Shaun Newman Podcast - #1064 - Craig Onerheim, Brett Howe & Brady Funk

Episode Date: June 1, 2026

Craig Onerheim, Brett Howe, and Brady Funk are three family men from small-town Saskatchewan. They attended a Launch Pad event with Champions in Christ Ministry — a Christian organization led by NFL champion Steve Weatherford that focuses on biblical teaching, leadership development, and equipping men and families through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Following the event, they experienced a life of abundance amid the challenges of the current world.Watch the Cornerstone Forum 26’https://shaunnewmanpodcast.substack.com/Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: [e-mail] Grahame: [phone]Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: [e-mail] Launch Pad Eventshttps://championsinchristministry.com/launching-pad-intensive-details/Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

This is Brett Weinstein. This is Tom Longo. This is Bruce Party. This is Alex Krenner. Hey, this is Brad Wall. This is Dr. Pierre Corey. Hi, this is Frank Peretti. This is Danielle Smith.

This is James Lindsay. This is Vance Crow and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Monday. How's everybody doing today? Holy man, another weekend. Come and gone. You're getting closer to travel date.

We'll get into that in a moment. How about we start here? metals silver gold bull the silver wagon all right uh as i sit here recording this a dollar three a dollar three hundred and three dollars in ninety nine cents for an ounce of silver yes that's the old silver wagon right just over a hundred dollars canadian and uh silver gold bull says history may not repeat but it often rhymes in the same way inflation spikes in the 70s were driven by oil prices well we appear appear to be reliving that period based on current events and the best performing asset in the inflationary inflationary

1970s was precious metals. So when it comes to precious metals, I point you towards Silver Gold Bull here in Alberta, whether it's buying, selling, or storing precious metals, they can answer all your questions, go down in the show notes, text or email, Graham, for details or questions you have around anything to do with precious metals. You can also find them at silvergoldbill.ca, silvergold bull.com. Yeah, precious metals, I don't know.

They ship right to your doorstep. Everything nice and easy from the touch of the keypad, boom, and it ships right to you, okay? Bow Valley Credit Union. When it comes to banking here in Alberta, well, they've got a lending and advice center in Red Deer. It's all about lending deposits and real financial advice. You can open accounts, talk through lending options,

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you know, don't look any further than Prophet River. You can find them at Profitriver.com. I just had showed up to John and I think it was Carl. Carl, I think it was you. I think it was John and Carl. Both stopped in to Prophet River here over the last couple weeks. You can also do that too. Sitting right here in Lloyd Minster is a great showroom. But if you're further out, why not hop on to profitriver.com. They are a major retailer of firearms, optics, and accessories, and folks, they serve all of Canada. Carly Clause and the team over at Windsor Plywood,

builders of the podcast studio, suppliers of all things would in the news studio. And with deck season here, you know, we went from winter to like deck season overnight. Holy man, I went from like minus 20. I don't know, minus 20, minus 5 to plus 30s here in Lloyd Minster. I don't know about where you're sitting. And when it comes to anything to do with decks, mantles, windows, doors, sheds, character wood.

Think Windsor Plywood here in Loynminster. Stopping to see Carly and the team there. All right. I was just at the start, I said, you know, we're getting close. 34 days until we leave, okay? July 5th is coming. It's right around the corner. And one of the things I've been talking about since about a week ago is I want you to nominate someone from your community.

and you know Tuesday said you know like somebody with great stories maybe the the jokester of the bunch somebody with wisdom you know it can it can be a lot of different people

that come to mind but every community has a couple of names and you find folks are starting to text me I want you to keep texting me whether or not I can get to them all I have no idea

but if I don't know about them there's definitely no chance of me getting there so nominate somebody from your community You think, oh, man, there's a guy down the road. He's phenomenal. Somebody should talk to him? Let me know. Because we're going to be coming through Alberta all the way across Manitoba,

heading Saskatchewan, Manitoba, that is. Skip over. Poor Saskatch. We're going to be hopping through Saskatchewan, Manitoba, etc. Heading all the way to the East Coast. We're going to be going to Newfoundland. That means if you know somebody in your community, I want to know about it. Shoot me a text and we'll see what we can do, all right?

If you're listening or watching on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Rumble, X, Facebook, substack, all the things. Make sure to subscribe. Make sure to leave a review. If you enjoy the show, send it to a friend, all right? Now, let's get on to that tale of the tape. Today's guests are three family men from small town Saskatchewan who had their life change by attending a launch pad event.

I'm talking about Craig Honorheim, Brett Howe, and Brady Funk. So buckle up. Here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Craig Honorheim, Brady Funk, and Brett Howe. I'm not going to do that again because that was difficult enough to look at my phone and pronounce all those. Gentlemen, thanks for making it here.

Thanks for, I'm floored, because I was trying to talk Craig out of this last night. I was like, you sure you want to get up at like, what times you say this morning? 2.30. Drive all the way here. I'm going to have this compressed to like, man, we'll pump one out,

but I'm like, you know, to get here and do it proper and everything else, well, you've all been watching me run around with my head chopped off. Thanks for coming, gentlemen. You're welcome. Amazing. It's our honor. Now, because you've driven so far and everything else here, you wanted, I, I thought, what's the most Saskatchewan thing I can do?

A green SMP hat? I figured maybe that was fitting. Maybe? Yeah, that's great. Amazing. I love it. And then you each get one of those. Awesome.

So if you don't know anyone who travels, especially at middle of the night to get here, it's a one-ounce silver coin from SGB. So thanks for coming. gentlemen that's awesome thank you now i'm going to start with craig and we're going to work our way around oh do you want to do hat first yeah yeah first of all i brought you a hat too so it says pray for everything um yeah we've been making up some some hats and some shirts recently and i dig the shirts boys yeah yeah yeah yeah jesus is king we're from the jesus cult yeah yeah well i said on uh the one of the most recent episodes with Laten Gray, I'm like, you know, you throw any conspiracy theory you want at me. I've probably looked into most of them. I'm like, I don't know. Where do you sit

on all of them? I don't know. One thing I know for sure is Jesus is Christ or Jesus is King. Yeah, I'm like, yep, I could get behind that one. I know that one for sure. So I dig the shirts, gentlemen. Yeah. Thank you. Now, Craig, we'll start with you. We've got to go around. You guys have never been on the podcast. And you forced me to talk for the last, like, half an hour and asking me questions about every last thing. So. So it's time to flip the script here. We'll start with you and we'll work a way around. Okay.

You just want me to start with who I am, where I'm from. Tell the audience a little bit about yourself. Okay. So who I am now, I am Craig Onerheim. I'm a fire-breathing, demon-slaying, peace-filled warrior, fearlessly serving the king with patience, integrity, and courage. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.

Thank you, gentlemen. So I wasn't those things 11 months ago. We told you we were in a cult. Yeah. Yeah, I wasn't those things 11 months ago. I honestly didn't know who I was. When I went to the launch pad that will elaborate on more last June, in intros, they asked, who are you? And I said, well, I'm Craig Onerheim. I'm a farmer. I'm from Frontier, Saskatchewan, you know, born and raised there. I grew up going to church, play a little bit of hockey, a little pickleball once in a while. Um, but yeah, that was basically it said like, they asked what my burden was. I said, well, my burden is I'm an angry guy. Um, you know, I, I know that Christ is king and I go to church and I check off a lot of boxes, but, uh, I'm just miserable. I'm, I, I just can't seem to overcome these things and I can't find that peace and that joy, uh, that the Bible talks about and that other people seem, seem to have. Um, but from the outside, I would say,

everything probably looked like I had it together, you know, from a worldly perspective, I had some success farming. I split off my family farm in 2014 and we grew from a couple thousand acres to over 10,000 acres now. So as I was building this farm and what I was actually doing was building a prison cell for myself. I really felt like because of the drought and the debt load that I was under and just, you know, riding that fence, having one foot on this side

and one foot on this side, I was not content and I was miserable. And I, yeah, I knew there was more. And, you know, the anger that I was talking about that I dealt with, it was actually destroying a lot of things around me. There's a verse in John 1010 that says, the devil will come to steal, kill, and destroy, but Christ has come to give you

life and life abundantly. And the devil was stealing and killing and destroying my life. I had two very good employees that have been with me for seven and 11 years. And because of my miserable attitude, like, I would start off the day on a good note, we would start in the Word of God. We would start praying, you know, trying to lead off the day with God. But within a few hours, there was wrenches flying and there was cussards coming out of my mouth and that old man. You know, the flesh, I was weak. I wasn't disciplined. And so going back to the launch pad,

what I laid down at that was I actually fully surrendered for the first time in my life to Christ. I believe if I would have would have died, I was saved. I believed in Christ. He was in my heart, but I hadn't fully surrendered. I always talk about like I had God in my back pocket and when I needed him, I would, I'd pull him out and use like a Trump card, right? But that's not how a relationship with God is supposed to work. And so there were several things that went on at the launch pad, but one of them was laying down that burden. And so, it was actually Brady was praying over me at one point and he asked what do you want to lay down and I said I want to lay down this this anger this this control that I have in my life I like to

