The Power of Stories: Uplifting vs. Tearing Down

Well, I'm Justin.

And I'm Courtney.

We're glad you had to tune into our podcast today. Working from home. What are we talking about today?

So I know we caught up last week about just where we were in life, but while we were gone, a couple of things that I've been noticing just in pop culture, like Club Shay Shay, shout out to Shannon Sharp on that couch, who is the new Wendy Williams of today. And we appreciate him for doing that.

Please send me that meme so we can show everyone the meme where someone said that Jane and Sharp is the new Wendy Williams. Cutting edge journalism from an ex tight end.

Thank him for doing the work. Oh, Travis Kelsey is a tight end too. Look at me learning. Anyway, I really want to talk about this narrative. So we saw that Katt Williams is on there now. Monique. Right. And this is like this tearing down of like black actors and like it's become this like therapy where it's like, these are all the people that hurt me. Let me tell you the truth in the name of the truth.

Right?

And I kind of like we're in this, like, era of like exposing, like exposing people in the name of the truth. But how sometimes, like, truth doesn't necessarily mean it's the right moral thing to do do. Right.

It seems that people are actually exposing in the name of the truth, which is a part of it, I think. I think there's a number of things. One, I still, as someone who went to school for journalism at first, I still have a huge issue with like, okay, we have mics in podcast.

I get it. Nobody said club.

I'm not even talking about.

But we're New York Times.

But it's. I'm not talking New York Times. I'm not talking. I'm talking like when, okay, it used to be, right, that like, did you know that Tucker Carlson had a conversation with Vladimir Putin last week or two weeks ago?

I don't watch the news. So no, I did not know exactly.

Like, right there is my thing. The president, the leader of Russia had a conversation with him and he called Tucker Carlson out. He made fun of Tucker Carlson what Tucker Carlson is not doing. Right? The leader of Russia had a conversation with a news Anchorage and we're talking about Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift, club Shay Shay, right now. I have nothing against what these people are doing. I believe that we're in this, like, a lot of things died for us in Covid. Right? A lot of things died. And I think we're grieving a lot of things. What I'm saying is just, first of all, I want to get to the whole supper. Like the journalism part of this. We're like, this is the story, right? Because we get to what you're saying. We love the exposure, expose who's failing, who's cheating, who's falling apart, right? And so there's. There's that. And it's. Because it's just really, really bad storytelling, right? And I think to some part of that when you said, like, it's people talking about, like, families and stuff, I think, yeah, man. I think some people need therapy.

Oh, for sure. And I'm like, become a therapeutic.

But there's a reason why therapy is private, right? And not that, like, you don't need to like, get that stuff out there, but it's, It's. I don't know. I don't. It doesn't feel right to me. One in a larger picture, like our community. So like, Kat comes on as a black comedian and tears down a bunch of black comedians, right? And just casts doubt. And I'm not trying to call him Satan, but, like, he casts doubt on all these people. And it's like, so now, like, we're raising questions about everything. So, like, Steve Harvey's hair is fake. The one else is fake and so. And so is fake. If Chetra Guillotra can't dance, what else is fake? Was it really him? And something with Monique. And so you're right. I think it's a really scary place to be right now where it's like, people are people.

It was more so like I, I kind of felt bad and I kind of felt sorry because it was a scream for, like, pay me attention too, right? Somewhere along the way, it seems like both of them, they feel left out, right? And Monique had alluded to it a number of times on Club Sh. Shay that she, she's like, nobody expects the big girl, the big black girl and the five. Five giant to. We're not supposed to be at the table. And so they think that we're just crazy. And so, no, we're here, right? Because it's like, according to like, society or the norm or standards that our world has put on, we're not supposed to be here. So nobody listens to us and everybody discounts us. And so you. You're going to listen to this. You like, wow, this is the craziest thing I can say. So you're gonna, you're gonna listen to this, right? Because we don't feel like we're a part of the norm, right? What a Comedian looks like, what a person looks like, what a black woman looks like, what a black male looks like. And so we're just gonna. You're gonna pay attention to us. And the way that we pay attention is I have choose about things that were probably meant for private or things of real situations that have happened. Right. Not discounting everything they said was absolute the truth, but it was less about, like, attacking people. There's. So I like to say people like, oh, that's their truth. No, there's always just one truth.

