One.
All right, welcome to Ocean Water podcast,
the voice of the indigenous water movement.
My guest today is a good friend, Drew Tevez.
We've been in the water in Fiji, in Mexico,
off of the coast of Northern California,
in El Salvador together.
Drew does five or six backflips at a time.
He's a standup comedian.
He's incredibly good at baby making,
as evidenced by his four kids.
One of my best friends.
And he founded and leads Aloha Church
in San Diego, California.
And I'm just stoked to have you on today, bro.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, man.
Yeah.
So Drew, what is your, let's start out.
What's your go-to order at your favorite hometown restaurant?
Well, you're probably like me.
We don't eat out too much, save money.
But if I was to get someone to eat,
I'll get a good traditional poke bowl.
I say traditional because there's lots of trendy places.
So don't put all that crap on my fish.
Just how I like my life, simple.
So that'll tell you a lot about me.
Yeah.
In fact, last time we had dinner with you and Trish,
which was like a year ago, a year and a half ago,
I think we brought, we didn't bring poke over,
but we brought sushi over.
So you definitely like fresh fish.
Yeah.
All right, man.
So for our audience, why don't you tell everyone
what you're doing these days and how you got into it.
Go ahead and just take a couple minutes and talk about that.
A couple minutes, okay, cool.
Well, currently we started a brand new church
here in Pacific Beach, San Diego,
and it's a new church, very, very different
than what I've been in this culture of like large church.
So we wanted to bring a little bit of my culture,
which is from Hawaii and the Aloha spirit
and sprinkle that back here in San Diego.
We saw a need and we just felt that was what we
wanted to really do and we were very, very scared.
We had little, like little support,
but we just knew that God called us to do this.
And at the end of our life,
my wife and I looked at each other and we're like,
at the end of our life, what's the story that we wanna tell?
What's the story that we wanna tell?
We wanna live by faith.
Cause the Bible says the only way to please God is by faith.
So not if I have a big job or a title or make money
or how many houses, all that stuff.
In the end of my life, to look back,
to leave a legacy to my kids and my family, my friends is,
my daddy, my husband, my boy had faith.
And for us, that was our faith was to start a church.
It's meant not everybody's,
but everybody has look at the end of your life.
And I'm 46 years old.
So, you know, it might be halfway over.
I don't know, but you start to think of those things
when you become like 30, 40 years old, you're like,
gosh, you take an inventory of your life
and the story you wanna tell.
So I'm a full time.
Well, I have so much respect for you and for your wife.
And I remember being there for the first gathering
at Mission Bay High School.
And then I've been back six times.
And every time I love it and look forward to it.
And so good, man.
So what do you wish you had known
kind of like when you started out?
Started out the church or the church is about,
we're about a year and a half into it.
So start out ministry in general, or just in the church?
I would say when you started the church,
what do you wish that you knew when you had started Aloha?
Okay, pretty good.
I think you're never shocked with people.
We just sometimes disappointed, you know?
And one of my values, the first A in Aloha
is actions over words.
And that's just something like in me
to say I'm gonna do something and come to find out
a lot of the people that say they're gonna help
or be there, they just don't.
But some people, God just brings random people
that you never would expect to support,
to pray for you, just to be in the water with you.
So just don't base, don't put my trust in people.
Obviously it's God and always be watching what God's gonna do.
So sometimes we try to, we walk with our sight
on the people or stuff that we know or finances or things.
But really, man, you gotta just be very open
to watch what God is doing.
And then you're never gonna be shocked
or disappointed in people because you're gonna be
just super stoked on what God is doing.
And then your friend that told you something
that didn't ever, it's okay because you're not
super bummed at him, you just know that
just God's working out a whole different plan.
So it helps you trust God more than trusting people
or your own plan, does that make sense?
That makes total sense.
I've always resonated with the actions part.
In fact, that's how you and I grew up.
When you and I were growing up,
you didn't run your mouth about stuff.
You let what you did speak for itself
and then other people told other people about you.
That was how we grew up.
And it's funny now because you and I are actually
talking up now because the world's changed
and we wanna have a voice with the culture that's changed.
When you and I were growing up,
if we had ran our mouth, we would've got hit or beat up.
