Kauai Update for 2020

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January 9, 2020

We are very excited to have our dear friends Pastor Zack Morgan and Pastor Zachary Conover in studio today to give an update on our Kauai church plant and discuss our plans for End abortion Now in 2020. Enjoy and please share with your friends!

00:00: At the Ezra Institute, we are focused on training the current and next generation of Christians to lead in their families, churches, workplaces, schools, and every area of culture, and to do so with a full -strength confidence in the truth, beauty, and goodness of the
00:17: Gospel of Jesus Christ. We think it is critical for Christians to understand that a battle for the direction of culture is upon us, and that we are all in that battle whether we like it or not.
00:30: The Apostle Paul tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
00:37: We destroy arguments, every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought kept in to obey
00:45: Christ. If God has given us weapons, the implication is that he expects us to need them and to be using them.
00:55: Now, as in the Apostle Paul's day, rebellious arguments, opinions, and thoughts are running unchecked in our culture.
01:03: Systematic unbelief is being applied in every realm, seeking to destroy everything in its path, whether that be churches, families, individuals, or God -honoring institutions and traditions.
01:15: This idolatry needs to be confronted by hearts and minds turned to the living God in true worship, applying instead
01:23: God -honoring beliefs in every sphere. At the Runner Academy, we arm and train emerging leaders to do this very thing by providing comprehensive biblical worldview training in the
01:35: Western heritage, the relationship of Christ to culture, what it means to be human, and the true meaning of freedom.
01:44: This two -week program seeks to equip the next generation of Christian leaders to live out their calling in a way that truly honors
01:51: Christ as the Lord of all things, especially in areas like medicine, law, politics, education, the church, business, and the arts.
02:01: These spheres have a powerful influence on the direction of culture, and will harden every biblical vision for the people contained in the word of God.
02:11: The Runner Academy is hosted at the EICC Center for Reformational Culture, an environment that provides a healthy balance of work and rest, and that stimulates creative discussion for engaging with and shaping culture to the glory of God.
02:26: On this 24 -acre farm and retreat center, delegates can expect to find challenging teaching, but also fun and fellowship with like -minded
02:35: Christians who are concerned to recover a vision of God's glory, and who are committed to think through what it means to live the
02:42: Christian life in all its fullness. Apply today, and get equipped to face the critical issues of our time with a deep, rich, and joyful confidence in the
02:53: Lordship of Jesus Christ over all life and culture. Think critically about arguments, but also about the culture around them.
03:20: But it was funny because I was talking to the other Zach, and you knew somehow that I wasn't talking to you just by the way
03:27: I said his name. Yeah, isn't that funny? Like you get used to someone even after being away from him for months at a time, and you can just feel like he's not addressing me.
03:37: Yeah. He's talking about this guy. The other Zach. Yeah. Did you ever notice that? A little bit.
03:43: A little bit? So Pastor Jeff's not here today.
03:48: He's driving right now on his way back from the old Moscow, Idaho, getting some interviews up there with some of our favorite people.
03:57: Yeah. So be watching for those. But anywho, I also am aware, and I haven't seen any comments yet, but I am very much aware that we are on the same time as the dividing line.
04:07: I apologize. Yeah. I did try very hard to avoid that today, but I had pastoral things to attend to that threw our schedule off, and so now this is what it is.
04:18: Which isn't the first time that that's ever happened. I know. People just don't like it. I tried. I really tried.
04:23: Sorry. What are you doing? Here we are. Yep, we're here. So today
04:30: I figured it'd be good since you're here, Conover, Zachary Conover, Pastor Zachary Conover, to give a little update on the old situation in Kauai and a lot of cool stuff happening there.
04:44: And then since we've been in 2020 mode, we can talk about stuff we want to do this year.
04:50: And we may even get into a little discussion on old Ricky Gervais. Oh, yeah.
04:56: That was definitely in the headlines for sure. Possibly, maybe. So, yeah.
05:01: So welcome, everyone. Thank you. And we're excited. It's going to be a big year for sure. A lot of stuff happening. And we're excited to see where God leads us this year.
05:12: So let's just get right into Kauai. Let's tell everybody what's going on on that island and maybe why you picked that verse.
05:19: Did it have anything to do with Kauai? Oh, most definitely, man. Sometimes you, in answering
05:25: God's call, you feel – I felt a little bit like Abraham in some senses because that's who – this is like the hall of faith here in Hebrews 11, these great cloud of witnesses that we're all surrounded by, all these giants that have come before us.
05:41: And then moving on to chapter 12 where it talks about how Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising sin and shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.
05:53: That whole section is one of my favorite portions of Scripture, I mean, in all the Bible. I love it.
05:59: But it just speaks to the reality of faith and not trusting the evidence of your eyes, trusting the promises of God, trusting his word, not leaning on what you can see or on what you can understand, but on the power of God to call into existence the things that do not exist.
06:18: That's the God that we serve. We serve the God who calls into existence things that are not and a
06:23: God who raises the dead is what Paul says in Romans 4. And it's that faith, that true, justifying faith in Jesus that actually inherits all of the promises and makes us offspring of Abraham.
06:37: And what are the offspring of Abraham? Inherit all things. And so our inheritance spans everywhere that God has called us to be.
06:44: And so for us being called to minister and pastor a church out in Kauai, that's how we're seeing things.
06:50: We're seeing things of those who have been called away from their homeland because we've spent our whole lives here, my wife and I.
06:57: We're natives of Arizona. Which is rare in and of itself. That is rare. And so God has called us to now leave behind everything, leave ministering daily side by side our brothers here and actually try to go out and advance the kingdom in a significant and powerful way,
07:17: Lord willing, on a tiny, tiny island in the middle of the ocean. And so it's been about six months almost since we actually moved out there.
07:27: Was it July? We got there August 1st. That's right. So that's how we're viewing things is in terms of that island belongs to the
07:35: Lord Jesus. And so we are asking God for a gracious humility to receive the promise that it belongs to his people and his, you know, the
07:44: Christians essentially. So we're believing these things from Scripture. Amen. That's how we're holding on.
07:50: And that's how we continue to push forward is not relying on what we see, but on what God's word says. So what has been, for our listeners, because I know the answer, what has been the hardest thing so far for you guys out there?
08:06: There are external challenges from without living in a community like that that's so tightly knit and kind of closed off to outsiders in some ways.
08:18: I mean, many ways, really. And so there are those challenges of just adjusting to life on an island and doing without some of the things that you have here and then trying to minister to a lot of people that either don't like you, don't trust you.
08:33: So there are those definite things, you know, spiritual warfare, all of that. And then there's the internal conflicts that come too, you know, whether it's the enemy sowing strife among your family, between you and your wife and all those things that you have to take in stride as you deal with life kind of on your own, in a sense, away from being directly plugged into your support system back at your home church.
