All right, Father, we honor you. And Lord, even
with the banging that's going on around us right
now, Lord, it's just the sound of progress as
we are blessed to even expand our capacity and
capability here at the Bridge and the Bridge
Studios. Thank you that Adam and I come together
and we literally have this heart and this attitude
of we get to do this. So today, we pray for anyone
who listens to this. We pray, Father, that their
hearts be open. Minds would be attentive, Lord,
and you would speak life into them and encouragement
and hope as we continue down this track. We honor
you in all we do and say today in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen. It's Wednesday, April 30th, 2026.
We get to do this. This is episode number 30.
We get to do this. And hello, everybody. Welcome.
You've got two frazzled podcasters with you today.
At least I am. I'm a little frazzled today. Oh,
really? I'm obviously frazzled. I mean, I came
flying in here from two previous meetings. I
left a meeting to get here. Oh, man. Because
I love doing this. Me too, brother. I do. I mean,
the meeting's important, but we've got our whole
staff in there so they can relay the info to
me. But man, just such a joy to sit here on the
mic. Likewise. And man, before we get into anything,
I love the video I saw from the BBC archives
of you jumping out of your helo into your castle
and into your opulent gold chair. Wow. I'm looking
at that. That was amazing. 2004, right? 2004,
yeah. It was always the public broadcasters who...
immediately understood, you're like, oh, this
is something good. NPR, PBS, BBC, these guys,
they all understood that they only had 24 hours
a day. And radio listening in the UK is very
different. Culture than then we have we used
to have that sitting around the wireless. This
is still very big in the UK Wow, so for them
to have you know more ways to broadcast and it
was just exciting to them So they came over to
visit me in Belgium and this was definitely a
different period in my life And I guess I'll
put a link in the show notes because they just
published this all of a sudden They put it on
their on their webs on their YouTube channel.
People said oh, oh man. What is this never? seen
this before. So yeah, but the thing is, it's
great. I am just as enthusiastic today, maybe
even more so than I was back then. And I also
don't feel older. I look at that now that's,
you know, and I look at that's 20, 22 years ago.
I don't feel less. I just don't feel older or
less energetic, the same energy, which makes
sense because this is the path that God has had
me on all these decades. No kidding. Yeah, but
yeah, I had the helicopter landing in the back.
That was kind of cool. Did you see me with my
Ugg boots? No, I didn't notice the Uggs. I did
not see the Uggs. I jump out of the helicopter
wearing Ugg boots. Oh yeah. You were fixing your
hair. That distracted me. You're under the blades.
You've got to get the hair. Tina noticed the
same thing. Oh, look at you, primping your hair,
man. Look at you. It's a great video. How would
you find it on if you were to just go to YouTube?
Because it's worth a watch. Talk about the early
days of podcasting. Yeah, if you say 2004 podcasting
BBC, it'll probably pop up. I'll put a link in
the show notes. Very cool. So we need to apologize.
I did during the prayer, but I need to just call
it out because it's very loud right now. This
is a church mouse I hear. Oh my gosh. That's
a big squirrel up in the attic. So we are building,
we're adding mega seats into... our, we call
it a flex space or extra room, all purpose room
that we do. Cause our meetings, you know, our
last men's meeting, we had 130 men. Oh, we were
wall to wall. There'll be probably close to that
with women this Saturday, which by the way, I'm
coming to support Tina. I will be there. I will
be there too. I'll be there cheering her on.
She's doing, giving her testimony. Yeah. That's
a big deal for her. It's beautiful. Kind of her
first opportunity to really present that in it.
Yeah. So I've been living with her with this
as she lived with me When I was gonna do my testimony
in Lake Wales, it's always a build -up. I completely
understand it Yeah, but this was put on her heart
well over a year ago, and she's just been Working
towards this praying like Lord. Is it time yet?
Is it time yet? And then it was time and now
she's like Lord Are you really sure this is not
the time? Because yeah, she's She's she's anxious
a little bit. Yeah, of course, which is understandable,
but she's a great speaker and there's she'll
be phenomenal And she's just got the voice the
buttery voice. It's amazing. I don't know if
it's that Indiana thing, but man, there's just
a Beautiful well, you know, she was the voice
of the touch tone teller Yes. And I can totally
hear that. I mean, like, yes. If you'd like to
get a certificate of deposit, press three. Oh,
perfect. Right. Back in the day. Oh, man. You
always wonder who do those. Back when you're
young and you're listening to these, you go,
oh, I wonder what the person looks like who did
this. I think weird. There it is. I think weird.
That's what they look like. That's her. That's
cool. Well, I'm excited for her. So you guys
listening, pray for her. Just throw a prayer
up and just say, Lord, bless Tina. She shares
her testimony. that'll have high impact. So that's
hence the need to expand our space. We have capacity
for about 100, and we're going to have 130 in
there. Will this be also used for more people
during service? Yeah, we're going to create an
overflow space. We can build a new building for
$14 million. Let me write a check. Yeah, here
we go. Let's drop it in there. drop in the hat.
So, or we can actually do an overflow space and
you know, spend 500, 600 ,000 and get that done.
