Keep it Positive, Sweetie - Don’t Put Your Purpose in a Holding Pattern w/ Dr Joseph Walker

Episode Date: January 25, 2026

In this episode of Keep it Positive, Sweetie, host Chris Renee Hazel speaks with Dr Joseph Walker III about his journey into leadership, starting from his early days in the church at 24, navigating faith, loneliness, marriage, and legacy. They discuss his new book 'Pursuit of Purpose: Peace by Piece,' which reflects on understanding life's challenges as pieces of a bigger puzzle, leading to purpose and peace. Bishop Walker shares insights on stewardship, humility, the importance of empathy in leadership, and finding purpose amidst pain. He also talks about the balance between pastoral duties, family life, and entrepreneurial ventures, emphasizing the significance of recognizing and nurturing one's unique purpose. Connect @luvCrystalRenee @josephwalker3 Visit: CrystalReneeHayslett.com Read: Pursuit of Purpose Peace by Piece By Dr. Joseph WalkerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new year doesn't ask us to become someone new. It invites us back home to ourselves. I'm Mike Delarocha, a host of Sacred Lessons, a space for men to pause, reflect, and heal. This year, we're talking honestly about mental health, relationships, and the patterns we're ready to release. If you're looking for clarity, connection, and healthier ways to show up in your life,

Sacred Lessons is here for you. Listen to Sacred Lessons with Mike Delaroach on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the Valley of Despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward.

Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to the mailroom on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're you get your favorite shows. Hello, hello, all my people, what's up? It's Questlove. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with the one and only ASAP Rocky. He reflects on his journey from Harlem Roots

to global icon status and discovering the hip-hop origin of his name. The ledge was on the TV. Rakim had the bucket hat can go join on. Apostle. That's Rakim. That's who you named after. I just, damn, that fucking I swear.

But listen to the Questlove. show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we've got some incredible guests like Kumail Nanjiani. Let's start with your cat. How is she? She is not with us. Okay, great, great, great way to start.

Maybe you will cry. Ross Matthews. You know what kids always say to me? Are you a boy or girl? Oh my God. All the time. That's so funny. I love it. So I try to butcher up for kids so they're not confused.

Yeah, but you're butching it up is basically like a dora's day. Right? No, I turn it to be Arthur. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Calling all my sweeties to the forefront, I'm your host Chris Renee Hazett and this is the Keep It Posit Sweeties Show. Bishop Walker is widely known for his leadership, influence, and reach. But today's conversation is about the weight that comes with that responsibility. From stepping into leadership at a very young age to navigating faith, loneliness, marriage, and legacy,

this is a chance to hear how he carries leadership beyond the pulpit and how he continues to go through it. Kipps family, please give a very warm welcome to the incomparable Bishop Joseph Walker, the third. How are you, Bishop? I'm great, I'm great. I'm here with you. We finally get you here. Oh, gosh, I'm so honored to be here. No, I'm excited.

When you hit me and said, you got a new book. It was a no-brainer. I wanted to have you on. I'm excited to finally have you on with us. I know that this is going to bless some people. Thank you. And your new book, Pursuit of Purpose, Peace by Peace, is literally you're the one who has pursued purpose and done it very well.

So I'm excited to get into that. But before we dive into the book, I definitely want to talk to you about your journey. Yeah. You started in the church at 24, or your own church. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At 24 years old. Yeah. But before that, how did we get there?

Isn't that crazy? Like, yeah. You know, so I grew up in church in Louis. Louisiana and Shreveport, and I was the first musician of drums in my church. And so we introduced the drums. My dad was like, you're going to have to work and do well in school to play the drums. So that was like an incentive thing for me. But I've always grown up in church and understood the nuances of church, kind of a church kid.

But I had in my mind, like I was going to be a lawyer because my siblings, I had two siblings. There were judges. Another sibling was attorney. So for me, it was about law, law, law, law. And then God, like, okay, all right, that's what you want to do. You want to make God laugh. Tell them your plans, right? Come on.

And so 20 years old, Southern University, under my fraternity tree, and God's like, I need you to do this. Wow. Called me to preach. I'm like, no, I'm running. No, I want to be the black matlock. I got my Sears Circle suit already ready. I'm ready to go law school, been accepted, you know, and ended up pivoting.

For purpose. And at that moment, I realized that God was calling me to do something much greater for me and to impact lives. And at 20 years old, my life took that trajectory and went to divinity school and started pastoring the church. I passed in that at 24. It was my first church. And I've been there ever since. And it went from, how many was it 100? Yeah, it was 175 people.

And now it's over 33,000. Isn't that crazy? That is. To God be the glory, man. To God be the glory. God be the glory, man. Well, and you steward over it so well. My word for this year is stewardship.

