 Okay, that was a weird echo happening. Did anybody else hear that or is that just on my end? I'm good on the side. You are okay. I wonder if something did something start playing on my computer. Hold on. Hey everybody Welcome to this week's edition of generally irritable Getting things all set up on this end so I can answer your questions. Oh, yeah, I bet you it was this thing was playing Over the other thing. Oh, right Here we go Here we go. Everything is all set. I Am super duper excited for this week's episode. I I probably say that every episode but I'm always really thrilled with the folks that we get to have come on generally irritable to talk about what's going on in Vermont what's going on in the Burlington area and How we can support one another Just generally Many of you who have been watching me for a while have probably heard me share about my Christian faith I don't always make a big deal out of it. I don't always mention it in every episode because Because I don't want that to overshadow all the other things that we're talking about and the reason that We do that is because the reality is the Burlington area and Vermont are actually kind of prejudice against Christians Like there's a lot of prejudice against Christians. I'm not supposed to use that word because It's supposed to be reserved for other people who experience prejudice but the reality is Vermont is the most un-churched state in the Union and Chittenden County is the most un-churched County in the state and that really means something for the folks who live And work in Vermont who consider themselves people of faith And it's especially challenged a lot of people over this last year during the pandemic And I couldn't think of a better person to have on to talk about it than mr. Todd Callahan pastor Callahan from Ignite Church in South Burlington pastor Callahan say hello to everyone Everybody is great to be with you tonight. Yes so I am so excited because You're like a misfit. You're a rebel misfit Who just is like screw you and those those are my words not past your Callahan's But I just love I've loved watching your church specifically through all of this Just really be willing to stand in the gap With you know so much more mental illness people suffering from and all of this pain And then the confusion about the government trying to control things and everybody's just kind of like Yeah, and and through it all You stayed true to the gospel You stayed true to your congregation and your people you remained open and welcoming you made sure people had a home and And even more so, you know, not only that people could come find a safe space But that you were actively I hate to use the word advertising, but you've been actively sharing That there is a safe space for people to come to not just kind of like Like many churches in vermont who just sort of like We're just gonna stay over here and hope nobody notices us You are just out there and they're like no come we're here Yeah, absolutely I have I have so many questions for you and I have so much I want to talk about but why don't you start by sharing for just a few minutes about um What it was like first of all first of all, I want to know how you got roped into coming up to vermont I want to know how that happened lots of prayer So share with our viewers You know what you how you got here Well, first of all, you know, how you came to faith. How about that? Why don't you start telling folks a little bit about how you came to your faith? Um, and and then what brought you and your family up to vermont? Yeah, absolutely. Well, um, I I grew up here as a as a as a kid my my my father and mother came to pastor Here where we are right now at ignite church back then it was marathons a christian church and um We moved up here. I was six years old. We moved from north carolina And I remained here until I graduated high school as soon as I graduated high school like many high school seniors are Like see it to vermont. We're out of here. I did the same thing and went down south and I ended up in orlando florida for 21 years and began to Really begin to to understand the calling and the mantle that god had for my life individually, you know, sometimes growing up as a as a pk you um, oftentimes can ride mom and dad's coattails through some experiences until god has an awakening in your own heart and life And you know, there were there were times where I told god I'm never going into full-time ministry. Don't call me into full-time ministry. I've seen what that's You know, that life has been like through my parents. Don't do it. I'm not going. I want to answer you call I want to answer and um So I remember I was I worked at a bank in orlando for just outside of orlando for about seven and a half years And I remember sitting at my desk And there was just this an awake this this this thing pounding the holy spirit pounding on my heart and awakening my spirit That it was time to step into that mantle. So I began a full-time ministry in 2004 I come up to vermont to lead a worship here at the church for a couple of years and The the season just wasn't right. It wasn't it wasn't as it needed to be so we went back down to florida and Spent another season in florida actually into the 10 years in florida before receiving the mantle to come here and pastor This this work here. So it went from marinatha christian church to living hope christian church And we changed the name when we took that mantle as senior pastors to ignite church and it has been a ride So Okay, so I just so everybody knows you said pk It means pastor's kid. Yeah preachers kid pastors kid just in case anybody doesn't know what that word means So how long have you been back in vermont this time? We have been back for about four and a half years now four and a half years So basically i'm realizing that you also are one of those people who tried to leave and then just got sucked back in Like vermont is sort of like this vortex That just sucks you in and keeps you there Yeah, absolutely It was a lot of prayer we had pioneered a church in rlando things are going really well Um, and god just began knocking on the door of our heart to come to vermont And um, matter of fact, my wife had the bags uh packed and the boxes packed and things were happening before I had even You know finished praying through it. She said I hear it. I know what in my spirit. We're going I'm like baby. You got to let me finish praying. I mean, let's let's make sure this is what we're supposed to do And um, uh, without a doubt. This is where god Is has called us to be for the season and we're so excited to be here Oh my god, that is so amazing. I remember so I first heard about you guys and uh, uh case will probably get mad that I that I am dogging him out for this but when uh last summer or last fall, I guess it was when um You were inviting candidates for office to come speak at the church Yeah, and I I remember being like wow Um, I'm not even really allowed to share that I'm running for office Like I mean all my all my friends at the church know that I'm running But I can't like have a table or anything like that. They are not announcing it and you're gonna let me come Sit on your stage for five minutes and talk. That's amazing Sure And I remember one of the other candidates was like, oh my god, you should see this guy Go look at the video from this sunday and check out his jacket and you got to see his shoes You just have to see his shoes and I remember looking at the video and being like wow This guy is a flashier dresser than my husband and I think that that was possible Oh goodness, well, we've all got our little our little Niche things that we like and shoes is just one of mine the wilder and crazier the shoe the better I like it So how many pair of shoes do you have? Oh my goodness more than my wife if that's a I know this has nothing to do with like being a Christian or anything, but I just think it's great. I love it It's one of the things that I love about my husband He has a bunch of crazy shoes too and jackets and he likes to have fun And and that was one of the things I remember being really attracted to him was here was this man This gets to a point about Christianity. Just so everybody knows Here's this man who is handsome and smart and capable And he has fun and he'll wear silly costumes and he wears these flashy clothes And he doesn't take himself too seriously and he can still have a good time And I just remember being really attracted to that and then Finding out that he was a Christian And being like, oh, I don't know about that because at the time I I wasn't a Christian And um as I tell everybody, uh, I grew up in a family of Christians that are the reason why people hate Christians And so it was really interesting to be down in texas and getting to meet this whole new breed of of Christian Because in my mind all I could imagine What Christianity was Was being mean and Mean spirited and you think everybody's going to hell And you want to be people over the head with the bible and if you don't believe Then you're a piece of crap and we're gonna alienate you and And we saw I mean that was a real thing that happened in brahmat And I'll I'll say in the burlington area just because that's where my family was And I really feel like a lot of the The hostility Towards christians in vermont and in the burlington area Stems from this this time period where What people thought it meant to be christian was to be super judgmental and tell everybody they were going to help And so I wonder if there's Like do you can you share anything about that? Especially since you grew up in the church Can you share like what you've seen and kind of change and shift since maybe like the 80s the 70s and 80s that You know, we're the I I swear to god the catholic church has turned more people atheist than they've sent to heaven, but I'm I'm gonna probably get in trouble for saying that but no, you know, I can vouch for that There's a lot of folks that that i'm recently connecting with that have come out of the catholic church and there's a lot of Not not only