Yeah.

But on the truth, there's two sides to the truth. Right. And how we think and how we see things and how we lean into things. Right. So they're telling their one sides of truth. And in looking at a number of these and as we go about. And this is to help even, like, a number of relationships that require reconciliation or just, like, forgiveness. We're just moving forward as a whole. Right. It was like, these are all the people that have wronged me. This is how they wronged me. And they're talking to the whole world except the one person that has wronged them.

And I think that's the issue. Like, it's.

So the goal is. What I'm saying is, the goal is really. It wasn't reconciliation, because if the go. If the goal is restoration and apology. And I think a lot of times people don't have problems apologizing for when they're wrong. Right. But if that was really, like, the goal of it, then that means a personal conversation, not a recorded conversation. Then sitting, like, call him and tell him to apologize to me. Like, do you even want that apology after that you have somebody to call somebody to tell them to apologize to you? No, I think it's. It's sitting down to say the reality of what it is. I feel left out. I feel like I was, you know, talked about or shunned out or this because I said this or because I'm this. And hey, it really hurt me that you said that I was difficult to work with. And that's not the truth. And if you could tell them that it's not. That's not a conversation with Shannon Sharp, who literally, Shannon Sharp can't do anything about it because it has nothing to do with him. He's just providing the. The platform and getting innocent people. And that's, I think, what we do in our everyday lives. Like, we get innocent people a part of our mess that, like, you're just really hurt.

And so who's benefiting from all this? And it's not the people who were involved. Shannon Sharp is getting millions of views on his podcast. He's benefiting from your trauma. Whatever. We as individuals, our podcast, you listening to our opinion about it and probably having opinions about it while you're driving or, you know, doing work. The homes benefit from it, but the people. So Monique talked about the L. Hughley Cat Williams talked about Steve Harvey and Kevin Hart. And all of them are now getting like, that's where the bullets go. But then all the stray bullets go to everybody else. And I think that's the issue, right. And it's killing. So like, you know, white America, white comedians are just like, oh, sweet. You just created more room because whoever the influence. Right. So you. You hit me. So everybody I have influence on is gonna now blacklist you. Right. I think the other part too. So that's a whole other thing. I think I want to make sure I don't forget this. So we, Monique and Katt Williams, I think, have to recognize, like any public figure, myself included, that there is a time for everything.

Yeah.

Like, let's not forget Monique. You had a whole TV show, right? You had a whole TV show. You had a bunch of success. You were leading things. You had. You had another show that I know she had for a while. Like, there's so many different things. And it's like, what happened to a lot. Like, when you talk, when you think about a lot of people, they talked about, they changed to assimilate to the changing of the world.

Yeah.

So like, Steve Harvey did not do original Kings of Comedy his whole life. Yeah, that was one part of his life that then he parlayed into something else and then something else and something else. And he sustained his wealth, clothing and other award shows. Right. The same thing with, like, even Cedric Entertainer, where he parlayed it into TV shows and movies, and then eventually to his own sitcom, Kevin Hart. All that same thing with, like, even the people that were on Monique's show, they parlayed it into, like, some of the people who are on her show on svu. Like, I mean, like, there's all of they. I think it's one. The forgotten part. But then also you gotta learn to sustain your success. Like, I realized, like, I'm. I'm 35. Right. I've been pastoring for over 10 years, almost 10 years now. Right. This year be 10 for me. And so I'll be pastoring for 10 years. I'm 35, and I know that, like, my voice will be relevant for probably the next 12 years. Right. Like, but the reason it'll be relevant maybe for longer than that is al continue to understand the culture. I'll consider. And then the moment I feel like I can't, then my voice is not relevant. And that's where like, just for my. My stuff, like, I could get a bunch of pastors, our podcast, like doc so and so and so to invite me to preach. And it was true. And then because you know what? I didn't fit.

Yeah.

And I think it's self awareness. But we want everyone to say I'm sorry. We want everyone to say, like. And I had this statement I said while ago, like, you got to free yourself from someone's I'm sorry. And so while, like, it's fun to talk about and get. It's just. I don't know what I think about some of these.

