Crowns Down

00:00 Father, we honor you. What a privilege it is to be before you. And we truly get to do this. And even as we do, we consecrate it to you, Lord, that all that we do, all that we say would bring life, would bring hope, would bring inspiration and encouragement to our listeners. And we pray for them and bless them in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. It's Wednesday, July 1st, 2026. We get to do this. This is episode number 39. This is the life we've been blessed with. This is the gifts. We dare not miss. This is the life

00:42 we get to do this. Last days of the vacation, my brother. I know it's weird, but it's good because I'm so back. Yeah. My heart and my mind had an opportunity this week and got a phone call from the hospital. Yes. That one of our church members, who will go unnamed, but went into the hospital, had some complications, and she specifically requested that Annette and I come. She didn't know we're on vacation and whatever. And Annette said, let's go right now. We're in our gym clothes. We're getting ready to go to the gym. And Annette's like, we got to go. I was going to bring this up a little bit later in the podcast because I wanted people to know that you guys are first responders.

01:25 I mean, you really are. And I know that you were on your way because we got the same phone call as what was going on. We're like, and we're praying here. And, you know, you're like, oh, we're turning around. We're going right over there. And that is, I don't know if people appreciate that, if they ever think about that, but man, that was pretty awesome. You truly are first responders. I so appreciate that, but it's really our privilege to do it. And she was so gracious and just shocked that we showed up. And we were. And then when she found out we're on vacation, she's like, oh, no. And we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is what we do. Yeah. And then Annette said, no, this is who we are. And I just said, absolutely, babe. This is it. We get to do this. But what it did, it rekindled because I've been in vacation mode.

02:11 And our church and our staff are so good about when we're gone, they know not to. I mean, they're just so gracious. Yeah. There's no phone calls, no emails, no nothing. Wow. You know, here and there, the tiny friends. Yeah. But also, we're that way with our team. When we know they're gone, we don't send them stuff. We don't loot them in unless it's like an emergency or something. So, anyway, she was so sweet and so gracious. And she was just so shocked that we showed up on our vacation. We're like, it doesn't matter. But for me, it reignited my heart. I was like, I'm so ready to be back.

02:47 Yeah. Yeah. Just even, it was a privilege and a pleasure. I'm glad that you had a little bit of sun on the vacation because, man, if she saw your leg, she might go into cardiac arrest. You know, for real. It could be frightening. Frightening. I'm like, man, I'm glad I didn't have to show up in my shorts. That would have been no good. No, but just, I just think that's so amazing. That's great. That's really you want to move that wire. Is that in the way for you? Oh, yeah, go ahead. We're in the Curry compound studio today. Tina and I are getting ready. That would mean Tina has packed everything up as we're leaving here in about two and a half hours. And we're off to Rotterdam.

03:29 Yes. Man, I'm excited for you guys. Yeah. Well, we're hoping that the baby will, the grandbaby, will arrive when we're there. That would be so nice. This is OCD, brother. I'm seeing. Sorry. I need this one. I'm a musician, so cords, stage chords. I know it's a big deal. Yeah, it's hopefully a good OCD. I actually had to put the other mic arm on there because the other one broke. It has like a little wire on the inside and it snapped. So it's like a little coil or whatever. Yeah, spring. Yeah, that's a spring mechanism. It's a design flaw. So I'm like, oh, it's an old one. I'll catch you. I was just, I think it's actually better. You've got a few spares, so I know. I've got all kinds of stuff.

04:11 Don't open that closet. No, no, no. Well, talking about the closet. No, it has not been cleaned up. So we're going over there. And I don't know if we've talked about it on the show, but Christina, my daughter, and Kevin, who are expecting the granddaughter, they've been doing a reality show for Dutch television. And in 2003, for a whole bunch of reasons, I did a reality show with our family called Adam's Family. And Christina was nine or 10 at the time. And it really was, there was like a huge legal issue with cash. And so I literally could not get money out of the ATM. And

04:55 it was a tax IRS in Holland. And they later had to apologize. apologize, which showed up on page 23 of the newspapers. Curry's in trouble is page one. Oh, my God. So they literally can do this in home. They can freeze everything, all your accounts. It goes back to the shipping days where they could block everything if a ship hadn't paid its dues or whatever. So it's kind of an interesting law. So I literally could not get anything out of the ATM. I'm like, well, this is a problem, but any new money back. Any new money would be okay. And I had just seen the Osbournes, which an old producer of mine at MTV had done, Greg Johnson. And he

05:37 literally had one camera, some extra camera guy time, and he decided to do this with the Osborns. Of course, that became a big hit. Said, well, we can do that. And so we ate. 13 episodes. And, you know, I locked it up. It's, you know, that's it. No one can ever do any re-airs of it. You know, I have all the rights. And so that's just a one-time thing. And it was actually quite, I thought, kind of, it was fun to do because I produced it with two other people. We did it all ourselves. So after that came a lot of family reality shows. Every singer, family, everyone had a reality show. And now, 25 years later, they're doing, you know, fill in the family name 2025, 2026, 25 years later.