09:00: And, you know, you have family that can come over and help out with stuff. You don't have that out there. You're really kind of off on your own doing the
09:06: Lord's work. And so that's probably been the hardest thing is just to adjust to this new way of life overall.
09:16: It's multifaceted. All of these things come with it. But trying to serve the
09:21: Hawaiian people and break into that community, it comes with its unique set of challenges all across the board.
09:30: There are solid believers on the island of Kauai. There are solid Christians. There are some churches preaching the true gospel.
09:39: I would say that they're in the minority. I would say that there's a lot of doctrinal confusion on the island.
09:47: I would say that there's a heavy activity of the cults that are very active.
09:52: The New Age is huge there in terms of its presence on the island. And there's an overall spirit of go along to get along that nobody steps in the middle of to upset.
10:03: So if you come there with an exclusive message about Jesus being the only way to God, faith in this
10:09: Jesus to be the only way to be at peace with the one true God, then you are directly walking into a stream that's flowing downward.
10:17: And you're saying, no, I will not go with the cultural flow. I will stand in the midst of that,
10:23: Lord willing, with humility and graciousness, but boldness to say, no,
10:29: Jesus is the only way. And his kingdom is the only hope that any of us have.
10:34: I like that analogy because it's not even like you're walking upstream beside the stream.
10:44: You're saying, I'm walking right up the middle of it. So you're fighting against the current.
10:50: You're not just watching them go by. One of my favorite Spurgeon quotes, I can't remember what it is exactly off the top of my head, but where he talks about grabbing the ankles of people as if they're going to hell.
11:02: If you really love them, you're going to grab them and try to keep them from going to hell. And that's kind of like what you're talking about.
11:09: Right. So just to give people maybe like a picture, you see what I'm talking about. Kauai is a very, very small place.
11:16: There's about 50 ,000 to 70 ,000 permanent residents. And so, for example, you could go out where you live and street preach and do those kinds of things, and you're never going to see those people again, odds are.
11:28: You will run into people again on this island. You will see them again. Probably the same week, maybe the next day.
11:34: So when you go and do ministry outside of an LDS ward, we do that a lot here in Arizona, and I've kind of taken the same approach there to try to reach
11:43: Latter -day Saints, you will run into that person that tried to confront you in the parking lot a few weeks later at Costco.
11:52: So that's happened. You're a church planner. Why would you go to a place, why would you go to the ward if you're trying to get people to come to your church?
11:59: I mean, isn't that kind of counterproductive in a sense of trying to get people into the house of God?
12:06: I think we would rely on God's sovereignty to bring people sovereignly to us.
12:12: And so I think that might be the difference between our approach to doing ministry as opposed to a lot of Christian churches who want to appeal to people's sensitivities.
12:22: We're not looking to do that. We're not looking to offend people with our behavior.
12:30: We're not looking to offend people in any kind of way that isn't offensive outside of just bringing the message of the gospel.
12:38: It's the gospel that's offensive. And so my primary motivation in doing things like this is not to show people, here's how nice and sweet we are, so you should come and join us.
12:51: It's here's the truth, and all of us need Christ, especially if you're in a church that's teaching a different Christ and a different gospel.
12:59: I'm not there respectfully to appeal to your sensitivities. I'm there to give you truth and love.
13:06: And so that strategy of trying to please people or trying to do that in order to get them inside your church,
13:14: I know that's not what apology is about. That's certainly not what any gospel -centered, biblically -centered and saturated church is about because we understand the condition of man's heart already.
13:25: He's not neutral to God. He's an enemy of God. He's hostile to God's law. He does not submit to God's law, and he can't do so.
13:33: It's not within him. He doesn't have the ability to come to God. And so we come there in the hopes of the one message that does bring life and salvation.
13:40: God will use and empower to actually shine the light of Christ into their eyes and raise them to spiritual life from spiritual death.
13:48: That's the only hope that anybody has. So that's our approach. So I know, I mean, the most time
13:56: I've spent out there was three weeks. I think it was three weeks. And because it's so small, it's so far away from everything,
14:02: I think it can become very easy to kind of get absorbed and just like that becomes your world, the island, and kind of,
14:11: I don't want to say immune, but like you kind of have no idea what's going on like outside of Kauai.
14:18: And for you, being that you're still very much involved with an abortion now, I think maybe that helps with stuff. But explain like that.
14:24: What has that been like? Has that been a challenge? Has it been difficult? Has it been a relief in some ways even maybe?
14:31: Man, all of the above and even the other way too because when you're disconnected from family and people that you used to do ministry with all the time, you constantly want to know what's going on.
14:40: And so you're checking in, you're checking social media, and that the enemy can use as a pitfall too to just lure you into not having your heart set on the work at hand, the work in front of you, like what
14:51: God has placed before you. So that's one of the pitfalls. And then on the other end of the spectrum, it's like you can become so secluded there that nothing else exists in the world besides just those people, like not having a farsighted enough perspective to see the concern for brothers and sisters outside of your own network and your own space or just people in general because you do see the same people over and over again.
15:17: And so again, maintaining that balance, it's a difficult thing to balance.
15:23: And so both, the community there, some people, there is no category for the other that might exist halfway across the world because these are our people.
15:36: But I will say this, among the Hawaiian people, there seems to be for the most part, just in the time that I've spent there, there is a genuine love amongst the people.
15:47: Their values alone in terms of family and all of those things are just wonderful to be a part of.
15:53: When you are invited into their gatherings, their circles, you are like family. If you can get to that point.
16:01: But it's when those things get pushed too far and it gets placed in a position above allegiance to Christ.
16:09: And so anything that you love more than God is your God. So it's like it's a totally prevailing ideology of tolerance until whatever ideological system you're purporting, really it goes against Ohana.
16:22: Really? I would say that's the general, if there's an idol on the island, that's definitely...
16:27: Oh, and there's idols on the island. Yeah. Yeah, everywhere. So of course Ohana, the overall cultural spirit of don't offend anybody, do not tell anybody that they're wrong in any sense.
16:42: You have your thing, I have my thing and we coexist peacefully. And if you upset that, it's on even more of an amplified scale than it is here.
16:52: Right. Because again, we're in such tight quarters and it just exists there at a higher level.
16:59: Yeah. It just seems like that has just so, it's created such a crust over the island in a kind of a spiritual sense as far as the fertility of it.
17:09: And you come in, I mean, you've only been there for six months and it's not like you're being broadcasted on the radio waves or you just come and you start going to the wards and preaching the gospel.
17:17: You just have stationed yourself as a lighthouse of biblical truth, uncompromising, exclusivity in Christ, this is what the gospel is.
17:26: And then you're immediately attacked by the island. And that's what happens.
