1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,580 (upbeat music) 2 00:00:02,580 --> 00:00:11,660 - Greetings and welcome to the Here We Stand 3 00:00:11,660 --> 00:00:12,200 podcast. 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,300 We're coming to you from Providence Baptist 5 00:00:14,300 --> 00:00:14,680 Church 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,560 here deep in the heart of Central, 7 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:18,760 on the corner of Hooper and Lovett Road. 8 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:20,880 I'm joined today by my show's producer, 9 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,520 fellow elder, Roger Dale Peters. 10 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,440 And we have our special guest today, 11 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:29,760 Pastor Mark LaCour from Grace Bible Fellowship 12 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:29,760 , 13 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,370 our Here We Stand conference is gonna be this 14 00:00:32,370 --> 00:00:32,400 year. 15 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:34,280 Again, in the fall, actually Mark, 16 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:36,190 it's hard to believe this is our fifth 17 00:00:36,190 --> 00:00:36,760 conference, 18 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,640 our fifth annual conference started in 2021. 19 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:41,520 It's gonna be October the 24th. 20 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:42,840 It's gonna be a Friday night. 21 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:44,000 There'll be two messages. 22 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,120 And then Saturday, October the 25th, 23 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:48,920 there'll be three messages that day. 24 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:51,000 We're gonna be back at Riverside Baptist 25 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:52,640 Church in Watson, 26 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,640 Pastor Larry Hubbard, our sponsored churches. 27 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,040 We have eight churches from the Louisiana area 28 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,220 that come together to sponsor this conference. 29 00:01:01,220 --> 00:01:03,830 We're gonna be all bringing some desserts for 30 00:01:03,830 --> 00:01:04,560 Friday night 31 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:06,280 and some finger foods for Saturday 32 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:08,040 to enjoy a lunch fellowship. 33 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:09,560 It's gonna be a great conference this year. 34 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,240 Our theme is going to be our sovereign God. 35 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:15,760 And we're gonna talk about that a little bit 36 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:16,160 later. 37 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,040 But Mark, you and I have been friends 38 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,910 for somewhere close to around 25 years as I 39 00:01:21,910 --> 00:01:22,760 counted it. 40 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,240 Now, I was wondering, do you remember 41 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,000 when we first met or how we first met? 42 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:30,600 - I've been straining myself to understand 43 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:30,840 that. 44 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:33,720 I can't really remember that. 45 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:35,850 I mean, I mean, either just jumped in the 46 00:01:35,850 --> 00:01:36,080 middle 47 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:37,000 and all of a sudden, you know, 48 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:38,040 it's like, hey, I got a friend here 49 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:39,080 and he's a great friend. 50 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:40,920 - I'll tell you what, I would do remember 51 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:45,820 that this time period was around the year 2000 52 00:01:45,820 --> 00:01:45,920 , 2001 53 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,120 when Rusty and I first started at Friendship. 54 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,460 And of course you preached my ordination 55 00:01:52,460 --> 00:01:52,960 service, 56 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:57,230 but it was around that time where we had the 57 00:01:57,230 --> 00:01:57,560 reform, 58 00:01:57,560 --> 00:01:59,120 resurgent, the internet had been around 59 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:00,920 about five or six years. 60 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,450 And there weren't many of us that were reform 61 00:02:04,450 --> 00:02:04,600 ed 62 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,800 in our soteriology in the Baton Rouge area. 63 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,080 And I just remember Brother Moak telling me, 64 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:12,920 "Hey, I know this guy, Pastor Mark McCourt." 65 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:15,200 And some kind of way we hooked up 66 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,120 and been friends ever since. 67 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,160 And it's really been great. 68 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,430 And what we're trying to do as we have been so 69 00:02:22,430 --> 00:02:22,680 far 70 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,840 with this podcast is to take the pastors 71 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:27,640 of the sponsored churches of here we stand 72 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:30,320 and also those who preach at our conference 73 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:32,640 and do some biographical sketches of their 74 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:32,880 life 75 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:34,480 for the folks that come to our conference 76 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:36,960 to kind of get to know our pastors. 77 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,000 So Mark, if you could, I would love to hear 78 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,080 just kind of where you started out at 79 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:43,680 and where you were born and take us through 80 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,280 a little bio of Mark LaCour for now. 81 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:47,400 - I'll give you the bullet points 82 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,600 if I can of some of my history there. 83 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,680 Born in New Roads, Louisiana 84 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,550 and raised in North Baton Rouge, Brookstown 85 00:02:57,550 --> 00:02:57,880 area. 86 00:02:57,880 --> 00:02:59,920 - Okay, down the road for me. 87 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:04,520 - We, my parents moved to Sherwood Forest. 88 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:06,000 I think it was in '65. 89 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,380 I remember going to St. Thomas Moor for fifth 90 00:03:09,380 --> 00:03:10,160 grade. 91 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,960 My sister went to Audubon Elementary. 92 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,280 And we were there for St. Thomas Moor, 93 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,810 graduated eighth grade, went to Sherwood 94 00:03:19,810 --> 00:03:20,760 Junior from there, 95 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:22,600 went to Broadmoor High. 96 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,560 And in Broadmoor, at Broadmoor, it was around, 97 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:27,680 I was probably also sophomore 98 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,200 'cause I was on the JV football team. 99 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,120 And the reason why that stands out 100 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,840 is because these are little pivotal, 101 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,800 I call 'em Ebeneezers that stand up into your 102 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:39,840 history. 103 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:43,320 And I remember we took a trip. 104 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,000 There was all the JV football players 105 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,760 and some of the varsities. 106 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,040 We were invited to go hear a guy. 107 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:52,240 He used to play for Broadmoor, 108 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,160 I think on their championship team in 1966. 109 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,240 And he was given a Bible study. 110 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:58,920 And he was given a Bible study. 111 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,080 And I think it was in Stanford Place out there 112 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:02,240 by LSU. 113 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,000 And that's when I first heard the gospel. 114 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:06,890 And I couldn't even tell you all the ins and 115 00:04:06,890 --> 00:04:07,280 outs. 116 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:08,760 - But before you go on, let me ask you, 117 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:10,960 so you were raised Roman Catholic? 118 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:11,800 - Roman Catholic, that's good. 119 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:13,690 - Were y'all like Mass every Sunday or was it 120 00:04:13,690 --> 00:04:14,400 nominal? 121 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:19,400 - Nah, my parents weren't devout Catholics. 122 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:24,040 They would go on occasion or special days, 123 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:25,200 things of that sort. 124 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,240 But they weren't really pushing you 125 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,000 to always do those things. 126 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,120 Now, when I went to St. Thomas Moor, 127 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,870 just simply virtue of the fact that you went 128 00:04:34,870 --> 00:04:35,240 there. 129 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,030 They had mass on this and mass on that, high 130 00:04:38,030 --> 00:04:38,440 mass. 131 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,160 - How many years were you at Catholic school? 132 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:46,160 - I graduated from St. Thomas Moor in 1968 133 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,280 because that's as many graces they had. 134 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:50,440 - So you went up to like eighth grade? 135 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:51,280 - Eighth grade. 136 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:52,980 Then you would transition over to Catholic 137 00:04:52,980 --> 00:04:53,200 high 138 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:55,800 if you wanted to continue with your Catholic 139 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:56,600 education. 140 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:57,760 But I didn't want to do that. 141 00:04:57,760 --> 00:04:58,760 My parents didn't want to do that. 142 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,400 So the next step where we were located back 143 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:01,600 then 144 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,080 in districts was Sherwood Junior High. 145 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,010 - Right, so whenever you first heard the 146 00:05:07,010 --> 00:05:07,600 gospel, 147 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,090 if you're like me having been raised Roman 148 00:05:10,090 --> 00:05:10,780 Catholic, 149 00:05:10,780 --> 00:05:15,880 the very concept of grace alone through faith 150 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:16,160 alone 151 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,560 was something I never heard of until I made it 152 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:21,410 to Grimless Ring Practice in Rusty Reed's 153 00:05:21,410 --> 00:05:22,160 sunny school class. 154 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:23,640 Was that kind of how it was for you? 155 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,080 - That wasn't, it's kind of weird 156 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,870 because I just remember going to that Bible 157 00:05:28,870 --> 00:05:29,200 study 158 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,240 with all these guys and leaving the study, 159 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,660 knowing that, wow, I want to know more about 160 00:05:36,660 --> 00:05:37,120 this God, 161 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,160 this great God that this guy talked about. 162 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:40,000 He was a football player 163 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,530 and I think that's why they had us go listen 164 00:05:42,530 --> 00:05:43,240 to this guy. 165 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,240 And I couldn't even remember the guy's name, 166 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,320 but it was at the home of Earl Carpenter. 167 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,280 Now Earl Carpenter was a pivotal figure 168 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:55,480 in the Campus Crusade for Christ movement 169 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:57,240 on the LSU campus. 170 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,480 And he was big with Don Tab, I think Don Tab 171 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:03,410 and those guys started the chapel on the 172 00:06:03,410 --> 00:06:03,880 campus. 173 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,780 Don Tab was an affiliate with the Billy Graham 174 00:06:07,780 --> 00:06:09,120 Crusade. 175 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:13,430 And so that's how I kind of, I got introduced 176 00:06:13,430 --> 00:06:14,000 to Christ. 177 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,520 And that's the only reason why I say that. 178 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,760 And it's blurry, I gotta be honest with you 179 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:19,400 'cause I don't even know exactly, 180 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:20,640 oh yeah, I remember he said this 181 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:22,110 and I believe that like the statement or 182 00:06:22,110 --> 00:06:22,680 whatever. 183 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,200 I just knew that from that day on, 184 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,250 I wanted to read my Bible, I wanted to study 185 00:06:27,250 --> 00:06:27,480 more, 186 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:29,000 I wanted to learn about God. 187 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,200 And it was kind of strange 188 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,220 because that was during football season in 189 00:06:33,220 --> 00:06:33,920 1970. 190 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,120 And by the time the season ended everything, 191 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:38,680 most of those guys had no interest 192 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:40,120 in the Bible and the scriptures, 193 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:42,440 but I still did, which was weird. 194 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:44,440 And I wasn't around anybody to encourage me, 195 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:46,000 but yet here I was kind of fired up 196 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,370 wanting to read more about the Bible kind of 197 00:06:48,370 --> 00:06:48,960 thing. 198 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,760 And so like a long story short, 199 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:55,080 coming that spring going into 71, 200 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,120 there was a guy who came in to the high school 201 00:06:58,120 --> 00:06:58,880 ministry 202 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:00,480 called Gordon Ainsworth. 