 through Christ Jesus, no matter what you're going through. He's got the goods to get you through it and turn your story around. I'm Angela Madden, and I'm here with Tom Hollis. We are your hosts for Hope Today. Tom, we have a great program for everyone today. We really do. And I like how you started off. You talked about transformation and we believe in transformation. I love the verse that said that anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature. And we're gonna be talking to Tyler Brown in just a moment here. And Tyler has got a story of transformation. You're gonna hear his story. You're gonna hear about how he was transformed a couple of times, how he was led down a road of drugs and addiction. And then how he found Jesus and how he came out of that and how he was a new creature in Christ, a new creature that's still being renewed day by day. It's one of my favorite kind of programs. I love these kind of stories of transformation. So do I, transformation. I mean, that's how we become overcomers. By the word of our testimony and the blood of the lamb. And today we're also gonna have a special segment of Throwback Thursday. So we'll have music from a performance back in 2015 from a well-known artist. Today is gonna be a packed program, Tom. It is, and actually one of the things I wanted to do right up top is for those of you that watch Cornerstone Television regularly, you know that we had a fundraiser last week. We had a goal of $225,000. And we got close. We got to 200,000, interesting, 200,202. So there's still time to give. If you wanted to help us make up the shortfall on that, just please give us a call and our prayer partners will be able to pray with you. They'll also be able to take your donation. We survive here and are able to do this ministry through your prayers and through your giving. And we thank you so much for that. We truly do. And now we're gonna take a moment to do something fun. A little game we call Stump the Host. Okay, Tom, you ready for this first question? What did Philip do to the Ethiopian minister? What did he do? What did he do? Well, okay, this is one of my favorite sections of scripture, Acts chapter eight. Seriously, Philip, we did a lot of things. He went up and joined his chariot. He talked to him out of Isaiah, explained Isaiah to him. And he baptized him. So I'm gonna go with that. Okay. Good job, he baptized him. That's down in Acts eight, 26 through 38. What's great about that is he disappeared. Like right as soon as he was done baptizing him, like he dunked him in the water, came up and then poofed the Lord, took him away. I'm sure the minister was like, hey, this is interesting. So here's our next one. I hope you're playing along with us. What happened to the kingdom after Solomon died? It divided, it divided. Remember Jeroboam and Rehoboam and they couldn't agree and Tentroth, it was divided. Tom, let's go. We're going, we're going good here. It was divided north and south. Okay, now our next question. Which books in the New Testament were written by brothers of Jesus? Okay, well there's John, wait a minute. No, by brothers of Jesus. Right, James, right, James. I think it would just be James, wouldn't it? Is there anything? I would think James. I think, we're just gonna go with James. Oh, Jude. Oh, Jude and James. The epistles of Jude and James. James. Sneaky, little producers there. That was sneaky. That's a question. Oh, well that's great. We have a fun time with that. We're glad you guys like to play along with us. Well, you know, from burning a cross in the midst of a drug-induced trance to sharing the gospel with everyone he possibly can, our next guest has had his life radically transformed. It was a young age when Tyler Brown was introduced to a drug that nearly destroyed his life. It wasn't until after a specific event in his life that he realized that Jesus was the only one who could set him free. Tyler's story is featured in a new I Am Second film and he joins us now to share how God ultimately turned his life around. Tyler, welcome to Hope Today. Hey, thank you. Well, Tyler, let me ask you about your early life. What was it like growing up? What kind of trajectory did your life seem to be on? Yeah, so I was born in the sunny South, South Carolina. Pretty soon into my life, I was around two years old. My parents got divorced. So I started to experience a little bit of the brokenness in this world and I started to grow up in that. I had three sisters and it was, I guess, not an uncommon story, but when I was about five years old, my dad got remarried and I started doing sports and just really fell in love with baseball and basketball and football. Man, I loved every time I could go out and hit a ball and that became a little bit of a joy for me and in the midst of some of that, probably early childhood brokenness. And so yeah, I started playing sports and really excelling and succeeding and going on some pretty major stages, even at a young age at 11 years old, going into a national world