06:20 And so they offered Kevin and Christina to do this reality show. And I'm like, you know, it's not that much of a hassle. It's kind of, it's annoying, but it would be a great start, you know, because you, you know, you have a little extra cash. You got the baby on the way. And Tina and I will happily participate, which we have done. Now, as a part of that, we gave them some rights to some of the old footage, which I have. Now, to say I have that means I have all the original tapes, which is useless. You can't give that to anybody because it's just all raw material. But I have five DVD sets.

07:00 And so I needed to bring those. And for the whole week, I was anxious because I knew that eventually I'd have to go locate these five DVD sets, which is it in the closet from hell. Is it in a box in the garage? One of the many boxes. I mean, there must be 25 boxes. Yes. And I was like, oh, man. And I did something that usually I do during the moment of frustration for a whole day yesterday before I started to search. I said, Holy Spirit, would you please help me find this? And dude, it is crazy. I didn't even open the, I really thought they would be in the hell closet. I didn't even open it up.

07:43 The spirit actually sent me to a box, which I don't even remember. And the box, it wasn't the box, but it was a box filled with photos I can't even recall from when Christina was a baby and just great. You know, I'm always looking for something for her birthday or Father's Day or something to put, you know, to send to her. Like, oh, this is a great, my social security card, my birth certificate. I'm like, this is a good box. The next box I opened right there. It almost jumped out at me. Beautiful. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Yes. I just completely believe in this stuff, man. That was so helpful. The helper came through. The helper helped.

08:26 That's what he does. And he delights in doing so. Can you imagine? I mean, think about this. You're a father. And if your child would reach out to you to say, I need help doing this, this is important. I need to, would you help me find my keys? What would you do? You knock everything down and everybody over to get to that, to her house to help her find her keys. I mean, that's the father. Yeah. And when you ask the helper, that's his name. Amen. He's ready to help. And I mean, it's crazy because this happens all the time. And Annette and I, of course, our little running thing now is: have you asked the Holy Spirit? You know, I mean, it's a joke with us because it's a lot of, oh, no. Okay. Hold on. You know, we'll just do it right now.

09:12 Because, you know, you know how it is when you're looking for something. You're just not thinking about the big, you know, cosmic things. You're just thinking about, I need to keep my eyes. Where's my keys? Yes. Or my DVDs, whatever. And it's so nice when you just pause for a second and it just settles you. Yeah. Because you go, okay, he knows where it is. Yeah. And he will guide me to it. And that, but this was the, and I've done that, but this was the first time I did it up front before I went searching. Like, well played. I have to find this and it's really important. And I was anxious. I mean, you know, like the whole day I'm doing things, I got this pain in my stomach. You know, like, oh man. And I know it's hot in the garage. Sweat's going to be dripping from me. No.

09:53 Not only did I get the DVDs, I got. I got this great bonus of this great archive. It was phenomenal. Beautiful. Phenomenal. Just phenomenal. Love it, brother. He's good that way. So, do you have the football fever? No. You don't have to be a good one. I'm much well. Actually, being hanging out in airports for hours and hours. That's what we did a lot. You know, they're on all the TVs. So you catch yourself watching it. And I count myself going, yeah, you know. And that goes, I didn't know you like soccer. I said, I really don't, but I'm kind of getting into it. And then laughing at all the fake falls, you know, the drama. That's the theater. That's the first part of the game. I laughed my head off. I'm like, that guy needs to play some rugby and take a real hit because, man, he didn't even touch that guy.

10:35 But it's so fun. And it's fun to watch people in the airport getting into it. Getting into it. Yeah. Everybody's watching. Well, I've been watching it because, you know, I'm the guy who watches. I'll watch the NBA finals. I'll watch the Super Bowl. I'll watch the World Series. Stanley Cup, not so much. I just can't follow the puck. It's like that's not for me. But I have a couple of teams to root for when it comes to the football. So Holland, of course, Italy for my sister. Both of them have been knocked out. I think the USA played last night. I don't expect, but the Germans were knocked out, surprised, because Dermanschaft, as they're known, they usually get into the final. So it's probably going to be France. But they played a game against a new team from Curacao.