203 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,160 And it's funny because this guy was from 204 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:04,280 Campus Crusade 205 00:07:04,280 --> 00:07:08,040 and he was trying to get to what they have 206 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:09,600 as a high school ministry, him and another guy 207 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:10,720 named, 208 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:12,120 I think his name was Larry Perkins. 209 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,530 Larry was dealing with the high school 210 00:07:14,530 --> 00:07:15,000 ministry 211 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,600 at Lehigh during that time. 212 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,480 There was Lehigh over off of Perkins in our 213 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:20,600 lead drive. 214 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,970 And Gordon was working with Broadmoor, I think 215 00:07:24,970 --> 00:07:25,600 maybe Tara. 216 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:27,640 And so anyway, he had gotten in touch 217 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,200 with a church and a church and knew some youth 218 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:32,320 and the youth got in touch with Gordon. 219 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:34,280 And one of the guys that talked to Gordon 220 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:35,840 was a guy named Kent Parsons. 221 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,720 Now Kent was a guy that I played football with 222 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:40,040 at Broadmoor. 223 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:41,720 But he told Gordon about me. 224 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,320 I think you need to go talk to this guy. 225 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:44,830 I think this guy's, I don't know if he's a 226 00:07:44,830 --> 00:07:45,160 Christian 227 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:46,720 or he's interested, I just know that, you know 228 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:46,720 , 229 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,160 he seems to really want to follow the Lord. 230 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:50,260 I just don't think he's got nowhere to go, you 231 00:07:50,260 --> 00:07:50,960 know? 232 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:52,040 So he got together with me. 233 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,840 And I remember they go through the four little 234 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:54,840 , 235 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:56,580 four spiritual laws and the little booklet and 236 00:07:56,580 --> 00:07:56,920 everything. 237 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,040 And, you know, and I remember with that, 238 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:01,840 that I pretty much tell myself, no, I'm a 239 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:02,520 Christian, 240 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:03,720 pretty much I'm not one, 241 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,420 'cause what you're telling me, this is what I 242 00:08:06,420 --> 00:08:07,800 believe, you know? 243 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,680 And so from that kind of magical moment, 244 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,250 he started a Bible study, had this hypership 245 00:08:14,250 --> 00:08:14,600 group 246 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:16,000 kind of brought us underneath his wings. 247 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:17,930 And what's really interesting about me telling 248 00:08:17,930 --> 00:08:18,960 you about this 249 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,200 is that we have a reunion with those guys 250 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:22,520 coming up on June 28th. 251 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:23,560 Come on, all right. 252 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:25,360 This guy's a pastor, Gordon, 253 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,920 still a pastor up in near Detroit, Michigan. 254 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:30,850 He's flying down and we're supposed to get 255 00:08:30,850 --> 00:08:31,320 together. 256 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:33,080 And so it's gonna be, we haven't seen him. 257 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:34,480 I haven't seen him since high school. 258 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:36,080 So it's gonna be interesting to really see 259 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:36,440 this guy 260 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:38,000 after decades, you know? 261 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,150 But, and I guess he gets to see the fruit of 262 00:08:40,150 --> 00:08:40,680 his labors. 263 00:08:40,680 --> 00:08:41,520 - Right, right. 264 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:42,480 - In that sense, you know? 265 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:45,400 But so at that point, I became a Christian, 266 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:47,600 was really getting discipleship by him, 267 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:49,760 went through my high school years with him. 268 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,560 And he moved on in one of the study 269 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:54,560 at Dallas Theological Seminary. 270 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:55,840 I went on into LSU, 271 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:57,760 but I kept coming back to Broadmoor to 272 00:08:57,760 --> 00:08:58,800 minister to people. 273 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:02,480 And so in that field of doing that 274 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,440 and gathering my own little discipleship group 275 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:05,440 . 276 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:07,840 - And how old were you about that time? 277 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:08,680 - Let's see. 278 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:14,760 I was probably, I was 18, 17, 18. 279 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:16,400 - You still living at home? 280 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:18,640 - Yeah, still living at home during college. 281 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,280 And so we had a Bible study. 282 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:21,680 I met a guy at LSU. 283 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:23,240 He became, he was the best man in my wedding, 284 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:24,600 Steve Birchfield. 285 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,680 And he had a Bible study at Lehigh. 286 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:29,080 And he was with the campus crusade 287 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:31,040 with the Larry Perkins guy. 288 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:32,640 And so we kind of teamed up 289 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,640 and we kind of became real close friends. 290 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,760 And to the point I was best man in his wedding 291 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:36,760 , 292 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:38,240 he was best man in my wedding. 293 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,320 He went to a place that campus crusade put out 294 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:43,320 . 295 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:44,680 You could either go on in the summertime, 296 00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:46,640 you could go to something called a beach 297 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:46,760 project, 298 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:49,120 where you go to the beach like Myrtle Beach or 299 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:49,680 Panama City 300 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:51,290 and they would teach you how to evangelize on 301 00:09:51,290 --> 00:09:52,600 the beach. 302 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,300 Or you could do something that would be more 303 00:09:55,300 --> 00:09:55,680 inland, 304 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:57,080 which I did. 305 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:59,530 And I went to a place called King's Hours 306 00:09:59,530 --> 00:09:59,960 Ranch 307 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:02,200 in 1975, I was around 20. 308 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,760 - And both of you were in LSU? 309 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:07,040 - Correct, we're both at LSU at the same time. 310 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:08,680 And so we could, you know, we studied together 311 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:08,680 . 312 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:10,960 We had classes together. 313 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,600 I was in a general education curriculum course 314 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:16,240 'cause I thought I was gonna go to seminary. 315 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,320 So I took Greek, I took whatever I could 316 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:20,120 that would prepare me for seminary. 317 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,200 And anyway, during that time, 318 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,090 we just kinda developed more of our Christian 319 00:10:25,090 --> 00:10:25,680 walk. 320 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:27,320 We had Bible studies ourselves. 321 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:29,810 And so we had people from our past high 322 00:10:29,810 --> 00:10:30,440 schools 323 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:32,960 that were joining our Bible studies and 324 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:34,080 meeting with us. 325 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,160 And so as we kinda grew and developed along 326 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:37,960 those lines, 327 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:42,000 we could tell that God was doing something 328 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:42,560 with our group. 329 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:44,720 We didn't know we were gonna become a church 330 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:45,120 one day, 331 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,560 but in the midst of all of that, 332 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:50,560 there was another serendipitous moment 333 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:54,330 where I met another guy and he was a good 334 00:10:54,330 --> 00:10:55,280 Christian. 335 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:56,800 I was alternating going to church 336 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:58,400 at the chapel on the campus 337 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,080 in a community Bible in Jefferson. 338 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:01,600 - Yeah, I'm familiar with that church. 339 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:03,000 I went in Brother Baggett at the time. 340 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:04,680 - Brother Baggett at the time, yeah. 341 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:06,240 - I'm very familiar with Brother Baggett. 342 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:07,960 I'll tell you that story later. 343 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:09,240 - I remember going over there with Brother Bag 344 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:10,040 gett in them. 345 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:11,760 And there was a great guy over there, 346 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:12,960 his name was Steve Douglas. 347 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:14,880 And Steve's a great guy. 348 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:16,310 In fact, I think he was one of the first 349 00:11:16,310 --> 00:11:16,680 coaches 350 00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:18,650 for the Home School Association here in Baton 351 00:11:18,650 --> 00:11:18,880 Rouge 352 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,120 with the Baton Rouge Patriots or whatever. 353 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,840 But anyway, hanging out with Steve some, 354 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:26,240 hanging out with Steve Birchfield, 355 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,280 the guy with the Bible studies I was having, 356 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,560 and then also with Steve Douglas. 357 00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:32,640 It was interesting because, 358 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:34,040 and this is why it's important, 359 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:36,480 because where Steve was in his Christian walk, 360 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:38,110 he was really studying things about the 361 00:11:38,110 --> 00:11:39,080 spiritual warfare 362 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:40,640 and about demons and fighting the devil 363 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:41,800 and things of the sort. 364 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:43,900 And so he had to gather a bunch of books that 365 00:11:43,900 --> 00:11:44,560 he was reading 366 00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:46,700 and him and another friend of his named Frank 367 00:11:46,700 --> 00:11:47,040 Smith. 368 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:48,440 And we would get together 369 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:49,440 and we would talk about these things 370 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:50,640 and we'd read these different books 371 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,000 and learning about different things 372 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:55,160 concerning the spiritual warfare. 373 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:56,600 Where he had picked up a book, 374 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,120 I think by a guy named Rockstad 375 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:01,280 or Ernest Rockstad from Kansas. 376 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:03,440 And the guy gave a list of books 377 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:04,560 that he recommended for reading. 378 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:07,400 Well, one of the books that he suggested 379 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:07,960 reading 380 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:09,840 was a book called Practical Demonology. 381 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:11,710 I mean, almost sounds like a Wiccan occultic 382 00:12:11,710 --> 00:12:12,760 kind of book. 383 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,010 But it was written by a guy named Conrad Merle 384 00:12:16,010 --> 00:12:16,040 . 385 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,520 And so Steve picked it up, 386 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,320 ordered it from Ernest Rockstad and he got it 387 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:21,440 in. 388 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:22,520 He said, man, this book is really good. 389 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:24,640 This guy sounds like he's been through some 390 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:24,960 warfare. 391 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:25,960 And so, you know, we picked it up. 392 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:30,200 We looked at it and then one day, a few weeks 393 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:30,560 later, 394 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:32,560 he, Steve calls me and he says, look, 395 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:33,600 I think it was on a Friday. 396 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,640 He said, look, me and Frank, we're gonna go up 397 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:37,880 and we're gonna visit this author Conrad Merle 398 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:37,880 . 