my Bible and

just started reading my Bible. And then it was just like, OK,

let me learn how to pray. And, and so then I started like

reading the Bible. This I pray our father whole lot

in heaven. Hallowed.

OK, cool. Like like like I said, it's it

sounds elementary, but especially because I grew up in

church, but nobody was there to just hold my hand and just like,

Hey, like, let me teach you how to pray.

Hey, let me I have my dad in the next room.

That's a great teacher. But like, it's, I guess it, it

was that weird. Like, that's my dad though.

Yeah, it's, it's kind of like my dad.

I wanted somebody who was like my age, somebody who was going

through the same thing I was. And I just didn't have that.

And so I I remember feeling the the emptiness of it and, and

almost feeling like. Like, oh man.

No wonder people leave like even as at the end, like because they

don't have like they don't have that discipline to just like not

fall into flash and not fall. Like for me, it became a really

big discipline. It was literally like get home,

turn off your phone. Like it wasn't.

Put it on silent. Turn it off.

Turn that thing off. And like put it on the.

Charge and just leave it there. And then I would just literally

just sit in my room. Like I would listen to worship

music or I'd watch TV and yeah, that's what I would do.

And I was like, and I did, bro, I'm not even kidding.

I did that for about like 2 years.

Really. Yeah.

Oh man. And it was like, yeah, for two

years it was like, I did like, it was like I'd go to work, be

at work all day, come home, you know, just chill in my room,

turn the the thing off. And then I was just like then

and I'd go to church. Yeah, that's what I.

Would. Do and what was funny is like I

was literally teaching myself everything I was I was I taught

my like and I did a terrible job, but I I was teaching myself

how to fast like, you know, I was like, you know, like all

right, let me teach how to fast and I remember like.

I want to say I want to. Apologize publicly, but I I got

like, you know when you don't know how to fast like you like

your body, you get angry. You're naturally like agitated,

irritated. Yeah, you're not doing like.

And so like, I remember like I'm fasting, I told my whole family

like I'm fasting, like, you know, like I'm just not going to

eat, blah, blah, blah. I must say this man, we'll,

we'll, we'll close because I know it's taking a long time,

but I, I remember fasting and. I had.

I had a. New car and my brother like

pulled into the side of me and he opened the door and I don't

know what was wrong with his door, but his the door would

swing really fast, right? And I'm like, bam, it knocked my

mirror, broke it off the car. And I was like, what?

The fascinating speaking in tongues.

And I said all that stuff. And then my my dad was like,

hey, aren't you fasting? Like, what's wrong with you?

And this and this and this. And I just like, yeah, he

everything blah. And I was like, lost it.

Like lost it that because I was literally trying to teach myself

how to do this. And like I said, I had to go

through all that learning by myself because I didn't have

anybody just to sit with me. But yeah, this is a healthy way

to fast. This is how you start.

You don't start like cold Turkey food.

Like that's what I did. I did that for five days, bro,

Like no food. No.

And I was just like, you better than me.

Yeah. Irritated, quite mad at

everybody. And so I mean, that's like I

said, all that story, like now I have pushed it into our church

plant. That's what I have done.

Now it's it's one of those things that I'm like, I don't

want people to go through that. I don't want people to feel like

they're doing this by themselves.

And so. And you know what's awesome to

see? Too, And I know like we've,

we've shared this. What's really cool is how like

you start seeing it multiply in the church.

Like I, I see our, our group of guys, you know, we have our

men's group on on Wednesday and it's like, it's a great time,

man. Like I remember like we have

like a text thread and I said I was like, man, I I couldn't stop

laughing. Like some of the comments that

were made. It just like carried over the

next day. And I'm just like cracking up

and, and you just feel grateful. But what's, what's really cool

is to see like inside of the church, how now it's like, like

these three are like hanging out or like, like these two are

going to like this guy. And and so it's like sub.

I said, I want to say like subgroups, but at the same time

it's is people are starting to lean on each other.

And I think that's so healthy for a church.

Almost to the point as a pastor, you just kind of like have to

like that Homer Simpson meme where you're like trying to hide

in the place a little bit because it's it's just a

beautiful thing that these friendships and brotherhoods and

like, you know, sisterhoods are like being developed because of

like that whole discipleship piece.

And now it's like multiple. It's like happening.

I love it. Yeah, man.