17:33: All we did was start going to these places and preaching the gospel and just talking about it. We wouldn't even broadcast as we were doing it.
17:41: We just started talking about it. Hey, here's how ministry went today. And that gets shared around into some local groups,
17:47: Facebook groups and all that. And then it just blows up and people, they knew who we were before that. There was already opposition that the team was facing before we came there.
17:56: But it reared up again. And then the opposition and hostility increased to our message and what we're doing.
18:03: And word is continuing to get around very, very quickly about who we are and what we're all about.
18:09: Discuss some of the tactics that have been used by the enemy to thwart what you're up to.
18:17: Yeah. Craigslist. Yeah, one of the big ways that people still do things out there is
18:23: Craigslist. I mean, we don't really use Craigslist all that much anymore. It used to be huge. But out there it's a big deal.
18:30: So what we found out had been happening was the people that are in opposition to us, that have come on our social media posts and have badmouthed us and have kind of banded together a coalition of people to give us a hard time, is those same people were going onto Craigslist and making ads posing as me, as the pastor of the church, talking badly about the
18:56: Hawaiian people and saying that here's why we're coming in here. We're coming in here to change your Hawaiian culture and everything that the island is already fundamentally opposed to.
19:05: And so are we, by the way. We're fundamentally opposed to completely coming in and bringing a version of white
19:12: Christianity or shirt and tie Christianity. The great thing about the gospel is when
19:19: Jesus saves people, they can keep their stuff as long as it's, of course, not worship of idols or anything like that.
19:26: But they were going in and making these ads, and they continue to post them on a week -by -week basis.
19:33: And so they usually get taken down now, but they were doing that all the time, still are.
19:40: And then we found out after being there for a few weeks that they were actually sending out postcards to different organizations on the island telling people to have nothing to do with us, that we were trouble, that here are some of the things that we supposedly believed.
19:56: And so you don't want to have anything to do with these people. So we were tipped off to that. And that was really interesting that they had even gone to that extent to do something like that.
20:04: It wasn't just an online thing. But yeah, there are definitely people that don't want us there and have told us to leave.
20:13: Offered to buy you plane tickets? Yes. How are you processing that? I mean, it stinks to have people who are worrying against you as you're new to the island, you're starting out your pastorate and doing a great job.
20:27: But how are you processing that? Because a lot of people say, oh man, that's so horrible that they're doing that. But I think what is the biblical, the proper biblical response to that type of activity?
20:37: Rejoice. Yeah. I think rejoice is what Christ tells us to do.
20:42: If someone is attempting to malign your character because they can't come against your message or what you're actually saying,
20:51: Jesus tells you, and I love one of our favorite people, says something to this effect. Taken straight out of the
20:58: Sermon on the Mount, if you're persecuted for the sake of righteousness and you know it's not true, what they're saying about you, then go around the corner out of sight and do a little dance.
21:08: Do a little jig. And praise Jesus because great is your reward in heaven.
21:13: And so that's what we have tried to remember is to rejoice and to keep our hands to the plow and continue to push forward and just understand that if it's coming, if opposition comes for the right things, the right reasons, if it's about Christ and it's about the gospel and that's what people are coming against, perfect.
21:37: Perfect. That's exactly what it needs to be about. Yeah, I can't remember who said it, but he said the problem with pastors today is that people don't want to kill them and destroy everything that they're doing.
21:49: Right. Because faithfulness to the scriptures and faithfulness to the commands and looking at the scriptures as your blueprint as you go about doing whatever you're going to do, that's always going to receive attack from the enemy.
22:03: If you're not getting attack from the enemy, you really got to question whether you're doing...
22:09: I can't talk right now. What you're doing is biblical. Is it faithful? Is it right? And so I look at that and we love you so much.
22:16: It's hard to... Somebody you love, it's hard to see them go through such a verbal attack or a continued attack over a period of time and you just innately, you just don't want that to happen.
22:27: But if you really break it down, you're like, no, this is good. This should be the response from the enemy and this island for a guy being faithful.
22:37: So I think you can rejoice in it like you're saying. I think about Jesus when...
22:43: If you look at the scriptures, demonic activity, there are shades in the Old Testament.
22:48: You see the demonic realm and stuff. But when Jesus shows up on the scene in the New Testament, that's when the demonic realm starts crying out.
22:57: And the reason is because the true son of God was there to bring his kingdom and that facilitated the reaction.
23:05: Have you come to torment us before the appointed time? They recognized who he was as the obedient son.
23:13: And the Book of Revelation says that the legions of the enemy make war with the true children of God, not the illegitimate children, but the true children, the true sons and daughters of God, because they're the ones that hold to the testimony of Jesus and obey his commands.
23:31: And that's no boast of ours, but it is something to be said of the enemy recognizes true sons of God.
23:39: And so if there is that kind of opposition, as long as it's not for the wrong reasons, as long as you're not being a jerk, and it's not about you bringing a reproach upon Christ, if it's just his word and you're just speaking it, then rejoice and praise
23:54: God that he has, by his grace, led you to a place of obedience. I can't remember if it was either
24:01: Boot or Sandlin that I got this from. And it's the same thing you were talking about.
24:06: It's probably the same place you got it. Maybe. You're right about the demons. All of a sudden they're freaking out because they know what's coming.
24:14: And so we should expect that sort of pushback because ultimately we're trying to regain territory that's been theirs, the demonic realm, for a long time.
24:30: And so it's a battle for territory, ultimately, because we're trying to win it for Christ's kingdom.
24:37: And it's funny, it kind of brings into a good discussion I was just having with my wife the other day.
24:45: She was just kind of struggling a little bit because we're constantly in a fight of some sort.
24:52: Not because we're out there trying to pick fights, but just because we're being faithful to the gospel and that brings about fights.
25:03: There's always a fight somewhere. And I was just telling her, I was like, I think part of it is we grew up in your nominal
25:14: Baptist evangelical church where it's kind of the same thing you go along to get along.
25:21: There's no real conflict in the culture, in the community, it's just we're here at church.
25:26: We love Jesus, but it's very much church -centered.
25:35: And so you don't really do much outside of the church doors and we grew up that way and it was comfortable.
25:43: Our churches weren't picking fights, righteous, godly fights.
25:49: And so now it's like we're just trying to be faithful and there's constantly a fight to be fought.
25:58: And it is tiring at times and it's exhausting, but my point I'm just getting at is because I think the church has just failed overall in our culture to keep up that fight.
26:09: And so there is a lot of territory that we've given up because of laziness and cowardice that needs to be regained until that territory is regained.
26:22: Buckle up, Buttercup. Yeah, precisely. And don't get me wrong, it's not sunshine and rainbows even though we are on an island and I mean that.
