WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.839 Father, we honor You. What a privilege that we 00:00:02.839 --> 00:00:06.200 get to do this. We get to come together and we 00:00:06.200 --> 00:00:08.380 get to talk about You and talk about what's going 00:00:08.380 --> 00:00:11.480 on in our world and our culture. Father, we pray 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:13.480 for our country. We pray for the world, the globe, 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:19.140 Lord, that You would continue to pour out Your 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:21.839 justice, Your truth, and Your righteousness upon 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:25.219 the nations. And Father, that even upon America, 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:28.539 Lord, for revival and spiritual awakening, in 00:00:28.539 --> 00:00:31.300 America, but all across the globe. And for our 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:33.500 listeners who are in other countries, other nations, 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:35.920 Father, we bless them. We thank you for them. 00:00:36.299 --> 00:00:38.939 And we pray that they can relate to us in our 00:00:38.939 --> 00:00:41.000 heart for our own country, just like they have 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:44.340 the heart for their own. So Lord, we give this 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:47.299 to you. We consecrate all that we do and say 00:00:47.299 --> 00:00:50.659 today. And Lord, we give everyone and everything 00:00:50.659 --> 00:00:56.039 to you in Jesus' name. Amen. It's Wednesday, 00:00:56.140 --> 00:00:59.579 May 6, 2026. We get to do this. This is episode 00:00:59.579 --> 00:01:18.780 number 31. We get to do this. And once again, 00:01:18.859 --> 00:01:22.730 we get to do this. A day early. I like it. I'm 00:01:22.730 --> 00:01:24.849 pretending that it's Wednesday. I know. It feels 00:01:24.849 --> 00:01:27.489 like Wednesday to me. I mean, because we're sitting 00:01:27.489 --> 00:01:29.469 here, it feels like a Wednesday to me. It is. 00:01:29.469 --> 00:01:32.129 We're in the Curry Compound studio because the 00:01:32.129 --> 00:01:35.310 church studio, just a little too noisy. It's 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:37.409 a noise factory over there. You know, the feedback 00:01:37.409 --> 00:01:39.609 I got was, you know it didn't bother us that 00:01:39.609 --> 00:01:41.450 much but you guys were talking about it so much 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:44.129 that bothered us like oh i'm sorry we brought 00:01:44.129 --> 00:01:46.269 too much attention to it i know it's kind of 00:01:46.269 --> 00:01:48.329 like that it's like don't think about that noise 00:01:48.329 --> 00:01:50.450 don't think about that noise it just gets louder 00:01:50.450 --> 00:01:52.530 but look at how clean the studio is man just 00:01:52.530 --> 00:01:55.730 brother i'm i feel honored that the pod father 00:01:55.730 --> 00:01:59.569 cleaned up his studio for me i have nothing to 00:01:59.569 --> 00:02:02.980 lay my elbow on Yeah, I'm sorry. It was never 00:02:02.980 --> 00:02:04.579 built for that. You got your own bell, though. 00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:06.540 You got your own bell. That's the keeper's bell. 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:09.000 You got a bell. That's beautiful. Tina's bell. 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:10.900 Yeah. Do you have a different tone for sure? 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:13.719 Well, of course. You have that one. Ring your 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:16.439 bell. Ring your bell. Yeah. That's there's this 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:19.240 one. There's a digital one. There it is. I like 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:21.840 your old one the best. It's old school. Yeah. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:25.479 I like it. Right off the bat, I want to say hello. 00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:30.590 A big we get to do this. to the air traffic controllers 00:02:30.590 --> 00:02:35.409 of Indianapolis, who sent us a note, but the 00:02:35.409 --> 00:02:37.250 anonymous controller, the anonymous controller 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:39.270 and his wife are both air traffic controllers. 00:02:39.550 --> 00:02:41.629 I'm already excited. That's cool. Here's what 00:02:41.629 --> 00:02:44.090 he said, Adam, I want to write to you and Pastor 00:02:44.090 --> 00:02:47.349 Jimmy. We get to do this is a topic of discussion 00:02:47.349 --> 00:02:50.569 at times between believing controllers here in 00:02:50.569 --> 00:02:54.430 Indy. Singing the intro song between transmissions 00:02:54.430 --> 00:02:57.750 randomly always gets a laugh and changes the 00:02:57.750 --> 00:03:00.689 tone of the day for the better. Oh, that is hilarious. 00:03:00.689 --> 00:03:04.389 Can you imagine that? Yeah, Southwest 1375. We 00:03:04.389 --> 00:03:09.069 get to do this. That is so cool. We need recordings 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:10.710 is what we need. I want them to keep their... 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:12.979 Attention on what they're doing though. Oh, they 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:14.979 know what they're doing. These guys are pros. 00:03:15.099 --> 00:03:16.580 They know what they're doing. They are pros. 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:18.800 That is so cool. Well, hello guys and brothers. 00:03:18.939 --> 00:03:21.240 That's awesome. And sisters maybe? Yes. Oh, yeah. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.479 No, his wife is in control. Oh, there's lots 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:25.240 of female controllers. That's awesome. Absolutely. 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:27.400 They're very good, too. Love it. Listening to 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:29.759 the latest episode and the clip on Theo Von was 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:32.400 divine timing. I currently am in the Gospel of 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.120 John and just gone through John 5 and the Pool 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.879 of Bethesda the day before. I thought you might 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:41.560 enjoy that. So we appreciate it. I like this 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:46.120 so much. I'm nerding out right now. The air traffic 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:49.340 controllers are doing that in between transmissions. 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:51.280 That's fantastic. That's so funny. And then last 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:53.419 week somebody wrote us wanting to know where 00:03:53.419 --> 00:03:55.819 they could get the song, the theme song. Yes. 00:03:56.039 --> 00:04:01.479 Is it on Spotify? No. No, it's not. We do have 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:03.060 longer versions, though. I could probably dig 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:05.539 that up. You do, yeah. I remember when we got 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:08.580 that. I didn't get this file. I got the one for 00:04:08.580 --> 00:04:12.340 living up in a down world. And there was a longer 00:04:12.340 --> 00:04:14.280 version. Yeah, I got the original from the Jeff 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:18.720 Smith in Nashville. Cool guy. So just for a moment, 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:24.319 man, my bride with her testimony at the church 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:26.920 during the women's ministry, how about that? 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:30.720 She crushed it. I was so proud of her. And I 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:33.660 was like, no one recorded that, did they? That's 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:36.160 never recorded. They usually don't, yeah. I don't 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:37.699 know. I don't know if it got recorded. I could 00:04:37.699 --> 00:04:40.160 ask faith if anything was done, but I don't think 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:42.920 so. Probably not, no. And I didn't really think 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:46.860 about it. Yeah, I recorded the opening montage 00:04:46.860 --> 00:04:48.399 just because I knew she'd like to have that. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.240 But I wanted to be present. I wanted to be there. 00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:53.339 I know, yeah. You don't want to be handling your 00:04:53.339 --> 00:04:56.360 phone. No, not at all. Well, I got to say, she 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.480 did such a good job. I mean, all those ladies, 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:00.540 I mean, those ladies work together. They're like 00:05:00.540 --> 00:05:03.139 a well -oiled machine. They are, yeah. And Annette 00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:06.060 leads the charge on that. And they're just... 00:05:06.029 --> 00:05:08.610 You get Annette and Tina in the same room, working 00:05:08.610 --> 00:05:10.629 on the same project, it's going to be a well 00:05:10.629 --> 00:05:12.730 -oiled machine, period. You get me in together, 00:05:12.790 --> 00:05:16.269 who knows? Me and you, brother. From the hip. 00:05:16.350 --> 00:05:18.870 Everyone has sheets with like, run of show, and 00:05:18.870 --> 00:05:22.029 this is the exact time in 1238, and we'll be 00:05:22.029 --> 00:05:23.750 done here, and we'll do that. I'm like, holy 00:05:23.750 --> 00:05:26.050 crap. And they were nailing it, too. All of it. 00:05:26.389 --> 00:05:29.769 So I don't typically go to the flourish women's 00:05:29.769 --> 00:05:31.610 luncheon. No, that's not for us. But I was going 00:05:31.610 --> 00:05:34.449 to be there for Tina, man. I had to support my 00:05:34.449 --> 00:05:39.300 friend. my brother and my friend, Tina, and I'm 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:42.019 so proud of her. There were things she shared 00:05:42.019 --> 00:05:45.379 in her testimony that I did not know. Annette 00:05:45.379 --> 00:05:48.240 knew from the beginning. They were always transparent, 00:05:48.420 --> 00:05:53.180 but we don't get into the dark deep stuff. As 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:56.360 friends, we're sitting around a table, but it 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:59.720 was powerful. I'm so happy because we didn't 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:01.879 know any of this stuff from each other really 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:05.089 about the brokenness when we first got together 00:06:05.089 --> 00:06:07.529 and married and you know there were always signs 00:06:07.529 --> 00:06:10.250 about you know baggage that we carry the course 00:06:10.250 --> 00:06:13.189 stuff that would trip or trigger or whatever 00:06:13.189 --> 00:06:17.509 or offense offense you know as you explain so 00:06:17.509 --> 00:06:20.370 so i'd always Whenever you explain that from 00:06:20.370 --> 00:06:22.829 the pulpit, it's like a fence. It's like one 00:06:22.829 --> 00:06:25.949 of those fences that is about two feet tall, 00:06:25.990 --> 00:06:27.970 the kind that you don't see. Like a tripwire. 