CATCHING SOME Z’s // S05E04

In a year we have seen chaos, unprecedented change, loss and devastation. But was the reasoning behind it an answered prayer? Brian Barcelona talks us through the power of prayer, the purpose in a generation and the importance of authenticity.

QUESTIONS WE TOUCH ON IN THIS EPISODE:

• How are you spreading the word?
• What is salvation?
• How the pandemic has changed lives?

VERSES FROM CATCHING SOME Z’s:

Timothy 3:12-13, The Book of Luke.

QUOTES FROM CATCHING SOME Z’s:

“A lot of people use the bandaid approach in our culture. Like, what’s the quickest fix. And it spoke to me when you said that there are a lot of parents that just pass their kids off, like for a quick fix.”

Michelle Watson, The Pantry Podcast, Catching Some Z’s

“I love that idea. I love the idea of the planting of seeds and giving back. We want to just keep instilling and keep watering and keep planting into young people.”

Shea Watson, The Pantry Podcast, Catching Some Z’s

“I believe that in many ways, God honors my grandma’s life through my life. It’s almost like the promises, of what she was promised as being so fulfilled out now in my generation and even more in my, in my children as they’ve grown up, you know, my daughters have both been to stadiums and places I’ve preached.”

Brian Barcelona, The Pantry Podcast, Catching Some Z’s

ANNOTATED TRANSCRIPT:

Shea: Hey, I’m Shea

Michelle: I’m Michelle. This is the pantry podcast, season five on naturally flourished. We’re picking up where season four, left off looking at God’s unusual, amazing, and miraculous methods of elevating relocating, and redeeming us into his purpose in the ways the world just doesn’t understand.

Shea: Thanks to the spark collective, the warcry network and the Christian podcasters association for helping the pantry reach over 35 countries. Visit the pantry podcast.com for extras, show notes and faith-based tees that support the show and sign up for our monthly newsletter for sneak peeks into upcoming episodes and guests, and some of Shea’s amazingly delicious recipes. And now on with the episode

Shea: Oh, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a good one. Yes, it is a good one. I’m always excited when we can bring people on who just love the Lord today. I think we have that. Yeah.

Michelle: Yeah. We have someone that’s total fire today.

Shea: Yes, absolutely. You know, when we think of, of how our relationship is, how we come into this, we think of this, this family, you know, I’m going to kind of paraphrase some verses here together, you know, in the show notes, there’ll be there. I’ll pass them on. You know, when we receive it and believe in him, we become a child of God. It’s, it’s really a beautiful opportunity for us to do good to others. Especially to those who are with own household, our own faith. When they suffer, we suffer with them when they are honored. We, you know, we boost them up and we, you know, we really rejoice with them. And I think it’s really important to understand though, that we are all one body in Christ. And that is where this really has to be dialed in and really thought thought of, and we’re individual members of one another. There’s no divisions. There is no separation when we’re in this body of Christ. Through this faith we’ve been baptized in God’s spirit, we’re neither Jew nor Gentile, right? Slave nor free, nor is there male or female, you are one with Jesus Christ. And I think that’s where we’re going to come into this episode and introduce our guests.

Michelle: Yeah, this episode’s super cool because like, on that note, I think a lot of people don’t always think of the younger generations instantly when they think about the body of Christ I’ve heard stories if you want to believe them, that they came to Christ when they were, you know, four or five, six when they were teenagers. And as soon as you accept Christ, you’re in the body of Christ. And so today we have someone amazing as usual. God’s faithful like that, Brian is big with gen Z and that’s a generation that a lot of people still forget to talk about. Millennials are still kind of lumped in with gen Z all of the time, although very different. And that’s a big deal because this, this generation is thirsty for Jesus in the midst of global uncertainty, chaos. Like we never know what’s up or down in this world.

Michelle: He’s the founder of one voice student missions. And as a former atheist who heard and took that up on a challenge after he came to Christ, he’s going to tell us about that today. His faithfulness is catching and the footprints of his work can be found in high schools across the country and in youth internationally, thanks to places like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. God uses it all. So welcome Brian Barcelona. It’s awesome to have. Yeah, bro. It’s nice to have you here.