Now people just, it's just changed, the world's changed.
Yeah.
Less people are getting knocked out for stuff these days.
I think that kinda like,
if I would've had my Instagram and for all the cool,
I would be, my mouth wouldn't be so,
I'm missing some teeth.
Yes, yes.
You and I as well, and you and I have joked a lot about that,
about how much culture's changed and the world's changed,
but it does.
And so that's one of the reasons we're actually,
that you and I have actually chosen very deliberately
to use video and to talk.
And that's been an adjustment
that you and I have had to make.
It is true.
I wanna be an influencer now.
Sorry, dad.
Sorry, dad, I wanna be an influencer.
It's funny, people will have asked me,
they're like, how come I didn't know
that you rode your bicycle 10,000 miles through 10 countries?
And a lot of my answer is, well, the way that I was raised
was if you do something,
you don't go and tell everyone about it.
So I've-
You have to take a picture every block,
you'd have to take a new picture.
So you'd have to be riding your bike,
rolling around, saying, you know.
That's fine, that's fine.
So now we're speaking up now because we wanna connect
and be able to be really helpful,
because you and I have been through the school of hard knocks.
You and I have learned a lot of hard lessons,
a lot of hard thought lessons to get to where we are.
So now we wanna take that and put it out there
in a way that we can really help people
that are younger than us.
So let me ask you this, man.
Like, what are you really curious about
right now in your life?
You and Trish have a wonderful marriage.
Your guys' family is something I look up to
and I have so much respect for.
What are you really interested in right now in your life?
What are you curious about?
Well, in the moment we're talking about
in the middle of like day, whatever, week four of COVID,
worldwide crisis and all that.
So I'm just really curious to really see
like how church is shifting, how church is changing.
And I really interested in like, as I said,
how I like my poke, right, is like traditional.
So I like to see maybe just the factory default
set back to the ancient way Jesus did church.
You know, when he died and when he came back,
he didn't tell Peter to go run the children's ministry.
He didn't sit, he sat and he rested.
And without the help of social media and lights
and production and service planning and all this stuff,
man, the gospel spread the fastest in a time of crisis.
And the good news spread the fastest.
It changed the world the most by unnamed people
in unnamed places, loving people face to face.
Aloha means face to face.
So that's what we're trying to just get back
to the ancient way of what Jesus actually did.
And it worked.
So I think the world is by default or by under,
like you can be arrested for actually doing anything.
So it's a kind of a blessing in disguise.
It's very unfortunate to see.
I mean, there's a lot of unfortunate things,
but in far as the church and the gospel,
people are super open, very open.
Your neighbors are very open,
just I think how it was in the beginning.
So that's really curious for me.
It's very curious to see even in like as a church leader,
how many in church world we're being exposed.
So the things that we maybe as church leaders,
I'm not talking as big or small,
but what they really put their trust in is being exposed.
It's easy to talk about faith and to hire a staff
and to do stuff when things are really good
and incomes come in.
But when push comes to shove,
when the stuff hits the fan and we're really hot water,
and we have to, your idols are being exposed
of what you really, really put your trust in.
So our only hope should be Jesus.
I feel a lot of times people,
their hope is Jesus and church services,
Jesus and jobs and Jesus and all those kinds of stuff,
especially in the Western world.
So I'm curious just to really, really see,
I'm hoping a lot of people would raise up
even some of the underground people
that are just trying to love their neighbors.
We talk about what it takes to be a pastor.
A lot of times people think being a pastor
is a job at a church.
When you and I were, I was saying,
man, one, you gotta love God and you gotta love people.
If you love God and people,
Jesus is gonna make it move and make it happen.
You're gonna be just super stoked walking by faith.
So that's a story.
That's so good.
I love what you said about factory default.
And I love what you said about people that are underground.
And it's the paradox, right?
Of the people that are underground and off the radar
is what connects with people and what God uses.
And so how do we get the message out
about being underground without going mainstream?
So good.
I mean, I love that we have friends
like in the surfing community
and I've always loved the guys that are shaping boards
like in their backyard.
I mean, I had a shaping thing back in my yard,
trying to shape boards and stuff.