control everything make these plans that are perfect in my mind and then when when they don't go according to my plan my reaction is anger and you know that was on the farm that was on the hockey ice which sometimes people pat you on the back for getting angry out there but as a believer trying to represent Christ, and then you're in the penalty box all the time. It's not a great witness, but, but yeah, it was driving a wedge between my kids and me, too. I have four beautiful kids, two boys and two girls, and my oldest son, he helps a lot on the farm, and I wanted what was best for him, but I was so busy building this kingdom honor, earth that I didn't have the time to actually like train him and and teach him in the way that he

should go. I expected perfection. And yeah, when things didn't go, according to my plans, I would lose my temper. So I had a really rocky relationship with my oldest son. My wife and I, we were becoming roommates. As I was telling you before, like we would go to bed. We had TV in our bedroom and and we would go to bed watching like the office like nothing too awful but uh there's there's no connection there when you're just staring at a tv um so um anyways i laid down that that burden of anger and control and then brady had asked what uh what do you want to be filled with and i said well i want peace and i want joy in my life for the first time ever like i've had glimpses of that from time to time like i always said i was a moody guy because that could be really

happy or I could be really miserable. But yeah, I went in that cold tub and these guys prayed for me and I believe that control that stayed in there. It was God took it away from me and he gave me peace beyond all understanding

and he's given me joy and it's unbelievable what the last 11 and a half months has happened And, you know, I'll just give you a few examples. My wife and I have been married for 18 years, I think, this fall. We went on our honeymoon down to Mexico.

We went on the cruise. And that was the last time we'd been on a plane and went anywhere together. We were just, like, on the farm. And we would go on, like, weekend vacations, go to Medicine Hat, go water sliding, that sort of thing with the kids. We went to a few marriage conferences, but, never just went away just the two of us just to like relax and um since the launch pad in swift current uh i've been to williston north dakota for a launch pad i've been to phoenix uh for a launch

pad in october um i've been the one in san diego which i took my wife to and she now loves san diego and just keeps talking about going back there um yeah and been to san antonio We took the whole family to San Antonio. We drove 25 hours in our suburban. So I know what you're going to be going through. But you mentioned how good road trips can be with your kids in the vehicle. And I think my kids... Well, it's spending time.

Yeah. Yeah. In our world, we don't spend enough time. Yeah. And I'm as guilty as that as anyone. It's the world that's been built. Yeah. Yeah.

So it was... It was amazing. I mean, it was 25 hours down there and 25 hours back. And we've never done anything like that before in our lives. And it was amazing. Yeah. And what I would say, too, is because my surrender, you know, I would say that there was a point in my time, my life, about two years ago where I was confronted by one of my employees, who's a believer. And he said, you know, you got you got to get some help like this anger thing you're you're a terrible witness you're leading us in divos in the morning and then you're cussing and swearing and losing your temper and he's right and um so i remember like working hard to like not be so angry so i felt like i had loosened the grip on my farm and and the things i was controlling but i i had never fully surrendered so when i actually fully surrendered i felt like i was actually like pushing my farm and everything that God has given me to entrust me with away.

And I said, okay, God, it's yours. I just want you. And what he did at that point is he changed my heart of stone into a heart of flesh. I think that's Zechio 36 talks about that. And when he changes your heart in that way, like he just molds it. And it's unbelievable. And he's given me like a boldness now too. like I used to be terrified to share my faith with people.

And I serve on the RM Council down in the RM of Frontier and like I'll wear this to my meetings. And I'll wear it everywhere. Like it's literally my new hockey jersey, right? This is who I represent the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And there's just a burning desire inside of me now to share Jesus because I know there's other men out there that are going through life and they're checking a lot of boxes and they're trying to be. good men. They're trying to lead their families well, but they know that they're failing. And like, for me, I felt like I was going 100 miles an hour off a cliff. And I just thank God for his timing. I thank Brady for inviting me last April. And I think the Holy Spirit for convicting me because I

did not want to go to this launch pad thing. It did not sound like my thing at all. But God met me there. and he did a radical thing in my life and I don't know how much more time I should take up because I could go on for three hours. Well, I tell you what, the lovely thing about a podcast, this is where I was talking to Craig, I was like, you sure you want to come to do this? I'm like, we're going to be on the clock,

and I hate having a podcast on the clock. We've got plenty of time. But I tell you what, before you carry on, how about we handed over to Brady and then Brett, and just so the audience knows. And then you guys can, honestly, you could talk about whatever. this is what I love about a roundtable and I love about this spot specifically is I just let you guys roll so Brady introduce yourself to the audience tell you know go as short as long as you want and then

we'll switch over to bread as well okay yeah Brady Funk um my wife and I we live in Weimar Saskatchewan and um we farm there with her family on her on her family farm and um it would have been I'm trying to think back in time here, but probably January of 2024. I was praying and asking the Lord for two solid friends that I could go deep with and who would not only allow me to, you know, share my burdens with, but just to encourage and to, you know, share the hard things, right? and to allow them to instead of competing with each other, maybe this would be an opportunity to complete each other.

And so that's what we're here to do today is to, you know, allow the heart of the father to flow in and through us so that we can complete each other. We're not here to compete with anybody. We're here to complete you and to allow you an opportunity to look behind the veil and see like what, and maybe it's for somebody in your audience. who's struggling, who's dealing with the weight of the world, who has these burdens that they're carrying around with. Those were not designed for that person to carry around with.

There's no person that should go through life carrying around these hard things and thinking they just need to grit their teeth and to do it on their own. We weren't designed to do that. We're designed to do it in community. The world, you know, the world tried to isolate us and to keep your six feet distance and And we can, we don't want, maybe want to go down that, that today. I mean, we're fine to go down any rabbit hole. Yeah.

We all live it. So, you know, so the enemy tries to tell you that you're the only one going through the things that you're going through. And he tries to isolate you. And that's when this, this perpetual doom spiral happens in, and most men's life. So I prayed this prayer at the beginning of June, of January of 2024. asking for two guys to our community was shrinking with everything going on with COVID. And I just really didn't have anyone. I was raised in a Christian home.

But this idea of what a relationship looked like with God was a bit of a foreign concept to me. And I had a couple people in my life that I could tell from a distance were living a life of relationship. and I wanted that. And I wanted the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We're going to talk a little bit about the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And what does that look like in our life? And so I could see this from a distance that these people,

and this one man in particular had this, and he had this community and he had these things that were like happening that seemed as though they were like little tiny miracles almost every single day. I'm like, how do you live a life like that, man? Like, what is going on? And shout out to my good buddy, Jesse. He was the guy that gave me a glimmer of hope for 10 years when I was searching to step out of religion and into a relationship.

And so he just kind of gave me hope for what that looked like. So, you know, when I prayed this prayer, I was distracting myself with the desires of my flesh at any. any road possible, whether it was through a financial opportunity to distract myself. You know, maybe this Corvette's going to provide that opportunity to fill that God-size hole in my heart. Maybe it's through an addiction, right? Lust is a big problem for men these days, right? You know, and it's at everybody's fingertips. I was just going to say it's so accessible.

Right. So that was eating. Even when you're not looking for it, you're just going to scroll through to get whatever. I think so many of us search for what's going on in the world. Yeah. So you're looking for the news. Yeah. And everywhere. It's just, it's just, it's so accessible. It's, you know, as a father, I sit and I'm like, how on earth am I going to protect my children from this thing? Because I struggle with it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think every man is kidding themselves if they say that they're not, right? Because it's, you know, let's just be, let's just be truthful. I speak the truth

today, right? So I was distracting myself with these, with these things. You know, I can go on, whether it's bringing alcohol into my house. Like, who is this? You know, I wasn't raised like that, but all of a sudden I'm trying to cope. I've got these, I've got the weight of the world on my back. And I'm trying to cope with filling that this void that's in my heart. I'm like, I know who God is, but like it's not, it's not doing it. Like, what's going to, what's going to bring true joy incontentment and I just couldn't find it. And I had every opportunity to find it and I was limited with nothing. There was no limitations on what I could and couldn't do. And so we were just finishing up seeding in the spring of 2024, roughly two years ago now. And I was scrolling Instagram,

distracting myself with the sins of the flesh. And I came across this one reel. And I, It was a reel of this big jacked dude. He had his shirt off and he was carrying like these two 85 pound dumbbells. And he was quoting Victor Frankel. And in this quote, he said, men without a deep sense of meaning or purpose will distract themselves with the desires of their flesh. And I just hit a brick wall in that moment.

And I like paused and like, are you speaking to me right now? Like is there somebody that is in this room that you're like deliberately sending this message to other than me because it feels like this was sent to me like a private message. Who is this guy? Turns out that it was Steve Weatherford. He was an ex-NFL football player, won the Super Bowl in 2012 against Tom Brady with New York Giants. And like hit follow.

That was amazing. That was truth, right? I was desiring to hear truth. And so followed him. And then he had a post the next day. about dating your daughter. And if you want your daughter to choose you at the end of your life, DM me daughter,

and I'm going to help you so that she chooses you at the end of your life. Because ultimately, if our kids and our deathbed, if they choose us, that's a picture of success, right? We've done it well as parents if our kids want to be with us in our last dying days. So that was this message.

