The Apostle Table | Special Edition with Dr. Mike Woods & Pastor Ben Tankard | *REPLAY*

Uh, we have something different happening on tonight. We're doing a special edition of The Apostle's Table. I know normally this is our virtual Bible study, but if you guys are coming in, do me a kind favor. I need you to hit that like button and I need you to hit the share button. I believe this is going to be an amazing conversation tonight. I have with us tonight none other than the incomparable super awesome Godfather of Gospel Jazz, Ben Tankard, in the house tonight. So I need you guys to make sure we get everybody in on this conversation. We're going to talk about faith, we're going to talk about family, we're going to talk about finances. And you know, I always tell y'all the two things in church people don't want to talk about, uh, that's sex and money. Reality is we want some of both of them. Most people want a whole lot of both of them. Uh, but the reality is church folk don't like to talk about it. But tonight we're going to have a conversation where we're going to be talking about money, because I believe it takes finances to advance the kingdom. And of course, our whole ministry for the last 35 years has been at the substratum of the word rada, which means dominion. Dominion from Genesis 1:28 says that we have total authority and complete control in our fear of influence. So tonight we're gonna talk to a person who I know is proven, uh, he and his family, his wife, they're walking in this dimension. Nothing about them is made up, nothing about them is fake. We have the honor of also hosting them, uh, for our Supernatural Wealth Weekend that's coming up, uh, just next week. Next Friday we will go— we're going to be in full-blown wealth weekend, and I'm I'm telling you, if you have not registered, our seating is very limited. Uh, we're doing this at our Atlanta Ellenwood campus, which is very limited seating. We did that for a reason, because we want to make sure that people who show up to this meeting, they're able to take the information from the ministry sessions on Friday and Sunday, and then the workshops on Saturday. And watch this, I want you to be able to immediately apply this stuff to your life. Uh, Ben is here. I don't want to keep him waiting, so what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna go ahead and pray, and then after I pray, I'm going to go ahead and bring him in, and we're gonna get started with this conversation. So let's pray tonight. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your kindness. We thank you for your favor. And so, Father, in Jesus' name, I'm asking you tonight, God, that you would move by your power. And Father, that those that join us virtually, I decree and declare that heaven would literally superimpose itself upon them tonight. And I decree and declare that they will never be the same because of what is disseminated during this time. I thank you for the testimony of Ben Tankard. Thank you for his life. Thank you for his example. Thank you for the influence. Thank you for the general you've made him in the kingdom. And so I pray tonight in Jesus' mighty name that someone will be impacted in a great way, and they will have a heart because of our conversation to serve you. And we give you glory, we give you honor, we give you praise for that now in Jesus' name. Amen. And thanks be to God. Oh, I thank you guys for sharing. I see y'all sharing. We're up to like 114. I want y'all to keep and that number's gonna keep climbing. I see you guys in the comments tagging people below. Please do this. God is here tonight and I'm anxious to get Ben in, so let's go ahead and jump into this. Glory to God. And, um, there he is. Ben, God bless you, man of God.

What's up, my friend? Can you hear me okay?

Yes, sir, I hear you well. I hear you well. How are you today, man?

Man, I am good. I am happier than a witch in a broom factory with a 90% off coupon.

Come on now, I love it, I love it, I love it. Praise God. So you text me earlier, so you was in Detroit. So it— are you— you flew into that weather, man?

Man, I am— we are bicoastal, and we're going to talk about this, um, because I believe that everybody in the kingdom Um, it's, it's supposed to have homes in different states. And, um, we live in Nashville, but we also have a home in Detroit. We have a home in Florida, uh, a home in, um, Georgia, and working on one in Texas. And we have investments in over 250 properties around the United States. So we're gonna get into, we're gonna get into the woods and the weeds tonight because Whoever is listening tonight is supposed to hear this conversation because you guys are next in line. So I'm in Detroit by choice. My wife is from Detroit. We live in Nashville, but we just, you know, we decided to come to Detroit for a week, then we go to the Atlanta house for a week, then we go to the Florida house for a week. And so when the pandemic came, it said everyone has to be quarantined. We was able to quarantine from 4 different locations and get there on our own airplane.

I love it, I love it, I love it. So, so Ben, that, that, that's amazing. And so one of the reasons, uh, we, we have you here tonight— and thank you, by the way, for taking time out of your schedule to talk with me tonight and with our followers. Um, one of the reasons we have you here, have you coming next week, because, uh, we believe, uh um, in exactly what you and Jewel are doing. Uh, we, we know that the hand of God is on your life. We believe that you are an example for the kingdom of wealth, of increase. So, uh, since you started right there, um, let's, let's talk about a pivotal moment in your faith. That actually got you to the point where you start buying real estate property, where you started deciding you wanted to create legacy. And you said it's important for every believer, and I believe there's somebody watching— like you said, there's several people watching tonight that need, uh, this conversation. So tell us about a defining moment in faith and a pivotal moment in faith where you realize As Ben Tankard, you needed to create multiple streams of income, uh, and not just play the keyboard as well as you do, write, produce as well as you do, but there needed to be other things that Ben Tankard needed to be doing to diversify, right? Yeah, talk to us about that a little bit.