So that's what we're doing right now. So it'll
be a nice space. It won't look like a warehouse
like it does now. It'll be finished. We'll have
a big screen or how does that work? Well, yes,
we're going to do a screen in there and we'll,
we'll have a live, uh, partial band like a, just
so they'll have live music back here. So we want
to import the whole band. We'll just do, we'll
have the acoustics set back here. So it'll be
a little more casual. Oh, interesting. And it'll
be, it'll be a different atmosphere, but then
the message will be piped from the main room
into the overflow space. So a lot of it will
be the same, but we'll have a host over here,
you know, as it builds. And so yeah, we're at
that point. We hit nearly 700 two weeks ago.
We were nearly 700 this weekend. In a town of
11 and a half thousand or whatever it is, that's
crazy. Something's happening. Something is happening
here. Yes. You know, well, maybe I'll just kick
it off with this because bring it. So actually,
I texted Glenn Beck about this. So he came out
with something that I mean, he's. spending money
that he'll never get back on an audio series
called, I think it's America, what is it? Let
me see where it is. I thought I had it written
down here. I'll have it because I can pull up
from your text because I actually listened to
part of it. Very cool, actually. Yeah, so it's
the American story is what it's called, the American
story. And so this just popped into my Godcaster
feed and you can find these if you have the Godcaster
app. If not, go to Godcast .RFM or go to The
Bridge and there's links to it. And this episode,
the third episode is about The Great Awakening.
Now, did you hear any of that? Yeah, I listened
to about 15 minutes of it. It was so good. I
just want to share some of that with people because
it starts, I didn't realize this, it started
right after the Salem witch trials and he has
this whole thing about the Salem witch trials.
That was cool. How they happened, which was,
you know, clearly, you know, just... temporary
insanity, basically. Just people went insane.
But that is also the work, you know, confusion
and stuff like that is the work of the enemy.
And so he takes us through this. This journey
and what I love so much about it is he's doing
theater of the mind. You know, he's doing sound
effects and he's doing, you know, ambient and
narration. The girl's screaming in the background,
demons his ass or whatever. I'm going to skip
that bit. But just listen to this is kind of
where the where the change happened. And of course,
this all came, you know, there's what three million
people, I think, in the colony. So it was pretty
early days. The Salem witch trials, while an
extreme example. were symptomatic of churches
sinking into decay. Puritans repeated the kind
of oppression that they had fled England to escape.
Their piety had turned rigid and cruel. By the
early 1700s, a sense of decline gripped New England.
Pastors lamented their congregations straying
from their first love. Distracted by business,
trade, and worldly woes, their hearts had grown
cold. God, they said, had sent judgments as warnings,
such as the devastating wars with the Native
Americans and the disaster in Salem. The New
England colonies were barely a century old, and
they already needed a reboot. At the first Congregational
Church in Northampton Mass, embers began stirring.
It was Pastor Solomon Stoddard. He urged his
congregation to pray for God to do a new work
in their community. As Stoddard put it, quote,
The spirit of the Lord must be poured out upon
the people, else religion will not revive. The
sparks from those embers in the Northampton Church
would ignite something massive, a spiritual renewal
that would spread from town to town and change
America. I love this so much. Yeah, I already
unmuted here. I love this so much. Me too. I
can't wait to dive back in. But this could happen
here. This is my point. This happened in one
church. One single church is where this started
to take hold. I know. Exciting. It is. And are
you familiar with this pastor, Stoddard? Are
you familiar with him? No, no. It makes me want
to go look him up. This is why I love things
like this, because it's education. It's not just
the theory of the mind for entertainment, although
it is very entertaining. It is entertaining.
Yeah, it is good. Did you hear the drills? Did
you know they had drills back then? I'm sorry.
You muted some of that. Here's the second piece.
This is where we get into it. Revival erupted
in Edward's church. He kept a track of it in
a book called A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising
Work of God, which read like a firsthand account
of a miracle. Listen to this excerpt, his words
capturing the electric atmosphere. The Spirit
of God began extraordinarily to set in. and wonderfully
to work amongst us. There was scarcely a single
person in the town, either old or young, that
was left unconcerned about the great things of
the eternal world. This work of God, as it was
carried on and the number of true saints multiplied,
soon made a glorious alteration in the town,
so that in the spring and summer following, 1735,
The town seemed to be full of the presence of
God. It never was so full of love, nor so full
of joy. There were remarkable tokens of God's
presence in almost every house. It was a time
of joy in families on the account of salvations
being brought unto them. Parents rejoicing over
their children as newborn, and husbands over
their wives, and wives over their husbands. There
were many instances of persons that came from
abroad. on visits or on business, who partook
of that shower of divine blessing that God rained
down here and went home rejoicing. Till at length
the same work began to appear and prevail in
several other towns in the country. In every
place, God brought his saving blessings with
him. Edwards was floored, stunned by the scope
of the revival. Nearly everyone in Northampton
showed signs of conversion or deep soul surge.
This revival didn't stay local. It marked the
dawn of the Great Awakening, a movement of Christian
conversion and rededication that swept through
the colonies like a flood. I know, right? So
good. Why'd you turn it off? No, I'm kidding.