11:20 And Curacao is a Dutch protectorate, and they qualified amazing above anyone's expectations. A little island, you know, oh, wow. You know, right off. Actually, it's north of what I think Venezuela. You know, only a couple hours from here to fly. And very small island. I've been there. You know, I don't like going there because everyone's Dutch and they know me. It's like, I don't look at my legs. But they're in the World Cup. Now, they were beaten by Germany, like severely beaten. But what happened was something glorious. And I have a clip. I hope you John Bostock, who is a former English footballer, just retired last year.

12:01 That there is a prayer movement that's happening amongst the teams. It's never happened before, where teams come together and pray at the end of the game. But they're also doing this symbolic. There's always celebration in most sports and soccer. You see it as well. But what they're doing is they're taking the crown off their head and laying it down. And it's symbolic of giving the glory to God. Any glory that they receive, they're giving it back to God. So that's what I'm seeing. And I want everybody to be looking for that as well. So two things. One, you know, when they score, you know, we spike the ball, we do a little dance. No, they are throwing their crowns down on the pitch,

12:41 which is football for field. Right. On the pitch. And after the game, the teams are coming together and praying after the game. Amazing. And so the Germans came and prayed with the even the Germans beat them seven to one. I mean, it was a slot. I know. Listen to what it sounded like. Okay, guys, we thank you, Lord, for another day. Thank you, Lord, for this victory. Caesar, Lord God, not by mind or by power, but by your spirit. Thank you, Lord, for what you have done tonight. Caesar, we are not there yet. Caesar, God, we thank you. Caesar, God, we thank you. Caesar, we pray, Lord, that you'll protect us. Cecilia, protect us from what we can't see. Caesar, we pray, Lord, that you continue to guide us. Caesar, this team, Caesar, today, but Jesus, we pray.

13:25 Isn't that awesome? I got goosebumps. I know. I know. Charred me up. Isn't that fantastic? I love this back to sports days, man. There's just some adrenaline rush that happens. But to have that prayer prayed over you, just passionate and fiery. And, you know, it changes the tone of the game. I mean, you're still going to have your idiots here, you know, who are cocky and narcissistic. But there's a bunch more gentlemen beginning to rise up. Oh, yeah. And you're seeing it sportsmanship and you're seeing camaraderie. And you're seeing them even after a bloodbath on the field, whether it's football, basketball, whatever it is. And they're meeting out in center field out in the middle to pray and end it off.

14:11 Is that starting the game or after? That I think is from starting the game. Wow. It sounds like everybody. I got a. I had a German player talk about it, but it was all in German. So I wasn't going to play that. But a couple of German players actually went over and prayed after the game. So we've got not spiking the ball, but laying down the crowns. That is so cool. And of course, as with all good sports, we have a ministry in football. Guy who actually met Jesse Bradley, have you ever heard of him? I think he's in Los Angeles. I think he has a church. He certainly has a ministry. And he was a professional soccer player.

14:49 And I got a quick clip from him. There's so much happening on many different levels, but at the center of it all, it's not really about soccer. It's about Jesus. And soccer can unite the world. And then the world's attention is on the game. But really, it's about how God transformed lives. And last World Cup, well, four years ago, we had an online outreach and shared about Jesus and hope, the gospel. The good news is that Jesus died for our sins and is risen. It's not religion, it's relationship. And we saw 480,000 people start a relationship with Jesus, make a first-time decision to follow the Lord, and then lead them into discipleship as well. So we're still celebrating what God did four years ago, but now God is moving in this World Cup.

15:33 And we just, God does beyond what we could ask or think, and He gets all the glory. Amen. Jeez, that's so awesome. Football. Who thought? Man, that's beautiful. I love, of course, you and I both have laughed and enjoyed how listening to those who are visiting our country get overwhelmed by, I mean, just whelmed over by everything like Costco. You know, that's my favorite. Ranch dressing. Hell yeah. Ranch. Yeah, all of that. And it makes you just, it's made me take a step back and appreciate our nation. You know, and what a time to think that way, right as we're stepping into the 250th and to say, Lord, thank you for our blessings.

16:17 Because it's so easy to get caught up. I mean, I'm so pushed back from social media right now. So I've enjoyed not riding a daily grind, even though I do love doing it. I started it back today, but I've just been posting scripture as opposed to writing. And it's been very refreshing for me and it brought me back strong. But I just love what's happening where people are seeing things and in a sense of, I don't know that we're at what I would call full-blown revival by definition, but we are definitely at an awakening. You know, it's interesting. I hadn't even prepared this, but regarding that, because there's two ways you can look at it. You know, the cynical way is all they care about is

17:00 our fast food and stuff like that. But it's just like you said, it's doing something to us. It's doing something inside of us. And I'm just trying to see if I can find this because Bill Maher, of all people. Interesting, because I was actually thinking about that, his little spot there, because that's who reminded me to really think about this of all people. Let's listen to this. There actually are some good things about us. So there's a whole, you know, he has a whole setup about, you know, actually, the setup is kind of worth playing, I think. And finally, new rule, let's all give it up for soccer being the greatest sport.