Well, first let me say, uh, Apostle, thank you for having me tonight. Thank you for being a friend. We are so proud of you. You and your family and your team. You're doing great things and we appreciate it and so look forward to serving you next week. The reason I started out with the testimony is to create the shock value. What happens when you start out saying that you're worth $10 million and that you have 9 cars and you have homes in 4 states and you fly your own airplane and you're a pilot? When you start out talking like that, what happens? Two things are going to happen. Gonna happen. You're gonna have one sector of people that's gonna say, who is this guy? Who the heck do we think he is? And then they tune in from a questionary slash haterade standpoint. Okay, so that, that snatches that sector. And then the other sector is like, oh my God, that's what I've been thinking about, and I was just scared to tell other people because people gets persecuted So let me check it out. So that's why I started right there. But let me go back to before the pivotal moment that got us here. I'm a regular guy. I came up in poverty like a lot of us. I came up in, uh, you know, welfare peanut butter, powdered eggs, powdered milk, uh, Hamburger Helper sometime with no hamburger. Come on, talk to me. You know, public assistance where the government would send you a package every month and it would have government cheese in it and government silver can with peanut butter.

I know it.

You had to stir the can of peanut butter before you made the sandwich. I mean, that's where I came from. Uh, food stamps, uh, living in a shotgun house down in Central Florida. So I started out at the top, but I wanted to come back and tell you where I came from so nobody can discount themselves, because this is what I learned. This is the example. You can't catch COVID without exposure. Come on, you remember, 6 feet apart, uh, keep your mask on and don't cut— don't come close to me because I believe it's possible for me to catch something that I can't even see.

Come on, sir. Come on, sir. Come on.

So, so we highly developed and believing in something that's so tiny and small that we can't even see it, is invisible. We still can catch it and die from it. So stick a pin in that and then come on over, over on the kingdom side and, and understand that with exposure to Apostle Mike to Ben Tankard, other people that you have on, it's possible for you to catch something that's invisible that when you digest it, it'll cause you to live and you can't explain it. It'll cause you to prosper and you can't explain it. It'll cause you to grow and expand. So I didn't wake up overnight and have all these properties and planes and homes. I started in the hood. I thought I was going to be a pro basketball player. I made it all the way to the NBA. But I got injured, Apostle, my first year. I never saw a game. I got cut in camp. And that's where my miracle pivot started. I went to church and I got saved. I didn't go to church because I loved God. I went to church because it was a Pentecostal revival going on, and I heard that they had free chicken, and I went to get the chicken, Doc. And messed around and got saved.

I love it.

And the minister prayed for my hands and told me to sit down to the piano— the organ— and I began to play jazz in church that night. The gift— wow— totally developed. And so that gift turned into 15 gold records. That gift turned into 6 platinum records, Grammys, stellar Dub, NAACP Image Award, Soul Train Award. That— and it came that quick. That's how quick it came. I didn't have to learn it. I discerned it.

Supernatural. Supernatural.

In the kingdom, there's sometimes when you are exposed, there's a kingdom exchange, and the kingdom exchange is always super faster than the learning environment. Learning is good. Education is good, but revelation is way faster. And so my pivotal moment came when I realized that there was a God because he put this gift inside me. So I've been navigating since then in a series of what I call Kingdom Commas. You guys might want to write that down. Kingdom Commas. Kingdom Commas. Because see, man will put a period at the end of your name. You heard about this dude named Mike Woods? Oh yeah, that's, that's the cat that, um, didn't he drop out of college? Then, uh, did he get in a fight in the hallway in the 9th grade? Period. So people will put a period behind your name and they will always identify you from that mistake, from that premarital pregnancy, from that bankruptcy from that when you ran drugs, period. But God turns that period into a comma. You know, Benching? Oh yeah, that's that dude that was homeless when he was a kid and he used to shovel chicken manure on the farm and they called him Tanker Stank at school because he always smelled bad because they couldn't take a bath, they didn't have running water. So they called him Tanker Stank. Yeah, that's, that's Tanker Stank, period. But God says that's Tanker Stank, comma. Ben Tankard, the gospel jazz creator, comma, millionaire, comma, pilot, comma, digital trader, comma, real estate investor, comma, minister, pastor, NBA team part owner, comma. You see, if you just stay in the, the environment like we are tonight, there is a comma coming in your life, man. Thank you so much for having me tonight.

You got me fired That's good stuff. That's good stuff. Somebody ought to shout comma! Put it in the comments. That is not a period. Listen, failure is not final. And Ben, that's what he just said to us in so many words concerning his testimony. You better put a— let God put that comma behind where you are. It's not final. And just like Ben, every one of us have opportunities to make a pivot. Do you? And that, that's why I started with that question for him, because, you know, I know his story, and I'm glad he shared where he came from with you, because at the end of the day, he's an example that you can bounce back with God from anything. Glory to God. I see y'all typing, comment. We listen, we got about 1,096 people watching us, and we're streaming over 5 different platforms tonight. I need— if everybody that's on shared this right now, we will get this thing up and we will blow the internet up with this conversation. Because listen, in this climate we're in, we need conversations like this. Some of y'all scared cause Trump the president, and you don't realize that that has nothing to do with you if you are a child of the King, because you under covenant with God and he already has on his mind what he wants to do. So you need to be in this kind of atmosphere. So, man, I got another question surrounding your, your faith. You mentioned that 15 gold records, that's phenomenal. Uh, you're a pastor, real estate guy, you're a digital investor. Your portfolio is, is endless. God's hand is on what you're doing. My question is, because I think people need to understand this, because people like you, uh, people like myself, you know, people who become successful, it doesn't just happen. And when God is involved, there's a process. So I, I want you to share with us the role that your relationship with the Father plays in your creative process.