Yeah. And when what you're saying is that victimized, like, I think mentality that we have.

Yeah.

Instead of saying so like, I think one of the biggest things she was saying is how she no longer can grow in her career. Because Tyler Perry may have said or said. And he apologized for saying she may be difficult to work with. Right. And then she said that that just took millions, took away every opportunity that she's ever had. And it's like, oh, if it's false or if it's true or whatever that looks like. I just don't think that somebody else's statement takes away what I'm supposed to do. Right. And helps me to level up. And that's that victimized mentality. Right. Of selling. Like, if you were saying that you were given all these roles, my next thing is like, let me showcase to you how I'm not difficult to work with. And I love the opportunity. Right. And my management team is talking about like, wow, no. And this is how accommodating that we are.

Right.

And this is how we are looking. And let me showcase to the world how non difficult I am.

And here's the other thing. My life is in God's hands, not Tyler Perry's. And it's like. And the same thing. It's like even we think about our own lives. Think about our own lives. You think about you watching or listening to us across the street. Your whole life is not at the behest of one person. There was a young lady at our former church. We'll call her name. But I know she was doing a lot of like, job searches and stuff. And we kept wondering why when they come through, we started thinking like, is it people they're giving bad reviews, people giving this, people giving that. Like, is it a former employer not doing xyz? And then now we saw her a couple months ago, and she's highly successful, doing very, very well in another state, doing great things. And it's like. Because your whole life doesn't come down to one person's recommendation or lack of recommendation. For me, personally, like, I can think about the churches that, like, hey, we'll never do this. You'll never talk about this. You'll never do this. And then when I say that I had to, like, really slap myself in the face in therapy and some of the basements when I was like, that happened in 2013. Nearly, like, literally over 10 years ago. That happened in 2013 when someone said XYZ to me. And it's like, to sit here and to think that I am a situation from 10 years ago.

Yeah.

When I was like, before COVID before all of that. Like, to think that I am that. And to think that every person I encounter. No. The only way they'll learn about it is if I said it. And if that person, like, if Tyler Perry is calling around to people and, like, trashing you all that. I think they're having a different conversation then. Sure. But it's just, like.

Because in the same way. But the thing about it is. So she's contributing all the negative and loss of roles, the loss of income, the loss of money, the loss of opportunity to this one statement that he said was. He apologized for, said, okay, cool. It wasn't true. I shouldn't have said that. But in the same way, I wonder, say none of this would have happened. Would she attribute, like, all her success to Tyler Perry?

No, we never. We never give credit to success. We always give credit to failure.

Yeah.

And it's always somebody else. So, like, if I'm successful, in my head, I did it.

Yeah.

If I fail, I didn't do it. And no, I. But then, like, public. It's like, for them. For public figures. Like, for me, like, if I'm successful. No, I didn't do it. If I failed, then it's not my fault. Right. So I think. I mean, it's just. No, she wouldn't have given all the credit to Tyler Perry. She would have been like, oh, my gosh, Madea, open all the doors for me. And look at all the. No, because you know what? You had a TV show beforehand, and I'm just trying to Josh on that. I think it's. I think I'm a little perturbed. Also by the victim mentality and the villain.

And I, I, I hate when truth is always thrown out as, like a bullying thing. I hate that my. One of my biggest pet peeves are, like, if people, when they say, I'm just being honest, or can I be honest as a means of, like, I'm.

Being mean, what were you doing before? Right, Right. So, like, if you had said, can I be real?

Like, in like, autobiographies, Can I be real? Can I be honest? What was this? A whole lot of whole time.

That's what I'm saying.

You're correct. For phrasing is, can you be blunt? That's what you want to say. Can I say something that probably is going to hurt your feelings? Can I say something and it's not truth? Yes, it can be rooted in truth. But you're trying to say, can I say something that is going to make you feel bad about yourself? That could be the truth. Right. And so I think so many times, truth doesn't necessarily have to. We don't have to ring free if it's going to hurt somebody else. Right. And I think it's asking yourself one of the things that I, I say to myself, if someone cannot fix something in five seconds, then I don't need to say it 100. Right. And if it's bothering me that much, then I need to have a private conversation which is me and them, and really clearly state what I'm looking for out of this. Right. And so it could be true, but is it a hurtful truth? Yeah. Right. It could be hard, but is this something that is going to require a little more for me and do I.

