What's up, Street Team family? You're watching this episode of the Street Preachers Podcast with your hosts, Tim Timberlake and Philip Anthony Mitchell. And you are tuned in to our special behind-the-scenes series of our very first Street Preachers Podcast tour. Stay locked. Now, before we get to D.C., Chance had an accident. Yeah, my dog. Remember this? Yeah. And so you're traveling to D.C. Chance had an accident. He has that spinal cord injury. Yep. And so I text you, bro, how you feeling coming into D.C.? Yep. You text back, I'm not well, bro. I'm not well, yeah. The family's not well. The family's hurting. And so, you know, each stop presents another obstacle that you spiritually overcome. And so when people are seeing these episodes, they have no idea what's going on. Of all the turmoil going by in the scenes. We have no idea what we're carrying, what we're stewarding, the things that are unfolding in our churches, the things that are unfolding in our families. Warfare on social media. Warfare at the church. Every single turn. Every single turn. There was warfare the whole way through. And that second city, Chance had that spinal cord injury. My family was broken. My family was devastated. I mean, we loved that dog. I posted a scripture about how God says we should love our animals. and I remember I put it out on social media hey listen if you're a follower of Jesus and you understand the bond between creature and man would you just pray for my dog and my family and I remember arriving in D.C. and I told you I said my family is hurting not only am I gone again but our dog is paralyzed and it was a very difficult time for me arriving in D.C. but then God sold out D.C. twice and we had to do two nights in D.C. over a thousand people and again I'm like shocked like God I'm coming here with all of this trauma. Families grieving that I'm gone. Dog is paralyzed. Warfare on social media. And God shows up again. And we did something different in D.C. that we didn't do in Dallas. Yeah. At the end of the first night of the recording we started to ask people in the audience That's where they came from. And we never done that. We didn't do that in Dallas. No, we didn't do that in Dallas. And we start hearing people flew from Australia. From other countries. People are flying from Jamaica. Somebody came from Germany. I remember that night somebody came from Germany. I said, wait, you came from Germany? To be in a podcast recording? Just to be here. Remember that? Not to go to one of the historic sites. Not to be a tourist. to come to a podcast recording. Yeah, I remember that. And we sat there for like two minutes, just kind of shocked and blown away at the mercy of God to move upon someone's heart to travel from another country to be in the room for what God had given us as a vision. And then it became hyper aware to me, this is far bigger than anything we could have ever seen you know it was it was it was dc that began to open my eyes when i begin to realize exactly what you said is true that this is this is much bigger than just a podcast god is doing something that is beyond beyond tim and I When I started hearing how far people were traveling And then when we were doing a step and repeat and we were meeting people in VIP and hearing their stories and how God had been working through Celebration Church and working through 2019 and hearing stories of life change. And I was shocked as I'm hearing these stories. And after night one of D.C., I've realized, okay, God, maybe your hand really is on this. Maybe this is not happenstance that these rooms are filling up and we're hearing the stories. And it was that night at D.C. when my mind started to shift like, okay, maybe we're supposed to be out here on the road. And then night two in D.C., same thing. Same thing. The Lord fills the room. Sold out. Sold out. Stories of people traveling from all around the country and around the world. I don't know if you remember this, but it was night two of D.C. I have a friend. His name is Kern Proverbs. Kern Proverbs. And we went to high school together. And I hadn't seen him in like 20-something years. He pulled up to night two in D.C. with his wife. And that was the couple that came to the back. And I had not seen my brother in like 20 years. And he pulled up to D.C. And I remember him being impacted that night. and I remember weeping over my brother that night and his wife and praying for them. And I remember being in the back that night and saying, okay, God, because there was even warfare in the back that night. We had warfare in the green room, right? Remember we had some drama in the green room to unfold and we had to deal with some warfare. And it seemed like, okay, the first night had warfare. The second night had warfare. The third night had warfare. But God was showing up. No night came easy. There was a lot of warfare in the back and a lot of warfare around us. And that chance had got crippled, but God showed up in such a mighty way in D.C. Such a mighty, mighty way in D.C. And we got to give a shout out to the Museum of the Bible. Oh, my gosh. Right? Absolutely. We should shout them out to them. Absolutely. That they were gracious enough to allow us to use that facility. They put us up in two beautiful rooms. Yeah. We had a chance to tour. if you're watching this episode and you're ever in the city of D.C., we want to recommend that you tour the museum of the Bible. They're not paying us to say this. I'm not getting any money for saying this. I'm just telling you, it is a very impactful museum. I think that family spent over a billion dollars building out the museum. It's a very, very interactive, immersive experience that would truly be a blessing to your family. I had a chance to do one tour in the museum and it was very impactful. But it was leaving D.C. and my wife called me again. She said, how was it? And I said, Lena, I said, Lena, I said, I know y'all are not happy that I'm out here on the road. But Lena, God is doing something and I can't explain it. And that was the second time. This was the third night. I said to Lena, I think there's a revival happening out here on the road. People are finding hope. People are being inspired. People are being encouraged, Lena. People are getting saved. People are testifying to healings. I said, Lena, we're feeling the spirit of God. I know it's coming at a price. I know y'all don't want me on the road that much. But Lena, God is doing something out here that is so unbelievable. I cannot even articulate it in words. This was the conversation I was having with my wife. It was almost like by that third night I was becoming a believer. and that Jonah spirit was coming off of me But it was still coming