00:06:28.389 --> 00:06:31.050 Basically a tripwire. Exactly. That's what a 00:06:31.050 --> 00:06:34.389 fence is. And just to see, because it was good 00:06:34.389 --> 00:06:37.529 for me too. I'm like, yeah, this is just so true. 00:06:37.569 --> 00:06:41.329 What Jesus has done for us and changed our lives 00:06:41.329 --> 00:06:45.170 in such beautiful ways. I couldn't help but think 00:06:45.170 --> 00:06:48.779 about you while she's sharing her story. and 00:06:48.779 --> 00:06:52.420 just opening herself up to 105 ladies that were 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:57.019 there and how much this must make you love her 00:06:57.019 --> 00:07:00.420 so much more. I know that because I'm that same 00:07:00.420 --> 00:07:03.279 way within that. Whenever she's sharing her heart, 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:06.860 it just makes me love her more. It's like, yeah, 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:10.240 this is why we do, but we do. We do get to do 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:12.660 this. We do get to do this. Yeah. So proud of 00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:14.560 her. Yeah, me too. And both of you actually, 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:17.519 because it's a testimony for both of you too. 00:07:17.579 --> 00:07:20.779 Well, it was... Annette did admit she had a crush 00:07:20.779 --> 00:07:23.420 on you in the 80s. We could have done without 00:07:23.420 --> 00:07:25.240 the intro. She did that publicly. We could have 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:27.560 done without that. Like, okay, Annette, please. 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:30.220 And all the ladies were like... They were fawning 00:07:30.220 --> 00:07:32.519 into you. That's hilarious. I don't look like 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:35.160 that anymore. I don't have that hair. I'm not 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:36.540 quite the same. I actually liked your hair in 00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:41.259 the 90s. The clip from the BBC? That was good, 00:07:41.259 --> 00:07:44.319 bro. That was your look, man. That was a look 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:45.899 for a while. That was a good look. But if you 00:07:45.899 --> 00:07:49.120 saw me like now, you'd be like, no, no. You know, 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:51.540 it's like we have... You still got good hair. 00:07:51.740 --> 00:07:53.779 Well, yeah. No, I got good hair. Absolutely. 00:07:53.779 --> 00:07:55.959 Just not a lot of it. Well, it's cut off, you 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:57.740 know. I know. And you have to understand... Pretty 00:07:57.740 --> 00:08:01.060 high in titles. Being captured and held hostage 00:08:01.060 --> 00:08:03.360 by your hair for half your, you know... Yeah, 00:08:03.379 --> 00:08:04.220 you're done with it, right. For the course of 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:07.060 your adult life, it's like, no, I just... I don't 00:08:07.060 --> 00:08:08.819 even have to, I can't even use the hairdryer. 00:08:08.860 --> 00:08:11.199 It's dried before I even get to that. I'm shaving 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:14.100 like, oh, my hair's dry. No, no, no, no, no. 00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:17.160 But I never wanted to be one of those guys who 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.420 had the ponytail, the long gray ponytail, like 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:22.439 you couldn't quite give it up or I'm not quite 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:25.319 sure what that is, but. Kind of the deadhead 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:27.420 look. For some guys it's a look, you know, but 00:08:27.420 --> 00:08:30.459 like, no. Great for the dead generation. Yeah. 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:33.259 Yeah. Actually, some guys can wear it cool. Some 00:08:33.259 --> 00:08:35.759 can. Yeah. Some of those older guys look sharp 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:43.039 that way. Some don't. So, man, you sent a clip 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:47.980 to me the other morning from Greg Laurie. And 00:08:47.980 --> 00:08:50.600 Greg Laurie, just by himself, is such an impressive 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:54.690 dude. He is the he's the pastor in the Jesus 00:08:54.690 --> 00:08:57.950 revolution He was a part of the whole, you know, 00:08:57.970 --> 00:09:00.230 the real thing the real deal. Where is he now 00:09:00.230 --> 00:09:02.730 Greg Laurie? What what church is he at? He's 00:09:02.730 --> 00:09:06.370 a Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. Okay, so in California. 00:09:06.549 --> 00:09:09.610 Oh, yeah Yeah, yeah long time generational California 00:09:09.610 --> 00:09:13.429 guy and and this clip was good and I wanted to 00:09:13.429 --> 00:09:18.129 share it and I will say that It did not go unnoticed 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:21.450 to me that he probably recorded this sent it 00:09:21.450 --> 00:09:25.529 through some Instagram robot that added music. 00:09:26.309 --> 00:09:28.929 And then I took it and gave it to my robot and 00:09:28.929 --> 00:09:31.210 said, take the music away because it bothers 00:09:31.210 --> 00:09:34.169 me. Let's listen to this and we'll talk about 00:09:34.169 --> 00:09:37.450 it. You know, it seems like we're a culture completely 00:09:37.450 --> 00:09:40.730 obsessed with ourselves. The Bible tells us one 00:09:40.730 --> 00:09:44.269 of the signs of the last days would be people 00:09:44.620 --> 00:09:47.100 would love themselves. I mean, isn't that what 00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:50.059 you see in social media, the very platform I'm 00:09:50.059 --> 00:09:53.320 on right now, spend five minutes on TikTok or 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:57.340 Instagram, and you see people chronicling every 00:09:57.340 --> 00:10:00.600 event of their life. Here's what I had for breakfast. 00:10:01.179 --> 00:10:04.620 Here's my latte in the afternoon. Here's my new 00:10:04.620 --> 00:10:07.919 outfit. A complete obsession with self. Do you 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:10.360 know that they've come up with actually a name 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:14.200 for this? It's called main character syndrome. 00:10:14.620 --> 00:10:19.299 And so the idea is, my life is a movie, I'm the 00:10:19.299 --> 00:10:22.720 star of my own movie, and everybody else is a 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:27.580 supporting actor. I am the main thing, the main 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:30.539 character syndrome. How did we get to this place? 00:10:30.700 --> 00:10:32.899 I think we built this. You could trace it back 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:37.360 to the 80s and 90s, where instead of correcting 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:41.100 children, we felt we should constantly be affirming 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:44.620 them, you know, helicopter parenting, as it's 00:10:44.620 --> 00:10:48.679 called, giving participation trophies away. Everyone's 00:10:48.679 --> 00:10:52.220 a winner. And this kind of mentality morphed 00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:56.179 into a complete obsession with self. And it culminated 00:10:56.179 --> 00:11:00.029 with The selfie is the most popular kind of photography 00:11:00.029 --> 00:11:03.110 out there right now. So where did that get us? 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:06.169 Studies show that despite being the most affirmed 00:11:06.169 --> 00:11:09.970 generation in history, Gen Z reports the highest 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:13.889 rates of anxiety, loneliness and depression. 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:18.139 ever recorded of any generation. Listen, Jesus 00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:21.100 dealt with this 2000 years ago before there were 00:11:21.100 --> 00:11:24.120 social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:27.179 or X or any of the others. He said, if any man 00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:29.539 wants to follow me, let him take up his cross 00:11:29.539 --> 00:11:33.059 and follow whoever will seek to save his life. 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:35.679 We'll lose it. And if you lose your life for 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:37.659 my sake, you'll find it. What does that mean? 00:11:37.769 --> 00:11:40.909 To lose your life means to recognize God's plan 00:11:40.909 --> 00:11:43.690 for you is better than your plan for yourself. 00:11:44.090 --> 00:11:48.289 Stop being so obsessed with self. Lose the main 00:11:48.289 --> 00:11:51.370 character syndrome mentality and realize that 00:11:51.370 --> 00:11:55.649 the main character is Christ. You and I, we're 00:11:55.649 --> 00:11:58.450 in supporting roles. If we'll understand that 00:11:58.450 --> 00:12:02.809 and put God first in our life, we will find the 00:12:02.809 --> 00:12:06.559 life we're looking for. Get your priorities in 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:09.759 order. It can change everything. There's a lot 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:13.710 there. That's so good. There's a lot there. I 00:12:13.710 --> 00:12:15.730 read that to our staff this morning, the short 00:12:15.730 --> 00:12:18.389 form version of it. He compressed it into three 00:12:18.389 --> 00:12:21.809 sentences on the X. Yeah, we got to fill an hour 00:12:21.809 --> 00:12:24.750 or so. We go as long as we want. The whole thing. 