theological Teaching that has to be unlearned, but there's a lot of practice Of christianity that needs to be reconfigured I think when we get to the point of saying well, god can't move because I remember the first time I wore jeans on the platform To speak somebody about had a heart attack that I was And as as I you know, you think about about how superficial that is And that just that that one example can exemplify Um a whole generation of people having grown up in the church. You had to wear the suit You had to have your hair part. It had to be shaved. You had to look pristine because you were giving your best to god If someone didn't show up looking like you it would be where did they come from? Why are they here? You know kind of thing not understanding that God doesn't always show up looking like god And that we've allowed a lot of fundamental belief systems that really have nothing to do with the kingdom of god and make its way into the corporate worship setting And when we begin to evaluate that realize that maybe god hasn't moved because we've put up the wall We've put up the barrier The and we're trying to classify people within the subculture of the church instead of letting god bring in Who he's going to bring in how he wants to bring the men when he wants to bring them in and you know I think we're doing a great job as a church when church starts to get real dirty This is literally I I would say you know, I've been sober for 12 years now and I remember You know being at meetings 12 step meetings And you see the guy or the girl walk in That you know, they're wearing like a half shirt And the in the pants are dirty. They look like they haven't combed their hair for a week their breath smells Like that's the person I want to talk to. Yeah That's the person who needs us. That's right You know, I don't god didn't come to save the perfect That's right and and the pristine he came to save The suffering and the downtrodden Yeah, so so that's so I've heard a lot of old timers Kind of complain about that same thing you just mentioned about like, oh my god, the pastor's wearing jeans world's gonna end And oh, well, that's you trying to fit into the world and you know, like I mean, you have to be relatable to a certain extent, right? Like you have to be able to relate to people. They need to be able to so Why like where's the line? Do you think between? You know changing the way a sunday service looks to make it more welcoming for people and being of the world Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's kind of like um Why don't you wear a tie? Well, I don't like the way a tie feels. I don't like a tie A tie is not going to help me preach any better or any worse. That tie is sure. Are you sure? I'm sorry. I'm sorry You know, I mean it's it's preference You you like something like that great wear it and I think that you know, some Some ministries kind of take on the personality Of the pastor because the pastor doesn't lose his personality. He doesn't lose the the the fabric of who they are Um as a person, uh, just because they're a pastor So, you know, um, um their pastors who you know are going to dress and look one way and there's pastors depending on You know, how they've grown up where they're where they're serving You know, maybe it's a denominational setting, you know And there's specific rules and guidelines and things like that where They're going to reflect something different Um, and again, that doesn't mean that the message of the gospel is any less effective based on what the pastor's wearing Or how the people in the congregation look um, and I think that is a very superficial aspect of Of um, christendom if I can use that term That has caused The unsaved and caused people outside The four walls of a church to look inside and say it's nothing but a bunch of religion It's nothing but a bunch. It's a show You know, I won't fit in there. They're they're not going to accept me things like that So I think that stigma over the last Seven to ten years maybe has really began to be broken and I think we're beginning to see an influx of of New believers because the church is that it's relatable We're not so disconnected from what's happening in the culture But the church seems incapable of speaking into the culture. I think we can get that way Um, but I but I think we got to be careful to make sure that we're not We're not walking in those steps. Well, and that's I I totally just lost my train of thought You said, um, it's Oh man Whoa, it was gonna. Oh man. It was gonna save everyone I was going to ask a question and you were going to answer and like everybody in the world was going to get saved all at one time Oh, goodness. No, seriously. Um, so it just makes like I I'm so glad to see I think you're right. I think it is starting to you know, some of oh, I know what it was one of the things that I Learned about myself and and it's one of the things I ask other people when I'm talking to them about, you know Why jesus basically and I say Okay, so you got church hurt. That's that's another term that we use in the church church hurt, right? Like somebody hurt you in church Somebody was a jerk Maybe even worse like you were molested by a priest or something like that awful, right? And what I always ask people I say, okay, so somebody Was a jerk to you What's that got to do with jesus, right? Absolutely, why are you gonna let You're a relationship With a god who loves you Unconditionally and wants only what's best for you Because some human Was a jerk Absolutely and it's like people don't perfect people There's going to be church hurt And so then you'll have people say Well, if god really loved me, why did he let something bad happen to me? How do you answer that? Yeah, well it goes back to the the the depravity of the mind as the bible speaks of it goes back to the The carnal nature of mankind it goes back to the sinful nature It goes back to iniquities and it goes back to proclivities the things that we have to Deal with and and begin to Root out of our life so that we can become As as gods call this to be and what he's called us to walk in and reflect You know when we talk about when someone says to you I see the glory of god on you They're seeing I they're saying to you I see the reflection and the image of god In your life and and we all need to be that city that's set on a hill that can't be hidden So that within that there's always going to be these elements of our Of our personality elements of our demeanor that that may not be Acceptable to others and they're going to get hurt. They're going to feel offended And sure we want to make that right, but we can't live under the microscope of thinking that church is going to be perfect And everybody there no one's going to hurt me Yeah, we've got a church, you know every church is imperfect because the body of christ is made up of imperfect people My favorite is people will be like well christians are hypocrites and I go Yeah, yeah And absolutely like that's the whole point I need jesus because i'm trash Yeah My husband I keep saying we got to stop saying that we have this we have this saying that like You know the reason we don't trust the government is because people are trash and the government is people And what that really means is like even in our best moments When we think that we're being kind or generous We can often be actually creating confusion or harm in ways that we don't realize That's what we mean when we say people are trash because we are by nature selfish and self-centered and So I am not confused when people let me down Absolutely I sort of expect it in the right categories if you have people in the wrong category Then you're going to get hurt. You're going to be broken You're going to to to feel as though that relationship is compromised and I think as we put people in the right category We have the right expectations out of that relationship When you say category, what does that mean? Like what are some examples of categories? There's a there's a saying that that there are people that come into your life for a reason for a season and for a lifetime I think we've got to make sure that we've got You know those who are friends Those who are confidants those who are part of our inner circle. We've got to make sure that we I don't want to use the term label, but we put those relationships in the right category So we know what to expect out of them If I if I have got someone who I know is just going to be in my life for a short season I don't go, you know for a cup of coffee with them and spill my entire life You know sharing with them because I know that relationship is is going to be sort of superficial. It's going to be short term If I've got someone who has invested into my life, and I know they're going to be around for an extended period of time That's where those deeper conversations Can be had so I think sometimes in in church circles We think because everyone's Christian that everyone is an open door because we're of like faith We're of like mind. We're of like spirit, but you you just cannot be an open door to everyone who's who walks into your you know your your sphere well, and I think that they're the You know in our culture now everything is about You know my truth and my happiness and if you don't know how to act right and you hurt my feelings Well, I'm just gonna buy you know, whatever the you know the Colloquialism is of the day. It's just every Everyone is disposable right And and then you wonder why you have people who are you're in relationship with like So everybody's disposable, right? But if you're in a relationship with anybody for any extended period of time, I mean, you know, you how long have you been married? Uh, we actually our anniversary is tomorrow Yes, and it'll be 21 years. Oh my god. That's amazing happy anniversary And then and then how old is your oldest kid? She is 20 20. Okay. Yeah, it'll be 22 years tomorrow and she's 20. Yeah. Oh my god Okay, so how many times in those 20 and 22 years did you just want to like punch one of them in the face? Like oh, yeah, you know what I