Yes. My personal word. And I want to talk about that, like when you were given something and God entrusted that in you at 24 years old, but 175 people to now over 30,000 people. What was that stewardship like for you? You know, a couple of things. For me, one, I think it was about really understanding, truly living out humility. Because you could never be a good steward if you're not humble. And when things are happening fast and you're young,

you often attribute those things to, I'm doing it, I'm doing it, you know. And one of the times I heard God's voice so clear. We had moved to the World Baptist Center in Nashville. Our church was growing so. And thousands that come people thought the church was going to be swallowed up, this young preacher, it's a fad. God did it. Everybody left out, and I stood there like, God, we're doing this.

And God was like, you're insignificant to the process. This is for my glory. My goodness. man. Talk about humility. Humble you real quick. That was it. And I knew at that moment, like, this is what it's about. The second thing that I think really blessed me in terms of stewardship in this whole process is in one of my prayers, I was praying to God about, God, you're doing all these locations

and, you know, people around the world being blessed. He says, well, how high can I take you without losing you? Bishop. My goodness. Stewardship, how high can God take you? you without losing you. My goodness. Was there ever a moment where you felt like the altitude was getting too thick for you where you were like, all right, Lord.

Yeah. Like this is a lot. Oh, yeah. I wanted this. Yeah. And you realize at that moment, right, you need him. You need counsel. You need community of people who operate at that level to help you navigate those spaces.

Because often when you're there, you're probably the first person in your own, you know, in your own crew that's ever gotten in that place. And so your relationships change, and the people who've been cool with you at certain levels have to understand that relationships change because language changes. There's a leader language. There's a different conversation at that altitude

on the 27th floor than it is in the lobby. Yeah. Right? And so how to navigate those spaces are important. Yes. That's so good. Yeah, man. My goodness, you're preaching to me already.

That is so true. I know for me when it comes to like how you say the language changes, the conversation is changing. A lot of times we are the first ones in our group to go those places. But that's where our purpose comes in and understanding that at a young age, how are you able to identify? Okay, God, I know it's what you want me to do, but now, wait a minute, this is actually my purpose. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so for me, and I think I write about it in the book, you know, I think purpose is preordained.

We don't really know it. Yeah. But before we were born, God is at work. right when our mother and our father meet each other our grandparents meet each other before your grandfather shouted shouted your grandmother god was thinking about you yeah wow he was thinking about all that DNA all those genes he was preparing the earth for you so your arrival is not an accident jeremiah says before i form you in the belly i knew you right so it was pre-ordered you come into the world with like this passion as a baby it's passion so you ask a young kid what do you want to be

fireman astronaut i want to be it's all this passion but it's not a lot of this passion but it's not focused. It's like all this light. And so you take all that light and you focus that light, it becomes a laser. So that's that moment when you realize, when you're able to actually comprehend that something's different about you and God is pulling you into it. And that's when it gets clear and clear and clear. And that's what purpose is. It's that thing that you don't choose. It chooses you. And the acceptance of that is it's often a place of negotiation. because you're trying to hold on to what is comfortable. Right.

And you're like, well, God, can I have a few more years of just doing this? And God's like, no, because purpose and vision, right, for a moment, a time. Yes. And there's a window you have to move in that space. And I tell people all the time, you are born to solve a problem. Wow. And if you don't understand what that problem is, you become the problem. What is that verse you were born for such a time as this?

Yeah. right for such a time as this you've come into the kingdom right and you recognize that the earth is waiting on your gift to arrive when you understand that gosh lord like you're here for a reason and for this time i think about like what we're going through now we were born to navigate these times and to help people through these times what what what do you think about your life that god would allow you to be alive at this season to do what you what you you do in the midst of all that's going on. Yeah.

He thinks the world of you. He thinks something, you are a world changer. You are, you know, you are a culture shifter. You have so much purpose. And what the enemy wants to do is tell you you have no value, you know, your voice doesn't mean anything. But when you walk squarely, unapologetically into that space, don't get it twisted. This ain't, this ain't, like, I'm not walking around here arrogant.

I'm just confident. Yeah. Don't confuse it. Don't confuse it. Don't confuse my confidence with arrogant. I'm stepping into this role, walking in this place, saying this is where God wants me to be. Yes, I love that. You said unapologetically.

That is unapologetic is the theme of season 10. Oh, gosh. So you just, we're going to definitely use that. Look out. So let's talk about this. This is book number 14. 14. 14 books.

Pursuit of Purpose, Peace, as in peace by peace. All right. I love how you did that. Now, what inspired this book and why now? I looked over my life. at all the various seasons and saw them as pieces of a puzzle. And individually those pieces, obviously, some of them are not as pleasant as others, a very painful moment, loss, betrayal, the things that we often go through.

And when I experience those things, I realized that when you understand why those things happen, the pieces happen, they were actually forming you into a place of creating or moving you to this place of purpose. And when you understand that, that's where peace comes. I have peace about what happened. When Joseph says, you know, the thing you thought evil against me, God, meant it for my good. Like all those different pieces of my life from the pit to the prison,

all of it, I have peace about it. So I'm not going to be vindicted. I'm not going to be bitter because I can't walk in the fullness of my blessing if I'm bitter. So that's kind of what inspired it. And people really asking me over the years, like, how do I understand my purpose? How do you arrive at it? And purpose does not come without pain. Let's talk about that.

