Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 694 | Phil’s Fumble at the Grand Ole Opry & ‘Unashamed’ Wins a Major Award!

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

Things didn’t go quite as planned for the guys at the K-Love Awards show! Mistakes were made, teleprompters were ignored, and Zach totally dropped the ball on stage! The guys laugh about the experience and offer their heartfelt thanks to the Unashamed Nation podcast community. Phil claims he knew that the podcast would be a hit all along! Al and Jase recall the events that led to the founding of “Unashamed” and all that has happened since. Plus, is Jase secretly a Presbyterian? https://philmerch.com – Shop now for your “Unashamed” mugs, shirts, hats & hoodies! "The Blind" hits theaters on 9/28/23. Get sneak peeks, updates & insider exclusives: https://theblindmovie.com — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Find the way that helped me lose some weight, but don't tell me that I can't eat what I want to, when I want to, and as much as I want to. I guess a wise man told me a long time ago, don't ask the question if you can't stand the answer. Marriage is tricky. It's a tricky venture. So the setup is I walk in this morning, bringing Dad a chicken biscuit. and so this whole thing started now I know what started over a chicken and a biscuit well it was already going so I just came in with a chicken and the biscuit well that was the worst thing that could well no I just got out there fast you were bringing the diesel to the fire that had already begun when I walked in mom was doing her physical therapy and Ann Ann her sister her older sister

is staying with them. And she's latched on the dad in an argument that was like Bobo on the chicken bone or on a port bone, I should say.

But I'm like, I just walked into it and dad's doing the classic directional dad. He's arguing with A&M, but he's talking now to me because I just walked in and Dan,

who happened to be in the kitchen. I mean, a woman asked you had to lose weight. All I'm doing is telling her how to do it. Then A dad's just, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what happened. So, so mom asked you, this is news to me.

I didn't know this. It came up a while back on the podcast. She said, help me lose some weight, which when she asked you that, I would, if I were, have been you. She asked me, would you help me do that? I said, I would have thought that's a dangerous question. Oh, I tell you. And a dangerous thing to say in a marital context. Because I did, and Ann was saying, okay, she's got what you're offering, Phil.

You need to just, we got it. We got what you're saying. but quit doing that because you're not helping is what she was retorting to that. Don't tell me I'm heavy when I'm 50 pounds overweight. Oh, boy. Don't tell me I'm heavy and I can lose if I'm not eating as much. I said, that's what I'm telling you. That's the first bit of advice.

I would say don't use numbers in whatever recommendation. Just you got to use the principles. Well, dad brought up when he came in that recently we've had to help dad game weight during this process. Which was very nice because, yeah. They were like, Phil, you need to gain some weight, and you gain, how much weight did you gain? Ten pounds. Ten pounds. In about four months.

Yep. I didn't get, I wasn't running like a man beating that. I mean, you know, I can't tell you. As a guy who's trying to lose weight, it's a little, it's, you don't get quite as huffy over the gaining. Somewhere when they punch holes in your back and get you back running, somewhere in there. Well, you lost your appetite, you said. Lost my appetite. Yeah.

And you'd gotten too thin. at food, I just didn't feel like eating. But the thing is, you got to eat to live. I had to force myself to eat. I never thought I'd see that, but that's what happened. So somehow, y'all need. Did you get it back? Did you get your appetite back, Phil?

Oh, Phil doesn't have it. Oh, he don't have a year. He's a word to talk. No wonder he wasn't responding to you. So, Joshua, what about it? Can you mention losing or gaining weight? Give us your wisdom from North Carolina. Help us through this.

moment of weight and have a little dialogue maybe and just say look we don't need I'm not attacking you here you said help me lose some weight would you do that yeah yeah you don't comment on that you just say yeah you refer her to a specialist you you stay out of the way on that one but Zach she asked him to help her it don't matter it doesn't matter it's me marriage is so right about this he's right it doesn't matter the marriage relationship is is a tough thing to navigate. And so I think once she asked the question...

What she was really saying, though, Jay, says, I want to lose some weight is what she was saying. That's what she said. So she's referring, she's letting Dad know that, but then she wasn't really probably looking for a lot of direct information. Well, I'm defending, Phil, on this. I agree. I mean...

I mean, look, I just... There wasn't an order, never eat at a restaurant. The order was, just be careful of the intake of how much you... Count your count. I'll go up there. That's a smart thing to say. I'm on a perpetual diet, I know. Catch your calories.

You're right. So I'm not sure where we're going with this other than, you know, God came up with the idea of marriage. And all of us who have been married for over, what is the number we want to put on this? 40 years. No, I was going to say over five years, over five years, you start to realize that just because you're one,

wife asked you a question or ask for some advice that doesn't necessarily mean she wants you to actually give it. That's the takeaway right there. That is the takeaway. That is sad but true because it doesn't really, from a man's thinking, that doesn't really if I ask for advice, I would expect to get it. But you're right. Well, I'll confess my struggles.

