SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome back to Testimony Traps where we talk about both hip hop and the testimonies behind the tracks. I'm Everett, this is my co-host, Jason, and today we've got an amazing guest, campus minister at the University of Houston for Cugs for Christ, and stepping up with the Baylor Student Ministry as Brendan prepares to take a much deserved six-week vacation. Please join me in welcoming Freddie Louett.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Hey Freddie, thanks for being with us today. No problem. Alright, well, yeah, let's um, I don't know, start out by letting the audience know a little bit about uh about you. So we know you through church. We we met at BAML, and like we've implied, or I guess just stated clearly, you're you're the interim, I guess we could say youth minister, although we changed the name from youth ministry to student ministry.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

So you're the student minister, I guess? That's fair. Yes, yes. Yes. Um, I've been at BAML for um about a little over a year now. We officially placed membership back in June of 2025, but we've been in Houston, or I've been in Houston since September of 24, and um and I've really been around BAML um the entire time. We we we actually placed membership in a life group before we actually um decided that we were gonna go all in.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Um how did that um journey from was it what, South Carolina? Is that where you were from? Yeah, South, yeah, originally from South Carolina. Houston go.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah. Like uh, because I I was in the military first. Um as soon as I got out of school um back in '97, um, I went in the military and then did the it's funny, you go in the military to go traveling. And so I went, I lived in Columbia, South Carolina, went into the military, did my boot camp, and then I got stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, which was two hours. Yeah. And uh and did about 10 years in, went from Charleston to uh to Korea, and then back to Charleston, and then back to Korea, and then went to Langley, and right at that time was when I met my wife, and we decided that we were gonna um pursue ministry um full time. And then and the funny thing about that is that's when we started traveling all kinds of places, because as soon as we did that, we then went to Southwestern Christian College in Tarot, Texas, the Dallas area, and then um, and then went to school in Oklahoma Christian um in Edmund, Oklahoma. And then from there, did go back to Charleston for a little bit, went into Columbia for a little bit, and then was back in the the Dallas area for about um right at right after COVID 2021 for about almost three years before making this move to to do campus ministry at the University of Houston. So that's the reason what that's what moved us here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Okay. Which branch of the military?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Air Force. The best branch.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Well, tell us a little bit about uh growing up, I guess. We usually start there. Did you grow up going to church?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

What was faith like in your family or faith in the church was a huge part of um my growing up. Like that that was really I was sitting there thinking through some of this, uh just been thinking about life. And uh the three pillars that I had growing up were family, school, and then uh church. And those were the things that I've always always had in my life, and for a long time, um, even now in some aspect or in some way. Um, but church was just a huge thing, you know, with my family. Um my mom and my mom and dad were kind of like really my grandma was um she had got into church and she had brought my mom and my dad into church at the same time. Um so we grew up just that's all we knew, um going to church and and and and making it a part of who you are. Um that some of that stuff kind of changed for me as I got older. Um but I was always used to, you know, talking about church things, going to to youth camps and um youth youth conferences over the summer, um doing things with our youth group. Um we never had a youth minister, but we had a lot of adults that were kind of dedicated to making sure that we stayed close to Christ. And and it's interesting because like there's stats that show that it's important to have those people in your life. And I grew up with people that were doing that, but they didn't know that they they were really and ultimately they were like saving our lives and saving my life um by continuing to show me who God is and continuing to spend time with me and continue to to um to you know to study scripture and all that good stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

All right, so you said stuff changed for you as you got older. Can you like share some of that? Because this podcast is like about stories and like how people came to Christ. And I had the thought of it as something like I want something relatable for people to listen to because I have something to listen to that's relatable, and not everyone has that. So I just wanted to share that. And so if you have like anything like from the teenage years where you've started questioning things and like anxiety kicked in, and like anything that people can relate to, uh, do you want to share that?

