Ep 1299 ｜ Matthew West Isn’t Afraid of the Online Mob. Here’s What Changed Him
Episode Stats
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Summary
Matthew West is feeling a renewed boldness after the death of Charlie Kirk. His testimony, especially over the last few months, is just so encouraging to me. I know it will be for you as well, especially to parents out there. We ve got so much good stuff for you on today s episode of Relatable.
Transcript
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Matthew West is feeling a renewed boldness after the death of Charlie Kirk.
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And y'all, his testimony, especially over the last few months, is just so encouraging
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I know it will be for you as well, especially to parents out there.
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We've got so much good stuff for you on today's episode of Relatable.
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I am so thrilled for you to hear this backstage conversation that I got to have with my friend
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and Christian, singer extraordinaire Matthew West at his concert on Sunday.
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I had the honor of talking to him, meeting his sweet daughters, and just hearing his testimony
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I really think throughout his life and career, but he says this has accelerated in the last
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few months, or God has just increased his clarity and bravery since Charlie Kirk was murdered.
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And so we talk a lot about that, but I just wanted to bring you backstage before we got
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started with that conversation and show you a little bit of what was happening.
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Chief Relatable got some behind the scenes looks at what it was like backstage.
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And then also, little surprise at the end of this, after I talked to Matthew West,
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they asked me, his sweet manager said, hey, do you want to go on stage before he goes out
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I'm going to go out and it's going to be crickets.
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Because everyone's going to be like, who is Allie Beth Stuckey?
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They probably were wondering who the heck I am.
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And all I had to do was go out there and hype him up and talk about how awesome he is, which
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And then you'll hear that at the end of this conversation, going out on stage and doing
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And by the way, if you have the opportunity to see Matthew West in concert, you need to
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I had the privilege of being able to watch his session, his set, after I introduced him.
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But really, what I love and what you'll see in this conversation is his heart for the gospel.
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And it is going to be such an encouragement for you.
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Before we get into that conversation, I do want to remind you of a couple things.
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We've got Share the Arrows tickets that are going live February 11th on Wednesday.
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And those are going to be our early bird tickets.
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You want to snag those tickets because it's just a limited time that we have that discount
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All the seats in the house are good, but you want to get that $99.
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Make sure that you and your friends, your sisters, female members of your family are all
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Share the Arrows is on October 10th, 2026 in Dallas, Texas.
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And that's at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Central Time.
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Yours truly will be moderating, which again is another thing that's making me nervous.
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You can pray for me because I've never done something like that before.
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Lots of new experiences, but I'm so excited for you to hear this conversation and be so
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The interview that you did where the people were sitting around you, what's that called?
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Like, you were on fire, but like, was that pressure?
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And that was the day before Charlie's memorial.
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And that was like the craziest weekend, travel-wise and stuff.
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And I was like, this is not how I want to feel.
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It was only like 10 days maybe after Charlie was murdered.
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And we really thought about canceling because I was like, I don't want to be surrounded by
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But that was one of the last conversations that Charlie and I had over text about Jubilee
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because he had done Jubilee and he crushed it, obviously.
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And he had all this advice for me and sent me all this text.
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And I just knew, like, if he had been there, he would have been like, you cannot cancel
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And honestly, like, when I walked in, it's very tense.
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Like, they're told not to smile at me when I walk in the room.
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But as soon as I sat down and the first person came up, he reached out his hand.
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He said, I'm so sorry about your friend Charlie.
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I think even the producers felt that because they were like, this is different.
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But I honestly think Charlie's death actually softened the whole thing.
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Maybe they didn't want to upset me or something.
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Now, after on social media, they had their things to say.
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I mean, talk about, like, walking into the lion's den.
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Like, it just, I was like, that is just some bravery there.
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And to be that, but you're, I mean, there's only a few that could be as well-equipped
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to step in and field those questions and slash attacks where there, it's all gotcha stuff.
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But, you know, you'd be, if you were in that situation too, you would be surprised at, like,
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how much you've heard everything that they're saying.
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Because as conservatives, it's like, we see this stuff on TikTok and everything all day.
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They've never heard my position, but I'm like, I've heard this.
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And it is, like, the Lord giving us the words to speak.
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You reached out to me a few months ago and you sent me an audio file of a song that you
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And thankfully, by the grace of God, that kind of made it through the grapevine to the
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And you even got to play that at the CBS Town Hall.
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To the broken hearted, save those who are crushed in spirit.
