Shawn Ryan Show - #306 Bryce Crawford - Gen Z Evangelist on the Vices Destroying Your Life

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

Bryce Crawford is a Christian evangelist and street preacher known for direct, face-to-face gospel conversations in public spaces. He grew up in a church-influenced environment but experienced intense... anxiety, depression, and spiritual confusion as a teenager, eventually becoming bitter toward religion. At age 17, after reaching a personal crisis point in late 2020, Crawford describes a dramatic conversion marked by a profound sense of peace and a complete redirection of his life toward evangelical Christian faith. Following his conversion, Crawford committed to bold public witness and full-time ministry, choosing street evangelism over traditional church roles. He founded Jesus in the Street, a ministry focused on engaging culture directly. Often in confrontational or emotionally charged environments—to share the Christian gospel. His work emphasizes truth, repentance, and love expressed through courage and personal conviction. Crawford has built a large online following through viral street-level encounters and testimony-driven content on TikTok and YouTube. His media presence includes a main YouTube channel for long-form outreach and conversations, secondary clip channels, and a podcast featuring interviews and teachings on theology, culture, and evangelism. Recently married to Mandy, Crawford frequently speaks about discipline, accountability, and building a Christ-centered marriage as foundations for ministry. His broader vision centers on normalizing public expressions of faith, equipping Christians to engage a hostile culture, and bringing the gospel beyond church walls—into everyday public life. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: Head to https://superpower.com and use code SRS at checkout for $20 off your membership. Unlock your new health intelligence with 100+ biomarkers tested every year. Learn a new language and get up to 60% off your subscription at https://babbel.com/SRS Don’t let your money sit around—put it to work with Stash. Go to https://get.stash.com/SRS to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures Find your forever cookware @hexclad and get 10% off at https://hexclad.com/SRS ! #hexcladpartner Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at https://shopify.com/srs Bryce Crawford Links: YT - https://www.youtube.com/@thebrycecrawford IG - https://instagram.com/brycecrawford TikTok - https://tiktok.com/@brycecrawford Merch - https://jesusinthestreet.com Podcast Channel - https://youtube.com/@BryceCrawfordPodcast Donate To Our Ministry - https://app.aplos.com/aws/give/JesusInTheStreet Praise Energy - https://drinkpraise.com/collections/all Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:22 free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Yeah, you're on the road a lot now, huh? Yeah, we are. You're in Oklahoma yesterday. Today's off. Tomorrow's Huntsville. Today?
Starting point is 00:00:42 Yeah, that's right. Well, we were in Oklahoma even this morning, but the night before it was Dallas, before that it was Houston. Night before that it was Dallas. Before then I was in Lynchburg, Virginia. I'm big friends with the guys up at Liberty University. Right on. I'm a student there as well.
Starting point is 00:00:56 And that was in Phoenix before that. A lot of traveling. Right on, man. I love your shirt. Thank you. Got to rep it boldly. Got to wear it bold, you know. That's awesome.
Starting point is 00:01:06 Thanks. So I got a question for it. I've been thinking about questions to ask myself every day to kind of keep my ass in line, make me a better person. I'm just curious if you have any thoughts on this. So I've been thinking about it. I'm not sold on this. I've been thinking about it over the weekend. And it's amazing.
Starting point is 00:01:30 I got off social media about a week, a week and a half ago. And now I'm like doing all this other. I was scared to death to get off of it because I'm like, how am I gonna know what's going on in the world? I'm a podcaster. I gotta know exactly what's happening every fucking second of every day. And then it just got, I just, I was like, dude, I can't be present with my kids. Like, I'm making mistakes, I'm saying things that, you know, I just, I had to pump the brakes and come on.
Starting point is 00:01:58 And so now that that's gone, you don't realize like how much, how toxic that shit is and how much, much how much it takes up in your brain, you know. And now my brain's like getting creative again and going and exploring all these new things. Anyway, so I've been thinking about what question should I ask myself every day when I wake up. Wake up, I read the Jesus Calling book. Are you familiar with that? Yeah, it's a great devotional series. Dude, I love that book.
Starting point is 00:02:28 Yeah, it's so good. And so I read that and it always surprises me like, it at least, 50% of the time it's like right on the money you know what I mean yeah or what I was doing is I would read it at night after my day now I switched it before the day to see how I like that but I like that anyway so these are the questions I came up with okay I know what you think maybe you have some too how can I be a better father better husband a better son what is my purpose for the day and how do I get into heaven. Wow. I think that's great. What the last question? What's the last question for? It's kind of like more of a reminder like you got to put out to get there. At least I think so.
Starting point is 00:03:22 Yeah. And it's just something to keep in mind when you get that burning sensation in your gut and you want to see, I have a lot of times where people will take advantage of me or whatever. wrong me. And I have a real problem letting that stuff go sometimes and I'll get this burning sensation in my gut. And I will actually like fantasize about all the things that I could do to them. And then I never wind up doing it because I'm like, that's not what this isn't what God wants for me. Wow. You know what I mean? And that fucker will learn his lesson one way or another. or it doesn't have to be me wasting all my time and energy and focus on destroying somebody.
Starting point is 00:04:11 And I don't know. Do you get that at all? Yeah, yeah. I'm right there with you. Like, people do something to me or hurt someone I love. And I'm like, man, I just want to do like the worst possible thing I can think of in my brain right now. You know, I think that's the human nature.
Starting point is 00:04:27 Isn't it the hardest thing to turn the other cheek? I mean, dude, how hard is it? It is, but then you feel better. Once you get over it, you feel better. And then if you engage, then you're stuck in this rut. There's more shame after you engage, I feel, than in the moment. And like, you know, sometimes, you know, the human nature pride battle, it's like, well, I don't want to, you know, I want to be tough and like, I got to respond and all these things. But, man, the toughest thing we can do is just be like, I mean, imagine Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah.
Starting point is 00:04:59 And everyone's like, yeah, I have an eye and two for a tooth, you know, you punch me, I hit you, harder. And Jesus like, man, if I get hit on the left cheek, I'm going to give you the other one. What? Like, that messes with me as a man. Yeah. That messes with me as a new husband. That should mess with you as a father. Like, if someone did something to your kid, oh my gosh, I haven't had the opportunity to have a kid yet. I mean, I'm recently married, but like, you know, to think that I would have my own offspring and someone would hurt my kid and it wouldn't be impossible. That's just why I love the life of Jesus. He embodies that. I mean, He was backstabbed by Judas, spit on, ran out of the country.
Starting point is 00:05:37 If anyone's son knows what it's like to be treated the way that we're talking about. I mean, it's God the fathers. So what do you think? I mean, when I'm talking about is a lot of it's like petty bullshit, you know what I mean? Sure. I mean, that's always the worst. Yeah. That's the worst.
Starting point is 00:05:56 But where do you, I mean, where do you draw the line is, because you also hear, hey, we're supposed to call out evil and you're supposed to stand up for people that can't stand up for themselves and and these kind of things. And so, you know, where do you, how do you know, how do you know when to draw the line and when to, when to walk away and be like, whatever, man, this is not, this isn't worth engaging in or I'm planting my flag here. Yeah, you know, I think there's a difference between love and trust, right? So like, Jesus loved everyone equally. He loves unconditionally, right? His sacrifice was both for the Judas and for you and for me and for everyone. But Jesus also had different levels of trust.
Starting point is 00:06:37 So if you read the scriptures, he had the masses, then he had the 72, then he had 12. Then he had Peter, James, and John, which he would take up to mountains sometimes just them three. And then he had John, the one whom he loved. And so there's levels of trust. And that would be like, you know, if we become friends and then, you know, I slap you in the face. Oh, Sean, man, I'm so sorry. You might be like, all right, that was a little random, but it's okay, I forgive you. But if I keep hitting you in the face over and over and over at some point, you're going to be like,
Starting point is 00:07:06 all right, I'm going to plant my foot down and put some distance. It's not that I don't love you, but the most loving thing I can not only do for you, but for my family and for myself is I need to create a level of trust here. And so I think with people, it's okay to create different levels of trust. You know, we have different seasons with people. What do you mean create a level of trust with somebody that's hitting you on the face repeatedly? You know, and that's like a metaphor, you know. So like, let's use this as an example.
Starting point is 00:07:29 You know, you have a close friend. Maybe even someone on the team that's so close and knows you so well, right? And they know things about you that not the average bear knows, good and bad, things like that. And let's say they accidentally slip up and say something that they weren't supposed to say, like, oh, man, Sean, I'm so sorry. Like, I was just in conversation. And it didn't mean it. Like, I was just having a talk and it slipped out. I'm sorry.
Starting point is 00:07:48 You know, it's like, it's okay. Just like, remember not to do that again. And then they don't do it again. You would say, oh, well, that was just an honest mistake. Like, you really didn't mean to hurt me. even though it did hurt me. Like, that's an honest mistake. And sure, your trust may have been shaken,
Starting point is 00:08:01 but you're not going to go, okay, you can't come around. I can't share the same information with you now. You know, let's say that happens again, and then they keep going around again and again and again. Then you would say, oh, wow, you probably don't really love me. And I actually can't trust you. And I've trusted you with so much, and you've taken more than I've given
Starting point is 00:08:20 and abused my love for you. And so there's nothing wrong with, like, withholding certain information. from people or things or what that's what I mean by creating that level of trust you know gotcha like we just not met with each other like I'm going to be an open book and tell you everything about my life and whatever you want to know right but there's things that I tell my wife that I'm not going to tell you what what I'm sorry Sean you know no that doesn't mean I love you more or less but you get what I'm saying I get 100% get what you're saying yeah well this is going to be a good conversation how do you how do you start your day I'm just curious I read a proverb of the day
Starting point is 00:08:56 A proverb of the day. How do you do it? So there's 31 proverbs in the book of Proverbs, and there's normally 31 months in a month. 31 days in a month. Whatever day it is, read the proverb of that day. It's a book of wisdom. Right on. There's some great stuff in there. Straight out of the Bible, you read it? Yeah, because I think, like, do you use your phone for your alarm clock?
Starting point is 00:09:15 I don't even need an alarm clock. You know why? Because I have a three-year-old. Excuse me, a four-year-old and a two-year-old. Yeah, that's your alarm clock. My alarm goes off at about 4 a.m. every day. I like it. I like it. You know, for me, I have to use, and I fall victim to this, like, you know, my alarm goes off, and you're halfway asleep, and you scroll by waking yourself up. And imagine reading people's opinions that change every day.
Starting point is 00:09:41 As the first day you start your day. And the day that I read, I open up my phone and I read something negative about me. It breaks my heart. If I read something positive, it pussed me up with pride, and I'm the most impatient, prideful, rude, selfish version of myself when I start my day off with people's opinions. But when I start my day off with what God thinks about me, he doesn't change his opinion about me. And so it's almost like my eyes are here when I start my day off there. And it doesn't matter what's going on down here.
Starting point is 00:10:06 Does that make sense? That's a good way to be. Yeah. It's a good way to be, man. Yes, sir. I'm going to try that when I wrap up with my Jesus calling book. That's right. Got about 10 months to go.
Starting point is 00:10:18 Ten more months, baby. But let me give you an introduction here. Let's do it. Bryce Crawford. Christian evangelist and street preacher focused on public face-to-face gospel conversations. You also go into hostile, you often go into hostile territory alone. Known for sitting down with Satanists, the KKK leader, Furries, and people at Burning Man to share the gospel with love, not condemnation. Founder of Bryce Crawford Ministries, you're on tour now.
Starting point is 00:10:50 founder of praise energy and hydration, a beverage company, experienced a dramatic faith conversion at age 17 after a period of anxiety, depression, and spiritual confusion. Publicly committed to evangelizing Jesus Christ to the world, recently married to Maddie. Congratulations. When did you guys get married? January 10th, January 10th? That's right. Dude, that's, how do you like being married?
Starting point is 00:11:16 I love it. It's the best thing ever. It's awesome, isn't it? The best thing ever. It gets better. I love it. Yeah, we need to get married young and have a load of kids. That's why I think. I wish I would have started younger. Hey, but look at you now. You're married, man. Come on.
Starting point is 00:11:28 I am. I am. And so, oh, so you just sat down with Kenneth Copeland. I had no idea who that was until I did this interview with this guy, Nathan Affle. Yep. Called the Religion Business. Yep. Well, that's what we titled it. He did a documentary called The Religion Business. I've been thinking a lot about this lately. We track everything in our lives, our workouts, our sleep, our business metrics. When it comes to our actual health, most of us are just guessing. And that never really made sense to me.
Starting point is 00:12:06 And I think we've all had that experience where you go in, get checked out, and leave without any real clarity. No real breakdown of what's going on or what to actually do next. That's why I'm really interested in what superpower is doing. It's one simple set of lab tests, but you're getting data on over 100 biomarkers. So now you can actually understand what's going on with your body, from hormones to metabolism, to vitamin levels, and more. And for me, that's the biggest thing.
Starting point is 00:12:40 I'm always wondering, what should I be doing? What supplements make sense? How to adjust my diet? How to optimize performance. And instead of guessing, superpower gives you a real plan based on your data. It also tracks everything over time so you can see progress year after year and not just start over every time. Make this the year you stop guessing about your health with superpower. For a limited time, our listeners get $20 off to unlock their new health intelligence.
Starting point is 00:13:13 Head over to superpower.com and use code SRS for 20. $20 off your membership. That's code SRS. And after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about superpower. Do me a favor, if you could, and tell them the Sean Ryan Show sent you to support the show. So that dude doesn't sound like a great guy.
Starting point is 00:13:40 You know, I grew up knowing the prosperity gospel, I don't agree with it. You know, there's this name and claimant idea. What's the prosperity gospel? The prosperity gospel essentially, is that God wants every human being to be healthy, wealthy, and prosper. Now, this definition of prosper, I think definitions are important. So I think it would be how do we define success?
Starting point is 00:14:01 How do we define prosperity, right? And I think that the Bible defines it differently than some of these prosperity guys claim to define it. You know, I think success is, and I think you would agree, success isn't having an incredible podcast show. Success is being a father and being a husband and loving Jesus. That's success. And so the true, written.
Starting point is 00:14:21 life according to scripture would be having Jesus. He is the prize. And we read time and time again throughout scripture. You know, Moses had a stutter. Paul and 2 Corinthians 12 writes, hey, I got a thorn in my side and it's pissing me off. And I mean, he's like the goat of Christianity. He wrote most of the New Testament, one of the most impactful, if not arguably the most impactful Christian in all of history. He's like, yeah, you know, I have a lot to brag about, but I've got a thorn in my side. Even Paul said that God allowed suffering in Paul's life because it kept him humble and relying on God. And so this idea that everyone needs to be healthy and wealthy and prosper and, you know, if you're not that way, it's because you're not praying enough or reading your
Starting point is 00:15:03 Bible enough or because it has something to do with you, I have a hard time seeing that in scripture. And so we got the opportunity to sit down with him. First sit down interview, I think, in over 15 years. Wow. And we got the opportunity to sit down with him. And, you know what? I told them up front, I said, look, I'm going to be respectful. I'm not mean. I mean, I don't agree with the prosperity message, but I'm willing to talk.
Starting point is 00:15:28 And we sat down. He's 89 years old. And so, I mean, just imagine having a conversation with an 89-year-old. Loves to talk, loves to tell stories about life. And that's the deal. You know, and so even though we got the opportunity to share the gospel, I mean, to talk about the Bible and his prosperity gospel, and even though I disagree, I mean, there were most of the times
Starting point is 00:15:50 where it was just him talking. And I saw something off camera that I don't think anyone has seen about him, and it made me have a soft spot for him a little bit, even though I disagree with the message. As our crew was tearing down the equipment, he looks at me, and he starts kind of shaking a little bit. And for a second, I just thought maybe it was like a health thing. You know, he's old, he's 89, about to be 90.
Starting point is 00:16:16 and he looks at me and he starts crying. I don't think anyone else in the room saw this. And he looks at me and he just goes, like, I really need Jesus. Like, I need him. I need him every day. That's what he said to me. And, you know, I don't agree with that prosperity gospel message. I think it's a false gospel.
Starting point is 00:16:34 But when I'm looking at an 89-year-old man who's crying over the fact that no one on camera or on recording is seeing that he's looking at me and says, I need Jesus desperately. every day crying to me. It made me have a soft spot for him that I don't think a lot of people see. And, you know, even though you disagree with people and we need to stand for truth, I don't think that's a reason to hate people. So that's why I was grateful for the conversation. That's good. What did you guys talk about? Well, we tried to talk about the prosperity gospel, and he went through scripture and showed me his points. But, you know, again, because of his age, there was a lot of him just talking.
Starting point is 00:17:11 And, you know, when I would try to talk back, he would just kind of talk. And it wasn't like him talking trying to prove a point. It was just he was, I'm not, he was just so old, you know, and then, and, uh, so we just, I mean, we recorded for almost four hours. I think it's the longest I've ever recorded ever than anyone. And, and we took, you know, took breaks. He's, he's on his older age. Um, but he loves talking about his wife, loves talking about his grandkids. And he's just, it was just like talking to a grandpa, you know, um, did you see him out to talk about the prosperity? Yeah, I wanted to sit down and talk with him because I'd never had the opportunity to talk to someone
Starting point is 00:17:50 about the prosperity gospel. You know, that's like our whole thing. We're talking to KKK leader. We're talking to furries. We're talking to Black Keeper Israelites. We're talking to Muslims. We're talking to everybody. Black Keeper Israelites?
Starting point is 00:18:00 You know about the Black Keeper Israelites? I've never even heard that. Oh, dude, it'll blow your mind. What is it? It's a cult, basically, where they think black people are the only people that can enter the kingdom of heaven. I think black people are the only people
Starting point is 00:18:11 that can enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, now they say Latin American and Native Americans, but essentially they believe that black people are the true Israel. They're God's true chosen people. And so if you're not black, you're essentially going to hell. So right now, according to the black Hebrew-Israelite theology, you and I are on a fast track to hell right now because of our skin color. Interesting.
Starting point is 00:18:33 Why do they think that? You know, again, like these false doctrines, that's the nastiest thing about deception, Sean, is because you don't know you're being deceived when you're being deceived. And so, you know, it's like the same thing. same thing with the prosperity gospel. It's the same thing with the KKK leader guy. Like, they can cherry pick things from scripture and quote mine to find things that fit their narrative. And, like, the way that we should approach the Bible is not, let me find things in the Bible that fit my life, that fit my worldview, that fit my theology. Let me let the Bible
Starting point is 00:19:02 transform my worldview. Because I'm a selfish human being. I'm prideful at heart. I don't know at all. You know, so I need to have someone outside of myself. You know, it's like looking to older people, the experience, the wisdom. Okay, we have an eternal God that has always existed that has created this ever-expanding universe that sits in the palm of his hand. I want to know what he thinks about my life, my original design, what it looks like to be a father, what it looks like to be a friend, what happens when someone hits me and does me wrong, you know, how to face suffering, how to endure through suffering, things like that. And so people can pull anything from scripture and make it fit their worldview. You know, that's why we have, oh, well, everyone should be
Starting point is 00:19:42 healthy, wealthy, and prosper. Or, oh, well, only black people are God's chosen people. Or on the contrary, the KKK leader, well, white people are the chosen people of Israel. And the KKK leader looked at me in the face and said, black people and Asian people are of lesser moral value than white people. Really? And that broke my heart. Skin color determines someone's moral value and worth.
Starting point is 00:20:06 Where did you meet this guy? These guys are just like on the internet. These, these, like, the Thomas Rob has been around for ages and ages. I mean, he's a, but there's, like, different, like, sex and versions of, like, the Clu Klux Klan, but he's the leader of the KKK in Arkansas, and they're just, and he claims to be a pastor. Wow. Blows my mind. That's so random. That is wild, man.
Starting point is 00:20:35 It's a fascinating. I listen to an interview. There's a town called Pulaski. like, you're you familiar with it? No, no. It's about an hour south of here. Okay. And I don't know if it was a branch, but they say that the KKK was kind of born out of Pulaski.
Starting point is 00:20:51 And I don't know if that means like the Tennessee chapter or the whole thing or what. But long time ago, I did this woman's podcast and she way before I was even a podcaster, and she went down and interviewed the leader down there. today. Oh my goodness. I guess it's five, six years ago. Yeah. Man, some of the shit that they were, that guy was saying, I was, it just blew my mind. Like, like, where if people get this stuff, Sean? Blood transfusions, like if he's on, if his son was, I remember one of the questions was, we were talking about blood transfusions for, for medical emergencies. And if, if, and the interviewer asked him if his wife or his son or somebody was dying in the hospital and the only blood
Starting point is 00:21:39 available for the blood transfusion would have been a black person's blood. He said he would refuse it and let his wife and kid die. Yeah, that is wild. I know, man. I was like, that's some serious hate. That is real hate. That is some serious hate. Moral value is determined by skin color. It's unreal. That is unreal. I don't know where we get that, what world we live in that feeds that. That's why I think Jesus and the gospel narrative is necessary. That's the price tag. What's the price tag that God puts on our life? If we go to Macy's and there's an awesome fur coat,
Starting point is 00:22:17 because I know that's your style, a nice fur coat, for $120 at Macy's and not a lot of people are buying it. It's going to make its way to T.J. Max. And when it gets to T.J. Max, it's going to be 1999, because people didn't think it was worth paying $120 for. And so that same question, it's like, what's the value God puts on my life? the scriptures would say, well, God values our own life as his own. Like the price tag that Jesus
Starting point is 00:22:41 Christ put on my life was his own. And to think that the God of the universe, who doesn't even know death in his own nature, has always existed. Living outside of time and space, humbles himself in the form of flesh and enters into time and space, enters into this narrative of time that we track our lives with, that we look at the calendar, that we wonder, oh, when's the sun coming up and wins it going down. He enters into this time and space and lives in the same wicked world with the same temptations and lives it sinlessly and then dies a death that he didn't deserve. He died a death that wasn't his to own. I don't know about you, but if I was being accused of junk that I didn't do, I'd be the first guy to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you must have
Starting point is 00:23:26 heard me wrong or I didn't say that or I didn't do that or that's not pull up the security camera footage because I didn't do that. He stayed silent the whole time. And Hebrews 12, chapter 12, verse 2, I think this is the greatest depiction of the gospel. It says, we look to Jesus, who is the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, and he despised the shame. That phrasing right there, the only reason that Jesus Christ did not get down off the cross, because he's God. He could have gotten down off the cross.