Brian Barcelona: Thank you for having me appreciate it, man.

Shea: I’m listening to that bio and I’m just like, wow so let’s just start there. I think we’re going to start there, you know? Yeah. We got that, that one voice. Right. There was something before that was the atheism. And so I think, you know, to just show a little bit of that, because I think some people out there do question who God is. And so I would like to kind of see that dissected, you know, how you came around that.

Brian Barcelona: Yeah. I it’s so funny. Every time I hear Biles, read of me, I always think, man, that sounds like a really cool guy. I love to meet that person, you always make me sound cooler than I really am. Yeah, I mean, I, I got saved at 16 years old, how was an atheist? And, Diane invited me to church and he said, if you come to church with me, I’ll buy you a smoothie. And, you know, I always joke around and I said, man, I’m Hispanic. I’ll take anything for free. I headed over to his church with him. And that night I got radically saved. And, I think for me, what was so life-changing, was I could remember moments of seeds getting planted in, in my life throughout my life. I remember one of the biggest, memories I have right before I accepted Christ truly to truly choose to follow him, was that my grandma had been very instrumental to my life. I’m not saying that her message was the most grace-filled, it definitely was, definitely was one that I remember. And so, my grandma prayed for me, my grandma’s one of those crazy grandmas that put oil on everything and praying in tongues. And she was just, she was, she was a wild grandma, man, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here today.

Michelle: Yeah. I, I was reading a little bit of your story and saw that once again, there’s this common theme I’ve noticed grandmas, like so many people we’ve talked to it, wasn’t their parents, it was their grandmas. And we’re talking about generations today, you know, like gen Z. And I’m not saying that as parents, we all just like drop, I do think that the whatever generation is young, like they’re so used to listening to their parents, they’re looking elsewhere. And so they don’t yet look at their parents like super wise. We look at our grandparents sometimes like, okay, they’re like grandmother Willow. Like I’ll, I’ll hear from them. Then there’s also the people in social media and for better, for worse. And I think it’s cool that someone who is giving a lot of credit to grandma is now one of those voices that is for gen Z, what a lot of parents are probably racking their brains right now. Like how do I reach my kid with the Lord? Because some like legit love the Lord. It’s just because you’re their parents. There’s that added lack of credit.

Brian Barcelona: Yeah. I, I would also say, I think to the common problem, I’ve witnessed over a decade of reaching youth as you got parents that, instilled no God in their children and tell their children are smoking weed, having sex, doing drugs, and they want to stick them in a youth, group for a couple months and hope that youth pastor could fix them. Yeah. You know, when you look at the Islamic faith, you’ll never hear anything such as a youth pastor because fathers instruct, they’re not saying that anything they’re teaching is, is correct, fathers instruct their children. And I think that that’s, I don’t know what year it was that youth pastors were introduced in America, the youth pastor position was created because fathers weren’t doing their jobs. I think that, again, my grandma, my grandpa was not a believer.

Brian Barcelona: Believe it or not, my grandpa was not a believer. My grandma has stood in the faith for a long time. And though it’s going to skip my dad’s generation. I believe that in many ways, God honors my grandma’s life through my life. It’s almost like the promises, of what she was promised as being so fulfilled out now in my generation and even more in my, in my children as they’ve grown up, you know, my daughters have both been to stadiums and places I’ve preached. My daughters have been to Germany, England, Asia, they traveled different nations with their parents and just witnessed God move in powerful ways.

Michelle: Yeah. I think that that’s a beautiful testimony to just the faithfulness of those prayers. Cause I know Shea has that same similar story. His grandma.

Shea: Oh, my grandma was down on her knees, probably supine laying on the floor, rolling around it, rolling around in the oil. I don’t know, I know that there was a lot of prayer. And then, and then later on, as my parents came on board, there was a lot of prayer. And I think that that is a good focal point. And you’re right. I think that sometimes we as parents or as I’ve seen, you know, now our daughter, same thing I know better, you know, I, I kind of know better. I think that was we’re here. Like I know better. And it’s like, you raise them up in the Lord and, and, and you make the house that, that comfortable place, that place that shows grace, that place that shows, love that place. That shows mercy. For those other parents, you know, that are out there. It’s like, don’t be discouraged by, by what we’re saying, get out there, start it. Don’t turn them over, turn your life over. See, I think that like, they need to turn their lives over. They want to pass everything off. And I see that a lot. It’s like, let me just pass them to the youth minister, youth pastor, or, you know, and that becomes like the program. And it’s like, yo, that’s not how this works. Yeah.