00:12:25.269 --> 00:12:26.970 Hey, maybe we'll be up to three and a half like 00:12:26.970 --> 00:12:28.990 you and JDC. Well, there's a fast forward button 00:12:28.990 --> 00:12:31.389 for a reason that people don't like it. Yeah, 00:12:31.389 --> 00:12:33.590 so you read that to staff this morning? Yeah, 00:12:33.769 --> 00:12:37.429 because we were talking about that great term, 00:12:37.649 --> 00:12:42.299 main character syndrome. It's a term that's out 00:12:42.299 --> 00:12:45.100 there, main character. There's another word. 00:12:45.100 --> 00:12:47.360 Well, I actually looked it up to see if there 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.220 was a clinical description, which there's not, 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:58.759 but there's a recognition of it, but it kind 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:01.600 of crosses over into narcissistic personality 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:05.980 disorder. That's the consequence of it. Main 00:13:05.980 --> 00:13:10.759 character, a self -focus. validation dependence. 00:13:11.139 --> 00:13:13.159 This is another big one because it's not just 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:18.000 the act of it, it's the validation of it. And 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.639 actually, why don't you tell the story about 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:24.399 the staff and then I'll follow up on that. Yeah, 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:27.440 so I shared the short form with the staff and 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:30.600 they were like, wow, this is so accurate. This 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.460 is what we see. We have our two youth pastors 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:37.100 there in the room. Naomi helps out with youth, 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.379 of course, Pastor Brian, and then his wife Leslie 00:13:40.379 --> 00:13:42.500 does our children's ministry. Of course, they're 00:13:42.500 --> 00:13:46.320 seeing it all. I love the way Greg starts. He 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:49.720 says, we gave every kid a trophy, built platforms 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:52.299 around the selfie, created a culture of main 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:54.980 character syndrome. And that's happening, but 00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:59.799 it's not the kids that have done this. It's the 00:13:59.799 --> 00:14:02.720 parents that did not want to put They wanted 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:05.179 their kids' lives. I think it started off as 00:14:05.179 --> 00:14:08.519 a good thing. We want our kids to not have to 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:11.299 suffer and go through the pain that we've gone 00:14:11.299 --> 00:14:14.340 through. Which is exactly what the cycle is. 00:14:14.419 --> 00:14:16.480 You know, weak times make weak men. Exactly. 00:14:16.899 --> 00:14:19.419 Et cetera, et cetera. Yes, exactly. So, the thing 00:14:19.419 --> 00:14:22.440 I wanted to point out is that we are all talking 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:24.860 about the kids, the kids, the kids. Brother, 00:14:25.019 --> 00:14:29.899 this is adults. This is... 30, 40, 50 -year -olds. 00:14:30.059 --> 00:14:32.600 I know them. You know them. Yes, I do. They go 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:35.580 to our church. We're susceptible to it ourselves. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:37.620 Our church? They're in our church? I'm sorry. 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:39.639 I know. Backbenchers. Backbenchers. You don't 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:42.759 really see them. Yes, of course. This is our 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:47.059 friends. This is our family. We all do this from 00:14:47.059 --> 00:14:50.559 time to time. We all are doing versions of it. 00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:56.700 And really, this started out because I I know 00:14:56.700 --> 00:15:01.580 how this evolved with Facebook initially started. 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:03.980 The whole idea was a picture. You could find 00:15:03.980 --> 00:15:07.019 other people. It didn't have a newsfeed. It didn't 00:15:07.019 --> 00:15:09.779 have a timeline. That didn't exist. And it was 00:15:09.779 --> 00:15:11.419 college students mostly in the beginning. Well, 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:14.879 originally you had to have a .edu address even 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:18.100 to get on it. But it was a great way to take 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:20.480 a picture of the grandkids or grandma and grandpa. 00:15:20.779 --> 00:15:24.610 And your discovery mechanism was Oh, there's 00:15:24.610 --> 00:15:26.769 so -and -so from college. Let me see who's who 00:15:26.769 --> 00:15:28.570 that person's following So he kind of jumped 00:15:28.570 --> 00:15:31.769 around and it was a good way to catch up on people 00:15:31.769 --> 00:15:34.610 It became something completely different and 00:15:34.610 --> 00:15:38.909 then absolutely the selfie cam that did it and 00:15:38.909 --> 00:15:42.990 and that has triggered something in us and Greg 00:15:42.990 --> 00:15:44.850 Laurie at the beginning of that he talked about 00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:47.700 the last days which he kind of got away from 00:15:47.700 --> 00:15:51.679 in the end. So, I pulled this to Timothy 3, 1 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:56.899 -4. I got the King James Version, brother. This 00:15:56.899 --> 00:15:59.779 know also that in the last days perilous time 00:15:59.779 --> 00:16:02.299 shall come for men shall be lovers of their own 00:16:02.299 --> 00:16:06.179 selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, 00:16:06.519 --> 00:16:09.879 disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without 00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:13.320 natural affection. truce breakers, false accusers, 00:16:13.620 --> 00:16:16.059 incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are 00:16:16.059 --> 00:16:19.220 good, traitors, heady, high -minded, lovers of 00:16:19.220 --> 00:16:23.840 pleasures more than lovers of God. And this hits 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:28.919 because we did a survey at the church. And I 00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:31.179 love this survey when we said, hey, what are 00:16:31.179 --> 00:16:34.379 the topics y 'all would like us to talk about 00:16:34.379 --> 00:16:38.620 and cover in a multitude of platforms? And do 00:16:38.620 --> 00:16:41.909 you remember the top three? Yes, I'm looking. 00:16:42.990 --> 00:16:44.970 Yeah, the top three. Number one was how to hear 00:16:44.970 --> 00:16:47.889 the voice of God. Yeah. Just how do I hear God? 00:16:48.070 --> 00:16:49.870 Yeah, I think that's a big one for everybody. 00:16:49.909 --> 00:16:52.190 The third one was prayer. How can I pray better? 00:16:52.409 --> 00:16:55.929 The second one was spiritual warfare. So those 00:16:55.929 --> 00:16:59.250 were the top three. And then right after that, 00:16:59.509 --> 00:17:02.830 end times. Yes, number four was end times. You're 00:17:02.830 --> 00:17:04.970 right. People want to know about end times. And 00:17:04.970 --> 00:17:07.869 I think it would be good because people are getting 00:17:07.869 --> 00:17:10.980 end times all over the internet, and they're 00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:13.859 getting all kinds of versions of it, and I find 00:17:13.859 --> 00:17:17.420 it personally to be confusing enough that I stay 00:17:17.420 --> 00:17:21.700 away from it. Like, you know… Well, just so you 00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:24.240 know, we are actually going… Pastor Brian and 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:26.319 I have been meeting together, and we're planning 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:29.859 a whole series on eschatology in the end times. 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:32.180 We're over the Wednesdays? No, we're going to 00:17:32.180 --> 00:17:34.299 do it for Sundays, but we're going to do it after 00:17:34.299 --> 00:17:36.140 we get back from vacation because, you know, 00:17:36.180 --> 00:17:38.750 summer gets a little bit weird. stepping more 00:17:38.750 --> 00:17:42.509 into the fall. That's where we're going. Because 00:17:42.509 --> 00:17:45.190 you look at that. Now, of course, I'm sure people 00:17:45.190 --> 00:17:47.650 in World War II thought, dude, this is it. End 00:17:47.650 --> 00:17:50.170 times. We've got to be here now. And you never 00:17:50.170 --> 00:17:51.990 know. As you would always say, we're one day 00:17:51.990 --> 00:17:55.829 closer than yesterday. But this is a very interesting 00:17:55.829 --> 00:17:58.670 one. And again, I'm going to say we talk about 00:17:58.670 --> 00:18:01.289 the kids all the time, but this is us, brothers 00:18:01.289 --> 00:18:04.809 and sisters. This is us doing this. We are in 00:18:04.809 --> 00:18:08.539 this. I did pick up two more clips about this. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:15.859 I really went looking. The best way to combat 00:18:15.859 --> 00:18:19.059 a problem is first recognize it and admit that 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:23.460 you have it. This is Dr. Romani Durvasula. She's 00:18:23.460 --> 00:18:26.640 a clinical psychologist and she has an interesting 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:30.920 take on this phenomenon. And wait for it at the 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:33.200 end, she comes around to the real issue. This 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:35.759 idea of main character energy is also about... 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:38.000 She calls it main character energy. That's the 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.819 term I was talking about. Main character energy. 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:43.079 This idea of main character energy is also about 00:18:43.079 --> 00:18:45.579 making yourself the center of attention, the 00:18:45.579 --> 00:18:48.559 center of the story. It's as though all of the 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:51.240 lights and the cameras are trained on you and 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:54.740 everyone else in the scene is a secondary player 00:18:54.740 --> 00:18:58.579 or an extra. Some folks who embrace this main 00:18:58.579 --> 00:19:00.839 character concept almost view everything in their 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:03.839 life as sort of a short film. Whether it's going 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:06.519 for their morning run, getting their groceries, 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:10.019 going out to dinner, cleaning the house, going 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:13.599 on vacation. It's the cameras trained on you. 00:19:13.980 --> 00:19:17.099 You're imagining the soundtrack, here I am, single 00:19:17.099 --> 00:19:19.839 gal, buying the makings for my pasta dinner on 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:23.019 my movie night alone, or look at me dressing 00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:25.480 up and making a grand entrance at dinner with 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:28.420 my friends. That's the main character -ness of 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:30.700 it all, right? In the more sort of ostensible 00:19:30.700 --> 00:19:34.900 way. Now, main character energy needs an audience. 