Starting point is 00:24:00 He could have stopped it right there. He could have jumped down and been fully healed and not beaten and unrecognizable but it said the reason that he stayed on the cross was not because of the thickness of the nails but it was because of love that your face thinking about relationship with you is what kept him on the cross you were the joy set before jesus that's why he endured the pain and then it says he despised the shame shame despises us guilt despises us because we have things to be shameful for and guilty of jesus had nothing to be ashamed of jesus had nothing to be guilty of he defeated shame he defeated guilt That is unreal, what world we live in.
Starting point is 00:24:39 And to think that someone can't receive this unconditional love just because of their skin color or because of where they grew up. Or even nowadays, we see that we hate each other just because of our political party affiliation. Yeah, that's a big thing. Like, what are we doing? What are we doing? I mean, we need Jesus. God's not going to return on a white horse with, you know, an American flag and a shotgun and a beer in his hand, you know?
Starting point is 00:25:08 That's not how he's going to return. He would be kind of cool if he did, though. I mean, I feel like, you know, Jesus is a patriot. You know, that's not how he's going to return. He's going to return on a white horse in power and glory to bring judgment on the earth, to take care of these things, the wrongs that have been done, past, present and future. You know, why are we hating each other over different political affiliation? And the Bible says that the goodness of God brings man to repentance.
Starting point is 00:25:33 It's like, what are we doing? I love that. You know, you were talking about definition of successor or something I think about all the time with the, with how successful, you know, the show has gotten and the business and all of that kind of stuff. And in, in, in, in, you're on a pipeline to that. I mean, what you've done is it's crazy. I don't know how you're dealing with the fame and all that kind of stuff. I hate it. But I think if you do it right, I feel a huge responsibility because of it.
Starting point is 00:26:12 So anyways, what is your, I mean, what do you think about success? I mean, you've built a massive following. You're getting busy. We're going to try out your new energy drink here in a minute. So you're the first person outside of our team that's tried it. Really? You are. Right on, man.
Starting point is 00:26:29 So what is success to you? Because shit gets complicated, the bigger you get. You know, it does. You know, I'm right there with you. Noise doesn't impress me. This does not impress me. People talk a lot. And, you know, I've been a Christian for a little over five years now.
Starting point is 00:26:48 I've been doing our ministry. This is going on our third year. But I've been a Christian longer than we've done it. And I've seen some dirty aspects about ministry. I've seen some things that have hurt me. some things that have rubbed me the wrong way, some things that made me question the motives of certain people. But true to success, there's no dollar amount that deems success, you know. There's no following. And that's the deception of the world. It's like people think that success
Starting point is 00:27:16 is, oh, well, if I don't have a big enough podcast of Sean Ryan, and that's not what it means to have a podcast, I'm not successful. Or, oh, if I'm not as rich as Mark Zuckerberg, oh, man, then I'm really losing it. Is that really what success looks like? I heard a quote from a pastor in Nashville. His name is Lio Phillips. He says, we don't pray for fame. We steward influence. God has given every individual a level of influence. And that's why it's important for us to reflect on our gifts and use our gifts for the glory of God. You know, before I was a believer, I was fascinated with writing. I would take these college writing classes, these essay classes. Like, I just loved trying to take complicated ideas and complicated subjects and making them in a simple way.
Starting point is 00:27:58 for people to understand. And when I became a believer, God has allowed me to use that gift, but now for his glory. Instead of talking about myself and benefiting off myself, I talk about Jesus and reach people in that way.
Starting point is 00:28:11 And you know, I don't know why. Still to this day, I wonder, God, why are we reaching the people that we do? Why? I don't understand. It's only the grace of God that God's allowed us to do. That's the grace of God that God's allowed you to do what you do.
Starting point is 00:28:24 And so in this moment, I think, man, Sean, like, God trusts you. You know, you've been faithful with little so God can trust you with much. God really trusts you. And there's seasons of your life that no one has seen. No one's known the junk that you've been through. The long nights, the early mornings, not just being a husband and a father, but being a business owner, being a man, being a friend serving our country.
Starting point is 00:28:46 No one knows half the crap that you've been through. And you've been faithful with what God's given you. So God trusts you. You know, with all this, I mean, this was, you'll find this too. when you have kids and probably find it already now that you're married. But, you know, all this takes away from that. Yeah. And it's a tough, tough thing to balance.
Starting point is 00:29:09 And you're constantly wondering if you're doing the right thing. Absolutely. Do you have any idea how you're going to balance it? I mean, I know you want to start, you're busy. You're going all over the place. And I know you want to start speaking at schools, universities. Yep. And we'll get into that later.
Starting point is 00:29:24 But if you thought about how you will balance it? all this when when your kids arrive oh man it's tough the bible says the man that neglects his family is worse than the unbeliever i'd say that it says it in the new testament and man i would hate hate to have a successful ministry and come home and have a failing marriage and the failing uh you know a bad relationship with my kids you know people get swallowed up by this thing called the ministry monster or let's call it the business monster to make it accessible, to not just people can find a Christianianity, like the business monster, the success monster, right? Success is more and more and more. That's not the case. And so,
Starting point is 00:30:08 you know, making decision for the glory of God, right? Because that's what it ultimately is. Like, if I'm a Christian and I want to submit myself to Jesus, I want to make a decision for the glory of God. And making a decision for the glory of God looks like setting yourself up best spiritually. You know, so if you're making decisions that are robbing you from spiritual intimacy with Jesus, it's keeping you dry from your family. Like your first ministry charge is your family. That's your first duty. And now that I'm married,
Starting point is 00:30:33 like the Bible says in Ephesians 4, that my duty as a husband is to lay my life down for my wife, just as Christ has loved the church, us. And so I had to be ready to die for Maddie. I had to be ready to lay my life down for her and to think that I'm going to sacrifice her for people or success. Don't get me wrong, I love people. but for the sake of this first ministry, absolutely not.
Starting point is 00:30:59 And so really it's just looking like making decisions that set me up best spiritually. And those are things right now that we've prayed into. You know, this decision to go on the college campuses is something that I felt like God spoke to us about. And when Maddie and I met, it was months before we had started the ministry. And still to this day, like I desire to get a flip phone
Starting point is 00:31:19 and throw my iPhone off of a cliff and go live in the middle of Kansas or in the middle of nowhere. if I could. See, that's what I'm getting. That's what I think about. You know, and so when you're talking about success and you're talking about these,
Starting point is 00:31:36 these trivial things like trying to build wealth, trying to build a following, you know. I mean, even that becomes a balance because, yeah, you can say, I could say, yeah, I work my ass off. And I definitely spend more time at work than I do at home. I think that's true for just about anybody who is a provider, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:01 But the more that you can bring home, the better life your family could live. You know, you can live in a better neighborhood, better education, better everything except time. Yep. And so on the other hand, you could move out into the middle of Kansas and the middle of woods. You know what I mean? and have a very low cost of living. Sure. And raise your kids and spend all that time with your kids.
Starting point is 00:32:33 Does that set them up for their future? I don't know. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so it's like this dichotomy of what is the balance. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for example, like wealth, right?
Starting point is 00:32:46 The Bible doesn't say money is inherently simple. It says that the love of money is wrong, right? Money is amoral. It has no feelings or emotions. Now, that's why in Luke 18, I think it's so interesting because the rich man, he's like, oh, Jesus, how do I inherit eternal life? And if you read the scriptures, he's like kind of puff in his chest because he's like, I already know the answer, but I'm just asking to ask.
Starting point is 00:33:07 And Jesus is like, well, you know, love the Lord of God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. He's like, yeah, yeah, I get it. Tell me something I don't know. And Jesus is like, okay, well, then sell everything you have and then follow me. And it says that the man got very sad because he loved his money more than he loved God. And I think that's the diagnosis that we have to make, not just with money, with anything. When something matters more than what matters most, it's an idol.
Starting point is 00:33:31 Relationships can be an idol. When you try to find your fulfillment and your partner rather than Jesus, and you're going to put God expectations on a limited, finite human being that can't handle God expectations because they're not God. And so when it comes to navigating success, like, it's not wrong to have goals. That's why I love Arousan's godly ambition. Like, ambition's not inherently wrong. That's why the Sabbath was created.
Starting point is 00:33:54 to rest. We need rhythms of rest. I don't want to get to heaven well rested. I don't want to be lazy. There's two opposite extremes. It's like we either work seven days a week or we don't work at all. And laziness and procrastination is just as bad as overworking. And it's this weird balance. I'm right there. And to be honest, I don't even have like a full answer. It's like, where do you draw the line? Do you only do 40 hours a week? Do you only make this amount of money a year? Do you do this? Do you do that? And I'm going to be honest, I don't think the Bible is actually necessarily making a specific truth claim about a certain salary amount, a certain work hours, or anything. But God has trusted us with family, friends, businesses for a reason.
Starting point is 00:34:35 And so that's why we need to pray and ask God. Like, God, what do you want me to do? How do you want me to navigate this situation and move off of the peace of the Lord? Because even in the midst of chaos, he gives us peace. Now, like a practical thing I'm thinking about, I read this book called Leadership by a man named Brian Tracy. And essentially from the business perspective, he says, he would say like, hey, Sean, think about the only thing that you could do for the rest of your life that would benefit the business the most. What would it be? And you just think of it right in your brain. Like you probably think of it right now. You're like, if I did this thing, that would benefit the business the most, if this was the only thing I did. And he says, okay, all right, think of another thing, a second thing. If you could only do that thing and one other thing for the rest of your life that would benefit the business, what would it be? And okay, great. And then he does it one more time. If you could think of a third thing. You have three things. The first two things and another one
Starting point is 00:35:24 that would benefit the business most, what would it be? He says, okay, after those three things, delegate the rest. And I've applied that to many different things in my own life. Business, family, friends, like what three things when it comes to ministry? Like, what is Bryce's job
Starting point is 00:35:41 that's not gonna allow him to burn out? And I think that's a good question. Like, what is burnout? Burnout happens when you put the wrong fuel in an engine or an engine does something it's not designed to do. An apple tree doesn't have to try to grow apples. It naturally bears fruit. As a Christian, we will naturally bear fruit.
Starting point is 00:36:00 As a good leader, you will naturally bear fruit. And that's why I think when it comes to everything, that's why I think the Bible is so important. We have to keep pointing back to that because it's this transcendent piece of literature that has impacted generations before us today and the future. I mean, that's what that picture is up there, that rainbow picture, all the cross references and 60-tooth something. thousands times. Is that not wild? It's wild. Crazy. So, you know, I think it's interesting.
Starting point is 00:36:28 We're always in this dynamic, but I think ultimately, you know, I constantly have to, at the end of the day, you know, your wife, my wife, we have to count the costs sometimes. Do you feel anointed in what you're doing? We had this, we went to, I don't go to church. We talk a lot about it at home. I just don't like going to church. and because I've gone to a couple where it didn't feel like whatever. Sure. I felt like I was kind of used as exposure to grow the church. And that made me feel very uncomfortable because it's not what this is about. This is about Christ, right?
Starting point is 00:37:11 Absolutely. And that kind of didn't turn me off from Christ or anything like that. It just, I was like, maybe this just isn't for me. And so we brought it home. And then last weekend, we had dinner with a couple that we've been friends with for a long time, and they said they had tried a new church. And my wife wanted to go. Amazing.
Starting point is 00:37:37 I was like, all right, they said it's super small. So we were like, all right, we'll try it. And we went, you know, it was great. Great message, very small. Wasn't even in a church. It was in like part of an office building. It almost seemed like some kind of underground thing. I was like, but it was cool.
Starting point is 00:37:55 Yeah. And they were talking about John the Baptist was the first prophet after the 400 years of silence. Yep. And they were talking about being anointed. And anyways, this led to a conversation this morning. And my wife asked me if she feels like I'm, I, she asked me if I feel like I've been an anointed to do some of the things that I'm doing. And I said, I think so. But, and she asked what it felt like. And I said, I mean, you never really know. I was like, I don't, I don't,
Starting point is 00:38:36 I said it's not a good feeling. I can tell you that. It's not a good feeling. I, I feel like I've made a trade. And where I'm going with this is my, my, yes, I think I'm supposed to be doing exactly what I'm doing right now. More in particular, I think because I'm a new Christian, and I don't really have fear of questions. I ask a lot of questions, a lot of people fear to ask out of embarrassment or whatever it may be. And I think that helps grow Christianity and faith in Christ. The other thing is the kids, protecting the kids. We've done some super dark interviews. We get people try to sue us all the time got another letter this morning about this thing going on in cana kick camp cana cook whatever anyways i told like we're calling out some really big institutions and and and
Starting point is 00:39:33 a lot of evil and that can be dangerous and um you know i've had to higher security and all and she was she was asking me what i thought about you know how it felt and i said i don't it doesn't feel good It's more of like a burden that's a duty that I feel than a good thing. And what I mean by the trade-off is, in my mind, I have these conversations with God. And it's, oh, shit, you put another one of these on my plate and you want me to do this. And I'm going to do it, but I need you to protect me and my family. And when that stops, this stops. I don't even know if that's the right conversation
Starting point is 00:40:27 to be having or not, but that's how I feel. Yeah. I'm wondering if you feel any. Wow. Anything like that. I love the honesty. And I think that's what God wants. God wants honesty.
Starting point is 00:40:38 Random question, like, did you always feel like enjoying it when you were serving our country? No. You know? I mean, there were some moments, so you were like, man, like, I love that I'm doing this. Oh, yeah. I'm not serving our country.
Starting point is 00:40:50 But, like, there's moments that you, you knew that you had a responsibility, serving people that you're never going to meet. Say, hey, I'm going to stand in the face of suffering and in the face of trial and stand for truth in the face of evil. All right. So I've always thought learning a new language was one of those things that sounds great in theory, but then you sit down and it just feels overwhelming. And the reality is most people quit, but that's where Babel is different. Babel is built for real-world use, not just memorizing. random words and what I like is that it's practical. You're learning how to actually have conversations, whether that's ordering food, traveling, or just connecting with people. It's all
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Starting point is 00:42:31 Welcome to Hollywood versus reality. They do it, right? What does he do in the movies? Tell me if I'm doing this wrong, because I don't watch it is a little flick like that, right? Seems pretty cool. It is pretty cool. Gotta silence it. In another lifetime, I did gun reviews for a living.
Starting point is 00:43:00 Proprietary magazines. Supposedly the best engineering in the fucking world. When that breaks, you're... And... Now we're bringing them back. It does look pretty fucking cool. I got to admit that. And what we're doing, like, the term anointed.
Starting point is 00:43:26 I laugh at that like because I hear it a lot in the Christian's face. Like, to be honest, I don't even know what that means. Like, you know, what do you mean? Like, I just feel like I'm walking out a responsibility. What I mean, and I don't really know the definition. Sure, sure. Like I said, I'm a baby Christian, but I feel, I mean, to me, it means, I know it's more than this,
Starting point is 00:43:46 but it's finding it is maybe it's not more than this it's finding your exact purpose this is what you are here to do buddy and it's not going to be easy it's going to be hard but this is what i want you to do yeah that's that's what i think it means what do you think it means i mean i think god has given you a unique gift and a in a special burden to stand against evil that's why you do the things that you do. God has given you a gift of conversation and care for people to search out the truth. And I think that's why you found Christ because he claims to be the truth. God's giving you this unique gift. I just talked about it last night at one of our tour stops, Matthew 25. It talks about the parable of the talents. God gives five talents to one guy, two talents to one guy and one to another guy.
Starting point is 00:44:38 And essentially the two first guys, the guy with five and the guy with two, they go multiply it. But the last guy, he was so afraid. He went and dug it up, dug up a whole. in the ground and hit his talent. And so then when the money master came, the first two, they were ready. They were prepared. They persevered through hard times. But they were ready. They said, hey, master, you gave me the five talents. I multiplied it. Here you go. And he said, well done, my good and faithful servant, experience this joy. Second guy. You didn't give me as much as the first guy, but I was able to multiply it. And he says, well done, my good and faithful servant, go experience this joy. The last guy says, oh, man, you're a really hard and tough guy and kind of scary, and, you know,
Starting point is 00:45:19 you sew where people don't sew and reap where people don't reap. And so, to be honest, like, I just went and hit it in the ground because I knew you were coming back and I was a little afraid and I was a little nervous, but here's what was yours. And the money lender gets mad at the man and casts him out into the darkness. This parable essentially is saying, hey, God has given every human being unique gifts and talents. Sean, I don't covet your gifts. I'm not jealous of your gifts, partially because you have to deal with a lot of crap
Starting point is 00:45:47 that I don't have to deal with and I'm grateful. But also, you were built for this. God designed you uniquely and knows that he can trust you with it, that you can handle it. There's things that God can trust you with that he can't trust me with, and that doesn't make me jealous as a brother.
Starting point is 00:46:01 That makes me grateful for a guy like you. There's things that God can trust me with that maybe he can't trust you with, and that should make you grateful for me. There's things that God can trust other people, with that he can't trust us with, and that should make us grateful for them. And so God has given you unique gifts and talents, and you're walking it out. And you said it yourself, that doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
Starting point is 00:46:20 And knowing that it's going to be hard doesn't make it any better. But even when suffering comes and trial comes, and it's again, again, we keep pointing back to Jesus, but we have to. You know, he was spit on, mocked, chased after one Sunday, they're celebrating him. The following week, the same people that were laying palm leaf. at his feet, we're saying, crucify the man that has only healed people and release the prisoner that's a rapist, a thug, and a murderer. Release that guy. The same people. And so, you know, I fully don't know why God has allowed you and trusted you with these things. But in the grand
Starting point is 00:46:57 scheme of things, imagine standing before the Lord in heaven. He's like, man, look at all these people that have been impacted because you endured. And the final thing I'll say to you is Paul says that his greatest accomplishment, you know, we talked about him earlier, one of the most impactful Christians in all of human history. He says his greatest achievement was not writing most of the New Testament, was not what happened to him when he used to kill Christians, and then he became one. He said his greatest achievement is that he fought the good fight,
Starting point is 00:47:24 he kept the faith, and he finished the race. And I think we need to hold on to that a lot. What do you feel? Do you feel anointed? Do you feel like you're doing what you're supposed to be doing? I mean, I feel, I'm confident. and I'm walking out what God has called me to do, but I agree with you.
Starting point is 00:47:45 It doesn't make it easy. Like, I wouldn't wish on any man some of the stuff that we have to go through. How do you know? How do I know that I'm walking it out? How do you know? You're doing what you're supposed to be doing? Well, I think a couple of things.
Starting point is 00:47:57 Number one, I just reflected on the gifts God has given me, and I've attempted to just use them for his glory. You know, I think that's a good marker for anyone that wants to figure out what am I supposed to do with God. You know, there's a famous quote that says, if you want to know God's will for your life, read the Bible out loud. and that's like a practical thing of like what it means to be a Christian,
Starting point is 00:48:14 but like the specific things that we do for the Lord, like reflect on your life just because you become a Christian. Every Christian doesn't have to become a pastor. You know, like we need Christians in the business world. We need Christians at the gym. We need Christian waiters and waitresses. So I just just reflecting on the gifts that I felt like God had given me to use them for his glory.
Starting point is 00:48:32 But second thing is I just move off of the peace of God. God, do you give me peace in this situation? And here's the beautiful thing, Sean. like let's say that you make a decision thinking that you're doing it for the glory of God. And it's not. There's grace. See, that's, I was going to go there afterwards. But yeah, in that book that I, you know, did Jesus calling, there was one a couple days ago that said that something along the lines of a lot of a lot of people.
Starting point is 00:49:00 A lot of people will say they're doing things in my name and they're not. Yep. And I think it may have even said that they don't even realize that they're not. And then that made me think, well, shit. Maybe I'm totally off the mark. I probably am. You know that makes you different, though, because the people that think that they're doing things for God and aren't,
Starting point is 00:49:20 they're not asking themselves that question. They're not. And that's what makes you different. I mean, read Matthew 7. Well, Jesus, I mean, we prophesied in your name. We were casting demons out of your name. We were healing the sick in your name. And he says, depart from me.
Starting point is 00:49:35 I never knew you. It's not that those things were bad. They just weren't following. Jesus. And that's fascinating. Like the people that are doing those things not for God, they're not asking the question that you do because you actually care because it's bigger than the things that you do. You care about relationship with Jesus. That's what makes you different. Well, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. I'm grateful for you. Well, let's do, I'm grateful for you too. Thank you. Let's get into your life story. But first, before we do that, let's pray. Let's do it. Lead it?
