Ep 1318 | A Mass Baptism Gets Shut Down by Police & a Hurricane Survival Story That Defies Logic

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to unashamed. We're excited that I see Missy is in my chair, which is always a blessing. Missy, we're glad Jace is not so alone. We've been in our boxes for a few days because I've been in, I'm down here at the southern lair. So it's good to have Missy. It's good to have you on the set. Thank you. Thank you. It's always a blessing. Missy gave us a very generous and kind invite to a crawfish bowl in all places. I turned down, it said Nashville, all of our kids. Mia, Max, and later all are graduating the same day. I was shocked to hear that you had two kids graduating at the same time, which says a lot about Max, because he's graduating a year early from college. Two years early. That is amazing. You know where it was that says that's happening? In his jeans. He's just smart. My grandmother said that good jeans make geniuses. And so that's why our granny and Paul were third cousins. Yes, we know. That would make us, what does that tell you about the Robertson family? I was just saying, I think Mia so enjoyed her years at Lipscomb. And she enjoyed her first semester so much that she talked Laila into transferring to Lipscomb. And they were roommates that the second part of their freshman year in a single room. So, you know, did you see their room at any time? It was tiny. I mean, they were head to head, feet to feet almost. I mean, take your pick. But they were in the smallest room I've ever seen. I said, only family could get away with doing this. There is no way. And only for so long. I think Mia eventually, like three months. Laila's got, I love Laila. She's got a lot of giftings. I don't know if being a roommate may not be one of the most interesting. Well, Mia has giftings too. And she's really great at organization and she doesn't mind helping someone else do it. In fact, when I texted Laila yesterday, I told Mia later, because I never got a text back from Laila and Mia said, oh, that's my fault. I went over there to help her clean her house and we were scrubbing her bathtub. I said, okay, I'm just going to leave that there. I remember I asked Mia, I said, how is it living with your cousin? And she said, she's messy. For Laila's birthday, for Laila's birthday that year, she cleaned out Laila's car as a gift. Like happy birthday. That is a gift. Well, I bought Laila's car as a gift. Then I saw it was six months later when she came back from college, I was like, whoa, this is what we do with the brand new cars. Okay. Well, what's interesting is her going to Lipscomb then brought Max in. And so I didn't realize this. So this is full circle moment because we have Bart Millard on the podcast from Mercy Me a while back. And if I had known this, I'd have brought this up. So Bart and a guy named Brown Bannister who produced a lot of like all Amy Grant stuff. He's a big producer in Nashville. Kind of a, I'd say kind of like the godfather of kind of Christian music and from a production perspective, they started an incubator label at Lipscomb called Imagine House. And so that's the group Missy that's actually, they brought Laila and Max's band in, Dash with a band and that's who's been produced, that's who produced this album that they have coming out. So Brown's been, it was the producer on that. So it's kind of like fools. I didn't know the whole story behind that till after we had part on the podcast. Yeah, no, she's so enjoyed it. And she loves her church family there too at Harpeth Hills church. She worked there and she just had a really, really great experience and had some, some really great deep friendships have been made there. What did, what did she grade? What was her degree in? She's graduating in a couple of weeks with a degree in psychology and she wants to go on to higher education in forensic psychology. Yeah, which means that now every time we get together, she will break you down. She's like, okay, guys, I have two questions, everyone can go around and answer. And she gives the points of, you know, the plan, she gives you a plan on how to correct whatever it is that's not working for you. It's so spectacular because I'm like the courage of this girl. But it makes sense. I mean, she's quick on her feet. And she's quick to say when we start talking about certain issues with just going on in the family, and she's like, mom, mom, this is my specialty. So this is what needs to happen. I'm like, oh boy, here we go. The experts, I'm breaking everybody down and diagnosing them. But so far, I will have to say most of the times she gets finished, I think, well, that makes sense. And it's good. What I think we buried the lead here is how we didn't know that they were all graduating. I did not know. So we plan, Missy plans a crawfish ball. And then, you know, we invite Zach and Jill and Laila and Max and everybody in your family. But they already had plans at this fancy restaurant, which I think well, because of you, because of you were talking about it. I did recommend the restaurant. But as it turned out, it's like we're eating crawfish out there and the wilderness and you know, when you give our farmhouse, as we all probably talked about on here, has not been working lately in the past couple of years, hit by a tornado and then hit by an ice storm. And so nothing makes a contractor move faster than a deadline. And so when your son is the contractor and your daughter is graduating from college, I put the deadline on my son that he has to have this farmhouse done by the time Mia graduates from college because all the family is coming in. So right now we're on schedule right now on schedule. And he is working really hard with a two week old baby at their house. So he's kind of overwhelmed at the moment. But right now we're on target to host kind of an open farmhouse slash crawfish boil the night before Mia graduates. Mia and Laila and Max graduate. So anyway, if y'all don't want to come, it's fine. It's fine. No, I want to come, but