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:38.240 And that's where we see sort of the incessant 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:43.000 posting of moments in a life. hundreds of millions 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:46.299 of little films about people's lives every day 00:19:46.299 --> 00:19:48.859 on social media with them as the main characters. 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:51.720 They're the central characters in their vacations, 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:54.640 going to school, going to work, driving next 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:57.900 to the ocean at a concert. It's a stream of consciousness 00:19:57.900 --> 00:20:01.680 broadcasting, and there they are, the star of 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:07.019 their own lives. So, okay, as a shrink, and not 00:20:07.019 --> 00:20:10.380 a young one, I love the idea. I got to tell you, 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:12.339 I do love the idea of people grabbing the bull 00:20:12.339 --> 00:20:15.259 by the horns, viewing themselves as key players 00:20:15.259 --> 00:20:18.299 in their own lives, setting goals, putting themselves 00:20:18.299 --> 00:20:20.859 out there, honoring their voices. I think that's 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:24.839 all great, especially young people. My generation 00:20:24.839 --> 00:20:27.160 carries different burdens than this young generation 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:30.299 does. And I have to tell you, I love seeing empowerment 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:33.059 at younger ages and living life on your terms. 00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:37.619 That part I think is great. Where this main character 00:20:37.619 --> 00:20:40.940 -ness runs the risk of veering into narcissistic 00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:44.400 territory is when it becomes about needing the 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:48.079 audience. So my question is, can a main character 00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:51.339 -driven person who has posted the quirky little, 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:53.880 look at me buying the ingredients to make my 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:56.900 sourdough bread, or being the central character 00:20:56.900 --> 00:20:59.660 in their various vacation pictures, would it 00:20:59.660 --> 00:21:02.799 be okay if there wasn't a lot of validation? 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:06.000 or if there weren't a lot of likes and comments. 00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:09.779 Because if the main character energy person gets 00:21:09.779 --> 00:21:13.579 upset that nobody is tuning into their life, 00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:16.480 that's when I think it has taken a left turn 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:20.299 onto narcissism lane. And there it is. And that's 00:21:20.299 --> 00:21:24.519 really the critical point. It really is. I like 00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:28.759 how Greg Laurie gave us the answer to this, you 00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:32.200 know, by saying, hey, look, this is Mark 834. 00:21:32.539 --> 00:21:34.799 And when he called the people unto him with his 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:37.480 disciples, also King James, he said unto them, 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:40.539 Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself, 00:21:40.740 --> 00:21:43.160 take up his cross, and follow me." Now, how do 00:21:43.160 --> 00:21:47.680 we apply that in our daily life to this specific—I 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.039 mean, how do we apply that? Well, there's another 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:53.119 passage of Scripture that talks about, think 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:55.259 of others better than yourself, and people go, 00:21:55.339 --> 00:21:57.339 oh, well, then I need to put myself down in order 00:21:57.339 --> 00:21:59.619 to elevate others. That's actually not the issue. 00:21:59.849 --> 00:22:02.250 The issue is we elevate those around us, but 00:22:02.250 --> 00:22:06.230 it doesn't mean we self -depreciate ourselves. 00:22:06.890 --> 00:22:10.049 And that tends to be the thing. And so the flip 00:22:10.049 --> 00:22:12.069 side of the coin is what we see is that where 00:22:12.069 --> 00:22:14.869 it's easier to put people down so that it somehow 00:22:14.869 --> 00:22:19.369 lifts us up. This is like the format of social 00:22:19.369 --> 00:22:22.309 media. It is. And yet if you can fight that and 00:22:22.309 --> 00:22:24.089 resist it by saying, wait, I'm not going to put 00:22:24.089 --> 00:22:26.549 myself down, but I'm not going to put down others 00:22:26.549 --> 00:22:30.220 either. In fact, I want to lift others up. You've 00:22:30.220 --> 00:22:32.599 heard me use this. We even talked about it an 00:22:32.599 --> 00:22:35.160 episode or two ago about putting lift underneath 00:22:35.160 --> 00:22:38.559 people. How do we lift others? Good leadership 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:41.200 lifts those around. They elevate those around 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:46.039 them. I always intentionally brag on our staff 00:22:46.039 --> 00:22:48.680 to the church. Boy, didn't Pastor Brian do a 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:50.400 great job last week? Let's give Pastor Brian 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:54.079 a big hand. Our production team, if they weren't 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:57.890 there, you wouldn't hear us. this constant elevating 00:22:57.890 --> 00:23:00.009 others, but I'm not putting myself down. Is that 00:23:00.009 --> 00:23:04.049 elevating or validating? Yes. It's both. It's 00:23:04.049 --> 00:23:06.009 both, yeah. Because when you do it publicly, 00:23:06.049 --> 00:23:09.069 it's very much validating, right? And when you 00:23:09.069 --> 00:23:11.430 do it personally, it can be that as well, but 00:23:11.430 --> 00:23:15.589 it's really elevating them to build them up. 00:23:15.829 --> 00:23:18.150 That's what we're supposed to be about. How can 00:23:18.150 --> 00:23:20.410 we remember to do this? When we're on social 00:23:20.410 --> 00:23:23.930 media, we're looking at that one person and you're 00:23:23.930 --> 00:23:27.220 ready to just go, cynical because that's the 00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:30.180 currency now. Was it you that said cesspool of 00:23:30.180 --> 00:23:32.559 cynicism? Yeah, I like that. I wrote that down, 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:38.220 cesspool of cynicism. What can we do to remind 00:23:38.220 --> 00:23:39.920 ourselves, like stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, 00:23:40.299 --> 00:23:43.200 don't do that? First of all, practice, practice, 00:23:43.400 --> 00:23:46.339 practice. Practice does not make perfect. Practice 00:23:46.339 --> 00:23:49.789 makes permanent. There's a jimmyism, if I ever 00:23:49.789 --> 00:23:52.029 heard it. There it is. I've said that for a long 00:23:52.029 --> 00:23:54.809 time. Practice does not make perfect, it makes 00:23:54.809 --> 00:23:57.730 permanent. And so the more I do it, the more 00:23:57.730 --> 00:24:01.690 it gets, obviously, from a physical standpoint, 00:24:01.890 --> 00:24:04.630 I'm producing deeper grooves in my gray matter, 00:24:04.869 --> 00:24:07.769 right? The record grooves get deeper. They get 00:24:07.769 --> 00:24:11.009 entrenched. So the more I do it, the more natural 00:24:11.009 --> 00:24:14.410 it becomes. And it's okay to start doing a new 00:24:14.410 --> 00:24:17.029 discipline. and it has to be work in the beginning 00:24:17.029 --> 00:24:22.690 because anything is new. But you also need to 00:24:22.690 --> 00:24:25.650 place reminders around you. I mean, even if you 00:24:25.650 --> 00:24:28.710 have to put on your phone, make it work for you 00:24:28.710 --> 00:24:31.349 instead of against you, put an alarm that says, 00:24:31.750 --> 00:24:33.809 who have you encouraged today at three o 'clock? 00:24:33.890 --> 00:24:36.849 Oh man, I'm way behind it. I got two hours of 00:24:36.849 --> 00:24:39.230 work. I'm going to go find somebody and build 00:24:39.230 --> 00:24:42.210 them up. This sounds elementary, but I'm telling 00:24:42.210 --> 00:24:45.289 you, when you become the person who builds others 00:24:45.289 --> 00:24:48.349 up, you become the person people come to and 00:24:48.349 --> 00:24:52.269 people want to be around. You become a life giver. 00:24:52.369 --> 00:24:54.630 I just found out, by the way, that Don Finto 00:24:54.630 --> 00:24:57.769 from Caleb Global is going to come when the team 00:24:57.769 --> 00:25:00.250 comes back this summer. Oh, excellent. He wanted 00:25:00.250 --> 00:25:02.490 to come hang out with us, which is amazing because 00:25:02.490 --> 00:25:05.670 he's literally one of my heroes in life. Didn't 00:25:05.670 --> 00:25:07.329 you work with him? I didn't work with him. I've 00:25:07.329 --> 00:25:09.930 just been around him. I used to attend a meeting 00:25:09.930 --> 00:25:12.569 at his house in Nashville. People can hear his 00:25:12.569 --> 00:25:15.859 entire Session that he did on the Godcaster, 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:17.720 if you go back into Bridge Church sermons, I 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:19.660 think we put that on there. No, that was Todd. 