It doesn't because I think a lot of times people see us living out our purpose. And it looks amazing from this vantage one, right? But they don't understand everything we've gone through. You had a book, Leadership, Loneliness. And people don't understand with that. that there's pain that comes with it where you talk about betrayal, you talked about grieving. What are some moments

as you were even writing this book that you had to relive and you were like, oh, I have been through a lot. Chapter 10, it's an interesting title, 735, I'm writing the book reflecting over at the time I wrote it was 735 funerals I had done. And trying to process the fact that God has blessed me with this extraordinary memory and I can't unsee it, I can't forget it. So every time I have a funeral, I relive every funeral I've ever done.

Then kind of got a little bit more focused around it and realized why was God showing me that while I was writing it is because I experienced loss as a spouse. I lost my first wife to cancer. And then I lost my mother, so I lost, I experienced it as a son, then I lost recently my brother as a sibling. Right. So as a spouse, as a son, and a sibling, I begin to realize that most time I engage people in grief, they're in one of those spaces. Right. Either they've lost a spouse, they've lost a parent, they've lost a sibling.

And so I'm going to ask God, why? Why was I chosen to walk in that space? Because now I don't show up as this person who's got to figure it out. I show up in my brokenness. I show up in a place of empathy. And I think what happens, people who lead well in purpose have a greater sense of empathy. Absolutely. We're not out here alienated from other people's pain.

The reason you're able to do what you do authentically because it comes from a place of your own personal experiences. Yeah. And people don't realize that. They think you're just, you know, you're reading the clip notes. They don't realize, no, what you're talking about, you've lived. And this is why when you are presented, you know, this mortgage board of opportunities, you only are drawn to that which is authentically you. Right.

Right. You only are, like this algorithm, I can only do that that is authentically me. I can't do something that's not organic because if I haven't lived it, it's hard to. For sure. And I think a lot of people kind of fall short. short when they start saying yes to a lot of different things that aren't in alignment. And that's the point, right? That alignment piece, because one of the things that I, one of the mistakes I made early on

in ministry and in life was just saying yes to everything, not having any boundaries, just trying to, you know, and that's the thing about purpose. If you don't really understand purpose, you try to manipulate the outcome. You want to manipulate the outcome. Yeah. You get it? So you move from hustle, you move to hustle versus honor. So, yeah, you are here hustling when you should be, if you honor, right, honor God, he'll show you.

But if you don't honor God and say, God, what would you have me to do, right? Lean not to your own understanding and all your ways to acknowledge him. He will direct your path. That's honor. Yeah. But if I don't honor him and I'm like, I got it figured out, I got all these opportunities. What's going to happen is that you're going to crash out. And that's a real thing.

We're seeing it. You're seeing it. You're seeing it. Yeah. And I believe you're a perfect example of it, that success. is in sustainability. If it's of God, it's going to be. Yeah, yeah.

It's not episodic. It's not, people told me, oh, yeah, you got this great church, yeah. Yeah, I'm 34 years in Christa. Wow, goodness. And God continues to do it. Yes. I've seen them come and go, right?

And when you do it, God tells you do, I mind my business, stay in my lane. Yes, you do. You do it. You know I do, right? I don't bother nobody. I just do my thing, keep my head down and keep my face to the clouds

and say, God, just leave me and guide me. And when you do that, and that's what the blessing is. Yes, my goodness. Three pillars that were in this book where why am I here, why did this happen,

and what do I do now? And you talked about, you asked out like, why have I gone through all these things? But what is that pivot of why did this happen to what do I do now? What are those steps?

Yeah, yeah. Why did it happen has a lot to do with, I think, understanding the peace. You never get peace until you understand why. And what was it building in me? Like when I look at the scripture, why did this happen to this person? What was it? What was God prepared? And I always say God is always preparing something. For me, I was always looking at it like, well, God, you're punishing me. Or shucks, why me?

You ain't got nobody else? Right. But he's like, no, I'm preparing you. Yeah. And I'm allowing this to happen to build something in you because I don't look at you in your actuality. I look at you in your potentiality. Everybody else sees your actuality. That's why they give up on you in their own chapters. Wow. God always sees us at our potential. And so he's preparing us not for our right now, but I'm not yet.

And so for me, that's when I began to realize why this has happened. It was giving me resilience, helping me. I've been to school, I studied pneumatology, sociology, sociology, epistemology, but I didn't know folkology. I did not. I could have said that so many different ways. You know I could have. Right, yeah.

Listen, you know what I'm saying. I know exactly. Listen, only life can teach you that. Goodness, gracious. Only the Lord can help you navigate EQ and IQ, navigating rooms, knowing people's agenda, having discernment. You know, those things are important. You don't know how to navigate those spaces.