Really want this relationship? There's a lot of things to a lot of people I would like to say, not like a few people that would like to, like, say something to. But then I have to ask myself, like, do I want that friendship? Do I want that relationship? Do I want to. I want to be around you? Do I want you part of my life? Do I want you to be a part of my decision making? Do I need you in this season of my life and recognizing, too, that life is going to continue.

Right.

And so, yeah, so in my home with you and Camden. 100%. Hey, that was weird. You communicating. I didn't like that. That hurt me. That bothered me. Because I want the relationship. You want the relationship. Camden, don't do that. Because I want you alive. Because I want you this relationship. People from college, unfriend, like, you know what I mean? It's not because Anything against that human. But in this phase of my life, I don't need that. And I want to give this scripture to you all. I said this a couple weeks ago at my church. Proverbs 29:11 says this. Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back. Fools vent with the wise. And then I just have Proverbs 14:17. A quick tempered person. Those foolish things. The word temper. The word temper there is interesting because the first time we see it in the Old Testament is more of a war conversation than it is like anger in the New Testament. We get the word anger more so, but it was more of a war thing. A quick triggered person, a quick trigger person does foolish things. And I think these podcasts. And it's not just that, but it's funny. Talk about. So even getting. You mentioned Kelsey earlier, right? Even getting to people not being seen. So Jason Kelsey is a center. He's an offensive lineman. Name another offensive lineman in the football. In the NFL.

That big boy, number 70.

Exactly. So Jason Kelsey is a center. I used to be an offensive lineman. Nobody cared who we were until we.

Let the guy that, like, dropped that ball.

Yeah, but name one. But name one quarterback.

Quarterback.

Yeah, name one quarterback.

Jalen Hurts.

Yeah, name one wide receiver.

I mean, I don't know football.

I'm not being negative. What I'm saying is like, what I'm saying is, though, Jason Kelsey as an offensive lineman. So like Travis Kelsey, right? Tight ends are popular. He's a wide receiver. There you go. Like, nobody cares about offensive linemen or defensive tackles. We like defensive ends now or linebackers. And, and, and so now he has a podcast, and now he's like the most popular. He's GQ's most handsome guy, which is awesome. It's really, really cool. And we're getting all these stories we can all see because, like, everybody has stories, but it's like he was someone for his entire career. Guaranteed as an offensive lineman. You snap the ball to the quarterback, you sent the ball to the pretty boy, you snap the ball there. And then the fat guys, the other guys on the offensive line, I was one of them. We're just up there and we're making sure that the pretty guy doesn't get hit, because if we, if he gets hit, we don't get paid. If we don't open a hole for this running back, we don't get paid. So we're just making sure that he doesn't get hit. But nobody knows our names, nobody knows our numbers, nobody knows where we went to School, nobody knows anything. All that matters is we don't get the pretty boy hit. But now, like, when people take the helmet off Jason Kelsey and he's telling stories, he's got personality, he's cool, he's married, got kids, all of this, like, oh, great. Like, there's stories. And I think, yeah, I think there's a notion to this season of, like, giving people space to tell their stories. There's also giving. You don't have to crucify other people to get your story out. Like, the Philadelphia Eagles had a.

You don't have to crucify other people to get your story out.

The Philadelphia Eagles had a terrible season, and he had a podcast every week, even after really bad losses. And he never, ever crucified his team. Whereas you listen to Katt Williams and Monique and they're on there. Even, like, the losses Travis Kelsey had, he never killed his team. I'll even give the. Travis Kelsey, he never killed his team. But then you get to Bonique Cat Williams. And not just those two, the other ones, the. I won't mention them because I don't want them to find it and then do it. But some of the church ones, we hear some of the stuff that comes with, like church blogs and lifestyle blogs, and you get to all these different people, and it's amazing because they take these moments to just think that their success comes at the crucifixion of other people. The only success I have after crucifixion is Jesus. Because of Jesus, we have great success.

