Church Royalty Podcast

In this special episode Nickole shares her recent experience at a music festival where she was inspired by the lives of TobyMac and John Cooper!   You don't want to miss this encouragement to the Church!

In this special episode Nickole shares her recent experience at a music festival in Ohio and encourages the church. Skillet and Toby Mac inspired this episode!

I sat down with a woman I'd only seen in the bathroom at church and left with a new friend! I know you will feel the same (except for the bathroom part) about this joyfilled life giving woman who happens to be a pretty awesome pastor's wife too!!      What do life giving relationships look like?  How does a mom of young children manage to do all that is required of her as a wife of a church planter? What are our expectations of pastor's wives and where do they come from? Who is writing this job description.    This conversation is full of joy and energy. We laughed a ton! Life is challenging. This is just a fact.  But we can do better at living at a pace we are called walking out our lives with purpose and joy!     Come hear what our new friend Cassie has to say about it!!  

Grab a cup of black coffee and come and hear what this pastor's wife has to say about living with open hands as believers.  Be refreshed. Let your faith in humanity get a boost.    What does it look like when you are the wife of the pastor being trained to be sent out?   What does it look like to be one of just a handful of families who began this growing church plant? Amanda has such a matter a fact way of sharing what the Lord is doing in her life! She shares how we as the body of believers can encourage each other to be a part of what God is doing in our churches.     Join us today because knowing that God is still doing big things will brighten your faith! 

In this heartfelt and honest episode Hannah Reed shares her journey in the aftermath of losing her husband Pastor Mike Reed of Calvary Chapel Oceanside.   This is a sweet and cherished conversation everyone who ever knew Pastor Mike or Hannah will appreciate. I can't say you will get through it without shedding a tear, but anything is possible!

Eekkk!!!  We can't contain our excitement about this one!! We have all 3 fabulous Instagram ladies from Pastor's Wives Tell All with us today! They are always sharing the truth about being pastor's wives and today is no different!  These ladies get messages from women all over the country sharing their stories and asking their questions.   I will say this...we can do better for pastor's wives. We can be better for them!!    Grab a coffee and come and hear how!!  If you don't already follow them on Instagram, be sure to get over there and click the follow button! They will not only fill your feed with joy and humor but also enough truth to make you feel you are even being productive as you scroll!!     

This is an episode full of emotion and transparency. The road was challenging and yet God will be glorified.      We can do better as a church! Listen today to make sure you know how!

Sweet Marla shares with us today her biggest regret and what she is doing about it today!  You don't want to miss the wisdom dished out for women across the country on life and motherhood.     The Cedar Creek Ministries Family is so thankful for Marla and her transparency today.  God is good and faithful and uses His servants for His glory!! 

Isn't it true, in a Christian marriage, at least, that it is the Lord that holds us tother.  Kristyn is bold and unapologetic for her faith in Christ to work all things for His glory!  She stands with her husband in good and bad.    What will you get out of today's podcast? Encouragment through the trials.  Fortitude to perservere through whatever the Lord has you going through.  Real life motherhood as a woman shares her heart about being a faithful disciple to a man with a huge heart after God. 

Laurin bears her heart with us in this first interview with a pastor's wife!!  Her husband (Brian from Season 1) pastor's an average size liturgical church in Southern California.  You won't want to miss  How she tries to avoid the annual meeting that parades their family income  The true feelings behind not really having a pastor when your husband is one What it's like to grow up in a church where your husband is now the pastor.  How she balances the life of a homeschool mom with all her other responsibilities. This sweet woman is so dear, honest and funny. Want to know why she gets up in the middle of the interview and treatens to walk out of the room?   Well, you will have to listen to find out!!      

 It was driving us nuts, after last weeks episode realizing you may not even know how to be awesome to your (or any) pastor's wife!!    Nickole gives 3 simple things you can do (maybe even not to) to just be an all around better human! In this case it will benefit you and all the pastor's wives at your church!!   It's short and sweet and you definelty don't want to miss it!! 

Don't miss out on the fabulous and heartbreaking stories of why this season exsists!!  You have to hear WHY we want you to hear these precious women's stories. It is so crucial that as a church culture, both THE church and YOUR church we understand the truth about the roles our leaders take on in the church.    Nickole shares her heart for pastor's wives with stories that will compel you to be a better friend to any pastor's wives in your church or anywhere!! 

This season was full of so much wisdom and knowledge from our missionaries. Hear the takeaways Nickole has from interview all 12 missionaries this season.    Don't forget to catch up on all the episodes you've missed. We will see you back on May 11th with a fresh new season!!

Listen to the amazing resources out there for people who need rest!  So excited to share about Retreathood and a wonderful couple who hosts couples and even does marriage counseling in their home!!      You don't want to miss this one!  You will be so encouraged in all the ways the Lord is working in and through His children. 

In this short episode, Nickole talks to Christians worldwide about who and how we may want to consider praying for in this time in history. 

You just have to hear about the rad work Justin and Erin are doing stateside with international students. They are the true defintion of disciples and I can't wait for you to meet them!

In today's show we get to hear from Keeley who was a 28 year old  professional when she was called to the mission field. Her story of the fruit faith and obedience produce is not only encouraging, but inspires us to be willing to accept any calling the Lord places in our lives.    If you need to be reminded of how to have an eternal perspective today, check this one out.  You will hear the story of how the power of God's Word can transform the life of an inmate imprisoned in the Philippines.  .    You will be reminded of God's faithfulness to his available and obedient servants.     You will assess the true meaning of home.    There is also a special word here today for American pastors.  Keeley shares what a blessing her church has been to her on and off the mission field and what a significant role her pastors played in her ability to do God's work well!

Heather is a nurse working in Africa and is AMAZING!! Of course that isn't how she would describe herself with all her grace and humility, but seriously what she is doing is so rad!    You will love listening to her explain how her team is working in Africa!! They are basically training people in basic first aid and then going out and setting up pop up clinics for outreach and practical help in the communities!!   Curious about how prayer and science are intersecting in this venture? We talk about it!!     Oh my gosh and I can't forget to mention Heather's sweet perspective on the American church. Her thankfulness for those who send her will make you realize what a blessing it is to give!!    Want to support her?  Here is the link to do so!    Click here and be sure to Click HEATHER BEANE   https://pushpay.com/g/calvaryvistamissions?tgforget=true&src=hpp

"...If I let you live, what are you going to do with the next 25 years..." Ilowee Owens story is the sweet story of what God can do with a willing heart.   This founder of Garments of Praise ministry was burdened for the people in Kenya.  Listen today to hear how God took one short term mission trip, a woman's illness and a willing heart to change the world of many in Africa.    Be encouraged by a woman who was ready to "retire" when she realized she didn't want to end her life useless or fruitless for the Lord. Her story of learning to be dependant on God for all things is miraculous and inspiring.     

You don't want to miss the rest of Nate and Melissa's story as we finish up this spectacular interview from last week! Understanding church culture and how we can improve  as believers to  support each other in life and ministry is so crucial.

Today's episode is unlike any we have done so far. Today we are talking to our dear friends about, what I feel, is a really tragic ending to a call on their lives.    We know God is good and faithful, but we forget sometimes that transitions are difficult and people fail us.   When we are walking with the Lord we know He can you all things to draw us to Him.  I agree with that. We stand on that as an integral part of our faith.   As believers we have a responsiblity to walk worthy.  Listen to this story.  Use it as an opportunity to remember to support missionaries both at home and abroad.  May we all strive to be sold out for Jesus!  May we all strive to support those who are called to the most challenging places!!      

As parents we wonder how the way we serve Christ will affect our children.  There was nothing unusual or scary for Lina about becoming a missionary because Lina watched her parents serve in Papua New Guinea as a child.  You have to know she was an "accidental" interview. When we were interviewing her dad, Tom we heard a tiny bit of her story and basically begged her to sit down with us.    Lina is a true servant and full of wisdom!!  Come listen to her story so you can share with your friends how amazing the Lord works! 

What an incredible young lady! Nickole couldn't stop talking about this conversation! You are going to love Nicolette!  We are amazed at her maturity and love for the Lord and His purposes.  This one is not only encouraging for all believers, but young single people all across the world NEED to here Nicolette's perspective on marriage and the only way she wants it in her future!   In this uniquely fabulous episode we get to discuss multiple cultures,! Curious about what being in missions in Australia looks like? Middle East missions as a young single woman?   Are you not sure where the Lord is calling you, but know you want to serve? Nicolette will leave you feeling you with a refreshed faith in God, His purposes, and humanity!  Don't miss this one, you guys.  You will want to be fast friends with this amazing young woman of God!     

Come and hear Sam share with us his heart for believers to have genuine change in their lives. If people aren't seeing Christ change in us, are we even genuine believers? In this second part of Samson's story we hear all about the culture of Orthodox Christianity in the Ukraine and the culture of atheism in the heart of the youth in the country!  God is speaking and moving and doing a great work!  Come and let the faith of God wash over you and listen to a pretty rad accent while you do!   Think nobody is watching you as an example for Christianity? You have to hear how the American church is affecting the culture of believers across the world.  It will break your heart and offer you a resolve to walk worthy we all need it today's disheartening world.       

As this year comes to a close it is always nice to look back on all the Lord has done and look forward what He will do in the New Year!!  

A special Thank You from Nickole Perry to all our wonderful listeners this year.  She shares her heart for people's end of the year giving and reminds us how we can really tell where our priorities are as we venture into the new year!!   Wanting to give a year end gift to Cedar Creek Ministries because you love the Church Royalty Podcast? We'd love that!    Here are a few other great organizations/ missionaries who are thankful for financial partnerships too!!  Rock Int. Samson Onovae (Sammy Clarkson) Newman Family We also love Today's Christian Country!!      

What can you learn from a man who can live on just a few dollars a day and believes the gospel is the most powerful tool to change lives?  More than you know!! We all think we know poverty. We all think we believe we'd sacrifice anything for the gospel, but our friend Samson here has beliefs in action that will not only stir you to question how strong your beliefs really are, but you will be motivated to step up and find a way to use your American dollars oversees!  What we spend a day on coffee may feed a missionary for a couple days!   This conversation will leave you convicted and inspired to do more with all you have.  Samson and I had so much fun we broke our conversation into 2 episodes, so don't forget to come back next week to hear the end of this conversation!

It's so cliche, I almost changed the title!!  I know we all have an image in our minds of what someone looks like when they are "sold out" for Jesus and in fact half of us probably assume all those people are actual missionaries.    '  As I was talking to a friend recently, I shared a common thread I've been noticing throughout the conversations with missionaries.   The common thread is that none of them claim to be anything special.  The truth is they all feel like this is what they are doing and it just is what it is. Leah's heart for her call is no different.  Leah is actually a teacher in one of the only schools  in her area that teaches English! Even though the religion of the country she works in is far from Christian, she gets an opportunity to work at a Christian school and give the gospel to hundred of young children simply because the local children are so intent on their children learning English.  She is a California girl in a Buddhist country and you will be absolutely fascinated by the way the citizens of Thailand embrace their national religion.      

Neil and Janeen are people we wouldn't have met had we not set out on our adventure for Cedar Creek Ministries!! There is something so exciting to me about when the Lord calls a family to full time ministry and even more so when it's missions overseas!  There is so much work needing to be done for the Lord and Neil and Janeen will say they are nothing special just available and willing to serve and so God is sending them to Africa!  I will tell you that people, families, willing to "go" are becoming more rare and they are such a rad couple.  You don't want to miss what they are doing and how you can help!

    Christian testimonies are rich and full of love and life!  The stories of missionaries and their callings to the mission field as part of their testimony as believers are powerful.   Tom Leger and his wife raised their children for many years oversees. which resulted in grown children with a heart for missions work too!  Are you curious what it's like to be oversees for Thanksgiving?  Have you ever been critical toward a missionary because you weren't happy with their "results?"  Do you know the different strategies and purposes for short vs. long term mission work? Tom Leger, Imagineer for The Rock International answers these questions and even more.   Want to know how you can help get resources to missionaries? Want to support a ministry that offers tons of biblical resources in hundreds of languages? Just need to know more about Papua New Guinea? This is the episode for you!!   Craving more heroic stories? Try these!        