We got to get back to the show. After two minutes,
we got to stop somewhere. So good, man. So get
this on the Godcast so you can just search for
Glenn Beck podcast and listen to it in your car
when you're driving. Listen to it in your truck.
You will be just blown away. You get sucked in.
And this kind of goes back to what I was saying
about the BBC, radio dramas, these things. Love
it. They've kind of fallen. by the wayside just
because they're expensive to produce, although
increasingly easier to produce because you can
do it at home. And, you know, we don't have to
necessarily pay a lot of those true detective
podcasters. They've got sound effects. You have
a lot of that going on. Yeah. But also, you know,
invite your kids to listen to this kid. It's
thrilling to hear what was not the imagination
again, which is what we've so dumbed down and
dulled down with a visual Overslot. I mean, we're
just like onslaught of visual stuff and it just,
it, it dumbs you down. It's like you get into
numbness. And it's a way, you know, cause reading
is very difficult for people these days. Uh,
just, you know, sitting still with a book or
there's so many distractions around us all the
time. I mean, you have to basically put your
phone in a different room because that will continue
to, to be, uh, alerting you to some important
thing you need to do. Uh, and which gives us
all a Pavlovian response. but when you just listen
to this and just get swept up in it, and this
is America, and in this 250th year, this is the
stuff that I hope people just will focus on and
listen to, because it is where we come from,
who we are, and man, I hope we can get some of
that back. Man, if you get a chance to text or
write Glenn or talk, just tell him, man, he's
got some fans here, we're promoting this, we
are in with it. And we appreciate it. Well, I
texted him and he says, oh man, thank you so
much. We posted on social media. I said, yeah,
of course. And then he reposted mine. He's like,
Adam Curry thinks this is good. Yeah, I pulled
it off of X. There you go. It was so good. So
it worked. You found it through that. Oh, good.
Because I was going to keep it as a surprise
when you said, I heard that. I'm like, well,
how did that happen? How did it happen? I'll
follow you on X. It's my own fault. I'll definitely
let him know. I'm a follower. Because he does.
Thank you. He does this kind of stuff and I just
appreciate that because there's, I don't think
there's just, there's not a lot of, you certainly
know, well he does, actually there was advertising
in it strangely enough, but anyway, Glenn makes
it work and it's just something cool to listen
to. And when I hear that, how it started in one
church in one small part of one of the colonies
and how that just caught fire. And if we all,
If we all were just a little less cautious about
talking about our faith, I think we would ignite
so many other people. For instance, we got a
really nice email from Carol Goodman. She says,
Adam, I want to take a moment to write you. Tell
me how much of an impact you've had on my daily
life. You genuinely changed my routine and improved
my overall mindset in ways I didn't expect. My
husband and I moved to Fredericksburg in late
2024 and finally settled full time on our 90
acre ranch in Willow City. Now that we're empty
nesters, it's been a really rewarding transition.
I've had a long career as a contracts and acquisition
professional. I'm still doing it, but luckily
now I can work remotely and enjoy what I like
to call the best kept secret, the Napa Valley
of Texas, Fredericksburg. About me, Gen X Georgia
girl, US Air Force Academy grad, Air Force officer,
Iraqi war veteran, Christian, wife, mom, now
a grandmother, and I've always been a hardcore
conservative and political news junkie. For years,
that meant staying glued to Fox News and social
media, which honestly kept me constantly spun
up. Wow. I realized who you were through attending
Bridge Church here in Fredericksburg. Do you
know Carol by any chance? I do. I know exactly
what you're talking about. And led me to We Get
To Do This, which led me to No Agenda and everything
shifted. I feel calmer, more grounded, more intentional,
how I consume information. You all have helped
me step away from the noise and I'm truly grateful
for that. And the message, put down your phones
and pick up your Bible from the We Get To Do
This podcast really hit home for me. It really
stuck. That's beautiful. Yeah. And she also says
she was a fan back in the MTV VJ day. So just
leave that, leave that for what it is. But that's,
to me, it's like, here we are. That's why we
get to do this. If that's the result, I am super
happy. You know, while we love getting emails
and, you know, notes from people all over the
place and keep them coming, guys. I mean, this
is a conversation. I try to get back with anybody
who writes, you know, and respond. But it seems
there's something really special when it's people
right here in your community. Because that's
really where the heart of this, the genesis of
this is we want to touch our community. We want
to see this revival that we just heard about
from history. We want to see that happen right
here. And so it starts here, starts local, then
it goes translocal, right? It moves out in concentric
circles. So wonderful to hear from Carol. And
what a sweet note. That's awesome. Things are
happening. Theo Vaughan, you familiar with Theo
Vaughan? Why is that ringing a bell? He's a big
YouTube podcaster. Yeah, got long hair. Yeah,
he's kind of like a... Got a mullet working on
a mullet. Yeah, kind of redneckish looking dude.
He's like, I'd say, a Rogan spinoff in a way.