That's a good, good question, man. Uh, I wrote a book called The Full Tank Life, and, um, we, we— and it's a play on my name, Tank Tankard. But Full Tank— everyone can relate to driving and the low fuel light come on. It don't matter what color you are, what race If you're a woman or man, uh, if you're Republican, Democrat, white or black, doesn't matter. When the low fuel light come on, that change your ride. Come on, come on. I separated into different sectors of types of people. Type A person, when the low fuel light comes on, they'll speed up because they want to hurry up and get to where they're going before they run out of gas. But you can't outrun gas. Type 2 person will slow down and cut the air conditioning off, let the window up, cut the radio off, and, and think they gonna stretch the gas. You can't, you can't stretch gas, Doc. And then Type C person is, is what I'm training people to be, and myself, is that person that will pull over and get a a full tank, that full tank. Or even if, you know, if I'm driving from, um, from, um, Atlanta to Charlotte, it may be 4 hours, 5 hours or whatever, you know. Um, if my car can go 7 hours, uh, I don't just put enough in for that 5 hours. I put in the whole full tank. It's something about having more than enough in the tank even though you're not going to use it all. It's something about driving a car that will go 200 miles an hour but you only drive it at 70. That ride is different from a person that has a car that wide open downhill with everything going right only goes 70. It's the same 70, but it's a different sort of ride because you've got extra reserve energy. That's that Ephesians 3:20, more than you can ask or think, more than you really need, more, more fuel in the pocket, more forgiveness back there, more passion back there, more money back there, more patience back there. So my process, uh, in believing God is to start with focus on him. First things first. You know, I tell everybody, do not begin your day with your cell phone.

Talk, sir.

You want to change your life tomorrow? Get up tomorrow and don't begin your day with the cell phone. In fact, some of you all don't even need to trust your cell phone to be your alarm clock, because once you get up and pick it up, there you go leaping through notifications. And, and what happens is not fair to you, because when you begin your day with your cell phone and reading other people's reports and, and, and posts and everything, you begin your day at someone else's pace rather than beginning your day with the pace of grace. You need to begin your day with prayer and praise. Then, you know, I did a study, Pastor Mike, of millionaires and billionaires, and a lot of millionaires and billionaires get more accomplished before 8 in the morning than a lot of other people get accomplished all day. And what I found in common is these things that they'll do. I call it self-aligned by 7:59. You do all this before 8 in the morning. Watch this. You get up, you gotta come on, pray and praise, honor God, pray and praise. They both begin with a P. Then exercise and eat, and then read and reflect, and then dream and direct. You do all that— pray, pray and praise, exercise, read and reflect, dream and direct. Like you're directing the movie for your life, write your goals up, and you do all that before 7:59, that means you got to get up earlier to get that done, which means you got to go to bed earlier to get that done. So if you want to walk into supernatural streams, you got to be intentional with your everyday repetitive behavior because your success is hidden in your everyday routine. And if you begin the day with a cell phone, you're already behind the curve before you brush your teeth.

That's right. Come on, come on. Oh boy, I've taught that so avidly. That's so good, man. Did y'all get that? Pray and praise, eat and exercise, read and reflect. What was the last one?

Oh, dream and direct.

And direct. All before 8 o'clock. So that means you gotta get up early and seek the Lord. You got to get up, let that pillow go. And I love it. I've been teaching this so heavily. Please do not touch that cell phone. I have a habit, Ben. I got to spend time with God before I spend time with other people. Because if I don't do that, I might not be the best person to deal with.

And then come on, come on, come on.

I'm not a morning guy, so I got to get up early enough to make sure I spend my time with God. So that my day is— and you said something, if you touch that phone first, you're starting your day at the governance or the influence of somebody else's life. But if you spend time with God, you're starting your day at the governance and influence of God's plan for your day.

Yeah. And that's— yeah, because what happens is you spend time while the dew is on the ground. I play a song on one of my records called due in the morning, like the dew in the morning. You know, if you reach God while the grass is still wet early in the morning, what happens is he breathes on your day and he gets the first fruit of your day, and he gets— he gets to infuse you with favor, direction, and power even before you get going.