  In this last episode of our first season of Church Royalty: Confessions of Church Leadership Nickole shares the most impactful moments to her as the host!    There were so many powerful moments this season with pastors across the country.  Our new season will release on November 24th where we explore the culture of missionaries as a church culture!!  

You guys!!  Did you know there are still churches in American that offer their pastor's parsonages as part of their payment package!?!? The mind blowing concept of a parsonage with all its implications is one of  the coolest things I've ever seen and today's conversation is with our dearest Pastor Earl who has lived in the church parsonage for the duration of his service at First Baptist Spartansburg in western Pennsylvania.  Listen and hear how God orchestrated a series of events that completely changed their lives and direction!  Fun fact: This is the episode where we share one HUGE major thing we beg you to never do to a pastor on Sunday!!!   Get in on this conversation! You will finish filled with hope and a love for church history!   

Today's conversation goes deep into the big issue of religion vs. relationships and why so many Christians today are miserable.  In our desire to be our own God we miss the abundant life wen are promised in scripture.  Has the pendulum swung too far in grace that we lack functional spiritual disciplines? Let's dig in!       

Youth Pastors are an amazing breed of leaders! They wear all the hats so well it almost seems like they run little mini (sometimes not so mini) version of the church. They run camps, outreach events, teach and stay in contact with both students and parents.  They are constantly on the look out for faithful and called youth leaders.  None of this even breaches the mess of what youth is going through in this current generation with the flooding of unbiblical mindsets and temptation in the palm of their hands.  Pastor Rick is a man in his 40s who has not bought into the mindset that the youth is a gateway ministry to the top, but a calling and he embraces his calling well.  When this conversation is over you are going to wish your children were under his leadership!  

What a wealth of knowledge and testimony! Today's conversation is not only full of weird 'chrisitanese', but chalked full of so much wisdom from both life experience and the church fathers of old!   Pastor Kevin Bruce is clever, witty and full of wisdom and wise words!  You are going to love this conversation! 

Pastor Scott is not afraid to discuss the tough topics in life which sure did make this episode a whole lot of fun!  We discuss everything from the beauty of sex in marriage to how Christians should be engaging in the mental health conversations with biblical wisdom and grace.    This is an episode every Christian will be fascinated with!   We also have books to giveaway for the first 10 donations of any amount to Cedar Creek Ministries!!  Just head over to http://cedarcreek.causevox.com and make your donation of any amount and we will send you a copy of Pastor Scott Mehl's Book Loving Messy People!!      

An otherwise unassuming man gives a fabulous tale about a life surrendered to Christ.  He is quiet and calm, but passionate about Jesus and evangelism. We are blessed to have met him on our journey and you will be blessed to hear how the Lord called him to full time ministry in different ways over the years.  Since he also happens to be a Mechanical Engineer, you have to hear his story!  

Pastor Mondoe is a former professional athlete who loves Jesus and his family. His passion for helping people find their God given purpose is contagious.  The vision his church has for their community is a breath of fresh air.     If you have ever had questions about "Mega" churches or satellite campus's then you are really going to enjoy this one.

A young and newly married youth pastor in Southern California shares his heart for the youth of America.  What he wants to share with the American church is something every parent needs to hear!  

Pastor Emilio actually grew up in the church he now pastors.  His satellite campus has a fascinating history!  This episode is not only full of incredible Christian culture and church history, but also tells a story of a man overcoming huge challenges in his life that affected his role as a Christian, husband and father.     God calls men to shepherd people they love! Pastor Emilio is no exception. His hard work does not go unnoticed in what is considered the 2nd most unchurched county in the country!!     Life in Florida isn't perfect and we can't wait for you to hear why!!    

Have you always wanted to know the process and challenges of starting a new church? Well, here you go! This one is just for you!   In this episode we discuss the difficult truths about a healthy church body and how we forget what is important in church culture sometimes.  What is it like for Christians from California who move to other parts of the country, in this case Tennessee?   What are all challenges and blessings of being in a new place and different region?  How do you know you are called to start a church? How do you recognize God's timing? We had a good many questions and Pastor Tony had great answers for us, answers you will want to know too!!     

Tool and Dye, Circuit Riders and Pennsylvania state history are just a few of the fun "off" topics moments in this conversation in Pastor Jerome.   He comes from generations of faithful believers who farmed and preached!   He also gives the inside scoop about the blessings and oddities of being a denomination pastor, the negative effects of not utilizing church discipline for it's purposes for the church!    This episode is fully of so much history and information. Host Nickole Perry is completely out of her element as this Pennsylvania native explains new words and industries to So-cal native had never heard before.  History buffs and lovers of education will especially love this conversation with this resilient man who God led to pastoring even though he really didn't see it coming!    

Giving, encouragement and the history of the Anglican church are just the tip of iceberg in this fun and witty conversation and both church and pop culture.  Brian is a board member for Cedar Creek Ministries and has a passion to love on the body of believers in a way that makes you want to go out and be a better human for Jesus!   He is a great blessing to not only his body of believers, but also his community!  We poke at some touchy areas in this episode like the man/female dynamic in church culture, miscarriages and the benefits of sacrificial giving.  This episode might make you a little bit uncomfortable, but in the best way!     

This bold and fearless pastor has been a breathe of fresh air to so many believers struggling through the culture of the American church, politics included!   Listen to hear how Pastor Jason describes the bullies of America who have come out of the woodwork and understand what he believes our role is on "Christians dealing with bullies."    Getting back to the church setting the pulse for America is at the forefront of Pastor Jason's mind and you don't want to miss this fun and stirring conversation about politics and the American church.  It's not all politics though, this man has raised children that serve alongside him at church and you will love what this family always put at the center of their lives to keep the focus on Christ.  Not quite ready to move to north Idaho? You may be after this one!  

At The Beacon they use a little different verbiage than we may be used to...what we generally call pastors, they refer to as elders/teachers.  In every functional role Ric Olsen is what you would consider a "senior" pastor at his church in Orange, California.    He is a Chaplain for the Orange City Fire Department and had a full lifetime of missions work and ministry under his belt.  In today's conversation we discuss the influx of people leaving ministry, how we can let God shape our identity regardless of what lies we may have believed as a child and hear about the beautiful experience God used to give Elder Ric a love for people that can never be changed. 

Sometimes, maybe even often times, God calls certain people into ministry to do the really challenging things that others shy away from doing.  God uses people to make changes in other people's lives, even when we don't understand it.  There are times in our lives where we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything we have learned thus far in life was for a specific moment in time.    In today's episode with Pastor Dan Leitz of Calvary Chapel Oceanside we hear the heart of a man whose desire was to honor God, but had to make some difficult choices.  When your senior pastor passes away and leaves a church in grief wondering who the next pastor is going to be, there are some heavy moments.  Take a minute, well hour, today and hear about how some of those heavy moments led to a beautiful calling to change a church culture for the better!   