And so I'm like, there's no way this guy with 600,000 followers on Instagram is going to private message me back, whatever. Here's a prayer that I'll send up and hope for the best. Daughter sent 30 minutes later, hey, Brady, how can I help you? Like, that's weird, man. I've never had anything like that happened to me before. And within a matter of days, he invites me down to his place in Texas for this men's leadership launching pad experience. No idea what this is about, but whatever you have, man, I can tell that the Holy

spirit is in you and I want that. and I have a massive desire to fill this hole in my heart. So whatever you have, I want that, and I feel like this is going to fill that hole. And from that moment forward, so I went to this launching pad, July 12th, 13th, and 14th of 2024. And it's where I tangibly, physically,

spiritually met Jesus in the flesh for the very first time in my life. And I mean that from the sense of like, I was the first person that would go to church on Sundays, check the box. You know, I was a good Christian this week. You know, did the right things. But it just never, never filled that hole. And I weave this into my testimony a little bit. It was the exact same day that Donald Trump was shot in the ear with that bullet was the same day that I had this radical encounter with the Holy Spirit.

And I know that seems weird for maybe a lot of people to hear that. what does that mean well um you know i was the type of guy that would go to church and like have my hands in my pockets and you know very like baptist type style conservative you know wouldn't ever raise my hands in worship and um god met me in a place where i was like i i was in the presence of god for like 35 40 minutes and it was the most amount of love joy peace clarity that i ever had in my entire life. And I tell you, Sean, like, as truthful as it is that I'm sitting across from you right now, that's how I felt the presence of Jesus in that moment. And I was marked that day by the Holy Spirit, just like Donald Trump was marked with that bullet. It's like the exact

same day and the exact same moment. And my wife had texted me. I was completely incoherent at that time because I was like on the floor slain in the spirit. Nothing has ever happened to me like that before. And my wife had texted me and I spoke prophetically and said, I believe that God has something for you today. I'm proud of you that you're here and you're surrendering in this moment. But I feel like he's going to meet you today. Like all these things were happening and I didn't even check my phone because I was

out dead to the world essentially. And so I went home after this event, this launching pad event, and just was like, I cannot unsee what I've just seen. So therefore, how do I go back to the old way of life? Right. I was just marked and changed. And something had happened to me. This fire had sparked in me. And I feel as though like my relationship with Jesus was just birthed at that moment.

and all of a sudden like going to church and reading my Bible and doing these things like I had this this unquenchable thirst to to do these things and it wasn't effort anymore and all of a sudden like this this religion started to take form into a relationship and I just wanted more all the time and then like day by day these these chains that these generational chains and these these these burdens that I was carrying around with, they just started to break off day by day. And then what's beautiful is, like, there's a community of guys that are there to complete you. I've talked about that. And they just like pour into you and love you unconditionally. It's like, hey, man, I'm dealing with this. Insert burden. Um, and that, that guy is there to receive it and to, and to take it. And to, he doesn't have to carry it, but he gives it to God and like gives it to the cross. takes it to the cross and helps you release that. And so that's just where I'm at, man, is like,

um, we've, we've got like a couple businesses, my wife and I. And, um, truthfully, those are the things that really used to get me out of bed in the morning and what fueled me.

Um, I would be like foaming and frothing at the mouth. I can't wait to, you know, get the tractors and combines fired up to hit the field and, um, you know, go do the thing and conquer the world. and acquire the next piece of land.

That's where I was a couple years ago. And now it's like the things of this world have honestly grown so strangely dim because there's now this relationship with Jesus that is so much brighter. And there's so much hope. And there's so much better relationships. And the opportunities are limitless that God has for us in our life. And one of my verses that God is just really just impressed on my heart lately is in third John. And it says, I have no greater joy in my life to hear that my children are walking in truth.

And as a father in today's world, it's just, it just really hits me. It's like, man, I would love my children to have the same opportunity that I have been given. And so I have to model that. right and i i take that responsibility so greatly but the flip side of that is too man is for all of your listeners and yourself um i have i've been given the heart of the father and he Craig spoke about removing the heart of stone and giving the heart of flesh and the same opportunity that i have been given to surrender the sins of my past and to surrender my life to jesus that that same burning desire as it speaks about in John, John 3, 3rd John, is available for each

and every one of the people that are watching this podcast. And it's, it's not done by something that you can do with effort. It's, it's just by surrendering. I can't do this anymore in my own. God, I want you to come into my life and fill me. I'm sorry for the sins that I've made in the past, but forgive me. I believe that you died in the cross and rose again three days later. come into my life, I want all of you and none of me. And that's it. That's it, man. And that's where that journey starts.

And so that's what I'm all about, man, is this, this. And I have the opportunity to hang around these, these beauties. And the beautiful thing is like, I prayed for those two people to come into my life. And I'm not joking. There's probably 200 plus men in this community that I know if I had a problem today. And I phoned or I sent a post out. I know there's an army of guys that are coming to back me. I got to know, you must be a hockey player, yeah?

Or were a hockey player? In a previous life, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you look the part. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I ever get told that anymore, but you look the part. Even the way you flipped on the hat, I'm like, this guy's got to be a hockey player. Who did you play for, if you don't mind me asking back in the day? Just so we had it, we had a really awesome.

I grew up in Consul, Saskatchewan, which is 12 miles from you. 12 miles from the U.S. border and 20 from Alberta. And we just had a greaty hockey team. We had an amazing coach. So I played all of my minor hockey there. And then I went to Camport for my grade 12 year and played for a French-Canadian hockey coach there. And so that was pretty much the extent of my hockey career.

Yeah, fair enough. It's funny. You're like, oh, the previous life, right? What do you sold out for a half? Jesus. Yeah. Interesting. Okay.

Brett. Yeah. Yeah, my name's Brett Howe. I'm, my wife and I live in Esten. You want to pull that mic in just a touch closer to you. How's that? Yeah, better.

Is that better? Yeah. Yeah. It's funny that you, right at the end there, you brought up hockey with Brady because that's part of my story. That's where my identity lied in for so long,

was my junior hockey. And then from there, going to. And where did you play your junior hockey? Forgive me at the hockey player. I'm just curious. That's absolutely fine. I started in BC with the West Side Warriors. They're now called West Colonna. They were the West Side Warriors. Yeah, sure. Yeah, won the Royal Bank Cup a few years ago. I know we're not spoilt. Anyways, regardless, my hockey brain. They were in Lloyd when they were. Yeah. When Lloyd hosted. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And then I got traded to Quinnell, BC, and then traded to Brooks in Alberta who they they won an RBC cup or two yeah uh or two yes or 10 yeah um so yeah that's

from where did you play in brooks uh my last year was 2010 2011 yeah so you're a couple years younger than me yeah i i was there um the year before they won the a j i like to say that i was kind of the The stepping stone. Or I was the problem, one of the two. Sure. But yeah, since from there and then going to Esten and I grabbed onto the senior hockey thing with the Ramblers in Esten. And my identity was genuinely wrapped up in, in what a hockey player?

Being a hockey player, what other people thought of me? What other people thought of me as a husband, as a father, a hockey player as a, you know, a farmer when I started back there. Just all the things that the world saw me as I was, that's where I held my identity in. And I think what's, uh, what would be probably relevant for your audience, um, is like there, I have a lot of similarities to Brady's story as far as the religion versus relationship kind of dynamic there, um, with my Christian upbringing. But I, uh, I was brought up in the church. my parents, faithful Christians.

And I think for me, I went through a phase in my life where I just, I saw a lot of maybe hypocrisy in the church. And in hindsight, I was conflating the church with the gospel, and they're not the same thing. We're all corrupted human beings. And the gospel is different. The gospel is the truth, and it's the message of hope. And I would say, especially during the COVID stuff, which I really enjoyed following you through all of that stuff, I think you did a fantastic job of bringing different voices and different reasoning to that conversation. But through that, for me, was where it really caused a split in my faith. because I saw what I thought was the institution that was supposed to bring hope to people

who thought they were dying. And generally across the board, a lot of that did the opposite. So for me, in that moment, I even started questioning if anything I believed about God was real, if any of it was true. And I think to say I was walking away from God would be an understatement. I was running, which I think makes my testimony interesting because the way that God chased me down in that moment that I was running as far away from him as I could is just supernatural. And how it happened was Brady Funk called me one day.

And me and him didn't really know each other. we had we had maybe what had two conversations up till then our parents knew each other and he was actually more interested in i think he was calling me about um i was into like the bitcoin mining stuff and i think that's what he was calling me about it didn't have anything to do with um a launch pad or anything like that but i i distinctly remember him uh all of a sudden we were talking about this bitcoin mining and all of a sudden he stopped like mid mid sentence and And now that I know Brady, I know he's just, he just follows the spirit and he's just bold in whatever he feels called to do in that moment.

And yeah, in that moment, he just stopped and he said, like, man, I know this is probably going to sound a little strange or whatever, but I just have to tell you about this event I went to that changed my life. I was living a life of mediocrity. And this just set me on fire. I had an encounter with God. like a real encounter that I'd never had in my life. And I was listening to this and I was kind of taken back.