399 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:38,760 Do you wanna come? 400 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,120 And the reason why it's that's important 401 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:42,200 is because I said, yeah. 402 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,900 And so I went up to Bentley, Louisiana, 403 00:12:44,900 --> 00:12:46,960 met Conrad Merle, Conrad gave us all of his 404 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:47,680 books for free. 405 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:50,370 But that started a relationship with us and 406 00:12:50,370 --> 00:12:50,880 Conrad 407 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:52,480 and Conrad really became my mentor, 408 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,960 my father in the faith through that encounter. 409 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,040 And so he really took us underneath his wings. 410 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:00,840 He had conferences three times a year. 411 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:01,680 And we just hooked up. 412 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:02,800 A lot of us feel familiar, 413 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:04,340 the people that go to here were standing with 414 00:13:04,340 --> 00:13:04,720 us. 415 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:06,440 Exactly, we hitched our wagon to his 416 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:07,920 and he pretty much took us under his wing 417 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:09,640 and sort of discipled us from there. 418 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:14,000 And so a lot of my history from that point on 419 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,760 took a big turn in the direction of, 420 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:19,420 and it's from him that I remember, 421 00:13:19,420 --> 00:13:20,580 and this was kind of interesting 422 00:13:20,580 --> 00:13:22,700 because I remember back in '75 423 00:13:22,700 --> 00:13:25,180 when I was at King's Arrow Ranch, 424 00:13:25,180 --> 00:13:27,580 one of the requirements that you had to do 425 00:13:27,580 --> 00:13:28,220 being there 426 00:13:28,220 --> 00:13:29,620 was that you had to bring, 427 00:13:29,620 --> 00:13:30,700 you had to work on a message 428 00:13:30,700 --> 00:13:32,460 and you had to bring a message. 429 00:13:32,460 --> 00:13:33,540 And you had never done that before? 430 00:13:33,540 --> 00:13:34,500 And I'd never really done that before. 431 00:13:34,500 --> 00:13:35,460 I mean, I did Bible studies, 432 00:13:35,460 --> 00:13:36,700 but I said, I wanna bring a message. 433 00:13:36,700 --> 00:13:39,700 And so I remember everybody was bringing 434 00:13:39,700 --> 00:13:40,820 all these little messages 435 00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:42,420 and I don't wanna say that it'll feel good 436 00:13:42,420 --> 00:13:42,820 messages 437 00:13:42,820 --> 00:13:44,620 about how to overcome discouragement 438 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:47,140 or how to trust God for a ward 439 00:13:47,140 --> 00:13:48,740 or something like this on your foot. 440 00:13:48,740 --> 00:13:52,280 But mine was on Free Will versus Predest 441 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:52,740 ination. 442 00:13:52,740 --> 00:13:53,580 Oh boy. 443 00:13:53,580 --> 00:13:57,000 'Cause I was, I mean, 110% Jack Daniel-proof 444 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:57,580 Armenian 445 00:13:57,580 --> 00:13:59,340 at that time. 446 00:13:59,340 --> 00:14:01,680 And, but when I got in touch with Conrad, 447 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:04,140 Conrad had a book called "Salvation When." 448 00:14:04,140 --> 00:14:06,260 And his, the title was, 449 00:14:06,260 --> 00:14:08,260 and he was trying to address this whole idea 450 00:14:08,260 --> 00:14:09,540 is when is a person saved? 451 00:14:09,540 --> 00:14:12,260 Like when, salvation, when, when were you 452 00:14:12,260 --> 00:14:12,520 saved? 453 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,140 And if you really couldn't pinpoint a date 454 00:14:14,140 --> 00:14:16,140 in your past history and when you were saved, 455 00:14:16,140 --> 00:14:17,900 well, then, hey, well, then you're not saved, 456 00:14:17,900 --> 00:14:18,660 you know? 457 00:14:18,660 --> 00:14:21,980 And so the book, I got that book and lashed 458 00:14:21,980 --> 00:14:22,220 onto it 459 00:14:22,220 --> 00:14:24,940 and God did a number on my head with that book 460 00:14:24,940 --> 00:14:24,940 . 461 00:14:24,940 --> 00:14:27,180 And it wasn't because of the logic of the book 462 00:14:27,180 --> 00:14:27,180 . 463 00:14:27,180 --> 00:14:29,260 It wasn't because somehow he just could, 464 00:14:29,260 --> 00:14:31,730 I mean, spin a syllogism and an argument to 465 00:14:31,730 --> 00:14:32,700 make it mean, 466 00:14:32,700 --> 00:14:34,580 wow, I never saw that before. 467 00:14:34,580 --> 00:14:36,910 It was how when we got together with him at 468 00:14:36,910 --> 00:14:38,020 that interview 469 00:14:38,020 --> 00:14:41,700 and I saw Steve and Frank, you know, 470 00:14:41,700 --> 00:14:44,320 they started debating him on predestination 471 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,080 and the sovereignty of God and everything. 472 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:46,920 - 'Cause they're Armenian. 473 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:47,840 - 'Cause they're Armenian as well. 474 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:49,720 We were all Armenian to the core. 475 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:54,290 And so, and I watched him not defend the doctr 476 00:14:54,290 --> 00:14:54,720 ines of grace, 477 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:57,050 but I watched him defend the grace of the 478 00:14:57,050 --> 00:14:57,960 doctrines. 479 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,630 And I just saw in his demeanor and the way he 480 00:15:00,630 --> 00:15:01,080 handled it 481 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,400 and the way he responded in love and what that 482 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:04,600 did, 483 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,150 it opened a door for me to be open to hear the 484 00:15:07,150 --> 00:15:07,880 other side. 485 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:08,720 - Right. 486 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:09,840 - And so I said, I want that book. 487 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:10,980 I want to read that one. 488 00:15:10,980 --> 00:15:13,660 And so God did a number, kind of like it 489 00:15:13,660 --> 00:15:14,220 reminds me 490 00:15:14,220 --> 00:15:15,060 of C.S. Lewis. 491 00:15:15,060 --> 00:15:16,460 He remembered a conversion of C.S. Lewis. 492 00:15:16,460 --> 00:15:19,510 He got on the train or the subway or whatever, 493 00:15:19,510 --> 00:15:19,980 lost. 494 00:15:19,980 --> 00:15:21,480 And by the time it got off, he was saved. 495 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:22,420 And I felt the same way. 496 00:15:22,420 --> 00:15:24,420 I got in the car and Bentley to go home. 497 00:15:24,420 --> 00:15:25,850 By the time I got to Baton Rouge, I was 498 00:15:25,850 --> 00:15:26,500 solving grace. 499 00:15:26,500 --> 00:15:27,340 - Yeah. 500 00:15:27,340 --> 00:15:28,440 - 'Cause I was reading the book in the back 501 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:28,620 seat 502 00:15:28,620 --> 00:15:30,020 and I was like, oh man. 503 00:15:30,020 --> 00:15:32,250 I remember the guy, the grace he showed and it 504 00:15:32,250 --> 00:15:32,880 's like. 505 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:34,660 - Well, it says a lot about how you present 506 00:15:34,660 --> 00:15:35,500 the doctrines of grace. 507 00:15:35,500 --> 00:15:36,340 - Right. 508 00:15:36,340 --> 00:15:39,420 It really shows you how in second Timothy two, 509 00:15:39,420 --> 00:15:41,750 he says the Lord's bond servant must not be 510 00:15:41,750 --> 00:15:42,520 quarrelsome, 511 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,520 but patient, gentle, you know? 512 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:46,840 And he was all of that. 513 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:51,360 And so God used him in that book 514 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,040 to really change my way of thinking. 515 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:55,880 Well, I introduced that to Steve Birchfield 516 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:57,000 with the Bible study. 517 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:58,000 Well, he last on to it. 518 00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:58,840 Our Bible study. 519 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:00,400 So we started teaching our Bible study. 520 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:01,680 Then we started going back up there 521 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:03,480 'cause we were on fire at that point. 522 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:04,320 - Yeah. 523 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:05,430 Then you're seeing it on every page of the 524 00:16:05,430 --> 00:16:05,640 Bible. 525 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:06,480 - Oh my gosh. 526 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,260 And every Armenian seems to be in the crossh 527 00:16:09,260 --> 00:16:09,580 airs 528 00:16:09,580 --> 00:16:11,020 or something, which isn't fair to them, 529 00:16:11,020 --> 00:16:11,860 but that's the same. 530 00:16:11,860 --> 00:16:14,120 - Cage stage, James White, yeah. 531 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:14,960 - Exactly right. 532 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,290 So, and at that point, we were kind of off to 533 00:16:17,290 --> 00:16:17,920 the races. 534 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:21,200 You know, got married in '79. 535 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:26,420 Had my first born in '82 and Megan '84 had 536 00:16:26,420 --> 00:16:27,120 Ashley in '90. 537 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,680 And all during those times, we were going to 538 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:30,180 Bentley 539 00:16:30,180 --> 00:16:32,100 and Conrad was kind of mentoring us and 540 00:16:32,100 --> 00:16:32,880 bringing us. 541 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,560 - Are y'all still going to church at campus? 542 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:36,400 - No, no, no, no. 543 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:38,180 What had happened during that time, me and 544 00:16:38,180 --> 00:16:38,800 Steve, 545 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,340 we, when so much broke off from the chapel on 546 00:16:41,340 --> 00:16:41,720 the campus, 547 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:43,850 it was that we saw the people really wanted to 548 00:16:43,850 --> 00:16:44,480 commit 549 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:46,920 to one another and they wanted a local church. 550 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:47,760 - The Bible study group. 551 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:48,600 - The Bible study group. 552 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:50,160 And so we did that. 553 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,040 And in the process of doing that, 554 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,240 we had to come up with a name. 555 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:56,070 We came up with the name Grace Bible Fellows 556 00:16:56,070 --> 00:16:56,280 hip, 557 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,280 not because we were part of the denomination 558 00:16:58,280 --> 00:16:59,720 that's Bible. 559 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:01,280 And I found that out the hard way. 560 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:02,960 I had people visiting our church thinking 561 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:04,440 they were visiting a Bible church. 562 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:05,880 - Right, which is traditionally. 563 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:06,720 - Traditionally. 564 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:08,200 - Y'all weren't even thinking about it. 565 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:09,040 - We weren't even thinking about it. 566 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:10,860 We just put the names in the title of our 567 00:17:10,860 --> 00:17:11,200 church 568 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:12,680 at the things that we really wanted to stress. 569 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:13,520 Grace. 570 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:15,720 - Were you all meeting in your apartment or? 571 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:16,840 - That's another story. 572 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:18,000 We met everywhere. 573 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,320 We first started meeting at- 574 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:21,160 - And what year was this? 575 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:22,400 This was '79 or? 576 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:24,200 - During the Bible study days before you were 577 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:24,600 in church. 578 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:26,560 This was like, got married in '79. 579 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:29,800 We were meeting in '78 and '77. 580 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:32,080 We were meeting at the Plantation Broadmoor 581 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:32,960 Apartments. 582 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:37,000 We moved from there to a house church 583 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,160 on the corner of Sherwood and Old Hammond. 584 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:41,320 There was a big area. 585 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:43,240 We met there for a long time. 586 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,800 We had a good brother that joined us. 587 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,470 He would, I practically married everybody in 588 00:17:48,470 --> 00:17:48,800 our church 589 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:50,440 'cause everybody got together. 590 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:51,920 They were single and everybody started pairing 591 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:52,040 up 592 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,670 after a while and started dating and saying, 593 00:17:54,670 --> 00:17:55,520 okay. 594 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,220 - So you're officially a Grace Bible Fellows 595 00:17:58,220 --> 00:17:58,440 hip 596 00:17:58,440 --> 00:17:59,280 at this point. 597 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:00,560 You're just meeting in different locations 598 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:01,400 at different times. 599 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,570 - Officially, when you talk about Secretary of 600 00:18:03,570 --> 00:18:03,880 State 601 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,200 and all of that and doctrines of incorporation 602 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:06,720 and stuff, 603 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,040 we had a guy, I can kind of go back a little 604 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:10,400 bit. 605 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:14,360 I can backtrack back in '74. 606 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:16,640 I graduated high school in May of '73. 607 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:21,360 In '74, I was selected with two other people, 608 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:23,200 a girl named Beth Parsons at the time. 609 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:25,300 Ken Parsons' sister, the guy who led me to 610 00:18:25,300 --> 00:18:25,960 Gordon. 611 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,000 She and me and a guy named, a lawyer named 612 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:32,160 Steve McAllister. 613 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:34,040 Steve McAllister's brother, Rolf McAllister 614 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,200 would run the business inside her. 615 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:37,360 Yep, exactly. 616 00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:42,110 But Steve and me and Beth were sent as emiss 617 00:18:42,110 --> 00:18:42,520 aries 618 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,720 from Baton Rouge to Korea for Explo 74. 619 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:47,920 I don't even remember the Explo things where 620 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:48,680 Billy Graham 621 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:52,120 and Larry Norman had, in Dallas in '72, 622 00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:54,550 then they had another one in '74 in Seoul, 623 00:18:54,550 --> 00:18:55,120 Korea. 