mean? Like I love my husband. I adore him We've regularly bicker So where where do you think this idea comes from? That like Oh, well every relationship is just supposed to be easy peasy and if anybody hurts my feelings It's because they're a terrible person. It can't be like i'm responsible in any way or you know, where does that come from? Yeah, you know, I don't know I we we my wife and I um, we dated um for several years before we got married and Begin to learn the idiosyncrasies of communication. We were uh, when we met she was um, Just turning 18. I was 19 and um, you know, so we were still she was living with her parents I had just gotten my apartment in orlando and i'm living on my own and now I have to learn how to communicate Outside of my own family with someone who doesn't know me and I don't know them And now we have to get to know each other and I tell you when you know when we got married and began It was the first time obviously each each of us have ever lived with one another So now we're having to learn the idiosyncrasies of of the toilet paper coming over the top of the toilet paper Or this is how I clean and this is how you don't clean, you know, mainly me You know and and so learning to to communicate Um that way teaches us what battles need to be fought and what battles don't need to be fought And I think as a as a as a as a husband and wife, there are just some battles that you don't need to fight They're not worth it. It's not worth the stress. It's not worth the um the the things that may be said in the heat of a moment and I think is as as Especially as christians we need to take a look at how our words are going to impact the future of that relationship and make sure that we're honoring one another husband honoring wife wife honoring husband and together mutually that relationship can continue to to uh, um Be in wholeness and and uh in love and honor each other It doesn't mean you're not going to disagree. It's how you get those disagreements Well, and that's one of the things that is so interesting to me in In these communal larger disagreements that we're having As as vermonters, we'll we'll keep it local right? We could say as a nation Um and as a world but that would be a whole other thing but it's I want to I want to bring two things that you've said together, right? So one is we we're going to have disagreement Right, but especially as christians we are called to see one another As fellow children of god, right even the unbeliever We it is our job. First of all, we're supposed to be much kinder To people who are not christian because we don't We're not on the same team necessarily like we don't we don't have the same expectations of you as a person because You don't believe the same stuff. We do fine, but it's even more so We're supposed to be praying for their soul. We're supposed to see each other as um, you know children of god unique and divine and um Everyone is special and important and in the image of god and all this stuff And yet even christians through all of this pandemic stuff are just like Yeah at each other Absolutely There's been a lot of political divide even within our faith. Yes. Yes, exactly and it's like How do we Have we lost sight of that divinity within each of us? Is it I feel like this is what i've been telling everybody. This is sort of what I came up with last year. I said It's like it's like, you know democrats are the wife Sure, right. Have you read the the book love and respect? I have um, okay, it's called love and respect. Are you listening benjamin? Who wrote that book? Who's the author edgards or something? He's not even listening to me. Anyway, it's this really good book and it's like basically the woman You know, the democrats are the woman in the relationship and they want to be cared for and they want to be loved and they want to be cherished and taken care of And then the and the republicans are the man, right? And the they want to be respected They want their autonomy. They want to you know, be in charge and and be respected for the things that they bring And they're and we're just like we're just like not talking to one another sure and so That might be okay if you're If you're non believers if you're not christians, but for christians to be doing that same thing Like how have we lost sight of what's most important? Well, we've I believe we've allowed the cultural influences to plague the kingdom influence You know, Jesus came to bring his kingdom That's what we are we are sent here to do and we've allowed I believe the the kingdoms of this world to Influence and impact the kingdom of god in a way to where we will step back and say well god I guess you're not going to do it or god I guess you're not going to move in this nation or move in this state And I think as we begin to realize that Each each and every one of us have fallacies each and every one of us are imperfect each and every one of us God is still doing a work in um, I think it's all too easy to use the political landscape As a vice and a wedge to be able to separate Hearts and lives and minds and be able to come at each other Even though we're we're saved and we're we're we're christians and and we're going to church together You know, I've told our congregation multiple times, you know, I don't care if you're democrat I don't care if you're republican. I don't care if you don't you don't believe one way or the other All I care about is that you model yourself after the kingdom of god And that's what we are here to reflect and represent in the earth if we do that well If we do that appropriately as as Jesus commands us to do Then we can turn the landscape of this of this nation around if we will just begin to pray and intercede God will hear the cry of this nation and he'll begin to turn it around if my people who are called by my name Will get on their knees Wait, that's not isiah. What is that? Yeah, I'm so bad at remembering But by humility humble themselves and pray humility Is is is a is a vague word in this in this culture right now We don't understand what humility is and humility is just exactly what you were saying We keep coming together and if we will humble ourselves And not Engage and we don't have to show up to every fight we're invited to Well, and here's my thing. This is maybe crazy Crazy talk, but for anybody who's like well god isn't working. Why isn't he doing anything yet? What better way to bring people into the kingdom than to give them an opportunity to show them that they need him Absolutely I I mean, I'm not saying like god like made the pandemic or anything like that, but but it's normally oh It's somebody sending me messages and it was making noise. Okay What better way because I know for me as an example just in my experience I didn't get sober until I had a reason to get sober. Um, and even Coming to christ So I got sober and you know, I was in a 12 step program. So I was willing to believe in god And then I met benjamin and it started opening up my eyes and when I had that moment. I was going through kind of a second Bottom that's not the right way to say it I tell people I was having a midlife crisis right because I had a good job With an office with my name on it and you know, whatever But I wasn't happy and I wasn't satisfied and I didn't feel like I was living my purpose and That was when I got reintroduced to jesus and to this idea of christianity and what that looked like and I don't god. I pastor. I don't know anybody that moves Without having some pain involved. Absolutely Like I mean, I don't know. Maybe there's some people you probably could name a couple That's how that's how we know we're on the threshold and the brink Of what I believe is going to be the greatest move of god that this generation and this this nation has ever seen We've gone through so much pain. We're so disconnected from one another You know racial tension is at the highest level in modern day history political tension is is an incredible Heights so when we get to a place of realizing that that as believers as christians We have the ability to speak into that You know the fact that you were surprised that I was willing to to Have you come and share that that one sunday? Why not we need to have christians in political spaces in places locally Throughout each each state and around the nation who are who are representing the kingdom of god In in the in the political spectrum of this country and if we don't do that And if people think well because i'm christian I I don't have the ability to speak politically Into this nation. Uh, we're going to be headed down down some difficult difficult roads I I literally wanted to punch people when they would say stuff like that to me I'm just like oh, so you're gonna leave it to everyone else right People who don't share the same values as you you're gonna just let them be in charge of everything Obviously, we don't I wouldn't want to live in a What the heck is it called when the church is like what leads the country? A theocracy I wouldn't want to live in a theocracy by any means absolutely, but There is a reason I mean they the founding fathers did say That this republic and the way that it was built was for a moral and just people That's right And you you don't have to be a christian to be moral and just But it helps absolutely absolutely it does Love thy neighbor like the whole point is like, you know, the government isn't supposed to be providing welfare You're supposed to be providing welfare I'm supposed to be provide like if there's somebody if there is a widow and an orphan in my community it's my responsibility to take care of them and it's almost Call me correct me again. I'm not a biblical scholar by any means But I would almost say that that's a sin to obfuscate our responsibility to the government to do it Sure. Yeah, I think there's a lot of you know, this is why god gives us gifts This is why he gives us purpose is why he gives us a vision You know, Habakkuk talks about the vision very clearly I believe that we could change that greatly if people would get a vision for their life And I think that