Very big podcast. He does very similar with,
you know, talking to people. You know, very laid
back interviews. And... Now, Theo has been very
open about his struggles with addiction, alcohol,
cocaine, pornography. He's a comedian, but this
podcast thing really caught for him. And all
of a sudden, he's out doing interviews talking
about his faith. And I'm not one to spike the
ball like, yeah, we got Theo Vaughan. But just
this one thing talking about prayer, I just wanted
to share this because this was so deep and so
good, and he needs prayer from us. Listen to
this. You know, I've been struggling, man. In
the past, like, couple years, I've had, you know,
it's been a struggle. You know, sometimes I realize
for myself, I would pray to God to help me get
away from certain behaviors in my life, but at
the same time that I was praying, there would
be a part of me that knew I was probably going
to do those things again. And there's a story
called John 5 and it's about a guy who's at these
pools there's a sick man there and he's been
sick for a long time and And Jesus asked and
Jesus asks him do you want to be healed? He asked
him do you want to be healed? And that's a crazy
question because You know if I get healed Then
I'm different So that's just been something that
I've been having to ask myself. It's like, do
I want to be healed? Do I really want something
different? And sometimes a lot of the answer
is no, I don't. I want something different, but
I don't wanna, I don't know if I'm scared of
it, I don't know what I am. I don't know if I
don't wanna do what it takes to get, I can't
even tell what it is. It's hard from this some
of this stuff's a little bit hard for me to say
I think I don't even know why but I think I want
a new story This hits home for me and for Tina
too because when when we were in the process
of being safe, we're like But I don't really
want to change. I don't want to be different.
This is and that's just how you think at that
moment Well, you know, what am I gonna be like
some? crazy Bible thumper or what is going to
change? And so I feel him in this moment. I feel
him. And for me, the answer is, yeah, you're
going to change. But wow, is it going to be so
good? This just seems like this is something
that people are struggling with when it comes
to their faith. Like you would say, are you ready
to step over that line? This is the stepping
over the line bit, man. I can feel him struggling
with that. Man, I love the fact that he just
hung that out on his podcast. A lot of times
when you're podcasting over time, and I'm noticing
this, you start to feel like you got friends.
Bo Lacoste, and now Brett Vaughn, and others,
and Carol, and others, Holly. I mean, the list
goes on where you start to realize, okay, there's
somebody listening to what I'm saying right now.
And they may not be in real time, obviously.
It's going to be later. But so you feel that,
you feel, and I can feel him leaning into that.
He's being real and true. I mean, and I love
that. He kind of has a Jelly Roll vibe, you know,
because Jelly's kind of in the same place. He
does. He does have a bit of that, yes. He's really
leaning into his faith. He's growing. But he's
the first to admit he's still struggling. And
man, I just totally appreciate that transparency.
That transparency is what's going to bring the
breakthrough for healing, the breakthrough. And
of course, we always think different means weird.
You know, we think I'm going to suddenly, you
know, carry a briefcase around instead of a backpack
and I'm going to suddenly put Jesus stickers
all over my car like Mel. I got one on mine now
too. Or I'm going to become, as you call yourself,
a Jesus freak. But that doesn't mean you're freaky.
That just means you're freaky over Jesus. It
doesn't make you weird. It actually makes you
the best of who you can be because God begins
to enhance all those amazing gifts that He gave
you to begin with. that starts to emerge over
time. And actually, we begin to see the best
true version of who you are, not the false narrative,
not the fake or the phony or the imposter. We
get to see the real person emerge out of that.
That's what coming to Christ, yeah, we give our
life over to Him. We surrender, which is the
hardest thing for anybody. And once you step
over that line, and He's obviously right there,
Theo, I like that. That comes actually from theology,
theos, god. Is that where the name comes from?
Yeah. I mean, Theodore. He doesn't even know
that. Yeah, he didn't even know that he calling
himself Theo, theos is god. So anyway, but I
love that he's already stepping down that path.
But what's going to happen while there's that
fear of, I may become something different than
I'm comfortable with or that I know my default.
That's the beauty. You don't become your default.
You become the best of who God created you to
be. And so what also hit me is, he says, you
know, when I'm praying, I'm like, Lord, help
me stop these behaviors. But in his inner self,
he's like, I'm probably going to do it anyway.
I mean, how do we deal with that in our prayer?
Well, because when you're locked into habits
and addictions, you can't remember a time when
it wasn't that way. So you're sort of stuck behind
a false wall or a smoke screen. You know, smoke
screen, you go through it, you're like, oh, it's
just smoke. It wasn't a brick wall. It looked
like a brick wall. It was just smoke. But we
get stuck behind those walls, and that's what
I hear, because we can't imagine ourselves not
having a coping mechanism, because that's what
addictions are. It's coping. It's numbing. It's
all those things. And he can't imagine himself
not having that. So there's a fear. What am I
going to default to if I don't have this anymore
as a crutch? What am I going to do now? And the
beauty of it is you're doing it. It changes.
I mean, even your desires change. Even what you
want and what you crave after. And that didn't
happen overnight. I don't ever want to throw
out this rose -colored glasses moment here. Dying
to yourself is a process, and it's hard. And
Jesus didn't say, he says, my yoke is easy, my
burdens lie. But he also said, those who desire
to be godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
I mean, we've got to be careful. that we don't
oversell under deliver in the sense of telling
people, Hey man, it's awesome on this side, man.