And then they have all, then everybody's like,
the guys are just like surfing is awesome.
And then they start, well, there's two worlds, right?
There's the business world, the corporate,
or pumping out boards or pumping out coffee
or whatever it is or clothing.
And then you've got the guy like in his backyard
grinding it because he loves it
and his friends are loving it
and it's spreading through word of mouth
and not putting up posters.
And that's how the gospel, I think,
best spreads through word of mouth,
through face to face, around tables, around meals,
and we slow down and be with people.
So I think in that sense, it's really good.
So good, man.
In fact, one of the guys I'm gonna have on here soon
is Ashton Pipkle and he's exactly who you just described.
He lives here in San Clemente
and he shapes board in his garage and he shreds
and you'll love him.
So I can't wait to have him on as well.
So what is something that you have failed at?
Yeah, man, lots of things.
Being an influencer.
Personally, I fail at being a husband every day.
I speak a different love language than my wife.
She likes gifts and stuff and I just wanna like
take out the trash and clean up everything.
So I'm still learning that.
I've been married for 20 years.
I have four kids.
Just today, leaving the house, I was like so pissed.
I was just like yelled at my three-year-old.
I'm like, sit down, eat your breakfast, I gotta go.
And I'm like, oh, I just failed there.
So we're always failing.
I think sometimes in church world, we think of failures,
but really they're experiments.
You know what I mean?
Because we're always trying like,
I think with really good intentions,
I've tried to get the gospel out or help people
or do a program with good intentions and then they fail.
Not failures, they're experiments.
So I think we have to maybe redefine the term failure.
If you have good intentions and you're trying,
I mean, did Jesus fail in picking the disciples?
Those guys are a bunch of bananas.
Peter tried to murder somebody, Judas betrayed him.
Did Jesus fail with these guys?
No, he uses people and people are failures.
People are broken.
So in a sense, I've never failed.
That's kidding.
That's good, so good.
So, let's keep the corner a little bit.
What would you describe as the current water situation
in the world?
This is the Ocean Water Podcast.
The reason why we're doing this is because we wanna be
the voice for the indigenous water movement.
We want people to be having this conversation.
So how would you describe the current water situation
in the world?
Wow, man, water situation in the world
is an actual real problem, right?
Yes.
So I think just COVID stuff is a passing.
I would be shocked to have the hearers listen
to actual how many people and kids die of water
or bad water every day is gonna blow any virus away.
But we live in the Western world,
so we don't really wanna hear those things.
And it's not really our problem, but it's a huge problem.
From what I understand, Ryan, only eight or nine countries
in the world actually have access to clean drinking water.
And from what I understand is of all the water in the world,
97% is in the ocean, 3% is drinkable,
and of the 3%, I think only less than 1%,
less than 1% is actually drinkable,
and it's all in glaciers and bottled water.
And the same amount of water that's drinkable today
is the same amount of water that was drinkable
thousands of years ago, but yet we have three times
the amount of people.
So that's a real problem.
Yep, bingo, bingo.
So what do you think of the work
and the approach that ocean water uses?
I think it's, I can't believe anybody has actually like,
it's like, it's right under your nose,
and then you kind of figure it out.
And then that's super important,
because not only are we, you and ocean water together
is helping people solve a real problem with drinking water,
and then Jesus comes in supernaturally
are able to give people living water.
So it's just, it's like a no brainer.
So thank you for all your work, bro.
That's awesome.
And I'm super stoked to be a part of it.
Yeah, well, I'm honored to be your friend,
and I'm glad we get to do this together.
And which leads me to my next question,
how are you involved and how is Aloha involved?
Oh, I think for one, we have the,
what we call the bro network.
Yeah.
So you want to be involved in the bro network,
there's no papers assigned, you just become our friend.
And you just follow us or share,
just be a person who just loves people.
You didn't have to even love Jesus
to be a part of the bro network for water, right?
Yeah.
How many involved, well, we're friends,
and then I help raise awareness
of saying people real problems
and talk about the water situation in the world.
Two, I give people opportunities to support
what's happening with ocean water,
support prayerfully, support financially,
just be stoked on the work.
Four, I don't know if I had three or four,
four, we bring people on trips.