I mean, we're trying to help people be married to Jesus. and you can do that by being married, you know, to each other. I mean, I do believe Jesus is the platform for marriage. I mean, Ephesians 5. He goes through the roles. We're different. You know, we have different roles. And then he's like, let me tell you, a mystery, you should love each other and know your roles.

But I'm talking about you and Christ. Right. So there's a greater principle there. So look, in my struggles, because Missy, she would come in there and, like, give me a 10-minute, not a sermon, but just 10-minute dissertation on problems or, well, me as a man, trying to leave my family, I'm, I start trying to tell her what she needs to do to fix that problem. Because men are fixers. We're just like, let me tell you what you need. Well, every time I would do that, I noticed it went down a road where, like, all of a sudden, we're arguing. And I'm thinking, why does this keep up?

This has been going on for 32 years. And so just in the past couple of years, we finally realized that she's just wanting to vent. Wanting to be heard. Because she's like, I can't tell this to any other person because I'll come across as negative or emotional or with all the things that's being. that's coming across. And she's like, I don't want you to fix everything I say. I just want to say it and you say, okay, well, it's hard for me to do that. I found one of the best things I can do with Lisa is she'll say something's happened.

And my instinct will be to offer advice. Then I'll just say, I'm so sorry, babe. And just stop. I need to work on that. Yeah, that's one. Because it's like you're telling them that I hate this has happened. and I'm not going to offer my suggestion on it, unless you said that.

What do you think? Well, the problem is when I do the same thing, she says, I'm so sorry, babe, but I'm like, that's it. What do you think about it? I want to know what you think. You don't have any. You're like, I don't need your apology. I need you to.

Oh, yeah, I don't want you to say, great. Glad you got that all the child. Let's fix this right now. Do you have any idea? That's a lot of the differences in the way men and women think. There's no doubt about it. What do you think, Zach? Yeah, I try to just listen and, no, I don't always do it.

But, yeah, because we're very pragmatic. Like, tell me what works. Let's figure it out. Let's get to the solution. And I don't get offended. Like, Phil, you know, when they told Phil you had to gain weight, I may have been one of the people that told him. You never got offended, never said, you know, it was just a very logical conversation of

here's what you, you know, here's the facts. Here's where we're at. But, yeah, he'll be careful. You got to be careful out there. It's dangerous. Yeah, I was a part of that. I don't think I directly told Phil, but I was kind of playing the role of a godfather. I was telling other people to, I was like, get Phil.

I mean, I talked to Dan and people that were around him on a daily basis. What are we doing? But did you get your appetite back, Phil? I mean, can you eat now? Do you have it back? You want to eat now? I've gained back about, actually about the last time I checked, I was probably, was holding at about eight pounds.

But you got to remember, I lived for 30 years, you know, back in my football playing days, where I never weighed over 165, 175, 170. 6-3-165. That's about my playing weight. That's a little light.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But then all muscle, you know, you run it, I could run them out. or never even would be breathing. It was just hard, just going in excellent shape. But now I'm a couple of three years from 80. Well, you know, things shift around, you know.

You run a mile. We have to call somebody. That's right. Well, dad said, I'm back to my playing way. I said, well, dad, that's great, but you're done playing. Yeah. The game is over. We're just trying to survive now at this point.

My shotgun started to fall in the duck blind, and I reached with my left arm, and I caught it. Just a reflex. Just reflex. You know, I didn't want the thing sliding down the shooting port. Sure. Loading somebody's leg off. So I caught the thing, but I moved either at such speed. But see how I tore all this muscle here?

Yeah. Just a whole lot. You there listening. We now have a visual. Yeah, that it just. And be glad you're not looking at it. It just stripped. just stripped down and that muscle just gathered up a little bit right here and what I did was

is my old my old way out nothing I just said hey it happens this a surgery a surgeon did say he could repair there's no pain when I lift something you know and all that it doesn't bother not at all it just pulled some muscle then it did it just the guy said I can tie it back together for you he he said if it's me I just just let it go. He said, is it bother me? I said, nope. It turned purple the whole side there. It's not what he said. Like it was a big bruise, a tear. But I just said, oh, well, let it a healer. Dad said, can I survive with it like this? And the guy said, yeah, if you want to, so he did. So I didn't. I'm actually being selfish because I made an announcement a few months ago.

You'd probably have to go back a hundred podcasts. And I was, I was coming out of retirement. And I don't know if I ever revealed that what it was. I had an announcement. Remember when I said, I'm going to wait until the time comes. I don't know. But Jay's, if you're doing teasers from a hundred podcasts ago, you need to keep up. Well, I just was, there's a few faithful listeners that remember. I'm sure four people out there saying, oh, when's he going to tell us what that was about?