And God will let you get hurt sometimes. You'll let you walk into it so you'll say, okay, I've been there before. So now I have, you know, I kind of have a few boundaries as a result of that. And I've learned. And sometimes you have to go through that to experience that. No, for sure.

You're also a father of two beautiful children. Oh, gosh. So I want to know, like, how do you implement these principles into your children as they're growing up? Yeah. Because they have great examples in you and Dr. Stephanie. So to have two amazing parents as you and Dr. Stephanie, but what are you guys implementing into them daily?

Yeah, Giovanni, you know, she's 13. She's all into ballet. She's just doing so many amazing things. They said both just incredible students, Joseph Seven. And one of the things that Steph and I have decided to do is take that scripture literally, train up a child in the way they should go. When they're old, they will not depart from it. And the way we read that scripture is train up a child in the way they're leaning. Like they're telling you, don't try to impose your wishes and thoughts and your visions on your children.

Find out which way they're leaning and then train them. Put the energy toward that. love that. You get it? Yeah. Like my son, man, he loves music, he loves baseball, he he loves, my son likes writing. Really? My son has written books. Listen to me. I came he's seven years old and he wrote, he writes his books and he comes to ask me to staple him, puts a cover on him, stacks him up. His project for school was a book about his dad. You know I cried. I was mud, yes. My hero was my dad. He went through looking at all the people that were famous. He said, I know what I'm going to do. Mom. I'm

I'm going to talk about dad. Oh, my God. And he said, the best part of this book is that he's my dad. And you couldn't tell him nothing. I know that wrecks you. You were like, oh, God. I was mine. But the idea that he's leaning toward that, he likes to read and he loves math.

We invest in where they're leaning. We don't try to push them. I'm not this pastor who's like, my son going to be my successor. No, indeed. No, son, do you? Yeah. I'm not about to wait for you to grow up. I'm not, no.

Do you? I want my daughter to do. do herself. She's coming into her own. She loves ballet and she's very bright. So we're just going to continue to cultivate that. Yeah, I love that. I love that. Outside of your pastoral duties, you are also an astute businessman. And a lot of people don't, like, they look at you and they're like, what else does he do? You have your hand in so many different fires. And I just want to touch on that because it, a lot of times, I mean, you're an entrepreneur as well. How did you know, like, okay, these are the things I want to tap into? Yeah. So,

I'm glad you asked that question, and I think that one of these I tried to address in the book is purpose is never one-dimensional. Never. Purpose is like, once you walk squarely into purpose, then God begins to show you all these other things that come from that. Never let people type set you into one thing. That's how they'll forever deal with you.

So when you walk into that purpose, God will start showing you, okay, but there's this thing there called the energy of synergy. all the energy I put out must connect to the actual purpose. If it doesn't connect to the purpose, I can't do it. I don't have the energy for it. But everything I do connects back, connects back. Every book I write, every production I do, everything I do has to point back to the same initial purpose.

Elevating people, bringing people to destiny, everything I do. I can't do anything? People ask me all the time, can you be on the board of, you know, there's a board for this or that or that. I'm like, you know, I just, it's a great, I'll give money to it, but it doesn't, it's not in the synergy of what I'm doing. Right. Everything has to align with purpose. And so all the things that I'm passionate about doing, being an author, Steph and I having a production company, all these things we do have a lot to do with, it has to align with the main thing.

Yeah. Yeah. The main thing. The main thing. You know, believe it. That is so true. Yeah. I love that.

There's a lot of times I feel like pastors can get typeset, as you say. Like you can get stuck in one thing. I'm just going to preach. That's what I do. That's what I do. I'm like, there's so much more. And sometimes are the people that want you to just do that.

Man, I'm like, no. I mean, I love you. I love you. I do commencement addresses. I teach leadership stuff for corporations.

I'm just all over the place. I just want to maximize. For me, it's about living full and dying empty. Wow. I love that. Live full, man, and die empty.

Leave nothing on the table. God, everything you have given me, I left it into your food. Yes. I love that. Hey, what's up y'all? This is Questlove recently.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Aesap Rocky ahead of his album release. Don't be dumb. He reflects on his journey from his Harlem roots to global icon status, discovering the hip-hop origin of his name. The ledge was on the TV. Raqim had the bucket hat,

Cain Gold joining him. My boss was like, that's Raqim. That's who you named after. I just was like, my swag. Rocky offers a window into not only a boundary-breaking artist, but as a man committed to fusing creative ideas, community,

and remaining unapologetically himself. Have you ever gotten roasted for any of your outfits? For sure. Some people don't be getting to vision. Look, they can roast me, they could cook me, they could defraib me, they could saute, whatever they want. There's nobody who can be a bit with my fashion sense and my taste is impeccable.