Starting point is 00:50:12 I would love to. man. Jesus, we just thank you so much, God, for today. Lord, thank you for Sean and everything that you're doing in his life and move in in his heart. Lord, Jesus, would you continue to just bless his family, bless this team, bless this show? God, thank you for the ways that you're using Sean to reach people. God, I pray that you bless this episode that every word spoken between me and Sean would just before your glory point people to you. God, thank you for the stay. Thanks for waking us up. Thanks for the weather. Thanks for putting breath inside of our lungs. And Lord, we just invite you into this space. The scriptures say we're two or more gathered. You are here. So, Lord Jesus, we
Starting point is 00:50:46 thank you for being with us. It's in your name. We pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. All right, a couple things here before we get going. Uh-oh. One. Everybody gets a gift. Vigilance lead gummy bears legal in all 50 states. Let's go. At least until 2027 when they outlaw red dye. So, thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. You're welcome. I'm like. on these throughout. Hit it. I love it. Well, I have something for you.
Starting point is 00:51:16 I got two things for you. Well, here's one of them. So what, all right, so tell me about this. Praise Energy, you're the first person outside of our team to try it. We wanted to make an energy drink that is a cleaner option that can honor God with your body. So that's a sample. Our samples come in the glass bottles. Nice.
Starting point is 00:51:34 And it's made with monk fruit, stevia, an organic cane sugar. It only has 100 milligrams of caffeine. and it has less than half of the amount of ingredients that some of your popular energy drinks on the market have. Right on, man. So you don't have to be intimidated by the ingredient list. You can know what you're putting in your body. All right, taste test. Let's see it.
Starting point is 00:52:01 Dude, that does taste like Skittles. Do you like it? I do like it. Let's go. I do like it. Smells like Skittles. It's pretty good. There you go.
Starting point is 00:52:14 Is this the final blend? That's the final blend. When's this releasing? It's kept, so, well, we were about to begin production, but we were, you know, we were trying to battle the sucralose battle because sucralose, the artificial sweetener. It's 200 times more sweeter than, like, your natural sweeteners, but there's so many studies out there that it messes with your gut health, and it was a really big thing for me to, like, keep our mission pure and make sure that, like, the products that we were put in were
Starting point is 00:52:41 a cleaner option and were the best that we could do to honor God with your body. So that's the final blend. It's in production as we speak. And so we're excited. I love it. Congratulations. No, thank you so much. That's awesome.
Starting point is 00:52:54 What are these? These are our electrolytes. So we got two flavors in there. And if you want some throughout the show, I'm a big electrolyte guy. I love to have electrolytes. And so we have a fruit punch and a lime. Pretty great. I'll try one on the break.
Starting point is 00:53:10 Thank you. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I got something for you. I got two things for you. Right on, man. Number one, I got a matching T-shirt for you. Oh, dude. Awesome.
Starting point is 00:53:18 And I washed it for you. So it's nice and clean. There you go. I hate Satan shirt. Perfect. Thank you. But outside of the shirt, I got something that means a lot to me that I wear on my backpack. I like patches on my backpack.
Starting point is 00:53:35 Right on. And I've had this patch for a while. This patch has been into some dark areas. I've been into the Satanic Temple with this thing. I've been in different areas. trying to be a light. And it has John 1513 on it. It says, Greater Love has no man than this, that a man laid down his life for his friends. Oh, man. You've done that for our country, and you've done that in many other ways.
Starting point is 00:53:56 So I thank you. I wanted to give you that. Yeah, absolutely. This is getting framed. Let's go. Put it in the studio. I love it. Thank you. It's got some wear and tear on it. It does, dude. It's been through some dark areas. Satanic Temple. What the hell is that? Yeah, it's real. And it's in Salem, Massachusetts. So it's a pretty, it's more of like just like a political activist group.
Starting point is 00:54:22 Hold on. Okay, we're going to get into life story. Let's get into satanic temple. What the, what? What is it? I mean, okay, so like the satanic temple, it's not like, it's not really what you think. Like, when you think of temple, you imagine like, oh, like people being sacrificed. Like, that's what you think.
Starting point is 00:54:41 But it's more, they have it more as a museum. They have just this, like, demonic satanic art throughout it. and just this weird dark imagery. It's more of a political activist movement. They promote abortion. They basically just say, like, have you ever seen the Baffamette goat? Have you ever seen that?
Starting point is 00:54:57 So it's like that goat head with the women's breast and it's sitting there with its hands. It's got two children underneath it. Essentially, they say, hey, look, if you're going to have the Ten Commandments in a school, you should have Baffamette in the school, which is like counter-cultural to the Ten Commandments. So they promote abortion
Starting point is 00:55:16 and a bunch of different political activist groups. it's a really dark space. Is it legitimately called the Satanic Temple? Yeah, you can look it up. It's in Salem, Massachusetts. It's sincerely one of the darkest places I've ever been in in my life. And both times we went in there, we went in there to pray.
Starting point is 00:55:32 Pray that every person that steps foot in that place would feel the conviction of God and leave. Okay, walk me through the whole thing. I want to hear this. Yeah, so, well, Salem, Massachusetts, they film like all the Halloween stuff there. And so in the fall, like, it can get a little, little crazy down there. So we do a lot of evangelism during October in Salem, Massachusetts.
Starting point is 00:55:52 But that's where the Satanic Temple's headquarters per se is there. It's this building. It's just a little black house, really, is what it is. But you can buy a ticket, go tour it. But there's not much in there. It's just a few bedrooms and then like a merch booth where they're selling like the Satanic Bible and things like that. I've never read it myself. I tried to get one and couldn't get my hands on one because they were selling out. much in Halloween. Why are we buying a satanic Bible? What's going on? But, you know, you walk through in there and there's just like weird bloody, demonic naked images and like paintings and art in there. The famous Baphomet statue is in there. You can like take a like just from a practical standpoint, like people go in there and take photos with it and weird interesting like statues and
Starting point is 00:56:42 relics. But it's dark. And a lot of the people that work there, there, there's, not really Satanists. They're more atheists. So it's more of like a political movement, an activist movement essentially, but the things that they promote are demonic. And it's dark. And so we just wanted to go be a light. So we went in there and prayed and asked Jesus to convict people that walk in there. Because there's people that don't believe any of that stuff that just go in there and see it. What do you, I mean, do you feel anything walking in there? Absolutely. I mean, you know, you feel this like uneasiness in your heart, in your spirit. It feels, dark, it feels demonic, it feels heavy. You can feel the weight of the world in there, even.
Starting point is 00:57:25 And I'm going to be honest, there's very few environments that I go into that I like don't like to be in. That's one of them. That's really one of them. It's, it's, it was harder to go into this year than last year. You've been into it multiple times? Yeah, I've been in there twice. I went in in 24. And so we went in there and we made a video going in there and praying in there. And then this year we went again in 2025, this last year we went again in 2025. And we weren't the only Christians to go in there. Like our video encouraged other believers to go in there and do the same and pray in there, which is like, which that has been the ultimate goal. It's like we want to go to Cidiso that next time people beat us to it. You know, that's a cool
Starting point is 00:58:06 goal to know that. Oh, maybe next time you share Jesus to someone, they're like, oh, somebody already told me about him. You know, that's pretty good. But, but it's a good. But it's dark and it's heavy in there but the bible tells us that jesus is the light and if he lives inside of us and we can be the light anywhere at all times to anybody right on man damn all right where'd you grow up i grew up in georgia grew up in a small town and called cartersville georgia are you a big football guy no okay well for the people that are football guys trevor lawrence he's a quarterback the jacksville jaguars he grew up in my hometown oh cool so if he didn't grow up there, no one would know where this town is at all.
Starting point is 00:58:44 So it's like, you know, a little small town, north of Atlanta, about an hour. I grew up in Georgia, and I got a brother with autism. His name's Tyler, and I have a mother and a father named Shear and Steve. Older or a younger brother? Older brother. So he's about four years older than me,
Starting point is 00:59:02 three years, four years older than me. Right on. Yeah. What were you into growing up? I love sports. I loved sports. I loved baseball. I wrestled.
Starting point is 00:59:11 middle school and high school for seven years. I wrestled. I like watching football. I always played outdoors. It's never really into video games too much. But I was also pretty extroverted. I loved just hanging out with friends. I grew up hunting with my dad.
Starting point is 00:59:27 I liked reading growing up. I was probably like a jack of all trades master of none. You know? Like I just had my hand in a bunch of buckets, but I loved it. Did you grow up in the Bible and the Word? Well, I grew up, I grew up like a lot of people, I feel like grow up in the South. I grew up going to church. And so we have made Christianity in the South in particular a sticker or a keychain or an add-on to life.
Starting point is 00:59:58 Whereas like, if you go outside of America, it is embedded into the culture. Religion is a cultural thing. Like it means more to them than just like, oh, going to church on Sundays. But for me, I mean, I grew up going to church. I went to the vacation. Bible schools. I went to youth camps in middle school. I probably got saved 30 times in two summers at a church camp
Starting point is 01:00:16 just singing songs and going like, God, I love you. And then when it came to like going and telling people about them, no, I'm not doing that. So, you know, I mean, I grew up doing it, but I was really hurt by people that claimed to be Christian. And that's where from a young age that this bitterness towards God and this lack of trust in, Christians kind of came from.
Starting point is 01:00:42 I even went to a private Christian school from the fourth grade till I graduated. And so, you know, we stopped going to church in about the fifth grade, but I went to private Christian school. I was always around some sort of talk about Jesus, reading some sort of Bible verse for a quiz and test at my school, like people that, like, I knew that claimed to follow Jesus, but I just, I had some issues.
Starting point is 01:01:09 What were the issues? I mean, I think with anyone, I mean, you know how it is. People need to put their money where their mouth is. We love to talk in our generation now, but we don't like to live it out. It's all noise now. And that was my biggest issue. And that's why I was like mentioned that earlier. It's like noise doesn't impress me because I've been around it for so long.
Starting point is 01:01:32 I mean, there were people that were close friends and even in our family that claimed to love God with their mouth, but their actions were the total opposite of what they would tell me to do, of what people would tell. me to do, I would go to my Christian school and I got a great education and I loved it there and I still love it and I'm still friends with some of the teachers, but there were some instances where some teachers would tell me what to do in my life and I would see them outside of school doing the total opposite of what they were telling me to do. And so I'm like, man, if that's what Jesus is like, I want nothing to do with that. If Jesus is a hypocrite like this, I don't want anything to do with that. And then I had seen, like, pastors fall.
Starting point is 01:02:10 You know, people cheat on their wives and such like that in our community, like, cheat on their wives and steal money from the church and run. Go, if that's what Jesus is like, I want nothing to do with that. And then, like, in school, because I went to Christian school, Jesus became more of like an intellectual thing to me. It wasn't like Jesus is a real person. He's alive. He's God.
Starting point is 01:02:35 It's just more like, this is the guy that you talk. about on your quizzes and your tests, the occasional, you know, Bible essay, and we have a chapel every Thursday. Wow. So you were checked out by fifth grade. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. And, you know, like a lot of people don't, we don't give, like, young people to credit. Like, young people are smart. Very smart. I'm not just saying, like, oh, I'm smart. Like, young people are smart. They listen. They're watching. And so that was, like, a really big issue I had. I was watching a lot of things and then ultimately like in the eighth grade my dad's dad had gotten pancreatic cancer oh man and when he got pancreatic cancer because bryce was the one that went to christian school
Starting point is 01:03:19 there was kind of like this underlying like no word spoken hey you know you're you go to the christian school you're the christian like you need to go visit grandy and make sure that you know he's going to heaven Well, I just shared with you, I have this bitterness towards God. I don't really care. So I visited my grandpa one time at the very beginning of his battle, and then I wouldn't go anymore after that. And then I vividly remember this one day.
Starting point is 01:03:51 My dad came upstairs to my room and said, hey, do you want to go see Grandi in the hospital? And I said, no, not today. And that was the day that my grandpa died. And that day was the day that Jesus became the man that killed my grandfather. And that was the day that really began my deep battle with depression and anxiety.
Starting point is 01:04:13 I had struggled with it a little here and there throughout middle school, but that day, the eighth grade, was the day that it really all began. And yeah, that was an interesting season and hard time to think that, you know, my God, why would you do such a thing? That's the thing that's going through my brain. Like, why? Why is that the reason? In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus asks his own disciples,
Starting point is 01:04:43 who did the people say that I am? And I think we ask ourselves that question every day. Who is Jesus to you? Who do people say that I am? And that was the day that Jesus became the man that killed my grandfather. And that really spiled me into this, like, season of depression and anxiety.
Starting point is 01:04:58 That lasted for years and years and years. Man, how bad did it get? It got really bad. I mean, every night I would come home, and I would just want to lay in bed and I wouldn't want to talk to anyone and I would be sad. I would cry about every night, every other night. I didn't want to tell anyone because I was embarrassed. My depression and anxiety almost felt like a cancer.
Starting point is 01:05:24 Like, oh, if someone gets near me and they touch me, are they going to know that I'm going through this? Or are they going to feel like that they don't want to be friends with me because I struggle with this? And I had other struggles in depression and anxiety. Like in the fifth grade, I had gotten exploited to pornography. And so I battled a pornography addiction from the fifth grade. From the fifth grade? I'll never forget. You never forget how you're introduced to a drug.
Starting point is 01:05:48 You never forget. Never forget. I was on the beach and some random man came up and showed me a meme, a meme and it had porn in it. And that's how I got hooked that day. I'll never forget. So I carried the shame of pornography addiction from the fifth grade. And I treated women horrid.
Starting point is 01:06:08 because that created this fantasy in my life that then led to me like just treating women horribly. And I never did drugs or alcohol. I never tasted alcohol before. I've never, like, done a drug. It was never attracted me. I saw it ruined people close to me that I loved, and so it made me stay away from it.
Starting point is 01:06:26 But everyone has their own vices. I was a big people pleaser. In high school, I would have been a different person to you than I would have been to my friend DeViz outside and my friend Seth outside, because for me, it was if I can get everyone to like me, then I'll feel good about myself.
Starting point is 01:06:45 And like now when I'm like looking back on everything, I was really just on a quest for love. Everyone's on a quest for love. And that's why sex sells. That's why vices sell. Because they think that that thing is going to show them the love that they're searching for. So in that moment when my grandfather had passed away,
Starting point is 01:07:04 I mean, every night it's just crying, crying and crying, every other night crying and depressed and anxious and gut. to school with a smile on my face and then go home and not be okay. Long drives home in my head, constantly real estate. Now that I know that I'm a believer like the devil in my brain going like tormenting my mind, making me feel ashamed. And in the midst of this depression and anxiety, I'm just continuing to act on on this porn
Starting point is 01:07:29 addiction, on the people pleasing, on where's my identity coming from? Because now I'm trying to figure out how to cope with the anxiety and depression. Now I'm trying to figure out, well, how can I make me. make the pain go away. I don't know if you've ever had anxiety or depression, but if you struggle with it consistently, it feels incurable. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:07:51 Unescapable. I still deal with it. Yeah, I mean, it's like, it feels like an incurable, inescapable cage in your brain and in your heart and the weight on your chest. And so that every day just battled with it and never wanted to tell anyone. How did you over-
Starting point is 01:08:09 Have you overcome the porn addiction? Yeah, the night I met Jesus, I stopped watching porn in that from that day. So this all led up to a suicide attempt. It did. Correct? Yeah. What was the final straw for you? So.
Starting point is 01:08:29 When did suicide become an option? Well, I started thinking about taking my life, not because I wanted to die, but because it felt like it was the only way to get the pain to go away. And I had thought about it a few times, but never had the guts to go through with it. But on December 25th of 2020, that's when I decided today was going to be the day I woke up and we had had like a hard Christmas that day, just like with arguments and family and stuff like that. And I was having a hard day mentally that morning and coming in from the night before. And so I don't know what provoked me to be like, today is the day, but I'm going to do it. And so we went through the whole Christmas day,
Starting point is 01:09:10 you know, spent time with family. And then when we got done, I got back to the house and not like trying to get graphic. Go ahead, sorry. No, no, no, you, I mean. You were gonna do it on Christmas Day? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was that planned?
Starting point is 01:09:31 Was that, I'm gonna give Jesus the middle finger here? Why Christmas Day? No, it had nothing to do it. do with like giving Jesus the middle finger or like because it was Christmas. It was just that morning we woke up and there had been some arguments in my family that day and that rubbed me the wrong way and it just didn't feel like Christmas. Christmas was a day of gift giving and joy and that day did not feel like a day of gift giving and joy.
Starting point is 01:09:55 And I had had a rough mental night the night before and that morning and going into the Christmas break from school. I was a junior in high school. And so that morning I decided today's going to be the day because I'm just sick and tired of dealing with this. It was like the cherry on top, you know. And so after we had gotten back home from spending time with all of our family, I went to my room
Starting point is 01:10:24 and I wrote a letter that was just like a suicide note. And I didn't, I'd grown up around guns, like grown up hunting, but like I didn't have my own guns. The only thing that I had accessible was this knife called a Hawksbilt knife. You know the Hawksbill knife? I don't. So the blade is,
Starting point is 01:10:46 and it had been given to me by my grandfather, and it was accessible because it was in my nightstand. But the blade, it's thick, and it looks like a hawksbill. It's curved. So it's really sharp, easy to open things, open letters and things like that. And so I was planning on killing myself
Starting point is 01:11:02 by using that knife. and how are you going to do it I was just going to cut myself your breasts yeah I was just going to cut myself shit and so after I wrote the letter and kind of like
Starting point is 01:11:19 going okay this is what I'm going to do I went upstairs and told my parents like hey I'm just going to I'm going to go to waffle house to go get some food but in my mind that's my death road meal but I'm telling my family hey I'm just going because it's the only thing open on Christmas Day Like where I'm from, if Waffle House is closed, the apocalypse is going down.
Starting point is 01:11:41 Seriously. Like, it really is. Like, there was a snowstorm one time, and, like, they left it open and on. No employees, you could go in and make food and, like, leave money on the counter and leave. Wow. They wouldn't close it. So I'm like, so it said them, it was just like, oh, he's going to Waffle House because it's the only thing open on Christmas. But in my brain, it was my death row meal.
Starting point is 01:12:05 And so it was about five-ish minutes, seven minutes from where I grew up, and I get to Waffle House at a park, and I'm looking in there, and it's packed out the Wazoo, like people everywhere in there. And I'm going there to really just escape my problems one last time. And I enjoy, I like Waffle House. I love Waffle House. I think it's the best restaurant on Earth. And so I'm like, all right, I'm going to go here, and it's packed.
Starting point is 01:12:33 And so I go in there and I wait. and I couldn't get a table because there would be like families on Christmas night that would, it's like one guy versus a family of four or a family of three, like of course they're gonna give the booth to them because me taking up that much space and that much business, I couldn't get a table. So then this guy walks in about double my age and he's alone. And I looked at him and I said, hey bro, I'll pay for your meal
Starting point is 01:12:57 if you sit down with me so we can be a party of two. And he said, okay. And so I grabbed this guy just for the sole reason of sitting down. Like, I wanted to sit down and eating kind of get this over with. I mean, I'm in my brain, battling my depression and anxiety and struggling. And so I sit down. I don't know if you've ever been, they have like the high top bar. And then they have like the pay counter.
Starting point is 01:13:20 And then next to the counter is like this low kind of side table bar thing. I'm sitting at this side table in our Waffle House. We're sitting next to each other. And as we sit down and we get done ordering, he starts dumping his life issues on me in that moment. And he's like, my wife's divorcing me. She's taking my kids. It's my last Christmas. We're out of money.
Starting point is 01:13:43 She's stealing everything from me. And he is complaining and complaining and complaining about his life in front of me. And I'm sitting there thinking, I came here to escape my problems one last time. And I got this random dude dumping his life issues on me. And so our food's coming and I'm just eating and kind of, you know, glimps. and every now and then eating, you know, and he's dumping, dumping, and dumping, and complaining, complaining, and complaining.
Starting point is 01:14:13 And all I can think about in that moment is I just want the pain to go away. I was the most broken, guilty, shameful, prideful, lust-filled, selfish version of myself in that Waffle House. But I was the most honest version of myself in that Waffle House that day. And so as we're sitting there, the guy next to me that I asked to sit down with me,
Starting point is 01:14:45 I hear him just say, man, you know what, I love my wife, but she just doesn't feel the same about me. There's no growth in a relationship if the love isn't mutual. And when he said that, it was like all of time it stopped. He never said anything about Jesus. He never preached the gospel to me.
Starting point is 01:15:09 He never said anything about the Bible. But in that moment, it felt like all of time was flashing before me, all the Bible verses that I had learned growing up, all the scriptures that I had heard, the vacation Bible schools. And for the first time in my life, I asked myself the question, well, maybe I don't know God loves me because I haven't given myself a chance to love him back. It's like us building a relationship.
Starting point is 01:15:36 Like, you know, we spend time together, and the more we spend time together, we do things that you like, you do things that I like, we grow in relationship and we hang out, and we can't grow if we don't actively make an effort to mutually hang out and seek each other out. And the Bible would say, well, God is after us, but it's humanity that's rebelling against God.
Starting point is 01:15:55 It's humanity that's saying, I'm slapping God in the face and I want to serve myself. And so I'm in real time. Feels like all of time has stopped. These things are flashing in my brain, and I ask myself that question. Maybe I don't know God loves me because I haven't given myself a chance to love him back. And so I immediately just get hit by the Lord.