at a high price Absolutely Remember this Absolutely I think the most encouraging thing for me and for our street team one of the things that over time you learn about me, I'm kind of like Batman. I like to stay in the shadows. I don't need a pulpit. I don't need a platform. I don't need attention. I like to stay in the shadows. And my greatest joy is to see how God utilizes the gifts of great men and women that are in my life to impact people around the world. And to see and witness how God is using my brother Phil and 2819 and the message and to literally see person after person say, I never went to church. I was far from God. I was an atheist. We had one brother that said, I got saved three months ago. I remember him. Because I came across your YouTube. Yeah, I remember him. And every testimony, I'm sitting here listening, because we're in a circle. Yeah. We're listening to these brothers and sisters just share how the gospel has transformed their life. And I'm like, man, this is why the heck we are doing this. You know, I appreciate you saying that, bro. You know, that really means a lot that you will mention that. And you know, that was almost like food for my soul, right? Because you, I mean, we could talk about this now. You know, last year was the most difficult year of ministry for me in 13 years of ministry. It was the absolute most painful, right? God definitely blessed the ministry he trusted to me, but it also came, we talked about this, the blessing and the breaking, right? And it was my first time dealing with public scrutiny, public slander, people trying to slide into me my kids DMs and my family having to see stuff like that. So for our family who we were not public figures, nobody knew who we was before last year, it was novel for us to deal with that level of just public warfare. And I remember when we was doing VIP and step and repeats and we were meeting people one-on-one and hearing testimonies of life change, it reminded me that I'm in Atlanta preaching to a local congregation and there's cameras in the room, but it's a reminder that the gospel's not chained to a room, right? The gospel's not chained to a camera. And it reminded me how in these last days how God was winning souls and transforming lives all around the country and around the world. I mean, you have two television programs. You know, you have a television program and two major networks. I mean, you've been a public figure for many years before I was, right? And so you was already accustomed to being a public figure and dealing with heat. You talked me through a lot of that. I remember you would show me some of the things people would say about you and things of that nature. And so it was like when it came to being a public figure and dealing with public scrutiny, I was on first base, but you was on third base. And I remember how you was walking me through some of that and helping me to normalize some of that. Shout out when you have good brothers and friends who have wisdom and experience and can walk with you through things. This is why if you're watching this podcast, you should not try to do life in a silo. That's right, man. This is why you should remember when the scripture teaches us that it's not good for man to be alone. This is why you should remember passages when the writers say things like, man woe is you man if you fall and nobody there to pick you up And this is why if you watching this message I know we live in a community a society that radically individualistic This is why we should, listen to me carefully. This is why we should thank Jesus for the genius of the church. how he could weave together by blood different people from different backgrounds and different colors and different ethnicities into a global body joined by blood united under the banner of christ and that inside the body we find spiritual mothers and spiritual fathers and brothers and sisters and spiritual cousins and spiritual aunties we find shoulders to lean on and ears to listen and this is why you should never take the church. Yes, the church will never be perfect until Jesus comes and makes us perfect. So the local bodies will always be a glorious mess. Yes. How about that? Yep. It will always be a glorious mess. It will always have drama. It will always have schism. It will always have issues and fights and beefs and all of that's why we got Matthew 18. that's we have all of the 61 another's we have all these scriptures that prophesy to us that we'll have issues in the context of community but god gave us community as a gift that's right right and and just like we hear the siren outside right here like an alarm let that be an alarm for those of y'all who are in a silo right now to come out of that silo come out of that wilderness of being alone and isolated. Run back into the arms of the Savior and run back into the arms of brothers and sisters who love you. I thank God for my brother Tim. My brother Tim is a Barnabas in my life. When I'm going through difficult seasons, he is a voice of constant encouragement and wisdom and impact. And I know I would not have even finished our tour if it was not for my brother Tim. I wouldn't even finish the tour if it wasn't for this man God. I wouldn't even finish that tour. And I remember hearing those stories, Tim, and saying to myself, wow, the gospel has gone out to the whole country, to the whole world. And I was so encouraged by hugging people and loving on them. Remember, we would do the stepping room piece and what's your name? Where'd you come from? Give them a hug. Thank you for coming and hearing their stories and looking them in the eyes. I was saying I'm like, man, this is the joy of what we can't feel being in the studio right now. This is what we can't feel in the studio. This is what we felt out there on the road. And I said, you know what? We street preachers. We belong out here. That's right. Right? We belong out here. And then it was after Dallas when I realized, you know what? This is going to come at a high cost for my family and I. I got to finish. Remember that? And we left Dallas and we went on to. We left D.C. We left D.C., we went to North Carolina. We went to North Carolina. And we went back to the place that I first started ministry and create more. We pray you are blessed by this behind-the-scenes content. And if you were, please do us a favor, like, subscribe, share. Those things help us to continue the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Also, for more information, go to streetpreachers.tv. If you're encouraged by the message, help us to continue to share the message by going to the content, sharing it, but also supporting the merch. This isn't just merch, it's mission.