I'm just like, I impress myself a lot. It's an amazing conversation. One, you definitely don't want to miss. So listen to the Questlove show. on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Every January, we're encouraged to start over. But what if this year is about slowing down and learning how to understand ourselves more deeply? What if this year is about giving ourselves permission to feel what we've been holding

and knowing that it's okay to ask for help? I'm Mike De La Rocha, host of Sacred Lessons. This is a podcast for men navigating stress. emotional health, fatherhood, identity, and the unspoken pressures were taught to carry alone. We talk honestly about mental health, about healing generational wounds, and about learning how to show up with more presence and care. If you want a healthier relationship with yourself and the people you love, then Sacred Lessons is the podcast for you. Listen to Sacred Lessons with Mike Dolorotcha on America's number one podcast network, IHeart, Follow sacred lessons with Mike Delarocha

and start listening on the free IHeart Radio app today. Hey there, this is Dr. Jesse Mills, director of the men's clinic at UCLA Health and host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January guys everywhere make the same resolutions. Get stronger, work harder, fix, what's broken? But what if the real work isn't physical at all? To kick off the new year, I sat down with Dr. Steve Polter,

a psychologist with over 30 years' experience, helping men unpack shame, anxiety, and emotional pain they were never taught the name. In a powerful two-part conversation, we discuss why men aren't emotionally bulletproof, why shame hides in plain sight, and how real strength comes from listening to yourself and to others.

Guys who are toxic, they're immature, or they've got something they just haven't resolved. Once that gets resolved, then there comes empathy and compassion. If you want this to be the year, you stop powering through pain and start understanding what's underneath, listen to the mailroom

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we've got some incredible guests like Kumail Nanjiani. Let's start with your cat. How is she? She is not with a thing. Okay, great, great, great way to start.

So this is a great beginning, and hopefully you'll be able to, I don't know, maybe you will cry. Amanda Seifred. Life is so short. If you feel something like that, you have that fire, in you for this experience. It's not for a guy. It's for the experience of being in love. And like, it's bigger than a guy. Elizabeth Olson. I love swimming naked so much. And I know you love taking pictures of yourself naked. Yes. I love to be naked. I just want to be in my

Ronald world all the time. Ross Matthews. You know what kids always say to me. Are you a boy or a girl? Oh my God. That's so funny. I know. So I'm always like, hi. I try to butcher it up for kids, you know, so they're not confused. Yeah, but you're butching it up is basically like Dory His name. Doris Day. Right? No, I turn into Be Arthur. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With the many hats that you carry, a big part of this platform is mental health. And a lot of times when it comes to religion and therapy, there's this huge dichotomy where it's like, we don't want to put the two together. We want to keep the separation. Yes. How do you feel about that? And with everything that you're carrying, is that something that you've had to lean on as well? Oh, yeah, quite often. And our church, and as you know, we really stress the partnership between faith and clinical counseling and mental health.

It's so important. And I think that this whole stigma that's placed on mental health, I think we should be well beyond that, particularly a lot of the trend of mental health stuff we're seeing, all the different pressures that people are under. I think now we should normalize mental health. And I think that we should help people get the help that they need for us. For me, I've had to deal with it with the loss I've experienced. You know, my first wife passed away. I went to therapy.

I talked about it publicly. You know, Dr. Stephan, we go to therapy together. We counsel other couples about therapy. I preach about therapy. I, when I look at text, when I preach, Crystal, and you know this, I preach from a, I call it a psychosocial theological perspective. I always say, you know, what's happening in the mind of this person? and then what's happening in the culture in which they are having to exist? And what is God saying about it?

Everybody preaches about the woman with the issue of blood, right? And that's a wonderful story. But what could potentially be happening in her mind to be in this place of ostracism, to be in a woman with an issue in that culture psychologically? When she finally gets to Jesus in the Bible says she pressed her way, people often assume it was because of the crowd. And it was. But what does she have to press through?

before she got to the crime. You don't realize where people pressed through before they even got to the church. Right? Listen to me. You get it? That's the real pressing. Just to wake up, show up.

Get out of the bed. I'm trying to tell you. And so I think that's where I believe, you know, for me, purpose is the path to destiny. And if a person understands their purpose, that's what gets you up. Yeah. My why is what gets me up, Crystal.

Wow. My why. Why I exist. that's what gets me up in those days when I'm foggy. I'm like, Lord, that's what makes me go talk to therapists. That's what makes me put, if you talk to someone, I can pray for you, give you scriptures, but you've got to talk to somebody. Because when you understand your wife, the enemy is going to always try to attack that.

That's what pushes you to that place. So I think, you know, that's how we deal with it. Yeah, I love that. I lost my mother at a very young age. And I recently told this story about how he took me to my aunt house, his sister, and dropped me off and said, I cannot. take care of her. Like I can't raise a little girl by myself. You got to do it. And he went home and he said, when he got home, he said, I'm coming to get her tomorrow when I get off work and she said,

well, what happened? And he said, it was as if God himself sat in the car and said, go get her and I will help you take care of her. She said, Crystal, for the three years that you didn't have a mom or a mother figure in your life, you would have never known it because your hair was perfect, you were dressed perfect every single day. She's like, it was just like, clearly there's a woman there. Right. I mean, of course, he had his younger sister came and stayed with us. She said, but the fact that he was able to do that. But then he found love again.