Starting point is 01:16:19 I start crying and weeping for the first time in my life. I felt like I had felt the presence of God. And I threw money on the counter, like cash to pay for the ticket, and got up and ran out of the waffled house and went into my car. And I just sat in my car and I said, God, if you're real, take away my anxiety and depression. because this is why I want to take my life. And in that moment, I felt the pressure off of my chest and a weight off of my brain, the chaos gone, silent.
Starting point is 01:16:53 Wow. And instead of taking my life, I gave my life to somebody who wanted it. And that night was the night that I surrendered my life to Jesus. And I was scared because I had tried everything and it didn't work. And it felt like a last resort. I felt confused and broken and upset. I mean, I was planning on taking my life. I had a porn addiction up to that point.
Starting point is 01:17:20 I mean, I was a people pleaser. I made mistakes with women. I had done so many different things, and I thought that God didn't want me. But in that moment, a God that's created everything in the universe had time for me and actually saw me when I was broken. And I just wanted to be seen.
Starting point is 01:17:38 And that same passage I actually brought up earlier, Matthew 16. When Jesus says, who do the people say that I am? They say, well, you know, something that you're John the Baptist and something that you're Elijah the prophet. And then Peter, he's like, oh, my gosh, you're neither of those people. You're the Christ. You're the Messiah that we've learned about that we've been waiting for.
Starting point is 01:17:57 And Jesus says it's not by flesh and blood that you've been able to understand this, but it is a gift from God. There was nothing in me that night that conjured up an intellectual response to Jesus. It was a gift from God, a genuine grace that God met me that night and gave me this gift of experiencing relationship with him. And I haven't turned back since. It's been over five years. Wow. Did you tell your parents when you got home?
Starting point is 01:18:32 No, not when I got home. What were your next steps? Well, I came home. I don't recommend this to anyone, but I came home. and went to my room, kept praying, and then I grabbed my Bible that I had to have for school because I went to private Christians school. I grabbed my Bible, and then I had this textbook
Starting point is 01:18:56 called Systematic Theology by Wayne Grum from 1990s, big, thick, blue textbook. So I wanted to have a greater understanding of the right way to view God, theology. You know, Jesus is fully God and fully manned. The Bible is the infallible word of God, these theological concepts that make the Christian faith Christian. And I locked myself my room with those things, and I made a video the next day on social media to like the people that followed me from my hometown. Say, hey, look, I had this encounter with Jesus.
Starting point is 01:19:27 I don't know what to do with it, but from now on, I'm going to use my voice to stand for Jesus. I'm going to use my voice to tell everyone about him. And I'm going to commit myself to this thing. And that's where everything began. Amen. You know, suicide in teens is an all-time high right now. Yeah. What do you have to say to kids that are, or anybody, not just kids,
Starting point is 01:20:06 anybody that's getting ready to take that step? It's not worth it. You know, sometimes we convince ourselves, like, oh, it's the best thing I can do for my family because I'm a burden or my friends. It's not true. You actually leave them in worse shape than me. before. There are people that actually care about you. And I thought that people didn't really care about me. And to people struggling with suicide or suicidal ideation or want to take
Starting point is 01:20:39 their life or self-harm, like genuinely reach out to someone that you love and care about. Talk to them, explain to them. We need to create a culture that vulnerability isn't weakness, that we shouldn't shame people from opening up because of their struggles. transparency leads to transformation and so to the older people out there that don't battle with this like make yourself available for my generation to talk and then for people whether you're young or old that struggle with this find someone that you love and talk to them
Starting point is 01:21:08 but actually give them the opportunity to help you don't just say something for pity like say something because you want help and you won't change it's good advice I've been in that slot you struggled with suicide Oh yeah, I should be dead Wow, when was that? That would have been around 2017,
Starting point is 01:21:36 probably and yeah, I reclined my seat back in the garage, left the car running, I was ready to go. Oh my gosh. Yeah, and I mean, I was drunk as shit I don't even, I don't remember it. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:21:56 But, yeah, woke up, woke up naked in my room smelling gasoline or something. And ran downstairs, saw my gun, not the gun that I carry every day. A bigger gun sitting on the couch, so I knew I was like, well, that's, I wonder why that's out. And then I walked out into the garage and grabbed the handle still. it was hot. I walked in and I was like oh shit I think my car's running in there
Starting point is 01:22:34 and I was like man if I open this door and there's a fire I'm probably gonna get fucking blown away I was like well that would be good so I opened the door nothing happened and then I saw I see I saw the car running smelled like gas big time in there I was so it was so
Starting point is 01:22:53 there was so many fumes I was like, holy shit. I mean, I was still drunk, too, so I wasn't thinking right. But I was like, I don't even want to push the garage door button now because the whole damn condominium building is going to fucking blow up. And so I, and then I was like, well, wait a minute, there's a spark plugs firing. So I was like, that probably isn't going to happen. So I hit the button. And then I just, I went and looked in my gas tank had melted. And there was drops of gas. gas dripping onto the exhaust. Whoa.
Starting point is 01:23:32 And then there was a little, a little bitty, like, you know, they'd hit the exhaust and you'd see these little bitty, like, flames. And I was like, holy shit. Oh, my God. Almost died. There were four times. Oh, my gosh. I shouldn't be here.
Starting point is 01:23:48 Should have died in the fucking car. Because I came home, reclined the seat, went to sleep. Something woke me up. One inside was obviously going to kill myself with my gun. One upstairs passed out, came back, then hoped that the door was going to blow me away. Wow. You know, and then you see that fucking gasoline dripping on top of the exhaust
Starting point is 01:24:12 and igniting flames in a condominium building. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Holy crap. You know? And, uh, yeah. Wow. Did you like want to die or you just?
Starting point is 01:24:27 Yeah. What made you want to die? want to die? Oh, a lot of things. No purpose. No Jesus. I'd recently left the, left contracting for the CIA, felt no purpose, didn't feel wanted, felt like life was over.
Starting point is 01:24:46 I'd hit the pinnacle of everything I wanted to hit up to that point. I was a seal and got in, was, was doing shit with the agency. It was, and then I left and I was teaching tactics. I fucking hated it and I just, I just couldn't get any traction and didn't feel like my family, but it was a lot of things, man. It was a, there was a lot of shit going on up here. But, um, but anyways. Well, I'm happy you're here still.
Starting point is 01:25:13 Me too. So, but, uh, I mean, I don't think that was a coincidence. Me either. You know, and, um, so how did your life? I mean, we're going to get into it, but immediately. How did it change immediately after you had accepted Christ? Well, like I said, like what I thought would be impossible to quit, like porn, just that I haven't looked back since.
Starting point is 01:25:40 It's gone. No cravings, nothing. No, well, look, we're human, right? So, like, of course, I have temptations. But, like, what I thought would be the hardest thing for me to give up was actually the easiest thing for me to give up with Jesus. And so it really started by making, a diagnosis on my heart, Psalm 139, search my heart, God, reveal to me the areas of my life
Starting point is 01:26:03 that are causing me to be separate from you. And Matthew chapter 6, God give me the strength to cut them off. And so there were some friends I had to stop hanging out with. There were some things I had to stop doing, and there were some new people I needed to start surrounding myself with. And so what it really looked like was my Bible that Wayne Grudem book, talking to my Bible teachers consistently more, asking them hard questions at my private Christian school and allowing them to pour into my life. I tried to find a big youth group in my hometown so I could surround myself with people my age
Starting point is 01:26:35 that loved Jesus and try to find friends that cared that actually wanted to follow this thing out that didn't just talk about being a Christian. And I think that was the hardest thing for me to navigate at the beginning was so many people claimed to love Jesus, but I was making changes that they weren't. And I'm not saying that makes me holier than someone.
Starting point is 01:26:59 But if your life doesn't look different before you claim to have met Jesus until after you have claimed to met Jesus, then I would argue that we would be following a different Jesus. And so those were the quick and easy steps, and I immediately started sharing my faith. I would run up to people and be like, Jesus loves you and run away before they could respond because I didn't have the answers to their questions.
Starting point is 01:27:20 And then I started standing there and taking the questions. And a lot of times it was, I don't know, but give me a couple of days, so I'll give you an answer. And that challenged me to dive deeper into my faith and see, man, do I really believe that Jesus really is who he says he is according to the Bible? And that's really the first few steps I did, and then a month into becoming a Christian.
Starting point is 01:27:40 I went to a Christian conference. How did you feel? When I was following Jesus. Yeah. I felt like the greatest, you know, I've never done drugs before, but it was like the best feeling. pre-wafel house, the best feeling I was looking for.
Starting point is 01:28:00 You know, like I was... Euphoric. It was unreal. It was like the sky was blue. The grass was green. My perspective on life had changed. I had purpose. Like, you just said a moment ago. Like, I didn't have purpose without Jesus.
Starting point is 01:28:13 Me too. Now I did. And I didn't care what was in my way. I was going to do everything I could to invite people into this thing called the family of God that I had experienced. Because, like, you know the mistakes that no one knows about you? the same way I know my mistakes that no one knows about me. So I felt like the dirtiest human being on the planet.
Starting point is 01:28:31 I felt like I was so far gone, no one could save me. And then Jesus saved me. So I thought if he can do it for me, he can do it for anyone. And so I was just over the top, over the moon, excited and ecstatic. And when I started second semester of my Christian school, no one really said anything to me about it. They kind of thought I was just riding a high, I think. No one really acknowledged it.
Starting point is 01:28:55 You know, I was talking about Jesus, making iPhone videos, teaching the Bible, teaching what I was learning in the school, teaching what I was reading in my quiet time, just every chance I could get sharing about Jesus. And I think people just were like, yeah, whatever. What would you do with those videos? I would just post them on TikTok. I would just prop up my phone and click play.
Starting point is 01:29:15 Like, looking back at them now, they're really cringe. They're extremely cringe. It's cool, though, man. You see an arc there. It definitely is cool to see the, the storyline. It's hard to watch this video sometimes, but I'm like, it's whatever I was 17, like, it'll be cool. It's the
Starting point is 01:29:28 beginning, man. It is the beginning. It is the beginning. And what's cool, you know, you'll be able to look back on that and see how much you've grown. That's what's fucking cool, in my opinion. I mean, I'm grateful. I mean, I definitely am
Starting point is 01:29:46 grateful. It is a little cringe to see like young me in my hair. I have really bad hair. And just really just really just, yeah, wild. But anyways, I would post them on like TikTok and Instagram Reels and just, hey, Psalm 23, here's the verse of the day, or here's this thing, or I'm learning this thing.
Starting point is 01:30:05 And I would also be vulnerable. Like, if I was experienced in hard times, then I was crying. Like, I'd be like, man, I'm having a hard time right now. Be crying, like, look, like, I'm a Christian, but like, I'm having a hard time. And I think that allowed people to relate. Because I think we have too many Christians that act like.
Starting point is 01:30:22 they got it all together. I'm not in that business. I want to try to be as vulnerable as possible. And so that's kind of what those first steps really look like. That's a good way to be. Well, Bryce, let's take a quick break. But before we do, I just want to go back on the anointed thing because I probably misspoke. But it was a, like I said, it was a thing that happened at the church and struck up a conversation this morning. And I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, but I'm just empty in my head. So I like it. No, right there. with you. I love it. Cool. I just want everybody to know, I don't think I'm more important than I am. Yeah, I just, just empty in my head. No, absolutely. Anyways, let's take a break. Let's do it.
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Starting point is 01:32:27 I'm Sarah Adams, the host of Vigilance Elites, The Watch Floor, where we highlight what matters. It became a permissive state. Explain to you why it matters and then aim to leave you feeling better informed than you were before you hit play. Harris, hostile intelligence agencies, organized crime. Not everything is urgent, but this show will focus on what is need to know, not just what is nice to know. All right, Bryce, we're back from the break. Oh, what do you think? I'm about to try it.
Starting point is 01:33:14 They smell so good. Why gummy bears? Like, what made you make the gummy bears? Gummy. Oh, why gum? Well, it's kind of a long story, but. So I started out teaching weapons and tactics. And before I really dove in, I have a lot of friends that are doing that from my past life.
Starting point is 01:33:35 And so I looked at what everybody was doing and everybody was kind of a tough guy, hard ass, fun as for pussies. We only eat protein shakes and chicken breast. You know what I mean? And I was like, dude, that's not me. I don't want to be a hard ass. people are already scared of seals and shit like that. And I was like, I have to be approachable. So I just started posting all the junk food I ate.
Starting point is 01:33:58 Nice. And then fast forward, we started the podcast. I wanted to do CBD gummy bears because I always have problems sleeping. And my marketer was like, no, you can't do that. You're going to get sued. Jewel just got sued for something like marketing to kids or something with CBD or I think it was Jewel. And so I said, fine, we'll just do regular gummy bears. So we did it.
Starting point is 01:34:27 And I did it because I couldn't make a living off this at the beginning. Yeah. You know, nobody would advertise. I had no sponsor, nothing. You know, and it was literally paying shit tons of money at the time to produce this. And it was just me and my wife. And I was like, man, if we want to do this, we're going to have to have, we have to make some income.
Starting point is 01:34:48 Right. So that was it. These are actually so good. Oh, thanks. I love them. I might go through this whole bag by the end of this. I'm not even kidding. Hey, well, we got more.
Starting point is 01:34:59 Oh, well, thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. But, all right, so I think we left off. We didn't get to, you're going to L.A. Yeah. So why L.A? Well, from a small town in Georgia to Los Angeles.
Starting point is 01:35:18 I ask myself the same question sometimes. I'd never even been to L.A. So when I don't blame you. Well, where I'm from, everyone says the same thing. And my grandma, every time I come home, she's got like a new news article that's like, the tectonic plates, it's going to fall in the ocean, you know? So like, I got to, you know, it's funny.
Starting point is 01:35:42 But yeah, so after high school, I had moved to Destin, Florida. I worked on pontoon boats there for about four months. And by the end of the summertime, at Ghost Town of tourists, and everyone there just didn't follow Jesus and things like that. And I wanted to be around people that did. So I moved back to Georgia,
Starting point is 01:36:04 and I'm just praying like, God, what do you want me to do? Like, where do you want me to go? And so, anyway, as long story short, I go to a conference in Dallas and feel like the Lord speaks to me to move to L.A. Well, I knew there was no selfish bone in my body that wanted to go there because I've been saying the same thing you just said about
Starting point is 01:36:21 L.A. all my life. So I'm like, heck no, I don't want to go to L.A. And that day, I had five random people throughout my day that didn't know each other that were like, hey, man, I feel like God wants you to go to L.A. Or, man, I feel like you should move to L.A. and be a light for Jesus. Random people would say this to me throughout that same day. And I was like, what the heck? Isn't that crazy how that happens? So weird, so wild. So I'm like, okay, this is weird. I'm not doing I'm not doing it. I'm not going to go. And after about the fifth time towards the end of the night, one of my buddies called me,
Starting point is 01:36:53 my one of two friends I had that lived in LA. He was like, hey, you know, Bryce, I need you to pray for me. Someone moved out of my bedroom, and so now I've got this like weight of rent on me, like my old roommate did. I've got an extra bed in here and I'm having to cover rent. This was the same day? Same day. At the end of the day. And so I was like, hold on one second.
Starting point is 01:37:15 I think that I'm supposed to move. I think that I'm supposed to move in that bedroom. And then I prayed, and then I bought a one-way ticket with like a suitcase, a duffel bag, and a backpack. What did you pray about? God, where do you want me to go? What do you want me to do? So I had initially, here was my plan. My initial plan was after this summertime, I was going to go to Liberty University in person.
Starting point is 01:37:40 And in the summertime, I had dropped out without my parents knowing. and made a poor decision there, and I own it. But now we see God's used it for his glory, even my mistakes God has used. And so when I had dropped out, I wasn't going to college, so I switched to online. I'm actually still online, I'm about to graduate in the spring. So I'm an online student Liberty University,
Starting point is 01:38:05 I transfer online, I'm like, well, God, what do you want me to do? I'm online, so I can kind of go anywhere, anywhere you want me to go. And that's when I felt the Lord speak LA to me and put it on my heart. When I say speak to me, you're like, kept coming in my brain, like move to L.A., move to L.A., move to L.A. And I'm like, what the heck? I'm not moving to L.A.
Starting point is 01:38:22 So I arrived, and the first place I lived, I lived in Crenshaw. That was the first place I lived. My neighbor got stabbed within the first 30 minutes of me living there, and I was like, where the heck have I moved right now? Wait, is Crenshaw like, is that famous? Should I know this? Well, Crenshaw is like, you know, Compton. Like you ever heard of Compton? It's not Compton, but it's like another city. on the same lines Yeah kind of similar
Starting point is 01:38:48 Not as like rough I guess you could say Rough enough Yeah it's rough enough because it's made a name for itself I say Crenshaw because it's more of like a blanket statement But it's this little pocket if you want to get really specific Called Exposition Park This is where I live so it's near USC And I moved into a house of
Starting point is 01:39:09 That had four rooms with eight dudes I was the eighth dude only knew two dudes in there. Those both of my friends in L.A. happened to live in the same house that I knew that lived there. And then I started just doing what I could. I mean, I would feed the homeless on Friday.
Starting point is 01:39:25 We had a house church on Sunday nights where we would all gather and do like church in a house, just young people. I would preach to people in the streets everywhere I went. How are you making a living? I was actually spending my savings from working on the pontoon boats. You couldn't have much.
Starting point is 01:39:43 Much savings. I didn't have a lot, but I was using it and just going hard, and I thought I was only going to be there from like that. I moved there at the end of September of 22. So I thought I was just going to be there from September until January 1 of the new year, and then I was going to have to leave. Man, you got to like pay to breathe oxygen out there. Like, it's like, it's no joke.
Starting point is 01:40:05 So you move, are all these guys in the house, are they doing the same thing you're doing? No. Some of them did like e-com stuff. Some of them had actual jobs. One dude was like aspiring musician. One guy was like doing what I did in a similar instance. His name's Elijah. Like he was, he's just one of the smartest guys I know about the Bible and Christianity.
Starting point is 01:40:26 And he was like itinerate preaching at churches and, you know, making iPhone videos for Jesus. And I was still making these iPhone videos at the time talking about Jesus. But like I was, you know, I was more concerned and still am more concerned today with real people, real conversation. and so I was doing everything feeding the homeless on Friday, Bible study on Wednesday nights, house church on Sunday nights, preaching everyone in the streets, doing whatever I could Monday nights. I would go to a worship night all the way in Huntington Beach. What are you preaching in the street? That Jesus Christ loves them and that he died for their sins and defeated their sins on the third day.
Starting point is 01:41:02 I mean, I always wonder this. I see people doing it everyone, so I always wonder, you know, who's getting something out of this? Yeah, like It was just It's almost like Forgive me But I'm No, do you think
Starting point is 01:41:17 It's almost like a heckler To me Sure Yeah, I think How do you find the people I mean, I've never seen somebody That's like on the street preaching like that
Starting point is 01:41:27 Where somebody stops I'm like man, I want to hear what This person has to say Oh wait, you're thinking of the guys with the microphones It doesn't matter With microphone or signs
Starting point is 01:41:37 Whatever I didn't do either Of those things I never see I never see it. So is that what you're talking about? You're just on Broadway and Nashville preaching the gospel. No, not at all.
Starting point is 01:41:47 Neither of those. I would just walk up to people to start talking to them. Like, just roll up on you. Like, if you had your black coffee at the stoplight waiting across the crosswalk, I'd walk up to you and be like, hey, man, how's your day? What do you think about Jesus? Do you have a fate? Just like that, one-on-one convo.
Starting point is 01:42:04 What's the typical response? You'd be shocked. Like, you know, that's why I laugh when, like, the street preachers were the signs and the microphones are like, oh, I'm getting persecuted. Yeah, well, I think anyone in their right mind would yell back at you if all the only thing you're saying is you're going to burn in hell. Like, it doesn't shock me that that's like a response. Like, why do we act so surprised that's a response?
Starting point is 01:42:23 You know, that's not persecution. You're just provoking anger out of people. And look, truth, like loving people doesn't mean you compromise for their lifestyle or their sin, but Jesus was full of grace and truth. So you're able to pull the gold out of people and call them higher. So I would just ask, hey, what do you think about Jesus? But it really started in situations where, like, people couldn't run away from me. And what I mean by that is, like, in an elevator, like, where are you going to go?
Starting point is 01:42:50 Where are you going to go? Or, like, restaurants, waiters and waitresses, they have to talk to you. That's their job. They have to talk to you. Or getting a haircut. Like, you're going to mess up my hair. It's going to grow back in a couple months, you know? Like, what's the difference?
Starting point is 01:43:07 It's how I would just be like, do you have a faith? Or what do you think about Jesus? or what gives you purpose, what do you think happens when you die? These questions that I think are necessary that we need to ask ourselves. Sometimes I think we avoid because they're hard. And everyone has a perspective about Jesus. Everyone does. Why is that?
Starting point is 01:43:26 Why is Jesus the man that everyone has a perspective about? That's fascinating to me. And so that question has no language barrier, no nation barrier. Every person has a perspective about Jesus. Whether they don't know who he is, or they've been hurt by people who claim to love Jesus, or they are Christian, or he's just a prophet in their religion,
Starting point is 01:43:45 or he's just a good teacher. Everyone has a perspective. And nine times out of ten, it was either, you know, oh, I grew up in church, or that's about it. You know, if someone said, you know, I read my Bible when I go to church, okay, what does that look like for you?