I was like, I don't know where this is coming from. And he just basically bluntly said, like, I feel like you need to go to this event and there's one happening in like three weeks in Dallas, Texas. And I told them, yeah, sure, okay. And in my head, I'm like, yeah, right. And I was thinking of every excuse as to like, there's no way I'm going to Dallas. But I couldn't shake the stuff that he said about it.

I couldn't, something in me was stirring and I couldn't shake it. And finally I was just like, I know this is ridiculous. So I'm going to use my wife as the excuse. And so I told her, I was like, she'll have some reason. And, you know, she'll bring reason to the conversation. No, you're not going to Dallas because you got the kids this and that. Yeah, we've got how many different things we could do with the kids. And her response was, yeah, I think you need to go.

Which, that was my last line of defense, really. And then so I was just, it was stirring in me. I couldn't shake it. And then so I decided I bought a plane ticket that day. I didn't know what it was. I didn't even know what it was. I didn't know that it was even really a Christian thing. It was just an event that changed Brady Funk's life, a guy that I don't really know.

So it was certainly an uncomfortable leap of faith. And it didn't get any more comfortable when I went down there. It was if this event makes you uncomfortable, to put it mildly. When you say it makes you uncomfortable, I'm curious, there's multiple ways of being uncomfortable. Yeah. Right? Somebody can be uncomfortable sitting in these chairs, right? Yeah. Or it could be, I don't know, somebody, one of you mentioned a nice bath and I'm going,

well, that's a type of uncomfortable. When you say uncomfortable, what do you mean? Well, I would describe it as it's uncomfortable in the sense that you, the moment you show up in that door, you know there's no small talk. You're not going to be talking about the Blue Jays that day. It is going to get to... Nobody asked you. You played for the Brooks Bandas.

I got it. Nobody cared one bit about that. Nobody even knew what anyone else did. It was, it turned into, and this was the most... This was honestly the thing that struck me first was within an hour. I've been on some amazing hockey teams with this camaraderie. Sure. And this, like, we've won championships.

And it's, like, I live for that. Like, I love them. camaraderie, the brotherhood. And within an hour of being in this room of, at that one, there was 42 other men that I'd never met. And I felt closer to those 42 guys within one hour, like on a deep personal level than I did with any of my friends back home. That's good.

Which blew me away. I didn't understand how it could be, but it's, this event, and this is what I want to say to your audience too, like this, this event, it forces you to be vulnerable in ways that we protect ourselves from being in our normal average daily life. Do you mind if I just add, how did it force you to be vulnerable in the

ways that you normally protect? I think, I think because right from right from the time you walk in the door, like ego, pride, all those things just get stripped away right off the same. Literally nobody cares. Nobody cares what you do for a living. Nobody cares how many followers you have on Instagram. When you, is it like, it's just like real talk. You know, you go, you walk in and instead of talking about some niceties and trying to get a feel like it's just like you walk in and it's right to the issue. If I could, if I could speak to it or just real quick.

Well, this is what round table is all about. I'm trying to get you shuffled all in so everybody recognized voices. Now it's like, hop in. Yeah, yeah. I'll shut up. Yeah, so to answer your question, at the very beginning of one of these launching pads, like I don't want to like, you know, lay out the script as to what it all looks like because there's an aspect of, you know, surprise that I think is that's important.

But at the very beginning, what we do is we do intros. and the intros are designed to first they they're designed to allow an opportunity for men to lay down these burdens or for maybe the first time in their entire life say hey I struggle with pornography or hey I'm suicidal or hey I'm you know dealing with a financial mess or whatever that may look like but here's here's where the beautiful thing happens is you have men that go before you who have done this before and who are now comfortable in their identity that God has given them and not in the identity that the world has given them. So we say, let me show you my scars so that you can heal from your wounds.

And so there's a guy like Craig, there's a guy like Brett or myself that will go up and bear everything for everybody in the room that we have never met before, or maybe there's a lot of guys that we do know in that room, whichever that may be. and I just lead by example and say like these are the things of the of the flesh and these are the things of the world that I was dealing with. God has healed me from those. And so I'm not up here like, you know, a basket case, for lack of a better term. But these are these are actual physical wounds that I've had in my life. They're now healed.

They're scars. So let me show you. let me be vulnerable with you. Let me show you these. So now you have the opportunity. Remember, we talk about what the enemy wants. He wants to isolate you and allow you to believe that you're the only one going through these things. Now you have guys sharing testimony and all of a sudden, like the walls come down. And it's like, you mean I'm not the only one in the room dealing with this secret sin? Or you like, I'm not the only one that has had child trauma, child abuse, or you wouldn't believe the amount of times that comes up.

You mean I'm not the only one that, you know, thinks about killing myself every single night or drowning myself with this drug or this burden? Like, actually, there's 15 other guys in the freaking room that are going through that same thing. And so for the very first time, men have the freedom and the opportunity to be like, yeah, that's me too that's me too and that's and that's that's that's the that's the very beginning of where healing is allowed to happen and we're no longer talking about like hey what's the weather doing these days in the farm oh yeah it's dry we need rain like those are such menial things in life and what's

beautiful i just want to like i'll say one more thing and then i'll shut up brett you can have her back but like he talks about the camaraderie and nobody cares what anybody else has achieved in life. There's NFL players. There's professional athletes. There's like people with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media that, you know, there's multi, multi-millionaires that come to these events. Everybody's on the same playing field and nobody cares about anything else. There's this camaraderie that happens.

and it happens from a place of leading with vulnerability and showing you those scars. And that's what is so beautiful from a testimony is, you know, I'm just going to plagiarize Steve. He says a plum tree doesn't produce plums so that it can eat plums. An apple tree doesn't produce apples so they can eat apples. In fact, if it does consume those, that tree is going to become sick. But now that I have a testimony to share and to share with others, to share these scars, to share these wounds that have happened in the past, that fruit is for those people that are passing by

so that they can be like, there's hope for a bright future and hope for tomorrow. And I see that in this person. I see that like, oh, like I'm not, I'm actually not going to kill myself because he overcame the spirit of suicide, right? And how was it done? Well, it was done by like surrendering

and being vulnerable with these other men so that they can walk with you and receive that with no guilt and no shame and no condemnation, give it to Jesus, and allow you an opportunity to step into a relationship with Christ. So I hope that answer your question. Yeah, and I think, like, part of the craziest thing about it isn't even the necessarily the burdens that get laid down, but it's the response after when I think naturally we just all think, like, oh, if people know that about me, like, nobody,

nobody will love me. You think of judgment. And it's just powerful that like, you know, there are these things that men genuinely thought they were going to their graves with. And they were going to carry this their whole life. And this is the first opportunity that they get to lay something like this down. And some of these things are really, really heavy. And they lay this down.

And then they experience just acceptance and love from other men. and when they would have expected, like, that's when my protection is gone. Like, that's the thing I've been holding on to for my entire life. That's the thing I thought I was going to go to the grave with. And it's just a, I like that Brady kind of clarified that because those intros are just a powerful moment to realize, like, yeah, this day is different. Like, this, something's different here. And I think it sets the atmosphere for the rest. I won't describe how the whole day goes because like Brady said, there's an aspect of that.

Well, you're the first time doing something, right? Yeah. There's a, I was saying to Craig on the way out. I come from a long line of romantics, right, and romanticizing the world. What you're talking about is like, it's your first time. And the first time, you know, you kind of want to have a bit of an idea, but the experience in itself, you know, is, is, it sounds like it's a very beautiful. experience, right? Like a very eye-opening experience and to give away every single detail would be

devaluing the actual what happens there. Absolutely. And so I would say just from there, I think, so that's kind of the atmosphere that gets set at this event. And then like for me personally, which I think, I think a lot of your audience could probably resonate with is like I had burdens that I'd been carrying around that I didn't even know I had. I describe it as like, it's like carrying around 10 pound weights on your feet. Like eventually you just think that. Oh, I think I think that's your feet. I think most men can relate, whether they've really put time in thinking about it or not.

Yeah. I think about it as like computer screens on. I just got too many on. Yeah. And it's bogs down. Well, I don't know if that happens anymore on computers, doesn't? I feel like you can have 50 screens open and a computer doesn't slow down. but it used to be the more screens he had opened, the slower your computer got up dating myself.

But like, it was a very real thing. And with the stress of the world on, you know, going on, you know, not surrendering. But I don't know. You know, like I have questions, but I'm like, I can hear the audience member going, what are they talking about? And is it coming to Saskatchewan or Alberta or what's going on?

So actually, before I ask any questions, okay, you've talked about this launch pad thing. And I don't mean to like jump ahead of you guys, but I'm like, when and where and how do people find out about this? Because I didn't realize who the main guy was, but I started following him back, I don't know, year after COVID.