Michelle: Bandaid approach in our culture. Like, you know, what’s the quickest fix. And it spoke to me when you said that he or that a lot of parents just pass their kids off, like for a quick fix, you know, like, please like, oops. I realized because of these manifestations, like drop the ball. I love what you said that it’s the dads. And it makes me think of one pastor. I listened to that his, his eldest son never attended youth group as a primary thing. He always sat in on his dad’s first sermon of the day, and listened to his dad preach from like the time he was born until now, you know, I think he’s 16, 17 now. And he would go to youth group to like connect with some of the other kids. I heard that before we were parents and I was like, Calia is going to hear sermons before she’s 18 old. You know, she’s not going to hear everything super distilled down or, and that’s it. She’s going to see here what we’re hearing. So we’re all kind of on the same page in our house.

Shea: Yeah. So how does one voice like, okay, so on that note, like, you know, we talked about the youth pastor, well then, you know, we have your, your group one voice, you know, he founded it. And so where does that play a role? How does that kind of maybe bring the family unit together?

Brian Barcelona: Yeah, I think when you, when you think of a family, the heart of every family is, are children. And I think when you could see young people get breakthrough in their life, it naturally affects the children. I remember I was in a school years. This is years ago. Oh, probably 10, maybe nine or 10 years ago. And, one of these kids that got saved, his name was Kelvin. He was number four on the varsity football team, very popular kid. This was a Bible club that I was a part of a preacher every week. It was about 600 kids a week. This kid gets saved. He gets healed and I go to his game that next week. And I’m in the stands, just watching the game. And this, this older African-American woman comes up to me and she says, Hey, I’ve heard about you.

Brian Barcelona: And I said, Oh hi who are you? And she goes, I’m Calvin’s mom. She says, number four, she goes, I just want to thank you. She goes, I’ve been praying for salvation for my son for many years. And you were the one to lead him to Christ. And so I’ve always recognized that my role is simply to reap something that I never sewed. I think that’s when you think of gen Z, I mean, we, last month we hit 4.5 million views on gospel content from one voice in Jesus clubs. And when you look at that, you wonder how is that possible? It’s possible because the prayers of so many parents, I mean, it almost feels on my job feels so unfair at times because I literally ride the waves of what people are so decades before me. I think you’re only able to tap into that though, when you honor previous generations, when you honor previous generations, it unlocks a whole well of blessings that I think if people would just learn, Bible’s true, you honor your mother and father, and he will live a long life. I believe that is also true for spiritual mothers and fathers, to fathers and mothers and the faith that may have different styles than we do. My grandma will get the maracas and the tambourine in her small Hispanic Pentecostal church. I will probably never do that. But it doesn’t mean I can’t honor those things that have gone before

Shea: I would definitely have the maracas. I’m also in the music. I’m also whatever, no, it’s like, God, I just love that fire though. I love that idea. I love the idea of the planting of seeds and giving back. I know between us, there’s like 18 and a half years difference and I’ve learned a lot. See, I never want to become that, that older person that just forgets, you know, and, and forgets that like, you know what, we still need to dial into the younger generations. You know, we need to, I don’t know where it’s at in the Bible off the top of my head, I remember that God is sitting there saying if we don’t pass this on through the generations, right. Then it’s going to be forgotten. And we don’t want that. We want to just keep instilling and keep watering and keep planting into young people.