Probably at least well. Tell us, reveal to it. So I got. We have a couple of big revelations today. Do this one. I may, I once said. And this is be careful when you say this, you know, in front of God, because when you make blanket statements, that's a good setup to eat some crow. Yep.

And I said, you know what? I just feel like I'm not very good at doing weddings. I've done a few. And some of the ones that I officiated ended in divorce. Which is not your fault. I know, but Al, I was just like, maybe it was. No. Yeah.

It wasn't, but I'm saying subconsciously. I know. I hate it when it happens, too, because I've had a few, but I have realized through the years this time. So for whatever the reason, wrongfully or rightfully, I just said, I'm retired from no way. And so people would ask me to do weddings, and I would just say no. I'd say, no. Retired. I'm retired.

Sorry. Well, a few months ago, you know, one of Jeff's kids, and Jeff and I have gotten our families, I mean, we're all family here, but Jeff and I are on this TV show. I've spent a lot of time with Jeff. Well, it started when y'all were both in Austin for a while, so it just was. The bond tightened. So we're really, I mean, we ate there last night, you know, we just, I think when you're on a venture together, and that's really, it's exhaustive. You know, it's a grind. I mean, we love doing it.

I'm not saying we don't. But it, you know, we've gotten a lot closer. Well, one of his daughters and her boyfriend knocked on my door one night, which I thought was weird. In fact, I was terrified because no one was there but me. And they knocked on the door. And here's Jeff's daughter with her boyfriend, who at that time I didn't know real well, said, can we talk to you?

Well, what are you thinking? Oh, yeah. I was thinking. I know where I would have gone. Something's happened. This is, we have a problem. And for some reason, they're coming to me. And the only quality I know of that I have is I love Jesus.

So they're coming here to hear Jesus. I want to ask you this. Did it cross your mind before they sat down that you said, you might need to keep going to owls. Just keep going two more houses down. Did that cross your mind? What I thought was I needed to just get up and run. Because, you know, it's hard to talk to family.

Because these are the kind of knocks I get all the time. So then, Jeff's daughter, and I'm not, you know, saying their names on purpose, but she just gave me about, I would say, a four to five minute speech. Not, not, she didn't have a piece of paper. She had thought about it. She had thought about it. It was well said. It actually kind of choked me up. It's touching.

And she said, you know, my boyfriend and I have decided, you know, to get married. I didn't remember that part. But she just basically said, you know, you have a heart for Jesus. And we really admire you and Missy and y'all's relationship. And I'm asking you, you know, would you officiate our wedding? Oh, boy. And I was like, I wanted to say I'm retired, but I thought, oh, after that speech, the speech was incredible. It just didn't seem like the right thing to say.

And I said, well, I'm honored, but I think you could do a lot better than me. That was what I said. You know where Al lives. I didn't say that. Two more houses now. There's another uncle. Go out of the front door, take her right. I had no idea they were going to ask me to get married.

I thought something had happened. I thought, you know, I... So you were surprised by the request. Oh, I was surprised. I haven't done a wedding in years because I'm retired. I'm like, didn't you get the memo, but I didn't say that. And so I said that, and they just didn't say anything. So I said, I said it again.

I said, look, I don't think you understand. You know, I share Jesus with people and I, And I feel like I'm, you know, I do events and I'm doing what God wants me to do. But weddings, I just feel like I don't do a very good job. I'm not a flowery type, whatever that is, the vibe. I don't feel like I have the. And so then her boyfriend gives a speech, basically reiterating what she just said. And then I said.

So you said you can do better, but he's like, no, we want you. He's like, look, I really, yeah, it was, it was, I don't remember the exact lines, but it was like, what part of this are you not getting? We, we really want you to do this. So I said, sure, I would love to, you know, and then we just kind of, you know, had a moment there. Which explains a lot, Jay's, because, I mean, I've done a lot of weddings, but I'm at the point, not quite as retired as you, but I'm at the point where I typically only do. do weddings for relationships like this.

I mean, I'm kind of out of the wedding business of just doing it as a service to our flock or the church or whoever. But if I have a close relationship with somebody, I'm like, you, I just can't hardly say no. Well, yeah, I'm like, because then I thought, well, I warned them. I told them I'm not very good at this. But since that time, you know what's happened is we've gotten a lot closer. Yeah.

Because we're a part of, you know, this is, I guess, the second biggest decision you can make in your life outside of marrying the Lord. And so now I'm excited about it. But having said that, I mean, we're a few days from that now. So I really appreciate- You have to execute. Well, right. I haven't sat down and said, hell, what are we doing here? But I will base it around us being married to Jesus because they're both believers. They love the Lord. They're very high-quality to young people and character and attitude and direction. So I'm really honored. We just spent a week with them on vacation, so they're excellent.