624 00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:55,960 We went there. 625 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:57,280 - I was in first grade in '74. 626 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:58,480 - Not to say, so yeah. 627 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:00,440 Yeah, he would have remembered. 628 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:01,920 Yeah, I'm a grandpa to you guys. 629 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:03,920 And anyway, we went over there about a million 630 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:04,480 people. 631 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,400 It was amazing. 632 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,960 But that was '74 and I bring that all up to 633 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:09,200 date 634 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:13,040 because in '82, Rolf, I mean, Steve McAllister 635 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:13,040 , 636 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,230 the lawyer, he kind of got our incorporation 637 00:19:15,230 --> 00:19:15,560 papers 638 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:17,200 together and we officially became 639 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:19,560 Grace Bible Fellowship, technically. 640 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:22,800 And from '82, we had people come in, 641 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,080 Steve had moved on, Steve Birchfield had moved 642 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:26,760 on 643 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:29,640 to, he had different plans for ministry 644 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:31,160 that he wanted to pursue. 645 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,350 And so I was there with the group, with the 646 00:19:33,350 --> 00:19:33,600 church, 647 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:35,760 and there was another guy who was there also 648 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,530 and he had some friends that came in from 649 00:19:38,530 --> 00:19:39,440 South Florida 650 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,360 and his name was Rusty. 651 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:47,220 And he came in and he became a fellow elder 652 00:19:47,220 --> 00:19:47,440 with me. 653 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,750 And we pastored the church there through the ' 654 00:19:49,750 --> 00:19:50,240 80s. 655 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:54,040 And he moved on to South Florida at the end of 656 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:54,760 the '80s, 657 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:57,070 I think until the '90s, if I got my dates 658 00:19:57,070 --> 00:19:57,440 correct. 659 00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:59,200 And he passed away in the '90s. 660 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:00,840 I mean, he had a heart issue that no one 661 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:02,120 really knew about. 662 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:04,080 He married a girl, one of the girls in our 663 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:04,400 church. 664 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,840 But, and I'm trying to think what else that we 665 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:07,840 , 666 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:10,210 after that, we were pretty much going to 667 00:20:10,210 --> 00:20:11,360 Bentley 668 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:13,600 Congress conferences three times a year 669 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:15,000 on a pretty regular basis. 670 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:16,940 And we just grew the church as a result of 671 00:20:16,940 --> 00:20:17,240 that 672 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:18,800 and watched our kids grow up. 673 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:21,040 And my wife homeschooled the kids 674 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:22,630 and the kids started going to Hosanna 675 00:20:22,630 --> 00:20:23,880 Christian Assembly. 676 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:25,320 And here we are. 677 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,250 - Yeah, so at what point did y'all move to the 678 00:20:28,250 --> 00:20:29,200 building? 679 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,720 Whenever I met you, you guys were meeting 680 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,180 at South Choctaw and that building was South 681 00:20:34,180 --> 00:20:34,720 Choctaw. 682 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:36,520 - Yeah, let's see, we were, 683 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,010 we moved from the house on Old Hammond and 684 00:20:39,010 --> 00:20:40,120 Sherwood 685 00:20:40,120 --> 00:20:42,240 to the Warwick apartments on Jefferson 686 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,520 because there was a guy in our church, 687 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:46,620 David Hatcher, his dad owned the Warwick 688 00:20:46,620 --> 00:20:47,360 apartment. 689 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:50,080 So we would get these provisions, 690 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:52,520 for a song and a dance, many times free. 691 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,320 And so we moved there and used their 692 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:56,680 facilities 693 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:57,600 for church there. 694 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,310 We moved from there and we met in a kinder 695 00:21:00,310 --> 00:21:00,760 care 696 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,680 off of Old Jefferson for a long time. 697 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:05,360 They let us use it on Sundays. 698 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:06,870 And so we'd have to, you know, all the things 699 00:21:06,870 --> 00:21:07,120 that, 700 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:08,700 we had to move all the stuff for the kids and 701 00:21:08,700 --> 00:21:08,960 everything. 702 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:11,800 And when we was set up there and we moved 703 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:12,480 there 704 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:15,600 and we stayed there, the dates are escaping me 705 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:15,600 , 706 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:17,440 but the experience isn't. 707 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:18,720 I think we moved from there 708 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,850 and that's when we moved to the Choctaw 709 00:21:21,850 --> 00:21:22,920 location. 710 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:24,000 We were trying to find a place a little bit 711 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:24,640 more central 712 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:25,720 for us all. 713 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,000 And so the place, and the place on Choctaw 714 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,760 was the front building section of Mano's 715 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:32,600 Electric. 716 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:33,840 Now, wow, that's important 717 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,280 because Mano's Electric was the uncle 718 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:38,320 of one of the guys in our church. 719 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:39,240 There's always somebody in the church, 720 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:40,920 there's a connection to something, you know? 721 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,520 And so Frank Fasula's uncle was Mr. Mano 722 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:46,760 and he rented it out to us pretty cheap. 723 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,900 And so we stayed there until 2016 when the 724 00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:50,560 flood came, 725 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:51,680 got flooded out. 726 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,000 And then First Baptist Church of Florida, 727 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,460 of Florida Street, Florida Boulevard Baptist 728 00:21:57,460 --> 00:21:57,840 Church. 729 00:21:57,840 --> 00:21:58,960 They took us in. 730 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:00,220 In fact, they were taking in a couple of the 731 00:22:00,220 --> 00:22:00,600 churches. 732 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:01,720 And so they gave us a place. 733 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:06,040 We had the old fellowship hall where they, 734 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:07,960 it's a, I think a welcoming center now 735 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,000 for the churches renew and we were still there 736 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:11,000 . 737 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,040 And it's just, it's just a central location 738 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:15,720 for a lot of our folks. 739 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,230 Even though we have a good contingency in 740 00:22:17,230 --> 00:22:17,600 central, 741 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,840 we have some, that's on Bayou Manchuk. 742 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,680 We have some that's in Maranguan, Louisiana. 743 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:23,920 I have some over at Walker. 744 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,960 And so trying to help facilitate their drive 745 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:28,200 and where we're at. 746 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:29,600 We said, you know, we're gonna probably need 747 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:30,240 to stay here. 748 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:32,320 And so that's kind of where we've been parked 749 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:33,960 for a while, as a cell. 750 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,240 - But you were the longest time on, on some 751 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:36,800 chalk talk 752 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:37,640 for the longest period. 753 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:38,480 - Correct, yeah. 754 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,400 So wow, how many years then would you say 755 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,800 you've been pastor of Grace Bible Fellowship? 756 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,880 - I guess, 45 years. 757 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:48,700 - Well, being a sense, being a leader of a 758 00:22:48,700 --> 00:22:49,360 Bible study 759 00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:51,440 that transitioned into a church would probably 760 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:51,600 say 761 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,640 around 81, 82, 1982. 762 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:54,480 - Wow, wow. 763 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:55,320 So that's been a long time. 764 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,460 - Being a pastor, yeah, officially in that 765 00:22:57,460 --> 00:22:58,000 role. 766 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,390 Rusty being a fellow elder with me before he 767 00:23:00,390 --> 00:23:00,800 left. 768 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,140 And then no one's really kind of come along 769 00:23:03,140 --> 00:23:03,440 board. 770 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:04,760 It's not because we don't believe in the 771 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:05,920 plurality of elders. 772 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,200 It's just that no one's either desired it 773 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:09,560 or met the qualifications of it. 774 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:11,160 So it's like, well, we're still praying for it 775 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:11,160 . 776 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:13,320 And we're still looking at that possibility 777 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:15,040 even this year of looking at a few people 778 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:17,880 that might qualify for the office. 779 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:18,720 - Wow, that's great. 780 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:20,920 Yeah, 'cause that is so important. 781 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,590 Well, I'm like you, I can't remember exactly 782 00:23:23,590 --> 00:23:24,080 when we met, 783 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,600 but you did preach my ordination servants 784 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:29,240 at Friendship Baptist Church. 785 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,600 And we've been friends for a long time. 786 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,320 And to talk a little bit about our conference, 787 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,610 and really incredible to me that we're already 788 00:23:38,610 --> 00:23:39,320 tomorrow 789 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,740 or no Monday, we'll be in the sixth month of 790 00:23:41,740 --> 00:23:42,560 2025 791 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,560 at how fast time is going by. 792 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:47,310 And we actually started the Here We Stand 793 00:23:47,310 --> 00:23:48,920 conference in 2021. 794 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,080 So this will be our fifth conference. 795 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:52,600 It doesn't seem real. 796 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,880 But you're familiar and a lot of our folks 797 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,400 that are online, that are on Twitter, 798 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,600 especially are familiar with the latest sad 799 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:02,800 controversy 800 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,920 concerning Josh Beis from three G3 ministries 801 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:06,760 and all of the stuff. 802 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,520 And I really don't want to get too much into 803 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:08,800 that. 804 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:09,800 I've read about it. 805 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:10,640 I've understood it. 806 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:12,360 It's a sad, sad thing. 807 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:14,440 But it was interesting. 808 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,200 Here We Stand started as when I got back 809 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,160 from the G3 conference that year, 810 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,240 and I started thinking about man, 811 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:22,980 you know, it'd be great to have a local 812 00:24:22,980 --> 00:24:23,560 conference. 