Today's episode contains explict information about drugs, alcohol and speaks about sex and other difficult topics in regards to testimony. This episode is not well suited for children.   Seriously, get your tissues ready! In today's episode we hear and remember how dark the places we can go before Christ restores our souls.  This powerful testimony is for anyone who is feeling complacent about the saving power of God!  We forget the same power that raised Christ from the dead saves souls from the fiery pits of hell on this earth and for eternity.  If you feel hopeless over a loved one in the bondage of sin, find hope today in Pastor John's story!     Transcript: John Padula podcast Interview Interviewer: Nickole Perry Recipient: John Padula Introduction: Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Church royalty confessions of church leadership is here to bring the reality about church leadership to the masses so you can feel better about your relationship with Christianity and the American church today. Oh, right, this is Nickole Perry with the church royalty podcast, and today we are with John Padula, the outreach pastor at the altar church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. In our family, we call him the beloved pants pastor, because when we first met him, we were literally buying children's jeans from his wife off of Facebook marketplace one night. They are they were about to start their weekly Bible study. And they invited us in, and we have loved their family ever since. So how are you doing today? John? I'm fantastic. How are you? I'm good. I'm really excited to be here today. I'm so sorry that we couldn't do this in person and that this is something you're tired of doing virtually can't wait until life gets back to normal. Yes, amen. Well tell our listeners a little bit about your testimony. I know you have a very powerful testimony in Christ. And I don't even know, you know, the high points. So why don't you share with us a little bit about where the Lord has brought you. I was raised up here in North Idaho, had a great very successful family. But none of them have known the gospel, none of them knew Jesus. And at about 12 years old, I was very violent as a kid, even in kindergarten, I was getting in fights. I just had this I don't know what it was this thing in me that I just always was very angry, very, very violent and full of rage. And I got kicked out of my first school in fifth grade. My parents got a divorce right around that same time. And it forced my mom and I had to move to a different County. My dad kind of went off the deep end started drinking really heavy because my mom left him while he was at work. And he was just like me, he was full of violence full of rage. And we ended up in protective custody because my dad was going to murder my mom. And so, we kind of had to be in police protection for a while through Thanksgiving. I felt like I needed to protect my mom and you know, shoot him before he killed her. And just a crazy childhood of that type of stuff. Went to my second school, was there for about a year got kicked out. And then in seventh grade, we moved to another school still here in North Idaho. I started using speed pills and was drinking smoking marijuana, all that type of stuff, sexually, you know, just very active young, and got kicked out of school and, and by that time, my dad and I started talking even though he's still really hated my mom and was still really hurt and angry. And he was moving to Las Vegas. And so, I decided to go with my dad Las Vegas, and I had already started using speed and a little bit of meth up here. And I was 13 moved to Las Vegas, went to school for three days got a gun pulled on me and me just kind of threw away the whole school thing. I got into gangs started selling speed and crystal glass ice, all that type of stuff they had down there. I ended up on meth for 17 years from age 13 to 30. I'd use methamphetamines and pretty much everything else. But that was kind of my main, the main thing that I used, got into dealing heavy. Some of my friends were cooking meth and I started cooking meth with some of them was always getting arrested, always in trouble, had no care for women. To me all they were was just a, you know, there for pleasure. By the time I came to Christ, I had no moral compass, I had no moral values. Just wicked at heart. And I ended up getting arrested in 1996 for dealing methamphetamines went to a prison, basically prison rehab and didn't succeed. So, the judge sent me to prison, and I had five years fixed with a 15-year tail. So, I had a total of a 20-year sentence. And he said, I'll let you get on probation. But you cannot come back to Kootenai county for five years. So, you need to find somewhere else to live. Well, my dad because of that my dad moved to Moscow, Idaho, I was able to go down and live with him. And I didn't even make it a year before I was back on drugs, selling drugs using abusing women. Just same lifestyle. You know, my heart had never changed even though I was incarcerated for a little bit. After about a year that they violated me five year minimum with a 15- year talent on top of this or could have done 20 and I ended up about a year and a half into it. Go into a community work centre. And it was a non-secure facility and the girl that I was with at the time was at least I had heard she was sleeping around and so I kind of freaked out and I still had that violent nature, and I took off and, in my mind, I was gonna come up to Coeur d'Alene and just kind of murder whoever she was with. I was just I literally went crazy. Coeur d'Alene, I made it to Moscow, Idaho, got a hotel room, stay there for a couple days. And then I talked to my family decided to turn myself in and try to fix the mess that I'd created. Well, I turned myself in after three days, and they sent me back to the prison. They added a new felony, they charged with felony escape, and I ended up in prison for six years. I got out in 2006, well, the end of 2005, I got out. And I went right back to that lifestyle. I was bouncing it a couple of bars up here. Started using meth and coke pretty much instantly when I got out. Three years after I got out, I was in a relationship. And I never really cared about girls before. I mean, there was a couple that, you know, I kind of hung out with but for the most part, they were just, just a tool. And for some reason, this girl that I was with, I really, I was almost obsessed with her and we were only together for a couple months and she ended up getting arrested her probation officer was telling her she couldn't hang out with me or have anything to do with me. She ended up getting violated and ending up in this rehab. Had never heard of this. This pastor Tim's program is good Samaritan I had no clue what it was. But some of my friends were telling me that okay, if you want to see your girlfriend, you can go to this church and there and she's there on, on Sundays. And so, I started popping into this church and I was 137 pounds. Just in really bad shape. I sat in the back one time I came in here sat in the back with my hoodie up and just kind of stayed to myself. And I had no clue I haven't even to this day. I have no recollection of ever seen the guy preaching on the stage or any of that type of stuff. I was just, you know, just laser focused on wanting to see my girlfriend, wonderful woman of God, Katherine Taylor, was sitting in front of me and she turned around and asked if she could pray with me, she said that the Lord spoke to her and told her to turn around and pray for me. And so, me and my mom were there. And I let her pray for me. And it didn't really impact my life at that time. But later, you know, looking back, it was a huge influence of how God was trying to get my attention. Well, my girlfriend ended up graduating rehab. And even though I called her my girlfriend, I was still out women and does not in good shape, dealing drugs doing all the same stuff. Well, she got out of the rehab and started calling me from a restricted number and was like, Hey, I'm not gonna have anything to do with you unless you go to this rehab. Pastor Tim started a men's facility in November, and I think this was in like August of 2008. And so, I was like, Okay, I'll go to this rehab, and she didn't tell me anything about it being about Jesus, like, I never heard the gospel, never knew the gospel. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I just was gonna go fake my way through this rehab. So, the time is getting closer, they're getting this men's facility ready to get up and get going. And I believe it was November. They got it up and going November 2008. They started the men's facility. And I met with Pastor Tim and I walked in the church, and I introduced myself and I said, Hey, my name is John. And he looks at me and he says Johan Padula. And I said, Yeah. And he looked at me said, God has a plan for your life. And it kind of freaked me out. So, I just kind of backed up and walked off. You know, I had no clue what he was talking about. Well, I ended up meeting with him after that. And we sat down, and he just started asking me questions. And he's like, Well, why do you want the rehab? And I was like, well, because Danielle told me how to do the rehab, you know, and he's like, Well, do you really want this life change? And you know, at that point, I was still just in manipulation mode. I was lying and yes, of course, we had one life change. So, they get the men's facility up and going, I think there was two guys in it at the time. So, I wouldn't check myself in and I was still using, like, it wasn't like I stopped using and was trying to do better. Well, I went there for I think one day, and it was so uncomfortable, because I was just so full of sin and darkness and my motives were wrong and impure. And just the presence of God at the ranch. I mean, it's people up there dead serious about the relationship with the Lord and there's just this love. It is so, so inviting. But when you don't want that, it's, it's like the opposite. It's almost repelling. It's like man, I didn't want nothing to do with this. I left after one day, well, then the girl tell me to turn myself back in up there and going into the rehab again. So, I went a week later, I think for two or three days, and I just couldn't do it. So, I left again. Once again, here I am faced with this decision. Do I want them, you know the relationship? Am I going to you know, try to do whatever I can to keep the girl and so I did I let her talk me into going back up there and this time? This time when it was just a little different. Hey, I'm gonna actually give this place a chance. I think it was about three or four days into it. We were doing outside chores and the guy that was running the place at the time he was the facilitators name's Chris Anderson. He came up to me while I was raking the gravel. You know, trying to make the driveway decent. And he just asked me, he just asked me about my relationship with Jesus. And if I had ever known God, and He says, do you mind if I pray for you? And now I had never even envisioned this whole God thing. Which when you're 70, think about a bunch of old people who go in there with super boring, they don't have anything else to do. So, they go meet on Sundays, and they worship that's dead and gone and know that there's just nothing to it. I had no idea that God was alive and well, and I was about to have an encounter that was going to change my life. So, I said, Yeah, sure, you can pray for me. And he put his hand on my shoulder. And as soon as you touch me, I wanted to punch him right in his mouth. Like just the scene inside of me the darkness that I was still holding on to and you know, he was born again, he loved the board, a great man of God. And he started praying. And as he started praying, Lord touched my life. I started weeping for my sin, I didn't even know what sin was. It wasn't like he said, Hey, here's the gospel. I'm gonna, you know, he didn't explain any of that. He just shared Jesus with me and just wanted to pray for me. And the LORD came into my life, revealed my sin to me. And I was so broken over man, I didn't cry. Like I was, uh, I was like, the total opposite of anybody who would ever cry or show my emotions. And I just started weeping. Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry And by the time he was done praying for me, I was grinning from ear to ear, I opened my eyes, and we were in the driveway, and I looked up and I see the sky was blue. And the trees were green. That 30 years old, I had never known that. I'd never seen that. I never experienced that because my eyes were just so blinded by my sin. And God radically changed my life. In not progressively in the blink of an eye. I was a different person. The rage, the violence, the anger, the foul mouth, the pornography, I was bound by pornography for 21 years, you know, not to be graphic, but I would, you know, be sexual with women, sometimes multiple women at once. And when I would leave, I would still be driving in my car, looking at DVD players with pornography, playing in my car plugged into my cigarette lighter. Wow! I mean, just bound by sexual perversion. And for 21 years. I wasn't like the gentleman said, Hey, you know, this is what's gonna happen, you're gonna be free of these sins. And, you know, you'd like your hearts gonna be different, like, I had no clue. So, when God came into my life, and the Holy Spirit touched me, and changed me, like, I had no idea that's what was gonna happen. And I was free from the porn with drugs, the whole all the whole nine yards. 