17:43 No, no. Not the game itself. That sucks. I mean, there's more scoring at a Star Trek convention. But I am loving that the World Cup has brought to our shores all these people who are doing Americans the service of reminding us just when we needed it on our big 250 birthday that actually this place is kind of awesome. Yeah. And yes, I know how dare I, how privileged when there are so many problems and threats and people left behind.

18:26 All true. I could give you the statistics where we are not good enough and have done so many times. Infant mortality rate, 54th in the world. Women in government, 85th. Overdose deaths, lack of health insurance. Yes, many problems. But that's because the name of our country is America, not utopia. That was actually a really good line. I thought that was very good. And so instead of what everyone has done, what even I did, although it was for early identification purposes, look at all these people and what they're saying. He kind of turned it around and said, look how happy we should be. How happy we should be about our country.

19:04 There actually are some good things about us. Even with all the ICE nonsense, we have more immigrants than the next four countries combined. We have to fight for it, but still have freedom of speech and assembly and trial by jury. And if you're found guilty, you can still ask a Kardashian to get you a pardon. Other countries struggle just to have water. Here, we make it put on a show in the desert now. Vegas Mountains. He's reminding them. Yeah. We have drive-thrus for both church and yeah, I'm going to skip a couple of these because it gets a little launched.

19:51 I can imagine. But he basically says, hey, you know, this is a great country. Yeah, we have our problems. But it's, and it's so true. And it kind of comes back to what we were talking about on the last show. Like, you get so myopic and so focused on a screen, and you just, you forget everything that's around you. You know, it's just, it's so good. That's what it's doing for me. Beautiful. For me, too. And I get so encouraged by it because I'm like, if a guy from France, and we visited France in 2019 and they didn't seem to like us very much, you know, just straight up. I mean, especially the waiters and waitresses. And, you know, I was like, hey, could you bring me my check? And they don't like each other.

20:33 They don't like each other. Don't worry about it. Well, okay. So I don't feel bad. I didn't feel bad. But anyway, to hear a French guy saying, you know, Costco, I'll give my right arm for Costco. Yeah, Revolution. I'll start a Revolution for Costco. I'm like, wow, we need to step back. Yeah. Yeah. And put our screens down and pick up our Bibles and say, thank you, God, that we get to live in the most amazing country in America. And forgive those of us who have complained and who have put this nation down and who have tried to destroy this nation. And Father, let us stand up straight again, upright, righteous before you.

21:15 And so that's what it's doing for me. It's bringing me back to my foundations as a believer of gratitude and thanksgiving, which is the scripture says, is the will of God. It is the will of God to give thanks. And so that's what it's doing for me. And I'm excited not only about that, but another thing that makes me thankful is seeing all the sports teams praying. I mean, these poor commentators, you know, especially down on the field, they know what's going to happen when they hand a mic to a football player. What am I going to say? Oh, yeah, yeah. Thank you, Jesus Christ. The gospel changes my life. I mean, it is just happening. It's really steamrolling right now. Did you see the guy with the three nails?

21:59 No, no. I just ordered my first three nails. Well, workout short. He had like three long, oh, long nails, and he was doing an after-show. Come, gosh, I wish I knew who that was. The American guy. And he says, you know, these three nails, and he went into the whole story of the crucifixion, but in graphic detail, Passion of the Christ Mel Gibson movie-level details. Wow. And I just said, like, and there was, you could have heard a pin drop in the press room. Man. And he says, and that's, and that's why I'm grateful. And, you know, he just went. That's so good. It was, it was like, whoa. So, can I share something from Jeremy Camp? Because you don't have to ask me this. Right in line, brother.

22:40 You go through. It's right in line with all of this. I love Jeremy Camp, of course. He's a contemporary Christian music artist. I hear him all the time. And Hello, Fred. Phenomenal. Yes. And he's got big guns, too. The dude's pumped. He's juiced. But he's just a great guy. When we lived in Nashville, they attended our church, and his wife, Addie, was on the worship team. He wasn't because I'm sure he's got clauses where he can't read. But she was on the worship team regularly. And it'd be nothing to look down the row and see, oh, there's Jeremy Camp and his kids, you know? So really cool family. But listen to what he writes about revival. He just wrote a song called Revival. Yes. And he says, throughout scripture, revival begins with God's people humbling themselves, repenting, and allowing him to transform their hearts.