I found him very fascinating. But obviously my life went in a different direction maybe. And I haven't seen any of his videos for a while, which is, which is, I don't know, not bad good or bad, but regardless. For the man that's sitting there going, okay, I'm 48 minutes in here. where is this and it's coming to Saskatchewan fill in some details yeah sure um so we had gone to

several of these launching pads and uh you know um both of these guys have have brought people down to them now but it was uh at the at the very beginning um you know i was bringing people with me and you know help if they couldn't afford it helping them fly down and uh helping all with accommodations or, you know, whatever, just be available and I'll bring you because I, like, this has changed my life and I want this for you as well. And so I was talking with Steve about it. I'm like, can you come to Canada? Because like, this is getting expensive. Can you just like come up here and, you know, impact, you know, share this experience that, that, that, that we've had, been able to share it together. And, and, and so we had the first. And, you know, and so we had the first.

one in Canada last, last June. We did one in Swiftcrant and one in Red Deer with my buddy Jesse that I've already mentioned. So he hosted the one in Red Deer and I hosted the one in Swiftcrant. And so we're actually rinsing and repeating that exact same back-to-back event, men's leadership launching pad experience in Canada, Canadian edition. So June 17th, 18th and 19th is in Red Deer, Alberta, and then June 21st, 22nd, 23rd is in Swiftcrant, Saskatchewan for these men's leadership launching pad experiences. And so the first day, so the 17th in Red Deer, there's a family worship night. And so those are kind of designed to allow families and wives and spouses an opportunity to experience just a little bit of a taste as to what the men are going to be

going through in the next couple days so that when they get home, it's not like this massive shock and this, because the men are going to come home different people. And so it prepares the house. It prepares the kids. It prepares the wife. Because it's, it's not a normal church service. It's not a normal worship service. And so that's on the 17th. And then the leadership launching pad experiences 1819th in Red Deer. And then same thing in Swift Grant. um 21st church service for the families and then the men's afterwards as well if i could just touch on one more thing sean is like i think it was brett you talked about um going deeper with with men um that you've known for a long time and um that's something that um i'm experiencing more and more all the

time as time goes on uh one example uh there's a gentleman that has recently resurfaced and my life, known him for about 20 years and just had a beautiful encounter with him a couple weeks ago. And he was dealing with some things. And I don't want to share details, but really, really difficult, really difficult things. And the Lord just guided me into that space where he was. And in those two hours that we spent together, again, I've known him for 20 years. But in these two hours had the opportunity to pray with him and to just do life with him and to meet him where he's at and to ask him like what are what are you carrying around with and how can i help you how can i walk with you um that two hours of a relationship that was done together has 10xed what what 20 years

couldn't and because there's an aspect of vulnerability there's an aspect of like talking about the real things and, you know, and just being there for him. And so that's what it's, that's, that's what I really enjoy is like these deep rooted relationships that are birthed from, from these things, because Brett said it, in a matter of two days, some of these people can become your best friends. And it's because you've shared things with them that you have never shared with anyone else. And, and you've asked for prayer and you've asked for wisdom and realizing they're going to go to battle for you at the drop of the bucket. So you got something, Craig.

Yeah, well, I'll just touch on what these guys are saying. The verse is James 516, confess one to another and pray for one another and you will be healed. And I think what often happens is, you know, I think the Catholic Church does a better job of this with confessing to a priest. But that's what happens at the launch pad is you create a safe environment where, like, he said one man leads with his testimony and fillets his flesh and says like the deepest darkest secret to this room full of guys that you might know they might be your brother-in-law your father-in-law and you're just it's raw and real and it gives them permission to be to be raw and real and

and I think oftentimes the hurt that we have um we don't ever get true healing we often like medicate with alcohol or pornography or whatever it is that we're trying to trying to feel that God-shaped void that Brady was talking about. But I've been to seven of these launch pads now, and I've seen true healing happen. I know what's happened in my life. And Revelation 12-11 says that he will be overcome, so the devil will be overcome by the blood of the lamb

and the word of your testimony. Nobody can deny, like tell me that didn't happen in your life. I know what happened in my life. Ask my wife where we are now. Like we, am I perfect? No, I'm far from it. That's why I need Christ. And I need to be in the Word and I need to get on my knees every morning and humble

myself because Craig O'Henheim can't do any of this on his own other than just be available and be obedient to the Lord and allow God to work in me and continue to heal me. And as time goes on, as I go into the Word and I pray and I ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me and teach me, there's other things. that he draws out of that dungeon and he's like remember this thing i want you to deal with this today and there's there's continued healing that keeps on happening um the other verse is matthew 633 is seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you and seeking isn't going to church once a week um that's what i did for 40 years and uh it wasn't working seeking is is giving him

your best fruit, your times, your talents, your treasures. For me, I told you on the way that getting up at 2.30 wasn't that big of a sacrifice for me because my life has changed and I now get up at 3, 4 a.m. so I can be in the word for an hour because I just want, like Brady said, I just want more of God. I think that's John 330 where it says more of him and less of me. Because who I am, the flesh, is ugly and sinful. Um, but Christ died for me and I died with Christ and I'm a new creation. And, uh, he is, he is, uh, what he's done is amazing. Um, the thing that I would say from

the hope that I have now because of the launch pad and champions in Christ is, because I was very, I used to listen to your podcast tons and, um, during COVID, I started listening to it because you were having the conversations. that I was having with my friends, even though we weren't supposed to meet. We were all meeting. Come get me. Anyways, but I thought my hope was in like, well, we need good Christian men in politics. We need good Christian men at the school boards.

And there wasn't enough of us. And so I was getting stretched and I was like, I didn't have kingdom order. I was sacrificing my home life, my kids, and it just wasn't working. But when I went to the launch pad, it gave me hope because it was like, God showed me that if we can correct the men, if we can get them on the right path, if we can get them to humble themselves. Second Chronicle 714 says, for those who I call by my name will humble themselves and seek me and pray and repent, turn from their wickedness,

I will heal their land. And as a farmer that spoke to me big time, because we've been eight years of drought where I'm from. But what God's revealed to me is that this land needs healing. It is a disaster. And we can't look to Pierre Palliver, Mark Carney, Sean Newman, you're one man. But if each man gets lit on fire and humbles himself

and starts leading his house, sold, a fire of revival is going to come across this nation. And this nation will be a Christian nation again. And there will be true healing. This verse here in Ephesians 5 often gets twisted, but it's Ephesians 5, 23, for the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. You know, and we often, lots of people leave that part out. And so you look at that verse is like, the man's in charge. So what I say goes, right?

well, that's not how Jesus led the church. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. When they were walking around in the streets of Jerusalem through the muck and the mire and the sewage, he got down on his knees, the king of kings, the Lord of Lords that came down from heaven, sacrificed himself for each one of us. And he humbled himself.

Like that's what humility, that's what, I wish I could humble myself that much. That is such a beautiful picture of who he was. and he humbled himself to be the lowest to serve us. And that's just my desire is that I can cast aside all the pride that I have and humble myself and serve my wife and serve my kids and serve my community that way. And if I can go to a launch pad and spend my money to buy a plane ticket to go to Dallas and supply a friend there or get people to come to Red Deer or Swift Current

so that they can be healed from the wounds that they've been carrying around, then I'll do it. Like, you know, God's called me to be a farmer, but that's not my first calling. He's called me to share the gospel. In Matthew 20, it says to go forth and make disciples. And the harvest is plenty, and the workers are a few, and it's tiring.

But thankfully, where we are weak, he is strong, and he surrounds you with good men. Brady had a prayer to surround himself with two men. God gave him 200 men. Praise God for that. And God's done the same in me too. And, you know, for your listeners, like, there's freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

And God is calling each and every one of you. You were knit together in your mother's womb. Before he created the earth, he had plans for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. And I know that there's a lot of people. people that have church hurt that have been betrayed, that have been abused, that have been betrayed, you know,

that have fathers or mothers that hurt them. But, you know, there's a perfect father with a perfect love, that perfect love of Christ coming down and dying for us. That is the perfect sacrifice. And he can heal you. He took my heart of stone and gave.

me a heart of flesh. And so that same gift, like Brady said, is available for every person out there. But I believe it's the men that need to lead the way. It's the men that need to get off the bench, get into the game, and get down to it. Like, it takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable. and there's times through our lives where we've been vulnerable in places where people stabbed us in the back or they took that thing and they went and used it to judge us and make us feel shame but the devil loves that sort of thing he loves he loves to have that you know confess 95% of the stuff you've done in your life but this one thing if you ever tell somebody that you did this to this person they'll never forgive you for that but all that is ammunition for the devil

to keep you down and the chains that you don't break will be passed down onto your children you know whether it's a porn addiction whether it's alcoholism there's so many things that we've seen generate you know we hear about generational curses that's not something that i really looked into um but it's a very real thing and uh as fathers it's our responsibility to put our feet in the sand and say no more the devil has no more room in this place as for me and my health I will serve the Lord. And I can't even describe the work that's been done inside of me and the 180 that my life has taken. There's days where I don't want to farm anymore.

Like Brady said, he used to fom it at the mouth, you know, for that next challenge. I love challenges. But this is the next challenge. This is where the real satisfaction and fulfillment. is in serving Christ. Paul talks about you're either a slave to sin or you're a slave to Christ. And I used to just hate that word because I didn't want to be a slave to anybody. You know, we look at the leaders of this world.