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Be the hand that's wiping our tears and the voice that whispers weary.
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So be still and know that I'll always be close.
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Well, like millions of people around the country and the world, we were our family, the West
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Like we were grieving with what we witnessed with Charlie Kirk being assassinated with his
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Like our family was just like, you know, freaking out.
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And as a parent, you're trying to like, you know, walk through that with your kids and
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just like the fear and the anger and all the emotions.
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And then also just like, you know, you're wrestling with your faith of like, Lord, where are you?
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You know, I think there's, it feels like so many moments in my life right now where I'm
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seeing things take place in our world and I'm asking that question.
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But then I can turn to scripture and be reminded of the promise of God's proximity, the closeness
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You know, the Lord is close to the broken hearted.
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And so to be honest, that whole day of watching what was happening on the news, I was so angry
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and I wanted to go to social media and just like, you know, really enter into that.
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And the next morning, I just, I couldn't sleep.
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And I woke up early that morning, not to like sound like I'm romanticizing or anything.
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I just woke up singing, Jesus be close to the broken hearted, save those who are crushed
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And so I did what I do when I don't know what else to do, which was go to my studio, pick
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The first line says, I can't unsee what I've just seen.
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And of course that was inspired by, you know, what took over social media, like, and I wished
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I could have protected my kids from seeing what we saw.
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I got to remember, even though I, I'm wondering where he is, I have to believe in the promises
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And I sent that to you because you've been such an incredible voice of truth in the midst
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And I felt a stirring in my life in the last couple of years, even though I've spent half
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Like, I feel like I'm feeling a stirring like never before to be bold and realize that standing
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up for Jesus and for truth is going to come at a cost sometimes.
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And then you shared it with, I think, Andrew and Andrew.
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I mean, it just punched me right in the gut because you sent it to me in that crazy weekend
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that we were just talking about everything was happening.
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I think maybe even right before the memorial and that first line, everyone that watched
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And in that moment, we all knew, yeah, that's what you're talking about.
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And for a lot of us, like it just ends right there.
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I can't unsee what I just saw and I don't know what to do with that.
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And the wrestling that you just described is very relatable that you felt angry.
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And, you know, scripture tells us, don't let the sun go down on your anger.
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And so you did something with that anger and you allowed the Lord to redeem it.
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Well, I feel like one of my jobs as a songwriter is to look at seemingly hopeless situations
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and dare to believe that there can still be some hope extracted from that.
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I've seen God work through three-minute songs, one three-minute song at a time.
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But like the hope that can be conveyed through a three-minute song, it's not about the song
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And I've gotten to see that over and over again.
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So I do feel like that's like one of my jobs in life.
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One of my callings is to like find the hope in hopeless situations and sing about it and try
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to tell anybody who will listen that there is still hope that God is still real, that
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He's still on the throne, and that even in these ugly situations in our world, we have
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a beautiful God who is still at work and He can redeem it all.
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You know, one of the lines in the song says, another light put out by dark.
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And like, that's how I felt like, of going like, Charlie, what a bright light, like speaking
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truth and doing it in a respectful way and showing us what healthy discourse can look
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like when you're talking to people who don't look like you or don't agree with you, but
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yet He was giving them a platform and evil hates what Charlie was about and tried to take
00:12:01.340
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You also, another opportunity that you got was to sing at the White House recently for
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Tell me about getting that phone call or hearing, hey, you're going to go to the White House
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I was asked to host the annual White House Christmas tree lighting, but I have to tell
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But they had a reception that afternoon at the White House before the Christmas tree
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lighting, and we were going to take a picture with the President and the First Lady.
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So I brought my wife and my daughters, and we go through all the Secret Service.
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They had this incredible buffet of the best-looking food I've ever seen, right?
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When I see a buffet, I'm like, I'm going to town on this, especially this White House
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I'm like, I'm going to eat this buffet, this amazing White House food.
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I'm going to skip the buffet until after we take a picture because I don't want to spill
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So we go in, we take the picture, and we get to spend a few moments with the President
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But before I realized it, Secret Service handed me my coat, and I was standing outside the
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They're like, you got to go get hair and makeup on for the White House.
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And all I could think about for two days after was, I never got the shrimp cocktail.
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So there's a lesson in that, that life is short.
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And when you get a chance to eat the White House shrimp cocktail, just do it.
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You just got to do it, even if you spill a little bit.
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So tell me what it was like to meet the President.