But if you—

if you add all this other baggage from other folks before you even seek his face, you spend half the drive to work trying to just diffuse some of the stuff that you took into your spirit. And don't turn the radio to the wrong stations and start hearing news and gossip and all this stuff. By the time you get to work, I don't see how you get through the day because some of you, some of you guys have very, very intense jobs. You need the anointing on your life when you walk in there. You don't, you don't need some drama and some gossip and some anxiety and some social posts and hating on somebody else and mad at somebody else about this. You need the favor of God on your life. So you need to be more intentional. And like I say, you know, the, the rain of wet whoever get out in it, you know, your environment will change you before you, the way before you change it. So you get to create your, your powerful environment. And in creating streams and millionaire status, don't be intimidated by the end of somebody else's story. Sometimes you hear the end of the Dr. Mikes and the Dr. Beans and the Dr. Freemans and the other people like that, and the, and Kirk Franklin, the people that are visual You see the filtered pictures, you see the testimony. That's what we put out front, but we have drama behind the curtain, like on, uh, like, like on, um, uh, The Wizard of Oz, that guy behind the curtain pushing all those buttons. You know, what you saw really wasn't real. It's just some drama behind that curtain, and you don't want Toto to pull that curtain back. We all have to challenge the stuff. What you see is what we post. What you see is what looks good. So don't be intimidated by somebody else's testimony and know that we have just as much drama as you all have. You just have to eat an elephant one forkful at a time. And so what I like to say is where you start your millionaire journey in the kingdom for 2025 is you start with the low-hanging fruit. You start with what you do great, what you do well, what you do without even thinking about it, and you do the best, be the best at that niche. And then you carve out 30% from that to start investing in other streams. And, um, millionaire status is a marathon, not a sprint. It is the tortoise, not the hare.

Yes, sir. That's so good. That's so good, man. So quick question since you mentioned that. So as a millionaire, a multimillionaire, and a wealth builder, what is— because I— this is what I believe. I believe money is not currency. Your mind is. And the way we develop our mindset, we got to listen to people like yourself who've already done it. And because you can't learn how to be a multimillionaire from someone that ain't never done it, right? And so as a millionaire and wealth builder, what is one key, just one key mindset shift that believers need to adapt to to achieve financial success. So just give us one mindset shift that we as believers need to adapt to if we want to achieve financial success. I think somebody needs to hear that because people, we, we hear, you know, again, like Ben said, we hear the story, we see the result, but we don't understand sometimes the process. And it starts with mindset. So talk to us a little about that, Ben.

Yeah, good question, Dr. Mike. Uh, I would say this, if I was on, on, on an elevator and I only had 30 seconds to share a nugget before I got, I had to get out the elevator and you were, uh, it was full of kids or youth or people that wanted a nugget and I had to share just one thought, it would be this as it relates to your question. You don't need the money till you need the money.

Come on now, you gotta go deeper into that. You know about half of this audience.

Go ahead.

You need—

you don't need the money till you need the money. What I mean by that, if you have a millionaire mindset, I'm, I'm worth about $10 million, but it's not sitting on the table. It's not even in this room. So you don't have to have it in your hand to experience the power from it. What, what makes me a millionaire is what's in here. I know how to apply different levers. I can sell off equity, I can swap this, I can make a deal on that. I can use other people's money, I can use banks' money to get this deal and, and turn it around. I can buy an airplane for $100,000, sell it for $300,000, make $200,000, pay the bank back the $100,000. And, and I can do all that through a digital space and the money never touched my hand. The deal the money was going here, the calls were going out. And so it never was really in the room. So why do you feel like you have to have it all in the room in front of you on the table in front of your friends for you to be a millionaire? It starts right here. You don't need the money till you need the money.

Did y'all hear that? I need y'all to hear that. And it— this is why. So, and that's a great segue, great segue to— again, I want to encourage every person watching. Again, we got about 1,100 people watching right Now, if you have not registered for Supernatural Wealth Weekend, matter of fact, let me just play this video real quick and we may be going to come right back. Ben is dropping some nuggets, man. I hope y'all getting it. But hello, I'm Dr. Mike Woods and I want to personally invite you to join me and an extraordinary lineup of speakers for Supernatural Wealth Weekend 2025. It's happening February 7th through the 9th at Rhoda Church. This year our theme is Assessing and Abiding in the Wealthy Place, inspired by Psalm 66:12 and Deuteronomy 28:11. Over 3 life-changing days, we're going to disseminate divine principles and practical strategies to help you walk in supernatural abundance, not just financially, but in every area of your life. We've brought together some of the most powerful voices in wealth creation, all of whom are proven millionaires or better. You'll hear from Ben Tankard, Emmanuel Michael, Stan Richards, Sharice Richards, and Keisha Palmer. Of course, Of course, I'll be sharing a special word to help you cultivate what I call the 7 Fears of Wealth. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a leader, or just someone looking for financial breakthrough, listen, this meeting has been put together especially for you. And here's the best part: registration is absolutely free. Did you hear me? It's absolutely, categorically free, but seating is limited, so you don't want to wait to reserve your VIP seat. Text the word wealth right now to 470-777-8279 or visit rhodachurch.com/sww25 to secure secure your spot today. I can't wait to see you. Hallelujah! As we step into the wealthy place together. You know, I've been teaching for two decades. You earn what you learn. If you look at the word learn closely, the word earn is inside of there. And here's a reality: if you learn what an attorney knows, you can earn what that attorney earns. If you learn what a neurosurgeon knows, you could earn what that neurosurgeon earns. Listen, facts, friends, facts, 100%. If you learn what these multi-millionaires that we have coming to Rhoda Church knows, you can actually earn what they earn. They're gonna be principles released and disseminated that you could take from this weekend and actually immediately immediately begin to apply to your life. You need to be in the place. This is no get-rich-quick, this is no prosperity scheme. This is the word of God. This is about positioning you to be the very best you could possibly be in your sphere of influence. This is your moment. Let's take it. God bless you.