I've already paid a down payment on this meal because this place that you guys recommended, I heard Jay's talking about it. I said, okay, we're going to go all out. I'm not going to say the name of the place. But I said, we're going to go all out. And we're going to say, but I called to get the reservation. They're like, you can't, you got to put down money to get the reservation. And if you cancel the reservation, you lose the money. I did warn you this place is expensive. But I said, it is, it is good. We're going to get, we're going to get full fledged into the stakes. And although we'd like crawfish to the open, but this just goes to prove that it's never over with your kids. And somebody said, you know, you raise your kids, you think you're done, and then you have to raise your parents, and then you get old and then your kids have to raise you. That's kind of the vicious cycle. What you told me, Jeff Foxworthy said was you raise your kids, you have a snack, and then you go and you raise your parents. And I just learned about 10 days ago that my snack is over. So because my mom fell and broke her hip and she's been in the hospital and in rehab. So snack time is over for Missy. Yep. And baby done a wonderful job. And look, she is a trooper. Yeah, she's doing really great. She's doing really great. She's doing, she's in the physical therapy stage. She has a smile on her face. She does. And it's been incredible. So that was a little off subject, but I was going to throw that in there. I think that in between you mentioned though is so, you know, when you get to this age, I mean, I hate to use the word middle age, but that's where we're all at. And I think that is the transitional time. And I guess we're probably at our strongest at this point in terms of what we've learned from the Almighty to then what we can pass on. But it's just a short hop to then when like Jay said, then we're there. You know, and so, you know, you realize you just have so many a certain number of days where you own this earth. So you got to make the most of it. But it is, it is refreshing when you see your kids do well. I mean, I'm proud of all of your kids for what they what the who they are and what they're accomplishing for the kingdom. So I didn't realize how much my sleep setup mattered until we upgraded to Heedlux sleep mattresses. Now I'm sleeping deeper and I'm waking up actually rested. And that difference you can feel right away. In fact, guys, I have a sleep, I have a watch that tracks my sleep score. And I get probably 98 to 100 on my sleep score every single night now. My back tells me that my score is very high as well. Two nights ago, I fell asleep on the couch and I don't I didn't have a sleep score. But I woke up and I realized that was zero. Get to the Helix. We took the two minute Helix sleep quiz. Jill and I, we were matched with something called the Midnight Lux mattress. We've had our Helix mattress for several years now. Best sleep we've ever had. You guys can try a Helix risk-free for 120 days. Not only am I sleeping better, I have a lot less hip and shoulder pain. Something that happens when you get a little bit older. And overall, it's just been absolutely amazing. Go to helixsleep.com slash unashamed for 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com slash unashamed for 20% off site wide. Make sure that you enter our show name after checkout so that they'll know that we sent you. That's helixsleep.com slash unashamed. Well, then you have these moments that you feel reborn because was that Revelation 21.5? God makes everything new. So you have this little newborn creation that we spent five days with. Babe, I kind of gave them the short version from the male perspective. You have George being born? Yeah. But I didn't linger. But because I know you were all in on that process. Well, I was a little on edge because with Francis, so that was their third. Francis is 20 months now. Marys is four. David is three. Francis is 20 months. And when Brighton went into labor with Francis, I was in town. I was at our farmhouse and read columns like, Mom, it's time. It's time. It's time. So I get there and Brighton's in labor, but she gets to the hospital and stops. And so Brighton was like, Nope, I'm here. We're settled. The kids are taken care of. I'm having this baby. So she just kind of told the nurses, let's just go ahead and induce and let's let's get it done. And her body, it was harder on Brighton. She realized that. So this time with George, she said, I'm not going to rush it. If I feel the labor, I'm just going to let it play out, you know, and I was thinking, Oh, this is making me nervous. Like she's walking around for two weeks at three centimeters with 50% of face. So I thought, okay, she did this with Francis. So everything is okay. Well, for all the men, that means she's getting close. She's three centimeters dilated, which you're only going 10. So, so then she goes to the OB the next week and she's five centimeters dilated and she's 75% of faced. The woman's in labor. She and she's walking around town. She's driving. She's got the kids in tow. And I said, Brighton, you're going to have this baby in the bathtub. And she was like, No, no, it's going to be, I'm just going to wait it out. This was on Tuesday. And Wednesday morning, she had him. And then it was a middle of the night. It was a middle of the night. And Reed said at like 145, she, she wakes him up not because she needed, you know, she was trying to wake him up, but she was moaning in the bathroom, in between contractions. And Reed was like, we need to go to the hospital. She's like, No, no, we're fine. So she's packing her toiletries, you know, and then they realized, okay, we probably need to go. Well, Brighton's mom and dad have a house like five minutes away. So Brighton, I mean, Reed calls Brighton's mom and she does it at some point in the morning and she doesn't answer. She doesn't have her ringer on. So Reed ends up having to drive over to Ashley's house and bang on the door in the middle of the