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And then I'll ask about actually doing the performance.
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I don't know how they fit everything they fit into.
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It's a mystery to me because they were saying hello to all of the artists that were performing
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And then, so we got to spend a few moments talking and, you know, in those moments, you're
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And the one thing I could think to say was just to say, hey, we pray, I want you, I didn't
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say, hey, but I said, Mr. President, I want you to know that the West family prays for
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you and we continue to lift you and your leadership up.
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And so that was, if you had one minute, that's what I wanted to say.
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And then that evening we're, you know, I get to host the Christmas tree lighting and they
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told me, they said, okay, read what's on the teleprompter.
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And it was me who was going to be introducing the president and the first lady on stage.
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And then they said, after that, you're going to go stand next to him.
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And we did the countdown and said, let's light this big, beautiful tree.
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And the coolest part was that there were no rules about what you could speak about or,
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you know, in terms of like, oh, let's make this more of a holiday celebration.
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No, this was like the message of Christmas and the greatest gift and the greatest story
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And in fact, they asked me to sing the song that I wrote for Charlie that night, which wasn't
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I'll tell you, I was surprised, Allie Beth, and you probably wouldn't be surprised by this,
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but I posted, you know, a picture of my family with the president and the first lady.
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And like, boy, I lost so many followers on social media.
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Just people upset that I would even accept that invitation.
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And, uh, and to that, I just, you know, I shake my head and I go, it was an honor to
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And, uh, it was just an incredible thing to ring in the Christmas season in our nation's
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You know, I was about to ask about that with speaking out after Charlie and then performing
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at the White House, I see both of those things as nonpartisan because in both of those circumstances,
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you just did what you always do, which is share the gospel through song.
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And you described that so beautifully, bringing people hope in a really dark place through
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Some of the pushback that you got, what, what was it like?
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What was the criticism and what was your response to that?
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Well, much of it is just a hatred for one man, right?
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Like there's a, there's a, that's a very real thing that they can't see past their hatred
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So that like, if you, there's just no objectivity.
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And it's like, to that, I would say like, I would have accepted the invitation to visit
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And to be honest, for me as a singer and a, I've never felt like that I'm just a singer.
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Like I'm, I feel like I have a calling to be a light in a dark world and share the message
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of the hope of Jesus, wherever I get the opportunity.
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I want to go into the darkness and be a bright light wherever I go.
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And so I accept those opportunities and I want to go and speak truth and speak hope.
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And, you know, not long after that, I was invited back to the Pentagon to do a Christmas
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concert with secretary, with a secretary of war, Pete Hegseth.
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And, um, and I gladly accepted that invitation because how incredible is that?
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Uh, they're upset that I would, uh, support war and violence and because they don't like
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the name change of, uh, the department of war, right.
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And not understanding that that historically was what it was called.
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It, it's just anger and hatred towards one man and one party.
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And to that, I've just have been like, you know what?
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I, I support our president and I am praying for our leadership and I'm going to continue
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And I, I've learned that there's going to come criticism, but I do think even in Christian
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music, it's like this, almost this fear of like speaking up for what is right and good
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and true because you're going to get criticized or you're going to lose followers or there,
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a lot of it's like, stay out of politics, just sing your songs.
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It's like, I don't know that that's what I'm called to do either.
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Like I want to speak out about what I believe is truth.
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And I want to be a bright light in a dark world.
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But there is that you sense like, I'll have a wrestling match sometimes.
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Cause like, well, if I post this, I'm going to get hammered.
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I got a song called unashamed that I'm singing every single night.
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And it's my personal anthem of going, I'm not going to be afraid because standing up for
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Jesus, the Bible never said it wasn't going to come at a cost.
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You're also not a stranger to some online outrage campaigns.
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You wrote that really sweet, lighthearted song about raising daughters to understand modesty
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and just dignity of the self that God calls us to.
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And you had a bunch of people, I don't even know, calling you a fundamentalist, trying to
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I mean, I've tried to block it out of my memory, but it's like PTSD.
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Because to be able to turn to voices like yours that you're unafraid.
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As followers of Christ, we need to see people who are showing us what it looks like to,
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It's one thing to be loud and bold, but if you're stupid, it's not good either.
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That's not a good representation of the gospel either.
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So to educate myself and just even having a desire to better understand everything that's
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Just here's a dad making up a goofy song, trying to convince his daughters, you know.