All right, family, you said a mouthful when you said that you earn what you learn. Yes, sir, that's a mouthful because I was thinking as you said that, man of God, that, um, uh, the power of decision is is, uh, it's exclusive. The power of decision is paramount, you know. Like, let's just say you're never really ready for children. They just come. Yeah, that's true. And so you're sitting around the table and you know you have 3 kids, and it don't matter what's going, going on, come hell or high water, you're gonna find a way to feed those 3 kids. I don't care what president it is. I don't care what drama is going on in Washington, D.C., you have, you have made up a decision that you're gonna always do what it takes to take care of these 3 kids. You've never sat at the table and said, um, you know, times are hard, we're gonna have to let one of y'all go. You, you, you made that decision. You, you, and you walked in it. It also happened, you know, when we first started driving. Remember when we first started driving? We were 14, 15. Remember? Yes, both hands on the wheel, no radio, no AC, don't talk to me, let the window up because I need all my focus. And then through repetition of learning and doing it over and over, through the repetition, now after a while, you know, you graduate to one hand. And now years later, your hand's not even driving, your knee is doing the driving. You texting with one hand and you got a sandwich in the other hand. Why?

Why?

Because through repetition, the driving has been turned over to your subconscious. Your subconscious is actually the copilot or the pilot of the car at this point. You don't remember stopping at all the traffic lights. You don't remember putting the blinker on. You did it instinctively because over time, through repetition, you train your subconscious to do those movies for you so your conscious could go on to more important things like talking on the phone, eating, conversing, or whatever. So what I'm saying is building wealth is like that. You have to be intentional in getting to meetings. You have to be intentional in hearing and learning, learning, learning. And then you will train your subconscious on wealth. And then while you not even think about it, your subconscious go out and start creating opportunities and making the millions for you. You need to train the subconscious. If the subconscious is stuck on broke, no matter what you say with your mouth, you gonna end up like a rubber band boomerang back to broke status.

Status. Come on, come on, that's so good. And it goes back to your mind being the currency. So the Bible says this, it says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So if you think broke, you're gonna be broke. And if you spend a lot of time fellowshipping with broke people— see, people who are broke, your only ministry to them is to help them not be not to have invest tons of time with them because if you got a 16 by 20 idea, you can't fit that idea in a 3 by 5 mind. Their mind is too small.

That's too small. Come on, Doc.

Cannot handle it. So, and, and I'm saying that because I sense there's people watching that have been trying to feed their dream to people that can't process it and trying to convince somebody that what God is saying to them, how big it is. But if that mindset is small, they're not going to receive.

If you feed your dream to dream assassins, don't be surprised if a sniper take you out.

Come on, come on.

And you know, sometimes, to be honest with you, Pastor, though, you know, you said, uh, as a man thinketh, so is and, um, you know, the power of the tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Sometimes we are, we are our own worst enemy. Yeah, we don't need no haters. I taught a message one time that was, I think I named it The Enemy Is The Inner Me.

Yeah, that's good. That's good.

Enemy is the inner me. I'm gonna give you an example, you know, uh doing 100 concerts a year, a reality TV show with the family, pastoring the church, working part-time with the NBA as a speaker. I speak to the players. Uh, it got about 5 years ago, you know, my schedule was really hectic and people would say, hey Tank, how you doing? And I found myself doing this, man, I'm the hardest working man in gospel, man, I got 5, 6 in 3 days, man, I'm tired. And I found found myself actually complaining about what really was a bunch of blessings. Yes, in yesterday's prayers today. But if you ask me how I'm doing, I'm giving you details like all of this is an inconvenience. And so I'll stipulate in there, stifling the next level because I was— well, I was sending a message to heaven that I can't handle no more. I, I, I just can't handle them. This is just too much. Uh, Bishop Jakes preached a message called, um, uh, uh, Can You Stand to Be Blessed? And so this is how God shook me up. The NBA invited me to go from Nashville, where we are, to Memphis, to to the Grizzlies game, uh, to support the players. I wasn't supposed to speak to him. I was supposed to go sit behind the bench and have a presence from the league office because I was working for the league office. And so I flew my plane over to Memphis. It's a 4-hour drive, but in my plane it's 39 minutes. And so I flew the plane, landed at this private airport, and the name of this airport is called Wilson Air. I want you to say that for me. Say Wilson Air.

Wilson Air.