Shea: All the way on up. I mean, Hey, I think sometimes we look at the children and they get overlooked a little. Sometimes it’s like follow along and we’re not investing time or we don’t know how, like, I’ll be honest. Sometimes I sit down, I’m like, what take cock, hold up. And I just saw a video too. I don’t know how long ago was it? You’re telling me, actually, I think you were with, I can’t remember if Jeremy Riddle or somebody else, you’re going to go. Yeah. I’m just figuring out this take talk thing. And it was like, yeah. And, and that’s where I’m at now though. I’m like, okay, well we have people to reach. We have generations to reach, you know, why do on our podcasts? You know, we focus on not just one area of, of humanity or people, you know, it’s like, we focus on all of them, a good reason for you to be here, you know? And, and so on that, it’s like, how would we reach out? You know, when we’re looking at gen Z, what are some of the things they connect to? What are some of the things that they, they understand that maybe we could get a little insight, you know, that help us when we get into those conversations with them.

Brian Barcelona: I think authenticity. And I think this generation is it’s mad. I have learned so much from watching 17 year olds create content. And I, I mean, the guys who trained me were two 17 year olds and it was humbling because I mean, I spoke in conferences for years. I’ve spoken in stadiums. I I’ve been, I’ve been able to become friends with a lot of people that are legends in the faith. I’m getting trained up by two 17 year olds because I just so desperately want to reach this generation. And, you know, this is actually super interesting. I watched this brief parts of a documentary that my wife was side of the fastest growing church in the world, which is in Iran and it’s led by women. And, they said, they said something that has, I haven’t even fully processed it, it is, it is, it has really wrecked my theology in what I think now they said that in America, we have things backwards and how we go out, we win a soul and then we try to teach them on, on, on following Christ when the actually wasn’t the model of Jesus, the disciples and the 72, if you scriptures true, which it is, they actually weren’t saved when Jesus sent them out to do the works because Jesus hadn’t died yet.

Brian Barcelona: Yet it Rose from the grave. There was no part in the sin yet they were outperforming miracles, preaching the healing, the sick. I mean, it was crazy when you, it messes with your theology because you all of a sudden realize that, you know, we are to train people in the ways of following Christ and then give them that invitation. I mean, sometimes we treat salvation like a blind date with people. I mean, maybe you would have never gotten married for the first time you ever heard of someone’s name. I think this is where you see people struggle and they follow in Iran. They actually do the opposite train people, you know, bang the word of God and trusting the word of God. And then they invite them into receiving Christ as their personal Lord and savior. And you even see that in scripture.

Brian Barcelona: I mean, when the 72, came back, what did Jesus tell them? Jesus told them you know, they’re all excited. They’re like, man, I’ve cast out demons in your name. And Jesus says, well, don’t rejoice that you’ve cast out demons in my name, that your name is found in the Lamb’s book of life. Why did he say that? Because they have yet to experience the saving grace of Jesus and the price he paid on the cross. Yet they were doing all these crazy things. And another scripture, that’s what he’ll say many, many will come to me and say, Lord Lord, have I not done these things? Our work in ministry does never, never validate our Christianity. The fact that God can heal someone through your life, touch someone through your life. You can raise the dead. You can do all types of miracles.

Brian Barcelona: It doesn’t, validify your salvation. And when you look at gen Z, that is what I’m seeing. We, these platforms are simply teaching them about Jesus. And then they are making conscious decisions, knowing what they’re going to follow versus an emotional decision that’s rallied up because the piano player got on the keyboard and the dim, the lights were dim just right me, come on. If we’re real honest, that’s been most of our techniques for many, many years. And we have a lot of raised hands in such few disciples. And the times that we’re entering, I’ve been, I’m going on record everywhere. I’m doing a podcast saying, as I believe we’re entering the beginning stages of persecution in America, we have entered a decade that is going to be remembered forever. And it’s a decade where our faith is going to be greatly tested, what breaks apathy in believers it’s persecution, right? And I think we are well overdue for our faith to be hard-pressed that it will really produce something that at the end of our lives, well, we’ll actually really stand as Christians if we make it right.