if if people don't you know, the bible says without without vision people perish Uh without hope um without without faith We're headed down a difficult road But I believe that if people would get a vision for their life and begin to to a walk in the fullness of fulfilling that vision And seeing that vision come to pass that we would see We would see a whole widespread age Whole demographic of people come off of that because they've got something to live for We don't live for for the purposes of fulfilling government mandates and government Walk in government laws or what have you we we have been created to make a difference in the earth in this territory We've been given this territory as the people of god to go after it and take it for the for god's kingdom Not just sit back and leave it to a bunch of politicians to do But for the body of christ to get involved in that political landscape for the body of christ to get outside the subculture of the church and begin to connect with people who have lost their vision Who are stuck in those areas and in those ruts of life where they've lost their purpose? And it's our it is our responsibility to go and seek out the lost And bring them into a place like a local church where they can come in Find god find find a relationship with jesus get surrounded by a company of people so that we can help them Discover their purpose Reach okay, so this is a great time for me to pitch catalyst collective speaking of purpose being here for a purpose Benjamin and I work with this organization called the catalyst collective and they have a program called the purpose project And it is literally a program designed for you to to I went through it again when I wasn't a christian and when I was going through my midlife crisis And it was like wow these people care way too much about me for no reason And that was one of the things that was like another step of attraction towards the church, but It's not churchy in any way So you can do the purpose project whether you're a christian or not It doesn't matter you go and they help you discover it like your You know your meyers big personality type. What are the things that you're passionate about? What are your gifts and talents? What are your roadblocks? Like what are the things that tend to get in your way that you don't like and they basic and it basically like Helps you get a vision For what your unique god-given purpose is And it's because of them that i'm doing this podcast right now. It's awesome I mean really it was like I really thought that I was too damaged and too stupid And had screwed up too much in my life to pursue politics Which was my greatest passion and they helped me see that It didn't matter what I had done and that actually the stupid stuff I've done is actually of benefit and now I have a platform to share with people like you too can recover You can't you have not you have not fallen so far down that you cannot be redeemed and saved And I don't just mean by jesus. I just mean just generally. Yeah um So that's my pitch everybody go to purpose project dot is it purpose project dot com He's still not listening to me. He has said I don't know why I keep talking to him But purpose project or just go to catalyst collective and if you have questions message me So um, we have so everybody that's watching As a reminder, I have mr. Pastor Todd Callahan here with me from ignite church We're talking about Christianity and what it's like to be in hostile territory and uh, so if you have any questions for the pastor just Put them in the chat and we'll read them and ask and just so you know olga said toilet paper is top over always I would 100 agree with her. Okay. Good. Good man. I actually don't care That's one thing we've never argued about. Um, I remember my mom very specifically one time I don't remember what the context of the conversation was but she was like Arguing about that stuff doesn't matter if one person wants to squeeze the the toothpaste from the bottom And you want to squeeze it from the middle just get two tubes of toothpaste There you go. There you go That's my mom is freaking awesome. She's so smart. Okay. Um, okay So ray says I've heard Vermont is one of the least church Church going states does pastor have any thoughts and we did discuss that a little bit earlier Um, do you you don't have any like statistics on that or anything to you? I don't yeah, I don't um, I just know there's there's there's a there's a Harvest field that is right. Oh Oh, I like it. I literally tell all my friends in texas. I'm like yo You don't have to go to south america for a mission trip. That's right. You don't have to go to africa I mean you can do that. We had we just met a pastor And his family are leaving for laos In a in a couple months. That's cool But you could just go from hot Absolutely great mission field territory up here. I told I I Probably gonna get in trouble for saying this but I mean, that's really why I stayed Um, the last couple of years You know, I moved back at the end of 2018 to buy my grandparents house and And that same year was when the abortion bill passed allowing up until the point of birth And and then I found out that there was no personhood status for the unborn So I can assault a pregnant woman Cause her intentionally caused her to lose her unborn child And I will only be charged with assault on the mother And I just remember being like What? Yeah Like what? We dehumanized babies so much to the point where we will just allow Wanted full grown babies to be killed with no recourse for the person who did it Okay, whatever and then gun laws and all this other stuff and I told my husband I was like I don't know where I am right now, but this is not where I grew up Yeah, and I'm not sure what's happening, but I feel Responsible to do something about it Yeah Like there was it's like you said there was this calling on my heart that said I was like, I can't leave I can't leave. I have to do something and I don't know what that means, but I have to just do something Absolutely And it makes me wonder because this is the thing so speaking of the un-churched Un-churched state Why do you think? So many Christians in Vermont are such chickens. I'm gonna get so much trouble for that I'm gonna get so much trouble for that But no seriously like I can't tell you how many people I talked to you that Like I was trying to get some like evangelism stuff going and like oh, what if we did like a graffiti cleanup? That was actually gonna go but then the riots started happening and then it wasn't safe anymore But like it was so hard to get people willing to do any sort of outreach or evangelism like You know just going and helping feed the poor or like whatever Why do you think everybody's so afraid? I mean Literally it says if god is with me nobody can be against me. Okay. I'm sorry. Go talk. No, you're fine I think there's been a lot of a lot of loud voices Over the years that are in opposition Of what we as believers model I believe there. I think there are a lot of Christians in that Because they've left a lot of their faith Experiences up to the pastor to go week after week after week. They maybe have not grown to the point of Vocalizing their faith because they can't talk about it at work They've got to say a family maybe that doesn't want to hear about it So they're they're in they're in constant territory of of not being able to share their faith on a regular basis So when you take someone who doesn't talk about their faith on a regular basis and now say well, we're gonna have an outreach We're gonna They haven't had any practice in that they they've they've been locked up. They've you know, they're they've been back into the corner So many times it's it's really uncomfortable for them. We actually just hired Hired on full-time worship. I'm not worship Outreach and evangelism pastor who's our worship leader's wife She's overseeing our outreach and evangelism full-time because we've got such a harvest Field that we've got to go reach here and I believe that we are we are going to see the least most the least church state In in this nation, we are going to see the greatest move of god come out of this state I'm believing in a revival in in vermont or in the northeast the last one came out of california. So we're due That's right. I'm saying And so one of the things That I think christians are really bad at okay, like i'm this is we're gonna have real talk time sure christians are absolutely trash at sharing their faith and and arguing for the bible or for jesus or whatever because I shouldn't say that Most of the ones I argued with before my husband were just not good at it like Like you can't say to me Okay, so this was one. This is one of the arguments That I heard was somebody said okay. Well if if evolution isn't a thing then how do you explain dinosaur bones? and This person said Lit this was I think my sister told me this story. Uh, and the person said um to test our faith Okay, and I was like Really that was the answer and she was like yeah, and I was like Well, first of all, uh uh The big bang could just as easily have also been let there be light right and um seven days Doesn't mean seven days. So like You know seven days in earthly terms is doesn't necessarily that mean that that's what it was for god And so one of those days could have been one dinosaurs were there and then hey a little bit later humans were there It doesn't it doesn't preclude evolution. It doesn't preclude any of the sciences like None of those that's not even a good answer Yeah, I think you know when you look at apologetics people just it's it's one of those things of not Understanding how to defend your faith that you believe in jesus you believe in the word of god But when you have to stand there and defend your faith Why you believe what you believe? I think that's where we lose a lot of a lot of christians And that's why the bible talks about very specifically. We've got to have our mind renewed daily We've got to allow washing and the watering of the word Um to to take place uh in our in our life so that we can explain