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:24.519 Don Finto is the 96 -year -old giant. Todd's 00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:27.440 coming too, but Don is coming. He's bringing 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:30.400 his daughter. Todd, Don, Bob, these three are 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:32.160 these guys. I know, right? Don Finto is like 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:35.440 one of those heroes of the faith. He's a general, 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:37.700 but the reason I bring him up is because when 00:25:37.700 --> 00:25:40.019 I think about people who lift up others, who 00:25:40.019 --> 00:25:42.279 build up others, I think about a guy like Don 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:46.660 Finto. He elevates everybody around him, but 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:48.720 he doesn't put himself down. That's the thing 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:52.180 is, this whole self -validation, this need for 00:25:52.180 --> 00:25:54.900 validation, I get enough validation when I see 00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:58.240 Pastor Brian succeed. When he hits a sermon out 00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:02.019 of the park and everybody's cheering him, I get 00:26:02.019 --> 00:26:04.140 something out of that because as a father, I 00:26:04.140 --> 00:26:07.480 get to see my son grow. That is the most difficult 00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:11.089 thing for people to do. Because it's our life 00:26:11.089 --> 00:26:13.950 as we've been trained to be in competition. That's 00:26:13.950 --> 00:26:16.670 true. We've been trained in all these ways. I 00:26:16.670 --> 00:26:20.289 like the practice makes permanent because that's 00:26:20.289 --> 00:26:22.569 your that's the brain scientists in you talking, 00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:26.150 you know, because it was it a habit creates character. 00:26:26.309 --> 00:26:28.690 I think if you put that into the whole line of 00:26:28.690 --> 00:26:30.509 different things, right, right. One leads to 00:26:30.509 --> 00:26:33.829 the other. I mean, But it is true. When you do 00:26:33.829 --> 00:26:37.670 that, it changes your own life. It does. It really 00:26:37.670 --> 00:26:40.109 does. So how do we apply that to what Jesus is 00:26:40.109 --> 00:26:44.710 saying? Pick up your cross, deny everything else. 00:26:45.130 --> 00:26:47.089 Well, first of all, I love the way that Greg 00:26:47.089 --> 00:26:51.970 Lowery, Pastor Greg, put it. He said, we're in 00:26:51.970 --> 00:26:55.009 a support role. That was the term he used in 00:26:55.009 --> 00:26:59.339 terms of filmmaking. We are in a support role 00:26:59.339 --> 00:27:01.599 of Jesus. He's the main character. We make Him 00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:03.660 the hero of the story. If you notice, whenever 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:06.500 we talk about ourselves, we make ourselves the 00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:08.559 center, we make ourselves the hero of the story. 00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:10.940 One practice I learned, and I can't even remember 00:27:10.940 --> 00:27:13.119 where I got it, but I remember it changed the 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:16.700 way I talk to people. And I catch myself, even 00:27:16.700 --> 00:27:19.940 in church, even preaching a sermon, I'm careful 00:27:19.940 --> 00:27:23.099 about how many stories I tell where I make myself 00:27:23.099 --> 00:27:26.190 the hero. So you'll notice I'll tell stories 00:27:26.190 --> 00:27:29.470 that sort of make fun of me or mistakes I made. 00:27:29.650 --> 00:27:32.210 I do that because it takes me out of the hero 00:27:32.210 --> 00:27:36.490 position and it puts me in the sub supporting 00:27:36.490 --> 00:27:40.029 role. But when you're talking to people, if you 00:27:40.029 --> 00:27:42.890 make them the hero of the story, it switches 00:27:42.890 --> 00:27:47.849 the whole conversation. So in terms of laying 00:27:47.849 --> 00:27:53.769 down my life and picking up my cross, that means 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:57.220 if I spend more time validating others, I'm honoring 00:27:57.220 --> 00:28:00.319 God in that because I'm honoring His heart for 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:04.140 people. But I'm also positioning myself in a 00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:06.279 support role instead of the main character, the 00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:09.220 energy role that she talked about. That sounds 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:10.539 a little convoluted. I hope that made sense. 00:28:10.539 --> 00:28:13.299 No, it made total sense. But again, it's not 00:28:13.299 --> 00:28:15.779 about beating yourself up or making... That's 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:18.880 a mistake a lot of Christians well -meaning do 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:22.559 and it's even... implicitly taught sometimes 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:25.299 in churches. People have come up through mainline, 00:28:25.420 --> 00:28:26.740 you know, well, we got to be humble, brother. 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:31.019 Don't get all puffed up. And I mean, over time, 00:28:31.420 --> 00:28:33.140 those things are used and they actually begin 00:28:33.140 --> 00:28:36.559 to beat people down. Right. And then you start 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:39.539 living that way and talking that way and projecting 00:28:39.539 --> 00:28:42.059 that way. And you become very bent. Because you're 00:28:42.059 --> 00:28:45.720 afraid of having any form of self -confidence. 00:28:46.440 --> 00:28:48.799 So Bill Loveless, our mutual friend who passed 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:51.799 away, God bless his soul, he's with Jesus now, 00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:55.259 he used to say, we don't need to have a self 00:28:55.259 --> 00:28:57.779 -confidence, we need to have a Christ confidence. 00:28:58.259 --> 00:29:01.240 So we're confident in him, but we're also confident 00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:04.410 in what Christ is doing in and through us. We 00:29:04.410 --> 00:29:07.309 co -labor with him. We co -operate with him. 00:29:07.829 --> 00:29:10.490 So we get to be a part of the equation. But that 00:29:10.490 --> 00:29:12.349 doesn't mean that we're like all that in a bag 00:29:12.349 --> 00:29:14.609 of chips. Yeah, and I'd say that— There's a balance 00:29:14.609 --> 00:29:16.890 in that tension. Probably social media is not 00:29:16.890 --> 00:29:19.029 a good place to practice this because it probably 00:29:19.029 --> 00:29:21.069 just won't work out very well. No, you're just 00:29:21.069 --> 00:29:22.490 going to end up in an argument with somebody 00:29:22.490 --> 00:29:25.670 who wants to debate your position on women in 00:29:25.670 --> 00:29:27.990 ministry or something. I get that crap all the 00:29:27.990 --> 00:29:31.960 time. I don't even give a tip to it. I had somebody 00:29:31.960 --> 00:29:35.880 get all over me for promoting Randy Briley to 00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:39.200 be mayor. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. And by the way, 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:43.640 hello. He made it. Congratulations, Mayor -elect. 00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:47.480 Yeah. So, our church got to play a role in that. 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:51.700 I did what churches have been doing all along, 00:29:51.779 --> 00:29:54.789 but been told they can't. and that is I promoted 00:29:54.789 --> 00:29:56.630 him because he's from our church. He's one of 00:29:56.630 --> 00:29:58.690 our own. I didn't disparage any other people 00:29:58.690 --> 00:30:03.410 running, but I said, look, he's us. We know him. 00:30:03.410 --> 00:30:05.829 We know his character. Don't we want him? But 00:30:05.829 --> 00:30:09.430 I did that on social media and several people 00:30:09.430 --> 00:30:13.450 came after me on that. Church should not be promoting 00:30:13.450 --> 00:30:19.150 a candidate. Or I'm on the hook for a podcast 00:30:19.150 --> 00:30:21.799 with him now. I know. I saw you floated that 00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:23.799 out too in our little test chain. I'm going to 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:26.259 do it. It's great. Can I be a part of that? Of 00:30:26.259 --> 00:30:28.799 course. I want to be in. We want the podcast 00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:31.720 with the mayor. It doesn't have to be every week, 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:35.359 but periodically on some regular basis. What 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:37.660 a way to learn about what's going on in our community. 00:30:38.119 --> 00:30:41.460 Every small town, every city, everyone should 00:30:41.460 --> 00:30:44.259 be doing this. The one thing I did say is that 00:30:44.259 --> 00:30:46.940 with these people that were disparaging me for 00:30:46.940 --> 00:30:49.380 supporting a candidate, and here's what I said. 00:30:49.849 --> 00:30:52.910 So I said, I hope the other candidate that's 00:30:52.910 --> 00:30:55.809 running, I hope her pastor is lifting her up 00:30:55.809 --> 00:30:57.730 in front of her congregation. I hope he's telling 00:30:57.730 --> 00:31:00.869 them to go vote and to go and support her. I 00:31:00.869 --> 00:31:03.789 said, if he's not, he's making a mistake. Amen. 00:31:03.910 --> 00:31:11.369 He's missing. Amen. Yeah. Back to the main character, 00:31:11.430 --> 00:31:17.009 energy. Although we inherently know this, I think 00:31:17.009 --> 00:31:19.170 it's always good to be reminded that this is 00:31:19.170 --> 00:31:22.630 by design and this is something that is in your 00:31:22.630 --> 00:31:25.650 hand and is drawing you in every single day. 00:31:25.809 --> 00:31:28.170 The guy who literally has written the book on 00:31:28.170 --> 00:31:31.849 this, the books is Jonathan Haidt, H -A -I -D 00:31:31.849 --> 00:31:35.250 -T. He wrote The Anxious Generation, he wrote 00:31:35.250 --> 00:31:38.910 Coddling Our Kids, Coddling of the American Mind, 00:31:38.930 --> 00:31:42.720 I think it's titled. pulled one clip from him 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:47.000 from CBS where he talks about the design of this 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:50.940 main character energy and what it does. Again, 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:53.359 he's going to talk about kids, but think about 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:56.180 yourself. Now, one of the catalysts for the social 00:31:56.180 --> 00:31:58.960 media addiction debate was a 2024 book called 00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:01.579 The Anxious Generation by social psychologist 00:32:01.819 --> 00:32:04.619 Jonathan Haidt. He argued children's addiction 00:32:04.619 --> 00:32:07.480 to social media was literally engineered by the 00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:10.319 platforms. His new book, The Amazing Generation, 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:13.559 tries to help parents and kids