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Absolutely. Thank you for asking that question. So, as I said earlier, for me, you know, that pillar of Christianity, the pillar of being in the church, like it was just second nature. In some ways, I feel like I was kind of just going through the motions because this is what was expected of me. Um I do believe that I that definitely was still a follower and I was a believer. But there was still an aspect of it that just wasn't real for me growing up. Like, when I I got baptized young. I was 10 years old when I got baptized. And um my first my first time. Um I uh I I re I remember going through that, and I remember like I definitely knew what I was doing, and and I and I don't have and I'm not the person that have any any doubts about like if I belong to God when I when I when I gave my life to him. Um but it still was just this is what I was supposed to do. And and and this is the thing that everybody else does, and this isn't me going through this thing. And then there was something in me where um and that's what this is one of the things I had to struggle with, separating ministry or preaching and being a Christian. Because I don't know what it was. People saw something in me when I was very, very young, and my minister told me, You're gonna be a preacher. So what he did was when I was like um really about 13, but when I was 14, he started, well, yeah, 13 is when he started taking me to with him to these things that are called gospel meetings. And what a gospel meeting is is when you go to a different, you go to a different city, and a minister will preach every single night of the week. And sometimes they do it for like months. They preach every single night and they preach this gospel message about Jesus. And uh, and during the summer, he would take me and another couple other guys. Um, he'll take me with him to see to see what it looked like just to go out preaching the gospel, uh, sleeping on somebody's couch or in a back room or whatever, uh, in order just to preach this gospel message. And and he said, Look, you're gonna do this too. And he started showing me and teaching me like my first cut, like my first couple of sermons he wrote for me, and then I would deliver the sermon. Um, so I started doing that. So I was so I preached my first sermon when I was 14 years old. I'm 46 now. So wow, that's 32 years ago. Um I've been preaching for 32 years. And and I was doing that because this is what I was expecting, and then I would go to these different things. I mentioned um the youth conference thing earlier. It's like this conference with a bunch of different churches. Um, just you know, the Muslim predominantly black churches, where we would come together and there were, you know, people would preach and they would get these messages, and you know, you would play these games, sit through these classes. And because I had already started preaching, I would get to go preach in these in these places, and I preach for, you know, for me and so like a lot of people, a thousand people, because that's why I was there or more. Um, but again, I was kind of going through the motions. Like this is what, again, I enjoyed it and I appreciate it, but it was still kind of like, this is what you're supposed to do, because this is what pe this is the expectation people have for you. So then I remember as I got older, and then realizing that, because like as I told a story, we're going to the different gospel meetings and different places, and even looking at a minister who's having um, um, he was technically a full-time minister, but he's having to find out how he can do other kind of things so that he can make extra money. And then I was realizing, like, oh man, being a preacher doesn't really pay a whole lot. So then as I got older, this desire to preach was waning. And I desired to be more, to make more money, um, to be more dependent. Um, of course, that's why I ended up going into the military because I wanted to do more and to get more physical stuff. And the idea of this preaching, which I mean the vocation, and not my lifestyle or even being a Christian, it was more of a vacation of a vocation that I wasn't, that I decided I wasn't gonna do. Then I then shifted over into this idea of, okay, I'm gonna go into the military. And I went to, I'm glad I went into the military, but my first few years going in the military, I lived the military lifestyle. Alcohol was a very, very strong part of who I was and and and what I did. I didn't have a healthy relationship with it at all. I remember, um I don't know how that can go, but I just remember like when I got I was there for a year, I was in Korea for my first time, I was in Korea for a year. And I felt like, and I tell this as a joke, but it but it still was some there's some truth to this. I remember getting off the getting, because the culture is again drinking. But when that's all you do and that's it, that's the issue. I remember like getting off the plane, getting in Korea, somebody handed me a beer, and then I drank that beer, and I was in some kind of intoxicated state for the entire year while I was in Korea. Still trying to follow God, still trying to go to church, but but but my God at that point was just, and it's not, it's bringing in alcohol, it was just that. Um, hanging out with the friends, doing all the other extra stuff, and and getting just caught up in that that really worldly lifestyle. And I remember in the middle of time where I'd be out in places and doing things that I wasn't supposed to be doing, I remember just sitting there and thinking and saying, like, man, God have mercy on me, a sinner. And I and I think back on it now, like, man, God saved me. Even though, you know, even though I could