I want to talk about the grief and when you knew that it was time because God bless you with Dr. Stephanie. Man. Yeah. Like, how did you navigate that? Three years, man. Three years were being widowed. Same for my dad. Three years.

Three years. Three years. And the Lord has a way of doing things in threes, huh? Three days. But three years of navigating singleness. And I had to go back. Honestly, and humorously, I had to go back and tell my church, I'm sorry to all the single people. I'm sorry.

I told y'all it wasn't that bad out here until I realized it was a jungle out there. Even then? Ooh, let me tell you some. Listen. That's a thin line between the voice of God and mental health. I'm going to just leave that right there. I'm going to leave that right there. Okay?

Listen. You know how many times I heard the Lord told me? Right. The Lord told me. Why? I just talked. I just talked. Talk to him.

He didn't tell me that. He didn't tell me, God, what's up now? But three years, man. That's so good. Three years, man. Three years of walking this path, praying. And I remember sitting in my home throwing my hands up and saying, God, I resign. I give up on trying.

It's crazy out there. Yeah. And little did I know while I'm saying the same thing, Stephanie is in Boston saying the same thing. My goodness. I'm at a conference that following weekend teaching leaders. Meet a guy I never met before. He's, you know, I'm talking to leaders in Florida.

He walks up to me and says, and I'm a little leery of this sometime. He says, you know, the Lord told me, I'll say, here we go again. Here we go again. With what the Lord said. Okay. But the Lord told me that, you know, I am to help facilitate finding your wife. And I think I know who she is. I said, sir.

my name is Joseph Walker Are you? But this man of God was so genuine, such an awesome kind man out of Boston and Bishop Borders and he's such John Borders, just an amazing man. And

I said, okay, I'll give it a chance. So he then gets back. He hadn't told Steph this at all. Steph's on faculty at Harvard. She's doing her thing. Steph is that girl first of you? I didn't know. Dr. Stephanie. Listen, purpose is about marrying up.

Y'all better hear me. I knew my purpose. Y'all better understand this. But let me tell you, man. Don't miss it. Did y'all catch a young man? This girl is out here doing it. And she goes to this church.

And you know where her pastor told her the next Sunday, you're not going to believe this. He told her, he said, yeah, come in my office. You know, and she's with a boyfriend at that. That ain't him. In front of him. No, no, no, no, thank God. Oh, my God. She told him.

She told her, he told her that's not him. Wow. And then, of course, weeks later, you know, and she kind of knew that was the case. You know, she just, you know. So, you know, hey, I want, you know, I like you to, I got somebody coming in town. I like you to meet. She's thinking, because she's in the hell policy, maybe it's somebody like that. And then I'm like in Nashville, like, yo, can you send me a picture of?

Right. You know, I'm a guy. Right. What I'm walking into? What? I don't date by faith. I date by sight. Anyway, so. Oh, listen. No, no. So anyway. So, yeah, so he goes back to her and says, well, do you have a picture or something? So she's kind of feeling a little weird out by this. Like, why am I past to ask me for a picture?

Right. And it hits her. He's trying to set me out. So she's like, oh, this person. And of course, you know, he tells her like, you know, I'm a pastor. He's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. She doesn't want it. No parts of it. I'm with her. Watch how this works. Watch how this works though, Christa. This comes full circle, right? So then she finally, you know, yields to having a conversation.

When we talk, come to realize, we talk in May. And come to realize that she attended Mount Zion when she was in Vanderbilt or undergrad, and we had never met. What? When she was a student. And God would have it that we had never, because we had met, it would have been a man. Or rap. Right.

We had never met. She'd come. get the word and go back. So now we're talking, we're connecting. One day we're on the phone. I have a list of all the things I ask God for in a woman. She has a list. Not knowing.

I didn't know that. Yeah. Let's read our list. We're both on the phone line. You got to be kidding me. Wow. The same thing. Straight down, down, down.

Metering may be still talking like in early June. By September, I put a ring on it. Huh. What was in the day? Three months, man. Because when you know, God be doing. doing things in threes with me. When you know, you know. You know. And then play with it. You don't play with purpose.

God. And so God brought us together for purposes greater than ourselves. I love that. Listen, you don't play with it. You can't be somebody here. Put people in a holding pattern. You don't put purpose in a holding pattern. Bishop, you got to land that plane. Land it. Come on now. Come on. Bishop, I said. You're clear for landing. Some of y'all did that you clear for landing.

That's the season I'm in right now. Do not play with me. Land it. Land a plane. land. Land it. No, I said this year is going to be my year. I feel it. I believe it.

I feel it. I feel it. And it ain't going to take all that. Don't take all that. When you know, you just know. I love it. And here we are. How many years later?