break free of 00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:16.099 screens. Jonathan Haidt joins us now to talk 00:32:16.099 --> 00:32:17.700 more about this. Jonathan, thank you so much 00:32:17.700 --> 00:32:20.160 for your time. Excited to talk to you about this 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:22.559 topic. You have argued for years that social 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.000 media companies are responsible for causing children 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:27.839 to become addicted. But then Mark Zuckerberg, 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:30.539 he testified there saying there is no scientific 00:32:30.539 --> 00:32:32.970 proof that... social media causes mental health 00:32:32.970 --> 00:32:35.789 problems. So what is your take on the testimony 00:32:35.789 --> 00:32:38.950 and about this trial? Yeah, so he just keeps 00:32:38.950 --> 00:32:40.910 saying that and it's just completely flat -out 00:32:40.910 --> 00:32:43.529 not true. I had dinner with him in January of 00:32:43.529 --> 00:32:47.009 2020. We had a long conversation. I said, Mark, 00:32:47.069 --> 00:32:48.630 there's actually a lot of evidence now. He said, 00:32:48.710 --> 00:32:50.289 no, it's just correlational. I said, no, it's 00:32:50.289 --> 00:32:52.990 not. Well, here we are four years later, six 00:32:52.990 --> 00:32:56.789 years later rather. It turns out Metta has done 00:32:57.019 --> 00:32:59.940 dozens of studies and those have only come to 00:32:59.940 --> 00:33:01.559 light because the attorneys in these lawsuits 00:33:01.559 --> 00:33:05.099 are able to do some document discovery and so 00:33:05.099 --> 00:33:07.539 for example meta itself had conducted a very 00:33:07.539 --> 00:33:09.819 good experiment in 2018 where they asked people 00:33:09.819 --> 00:33:12.000 to get off of social media for a week and here's 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.720 what they found quote we found that those who 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:16.880 stopped using facebook for a week reported lower 00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:19.099 feelings of depression anxiety loneliness and 00:33:19.099 --> 00:33:21.420 social comparison That's just one experiment. 00:33:21.740 --> 00:33:23.819 There are 20 or 30 other experiments that we 00:33:23.819 --> 00:33:26.880 found done by academics. So there's a lot of 00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:28.920 experimental evidence of harm. There are self 00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:31.500 -reports from the kids. If 25 % of teen girls 00:33:31.500 --> 00:33:33.359 say that it's damaged their mental health, that's 00:33:33.359 --> 00:33:36.059 not a correlation. That's direct testimony from 00:33:36.059 --> 00:33:40.140 victims. They designed this. They designed it. 00:33:40.259 --> 00:33:42.740 They knew it. Their internal documents show it. 00:33:43.460 --> 00:33:47.509 They're in some... Actual legal trouble 375 million 00:33:47.509 --> 00:33:51.509 dollars in in one state alone There's thousands 00:33:51.509 --> 00:33:54.029 of these lawsuits from people that they're talking 00:33:54.029 --> 00:33:56.710 about addiction The addiction is just a part 00:33:56.710 --> 00:33:59.230 of the whole system and we get addicted to it. 00:33:59.269 --> 00:34:01.930 We get addicted to that's the narcissistic part 00:34:01.930 --> 00:34:05.150 You get addicted to the likes the validation 00:34:05.150 --> 00:34:07.829 being the center of your own universe your own 00:34:07.829 --> 00:34:10.969 movie Put put down your screens pick up your 00:34:10.969 --> 00:34:14.900 Bible scripture before screens. Yes um and there's 00:34:14.900 --> 00:34:18.519 more that is going on and this is this is in 00:34:18.519 --> 00:34:23.440 a weird way because like any tool it can be used 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:26.639 for good for bad indifferent right so greg lori 00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:30.619 actually was the target of a geofencing campaign 00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:34.719 Yeah, I know. That's the look I had when I first 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:37.059 heard this term, because I know geofencing is 00:34:37.059 --> 00:34:39.500 like, well, so my dog can't leave the yard, he 00:34:39.500 --> 00:34:42.039 gets zapped, which Phoebe does not have a collar. 00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:47.619 You can geofence your car so it won't start somewhere, 00:34:47.760 --> 00:34:53.099 et cetera. But geofencing is an advertising strategy 00:34:53.099 --> 00:34:56.099 that you can buy on all the big social networks. 00:34:56.539 --> 00:34:59.659 And I first heard about this term in this context 00:34:59.659 --> 00:35:03.460 of advertising. at the Heart of the Hills Gala 00:35:03.460 --> 00:35:07.059 that we went to. Do you remember? I do now that 00:35:07.059 --> 00:35:09.639 you brought this up. So the Heart of the Hills, 00:35:09.780 --> 00:35:13.760 which is a fantastic organization here, they 00:35:13.760 --> 00:35:16.480 give young, well, they give all women, doesn't 00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:18.460 have to be that young, actually, the opportunity 00:35:18.460 --> 00:35:21.840 to come talk to them about alternatives to abortion. 00:35:23.019 --> 00:35:25.420 And they don't force anyone down a path. They 00:35:25.420 --> 00:35:28.159 don't do abortions, but they certainly will try 00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:34.670 and bring you into a more godly frame of mind 00:35:34.670 --> 00:35:37.050 about it, and they've had great success. And 00:35:37.050 --> 00:35:40.289 the thing that hit me there is the executive 00:35:40.289 --> 00:35:43.630 director, she said, we have had a great success 00:35:43.630 --> 00:35:48.809 with geofencing, where people, and so it is based 00:35:48.809 --> 00:35:53.309 on geographic location, we're searching for Planned 00:35:53.309 --> 00:35:57.460 Parenthood and they pop up. So, and when I heard 00:35:57.460 --> 00:36:01.199 that, I'm like, wow, that's really smart. I heard 00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:03.139 that. Now that you mentioned that we looked at 00:36:03.139 --> 00:36:05.579 each other and I went, whoa. Yeah. Like, wow. 00:36:05.739 --> 00:36:09.000 And so, you know, this is not a cheap system. 00:36:09.099 --> 00:36:12.380 You know, we talk about CPMs cost per mil or 00:36:12.380 --> 00:36:15.599 cost per thousand. So for mobile and desktop, 00:36:15.739 --> 00:36:19.019 that can be $15 per thousand impressions. You 00:36:19.019 --> 00:36:21.880 know, it can run in the tens of thousands or 00:36:21.880 --> 00:36:22.920 hundreds of thousands of dollars. Every time 00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:25.420 I drive by the wellness center, my app pops up. 00:36:25.630 --> 00:36:28.389 I get a notification while driving down the street. 00:36:28.630 --> 00:36:32.449 That's probably geofencing. So Greg Laurie was 00:36:32.449 --> 00:36:36.989 a target of geofencing in California. And again, 00:36:38.449 --> 00:36:40.429 I'm a little on the fence about this, but there 00:36:40.429 --> 00:36:43.610 was, so this has become big news on social media 00:36:43.610 --> 00:36:47.889 because Israel, the Israeli government hired 00:36:47.889 --> 00:36:52.929 a company in the United States to geofence thousands 00:36:52.929 --> 00:36:55.980 of churches. Mainly on the West Coast. So that's 00:36:55.980 --> 00:36:59.039 why Greg Laurie was targeted as well. Some in 00:36:59.039 --> 00:37:02.599 Texas as well, particularly Austin. Bridge Church 00:37:02.599 --> 00:37:05.480 was not on the list that I could see, but who 00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:07.679 knows how accurate the list is. And they were 00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:12.099 doing two things. One was, so if you were just 00:37:12.099 --> 00:37:14.480 on social media and you were within this geo 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:18.380 -fencing area, it would pop up messages showing 00:37:18.380 --> 00:37:21.989 how Israel is important to be a Christian. I'm 00:37:21.989 --> 00:37:25.469 paraphrasing, but also a lot of anti -Palestinian 00:37:25.469 --> 00:37:29.409 messaging. And so I'm kind of on the fence about 00:37:29.409 --> 00:37:32.489 what I think about that. But it's more, I say 00:37:32.489 --> 00:37:35.250 it more for people to understand that this is 00:37:35.250 --> 00:37:38.289 taking place and you are being targeted. And 00:37:38.289 --> 00:37:41.449 if you're being targeted for good, trust me, 00:37:41.650 --> 00:37:44.230 the enemy's out there targeting you for something 00:37:44.230 --> 00:37:47.550 else. How do they call the information for their 00:37:47.550 --> 00:37:50.210 demographic target? Well, in this case they were 00:37:50.210 --> 00:37:54.880 doing it. purely by church. So within a geographic 00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:58.199 area of a church, what that church represents, 00:37:58.219 --> 00:38:00.119 there's a lot of data on Bridge Church. I mean, 00:38:00.139 --> 00:38:01.219 you don't have to go over it. You can just look 00:38:01.219 --> 00:38:04.039 at the website and know what we're about. You 00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:06.420 can find out the demographics of who's going 00:38:06.420 --> 00:38:09.139 there. Just having your phone on you is already 00:38:09.139 --> 00:38:13.099 telling the data brokers who you are. They know 00:38:13.099 --> 00:38:17.059 what Uber you take. If you take the Uber Black 00:38:17.059 --> 00:38:20.139 or if you take the cheapo one, they know everything. 00:38:20.460 --> 00:38:23.820 They know everything. And for the same reason 00:38:23.820 --> 00:38:25.920 you're getting a pop -up when you pass the wellness 00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:29.780 center. I was telling people about this stupid 00:38:29.780 --> 00:38:33.159 bot on my phone called Bixby, and it literally 00:38:33.159 --> 00:38:35.440 would pop up and say, do you want to install 00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:40.239 me? So it's listening full -time. So it's important 00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:43.039 to understand that there are actors out there. 