23:24 It's not simply about counting decisions. It's about seeing lives changed. It's about forgiveness replacing bitterness, purity replacing compromise, humility replacing pride, and the fruit of repentance becoming evident in everyday life. Real revival doesn't stop at the altar. It follows us home. It changes the way we love our spouses, raise our children, treat our neighbors, serve our communities, and represent Christ in our schools and workplace. Because revival is not merely measured by how many people gather. It's ultimately revealed by how many people are changed.

24:05 Isn't that rich? This folds right into our brother Rick Green, who spoke at the men's breakfast on Saturday. I hated to miss that. And you would have loved being there. So I'm so glad that we're expanding the space because it was 134 men pretty much in the room only 137. 137. And crazy. And Rick's message was not dissimilar to Jeremy, but he was saying, as men, we have an obligation. We can start this at home, pray with our wives, with our children. He actually did something. something we've talked about in the You've Preach from the Pulpit going through the Lord's Prayer and stopping at each piece.

24:45 And how can I, you know, what can I pray specifically about? You know, daily bread or forgive us of our debts or even our father art in heaven. And it was so motivating. And it was, and there was a lot of young men, like eight, nine years old. And I just have to say, Jonah Mandel, Pastor Brian's son, who just turned 15, he was still 14. And he had something to say about something that he had learned at the camp because they were all at camp this past week. And so Pastor Brian invited him to come up there and talk and then also invited him to do the closing prayer. And, brother, I got to tell you, we got a couple generations lined up in our church, but he had the Mandel shuffle, man.

25:28 It was awesome. He was doing left and right and back and forth. And they say, Miss Adam, Miss Adam, I think I'm ready to get the podcast going again. I'm like, oh, yeah, okay. I was just talking to Annette about that yesterday. Well, he is, he wants to be able to do it solo without relying on anybody. He has to get through that barrier of, I'm talking into a microphone, into a void. There's no one in the pews. Oh, he can do it. He's solid. I know he could. I know he can. So I'm excited. Actually, I did a pilot yesterday for another podcast that will come out of our church. Yes. From Wendy. Are you familiar with Wendy? Same? Wendy. It's also with a W. Yeah. Winnie Whitsad, or I think you're right.

26:13 Winstead. Winstead. She's sharp. Winstead, yes. She is sharp. So she had this idea, which I think she talked to Pastor to Annette about it and to you. And I think Dame Annette said, Oh, yeah, Adam will do that. Just call him. Here's his number. She was right. That was a move by the spirit. And I talked to her on the phone. I said, Come on, we'll do a pilot and we'll see how it goes. It's called I Know a Woman. And it's essentially each episode is maybe a 12 to 17-minute testimonial of someone who either can't or doesn't want to do it herself. And so she's written it out.

26:55 I mean, I was choked up, man. I'm just, because all I had to do was just record. And it was one take. She has a beautiful voice, just went straight through, not a single stop, not a single pickup. I'm like, I'm stunned. I'm like, all I have to do is just put some stuff at the beginning and the end. And this is a show. And I'm excited to get it on our Godcaster station. And of course, it'll be everywhere as a podcast, but oh, man, this is so good. And she's funny, too. She's great. And she, yeah, we sat down with her a while back and we left that meeting just lifted and encouraged by her story. Yeah. And just what God's doing in her life and in and through her, but also others.

27:38 But I'm so happy. One of the things, one of the big wins for me was that we got to allow, use our studio for somebody in the church. This is why we built that studio. So I told Annette, this is why we did this, not just for us. This is to get more voices out there, more people getting bold, getting, you know, staying the course, stepping up to the plate and saying, you know what? I have a voice and I have something to say. Well, we actually have a studio you can do that in. We have a studio. We have that to be a blessing. And then Doug, Doug, also from our church, Doug, Doug Brand, Doug Fire, Doug Sparedo, Flames.

28:21 We have horrible doug. I love this. Hold on a second. Let me see. It was Doug. Oh, man. Doug Burns. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's in radio. Yeah. And he's like, because I was talking to Matt Long after the breakfast and he says, oh, I want you to meet Doug. You know, Doug's been in radio, rock and roll radio, and doesn't look anything like the rock and roll radio guy you'd expect, but typical also. He said, yeah, I've got this interview podcast and I've got everything all set up and I've got the gear and everything good to go, but I need a host. I said, you need a host? What do you mean? Like someone to host it? He says, no, no, I'm going to do it.