Why we are the way we are why we believe what we believe How do you go and compel people as the bible says in the highways in the bible is how do you compel people if you Can't defend your faith and I think a lot of people lean on their testimony More than they lean on the word of god to defend their faith. Well, god saved me from this and god You know saved me from that and that that's awesome. But but why jesus? Why is jesus the only way? Why why why is there absolute truth in the bible? But yet I believe something else But you say I can't go to heaven because I don't believe in what you do So how do you know you're right and how do you know i'm wrong? I think it's very difficult for some for some people to defend that because they feel as though They're demeaning the person that's asking the question by saying well, if you don't believe in jesus, you're not going to heaven Because the bible clearly states there's only one way to the father and that's through the son So I think christians kind of back away from those conversations Out of not wanting to hurt the other person's feelings or not wanting to cause um any animosity from the one asking the question so I think we've allowed the culture And difficult relationships to get in and plague our ability to to emphatically say jesus is the only way Yeah, I think that's interesting that that whole i'm right in your wrong thing I I hear that all of the time like who are you to say that you're you know the answer and To that I often say I don't I could I could die and get to the other side of heaven and have been a hundred percent wrong Absolutely and And if that's true then There are other things that are true with that too like Jesus deserved the death that he got them Because he was running around telling everybody that he was god and that he was the way the the truth in the light And that that was the only way to get to heaven and if he was doing that and it's not true Then he definitely deserved what he got number one number two If I am dead wrong about my faith, which I don't believe that I am and that is you when you talk about testimony, right? Like there's just things that I cannot explain And there is a piece that I have felt that cannot come From this earth that that is what I know And so I would rather Live my life like it's true Die and be wrong But live my life Believing and knowing I'm getting goosebumps Knowing I'm gonna cry. I might cry while we're talking I Knowing that that there is someone out there that loves me so much Despite all of my flaws that he would give his life for me Yeah Yeah That's right. I remember the first time I really Grasp that And that that was that was the day I gave my life to Jesus. It was like wait a second you mean I am perfect and whole Just as I am And I don't have to hate myself for the for the things that I can't fix about myself And I don't have to feel shame and I don't have to feel I mean not that a little shame once in a while isn't a good thing But you know what I mean like I don't have to like live in that under the weight of that Yeah Like what And then I was like everybody needs Jesus now. I'm like everybody needs Jesus. Absolutely I'm saying we have to be bold enough to go out and share that faith Especially in the middle of the climate that we're in right now. Oh my god. Okay, so let's get into okay I I normally don't take this many notes, but I I was so excited I wrote down all these questions because there's so much I want to get to Okay, um Let's see so We have to talk about the pandemic. Yes and the lockdowns. Absolutely. Um, I I So I I I found some articles In some of the local papers being like they're not wearing masks and somebody touched my elbow and I was like I was like you were horrified that somebody Touched your elbow and guided you but I'm Correct me if I'm wrong pastor Do people get coveted through their elbow? No, I'm just kidding. Don't don't answer that We'll probably get banned from facebook and youtube for like all the medical information That already happened to our church. So we're you know practically we can't we can't we can't promote any more posts on facebook You know, we were promoting our our freedom summit this coming weekend next weekend actually and uh charlie kerr coming in june to speak and Found out that facebook has now disabled our ability to sponsor any ads and On facebook and instagram. So hey, you know, it's all good. We I we took the live stream off of facebook I say and maybe may we started realizing that there was a lot of shadow banning happening on our So, you know, we're not going to give those guys the ability to control Um, you know our reach and and what we what we're able to what we want to Put out there as content. So we just took our live streams off of facebook anyway. Oh that is so that is Oh my god, that makes me so irritated. Um There are still people who don't think that uh like shadow banning and stuff like that is a real thing But so okay, so sorry if you if you mentioned this and I missed it So you're off facebook now and instagram, right? They've banned you or whatever But they've they've um suspended your account suspended our ability to promote Any events or any boys like that? Yeah, okay, but they gave you no reason and if you wanted to find out You'd have to go through some in-depth Investigation correct they would they they have to I have to request an internal review And they will look at everything and make a decision on why We were uh, uh adjusted the way we were well, and I think it's interesting. I've even seen people Like reading directly from the cdc Website being banned and cut off because they're like, oh that's now what people want to hear and it's like But that's what you said the science this is the science, right? yeah, so I'm gonna ask you a couple of really hard questions. I'm gonna make you really uncomfortable now so So you guys have had, uh, you know, you've kept you've stayed open um, you've been meeting you have worship, you know, you're not canceling worship um And your folks aren't up there in masks doing worship which is stupid But whatever like I'm like masks anyway So have you had any major outbreaks? No, you have not you know, we we at the beginning of this we closed as everybody did at the beginning with with, you know, some Exceptions, you know, not really knowing what was happening. What was going on? So we did that for several weeks and Got to the point to where president trump. I've made a statement that churches needed to be open As soon as he made that statement That next weekend I decided if if he's making this declaration on a national platform And I wholeheartedly 100 agree we're going to go ahead and open and that's what we did We remained open through the rest of last year and As I had told Our local law enforcement as I had told The health department here in vermont the governor's office. We will I will watch the numbers And if there's ever a time where I feel as though the numbers are high and we've got outbreaks We will take some time away To help that To help that situation we did that in january when vermont had an increase of of covid cases and I made that decision I didn't need a governor to tell me I didn't need a health department official to tell me to do that um, dr Wait, you mean wait You mean you can think for yourself, right? Isn't that what a concept? Do you mean you have a a church full of people who trust you to lead them? Well, you know, here's the thing if if you want to come then you can come if you don't want to be here Because you you you know, you've got some things that you're working through and and you don't feel comfortable in that setting That's fine. You can you can make so I totally interrupted you. Please feel free You were saying something about dr. Louie dr. Louie and I um You know, we we've had some in-depth conversations and and we're on different paradigms and different perspectives and that and that's okay We've taken the precautions at the height of this thing everything we needed to do. We were separating rows We were yeah, we're we're still having we're still treating this with a chlorine based A solution which is what hospitals use Around the nation to treat their rooms and their spaces We're using uv light technology We've got hand sanitizing stations. We're doing everything that we can do We got air purifiers throughout the building in the sanctuary everything that we can do To help make that space clean and pristine when people arrive It's cleaned multiple multiple times throughout the week And we've done everything that we can do to give that make that space presentable and acceptable when people Come in and I don't see that happening at the mall. I don't see that happening in the grocery stores I don't see that kind of treatment happening in public spaces. We've put all of the safety on a mask you think that Home depot was doing all that the one the one store you were still allowed to go to wal-mart Yeah, no no so I was glad to see I I don't think you guys got any like shutdowns or Notices or anything like that from the state. Is that right? That's correct. That's praise jesus That's correct praise jesus for that because I went to do a little extra research in preparation for the show just to make sure and I was like Why were they giving I'm a swore. Why are they giving crap to like I remember the irisburg church got a lot of Play in the media as well And I've actually been surprised to see that They you know while they Bluster a lot about what they're gonna do and how terrible everybody is they didn't actually take much in the way of enforcement against anybody Knock on wood Right, right So that's really good. Well, you know, it helps to have Brilliant legal counsel advising you as well I think chris ann when she comes to the church next weekend will will speak into that But you know when you look at these mandates and you see how they've circumvented vermont's own constitution Not just the constitution of this country, but our own state's constitution. They've circumvented that They've made that essentially irrelevant based upon