2nd Corinthians 517, it says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, Old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new. And at that point in my life, December 5, that's what happened to me. I became a new creation in Christ Jesus, he took all of my sin, and he made me brand new. Now, I, my whole life has been very impulsive and emotionally driven. Okay? So, the program at that time, the inpatient was 90 days long, and you do Bible studies, and discipleship and teaching and worship and prayer, like all of this stuff, but I got saved, and I could not sit still, like I was so full of. I had to go do something with it. And so, I've failed with you know, relapse, and like I went 100 miles an hour, I was going into the people's houses that I was dealing drugs with, but I was cooking meth with the bars, the tattoo shops everywhere, I knew that there was people that I knew that were lost, I was going and ministering to them. I would grab them and bring them to the church and tell pastor Tim was like, Hey, you got to meet with this guy. You got a minister; this guy needs Jesus. My friends were coming to Christ. I was taking their drugs and throwing them away in the dumpster behind the church to the point where pastor told me, you cannot throw drugs away in a dumpster anymore. Oh my gosh. John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula It was it was an amazing. Yeah. But I had no idea. You know, I didn't know anything about sanctification or being above reproach. So, I was just, I was doing things ignorantly. And so, the girl, you know, we were kind of back and forth. And I would always take somebody with me for accountability because I thought that's what that meant. I had no idea. I just shouldn't have been their period. But so, one day, she tells me, she says, you know what, I'm done with it. You're not above reproach. Okay? And I told me that night, I had no clue what that meant, right? That's putting myself in, you know, situations that I shouldn't have been in. Sure? But in my eyes, I would just go in to get the senators. I just want to get all my friends and lead them to Jesus. Right. And so, she said, I'm done with you. And that was the first time in 30 years that I've ever had. I felt my emotion because I've been on drugs for so long that I never really felt real emotions. Oh? And so, I ran straight to my friend's house, my Well, he was an old friend, and I got high again, and I couldn't stop for three months. I kept coming to the church, and you know, I wasn't deceitful about it. Like I told everybody Man, I'm not doing good. But I kept coming in trying and I couldn't find repentance again. Then about three months later, I pulled up to the church and Pastor saw all drugs, a bunch of cash and a pistol sitting on my seat. And I had no intention of him seeing any that I was just going to drive through Park, go see him, but he happened to be walking out. And he put his head in my car in my passenger window. And he looked down and seeing all that was the first time I'd seen him cry, and he was just streaming tears. And he said, I hand you over to Satan in the name of Jesus. He said, whatever you're doing, go get done quick. And I pray that the god somehow redeems you from all of it. And I got so offended, so mad, I just burned out of there, took off and the next day, I put my head on the steering wheel after I brought pastor and another gentleman al Gregory, I brought them a coffee and I went outside, and I wanted repentance. I just couldn't get there. And so, I put Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula my head on the steering wheel of my car, and I said, Lord, you have to stop me. And I drove to the house I was selling drugs out of again. When I left, there's a canine unit. And it followed me pulled me over said that I hadn't had a warrant for a year. And he arrested me. And it was a detective with a point. It was officer Craig Buell, who now I have so much respect for he arrested me, and I had to go to 16 days in jail. And it was for some old warrant that I really never had. I was on misdemeanour probation through all of this. So, I really had no warrant. But when my heart really cried out to the Lord, I feel like he's superimposed himself on me and created this warrant that was never there. And put me in jail for 16 days. And I was able to just start reading the scriptures and reading the Bible and repenting and, and I got out after 16 days, and that was 12 years ago, and no alcohol, no drugs, no pornography and never went back. And God has just absolutely, continually redeemed my life from all of my sin. That is a radical testimony. I will tell I will tell you, and this is one of my favourite things about being a Christian. I didn't come to my faith until I was an adult also. And one of my favourite things about being a Christian is that Padula, I would not have known any of those things like there's so much shiny Jesus in you that it's hard for me to believe that that's who you are, because you are different now, like you are such a different man, the man that I met, and I am just floored at what God can do in a person's life. Like it's amazing. I also I couldn't have kids. You know, I've been with almost 1000 women not safe. When I was in prison for six years, I had some pain in my ah! Region.? Yes. So, it was hurting so bad. I asked him to take me finally they took me to the hospital and the guy did an ultrasound. And he, you know, told me what was wrong. And he said, and by the way, you have a zero sperm count. I hope you didn't ever plan on having kids because you're never gonna have kids. Wow? And I love kids even in my son, I love my niece and nephew. And so, I just kind of accepted it. And then I got saved. And now I have a nineyear-old, an eight-year-old, a five-year-old and a four-year-old. And so, God didn't just heal me spiritually. He absolutely redeemed me physically. He gave me four beautiful babies, a beautiful wife. And he's been so merciful in it. Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Oh my gosh, Padula? he really has been so merciful and generous. And wow. Yeah That's amazing. You know, um, I don't often share this, and I never plan on sharing it in a podcast. But I grew up in a feminist family and didn't believe that, you know, babies were babies in the womb, and in college, I had an abortion. And the statistics for women having abortions and then being able to have kids or having a lot of problems in that area are high. And so, the fact that I have eight children, after, you know, having murdered my own baby, unbeknownst to me, at that time, like is not lost on me. And it's a great amount of grace that you feel when the Lord redeems those things, you know, so, wow, I'm like so over overwhelmed. Oh, my gosh, well, and your wife is amazing, and your kids are adorable. And we've actually benefited from the physical blessings in your life in taking hand me downs from you and whatnot also, so Oh my gosh, do you have um it's hard. You know, my, my next questions, I don't even like them now after, after hearing your testimony. Do you have like the part about you know where you are going back into these places you had been giving your testimony and bringing people to Christ. And just having that passion for people to know the Lord and then being told that you weren't that you were being hunted weren't being? What was the above approach? Yeah! Do you feel like that is an overused term in the sense of like, I mean, if people are getting saved and coming to repentance, does it matter where you are? Or where you are stumbling, and that's why it was being used like that, that part strikes me so much, because it's one of those like, Christianise, like terms above reproach that. They just wonder like, how do you feel about that now? like, 12 years later, people being saved? Do you feel like you really, were doing something wrong? Or do you feel like you were walking in, like the Holy Spirit and excitement like bringing people to the Lord? Um! well, if I had to do it all over, would have ministered to the same people, I just wouldn't have put myself in the positions that I did. Just one of the circumstances, I went to a strip club, and I took the church secretary at the time, you know, I said, Hey, I'm going out to this bar and went to the strip club. And I went up to the tip rail, where the girl was dancing, and stood up and shared the gospel with her. told her, you know, that God loved her and that, you know, she needed Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and he could give her hope. And obviously, I wouldn't do that again, as knowing what I know now. Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry Did she come to know the Lord? No, but the bartender who was a lesbian at the time, came to church with me the next day, let me pray over and gentlemen, that was inside the bar that I prayed over that night, he came to church the next day, and God has definitely been working on them over-over the years. So that there was a lot of cool things that happened, but I definitely would have done things a little different. Sure? No one for the example. want somebody else to go into those circumstances because I've seen it hundreds of times down the last 12 years, people great intentions went to the bar to see their friends to try to minister to them, and they ended up drunk by the end of the night. So, you know, being a good example of being above reproach, but not to a religious extreme. That's really good way to put it. I like how you worded that, you know, we I always joke that I'm a recovering Pharisee. And, and we have to really work to make sure that we're not raising little Pharisees in a very Christian home, you know? And so, I like how you put that, you know, we want to be careful to be above reproach, while not letting religion become what is the ultimate factor? So, I guess so what I'm curious, we're Calvary, we come from Calvary Chapel a lot of our, you know, pastors have these. These what I always call gnarly testimonies, you know, of great sin that the Lord has shined light on in their life that they don't have any more. Do you feel like this gives you an upper hand or, like a bad deal when it comes to your faith? Now, I hear it both ways. You know, I see grownups my age, you know, women in their late 30s, early 40s, who have walked with the Lord faithfully. From their youth raised in a Christian home, I call them I call them second generation, Christians. And, and I'm in such admiration of them, you know, and then like, I gives me great hope for my own kids being raised in a Christian home. But they always say things like, Well, you know, but you understand like grace more, you understand? forgiveness more. And they always seem to have like this, this higher esteem for those who have great sin forgiven. And it always bothers me, because I feel like I would have preferred to walk faithfully in the Lord all those years, because we know I think you and I probably would say, even though he's been gracious to make beautiful things from our darkness, all those days were wasted. For him, you know. And so, I'm curious as a pastor, how this comes about I, when I sent you my questions, I told you that I was greatly irritated when I saw another man talking to you about me and just kind of jabbing you about having, you know, drug addiction in your past. And you cleared it up for me and told me John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula that he was just totally joking. And I just didn't know his personality that well, but it rubbed me the wrong way. And I wondered if you get that. And if you get that in certain church circles or if you are more kind of deemed a higher echelon because you have this greater sense of grace and forgiveness. Well, it kind of goes both ways. We have a lot of local pastors that will call us when they're dealing with family members, friends, church members who are struggling with alcohol or drugs, or even suicide. Jews in the community, lean on us because That's kind of, that's our specific ministry. I mean, that's where we've came out of that's where God has gifted us and being able to speak into those lives. But there are some want to be very careful. They lean more towards the religious side of things instead of the relational side of things. You can tell sometimes they look down their nose at you because you have a background like that and you weren't raised like they were in a good Godly, you know, wholesome home. But you got to witness a beautiful thing that we have here in Kootenai County, we have the ministerial Association. And it's for senior pastors only, which I'm not a senior pastor. But when our pastor got shot, they asked me to come in. And that was five years ago, and I've been able to stay ever since and build great relationships with those men. And all of them in their have pass. Have some type of sinful thing. Anyway? He's the ministerial association president. He was a gangbanger in California. I mean, he was pretty hardcore the other way and God rescued him out of that. That is a Calvary guy huh? Yeah. Yeah, so all of those men in there, we all have great relationships. But in the community? Um, Yeah, it happens sometimes. That's interesting. And what about as far as just general congregants? No, no. Yeah. Interesting. So, then I there was one other part. I mean, there was tons in your story that I could just keep going on and on about, but the part where you said, you know, you're at the rehab facility, and the man put his hand on your shoulder, and you just wanted to punch him. I could almost feel like a permeable like spiritual warfare in that moment. What's your stand on spiritual warfare? And how do you feel like, or I guess I should say, do you feel that Satan was just after your life? How do you? How do you play spiritual warfare into this, especially in the ministry that you guys are doing now? We totally believe in spiritual warfare. We see it every single day. Yes, that was a perfect example of darkness and light and full of darkness Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula and sin. And it was a man who was full of the Holy Spirit just touched me. I mean, it was like instant reaction to be violent. And I'm very thankful that the Lord gave me the strength because in my flesh in the past, I can never restrain myself like that. So that was definitely the Lord protecting me because he knew what was about to happen. We deal with spiritual warfare, demon possessions, oppression, affliction all the time, especially dealing with people who are suicidal drug addiction. Yeah, that's Yeah, That's the people that we deal with come from. So yes, we know that. What you do and what you're even, you know, expressing right now must be spiritually exhausting. You know, Satan's fighting to keep these souls from salvage salvation, and a flesh that's so deeply rooted in sin like, how do you personally manage this sort of spiritual exhaustion? Um? for me, I'm kind of an all-in guy. So, anything I do, I put 100% in. So, to me it doesn't really bother me. I get physically exhausted more than spiritually exhausted. Yesterday, I don't ever wake up in the middle of the night. And yesterday, the Lord woke me up at 2am I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I started praying for some people. One of my dear, dear friends owns gross doughnuts here in Cortland. His name is Dennis Gross. And I started praying for him. And the Lord said, Go give him a hug. And it was like by that time, I think it was 2.30 in the morning. Like what? Go give him a hug. So, I just kind of dismissed it. And I kept praying. And the Lord said, Go give him a hug right now. Well, he owns a donut shop. And so, I was like, Okay, well, maybe he's baking overnight tonight. So, I got dressed. When got my truck, drove to his donut shop and Post Falls because he has one in Cortland. Wonderful falls. And he just happened to be there. And I seen the lights were on and his car was in the back. And so, I went to the back door and opened the door. He's like, what are you doing here? He thought maybe something was wrong. So, it was like 2.30 -2.45 in the morning. By that time, the Lord said, Give me a hug. So, we're thankful. He said, his neck was hurting really bad. And he can really use prayer. He loves the Lord. He's a great man of God. And so, we just got to fellowship for like a half hour 45 minutes and just pray and talk and it was a great time. So, I'm still catching up from that I get physically exhausted because that type of stuff. Physically, I have a hard time with it spiritually. The Lord definitely protects me and my family. We have four kids. I have nine guys that live in my house with us right now. We usually only have six at a time that we kind of mentor and disciple. It gets taxing, but it's mostly for me. It's mostly physical. Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Oh, Wow, that's amazing. You know, it's funny the Gross doughnuts we drove by on the way to the ministerial Association meeting, and we like died. We almost stopped just to bring you guys donut so that we could show up and be like, we bought Gross doughnuts. Like, we just thought it was genius marketing. It never occurred to me that it was his last name. Yeah, I think I think good doughnuts? They're the most amazing ever. I cannot wait to get back there and try that if you are listening to this podcast and you are in the north Idaho area, please get over to Gross doughnuts immediately. Let us know how maybe they are. Oh my gosh. That's so funny. I can't believe you guys are friends. Amos is going to be excited to hear that because we had I mean, a good 15 minutes hilariousness over the Gross donut slice. So, there's also I feel like where there are ministries where there's a great amount of spiritual warfare, there is a great amount of fruit, something some that people never get to experience. As Christians in America today, just living very safe and quite lives. What kind of fruit Do you think you see in your ministry that you wish all Christians could see? Well, I could tell you a story after story. I mean, even just with the guys at my house, just sharing, you know, their personal testimonies. I get to see people come in at their worst, hopeless, addicted, some of them on the verge of physical death because they malnourished, I mean, they're just in bad shape. And then seeing them come to Christ. I mean, we've, boy we see it. That's amazing. Yeah. Now how many other men do you know that have come through the program that have become pastors? Are you the unicorn? Um, well, there's been. So, I was one of the first men through the rehab. And then a couple years after me, or actually year and a half after me, a gentleman named Jeff Koch came. He came to Christ. started he was the co-founder of set apart discipleship, which is the ministry I started in 2013. He was a co-founder of that, and then the Lord called him to go and pastor somewhere else. He's pastoring, another church here locally. And then another gentleman came in about eight years ago, Steve Hemming, and he became one of our pastors, our associate pastors also in just about six months ago, in September, a good friend of ours, Pastor Dave Roberts was retiring from his church. So, we have quite a few of them that have kind of grown up here and branched out and started pastoring in other places. I had a guy live with me, Logan Andalusian and he came to Christ. He's an amazing man, lived with my wife and I, for two and a half years, instead of just a normal six months at some of them do. And he said, The Lord told him Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry to stay with us till he got married, and he did outside of the last two or three weeks. And now he's the youth pastor at Heart of the City Church here in Portland. And so, we've seen so many beautiful testimonies now he's married has a beautiful brand-new baby stepping into ministry. That's amazing. I would say that is a great 27 of our staff, a good Samaritan, are graduates. Really? Yeah.? Wow. What a fruitful ministry. We love it. It's taxing, but we love it. Well, I have to ask, I mean, I have a 13-year-old for like a pretty innocent kid, you know, we home school and we've had the blessing of just getting to be close with him. And even though my husband and I were both raised by single moms, you know, just the fact that he has two parents there. We've just seen such a such a different, like lifestyle for him. I was like almost weeping through half of your testimony, just because you started so young. And we have some law enforcement in our family. So, they've heard a lot of things on the other side of this, but what do you say to teenager youth that think they can dabble in these things, and it's not going to affect them? Well, the hard part about that with young men and women, you know, young teenagers is even though you can tell them till you blue in the face, all of the things that may happen to them, they're really not consequence oriented yet, you know, they really haven't developed to the point where most of them know there are some that may be the exception to the rule. But most of them don't learn from other people's stories, so they won't you know, you don't tell them hey, you know, this is what could happen this guy, you know, or myself, Roomful. And so, for us. We try to just give them the gospel and get them going that direction and let them have the power of Christ in their life because most of them think they're the exception. You know, if they're already considering using or drinking that or they at an age, they think that it won't happen to them. They've already, most of them have already decided that the I know that guy went to prison, this guy died, this guy committed suicide. I know. But that won't be me. That's really interesting. I actually I take a pretty firm stance that people run one way or another that way, where they kind of feel like they have John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry to experience something personally to know if it's true. And unfortunately, that is my personality, too. But these, the secondgeneration Christians that have these great testimonies had the wisdom that they say in the Bible of, you know, seeing somebody else fall and not going down that same path. So that's a really, that's a really great point, you know, to focus on giving them something to do I always, as a Christian, in the American church today, I've always struggled with raising our kids in a building where they're just telling them all the things they shouldn't be doing. And I felt like as the Lord grew me quickly, in my faith as an adult, there was so much he told us to do, you know, and like, if you're busy about the Father's business, and you are doing what he told you to do, you're not attracted to sin and other things, because you're busy, and it's fulfilling to be serving the Lord, and fulfilling your purpose and life. So, I like that you said that. I mean, you know, it's true. Jesus needs to get a hold of them, and they need to be directed to a life of purpose. Yep, absolutely. So, I keep throwing around the term the American church, because I feel like there's a lot of things about the American church that are unique to the world, and especially in churches, but in North Idaho, it seems to be a little bit of a different picture, you guys have a really great grasp on things from what we've seen. But what do you think the biggest challenge as a pastor in the American church today is, and I would imagine that yours might have something to do, you know, with drug consumption in our country? And the discouraging part for us in the American culture of the church is that we get so much so many who come into the program, who've been bound by sin, their whole life drug addict, since they were youth, you know, everything contrary to Scripture, but because they said a prayer when they were, you know, 15, there are saved and you can't really tell them any different you can't get them to examine the fruit of their life, because they've been told by all their church leaders that since they repeated after them that they're saved. And so, we see so many people who are just bound by sin. There's no fruit of their life. There's never been a conversion, but because the American church culture is so in my opinion, watered down with this cheap grace, that there's so many false converts out there. It's, it's terrifying. I agree. Oh, my gosh, that is I'm going to quote you on that. And there's going to be graphics all over the place to Padula, that was well said. We are actually in Pennsylvania right now. And we're in the middle of Amish country. They're literally like horse, horses, and buggies, like going by us on the roads. And I'm not incredibly familiar with the culture, but somebody was telling me that the farm we're visiting, she was saying, Amish are a lot like Christians, like there are some that do, John Padula Nickole Perry you know, sinful things and call themselves Amish, whether they smoke or use bad language or, you know, secretly use phones when they're not supposed to, or whatever. And then you have the faithful ones. And I thought, Man, it's, it's like Jewish Christians. It's like Jewish people today to you know, you have Jewish of faith and Jewish of religion, I mean, culture versus religion. And, and it's true, it's very difficult today, to differentiate between, when someone says they're a Christian, you almost just, you got to wait it out and see if what they're saying is true, or if they have any fruit. It's really interesting. And I hate to, I only noticed it as a parent, because your kids will say, Oh, so and so's said, they're a Christian. But were they just drunk it like every barbecue last year, or whatever it is, you know? And you're like, Oh, this is like, so awkward and painful. And how do you? How do you broach that subject? So, as you're raising your kids, and you see this problem in church culture of sort of that cheap grace and maybe people saying they're Christians, and they're not how do you address that with your own kids? My kids, they seem to have a pretty good amount of discernment, my two oldest, they will even see things and they said, you know, this person said that they're this but the way they talk when nobody's around, it doesn't seem there, eight and nine and so for them to be able to see that it's definitely the work of God. We try to really raise our kids to love everybody, and to not judge in a manner to condemn who is really doing the right thing and who isn't? Or what is somebody doing in secret? Because that's really who they are and to? you know, the character shown on that. That's true. I am, I always joke. I mean I joke but it's true. You know, do we believe what we say we believe in theory, or in real life like do we believe that A soft answer turns away wrath and a harsh word stirs up anger because if we really believe it. We're not going to say that yelling at our kids is what's going to turn them around right, it'll piss off the answer and so I, my kids, I really still struggle with, with raising my voice and yelling and we're all working on gentleness and harsh tones even just this week. But the thing that always cracks me up is I always tell the kids look guys, this is who we are who we are right now in our house, the worst of us like this is who we are like this, it's not who you are when you see Pastor Dan it's not who you are, you know when you're sitting perfectly at church like this is the sin that has to be routed out, it's really upset that your brother put his foot on your bed or whatever, you know, and like we're like are we. I know you're probably better human than I am now but I'm like my worst person to my poor husband and my kids. Not always, but they have definitely seen the worst. John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry Nickole Perry Yeah. Well, tell me a little bit about your wife and she just like I didn't catch it that the same, the same woman from the story in the rehab? It's not! It's not so that woman just had a great impact in bringing you to the Lord and you found your wife later. Yep, the Lord blessed me with Amanda. She actually was an opiate addict because she went through the ranch, and I fell in love with her, and I went and told Pastor. He's like she's in the rehab leave her alone, and I was like why, I know I was trying to tell you how I feel and then she kind of had the same experience during her journey she just felt we didn't even know each other and she at one point told Pastor when we were baptizing people in the lake. And she says, I just have this feeling I fell in I love with this guy. So she's amazing, amazing, amazing. Well, I had a feeling she was amazing because she let the nine other men sleep in your house and go through the discipleship program and I'm betting she cooks a lot of food and probably does a lot of laundry. Yes, she does. And she has a full-time job she's a third-grade teacher at Cornerstone Christian Academy Post falls, which turns not a job it's a ministry but it's still, I mean it's a lot, and then she comes home, and she cooks, she cleans, and she's serves faithfully she's one of the busiest women that I know in her heart is just, I love her. she's got, he knows what he's doing. That makes me so happy it's one of my favourite things to listen to. Man praise His wife is a good thing a man who finds a good wife. That's right. Okay, so now. She got the short end of the stick. Maybe, I mean, she sounds like a better human than you should, so I tend to be partial to the pastor's wives honestly so it's not you. Okay, well let's do the lightning round, which is my favourite part. If you're just joining us on the show. This is my, my favourite part, I take it from that sort of Sports Centre mentality and we're gonna just go through a list of some hard questions. Padula didn't have these questions beforehand, most of them are yes or no or short answer, and John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry I'm going to go through them quickly and hopefully you can just answer them with the first answer that comes to your mind. Okay. Okay. All right, first I do want to know do you do your own laundry. No! What's your favourite movie? Oh Boy! I guess we don't really watch movies often. You like any of the new Christian movies like The God's Not Dead, Courageous. Oh yeah, I said, Courageous, it blanked out on me. Yeah, courageous I would say it's probably my favourite movie. Okay, which is super ironic right getting your history with law enforcement. Yeah. Do you lean more towards Calvinism or Arminianism? If you could go right in the middle. What about eschatology Are you pre-med or post-trib? I'm Pan, all pan out, but I lean more towards group trib. Okay, what is it Pan trib is that a real thing? Yeah, it will Pan out. Okay, Are you more of a fan of topical teaching or verse by verse, Topical! Pro or anti mask. Anti! Pro or Anti Vax. John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Anti! Got a North Idaho boy on our hands, Contemporary or Traditional worship. Oh boy, probably right in the middle I just love to worship but there's both of them really can really touch me as long as it's just intimate and real worship. Favourite superhero? Green lantern. Oh, I can't let that go, why Green Lantern? School called me Green Lantern, even to the point where at my birthday party. My mom, she yelled at me she was a Johnny Paul. And my buddy Jensen because you don't have to call him Green Lantern. Oh my gosh? I just loved him as a kid. Oh, that's good politics are no politics? from the pulpit. Politics. Do Christians have the freedom to drink alcohol? I have the freedom to not drink alcohol. That is good, actually. It's a great question asking you, you've chosen to, to walk in and complete freedom from that. Do you have any objection to those who did not have the bondage of drunkenness in their past, to have the liberty of having a glass of wine from now then? Most people didn't even let's say they have a glass of wine now and then don't really just have a glass now and then. But there are some. Yeah, there are some people that I know that love the Lord dearly. I just think, why so to me it's like, I just don't see any use of it? Awesome that is a good answer, should women be labelled as pastors. No. Does your church exercise church discipline? Yes. Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Nickole Perry John Padula Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost? Through Holy Ghost. What about spiritual guests do you think they were for the biblical times only are present day also. Present day absolutely. Children in church or children's church? Personally, children in church, we do have the possibility or the ability in our church we do have children's church, but I might get sit with me in church, unless my youngest ones get really rowdy in the middle of service, I'll take him downstairs. Okay! Who is responsible for sin, Adam or Eve. You know as much as he did and he was, you know, it was Adam. Biblical counselling or psychology? Biblical counselling. What's your dream job Padula? I'm living it. That's my favourite answer. What about your dream car? Dream car. I had a 78 Caprice classic a two door and if I could have one of those again and have it fixed up it would be my dream car. Oh gosh. And you know what that is, I'm gonna have to google that one. Okay, favourite food. Any type of meat steak I love steak. Then you're a Hunter. Yes. I wish we had more time to talk about that. Okay and I haven't done this before, but I really want to ask you what is the thing you wish you said to your wife every single day. I appreciate you. Nickole Perry John Padula Good, that's a good one. All right, well, that's all I have for you Padula. Thank you so much for your time you guys again this is John Padula. You got the altar church and Coeur d'Alene in Idaho and if you get up to North Idaho. I think that you go visit them. They're an amazing church doing a great work for the Lord much, much group. Thank you so much for your time John. Yes, ma'am. We love you guys and we're so, so, thankful.