26:34: There are a lot of rainbows. There are, sometimes double rainbows, which are just stunning. That place just screams
26:40: God's glory so often. I saw a double one when I was there last time. Was it intense? It was because we were sitting at Bubba's, which
26:49: I know is weird because Jeff never eats there. And we were sitting there on the outside there in Gapa and it rained and then
26:55: I saw where it came down. You know where the little train bridge is at right there?
27:00: It came down right there. And then the other one went out kind of and you could see it go down into the water and there was a double one and it was pretty sweet.
27:08: You're a rainbow lover. Have you noticed that there's two types of people? They see a rainbow and they're like, stop everything.
27:15: Look at that rainbow. And then there's some other people that are like, no, okay, just a rainbow lover.
27:20: And you're the second one? Probably. No, I'm not hating on your rainbow love. That's because I see the rainbow for what it is.
27:28: Oh, a covenant. It's a reminder from God that he's faithful to us. Right. No, I'm not hating on your rainbow.
27:34: Take that, Pastor Zach. Didn't mean that to be a Jesus joke or anything. There's some major rainbow lovers out there.
27:40: I mean, I'm not like the dude that got famous on YouTube. Not that guy. Not that crazy. But anyway,
27:47: I'm sorry, dude. We completely hijacked whatever you were saying. Oh, no worries. I think that was me.
27:52: It was your fault. Yeah, no worries. Do you remember what you were saying? Because I don't. It's a little, it's coming back.
27:58: You said it's not all rainbows and rose oil shops. Yeah. And palm trees. Just saying like you brought up the thing, how are you dealing with that?
28:06: It does affect you. I mean, how can it not? You're human, but you just trust in God and you continue to press forward.
28:14: And you don't, you do what Jesus did. He didn't let shame get into his heart, even though it threatened his heart.
28:21: But just like the passage, in the passage right after what we read to open the show with, he set his eyes for the joy that was set before him and he endured the cross.
28:31: So he was looking beyond the cross where the glory of his father was. And so that's what we must do in order to overcome the world's attempts to shame us and to shame our message.
28:42: Because we will be shamed for the gospel, but that doesn't mean we need to be ashamed of the gospel. And so the world will, that's the world's weapon against gospel proclamation is to shame you.
28:52: So whether that comes through overt physical abuse, threats, prison, abuse, all of those things, or whether it comes through a more cultured version of shaming, you're an idiot.
29:04: This is stupid. Get out of here. All of those things, community shunning, that's another way of shaming.
29:12: The apostles and Jesus were all intimately acquainted with that in order to overcome it and not let it threaten their hearts.
29:19: They looked beyond it, beyond the cross and saw the joy and the glory of God of being in the eternal presence of their father and just having that restored.
29:32: And so that's where we try to keep our focus. You know, I think we're getting to the points that it's a good thing to receive attack from the enemy, that you should expect it, especially if you're going to be faithful to the gospel.
29:45: And you're never going to be out of the battle, but I think it's learning how to be faithful while you're in the battle or kind of like acclimatized to the battle as far as your spiritual state is and just moving forward into what
29:57: God wants you to do. But I think as men, we can come be very utilitarian or, you know, I'm just going to grit my teeth.
30:04: And sometimes we have to make sure that we are taking our family through the battle and processing it well for them and making sure we don't take them out of the world and out of the situation, but guard them from it.
30:18: So the question is, is how have you dealt with kind of helping your family because, you know, our wives and our children will deal with conflict differently than we will.
30:26: That's usually the first place it comes through that you try to deal with is through your wife, who's concerned for your wellbeing, who's concerned for the protection of the family.
30:38: But not once has there ever been an inkling that, oh, well, maybe we need to stop doing that or maybe we need to do something else.
30:45: We know that this is what God commands and we can point you to book, chapter and verse to demonstrate that.
30:51: But yeah, how to mitigate that is just to be constantly, I mean, it's taught us to be in prayer a lot more, to really even lift your enemies up before the
31:01: Lord in prayer, especially, to pray for those who are saying these things about you, bringing opposition against you.
31:08: So prayer and constant communication, honestly, just checking in with each other. And I've just, my marriage has grown tremendously in six months alone.
31:20: And it was, I thought it was wonderful before that, but everything that God does to facilitate change in you, not just as individuals, but as a unit, as a family unit, you reconcile so much more quickly.
31:35: You look at things and you see things differently when you're both in the word and you're both constant in prayer.
31:43: And so that's kind of how we try to do it. The kids, I mean, they're younger, so they don't really understand at this point.
31:52: But yeah, I will say this, there is a peace that is created in the home when mom and dad are at peace with this conflict.
32:01: And so that's what we always try to maintain is a home filled with laughter and peace and joy and God and what he's called us to do.
32:11: Well, let's go to a commercial break here. When we come back,
32:16: I want to ask you one more question about Kauai. And then I think we'll switch over to the
32:22: EAN discussion. So we will take a quick four -minute break. So if you all want to sit tight, we'll be right back and we will continue this discussion.
32:34: At the Ezra Institute, we are focused on training the current and next generation of Christians to lead in their families, churches, workplaces, schools, and every area of culture and to do so with a full strength confidence in the truth, beauty, and goodness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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36:41: Welcome back to Apologia Radio. Kind of gotta pick something with a little more island feel to it.
36:48: There's palm trees in this video. I'm not sure if this is an island feel. That's the best I got. The video looks very much like Hawaii.
36:57: Okay. Yeah. So, here's my question for you.
37:03: Shoot. Everybody, and I shouldn't say everybody, but basically everybody, is like, oh, it must be real nice to go play in a church in paradise.
37:15: And we're talking about rainbows, and palm trees, and sandy beaches, and all that stuff.
37:24: It's like, sure, yeah, that stuff's cool. Sea turtles. Sea turtles that you're not allowed to touch or you go to jail.
37:33: But we've talked a lot about this. The suicide rate on Kauai is the highest in the nation.
37:48: Just the little bit of time I've spent there, everybody knows multiple people that have committed suicide.
37:57: Not like in their lifetime, like in the last year. So, my point I'm getting at is it looks very much like paradise from the outside.
38:08: But depression can very quickly set in. And I think a lot of it ties together.
38:15: Besides the idolatry and need for the gospel, just physically, locationally, you start to feel very much trapped.
38:29: People that grow up there, it's like you either leave the island or you're just stuck there your whole life, living with three generations of family to survive.
38:42: Yeah, because of the expense too. Exactly. And even like, we're talking about rainbows, it rains all the time.
38:50: It's literally the wettest place on earth. Even that, it's like, yeah, the sun comes out and it's beautiful, but after a while you're like, there's the rain again.
39:01: I can't do anything. I can't go outside again today because it's raining buckets. It affects your scheduling, what things you want to do.
39:09: And so, just talk about that. Even for your own self, your family, your flock, maybe talk about that a little bit, how that's affected you, and then maybe expand that.