Starting point is 01:44:00 You know, what does that look like? Well, I mean, it's not as much, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now, the people that were rejected, they didn't want it. They would just say, oh, I'm not interested. it. I vividly remember there was one time, I'll tell you a cool story. I shared Jesus
Starting point is 01:44:13 with a waitress in San Antonio at a restaurant. And I kept talking about Jesus and she kept not wanting so much so that she changed waitresses with me, that she left being the assignment on our table and they sent a new waitress to our table. So then I started talking
Starting point is 01:44:30 that lady about Jesus. And then she got upset too, so then she went to go get the manager. So then the manager comes to the other table. And I preach the gospel to the manager, the manager gives her life to Jesus. So the manager of the restaurant was the one who needed to hear. Right there. Right there at the table. How did that go? I'm just not teary. I said, hey, what do you think about Jesus? And she said, oh, you know, I don't really think about him, blah, blah, blah. And then I just started asking her questions about her life, how long she had been working there,
Starting point is 01:44:57 you know, and then I like, I really like asking this question. If God could do a miracle for you right now, what would that be? Like the hardest thing you're dealing with right now, if God could show, up and fix that problem, what would it be? And I don't exactly remember what she had said, but that was really what had softened her heart. And we just prayed for her. And I shared the gospel with her. And she was just overwhelmed by this love.
Starting point is 01:45:23 And she gave her life to Jesus and surrendered to Jesus in that moment. So the next day, I went back to that restaurant. I went back to the restaurant. And the two ladies that had gotten mad at me before were at the front counter, like we're like the host stand. And they went, oh my gosh, you got to be kidding me. I'm going to get our manager to kick you out. So they go and get the manager, the lady that we had just talked to the day before.
Starting point is 01:45:46 And she comes back, Bryce, good to see you. Come over here. Come sit down at the table. And just totally like rock to roll. I'll never forget that story. It was in San Antonio. Well, so what's that like, though? I mean, what was the, what did you say to her that she was like, I'm in?
Starting point is 01:46:04 Well, you know, I think that's the thing we have to recognize. I was like, there's no amount of words that you and I could conjure up that's going to make someone intellectually believe in Jesus. The Bible says that we plant seeds and water seeds, but God brings the increase. So the best thing we can do is represent Jesus to the best of our ability. And that's why, like, she genuinely surrendered to Christ, like, wanted to follow Jesus. And I pray that she's continuing on in the faith. I don't like count salvations.
Starting point is 01:46:31 I like, how do you track a salvation? Like, someone please tell me how you track a salvation. What does that mean? just because someone fills out a note card does not mean that they're following Jesus, you know what I mean, or raises their hand. She sincerely surrendered to Jesus, and I believe that she's wholeheartedly, but I'm not going to count it. I'm not going to count it. Be like, oh, there's one person that got saved under me.
Starting point is 01:46:50 Like, I don't view it like that. But I presented the gospel to her, and that's that radical love, you know? People supernaturally, God allows them to understand this gift of the gospel, and they either reject it or they're for it. And the next day, she was just glow. the first day we met her, down, anxious, hard day. Next day, glowing. And so it was really cool. You just see like, man, I'm glad we could be a light to her. But Jesus says an interesting claim. He says, the harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few. The odds are in our favor as Christians
Starting point is 01:47:26 to share the gospel with people. He actually says many people are ready to give their life to me. But he says the laborers are few. Not enough people are doing it. And that's why we started this ministry is because not enough people are doing it. We're too scared of the response. Like, what do you say? Do they react? Are they hostile? Even asked it to me earlier when we weren't sitting down, you know, like, do people rejected?
Starting point is 01:47:49 Do people get crazy? Yeah, they do. But we also see people that accept it, that are grateful for it, that want to hear it. That's fascinating. That challenged me respectfully. Thank you. I'm going to think about it. So that's what it looks like, really, in the street.
Starting point is 01:48:06 I mean, that's an interesting question you asked. What was it? If you could get a miracle today, what would it be? Yeah, if God could do a miracle in your life right now, what would that be? What is it for you? Well, for me, it was taking away my depression and anxiety. What is it today?
Starting point is 01:48:21 What is it today that he keeps me strong in the faith? I want to finish this thing out. I met 100 new Christians a month after I became a Christian, and today half of them aren't even believers anymore. And as much as I love them, I don't want to end up like that. And so that's my prayer constantly. It's like, God, give me strength, protect me, guide me, lead me. What do you think happens when we die?
Starting point is 01:48:54 Well, I believe that when we die, we're going to stand before an all-knowing God and that God happens to be Yahweh from the scriptures that we read, old and New Testament. We're going to stand before God and we're going to have to give an account for our life, the way that we lived. Our actions are going to testify against us. there's no one to blame, we're going to be held responsible. And if we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ that his perfect eternal sacrifice was enough to atone for our infinite wrongdoing against God, then we will experience an infinite eternal time in heaven with God. But if in this
Starting point is 01:49:29 lifetime we chose to reject God and say, no, I want to live for myself, I don't want to accept the reality that he is Lord, I don't want to do these things, it breaks God's heart, but he respects the free choice that he gives human beings to choose to follow him, and they will spend an attorney separate from him. What do you think it looks like? I mean, we read the Bible and it's how- Daily life like. What's daily life like? Yeah, I'm just curious. What do you mean? I think about this stuff all the time.
Starting point is 01:49:58 Oh, okay. You didn't mean, like, what is heaven and hell like? You meant what is daily life like? Anything. I mean, what's it look like? Are we in, are we, do we look like we look now? Well, the Bible would say that we're given- We have a body. We're given new bodies, right? So we're given new bodies in heaven. There's, I'm very cautious to listen to people that have, give like, wide, detailed descriptions of heaven because there's not really a lot about it. I mean, the streets are gold. I think that's fascinating. So, like, imagine, like, gold in heaven is like asphalt on earth. We spit on asphalt. We walk on asphalt. And gold is a valuable resource. So I'm thinking, if that's our asphalt in heaven. Does it say that?
Starting point is 01:50:37 Yeah. It says that there's going to be streets of it. of gold. If there's going to be streets of gold and our streets and earth are asphalt and we walk on them, we just like treat them like normal. Like, we don't even think twice about what we're walking on. I'm like, oh my gosh, how much more beautiful is heaven going to be. Where does it say that? It says it in the New Testament. I believe in the book of Revelation. I could be wrong. I'm more happy to look it up with you. When I have my life. It says we have bodies too? Yeah, we're giving new bodies. particularly with heaven and hell, the thing that fascinates me the most about hell and heaven
Starting point is 01:51:15 is we don't talk about the reason for both the extremes, right? Like hell, the Bible says it's weeping and gnashic of teeth. We read that in Matthew 25, and we read it in other instances in Scripture and in the book of Revelation. I think it's in Revelation 20 or 21. And we think, oh, it's all suffering and it's fiery and it's burning. Well, I personally do not think that hell is scary just because it's fiery and burning, and they're sweeping and ashen of teeth.
Starting point is 01:51:43 The reason why I think hell is going to be so suffering is because every human being, whether they believe in God or not, is going to stand before him. And they're going to see the most beautiful, magnificent being they've ever seen in their life. And then they're going to spend an eternity separate from it. Hell is the absence of God. Heaven is the presence of God, both for an eternity. That's why I think hell is going to be suffering. Imagine not thinking that God is real, and then you see the most beautiful being you've ever seen in your life,
Starting point is 01:52:12 and then you have to be separate from it for an eternity. Like, that's why I think hell is going to be so much suffering, and that's why I think heaven is going to be far greater than we can imagine. It's hard for us to really wrap our minds around what hell and heaven are going to be like because this is as real as it gets right here, like this. But we should look forward to it because Jesus is the prize. Like, he is the prize. He's what we're looking for.
Starting point is 01:52:35 We're not going to heaven because we want to walk on the streets of gold, and we want some, you know, you always hear people say, I'm going to get a big mansion in heaven for the things I do for God. It's like, I don't want to go to heaven because I want some big mansion in heaven. I want to go to heaven because I want Jesus. He's the prize. But I also do not believe that heaven's just going to be us singing songs on repeat 24-7. I don't believe that's the case.
Starting point is 01:52:57 We read that about the seraphene in the book of Revelation and Isaiah 6. Serafin? Serafein. So there are angels that have six wings. and they have eyes all over them. And the Bible describes them in Isaiah chapter 6, that when they're in the presence of God, that they have to cover their eyes themselves with their wings
Starting point is 01:53:17 to even sing how holy God is. And they sing holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. And they continuously sing it over and over and over. And for the longest time, I was like, is that what we're going to be doing? Like, no offense, but, like, I don't really want to just sing a song on repeat all the time.
Starting point is 01:53:36 I mean, some of this stuff might get me in trouble, but I'm just being honest. Like, I'm just being honest. But I realize the reason that they do that is because God is infinite, and they see something new about God, so they can't help but sing that from their heart. Like, God, you are so holy, holy, holy, are you, Lord Almighty? It's genuine and pure.
Starting point is 01:53:58 But that's not what we're going to do, I don't believe. But for the Christian, like everyday walk just looks like, following Jesus. Jesus has the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
Starting point is 01:54:13 Do you think there are relationships up there? Do you have relationships? Like marriage relationships and things like that? I mean, I think we're going to... Just daily relationships. I think we're going to interact with each other
Starting point is 01:54:25 but I don't think there's going to be like marriage romantic relationships up there. I definitely think that we're going to interact with each other and be friends. It's like, I don't think it's so far-fetched to think that, like, one day I can go talk to Paul, you know. And we're like, dude, Paul, what was it like, you know, being chained to a wall in prison and writing the book of joy? Or, you know, John, what was it like being boiled alive and then surviving and then be casted to an island?
Starting point is 01:54:51 And then they explain it. And they're like, hey, Sean, Bryce, like, what was it like? And it's like, oh, we got a few hate comments and people threatened us digitally, you know? And it's like, what are we doing? I'm excited to learn. We have our own struggles in each century, but I just think that's fun. And you know what? I don't think it's far-fetched that dogs are going to be in heaven either.
Starting point is 01:55:11 Do you think that you learn up there, or do you think when you die, you get this kind of infinite knowledge where everything just all of a sudden makes sense? You know, God is infinite. So the Bible even says that there's new mercies for us every day. So I don't think it's far-fetched to think that we're going to not stop continuing. continuing learning. Like, we're going to continue to learn, I believe. And, you know, I wish I was a little bit more educated on the heaven and health thing, but I'm not as hyper fixated on, like, where I'm going. I'm hyper fixated on I know where I'm going and I want to bring as many people with me to this place because I know it's going to be good because God is good and I trust him
Starting point is 01:55:53 and he's a man of his word. And so, you know, I need to do, I need to definitely do a better job of understanding heaven as like, what is it like? What's it going to be like? I'm just in the business of, I want to bring as many people possible to this place if it really, if Jesus is Lord and he really is who he says he is. I'm just curious what you think it's going to be like. I'm always curious to hear. You know, I do, we do read about heaven and hell in the gospel of Luke. I'm not going to quote the chapter, but it's called the rich man Lazarus.
Starting point is 01:56:27 So it's another rich man story. So Luke 18, there was a rich young ruler we talked about earlier. Now this one, it's like, there's a king. and he's high of royalty and very wealthy and rich in this lifetime in a massive house and mansion and palace and servants and eats well. And the crumbs on his table is what the poor man ate. And there was a poor man outside the gate of his city who would barely eat the crumbs with the dogs. And when they died, it says that the poor man outside the gate was carried by angels into heaven. and the rich man Lazarus was condemned to hell.
Starting point is 01:57:04 Now, this has nothing to do with money. But it's interesting how in the account of the rich man Lazarus going to hell, he asks for two things. First of all, he says, hey, can you give me a dip of water on my tongue? I need some relief. Why didn't Lazarus say, hey, can you get me out of here? Why didn't he ask to be taken out of hell?
Starting point is 01:57:26 Why did he only ask for relief? And then the second thing he asked, says, well, hey, can you just warn my family and friends that not to make the choices that I made? Can you just warn them? And God says, well, they have the prophets. They have Moses and Elijah and all these people. Like the evidence is there.
Starting point is 01:57:46 But he never asked to be taken out of hell. And I wrestled with that for so long. Like, man, God's looking down on you. You're communicating with him. Why wouldn't you ask God, hey, bro, I made a bad choice. can you help me out? It doesn't do it. And there's an aspect of hell where it's self-inflicted. God doesn't send people to hell. People send themselves to hell. Heaven and hell is a choice. You know, we choose if we want Jesus or not. And if we choose to live for ourselves and think that we know what's
Starting point is 01:58:21 best for our lives and make our own decisions, it breaks God's heart. But he respects the free choice that we have. and we spend an eternity separate from him. But if we choose, I want to live God's way, I want to know what you have in sore for me, I want to know what you think is best for me, then it makes God's heart glad and we spend an eternity with him. And that passage fascinates me.
Starting point is 01:58:43 It's in the Gospel of Luke. I'm like, man, I don't want to be like the rich man Lazarus that's so distracted by things and by himself and his own brain. Humility is this interesting aspect, and the character of Jesus. He's described as being gentle and lowly. And I think we need to be more like that.
Starting point is 01:59:07 Do you think the passage to get into heaven is narrow? It's hard to get in there? It defines what you mean by hard to get in there. The passage is narrow. Do you think the majority of the population goes there or to hell? I think there's a lot more people that are going to hell to think that they're going to heaven. Really?
Starting point is 01:59:29 Yeah. what does it mean to follow Jesus? That's the question. And there's deception. You know, the people, the same people in today's day and age. Let's go Matthew chapter 7. Well, Lord, we prophesied in your name. We cast the demons out in your name. We healed the sick in your name. He says, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Let's change it to 21st century modern day. Hold on. Let's go back. What does that even mean? Why would Jesus be pissed that they're healing people in his name? Right, because their faith and trust is in the things that they do for God and not in him. What?
Starting point is 02:00:06 Absolutely. So this is a weird dynamic about faith and worse, okay? The 21st century version of that is, well, I'm a Christian and I'm going to heaven because look at how many devotionals I've read God. And look at how many times I went to church and this person didn't. And look at how many times I gave to the homeless. And look how many times I did that. People are banking more putting all their poker chips in on the fact that they do God. things than the one who actually is good. Jesus himself said, no one is good except God alone.
Starting point is 02:00:38 So we have to understand our good works, the Bible says, are like filthy rags to God. Now that doesn't mean they don't matter. We'll get back to that. But filthy rags to God, meaning if your stairway to heaven is based on what Sean does, it would maybe buy you two weeks in heaven. Maybe two weeks. For Bryce, you get in there a little bit longer than me, maybe four days for Bryce. Sean would get two weeks, though, with his good works, and that's it. It's not about the things that we do. It's about what he has done. That's the gospel.
Starting point is 02:01:11 That's why people aren't confident. Let me ask you this question. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being absolutely certain, and one being not certain at all, how confident would you be you go to heaven if you were standing before God? Five. Five. Why a 5? Maybe a 6.
Starting point is 02:01:27 Why is that? Why, why, let's go six. Let's go the higher number. Why is six? Because I'm trying to do what I think he wants me to do. I'm trying. I'm trying to live that way. I'm trying to treat people that way. And it's fucking hard. It would be a lot easier if I wasn't trying. Life would be a lot easier if I wasn't trying. Man, it is hard. Actually, I know life would be a lot easier if I wasn't trying. Absolutely. You know, it would be a lot, my, my, I wouldn't have a heavy conscience. I, I would react to things that I fantasize about, uh, that we talked about earlier.
Starting point is 02:02:17 You know, I would, I would indulge in all of that. Yeah. But I don't because that's where I want to go. And I think, you know, you had said something earlier, too, that you, you'd said, I plant a seed. I think the exact same way. I think you, look, all you can really do is lead by example and that plants the seed. Mm-hmm. Or put an idea, you know, on somebody's head and see what happens.
Starting point is 02:02:47 But I think the main thing is you need to be the walking example of what you want other people to be. Absolutely. And I totally understand. Like as Christians, like, we should live this thing out. The book of James says pure religion. religion that's undefiled before God is visiting widows and orphans in their affliction. It doesn't say pure religion is talking about how holy you are, talking about all the good things you do. It's like, hey, put your money where your mouth is. I'm right there with you. But if you say you're a six, do you believe that Jesus only died for 60% of your junk?
Starting point is 02:03:23 Well, hold on. Now, I'm saying a six because I've also done a lot of fucked up things in my life. Yep. That's what I'm talking about, right? So same here. I totally understand. So, So because you've done a bunch of messed up stuff and you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being absolutely certain that you would go to heaven and one being not so certain, you labeled yourself a 6, right? And that's the combination of you feeling like that
Starting point is 02:03:48 it's our duty that we've got to live this thing out and you know that you've done some messed up stuff. So with that in mind, because of the way that you've ranked yourself on that scale, you're basically determining your salvation on everything that you've done. all the good and the bad. That's what you just mentioned in this moment,
Starting point is 02:04:08 whereas Jesus would say, it has nothing to do with that. If that's the case, Jesus only died for 60% of your sins because you're a 6 out of 10. Now, the Bible would say that Jesus Christ's sacrifice was sufficient enough
Starting point is 02:04:22 for all of Sean's mistakes and all of Bryce's mistakes and all of human history's mistakes past, present, and future. So think about it like this. Like, if we went to Dallas Mavericks game, and I had two court side tickets to the Dallas Mavericks game,
Starting point is 02:04:39 and I gave them to you as your gift today when we started it off. He said, here's Sean, here's two courtside tickets to the Dallas Mavericks game. And next week you flew to the Dallas Mavericks game and you win and you walk through and they scan the ticket and you walk down all the way down to court side and the security guy stops you and says, hey, wait a second, where do you think you're going? Where are you going to say? They're saying, well, I got tickets. And he's going to say, well, why should I have to say, well, why should I have to be?
Starting point is 02:05:04 let you in? Well, because Bryce gave me these tickets. These tickets were a gift, and so that's why I'm able to get in. In the same way, that's how salvation works. Like, it is a gift from God. Nothing that we do is going to get us into heaven. The standard for heaven is perfection. It's righteousness. And I'm not going to speak on behalf of you. I'll speak on behalf of me. I'm a jacked up human being that's made a load of mistakes and has a lot of bad past mistakes. And you know what? I'll probably continue to make mistakes unintentionally. But the fact of the matter is Jesus Christ's death on the cross and the fact that he defeated death means that he defeated our sin. He defeated the thing that we can't escape. So if we put our faith and trust in that, it wipes our slate clean as if we've
Starting point is 02:05:53 never done anything wrong. The book of Malachi would tell us that God drops our sin in the sea of forgetfulness as if we've never done anything wrong. Now, because we have been given given such a gracious gift from God. Paul writes about this in the book of Romans. He says, oh, so now that you've been forgiven, does that mean you should just go and do whatever the crap you want? He goes, absolutely not. That is abusing God's grace.
Starting point is 02:06:19 We don't abuse God's grace. The book of Titus tells us that God's grace and his salvation actually fuels us to walk this faith out, put our money where our mouth is. And so we have to change perspective. The idea of faith without works is saying that the works identify, whether someone's faith is sincere. The works don't get us into heaven. That was the other thing I was going to say is, you know, there's a lot that when I think
Starting point is 02:06:43 about, oh, am I going to heaven or am I going to hell? I mean, it's more than good works and sins and all that kind of stuff. That was the next thing I was going to bring up is, is my faith strong enough? All right, everybody, listen up. If you've got pans in your kitchen right now that are warped, burnt up, or everything sticks to them, it's time to let them go because spring cleaning isn't just about your closet, it's about your kitchen too. I've been using hexclad and I'm telling you, these are easily, by far the best pans I've ever used. What surprised me the most is you get the real searer like
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Starting point is 02:08:19 I mean, for me, sometimes it slips away a little bit. Yeah. You know, sometimes fear sets in. And I'm like, oh, shit, what happens if we die? And it's just fucking lights out. And that's it. That's it. We're done.
Starting point is 02:08:34 Yeah. That's like the worst possible scenario. like it everything just stops right you know and then i think about this kind of stuff all the time yeah and and so when those thoughts creeped in i'm like oh shit my faith isn't strong enough i asked you your question if there was a miracle that god could do for you today what would be you said strengthen my faith keep it strong right yep and so that's that's just another thing that goes into it. Another thing is, I mean, am I, you know, we were talking about the anointed thing earlier. Am I doing what you want me to do? Or have I, I'm human. We all justify
Starting point is 02:09:21 things in our head. We're masters at justifying why we do fucked up things in the world. And it's like, oh yeah, yeah, like, like, something that's been on my mind. Maybe, maybe even been on my, I've invested in. some very prominent defense tech companies. Yeah. I don't know. Was that a good thing? I don't know.
Starting point is 02:09:46 One of the investments I made while I had that on my conscience. Yeah. And I'm like, maybe I'm just fearing this because maybe, or maybe I shouldn't be doing it. Sure. Is this going to do good for my family? Yeah. Well, if it pays off, it will. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:10:04 Well, what did it, what did the investment do for? the rest of the world. It's weapons. Yeah. I don't know. Is it good to invest in a defense tech company that's going to defend our nation and keep us safe? But it's also going to, you know, it's, it's war. You know, that's a, that's a fascinating question. I think. Maybe I made the wrong decision. It was on my heart and I fucking invested anyways. Right. I don't know. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, faith biblically defined is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen. So the fact that, like, you have moments of, like, wavering faith, doubts are natural.