Shea: You’re definitely on the right podcast. Because like, I, I would have said, you know, I I’ve been called a fatalist. I’ve been called a defeatist. I’ve been called all of these things because I sit there and I go, look, we’re, we’re pointing to a time of revelation. We’re pointing to a time of second Timothy 3:12-13, where it says, it’s going to get worse. It’s going to be worse. And the Christians that are going to have to stand up are going to be the bold Christians, the Christians that have dug in who know the Lord who have a relationship with the Lord who trust the Lord, who know that in persecution, he is going to cover them. If we rely on the world, we give up our, security for safety. And, and really that, that, that in itself has to be, I like what he’s saying, you know, I’ve sat here and I’m, I’m digesting now what you’re saying too, because in reality, you’ll go on the streets sometimes.

Shea: And, and Hey, you know, you talk about Jesus, you said, you know, the receiving part and they received Jesus. And I’ve always had a struggle with this sometimes. And they, and sometimes, yeah, yeah, fine. I’ll receive Jesus to get rid of you. Right. And it’s like, hold up, hold up, hold up. And so then comes in that question. It’s like, well, okay, so then the whole, you can lose your salvation thing, went out the door and then now it’s that whole, well, either they did or they didn’t. And see that creates that, that middle ground where it’s like, well, are they, aren’t they? And I’m like, okay. So hold up. If we were to disciple them, if we’re to bring them up, right. If we were to show them who Jesus is through our own actions, then we would be that example of Christ. And they would see that. And they say, that’s, that is what I want to achieve. I want to, I want to be in that. I want to have that joy. I want to have that peace. I wanna have that comfort.

Michelle: Yeah. You know, last season we interviewed Ken ham and for his new book, he brought up one thing that he had in one of his chapters was, you know, it only takes one generation to not pass on the knowledge of Christ for an entire civilization to crumble and turn into just nothing. And he, and he cited several historical examples where, you know, we started out, everybody had knowledge like God given knowledge, like the arc was built, there was technology. And then to fast forward several centuries, and you’re looking at people around the globe, that, that didn’t live in any way to model this knowledge. And so it’s this idea that God has the answer to everything and he is the keeper of this knowledge. And it is so important for us to not just pass on this quick prayer and invitation that, you know, I think what you’ve been saying is just blowing up in my mind too, it’s so important for us to not just settle, like, okay.

Michelle:If I have some Bible books in the house and Bible bites books in the house, if, if the kids watch veggie tales, you know, if, if we go to church on Sunday, then they’ll come along. It’s, it’s a way of life. And I think that in America, you’re absolutely right. We’ve been talking about how actually this whole time of injustice and unrest and pandemic is actually an answered prayer that no one wants to admit because there’s pain, we’re very comfy in America and we’re also the ones that pump out the most content in the entire world. And so our Christians are pumping out the content and God’s like, you’re too comfy by choice, you know? And so when I think that it’s amazing, the kind of content that you, that you pump out, and I’m curious, like what I think we always talk about what makes gen Z different, people did that with millennials. They do it with the boomer they do with that, what makes gen Z relatable? Cause I think a lot of people are like, okay, they’re so different. Like, I think what you said about authenticity, like what makes them relatable like that? People just think they’re so alien, you found is just a common thread.

Brian Barcelona: They have no limits. I was talking to someone on, I did a podcast yesterday in England and the guy was saying how a lot of people, you know, in England will say, you know, I, you know, I had conversations when I was young with people. I wasn’t on a phone and belie, you know, I wasn’t stuck on a video game all day. I went, played outside and rode my bike. And that’s true. There are blessings of that generation. When I reminded that guy was, yeah, you also, weren’t able to get the gospel to 4.5 million people in 28 days. The lack of technology that your generation had actually was a hindrance. I feel like the limits have been blown off of gen Z. I think the, you know, this generation has been the only generation that I could think of.

Brian Barcelona: That’s gone through something like what we’re going through in this type of way of governmental lockdowns. Maybe it’s happened before. I know I’ve seen some memes of whatever, I’m pretty sure there might’ve been something maybe similar, not like it is right now. I mean, we’re seeing the greatest political, you know, war in American history. You’re seeing the highest office in our nation just disrespected, regardless of who’s in office. This gen Z is being molded in pandemics. It’s being molded in cancel culture. It’s being molded in persecution. And it’s going to be probably one of the greatest generation. There is no participation awards like the millennials. There’s no, it’s very different. They are going to value relationship with people like no other generation, because they’ve been separated from everybody in their homes. We, we’re all guilty in this. We’re in dinner tables, just on our phones.