series and being number one ranked team in the nation. But then as I kind of got a little bit older into middle school, high school years, I'm a relatively shorter guy at five, six, maybe five, seven on my license. But I started feeling like, oh man, that's not gonna be enough to make it to the NBA, of course, unless I'm bugsy, bug and have some incredible skills. So I started feeling the pressure of that and even like, man, am I tall enough and some of those feelings started coming out in middle school and high school. So quit basketball, started wrestling and really excelled in wrestling as well, but when I was around 16 years old, I got introduced to something that was even more of an escape for me, which was marijuana and pretty soon after that, crystal meth and so I started smoking marijuana on a daily basis. And then when I was in a pretty unstable place in my life, smoking drugs, I was sexually abused and introduced to the crystal meth and just went into a real, real dark place in my life for several years. And so that's probably some of the early childhood stuff. So as you hear, again, you seem to be doing great as far as athletics and everything and then just a simple introduction of marijuana to your life and then follow it up with crystal meth and more addiction there. So what did that lead to? So you're just in your teens here, where did that lead you coming out as you progressed along your teenage years? Yeah, it left me all alone and I'd pushed everybody away and I was in this one bedroom apartment and working at a gas station and I just didn't have any hope, which I felt myself one night, just smoking crack in the bottom of a bathroom floor and it was just a really terrible place to be. And there was a cross on the wall in that apartment when I'd moved in and I was looking at that cross and I just took a lighter out of my pocket and started burning the cross. And as an express, where my heart was at, it was anti-God, anti-people addicted to drugs and it's really in a pretty lonely place. So what had you had any spiritual upbringing at all? And then what did God do coming out of that situation that night with the taking the lighter to the cross? Yeah, a lot of fear came out of that night. And yeah, I'd remembered coming in and out of church, just growing up in the South, that we have that culture here. So I was aware of some of those teachings about God. But man, if there was a God, at that point I knew I wasn't in a good place with him. And so that led me to a church and while I was at church, I met Ellie and she's my wife now by God's grace. And she really walked with me and helped introduce me to Jesus. So how long did it take? I know you had an experience with God and I want you to share that. Did that come the first time you walked into church? Did it, did Ellie, how did you actually come to faith in Christ? Yeah, I think I was trying really hard in my own strength. Like, man, let me clean myself up, let me get better. Let me try to stop doing these drugs and stuff. And I'll go to church and this is a new fresh start for me. But I found I didn't have enough strength to, I was powerless over my drug addiction. It had slowly crept back up into my life even in the midst of going to church. And so I would kind of clean myself up on the outside and go to church on Sunday, but then I would fall back into the drug addiction back at home and on the weekends. And so I was in this place and I guess it was desperation. God, will you please just set me free from this? God, I can't do this in my own strength. And, man, he heard my prayer and had mercy on me and he touched me with his love one day and he's never gonna leave me, he's never gonna forsake me. And I don't have to be alone anymore in a dark place, but he introduced me to light and to love and that was power enough to set me free from the drug addiction. And so having smoked marijuana or crystal meth for 12 years now, since that moment, and he's walking with me, God is every step of the way. Well, I love that. And did it feel like something happened? I mean, did you actually feel something or was it just sort of a step of fate? Yes, I felt something. It felt really good, praise God. No, I've heard it from both ways, from people. Sometimes they just take that step and they don't feel any feelings at all, but God transforms them just the same, you know? So, it's good. But let me ask you, Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. No, no, I was just reminded of that story in the Bible where Jesus touches this woman and she went everywhere. She went to doctors, she probably went to whatever counseling, she went to everything, but she came to Jesus and when Jesus touched her, he felt power go from him into her. I believe I had a moment where the power of Jesus touched me and saved me. Yeah, fantastic. You kind of had a real whirlwind of the next several months there, didn't you, I mean, from, you know, burning across to what happened over like the next six months? Oh man, I was, within a