Yeah.

And his crucifixion and his resurrection gives us movement forward. But I don't. There's nothing a person's death, reputation, death, opportunity, death is going to do for me. And I guess that's the point. I guess I'm growing into. And I get really sad when I hear some of these podcasts where it's like, why are we killing our people for the sake of likes and. And shares. It. It breaks my heart.

It does. It really does. And I. I really. And I think that's where collective healing takes place, where it's like, I don't win because somebody else's loses. Right. Like, we can all win together. There's enough resources for us to all win together. And I don't have to bring you down. And I think that's another attribute from slavery that continues today. Right. Like, we. We all can be free. We all can be whole. We all can be successful. We all can do it. We all can do it. I don't have to tear you down because it's not scarce resources. And I think that begins to perpetuate. And that's what it looks like, that it's like, I have. I have to tear you guys down. I have to have the public not like them so that we can have it now. And it's just like, there's enough for all. There's enough humor to go around. There's enough audience and shows and money and resources to go around. They don't have to fail for you to be successful, and you don't have to fail for anybody else to be successful. And so that, I think that's the. The key point we leave to you today. Like, what is for you? Even in my therapist appointment, she has me saying that, like, what is for me is for me, and it's not going to pass me up, right? And that gives out that, like, scarcity mindset that we have just with everything that we have in life, like, I can't be successful. One of my dreams. And I'm saying, get out here so it can be into fruition. And I hope to see this by the end of the year. We're hoping to establish a coffee shop and a, like a candle lab where you're able to create your own candles and your own business and kind of have it. And I'm really excited about that. But then I'm just like, oh, but everybody else has a coffee shop and everybody else has this and what make me successful? Well, and what would you this and what would you that? And it's like, there's enough going around because guess what? There's only one me, right? So it doesn't matter if you have the same product, the same thing as somebody else. 100 it's, this is Courtney's coffee, and this is the other person's coffee. And it could be the same cup of coffee, but this is Courtney's coffee. This is the other coffee. And just by that sheer attribute, it's different. And knowing that and holding on to that and like, refusing to do that, I don't have to tear down anyone else to be successful. I could be right next door to another coffee shop. But what is for me would be for me. And what is for them will be for them. And knowing that if God has allowed you to be where you are, to have the platform that you have to have the things that you do, that he'll have a way to sustain it. And nobody can tear you down. Nobody can say anything about you, Nobody can do anything about you that will yank or take away anything from you. And you don't have to lessen somebody's view in the public eye or anything else to. To make it happen. And I'm looking forward to. For that to, like, end in our own black community being Black History Month and all of that that we can collectively, like, work together to. Now, like, that's yours and this is mine. Like, inside, like, we're just. We're leaders in a church. Justin's a pastor of a church. There are thousands of churches open on a Sunday. And the why? Because everybody is different.

That's it.

Everybody is different.

That's it.

But the. The greater part about it is there's lots of work to be done. And by us minimizing churches, not only do we. We don't minimize churches. We actually have a card that's like, hey, we get it. We may not be your cup of tea. We may not be for you. You may not like our music. You may not like the things we do. You may not like our pastor. You may not like this, but guess what? It's about kingdom building, and it's about you hearing the word of God. So here are a list of local churches that we think are pretty cool and that you may enjoy based on your preferences.

Because all that matters is you don't go to hell. And I think the same thing needs to be done in our community, where all that matters is that you're successful. Yeah, we drive by so many homeless encampment, houseless encampments on a regular basis. We drive by buildings that have been condemned on a regular basis. We drive by people like, as a. As a. In. Since this year has started, I have counseled. I can't even name how many people's relationships that are falling apart. Like, I have sent letters to attorneys, judges on letterhead, advocating for the character of people as they begin to divvy up assets. Not. It's not just that life is too short, but if you disagree, disagree if you want to keep it, and if you don't, move on. And we have to be adults in this and live. And I don't. I don't. My life is not lived at the behest of other people. I said this Pastor Vinny, he came to Freest a couple weeks ago. And as I've been reading Henry Nouwen's book here and now, you're the only person who needs you to exist. And so if this is gonna help you exist, then do it. But in truth telling, too. Let me be very clear. In truth telling, there is a Walter Fluker in his work. I. Cole Fluker, all the time. The ground has shifted. Talks about the necessity of retelling your story. Okay, whatever. Shout out.