We look at Mark Carney. I don't want to serve that. I won't say the word. This is where, you know, before I brought up, you know, when it's happening and trying to get, you know, because I'm sure people, there's got to be, if there's only one person, that's totally fine. Yeah. It goes, what is this? But you brought it full circle again to surrender.

And I remember that being, that is a hard thing to do. And I remember like being very emotional about it on my deck by myself. I'm like, why am I so emotional about this? But to be a, I don't know, a strong man in our society who knows what's going on and everything else, to say you're surrendering to something that most people can't comprehend. It's difficult in one sense, except on the flip side of that, it's like I think all three of you've mentioned it, the peace it brings is incomprehensible. You can't even begin to describe it.

It's like I don't even know how to put it into words. I try. I fail every time. And yet, you know, I sit here and I go, man, nice pretty darn good. you know and where did that come from but i can certainly pinpoint it to allowing jesus and that that that is a date you mark on the calendar you're like right there and once you realize that it's like only the only thing gets better is well it all gets better right it doesn't mean there isn't tough days it doesn't mean there isn't challenges and and other things that are going to

go on certainly there is but the days like that seem to be fewer than the days before because you have something to lean on that is always standing beside you just had to acknowledge it like hey how are you doing yeah well and the other aspect to that I don't think we really we've covered like we've covered this the healing process in this launching paddy event right but the the other aspect of that is the the authority that you all of a sudden see that you can walk in now that the authority of Christ. You know, I think we grow up in,

I did anyway, in this church culture of, it looks weak, it looks soft, it looks passive. And a lot of times going to church, that's the way it feels. And sometimes the team that wins the hockey game, or at least in the era I grew up, was the biggest, meanest, impose your will on them.

And you know what Christ is? Man, alive, is he the biggest mean. gentlest, gentlest, a lot of those hockey players are gentlemen giants.

But on the ice, they impose their will. Yeah. But you see this, at this event, you see this, this team of men walking in the real

authority of God, which is not weak. It is not passive. That's cool. And it gives you, it gives you this, you know, Brady says it all the time,

this picture of possibility. And I think, is it a Mark Twain quote that he says, the two most important days in your life are the day you're born and the day you're born

and the day you figure out why. And I love that quote. And I'm, I think that day can happen any day, but certainly the, the atmosphere around these launching pad events like that. January 2nd, 2025 was that second day for me. You think, what do we sit here? Gentlemen, I don't know when this releases, but I mean, regardless of the date, you're less, if you're listening to this, you're like less than three weeks, roughly, away from, no, it's got to be three weeks, away from because they like is there a deadline when they got to sign up for this like is this like is there a hard date coming up we have a we have a hard cap number on the amount of guys

oh okay un officially or officially coming but uh we're we're gonna allow more than nobody's gonna get more than no and as you're listening as you're like man i got it this is interesting i should maybe check this out i'm like well the cool thing is is you know like you can get oh it's like six months away okay sure it's like no it's pretty cool quick and you don't got to go to Dallas you know you swift current or red deer correct yeah I mean two central spots for well depends if you're sitting in Lloydminster it's a little bit of a drive but yeah for your listeners if you're hearing this and you're stirring in your spirit show up we won't turn you away just show up to the building yeah yeah if you want to get a little

uncomfortable why not yeah yeah I want to just touch on on something you said about surrendering how it's scary you know And the devil loves to use fear, but the Bible says, do not fear a version of that over 400 times. Over and over. Yeah, reminds us more than one for every day of the year, right? Do not fear. And God did not give you a spirit of fear, but love, power, and sound mind. And, like, fear is crippling.

Like, constantly, every day, the amount of things that I, in the flesh, fear, is unbelievable. And I have to remind myself of scripture that, no, God did not. give me this if I have fear or anxiety or timidity to do something to keep me in my comfort zone God doesn't want us in our comfort zone he wants to stretch us it talks about being refined by the fire removing the dross from the silver well you need a hot fire to do that and once you start experiencing god and you see you get to feel the authority you can walk in because I no longer fear this next thing. I no longer fear wearing Jesus's king on my shirt or going into a dark alley or taking my kids to the city. I used to, during COVID, I thought everybody was coming after my kids. I don't have that

fear anymore. Like, God is the creator of the universe. He loves those kids more than I can. And I love them an awful lot. I'll do all kinds of wild stuff for my kids. What's God going to do for him? He's got them. Fear is an interesting one because I hear your fears and I'm like, I don't know. I'm not saying I don't have similar fears, but like, I was telling Craig, once again, Craig was a part of this conversation and Brett and Brady weren't on the way out. I'm like, I'm leaving for a year here in, I don't know, 30-some days now, folks. And my fear at the time was, and everybody kept saying this, you just built a new studio and you're leaving? And I'm like, yeah.

Listen, if it was my plan, I'm like, I don't know why I'm going. It doesn't make sense. I've been praying about it an awful lot. I just shut it down. There's no reason to leave. I got plenty of things to do here. And then I chuckle about fear because my fear is on perception of leaving a brand new studio and going to do it. I'm like, that's a ridiculous fear to have.

The studio will be still sitting there. Or the fear of talking about it, you know? Like I really admire men who kind of. come on and can just spit fire, so to speak, of their journey. Because that's really important for men to hear, right? And we get caught in the fear. I was telling you, once again, sorry, folks. I'm like, I'm going to, me and Craig sat and had a half an hour trap before we got this

thing going. And Brady and Brett, once again, we're a part of that. I was saying, you know, once upon a time when I accepted Jesus is my Lord and Savior, having a prayer before supper felt really odd. I don't know. I'm going to do this in front of my wife and my kids. I don't know. And then, you know, you kind of pass that fear.

And then the next fear came out in public at like a restaurant. I'm like, are really going to do it? I'm like, I almost catch myself now. I'm like, of course you're going to do it. What the heck do you fear? Like, what does it matter what all these people think of you? Right. And yet we live in a world, you know, when you're talking about, I forget which one,

forgive me, was talking about it. It doesn't matter if you're NFL, doesn't matter if you're an NFL, doesn't matter if you got 200,000 fallers. we live in the world of followers, which is such a strange, surreal, you know, like we farm out intelligence or thoughts to people who have a high number of follower count, which is just a strange thing. And yet, in saying that for Brady,

like, I mean, you stumbled into a guy that if it wasn't for that, you wouldn't have found this idea that's changing everything. So it's a real paradox, you know? Yeah. Yeah, there's two podcasts recently that I listened to, and maybe you've seen a clip of this, Sean. But I just find it to be so beautiful because the first one that I want to share about is a guy by the name of Theo Vaughn, which a lot of people may know who that is. And I just have a large appreciation for him because he's in this podcast, he's unpacking. the book of John.

And he's telling a story about, I think it's John 5. He's telling a story about the beggar at the pool of Bethesda. Yeah. Right. And Jesus comes up to him, comes up to this lame beggar. And this lame beggar had been laying there for 30 some odd years. And he says, do you want to be healed? Jesus asked this beggar, do you want to be healed?

And the way that Theo unpackes this is like, what a crazy question. question to ask man like of course he wants to be healed right of course he wants to be the first one to jump into this pool to be healed of the affliction the afflictions right and but the deeper the deeper aspect of that that we can resonate with is work as as men um we're dealing with these sins of the past and we're dealing with these burdens and they become crutches and they become they become this comfortable thing that's that that that you can continue to go back to that is going to provide you that sense of release for a moment it's going to provide you that sense of comfort for a moment and it's going to it's going to wipe the pain away for a moment it will it but it doesn't last

and so those things become those comfortable things and that's why jesus is asking uh this this beggar at the pool in that moment do you want to be healed because this is comfortable for you right now. People are going to bring you money. People are going to bring you food. You don't have to get up and you don't have to do any work, right? You live a, you're crippled. Yeah, but, but it's comfortable. You can dip your toes into the pool and you can, you know, they're going to be nice and soft. But do you want to strip away those, those things of comfort and step into what God has truly called you to step into? Your true identity. We've all been created in the, image of God and these these these things that we're doing and these these avenues of life that

we're walking down that we think that that's that's who I am I'm just a farmer from southwest Saskatchewan or you know oil field technician or you know whatever like there's so much more than than what God has created me for and these things that I'm using as a coping mechanism they are comfortable, but by being able to share those in the intros, it allows you to like strip those off and to become healed because it's, it's very uncomfortable to recognize, like I've asked a lot of guys, do you want to be healed, man? And the response is the same thing every time is like, I don't know if I do.

because like admitting some of these things have consequences and now i got to deal with these consequences right you know um i don't know why this comes to mind for i'm going to stop saying forgive me i'm like the second thing that came to mind and i've chuckled about this ever since uh i was praying you know and and um as i'm praying i'm kind of looking up and i'm kind of like having a conversation with myself along with god right and i'm sitting there and the last thing i said is can we just not make it dull? I would like an adventure. And I chuckle about that

because I'm like, careful what you ask for. But one of the things I think a lot of men want is to be the hero of their story, to be something more. And one of the things that God really does that I not wrestle with, but it's hard to relay maybe in the words, is he pulls you to be something more than what you are.