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But it was the message, the heart of the song was, you are who God says you are.
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You don't have to flaunt yourself to win the approval of a guy, right?
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And who would have thought that was a controversial message?
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And, you know, people came out of the woodwork to attack me and just talk about, you know,
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how they thought I was a man trying to tell women what to do with their bodies, which is
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like, as a father of daughters who, you know, I love my daughters so much.
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I just want to always remind them that they're made in the image of God and that they don't
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have to dress a certain way to, it was like, it was the craziest.
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I think there was a line that said, you know, it was something about Cardi B.
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And, you know, people were all up in arms about that.
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But it sounds like now, a few years later, you're even more resolved as you stand against
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What would you say you've learned in the past few years of now seeing the, you know, various
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waves of people mad at you about different things?
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I think, you know, what's interesting is when that, when I released, it was a song called
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And it was, you know, I think I just naively didn't expect any pushback from that.
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And then I like, I realized that then when I took the song down, Christians got mad at
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Now, my decision to take that song down was because people started coming after my then
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But I think looking back on that now, like it was like 48 hours and the world moved on
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That's what I started to realize was like, OK, this is like it feels so coordinated.
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And so I've just kind of learned like this too shall pass.
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And that I'm going to continue to stand up for what is right.
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I mean, I wrote a song for a movie that exposed Planned Parenthood.
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And yes, I mean, that was like my first brush with like and I realized when they gave me the
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script to that movie and said, would you write a song about this?
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I'm going to write about that because I believe in the sanctity of life and I believe that
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But I also knew that there's a whole lot of people who vehemently will come at me.
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The more brushes you have with opposition and people coming at you or haters, as my kids
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I think it builds a little bit of a tougher skin while also wanting to have a heart of
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I think the more you experience it, the more you realize that it's going to be OK.
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That lesson that you learned is so important to highlight that people move on.
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In the moment, it feels like, oh, my gosh, this is going to last forever and everyone's
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And I'm not saying you should never listen to criticism or you should never ask yourself,
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When the person is wise and biblical and coming from that place, it might be good to assess
00:26:08.160
But when it's people who hate you, who hate Christianity, they're telling you,
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you're wrong, you probably don't really need to reassess.
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I mean, I get a ton of unfair criticism for things.
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Some of it, of course, is completely fair because none of us is perfect.
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It's tough to not let the comments and social media posts get to you.
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But to realize, like, and I think I'm learning, too, of just going, I don't want to be above
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Like, I always want to be teachable and coachable.
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But like you said, like, at the end of the day, like, my relationship with the Lord is
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the driving, my faith is the driving force of my life.
00:26:55.780
And I'm not always going to be perfect, but help me, like, somehow be bold in my faith
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And my mission is to tell people about Jesus with my music and stand up for what I believe
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And at the end of the day, I want to hear the Lord say, well done.
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But I know that it's not going to, I know now that it's not going to come without criticism
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And I can't let social media, if I lose followers, so be it.
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Okay, tell me about this song, Unashamed, because it seems like you are kind of in a
00:28:39.680
moment right now where you're like, okay, I'm going to double down on whatever boldness
00:28:45.640
So tell me about the song, why you wrote it, what it means.
00:28:48.260
Yeah, I think it's been a collective like of these experiences that we just talked about,
00:28:53.220
which is funny because even before sitting down with you, I hadn't really thought much
00:28:56.580
lately about that modestest, hottest moment or some of these moments where I have kind
00:29:01.480
And most recently, just even a post of a picture with my family and the president and the first
00:29:06.580
It's like, I think that song has come out of like just this series of events over the
00:29:12.060
last few years where I'm like, okay, have I kind of been living?
00:29:16.760
It's like I'm a Christian singer and a lot of my concerts are in churches in front of Christian
00:29:22.760
It's almost like I spent so long in this almost like a little bit of a bubble.
00:29:28.580
And I'm like, well, what does it look like for me to like become more emboldened in my
00:29:33.940
And people have looked at me like, that's weird.
00:29:38.520
But I think there's a time in your life where the longer you've been a Christian, you can
00:29:43.200
like start to wade into what the Bible warns about lukewarm waters.
00:29:50.360
And because they're like, my songwriting is a way of like jolting me, of waking me up.
00:29:55.800
There was one of my songs that was on the radio years ago said, I don't want to go through
00:29:59.940
There's another song that said, I'm going all in like these, these sort of anthems that
00:30:05.000
I needed to be singing because I needed to be hearing them.