So I know I went down a rabbit hole, but I was really liking this conversation about UMSK having this. Because of marriage, I mean, y'all been married over 50 years. We've been together for 60 years now. And still trying to figure it out. Which really should provide some hope out there to you young married. that are, you know, you have some of these discussions we were talking about earlier, and you're like, man, I wish I could be like, you know, Phil and Ms. Kay,

no, it's, everybody still struggles. When I first ran up on your mother as a cheerleader and I'm the quarterback, you know, it was interesting. Her weight, if I was a guessing man, I'd say 100 pounds. If that. If that. She was very tiny. 90 to 100 pounds.

That's it. Well, 60 year later, she said, you know, could you? You hit me with just losing a little weight, you know. I said, you'll start with, keep doing all your exercises like you're doing with the, with the, therapist. Therapist, keep doing that. I said, but just start cutting back a little bit at a time on how much food you consume. I said, y'all love to go go to the restaurant after the restaurant.

They eat in, all of them. They checked them all out. You're probably fine until you brought up their favorite restaurants. I would just begin to cut back on that. I thought it was like easy, not anything you get all stirred up about. But I noticed. The women are pretty self-conscious about it. Pushing your plate back.

Nope. She said, no. It's a little bit. Well, y'all had a discussion. And look, I think a true marriage has these discussions. Yeah. I mean, she did ask you. You gave your opinion.

She probably was just wanting you to say, okay, great. but once you went you know once you gave her the three-point sermon you know some combustion happened which it was not a reflection on your sermon it was a reflection on her realizing the reality of what this process is going to be i don't really think it was i'm overweight helped me help me help me help me yeah but as soon as you start saying cut back on that yeah you're talking to me yeah back on what i mean you know come up people You didn't tell me what they eat. And mom's very social.

She likes going out with people and her friends and taking them to eat. So it is a bit more of an issue. So, well, anyway, we'll keep working on that. I'm sure I hear the other side of it later today. So we have another announcement. I guess it's where we were on this past week. We went to record the K-Love Awards. I guess when this show comes out.

At the time of this show comes out, it will have been revealed on the show that we taped a couple of nights ago. But we, so we were up for podcasts of the year. And so we have to say, thanks to Unashamed Nation because of you. We are the Impact Podcast of the year. We won, which was pretty exciting. The whole event was great. I mean, it was like a, it was, I had never been anything quite like that. So you've been to some of that.

Well, we hosted the first one. I guess it was their 10th anniversary. I feel like somebody. No, mom and dad were a part of it too. Okay. So it was. I've forgotten it. Well, look, it's a little fuzzy.

This was back during the heyday of the show and there's a lot. I made a few jokes about it when we got up to, and they asked Missy and I to present an award. I think there's like 10 awards. Yeah. And we presented the worship song of the year. Yeah. And so we had submitted, you know, what they do is they kind of have it scripted, but Missy and I did our own, they say if you want to do your own script, you know,

we'll put it on the teleprompter or whatever. And so we did. Well, what happened was the first line was, it's been 10 years since we were here, we actually hosted the first one of these, the K-Level Awards. But then a joke popped into my head, so I told it. Well, that must have put the teleprompter operator into cardiac arrest because they just skipped all the way down to the bottom and said, and the nominees are. It never moved. So when we did that, that was off the top of our head.

Big shocker, Jace goes rogue. Well, it wasn't just me. My wife, she right before we walked out, she said, I'm really feeling like. I should lead a worship song. And I said, here? And she said, yeah, I really feel that. So if I do it, just go with me on it. And I didn't know what that meant,

but she said it right before we walked out. So when I was out of material, other than the nominees are, I kind of backed up from the mic and said, are you going to sing your song? And she stepped up to that mic. Because we were doing, talking about worship, because worship is real close to our heart. Well, her reputation is she has a good boss.

She's a good singer. She does. I thought it was pretty good. Yeah, it would have been way worse. Look, the number one thing that got my attention when I first met her, I think it was on our, like, second date was she was singing. Yeah. And I thought, well, I want a front row seat to this.

I mean, I looked at that as this is a quality in marriage that I would. would like to pursue. So she led the audience off the cuff in the doxology, which is a short song, but the theme was community. And we were doing the worship. We had lost the teleprompter. And it's, what, is it, a 30-second song, I guess? But I was shocked at, I mean, what was there, 4 to 5,000 people there.

It was, everybody knew that song and everybody sang. Yeah, they did. I mean, the hair was standing up in the back of my neck. So the question is now, and we don't know because we're recording this, and we haven't seen the show yet, even though by the time you're hearing this, it will have already aired. So I'm wondering if that may not make the cut, Jason. Well, it may not.