And there is adventure in that. And so part of it is like, you know, I bring up surrender because surrender is difficult. That sucked. I didn't want to do it. I don't want to surrender to anyone. I'm a self-made man. I'm a father. I'm taking the burdens of my life onto me and I want to take that.

And surrender is putting it on to something else and that feels like a cop out or something. I don't know if I'm saying it properly. But the other thing I wanted was I wanted to, I didn't. didn't want life to be dull. I don't want, you know, you talk about the church being weak. To me, it seems almost predictable. And I didn't want that for life. And I'm here to say, you know, one of the crazy things about following the lead of Jesus is like, you know, the Theo Vaughn's a perfect example. It's like, that is not, that is not a dull ride. And, and like, The more you, the more you drink of that cup, maybe, like, it's just, you realize the possibilities

of the world, they're all just sitting there. It's just, you just got to acknowledge it and then just start moving forward. Like, this trip to go for a year. Yeah. I'm like, I am, I'm like, yeah, okay. It's a lot of trust. It's a lot of trust. Yeah.

I'd be a liar if I didn't say I have a little bit of nerves on it, right? Like, I'm in my comfort. This is my comfort. I built my, I built it. It's right here. This is exactly what I want to do. I want to have groups of men come in and do exactly what you're doing in different senses and sit around a table. And instead, as soon as I have it built, sorry, you got to leave.

I'm like, don't make any sense. But then again, lots of things don't make sense. Yeah, yeah. I want to share one other thing, Sean. I don't know how much time we have. So I believe me, we, we have time. Okay, cool. Yeah, we got, we got plenty.

So I just want to, like, build the anticipation because I feel, I feel really called in my spirit to provide an opportunity to pray at the end, you know, once we're done. I'd love to pray with you. Yeah. I'd love to bless you and pray for you for your family as you're going on this adventure. And then all, also provide an opportunity at the end for the listeners to, you know, maybe for the first time

step into a relationship with Jesus. And so I just want to build that anticipation and just whenever the time's appropriate, you just let us know. But there's, um, um, the verse that's coming to mind is in Romans chapter 3, uh, verse 23 and 24. And it says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. And so what does it mean that all have fallen short of the glory of God? And what are the consequences for that? So we are all predestined for hell. We are all predestined for hell. and the only one that has lived the perfect life and paid the ultimate sacrifice is Jesus. And so he stands in the gap.

God is perfect. God sent his only son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins, for Brady's sins, for Brett's sins, Craig's sins, Sean's sins, so that you can have the opportunity to enter into a relationship and spend eternity with God and Jesus in heaven forever. And so what does it mean that all have fallen short? And the consequence of that is let's pretend for a moment that this podcast room is on fire, right? It's on fire. The doors are closed and we're blindfolded, but you know the way out of this room, right? And but we don't.

We're blindfolded, but you know the way out of this room. Wouldn't you do everything in your power to get Craig and Brady and Brayley and out of this room because you know that if you don't get them out of this room and out of this beautiful podcast room that you've built, that we're going to die. And what are the consequences of that? Right. But you know the answer. You know the way out. And so we're here to tell you and to tell your listeners that, hey, we all deserve death, man. Like we've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of the God, glory of God. But the answer is, it's Jesus.

And we want to give that opportunity for all your listeners today to spend eternity with God in heaven forever and to live a life of John 1010. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy it. But I've come to give life and to give it abundantly here on earth. You don't have to be tormented with these things and to feel alone like we've talked about and carry the way to the world. These opportunities are to lay down, to walk with. bold men who want to go to battle for you.

And so we're here to provide an opportunity to show that there's a different way of life to live, an abundant life. Not the prosperity gospel. Like we do believe that like God wants to bless those, right? Bless people, he's in the business of blessing. But it isn't like, surrender this and I'm going to give you this. It doesn't always work that way. but the one gift that we can offer is a gift of a relationship and eternal salvation from the burning house

here's the way out this is the one and only way out that's it well i'm like do you want to end because i'm like we can end right now i don't know what you got to leave it no we got 25 minutes we have that's why i'm like we got time but he's building anticipation so I'm like will you end right now because that feels like I don't want to what I'm doing right now I don't want to do what I'm doing right now so if you want to end he's building he's building yeah I'm like we say a prayer and go but if you got other thoughts I think my only other I have nothing else to stay but my only other thought Sean is um where we uh um you've made it clear that you've accepted Jesus into your heart

you're proud of that you share it boldly um but uh i like the analogy that that craig talks about um and we have a every every tuesday morning we have a men's group where we gather to pray and worship and um build each other up and one of the things that craig shared about last uh share share the analogy of the uh the tree by the river that's what i'm open to right now oh god's good man share that Yeah, okay, so Psalm 1, starting in verse 2 says, But those who delight in the law of the Lord and who meditates on his law day and night, that person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yield its fruit and season,

and whose leaves, our leaf does not wither. Whatever they do shall prosper. And the image that God gave me when I read this, and I've meditated on several times, is that this stream that flows by the tree that's rooted by the river, which is us. If we root ourselves in Christ, in God, in the Word, it doesn't matter how big we get and how much water that tree sucks up through those roots. It's never going to dry up that river because God is infinite.

His goodness is infinite. So even if you live your entire life in perfect reverence to God and serving him and humbling yourself, it's like one drop in the ocean of that river that's flowing by. He's always got so much more for you. And Tuesday mornings, like, I live almost two hours from Swift Current, and I'm there almost every week because it's my addiction, is to get in that room and be able to pray for other men,

have men pray for me, worship God with these other men, seek him. because I want, I want, I want to grow in him and I want to produce fruit in season and I don't want my leaf to wither. And it often, scripture talks about like having your cup overflow. And the more time you spend seeking him and surrounding yourself with other godly people, it fills your cup. Because when we go out into the world and we share Jesus. and we pour into other people, we serve other people, we are pouring out, and we need to be filled up again. And nothing fills us up like the perfect love of the father and his word.

So, yeah. Yeah, and like as that tree grows, as I grow, my branches grow out and they get further and further, and I produce more fruit. And I get to, my branches reach out to my kids and then to their friends. and, you know, we get to watch our kids then grow and produce fruit for themselves and for those around them. And it kind of goes back to what Brady shared in, was that third John? About, you know, my, say that verse again.

Yeah, third John, verse four. My greatest joy brings me no further delight than to know that my children are walking with the Lord. Yeah. Something along the lines of that. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in truth. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm no biblical scholar. Like I've read through the Bible maybe twice in my life in 41 years.

I've definitely picked it up a lot more in the last year, and I've started listening to him. And God does speak to you when you're listening and you're asking him to reveal things to you. but it's a relationship and we need to be in the word to hear from him. And hopefully there's somebody out there listening that is hearing from God right now. That was our prayer before we started this podcast was that it wouldn't be us speaking, but that it would be the Holy Spirit speaking through us because, yeah, it's an encounter with God that changes your life radically.

and that's available for everybody. And a launch pad is a great place to come meet God. Yeah. Before we do prayer, any final thoughts from you, Brett? I think just to touch on or cap off what these guys said, just for any of the men specifically listening to this, there is so much more for you. there is there is a higher calling for you and uh and it it's not weak it's not boring it's not

passive like this life is abundant it is excited it is adventurous like you talked about Sean um and i would just say for anyone um that again is is just maybe listening to this and just has something stirring um that's what that really resonates with me because that's the exact conversation Brady Funk and I had that got me to do the crazy thing, buy the ticket, go to Dallas. I just want to say, like, don't ignore that. That's not, you know, that's the Holy Spirit working in you. So don't, don't ignore that feeling and lean into it. Because at the end of the day, being uncomfortable is what's going to get you to the most meaningful things and the most purposeful things in life.

So that's, I just encourage every, every man listening to this to just, to just lean into that uncomfort. Yeah. Well, I'm going to ask on behalf of Craig because it goes without saying, Sean, we want you to come to our launching pad that we're hosting. I know you've got, it's T minus 30 days before you're leaving on your family trip. and the word that the Lord gave me and these guys in preparation for these launching pads is to go after the one and not worry about the number of guys that are going to be in the room we don't just want like

you know to fill seats just to say that we had 100 guys show up it's not about that. It's it's about um Jesus went after the one and uh in this situation obviously like you've you know um you have the opportunity to to be that tree beside that river who gets another drop of water from the infinite god who has so much more for your life even though you've like accepted his his invitation freely you've done nothing to deserve it but you've accepted that and you've proclaimed that he is Lord in your life, it doesn't stop there, right? And so this is an invitation for you to partner alongside of us

and, you know, see what God has, what's the next thing that he's going to reveal in your life? Well, I appreciate that, gentlemen. Well, I'll give my standard answer, which is I'll pray on it. It's good. You know, anytime big decisions come up and when you're talking about life-changing

and having a family day before you go, I'm like, that's really smart. Because when you run into Jesus, the changes, I'm sure, people stare at and go, what on earth has happened. So I'll pray on it. It's good. Yeah. It's good. Just like the hat says, pray for everything.