813 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,400 It costs a lot of money to go to a conference 814 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:26,040 out of town 815 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,120 and somebody like Atlanta, you gotta get a 816 00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:28,360 hotel, 817 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:30,040 you gotta eat and all the rest. 818 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,920 So we started talking about having that. 819 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,840 And now with this controversy that's come up, 820 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,080 there's been a lot of things discussion online 821 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:43,220 about celebrity pastors and these big giant 822 00:24:43,220 --> 00:24:44,080 conferences 823 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:45,240 and do we need them? 824 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,360 I think we still need conferences for sure. 825 00:24:48,360 --> 00:24:51,040 And I think that God especially gives certain 826 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:51,240 men 827 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,880 in special ways and gives them a lot of really 828 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:56,120 responsibility, 829 00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:58,530 I would say, with large platforms and things 830 00:24:58,530 --> 00:24:58,880 like that. 831 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,520 And we see some do good and some don't. 832 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:03,920 But talk to me a little bit about what do you 833 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:04,120 think 834 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:07,250 about the importance of having a local 835 00:25:07,250 --> 00:25:08,240 conference 836 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:10,960 with like-minded believers like we have, 837 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,320 we have the five souls, the doctrines of grace 838 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:13,320 , 839 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:15,630 things that we have in common for local 840 00:25:15,630 --> 00:25:17,400 pastors in an area. 841 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,390 What do you think about the importance of that 842 00:25:19,390 --> 00:25:19,400 , 843 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,760 especially with this as of late coming about? 844 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,640 - Honestly, I think it's very important 845 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:26,330 and because I kind of cut my teeth on 846 00:25:26,330 --> 00:25:26,880 conferences 847 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,080 with Conrad, but one of the things I learned 848 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,080 in the Conrad conferences, I really appreciate 849 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:31,120 it. 850 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:35,050 And I can't really put this mantle on other 851 00:25:35,050 --> 00:25:35,560 people 852 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,360 and how they put together conferences. 853 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:39,040 And I get it if you go to a G3 854 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,840 and you bring in these big names, we'll call 855 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:42,840 them, 856 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,000 from across the country, I mean, 857 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:45,200 there's a lot of expense with that. 858 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,360 I mean, you've got airfare, you've got hotels, 859 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:48,960 you've got food and things of this sort 860 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,200 where I remember Conrad's conference 861 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,040 was in the Cassachi National Forest outside of 862 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:54,320 Bentley, 863 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:56,160 the proverbial blinking light. 864 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,270 But they had built cabins there, men had come 865 00:25:59,270 --> 00:25:59,720 in, 866 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,940 free labor, free supplies and built these cab 867 00:26:02,940 --> 00:26:03,240 ins. 868 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:05,680 And the way he did his conferences, 869 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:07,840 which always was a headscratcher for me, 870 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:09,080 everything was free. 871 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:12,150 You show up, we'll feed you, my books are free 872 00:26:12,150 --> 00:26:12,280 , 873 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,480 tapes are free, we got bunk beds that are free 874 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:15,480 , 875 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:16,320 everything's free. 876 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:18,360 So in other words, you couldn't say, 877 00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:20,960 well, I like to go, but I can't afford it. 878 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,000 He took that off the table. 879 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:24,300 You could, there's just a good matter of 880 00:26:24,300 --> 00:26:25,560 getting up there. 881 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:27,540 And I learned from that and watched through 882 00:26:27,540 --> 00:26:28,760 the years 883 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,280 where, I mean, I remember seeing the line go 884 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:32,040 out the door 885 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:32,880 to feed people. 886 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,920 We must head over close to 200 some people. 887 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,020 And there would be, you know, people in the 888 00:26:38,020 --> 00:26:38,360 kitchen, 889 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:39,800 they would work the kitchen's free. 890 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:42,000 You wouldn't pay workers, they came to, 891 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,190 the wives would come and they would get in the 892 00:26:44,190 --> 00:26:44,200 kitchen 893 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,570 and they would plan for these conferences way 894 00:26:48,570 --> 00:26:49,200 in advance. 895 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,000 And I remember Conrad saying, you know, 896 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,260 the hardest warfare mark for us throughout the 897 00:26:54,260 --> 00:26:54,440 year 898 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:55,680 is the week before the conference. 899 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,050 I said, well, 'cause there's a lot of things 900 00:26:57,050 --> 00:26:57,280 to do. 901 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,240 He goes, not really, it's just, it's demonic. 902 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,360 I mean, they know that people come here 903 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:05,840 and God does work and people get saved. 904 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,200 And so I learned something about, you know, 905 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,720 the conference, while you gotta check boxes 906 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:11,880 and cross teas, 907 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:13,880 you gotta commit it to prayer. 908 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:16,120 And I guess George Mueller is kind of one of 909 00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:16,560 my heroes 910 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,350 where you watch this guy trust God for those 911 00:27:19,350 --> 00:27:19,760 needs. 912 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,870 And if there was money that needed to be put 913 00:27:22,870 --> 00:27:23,360 out, 914 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:27,080 it was absorbed by the church there. 915 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:29,160 It was absorbed by the top people. 916 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,520 It wasn't absorbed by the bottom people. 917 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:33,320 So in other words, you really could tell 918 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:35,490 this is their ministry and when it's their 919 00:27:35,490 --> 00:27:35,960 ministry, 920 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,280 they sacrifice to get you there instead of, 921 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,450 well, how can I sacrifice to get to that 922 00:27:41,450 --> 00:27:42,160 conference? 923 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,320 It was kind of the other way around. 924 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,280 So, I mean, I like conferences 925 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:48,200 'cause the dynamic is great. 926 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,200 You meet Christians from different stripes 927 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,130 and there's good, it's always good to 928 00:27:52,130 --> 00:27:52,600 fellowship 929 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:54,520 with the different folks in your church 930 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:55,840 'cause it'll give you a different perspective. 931 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,120 You hear different preachers in your own. 932 00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:02,280 God can use those men to actually forge, 933 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,260 maybe a listening ear that you didn't have 934 00:28:04,260 --> 00:28:04,640 before 935 00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:06,320 'cause you hear the same kind of guy 936 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,600 on a weekend and week out basis. 937 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,040 But at the same time, what we try to do, 938 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:12,620 I know, and I've kind of learned this from Con 939 00:28:12,620 --> 00:28:12,800 rad, 940 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:14,760 is that when there are conferences, 941 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:15,880 I think of the one up in, 942 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,760 we go to, there's one in the spring 943 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,120 in the fall with Jeff Mercer's church. 944 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:23,320 And it's just by where they have it. 945 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:24,680 I mean, it's out of his hands. 946 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,000 The place there that they have it charges. 947 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:28,960 And so we put that before the people, 948 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,360 we say, look, we have, 949 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:31,920 but if you wanna go to that conference, 950 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,040 you just let us know all expenses paid. 951 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:35,640 No questions asked. 952 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:36,920 That's just how it's gonna be. 953 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:38,520 So that I don't want money to be an issue 954 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:39,800 and you not going to the conference, 955 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:41,960 because, well, they said it was gonna cost 956 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:42,320 this and that. 957 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:43,200 You just tell me you wanna go. 958 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:44,200 I'll put your name in the hat 959 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:45,440 and we'll take care of the rest. 960 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,880 And so for us, and for me, 961 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:49,960 and so not so much to roll it up to the church 962 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:49,960 , 963 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:51,400 I'll roll it up to me if we have to. 964 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,640 It's like, I think the leaders in a church, 965 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:55,800 and I've said this before, 966 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:57,640 if you're gonna become an elder in the church, 967 00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,680 you're gonna have to take the mantra 968 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:01,760 of the men on the Titanic. 969 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:03,200 Women and children first. 970 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:04,240 If you're gonna sacrifice, 971 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:05,360 you're gonna have to sacrifice. 972 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:07,200 Don't expect them to sacrifice. 973 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:08,520 They're following you as a leader 974 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,800 and you're gonna have to show that leadership 975 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,520 in what you sacrifice, time, energy, money, 976 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:14,880 whatever it might take. 977 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:16,960 You've got a vested interest in their souls. 978 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,160 You show them how to sacrifice, you know? 979 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:20,600 And so we learned that with conferences. 980 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:22,020 I kinda learned that with maybe, 981 00:29:22,020 --> 00:29:23,530 I'm not saying other conferences need to do 982 00:29:23,530 --> 00:29:24,120 the same thing 983 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:25,360 or follow the same model. 984 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:27,520 I'm just saying it's always a good thing 985 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:31,360 for when people who are in the spotlight 986 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,360 and they're known to be in the spotlight, 987 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:36,330 and they got great messages and they got great 988 00:29:36,330 --> 00:29:37,160 theology. 989 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:39,800 And I'm not saying they have to be seen this 990 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:40,080 way, 991 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,640 but many times when you see behind the scenes 992 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:44,720 and you realize, you know, this guy, 993 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:46,160 he took out of his own savings account 994 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:47,440 to make this conference go. 995 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:49,080 Or you know, this guy had to sell his car 996 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,070 to make these things so that these people 997 00:29:51,070 --> 00:29:51,680 could go. 998 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,080 I mean, that kind of testimony to me is like, 999 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,680 now that guy, I'll go hear what he has to say. 1000 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,320 He's putting his resources on the line to say, 1001 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,110 "I want you to come here when I have to say it 1002 00:30:01,110 --> 00:30:01,120 ." 1003 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,440 Not just mean something to me, but I'm on to 1004 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:04,120 spend money. 1005 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:07,240 Not you spend it on me, but I spend it on you 1006 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:08,800 for you to come hear me. 1007 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:09,760 You don't find that. 1008 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:11,800 - Right, it's unusable, absolutely. 1009 00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:12,640 - Exactly, so. 1010 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,040 - That's why we made one of the changes that 1011 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:15,600 we made 1012 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,650 was that with the food and everything that we 1013 00:30:18,650 --> 00:30:18,880 have 1014 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:20,630 and here we stand, we get the sponsored 1015 00:30:20,630 --> 00:30:21,080 churches 1016 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:23,000 to kinda everybody bring dessert, 1017 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,410 everybody bring a lunch, finger food on the 1018 00:30:26,410 --> 00:30:27,280 Saturday. 1019 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:28,960 And it really, there's no expense 1020 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,040 and none of the speakers charge anything. 1021 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,090 And there's no charge to come to our 1022 00:30:33,090 --> 00:30:34,080 conference. 1023 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:35,760 I hope we get to keep it that way. 1024 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:37,590 I like it that way, I like the fact it's local 1025 00:30:37,590 --> 00:30:37,680 . 