28:59 I need how do I get it into a podcast? I said, hello. Talking to this is exactly a podfather is your neon signals on the wall. This is exactly what we want to do here at Bridge Church. And we'll get you up on RSS.com because we have a partnership with them and we'll get this rolling. So, I mean, he's sharp. I did an interview with him like nine years ago when we first came here. And he, when he found out I played guitar and stuff, he started talking to me about contemporary Christian music. And he had a show on one of the local radio stations here where he would do this. He'd do like old hits. Right. 70s, 80s, 90s Christian music. It was cool. He's so good. Yeah, and uh, he has a great voice, and so yeah, he'll be good. So, that's another one.

29:43 So, we're just becoming like a podcast ministry, man. I'm excited about it. Well, I told you a while back, I said, you know, every church has a lane, yeah. And I feel like our lane is something that was spoken to me back in the 1990s in of all places, Hesperia, California, with an evangelist named Jojo Sanchez, who stopped me. And he said, Now, remember, it's the mid-90s. He says, He says, I want to say something to you about the spirit. He said, If you're ready, I said, Yeah, I'll say it. He said, Have you ever done anything with multimedia? Remember, multimedia stacked projectors, CD-ROMs, Kodak. I mean, like thousands of thousands of slides.

30:23 And I said, No, but I'm fascinated. He said, Get ready. You're going to speak to millions through multimedia. Now, he hadn't mentioned the internet because that was just starting to get some traction. Yeah, I mean, mid-90s, sure. Yeah. Wow. I mean, I had Juno at that time, I think, or America Online, one of those, but prodigy. Prodigy. We've had all of those. I was an early adopter. Yeah. And so doing what we're doing right now is so natural to me because I know this is what the Lord said was going to happen back in the 90s. So they are, brother. And here we are. Yeah. Sitting in the studio. I love it. I love it.

31:03 So we have a praise report. Come on. Oh, yes. Which now on the last show, we actually stopped in the middle of the show and prayed for Viola. She's Charles's daughter, Charles, and trying to think what his wife's name is. I can't remember. Sorry. But they were on their way, and he was keeping us updated on email. And so I just read a little bit of this. I mean, there's a lot of detail, but the bottom line is, you know, he says, our God is so good. Praise Report incoming. Tracy is her name.

31:43 And she came out of surgery fine. You know, a little touch and go with fluids and they had to intubate her, but then they took her off. They got her under CPAP. Then the CPAP, you know, could come off. And hoping to move out of the cardiac ICU today or tomorrow. So praying for healing and protection against infection. And I just love what he says here. Tracy and I are so grateful for our Lord's grace and all the prayers we've been receiving nationwide. And remember, this could have gone completely the opposite direction. And they were more concerned about even deciding to do the operation to give the go-ahead. That was the big decision. Yeah. Viola is on prayer list from Virginia to California.

32:25 Our home church, New Hope Assembly of God in Urban Dale, Iowa, has circled around us with support. Our pastor, Brian, even offered to fly to Boston for the surgery. It's so humbling to be surrounded by such loving people. I don't know how people go through life without God's church, says Charles. Wow. And so thank you all for praying. And don't stop. Don't stop praying for Viola and Charles and Tracy. And I think they have another daughter as well. Beautiful. So happy to hear. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, guys. And thank you for our friends here on our podcast who maybe paused and prayed with us when we prayed for her. Maybe when you listen to this podcast, you threw her name up. Yeah, she's a fireball. I mean, she is spitfire.

33:07 Can you imagine, man, what this kid's going to do? What destiny, though? What a destiny on her life. Right. And Charles even made a comment. This is a story, a testimony being built. And so, man, it's a hard way to build a testimony, but I'm telling you, it's going to honor God and be a blessing to a lot of people. I'm always excited when I hear these stories, kind of like Seamus, who was a kid I was praying for. I'm excited to see what the Lord's going to do with these kids. Because when you go through that, what can stop you from doing anything you need to do? Everything else is butter after that, right? Exactly. It's beautiful. We're so blessed. You know, there's a lot of talk in social media about the church.

33:50 You know, the church hurt me. The church, you know, I'm traumatized from the church. I've been triggered by going to church. And it's like, you know, it's kind of like America. There's so many people saying terrible things. And yet, when you peel away the handful of people that are being critical, judgmental, and negative, and that's not to say bad things haven't happened. I would never say that because unfortunately there's bad apples everywhere because where there's people, there's going to be sin. There's going to be issues. But by and large, man, the church of Jesus Christ doesn't hurt people. People hurt people. People hurt people. It's the same. same thing when I say the Holy Spirit's not weird.