You will hear from Pastor Patrick Walker from Colonial Beach, Virginia and his heart for helping people use their testimonies to share the gospel AND the way he does that.  You don't want to miss this former Army Ranger and large family dad share the challenges of ministry or his transparency in sharing his  personal struggles as a Christian, husband, father and pastor.  Transcript: Host  00:17 So today we are with Patrick Bram Walker, the head pastor at Livingstone Community Church in colonial Beach, Virginia. He's a former Army Ranger and a collegiate wrestler. His lovely wife, Kristen [phonetic 00:28] just recently had their 7th baby a sweet 3 month old named Caleb Elijah. We got some pictures of him this morning. Hopefully we'll get those in for you guys. Good strong name. Caleb Elijah. Speaking of names. Do you like to be called as a pastor? Some people like pastor first name Patrick-- Pastor, last name Walker.   Patrick Walker  00:47 Those who are close to me call me Bram. So that was after Abraham, like Abraham in the Bible, but B-R-A-M that's fine.   Host  00:54 OK, I don't know if we're there yet. But we'll see Bram. I do hear your wife call you Bram and other family. So thanks for letting me... That feels good. What do your congregants call you?   Patrick Walker  01:08 Pastor, Patrick.   Host  01:12 Do you get the double? Like Pastor Patrick, Pastor Walker, do you get that?   Patrick Walker  01:19 Yes. I mean, generally, even though I'm fairly young, I think they tried to show respect.   Host  01:26 Yes, you guys can't see he has some little gray in his whiskers but OK. So do you feel like the older people in your congregation are less likely to use the pastor or more likely out of respect.   Patrick Walker  01:41 More likely.   Host  01:42 Yes. That's how it seems to because you know, it's funny now our home church, our senior pastor, he's maybe 43 and I had some people say, Well, I can't be under him. He's older than him and it was weird but there's tons of older people. He can't be like a nine year old pastor.   Patrick Walker  02:03 I always use the word pastor, when I'm addressing other people. Always. Even if they say don't call me that, just as a sign of respect. I always use that person.   Host  02:12 Like, if they were a doctor. All right. Well, tell us how it is. You got 7 children and a new baby. What's it really like?   Patrick Walker  02:21 Incredibly overwhelming.   Host  02:23 Oh, all the time.   Patrick Walker  02:24 I feel like I'm doing three full time jobs at any given time and then the easiest one is ministry. hardest one is managing the household successfully, and investing in each relationship according to each personality, caring for the hearts of the children, raising them up, character development, and just leading in a Christ-like way, when it comes to the marriage and household.   Host  02:50 You're a shepherd [phonetic 02:50] to them first, right?   Patrick Walker  02:52 I tried to be and thankfully, I'm in a congregation that really truly believes that my primary responsibility is to my family. So they've given me tremendous freedom and flexibility to put them first-- my family first, with a recognition that the church comes second. So I'm incredibly thankful for my current church family that recognizes that.   Host  03:21 That's good. We've had the pleasure of visiting your church and your parishioners love you. They love you, and they love your family, and they seem very privileged to be under you. It's a sweet thing to witness. We've really enjoyed it and the love that they have for your family is evident and I don't think that's always the case when people have large families.   Patrick Walker  03:43 Sure.       Host  03:45 We have a large family. I don't know if all our listeners know that. But I've got to ask the kids you have a large family to you. Like what's the most ridiculous thing someone has said to you about the number of kids you had, is it different in the south? [laughter] [inaudible 03:55] I started being really inappropriate back when people say that to  me So what do you say? How do you respond? You just chuckle.   Patrick Walker  04:07 I just chuckle. What is your response?   Host  04:11 I say, "yes", and we love that. Do you not or I like totally try to make them uncomfortable because I feel like it's so strange.   Patrick Walker  04:23 This is honestly managing the household well, is the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. It is exponentially more difficult than any other responsibility task job that I could have ever done, am doing or could ever imagine doing.   Host  04:42 Do you feel like you were less equipped to be a husband and a dad than you were to be a pastor as far as just like education and preparedness?   Patrick Walker  04:49 Of course, yes-   Host  04:51 What was your favorite?   Patrick Walker  04:52 -I didn't-- Yes, we only grew up with,. There was three of us. I was the oldest. My parents were not believers. Growing up. They were great parents in terms of the worldly sense. I mean, they were real loving parents and they work together and hard working. I mean, there's a lot of principles that were, but I know experience in shepherding a large family, and certainly no experience or example set in terms of shepherding from a spiritual foundation for the household. So, all that had to be kind of learned on the fly.   Host  05:28 Do you feel like it was all learned on the fly? Have you had anybody come alongside you during this time of parenting or newly at the husband to like, mentor you?     Patrick Walker  05:38 Sure, first of all, we have access to amazing-- we have access to the greatest and best disciple makers in the history of the world, because we have books, we've got sermons, we've got teachings that we can listen to but I think there was one family, it's the Boyers and they're in Lynchburg, Virginia, and they have 14 children and so they kind of mentored us and we got to watch their example and how they model and interact with their family and their children and that left a remarkable impact, impression upon us that drastically changed our ideas of family size, and how to do homeschooling and how to do that well.   Host  06:29 Was there one particular thing that you saw in them that you wanted in your family?   Patrick Walker  06:36 You know, it was really nice the first time I showed up, and they're like, Mr. Walker-- there was 4 girls of marriageable age that were all single, "Mr. Walker, can I take your coat, Mr. Walker, can I get you a drink?" I was like, Wow, this is great turning to the Father. What a great feeling. [laughter] [inaudible 07:04] but no, they were just servants and they work together as a team and it was a team effort. If you're going to cook and wash dishes for a family of that size, it's everything's got to be a team effort and centering everything on Christ-like character, everything you do, you know, teaching that and looking for the little moments throughout the day to impart those devotional teachings on Christ-like character.   Host  07:30 Well, just to encourage you the little that we've been around your family, we see the evidence of that in your kids and in your guys's parenting too. So that's really need to know that that came from somewhere, and then...   Patrick Walker  07:39 That is a reflection of Kristen and materials that she digested and tried to put into practice.   Host  07:46 Well, that very well may be true, but it's still there and you get to be the head of the house and I'm sure you get to take some responsibility and thankfulness there, you picked a good wife. [laughter] OK, so let's get into what I'm really excited about that. Because when we came out here last year, you shared with us what you were doing with testimonies and so can you just share with our listeners a little bit what you and your wife have done with your testimonies and what the kind of project the Lord has set before you for your church? As far as the--- Well, let me tell them.   Patrick Walker  08:24 Yeah, so I just recently finished a three year program for my Doctorate of ministry, and that the focus of that was on evangelism and the ideal that I had in mind and the goal that I was shooting for both individually in my own life, but also empowering and equipping others to basically walk this out as well would be evangelism taking place in three major ways:   The first of which is just equipping and encouraging believers be able to share one on one verbally, like in the moment, but there's a lot of times you might meet somebody at the park or you meet somebody at Walmart, and the kids are tugging on you, and you've got to go in different directions, and you don't have a lot of time to stay in there for half an hour and engage and you may never see this person again. So because of those circumstances, I was really looking for a resource that I believed in that was a personal resource, not necessarily a gospel tract, because those are kind of generic, they're not personal and for me, when I read gospel tracks, it brings up more questions than they actually answer. You know, maybe they're designed to stimulate thinking on but they don't really provide a thorough presentation of the gospel and they're kind of impersonal in nature.   So you can't necessarily offer somebody a book because you're not carrying 10 books in your purse as you're walking around everywhere you go. So we just thought about as a second level evangelism tool, creating a personal testimony booklet, which would be maybe 4 inches by 6 inches pocket sized 20 to 50 pages that would really outline a person's life before they came to Christ. You know, how did you come to Christ? And how is your life changed afterwards and then based on that unique testimony story, to move into a gospel presentation, that's not a generic, it's not a template, it's really the way that that individual sees the gospel, based upon their life story and their spiritual journey with Jesus.   So we were working on this as a congregation, I have finished this project in my own life and my wife and we've handed between the two of us, we've handed out hundreds of these little personal testimony booklets. Mine is called from "Ranger to Reverend". So Army Ranger to ordain Reverend and Kristen says, from "Fear to Faith", that's title of her booklet and you look for a aesthetically pleasing, front cover and back and we included contact information and a picture of our family, like on the back inside cover, because we want people who read it maybe to reach out to us if they feel led, [phonetic 11:20] and continue to connect with them or hear how that impacted their life or, or something like that but just going for equipping, and encouraging individual believers to be able to share their faith and feel competent in doing that one on one, verbally, a lot of people are fearful.   I don't know what to say, well, a good second level would be putting together a personal testimony booklet, because it says everything you wanted to say, and you don't need to open your mouth, you can establish a little bit of a relationship or a connection. You have a large family, I have a large family or you went through you had maybe difficulty in terms of an abortion or something and that's something that, and would you be interested in reading my story, because God radically changed my life years ago and I think that you'd be able to relate.   And then the third level would be maybe thinking about videotaping and creating an electronic version of your testimony, that's five minutes to 20 minutes and putting it online, creating a YouTube video and using those three evangelism tools for maximum impact in your life.   Host  12:36 Sure. Yes. That's amazing and I've read both the booklets and they're really good and great at being relatable and I think I keep them too, I keep a view of it. I have a few viewers and I've passed a couple out to and it's really great. Do you have a-- I'm a writer by nature and trade and I have to wonder how difficult that is for some people to do- [crosstalk]   Patrick Walker  13:01 It's not for everyone   Host  13:02 -format that you are using.   Patrick Walker  13:04 Yes, it is not for everyone.   Host  13:06 How's it working.   Patrick Walker  13:07 It's a long process. We recruited at least two other editors, who were theologically sound, they were spiritually mature, but they were also good with the English language, who could kind of come alongside and you know, there's a lot of revisions when it comes to something like this, because you want to produce the best product that's saying exactly what you wanted to say in the best possible way to have an impact on others. So yes, we did develop like a 12 step process and part of that is multiple rounds of revisions with some other mature believers in the church who would volunteer to edit that material, and kind of-- but it's an opportunity for discipleship as well.   So I was involved with every booklet, but we also had two other editors that participated as well and this was an opportunity for us to grow for us to get to know the individual members of our church to a deeper degree and really build that kind of connection and relationship and it was eye opening for each of the individuals that participated in writing the personal testimony booklet, because it helped them to understand the gospel in a deeper way more intimate way and even understand like and appreciate what Jesus has done in their life as they've thought through specifically that journey. So there's been a lot of benefits both for-- On my end, but also on the end of the individuals who have participated in this kind of project.   Host  14:47 So have you guys managed to get through the whole process with anybody else? So, how many other people?   Patrick Walker  14:51 Yes, we've got about 10 people.   Host  14:54 That's great. Oh, my gosh, that's so good.   Patrick Walker  14:57 Yes, but it is, we found that the average And so this is primarily reflection of myself being super busy and the other editors, and people are busy, if you've got a full time job and children; when you're going to write a little bit more verse, if you are a full time student, you might be able to get this done in a much shorter period but we're talking four to five months is the average of just slowly, methodically kind of working on this from the beginning to the very final product where you get your initial 100 copies of the booklet or whatever.   Host  15:32 That's so cool. I love that project. I didn't even know the aspect of you guys doing it together and being so communal and growing the relationships in the body, that's even more amazing. I love it. I love it so much. I'm so glad that it hasn't been non overcome ablechallenge. That it's difficult that you guys just keep pushing, and it just takes longer and you do it. I think that the impact that many booklets can have-- I mean, if 10 people have 100 book that's 1000 people that get the gospel. That is amazing.   Patrick Walker  16:07 So you can potentially really saturate your community more than just if you were relying on verbal opportunities.   Host  16:17 That's amazing. Now are you finding so when -- I mean, I guess let me think had asked this question, how long does it take somebody to give out 100 booklets?   Patrick Walker  16:26 It would depends on how many opportunities you have and how energetic and [laughter] [crosstalk]   Host  16:33 Yes, OK. Do you think it is easier to give out these booklets than it is? Do you think it overcomes the fear of having to speak your testimony in the Gospel? Do you think it is like an alternative almost for the people that are shy about it? Patrick Walker  16:47 Right. So one of the greatest hindrances in studying this subject of evangelism pretty thoroughly is fear and there's probably maybe at least a dozen different types of fear. What fear of-- Yes, stepping out of my comfort zone, or not knowing what to say, or if they ask me a question. So one of the ways to overcome that would be to put everything you want to say on paper and then it relieves the anxiety of miscommunication and also confrontation. I think a lot of people are fearful of maybe things going the confrontational aspect.   Host  17:29 I don't have that but that sounds super scary if you weren't. [crosstalk]   Patrick Walker  17:34 So the best thing about this booklet is, I don't expect that every person who receives it is going to read it. They may very well just throw in their car and say, Oh, I really, you know, I love meeting that woman at the beach and that was a pretty cool conversation, because she had a lot of kids and I asked her about homeschooling and we connected for and then she offered me her booklet, and she told me what it was about and like, "Oh, this is interesting, I'll read it, I like to read", but she forgets about it and she throws it in our car and a month later, you know, the Holy Spirit can use that. So that booklet can get into her house, it can. It can go places where no human being can go and when the Holy Spirit believes that it's time, we just kind of trust Him, like God can have them pick it up and read it and minister to them exactly when they need it.   Host  18:25 That's really awesome because that's the thing about planting seeds. That's so frustrating as a believer. If you go and you give the gospel and if it's not received, you have this sort of like--- not necessarily that you failed, but like, Okay, well received there, let's let the Holy Spirit do the work and you just try to give yourself the pious answers, but that they actually have something tangible, gives you even as a Christian, like this hope of the Lord doing a work through you continually in a bigger way. That's really cool.   