You'll never have another problem. Boy, we're
dealing with car stuff. Still the drama continues
with Lexus corporation. And I don't want to get
into that on this, this one, cause we're still
waiting on some things. But, but you know, I
had, pastor Brian came into my office today.
This is how real it gets around here. And he
goes, can I just pray for you? He said, I know
this is a distraction. And I know you're trying
to focus on you. We've got WWJDJ tonight. I'm
teaching tonight on spiritual gifts. He goes,
I know you're distracted with all that. Can I
pray for you? That's what brothers do, right?
We help each other. And I said, please do. And
I've been coping okay, but I'm not going to lie.
I mean, this stuff's coming at me and we're being
told things are going to cost twice as much as
they were. That we're, you know, everybody's
balking. Nobody wants to own what happened. And
so all that to say, and again, no details, but
yet, there'll be a time for details, but not
right now. But all I have to say is just when
we find ourselves distracted and being pulled
away, you know, it's so awesome to have brothers
who say, hey man, I know you're distracted because
I would be. So can I pray for you? Not to be.
So those are the things that you step into as
a believer. You don't step into perfection. You
step into a journey. It's just the first step
on a long journey. You know, I've been thinking
about prayer a lot, especially after hearing
this from Theo Vaughn. And I went back, because
we have the model prayer, which we talk about
quite a lot. And so it's Matthew 6. There's a
couple things that struck me as I was rereading
it, because before Jesus tells us, tells the
disciples how to pray, when you pray, say, He
first started with what not to do. He starts
with, when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites,
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and on the street corners to be seen by others.
Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward
in full. But when you pray, go into your room,
close the door and pray to your Father who is
unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done
in secret will reward you. And so, then the simplicity
of the model prayer, which on its face seems
simple, I'm like Am I over complicating my prayer
should it just When Jesus says when you pray
say and you know, I'm fully aware that it's not
asking for me is our father not my father Forgive
us and give us our daily bread. So it's just
like this meta thing that I look at that and
I'm like Am I overcomplicating other things when
I'm praying for healing for people? Should it
all just be wrapped up in the model prayer? Does
this question even make sense to you? Yes, I
do because we all go down that track of waking
up one day and go, why did that take me so long
to get to the point? Maybe God's sitting there
like somebody when church has gone 15 minutes
over. He's going, okay, wrap this up, boys. I
do wonder about that. Land the plane. Is he like
glancing over his iPad like, oh, I'm sorry, what?
I'm listening to about a billion other people
right now at the same time. I love where Jesus
in that passage you read, he says, I think they'll
be heard for their many words. Yes. That's verse
seven. says, and when you pray, do not keep on
babbling. Babbling like pagans. For they think
they'll be heard because of their many words.
That is a keep it simple saint moment if there
was one. So recently in our staff meeting, our
staff used to, we never did like corporate prayer
as a staff. We just kind of one person led and
then we went into our staff meeting. Then we
started saying, hey, you know what? We got nine
staff. We got 10 here today or nine. We're going
to assign everybody an area. So you're going
to pray for this flex space. You're going to
pray for the new life center and the outreach
to children with hard things. And then we're
going to pray for spiritual warfare, pray against
that, pray for unity, all those things. So we
have 10 every week. And at first, everybody was
shy when we first started. Nobody prayed hardly.
But then everybody got unshy. And then we started
looking at our watches going, wow, this just
took the whole meeting. So I had to come in and
say, listen, guys, everybody gets one minute
because what would they would do? They'd pray,
they'd do an introduction, the body, and then
a conclusion, like a sermon. Like a whole arc.
We're already here. Yeah, we don't need the heart.
Just jump right into the topic. So we limited
the prayers to a minute. And so in 10 minutes,
we've prayed, covered a lot of ground. It is
no less impactful, no less powerful, and no less
spiritual to get right to the point. And so I
love this scripture. They think they'll be heard
because of their many words. And then the next
line, do not be like them. Yes. For your father
knows what you need before you ask him. So he
gives us a template in that model prayer. So
again, am I doing too much? Because you're not
really answering the question. Maybe it's not
to be answered. I don't want to put you on the
spot like that. No, because a lot of our prayers
turn conversational, correct? We're more talking
to him. Very much so. When you're walking Phoebe
or when I'm driving down 87. It's conversational.
So I'm more talking to him than creating a formal
prayer. Because there's different kinds of prayer.
So that's more conversational. And then just
as a general observation, the disciples, they
asked how to pray. They didn't ask, which by
today's standards, I think we would have been,
you know, Jesus. show me how to walk on water
man show show me how to steal the stone man can
you teach me how to make the blind man see could
you could you give me the that's the thing where
you make the guy get up and walk and like they
knew they knew that the power yeah there is all
in the prayer that's that this is This took me
three and a half years to even start to figure
this out. I'm like, oh, wait a minute. They had
plenty of misses, trust me. I mean, you know,
lots of misses. But there was some insight here
when they really wanted to be taught how to do
this. And I'm listening to the sound right now.