night and wake her up and get her to come over to watch the kids. So Reed could take Brighton to the hospital. So short story is they get to the hospital. They get the IV in her. They get the epidural in her and when she's eight centimeters dilated and she pushes three times and George is born. So it was very easy delivery. She cut it a little thin in my perspective, but everything turned out to be great. He's seven, five and beautiful and perfect and everybody is doing fantastic, fantastic. That's why I said when I gave the version of the story, now you know why I said when I heard that story from Brighton, I said Brighton, you are now a professional. You've gone pro in the baby birthing business. Let me ask you guys. So from your perspective, so now this is number four in terms of when they come because I've got six, myself, well, seven, Captain America now, but how does that change in you? Is there anything different between number four and number one in the process of that now you have more grandchildren? I mean, how do you, how does that change for y'all? Because I know it changed something for me, but I'm curious as to how it changed for y'all. It's, I mean, it feels a little overwhelming to me when I look that they're all, they've all come from the same parents in four years. That's a lot. And so I pray that they're on my mind a lot in terms of having to handle everything, but Brighton is, she amazes me. She amazes me all the time. Everything is super calm, you know, and she's got kids running around everywhere. And I know that postpartum is emotional, but overall, watching them handle four at one time is pretty amazing to me. And I feel like I need to step in and help, but then I don't want to overstep. They'll ask me when they need help. So I'm kind of, you know, in that, I guess, waiting area of, because she asked me, what are you doing in April? Like, what's your April plans? I said, it's completely wiped clean. Like, I have put everything off so I can be available for you. And because she, you know, we want to balance it with her, her parents as well. But Reed, a couple of days after we left, I guess we stayed four or five days, and we left and then Reed texted me about again, stuff for the farmhouse. And then he sent me a picture and he had all three kids with him in the middle of Home Depot at 830 in the morning. And Francis was throwing a fit on the floor and Mary's and David are, you know, running around in the aisle. And I was like, Oh, oh, God, what's happening here? And he was like, Oh, yeah, no, it's perfectly fine. It's almost like what would overwhelm me that's their life with them. And they've, I'm impressed. I'll say this, I'm very impressed with the way that they are handling all of this and the way that they do ask for help and the way that they don't ask for help, because it is ultimately their responsibility. And I'm super impressed with them. Well, I always felt like there's a, there's a wonder about the first time, just like it's like your first child, because for the first time you were becoming a parent and with Reed and Brighton was that way as well. And then, you know, you're becoming a grandparent. But then as they, as you grow into the family, as you mentioned, Missy, it's not that there's a loss of wonder, because it's still amazing to have a child and just the process and just what you were saying. But as, as you described in the story with Brighton, there's also a certain amount of just expectation that you already have and you already know. And so you're just kind of building something. But I compare it almost to like, you know, we've all written books. When you write your first book is so hard and so difficult, you don't know, you could do it and you did it and you're so proud that you got it out there. And then you go back and do another one or another project. You still love each project, but they're also different and how they got there is different where you were, was different. So there's something about that as we grow our families. And of course, Zach's in the mode of having a married child about to have another married child. And so you're in that anticipation of the first, but you know, there's going to be many. And I'm kind of the same way now with the next generation because, you know, we're getting ready for great grandchildren, you know, so it's just, it's amazing. The idea of it all, the, I do experience something different as a, as a patriarch of my clan, you know, once you begin to grow generationally, that you just feel a huge responsibility, I think just for the whole group, you know, that you was your first. I was about to be on the other side, Missy, that he's about to be taken care of. So he's, I'm getting there. I'm getting very close ahead of us. Yeah. Well, I will remember when Maris was born, they brought, we were at the farm in Tennessee and they brought her to our house from home from the hospital on Thanksgiving day. That was a little bit like, it was almost too much on point. Are you kidding? Our firstborn is being brought home from the hospital on Thanksgiving day to our house. It was like the world stopped. The world stopped. Our grandchild is born. Nothing else matters in this life at all, but today and this baby and all of the pictures that we have of even with, you know, Brighton's niece and nephew that aren't even with us anymore. They're just the holding Maris and everybody, they're passing her around and it's just like this delicate little piece of China that, you know, Reed was like, did everybody get shots? You know, it's like, Reed, this is post COVID. Nobody's getting shots. That's it. You know, like, you're going to have to deal with it. We're all going to be fine. Cause your firstborn will leave the same way with him. It was like, oh no. Yeah. But now with number four, it's like you're holding number four and dealing with the other three at the same time. And he's just got to, he's just got to grab a hold. It's going to be interesting to watch a little boy, you know, look up to his two sisters and