39:25: How have you seen the effects of that on the island? Yeah, I think whenever anyone asks me this question or uses it as a quick jab against you, why would you go out there?
39:40: That's paradise. These people are obviously doing fine. When I was out there on vacation last year, they seemed so happy.
39:47: They were all surfing and hanging out with each other on the beach and having a bonfire. Everybody's together, just hanging out, and life looks really good out there.
39:57: And usually the answer that I give is just because it looks like paradise doesn't mean, number one, people are going to paradise.
40:05: Even though it's beautiful, there is a tremendous need for Christ and the gospel and just a clear communication of it.
40:17: But there's definitely things that you have to adjust to and things that you have to deal with.
40:27: And it's not just weather extremities. It's not just those kinds of things that you have to adjust to.
40:35: I mean, the people, the culture, the way things are there, I mean, you're dealing with a lot to try to overcome.
40:43: Of course, it's very expensive to live there. I mean, things cost a lot of money.
40:49: Cost of living, cost of renting, groceries, all that stuff that comes with making the adjustment to live there also.
40:58: But I'll be the first to say it's gorgeous. It's very beautiful, and we're blessed that we get to see
41:04: God's glory manifested in a way by living on an island like that. But that's exactly the distinction
41:10: I would make is there's a definite difference between visiting and living there. And I think that's the distinction.
41:16: Most people view it through the tourist lens. They see beauty. They see incredible hiking opportunities, surfing, drinks on the beach, and all of that, luau's.
41:31: Which no one can afford to go to. I still have never been to one. They are expensive. It's like 80 bucks a person to go to a luau.
41:37: Yeah. Or more. But that's what people see when they look at it. Yeah. They see tourist culture, and that's what they equate daily life on Kauai like, and it's not that at all.
41:50: There are people that visit there, the revolving door of visitors, and then there's everybody else that lives there. Yeah.
41:55: And those two groups are so vastly different. And you as a minister are not just trying to reach the people that are visiting, which is a great opportunity, but you want to speak to the people that actually live there.
42:05: Right. And give them hope and give them life and the message of peace with God, which affects all the areas that you're talking about.
42:13: So suicide is one. Addiction is another. A lot of brokenness amongst families there.
42:22: Ohana is very big. I mean, Hawaiians are great on that. They know how to love each other and do community, but there is a part of that that's just been taken as a cultural expression too, when there is a lot of brokenness in families.
42:36: And a lot of children left for the system and all that. I mean, there's a friend that we have who actually lives not too far from us who works with the state on the island and the stories that she tells us.
42:54: And so, I mean, we've heard the same thing. There's a lot of brokenness, a lot of opportunity there to actually make a tangible difference.
43:01: And what goes a long way with the Hawaiian people is pitching in and helping too.
43:06: Like not just talking, but actually serving with your hands, going to the people, serving the community.
43:12: That speaks incredible volumes there. And so, yeah, that would be my answer though.
43:19: There's a distinction between the glitz and the glamour and the romanticizing of Kaua 'i that you build up in your mind, and then go live there.
43:29: Well, I think you hit the nail on the head. It's a lack of hope. And, you know, I think the statistic is basically the majority of the people committing suicide are men in their 40s, which is strange.
43:42: But when you think about it, it makes sense. You know, because you have men that are working two, three jobs to provide and they feel stuck.
43:57: And, you know, there's a lot of kids in the system that don't have dads. What the island needs is strong men that love
44:03: Jesus. For sure, yeah. You know, so these kids, their dads are committing suicide or they're working all the time and they're being raised at home by their extended family, grandparents a lot of times.
44:16: You know, there's just no real strong father presence. It's father hunger.
44:22: Yes. Talk about Doug Wilson's book, like the island hungers for fathers, for strong fathers.
44:28: And education is another huge area also. I mean, you're absolutely right about families and the fathers, but yeah, education.
44:35: You ask anyone there, they'll tell you no, that the system here is not good. I mean, I know we've said our things about government education here on the mainland, but the system there, even people there see it's not good.
44:48: And so they're always looking for alternatives. And so that's another opportunity to get into also is having the opportunity to educate the youth and educate the next generations with a
45:00: Christian worldview. That could definitely be something that God opens the door for an opportunity on.
45:05: Absolutely. Cool. You got any other questions on Kauai before we switch topics? No, we can do a shifty.
45:12: A little shifty shift. Okay. So very excited about 2020 for an abortion now.
45:20: Oh, yeah. So we've had several planning meetings here over the last week,
45:27: I think three different meetings and just super excited. We just got a lot of exciting stuff coming up.
45:35: And we've talked, we've done videos and stuff, but I don't think we really talked about it on the radio. So just a couple of things coming up quickly.
45:44: We're right now trying to figure out how to support our friend, Senator Joseph Silk in Oklahoma, who's trying to get a bill passed there to an abortion in Oklahoma.
45:55: And they're very close to that. So be watching. We're going to be helping a lot with media, trying to help promote that.
46:02: We'll be there on February 11th. Lord willing. Evolution Day. That's the plan. Yeah. So we should be there and we'll be helping support that bill.
46:09: So be watching for stuff coming from us for that. We're going back to Ireland in February.
46:17: You, unfortunately. Yeah, not this time. Can't, but this guy's going for the first time. That's exciting. We'll be in Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and maybe possibly
46:28: Scotland working on that. So just trying to help them, you know, fight now because they're having an abortion on demand forced upon them, essentially.
46:38: And so trying to help them as they try to figure out how to navigate those waters and fight against that.
46:44: And they're going to have to do abortion ministry now, which is new to them. So we're trying to just help encourage them and equip them.
46:51: Praise God for them. By the way, if you guys are listening, I love you guys so much. Let them live. Raquela, Phil, Jono, Paul.
47:01: You guys are amazing. We're so proud of you. Just going over there and seeing, you know, just a righteous remnant.
47:08: Yeah. Just teaching them. Yeah. Just showing them what we're doing and then to see them turn around and start their
47:14: Irish version of an abortion now and see them going to the Capitol, speaking prophetically.
47:21: And it's just really cool, man. So what a blessing. So those are some things. We got some, we're still trying to raise our matching funds.
47:30: And so what's really cool about that, if you guys haven't seen that or had a chance to give, please, please prayerfully consider helping us match the 450 ,000.
47:39: If we are able to match that, we have some very big and exciting plans. We want to help actually equip some of our and abortion now ministries with media.
47:53: We want to help give them cameras and equipment to help them have their own media ministries like we're doing here.
47:59: Yeah. They can start flooding the internet with their own content. It's going to be a network of content sharing.
48:06: Exactly. So we got that going on. And then we got, I think our media and mailing game is going to be stepped up.
48:17: It's going to skyrocket. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. You talk about that. Yeah. I mean, we're just putting systems and foundations in a place that'll make it more of an efficient communication system with our churches, people that have supported the ministry and donated all of those things.