So anybody who's. Watching anybody who's watching

today, I want to encourage you, your church planting should not

start with your preaching. It should start with where are

you going to take your people? What's the journey you're about

to take them on? Because I guess it, anybody can

get up on a pulpit and have a gifting to preach, but you don't

know how to walk with people. You don't know how to lead them.

You don't know how to disciple them.

And you'll do them a disservice. And you'll end up with a Chris

that's trying to figure out how to pray by himself at the house

and trying to learn how to fast by himself at the house and

trying to learn how to read his Bible by himself because nobody

wants to sit with him and teach him.

And, and I would, I would challenge you, if you're a

church planter, what is, what is your discipleship goal?

Do you value discipleship? Do you value that?

Do you want somebody to do that? Or are you just, are you OK with

somebody giving their life to Christ and then asking them to

figure it out? Good luck.

Yeah. And so I would, I would

challenge you if you're a church planter, what is your what's

your discipleship goal? What do you, what do you want

for people? What do you value in your

church? Because your story will be.

Implemented. Into your church plant.

Whether you think it does or not, it does.

And because it's your heart, the Lord has given it to you.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I think I'll end with with on that same sediment is because

your story is cultivated in the church.

You don't get discouraged if there's some people that, that

don't align with it, you know, like we're, we're the body of

Christ. So there's multiple churches

with maybe different visions, different styles, traditions,

but the same head was Jesus. And those are like the, the,

those gospel centered churches. So if I know we've had people

that have come in and be like, Nah, nobody's wearing a suit in

here. I am, I'm out or and and that's

OK. Like there's nothing, there's

nothing bad about that. And that's something that I've,

I've grown to learn and grown to appreciate that we have all of

these churches who worship one God and, and we're all unified

together under the name of Jesus.

And, and do not be discouraged, actually be encouraged and be

like, Hey man, that's cool. I have friends whose church,

like, goes, you know, does that or like, I would love to connect

you, you know, So that's OK. Yeah.

You know? No, absolutely.

Be encouraged by that. Like you say, Ricky can reach

people that I can't and I can buy he can't.

And so and. Like I said, nobody wears a suit

in my church. And I said I was like, but

that's OK. That's exactly right.

Because our stories, they matter, the Lord did.

If the Lord wanted us to die to our stories, He would.

He would erase that history from us.

But I know how I was raised. Ricky knows how he was raised

and he allows that store to be implemented in this in the

journey that we're on right now. And so if and he if he asks us

to die to a piece of it, then we die to it.

But when he doesn't, he's using it for his glory at the end.

And so, yeah, man, I appreciate it.

Like I said, I love you guys. For those of you guys who are

still praying about being a church planter, I would

challenge you. Don't just think about a Sunday

morning thing because a Sunday morning is is like 20% of this

thing. Sunday morning service is like

20% of it as like you got six other days in the week.

What are the people who are coming to your church plan?

What is their journey like those six days a week?

Do you have a plan for them? You're not just shepherding them

on Sundays. You're shepherding them for as

long as as they are with you in your church plan.

Do you have a plan for them? That's right.

So. That's so true.

Yeah, man. And I think one more thing I'll

say, like, as you're talking Hebrews 12.

Come on, Hebrews. 12. You know, talks about Jesus, how

he's the author and perfecter of our faith.

Yeah. So that means that he's the

author of our faith. He's the one that is writing the

story. Yeah.

So what he does is that he makes your story history.

Yeah. You know, and, and so we

continue to. I love that.

Yeah. But I was like, Ricky, me,

Ricky. Me Ricky is good hey so.

Man, we love you guys and. Chris want to pray?

Us out, man. Yeah.

Let's pray, Lord. Thank you.

Thank. You for this time.

Thank you for just letting us go down This the, these moments

that we've had with you. Jesus, I, I thank you because

you always take us back there, no matter what season we're in,

no matter what part of this journey that we're on, Lord, you

always take us back to that moment where we first met you.

And I thank you for that, Lord. I thank you that you use our

story to glorify yourself, Lord. You use the, the hurt and the

pain and you use the triumph and the victories, Lord, to glorify

yourself, Lord, and, and I thank you for that.

I thank you for every single person who's watching.

Lord, would you use their story? Would you use what they've gone

through to glorify yourself? So Lord, we love you and we

thank you. And all of this is for your

name. It's in Jesus name we pray,

Amen. We love you guys.