I'm just always saying. And Walter Fluker's head. Oh, I called him Henry Fluker. I should be saying stuff.

Henry Nouwen and Walter Fluker. He talked about the. It's incredible for black communities to retell our stories and the importance of truth telling but not killing. There's a difference. Right. And I need to retell my story for me to hear it.

Mm.

Like, that's like, you gotta retell it for you to hear it. And that's positively, negatively. Like, I really can't believe I did X. But you're retelling as you hear it. Like, hopefully, I don't do it again. And then you also retell it so that you can encourage somebody else. I'm retelling this story so you don't do it.

Yeah.

And so, like, my sister and I have been having a lot of these moments where we've been talking on the phone about our parents and positively grief means you got to grieve the whole thing. And we've been talking a lot about our parents and, like, things that happened as a child and things that happened. All this. And, like, geez, we had a really interesting childhood. When you really look at it from, like, as parents, we're like, holy crap, we're not going to put our kids through. We went through, like, great, thanks be to God. We're not where we are, but holy crap, can't believe we were where we were. God had his hand on us at a very young age to make sure that we got to where we are. Right. Truth telling is not getting on a podcast and being like, you suck even though you're dead. Right. There's nothing that's gonna do.

Yeah.

True telling is me sitting here in therapy and then getting on this podcast being like, wow. I see now why I want to ensure that my child gets the best education he possibly can get. I see now why it's very important to expose my child to black culture as well as every other culture that's available. And that's retelling your story. I'm telling it so that I know what to engage and what to avoid. Telling it to kill, like, telling it to destroy. And I don't want to ever. I think that's the part that bothers me so much, is I don't ever want to have that much control over anyone else's existence. Yeah. Where I think I can destroy it. I think every single one of us has, like, secrets or made up narratives that we could just completely ruin someone's life. Get this. For like, six months, right? For like six months. Because let me tell you what's gonna happen. They'll recover. Yeah, they recover. And it's like. And then now you look stupid because you intentionally try to ruin someone's existence, finances, reputation for six months. And then people get mad when people recover. It's like, no, you're supposed to be in the what? Yeah, it just. And I get it. Like, people do. Some people do really, really bad things. I'm just like, people do really, really dumb, shady, stupid bad things, and people make really poor decisions. People do things that are outside of their character. I'm not taking that away. I am not taking that away. I. I'm just my own part of my story and I'm done. It's my own. Like, you want to talk about my dad all the time, but, like, there's so many things I wish that happened to him. And then eventually I just was like, I don't care. Yeah, I don't. Like, because there's nothing. Me tearing him down, giving all this energy to all these different things. This is the truth. And this is what you don't know. This is this. This is that great. You know, I hope you eat, I hope you are not houseless, and I hope you're. You're fine. Because it doesn't. Your death or demise or your life and success does not change mine.

Right? I had this powerful quote, and I'm about to say, even though, like, I hate snakes, but it was like, it's like being bit by a snake. And instead of, like, adjusting the wound, being bit, you go back to the snake and say, why did you bite me?

Why?

Demanding answers.

It's just like snake dudes with snake snakes.

But you're dying. You're dying and you're mad at the snake and you go back to demand answers, and it's just like, no. And that. That's all. Like, that. That's pitiful. And you. That's. That was pivotal to me to see, like, that is the stupidity of us going, like, being bit by something and going back and demanding answers. And you preach something too, a couple weeks ago about, you know, sinful, righteous anger versus sinful anger. And I think that this just kind of sums it up, right? Like. Like, honestly, I would have been more interested about a podcast, like, did you guys know that to be owned by Fox? And if you see, like, they're pro man gang. The programming on to be. It's just like this, like, generic version of black culture, right? Like, of like what people think. Like, yeah, like, have you seen American fiction? It's like, what. What. What appeases white people when they think about blacks? Or like, let's give them something. Let's give black people something. Because we have no programming for diverse people in diverse cultures. It's not thought through. It's very, like, put together. It's not anything. And people talk about to be all the time and just realizing that, you know the history of Fox and, like, its nature, like, that makes sense. Let's talk about that. Like, let's.