Starting point is 02:10:48 They're natural. Like, I question, too. Even Batman had dark nights, you know? So we can't just shake, like, we can't shake. And that's why immediately after that passage in Matthew 7, like, when it says, depart from me, you work's flawlessness, then Jesus now encourages followers of him to, build their foundation on the rock, which is him. Build your foundation on me. Not your stuff. Build it on me. Build it on my word. This unwavering thing that's not going to change.
Starting point is 02:11:18 And so I have moments of wondering, man, am I doing the right thing? Like, what if, what if I have them too? I'm a human. We're all human. Am I, I mean, is Jesus really real? Like, what if I'm just preaching a bunch of nonsense right now? What if I'm doing it? I mean, I think we need to acknowledge you. You have the same thoughts every once a while. Absolutely. Absolutely. And anyone that looks at you, I'm not going to speak before anyone and say anyone that looks at you and says not is lying to you, but I think our human nature,
Starting point is 02:11:48 we need to be honest. Like, I have doubts. I mean, even look at Thomas when Jesus is resurrected in his physical body, he's like, I'll believe him when I see it. The resurrected Jesus appears in front of him and he's like, nope, not enough. I got to put my fingers in the holes. Like, think about him. The resurrected Jesus in his physical body is standing from me to you. And he's like, nope, not enough. I got to put my fingers in the holes. Wow. Like our human nature, it's there. But I don't think it's inherently wrong for us to do that. But that's when, you know,
Starting point is 02:12:22 I can't absolutely prove that Jesus Christ is God. I can't prove to you that God exists. I can't prove to you that when we die, it either goes all black or there's the heaven and a hell. I can look at where does the overwhelming amount of evidence point to? What does the overwhelming amount of evidence? Because the reality is, let's say it goes all black, nihilism. Let's do it. Well, that leads down a whole lot of rabbit holes. That means your life has no purpose and my life has no purpose.
Starting point is 02:12:49 That means every podcast guest that has sat in this chair, those conversations were fruitless. They mean nothing. What was the purpose of them? No purpose. If there is no God and it goes all black, then where does our moral code come from? Well, it's your truth and my truth.
Starting point is 02:13:03 Well, Hitler had his own truth, and I don't know about you, but I mean, what he did was pretty messed up. And the guy that shot up Sandy Hook had his own truth, and that's pretty messed up. Well, hold on. That's wrong. No, no, no, no. You can't say that. It's your truth and my truth because where does the moral standard come from? So if you and I believe in objective morality that there is a truth standard, then we have to ask ourselves the question, where does this truth standard come from?
Starting point is 02:13:30 if this objective true standard is here, is it from a God? And if so, which God should we look at for the subjective truth standard come from? And I think through the narrative of Scripture, the overwhelming evidence of the manuscripts that we have, along with eyewitness accounts, and along with the sustaining nature of history, we should look to Jesus Christ being God. And that's where, like, that stability a little bit comes from. It's like I'm putting all my poker chips in on Jesus because I think that same dynamic you mentioned earlier. Well, like, what happens if I, like, believe in Jesus and it goes all black?
Starting point is 02:14:08 Well, what did it do to you to, you know, quote unquote, be a better person? If it goes all black, what does it even mean to be a better person? But let's just use that language for the time being. Like, what did it hurt you to serve more and show up more for people and love people more? I mean, then you brought up something, too, I mean, and I actually had not heard this, but you're talking about doing good deeds.
Starting point is 02:14:35 I've heard that he likes it when you do good deeds. I've heard it doesn't matter. You're kind of on the side where it doesn't matter, it sounds like. Well, not that it doesn't matter. It matters, just not in the way that we tend to perceive in our brain that it matters. Because there's things I mean, I am a huge believer in always rooting for the underdog, and when you find success, you have to pass that along to the next person. You have to pay it forward.
Starting point is 02:15:01 And, you know, and I think that I can do this through exactly what I'm doing right now. And or whatever, I mean, a lot of lives have been changed from coming on the show. And that makes me feel good that I was able to pay it forward like that, you know. And yeah, I mean, I hope that, even for this interview, I hope that God is smiling down on us and going, that's what you should be doing. You know, and I think about it all the time. But it sounds like you're kind of saying that's not the way to live. Well, we have to understand, like, the purpose of the works. Because there is purpose in the works, right?
Starting point is 02:15:59 The purpose of the works is not so that Sean and Bryce can climb their way to heaven. every god in all of the religions there was this description described as if god was on the top of the mountain and the buddhists was on one side and if you looked a little bit further the muslim was on another side and if you looked a little bit further the hindu was on another side and they're all climbing their way up the mountain the taoist monk was on one side and they're working their way to perfection jesus christ is the only god out of every religion where jesus comes down from the mountain and meets people where they're at And so the dilemma I had a couple months before that suicide attempt when I was if I have a broken heart and I live in a broken world and I can't even fix my broken heart
Starting point is 02:16:41 in a broken world, how could I ever work to perfection? It's impossible. Rather, the fact that Jesus Christ met me where I'm at, that fuels me to live this thing out. It's like, I don't do things because I have to. I do things because I want to because I love him. I wanted to eat ice cream every morning for breakfast, and my dad didn't let me do it. I didn't listen to him because I had to.
Starting point is 02:17:04 I listened to him because I loved him, and I wanted to listen to him. In the same way, I don't follow the teachings of Jesus because I feel like God's threatening me. I do it because I'm motivated by his love for me. God showed me this radical love that he was willing to die for me. I mean, you know, you served for our country. You really know what it looks like to lay your life down for people. You really know what it looks like to be in the midst of war and suffering and all of these intense environments, to lay your life down for people that may not even know you.
Starting point is 02:17:36 Jesus Christ did that for humanity, past, present, and future. He did that for us, that overwhelming amount of love to go, man, God really loved me enough, so I'm going to do everything to love him back and love people. And so my love for him fuels me to stop doing this certain thing. His love for me fueled me to go, I'm going to leave the porn behind because he's not. that's actually not where true love is found and true life is found. The Bible says in the book of John that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy it, but Jesus comes to give life and life abundantly. Sometimes I think this stuff just gets way too complicated, too. Do you know what I mean?
Starting point is 02:18:18 Oh, I'm right there with you. I mean, discernment, everybody has their, you know, their interpretation of the Bible. I grew up Catholic. I still, I still, I still. consider myself Catholic. I go back and forth from the Catholic Church to non-denominational. I think, we'll get into that later, but I think, I don't know. And a lot more well-versed in this than I am. But, you know, I think maybe there is a possibility that God never intended any of this to be so damn complicated.
Starting point is 02:18:57 And if you break it down, it really comes down to good and evil. and one's always trying to take over the other. And so if you, back to setting the example, planting a seed, if you can be the example that you want other people to be, which is good, and you pay it forward and you share, you lift up people that maybe aren't whatever, is successful or whatever the fuck you want to call it, And you just are constantly spreading good, which is not, you know, then that overtakes evil. And if you're spreading evil, then that's amplifying evil and setting an example that other people are going to follow.
Starting point is 02:19:52 Everybody has influence over somebody, you know. And so if you use that influence and you use it just for selfish reasons and spread evil, then that's, then that begins to amplify. If you use it to spread good, good begins to amplify. In the end, one takes over the other. We know what that is. Do you think it could be literally that damn simple? Well, I think there's an aspect to God
Starting point is 02:20:20 where he's not trying to do mental gymnastics with us to get to understand that he loves us, he sees us, and he sent his son to die on the cross for our sins and defeat sin and death on the third day. God is not trying to do mental gymnastics with us there. Now, we're also talking about an infinite God here. There's going to be abstract things and intense things that aren't fully comprehensible to the human brain. And to me, that makes me love God in a sense more because I'm like, man, you really are that holy.
Starting point is 02:20:48 That, like, there are aspects about you that I don't fully understand. Like, you really are compelling. But, you know, you mentioned paying it forward, and I, like, I love the heart behind that and do good. But, like, what even is good? You know, doing good unto what? where does that good come from? Where does the standard of good come from? Your heart.
Starting point is 02:21:07 The heart. Well, every human heart is different, right? Like my heart and your heart could be different. I mean, we can agree for the most part. I think human beings can naturally agree for the most part on moral code. But where does that moral code come from? I mean, you have the Jeffrey Dahmer's, you have cannibalistic tribes around the globe still.
Starting point is 02:21:23 You have the Hitler's. You have the dictators. You have war and rumors. And people that think that rape is okay. People that think that all these things is okay. So where does the good come from? Because they might be thinking that they're doing good by trying to convince people that their way is better.
Starting point is 02:21:39 So if morality, good and evil, is subjective, then... I don't think it's subjective. Do you really think it's subjective? I think it's objective. I don't think it is subjective. I think it is objective. I think that there is a truth standard.
Starting point is 02:21:56 But if it is subjective, then hypothetically, we can't tell people watching or listening right now that what they're doing is right or wrong. Let's say that there's someone watching and listening and it's like, ah, I'm not really in it, I'm not the kind of guy that likes to pay things forward. I like to keep all my money to myself and I don't like to bless people.
Starting point is 02:22:14 Well, if morality is subjective, you can't tell that guy that what he's doing is right or wrong because it's coming from his heart. So it's like, well, hold on a second. There has to be some sort of standard for us. And I believe that that moral code comes from God. And because we have that moral code, that's why the standard of heaven is perfection.
Starting point is 02:22:35 And you and I were wicked people. We've done wrongdoing. And that's why we need Jesus to enter into the scene and pay the price for our wrongdoing to set the record straight, to write our names in the book of life so that we can be with him for an eternity. And I'm all about serving people.
Starting point is 02:22:50 Like, we need to serve people. We need to live this thing called Christianity out. You know, if I claim to be a Christian, and you saw videos of me preaching on the street, and then we went to dinner tonight, and I got slapped drunk, and then I started cheating on my wife, and then I started doing other things.
Starting point is 02:23:05 Would you think I was a Christian? Probably not, but my works are not getting me into heaven. My salvation is secure. And so the reason I gave that example, the one to ten thing was going like, Sean, if you've put faith in Jesus, like you can be secure. And knowing like, man, I am set straight. What Jesus did for me is enough.
Starting point is 02:23:21 And because he did for me, there's no period. And because he did that for me, it fuels me to live this thing out. Like, I would not be able to live the life that I'm living and try my best to love Jesus with my whole heart and live by the Word of God if it wasn't for what he did for me on the cross. So that is what has to compel us to live a life
Starting point is 02:23:43 that's giving glory to God. And in that, God speaks and he teaches and such like that. I like that. Let's go back to L.A. Back to L.A. So when did this, when did this talk? turn officially into your ministry?
Starting point is 02:24:01 Well, I had mentioned we were doing like all those Bible studies and house churches and feeding the homeless and serving in all these different things. And so I was in this state again where I'm like, God, what's my thing for you? Like, what do you want me to do for you? Kind of in that same spot. Like, what do you want me to do? And in May of 2023, I had a dream that I believe God spoke to me. And in this dream, I'm in my grandmother.
Starting point is 02:24:28 my mom's house in the dream, and there is a man sitting at the table, and I'm talking to my grandma, so, and grandma, I don't even know what to do with my life. I don't know the purpose, and she's like, go, go talk to that man at the table. And so I'll walk and sit down at the table, and it is a man by the name of Lauren Cunningham. Lauren Cunningham is the founder of a Christian missions organization called a Youth with a Mission, YWam. They're based out of Hawaii, Conna Hawaii, but their whole purpose is training up Christians to be sent everywhere. in the 1040 window to all the nations and preach the gospel. Lauren Cunningham has been to every country and continent, even Antarctica.
Starting point is 02:25:04 I've never even met the guy. The guy had been dead a few years before I had this dream. And in this dream, he looks at me and says, Bryce, God's calling you to stay in your own backyard, stay in America. And you're going to reach the nations by focusing in America. And I want you to talk to the darkest people, go to the darkest places and the darkest events,
Starting point is 02:25:22 and preach the gospel, reaching the lost, and have those videos encourage people to be bold for their faith. I woke up at about 3 a.m. sobbing from that dream. I don't really have dreams. I normally just go to sleep and wake up. I don't really dream. And so I knew that when I was having the dream, it was significant. And so I'm like, man, God, if that's what you want me to do, I'm going to do it.
Starting point is 02:25:43 And so then that began the process a couple weeks later. I met up with a friend of mine that I had had for a long time named Josh. And I was like, just randomly, I was like, Josh, what are you passionate about? He's like, man, I think I think I really want to capture things on video for God. And I was like, well, I got to tell you, I think I want to capture things on video for God. And then I shared within the dream. And he was like, I'm in. And so we formed a nonprofit organization because we had no money.
Starting point is 02:26:12 And we were like, hey, like, if you guys want to support the mission, you know, if you, you know, if you're passionate about seeing the gospel go forth, but you've got families or you're in college and, like, you can't be sent. Like, send us out. Like, we'll go. We'll go to the darkest places. And then in February 1st of 2024, that's when we began the following year. Wow. What does success versus sacrifice made to you? I think there's sacrifice and success. And I think, you know, with sacrifice, when you follow Jesus, the Bible tells us that it costs something to follow him, that we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him. So there's going to be preferences and comfort that you like, that I like, that we might have to sacrifice to follow Jesus, you know, but there might not be. And so with sacrifice,
Starting point is 02:26:58 I mean, I am sacrificing my preferences and comfort. Like, would I prefer to live in the most expensive and arguably one of the darkest cities in America and newly married and navigating life out there and ministry and doing that? Or would I be more comfortable if I had a stable job with a flip phone in a quiet area, closer to my family. I have preferences in comfort, but there's some sacrifices that have to be made because I'm trying to be obedient to Jesus, what I believe he's calling me to do.
Starting point is 02:27:33 And that's okay, you know, Jesus didn't say it was going to be easy. We talked about it earlier. But I think that's what success is. It's loving God and stewarding what he's given us, and right now I'm doing my best, and I have moments. I fail and I'm human.
Starting point is 02:27:46 But I really want to try to do my best to be open-handed with God. The second that, you know, God places something in your hand and you grip it and you don't want to let it go, you've lost that thing's become an idol. And I try to live open-handed, you know, if God told us to stop doing what we're doing, I'd stop. Do you ever feel like you need to test yourself?
Starting point is 02:28:05 In what way? Taking a break, walking away from it, coming back if you feel called back. You know, I've been convicted about the Sabbath, like creating a consistent rhythm of rest. Like, I tend to have the struggle that you have where it's like I love what I do, like I love to work and I love to put effort. And I've always, I don't know about you, but my creative juice has always flown and I'm
Starting point is 02:28:27 always thinking of new things. Like, how can we reach more people? How can we do this? How can we do that? And really, my wife helped give me a heart check a lot and gives me a lot of heart checks of like, hey, like, you know, like, this is all cool, but like what matters more? Are you able to differentiate what's your ego and what's your calling? I would say definitely better now than a few years ago.
Starting point is 02:28:49 one of the best things I did is I surrounded myself with people that aren't impressed by me. Because if you're impressed by someone, you're too scared to tell them, oh, I don't think you should do that. Like if you only surrounded yourself with a yes man and you were doing something wrong, they wouldn't tell you you were doing something wrong. And so I want to be surrounded by people that aren't yes men
Starting point is 02:29:09 that can wound me with their words for the sake of my soul. That's who I want to surround myself with. And that's who I try to keep in my inner circle. And those people keep me on track and challenge me and keep my heart pure. And I also have like some mentors that I also talk to. I think we need more mentors and fathers to step in our lives as well. Where's the, where is the first darkest place that you went? The first darkest place was Venice Beach. I mean, how did you, what did you do? Did you research it? Did it just pop in your head? What?
Starting point is 02:29:39 I was just like, where are you going? I woke up and I was like, where are we going? We went to Venice Beach. And it's like, just basically like blind pick a spot in L.A. I'm just kidding. It's like, we went to visit Venice Beach, and there was a Satanist guy out there, Satanist, atheist guy. And that was the first, like, dude that we talked to. And he rejected me and was kind of mean towards me. And I remember walking away thinking, wow, it's going to be a whole lot harder than I thought. And then we posted the video, and a little short form clip went online. Ten million people saw it. First video we ever posted. And so that was like the first video we had ever filmed and uploaded and since that day we've reached almost two billion people
Starting point is 02:30:24 with a B. Wow. And through social media, digital and in-person media. But then that started leading. Then we started finding the people. It almost felt like even God was sending the people to us. Like I pulled up to the library one time. There's just a Satanist chilling outside.
Starting point is 02:30:41 Like, when's the last time you ever went to the library and a Satanist is just hanging outside the door? You know what I mean? I don't see many Satanists. Maybe I do. but I don't notice them. Well, I didn't think they existed until I moved to L.A. and I started meeting people that believed in that.
Starting point is 02:30:56 Do you see a lot of them over there? I mean, you see more than you would think exist, but some of them are expressive with their clothes and sometimes you just meet in conversation. Sometimes you can tell by their tattoos and stuff like that. But that's one of the reasons why I have tattoos is so I can, I don't know,
Starting point is 02:31:16 people feel like more approachable and relatable. and, you know, not so time. I mean, dude, that's why I'm wearing Lightning McQueen Crocs right now in a T-shirt and sweatpants. You know, I want to feel inviting and caring. But that's where it all started. We just started bouncing all over. Different cities, different places.
Starting point is 02:31:33 We went to the Burning Man Festival. How is that? That's probably the darkest place I've ever been. Are you serious? It was worse than the Satanic Temple. Why? Well, they advertise it as an art festival. That's what they advertise it as.
Starting point is 02:31:47 Like it's an art free-thinking festival. So Burning Man becomes the second largest city in Nevada for a week. 70 to 80,000 people go there for an entire week. And it's not a free-thinking art festival. It's a big LSD orgy. That's what it is. I remember when we walked in there, and it is like from an aerial view, it looks like, I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Maze Runner,
Starting point is 02:32:10 but it just looks like a ginormous maze, like from in there. And you walk in there and they've got like a purpose. school bus with blacked out windows and it's the orgy bus and they have times for group sex on there. And then next to it, you have an electrolite station. And then next to it, you've got, you know, a cannabis shop. And then the next to it, you got people's tents. And next to it, you got like a dance party and people are walking around no clothes, old people, new people, sleeping with everybody, doing drugs with everybody. And I'll never forget. We entered into the thing and I looked up and I noticed that there were naked people.
Starting point is 02:32:46 immediately. And I immediately pulled my head down and I was like, God, protect my eyes. Like I've got a beautiful girlfriend, my now wife, like protect my eyes. I'm here to do mission work. I only saw naked men the rest of the day. So God was like protecting my eyes and protecting my heart. But it is dark, man. Like it's just people lost and in search and in need of Jesus, but they won't turn to him. But we had some of the most fruitful conversations there. Really? I mean, are you expecting to talk to a Christian and burning man fest? I would assume not. Absolutely. You know, you're not planning on it.
Starting point is 02:33:22 And then they have that big statue, you know, that they burn at the end of the week, the man. And like, whether you like it or not, like sometimes people worship that thing. Sometimes people don't. They have a big temple that they burn. A lot of the stuff that they build there is burnable. It's by the end of the week they burn it.
Starting point is 02:33:39 It was very fascinating. I couldn't believe it was real. A lot of high profile people there that wouldn't want you to know that they were there. and it's just like people live a double life. That was like the realest double life I've ever seen. Will you go back? I don't know.
Starting point is 02:33:55 Like high-profile CEOs doing just wild stuff. A-list celebrities that are covered in, you know, it's the middle of the desert, black rock desert, you know, wearing turbans, hiding the wind and goggles. I don't know if I'll go back. Only if God calls me there. That's why we wins, because we felt like God called us. there. We didn't go last year because we felt like God wasn't asking us to go back. And it was
Starting point is 02:34:18 really dark. Like, I don't know how to explain it. The weight on your chest and going in there and feeling uneasy and what's going on. But we were able to talk to people and have fruitful conversations and reach people. It was amazing. I mean, we definitely looked, we definitely looked like the odd ones out. I got offered LSD twice when I was walking around and I was like, no, but I got something better than LSD. Really? What is it? It's Jesus. It's Jesus, so it's, you know, it's better, he's better than LSD. But, yeah. Man, you were there the whole time.
Starting point is 02:34:54 No, just for a day. Just for a day? Yeah, I could not handle that. Shit, man. Yeah, it was just a day. I was like, I had to really take a couple days off afterwards because I was like, that was heavy. How'd you meet your wife? Well, I, uh, I went to a small private Christian school, and she went to a big public school in the city next door.
Starting point is 02:35:14 She was very beautiful and popular, and I was not very beautiful and popular. And so in the eighth grade, I knew who she was, admired her from afar. I thought she was absolutely gorgeous. Became a Christian, graduated high school, would randomly think of her every now and then because I just thought she was so beautiful in high school. She had no idea who I was. And then one day, we're doing that Bible study out of my apartment. Wednesday night, my roommate runs in, and all of a sudden, she walks in my apartment
Starting point is 02:35:38 for the Bible study. And I about pooped my pants, because I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. this girl is inside my, how is this even possible? And so I walked up to her and introduced myself to her, and I was so awkward, I could barely talk. I'm an extrovert. She didn't know who I was. I knew who she was.
Starting point is 02:35:56 I said, hi, my name is Bryce. She said, hi, I'm Maddie. And I went, I know. Talk about blow up a potential relationship. And then a couple of days later, my roommate that runs the Bible study and I, we did a road trip and back with Maddie and her roommate at the time to Waffle House because the closest Waffle House was in Phoenix, Arizona.