Wilson, because that's very important to remember that Wilson— put that in comments, you all. Wilson Air. Okay. So I parked at the private airport at Memphis International and, uh, this private airport that you walk into, they use the same runway as the commercial, but on one side is the commercial airlines and the other side is the private. So I walk into this this big massive, um, uh, private airport called Wilson Air. And I'm walking in, I'm from the woods, Mike, I ain't used to nothing. This place had diamond chandeliers and wow, Billionaire Magazine. They didn't have USA Today sitting out, they had Billionaire Magazine and, and Yacht Today and Yacht Tomorrow. They, they read different stuff over there. And so I fly on the plane, but I ain't never been here before. So I'm walking, I'm I'm like, dang, it's tight up in here. I'm just ghetto. It is tight up in here, dang. And, and I guess the lady that was working there, she was like, um, excuse me, sir, may I help you? And I'm like, I'm like Dorothy outside of Kansas. I'm out of my environment. And, you know, and so I look on the wall and there's a picture of a white gentleman. And I said, who's this guy on the wall? And the lady tells me, oh, that's Mr. Wilson. Listen, he owns this private airport. I said, oh cool. I said, well, um, seemed like to me if he owned this airport, he would be able to afford a better hotel than the Holiday Inn. Come on, it's on this picture, Pastor Mike. He's standing in front of the Holiday Inn. So I'm like, seemed like to me if he owned the airport, he could afford a better hotel up in the Holiday Inn. The lady said, sir, he owns the Holiday Inn, all 1,700 locations. Here I go. I'm just cutting up. And, and, uh, I'm just cutting up like, dang, it sure would be nice. It sure would be nice to be able to meet Mr. Wilson one day. I'm saying this with my mouth It sure would be nice one day to meet Mr. Wilson. And right when I said that, somebody tapped me on my shoulder and look around, guess who it was? Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson. Here I go. I meet Mr. Wilson and he goes, Ben, it's a pleasure to meet you. You. What are you doing in my city? And so I said, I'm here for the NBA. I'm going over to the Grizzlies games. I used to be a player, but they hired me to speak to the players, blah blah blah blah blah. And so, uh, I didn't think— so he says, well, you know, I got season tickets. Maybe I'll see you over there a little later. And he went back in his office. It didn't hit me until I got in the limo that the NBA sent me. It didn't hit me how stupid I was in that moment. Moment because I got so mad. I'm like, wait a minute, you're the one complaining about your schedule. You're the one complaining about how you got— you, you, you out in— back in those days, I was acting like Ike Turner. Come on, anime, I got Chicago, LA, New York, I got this church, I got this, I got this show to produce, you know, and I'm stressed out. And, and I'm telling myself, you're the one acting all stressed You were just talking to a billionaire that has 1,700 locations of the Holiday Inn and a private airport, and the only thing your dumb tail could talk about was what you was doing. I was so mad at myself. By the time I got to the game, I didn't care who won. I was supposed to be there to encourage the players. I'm just sitting there, man, like, man, you missed your mentor moment. You missed— I was mad at myself. Stuff. But midway through the third quarter, guess who walked in with their ticket stub in their hand like they trying to find a seat? And they walk right in front of me, and guess where their seat just happened to be next to?

Wow, wow.

Here I go. And so I said, I'm not gonna miss this moment. I said, I'm not going to miss this moment. I said, Mr. Wilson, can I ask you a question? He said, sure, Ben. I said, how is it that you find the time to handle 1,700 locations of the Holiday Inn and run an airport? How are you able to do all that? Because I'm still thinking about about what's in my life. Remember, Mike, my schedule, my family, my show, my church. And I'm thinking from— I'm asking from the, from the perspective of stress. I said, how are you able to handle everything you got going on? Holiday Inn, 1,700 locations, and an airport that has 3,000 flights a month. How are you able to handle that, Pastor Mike? You know what that man told me?

Me.

He said, Ben, he said, Ben, that's just 2 businesses. I have 53.

Lord help us.

And so that moment right there, I love it. He didn't teach me nothing. He didn't take me to school. He just shared what he was doing. And that moment right there changed my life. I made a decision to never complain about my schedule again. I made a decision to not be stressed. In fact, I went to the bathroom and I looked at myself in the mirror and I said, Negro, shut up. You ain't doing nothing yet, but you about to. And sometimes we have to say that to ourselves in the mirror. Stop complaining about sitting up in traffic. You got to get home and take kids— pick the kids up and take the chicken out. You ain't did nothing yet. Stop having nervous breakdowns over a $50,000 a year job. You ain't did nothing yet. Stop complaining about Atlanta traffic and you can't get home before the kids go. You ain't did nothing yet. What's gonna happen is God gonna expand your mind. You're gonna have people that will pick the kids up. You gonna have cooks that will cook the food for you. You will have staff that will run the household for you. Expand your mind and just get out in the rain. The rain will wet whoever get out in it. Stay in the environment that Pastor Mike is creating and watch God turn this thing around in 2025.

Good God, that is so good, man. That is so amazing, man. We can sit here and talk all night. That's good. Listen, I'm so excited about you coming. Um, I remember a few years back I had got it. I got an email from you, and I think this particular plane you got now, I think you had just forgotten, got this plane, and you was, you was doing this tour, you, and you was, you, and you were saying, I want to bring my plane, I want to come minister. And at the time I was like, man, I really want to bring them, but I want to make sure that, you know, we could do everything we need to do. But I'm just so grateful, man. Them that you are coming in this season and we're going to have an opportunity to just kind of glean from you and your wisdom. But you, you gotta, you gotta take me up in that plane, man. I want to go up in it, man.