But then they're taking that money.

All that. Those comedians. If we had all those comedians talking about that.

But they're. And to be. Is Fox, sorry, is also taking that money and applying it to their agenda. Not just the agenda of blackness, but then their conservative white agenda.

They're conservative. And that's. And. And that's the thing where it's like, if we're over here trying to tear each other down, this is like in a number of things, in a number of relations, relationships. Like, even at work, right, you're over here tearing your Kodak co worker down, but you're on the same team.

That's it.

It's like, take that same energy and put it towards your competitor.

And then if they get fired or they quit, then where's the work gonna go, right?

Put that innovation that you're trying to get them fired or get them out of here because they annoy you, because they talk to you all day. No, put that towards something else that's constructive.

That's it.

Put that towards something else where everybody that you talked about should be having a Netflix community comedy special. Everybody should have this. Everybody should have this and this collective thing. And it's like, if we all work together to fight the actual enemy that's against all of us, where would we be? That's it today.

And that's where Satan. And when we talk about anger, that whole notion of Cain and sin is crouching at your door. Satan does one thing. He steals. He kills and destroys. Steals time, steals energy, steals relationships. He kills energy, time, relationships, and he destroys. And it's all he does. So it's like you can see. And I'm not calling anyone satanic juxtapos, though, if you were to go look at, like, Twitter or Facebook right now and some of the signs and someone said the whole super bowl is satanic and stuff, But.

And people. Guess who people are mad at, right? No, people are mad at the guy that played Jesus.

Oh, my God. I'm not even getting into.

Like, we have. Okay, these commercials. These commercials. And I'm. I'm just gonna say to you just as clearly as day money. Money flows. Money flows freely. There are tons of money today. Right. So we're not mad that Verizon, they probably spent more than the whole super bowl to have Beyonce. They won the super bowl recording a commercial with car and saying, I spent all my money on the ad.

So here's the ad. Just go buy my shoes.

But here's the website. Go to it. Or just the countless of companies where this is nothing to them. But we're. We're mad at the church for having a commercial with the guy that plays Jesus on the chosen for praying, for saying this. Because, you know, that money could have been towards the homies. The Verizon money could have been towards the home. Your church's money could have been towards that. Your money could be towards the homeless.

But, wow, the money y' all spent on road.

The world were able to center themselves just for 30 seconds and saying, wow, my faith means something.

I understand. And I've been understanding this for over a year now. But, like, why successful people and wise people have to shut off the world?

Yeah.

Like, because if you don't, you'll can. Like. I had a comment, those of you on our YouTube page, a comment from someone on a video where I talked about creeds. What are creeds and why do they matter? Over the course of Christian history, there's been tons of creeds. And the root of it is in scripture stating out what we believe.

Yeah.

As an ecumenical body. This dude came on there. I deleted it now. But this dude came on there talking about, I don't know anything. I'm trying to ruin the world with my videos. And that people who talk fast are jokes and that they're trying to hide because they're uneducated and all of this. And I'm looking at it like, I have a doctorate in this stuff, dude. There's nice. And creed. There's apostles creed. I mean, there's. There's there's so many creeds. And. And so my responsibility to you all, who are my YouTube audience, to ensure that we're educated on these things.

Right.

I put another video. I'm talking about the seven things that God hates. Are you trying to say I'm all going to hell? No, it's not what I'm saying. I'M telling you, these are the seven things in accordance to scripture that God does not like. Yes, but we want to be offended. We want to be hurt. We want to be so down. We want everyone to be the victim. And it's just. It's really sad. So getting to those commercials, it's like, you know, I saw it, and I'm like, one. I thought about, oh, do I put a status up? Do I put all this stuff out there? I'm just like, you know what? If this is what y' all want to give y' all energy to, great, because I'm gonna go and try to make money for. Even if you're talking about the coffee thing, do we really put all this energy into, like, yes. I'm gonna make sure I craft a great status because, you know, elections are changed by my status and because if. If we were looking to change the world and fix the world, your Facebook status would change it, right? No. What. What. What is a. What is a cost analysis? A situation analysis, a location analysis? Where exactly do we need to go? Where are people moving so that if we do this, it's sustainable beyond what's current? What is. What is the average cost? What is the excessive income that people have to even purchase something like this? What is the. What is the average cost of coffee? Right. Let me go taste four coffee shops in a mile of my spot space, because I want to ensure that mine tastes better. What do they do different? What can I do different? What flavors do they have that I don't need? Off. I can give. Or we can give our energy to Facebook statuses and tweets.