Man, 14 years later. Goodness. Isn't that a blessing? And I just love everything y'all do together. Yeah. What was the book that you guys wrote together? Oh, becoming a couple of destiny. Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. It's so good. man and you know the crazy thing it's 16 years and become a couple of destiny and God has blessed that book and God has blessed our our YouTube podcast together a couple of destiny

we're doing things together there and it's a blessing so man I'm telling it and she's a real superstar with that now she's dropping gyms on a couple of destiny y'all gotta check it out she dropped in gym y'all gave me that me and my young y'all gave that to us when we came to your house and I remember like yeah oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah

Oh, yeah. That book was crazy. Any couples, read that book. Read that book. And then watch A Couple of Destiny on YouTube. I know that's right. So good. I love that.

With Pursuit, they can get this now. Yeah, get that anywhere. It's out. But what are some things that you want people to take away when they get through this book? Yeah. So I want you to understand that, you know, your life has never been a series of accidents, but they've been incidents that have really directed you toward true purpose. And don't look at life as this big casualty.

Look at it. it was all caused by God to push you to a place you otherwise would have never gone. Recognize that you are unique and walk in that uniqueness of who you are. Recognize that God fearful and wonderfully made you. He knew everything about you when he called you. You don't have to tell him all your short comments. He knew that. He knows.

Yeah. But when God annoys you, he anoints originals only, not copies. Wow. And always come to a place where you recognize. live it and do it for him because whatever you do in purpose I always tell people if and I said in the book if you do it for the applause of people if their applause becomes your oxygen you will suffocate in their silence. That is so true. People can't handle when the applause stops because they don't know what I don't need their affirmation.

I have his confirmation and I understand how to. to navigate various seasons of purpose and continue to revet and evolve and reimagine what God wants me to do. And purpose is an amazing thing. And you look at it, look back over your life and you begin to realize, God, you chose me to do something extraordinary. And I am humbled and grateful that every piece of it has mattered. All the heartbreak, all the setbacks, all the false promises, all the crazy stuff I had to go through. I tell you this, Christa, every time I fly a You know what I do? I always look for the pilot.

You know why? I'm trying to find out how many stripes he got. Really? You know why? Because if he got one little stripe and he's the pilot, what's going to happen through a storm. Ladies and gentlemen, we're getting through this storm. It's my first time.

Y'all pray, we'll get through it together. I can't do that. I need somebody with four stripes because that means he's got a lot of flight hours. Yes. And sometimes people look at us who don't realize the stripes we have. You want people who can help. you navigate those spaces and the people that can help you navigate those spaces are people that have some stripes people that have been through some things and because of what we've gone through

God does not just let purpose stop with us yeah it's about he uses us for the benefit of others every day I wake up Lord let my life be a gift to someone else let my story be for your glory come on that's it yeah ultimately yeah my goodness that is so good that's so true um for years I brought it in I was watching church and I just started reflecting I feel like New Year's Eve is always a time of reflection for a lot of people and I was my friend I was like do you realize that we're chosen and I was like how humbling is it that God literally said you and you and you want to build you up for my kingdom and you're going to get to do all these amazing things and impact all these people because I know I can trust you to be trusted by him and I was like

man, I was like, you just put everything, my whole life into perspective in that moment. To be chosen and to be chosen before the foundations of the world. That that was a moment that you had to emerge. And the enemy knew it. The enemy knew Moses was chosen. That's why he tried to kill him. Sure did. He knew Jesus was chosen.

He tried to kill him. And he knew you were chosen. And all the things, he couldn't kill you, but he tried to get you to kill yourself. He tried to get you to self-destraught. But the devil is a liar. He is a liar. You just keep walking. and what God told you to do

and all this stuff, all these attacks, God's got that. I've learned, man. I'll let God fight my battles. I'm like, I'm chosen. I'm walking on that because he will save his anointed. Yes, he will.

So the Bible says, he'll preserve his anointed. Yes, he will. My goodness. I'm so grateful for the day that I sit next to you in first class. Oh, my God. Do I ever remember that day? Yes. So I was styling Tyler at the time,

and I was coming from doing something with him. and I sat next to you and I knew you because I had I was going to Bishop Paulus Morton's church and I was like oh my goodness Bishop Walker and then um what's your name janea Stevens um that works at Neiman's what's her name Natasha she introduced us and I was like yeah I sat next to him I got his book but I'm so grateful for moments like that because you just never know who God puts in the presence of and you have continued to cover me ever since through life and how God has continued to take me on this ride you've been there every step of the way of my ascension. So I want to say thank you.

So proud of you. Thank you so much. I'm proud of you. Everybody, please go get the book. Pursuit of purpose, peace by peace. Bishop, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the opportunity. Yes, absolutely. Okay, so this is from Brianna Butler. And she says, how do you stay motivated and focus when things aren't progressing as quickly as you would like? Oh, yeah. So I think you have to believe in what God showed you. Vision for me, purpose for me kind of works this way. I agonize first. It's in me deeply. Right. I know what's something I'm supposed to do. And then I visualize it. And the visualization part is when you see it. Vision is for the point in time. So you have to constantly keep your focus on that vision.