Patrick Walker  18:57 Yes, ideally, I would love to interact face to face with somebody share my story, share the gospel and see them make a decision for Jesus. I would love to see that fruitfulness in the moment but ultimately, we do have to trust in faith that our responsibility is to share as much as we possibly can in the moment and leave the results up to God. I was just frustrated at the times where sometimes I would be sharing, like at the beach, for example, if I met somebody or and then I'm halfway through the gospel, I'm just getting to the solution to the sin problem and hear kids or they get a phone call or something like that, and you don't have anything that I can give as a follow up. It's like man! we told him about sin. We told him about judgment, but we never got to present [phonetic 19:46] Jesus as the solution and that's like, "Ah, no" and we weren't able to finish the conversation. So I needed some resource to carry on me at all times that I could offer that would Reinforce the truth that we just shared, or if I didn't have an opportunity to share anything, would be able to present the gospel as we parted ways.   Host  20:10 And that's so cool, because it was really birthed out of your chaotic season of life because if you wouldn't have had so many kids, or you wouldn't have been in this thing, where someone's always pulling at your leg, maybe you wouldn't have had this idea. So that's cool too.   Patrick Walker  20:22 Sure.   Host  20:22 I mean, if you could have three less kids, this might not have even come into your brain.   Patrick Walker  20:28 But we are moving to a digital-- we're moving the younger generation, is not as much a reader as they are interested in watching or listening. So that's why I'm suggesting: Number one, we as believers, we need to be able to have a passion and zeal, to know the gospel, to want to communicate the gospel, and to bring Jesus to other people but if that's not possible, verbally, we've got a written tool and then we also have an electronic tool. So I would say, we hit more in making our testimony video and the first day, we hit more views than all the booklets that were passed out for months, or years up to that point but if you can get those three circles, it would really provide a balanced evangelism practice in an individuals life.   Host  21:25 That's great. I love it. So what is besides time? I mean, if we have listeners here that are thinking, Oh, my gosh, I want to get in on this project. I love it, how can I help? What the way that people could come alongside you with this project? That would be helpful? Do you need a tech guy? Do you need more editors? Do you want to mass produce the process? Do you want to see this in other churches and I'm doing the process on their own to grow their own communities? Is there something you see bigger for the future for this project? I mean, when you first told me... [crosstalk]   Patrick Walker  21:56 I began this as a project just for myself, and expanded to others in our church and I think it would be a lot of benefit if other churches saw the vision for that and wanted to investigate how they might be able to put that to work in their own context-- in their own church context, with their evangelism, in conjunction with their other evangelism methods for the whole evangelism strategy for their community but the resources, I mean, we could put a link, and we could provide a link that would connect with the thesis paper because this was really the focus of my doctorate, and get all the vital information out to those who were interested.   Host  22:55 Perfect. Great. Thank you. So I'm going to skip the part about you giving us the highlights of your testimony, because I want people to read your booklet. So I feel like if they want a copy [CROSSTALK]   Patrick Walker  23:06 Sure, yes, you can get a copy of the booklet,   Host  23:10 Get all those resources up for them?   Patrick Walker  23:11 Yes, we can do that. We can create a link but let me just say this. I was talking with somebody else recently about this, because they had asked the same question and one of the things like they were asking, when did you first feel that call to become a pastor to move into ministry? And I explained that when I got saved--- I got saved simply by reading the Bible, all by myself. No external outside influence.   Host  23:41 At what age?   Patrick Walker  23:43 This was in the military, 18 to 20 and so when I'm reading the book of Acts, I'm reading about the disciples, and I just assumed that every Christian was full-time. Every Christian was full-time. I didn't know that like...   Host  24:01 As well. They should be...   Patrick Walker  24:03 -They should be right. So I just like, Okay, I guess this is what you do. You model your life after what you see the disciples and the disciples didn't work some other job, they were full time wanting to influence the world for Jesus. So it wasn't until years later, I discovered that that was not necessarily the case and there are some paid full time ministers shepherds, but their job, essentially in Ephesians Chapter-4 is just to equip the saints to do the ministry. Their job is not to really do all the ministry themselves. It's just to know how to do it.   Host  24:39 Oh, wait, can you say that one more time, their job is not what?   Patrick Walker  24:43 To do all the ministry themselves. Host  24:44 Their job is not to do all the ministry themselves. I feel like we're going to have to put that on a quote and a graphic. But to equip...   Patrick Walker  24:52 Yes, equip the saints for the work of ministry. So that was ironed out a little bit later, and basically ran full time, from the time I was saved, totally consecrated to the Lord and made the decision to put Jesus first in everything I did from that point forward.   Host  25:15 And how was that in the military, I mean, that's kind of...   Patrick Walker  25:18 It began to jeopardize my job.   Host  25:21 Tell us a little because my husband was a marine for 8years and his testimony is a little bit opposite, like where he grew up in a Christian home and then kind...   Patrick Walker  25:28 I think the military-- Every area I've ever stepped foot in, really needs Jesus, people really need Jesus, I understand hearts more than probably most people and I've seen tremendous brokenness, I know what goes on behind the scenes. I know what goes on behind the scenes in my own household and my house was probably reflection of virtually every household in America.   So by virtue of being in this position, as a pastor, I really have a deep knowledge of the brokenness that sin creates in society as a whole and the military is no different. So on one hand, I saw God do a lot of miracles. In the military, and people, especially in that situation, where you're in a life or death situation, you really reflect on what matters most in life and so people are open when they go through significant changes in their or seasons of life, or they're put in near death experiences.   So that was a big thing. But because of my fervor for the Lord, I now bubbled up to become the number one passion of my life, me excelling at my job in the military was second on the list and that began to take less and less of an interest of mine, as I wanted to prioritize the things of God and living on mission for God, spiritually speaking, rather than focusing on the physical mission of the military. So after 4years, I just felt very distinctly that the Holy Spirit was saying, it's time to get out. The military served its purpose and I'm moving you on to other ministry endeavors.   Host  27:13 Do you still have contact with friends from when you were in the army? Patrick Walker  27:18 Very little, and that's been got out in 2005. So 15, 16 years ago.   Host  27:27 OK and so from there, then I do have to ask, where did you go from there? When you say you-- You know, you were already all in? And then you're all in? Did you discover vocational ministry? Did you just start serving and not making money? Where was it?   Patrick Walker  27:40 From that point forward? It was really a desire to hear from the Holy Spirit, what did he want me to do and just obey. So I went home for a year, went to the University of Delaware. After 4 years of being away from home, it was good to be around family and that was a wonderful year of my life, engaged in ministry on the campus of the University of Delaware before transferring to Liberty, spent 6 years at Liberty University, finalizing several degrees and wrestling at Liberty and participating in various church plants and ministry opportunities before eventually transferring to full time ministry, after graduating seminary,   Host  28:26 What was your favorite ministry to serve in that season? Out of the military, in college, with the freedom of not having a family like where was your passion ministry wife? Was it still evangelism in like everybody, and people-- or was there something you really like to do?   Patrick Walker  28:45 I really love evangelism. I love the word of God, I like studying the Word of God and like sharing the Word of God but I also think the Lord has given me a vision for what an elite athlete looks like, or an elite soldier looks like, and maybe even an elite Christian because you just read the Bible, and you see what that looks like too. So really reproducing, becoming the best most Christ-like individual that I can be, in order to reproduce that into other people and that cannot be mass produced, you know, it takes one on one time into other people, and really allowing them into your life to expose them to the good and the bad and walking with them as a partner in life for an extended season, in order to raise up a mature godly disciple and reproduce yourself into that individual before sending them out to basically do the same with another.   Host  29:46 Right. The process of discipleship. Do you have a time limit in your brain for what you think that should be?   Patrick Walker  29:52 No, it's different for each every individual is different, based on their needs. It takes a tremendous amount of maturity just to assess as an individual, and be flexible to the changing times and seasons, their personality, their needs [inaudible 30:06] exactly correct.   Host  30:08 That's great. I feel like as we've traveled, it's been such a blessing to visit churches and to meet pastors that are not the ones we already know but one of the thing that struck me last year when we got to your church after have for some reason, like your church with so impactful for to us, is that, all pastors have the heart for evangelism and discipleship and some have like other things, you know, some are like apologetics, I'm get a little political, some do other things but across the board, every pastor that you stand there, and you can see the hand of God on him, like they just have such a love for people that they want to win people to Christ, and then make sure that their disciples faithfully walking in their sanctification and I love that and it has stirred in us a great camaraderie. I don't know for the American church, which I often feel very disgruntled with. We appreciate the work that you're doing.   Patrick Walker  31:10 Well, let me share something on that note, because we have been talking before this about one of the biggest challenges that I see facing the American church right now. So I would say it's, it's probably, in my estimation, in the last 20 years, I would say at least 50% and this is just my theological perspective and I've done a lot of research because this is what interests me and I am a numbers guy. I love statistics. I would say at least 50% of everyone who professes the name of Christ is not a true genuine born again, believer. That's just my assessment.   Host 31:47   More... I'm just being conservative when I say at least half and you think about the narrow path, the wide path, Jesus says, Many people are going to take the wide path, very few that--- he doesn't say, are going to take the narrow path. He says they're going to find it, doesn't say that even enter, they just find it and then in a later passage, do you remember when Jesus says in Matthew 7, he says,   "Many will come to me on that day saying, Lord, Lord, they're even proclaiming His Lordship and Jesus says, I never knew you" You never came through the gate. I'm the shepherd of the sheep and you never surrendered.   Host  32:23 And it even says they prophesied in his name and write for miracles, right?   Patrick Walker  32:25 So, they're obviously religious, they believe in him. They're religious, they've got religious activity, they've got knowledge and yet, they've never surrendered fully to Christ. He doesn't know them in an intimate, personal way. So I would say that's-- and of course, you know, the 4 soils, we in America are like soil number 2, where we have very shallow roots, or soil number 3, where our fruitfulness is choked out by how many distractions we have in this world and that's even true in my own life. I mean, I have to constantly fight with an overwhelming amount of other entertainment, temptations maybe, and various things to pull us away from what matters most.   Host  33:17 Which is interesting, because from an outside perspective, it seems like you do so much. I would venture to say maybe we're similar in this capacity, also, where CS Lewis has a really great quote where somebody says to him, "Wow, you know, when you get to heaven, you're going to get to stand before the Lord and look at all you've done" and he says, "But the Lord is going to know the things he told me to do that I didn't do" and sometimes people do that with us. They're like, Wow, look at you're doing all these things but I know that I still watched three of those shows when I should have been writing or doing something else for the Lord and so I think, it seems like you're doing so much, but only you know, what you're supposed to be doing. That's a very personal thing that I don't even think most Christians assess.   Patrick Walker  34:04 We can make judgments on other people when we compare ourselves with others but we don't realize. If I have been given 20 talents from the Lord, but I'm only using 10 of them. I'm 50% [crosstalk 34:19] But you've only been given 5 but you're using 4 out of 5. You're using 4I'm using 10. So I look to be much more.[ crosstalk 34:28] Yes, I'm an F but in proportion you are much better than I am though it appears as if, because I've been given more talents. I am superior, I am doing more than you but in the Lord's eyes proportionally, you're actually more obedient and more successful and more fruitful.   Host  34:47 That is the best I've ever heard it articulated and I feel like we should be teaching people how to do that, how to assess their gift and see where they're at on it because if somebody is hurt has been gifted mightily and they're not using any of it or they're only using half. That is a great disservice to Christians in general and to their relationship with the Lord and Aalala, we could go on but oh my gosh, I love how you articulated that. What was it-- one of the kids-- Our kids were playing yesterday and one of the kids made an analogy of-- they've done the outside of the puzzle, and we're coming in to do to finish the inside of the puzzle. Do you remember what that was? Who said that what the context was? Do you remember? It probably doesn't matter but the point is, like, I feel like that, like we're all looking at the outside of everybody's puzzle, and we're like, get the enzyme, you know, but it's different. It's different for everyone. We can't even see their picture.   Patrick Walker  35:45 Ultimately, I think it is dangerous to compare. For me to compare with other pastors or church to compare with another church or believers to compare with other believers because really, the only thing that matters is, what is the Holy Spirit saying to me, what's the word saying to me?What is Jesus saying to me, and how do I put it into practice? How do I obey that and just be faithful to what he's saying, and just trust with the results.   Host  36:11 That makes me want to ask-- That's true, we should all be there and I think women struggle with this more; with social media and being a mom and should I parent my kids this way, should I show up blah, blah, blah. At the pastor do you struggle with that? [phonetic 36:27] Do you have to check your thoughts and be like, Okay, I'm not looking at that guy. I don't know what the Lord is telling him to do. Do you have to check your thoughts?   Patrick Walker  36:33 Of course.   Host  36:33 Yes, you do.   Patrick Walker  36:34 Yes.   Host  36:35 I thought maybe you didn't? Do you worry about what people think?   Patrick Walker  36:40 If a pastor has a love for people, of course he worries about what other people think.   Host  36:46 Do you consider yourself a people pleaser?   Patrick Walker  36:49 No, but I do see the temptation. I am not by nature, a people pleaser. Because that's not my personality, I'm an individual take charge, do my own thing but even for my personality, which is on the exact opposite spectrum of being a people pleaser, being in a position as a pastor, if you have a love for people, you naturally want to care for them. You want them to be happy, you want to love them, you want them to be fulfilled, you want to meet their needs and so you are very in tune with that but it cannot supersede the greatest command, which is Love the Lord, your God with all your heart. Your vertical relationship has gotten to always maintain the priority over and above our love for one another, and the influence that we feel or experience horizontally.   Host  37:42 Patrick said he wasn't good at. Pastor Patrick said he wasn't good at interviews but he's doing great. I love it. You got all the great things. This is perfect.   OK, what's a common myth you think people believe about pastors that is a lie, or you just wish you could shout from the rooftops, this isn't true.   Patrick Walker  38:01 I have three things, I have thoughts that come to mind.   