1026 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,560 One of the other things in kind of in line 1027 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:42,200 with the whole, 1028 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,960 right now, especially, there's a fever pitch 1029 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:48,700 within what I'll call the reformed wing of 1030 00:30:48,700 --> 00:30:49,440 Twitter 1031 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:51,680 with these guys going at one another. 1032 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,200 And they're battling with one another. 1033 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:56,600 A lot of times it's over secondary issues 1034 00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:57,640 and things like that. 1035 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,560 And one of the things I hope we've been able 1036 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:00,600 to model 1037 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,500 with our churches and our pastors in this 1038 00:31:02,500 --> 00:31:03,120 conference 1039 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:06,120 is the fact that we have these distinctives 1040 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:09,610 that we put in place, the solas, the doctrines 1041 00:31:09,610 --> 00:31:10,120 of grace. 1042 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,430 We're all believers baptism, we're all cess 1043 00:31:12,430 --> 00:31:12,840 ationists 1044 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,840 and the like, but that we have secondary 1045 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:18,020 and third level disagreements maybe the 1046 00:31:18,020 --> 00:31:18,720 ologically. 1047 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,440 But on those main points, we agree 1048 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:24,140 and we come together in spite of maybe those 1049 00:31:24,140 --> 00:31:24,600 differences 1050 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,080 that no problem, sit down, debate and talk 1051 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:27,480 about, 1052 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:29,490 but modeling the fact that, hey, we are 1053 00:31:29,490 --> 00:31:30,440 Christians, 1054 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:32,240 we believe the gospel, we believe 1055 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:32,960 justification 1056 00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:35,450 by faith alone, we believe the doctrines of 1057 00:31:35,450 --> 00:31:35,880 grace 1058 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,960 and we're coming together to give the people 1059 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,650 an opportunity to sit under sound expositional 1060 00:31:41,650 --> 00:31:42,240 preaching. 1061 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:44,360 And not only that, one of the biggest things I 1062 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:44,840 hear 1063 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:46,680 after our conference is how much the people 1064 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:46,920 love 1065 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:48,960 the fellowship at the conferences. 1066 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,360 When we sit down from one another and eat, 1067 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,640 it's kind of like a reunion with some people. 1068 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,200 They haven't seen the person since last year 1069 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:57,880 at the conference and different folks 1070 00:31:57,880 --> 00:31:59,320 that have moved different places. 1071 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:01,160 Maybe they used to go to church together. 1072 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,000 So there's a whole lot of benefit that I see 1073 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:05,360 with the here we stand conference 1074 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,720 and the local pastors and things like that. 1075 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:08,960 - I agree. 1076 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,370 - Now, this year's theme is going to be our 1077 00:32:12,370 --> 00:32:13,560 sovereign God. 1078 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:15,320 And I wanted to give a little outline 1079 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,800 and I think it was actually you, 1080 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,560 we get together once a year as pastors 1081 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,350 to kind of plan this conference and plan the 1082 00:32:24,350 --> 00:32:25,080 messages. 1083 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,310 And I wish people could be in to hear how all 1084 00:32:27,310 --> 00:32:28,680 of that develops. 1085 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,710 I just kind of sit back and let you smart guys 1086 00:32:31,710 --> 00:32:31,920 go. 1087 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,980 And I listened and you came up with some 1088 00:32:34,980 --> 00:32:37,000 interesting questions 1089 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,000 as the titles of the message. 1090 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,130 Because when we talk about the sovereignty of 1091 00:32:41,130 --> 00:32:41,400 God, 1092 00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,880 one of the big issues that people have, 1093 00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:47,800 especially if they've never been seeing the 1094 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:48,440 doctrines of grace 1095 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:50,960 or understood it or been exposed to it, 1096 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:53,870 is the issue of sovereignty and responsibility 1097 00:32:53,870 --> 00:32:54,840 , right? 1098 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:58,000 And so this year, our sovereign God, 1099 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,040 you're going to start out with the message, 1100 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:02,800 how sovereign is God? 1101 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:04,960 That's going to be like the foundation. 1102 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:06,770 And then brother Larry Hubbard is going to 1103 00:33:06,770 --> 00:33:07,280 come along 1104 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:09,820 and give us a message from, he's from Rivers 1105 00:33:09,820 --> 00:33:10,520 ide Baptist. 1106 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:12,840 If God is sovereign, why pray? 1107 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:14,880 What's the point of us praying if he's already 1108 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:15,360 sovereign 1109 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:16,880 over everything that happens? 1110 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:18,910 And then Rusty Reed is going to come with a 1111 00:33:18,910 --> 00:33:19,320 message 1112 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,200 from Reformation Church, Pastor Reformation 1113 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:22,200 Church. 1114 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,680 If God is sovereign, why press on? 1115 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,930 Why continue on in obedience in the Christian 1116 00:33:27,930 --> 00:33:28,240 faith? 1117 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:30,480 If God is controlling everything? 1118 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,440 And then Brian Gunnar from First Livingston 1119 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,000 is going to address why vote? 1120 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:36,160 Why do we go to the polls? 1121 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,800 If God has already ordained all the leaders 1122 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,080 as we see in Romans and he sets them in there, 1123 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,040 what's the point of us going to vote? 1124 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,200 And then Rusty Grant from Grace Covenant 1125 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:47,840 is going to come and finish the conference 1126 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:49,920 with if God is sovereign, why tell? 1127 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:51,080 Why give the gospel? 1128 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,080 If he's already elected all those 1129 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:55,120 from before the foundation of the world, 1130 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,540 what is the point of us going out and evangel 1131 00:33:57,540 --> 00:33:57,960 izing? 1132 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,480 So I thought that was great to categorize it 1133 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:02,920 that way with those questions. 1134 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:04,910 'Cause those are questions that people will 1135 00:34:04,910 --> 00:34:05,160 ask 1136 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,450 when it comes to the topic of the sovereignty 1137 00:34:07,450 --> 00:34:07,960 of God. 1138 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:11,050 So if you could talk a little bit about your 1139 00:34:11,050 --> 00:34:11,640 message 1140 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,160 kind of setting the table for those messages 1141 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:17,640 with how sovereign is God. 1142 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:18,480 - Sure, yeah. 1143 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:22,080 And I love this topic because this is the one 1144 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:25,720 that got me from an Armenian to a sovereign 1145 00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:26,280 grace. 1146 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:28,960 And it was the Congress Book on Salvation Wind 1147 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:30,280 that really did a lot of that. 1148 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:31,320 One of the things you have to do 1149 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:32,630 when you're the first guy and you're going to 1150 00:34:32,630 --> 00:34:33,360 set the table 1151 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:35,130 for the conference when it comes to the 1152 00:34:35,130 --> 00:34:35,680 sovereignty of God 1153 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:37,320 is what you don't want to do is preach 1154 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,080 everybody else's sermon. 1155 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,360 You kind of lay in the foundation of 1156 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,520 what does it mean for God to be sovereign, 1157 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:46,640 the extent of the sovereignty of God. 1158 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:47,480 One of the big 1159 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:51,200 Charlie horses between the ears 1160 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:52,720 that people have with God's sovereignty, 1161 00:34:52,720 --> 00:34:53,920 I'll probably address a little bit 1162 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:55,720 'cause it's not in the other questions 1163 00:34:55,720 --> 00:34:58,960 is if God is sovereign over all things, 1164 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:00,920 is he sovereign over evil? 1165 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:02,120 And when it comes to the devil, 1166 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:03,560 when it comes to specific evils, 1167 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:06,110 whether it's catastrophic, you know, 1168 00:35:06,110 --> 00:35:06,920 hurricanes 1169 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:08,920 or moral evil, you know, God pulls a trigger 1170 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:09,960 and kills somebody. 1171 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:14,370 And so, and that's a real, real practical 1172 00:35:14,370 --> 00:35:14,960 theological issue 1173 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:20,150 because as pastors, many times we're put into 1174 00:35:20,150 --> 00:35:20,680 positions 1175 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:22,480 to comfort people when there's evil, 1176 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,200 when there's trials and there's difficulty. 1177 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:26,240 So we'll be looking at things like that, 1178 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:28,760 going into the text of the Old Testament, 1179 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:32,200 looking at, I like Nebuchadnezzar's answer 1180 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,360 in Daniel chapter four of how he bows 1181 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:36,480 the needs of the sovereign God. 1182 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:39,050 And this guy was like potentate over the whole 1183 00:35:39,050 --> 00:35:39,440 world 1184 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:40,280 at the time. 1185 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,480 And just, once again, the different flavors, 1186 00:35:43,480 --> 00:35:45,320 kind of like the 31 flavors of basket and rob 1187 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:45,400 in, 1188 00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:47,320 31 flavors of the sovereignty of God 1189 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:48,920 that you can see throughout the scriptures 1190 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:53,160 and without that foundation, I really, 1191 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:54,120 I'm gonna press this, 1192 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:55,920 I really don't see how you can live your 1193 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:56,760 Christian life. 1194 00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:57,600 - Right. 1195 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:00,290 - So many promises, Romans 8, 28, I mean, one 1196 00:36:00,290 --> 00:36:00,880 of the favorite, 1197 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,390 is built on the foundation of the sovereignty 1198 00:36:03,390 --> 00:36:03,760 of God. 1199 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,720 And if you don't have it and you're going 1200 00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:06,520 through a trial 1201 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,400 and you're trying to hang onto a promise, 1202 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:11,040 it's like, man, bro, you've just thrown away 1203 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:11,560 the promise 1204 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,160 because you threw away God's throne and his 1205 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:14,760 authority 1206 00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:16,560 to be able to control these things 1207 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,640 and bring it to a good end. 1208 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,800 The lost man doesn't have that personal flavor 1209 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:22,680 and touch 1210 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,610 of God being in control of all things for your 1211 00:36:25,610 --> 00:36:26,480 good. 1212 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:28,120 It's one thing if the devil's in control, 1213 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:30,200 it's for your, you know, demise. 1214 00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,560 But I got a God, he's my heavenly father 1215 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,070 and he's gonna work this thing out for my good 1216 00:36:35,070 --> 00:36:35,280 . 1217 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:36,640 How in the world can I despair? 1218 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:38,360 I mean, I get it, it's hard, tough. 1219 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:40,150 It's painful, I mean, I don't like losing 1220 00:36:40,150 --> 00:36:40,640 anything 1221 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:42,600 or gaining something like cancer or something. 