It's just like, wow. I'm tuning it out. I'm like,
I don't really hear that. I could probably make
that go away with some AI post -processing. It's
progress. I have done podcasts in the weirdest
places with the weirdest ambient sounds and noises
and no one ever really complains. The closets
are the best. The Cloodio is the best sound ever.
Sorry to get off topic there. It's all the distraction
there. I think we do overdo it sometimes. I find
myself trying to get simple again. And this is
one of my defaults right here. So I go back to
the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer. I do this
several times a day. Also at night, I've started
a new thing. I'm now reading prayers. I've never
really... Out loud or just reading? Out loud.
No, out loud. I use the prayer that avails much.
And then someone recently gave me a book called...
prayer of Americans or when Americans pray, and
it's prayers by various people in public office,
like Mike Huckabee or Haley McEnany or all these
different people that have prayed. And some of
the prayers are for America, we're praying for
our president. But a lot of them are just real
generalized and excellent book. I have to show
you that book. Yeah, you gave me a book today.
I didn't want to forget that. Yes, it's a different
book. This is called... Forge the Sun by Bret
Hahn. Did you meet him? No, I found him on Substack.
I used to not pay a lot of attention to Substack.
It's not exactly user -friendly. It's a little
different. You got to dive in. I've got about
300 subscribers there just from living up in
a down world. When I switched over, it got me
back into that world a little bit. And what I
find about Substack is that people are writing.
They're not just, these are not social media
posts. These are people who really want to own
their craft. And it's a very supportive community.
I found him somehow stumbled on something he
wrote and I just was like, whoa, this resonates
with me. writes a lot about our early days, the
founding of our country, but he's relating it
to how they raised men, sons, how they forged
them. I love the title, Forge the Sun. So I started
reading his stuff and then I commented a couple
of times. It turns out he's a listener and all
that. No agenda. Listen to his bio. Brett Hahn
is the founder of Amrev Resurrected and a son
of the American Revolution. His seventh great
-grandfather served in the New Jersey militia
under General Washington. Isn't that cool? Yes,
very cool. It looks like a great book. I'm definitely
going to read that. You'll enjoy it. It's an
easy read, but it's a series of essays, and he
posts those on Substack. So every day or so,
I think he's posting one a day up to the 250th.
It's so good. I read one in bed the other night
too. Can I read this to you? Sure. Well, she
didn't know. It's kind of long. So she was almost
snoring by the time we got done, but it was so
rich and so good. So anyway, Brett, such a blessing,
brother, to find your writings and, man, keep
doing it. Keep teaching about our early days
and our founding and how men were forged by hard
times and by toil and by difficulty, but also
living for a dream that was bigger than them.
And what we can do today to replicate that. That's
the whole point. That's the point, yeah. So the
King and Queen of England are visiting us and,
of course, they're being sent to Yorktown to
see where they were defeated. Which is one of
the funniest things. That was a great brief that
you wrote for Sunday, by the way. And I cracked
up big time when I read that. I was like, whoa.
They're here to negotiate the terms of surrender.
A handful of people got that. Yeah, I know. Some
people did. Yeah, that was good. So there was
a dinner last night, and they had the typical
back and forth jokes. But by the way, you notice
That there were no no Kings protests during his
arrival all the King was here What I mean what
an opportunity to go out there and say we don't
want any Kings But he spoke to the joint joint
houses of Congress and I watched it yesterday
Mainly because there had already been kind of
these setups I listened to a lot of the UK media
like well, I should probably brought that clip
We believe that the speech will be very good.
It will go over Trump's head, but people will
know what he really means. I'm like, okay. So,
you know, that was your typical British media.
But he brought something up. Now he is also the
head of the Church of England, which now what
do we know about the Church of England? It's
called the Anglican Church. It was a split off
from the Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic
Church. They didn't want to submit to the pope.
They wanted their head of the church to be the
leader of the nation. There's a lot of similarities
in terms of how they do what they do. There's
a lot of theological similarities. Anyone who's
Catholic or Anglican can correct me on any of
this because I'm not an expert on that at all.
One of my favorite human beings is a is a bishop
in the Anglican church. He was in Africa for
many years, now in his 70s. He's raising up pastors
in countries I can't name because he's doing
undercover work for the gospel, for the kingdom,
and he is a fireball for Jesus in his 70s. So
I've had great respect for some of the Anglican
men that I've met through the years that are
ministers. So the whole concept of separation
of church and state doesn't go over very well
there. You ever hear the Brits complain about
that? No, I've never heard that statement reiterated.
And we don't actually have it here either. No,
we don't. But he did say something that I just
thought was super curious, and I have an opinion
about what he was saying. I'd love to hear yours.
Here we go. And Mr. Speaker, for many here, and
for myself, the Christian faith is a firm anchor
and daily inspiration that guides us, not only
personally... guides us not only personally,
but together as members of our community. Having
devoted a large part of my life to interfaith
relationships and applause, yeah, wait for it,
and greater understanding, it is that faith in
the triumph of light over darkness which I have
found confirmed countless times. Through it,
I am inspired by the profound respect that develops
as people of different faiths grow in their understanding
of each other. It is why, which is my hope, my
prayer, that in these turbulent times, working
together and with our international partners,
we can stem the beating of plowshares into swords.