have got really caught up, but he saved me and I could have, you know, got focused on that stuff. And I've seen so many friends, I got just focused on that stuff and never came back to God. But when I got back, I was um got back to stationed in Charleston, which was a blessing. So I had already had these friendships and these connections. And and uh, and one of the things that was very, very important was when I first went to Korea. I mean, I'm sorry, when I first went to Charleston, my dad took me to the church and took me in front of the church and said, This is my son. He's gonna be here. If he don't go to church, let me know. And there were some people at church that took that so serious. And and and and they would, they knew what there was some that would like, they would be checking on me. If I didn't make it to church, then they would ask me. So when I was caught up with other stuff, because I knew that there was an expectation that I was supposed to be at church, I still went to church. And again, this is not, this is not where it's clicking for me, like what it means to be a Christian, it's still like, okay, I gotta, I gotta check off the boxes so I don't get in trouble. And my dad doesn't fuss at me for not going to church. But when I got back to Charleston, I'm in Charleston and stuff, this is where things are really starting to shift. And I'm I'm about, like, I'm not a teenager anymore, but I'm about 20, still young, I'm about 22. And I'm like, man, if I'm gonna be a Christian, I need to be serious about it. And it's not just something that I'm just taking off the box, it's not something I'm just thinking of as a vocation. Like, this is the life that I need to live. And that's when I started thinking about those people that would check on me all the time. And there's this one lady in particular, um, that she'd always be like, Freddie, where were you? Where were you, Freddie? Why weren't you here? What's going on? What are you doing? What are you into? And there was this time where I got to preach at the church. I still was preaching through this whole thing. I got to preach at the church one Sunday. And then I found out that morning, I'm preaching in the evening that morning, I found out that this lady, um, her name is Twila. Uh, Twila decided that she was going to leave our church and go to a church plant. And then I sat there and I'm preaching the sermon, and at the end of the sermon, I'm like, man, the lady who always text phone is not gonna be here anymore. I need her. So if she's going to the church plant, guess what? I probably should go to that church plant too. And it changed my life. Like it changed my life. Like I would not be here today if I would not have made that decision. It was at that point, and then when I got into that church, I said, look, I can't just be on the sideline. I can't just be going through the motions. I have to give some things up. I gotta rethink how I'm living and be a better example. And one of the things I didn't say is that they always had me connected with the youth and doing things with the youth while I was there. And it's like I thought when I first started with my ministry, I thought I was gonna be a preacher. And I still wonder that at sometimes. But once I went to that church, the minister, when my dad came up and said, Hey, Freddie is here, he came to me because he already knew me because of the youth conference stuff. He said, Look, you're gonna work with me in youth ministry. I didn't choose that. So he'll make me come and do stuff with him and and and take, go on, he would make me chaperone for trips and go to different things, go to those youth conferences that I used to go as a kid. Now I'm going as an adult because I'm taking, I'm helping him take the kids. And he would help me think through different activities and things that we were doing. And when I was thinking about, but I was still doing it because he wanted me to do it. But then when I got to this new church, I said, look, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna be what he was for me, I'm gonna be that for these kids. And I'm gonna be serious about this. I'm gonna do, I'm gonna live this life. I'm gonna make, I'm gonna make the decisions, I'm gonna pray for them. I created a ministry um alongside that was a young adult ministry with the other young adults that was that same with me so that we can minister to the youth at the church. And we made a lot of mistakes in doing that. Um we just did some things that, you know, we we're figuring it out for ourselves. Um, but that was when I took these things, when it became like not something that was given to me, but for me to be a part of this church. And that, like I basically became like the backup preacher for the minister. Um, the most important thing about this faith journey was when I got there, the minister's wife saw me trying really, really hard and saw me serving. And she said, Man, something special about this kid. So she then told her sister, hey, you need to talk to Freddie. And that's my wife now. We're now married. Yeah, it's we're we're now married because of it. Because I made that decision. Yeah, like because I made the decision to go to the space. Um I I I ended up like finding my my person. Um, finding somebody that would you know that would keep me close to God. Because it's funny, like I prayed for her. I prayed that God send me somebody uh that's gonna help me stay close to God. Pray that God's gonna show me somebody who's who's who's wanting to focus on this and not anything else. Uh and that's willing to go the motion, go the the the go the distance with me. That's what I meant to say, um, when it comes to trying to serve God over all that we have.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