00:38:43.320 --> 00:38:45.940 And again, I gave you two examples that I'm not 00:38:45.940 --> 00:38:50.369 against. Per se right but it can be used for 00:38:50.369 --> 00:38:53.030 all different reasons and we have to be cognizant 00:38:53.030 --> 00:38:56.269 that this is happening people this is happening 00:38:56.269 --> 00:39:01.469 and just Be aware of what is what is going on 00:39:01.469 --> 00:39:04.449 and always thinking why why did this show up? 00:39:04.610 --> 00:39:08.269 Why you know or better yet? Just use it for phone 00:39:08.750 --> 00:39:12.010 Just use it to text. It's been a long time since 00:39:12.010 --> 00:39:15.170 I've had a phone call on this thing. I've got 00:39:15.170 --> 00:39:16.849 two I need to make this afternoon. It's going 00:39:16.849 --> 00:39:19.230 to be odd. It feels weird to do it now. I get 00:39:19.230 --> 00:39:21.449 a lot of scam calls, you know, whenever there's 00:39:21.449 --> 00:39:23.809 elections going on, like, oh, okay, New Jersey 00:39:23.809 --> 00:39:26.409 calling me. Yeah, no, I don't think so. Oh, I've 00:39:26.409 --> 00:39:28.989 been called by Trump before. Oh, of course. Yeah. 00:39:29.230 --> 00:39:31.530 What did he say? I didn't take it. I thought 00:39:31.530 --> 00:39:36.550 he could leave a message. It's just something 00:39:36.550 --> 00:39:38.730 that I wasn't really even aware of. I've seen 00:39:38.730 --> 00:39:41.690 how effective it is because literally the executive 00:39:41.690 --> 00:39:45.170 director of the Heart of the Hills, she told 00:39:45.170 --> 00:39:47.949 us how effective it was. I'm like, that's really 00:39:47.949 --> 00:39:52.309 amazing. In small town America. And save unborn 00:39:52.309 --> 00:39:54.670 children through this, which is great, but it 00:39:54.670 --> 00:39:56.789 can be used for all kinds of things. And I'm 00:39:56.789 --> 00:39:59.179 always a little worried. Make sure that when 00:39:59.179 --> 00:40:01.940 you feel like all of Texas is being taken over 00:40:01.940 --> 00:40:05.719 by Muslim and Islam is on your roof, just know 00:40:05.719 --> 00:40:09.579 that there are all kinds of actors, political 00:40:09.579 --> 00:40:13.360 mainly, I'm not even saying it's a nation state, 00:40:13.719 --> 00:40:16.480 political mainly, who may even be friendly to 00:40:16.480 --> 00:40:20.460 you, who are just trying to do stuff to mold 00:40:20.460 --> 00:40:25.039 your mind. It's just the warning shot I'm throwing 00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:28.179 out there. Over the bow, brother. It bugged me 00:40:28.179 --> 00:40:30.039 when I heard that. It needs to be a shot heard 00:40:30.039 --> 00:40:32.599 around the world. We talk about that in Lexington, 00:40:33.480 --> 00:40:39.239 obviously. It's like this net that gets cast 00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:42.539 out, and you can get caught in the net very easily. 00:40:43.840 --> 00:40:47.780 I think when we choose and learn how to respond 00:40:47.780 --> 00:40:50.280 as opposed to react to everything, and again, 00:40:50.500 --> 00:40:53.619 practice makes permanent not perfect. The more 00:40:53.619 --> 00:40:56.969 you resist, what those things are trying to lure 00:40:56.969 --> 00:41:02.190 you into. Because sure enough, if you hit, the 00:41:02.190 --> 00:41:06.550 notification pops up, hey, wellness center. I 00:41:06.550 --> 00:41:09.389 haven't been a member there for two years. Oh, 00:41:09.429 --> 00:41:11.309 okay. And I'm still getting them. And now it 00:41:11.309 --> 00:41:14.190 pops up as a text message? Comes on on my phone, 00:41:14.349 --> 00:41:16.469 like it comes up as a banner on my phone. Do 00:41:16.469 --> 00:41:20.170 you have an app? Probably. Okay. All right. Probably 00:41:20.170 --> 00:41:22.329 still have the app on my phone. I guarantee you 00:41:22.329 --> 00:41:25.369 that's why. Because you know how it is. always 00:41:25.369 --> 00:41:27.590 going, okay, what apps do I not use anymore because 00:41:27.590 --> 00:41:30.469 I have so many now. Advertising used to be so 00:41:30.469 --> 00:41:33.530 simple. Do you want these girls to like you? 00:41:33.570 --> 00:41:35.929 Buy this car. You know, it just used to be simple. 00:41:35.949 --> 00:41:38.130 It was the easiest way. Hey, you want to be liked? 00:41:38.230 --> 00:41:40.789 Drink my beer. I mean, that's how we used to 00:41:40.789 --> 00:41:44.010 do it. It's gotten so sophisticated and it's 00:41:44.010 --> 00:41:48.789 not good. It's not good. I agree. Do you have 00:41:48.789 --> 00:41:51.050 anything that you want to bring up today in particular? 00:41:51.630 --> 00:41:55.349 Not specifically. I mean, I did I wanted to mention 00:41:55.349 --> 00:41:59.050 that we're going to be going to the Caleb Awards 00:41:59.050 --> 00:42:02.070 and I'm really excited about that. This is a 00:42:02.070 --> 00:42:04.309 way different turn from what we just talked about, 00:42:05.110 --> 00:42:09.150 but I mean, hard right. But I was talking to 00:42:09.150 --> 00:42:12.670 some of our staff about that. This will be our 00:42:12.670 --> 00:42:15.849 fourth year to go. And our third, I think. I 00:42:15.849 --> 00:42:19.349 think so. The reason we like it so much is that 00:42:19.349 --> 00:42:23.789 it's the power of context. and the power of story. 00:42:24.809 --> 00:42:27.329 I'm saying this for a reason because this matters 00:42:27.329 --> 00:42:30.010 in everything we've been talking about. When 00:42:30.010 --> 00:42:32.469 I know the story behind something that someone's 00:42:32.469 --> 00:42:36.329 trying to give to me, like a song, if I know 00:42:36.329 --> 00:42:39.230 the story behind that song, I have now a massive 00:42:39.230 --> 00:42:43.030 appreciation for it. When I hear the story behind 00:42:43.030 --> 00:42:45.949 a particular song that our church is singing 00:42:45.949 --> 00:42:50.750 from Brandon Lake or from whoever, Sunday. That 00:42:50.750 --> 00:42:55.170 was so great. I know the story behind it. Why? 00:42:56.449 --> 00:42:59.409 Because context is king, but that translates 00:42:59.409 --> 00:43:01.469 even into what we're talking about with social 00:43:01.469 --> 00:43:05.150 media. You get a sound bite from somebody. You 00:43:05.150 --> 00:43:07.190 don't know what the context is. You don't know 00:43:07.190 --> 00:43:10.510 what the story is. I think that's why when someone 00:43:10.510 --> 00:43:12.829 disparages me online, because I make a comment 00:43:12.829 --> 00:43:16.710 about my faith and then I just get blasted, it 00:43:16.710 --> 00:43:21.250 hurts only because I care about people. I'm not 00:43:21.250 --> 00:43:24.409 so jaded that I just write in the world off. 00:43:24.550 --> 00:43:27.110 I even said this on Sunday. I said, guys, I'm 00:43:27.110 --> 00:43:29.070 going to blow your myth bubble right here. I'm 00:43:29.070 --> 00:43:31.090 going to be a myth buster. There are actually 00:43:31.090 --> 00:43:33.250 good people in the world who want to do good 00:43:33.250 --> 00:43:36.050 things, who have good hearts, and who are trying 00:43:36.050 --> 00:43:38.309 to make a difference, a good difference in this 00:43:38.309 --> 00:43:41.710 world. I know it's shocking. Because since COVID, 00:43:42.050 --> 00:43:44.789 we've gone down this track of just being suspicious 00:43:44.789 --> 00:43:47.809 of everybody and everything. Especially government, 00:43:48.050 --> 00:43:50.570 authority, all of that. Cynicism, Simon Cowell 00:43:50.570 --> 00:43:53.789 syndrome. Yep. 1 .0, 2 .0, Simon Cowell's a lot 00:43:53.789 --> 00:43:55.250 nicer. He's gotten older and softer. Friendlier. 00:43:55.550 --> 00:43:57.829 He's passed it off to others. Yeah, that's exactly 00:43:57.829 --> 00:44:00.230 right. Well, he created a whole generation of 00:44:00.230 --> 00:44:02.429 Simon Cowell. It's weird seeing Lionel Richie 00:44:02.429 --> 00:44:04.150 doing a Simon Cowell. I don't know if you've 00:44:04.150 --> 00:44:06.530 ever seen him. He's on it. It's like, wow, Lionel, 00:44:06.590 --> 00:44:12.119 no, no, no, no. I know, I know. cute. But all 00:44:12.119 --> 00:44:15.260 I have to say is that when we learn the context 00:44:15.260 --> 00:44:18.760 and story around things, we see things different. 00:44:19.559 --> 00:44:21.519 And in terms of social media, this is why I'm 00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:24.199 so wary of social media. I like using the internet. 00:44:24.300 --> 00:44:27.440 I like information research. I love reading. 00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:31.039 I'm becoming a big fan of Substack because there's 00:44:31.039 --> 00:44:33.230 not a lot of drama on there. Yes. These are just 00:44:33.230 --> 00:44:38.230 people for now. In my experience with it, limited, 00:44:38.409 --> 00:44:40.809 as I'm getting deeper into it, I'm just finding 00:44:40.809 --> 00:44:43.769 good writers. It's also people who are appreciating 00:44:43.769 --> 00:44:46.789 writing and not pictures and selfies and news 00:44:46.789 --> 00:44:49.349 articles. I think that's why it feels different. 00:44:49.469 --> 00:44:52.010 Yeah. I haven't seen any vacation pictures on 00:44:52.010 --> 00:44:54.269 there. Not that there probably are some who do 00:44:54.269 --> 00:44:56.110 that, but I'm not even going to disparage that. 00:44:56.210 --> 00:44:58.909 I'm just saying it's a community built around 00:44:58.909 --> 00:45:01.480 somebody wanting to better their craft. and finding 00:45:01.480 --> 00:45:03.400 supportive people to do it. I think that's awesome. 00:45:03.739 --> 00:45:07.480 It's fantastic. So that's a different kind of 00:45:07.480 --> 00:45:10.500 social media, but what's happening with Metta, 00:45:10.940 --> 00:45:15.000 Instagram, and I am susceptible to it as anybody. 00:45:15.739 --> 00:45:20.420 You get me on a run of surfing videos on Instagram, 00:45:21.199 --> 00:45:23.780 and an hour can go by and I've watched some of 00:45:23.780 --> 00:45:26.519 the biggest waves in the world going, how do 00:45:26.519 --> 00:45:30.170 they do that? Or flying, I love it. Airplane 00:45:30.170 --> 00:45:36.610 stuff. This is why this influencer crashed and 00:45:36.610 --> 00:45:38.369 burned away. I don't want to see those videos. 00:45:38.769 --> 00:45:41.050 It always turns. There's always a turn. But all 00:45:41.050 --> 00:45:44.349 I'm saying is that the power of story, the power 00:45:44.349 --> 00:45:47.190 of getting to know things is why I like going 00:45:47.190 --> 00:45:49.050 to something like this, what we're about to get 00:45:49.050 --> 00:45:50.809 to. We're going to get to enjoy ourselves. We're 00:45:50.809 --> 00:45:53.690 getting around a lot of positive people who love 00:45:53.690 --> 00:45:57.690 God, who are good people. just coming together 00:45:57.690 --> 00:46:00.690 to enjoy something and learn stories. But the 00:46:00.690 --> 00:46:03.429 power of story translates into our life. I mean, 00:46:04.010 --> 00:46:06.690 you pause long enough with the people that work 00:46:06.690 --> 00:46:09.210 around you and you begin to learn their backstory. 00:46:09.969 --> 00:46:12.929 It'll change the way you talk to them. It'll 00:46:12.929 --> 00:46:15.510 change the way you react to them. You learn their 00:46:15.510 --> 00:46:17.710 algorithm because we all have one. And we need 00:46:17.710 --> 00:46:20.750 to do that. We got to take time to do that. And 00:46:20.750 --> 00:46:24.010 with K -Love in particular, what's nice about 00:46:24.010 --> 00:46:27.400 that is they have these Writers round tables 00:46:27.400 --> 00:46:30.639 and so they're all sitting on stage eight sometimes 00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:33.460 ten of them and they're talking about the song 00:46:33.460 --> 00:46:35.960 and how the song came to be that's why I appreciate 00:46:35.960 --> 00:46:39.079 Nick so much who does the Band kind on hello 00:46:39.079 --> 00:46:42.539 Fred. Yeah, Sunday night at 7 and she's great 00:46:42.539 --> 00:46:45.539 in depth with the artist talking about the the 00:46:45.539 --> 00:46:49.420 songs it and you're absolutely right that is 00:46:49.420 --> 00:46:52.340 and the two things I love about Caleb is it is 00:46:52.340 --> 00:46:54.699 the worship just pure worship with a thousand 00:46:54.699 --> 00:46:56.820 people or two thousand people. That's crazy. 