Number one is my job literally never ends.. It's kind of like being a mom for your household with the children. Your job just never ends. It's not just preaching on Sunday morning. It's constantly-- I'm thinking about dozens of people every day, how they're doing, and I can never do enough to do what I think needs or should happen, you know, in their lives to properly care for them. I feel like I'm failing at any given time. For somebody who's striving for excellence, who's idealistic, who wants to do a good job, you just feel like you can't meet all the needs, you can't do everything and your job never ends.   The second thing is I experienced just as much pain as I do joy. So there are some great joyful moments in pastoring but there's also some painful ones. When people pass away, or they move away, or they move to another church, people that you've grown up, I mean, that you live with, they are your family, you know, it can be--- if you were to look at your children 1020 years from now, and then they didn't live up to your potential, like their potential, it would be very painful. So when I look at people, church members, I see God's vision for their life, I see their potential, and when they don't live up to their potential, it's heartbreaking and I feel the weight of that, I feel the burden that because I'm trying to encourage, motivate, equip them, teach them train them, do whatever it takes because them want them to be successful in God's eyes and that can be a painful part of ministry but also, at times you're dealing with sinful human beings in a fallen world.   So there's going to be hurtful words. There's going to be misunderstandings. There's going to be-- The loneliness aspect of pastoring we just don't feel like anybody understand you and you can't really share. You could share pastor to pastor because we get it but you can't truly share and feel understood by church members because they haven't been in your shoes.   So there's rejection, there's negativity, there's hurtful words. There's a lot of pain, just as much so as there is joy when it comes to the pastor or ministry side of things and I want to be honest, really quick and just mentioned one final thought for this question is, "There is not a shadow of doubt in my mind, I would literally commit any sin if given the right circumstances, that is 100%. There's no deceiving". So one of the myths you know, you think the pastor's on a different level, I would literally I would commit adultery, I would commit murder, I would commit any sin if God's hand of grace simply withdrew, and when he has done that in the past. It's amazing how quickly Satan, his lies, he can bombard your mind, your thinking, your heart, your feelings, and you can spiral downward very quickly in a short period of time.   So I always want to dwell with the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit and filled with the Word of God. But if we're not careful, or if the Lord wants to teach us something in a season of our life, and he withdraws at hand, it's a dangerous place to be, the only protection we have is under the grace of God and apart from the grace of God, we can do nothing.   Host  41:42 Thank you for sharing that. You guys can't see me but my eyes totally welled up twice while he was talking. It's really important for the general church to understand that the love that you men have for them, and it's one of the things that's been most frustrating to me and one of the reasons I believe the Lord called us to this podcast in particular is because I don't think they get it but adults should get it.   You know, we now as adults, we see how our parents were with us, and it was all for our good and the Lord has ordained this relationship and the shepherd of a church and sometimes it feels upsetting and people don't want to submit to church leadership, or they don't like the circumstances or they don't like the message that day, or whatever. I recently heard a pastor say, you know, some of you are just one bad moment away from leaving this church and that shouldn't be how it is like, you shouldn't even be there and your minds and it's really important, I think, for the masses to hear a pastor say, I love these people so much that I'm constantly burden for them, and I'm filled with amazing amount of joy when the things happen in their life, it's really important to share that. Thank you for taking a minute to share that and helping us remember that you're superhuman, not superhuman, completely human [laughter] Not superhuman. So you got to saved [phonetic 43:18] pretty young in life, 1820.   Patrick Walker  43:19 I made a profession of faith and was baptized earlier than that but my life did not change, and based upon the evidence provided in First John, for example, where he lists about 18 different characteristics of what a genuine born again, believer should look like and none of those were true in my life. I mean, I was still engaged in sexual immorality, I was still just doing my--- I had no love for the Word of God and no interest to actually read and study the Word even though I had made a profession of faith and been baptized. So I had some church exposure, and I had some biblical exposure for several years before that moment in the military. But it wasn't until the military that I truly became born again and things began to radically change from that point forward.   Host  44:11 So, from a theological standpoint, then use the term--- Tell me the terms you use, like you had a profession of faith and were baptized because there was no change. You consider yourself born again. At that time in the military did you give another profession of faith where you ever baptized again after that or was the change sufficient in your in your mind at the time? I'm just curious from this? You said, it was God's word, and that you were reading. Was it just the Holy Spirit, not just but you know, was it the Holy Spirit and then       Patrick Walker  44:52 Yes, here's a lot of ways I mean, think about the Pharisees. They were they had memorized the entire Old Testament. They were incredible. knowledgeable regarding God's word. But Jesus said, in John Chapter-5, he said:   "You refuse to come to me to have life."   So Jesus is the living word. So we can be incredibly knowledgeable about religious subjects and religious topics and we can go to church, we can go through actions. I mean, even James says, even the demons believe, and they tremble, they even they intellectually believe in Jesus, because they know he's the one that created them and they even have any emotional response to that belief, and yet demon, they're not going to heaven, because the key issue was submission.   So they never submitted their lives to Jesus, and that was the key back in earlier on in my life. I never experienced the true submission when it comes to making Christ, my lord and let me give you an example, for this, because this is really, really critical. I would say that, going back to my military training for a moment, I think it helped me to understand spiritual warfare and athletics as well to learn the value of teamwork and perseverance but military, it taught me in the absence of persecution in America, for against Christians, I was able to get a feel for suffering, pain, difficulty trials, and the persevere through those.   So there was a lot of direct parallels that benefited me spiritually, because of the physical things that I went through as an athlete or in the military. But really the biggest key when I went into the military, there came a point where I had to sit across from Uncle Sam, so to speak and Uncle Sam slid me a contract, and said, "Sign it". Now, I didn't know what I was getting into at that moment, and you didn't have to, nobody does. But there came a point where once I sign that piece of paper, I was making a covenant with the military and basically, here's what it was, "We agreed to provide certain things to you and in exchange, you give us your life", it's your life, all of it. "We will tell you what you can eat will tell you, what weapon you're going to carry will tell you when you're going to get deployed. By the way, you might even have to literally give your life in the service of your country".   So because of my military experience, when I came to Christ, it took me about six months to wrestle with, am I going to sign the contract or not? Because I knew because of the physical realm, if you pull that over to the spiritual, and some of my favorite passages are Jesus saying, if you don't count the cost, if you don't die to yourself, if you don't forsake all, you cannot be my disciple. So I knew what that is. I knew what that meant in the physical realm and in the spiritual realm, I had to wrestle with this concept to get to the point where I literally drew out, it's up there on my wall, I drew out a covenant with the Lord and I signed it on a particular day and from that point forward, I was basically saying, "I'm submitting my life to you, I'm surrendering my life to you, and I don't own myself anymore. You're the new owner".     Host  48:39 That's a really profound as you were talking about it from the military perspective, I immediately drew the parallel, we should all feel like that about the Lord. It's the bondservant. We're all [inaudibble 48:51] We were bought with a price we are not our own. But it's such a difficult concept for people to understand what a blessing that you even had that perspective. That's special.   Patrick Walker  49:04 Sure, I think that would be very beneficial to understand for a majority of professing Christians in America because it's really a life for a life. You don't add Jesus like a cherry on top of your ice cream of your already nice life, if you want eternal life, the implication of believing everything that Jesus is and what he said and what he claimed is, you surrender your life to the king and he owns you from that point forward, to walk through the narrow gate is to leave behind your life and to submit to a new owner, a new ruler, a new king, it's the shepherd and you become his. So you die. The moment you walk through the narrow gate, you die to yourself and you now belong to someone else and you do not have a right over any decision from that point forward. Just like in the military, I have no right. I have no rights anymore and I am-- I wish I'd had   Host  50:13 Center back in the day. I don't even if they still do this, I don't watch TV but there's like where they put up on the sides. They put up all the topics and then they have like 20 seconds to do it or they have to give like a one word answer. So, I just came up with 15 questions, and they have one word answer. [crosstalk]   Patrick Walker  50:29 Well, I do my best.   Host  50:34 [crosstalk] It depends. You just have to say the first thing that comes to your mind fast.   Patrick Walker  50:37 I will try.   Host  50:38 OK, ready? Will you have more children?   Patrick Walker  50:41 No.   Host  50:43 Do you lean more towards Calvinism or Arminianism [phonetic 50:45]?   Patrick Walker  50:47 100% of both?   Host  50:50 Are you pre-med or post-trib.   Patrick Walker  50:53 Pre.   Host  50:55 Topical teachings or verse by verse?   Patrick Walker  50:57 Both.   Host  50:59 Pro or anti mask?   Patrick Walker  51:02 Anti.   Host  51:04 Pro or anti vaccine?   Patrick Walker  51:06 Yes. For the most part, anti.   Host  51:10 Contemporary or traditional worship?   Patrick Walker  51:12 Both.   Host  51:12 That's true. He does both in his services. Politics or no politics from the pulpit? I've heard him do politics.   Patrick Walker  51:22 You didn't even give me a chance to answer that. [crosstalk 51:25] Yes, yes. Politics.     Host  51:28 Do you have a caveat? Did you want to add something?   Patrick Walker  51:32 We need to apply God's truth in every area of life including the political realm.   Host  51:39 Do Christians have the freedom to drink alcohol?   Patrick Walker  51:42 Sure.   Host  51:43 Should women be labeled as pastors?   Patrick Walker  51:47 No.   Host  51:48 Does your church exercise church discipline?   Patrick Walker  51:52 We have. Yes.   Host  51:53 Spiritual gifts for Biblical times or present day also?   Patrick Walker  51:57 Present day all of them, even the miraculous ones.   Host  52:00 Such as... Do you have a favorite spiritual gift?   Patrick Walker  52:03 I would love to operate in spiritual gift of healing miracles.   Host  52:07 That'd be good . Have you ever spoken in tongues?     Patrick Walker  52:10 Yes.   Host  52:11 In your own language or in like a prophetic way where somebody had an interpretation?   Patrick Walker  52:15 My own language.   Host  52:17 Children in adult church or children's church?   Patrick Walker  52:21 For the most part in adult church not separated?   Host  52:25 Who is responsible for sin, Adam or Eve?   Patrick Walker  52:28 Hmm. Both of them committed sin, didn't they?   Host  52:33 Yes, I mean, I just like to ask because in [laughter]   Patrick Walker  52:36 Adam is the authority [crosstalk]   Host  52:49 Biblical counseling or psychology.   Patrick Walker  52:52 Biblical counseling.   Host  52:55 OK, confession time. What do you got? The name of our podcast is Church Royalty Confessions of Church Leadership and the idea is to just let general Christians know that Church Leaders are genuine people. What can you tell to the masses that maybe they would be surprised to hear?   Patrick Walker  53:18 But I've got some final thoughts. Host  53:20 Ok, then we will tell you do your final thought.   Patrick Walker  53:21 Final thoughts, Final Thoughts leading into a confession. I think the biggest challenge in my life right now is, there's so much that cannot be done apart from supernatural power. I think if I was going to request one prayer request of what I needed more than anything else, it would be probably more of the Holy Spirit more power, because you don't have the power to change hearts, you know, you don't have the power to fix or to transform lives, you don't have the power to fix spiritual issues unless the Holy Spirit is involved and you can work eight hours a week and get nowhere.   Patrick Walker  54:05 Apart from God's divine activity, so my greatest need in this and my greatest challenge is really connecting with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, his presence and power in everyday life, for greater impact and I'm also just challenged in this season with balance quality time for each of the relationships that that are important to me, whether it's God, primarily, then my wife and my family, my church family and in the context of all of that I know we have kind of talked about this a bit, but the greatest danger that I face is a disconnect between what I know and how I live and I see that having either positive ramifications for my family or negative ones because my family knows me better than anyone else and if I'm not living what I'm preaching, then I am suddenly under mining my whole Christianity and the Christianity in my family, it will come, there's always consequences in the long run.   Patrick Walker  55:14 So I'm really just focusing on the fact that true maturity is living the truth rather than just knowing it and I guess if you were going to move into a confession of some sort, and we had been transparent earlier on in our conversation, but I would say, there's probably not a single week that goes by that I don't feel like quitting at some point.   Patrick Walker  55:46 So it's just can be overwhelming, you feel like you're a failure at times you want to improve, you want to grow, and you're at a loss as to how to fix this situation, or handle this particular conflict or make progress in this realm and Satan has this very subtle way of coming in and if he can attack your mind, he'll get you, he'll get all of you. The thing that we need to guard is or is our thinking is our mind and of all the people that talk to us the most we talk to ourselves more than anyone else. So what we say to ourselves is critical when it comes to our longevity in ministry, and the maturity, this the state of our thinking, so, I have struggled with--- We had approached this subject months ago and we talked about this a little bit too.   I've struggled with suicidal thoughts. I went through a really bad time. I mean, discouragement, depression, feelings of failure, quitting, I probably would say that 90% plus of pastors go through that at any given time and I'm not going to blame it all on Satan, because I know my own sinful weaknesses, too and it's a product of my decision making and my thinking but I also after 18 years of doing this recognize the subtle activity of the demonic realm, to plant seeds and thoughts in your mind and again, apart from the grace of God, it only takes a moment for Satan to come in and he can wreck tremendous damage in just a short period of time.   Patrick Walker  57:31 So that really is humbling to me, I think it's good to be in a position of humility and brokenness because that's the safest place to be that I could literally fall at any given moment and a knowledge of that makes me fearful to cling to Jesus, and to rely upon His grace at every second of the day, because if I release my grip, there's no telling what could happen.   Host  58:04 Thank you so much. I feel emotional, I'm not going to be very good at audio if I'm choked up. Again, you guys today we sat with Patrick Bram Walker, Pastor Patrick Bram Walker of Livingstone Community Church, and he blessed us so much with his transparency. Don't forget to subscribe to Church Royalty Confessions of Church Leadership for the next episode. Thank you so much, Patrick.  

Season 1 is full of confessions from pastors across America to share the truth about church leadership from a pastoral perspective so you can feel better about your relationship with Christianity and the American church today!    Church Royalty: The Confessions of Church Leadership  Pastors