his older brother who is very laid back, his older brother is very laid back, secondborn, and his two older sisters are the opposite of laid back. So it's going to be super fun to watch the dynamics of all of this playing out and not have any responsibility for it. I'm looking forward to it. It's super fun from a distance. Yes, it is. But what I want to say, I think the reason God designed it all this way, I would, I would say, cause it's made me reflect on, we've had so many Bible studies, we've had so many people who seemingly fell away and then they come back. And one of the main motivating aspects of that is cause they had their kids or they have kids. It makes them stop and think, oh wow. I mean, even Brighton, when she shared her story, when we were in Nashville. On the podcast. Yeah, on the podcast. One of her motivating factor for getting into the word, for learning, and cause she was looking at her kids and she thought, I have responsibility here. And so I just really think it is a vision of the creator God in this precious life. And even when you look at how their body forms in the womb, and when they can first see light, I mean, it's just a few weeks into the process and their brain starts, shows registered activity, all these things we realize, God, God is giving life. There's a reason that from the spiritual aspect that being born again, it comes from that basis. And the same thing happens, like when you see someone born again, the same thing happens in your faith. It excites you. Oh, there's, there's, oh, we got, we got a new, and it's a newborn. And I just think that was God's internal design for us to have these moments of like, oh wait, I need to, I need to figure out what I'm doing and make some corrections here. Yeah. And, and even with all the chaos happening, you know, all around us with kids and toys and food. And I'm looking at this little bitty bundle who was two weeks early, just laying on Brighton's tummy, just balled up, just like, like she was, he was just in there, you know, just a few hours before that. And it is like, even Brighton and I sitting there watching this in amazement, it's still amazing. I don't care how many babies are born. It's still amazing that whole process of birth and how the Lord designed very intricately how all of that was supposed to take place. It's beautiful. It's just a beautiful, beautiful thing. So Jace, you and Missy have been involved in the pro-life movement, taking care of a child that was in a situation where her mom wasn't sure what to do. Yeah. And thank the Lord that she decided to give birth to this little man and he's become part of our family. And it's just a reminder of how awesome life is and that we all at one time were in our mother's way. 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To donate now, pound two, 50 and say the keyword baby, that's pound two, 50 baby, or you can visit pre-born.com slash unashamed. That's pre-born.com slash unashamed. We talk a lot on the podcast about the first Adam, the first man, and how he was created out of dust. I'm assuming that that meant he was created as a full man, I mean, you know, made and a woman from the rib, same way. The very first man, the very first woman, weren't brought in the way that children would come after them. But when God decided to become flesh, and Jesus of Nazareth, a man, was born to Mary, then he experienced, God experienced, with the new Adam, which we read about Romans five, the actual birth we're talking about. And he's called, was it in Colossians days, the first born over all creation. And so this idea, you think about that, the flesh of God becoming flesh came through birth, even that the first man didn't even get to experience, but Jesus did. And so it really is, I mean, God shows us in his infinite wisdom of even why he became flesh, that part of that is this process we're talking about. So the wonder of that night that we celebrate, you know, all the time, but especially at Christmas time, is the wonder of just what you're explaining. It's this idea that, you know, life is created and something very special. When it's in a family lineage, obviously it's even more special for us. But we actually got to experience the other kind of new birth on Wednesday. We had baptisms here in the creek in Black Mountain, and we had something happen that I've never had happen before. What's that? So we got everybody, oh, it's crazy. We had everybody out there, probably, I don't know, 75 people all kind of gathered around. This is, and what's interesting about this, this is at like a Christian conference area. That's what this area is known for. And we're down there, and we're baptizing people in the river. Two ladies, by the way, were like in their late 70s, who had their stories pretty amazing. They came to our church because during the ha-halene, their house got hit by a mud slide and was completely just disintegrated. They jumped on a mattress. They got swept down the river on a mattress. They're like in their 70s. One of them just got out of hip surgery and had a waterproof bandage on. They get buried under a pile of trees and stuff like that. So they're trapped alive under this mess. And they lived out there on that mattress under this rubble for 48 hours. Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh. It's like a crazy. If you saw that in a movie. That's like my mom. She just had hip surgery. If my mom got swept up like that right now. Oh, it's crazy. If you saw that in a movie, people said, well, that's unrealistic. Yeah, that's not even possible. No, it happened. And they weren't believers. And so their story is that they had a radical encounter with Jesus while they were out there praying for deliverance. And they're hilarious. They're like sisters. So one of the ladies was telling my brother whenever he was sharing the gospel with them. And she was like, yeah, I was sitting out there after about two days. She said, I had to pee. And so I was like, whatever. I forget. She looked at her sister and she said, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to have to pee on you because I can't hold it any longer. And her sister says, sweetie, I've been peeing on you for 48 hours. They're absolutely hysterical. It's like, we had like, I mean, nothing says sisterly love like shared during the year. Oh, it was so funny. But so it's kind of funny because Grant was like, you know, it's dangerous down here. You know, we'll help you all get down here. You got to be careful. Don't trip on a rock. They're like, honey, we floated down this one. No, we are good to go. Trust me, we'll be all right. So we're in the process of baptizing all these people. And oh, so you hear this, uh, like a speakerphone, like I'm talking about like loud. It was the cops and they pulled up and they'd like, Hey, we like the baptisms, but y'all can't park here and y'all got to get out of here. So they then the head of the retreat association comes out and literally runs us. I said, y'all can't be doing this way, but this is a Christian retreat center. We're baptizing people. People are complaining and people are upset about it. So we've got to figure out a new place to do baptisms because we have been run off from the Christian retreat center in our area. One of one of the Christian retreat centers in our area. Um, and so we're looking for a new baptism. Zach, you have a pool. We could do in the pool, but people like the living water. They like that. They like the, they like the vibe of the creek. You know, I'm like, so water's water. I think people subconsciously remember that there was a guy who, uh, I went to this old church and when I mean old, like the people ever, I was the youngest person there, but there was a visitor that came who was younger guy. And I think the Lord worked this out. But anyway, I shared Jesus. There was little or no response, literally just crickets, old kind of conservative. And he come up to me because we did an imitation song and, uh, he responded, which caused chaos because I'm pretty sure no one had responded there in years. And so people were coming to me. I'm the visiting preacher for the day. And they're like, what do we do? I was like, about what? That we have someone who has responded. And I'm like, what do y'all normally do? They say, people don't respond. We don't know. I said, well, I'll talk to him. So he's like, I want to give my life to Jesus and I want, I want to be baptized. And, uh, so I said, well, awesome. Cause they had what seemed to be a baptistry. I go back there and look, ain't got no water. It bone dry. There's a sermon in there somewhere, Jay. It's about some ballet and dry bones. So I look around at the guy who was seemingly in George and I'm like, you got a water hose, you know, and he's like, I don't know. And so while I'm having that discussion, the fella is watching all this and he's like, I think I need to go that Mississippi river, which was maybe 30 minutes away. And I was like, well, I'm sure we can get some, we don't have to drive. Cause I was thinking, I don't want to drive 30 minutes the wrong way. Pretty sure it was like January or February too. Oh yeah. And it was in wintertime and the Mississippi was way out of his bank. And he said, you don't understand it. This was the line subconsciously that I want to introduce. He said, I've done so many things wrong and I realized Jesus died for him, but I just think the current needs to take that all the way to the Gulf. I got a lot of sins. I need a big river. That's what he was saying. That's actually pretty good. I thought about like getting into the theology of it all and I was like, you know what, let's go do it. And it turned out this, this is so, it's kind of like that story you just told. It seems so crazy on what happened next. I'm sure I've shared this at some podcast before. So we make the drive. And what I found shocking is nobody else from the church wanted to go. So I've got a new threat in the neighborhood and it's called the black bear because they break into people's homes. I have a 45 for my protection. The problem is I don't want my daughter or any of the kids in the house to get access to it. So I want to tell you about our new friends at Stopbox. It's a responsible way to store your gun and you want something that has really quick access if you need it. Jayce, you have one right there. I do. You did that smooth, Jayce. Yeah, a lot of saints will slow you down. But Stopbox does it. 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And so we're fixed to go down this walk into the water. And here comes a truck. And when you, when you know it, it was a group of friends that knew him. From his past life. From his past life. And they're like, what's going on here? Cause they're looking for the boat. We didn't have a boat. We're wading into the Mississippi River. That's dangerous. And so I got to share Jesus with them, which they were just stunned. And I'm like, y'all, y'all welcome to join him. But they didn't. But still we planted, yeah, we planted the seed, but then, then he, and then, but just look at it from his perspective. He's like, man, you give your life to the Lord. He starts working immediately. He's like, that's the best thing ever happened. Cause now they know this is where this is who I'm going with with the Lord. But just think about the historical irony of that for you. Cause that was your experience of once you became a child of God at a pretty young age, that then you wanted to share that with all your friends, which happened over a, you know, a period of time and hear that was happening in an instant, which, which brings me to something interesting in both those stories. Cause that did I hear you write the, the people that call the cops were the people at the retreat center. It was two different. Yeah. They called the cops. So the cop, yeah, they were at the retreat center. I think they were on a Christian retreat. That matter of fact. Okay. So, so here's my thought then about both those stories, because this is part of the problem within our, the kingdom of God is when you're, when