00:46:57.719 --> 00:46:59.679 But really hearing the artists talk about that, 00:46:59.679 --> 00:47:02.559 we don't have enough of that. We need to do more. 00:47:02.699 --> 00:47:04.440 It needs to be more. When we lived in Nashville, 00:47:05.300 --> 00:47:07.619 some of the venues would host writer's rounds 00:47:07.619 --> 00:47:11.420 with some of the top guys like Dean Dillon, Phil 00:47:11.420 --> 00:47:13.500 Robertson, some of the big Bernie Nelson, the 00:47:13.500 --> 00:47:16.000 big writers. Bernie Nelson lives in Fredericksburg, 00:47:16.179 --> 00:47:19.659 by the way, and goes to our church. They're due 00:47:19.659 --> 00:47:21.880 to our church and amazing, but he's got a long 00:47:21.880 --> 00:47:24.159 history, goes up and does writing sessions with 00:47:24.159 --> 00:47:28.219 these guys. And just sitting, hearing the backstories 00:47:28.219 --> 00:47:30.619 of a George Strait song that you've heard on 00:47:30.619 --> 00:47:33.340 the radio a billion times, number one hit, and 00:47:33.340 --> 00:47:36.059 Dean Dillon's talking about writing it on a napkin 00:47:36.059 --> 00:47:37.559 in a bar over a beer. That's how the biggest 00:47:37.559 --> 00:47:39.300 ones are written. That's how the biggest hits 00:47:39.300 --> 00:47:40.880 get made. But what it does, it makes you value 00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:42.619 and appreciate things. And if we can do that 00:47:42.619 --> 00:47:46.869 with each other and learn - Amen. to be able 00:47:46.869 --> 00:47:48.809 to default, again, practice makes permanent, 00:47:49.750 --> 00:47:53.050 to default to, you know, I don't like what that 00:47:53.050 --> 00:47:55.889 person just wrote or said, but I don't know their 00:47:55.889 --> 00:47:58.829 story. I don't know their con. I have no context 00:47:58.829 --> 00:48:02.090 for this. You know, even if it's Tucker Carlson, 00:48:02.170 --> 00:48:04.210 Candace, oh, I mean, just these people losing 00:48:04.210 --> 00:48:07.230 their minds. And I'm like, there's a story there. 00:48:07.409 --> 00:48:10.889 I wonder what the story is. Something Has created 00:48:10.889 --> 00:48:13.329 a domino effect in them that's turned them dark 00:48:13.329 --> 00:48:15.590 and I would love to know the story behind that 00:48:15.590 --> 00:48:18.750 and it really is for me it's the most difficult 00:48:18.750 --> 00:48:22.469 part of the model prayer is Forgive us of our 00:48:22.469 --> 00:48:25.610 deaths as we forgive our debtors and as we as 00:48:25.610 --> 00:48:29.329 we key two words Yes, as we forgive explain. 00:48:29.650 --> 00:48:33.369 Yeah, so I always say it when I'd say my version 00:48:33.369 --> 00:48:37.739 of it because it all is legitimate I say Father 00:48:37.739 --> 00:48:41.260 forgive me for my offenses as I forgive those 00:48:41.260 --> 00:48:45.360 who fit who offend me as I forgive those at that 00:48:45.360 --> 00:48:48.460 very moment It's if and if I'm not willing to 00:48:48.460 --> 00:48:51.019 forgive why would I expect someone to forgive 00:48:51.019 --> 00:48:53.500 me? I always say Lord. This is the hardest one. 00:48:53.519 --> 00:48:59.119 I trip up on this every single time Practice 00:48:59.119 --> 00:49:01.699 makes permanent. That's it brother gotten better, 00:49:01.699 --> 00:49:06.119 but it's just like Social media is like, why 00:49:06.119 --> 00:49:08.480 don't you just go out there without a shield 00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:11.639 on and say, shoot me. That's kind of what it 00:49:11.639 --> 00:49:14.199 is when you're doing that. Well, we throw something 00:49:14.199 --> 00:49:17.039 out and then we get shocked when people, dog 00:49:17.039 --> 00:49:25.539 pile us. I don't give opinions ever on social 00:49:25.539 --> 00:49:27.980 media because I don't work for Elon Musk. I work 00:49:27.980 --> 00:49:30.460 for the no agenda nation and for the we get to 00:49:30.460 --> 00:49:34.010 do this ecclesia. You know, these are the people 00:49:34.010 --> 00:49:36.170 that, that I'm doing this for. And so I'll give 00:49:36.170 --> 00:49:40.670 my opinions to them. Um, but I do use it to promote. 00:49:40.989 --> 00:49:44.230 Right. And then it's always disheartening when 00:49:44.230 --> 00:49:49.190 someone says, Oh, Well, you're still this boomer. 00:49:49.949 --> 00:49:52.269 The boomer thing doesn't bother me because I 00:49:52.269 --> 00:49:55.030 am boomer adjacent. But you know, but it's just 00:49:55.030 --> 00:49:57.130 like, wow, you know, and that and that's when 00:49:57.130 --> 00:49:59.530 I'm like, you always say put a mark on that person, 00:49:59.690 --> 00:50:02.030 pray for him. But there it is. It's still hard. 00:50:02.230 --> 00:50:05.849 It's still hard. So we're leaving for the Netherlands 00:50:05.849 --> 00:50:09.710 tomorrow. Yes. I was hoping that because, you 00:50:09.710 --> 00:50:12.860 know, we're on this Filming schedule for the 00:50:12.860 --> 00:50:15.159 kids. They got a reality show and you know It's 00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:17.780 like we're helping them out to give them a good 00:50:17.780 --> 00:50:21.559 start in life with with a with a new human resource 00:50:21.559 --> 00:50:25.460 but maybe we can record Tuesday and I'll do it 00:50:25.460 --> 00:50:28.500 Tuesday night from there because I really I Do 00:50:28.500 --> 00:50:30.980 not like skipping a show. I know I don't want 00:50:30.980 --> 00:50:33.480 to skip. So yeah. Yeah, you just figure it out 00:50:33.480 --> 00:50:35.619 Yeah, we'll do show. Yeah, we'll make it work. 00:50:35.679 --> 00:50:39.480 Yeah, I really want to because I love doing this 00:50:39.480 --> 00:50:41.739 and we get to do this, brother. I love it so 00:50:41.739 --> 00:50:43.539 much. And I got to tell you, I love the people 00:50:43.539 --> 00:50:45.659 that are listening to our show and are writing 00:50:45.659 --> 00:50:48.099 to us, whether it's, and sometimes it's on social 00:50:48.099 --> 00:50:50.619 media where somebody will write. Yeah. Had a 00:50:50.619 --> 00:50:55.940 great, can I share this? This came via, let me 00:50:55.940 --> 00:50:58.880 see, which one was it? Gosh, I think this one 00:50:58.880 --> 00:51:06.320 was, yeah, this was, okay, this is somebody named 00:51:06.320 --> 00:51:11.199 Karen. And this is on X. So check this out. She 00:51:11.199 --> 00:51:14.179 writes and says, just watched. What did she just 00:51:14.179 --> 00:51:17.300 watch? She was responding to me promoting our 00:51:17.300 --> 00:51:20.500 church's worship services for Sunday. She wrote, 00:51:20.639 --> 00:51:23.860 just watch. Amazing and lovely. I live in a very 00:51:23.860 --> 00:51:27.579 small town. She's in Canada. Less than 300 people. 00:51:27.639 --> 00:51:29.880 And this gave me a feeling of belonging to your 00:51:29.880 --> 00:51:33.170 church. Thank you so much. The references to 00:51:33.170 --> 00:51:36.170 Adam made me smile because I called you out on 00:51:36.170 --> 00:51:41.449 Sunday. For whatever I did. About the car? No. 00:51:41.550 --> 00:51:44.110 No, it was about the car, right, and the testosterone 00:51:44.110 --> 00:51:46.030 and all that. So, yeah, we were having fun with 00:51:46.030 --> 00:51:49.090 that. The references to Adam made me smile. God, 00:51:49.090 --> 00:51:53.429 through him, brought me here. So, man, be encouraged, 00:51:53.489 --> 00:51:56.750 but just thank you to Karen for taking a moment 00:51:56.750 --> 00:52:01.530 to actually encourage us. I'm just so appreciative. 00:52:01.889 --> 00:52:04.750 There's a whole group of folks now that I'm starting 00:52:04.750 --> 00:52:07.949 to connect with on X that watch our show, listen 00:52:07.949 --> 00:52:10.710 to our show. And that usually leads to them watching 00:52:10.710 --> 00:52:13.530 a service or whatever. And so always makes me 00:52:13.530 --> 00:52:17.070 happy just to see people showing up. And I will 00:52:17.070 --> 00:52:19.750 say thanks to all of them. Yes. And thanks to 00:52:19.750 --> 00:52:23.630 Bola Cost. Louisiana Dill Pickles, who has been 00:52:23.630 --> 00:52:27.489 selected as one of the vendors for the 2026 Texarkana 00:52:27.489 --> 00:52:30.710 Pickle Fest in October. Come on. Yes. Yay for 00:52:30.710 --> 00:52:35.090 him. He's going to need a bigger building, a 00:52:35.090 --> 00:52:37.869 bigger factory. He'll be teaming up and sharing 00:52:37.869 --> 00:52:41.329 a booth with his friends at Dream Hunt Foundation, 00:52:41.489 --> 00:52:44.449 a Louisiana based nonprofit providing guided 00:52:44.449 --> 00:52:47.429 hunting and fishing experiences. For special 00:52:47.429 --> 00:52:52.530 needs children. All right. Wow. So, louisianadillpickles 00:52:52.530 --> 00:52:56.849 .gmail .net, it says here. Really gmail .net, 00:52:56.949 --> 00:53:00.510 not dot com. I don't know. No, I think it's dot 00:53:00.510 --> 00:53:04.329 com. louisianadillpickles .gmail .com. Very cool. 00:53:04.630 --> 00:53:09.929 Yes. Brother, we did it again. We did it. We 00:53:09.929 --> 00:53:11.909 done. We just landed the plane. We just talked 00:53:11.909 --> 00:53:14.449 like we normally do when we hit record and a 00:53:14.449 --> 00:53:17.219 show drops out the bottom. One last story here. 00:53:17.619 --> 00:53:21.199 So, Sunday, you and I are at the women's event, 00:53:21.500 --> 00:53:24.559 right? Saturday. Saturday. 105 women show up 00:53:24.559 --> 00:53:27.699 to this event, and several of them are coming 00:53:27.699 --> 00:53:29.860 over, you and me, sometimes together, sometimes 00:53:29.860 --> 00:53:33.099 different, saying, we love the podcast. We love 00:53:33.099 --> 00:53:36.579 listening. We're like… Wow. Thank you so much. 00:53:36.659 --> 00:53:38.800 That means so much to us. People have no idea 00:53:38.800 --> 00:53:41.380 how much that means. I know. It's powerful. It's 00:53:41.380 --> 00:53:42.900 nice to know that people are out there. We don't 00:53:42.900 --> 00:53:45.719 look at stats. I just love when people show up 00:53:45.719 --> 00:53:47.500 and say, I heard it. I can't look at stats. No, 00:53:47.579 --> 00:53:49.980 you don't have access. I don't have access. Probably 00:53:49.980 --> 00:53:52.860 better for me. We get to do this and we're glad 00:53:52.860 --> 00:53:54.420 that you are doing it with us. We'll see you 00:53:54.420 --> 00:53:56.320 next week, everybody. Thank you, brother. Amen. 00:54:04.239 --> 00:54:09.960 This, this is a chance we did not miss This is 00:54:09.960 --> 00:54:13.099 the life we get to do this