48:33: We just love you guys so much and we want to bless you and support you by continuing to reach out and follow up with you to see how things are going at the mills with your churches, to contact those that continue to give generously to us and just say, thank you.
48:50: I mean, this wouldn't happen without you. The church that's actually using these resources and then the people that are making it possible for you to receive them from us.
49:01: Yeah. Absolutely for free. I mean, that's, it's incredible. So we are very excited about the prospect of mobilizing the church in a more efficient manner to where we can actually move things quickly as we get prepared to support further acts of legislation this year.
49:21: And there's already a few in the works. We mentioned Oklahoma, but that's where - Indiana, or some other states off the top of my head.
49:29: Then we're Texas. That's what we're really about. Yeah. And abortion now for the past couple of years has been laying those foundations, putting those in place with churches.
49:37: And now the fight has to also continue to move towards the political realm, the legislative realm to actually affect that and stop the killing of these children ultimately and protect them.
49:48: Yeah, absolutely right. So how many, I know we're pushing towards 500, but how many churches are we at?
49:54: Do you know off the top of your head? We're about 30 shy of that. So we're pushing for that. We're right there and we're still getting more that sign up every week.
50:02: that's amazing. And so like you're saying, yeah, we got all these churches and they're like, yeah, let's do this. We're on board, but it's been hard to really organize communication with all those churches.
50:14: And it's a lot going on, especially for you. So we're working on putting some stuff in place, like you said, to help with that.
50:21: And yeah, talk about legislation. Like that's one thing that Zach and I are going to be, excuse me, going to be working hard on this year is legislation.
50:30: Sanctuary cities is going to be a big push first this year. And I think
50:36: I can, I think I can mention this one. One thing that I've, I've had in my heart that I want to do and nothing set in stone yet, but be listening for it, watching for it.
50:44: I really want to do a, some sort of rally or March in abortion now at the nation's capital in the fall sometime.
50:53: So be watching for that. I am excited about the idea. Everybody I've talked to is like, yeah, let's do it. We just got to figure out how to do it.
50:59: So be watching for that. It would be awesome to, we had, if we had someone from every one of our in abortion now churches and ministries, they're represented so we can prophetically call this nation repentance and this atrocity.
51:12: So what if we got like 250 million people to show up? Wow. That would be, that'd be powerful.
51:19: Ridiculous. I wouldn't even know what to do with myself. I'd be happy with like a thousand people. Yeah. So anyways, uh, those are some big things we got.
51:28: We got on the, uh, old agenda. What else? What am I missing here? Am I missing anything? Um, we are going to try to save as many babies as we can.
51:40: Yes. Yeah. Clinic, clinic, ministry, churches is not going anywhere. Yeah. I think when it comes to, you know, our focus on the legislative side of things, it's, you know, it's just a different monster in the sense that, you know, you drive to a clinic and you set up signs, you preach the gospel, which is awesome.
51:59: and this is just the other realm of that when it comes to trying to save babies. And it's just not something that happens overnight.
52:05: I mean, it takes, it's going to take a tremendous amount of wisdom, tremendous amount of thought, support, finances.
52:11: So, um, it's not as if, uh, the legislative side is going to necessarily bear fruits.
52:17: Oh no. Yeah. We got to build that. We build and work and fight and prepare. And so we, we just need prayer big time because you know, when you, when you get this ball rolling, um, you know, you can't really turn, turn back.
52:30: There's no, yeah, there's no turning back. There's a tremendous amount of more risk. I think even though we're getting guns pulled on us and people threatening our lives at the mill,
52:38: I even think that, you know, the work to save babies from a political point of view is going to be even more costly for us.
52:45: And we'll see what the Lord does. I mean, you look down the history, even in the abolitionist movement and, and how it aged to those people.
52:52: And it was a tremendous, significantly, it was such a tremendous cost upon them. But ultimately the reward was worth the risk, but many of them lost their lives.
53:00: And I mean, even look at Lincoln, how much it aged him, you know, during the civil war and, and even his involvement in the abolition of slavery.
53:08: I mean, this is, it's a big deal. Uh, and it's, I think it's far bigger as I'm meditating about it and even talking to my wife and praying about it.
53:16: It's bigger than we even imagined, but I feel like God is just providentially lining up all of the people.
53:22: You know, at this time and, and really directing us into this focus, which is, it's going to be wild, but I think it's going to be amazing.
53:31: Yeah. Wild ride. It's a, it's a whole real, I know this term has been thrown out so much as the whole paradigm shift of just focusing on his favorite term, focusing on a national scale.
53:42: You know, this is the way we've done it for decades to try to get justice in place and try to affect change at that level where the fight is local.
53:50: It's all about affecting local politics and local legislation, which is actually much more doable for Christians.
53:57: And that's the cool, that's the great thing about it is that local churches can actually do something about that.
54:03: Yeah. And, and we can rally people to our cause in order to affect change that actually saves children.
54:11: And, and of course we're not pulling any punches about what we want. We want the complete and abolition of abortion completely.
54:19: Right. But we understand that we need to put foundations in place to that end, to that effect. That's a great point.
54:25: I'm glad you brought that up. I mean, I think we've, we've been brought up thinking like that the only way political change happens is in DC.
54:35: Yeah. And that's not voting. Yeah. And that's not how the nation was established.
54:41: And you're right. It has to start locally, which you, I, you, you nailed it.
54:47: It's, it's way easier to do that, but it's just been neglected. Nobody even knows who their city councils are.
54:53: Nobody knows any of that stuff. You know, you think it's part of Christian's outsourcing things just like everything else, really education, all of that stuff.
55:01: They've just kind of given it over to people where local, you really have to take more ownership over this whole thing.
55:08: You have to go out and do research and build resources and all that stuff. Yeah. And I think, I think that's super insightful.
55:14: We have outsourced everything. And ultimately that's the problem of the pastorate because let's let everybody else do our job as Christians.
55:24: But when it comes to the abortion issue, we think that there's going to be a federal solution to it.
55:31: So we outsource it to the government. And the issue with that is so many Christians are statists, right?
55:37: Yeah. They worship the state, they worship the government. Both sides do. They do.
55:43: Oh, of course. Unfortunately it's crept its way into the church. And I think a major idol within the broader American evangelical church is the state because it's whatever the state says, we must obey.
55:54: SCOTUS says we can kill babies. Well, then we can kill, but we see, we hear it all the time at the mill.
55:59: It's legal. It's legal. And because it's legal, therefore, it's actually not, that's actually a lie. Of course. It's just a lie.
56:04: It's a, it's a fiction, but I think you're right. There's going to be no federal solution to abortion.