you have no expectation and so you got your bone drive, baptist tree and or when you're at a Christian retreat center, having your retreat, and then people show up to baptize people into Christ and in the kingdom and you call the cops on them. I'd say somewhere along the line, somebody's not really trusting in the plan. Yeah. Somebody has missed it. Somebody's, I mean, I'm not throwing everybody by the bus. I'm just saying you have to live with an expectation that what we're doing, we're supposed to be passing on so we can guide, win the world for Christ. That's kind of what we're here for. Right. I used to think that too, but I'll tell you, when we had our little house that we talked about on a podcast before, we had so many people showing up there and parking was a nightmare. Nightmare. And we got the cops called on us so many times and of course, we were young then and we were like, it's spiritual warfare. Basically, it's a parking problem. We're being persecuted. But Jase, Jase, that's, you're, you're talking about something different. These are people that may or may not believe or not. You're, you're messing in their neighborhood. I get that. That makes more sense to me. But if you're believers, like if you're meeting for the purpose of spiritual strength and then people are breaking out back, you should have been down there cheering them on. I call them the cops. Well, exactly. Cause that, that would have been your segue to the cops as they're like, I mean, y'all's parking up here is going to kill somebody. And it's like, well, that's why they need Jesus. So it wasn't that big of a deal. Like everybody was parked on the side of the road. So they weren't actually blocked. You can still get in and out. We were there for 50, we were there for 30 minutes. It's not a big deal. That's a disciple of Jesus's day. But the government says, hey, you're not allowed. We mustn't force the law. Well, I liked it. Zach, I liked that he framed it with, hey, we're, we're graduating to a baptisms, but you know, I liked it. He at least tried to throw you out a little bit. Yeah. I was shocked. You're like, we're glad you're doing baptism, but you can't park on the side of the road. We're like on jolting because it was super loud. And it was like, I think you maybe even tapped the siren a little bit like, boo, and then I come over the speakerphone and then everyone sat there like, what do we do? Do we move our vehicles or do we finish the baptime? It was like, it was a, there was like, so what did you do? Do I obey God or do I obey them? Yeah, I was going to that passage. I was literally going to, I was like, this sounds like an X three or X four. Was it four? We can't help it. You judge for yourselves, but we just, we're not going to shut up about it. Did you just speed up the baptisms or what'd you do? Well, we were almost done. We had like maybe like two or three more. And it was just like, I was like, rapid fire. Let's get them in, get them out, you know, kind of thing. We'd already, but the problem was the last two we did were the two elderly women, and that took more time because it took like three people to get them in the water and then three people to baptize them. And so just because they were, they, I said they were probably in their 80s, honestly, they were older women. I mean, their story though is, that's an amazing story. And there's a couple, see what happened is there's a couple, this is so cool. And some of you guys on the Unashamed podcast, the money that you actually gave to our church to rebuild these homes, we raised enough money to rebuild like six homes and we're not a big church. Like we're like, we're, you know, 300 people, but we probably raised, I don't know, a million bucks or whatever was like our church is like rebuilding these homes. And we have a couple, Oliver and Celestial Balsam who are, I call them like, they're kind of like vagabonds. I joke with them a little bit. They're like hippies, they're awesome people. They used to travel around and follow the grateful dad and then they would do ministry with the dead heads as they would come out, which is, their story is still incredible, but they just love on people. So they've been quietly serving our community, rebuilding these homes. They don't get paid to do it either. Like Celestial is just doing it as a full-time job, as a ministry. She won't let us pay her or anything. And so all that money is going back in to rebuild these homes. And so they've been walking with these two ladies, they're rebuilding their home. And then there's another young lady that was there that got baptized. And so for me, like, I love to see a baptism. Like I get so excited about that, but what was, what I get more excited about is what I'm looking at, like an eighth month journey, or no, more than that, a year and a half journey that they've been walking with these people, faithfully serving them, embodying the spirit of Christ in their interactions with them. And to see that process play out over a year and a half, it had result in three people just on that particular day coming to put Christ on a baptism. It was like, I mean, it wasn't dry in the house. I mean, it was, or we were outside, but it was, so we were kind of like cops kind of killed the vibe a little bit, but it was kind of like, you know what, this is, this is a pretty cool story either way. Jase, you've got a couple of poochies and are they both older? Oh, it's a complicated story, but they're old. What's the hardest part of kind of watching them age? You know, they're part of the family. They have their job, which is mainly to bark at anyone who drives up in the yard. But look, there's a reason that they say our pets are our best friends. And so we try to take care of them. And look, that's the mission of Rough Greens is to help them stay around as long as possible. 