1222 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,720 But when I know there's a design behind it, 1223 00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:47,160 and it's gonna be for my good, 1224 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:49,500 it's like, man, bro, you can take that to the 1225 00:36:49,500 --> 00:36:50,000 bank. 1226 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:52,400 I mean, you can really get some mileage 1227 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:53,920 and your Christian walk off of it. 1228 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:56,080 And I gotta tell you, Christians are looking 1229 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:57,840 for those kinds of testimonies from people 1230 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,240 who are trusting God in the midst of that kind 1231 00:37:00,240 --> 00:37:00,840 of affliction. 1232 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:03,600 I mean, I can give a thousand messages 1233 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:07,000 on dealing with trials and the sovereignty of 1234 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:07,000 God, 1235 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:08,480 but I throw 'em all away and go listen to 1236 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:09,440 Johnny Erickson 1237 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:11,620 talk from a wheelchair about how she's trustin 1238 00:37:11,620 --> 00:37:11,840 ' the psalm 1239 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:13,360 when she's in the middle of it. 1240 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:15,360 - Right, right, exactly. 1241 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:17,520 You know, you use that phrase trusting God, 1242 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:20,890 it reminds me of, again, I go back to Brother 1243 00:37:20,890 --> 00:37:21,400 Hugh E. Mote 1244 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:25,880 'cause my mentor and he, every year, once a 1245 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:26,400 year, every year, 1246 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:30,560 he read Jerry Bridge's book, Trusting God, 1247 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:31,800 Even When Life Hurts. 1248 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:33,440 That book was a game changer. 1249 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:35,600 I had already come to the Doctrine of Grace, 1250 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,840 but what Bridge's does in that book 1251 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:41,250 is he gets you to see from the exposition of 1252 00:37:41,250 --> 00:37:42,240 scripture 1253 00:37:42,240 --> 00:37:46,280 how God is purposeful in bringing the trials. 1254 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,560 And man, when I got the hold of that, 1255 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,000 the purposalness of trials, man, 1256 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,560 it was an absolute game changer for me. 1257 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:56,610 And you know, really what this conference is 1258 00:37:56,610 --> 00:37:57,280 addressing, 1259 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:01,080 though, with these questions is our role 1260 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:04,140 in understanding at the same time God's 1261 00:38:04,140 --> 00:38:05,200 sovereignty 1262 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,120 and man's responsibility. 1263 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:09,760 And now we know with human reasoning, 1264 00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:12,000 you can't make those two things reconcile. 1265 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,360 We understand that because we believe that 1266 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,120 because that's what scripture teaches. 1267 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,400 And it's interesting, just so happens that 1268 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:18,880 tomorrow, 1269 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:22,880 I'm preaching going into John chapter seven. 1270 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:24,950 And this is when, and John chapter six is 1271 00:38:24,950 --> 00:38:25,600 incredible. 1272 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:26,440 - It's incredible. 1273 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:28,080 - It's just an incredible chapter. 1274 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:32,360 But in seven, this is where Jesus is leaving 1275 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:36,640 his Galilean ministry to come down to Judea. 1276 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:39,000 He's fixing to be in that transition. 1277 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,670 But before he transitions his brothers, actual 1278 00:38:42,670 --> 00:38:43,360 brothers, 1279 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:45,240 his brothers, there's no question about that 1280 00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:48,270 because it says even some of his brothers were 1281 00:38:48,270 --> 00:38:48,880 not believing. 1282 00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,290 Why would it say that if we look at it any 1283 00:38:51,290 --> 00:38:51,640 other way? 1284 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:53,800 But that's enough, we'll put that to the side. 1285 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:58,000 But anyway, so Jesus, they're saying to Jesus, 1286 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,080 "Hey, the feast of booths is coming up. 1287 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:02,060 All Jewish men were required to go to the 1288 00:39:02,060 --> 00:39:03,200 feast of booths." 1289 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:05,130 Why don't, you know, if you are who you say 1290 00:39:05,130 --> 00:39:05,480 you are, 1291 00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:07,800 basically, why don't you come down there 1292 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,160 and do this publicly and instead of being out 1293 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:10,360 here 1294 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,250 in a meet doing miracles, you need to go to 1295 00:39:13,250 --> 00:39:14,240 New York, you know? 1296 00:39:14,240 --> 00:39:19,240 And so you've got this deal where he says, 1297 00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:23,000 "Hey, it's not yet my time." 1298 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,400 You go down to the feast. 1299 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,920 And then later, he sneaks up. 1300 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:30,200 He goes actually through Samaria, 1301 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:31,920 so he doesn't go with the caravans 1302 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:34,000 because he doesn't want anybody to see him. 1303 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:35,980 And so what I get out of that is that how 1304 00:39:35,980 --> 00:39:36,720 interesting, 1305 00:39:36,720 --> 00:39:39,560 who knew more about the sovereignty of God 1306 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:41,040 than God and human flesh? 1307 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:43,360 And yet in responsibility land, 1308 00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:46,960 he was being very careful and very precise 1309 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,360 in what he did in his actions to go along 1310 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:53,000 with the flow of responsibility down here. 1311 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,930 And when you can kind of grasp those two 1312 00:39:55,930 --> 00:39:57,200 things together, 1313 00:39:57,200 --> 00:39:59,520 it keeps you from, you know, 1314 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:01,680 "Well, God's sovereign, I guess, whatever." 1315 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:04,020 You know, you can really turn into error like 1316 00:40:04,020 --> 00:40:04,360 that. 1317 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:06,280 And that's what I really hope our conference 1318 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:07,520 will bring out, 1319 00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:10,480 is to get that balance between sovereignty 1320 00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:12,360 and responsibility. 1321 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:13,760 Well, there's another thing I wanna hit 1322 00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:16,400 and that's gonna be, we have had an 1323 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:17,760 interesting development 1324 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,400 with our men's meeting that we've had over the 1325 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:22,760 last year. 1326 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,420 This men's meeting started out at Reformation 1327 00:40:26,420 --> 00:40:26,840 Church. 1328 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:29,120 It was their regular men's meeting. 1329 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:31,750 I live like two minutes from Reformation 1330 00:40:31,750 --> 00:40:32,280 Church. 1331 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,070 And I went to one of the meetings and long 1332 00:40:35,070 --> 00:40:36,000 story short, 1333 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:38,200 a lot of you know that watch this podcast 1334 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:39,280 or come to our conferences 1335 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:41,570 that there was a terrible fire at Reformation 1336 00:40:41,570 --> 00:40:42,000 Church. 1337 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,190 They're meeting now at Foster Road Baptist 1338 00:40:44,190 --> 00:40:44,800 Church. 1339 00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:47,720 So Matthew Rehm, who kind of heads up the men 1340 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:48,080 's meeting 1341 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,710 at Reformation Church, asked if we could start 1342 00:40:50,710 --> 00:40:51,280 having it 1343 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,320 at Providence here at Providence Baptist. 1344 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:54,640 And I said, "Absolutely." 1345 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,840 And so what's kind of developed over time 1346 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:01,250 is we've had in these meetings, these monthly 1347 00:41:01,250 --> 00:41:02,320 men's meetings, 1348 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,480 as many as five different churches represented 1349 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:07,800 in our men's meetings at different times. 1350 00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,510 And then a further development is they had the 1351 00:41:11,510 --> 00:41:11,960 idea 1352 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,960 to bring in young men who are interested 1353 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,460 in either possibly going into the preaching 1354 00:41:17,460 --> 00:41:18,040 ministry 1355 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:21,520 or possibly going into the teaching ministry. 1356 00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:24,410 And so kind of a place for the young guys to 1357 00:41:24,410 --> 00:41:24,720 come. 1358 00:41:24,720 --> 00:41:27,120 And it's not the pressure of Sunday morning 1359 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:27,960 with us guys. 1360 00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:31,120 We get together, we eat, we eat a lot of 1361 00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:31,680 protein. 1362 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:34,520 Sometimes there's only protein at this event 1363 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:35,160 that we have, 1364 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:36,960 which is fine with us, you know, 1365 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:39,170 it's kind of get away from the wives and we go 1366 00:41:39,170 --> 00:41:40,080 hog while. 1367 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,400 But I want to tell you that June 20th 1368 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,930 is our next men's meeting here at Providence 1369 00:41:44,930 --> 00:41:45,760 Baptist Church, 1370 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:49,920 10440 Hooper Road and Tracy West 1371 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,190 from Reformation Church is gonna bring a 1372 00:41:52,190 --> 00:41:52,600 message 1373 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:56,640 from James 4.7, "Resist the Devil." 1374 00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:57,920 So men, if you're out there, 1375 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:01,390 you're looking for a hearty, robust Christian 1376 00:42:01,390 --> 00:42:02,400 men's meeting, 1377 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:04,200 guys who love to talk theology, 1378 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:06,360 guys who are living their life 1379 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:08,160 for the purpose of the glory of God. 1380 00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:10,680 June the 20th, Friday night, 6 p.m. 1381 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:13,280 here at Providence Baptist Church. 1382 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:14,820 We love men for you to come out. 1383 00:42:14,820 --> 00:42:16,680 We all bring a plate of food, we put it on the 1384 00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:17,040 table, 1385 00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,480 we eat, we fellowship, and we encourage that 1386 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:20,040 brother 1387 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:21,080 in their messages. 1388 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:22,920 Well, Mark, I just have a two-part question 1389 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,120 before we close out here for today. 1390 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:29,560 This, I found out, I think a couple of weeks 1391 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:30,120 or months ago, 1392 00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:32,980 we were hanging out and I found out 1393 00:42:32,980 --> 00:42:35,760 that there is a Hallmark birthday coming up 1394 00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:36,840 this year. 1395 00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,800 You turned the big seven O. 1396 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,440 And that is a marker right there for everybody 1397 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:43,960 in life. 1398 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,100 So I'd like to hear a little bit about your 1399 00:42:47,100 --> 00:42:48,760 future plans. 1400 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:50,880 Do you, is there, are you gonna go to, 1401 00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,160 you can't go no more, are you gonna retire? 1402 00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:55,360 What kind of are you thinking right now? 1403 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:56,560 - Well, I think you kind of look up 1404 00:42:56,560 --> 00:42:58,860 the Bible three score and 10, I think that's 1405 00:42:58,860 --> 00:42:59,560 70. 1406 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:02,800 And when you hit that, it's kind of a reminder 1407 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:04,840 of, you know, you kind of look back 1408 00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:06,240 and, you know, what about accomplished, you 1409 00:43:06,240 --> 00:43:06,400 know? 1410 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,300 And looking forward, and you look at in church 1411 00:43:09,300 --> 00:43:09,640 history, 1412 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,360 you see some people are packing up their tent 1413 00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:13,200 when they hit 70. 1414 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:14,820 And they got some people, they just starting 1415 00:43:14,820 --> 00:43:14,840 out. 1416 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:16,200 And it's like, they have a brand new ministry 1417 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:17,880 that going to the mission field at 75. 1418 00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:19,880 It's like, who does that? 1419 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:20,720 I don't know. 1420 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:22,280 The short answer is I'm just gonna keep on 1421 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:22,760 going 1422 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:23,960 what I'm doing, 'cause I love it. 1423 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:25,680 And God hadn't told me to do anything 1424 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:26,240 different. 