34:32 People are weird. Quit blaming the Holy Spirit for the weirdness of people. We'll quit blaming the church for the weirdness of people as well. Sadly, you know, there are people in the church who represent the church who've made terrible, gross mistakes. Because they're people and they're hello humans. And God will deal with that. He will have the ultimate say. But when I hear something like this from Charles, I'm just so thankful for what he said there. That thank God for the church. You know, they're so blessed. And I love our church. I see how people come around our people. All the time. You know, funny thing, and this is a good thing. I'm one of the last people to get a call when somebody goes down,

35:14 sick or whatever. You know, it used to be where call the pastor, call the patient. You got to call. You know, that's old school. Right. And one pastor can't service a thousand people. That's not even, Jesus could only handle 12, and he lost one. So he's down to 11, right? So, so what makes us think we can handle more than that realistically? That's why when the church becomes the church, I'm the last one to get the call. Their life group, their connect group leader gets a call. Their brother they met at the men's breakfast gets the call. The lady they met, the sister that she met at the women's ministry luncheon or breakfast brunch, they get the call.

35:56 The person they sit around in church kind of see each other on a rec get the call. That's the church when the church is healthy and firing on all eight cylinders and doing what it's supposed to be doing because we are the church. The people are the church, not the pastor, the people. And just like presidents, pastors will come and go. I'm not announcing my departure. I can't wait to get back in the saddle. But what I'm saying is, is that leadership and pastors and presidents and cabinets and all these things come and go. But at the end of the day, it's the people you do life with every day. That's your family. That's your church. Yeah. That's your community. And you're right. We have a very strong one. I mean, just the other day, Tina's like, oh, we got to go bring dinner over to Larry and Jeannie.

36:41 So what happened? Yep. No, Jeannie had an operation. Back surgery. Yeah. They're all, you know, and they're in, you know, 70, I think, close to it. It's like, so we're just, we're just making it easy for them. Like, oh, this is the church does. Yes. But in order to do that, and you've heard me say this a million times: connection is protection. You've got to be connected. And that takes some effort on your part. You know, to have friends, you have to be a friend, right? And to be connected, you have to connect too. So it's not just waiting for people to come connect with you. It's you having the heart and the courage to step out and meet and greet and connect with other people. So I connected with someone at the men's breakfast, Cody Sharp.

37:25 I'm not sure if you're familiar with that. Oh, he is sharp. I love Cody. And so I'm sitting there. He has his son, Jackson, great kid, eight years old. And I'm like, and I'm looking at him like, no, this guy's got some fucking hearing aids. Let me see what, hey, man, what's up with the hearing aids? Those are pretty cool. So I got these little, he says, well, they're actually cochular implants. So, oh, okay. He says, I pretty much couldn't hear anything up until two years ago. And so now you have my attention. I'm like, interesting. This is cool. And, you know, we're talking, and he said, what's it like to hear? I said, well, I can hear his speaking was almost undetectable that he, you know, that he had a hearing issue.

38:06 He says, well, birds are kind of a problem for me because I've never heard them before. And they're loud and they're kind of freaky. And, you know, I have three kids at home, two, five, and eight. And it's kind of chaotic. And I hear everything. He says, I've never heard cymbals before in my life, only drums. And then I said, well, hey, man, so do you have the Godcaster app? Do you listen? He says, yeah, I do. I said, well, do you listen to We Get To Do This? He says, Two Voices is still a problem. Wow. Yeah. Two voices is he's trying to, you know, I guess it just takes a lot.

38:43 Train his brain to separate. That's exactly right. Yeah. To separate that. And he says, but music-wise, you really don't, you know, I'm really not playing what I like. What do you like? He says, Death metal. I'm like, death metal. He said, yeah. And he gives me a playlist. And this is all, these are Christians. Right. Christian, hardcore, death metal. It's like vertical worship. I mean, and I'm just like, holy moly. I've never hold, brother, send more to me. I just want to get into this. I'm straight for working out. Maybe we'll make a whole different channel of this stuff. Cody, if you're listening, bro, stay the course. Keep listening. Your brain will adjust. Neuroscience tells us it will. So be encouraged, brother.

39:26 And just glad you're listening. He's a good guy. He is a good guy. I really, really enjoyed that a lot. So, have you prepared for your next messages? I mean, have you got it? So here's the deal. I'm coming back this weekend. I'm on the worship team and I'm going to introduce Rick. That's all I get to do. Oh, no. Oh, right. It's the 4th of July, right? Yeah, before July 250th. You know, it's a big deal. I thought, gosh, a year ago, I asked him to do this because I thought, how could we not be more appropriate time to have Rick Friday in the pulpit? Because he's going to be on fire. And if people don't know, Rick Green, you can listen to the wall builders on the Godcaster app, Slash Point USA, Slash Point USA, and he's Patriot Academy.