I think you kind of chuckled when you said that when you were baptized the first time. So, did you decide to get baptized again?

SPEAKER_01 16:10

I knew you were gonna ask me. I knew you were gonna ask me that. And then and that's that's when it like that's a it's it's it's an interesting thing because when I because I so I went to Southwestern Christian College. Uh that's where I went to go to school at.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Um sorry, help us with the timeline on that. When did you and Patrice both go there? When did you decide to go there?

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Okay, that's good. And it's actually perfect. When I met Patrice, I got stationed in Korea again. And then after I got stationed in Korea again, this is when I really got serious about church stuff. Um and again, and she's in my life now, and this is when like she was also helping me. Again, she developed she was really helping me to develop. Because I would tell her, like, oh man, I have a friend. Um, I was told about my friends, and I would tell them like everything about them or whatever. And I went, there was one case, I won't say any name. I say, oh yeah, my friend's girlfriend is here and they're going somewhere. She's like, Wait, wait, his wife can't eventually? I'm like, no, no, no, not his wife, his girlfriend. And she was like, Whoa, what are you talking about, Freddie? And I'm like, oh, that's this is then I realized, I'm like, oh yeah, this is not okay. So that culture, you know, that that that's that military culture, like this stuff that it just kind of, I had just got inundated with it. That I didn't, the things that were not okay became okay for me. And then but I so then I was thinking about that. Even I still I got this one, I am getting more focused on church. This is that, of course, after I had, you know, and and then at the church, they made, they had to have somebody who was the leader of the church, a faith group lay leader. And because I had been preaching since I was 14, because I too was in finance, it has made sense. Because they need somebody also to kind of do some book stuff, that I was a person that ended up doing that. Um so that's when I really started wanting to do ministry, because I'm in this ministry place. I grew up in a predominantly black church, as I said earlier, but then going to this church, it was like when you worship on base overseas, you don't get to choose what church you go to. So if you say, I'm church of Christ, and whoever says they're church of Christ, those people are all gonna worship together. You say I'm Baptist, whoever else is Baptist, those people are gonna, you can't get to choose what kind of church of Christ, what kind of Baptist, or whatever, you know, you got those are your people. Yeah. And so we were at this incredibly diverse church that we had different views and different ideas, but we learned to love one another as family. And that's when I can really feel like you know, this is this is it. It's about, you know, the great, you know, the greatest command. Loving God and loving others with everything that you have. And that was the most important thing. Not necessarily that everybody agree on the same thing. So when I got back, Patrice and I got married. And then we got married as soon as I got back and went to Langley. And then from Langley, we both decided that we wanted to pursue ministry full time. So we went to Southwestern Christian College.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Yeah, which is a historically black Church of Christ school in North Texas, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yes, yes, and that's and that's part of it too, because I was as I'm learning, because part of the diversity was that it was like blacks and whites and everything, and that and I and I had never experienced that before. Um, and then when we went to Langley, we went to a military church, that's the best I can explain it, where it was a lot of like mixed marriages and stuff. Um Patrice got to experience that too. And she was like, man, this is a this is this is different from but what we're both used to. Um so while I was at Southwestern, by chance, there was a tr uh a predominantly white church that was looking for a youth minister. Uh because I had come to this realization, and I'm gonna answer the other question too in a minute. Uh, I came to this realization that I needed to be doing some kind of ministry while I was in school. And then I also came to this realization that I know I know how to do youth ministry because I've been doing it for so long, just helping out. So then I was like, I saw I looked for a youth ministry job and I found this job, and I didn't know the people from Adam, but all I knew that they were like us, um, or they were Church of Christ. And I saw I just went to them and said, Hey, you know, or or they were looking for my what about me? And then they ended up hiring me. Um and I ended up being their youth minister. So my first job, um, my official job, um, I was doing it, of course, at the other church, but official job getting paid for it um was while I was at school. And one of the things, one of the things about school is that I don't, it's not by design. Southwestern Christian College, what we do is we teach you how to baptize. In order to teach you how to baptize, everybody has to baptize somebody, and everybody has to get baptized. So when I got baptized the second time, which again it was for class, but I still stopped and said, you know what? I want to when I when I go through this process, I want to think through it. And I want to think through the idea of rededicating my life to God right now as I do this baptism. So I made it important to me. So when he asked me my confession again, I gave my confession, and when he when he when he um when he when he dunked me into the water, um I said, you know what, God, I give you everything. Um so that's why I got I I think through that. Like it was special to me to have that opportunity to do it again, and I and I kind of took it to that. I took it very seriously. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