Because we went way over, and I'm sure since that was off the cuff. They are going to have to trim that episode, I guess, because it's supposed to be too old. As a producer, yeah, as a producer, yeah, that's, yeah, I can imagine they were like, whoa, because it is. It's a time slot. I think it was a two-hour show? It's a two-hour show, and it went up going to go in two hours and 45 minutes, maybe. Well, I'm sure that's going to get cut.

That's not my point. My point was... I just won't let the audience know, because if you watch it... And that's not on there. It's not on there. You're going to know what happens. But for those who were there, and that was my wife in the moment thinking, this is about community. This is...

Because her point was a subtle point. These artists now, they're doing these songs, and she was in a... an indirect way trying to inspire them. The song we sang is a simple song. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. It's 500 years old song. It's 500 years. Somebody wrote that and we're singing it 500 years later.

And it's not that it was just a song. It was a song about our creator. So I think it was a very subtle point she was making and that everyone knew it. And we sang it acapella, which was different, I think, because that was the first song that was sung, I think, just the, just people singing an acapella. Or going back to, yeah, to the first entry, that's probably right. Well, I'm saying at the event. Right.

But, uh, so that was, that was good. And, uh, we were, look, Unashamed Nation, you listened, y'all, y'all won. I mean, you voted. Yeah, it wasn't. I mean, we were nominated, but if you guys don't turn out and do it, I mean, because we were, there were some other. great podcast that we were in the same category with that obviously are impacting people but you guys because of you uh that's how we were recognized so this kind of whole thing has been about y'all i mean jay's doing that family treasure yeah i think the uh yeah i think the fans actually even nominate

i think you have to be nominated i don't think kela picks the nominees i think that comes from the fans too so that was kind of cool that um just the whole thing yeah for the record i didn't know you know if we won or not. I said, I think when we were in the green room, we were like, let's just be happy that we were nominated. Because I did think that. I thought just to be nominated was good enough for me. Yeah.

To be recognized for the work we're doing. And look, we love it, but it's like anything else, we grind to make sure that you guys are getting the word of God. We never take it lightly what we're doing. So just so you know as an audience, It's not like we're just showing up without having prepped and, you know. Well, and that's what happened. I got a little flustered because I was following Phil.

Phil was like, do I go? You know, Missy was like, yes, Phil, you go? Like when they announced us, playing him. Well, nobody gave us instructions, so you just kind of react. And, you know. Well, I was following Phil, and then I realized Phil's going the wrong way. And these camera people, I look, we're like in the. I'm up on stage and I look down.

I thought you went to the end of the. No, I know. And up at the stairs. I'm on the stage looking at him. I was looking at some dude had wires all over his head. He looked at me. Well, he looked at you and then looked at me like, get this man somewhere else. So I got up.

Y'all looked like Israelites in the wilderness out there. I was like, it was awkward for being out because we're on stage, but no one recognizes us. But we're the two on stage. And they're like, who are these guys? Who is it? I'm not ashamed with Phil and Jay's Ross. Let me give you a gentle rebuke and love. Maybe y'all should have realized that, oh, maybe Phil and Jay's need some direction.

Because I was following Phil, because I thought Phil's 80 years old and we got to clowns themselves. This is how Zach had one job. Make sure Dad gets up on stage. Yeah. And I look over Zach's next to me. Epic fail. So now that got. Because I wasn't sitting with y'all.

I was sitting on another aisle. Yeah, that's true. You're forgiven. Zach. We're throwing him under the bus. He was sitting right next to dad. I was like, how'd you lose it? Well, no, hold on, I tried.

And then Phil just kept walking. I said, Phil, I grabbed his arm. He just kept, he just kept walking towards the, towards like the age. Okay. I mean, I couldn't. It just got kind of chaos. For a moment there, I was like, well, I guess he'll find this way up here. I'm going to have to watch the show just to see how much of that they had.

I don't know of that. So I get up there. Well, then it hit me that I was designated as the one who was going to talk, but now I'm flustered because I thought, well, they just watched us completely get lost. Just getting up on stage. It was very evident that we're not very used to this sort of environment. I mean, to be fair to us, you know, we had that, I don't have many awards if you wanted. Yeah, a little, little fish out of water moment.

I've learned enough in public, I've learned enough in public speaking to realize that everybody was thinking, what in the world was going on down there? It looked like a scrum. So I told Phil, you remember when we were walking finally on the right steps, I said, we're a long way from the woods. Yeah. So I said that. That was your opening line.

I was my opening a lot. That was a good line. I just told my dad, we're a long way from the woods. You said, but if you're in the woods, you want to be with guys like us. Exactly. It was a great life. We were fish out of water. That's right.