40:06 Just go look at the Patriot Academy. You'll get a good idea of who's everywhere. And then the following week, we have Todd McDowell in the pulpit from the Caleb Company, Caleb Global now. He used to be Caleb Company, but I knew them back in Nashville. And he's a phenomenal teacher. So we'll have him on Saturday for a conference, just an all-day conference or seminar. I'm sad we're missing that because I really want to be a part of that. And then he'll be in the pulpit. I'll be up on the guitar again introducing. But one treat we have is Don Fento, Papa Don Fento, who is just a legend in the Christian world, particularly missions and ministry to Israel, will be with us as well. He doesn't usually travel with them to churches, but he wanted to come meet us. That's fantastic.

40:51 We stepped in and supported them and brought them on. We adopted them as one of the ministries we support. So Don wanted to come and meet us and get to know us. I got a good promo because, you know, this is to, I think, what was the title of it? You know, What About Israel? And, you know, it's very clear. This is not political. This is not anything. You know, it's really just biblical scripture. It's a whole day, and I really wish I could be there. It's going to be rich. Yeah, I bet it will be. Yeah. Yeah. And we need that. We need that at this moment. So I'm not preaching for another three weeks. Okay. I'm about to bust. Nice work if you can get it, Pastor. All right. At least I get to play guitar, and I'm just happy to see our people. Really looking forward to that.

41:34 Can I land the plane with the daily guy? I would love for you to do that. So today I wrote my first daily grind in nine days because I took a break and I've never done that in 22 years. It's the first time I've ever done it. First of all, you deserve it. Second of all, I love that you kept it going. It was like your greatest hits, Jesus' greatest hits. I just called it Just Jesus. I went through the Beatitudes, and all I did was make a slide with graphic with those. And that's it. No commentary. I'm a big fan of just doing something. You know what's crazy? I got more likes and just as much as I would have ever if I just was writing. So I got, wow, maybe I should have done it. Never took it personally. No, I don't. I don't. No, I actually appreciated it. So here's today's daily grind, Just Jesus, Day 9, because I did the ninth last.

42:19 Let me just read that to you because it's the scripture. Let me pull it up. The graphic. In Matthew chapter 5, there we go. All right. It's Matthew 5, 11 and 12. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And then the actual daily grind is simply this: there's a cost to committing your life to following Jesus.

42:58 We here in the States have become accustomed to comfort that real persecution is strange, so accustomed to comfort, sorry, that real persecution is strange and unfamiliar to us. While we should be thankful, this has also served to soften us when it comes to going against the grain of culture, friendships, media, and entertainment. It's easier to just go with the flow. What if walking in deeper places with Jesus really does cost us? Would we still follow? Still speak up, still refuse to go along with the crowd. Jesus bids us come and follow me. Now, I want to give a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer out of his book, The Cost of Discipleship, which was published in 1937,

43:44 where he was dealing with the Nazi regime in Germany as Hitler was rising to power. And he wrote this book called The Cost of Discipleship. In it, he says this: The cross is laid on every Christian. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Poof. I mean, this was a man that was heading towards his death because he was going against the grain of culture, of government, of the evil Nazi regime. In Luke 9, 23, I'll end with this. Then he said to them all, this is Jesus speaking. If anyone desires to come out, come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

44:26 My heart on writing this is that while I'm thrilled and I'm cheering on the crowds that are coming to Christ, I want to see real revival. We'll know real revivals here, not just awakening. When we see those people that are showing up in masses now at events and stadiums all around the world, when we see their lives changed and them willing to stay the course in the midst of persecution and pain. And we'll see, that's when revival will show up. And boy, we need each other in order to do that because it is real. The persecution is real and it can hurt. Even if it's on social media. It's like, oh, man, that kind of stings.

45:09 That's beautiful, brother. Thank you. Thank you so much. So I'm going to be in Holland next week, but we'll do the show, obviously. Yes. We're going to do it. We'll work out the details on the timing of that. Another transatlantic car. A few hours difference, right? Seven hours. Yeah, seven hours. I am looking forward to it, man. Thank you, brother. Have a great trip. Be blessed. Tell Kevin and Christina plus one. Yes. Send our love from Jimmy and Annette. Well, if everything goes according to plan, they'll be here in maybe September, October. Beautiful. And they're bringing the grandbaby with them. It's going to be beautiful. Very excited. So, would you have a fantastic week? And we'll be back next week because we get to do this.

45:52 This is the life we've been blessed with. This is the gift for this. This is the chance we dare not miss. This is the life we get to do this.