Starting point is 02:36:17 So we drove there and drove back, and I really got to know Maddie on that road trip. And I thought, man, I just think she's incredible. But I kept praying and asking God, like, can I take her out on a date? Can I take her out on a date? Almost like I would knock on her actual dad's house, take you on a date.
Starting point is 02:36:34 So I did that for a while and then got to know her heart, her character. We dated for two years, got engaged in October of 25, married in January of 26. Right on, Ben. Thank you. Congratulations. That's awesome.
Starting point is 02:36:47 Thank you. Home town girl. Come on. It's the best life. It makes holidays easy, you know, because we can just go, we can go back and have fun. Good point, good point. Furry con. What?
Starting point is 02:37:03 Oh, man. Oh. Furry con. I think the furry community, as much as I love them as human beings, I think it is a massive deception that we don't talk about. What is this, are these the kids that are going to school and they think they're... Animals and the mascot costumes and, yeah, things like that. So when you go to the furry convention...
Starting point is 02:37:25 So there's adults that do this? A lot of them are adults. I would say over half of them are adults. Like in their 50s. Yeah, so when we went, I would argue FurryCon was just as dark as Burning Man. I would argue it. And... How many people?
Starting point is 02:37:44 are at this thing. Oh, man, like, I'm trying to think, we just went to one at the, like, in Q3 of last year. I'm trying to think maybe like a thousand. And they do them all over the country, so we went to one in California. Maybe, like, a little less than a thousand. But they're just in the mascot costumes. They're acting like their animal. They got this persona on and they claim like, oh, it's just like a character.
Starting point is 02:38:09 It's just this, it's just that. But then, like, the first one we ever went to. My thing is Jesus says to be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove. So when we go into environments, I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb, but I'm not going to put on a furry costume. I'm not going to put on a furry costume. So I went in the exhibit hall to try to find a t-shirt. Well, they didn't have any t-shirts in there. It was all, you know, tails and mascot heads and, you know, furry heads and whatever.
Starting point is 02:38:38 And then I noticed that there was a roped off section that I should have used two cents in my brain. I had to show them my ID to get into the roped off section because it was another exhibit hall. It was an 18 plus explicit exhibit hall. They're selling, like, sexual furry items in there and, like, sexual posters of cartoon furries and body pillows and all this weird sexual stuff, and it just felt like people were getting groomed.
Starting point is 02:39:04 That's what it felt like. And, you know, the thing that really breaks my heart is the fact that people feel like that they have to identify, identify with a persona. Like, be who God has made you to be. Like, if God has called you, if God has made you a man, like, be a man.
Starting point is 02:39:22 If God has called you be a woman, be a woman. Like, be who God has made you to be. But, like, you don't have to hide your personality behind a costume or a persona. It was arguably just as dark as burning man. And we had a lot of fruitful conversations. We got asked to leave the first one. two years ago
Starting point is 02:39:43 and then this one that we went to we were able to stay a little bit and we didn't get you know quote unquote kicked out but I mean people were hungry for Jesus I think that's a cool yeah everyone's hungry for Jesus
Starting point is 02:39:59 more than you would think more than you would think and you know I think that's our job is like we are so afraid to tell people about Jesus because we're like oh they're going to reject it like oh that's the immediate it thought but Jesus says that the harvest is ripe many people are ready he says the laborers are few not enough people are doing it these things just pop in your head you're like all right
Starting point is 02:40:27 going i know i got an interesting brain don't i'm just like man i want to well because i'm so people don't even know they had furry conventions oh yeah i mean they got meetups you can find them on x and stuff like that and you know telegram they the furries really congregate on telegram I've been in a couple group chats, but that's about it, like, to know. But, I mean, it's, I'm so committed to talking to these people because these are the people that society writes off. These are the people that say, oh, they're too far gone. Oh, no, you can never reach them.
Starting point is 02:41:01 Oh, they would never want Jesus. Oh, they would never that. And I think the total opposite, if you can be so extreme for something that's not true, how much more on fire could you be for something if you found out it was the truth? That's why I'm passionate about these groups and these people. What happened at Auburn University? Oh man, Auburn University. Well, I love Auburn University.
Starting point is 02:41:23 I think it's a great place. I got all my hometown friends go to school there. We started doing some campus debates so that last year in the spring of 25, we did a few test runs at a couple of SEC schools that were gracious enough to invite us. Auburn was one of them. We did two full days on the green, about four hours apiece. hours apiece and we just talked about Jesus and preached the gospel and answered questions about Jesus and we partnered with a campus ministry there. Then we did their campus night. And then I've done
Starting point is 02:41:56 two, one this year or one in 2025 and one in 2024 did a fraternity event. Did one for just the fraternities. And then we did one for the fraternities and the sororities where we preached and then answered questions about fate. And to see young people, I mean, the first time we went there, when we did it on the lawn, I think we had like 1,500 people come out on the first day, and then the second day, like a little under 1,000 maybe. Wow. And just back-to-back days for hours in the sun, just hours sitting there taking the heat,
Starting point is 02:42:29 and just listening and learning about Jesus and catching people walking by and things like that and having dialogue about faith. And then the fraternities thing I'm passionate about fraternities. And so we did one at, for all the fraternities at all the fraternities all the fraternities at Auburn. Then we did another one for both all the fraternities and all the sororities. Wow. I mean, you're doing debates too. What are you debating? Yeah, so we're going to be doing some campus debates in the fall. So open air tabling, particularly
Starting point is 02:42:57 about Christianity, because we need to train believers globally through digital media how to defend the faith, that you can have respectful conversations and disagree. But also, we want to plead the case for Christianity. So we're going to be going to college campuses. We've already gotten over 25 500 requests in our form to go to campuses. So there's a desire. Not only do people want us to come, but they just desire their campus to know Jesus. And so we're actively learning, you know,
Starting point is 02:43:27 how can we come to these campuses and not only just show up and leave. Like, we want to be able to partner with the campus ministries on campus and equip them to reach their own classmates as well. Because if we just show up and leave, what do we do? Nothing but an event.
Starting point is 02:43:41 But if we show up and equip, and leave, it's not just an event, it's a movement. And the movement's bigger than one person. It's not about Bryce, it's about Jesus. And so we want everyone in this place to know. I mean, imagine this thing called Christianity, it's not limited to a language. It's not limited to a nation barrier.
Starting point is 02:44:00 I mean, Christianity is for anyone that breathes oxygen. And so if we can train people to do so, we're going to do it. We're going to debate other religions, Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, you name it, and respectful dialogue. also answering tough questions about Christianity. Man.
Starting point is 02:44:18 You know, what, Gen Z is seeing this huge wave back into Christianity, correct? Yeah. What is it about your generation that you think is pulling that draw? Well, phones are the gateway to a lot of vices now. And you can get access to vices quick. And so I think because of the influx of access to many different things, Gen Z has been able to obtain a lot of sinful desires very quickly and very frequently, and I think they're tired of it.
Starting point is 02:44:54 They're tired of fluff, and they want the truth. And so that's why I think Christianity is so attractive because it's pretty plain cut. This is who Jesus is. This was his life. He died on the cross of defeated death. If you want him, you want them. If you don't, you don't. God's going to respect the choices.
Starting point is 02:45:10 It's on the table. And I think that there's this deep desire for truth because people are tired of being fed lies. And that's the thing that's really making me so frustrated about how good this technology has gotten now because now we're making videos and pictures with technology that looks more real than life itself. It's so hard to understand what's the truth. Like when something breaks online, I don't even know if what I'm reading is true now. I don't even know if the video I'm seeing online is a real video. And so that's why it's important that we go to these cameras.
Starting point is 02:45:41 and we teach the students and we talk to Gen Z specifically about Jesus is because we have to be ready. Godlessness is rising every day. We're one step closer to Jesus returning and we're also one step further into a bunch of suffering. I feel like every time we turn on the news, it's only bad news. Every time I open my phone, it's only bad junk. And there's this thing that we need Jesus. And so we need the Word of God to do so. What do you think the difference is between Christianity and Catholic? Catholicism or Protestants in Catholicism? You know, I'm proudly a Protestant Christian, and I have Catholic friends, and I even have Orthodox friends that sincerely love Jesus.
Starting point is 02:46:30 I also think that there's Protestant Christians and Catholic Christians and Orthodox believers that don't sincerely love Jesus. There's denominational differences. There's things that I appreciate about Catholicism that I respect, that I think Protestant need to learn a little bit more from. There's also some things about Catholicism that I disagree with. But you know what's so fascinating to me is that
Starting point is 02:46:54 we preach against self-harm and mental health but the body of Christ cuts itself every day. When we argue with each other over secondary issues and tetrarry issues, when we really agree on the primary but we're arguing over who's better and who's the real true church.
Starting point is 02:47:11 I think that we need to see a unity. Like some things that I appreciate about Catholicism in particular or like, I love the reverence for tradition and church history. I think it's important. I think that we should look more back on it as Protestants. I think there's incredible church fathers that have that we receive a lot of our doctrine from today that we don't understand.
Starting point is 02:47:30 Like, this guy named Turtillion before 300 AD coined the literal term Trinity, like where we get that label for the triune God. He was the one that coined that term. The Nicene Creed, a lot of our doctrine comes from there. There's amazing things about church history. The desert fathers are an incredible read. I think we should look back on church history. I also think the sacraments, the Catholic Church, has a deep reverence and respect that I think
Starting point is 02:47:56 Protestants tend to just casually walk through without respect. Like, I think that baptism is beautiful. I'm not convinced, this is one thing that I'm not convinced, but I'm challenged on. I'm not convinced that communion is literally the flesh of Christ and literally the blood of Christ, but a popular Protestant belief is that communion is just a symbol. I do not believe communion is just a symbol. But I have not been fully convinced that it turns into the physical blood and the physical flesh. I think that there's this beautiful holy middle ground because a sacrament is a holy gesture before the Lord.
Starting point is 02:48:31 And I think that the reverence and respect that Catholics and Orthodox brothers and sisters have for the sacraments is beautiful. I think we need more of that. But there's also some things that I disagree with and I haven't been fully convinced. and that's okay. But I think that we should figure out how we can unite as believers under the truth that we want to see people know Christ. I think that's the main focus.
Starting point is 02:48:53 It seems like you have some pretty strong feelings about Islam as well. I do. I do have some strong feelings about Islam. Let's hear them. I think Islam is the Antichrist. Really? Yeah, and I say that confidently and boldly, and I'm not going to shy down from it.
Starting point is 02:49:09 I love Muslims as people, but Islam is a religion. religion is a religion of war and a religion of division and a religion of if you don't do what I say you will be punished for it and I don't agree with it. The prophet Muhammad 600 years after Jesus was born is visited according to the hadiths which are about 85% of Muslims are considered Sunni Muslims. So I'm going to talk as if we're talking to the major population of Islam here. According to the Hadiths, Muhammad was visited by the angel Gabriel. And if you read the hadiths, he's visited by the angel Gabriel and he is squeezed and he is pressed and beaten by this angel.
Starting point is 02:50:01 And it's laughable for me to think that they're claiming an angel visited him in a cave. Because every time you read the Bible and an angel visit someone, they get afraid and they say, wait, don't be afraid. They comfort the person that they visit, but for some reason, Muhammad is beaten to the ground and squeezed and tortured by this so-called angel, so much so that he tried to kill himself multiple times, jump off of a mountain. Their own writings record this. No eyewitnesses to this. He goes back home to his wife, Kaddija, and says, I had this wild thing in the cave happened and she's like, oh, you're a prophet sent from God. And she's like, let me go take you to my Christian buddy. And I'm going to mispronounce his name, but his name's like Warak or Waraka.
Starting point is 02:50:51 So they go to this Christian buddy. And he's like, oh, yeah, I mean, if all that sounds true, I mean, you must be a prophet sent from God. Well, a few days later, that dude died. And that was where that period of time spiraled where Muhammad tried to kill himself multiple times. Until finally, he came to his senses at one point and said, wait, I must be a prophet sent from God. And so there we have the birth of Islam. Now, if you read the Quran, you'll notice that it's written in two different time periods. The first half of the Quran feels very inclusive. Jews and Christians are people of the book.
Starting point is 02:51:29 Look to the Torah. Look to the angel to confirm our scriptures. But as you continue to read the book of Islam, it becomes less inclusive and more exclusive. It's either our way or the highway. Isn't that Christianity? Well, in a sense, but not in the sense that we're going to physically kill you over it. Not that we're going to physically punish you for it. So this is how it starts, right?
Starting point is 02:51:56 There's three stages of Islam. Here's the first stage. America's in the first stage right now. It looks like woke Islam. They're inclusive. You have Muslims who are okay with trans and homosexual ideologies, but if I went to the Gaza Strip as a gay man, and I went in the street and said, I am gay. Before I could finish that sentence, I'd be murdered in the street. But here in America, the Muslims are okay with it.
Starting point is 02:52:20 They're tolerating it. Why? Because they're the minority right now. They're trying to come in. Stage two is what's happening in Germany and in Europe. They've invaded that country and basically taken political power. And no, if you say something that you disagree with the Muslims, they're not going to physically hurt you, but you know what they're going to call you? They're going to call you an Islamophob. We're Islamophobic. I'm not afraid of you, nor am I angry because I hate you as a moral person. I'm angry at what your religion is doing.
Starting point is 02:52:52 I'm angry at the division it's causing. And then stage three is Islam that you would see in the Middle East. And that is if you do not convert to Islam, hum to Allah. They will kill you if you do not conform to their ways. And America's in stage one. And I believe Islam is the Antichrist because if you look at the eschatology of what happens in Islam, the end times of Islam compared to the end times in Christianity, all the bad stuff for the Christians is like the good stuff for the Muslims.
Starting point is 02:53:28 I don't think that's coincidence, 600 years after this. And the Bible tells us that Satan can appear. What do you mean the bad stuff for Christians is the good stuff for Islam? So here's an example, right? So in the end times, we believe in a massive falling away. as believers. We believe that in the end times, according to Christianity, that there is going to be a mass falling away. Well, in Islam, they believe in a mass conversion. In the book of Revelation, we read that a beast will rise from the sea, and if you take the mark of the beast, you'll be condemned.
Starting point is 02:53:57 In certain Islamic traditions, some that are still respected and received today, some Islamic traditions in writing say that a beast will rise from the sea. And if you take the mark of Allah, you'll be saved. You know, the way that the martyrs were killed in the book of Revelation is through beheading. The number one way you kill people in jihad is through beheading. Why is that? Why are these similarities here? Do you think, I don't think Satan's an idiot. He's not a red guy with pitchforks and horns. He's seductive. He's attractive. And the Bible tells us that he can appear as an angel of light. And as demons as angels of righteousness, he can appear as so. And so time and time again, we hear about new religions and things like that. And the ultimate,
Starting point is 02:54:41 I really have two major issues with Islam. And these things are like minor issues. Like, look at the eschatology. You know, look at how Muhammad got the revelation in the cave and where he got it. I really have two major issues with Islam. And it's with the Quran. And it's with Muhammad marrying a six-year-old.
Starting point is 02:55:00 Those are the big issues I have with Islam. And I think we should stop overlooking it. Right on. Let's take a break. Starting something new isn't just hard. It's terrifying. Before I launched the Sean Ryan show, those what ifs were loud. What if nobody listens? What if this fails? Walking away from what's familiar to build your own thing takes real faith. But it ended up being one of the best decisions I've ever made. Whether you're starting a
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Starting point is 02:56:31 websites. Everything is in one spot to make your operations smoother. And you've definitely seen that iconic purple shop pay button is used by millions because Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet. It helps boost your conversions, which means fewer abandoned carts and more sales for your business. It's time to turn those what-ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash SRS. Go to Shopify.com slash SRS. That's Shopify.com.com slash sRS. All right, Bryce, we're back from the break. I want to continue this
Starting point is 02:57:21 Islam discussion a little bit. Where did we leave off? Do you remember? Yeah, so we were talking about, well, two things, our issues with the Quran and our issues with Aisha, which was one of Muhammad's wives. Muhammad had married a six-year-old named Aisha in Islam. Essentially, you know, the dumbed-down version of this is,
Starting point is 02:57:49 Muhammad has a friend, a good friend that's a part of this religion that writes some of these hadiths called Bukhadi. And Bacari's daughter was Aisha. And essentially what happened was Muhammad comes to Bacchari, and it's like, hey, God told me that you're supposed to give me your daughter for marriage. And he's kind of like, what? Yeah, that's a little interesting. And he then tells Bacchati that essentially,
Starting point is 02:58:13 Allah is going to strike you down if you don't give me your daughter. So Ayesha, at six-year-old, marries Muhammad, and at nine years old, he consummates their marriage by having sex with her. Muhammad had sex with a nine-year-old, married her when she was six years old. And the common objection you will hear from a Muslim is, oh, well, you know, she was at the age of puberty. You know, she had had her period. It was puberty. It was fine.
Starting point is 02:58:43 in that time period by no means. Because one of the most well-respected Muslim scholars on telling you and I and Muslims how to interpret the Hadiths would tell us both that she didn't hit puberty until she was 14 years old.
Starting point is 02:59:00 And one of the most popular Muslim commentaries to teach people the Hadiths. He says, yeah, she didn't hit puberty until she was 14 years old. And one of the signs was because in the text it tells us that Aisha played with dolls that was shameful. in that culture unless you were a prepubescent girl.
Starting point is 02:59:18 And so we're looking at this and going, well, hold on a second. We don't have, like Muslims don't have an issue with it, but we should have an issue with it as human beings. Muhammad marries a six-year-old and has sex with her at nine. And you know who tells us this in Islam? Aisha herself, personal testimony from Aisha, describing that, yep, Muhammad married me when I was six and consummated our marriage when I was nine.
Starting point is 02:59:41 I have a really big problem with that. We say peace be upon him as a prophet. Police be upon him. We need to call the police on Muhammad. He's got some big issues. So that's one of my issues with Muhammad. You've read this? You've read the Quran?
Starting point is 02:59:58 Yes, I've read this in the Hadiths and in the Quran. These are in the Hadiths. So the Quran is like their word of God in Islam. But these Hadiths are highly respected documents where they get doctrine and information about Islam. The Hadiths are, I don't want to do disrespect. Like, the Quran is a Quran. Like, it's like, this is our word, but the Hadiths are highly important in their culture as well. And Aisha gives personal testimony of her being six years old when Muhammad marries her.
Starting point is 03:00:26 What got you interested in this? I'm just curious. Why did you decide to read the Quran? Well, I got interested in it because when we look in the Middle East and see all the Islamic regime issues that are going on. Actually, like, in the time period right now, like, they're retaliating against the Islamic Caliphate. So I'm not going to talk about it in this moment. But over the years, we've seen, like, a lot of issues with Islam, this religion. It's this religion of peace. And if you don't do what we say, we're going to kill you and we're going to hurt you and harass
Starting point is 03:01:00 you. I mean, look at ISIS almost a decade ago with those 21 martyrs on the beach. Do you remember that? I spent a lot of time over there, and I've seen a lot of shit. Yep. So, I don't remember that exactly, but I know what you're talking about. Yeah, just wicked stuff. They killed 20 Coptic Orthodox Christians on the beach. There was a famous video of them making a video and beheading them on the beach. And then there was a young black man who had been arrested, and he didn't even know Jesus or anything.
Starting point is 03:01:33 And he looked at the Islamic regime and saw their faith and said, whatever they are, I am. And they killed him too. 21 martyrs. But I got fascinated by it because Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. And so because of that... I've heard Christianity is now the fastest growing religion in the world. It may be now, but in the West, right, we're seeing...
Starting point is 03:01:55 And look, like the underground church in China is the biggest church in the world. Is it really? It is. It's the biggest church in the world. Yeah, it's incredible what God's doing in China right now. But statistically speaking, Islam grows at a rapid pace on a real rapid. Oh, I know. I'm aware. And the thing with...
Starting point is 03:02:12 The reproduction rate is through the roof. The thing with Islam is it's not just religion to them, it's culture. It's deeper than just, you know, we live in the South and we live so comfortable. You know, if someone disrespects Christianity, we're just kind of like, all right, whatever. Well, if someone disrespects Islam, then it's, oh, this is personal. This is a big deal. This is bread. This is culture.
Starting point is 03:02:35 You can lie for the sake of Islam. Would you say they are more righteous people than us? there's some aspects like there's a lot of Muslims that pray more than Christians do they give more than Christians do they fast more than Christians do like I respect that Muslims
Starting point is 03:02:53 are like one with the law and it's like God is one he's there and we just do whatever he says like there's a devoutness devotion to Allah and Islam and I can respect that from an outsider view disregarding my opinions about it
Starting point is 03:03:09 Like, I respect your devotion. Like, it's respectable. But the fruit of the religion and the fruit of being a true Muslim and the fruit of Islam isn't really fruit. It's just takeover and domination and submission. That's what it is. And now we're seeing Muslims challenging Christians, and this is really what made me get hyperfixated on it.
Starting point is 03:03:36 we're seeing Muslims challenging Christians and saying, do you think the Bible has no flaws? And Christians say yes. And then they point to a scribal error that doesn't make the Bible flawed. And they say, look, look at this. There's a flaw in your Bible. And they make everyday people in America that just are labeled as Christians think that it's false just because they interacted with a Muslim on the street and the Muslim pulled out a Bible verse and said something about it. And so I got so hyperfixated on it because for a while, I'm like, I've got to come up with every argument and every defense and I've got to hyperfixate on this and that. And while all those things that we mention are great, this is where we get to the main problem of Islam, and that's what we call the Islamic dilemma. And the Islamic dilemma is essentially in the Quran in Sarah chapter 3 or it's either Sarah chapter 3 or Sarah chapter 53. It talks about how the Quran can be confirmed if we just look back to the Torah and the enjil. The enjil would be considered the gospel.