What has it been like moving to Houston? What's your favorite thing about Houston? And what's your least favorite thing about Houston?

SPEAKER_01 21:23

My favorite thing about Houston is that it's not Dallas. And my least favorite thing about Houston is that it's only three hours away from Dallas.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Those are some strong feelings.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Why? Why? Because uh because we I mean I I lived in Dallas for seven years. The four years while I was in school, and then three more years when I worked with Anna Church that I worked at before coming to um um U of H. And um and and Dallas is not all bad. I like I like like we liked a lot about Dallas. My kids got to go to a really amazing school there, and honestly, it's a whole nother story. About how God was blessing us to even get us there. I did not want to go to that church, but uh but things were just lining up. We're seeming like this is really where God wanted us to be. And one of the biggest things was my kids got to go to a school called Dallas Christian. And and and they got to really get a really good um education at that point um from that school. So but the thing about Dallas is they're so obnoxious. They're so obnoxious. Uh the the I'm a stubborn person and I have to work on it. And the whole thing, so it it all goes back to, and I hope you guys, and I pray you guys aren't that aren't Cowboys fans, uh, but it came down to the whole idea of if you're not a Cowboys fan, you need to become a Cowboys fan as soon as you can. And I just said, you know what, I'm going to fight against that. Because I grew up in Carolina, I'm a Panthers fan. Um, and that's what I'm going to be. And now I have two teams. So I'm a Panthers fan, and then I root for anybody who's playing against Dallas. Religiously. Religiously, I will go against anybody who's playing against Dallas. Um, so that's mostly what Dallas used as a different kind of kind of thing. But then, but also, but on the other, you know, the other side of it, uh, and I know it's uh the positive thing about Houston is just that, man, we came here and people are, there's a culture here. Again, the diversity is amazing. I love the diversity of our church at Bam. People are just so kind. Like it's just like it's so like it's so easy to meet friends and to make friends here based on anywhere I've been to. Like when I first came, I don't, when I said earlier in the story, I came here in September. My family didn't come down here until um till February of 2025. I came here in September of 2024. I was by myself. And somebody has shown me some compassion um for one of the board members, let me live in their house in there. So I was living in their, like a little room above their garage, it's like it wasn't a little room, it was a big room above their garage. So I was by myself. So I would go out to watch football games, and I would be uh and I'll be watching these football games. I go to like different like sports bars or things or whatever, watching the football games, and I'm just making friends, watching these games and connecting with people, and it's just like and it's like it was just so easy to talk to people. And I was like, Houston is just it's it's a different, it's a different place. It's a different kind of area and space and the way and the way they kind of move. And I just love that. But I hate the traffic and the humidity right now. That's that's pretty hard. Yeah, that's real.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

All right, so what's the difference between being a youth minister here at Bamble or anywhere else you were a youth minister at, and being a campus minister for college?