Brian Barcelona: believe that next gen is it’s it’s, it’s going to be different that I think that there’s just a boldness. The, I mean, I’m, I’m watching right now on Tik TOK. There are thousands of kids that started reading the book of Luke for 24 days, thousands of thousands and thousands and thousands, no pastors leading it, no denominations leading it. They decided we’re going to do it. They shared it with their friends and they do it. And I think why that’s so intimidating is, you can’t control it. I think it’s so difficult for a lot. You know, I love the fact, the only thing I’ve enjoyed of this season is COVID has, was the great equalizer to every ministry. Mega churches don’t exist anymore. There is no big pastor on top and no big Bishop. You have the guide. Who’s been faithful in his room for 20 years who has 10,000 a week on a tik tok on a tik tock church. It’s great. Realize it, leveled everything out and gave, it, gave the ability for the famous not to have the opportunity, the faithful. Right. And I think that’s that to me is just, what’s so unique about the times we’re living in.

Shea: It has definitely crushed denomination. I was talking to somebody earlier today and a pastor that we know, and, we’re sitting there talking and it’s like, what came out of this for us? Now we got into pot podcasting, of course we had planned it. And then of course it gets bumped up because of COVID we’re like, Hey, let’s get this message out. Right. When we get into these podcast groups, when we get into these groups of people and we’re having conversation, the first thing out of your mouth, isn’t what church you go to, what? Your denomination. No, we’re talking about Jesus Christ. We’ll talk about how good he is. You know, it’s like this faithful is coming together. Exactly what, like what you’re saying, these kids are doing. And for me to hear that is so encouraging to hear that the kids are coming together, that the younger generations are coming together in the word of God.

Shea:You’re right. The disciples man, they were learning, see, they were, they were, they were also feeding while they learned. And to see, I think that you’re again, right in the idea that church culture in America, right. Became a feeding ground. I just want to eat, eat, eat, eat, eat more, eat more. And we forgot that we need to be turning this around and, and giving this outwardly, you know, it says, it says feed the poor feed. The, you know, the wheat will take care of the widows. And, and so it’s like, here I am in this position here and you say this, and I’m like, it’s kind of a beautiful, I mean, granted the loss, granted, everything that happened back in 2020, we’ve, we’ve got somewhere as far as getting people dialed into the real word of God.

Brian Barcelona: Yeah. I agree. And I, I don’t know, I’m just looking at everything and thinking, man, would, what half of these kids ever Rose up or what would happen to these kids ever have the opportunity to rise up under some of the, the church structures that we built that puts a million hoops for someone to jump through, to even preach. And I understand there needs to be character that needs to be integrity, man, I mean, how do you expect the 17 year old to have integrity of a 50 year old? I mean, I just, I just, when I, when I look at the guys, Jesus called it, they just weren’t as polished as we would’ve probably wanted them to be. And I, again, I’m not justifying do whatever you want at all. These kids are going after God, in the end of the day they’re kids. And I think that’s what I think God was so zealous for this generation to reach this generation. I like that.

Shea: Yes. Like he look at the, the act of love and people might like, it might take him a second to see, like, look at the act of like, he stopped the way the world worked for this generation because he loved them that much and knew that might be what it took, that they were worth it. And that’s what he’s done. And it’s not just for them. It’s for it’s for his body. It’s for his people. We’ve been talking about like the, the question of, of reaching people. And one thing that I used to feel so guilty for when I wasn’t doing it was the street evangelism, because I think for so long in our country, that’s been what evangelism is like everything. It’s like either you’re in an auditorium or you’re on the street evangelizing. And otherwise it’s like, well, you know, you’re just kind of wasting your time.