Regardless of the distractions of setbacks, never forget what God showed you. Yes. Right. And then that's the visualization for me then goes to, I visualize and I strategize. That's the board, the white board. And I organize, right? But I think sometimes when you're organizing a thing and you say, okay, I strategize and I organize and I mobilize and I mobilize, why aren't I monetizing. That's how it works, right?

I need you get my business. Where is the monetizing? Where is the money? How much more do I need to strategize, right? And you have to realize, never forget. get the visualization because it is for an appointed time. Yes, and it's God's time. That part, and all it takes is one thing.

And suddenly. And suddenly. And you're thinking like, well, I've done this and done all the things about it. God's like, no, I'm going to show you what I do. No man or woman can do for you. It'll be one moment, one situation, and boom. And you'll know it's nobody with him. That's so true.

You got to trust it. I love that. When I look at my life period, just in the vision that I had. to be where I am today. And it took 10 years from moving to Atlanta to getting the first TV show. If I had allowed the setbacks and things not moving at the pace that I thought they should be moving, I would have missed it. Yeah, completely.

We wouldn't be sitting here today. Absolutely. No, absolutely. You know. You kept your eye on it. Yes, I kept my eye on it, even when people didn't see it. Because a lot of times people don't see what God has placed in your heart. That part.

You know, that vision that God has given you. People are like, okay, girl. That part. You, okay, I understand you dream, but this is a little too far-fetched. And I'm like, no, I can do this. And my parents always said, you just believed you could do anything. That's right. And I did.

That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I was talking today. I do what I call like a TikTok update or whatever, life update. And I was telling people that a lot of times during that preparation period, what we feel is like, God's not moving fast enough.

He's preparing us because sometimes we think we're ready for something and we're really not. We're not ready. Miss said. And get mad when God don't give it to us. Honey, because I thought I was ready for a husband. I was not. And get mad. Get mad.

I was like, you are not ready, girl. Because I was a long, single, too long. I think there's a such thing, too, where you get used to being by yourself. And for me, I was like, I was stuck. He's like, we got to have to switching things around and rework this mindset of yours. But, yeah, I do feel that anytime things are kind of slow cooking, that's always the best way. It's always the best way. No doubt.

And when it shows up, you know. I said. Yeah. You will know. You will know. Me and Brenda Palmer's quote for this season of our lives or this year is and suddenly. How about it?

Because God is doing things. Say that one more time. And suddenly. It'll feel like it's taken forever. And then suddenly God be like, it's time. And you're like, whoa. That's it. Yeah, but you'll be ready.

That's so true. Yeah, Brianna, you'll be ready. So hang in there. Amen. I love that. Bishop, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. Is there anything that we can support you in? We're going to go by. the book. Yep. Yeah, that's it.

Anything else? Okay. Yeah, I think you got my, my IG handle, all that stuff. Yes. Just walk three, so that, yeah. Yeah, make sure we follow you. And you can watch online. If you live in Nashville, you're looking for a church home.

Hey. Mount Zion, baby, come on over. Yes. I love it. Well, thank you. I thank you so much. Yes, sir. I appreciate it.

Awesome. Wow, that was such a meaningful conversation. And a reminder that leadership isn't just about strength. It's about honesty, care, and knowing when to pause. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of the Keep It Positive Sweetie show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who might need it right now. And as always, stay blessed, stay encouraged, and remember to keep it positive, sweetie. I'll see you guys next time.

A new year doesn't ask us to become someone new. It invites us back home to ourselves. I'm Mike Delarocha, a host of sacred lessons, a space for men to pause, reflect, and heal. This year, we're talking honest. honestly about mental health, relationships, and the patterns we're ready to release. If you're looking for clarity, connection, and healthier ways to show up in your life, Sacred Lessons is here for you. Listen to Sacred Lessons with Mike Delaroach on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken? But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the Valley of Despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward. Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to the mailroom on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your favorite shows. This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we've got some incredible guests like Kumail Nanjiani.

Let's start with your cat. How is she? She is not with us. Okay, great, great, great way to start. Maybe you will cry. Ross Matthews. You know what kids always say to me? Are you a boy or a girl?

Oh my God. All the time. That's so funny. I know. So I try to butcher it up for kids so they're not confused. Yeah, but you're butching it up is basically like Doris Day. Right? No, I turn into Be Arthur.

Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, hello. all my people, what's up? It's Questlove. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with the one and only ASAP Rocky. He reflects on his journey from Harlem roots to global icon status and discovering the hip-hop

origin of his name. The ledge was on the TV. Raqim had the bucket hat can go join on on Pops. Like, that's Raqim. That's who you named after. I just, like, damn, that I swear. But listen to the Questlove show on the Iheart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever. You get your podcast.