You know, the, uh, ain't nothing but a thing, you know. Um, uh, uh, if you buy a ticket to fly commercial, there's 600 airports that you can fly into— Atlanta, Detroit, Nashville, But if you're on an airplane like mine, there are 50,000 runways. Wow. In fact, in America, anywhere, anywhere you stand and point in any direction within 15 miles, there's a runway where you can park your airplane. There's 17 airports. It's a— there are 17 airports in the Atlanta market. And so if I fly to Atlanta I put— I can put the zip code in. If I say I go to Chicago, they got 12 airports in Chicago. If I put the zip code in where I'm ministering or speaking or whatever, that, that airport will come up that is close to where I'm going to be teaching or speaking or playing. To where if I went in, uh, Midway or O'Hara, I could end up driving an hour and a half in traffic, you know. So it's so convenient to have your own airplane. It's almost like um, having your own car instead of having to catch the city bus. Nothing wrong with the city bus, we love city bus riders, but when you got your own car, you can go when you want to. Same thing with an airplane, it's a, it's a tool.

Yes sir, yes sir. I'm telling you, that's, that's, that's in my, in my future with— but I can't do like you, Ben. I'm gonna have to hire a pilot, so I'm believing God for the whole team. I don't even want to do that to myself. But you look like you be having so much fun when you be up in that plane, man. I love it.

I get so much revelation when I'm up there. You know, the four laws of flight is lift, thrust, weight, and drag. And you can preach that because that's also the four laws of life. Everything and every person in your life is going to be one of those categories: lift, thrust, weight, or drag.

I love it. That's good stuff. My wife just texted in the comments she wanted to fly on the plane too. Yeah, I, yeah, I'm telling you, God is so good. He's so good. So Ben, couple more questions, uh, and I'm gonna let you go. We, we got a few more minutes, man. We got a few more minutes. Um, and I'm asking this because you mentioned it. I've read somewhere where you, you and Jewel together have a blended family of 5, and, um, that's the same with me and my wife. We got a blended family of 5. Um, how— with all you do, with, with the real estate, with the investing, with your musical career, with pastoring, with ministry, um, what would you say to a leader, uh, the most important thing they need to do to balance that situation so that the family, uh, doesn't feel neglected by, you know, the work that we do?

That is such a powerful question. And the one thing that we learned was that you can't go by anybody else's rule book because every single family is different. Every family is as different as there are different fingerprints on every hand for every person. Person. And so, um, what we'd like to say is begin with a white, a white sheet of paper. Just sit down and start, start scratch from scratch and have some input from the family. One of the most interesting family meetings we had one time was with me and Drew. We sat down and we told the kids, we want you to grade us as parents. I don't think I'm gonna ever ask that no more. We said permission to speak freely. Oh my God, don't get the woman. Well, but Daddy, you don't do this. The mom, you don't do this. But once you get all that out and you can flesh it out, because there's some truth in, in those, there was those complaints, uh, you could just carve out your own system that's good for you you and your family. My wife, I call her a kingmaker because she actually— I love her. She turned my heart toward my own kids better than I did. I was one of those absentee fathers, not because I didn't love the kids, but because as a recording artist, if you're gonna be successful— what I was doing, you leave in January, you get home in September, you're on the road. So if I'm sitting up at home making all your evening somebody ain't gonna eat. Don't, don't ask for no lunch money if I'm sitting up in the stands watching you play ball, because I'm a musician. I'm called to the, to the streets, to the world. And so, um, it was a— it was just to the point to where that my ex, she would always be telling them, you know, your daddy don't want nothing to do with you.

He don't love you.

He ain't even come to your game. Well, I'm sending the money home, in my mind, $4,000 a should buy me some grace. Yeah, but, uh, it took Jewel to say, honey, it's not just about the money. Go pick them up on the days that you're supposed to have them, even if they don't feel like coming. Drag them out of there. Let's, let's take them out to dinner. Let's talk about— let's see what's going on. And then we had to stop talking about the ex. You know, they come over, I say something, how your crazy mama doing? We had to stop doing that, having, uh, adversarial type attitudes toward the ex and the bonus mobs and stuff. You have to have a white sheet of paper, start from scratch, get it all out, and come up with your own rule book so nobody feels left out.

Wow, that's good stuff, man. Last one, and I think somebody's gonna get blessed by this. If you could give advice to the young Ben Tanker, what would be the best piece of advice advice you would give your young self that you could avoid, but you've already— so if you knew then what you know now, what would be the best advice you give the young Big Tanker?

Um, son, it doesn't have to happen today.

Ah, that's good.

It doesn't have to happen today. Um, uh, it doesn't— you don't have to have it today. Um, every argument doesn't have to be won time today. Um, a lot of times we fight battles that don't matter, you know. And, you know, and if you're fighting a battle— I say this now, I'm older, I understand it now, but I wish I knew it then— never engage in a battle of the wits with someone that is unarmed. Even if you win, you ain't got nothing. Come on. Why are you arguing? Why are you arguing with an idiot? Even if you win, you get the idiot beat reward. You get the, I beat an idiot. What value is that? Don't fight battles that don't matter. You know, uh, we, my, my wife and I, we do this now. We, we start talking about something that's going on and we'll say, is this gonna matter in 24 hours? Is this gonna matter in 72 hours? I was for 5 years or 3 years. And on social media, you know, uh, I think that people should have more of a no comment policy when people come after you. Because think about this, if you are my friend, if you're my friend, no explanation is necessary. Come on, if you're not my friend, no explanation will ever be good enough. So therefore No comment. You know, even if I say something about you and it hurts you, you don't have to comment because in 72 hours you old news anyway. Even if you viral for 2 days, after that third day nobody care about that. So don't even have no ghetto press conference and try to address haterade. Oh, that's good stuff.