But then, you know, I was kind of humbled and we all were. So, and we realized that y'all are the ones that vote. voted for us, but I talked about how many episodes we had done. You know, we tell funny stories. We, you know, we have fun. But at the end of the day, this is a Bible study. And you had your Bible and dad had his. Which was ironic. But, you know, when I get nervous or in situations, that's why I care my Bible, because I think better when I have my Bible. Whether I'm studying it or not, I just, it's, it's a, I feel like I'm armed, you know, spiritually. So, but I noticed Phil had his too and I and so I pointed that out and I held up the Bible and said this is the real

winner yeah and I really believe that it's true and it's and it's the content of what we do we ran into a lot of people uh that were crew that worked for Caleb on the show a lot of people that were participating a lot of artists that were recognized that night that listened to the podcast which was touching to me and it was like it's making an impact in every circle so again I mean I just we're We're humbled by it. And to be honest with you, we probably never would have gone to Nashville to do this had it not been for you. But we wanted to honor you because of you we won. So the least we could do is go to Nashville and receive that for y'all.

So it's your award. Jason's right. And I don't know when I, so I had the thing. It weighs about 60 pounds. That was my job. It's heavy. 60 pounds? Heavy.

It's real gold. It's real. It's, it's, it's, it's, I'm kidding. It's painted go. But it's a chuck. So when we walk to the back, a woman says, I'll take that. You know, we're going where people tell us to go. So I just hand it to her.

Well, then we all leave us. Like, did you make the award? And I said, well, some woman took it. So I don't know if we ever get it. I guess we'll bring it to the set. Well, y'all had one job to get Phil on stage and bring back the trophy. And we're 0 for two. It was taken from me.

I don't know who has. That's actually two jobs, but yeah, we are O for two. But I will say this. Well, the second one was assumed, you know. Well, here's what I love about that because the theme was community. And if you think about what Unashamed is, and that's why I love podcasting, it really, I mean, this is a community. I mean, you look at what's happening in the Unashamed Nation, just the page on Facebook and just you read and say, side there.

I mean, they're having prayer requests, Bible studies. It's an online community, which, you know, to Phil's point, you know,

he, he did tell us on that plane, you remember how what he said, he said, get that, get that, get that internet thing. You got to get us on there.

Yeah, so, I mean, even a man who's not familiar with it knew that was the way to go. And, uh, and in fact, dad said that,

he said it wasn't, he wasn't sure about podcast, but when you told him it was an internet Bible study, he's like, I'm in. which was kind of funny. Yeah, I tried to tell that joke on the red carpet because it's kind of, it's a funny story. I was like, you know, when I went to Phil with the idea of a podcast, he said, dash, that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard.

And I was hoping they would laugh at that. You know, they were just kind of looking at me like, yeah, but then I came back three days later and I said, hey, how about an internet Bible study? And Phil was like, thumbs up. That's the way, which is what this is. I mean, really, I tried to tell the joke. It fell flat on the red carpet. But, I mean, it is kind of interesting how this started. Really just, I was, when I was thinking about this, what our format would be, I was like, man, we got to do something that's repeatable.

And I think we got to do something that brings people into the dynamic, to a special dynamic. And I thought, I looked at Phil's life and not just feel, kind of our whole family, but I just think about that living room, you know, where A&N was wrapping. outfield today probably. But I think about that living room and me growing up coming to you guys's house and just seeing it was always a Bible study. It was always a conversation about it. It wasn't like it wasn't something that was formal. It was it's just like if you were there, there was going to be food and there was going to be Bible study and there was we were going to be talking about the Lord. And I mean, and there were always be people that would come in. They would sit under Phil's teaching for, you know, three to five years, guys like Daniel Edwards and Dane Jennings and these, they would sit there.

and he'd fill with disciple him. I said, man, if we could just capture that dynamic into a podcast format where people could come in and just sit in God's word, it's not a didactic sermon. It's just us sitting around just like we would in the living room. I think that's the special sauce of what we're doing here is it is a community. And it's built on authenticity and what we would already be doing in our living room. So we just took that here.

we just kind of expanded the living room out to, you know, several million people. And we have a discussion about the Bible. And according to you, one of our interviews, we're looking at the Bible expositorily. Oh, well, you need to go find that clip. That was, that turned into a... Thack dropped that in the interview, which then launched us into the Unashamed podcast in an interview after we won the award, which is kind of funny. Well, yeah, our unashamed fans will appreciate that because we're being interviewed after we won.

You go into this room and they interview you because they want to, they want to. And we're kind of giddy. I mean, you know, you're giddy. You're happy. You just won. You were like, hey, all right. And so then Zach just goes, well, what we're doing, guys is we're pursuing the expository. We're studying the Bible expository.