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Parents. Parents is the difference. Um and that's a good thing and a bad thing, and it's but it is a it is a thing. I love youth ministry, and I and I and I've and I've current and I've come to my view of youth ministry as evolved where even even though I'm doing campus ministry now, I'm still doing the youth ministry. Um when when I went when I was going to youth ministry though, at the the high school and middle school level, you you have to contend with with parents. And and and and I don't want to couch that in the negative thing. I think it's like even when I do youth ministry, my when I went to Oklahoma Christian, um I shifted my mindset with what youth ministry was to this um, when I was working on my master's, um I did the the family life track. And what I thought family life was was a different way of doing youth ministry. And it's not. But then again, it is. Family life is about looking at the family holistically, but also looking at the family of the church and how the church functions as a family. Which again, that, you know, that that does something to me as I was in Korea, and I remembered being family with those people there. And this is again now seven, eight years beyond that. And then also thinking about what it means to be family, what does it mean for everybody to belong in the church environment wherever we are? Completely different from what youth ministry is about, you know, um building up youth and edifying them and educating them and giving them the things that they need so that they can stay close to Christ. But then again, is it though? Because now with this idea between family life ministry, it's like, okay, I'm looking at these people, um, this group of young people, um, and I'm trying to help them feel like they belong to the greater family of the church. And in order to do that, it can't be done by themselves. You have to consider their parents. So running alongside the parents as well as the youth in order to help them give their students the need the things that they need in order to be able to deal with the spiritual warfare that we often want to ignore that is really out there. So when my approach to youth ministry after understanding that, and after I went to school, and then I worked for like about 10 years after that, has always been I'm going to be a resource to the family. I'm holistically looking at the family and listening to it. But that's why that's a very big deal now that anything that I do when I'm trying to connect to these kids is going to be through and with permission and alongside what the family is going to allow me to do. And we're being respectful of that and then trying to help give that and also ministry to the parents as much as the parents will let me, um, and not just the students and the kids. So but when you shift it to campus ministry, the parents are no longer a part of the equation. So now it becomes a little bit more relational, um, a little bit more like, okay, let me deal with these kids who, these students rather, who are really having everything thrown at them. They don't have that safety net in some ways. Like parents are still there, but they don't, but often, like, you know, especially at uni U of H. Now, U of H is a computer school, so we do have a lot of students that are still living with their parents, but the parents aren't as actively involved, uh, especially most students that I minister to in their lives like they are when you're doing youth ministry. So what you're doing is you're really trying to help them to develop their own faith. You're helping like campus, especially campus ministry, and there's that question is a beautiful question, and we can just talk about campus ministry and youth ministry, um, and this thing called college ministry as well, which is separate from campus ministry a whole lot. But what campus ministry does, and what's makes what makes it so good, is when you're doing youth ministry, you're doing it at the church. When you're doing campus ministry, you're going out into the world and you're bringing Christ to a space where God is typically not really there. Um it's missional in a very different way. Well, now you're going out rather than you're just staying in one space and expecting to be there and to come to something that's already happening. To I'm gonna go out and I'm going to take Christ to a place where he may not be. Um and then being able to develop these young people in order for them to be the ministry that they're supposed to be, uh, rather than just being me, give them, give them, give them, um, is it's helping them to develop ministry, be to be a part of ministry.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

What's your read on the Belmo Youth Group so far?

SPEAKER_01 29:09

I I I I love the Balmo Youth Group. That's when I got there, I was um, I started doing um, when we first started there, I immediately said I was gonna this help. And this again feel like that whole thing about me not getting able to get away from youth ministry. Um, I feel like it's a bunch of kids that really love one another. Um, there was one kid in particular. My, you know, I have a son in the youth ministry. Now I have a daughter in the youth ministry. But I remember this kid taking my son and asking him to come sit with them. And then also asking my son to be a part of the Bambo Night Live when we weren't even members yet. Um and then he and then one other thing, he asked my son, Trey, to do comedian with him, which is something my son would have never really done if not active sport. So that one student, as well as just the rest of the students, like, and of course everybody can grow and then we can do better, but I just see a bunch of kids that are really trying hard and trying to know and understand better who God is and it's special. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Well, that's good to hear some of the good things, but I think what the parents really want to know is what is the worst thing that Brandon has done with the youth ministry that you're excited to change now that you've wrestled the power out of his hands.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Oh man, he's gonna be so mad.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

You can plead the fifth on that if you want. I will plead the fifth. I did ask David what the worst thing was about working with Brandon, so I've had to try to be nicer in some of the follow-up podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

I I I love Brandon. I think we all I can't do what Brandon does the way he does it. And and he he has a ability and a way to minister to the to the young people as well as just to manage things that I'm just not good at. Um he doesn't talk as much as me. But we you know, but also, but I think you know, it just we all can just struggle with trying out how we do how we bring in older people and how we think about older people and stuff like that. I think those are the biggest differences that me and Brandon have is how we view the family holistically.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

So, kept this a secret from you. Welcome to the track record. We're going inside the studio and we're well, we're recording uh is something like a lightning round where we ask you questions and you like give us really short, like 30-second answers or something, like off the top of your mind.

unknown 31:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Okay. Okay. What's your favorite video you've made for raising three Lorics?