Michelle: Podcasting opened my eyes to all the people that are on Instagram and Tik TOK and YouTube and podcasts and writing books. Not because they want to sell millions of copies, because they’re like, there’s a hundred people that are going to read this book and be touched by the Lord for it. You know, when people doing this work because they can because of technology. And it’s like, we have to redefine a lot of these things that have been traditionally structured. The old definition is wrong, it’s been expanded. And I love hearing these kids doing it because they’re, they’re young, they have the spirit. And Peter said a lot of dumb things. And then he had the spirit fill him. And in front of all these people, he just start rolling out with like revelation. And it’s because God loves to speak to us that like speak through us that way, like look at this person, like it wasn’t you, it was clearly me. And that’s what I’m seeing. And I’m excited to see what, what these kids do because it’s important. It’s important to learn from them. When they speak the word truthfully as much it is to, for that establish

Michelle: And not even what they do, what they’re going to do, what they’re doing now. It’s like, cause we don’t know the dare time. So it’s like, man, they, this, this flood could just be, you know, this, this huge harvest and, and man, I I’ve loved the harvest. I think that there’s still revivals that are, that are taking place. And that’s exciting to me. It’s exciting to see the spirit move.

Michelle: You’ve inspired us a ton and made us think a ton today.

Shea: And I know you have a book and that’s, that’s cool. People should check that out, man. I really take it personal on that sense of like heaven or hell. You know, it’s like the soul has got one or two places to go and I’m so broken to know that there are people before me that haven’t made it to heaven and that there’s going to be people behind me that don’t make it to heaven. And so to see someone that is that hungry for a generation that can connect to a generation, you know, we need to be out there connecting to these generations. That’s what we’re all different for. That’s what God brought us all. He made us unique. He gave us different talents. You’ll reach the Z. I don’t know if I’ll ever reach the Z. You know what I’m saying? I just say, no, I’ll just say it. I’ll just say it. I’m just saying, I’ve tried, I’ll try to define this hair, you know what I say, we all have that thing. And it’s just exciting to see people who are, who are walking and, and really, really sharing Christ.

Brian Barcelona: Yeah. Francis Chan says this quote. He says that the scariest thing we could do is succeed at things that don’t matter. And my life has greatly reset. I mean, I traveled so much. I missed my second. Child’s a lot of her life as some planes. And then my third kid came to in quarantine. I think I’ve maybe missed a day or two out of his life since he’s been here. And I just, I think the ambition of having to grow a ministry has just died for me. I, I don’t really care much for that anymore. I mean, I do what I do cause I just love God. And I love people and I have a mission. It isn’t who I am. I think who I am is when I shut this computer off and I go with my wife and I go with my kids, that’s who I am.

Brian Barcelona: And I would encourage you. Like I really believe the, we were, we were so trained for so many years to, to only care for what people see in revelations. One of the churches that gets rebuked, God says to them, you have a reputation of being alive, you’re dead. And I believe that speaks to a lot of people, right? You’re not your Instagram social media posts. You’re not your, your Tik TOK videos. You’re not your best picture that you can filter. That’s just not who you are. And if you start believing that that’s who you are, you’re on a very quick road to destruction, you know? And again, just don’t allow ministry to validate your salvation and feel like I must be good with God because he continues to use my life. God uses the donkey. And if you don’t cry out, the rocks will. I mean, the fact that a rock and a donkey could easily replace you, shows you how much God needs you. He doesn’t need you as much as you think he does. It’s your honor to serve him and follow him and give him your allegiance. I was just encouraged. People don’t know what with the great, with the great reset of 2020, and your life’s like, don’t try to get your old life back. Embrace what you have now and keep going forward. Amen.

Shea: Hey, it’s been a pleasure having on the show. I’ve really enjoyed it.

Michelle: Yeah, no, look, we’re friends now you’re stuck with us.We’re building up a lot of friends in Texas so that I don’t know what that means, it means a trip to Texas, I guess. No thank you for being here and for everybody listening, you need to connect with Brian on a social handle if you haven’t figured that out of your life. We’re going to have in the show notes, we’re going to have, a link to his book as well as all of his different handles as always, you can connect with us there and we will see you next time.

KEYWORDS: SALVATION, GOD, TRUTH, TESTIMONY, CHURCH, DISCIPLES, DENOMINATION, CHRISTIANS, LOVE, FAITH, PODCASTS FOR WOMEN, PODCASTS FOR FAITH, PODCASTS FOR CHRISTIANS, CHRISTIAN PODCASTS TO FOLLOW.