I interrupted him and said basically the last. The last time I had an expository episode, I was in a hospital and we were trying to figure out what in the world was going wrong with me. Is that something you can get over? Which lost us into it. It was just like the podcast. It was so funny because it was literally we had about a three-minute podcast doing an interview. And Jason, you got thrown under the bus in that interview too. Phil through you under the bus whenever he pulled out his notes and said, well, I was going to say this, but Jace wouldn't shut up during the acceptance speech.

Which once again, our understand my audience will get it. I had a good answer for that. We all decided that I would do. They said you got 40 seconds and none of y'all wanted to speak. So I said I would. Jay's, you said I've already got a speech. That's not all of us deciding. I have a speech.

But if y'all have something to say, speak now and nobody said a word. Well, we had like 40 seconds was the limit. Unlike you, we didn't just go road nation. We were following the rules. And then I didn't even. get to give my speech because somebody dropped the ball about getting Phil up on stage and then I was flustered. I knew it would come back to say but I want to say this I had a good comeback on that because when Phil said I wanted to give this but I couldn't because Jason would shut up I was like well y'all

nominated me and as usual once I gave my speech y'all all said it's not good enough we could have done better that was a good life so I want to say this I did, because you said, well, we haven't gotten into the Bible yet, but I did do this at the end. Because while we were on vacation, which was right before we were at the award show, Tim Keller, who I consider a warrior for Jesus, and I've listened to hundreds of his sermons. And he's a contributor, at least in my personal Bible study,

to what we discussed in the Bible. He's mentioned a lot on this podcast, that's for sure. So he died just a few days before this ceremony, and I just felt like I needed to bring him up in that moment. So I did, and I said a prayer for his family. I've never met Tim Keller, and what was interesting is I did this little tribute because I just appreciate people who are Jesus-centered.

Grace is his foundation, and you hear that out in his sermons. And even though he's a member of a different kind of church, you know, name-wise, I mean, the guy's a warrior for Jesus, and he's really, you know, helped me tremendously. So I brought him up. And the reason I'm bringing that up, because somebody, when I was backstage, after I said that, they said, I didn't know you were a Presbyterian. And I said, I don't even know what a Presbyterian is. But if only Zach were here to tell us what that is. Exactly.

But I said, why are you asking? Yeah, that would be a PC. I think Tim Keller's PCA. So you got to even further down to the Presbyterian search. But leave it to me. I was kind of offended by that. I'm not, I'm like, the guy, I mean, I've listened to his sermons. That doesn't mean I'm a presbyterian.

I'll go do some research on what that is. But, and I've heard the term, I just didn't know what it meant. But I thought I was just celebrating the fact, because I thought if you listen to his, his, his, I mean, he loves Jesus and has a gift, I believe, of, you know, of sharing that. I've read several of his books, and they're excellent. So when you go through the Bible like we are, I mean, I'll tell you one of the things I do is I've got about six or seven guys that I will, I want to go read what they said about it or hear a sermon of what they said about it. And Keller's in that mix for me. I mean, I try to have a dare I use this word, ecumenical view of it.

I try to get a broad spectrum of different thoughts. I don't want to just get like one group, right? I want to have like a, you know, multiple. So Keller's in my, he's. I'm waiting until you finish your thought and then let's, nobody knows what that word is. Hang on. I know. I'm telling you, you are, you, that's telling you, take a break.

Shame Nation. Well, I want to learn what this word is. What is it? Ecumenical. Yeah, it's just like a, it's more of kind of a broader spectrum of the Christian faith where you're not, you're not so, no, sectarian. Like, you're getting down in like one rule. You're getting too far down the rabbit hole.

How do you spell it? Ecumenical. Let's see. ECU. Let me Google it. ECU. M-E-N-I-C-A-L is what I would say. Ecumenical.

I knew what the word. That's a word for the day. This is word for the day, ecumenical. So what I, in my prayer, and look, my heart was heavy. By the way, when you mentioned him, when you first mentioned him, did you hear how many people cheered like his name? I mean, it let you know. He was very, he was.

I was such a news. Let you know how well loved he was with all those groups that was. I actually didn't notice I was a deer in the headlights in that moment, but I'm not surprised. A lot of people cheered when you said his name. But I do. I am mindful of his family. And look, I didn't meet the guy. We'll see him.