I am mindful that we are still in the season
of Easter, the season that most strengthens my
hope. It is why I believe with all my heart that
the essence of our two nations is a generosity
of spirit and a duty to foster compassion, to
promote peace. to deepen mutual understanding
and to value all people of all faiths and of
none. Accentuated by some banging on the ceiling.
The interfaith relationships, that kind of confused
me. Like, what is he talking about? Do you think,
I mean, is it just in general about living together
with other, with people who have other beliefs
and other faiths or none, or is he... There was
a lot of criticism about this particular piece
of the speech in the UK because he's talked about
living in the season of Easter where he didn't
say anything on Easter in the UK but did congratulate
everybody on Ramadan. I didn't know that. Yeah,
there's a little bit of strife about that. What
was your impression over all of this? Well, I
think in terms of what's happening in the UK
with Islam coming in full force. Being brought
in, drawn in full force. Unreal, open borders,
if ever there were. And so I think he's probably
alluding to that, but I don't know that for sure.
But that would be the most obvious thing because
Yeah, that's what he's doing. I think he's alluding
to this crossing boundaries and whatnot and working
together. What do we take away? You know, the
first part of it, I was in on him. I mean, faith
is a firm anchor, inspiration that guides us
both personally. And yeah, I was all in with
that. I don't know, you know, I mean, we're experiencing
a lot of things here in the United States and
Texas. Yes. There's a lot of Islamic fear and
all that, that some is not merited. I think caution
is merited, but not fear per se. So yeah, my
takeaway though, if I'm leaning towards the first
part of what he said, you know, hey, we know
all about his life because we watched the crown.
So we know everything. We know the whole deal
inside and out, Charles. Accurate news. Literally,
in my mind, I'm defaulting to the show when he
was a kid and going to school. You can't help
yourself but do that. I'm fighting it, going,
this isn't helping me. Knowing lots of different
things about his life, I'm thinking, was faith
really an anchor then? It's hard not to think
that way. I want to be positive. I want to live
up and down world regarding that and just say,
wow. appreciate what he said. You know, you want
to value what people bring. Can you value something
and affirm them without affirming their position?
You know, that's always tricky. That's a good
one because that's... You could hear the difference
in the claps. I think during the interfaith part,
that was only the Democrat side of the house.
I'm pretty sure it was coming from probably the
left. They were sitting left of stage. President
Trump had a great joke. Again, I didn't bring
the clips. He had a great joke last night at
the dinner. He said, King Charles, you're so
amazing. You spoke in Congress and even the Democrats
stood for you. That's something I have not been
unable to do. I love it. It's pretty funny. It's
pretty funny. Anyway, for the most part, I thought
it was great. The interfaith, I'm a little confused
about just what he means by that because used
to that was more of just pretty generic. I think
with the rise of Islam and some of the scary
things, hard things, I think it's got a different
connotation now than it would have 20 years ago,
30 years ago. I mean, I took it in a similar
vein because I just, you know, so many dinner
conversations, you know my stance on this, so
many people like, oh, Islam's taking over. I'm
like, well, yeah, there may be some problems,
but please don't hate everybody you see who,
you know, might be a Muslim. Right. Please, please.
Pump the brakes on that a little bit because
we just that that's the I think that just the
enemy loves that like yeah Yeah, let's just stir
up some hatred and and then we're all you know
the enemies feeding on us again It comes back
to our broad stroke Generalization. Yes, right.
Yes, you know no more than then we want people
to do that to us Yes, we have to give the same
consideration to others. There's so many different
groups I mean, it's Baskin -Robbins, you know,
31 different flavors, you know, it's Heinz 54.
I mean, there's so many aberrations within the
Christian tradition, so many aberrations within
the, you know, Islam tradition as well. And so
it is dangerous to do broad stroke. I see a lot
of that right now on both sides. Yeah, but I
would be curious to hear someone who knows more
about his stance on that, to bring clarity to
that. I've been looking for it. It wouldn't surprise
me if we got an email or two, a comment or two,
of someone straightening this out, and I'm fine
with that. I would hope so. I'd like to hear
if someone knows a little more about. That. Where
are the Anglicans listening? That's right. We
want to hear from the Anglicans. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Otherwise, brother, I got to tell
you, things are looking good in the United States.
I'm feeling good about what President Trump is
doing. I'm unapologetic about my analysis of
what he's doing. Your briefing was so good. It
was fun to write. Fun to read. Because I'm like,
this is just good. He's doing stuff that... I
think it was, he's doing things for our grandchildren
because he cares, you delivered it perfectly,
because he cares more about that than poll numbers.