56:11: It is going to be state by state defying row, defying the federal beast and us as Christians, loving
56:18: Christians, going to our state legislators, legislatures, and demanding that they do their duty before God.
56:24: Yeah. Holding them accountable and making sure that they understand that there are people that can affect their futures, making them understand that we're their boss.
56:33: And then not because all they want to do is they want to bully us around and we just, we can't do it.
56:39: You know, they've, they've gotten outside of their parameters, their jurisdictional parameters.
56:45: And we, as the people need to pull them back in and call them to do what they need to do.
56:50: Amen. I think we, we forget that they work for us. I'm glad you said that. Well, yeah. And it's biblically speaking, they work for God.
56:58: They're his, they're his deacon. Is that right? Yes. Yes.
57:08: Yeah. I think. Yeah. Close enough. That's it though. Good job. So, uh, you're starting your podcast next week, right?
57:18: Uh, I think two weeks. Yeah. Provoked. You just keep pushing it back. Yeah. A little bit.
57:25: No, but, uh, that's exciting though. Yeah. And that's why I kind of, the idolatry cause our, the big scope and scheme of provoked is to, um, you know, expose idolatry, especially within the
57:38: Christian church. Because when you see throughout scripture, when idols are destroyed, everything goes well.
57:44: I mean, it affects everything. Not only the state of the Christian church, not only, uh, does God respond to idol destruction with his blessing?
57:52: Look at, you know, Josiah. Josiah was such an amazing king. Cause what did he do? He didn't halfway half seize, destroy all the idols because that's what all the preceding kings.
58:02: I think his dad did. And I can't remember what his dad's name was at the moment, but he didn't compromise. He said, this is an idol and we must tear it down to the ground and not, not compromise.
58:13: Cause what the Kings would do is they would just compromise for political ends or just to please the people.
58:18: Of course, that's what's going on right now. But what happened after Josiah did that was 40 years of really of revival in the, in the kingdom there.
58:27: So we want to get to the place to where we call an idol for what it is because we don't, we don't like to do that.
58:33: We'd like to keep our idols to ourselves and not deal with them and not destroy them, but we like to Connell them.
58:40: And that's just the way it's been. And it's always been. And the more that we can get Christians to recognize this and destroy idols within the home idols, within the heart, wherever it may be, then we see things begin to really be as God intended them to be.
58:54: So, yeah, I love what you said. That's, that's where an idol comes from. It's a disordered covetous desire of the heart.
59:01: Anything that you love more than God and anything that if taken would bring ultimate hurt to you, that isn't
59:08: God. And so it always begins in the heart. And I love the name where it comes from. And at 17 with Paul, he's waiting in Athens at the
59:16: Areopagus at Mars Hill. He sees all the idols and it provokes him. It, it, it, it can be expressed idiomatically as his heart burned within him.
59:26: Right. Like the text says, like he was indignantly outraged and irritated and it led to a desire to reason with them and to convert them with the scriptures.
59:37: And so that is, is where, where the name comes from, if I'm not mistaken.
59:42: And it's, it's a powerful picture because if, if we aren't doing that in the culture and in our homes and everywhere else, if we're not doing that, it's because we love things more than we love
59:54: God. It exposes our idols. If we won't go to the culture and meet them, it's because we have our own idols and things that we love more than God.
01:00:01: And that's what, that's why it needs to be dealt with in house first. Right. And so we're going to do that. And I'm like, I'll let you know, but we want to step on toes too, because what we like to do is create idols in the idols that are the most entrenched in us as Christians are the ones that we don't want to talk about.
01:00:17: And you can make your wife an idol, right? To where you can make your husband or your kids or your work.
01:00:23: You make your pets an idol. I mean, people spend more time and I'm not a pet hater, pet hater.
01:00:29: I'm not necessarily a pet lover, but you see people dressing up there. I hate pets.
01:00:35: I mean, people spend more money on their pets than they do their own kids nowadays. You see, I mean, they got gold chains and they walk them around in little walk.
01:00:42: You got diapers on their pets. I mean, anything can become an idol, but we want to do is, is not attack any specific person, but just destroy these idols within the, within the greater
01:00:53: Christian church. You don't even put diapers on your kids. That's true. And I would just.
01:00:59: That's another story. To end the show. That's a joke. Everyone, by the way, congratulations.
01:01:05: He's got number seven on the way. Wow. Praise God. To kind of end the show.
01:01:13: How cool is it talking about idols that you've had the opportunity to actually like visit and like desecrate, if you will.
01:01:23: Oh yeah. Idols on Hawaii. Yeah. Shout out to Toby Sumter who gave me that idea. My dude,
01:01:30: Toby J. Yeah. So that, what, what pastor Luke is referring to, there are altars on the
01:01:36: Island of Kauai that are set up to different deity, Polynesian deities. These are the false gods of the
01:01:42: Hawaiian religious system. And all of them are nothing more than an expression of nature. So water, fire, all of these things, but there's certain altars that are set up on the
01:01:52: Island called Hay House and they're usually giant rock. Walls that are set up.
01:02:00: And that's where, you know, some of them are where human sacrifice was done. These gods were worshiped.
01:02:06: And so we just had the idea that we were going to one day worship God faithfully at these sites.
01:02:13: And so I jumped in the car and, and went to these places and prayed at each of them and left a, just a symbol of another, another colored stone there symbolizing
01:02:23: Jesus as the chief cornerstone. And so did you do that in Kapaa or that one place?
01:02:30: Yeah. Not in my Kapaa. I didn't mean that. You know what
01:02:35: I'm talking about? The one that goes down to the secret beach was one there there. Yeah.
01:02:41: Yeah. There were several. Okay. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about though? South to North. I don't know. You'd have to give me the name.
01:02:47: It's behind one of the hotels. Like was it behind the garden one or something?
01:02:52: I don't know. I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the one. Like right by where the Wailua river comes. Yep. Yep. Yep.
01:02:59: Yeah. It's Wailua. It's Wailua. Right. I think there was like trees around it and rocks and sand, you know, that one place in Kauai where there's a bunch of trees and sand and water and rocks.
01:03:13: Yeah. And a lot of them. That's like all of Kauai. You're too funny. You know what he told me?
01:03:19: I'm sorry. I don't want to get you off. He told, he told me that he got in trouble. Was it the last time you, or recently?
01:03:27: Oh, cause he was sitting on, you know, in Kaleo where there's that, let's it's basically, and it's not an altar, but it's like a memorial to that surfer dude that died.
01:03:35: He was like sitting on it. Oh, but you know, it's a big green. He wasn't on a picnic table. He wasn't sitting on a picnic table.
01:03:40: Speaking of idolatry, surfing could be another. So anyway, sorry, you were, you were talking and I interrupted you rudely.