the mandates they put forward It's very difficult for them to sit here and say well, we're gonna shut you down if you don't do as we say Just because it's a pandemic does not mean the constitutional rights of of Christians of of any american any resident of any state are are now Invalid but but you have so many other churches See, yes Yes And all of these churches. This was the excuse that I was told Was well, you know, it also says in the bible give unto Caesar. What is do Caesar or whatever and I was like Yeah, are you serious right now? I had Romans 13 thrown at me multiple times Multiple times about that. So, you know, just because Caesar says it belongs to Caesar doesn't mean it's Caesar Caesars if it belongs to god and it's of the kingdom, that's where it remains Just because Caesar says you can't you you can't assemble and have worship My bible says not to forsake the assembling of the saints. Well pastor, you have technology you can just Allow that technology to reach people in their home and and listen You cannot tell me that being in the house of god together As an assembly gathering together as the body of christ is the same as watching it on a computer And I think our cell phone it is not and we are like We are human beings are pack animals We need to be with one another and so you like so many people already before this started Had this sense of loneliness and aloneness and a lack of belonging lack of community and somehow you want me to believe that watching somebody on television Is the same as being held when i'm suffering or having somebody hold my hand That's right You know, I can tell you for sure that my husband when uh, we were you know Going back and forth to places for six weeks of him not holding my hand Seeing him on zoom was not sufficient. Absolutely And a marriage can't last that way. That's right relationships While you may be able to have a superficial level there is something about The the energy like I just I know for me personally the closest that I have ever felt to god You know other than like prayer and some other like, you know, really big spiritual experiences In my day-to-day life the closest that I felt to god was when I was working Me to me with another alcoholic taking them through the steps Working with them helping them get sober watching the light bulbs go off As they realize that they're actually free Uh, and that they'll be okay Yeah, there's nothing That has ever come close to that in my regular life We're built to be relational We're not built to be separated the way we have been and and and you hit a very specific Point about mental health and that's why the bible talks about the mind so much Um, you know, I've I've received messages throughout this this whole year this past year of people saying I can't do this anymore Uh, I'm not sure how much longer I can live like this Because they've lost hope And and when when mandates become the driving force when political mandates become the driving force To the hope that we have as a people Then we have lost sight as a nation and we have put we have created We we've created a space for ourselves. That's going to cause great damage to our our our spiritual well-being And our mental well-being. Oh my god. Oh my god. Government is the golden calf. Yeah, absolutely. Oh my god. Yeah Oh my god, I just like probably people have been saying that for a year, but that just just hit me Yeah, dr. Fauci and dr. Levine and the governor and everybody like we have made them our god Yeah Absolutely You know, it's and it's not that we don't value the perspective and the insight of scientists and doctors and of course value that But again, we you know, the we have the ability to make decisions about our health about our Our activity things that we I mean, this is this is a free nation You know, we have the ability to do that and um, we have to protect that and not not necessarily just with Refusing or accepting a vaccine But with our religious liberty and our religious freedom that we have been granted and given In this nation so to put that in the hands of a politician is a very dangerous thing to do Yeah, I know I don't want I don't I don't need you to I don't need you to take care of me Right. I need you to let me take care of myself. Absolutely. They're not coming around making speed limits five miles an hour So nobody dies of a car crash anymore. That's right. They're not banning fast food That's right. So that people don't die of heart attacks anymore. They're not banning Candy bars So people don't have diabetes anymore like right You don't think that you have that much right in any other aspect of my life Well some but you get my point. Yeah, why this and why now? absolutely Where oh man, I don't even know my brain is just like I just don't understand How we got to a place where people are willing to trust the government Yeah, to the extent that they do. Yeah, well, we have a terrible track record. Sure. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely We had people reaching out to us because I'd made a statement based on in that article that you were you were Just referring to who had said, you know what the pastor was saying That that if jesus was Was in this in this time that we're living in in covet that he would be laying hands on the sick and Getting the sick. I'm like, yes. That's biblical That's what we're called to do as well to lay hands on the sick to pray over them And that was an attempt to to say to make it seem as though we were being Unsafe by laying hands on the sick again Just because Caesar says it belongs to Caesar and which they six feet apart Doesn't mean that I can't lay hands on somebody and come into agreement with them Oh for their healing and I think that if we would have had more churches who were willing to to And again I understand that the heart of the heart of a pastor is to make sure everyone is healthy to make sure everyone Is is safe and I understand that and I appreciate that and I value that And I believe that that I modeled that and that that I that I did that to the best of my ability during during this time But that does not mean that we forsake the gathering and and allow And allow people who are not spiritually minded to make decisions about those who are Yeah, oh my goodness. I Actually, so I'm gonna speak a little I want you to speak a little more on that But I have to read Olga's comment. She wrote the cult of covidians has its high priests. Hmm. That's good. That's a good one Like that's good. I'm gonna use that later. That's that is really what it is but When you're talking about You know, we're called to put hands on people and to pray for them and for their healing and you know, especially Given we weren't even allowed to see our sick and dying family especially um I being You know by coastal You know the hubby and I live in vermont and in texas. Yeah And I saw a very it's a very different world right texas now especially now. There's no mandates Um, there's some places who are still requiring masks and doing whatever but you know, all the mandates have been lifted Obviously vermont is still very much shut down very much restricted And but even last year like last fall last summer Um, you know, if you went into austin or maybe the big box stores or like h eb Which is the big grocery store here You definitely had to wear a mask and somebody might give you crap if you weren't wearing one But you could go pretty much anywhere and people were not wearing masks Uh, you know, you you just okay. We'll we'll you know Do the do the little show and put it on to walk into the restaurant I'm gonna take it off as soon as I get to my table. So it doesn't really matter Like we went out for benjamin's birthday in april. I think we went out on may 1st um when the restaurants reopened to full capacity We went out and The just the way but then like in vermont I had a gathering a political gathering at my house. We were outside People were actually pretty socially distanced Some people were wearing masks if they felt like they needed to like one of our guests Has health issues. So he and his wife were both wearing masks Sure And they were socially distancing and I got screamed at by a lady. She she it was so funny She rode her bike by the cable took her mask off to scream at us You know, so you have these, you know, and they're they're you know Calling the snitch line on their neighbors and all this stuff And people would ask me Why do you think texas is dealing with it so much differently? And this is also keeping in mind driving back and forth twice So we've I've been on a plane We've been at least a dozens of planes over the over the year both of us and then drove Drove to vermont once and then back to texas once during that time And you just see how different people in the south are sure that and then you see how it changes as you head up north And I told people I really think the difference is jesus. Yeah, absolutely. I think people in the south are More comfortable with death sure and You know, I this is totally anecdotal I have no research to back this up or anything like that But I really do think there's something about being a christian Where okay, I'm good with jesus. I have a purpose for my life I know that there is more when I die. I'm not just going to be worm food I've got eternity to go to and so we're okay if I die Like i'm gonna die whenever god wants me i'm gonna die and if it's of covet That's what it is and if it's by a bus tomorrow or falling down the stairs yeah Do you can you speak to that at all? Do you think that's an accurate sort of Hypothesis or am I like way off? Yeah, you know, it's definitely not the southern tea that makes everyone You know, though I do like my southern tea, um, you know, I I think you you know, you've hit something I think you know When you you relate to the south you look at the bible belt You know having lived 21 years in in metropolitan orlando. It's such a melting pot and a meshing pot They've got over 2,000 churches right there in metropolitan orlando and you begin to see All kinds of different walks of life