year later, after burning across, I was at a seminary studying to preach the Bible. That was a pretty quick turnaround for sure. I had, I guess that would have been January 2012, God had rescued me. In February, I had proposed to Ellie and she said yes. And then in March, I had a real strong sense of my life from God to preach this gospel for the rest of my life. And how could I not, you know, after such a transformative moment? And so I went to seminary to start studying the Bible and I guess we'd got married in May and then moved around July to start our lives together on this new path of going into the ministry. Well, and everything's been perfect since then, right? I'd like to say so. Well, I mean, isn't that sometimes the way we feel that well, you know, we've had that great experience but God is continuing to walk us all through things. So why don't you tell me how has God progressed in your life since then? Yeah, thank you for that question and it's true. You know, I had a pretty significant moment of healing and a pretty big splash of joy in my life, like a new little kid in this new relationship with a father in heaven and starting to learn about who Jesus is. But I think pretty soon into my walk with Jesus, some of those old kind of ways of relating to people kind of started creeping back in like, man, I've got to please my father. I've got to work really hard to make sure I'm okay. Some of these places that started to give me a little bit of anxiety, like what if I'm not enough, you know? And as a missionary, I ended up moving out to Utah and while I was there, there was a moment where I remember being triggered pretty significantly with some pretty serious anxiety. And so, and that now has led me to two therapy and counseling to help work through some of those pretty traumatic moments of my past. And so, yeah, I'd say Jesus absolutely brought healing and a new life and a new relationship with God. But the church now has come around me and is praying for me and helping me learn how to relate to him in grace with freedom and also some of these other pieces like counseling have been really helpful for me to work through some of those tragic moments from my past. Well, toddler, I know you have a heart for people and you're in ministry and you wanna see people transformed to someone who's watching right now and maybe identifying with your story, maybe a completely different story. What would you say to them if they're a Christian and maybe they've feel like their walk with God has grown cold or maybe there's some things they just can't get past, how would you encourage them? Yeah, don't give up, don't give up. Maybe even give in, give in to the Father's love, surrender and surrender is a really good word. You'll find that it may be risky to surrender but when you do, you'll be met with the most unbelievable love from a God who will never leave you and he'll walk with you even through some of those hard moments. He's walking with you even right now. Well, thank you so much, Tyler. I appreciate that. I appreciate you sharing your story and I would encourage anybody to go to the I am second site and you can see Tyler Brown's story there. Tyler, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for sharing with us. Oh, thank you so much for having me on. Well, I just appreciate that so much. We're gonna have some ministry in that area when we come back. We're also gonna have a throwback Thursday so we'll be right back. Are you tired of just getting bills in your mailbox? Find inspiration instead by subscribing to the Cornerstone Television's Hope Today newsletter. Each month we'll deliver good news about what God is doing in our region and world through CTVN's ministry. We'll keep you in the know about our latest special programming and our full program guide will keep you connected to all your favorites. You'll also find a new Dashing Dish recipe every month. As you read our Hope Today newsletter, stay encouraged knowing your generosity and giving to CTVN is making a difference and building God's kingdom. We can't do it without you. Sign up today to receive your inspirational, free Hope Today newsletter every month in your mailbox. Go to our website at ctvn.org slash news or call us at 888-665-4483. Thank you for being a part of our Cornerstone Television family. Hope happens here. You know, I loved our interview with Tyler today and I think all of us can resonate with pieces and parts of it. You know, we are all on this journey and our healing comes in parts. So today I wanna just encourage you, stay encouraged. Don't give up. Keep pursuing the Father's heart and you too will find freedom and transformation like Tyler. You know, I think Tom a lot of times, especially within our Christian circles, we think we had this alter moment where suddenly healed and transformed and that we shouldn't have any more healing necessary. But that's just not how it works. That is not how it works. You know, I got saved when I was like 12 years old so there wasn't like this