100%. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I chuckle because you guys don't know this. Nobody knows this. I've been praying on, so for the audience. Right on us leaving. I was uh once again Craig you're getting the you heard all this on the way out but I've been praying about it so whatever I've been praying on what I want to do with part of the road trip across Canada is I want to run into the pillars of society right and so I got to do this in Lloyd I got hired to do it in Lloyd I did 49 interviews and people this day still say uh lots of those interviews

are the best I've ever done well that's easy because there were there were the pillars of the community that helped build Lloyd Minster right so you got to meet and talk to and hear the life stories of just people that held up a city and tried to build it up. And lots of those were Christians, right? And so I was praying about it. I'm like, man, why is this idea not taking hold? Then you guys roll in. You start talking.

I'm like, this is weird? I'm like, does this answer to the prayers? It's really, because the one thing about God is like, at least in my life, is you pray about things and then he presents, or at least I. I don't know. Once again, you guys, hop in, it's a roundtable. Feel free to share. But like, he presents things.

You're like, hmm. And then it's up to you to walk through the door. Or at least that's in my life. Yeah. And so I chuckle about it because I was praying about, you know, like, I want, I want to interview some people across Canada. And testimonies are, man, they're fun. Right?

Like hearing how somebody else, it used to be, in my world, used to be, you know, it was a red pill moment, right? Like, what got you questioning COVID? Right. Yeah. What opened your eyes? But then I ran in Jesus. I'm like, no, that's a red pill moment.

What, what moment really changed for you? And it sounds like you guys have something that men could use. And so, I mean, that's a long way of saying. I'll pray on it. Yeah. That's the best answer we could ask for. Yeah. Yeah.

Now, would you like to end with prayer? You might be, you know, Bray, I'm going to be honest, you might be the first person. I've got to think about this. If not the first person, one of a select company, which I'm going to say is like two or three that has ever prayed on air. Praise God. Yeah.

Fire away. Amen. Yeah. Praise God. Craig, why don't you, why don't you start and I'll close? And I'll, I'm going to pray a salvation prayer. And Brett. All right.

Yeah. Father, we just thank you for this day, Lord God. We thank you for your plans. Father, Lord, we thank you for the breath in our lungs, Lord. That when we wake each day, it means that you have plans for us, Lord. And we're just so thankful that we get to be part of this great adventure that you've taken us on, Lord, that you've sent your son down to die for us, Lord, God, so that we could be a slave to Christ, which actually is the most freeing thing in the world

because his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And so he takes away all of the weight that crushes us, Lord. Just thank you for the crushing that Christ did for us, Lord. He took on the weight of the world for every man and woman and child, Lord, so that they would no longer be separated from the Father, but that that free gift of salvation is available for them. And yeah, we just thank you, Lord, that you are working, that you are moving, Lord, that there is a revival sweeping across Canada and North America, Lord.

I've witnessed it in the young people, Lord, God, that they are seeking for truth and they are seeking for somebody to follow, Lord. so I just thank you, Lord, that you're working, you're drawing them in, that you're using men like us and you're making the change in our hearts, Lord, so that we can grow, we can be rooted near that river, Lord God, so that you can fill us up and we can grow and we can stretch out our branches to those around us, that we can walk in boldness and courage, Lord God, that you didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of love for those that need love, Lord, for power so that when we pray, the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective.

And Lord, we thank you for a sound mind that gives us discernment, Lord, and your spirit helps us discern the truth from the lies and this world we live in with AI and everything else. Lord, we need to be rooted in your word and have discernment to know which way is up and which way is down. And so, Father, we thank you that you lead and guide us and that your word is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. I just pray this all in Jesus, Holy Name. Yeah, God, we love you and he praise you. Father, thank you for the opportunity to just be on this roundtable today, Lord.

You've cultivated this relationship with Sean and Craig many, many months ago, years ago. And today is the day that that came to fruition. So, God, we're just grateful for the opportunity to be here today. Thank you for the breath in our lungs. God, just bless. We just want to bless Sean. and his wife and kids, Lord, God, we pray that this podcast just has further reach than Sean or either one of us guys around this table could have ever imagined. God, and that

the message of the gospel just goes to the nations and that this is an opportunity and this is a, this is just one of those vessels that furthers your kingdom, Lord. God, just be the lamp unto Sean's feet and the light into his path. guide and direct him everywhere he goes, even as life is going to look different for him in the next 30 days, God. We just bind and rebuke the fear and the uncertainty that, leaving, leaving this place for a year. Like, that's, that's a scary thing in our, in our human flesh. And so, God, just give him a supernatural boldness, give him a sense of awareness to know that you are there every step of the way with him. God, and just, just give them, uh, uh,

an abundance of grace as they're going to be with their kids and, you know, in close proximity with a husband and wife through this next year. Just give them abundance of grace to, and just, yeah, just allow them to use this as an opportunity to just grow closer to you, Father. So God, as, yeah, as we come to close here, I just want to, for those that have never had an opportunity to put you as Lord of their life. That opportunity is there. As it says in Revelation 320, it says, here I am. I stand at the door and knock. He who opens the door, I will come in and dine with them and they with me. And so God, we just lean on that, that you're speaking to the hearts and the minds and the souls of those that are listening to this podcast, Father,

you're standing at the door and you're knocking on their door, Lord. You want relationship with them. You don't want religion with them, but you want a deep intimate relationship with them so that they have the opportunity to just continue to go back to the well and be like, I can't do this alone. I can't carry these burdens alone. I can't carry the guilt and the shame and the condemnation that,

the hurt that has been caused on me. It's not for you to carry. Jesus is here standing and he wants to take. take that from you. So it's just a simple prayer. And there's there's nothing fancy about it. So if this is you, if God's speaking to you and your spirit and this, this opportunity is right now. So I'm going to pray this prayer and you can pause and go back and forth and, you know, and pray this prayer. God, I've made mistakes. I've sinned in the past. I've heard maybe even send to they. Lord, I have these burdens that I carry around with. I no longer want to carry them on my own.

Thank you for dying on the cross for me. God, I acknowledge that, Jesus, I acknowledge that you died on the cross and rose again three days later. Thank you for paying the sin, paying the price at the cross for my sin that I deserve, I, Brady, should be. be the one on that cross. So God, thank you for paying that price for me. God, I want you to come into my life. I want relationship with you. I do not want religion with you. I don't want a relationship with you. As it says in John 1010, I want an abundant life with you. Up until this point, maybe the devil has tried to steal, kill and destroy those things in your life. Jesus is knocking and he wants a relationship with you. So God, come into my life.

I want an abundant life with you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Gentlemen, thanks for making the trip and doing this. I bet you when people tune this one in, they won't know what's going to hit them. I'm going to assume. I assume you're going to light up the old text line.

So thanks again for making the trip and coming all this way. And I appreciate it. Really appreciate getting to know each and every one here. Yeah. Yeah. And if somebody just prayed that prayer, if that was you that gave your life to Christ, Sean, how do they get a hold of you? Well, they know.

Down in the show notes, there's a phone number. So just shoot me a text. And if you want any more information on the launch pad, shoot me a text because I can certainly connect where to go and connect it with these guys. Yeah. Yeah, can you put that information in the show notes or something? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, cool.

Perfect. I just got to say, praise God. Praise God. Praise God. He's so good. And thank you, Sean. That's... I'll honor you for open hands and open... I don't know. I don't...

What did I do? I get to sit here and I... I don't know. It's such a strange world that I've allowed in, in the best possible sense, which, you know, those two don't normally go together, right? I mean, like, what did I do? Somebody text me. send me like a 10 minute voicemail

and I chuckled about it and I was listening to it and half the time he's like second guessing himself even sent it and I'm like what are you talking about? Like we do this whenever you just got to make it you. Well I'm sure you could have

bigger social media personality sitting with you today and you chose us and we appreciate that. While that is probably true some of the most meaningful conversations in my life in this podcast never came from

and I joke about Elon Musk because I mean obviously if Elon Musk wanted to come on the podcast I'd be a moron not to say yes but some of the most important influential conversations I've ever had in my life have come from no names have come from people you don't know

that's why I come back to when I go across Canada I really want to get to know that again because there are such wonderful stories, testimonies of people across Canada and elsewhere in the world It was just like

phenomenal, right? And so I know, I appreciate you guys leaving at, what was it again? Two in the morning? 3.30. I live three miles off the U.S. border.

Yeah. It pretty much came from the States. It wasn't as bad for me. It was 5.30. I sit here and I just go, I don't know what I'm supposed to special. I get it. That would I've,

you know, the podcast and everything, that just floors me. It does. So it's the least I can do to open this place up. And, you know, for the audience, I'm pretty sure this is the last podcast. It's going to be aired out of the new studio until I'm back, right?

I've got, it feels like, you know, 30 days can be a long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it's just shrinking time of we've got to get things stored away. And I'm pretty sure you're the last podcast that's going to be aired in here. So that's an honor for, and I was happy to make that honor when you're like, I'm going to get up at 2.30 in the morning. We're driving all the way here. So, no, I appreciate you guys coming in doing this. Yeah. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Sean.