00:30:08.440
Another song, this is, I want to know, I got no what ifs, right?
00:30:11.960
It's like, you can hear that common refrain in a lot of my songs, like, what does it look
00:30:16.080
like to like, make sure that I'm running my race with perseverance, right?
00:30:21.280
And so unashamed, I feel like is just kind of hitting the nail on the head with what I've
00:30:26.640
gone through in my life and going like, what does it look like to really have a desire for
00:30:33.860
Like, am I, am I singing a song just because I want to have a successful career?
00:30:38.620
Or am I getting on stage tonight in the hopes that literally that heaven will become more
00:30:48.240
And I'll tell you, my oldest daughter, like she's showing me what it looks like.
00:30:53.860
Like she went and did a six month missions trip, just left college and said, I feel like
00:30:58.780
God's calling me to go do something and went on this missions trip.
00:31:06.360
She was literally just telling people about Jesus one person at a time.
00:31:13.220
Like when my kids start showing me what it looks like to be unashamed of the gospel and
00:31:18.240
just have a desire, like I'm going to do this because I literally have a heart for somebody
00:31:29.840
And I get off track all the time, like everybody else does.
00:31:32.260
But that song unashamed was like, okay, what happened when Daniel obeyed God?
00:31:37.500
Like when they told him not to pray, he went up, the Bible says he went upstairs where the
00:31:53.060
When someone like that stood up, what happened?
00:32:03.380
And therefore I think that's why God has me write those songs because when I'm on stage,
00:32:08.020
a lot of times I'm singing songs like unashamed and I'm like, this song is not for the audience
00:32:15.000
Um, I love this lyric talking about just staying on track to me.
00:32:20.020
Like when I read this, this is the reminder that I need.
00:32:30.140
I mean, that's exactly what you're talking about.
00:32:32.780
Remembering every single day, sometimes every single moment, depending on what the day is.
00:32:45.260
Ultimately, you answer to the authority that is bigger than all of this.
00:32:51.000
And that's really what changes your mentality about criticism, I would think.
00:32:57.080
And I think that line was directly inspired by the experiences I've had over the last few years.
00:33:02.080
And a desire to give somebody else who's listening the words to express, like, their desire.
00:33:09.000
Because I do feel like in the Christian community, it's like, I think people, and like, you know, I'm about to do a concert tonight after we talk.
00:33:17.920
And when I sing that song, it's like it, you can feel it strike a chord with the audience.
00:33:24.200
And I feel like Charlie's death, like, stirred something within me.
00:33:29.260
I know it stirred something within so many other people.
00:33:31.820
But then they don't maybe feel equipped to do that.
00:33:35.220
I think that's one of the reasons why platforms like yours are so important.
00:33:38.000
Because you're helping equip people in how to, what does boldness look like?
00:33:43.060
And I want to be one of those people that can maybe, you know, one of the best compliments when somebody comes up to me is, I feel like your songs have given me the words I didn't know how to communicate.
00:33:52.840
And hopefully a song like Unashamed is one that equips a kid out here who's at this concert to realize when they walk into their school Monday morning, they're on a mission.
00:34:04.020
To help a mom who's still praying for her prodigal to realize that God has her in that prodigal's life for a reason and to walk into that with a purpose and a mission, whatever it might be, to be bold in your faith.
00:34:16.980
So that's my hope, is that as the Lord's stirring in me, I'm going to pour that out into the world and hopefully give them an anthem to go, yep, me too.
00:34:27.840
And let's show people what it looks like to stand for Jesus.
00:34:31.280
And let it be an attractive thing where people are like, I want that.
00:34:36.360
Everybody else is standing up for something right now.
00:34:42.980
Why am I not going to stand up for what I believe in?
00:34:46.020
Especially in a time where I think a lot of Christians really do feel afraid.
00:34:50.100
Like they watched what happened in St. Paul to that church.
00:34:52.680
You've got these congregants praying and then you've got these agitators coming in, harassing.
00:35:04.740
And some Christians look at that and it's tempting to say, do I even want to go in person to church?
00:35:16.440
Because clearly there's a lot of people that hate us.
00:35:20.020
More than they hate people of other faiths, we're the target.
00:35:23.840
And it's really, really tempting to say, well, maybe I will just dial it back.
00:35:28.980
I'll still be nice to people and kind of hope maybe they know I'm Christian, but I don't want to say it.