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Oh, for Raising Three Lorics? It has to be one I made with Farron about um how I asked her for something and she a piece of candy or something that she had, and then before I took it, I had to ask her if she liked it. Because that's based on a true story. That's based on a true story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Alright. If your ministry had a walk-up song, what would it be?

SPEAKER_03 32:08

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Oh man. Uh uh, what's that sound? Uh uh, it has to be outcast, um, the back of the bus. I don't know why, but that's what that's what's that's what's in my head now. That's what's in my head right now.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Okay. Yeah, first thing that pops into your head, that's what we want.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Rose of parts. I can't remember the name of the song. Okay, sorry. Go ahead, my bad.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

Uh, all right. What do you think of your daughter's YouTube channel having as much success as it has?

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Uh, I mean, I'm I'm I'm grateful. Um, we we we decided a couple years ago that we were going to just do this you just do it for fun so we can connect with one another. Trey started it, but now Trey wants nothing to do with it. Um my six my six my 15-year-old. Uh so we but we just said we're gonna do this for the fun of it. And and the thing about it is that and I'll that I like is that my daughters, they pick everything that they do. We don't tell them what to do. And if you listen to their videos, a lot of it is them saying how much they love God. Um how much they love Jesus. And and that's because that's what they want to do, and that's and that that's not something that we give to them. So that's that's that's it's it's been a great opportunity for them to just proclaim who they are and and to to to be unapologetically uh Christian. And we love it.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Okay, what's the first album you have ever bought?

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Oh the very first one. Uh I don't want to say I know what it was, but then like I don't want to say it. Uh it was it's it's DMX. It's dark in hell at home.

SPEAKER_03 33:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

It's dark in hell.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

I remember DMX, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

You gotta I had I had a I had speakers, um, and I had I had an MTX um amp. So I needed something that was gonna hit, and that's all that that hit away.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

What's the uh craziest thing you've heard from a parent while involved in youth ministry?

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Oh man, there's so many. Um I know one one thing that is always I think back about is like how a parent telling me that it was it was my job to fix their kid. And I've been told that in different ways, but no, a parent basically say that's your job. Your job is to fix my kid. And like, no.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

That's not true.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

My job, my job, thank you. My job is to love your kid, and my job is to love you, to love one another as we try to fix one another, try to get better, allow God to fix us.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

No one's job is to fix, because we're all broken and broken things can't fix themselves or anyone else. The only person that can fix us is Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Amen.

unknown 34:59

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

That's God's job.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

Alright, everybody, do you have any more lightning round questions you want?

SPEAKER_00 35:07

What's your biggest pet peeve?

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Oh. People that say library.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

Last one for me. What is a skill or a hobby you have that would surprise people to know?

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Uh I love doing magic. I'm still working on it, but I'd love doing, I'd love to do it. I haven't done it as much as I used to, um, but definitely consider myself an amateur or magician.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Yeah, we we might have got a little taste of that at last year's Rainbow Night Live, right? We may need more now. That sounds like future skits.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Maybe, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

All right, Everett. Are we wrapping up?

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Yeah, we're wrapping up. Uh any final words you have for those listening, Freddie?

SPEAKER_01 35:56

No, I just appreciate you guys. Thank you for letting me ramble on, and uh I've enjoyed this.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

That's wrap on this episode of Testimony Tracks. If today's conversation meant something to you, if it meant anything to you, follow the show wherever you listen and find us on Instagram at Real Testimony Tracks or by email at show at testimony tracks.com. Show notes and more episodes at testimony tracks.com.