And man, that is the truth. And in a weird way,
and that kind of comes back to the book that
Brett Hahn wrote, we are so self -centered on
what's happening right now, the gas prices right
now, my rent right now, the job I have right
now. And we need a little, particularly as we
are in the middle years of our lives, maybe over
the halfway point, probably. I have a grandchild
on the way. I am really like, you know, it's
not great. I'm blessed beyond belief, but I've
been on all sides of the wealth spectrum and
I've given up worrying about that. But even if
there's pain, it should not be for me anymore.
It has to be for these coming generations. And
when you put that lens on your view, of what
President Trump is doing and what he's attempting
to do. And if you listen to what he's saying,
it really changes your attitude overall. Just
like, yeah, that will be good if we have manufacturing
come back, come roaring back in America. Now
you still have to parse through his... bombastic
rhetoric of, we're the hottest country right
now, from his standpoint we are because he sees
the investment coming in and that's not making
a difference to us right now at this moment.
So I just hope that people take some time to
think about that. How do we form and have a category
in our mindset? for forming, because a lot of
what formed my generation and yours were hard
things, hard times. We talked about 1974, oil
embargoes, which was a big scam. Turns out it
was fake. But man, it threw our country into
just fear and fights at gas pumps. Man, it got
crazy there. But how do we form and forge the
next generation? Because here's what's the trick.
them to have an easier time than we did. And
that has produced soft men. It has produced,
that's a broad stroke generalization, so if you're
out there and you're tough, don't whip me up
for that. But just, let's just say, generally
speaking, it's produced a lack of resilience,
a lack of perseverance and endurance, a lack
of patience. It's produced a generation that
would rather sit in their in their house or a
coffee shop on their phone or their computer
than actually be outside. I stood outside last
night while I was grilling steaks and just looked
around. And you know what I thought to myself?
It's been too long since I just stopped and looked
around. Because studying yesterday is on my screen.
I got the upgraded version of Logos, so I'm nerding
out over that because I'm just enjoying it. But
I'm standing there looking around smelling smoke
and going, oh my gosh, I miss this. But how do
we forge the next generation? They have to feel
it. If they feel no pain, they will never appreciate
what they have in terms of this country. That's
kind of where we're at. Well, I have similar.
For the past couple of months, there's something
about this particular time of year with the rains
that we've had, and I still have some smell ability
left in my senses. I've had all kinds of allergy
things and all kinds of issues throughout the
year, so it's diminished somewhat, but I remember
the smells, the smell of the wet leaves, I stop
and I listen to those. We're very fortunate.
We have a great silent back road, quieter than
the studio. My goodness, I know. Those guys are
getting it done though. We need them to do it.
And I hear the amount of birds. And I think probably
the best thing you can do is get your kids into
nature where there's no cell service, if possible.
We have great national parks. It doesn't have
to be an expensive weekend or whatever it is.
And just sit and just walk in nature because
that is God's creation. And I'm in awe. And it's
been decades since I've even, as a kid, I remember
like, wow, this is so cool. Look at this tree.
Look at that tree. And now I'm like, wow, look
at God's creation. Look at every blade of grass.
Look at that cow over there. Smell the, I smell
this, this fragrance from this tree, from that
tree. You know, before we get into feeling the
hard times, maybe just, it's like this dumb thing
people say, oh, go touch grass. But there's kind
of something to it. They're really grounding.
But I get it. Surrounded and grounded. That's
just my advice because this is working for me
really well right now. Same thing you had. Yeah,
I remember this and it takes me back man. It
takes me back I remember what books I was reading
about nature and American Indians and I learned
how to build a Shanty a lean to I tried to build
a wigwam not so successful made a lot of fire
Yeah, so I was very fortunate to grow up in West
Texas, which is a very Rural and cowboy culture,
ranches everywhere, and farms everywhere. You
had a horse called Midget. I know, two of them.
I grew up around horses and tractors. Annette
and I have been talking about that a little bit
more lately of just how thankful we were to be
raised in a more rural setting because it also
makes me value and appreciate where we live in
Fredericksburg, Texas and the Texas hill country.
I love when a farmer rolls up in his old beat
up truck. And he says, hey, I think it's going
to rain today. I mean, that's the depth of your
conversation. You know what though? That man
is just, I love that stuff. I love small town.
When we have people visit us and we go to a restaurant
and 15 people call by name out, which happened
the other day. They're like, man, you know everybody.
I'm like, no, they just know me. I don't know
everybody, but just because I'm pastor of the
church. But I love it. I love walking into a
restaurant or store and seeing people I know
and just the exchange of life. People, come visit
Fredericksburg. Come on. Come enjoy all of the
beautiful things we have to enjoy. We have a
Lady Bird Park. Yeah, State Park. So go hang
out there. Check out some of the wineries. Not
all of them. Some of them are drinking barns.
Yeah, some of them are. All right, but let's
land this plane. I love it. Thank you so much
for taking time out of your busy and hectic day.
Can I just thank our listeners one more time?
Yes. Guys, ladies, thank you for listening. Thank
you for sharing notes. We value you. We appreciate
you and that you would give us time and we want
to continue to encourage you and build you up
in your faith. and your journey and your walk
in Christ. Brother, I love doing this with you.
I love doing it with you, brother. We'll be back
next Wednesday. We get to do this. Take care,
y 'all.