Ben, we love you, man. Thank you so much for taking the time and being with us tonight. I pray you guys have enjoyed Ben Tankard. Listen, he's gonna be in our city. He actually owns a home here in Peachtree City. Ben, are you in the community with the golf course in Peachtree City? Yes, sir.

We got everybody drives around on the golf carts over there. That's, uh, I love Peachtree Peace Tree City.

Yeah, I, I used to be a member of the golf club down there in Peace Tree City. Uh, I changed and moved to TPC Sugarloaf, but, uh, I love that little track down there. I used to play down there a lot. So you— that's a good area. You guys got a home down there. I like Peace Tree City. It's real nice.

Yeah, we— and we just love Georgia in, uh, in general. We had a home for 5 years over in Hampton, and then we sold it just from a standpoint of real estate. Real estate. Um, my wife really is knocking it out the park helping women invest in real estate. And the fastest growing market right now to invest in is actually Detroit. She's actually working with women from all over the country that are actually buying properties and flipping and selling and renting out in Detroit area. But my, my, my, my point was this, we bought a home in Hampton, uh, 5 or 6 years ago for for maybe $169,000, $179,000, and 5 years later sold it for $380,000.

Yeah.

Yeah. You know, and so the property values, uh, or something. So we, you know, for the 5 years that we had the house, it paid us $50,000 a year just to own it, you know. So I encourage you to, um, work on your credit, uh, invest in any sort of property, any sort of real estate is going to gain in value. And that's something that you don't have to think about. You buy that, you rent it out, keep it, in a few years you sell it, that increase is— you can add that to your next, your next year, your next portfolio. And so, uh, I'm just declaring that when we come, uh, next week, that the Lord will give us a word that will encourage you. We'll share some music as well. And I'm looking forward to serving you, man of God. And thank you for being my friend for so many years. And we look forward to— it's my pleasure serving in your house, brother.

Yes sir, it's my pleasure to serve you. Looking forward to it, man. Tell Jewel we said below, and we love her so much. Thank you so much again, y'all. Y'all put some hand claps in the comments for being Tankard. That's my—

I love you all.

Well, glory to God, what a conversation. Thank you. I saw my dad on here. God bless you, Prophet Woods. Thank you, sir, for being on tonight. This has been a great conversation. Listen, if you have not registered for Supernatural Wealth Weekend. Listen, Ben is amazing. He's gonna close the conference out on Sunday, uh, but every other speaker is great as well. So you guys need to go ahead, get registered, please. The way to register is scrolling at the bottom of the screen. Go ahead and get registered so your seat will be secure. On Saturday, we're going to have a day filled with classes and learning. Remember I said you earn what you learn, right? So we got some amazing people that's going to be teaching Saturday, so we want you to be in the building. We got the best caterers on earth that's going to be serving you free lunch. This is another reason why you got to register. We need to know how many people we're feeding on Saturday. So go ahead, listen, and you know, to go to a meeting like this I've been to financial meetings, I've been to wealth conferences, I've been to finance conventions for Bill Winston. You know, these conferences be $300, $400 to register. We're giving it to you free. So all I'm asking you is for time. And honestly, if you invest your time in this weekend— now it's almost 1,100 people on here right now. Sharon is smiling, saying lunch. Yes, Sharon, we gonna have lunch. That's, that's, that's Sharon, is that got that military appetite. But we got almost 1,100 people on here. If all y'all went and registered now, we're gonna have to find another venue. But if you do, that's what we're gonna do. So we need you to go ahead and get registered so we can know that you're coming. This is going to be a great meeting. Listen, tonight, if you have been blessed, we want to challenge you to be a support to ministry.

Ministry.

Please praise God, be a giver tonight. Glory to the name of God. I'm going to make sure the ways to give that you can see those at the bottom of the screen right now. The 5 ways to give at Rhoda Church, you could use our Cash App, you can use our website rhodachurch.com/donate, Zelle info@rhodachurch.com, you could text to give 855- 624-0949. Text the word give to that number, or if you're a PayPal user, Rudder Church 1. However you choose to give, get your seed in the ground tonight. If this live has blessed you, sow into it. Glory to the name of God. I pray you were blessed. I was blessed. Special thanks to Ben Tankard again for joining us. We love you all. And listen, Sunday cometh. Glory to God. Uh, we had such a glorious time at Rudder Church this past weekend. won't you meet us there Sunday? We're gonna have a great time in the Lord. We're going up, y'all, we're going up. We went up this past Sunday, we're gonna go up one more time. I love y'all, y'all be blessed. Heaven smile upon you is indeed my prayer. Hit that like button before you leave here. Glory to God. Hit that like button and hit that share button. Y'all be blessed tonight.

Peace.