Starting point is 03:04:36 Well, if you ask a Muslim, what is the Angeal? They can't tell you. They can't tell you what the gospel is. So which gospel would they be referring to? Well, they would obviously be referring to the scriptures that we have in our leather-bound Bible that you and I claim is the Word of God and that we revere our faith to, right? Well, they say, well, the Bible is corrupt. Well, if the Quran says that we need to look back to the Bible to confirm that the Quran is true,
Starting point is 03:05:01 if the Bible is corrupt, then that means the Quran is corrupt. So why would I want to become a Muslim? But then if the Bible is true, and it says, well, look back to the Bible to confirm the Quran. Well, if we look back to the Bible, we shouldn't look to the Quran, according to the scriptures. So this is the Islamic dilemma. It's a double-edged sword. If the scriptures are true, Islam is false. If the scriptures are false, Islam is false.
Starting point is 03:05:28 And so it's this Islamic dilemma that still to this day, we have not seen an answer from a Muslim proved to us and give us an example or or a refute to this claim. Interesting. I didn't know a lot of this. It's very fascinating. I don't know too much, but there's some guys like God Logic and Sam Shimon and Nabil Koreshi, who formerly was Muslim and then converted. It took him seven years.
Starting point is 03:06:01 He's dead now. But they have phenomenal. He wrote a book. He did. Seeking a law finding Jesus. Yep. He's dead. He's dead.
Starting point is 03:06:09 Shit, I just found that guy. I was thinking about trying to get him on here. Yeah, he had a, he had pancreatic cancer and passed away. But he's got great stuff on Islam as well. Right on, right on. Interesting discussions. End times. The end times.
Starting point is 03:06:30 What do you think? Are we getting close? A lot of people think that. Well, the end times are the period in which we wait for Jesus to return a second time. So, hypothetically, the apostles were in the end times after, Jesus had ascended into heaven. So I do think there's this aspect of the end times where people are fear-mongering people. I literally watched a dude last year say,
Starting point is 03:06:53 Jesus is going to return on September 23rd. I can't remember the date. I'm blanking on it. And he was doing a countdown of him selling all of his possessions and documenting it. And it was a really big deal on social media. And people were like, I'm having dreams. It's going to be on this date. And the Bible says no one knows the day or the hour.
Starting point is 03:07:10 Okay? But people are like, oh, he's coming back on this day. And then that date came, and then we all went to sleep, and then we woke up. And I just couldn't stop cracking up about it. Because... We had a guy on the show say it was coming back Easter at 2026. Did he really? Oh, snap, be ready, guys.
Starting point is 03:07:31 It's going down. I'll replay that clip here pretty soon. You know, I... It's fascinating because there's many parables who read Matthew chapter 20, and 25, it's Jesus specifically talking about the end times. He's like, look, there's going to be wars and rumors of wars, and there's going to be certain things and aspects and birth pains. These are just the birth pains.
Starting point is 03:07:52 These are just the beginning. See, I hear that, and I think, this is every time period in my life and my parents' life and my grandparents' life and my great-parent's life. Yep, yep. And I think that's the aspect to the end-time. that's dangerous is, you know, for example, war breaks out in Iran recently. Oh, no, the end times is coming. Well, maybe.
Starting point is 03:08:24 But, like, just because suffering is happening, that shouldn't make me try to get a get-out-of-hell free card. Like, my love for Jesus, like, I am expectantly and joyfully waiting on Jesus' return. Because the promise of the scripture says, when Jesus returns, he's going to end sin and suffering once and for all. And so as a believer, that's why Matthew 25, is so important because we read this parable about the parable of the ten virgins, and now there's ten virgins, and they're essentially a part of the bridal party of the bride, right? And so five of them
Starting point is 03:08:54 have oil in their lamp and five of them don't. This oil represents the Holy Spirit. It represents intimacy with Jesus. And so they had no idea when the bridegroom would come and get their bride, but the ones who had oil in their lamps were able to go and be with the bridal party. And so we need to look at the imagery of scripture and what Jesus uses in the language he uses to talk about his return. And I believe that the ultimate depiction of the return of Christ, which should be how I personally believe how we should perceive it is a Galilean wedding. And we see that imagery a lot throughout scripture. A Galilean wedding. What is that? Yeah. So essentially in like a Galilean wedding, you would have this thing called a betrothal, which was like a verbal agreement
Starting point is 03:09:38 between the man and the woman saying, you want to get married? Yeah, I want to get married. Do you want to get married? Yeah, I want to get married. Let's get married. So it's almost like, I don't want to call it an engagement, but it's essentially like a verbal agreement. So we commit, and it's like, great. The husband then leaves the bride, and he goes back home to his father's house, and he begins to build a room attached to his father's house for him and his future bride to live in. As he's building the house, the bride is going to go back to her father's house, and she's going to wear her white wedding dress, white representing purity because she has no idea when the bridegroom will return for her. And so she needs to be ready.
Starting point is 03:10:17 She needs to be in her white dress, pure ready, sleeping in her dress, walking in her dress, everything in her dress, bright and ready. And when the bridegroom is done, building the attachment onto the house, he's going to begin to come for her with trumpets. And when he enters into her city, he's going to blow trumpets and be like, I'm here. I'm here for my bride. and wherever she's at, he's going to go into the house and pick his bride up and bring her back to his father's house where he created space for her, and they're going to go in there for seven days, and they're going to love each other very well for seven days. And then after that seven days, they open it up, and they're at a marriage feast. Now, why is this imagery so important? Because Jesus came to the disciples and says, it is better for me to go because I'm going to make room for you in my father's house. He's not just talking to the disciples. He's talking. He's talking.
Starting point is 03:11:07 to believers, people that believe in him. He says, I'm going to go. It's better for me to go because I need to go make room for you in my father's house. And so then Jesus ascends into heaven and he is actively in heaven in his physical body, waiting to return. And no one knows the day or the hour. That's why I laugh at people that are like Jesus is returning on this specific date at this time. I'm like, get out of here. No one knows the day or the hour except the father. And so it is my job as a believer to always be ready. That's why the lady is wearing her dress in white.
Starting point is 03:11:44 Number one, the white represents purity, so I need to honor God with my actions, you know, the sincerity of my faith. But secondly, I don't know when he's going to return. Imagine if on your wedding day, you're standing at the altar and waiting for the church doors to open, and when the church doors opened,
Starting point is 03:12:00 your bride is kissing another man and has a beer in her other hand. and goes, oh, now the show's ready, and throws it all away and grabs her bouquet and then walks down the aisle. That'd be really odd. No, no, no. We don't want to live like that.
Starting point is 03:12:15 We want to be a bride, essentially, that is ready for Christ to return. And then we read the book of Revelation that he's going to return with trumpets from heaven. I'm coming for my bride. I'm coming to get what's mine, and he's going to return on a white horse and power and glory,
Starting point is 03:12:32 and he's going to come take us. We're going to go be with them. And then the Bible says, after Judgment Day, that the people who have put sincere faith in Jesus Christ are going to have this marriage feast of the supper with the land. The same way, after that seven-day period, that the bride and the bridegroom would, married life, love each other very well for seven days.
Starting point is 03:12:55 They would open up those doors, and there would be a marriage feast waiting for them. And in the same way, everyone that's put faith in Jesus Christ, we get to have this thing and celebrate called this. marriage feast of the supper of the land. I've actually never heard that. It's fascinating, isn't it? It is. It is.
Starting point is 03:13:16 I mean, do end times scare you at all? I mean, there's moments where I'm like, oh, wow, like, is this really all going to end someday? You know? Because right now, this is all we know to be. There's supposed to be a lot of persecution of Christians in the end times. Absolutely. And we're starting to see it.
Starting point is 03:13:34 and we're starting to see it and hate to be the bearer of bad news but you could have read this in your Bible before I say it, it's going to continue to grow and it's going to continue to happen and that's why we need to stand for truth and be prepared. I mean, a lot of people are persecuted,
Starting point is 03:13:54 a lot of different, you know what I mean? There's Muslims that are persecuted. There's Jews that are persecuted. There are Christians that are persecuted and they're probably every religion. You know, I don't know. I look. around and I think, man, they're probably on the way.
Starting point is 03:14:10 But what the hell do I know, right? I guess so. I mean, but I mean, when you're talking about Burning Man, furries, all this like gender ideology shit that's going on, I mean, all the wars, all the everything, everything, almost like, all the pedophilia. Yeah. All always, it's everyone. We're the number one consumer of pedophore.
Starting point is 03:14:38 of whatever pito content yeah this country yeah is that crazy it's extremely sad extremely sad if that doesn't wake you up to think man could there be a god that could save us all from this i don't know what will man man well let's get to some good stuff so you're on tour right now where you're going to huntsville tomorrow huntsville tomorrow haddiesburg mississippi jacks Atlanta, New York, Arlington, Virginia, twice, Utah, Missouri, California twice. So we're trying to take it as many places as we possibly can. Right on, man. Well, I got a little something for you.
Starting point is 03:15:28 So since you're going to all these crazy places, Burning Man, where the KKK hangs out, Satanists, wherever the hell that neighborhood is that you're going to in L.A. Oh, oh, you mean oblock. It's in Chicago. It's in Chicago. I got you a little something. You said you had a... No way.
Starting point is 03:15:49 Yeah, you got your... Are you serious? Can I open it? Of course. I just wanted to ask. What presents are for, right? Well, I just had to ask. Oh, my goodness.
Starting point is 03:16:01 Pick it up. Wow. Yeah, so that is the Sig P-365 Legion. Oh, my gosh. Do you know much about firearms? I don't know too much. Okay. So it holds 17 rounds plus one in the pipe, which is unheard of in a gun that size.
Starting point is 03:16:22 That's SIG's new optic line. So there's a red dot up there. It's brand new. And they just came out of that stuff. And then up front, see those grooves in the top? Yep. Yeah, that's compensator. So that'll help you with the recoil management stuff.
Starting point is 03:16:39 It's all metal. Most guns are made, you know, with polymer, plastic. Not that that's a bad thing, but that's better. So, dude, thank you. You're welcome. That is the primo of everyday carry subcompact pistols. I've never been given a gift like this. Thank you.
Starting point is 03:16:58 I'm really grateful. Thank you so much. You're welcome. You want to break that thing in? Oh, I do want to break it in. All right, we'll go break it in. Let's go. And, but before we do, I got a bonus question here.
Starting point is 03:17:09 All right. this has to do with end times great there are so many narratives and so much propaganda flying around that i'm not saying this is true as it's unverified i want to use it as a bible question is first reported by independent journalist jonathan larsen will link the substack below the military religious freedom foundation says it's logged 110 plus complaints in roughly 48 hours from 40 plus units across 30 plus installations. Alleging some commanders framed the Iran conflict is God's plan and tied it to revelation in end times prophecy. Here's the question. If that kind of message were true, can human beings actually speed up the return of Christ
Starting point is 03:18:05 by trying to force end times events, or is that a dangerous misuse of revelation and prophecy that Christians should reject outright. Wow, fascinating question. Here's how I believe we can speed up the return of Christ, and it's not by forcing suffering around the globe. Suffering is naturally going to occur because we live in a sinful world. So we don't have to force suffering for it to naturally happen.
Starting point is 03:18:32 It's got to naturally happen. What we can do to quote-unquote speed up the return of Christ is see as many people come to know them as possible. That's what we can do. Forcing suffering does nothing. We think that we're able to interject into God's plan and God's won't be like, nope, well, I'm going to do this thing and force it.
Starting point is 03:18:55 God for new, everything that was going to happen. So we can't necessarily create an event or create a moment and think, oh, I've interjected into this thing, so now it's going to speed up the process. God already knew what was going to happen. But I guess if anything we could take away from it, is because we are in the end times, it should give us a sense of urgency
Starting point is 03:19:14 to tell as many people as possible about Jesus. You don't think anything about rebuilding the temple or the golden calf or any of that is trying to kickstart this? I mean, look, the Bible tells us to look for signs, right? So I'm not going to be the one to say, this is specifically a sign, and this one isn't specifically a sign.
Starting point is 03:19:36 But the Bible says that we should look for signs and we will know. And so I don't think it's far-fetched to think that these things are coming to fruition, that certain things are taking place around the globe. We've become privileged in America. We think that Christianity is all about Americans. It's all happened in the East. So we've got to look at what's going on over there.
Starting point is 03:19:54 But I try to be as cautious as possible by making absolute claims about very gray areas. You know, look for signs. Well, what does that mean? You know, the Bible talks about the Nile River turning red. or sorry, the Nile River drying up, well, it has dry cycles naturally. You know, so the next time it dries up, I'm not going to put an absolute statement on that
Starting point is 03:20:17 and be like, oh, Jesus is about to return because, look, the Nile River is dried up. Well, it has dry cycles. So, like, I'm going to use some common sense here. So when it comes to signs, like, I want to be cautious at making an absolute truth claim about it because I don't want to lead people astray. But then again, look at the world we live in now,
Starting point is 03:20:38 look at the technology we have now, and look at all the deception that's rising up. I mean, it doesn't seem far-fetched that we're not necessary. I mean, my personal opinion, I think we're getting in the thick of it. But I don't say that to fearmonger. Because every generation, like you said, Billy Graham believed that Jesus was going to return before he died. And before that, people believed that he was going to return before then.
Starting point is 03:20:57 I mean, can you imagine how people felt in World War II? Oh, my gosh. So, you know, I want to, that should not create fear in us. That should create urgency, urgency to share the gospel. It's a follow-up question here. When people point to Revelation and say, this headline is Armageddon, what do they usually misunderstand? And how should Christians read Revelation without turning news into prophecy? That's a great question.
Starting point is 03:21:24 You know, I think we need to understand by now at this point, the news is going to profit off of suffering. You know, like, for example, when the plane started crashing when Trump got back in office, every news headline, every time I opened the phone is a new plane crash. New plane crash, new plane crash, new plane crash. So I'm like, dang, are the pilots just getting bad this month or like what's going on? And I don't think it was necessarily that. It was just they were hyperfixating on an issue. So we do need to be careful about labeling news headlines as, oh, this is the Armageddon. I think that's where the correct perspective of the end times has to be. Like, we've always been in the end times. And so we're waiting on Jesus to return a second time. And the fact of the matter is we don't know.
Starting point is 03:22:10 He could come back before this podcast episode ends. He could come back two years from now, two days from now, two hours from now. And that should provoke us to live a life that's giving glory to God and submitting to him. Right. Ah, man. Well said. Well said. Let's go. One more thing to crack out here. So you know we're live right now. Yep. So Wyatt gave us some questions from patrons watching us.
Starting point is 03:22:33 So this one is from Oliver MP, Bryce and Sean. with both of you being so influential and having such large platforms, how do you deal with imposter syndrome if you do? Sean, how do you deal with it? I don't know how to answer that. I just keep putting one fucking foot right in front of the other and driving forward. And there's a lot of fear in doing this in different subjects. And, you know, I'm kind of, you got to keep pushing forward.
Starting point is 03:23:10 You cannot let fear drive your life. Yeah. And dictate all of your decisions and keep you from achieving what you want to achieve and what you think, what you should be doing. And, you know, so I think that's me. How about you? You know, I'm actually off social media too right now. Are you really? I am.
Starting point is 03:23:31 When you said that, congratulations, man. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. We've made it. We've made it. That lie about being chronically online. It's totally a lie, man. I mean, dude, a thousand good comments that just pumps you up with pride. and the one bad comment is louder than a thousand good,
Starting point is 03:23:46 and it just shatters your heart. As I've just found out, it never does any good. So I've honestly just cut off my social media and realized it's actually allowed me to love people well and not care about what other people think about me. That's how I've avoided it so far. I love that. How long have you been off?
Starting point is 03:24:03 Probably about three days now, three or four days. Three or four days? Yeah. I'm not much farther along. I'm about a week and a half. Let's go. I like it. But I will say I am a lot more in the moment with my wife and kids now.
Starting point is 03:24:18 I did not, you just don't realize how much that is, is in all honesty, ruining your fucking life. Yeah. You know, but this one's from Luke. When struggling with lust and just feeling empty inside, what is the best way to quit the addiction and to live for Christ to the fullest? Sexual sin is the only sin in the Bible that tells us to flee from. So if we think that we can beat sexual sin, for example, someone says, well, I want to stop sleeping with my partner outside of marriage, but I'm going to go sleep over at their house or you're flirting with it.
Starting point is 03:24:51 If you think you can get in the boxing ring with it, you've already lost. Bible says to flee from it. And so I think a couple things. First thing, I think we need to take accountability. We oftentimes blame the devil for situations that we put ourselves in. It's like, oh, I can't stop watching porn. The devil's got me, but you stay up until 2 a.m. scrolling on your phone. Like, what are we doing?
Starting point is 03:25:10 And so there's an aspect of it where it's Psalm 139, search my heart God, reveal to me the areas of my life that are causing me to stumble. And Matthew chapter 6, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. For it's better to enter the kingdom of heaven with one member than to go to hell with both. So there's this aspect of sexual sin where it's damaging to the soul. You create soul ties. You can get diseases sex outside of marriage. Create this unreal fantasy in your brain about what sex is like versus what it's really like. And ultimately, lastly, it's knowing what true love is.
Starting point is 03:25:42 Love isn't sex. Love isn't booze when it hits the system. Love isn't the feeling you get when you look at that significant other in the eyes. Love is a choice. Love is sacrifice. Love is Jesus. Man. Nice one.
Starting point is 03:25:54 This is from Angie. How significant is the role of masculinity in today's church culture? And what can be done to better cultivate it among young men who are seeking a deeper relationship with God? we need men to stand firm be bold i mean if you read both of the letters that paul wrote to timothy i mean we read what it looks like to be a man of god first timothy in particular men need to do hard things why if men stop doing hard things i don't know why have we stopped i think we've stopped you know ephesians four tells us that husbands should love their wives the way that christ loves the church unto death there's no responsibility like that on the woman why is that because men are called to
Starting point is 03:26:35 lead, stand firm, be bold, do hard things, be courageous. And if you're looking for a resource out there on good biblical masculinity, there's a pastor out of Florida named Pastor Jobi Martin. He has a book called Stand Firm and Act Like Men. And it is just a phenomenal book. His resources and sermons on biblical masculinity have blessed me. And I think that men have decided to take a back seat because we think that that's what women like. And that's not the case at all. Women like men that are bold and you know they women want a man that's going to get up at three a m when they hear a noise in the house and go bust down when their new pistol from sean ryan and see what's going on down there you know that's what that's what women are looking for
Starting point is 03:27:21 right on this is from hunter whitten why do you think so many young may excuse me why do you think so many young men today feel spiritually lost and what would would What would you say directly to them? I think so many young men feel spiritually lost because there are so many options. Like, sometimes I get overwhelmed with decision making with things now because it's like there's 12 different flavors of jelly and, you know, 44,000 religions. And it's like, what are we doing? What are the options?
Starting point is 03:27:55 Where do I put my worldview? But I would encourage every young man or young woman, look at the overwhelming amount of evidence. Like, examine the life of Jesus. read the Gospels for yourself and test it with history. Like, look at the amount of evidence that points to this dude being Jesus. I mean, if the evidence really points to Jesus being the way the truth in the life, then that's worth putting all my poker chips in on. I'd like to add to that.
Starting point is 03:28:17 I think, you know, you brought something up earlier that I talk about all the time, and that is nobody knows what is real anymore. It doesn't matter whether it's social media, mainstream media, whatever. You can't tell anymore. The only thing that you can rely on is the Bible. Yeah. And I really believe that. Yeah.
Starting point is 03:28:39 This is from Hunter Ryan. Bryce, what's the single most important lesson the Holy Spirit has taught you through all your street evangelism encounters that you wish every Christian, especially young people, really understood about boldly sharing the full gospel today? We need to listen more than we taught. listening. There's a reason God gave us two ears and one mouth. And we need to treat people like human beings and not statistics. And I think sometimes the misconception is, oh, let me go into this thing and I've got to say as many words as I can and conjure up the right phrases and that's what's going to convince them. Actually, people just want to feel
Starting point is 03:29:21 seen and heard. People want to know that you care. Ask questions. Listen. Oh, really? How did that affect you? What was it like growing up? What was your home? Like, oh, really? May, tell me more about that. What's going on? ask questions, be intentional, use your ears and listen, because God's given us this ministry called presence, being there for people. And that tends to be more powerful than words we can conjure up. Well, we're about to end this here,
Starting point is 03:29:48 so do you have anything that you want to say before we end it? Thanks for having me on. It's so much fun. My pleasure. I say we end it with a prayer. Let's do it. Ready? Let's do it.
Starting point is 03:30:02 Jesus, I just, I just want to thank you for this amazing discussion today with my new friend Bryce, and we hope that this message reaches everybody right where they're at, and this is what you want them to hear. And we hope that this helps grow so many people in their faith journey. Just please just continue to be our guiding light. Amen. Amen.
Starting point is 03:30:26 All right. Bryce, it was an honor, man. Thanks. you again. Likewise, thanks for having me. I appreciate you. Thank you. No matter where you're watching the Sean Ryan show from, if you get anything out of this at all, anything, please like, comment, and subscribe. And most importantly, share this everywhere you possibly can. And if you're feeling extra generous, head to Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review.

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