00:35:34.680
And I don't want to gather with the saints because I'm afraid of what's going to happen.
00:35:38.520
And so in a moment like that, hearing someone say, actually, we're still called to be unashamed, just as Christians were 2,000 years ago.
00:35:47.740
So it's a hard message, but man, it is like the message that all of us need to be reminded of.
00:35:53.460
Well, and if you're on like, I mean, you see a lot of pastors wanting to be quiet or maybe like I was watching, you know, as a preacher's kid myself and as somebody who's, you know, I haven't fallen too far from the tree, right?
00:36:06.500
Getting up on stage every night, but watching how pastors were handling it and just the fear of approaching the topic of Charlie Kirk's death and for fear of being political versus like right and wrong.
00:36:21.480
Like, but I thought the way that pastor handled Don Lemon, I always want to say Lamont.
00:36:29.440
Because I think that's what Tucker calls him, Don Lemon.
00:36:31.360
But the way that pastor handled that moment, I thought he handled that really well, didn't you?
00:36:44.020
Listen, it's understandable for people to be afraid.
00:36:47.340
And I mean, I'd like to think I would handle that in the right way.
00:36:52.840
As I watched that video, I could sense like my own anger rise.
00:36:56.280
I'm like, would I have been a little angrier in that moment?
00:37:00.480
But it breaks your heart to see like them walking into people's place of, to a place of worship like that.
00:37:06.660
It does feel like it's, you know, push comes to shove in a way where like Christians are really having to consider the fact that, hey, me believing in Jesus is literally offending people.
00:37:22.840
And I pray that pastors will be, will continue to be bold and that Christians can look to their leadership and go, okay, I see what it looks like to stand strong.
00:37:41.180
Every day Americans make choices that can change our country's future for better or for worse.
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It's not just our vote every two years or every four years in local and federal elections.
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It is also how we vote with our dollar on a daily basis, the kind of companies that we support.
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And Patriot Mobile is a cell phone carrier that actually supports our same values.
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You can upgrade your phone or you can keep the same one.
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And obviously, you know, after Charlie was murdered, and I don't have the same platform
00:38:42.720
that Charlie did, he was reaching tens of millions of people every day.
00:38:46.060
But, you know, we did have to take a moment to be like, okay, I do say some of the same
00:38:50.620
things that Charlie does, did, and I believe those same things.
00:38:54.680
And ultimately, I believe that he was killed for preaching the gospel and for saying things
00:38:58.920
that were biblically true, not just politically true.
00:39:01.720
And there's been a couple of things that I'm reminded of.
00:39:04.680
Like when I look to moments like the one you noticed, that pastor, like he was so firm,
00:39:12.260
I remember there's some quote by C.S. Lewis, and I'm going to butcher it, so I won't even
00:39:16.980
But he says, when you worry about the future, whether it's a future moment where you're met
00:39:20.860
with some kind of confrontation or your faith is tested, when you worry about the future,
00:39:25.480
you are picturing the future without the presence of God in it.
00:39:28.580
Because the presence of God is only ever in the present.
00:39:34.340
And so we might think, oh, what's going to happen in my life if this happens, if I lose
00:39:39.080
But we're imagining it without the grace of God there in that moment.
00:39:48.540
You, I'm sure, were worried about a variety of things in your career.
00:39:55.500
And then also this quote by this 19th century missionary, and he led this tribal remote island
00:40:06.960
And he said, I had to realize that I was immortal until God called me home.
00:40:11.260
And I think of that every day, that you are bulletproof until God calls you home.
00:40:19.480
He ordained that day before he created the earth.
00:40:26.180
And it's also, you know, I mean, Jesus encourages us in the gospels, do not worry about tomorrow.
00:40:34.880
So I think about like the encouragement not to worry about the future for the same reasons
00:40:40.400
that you just said, but then also the faith that we find and the confidence that we find
00:40:47.380
It's like, how many times have we said these are unprecedented times?
00:40:52.320
I feel like ever since COVID, if I heard that term one more time, like, but I was saying
00:41:05.920
But even in our own lifetimes, like I can look over my shoulder when I'm fearful of the
00:41:10.580
future and be reminded of how God has shown up for me time and time again with his protection,
00:41:16.080
with his provision, with his strength, with his courage, with the words when I didn't know
00:41:22.400
And so let me, and all of it comes down to, again, is a total and complete dependence
00:41:31.300
And that at the end of the day is like, even when I'm sitting here talking to you, I'm
00:41:34.000
like, oh, I hope I have the right words to say to Allie Beth today.