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There was a couple that had been traveling through and they had been married before Justice of the Peas in California, but they wanted to be married in a church with Christians, with believers around. So I did that for them. And they also want to be baptized into Christ, which I did that as well. And in that process, because we did it in Jersey Joe's class, there was a guy in there who was there the weekend of your mentoring weekend. And he had told me, because I told the group there, I said, now this couple, they've just become, you know, kind of redone their vows with us today, but now they're going to make it official with God because they're also going to make a vow with him. They're going to live for him. So they got baptized together in the battleship, which is really cool. But there's a guy there and he said, his wife had been baptized at your place. The night before. The night before. And he was just so moved by the whole thing. And so I wanted this last segment you to tell us from your perspective a little bit about the weekend, because, you know, we started this conversation with children and grandchildren and the idea of teaching them and having a legacy. In a sense, what you're doing with the mentoring of these young women who are in the phase we're talking about, of having families and kids and everything you're trying to teach them. Tell a little bit about how that went. And so this is the fourth weekend that we've done. And they're from ages 22. And this one was 35. We do 22 to 32, but there was a 32-year-old that wanted to bring her sister who was 35. So of course, that's fine. And they came and with, except for those two sisters, none of these women know each other. And none of them have ever met me. And they just step out on faith and come and register for the weekend. And so the wife of the man that you're talking about, he came and dropped her off at Logtown. And then he had, I think his camper on the back of his truck that he just stayed in while she was retreating with us. But this group was different from the other three in a few different ways. And it's crazy how God brings these certain women together. But there was a couple of things that happened that we realized, okay, this is different. By Saturday night, we realized that most of these girls, these women, grew up in the church, some type of church environment, growing up, growing up, going to Sunday school, going every Sunday. Doesn't mean their families were not dysfunctional, it just means they grew up in the church. And I thought, by the time I realized that, I realized I need to change my approach a little bit because this is me. I'm talking to a lot of women like me. And we still need Jesus. Sometimes it's just masked a little bit better. And so I changed a couple of things. But also during that weekend, there was only 11 of them that came. And because Brighton was having a baby, you know, we thought in mid April, I moved this weekend a little earlier to make sure that I was available for that. So this was a little bit quicker in motion. We had 13, I think, register. And then a couple had to drop out and it was kind of last minute. So we only ended up with 11, 11 of these young ladies. Five out of these 11 ladies were raising someone else's children. Foster, great niece. Adoption. Adoption. A lot of them were just taking in other people's kids. There was one girl who had four foster children and her two biological children. Most of the other ones were taking in family member children that just, you know, it was breaking down for some reason. These are ladies in their 20s who are doing this. And we realized five out of 11 because one of my friends said, hold on, everybody stop just a second. How many of you are doing this? And five of them raised their hand and thought, this is incredible. What's happening here? And another friend of mine said, I think this was, this might be good for you, Missy, since we have done the same thing. Now raising other people's children. It really helped me listen to them. And of course, what me sharing my experience with that really helped them with what they're currently going through. So God was moving in some, some very different, beautiful ways that we can. But then Saturday night, usually I surprised them and bring them to my home and cook. I cook for them. We had a crawfish boil and I did crawfish pies and then that's our Jesus night. And what I mean by that is we have a lot of instruction over the weekend, but you know, none of that matters if you don't know who Jesus is. And if you don't want a relationship with them, and if you don't surrender your life to him, trying to get your life right, it's not going to last very long. And so that Saturday night, we really delve into who Jesus is and what surrendering your life means in terms of how he will change you and change the trajectory of your family. And if you haven't done that, you know, you might need to really pray about it and think about it. I don't ever push them to get baptized or like they don't have to respond to me. It's between them and the Lord. But you know, God just moves and I say every time and I end up with my friends like going into the kitchen, cleaning up, not really, because I don't want to pressure them to think because I think it's the celebrity aspect too, that they think that I'm expecting some kind of a response from them. I am not. And so I kind of exit, we're usually outside and I kind of exit the area and go clean or go do something, get busy in the house and then one by one, here they come, here they come. And I just say, let me hear your heart. Like, where are you right now? And man, you can just, and within 10 seconds, you know, you know that they're ready just to give their life to Christ. And Jase let me baptize. I'll let you, I didn't say a word. I know. I was kind of go, he was watching LSU in the bedroom and I was like, okay, we got a couple and he was like, good, go for it. I was like, oh gosh. Well, it's all women and in the past I would got there and baptize them, but they've been together the whole weekend. It's fine now. They're from all over the country. And I'm like, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't. I'm