And that's the thing. And. And what I. And with that whole thing, it's like the thing that came into your mind first is the thing where God has called you to work. So people were like, oh, we could have used that for the homeless. That means that.

That you're called to the homeless.

That commercial did. It was supposed to do.

That's it.

It provoked the spirit inside of you for you to go help the homeless. It provoked the spirit inside of you for you to say, wow, what can we do with those that are divorcing? Or what can we do with children who have food insecurity? What can we do to bring fresh foods to our. Whatever came to your head. That's what it did. It broadcasted our faith as a whole to say, yeah, I'm a Christian.

And let me say this, too. The reason why it was a thought that you then tried to fight is because you don't Lean into it with Jesus. You have too many gifted people who are.

They should have done it.

Yeah, Gifted people who are Christian. You who get agitated by commercials because you're not faithful to your gift. And I'm tired of gifted people who sit on their gift and then get mad when somebody else does the very thing you keep saying you're going to do. Maybe this year is a year for you to go do what God is calling you to do. If that. If you were that agitated and you. If you had $7 million and you would go feed the homeless, then go feed the homeless with your $7. We. Last week, you guys heard about this. We decided with our little $40 brisket to go feed people because we want to do something for the houseless. I'm not gonna wait for my church to do it. I'm not gonna wait for my community to do it. So gonna go do it. We're having a brown dad. Brown boy. Courtney gave me the idea a while ago, later this summer with our book that comes out about Brown football to do something in the. In the. In the field with a bunch of dads. I'm not waiting for anybody else to do it. I'm gonna. I don't care. 4 dads show up or 400 dads show up. We're gonna go out and have some fun. Like, it's one of those things where you were gifted and all it takes is a. Because we use Facebook's ads and podcasts for everything else but the things we're gifted to do. And then we do use it to get. To want to tear down those who use it. No, that company said, you know what? Let's use the super bowl to talk about Jesus, which is the most powerful.

Platform you could use that on.

That unifies people across the world and.

Empowered millions of people to activate their faith, to say, how can I then help my local community?

Frankly, we don't.

In this season, we don't like our faith, which is the purpose of link and the purpose of the cross is to continue the story and the narrative to tell the world about Jesus Christ.

We don't like to wash feet, but we can do. That's a whole nother thing.

That's a whole other thing.

What's your unpaid advertisement?

Oh, I don't have one today.

You don't.

Do you have one?

My unpaid advertisement today. What is my unpaid advertisement? Birthdays. Okay. I'm gonna quote Henry Nouwen again.

Oh, my gosh.

Henry Nowen said, birthdays are the one time we're grateful for the people who are among us. So your birthday was a couple weeks ago. Camden's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks and I normally really, really don't like birthdays. That statement helped me see birthdays in a different light, that birthdays are the one time of year we thank people for being among us. And so as we celebrated yours and we look forward to celebrating camps, however that looks I'm just grateful that birthdays exist and it's a reminder that for 365 days someone existed. So that's my unpaid advertisement. So if you have a birthday this month, celebrate the birthday. You have someone who has a birthday, celebrate them for being among you. So anyway, we'll see you guys next week. Be sure to like and subscribe our YouTube as well as our itunes, Google Play, Spotify, wherever you listen to it. And on Spotify there's a Q A section. What do you think about the podcast? We'd love to hear from you guys.

If you guys would feel free to comment on YouTube if you want to comment. We would love to hear any topics too that you guys want to talk about. Anything interesting you think that we would love to talk about as we work from home?

Well, I'm Justin. I'm quite See you next week.