So we're able to bring people from Aloha
or from the San Diego, California community together
on trips under the banner of just like loving people,
helping people out.
These people don't have to be part of our church
or love Jesus or even, they have to make you drink water.
That's a bad thing.
Yeah, water's a necessity.
So just so I can understand.
So many ways to be connected.
Yeah.
So Drew and I have been to El Salvador together three times
and we're praying about next year,
we have opportunities in El Salvador,
we have a trip to India, we have a trip to Indonesia,
we're praying Drew gets to come to Indonesia.
Yay, Lord provide the money and may Trish say yes.
And so what ways would you recommend people
get involved and how?
I think there's many ways to get involved.
Just learn about water, learn about real problems,
get out of like your own little bubble in the world
of like just not having an entitlement, you know what I mean?
Love people, ask the Lord how to get involved.
That takes time.
Two would be explore some of the stuff
on the Ocean Water website,
actually learn about water in the world.
And I think there's a great commission,
we all know that the great commandment love people,
but I think there's what someone says,
the great compassion, you know, it's just like,
people don't, people, there's not people going on missions
because they don't have the money,
but this is because they lack compassion.
And Jesus saw they didn't have a shepherd.
So when Jesus saw people, he saw them and he had compassion.
So that's when Jesus healed people or reached out.
So when people see it or learn about it
and then actually meet real people,
their heart will break and then they'll want to
control their own spending and their own life
to then maybe have money to help.
And it's not a big financially,
but it's just help send someone on a trip
or go on a trip or just raise the awareness of it.
Yeah, trip.
Having your heart break for people,
having heartbreak for kids, like real kids and real people,
just like you and me, with dads like us,
they're trying to give their kids life, you know?
Compassion, the rest is easy.
I know for me, the trips over the years
have been the most perspective changing thing
that I've been a part of.
It's like you understand that the tension you feel
when you're trying to teach a concept or a principle
and yet the experience of being,
of going on a plane and being in another country
and speaking another language
and interacting with a different culture,
and this is different than a vacation.
Vacation is not, we do travel,
we do have fun, we do have a good time.
But the difference between going on a vacation
and going on a trip where you leave something behind,
where you leave a system in place
that helps people drink water from the ocean,
where they can have the water that they need,
where they can grow their own food,
and you leave a part of yourself behind
on every trip that we go on.
We leave a little less of that materialism
that creeps in just by virtue of living in California.
It just happens.
I feel like this, I feel like a vacation
is like going to a restaurant with your wife
and then buying food and then tipping the waiter
and you have a conversation with you and your wife
and you're eating all this food.
A trip is like going to a friend's house, right?
And then you bring food and you talk with the other couple
and you share life stories and you sit
and there's investment and there's giving and taking
and it's a way better experience.
So some people just like vacations.
I think it's taking.
The trip is giving and it's based on relationships.
So I'd much rather eat at my friend's house.
It's a little less expensive too.
So good, Drew.
This has been wonderful.
Thank you for taking time out of your day
so that we can pass on some of the things
that we've learned in the School of Hard Knocks.
We've learned along the way.
We wanna be helpful to people that are coming up.
And do you have any last words?
We have a couple minutes left here.
Any last words you wanna say to everyone today?
Yeah, I wanna say that if you cruise with the Bro Network
or following Jesus is that you,
I think Ryan and myself would give,
we wanna give more people permission
and release more people to go love people
than I think a lot of people have been handed down
this idea of what ministry or church or helping people out
should look like, but really it starts with compassion.
It starts with loving people.
And Jesus opens up many, many, many, many doors.
And then two donkeys like us.
Got that right.
Have the awesome stories of like looking back in our life
and be like, wow, God's hand was in all that
because I know Ryan and myself,
we would never would have ever accomplished any of this stuff
if we tried to figure it out in our own brains.
No.
So just go for the ride.
Yeah, thanks Drew.
Well, hey, I just wanna say on behalf of everybody
who's gonna hear this, thank you for taking your time, dude.
We just love you and Trish.
Have so much genuine respect for you guys.
Thanks.
And thank you for your time today.
We hope this is helpful to everybody who listened.
And we hope that you all have a wonderful day.
Thank you so much.