just used to the man doing it. That's the most common, but you guys have, correct me if I'm wrong, but you kind of broke that ice because Jase wasn't there or something. Last time. We did. And it's like Missy said, we have a weird situation in that we are famous. And so I learned quickly that some people wanted to be baptized by me because they think it's cool to be baptized by Jase and that dynasty. Well, that bothers me. And so I go full scale the other way and try to talk them out of it. That's what I've started doing too, because I'm scared of that. I don't want them to have the Instagram moment. That's not what we're doing. And honestly, that's what the whole weekend sets up to be is like the opposite of that. They are not there. This age group, 22 to 32, this age group, they are, and we've talked about this, they are longing, they are gasping for the word and for depth and for relationship. So by the time we get Saturday night, all that shallow stuff that you think about, they've come here for all of that, it's not there. Yeah, that's gone. It's gone. Well, it's an intimate gathering. I mean, that's what I love about it, because it's not, I mean, it's not this massive production. This is an intimate gathering, which me and Jill, I mean, that's kind of what we, I'm like, I want to lean into those types of gatherings more. Absolutely. Just takes a lot more time. But I will say this, I noticed yesterday, I just ran across this stat, for the first time in decades, the leading group of people attending Christian churches are, I looked it up because I want to make sure, 18 to 34 years old. They're the number one group, not identifying, but meeting on a Sunday morning under the umbrella of Jesus Christ. Well, Miss Ate this, and that's exciting, Jase, there was a just because you don't always know the fruit of what happens once they leave, which you don't have to, right? Because that's a Holy Spirit thing too. But there was a, one of your young women was, we, at least now we're flying to do an event. I think it was like two days after, and one of them had had some travel issues. And she came over and approached us and told us who she was, that she spent the weekend with you guys, and then an extra day with your assistant or the person who runs things for you. And so she was telling me that she is an ER nurse. And, but she has been so moved by Christ, even before she came, but now since that point, that she really wanted to expand her nursing into ministry. And so she said, I know you're a pastor, and you know, could you give me advice? And so she sat down there with Lisa and I, and we probably talked, you know, 45 minutes before we all took off in our separate directions. But she was so moved by the experience that she understood it was more than just a new beginning, but now this is a kingdom lifestyle, you know, that she wanted to, of course, my encouragement to her was, I said, well, look, don't think about necessarily just leaving your work, you just got to bring Christ with you wherever you are, because ER nurses and a lot of first responders have, if you're committed to Christ, you have an opportunity a lot of other people don't have to be the hands and feet of Jesus. So if you figure out a way to do that, and still do what you like to do to travel and go places, which she does. And then I had some contacts for as well. But the beauty of it is she took that and saw it as now I'm out here, I'm often running for the kingdom. And so I wanted you to know, just from my personal experience of meeting someone, that's what you want from people who then come to Christ. Because it's not just about me, it's about what I can do now for the kingdom. Well, and the man that was in the class that morning, his wife was one that was baptized, and they also were raising someone else's child. And she when I looked at her and I said, you are now going to enter your home when you get home from this weekend, you're going to walk in your home, and God is living inside of you now. The Holy Spirit is living inside of you when you cross that threshold into your home with your family, you have God physically with you. And she just was like, you could say it was a physical reaction, like stress was gone, worry was gone, total peace. It's a beautiful, it's a hard but beautiful weekend. That's why that's why that's why it doesn't really matter as much on who's doing the baptizing, what matters is who are you baptizing them into. Yes, absolutely. When you're going to Christ, then that is what you're ultimately testifying to the God is going to take up his residence in the body of human beings, which is man, I think about our Francis Chan said this one time at an event I was at, he said, what would you do if Mother Mary walked in this room right now and you knew she was pregnant and you knew that she had baby Jesus in her womb? How would you treat her? And he said, I'm not proposing any kind of Catholicism, everybody calm down, but just what would you treat her? Would you treat her with reverence? Would you treat her with if she was housing the living God inside of her womb? And of course, yeah, if she tried to imagine that, you're like, yeah, you would be like, let me grab the chair for you. And he's like, well, you realize you house the Holy Spirit, so God is living in you. That's right. So how should we treat one another? It was such an interesting example. I've never thought like of how special Mother Mary was for carrying Jesus, we carry the Holy Spirit as believed. That's good. As long as I say about us. Which is the beauty of what we do. Well, thank you, Missy. It's always good to have you on the podcast. Keep doing it. Keep doing what you're doing for the kingdom and blessing those grandchildren as well. So it's always a pleasure having you. We'll see you next time on Unashamed. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple podcast. And don't miss an episode by subscribing on YouTube and be sure to click the little bell and choose all notifications to watch every episode.