demographics, but yet people are still Kind and loving and warm to one another And I think in different parts of the of the country on you know, I I've spent some time in in many different states around the nation And I kind of agree, you know with what you said and there seems to be a heavier Um, I don't want to say darkness but spirit up here in England that just kind of permeates People's personalities and and conversations and and it's oftentimes difficult to relate to somebody Who hasn't been through and experience what you have in another part of the country? Um, but with that said what a great opportunity to be able to come and and and meet people of of Different backgrounds different heritages, you know brought up and raised differently and be able to reflect Something opposite, you know, there's a there's a certain grocery store. I love to go to Around the area here and and uh That's just one of my mission fields. I go in there and oftentimes they're grumpy and you won't want to have a conversation And you know, I just kind of get you know eye level and we kind of like how are you? How's your day going? You know and whether they don't want to talk or whether they do want I'm going to engage them in conversation. Um, but but I think there are barriers that we have to break through In certain in certain areas of the country and it is definitely more difficult in the new england area Versus the south and and I think when you get through The religion, you know, new england has its religious tendencies Religious, um, you know based on catholicism being very dominant and predominant here in new england And religion is nothing more than conforming to an outer code of conduct And and I think that when when you look at religion and use that term religion It's where we try to conform outwardly and allow our our Um transformation outwardly to affect our internal a relationship with jesus A relationship with jesus changing us from the inside Out so we don't live outwardly inwardly. We live we live inwardly Outwardly, oh my god, that just blew my mind is that yeah, I think as we begin to do that it changes that whole perspective of you know, well the the the south is is You know more kind and more gentle and and well, you know, that's the whole bible belt era You got grandma and grandpa still down there and they've grown up in the church You've got you know, um people from all walks of life and though they may not be Living out their faith every single day. They still have the reverence of of What it means to go to church what it means to Be a believer in this nation what it means to model the morality as a christian Um and and and in an opposing world So I think when you get up into england and you get into the intellectual part of the nation That faith is one of those things where because it's faith And it's not a to z and you can pinpoint a and b and b and c and c and d and and unite everything together We're walking out faith That does not necessarily Answer everybody's intellectual question It's very difficult for some to operate in that space of understanding what it means to be a christian and live out our faith Therefore when you are evangelizing and you're trying to have outreach people can seem very closed off I wonder what it would be like if all of us In our daily interactions My husband and I went through this program called landmark and there's this one exercise that we have to do Where you have to stand in front of another person like really close And just stare into each other's eyes for like five minutes. It's very awkward at first Yeah, but Ever since then I really go out of my way when I'm talking people like you mentioned at the grocery store I'm very intentionally looking at them in their eyes How are you and I really am genuinely asking How's your day? Oh my god, that's such a pretty blouse. Wow. Look at that. All those earrings are so cool You know fill in the blank. Absolutely and and the exercise is is called be with Wow, because you're meant to be with the person. You don't have to say anything You don't have to be doing anything. Just be with them. Yeah, and what that just that presence How much more you can see in people how much more you can read? um Here I know not really hearing because we weren't talking but like Like you can I You can hear so much that's not the right word, but you're just like experiencing them as a human being Yeah, absolutely And what if all of us could just be with the people that we interact on a daily basis? That's right I'm gonna challenge everybody to do that. Look people in the eyes. Um Okay, so we are We are coming close to a good place to close So anybody that's watching if you have a question for pastor Callahan, you need to ask it now Um, I see there's some comments. Let's see I love Olga said I'm not religious, but I truly appreciate this conversation. That's what I'm talking about Like getting to know each other Understanding one another. Absolutely. Oh my god. This is the I've I've said to my husband because he grew up here And he grew up in Colleen, uh, military town. So very multicultural, right? When I I remember the first time I went to a party with my husband Where he invited me to like go meet his friends And it was every nationality basically was represented at that table and It was like I was one of two white people at a table of like 15 and it was like Mexican, porto rican Japanese Korean, you know everything and You know, so he's grown up in a place that's really multicultural and As a result, they got to know and understand one another. Sure They got to understand each other's cultures They got to see what it was like to have a porto rican mom throw her shoe at you like that's a real thing Uh, you know She can attest to that. Okay. Does she throw does she throw shoes at your children? She does not. No Okay. All right. I just curious because I was gonna have to give her crap about it but it's but like Some of these stereotypes are real and it's and it's not meant to be a cut and it's not meant to be hurtful It's cute. Like we're supposed to want to learn about one another. Absolutely. We're supposed to value our differences Scared of offending each other I said I said if we went now that if you wear a shirt or you say something It's now cultural appropriation if you ask where somebody's from it's racist. It's like, well, wait, hold on a second You're now making it so that I'm afraid of you. That's right Because if if you're not a white person now Anything I risk offending you no matter what I say Yeah, absolutely. So why would I then go out of my way to learn about your culture and learn about you and what what makes You unique and special If i'm gonna be punished for it. That's right. Well, you know, I've grown up saying yes, ma'am. No ma'am. Yes, sir No, sir. So now we're at the place in our culture. Where is that going to be? Because I you know, I'm insinuating something saying that when I'm trying to Of course honor and respect to the person I'm talking to And and that's not allowed. Yeah Not allowed I do too. I do too. I'm just I'm not gonna you're not gonna keep me from talking Right It's like are you trying to prevent us from being able to communicate with one another and almost feels like that's what's happening Absolutely, like no you need to be as divided as possible So be as afraid of each other as possible and then just stay in your own little bubble Apart from that's right That's right. You know that that that's you know That's so true It's so true, you know, I we could have been afraid of of what the political kickbacks are going to be by by remaining open during this pandemic and and Standing the way that we did But we we've reached we've received messages from different parts of the country of people who've Heard the story or read read an article or or saw on facebook or what have your instagram That you know, there were things still happening and and are you open? Yeah, we're open because we believe that we've got absolute truth in the word of god that we have to model for this culture If when we were determining how we were going to handle some specific things with with With this whole covet situation We got to a point to where it was if we step over this threshold, we're going to deal possibly with political kickback and repercussions and things like that, but if if we didn't and allow the government to Treat us as a doormat and we became that and we cracked that door It's very difficult to close that door once that door Yep, and so no matter what was said no matter what um type of of Kickbacks were going to happen We had to stand firm on our belief and our our the values that we hold dear If someone else doesn't hold those same values that does not make them a bad person that I you know If someone doesn't hold the same values that I do I don't look at them differently I'm not going to treat them differently. There may be some experiences in life We're probably not going to share together, but I'm not going to look down on them. I'm not going to speak differently I'm not going to you know to say that they're this they're that and label them And I think that we've got to be careful as a culture to make sure that we honor the gift that each and every person is Whether they're saved or whether they believe, you know the same as you do politically Every single one of us were created by god every single one of us have a gift every single one of us have a calling And if god gets a hold of their life, that's going to accelerate that gift and accelerate that calling But we need people to begin to speak into this culture in a way that brings healing in a way that brings Unity in a way that that this political divisiveness that we see in this culture begins to um Be eradicated and eliminated and we understand that that we are human beings We are men and women in the same territory in the same space and we've got to learn to love one another That's why the bible says pray for your enemies love your enemies And we've got to begin to learn to model and reflect god's kingdom Even in the midst of such a crazy political