whole like history of things I had done, you know, I was pretty young but I had sinned too. You know, obviously we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and I felt a transformative power Angela. I felt like something had been lifted off of me. I can remember praying at the altar in my Nazarene church and something was lifted off of me. I know that I was saved at that moment but that wasn't the end of the story. God began to do things in my life and sometimes it takes years. Sometimes we have to get like Tyler to the place where we say, hey, wait a minute, there's hurts in my past that I need to deal with. You say, well, why didn't God just like heal that all up? Well, that's not how it works. Things got deposited into us, the world of flesh and the devil. People deposited wrong things in us or put things on us. That God, you know, it would kind of kill us if you took it all off at once. He takes it off Angela just a little bit at a time. He kind of peels away the onion sort of to get to our real self. That's what Tyler is going through right now. That's what you may be going through. That's okay. It's all right not to be all right. We're in a process of growing and becoming and learning, finding out who God is. You're like, oh, I'm saved. I know who God is. Man, there's a lot more. There's a lot more beyond that initial salvation experience. Praise God for that. But when a baby is born, it only knows a little bit of its mother and knows just a little bit. And as that baby grows, he begins to know more and more of his mother, his father, his family and what that all means. That's right. You know, I always say that if God reveals it, he intends to heal it, you know? And don't be afraid of the things that he reveals to you. Even Tyler used language as triggers. So he had moment that it really triggered him. You know, I believe Holy Spirit showed me a year ago or so that these triggers are actually invitations into transformation. So if you find yourself triggered in a moment, it's actually a beautiful invitation. It is the Father saying, hey, hold on. There's a space inside of you that needs healing from that fear. There's a space inside of you that needs healing from that abuse or misuse. And I wanna do it. If we didn't have these triggers, Tom, we would have no idea that there was still hurt and pain inside of our heart that needed mended. So welcome the healing. Healing is the place that you get to know God more. Healing is the place that you get to arise and shine even more. Yeah, it might be painful. Yeah, it might be difficult to go through the process. But I assure you, he is with you in the process, just like he sat with that woman caught in the issue of sin. He sat with her when she was accused. Just like that, he will sit with you. He will mend you and he will bind up every broken part of your heart. You know, I just feel like there's somebody out there that you feel like you're trapped. I gotta get this, like there's a case around you or something. And for some reason I have the 30 years of a feel like it's been a long time that you've been trapped in something and that God is wanting today to pierce that thing and to pull that away and to set you free. And so I'm just gonna take a moment to pray for you. However it is a man or for some reason I see a woman as I'm saying this, but whoever you are, God wants to set that thing, take that thing off of you, set you free. These are moments, as Angela said, moments, invitations to be healed. So right now, Father, we pray in the name of Jesus for our brother, for our sister out there who has for many years been trapped and encased in something that is not of your making, not of her making of the world, the flesh and the devil, those things that have trapped that person. I pray you would pierce that now and set her free, set him free into a new life. Yes, they're saved, Lord, but now a new step in that new life. Amen. Amen. God wants you to experience the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. He wants you to be in his marvelous light, to experience the goodness that he has. And so today, if you're not experiencing that, take one step closer to the Father so that you can welcome more of it into your life. We're going to close today's program with a throwback Thursday music performance from 2015 of Jason Gray, performing Good to Be Alive. And our hope is that as you listen to this song, you too will realize today's a good day to be alive. Well, hold on, is this really the life I'm living? Cause I don't feel like I deserve it. Every day I wake, every breath I take, you've given. So right here, right now, while the sun is shining down, I want the joy I get, brings joy to the heart. Hope today, teaching others about the good news of Jesus Christ. Pastor and worship leader, Steele Crosswhite offers practical advice on how you can share the gospel with non-believing family. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers, whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.