He, he, I just, we'll see him again. But I did mention in my prayer because I, I was studying, the night I was, I was, I was on vacation, but I was studying Luke 5, which is where we're at in our study. and I know we don't have time to get into it today as deeply because we've basically spent most of the time talking about this but there's a saying that I actually said in the prayer because they may not run it on the TV show because I was way off script but you know when Peter that needs to be the name of your next book way off script

that's actually not a bad idea so when when this they're a fiction to catch this is this miracle where Jesus says throw your nets on the other side go out to the deep water throw your nets on the other side you know remember the conversation we fished all night haven't called anything but then Simon Peter says but because you say so yep you know we'll do it so I mentioned that in prayer because I was studying it the night I got a text I think Zach you actually sent me the text that uh that tim keller had just died which also made me a little emotional when i got to that because it just i was i was when i got the word i was literally listening to one of

his sermons yeah on luke chapter five and uh so i just made mention to those who you know throw out to the deep water because jesus says so and i meant that in this story in this miracle You see that Jesus gave us a job to do. He was like, this is what you called your work. You're fishermen. Yep. But I obviously am way superior than that. Because you fished all night and haven't done anything.

Watch this. Bam. Yeah. Here's the fish. And then they left the fish. They left everything. And he said, I'll make you fishers of men. That's what we do by sharing the awesome power

of this word. You know, because God said so, is mean something to us. And he's got a book here. It's called the Bible. And so I was trying to make that connection. And like Zach said, I think we all,

in our daily, personal, private time, we should have several people that we listen to. I mean, mine is, are they centered on grace

and do they, can you tell that they're really focused on Jesus? And I tend to read what they say, you know, and listen to, listen to their sermons. Well, I got asked, because we all did the red carpet, which is part of the deal. And so, you know, they'll ask you questions about different things.

And so one of the questions that somebody asked me was about how do we decide content for the podcast, which is a good question. And something I thought about a lot when we were formulating the idea of doing a podcast. And Zach and I spent quite a bit of time because Jay's wasn't originally part of that discussion because he came along a little bit later to actually, before we launched the podcast. I was a hitchhiker. You were a hitchhiker. We picked you up. And it was a good pickup, too, by the way. And so we were talking about it. And because, you know, obviously Blaze is our platform. And they do mostly conservative political commentary is primarily what's on their platform.

But, you know, there's believers on there. And there's a little bit of biblical context as well, Ali Bath and some of the others. And so, you know, Zach and I said, instantly my thought was the only thing that will sustain if we're going to do this for a while the only thing i know that will sustain because i'd listen to a few podcasts some in our family had tried podcasts and you know you can only go so far and just telling some funny stories and you know talking about the events of the day to me so we wanted to have something deep that we could give people and so what better thing than the word of god was jace articulated that greatly in his acceptance speech that that is our content and that is our content

driver. The thing about it is you're never going to run out of material. Because even if we go through the entire Bible, which I'm sure we will, we can turn around and do it again. And what happens is over four or five years is God reveals new things in your heart as you study as well. It's a living, breathing document. That's the power of it. And that's my point about bringing up Keller. I mean, look, I never met the man and just listened to the sermons. And I think in the religious setting, we try to just get people that are around us that we agree on every single thing in the Bible, which is a terrible idea. Let's agree on the big things.

Right. We all know what those are, you know, who God is. Jesus mainly, yeah. Yeah, Jesus. And so, and then this other stuff, you don't have to put people in camps. I mean, the theme of that was in community. And some of these scholars, you know, have some good ideas. I mean, and some things, you know, I'll read or hear that I don't agree with.

and it's like I've said many times it's like eating you know fish you spit out the bones but for the most part people who make you think it which is what Keller did for me I'm not looking for someone that I absolutely 100% agree with on everything I'm looking for people who make me think in ways that I haven't thought before especially about reading the gospels of Jesus and so that's what he did that's why I wanted to share that he's been real instrumental in my life But I was also going to say, because you asked me this like 10 minutes ago, I never responded. But this whole night started because I was late getting on the plane, which was unusual, because I had a wardrobe issue. And because Missy, she's in charge of wardrobe for me, obviously, if we're going to have to dress up.

So what was borderline miraculous is she has a nice suit for me and I was going to wear a white shirt. under it. None of my shirts, none of my white shirts were without stain. None. She said, how is this possible? I said, I'm busy. I do things. So we had to stop.

White's not your color for. We had to stop at a dollar general and get a white t-shirt. So I was hoping, you know how you go these red carpet things? Yeah. I was hoping someone would say, and what are you wearing? You know how these people say? Because I was going to say, I'm wearing a Haynes T-shirt by Dollar General. $7.

So I brought that up with my wife to say that, you know, the birth of this podcast, you know, my wife and I were fixed to do a podcast on our own when y'all called me. We were literally fixed to sign the papers and do it. and so I'm like well babe they you know Al and Phil are doing a podcast they want me to do it and she's because I thought it hurt her feeling she said well good because I didn't want to do one with you anyway I was just

can you believe she said can you imagine the arguments that we would have during the which brings us back which is why we love to have her on the podcast so we're out of time we'll discuss this a little bit more in our overtime segment and before we actually actually get to Luke 5 in the next podcast. So we'll see you in the overtime.

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