climate where people are at each other's throats We've got to learn to love one another in spite of all one that it's it says uh love each other And love your neighbor as yourself. That's right, you know, we Pete uh shoot how does it go? Um, they will know Who you are by the fruits of What is that like god like people we should be people should be able to differentiate us from everybody else absolutely absolutely We should Be able to and I say this as a person who is in politics and I want to punch everyone in the face all of the time So I'm like preaching to myself right now but like that is Like can you imagine if with all of the ugliness and divisiveness all of us were just like I love you anyway. Yeah I love you. I love you while you spit in my face. Yep Oh Okay Okay, so I want to end on some hope but first first I want to share a little bit about today's sponsor This is me being really awkward because I haven't figured out yet how I want to do sponsorships But we have our first sponsor So I am wearing a necklace by Shannon Bundy Her company her website is called a perihelium. That is really hard to spell So I'm going to show you guys the website Here one second. Let's see. Okay perihelium i h i o n perihelium vt.com if you can see that website up there She makes really beautiful necklaces. You can see I've got this one on here And she makes custom stuff And I actually okay, so just so look at this first of all oops That's another necklace she has on her website. I think it's super dope I'm totally buying these earrings. They're amazing. She can make custom stuff So sometimes she can make custom stuff and sometimes she can't so if you were like Oh, I love these earrings, but I want them to have green stones instead She can make it that way but also Sometimes she can't because one of the really cool things Is many of her items are actually made from jewelry that she's gotten at Guard sales or estate sales or things like that so Many of her pieces are actually one of a kind because she only got One of those stones or one of those pendants or whatever it is and she made it from that or You know limited edition pearls or something so You can actually get a one-of-a-kind piece for like 60 bucks Which I keep telling her she needs to raise her prices like look at this. I'm totally buying this. It's 60 dollars That's all pearls Those are all freshwater pearls and it's only a 60 dollar necklace Shannon you need to charge more so go to perihelion vt.com Check out her jewelry. It's beautiful. It's amazing. I get compliments on my stuff all the time it's why I decided to You know have her be a sponsor I I wear her I have so many of her pieces and I get so many compliments on all of them all of the time Go to perihelion vt.com and check it out. Sheanna bundy. She's awesome. She makes really pretty stuff Okay, so back to our back to our programming Now before we went uh live pastor calhan. Um, I asked you A question I said have you been seeing More people I'm just curious like have more people been coming into the church with all of this stuff going on You know, absolutely. And and so I wanted you to share a little bit um of hope with our audience with the what you've seen the move of god that you've seen in our community and um the the um Baptizing and stuff. I just was like that is so awesome. So I just love it if you'd share with the audience We had four people get saved sunday at the same time. We had 27 people get baptized. I mean that was incredible Incredible people giving their heart and life to christ people who have Never been baptized at the age ranges were unbelievable and The background stories were incredible And there is a move of god that's happening and I think as we remain true instead fast to that word Remains remain true instead fast to what it is that god is asking each and every one of us to do as believers There will be a move of god that transcends Anything we've ever seen before But we cannot be afraid to use our voice We cannot be afraid to allow our life to model What it is that that we believe in who we are as a christian who we are as believers We cannot allow the political spectrum of this nation to be louder than the kingdom of god We have to position ourselves god has given us this territory The church has for far too long not leveraged the authority. Jesus said i've given you all authority I've given you the keys to the kingdom and we have not even in 2021 We have not learned how to leverage that authority that kingdom authority in the earth And I think we're coming to a point in time. We're coming to a to a to a an awakening in this nation where we are Understanding what it means to leverage that authority in the earth We've got to stand strong and as we do we will see the body of christ grow People who've gone through that church hurt that we were talking about coming back to church People who don't know jesus as their lord and savior coming and being saved and growing In the knowledge of of the word of god And I think we will see signs and wonders and and miracles and healings begin to take place If we will begin to model the kingdom of god and represent that in the earth today There's a mighty move the spirit of god that's coming and there's no political divide that can stop it There is no, uh, there is no mountain that's big enough that will will hinder what god's about to do So I believe we're about to have an awakening. We're seeing it in this church We're seeing it across the nation I just received a phone call the other day from a from a gentleman who's out with shon foight And they're having incredible meetings out in in on the west coast Believe it or not and god is how there's a major awakening that's beginning to happen So anytime you begin to suppress the body of christ you begin to suppress the move of god Get ready because when those doors swing wide open there is going to be a tsunami An incredible wave that's going to hit this culture in this generation And I believe we're standing at the door We're on the threshold of what's going to be the greatest move of god that our generation our modern day generation has ever seen Oh my god, I just got goosebumps. Oh, yeah, hallelujah. Amen. Praise jesus. Yeah all of it Everybody out there should be screaming hallelujah right now Um, I normally will say something to close but that was perfect So i'm not gonna say anything else except see you guys all next week Um, okay, so tell everybody before we go Um, so I did I put the church uh address because people were like, where's this church? So I put the address and everything in there. Um, why don't you share just um, like when do you have services? Uh, let's see share when you have services and then share Maybe how people can get in touch with you if they have if they have questions And then a little more about those events you have going on Coming up that and how we can help you advertise since the socials are not letting you do it Absolutely, you can go to website ignite church vt.com. We're on social media Facebook instagram YouTube you can download our church app on the google play store and the uh the app store under ignite church vt And you can download that and you're connected to everything that's taking place Um in the church next weekend. We've got uh, attorney chris han hall with her husband JD will be with us uh friday night at 7 p.m. And they will be with us all day saturday up till 4 p.m. We have an hour break in there So that's a special time our normal services are at 10 a.m. On sundays and wednesday nights at 7 p.m This is outside of that. This will be a friday night and a saturday morning and saturday afternoon You can register for that through our website Ignite church vt.com We've got a link for that that will connect you to i-tickets. It's free registration The only reason we ask for people to register so we know how much uh lunch to order Other than that it is it is an informative time to empower you to equip you to strengthen every person Who is in this state in this in this region? To understand what it means to Live in such a culture as this and make sure that you do not have your freedoms taken from you So that's happening uh next weekend. Uh, then coming up in june, uh charlie kirk and erica fransvay his fiancee will be with us That's going to be powerful. It's going to be an incredible time. He'll be speaking uh, june I believe it's june 27th, which is a sunday morning. He'll be with us in service at 10 a.m That is open. Um, there's no registration necessary for that. You don't want to miss that That's going to be incredible We've just we just partnered with turning point usa so we're excited to begin that partnership and uh, are working Uh and looking into a Conference this coming fall with some incredible speakers. So that's going to be incredible You don't want to miss that either. So all of that will be on our social media. That'll be on our website And um, god's doing great things Amen Hey everybody go to the go to their facebook page Share those events with your people so we can get folks to know that it's happening Uh, this is super exciting And I personally cannot wait to be home next week and get to come to church and uh be in there with you guys celebrating and uh, feel this energy because oh my god, I'm so excited Yes, okay. All right cool. And oh by the way, this was your inaugural podcast It is we just got a brand new podcast studios. This is the first time we've uh, we've used it So yeah, you help break it in for us It's awesome. I'm gonna have to ask you what that microphone is because you sound amazing This is a um Look at this one. This is an electro voice It's actually the one that rushland bob would use on his program But mine's not cool. I don't have the gold. Oh, that's okay. You're not cool enough yet But you'll get there right you'll get there All right. Okay. Pastor Callahan hold on with me one second while I end the live stream Oh, thank you. Mary Mary Sheldon says thank you Erica and Todd and everybody's been awesome. Oh, this is so great. Okay. All right Okay, hold on while I end the broadcast Let's see here