1425 00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:28,640 And as long as there's a ministry there before 1426 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:28,840 me 1427 00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:31,020 and God, you know, gives me the ability to do 1428 00:43:31,020 --> 00:43:31,960 those things, 1429 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:33,280 I just wanna keep on plugging away 1430 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:36,280 and do the things that he has called me to do. 1431 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:38,250 I do find myself getting called out a little 1432 00:43:38,250 --> 00:43:38,640 bit more 1433 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:41,040 to different churches to preach. 1434 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:42,160 And so that's fine. 1435 00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:46,320 I got a good brother, Mac Tomlinson and Denton 1436 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:46,320 . 1437 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:48,530 We're kind of known as the M&M boys, Mac and 1438 00:43:48,530 --> 00:43:48,800 Mark, 1439 00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:50,320 when they come and they usually go together 1440 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:52,800 to different conferences and we'll preach 1441 00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:54,080 or something along those lines. 1442 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,070 And I think he wants me to come up to New 1443 00:43:56,070 --> 00:43:56,400 England 1444 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:57,400 with him next year. 1445 00:43:57,400 --> 00:43:59,600 And so I'm getting out a little bit more, 1446 00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:01,760 which is kind of open up the doors at church 1447 00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:03,160 for other men to step in, 1448 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:04,920 which is the need for the Friday night, you 1449 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:04,920 know, 1450 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:07,360 trying to get younger men kind of stepping up 1451 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:08,200 to these things. 1452 00:44:08,200 --> 00:44:09,520 One of the things you begin to realize is that 1453 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:10,680 I'm not gonna be around here forever. 1454 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:12,320 If this church is gonna continue, 1455 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,680 someone needs to step into my shoes number one 1456 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:15,680 , 1457 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:17,040 but they're not gonna fill my shoes. 1458 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,380 No one can, and my shoes are kind of small 1459 00:44:19,380 --> 00:44:19,720 anyway, 1460 00:44:19,720 --> 00:44:20,840 they're tight fit. 1461 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,720 There's trust me, they're not big shoes. 1462 00:44:23,720 --> 00:44:26,680 But at the same time, you need to begin 1463 00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:30,240 to start training people that are going to 1464 00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:32,080 move in that position, elders. 1465 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:34,960 And so trying to help our church realize, 1466 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,240 like don't try to compare this guy to me. 1467 00:44:37,240 --> 00:44:39,200 He's not me, but at the same time, 1468 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:40,680 God gives him these gifts, we need to 1469 00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:41,320 recognize them. 1470 00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:43,400 So I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing 1471 00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:46,440 and just whenever God pulls the plug, okay. 1472 00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:48,160 - Yeah, yeah, that's kind of, you know, 1473 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,040 I remember, I think it was John MacArthur said 1474 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:51,120 , 1475 00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:53,240 "Look, you know, I'm gonna go as long as I can 1476 00:44:53,240 --> 00:44:56,120 until I stop making sense or I die." 1477 00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:57,960 And you know, as soon as I stop making sense, 1478 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:00,370 somebody pulled me down and sent me where I 1479 00:45:00,370 --> 00:45:00,840 need to be. 1480 00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:02,320 And I think that's fantastic. 1481 00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:07,280 Well, with over 40 years of ministry, 1482 00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:08,960 if you go back to those Bible studies, 1483 00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:10,920 you're probably talking about close to 50. 1484 00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:12,200 - To the same church too. 1485 00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:13,600 I didn't have five different churches. 1486 00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:15,000 I passed it, it was that church. 1487 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,340 - This church, all the way through all those 1488 00:45:17,340 --> 00:45:17,920 years, you know, 1489 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:21,640 and I think about young guys coming up, 1490 00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:23,280 if they're, and you know, man, 1491 00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:25,760 America is such a different place. 1492 00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:29,080 You know, both you and I together, 1493 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,160 both our childhood and our teenage years, 1494 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:33,280 there were no internet. 1495 00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:35,200 And America is such a different place now 1496 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:37,760 since the internet for those young guys coming 1497 00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:37,880 up 1498 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:39,160 with those type of pressures. 1499 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:41,010 Is there any kind of advice that you would 1500 00:45:41,010 --> 00:45:41,200 give 1501 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:43,600 to a young pastor coming up? 1502 00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:46,320 - Good question. 1503 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:49,570 There's a lot that technology can help you in 1504 00:45:49,570 --> 00:45:50,120 the ministry. 1505 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:51,800 There's a lot that it can hinder you, 1506 00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:55,160 especially within Advent of AI, 1507 00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:56,960 where you see people abuse this, 1508 00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:58,980 they write their own sermons at AI, does it 1509 00:45:58,980 --> 00:45:59,200 now. 1510 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:01,240 It's like, no, you're gonna have to follow the 1511 00:46:01,240 --> 00:46:01,960 old paths 1512 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:03,960 and put in the work and put in the grind 1513 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:05,560 if you're gonna be, you know, the pastor, 1514 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:07,920 you're gonna have to go down the very road 1515 00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:09,400 and deal with people and their problems. 1516 00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:11,240 One of the things I would probably tell you 1517 00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:12,720 out of my years of experience, 1518 00:46:12,720 --> 00:46:14,000 and we talked about this a little bit, 1519 00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:16,400 when I brought up our church, 1520 00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:18,040 I said, we're called Grace Bible Fellowship. 1521 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:19,040 What is Grace Bible Fellowship? 1522 00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:21,000 I said, you know, somebody asked me that 1523 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:22,240 back in the early 80s. 1524 00:46:22,240 --> 00:46:24,260 The clientele here was totally different than 1525 00:46:24,260 --> 00:46:24,720 it is now. 1526 00:46:24,720 --> 00:46:26,680 I said, I've been the staple all the way 1527 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:27,960 through since 82, 1528 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:31,170 and 95% of the people are not the same people 1529 00:46:31,170 --> 00:46:33,080 from 1982. 1530 00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:34,880 And I said, if you don't have a strong stomach 1531 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:36,720 to watch people walk out of the door 1532 00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:39,050 and maybe go, maybe because they don't like 1533 00:46:39,050 --> 00:46:39,200 you 1534 00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:40,120 or maybe for a good reason, 1535 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:41,560 I think God's calling me someplace else. 1536 00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:44,240 Okay, but you gotta be able to take that 1537 00:46:44,240 --> 00:46:48,160 because it can be an emotional rollercoaster 1538 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:49,000 if you're not careful. 1539 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,280 Well, you're gonna need to have stable men 1540 00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,000 to be able to do that, as Paul tells Timothy, 1541 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:54,320 you know, 1542 00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:56,160 I want you, I'm giving second Timothy two 1543 00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:59,120 to faithful men who can pass these on to other 1544 00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:00,240 faithful men. 1545 00:47:00,240 --> 00:47:02,200 And I think a lot of times, 1546 00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:04,080 especially what I have people in our church 1547 00:47:04,080 --> 00:47:05,680 who are looking to become an elder, 1548 00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:07,280 I try to spend special time with them 1549 00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:08,950 in the sense of maybe talk to them 1550 00:47:08,950 --> 00:47:09,760 individually 1551 00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:10,960 or maybe get together with them. 1552 00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:12,400 I don't do that as much as I should, 1553 00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:16,150 but doing that more, if we have a church 1554 00:47:16,150 --> 00:47:16,680 controversy, 1555 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:18,570 I'll make sure I bring them to the table and 1556 00:47:18,570 --> 00:47:18,960 they hear it. 1557 00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:20,000 Maybe I might have any part of it, 1558 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:21,480 but you need to see how to deal with this. 1559 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:23,360 You need to see how to be patient, 1560 00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:24,440 how to be not coralsome, 1561 00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:26,000 and you need to kind of learn from this. 1562 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:28,360 'Cause watching someone go through that 1563 00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:29,960 is a whole lot more instructive 1564 00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:31,160 than just reading a book about it. 1565 00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:32,160 Right, right. 1566 00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:33,720 And you know, thick skin. 1567 00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:34,800 Thick skin. 1568 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:36,320 You gotta be thick skinned. 1569 00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:39,040 Ministry, especially by vocational ministry, 1570 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:41,700 as you know as well as I do, that's not for s 1571 00:47:41,700 --> 00:47:42,240 issies. 1572 00:47:42,240 --> 00:47:43,080 That's right. 1573 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:44,280 So yeah, that's great advice. 1574 00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:46,040 I really appreciate that. 1575 00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:48,320 One of the things that I've always loved 1576 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:50,840 about your ministry and your teaching, 1577 00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:53,880 and I marvel at it, is that Mark is always, 1578 00:47:53,880 --> 00:47:55,990 no matter what discussion is going on the 1579 00:47:55,990 --> 00:47:56,400 topic, 1580 00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:58,800 he can just pull a scripture out from memory 1581 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:00,710 and say, oh, this scripture here, da, da, da, 1582 00:48:00,710 --> 00:48:00,880 da, da. 1583 00:48:00,880 --> 00:48:03,120 And you know, I took way too much LSD back in 1584 00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:03,560 the 80s 1585 00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:05,280 and 90s to pull anything up. 1586 00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:07,600 So, you know, people know my story, 1587 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:10,300 but you retain information like nobody I've 1588 00:48:10,300 --> 00:48:10,800 ever met. 1589 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:13,920 And so I just love that about your teaching. 1590 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:16,560 I'm looking very forward to your message 1591 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,600 for our conference, our fifth conference 1592 00:48:18,600 --> 00:48:20,720 that we're gonna have for you out there. 1593 00:48:20,720 --> 00:48:24,200 If you could go to herewestandbr.com, 1594 00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:26,920 that is the website for Here We Stand. 1595 00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:29,100 We have previous messages from other 1596 00:48:29,100 --> 00:48:30,400 conferences on there. 1597 00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:33,180 Also, we have a Facebook group Here We Stand 1598 00:48:33,180 --> 00:48:33,960 conference. 1599 00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:35,280 Just put that in the search bar. 1600 00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:38,310 Go join our group as I say all the time to our 1601 00:48:38,310 --> 00:48:38,760 church 1602 00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:40,880 and to the folks whenever we gather. 1603 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:43,090 The only way that this conference continues to 1604 00:48:43,090 --> 00:48:43,520 happen 1605 00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:45,760 is by your attendance at the conference. 1606 00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:48,840 So if you like this podcast that we did today 1607 00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:51,260 and you wanna get more word out about Here We 1608 00:48:51,260 --> 00:48:51,680 Stand, 1609 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:53,280 like and share it on Facebook 1610 00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:54,520 and get the word out there. 1611 00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:56,750 And Mark, I really appreciate being with you 1612 00:48:56,750 --> 00:48:57,040 today. 1613 00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:59,320 I always enjoy spending time with you, 1614 00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:00,960 looking forward to our conference. 1615 00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:03,240 And folks, we pray for you. 1616 00:49:03,240 --> 00:49:05,280 You pray for us and we look forward 1617 00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:07,200 to seeing you in October. 1618 00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:08,400 God bless. - Amen, amen. 1619 00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:11,320 (orchestral music)