01:03:47: Oh, that's all right. So we just decided to go there and, and pray over those places and, and worship
01:03:53: God faithfully and trust in his promises that, um, at these places, one day
01:03:59: Christians will be the ones worshiping the one true God at these sites. And so I love it, man.
01:04:04: That was, it was just a symbolic act of just believing in God's promises. That's what Abraham did.
01:04:10: If you look at, you know, the central figures in the old Testament, they built altars. Gideon, I mean, I know is your favorite.
01:04:15: And so they built altars on the places where the false gods had their altars and they worship the one true
01:04:22: God there. And it was, it spoke to the fact that God owns this place.
01:04:28: This is, this is Christ's inheritance. Yeah. The nations belong to him.
01:04:34: So does this land, which means since I'm a co -heir with him, a joint heir, it belongs to the people of God by faith.
01:04:41: And so it's by faith that we inherit those promises. And I was just so encouraged when I saw that, because, and you already touched it.
01:04:47: This is the beginning of the episode here. But when I saw you do that, I said, man, this is so pleasing to God.
01:04:53: But from an American evangelical kind of church planners point of view, it's like, what are you doing?
01:04:59: I mean, how are you going to get people to come? How are you going to get people to come to this church? You're desecrating what they hold so dear.
01:05:05: But that's, that's how we think differently, which hopefully is biblical. And we know what it is. We want to go there and please God and let, leave him with the results.
01:05:12: Not please men, or even please the natives to get them to do something.
01:05:18: No, it's just, we're being faithful to you. And we're going to let you do what you do as far as saving whom you, you wish and whom you will.
01:05:25: But we're called to faithfulness and doing what's ultimately honoring to you. And I see that in you and I'm so thankful for it.
01:05:30: Yeah. Thanks, dude. Yeah, that's, that's what it's about. God has his sheep there and he's, and they will hear his voice.
01:05:37: He's blessed us already with, with good families, some awesome sheep. Yes. That are blessing our body, that we have the opportunity to disciple and pour into and to watch their growth over the past few months.
01:05:50: Unbelievable. What God's doing in their hearts. That's what it's about. San Diegan sheep. That's right.
01:05:57: A couple of them. Yeah. True, true success is not how many people you can get into church, but it's about Christ being grown in their lives.
01:06:07: It's, it's really about them becoming more like Christ. That's, that's true church success, right? Yeah. And it's amazing how that happens just through the simple common ministry of the word and through pouring into people's lives and having meals with them and just simple things.
01:06:22: And God uses those seemingly foolish things to the world to actually change hearts, change minds.
01:06:28: And that leads to change lives and changed culture essentially. Like that's where it will get to it.
01:06:34: Just the kingdom of God. The great thing about it is that it begins in the heart, but it doesn't stay there. Like it comes out of you into the world.
01:06:41: It will, it has to, but, and it's just so it's so, um, it causes so much rest and peace with you as a minister because you don't have to make it happen.
01:06:50: You don't have to become somebody that you're not a comedian or CEO, whatever it means to put on these extra biblical qualifications to make this thing happen.
01:06:58: You just let the word do its work. As Jesus said, sanctify them in the truth for your word is truth.
01:07:03: You preach and teach the word. You let that message fly. And then like Mark nine, it says when you do that, you could just go to sleep and let
01:07:11: God do his work. Amen. I think you're a funny guy. What am I funny to you?
01:07:17: Some people think so funny guy. I have certain moments. Hey, is it just me or was that train like extra loud just a minute ago?
01:07:26: Like I, it sounded like it was going to drive right through the studio. I missed that train. I've missed that.
01:07:33: The gospel train. I mean, that thing was crazy loud today. Dude, what completely off subject.
01:07:39: I was here probably about a month and a half ago, maybe two months ago, like late night counseling somebody.
01:07:46: And it sounded like a helicopter was landing on the roof. There was a helicopter flying. I think he was looking for somebody.
01:07:51: And I'm like, we both stopped and we're like, like, it looked like it was going to land on the roof, but I digress.
01:07:57: We get, we got them at my house all the time. We have a particular name for them though. Ghetto birds. Yeah. Yeah.
01:08:04: I get somebody. One thing that I deal with out in Kauai is storms, man, storms out there.
01:08:09: No joke. Not Jason. He's a good guy, but shout out to you, Jason. Love that guy.
01:08:14: Yeah. But those winds, those are howlers. So you're hunkered down in there. It's like, this is loud. You got a lot of helicopters in Kauai.
01:08:21: Yeah. And we are two or so. One of them just crashed. Huh? Yeah. Did they ever find them? Yeah. Yeah. Big crash.
01:08:27: I believe it was six people, including the pilot. And actually that, the company, the tour is actually not too far from us.
01:08:36: So yeah, it was a sad story. But another opportunity for, for Christ and for reaching out to community.
01:08:45: For sure. Well, dude, it's good to have you back. Yeah. It's great to be back. It's good to hang out.
01:08:50: Balling with my bros. And next week we should be back.
01:08:56: Pastor Jeff will be back. I don't know what we're going to talk about. So we'll see. Well, we shall see.
01:09:02: We'll catch you then. Anywho, thank you everyone for paying attention and listening today. And thank you,
01:09:08: Zach and Zach. Zach attack. No problem. And thank you everyone again for your support.
01:09:15: All access. You're amazing. Oh, that reminds me. We have some very exciting, all access,
01:09:25: Academy content coming here. So we actually had Zach Loutenschlager, who, if you heard the
01:09:31: Thanksgiving show we did, he's starting a history us history course for us.
01:09:37: Super awesome. That'll be coming. We just recently had two classes from Jeffrey Ventrella, and he's doing two more for us next week.
01:09:49: So we'll have four courses from him coming here quickly. And then pastor James will be doing another church history class here.
01:09:56: In a few weeks. So got a lot of stuff coming to be watched for that, but all access people, you're the best.
01:10:02: You make this happen. So I can't wait for you guys to be able to see that stuff. So thank you very much again.
01:10:07: Please, please go to an abortion. Now help us meet that goal so we can bless some more churches and ministries and kick a hole in the face of abortion and end it.
01:10:20: Not just kick a hole. Amen. Amen. Amen. Slay the dragon. Slay the dragon. It's all the same.
01:10:26: It's all the same battle. Slay the dragon. It's not if it's when it's no, you're right. Or the other way around.
01:10:32: When you got it, you had it. Yeah, you're good. You said it right. Correct. Good job. Broken clocks. Right. Twice a day.
01:10:40: Oh, he said that recently. I said it totally wrong. He said it. Yeah.
01:10:46: Yeah. But he didn't. I remember that one. Yeah. But anyway. Oh, I said broken clocks. It's wrong.
01:10:52: Yeah. Yeah. Anywho. All right, y 'all.
01:10:57: Thank you so much. God bless. Peace out. And please be in prayer for us. Big things ahead in 2020.