00:41:42.340
When I go on stage tonight, like I don't want to rely on my own ability because I'm not
00:41:49.820
And I want to be nothing but a megaphone that sends his word into the world.
00:41:57.080
I'm thankful for this work that he's doing in my life.
00:42:04.500
That's one of the reasons I was so excited to chat with you again, because you encouraged our
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I was looking at one of your posts today and I was looking at one of your posts on Instagram
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You can trust that Every Life pull-ups are going to keep them clean, that you are putting
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And so I could not recommend this pro-life company more.
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Okay, I could talk to you for three more hours.
00:43:27.720
You are so easy to talk to, and we have so much to chat about, but you're about to go
00:43:33.100
I want to get you out on time, but I've got to ask you about your book, which is just
00:43:37.580
released, or no, it's about to release in just a few days, and it's called Don't Stop
00:43:43.660
Yeah, so Don't Stop Praying started as a song, kind of turned into a little bit of a movement
00:43:48.280
to where during the election season, we thought, how cool would it be to go old school?
00:43:53.280
And we started printing these yard signs that just said, it was no political message.
00:43:59.660
Thousands of people started putting them in their yards, and people would send me pictures,
00:44:04.140
and there would be just hundreds of them all down the streets in these towns.
00:44:08.340
It's such a cool way for people to share their faith during a highly divisive time, but a
00:44:15.540
lot of times I'll write a song, and then I'll feel like there's more to unpack there, and
00:44:20.160
I want to say more, and that was one of those songs.
00:44:22.920
And to be honest with you, I'm somebody who I started to feel convicted going, I've spent
00:44:30.220
Have I gotten better at talking about Him than actually talking to Him?
00:44:34.160
And so this book was an exploration of me just kind of going, God, forgive me.
00:44:39.040
I want to go deeper in the most important conversation that I'm going to have today.
00:44:43.120
And no offense to you, but you and I, this isn't our most important conversation.
00:44:49.860
And so I wound up just kind of diving into that.
00:44:52.640
And I got to tell you, the book opens with the experience.
00:45:01.260
And they would have all these different activities.
00:45:03.360
But one day, they took the dads and the daughters deep into the woods, and we were going to
00:45:11.620
And then they told the dads, all right, you're going to go and guide your daughter blindfolded
00:45:17.600
I'll never forget this, Allie, but it was, they said, now you're going to give your daughter
00:45:21.240
three instructions and repeat them as many times as you can before the walk begins.
00:45:25.960
And the instructions were, I will never leave you, you can ask me anything, and you should
00:45:38.240
And then we were instructed to begin our hike through the woods.
00:45:41.560
And it was easy to guide her in the beginning because I could have a hand on her shoulder
00:45:47.040
And I'd say, okay, there's a rock coming up, turn to your right, this kind of thing.
00:45:50.620
And then with a silent signal from a camp counselor, they would tell me I had to remove my hand
00:45:56.020
and I could only guide her with the sound of my voice.
00:45:59.120
And it got a little more challenging to navigate the path.
00:46:02.520
Then with another silent signal from the camp counselor, I could no longer speak unless she
00:46:07.820
remembered the instructions that she could ask me anything.
00:46:11.160
So as you can imagine, we started to get off track in our hike.
00:46:18.480
Counselor comes up as like a voice of deception and my daughter's feeling lost and wondering
00:46:24.440
where I am because she's not hearing my voice and she's not remembering to ask me any questions.
00:46:29.660
Counselor comes up and says, hey, Lulu, it looks like you've gotten separated from your
00:46:37.860
And she said, well, the counselor said, well, how about you follow me and I'll get you caught
00:46:43.000
And of course, as a dad, I'm overanalyzing my entire job as a parent, fraying that she
00:46:50.760
And all of a sudden I heard, okay, she follows the camp counselor.
00:46:57.920
The counselor walks her into a ditch and she doesn't realize it, but she's blindfolded
00:47:04.340
And I'm standing there helpless, waiting and hoping that she remembers the instructions.
00:47:09.480
After several minutes, I'm just standing there.
00:47:12.340
The counselor comes over to Lulu and says, hey, Lulu, I don't think you're where you're
00:47:21.480
And she said, well, do you remember the instructions that you were given?
00:47:26.340
And she thought for a couple of minutes and I'm standing there waiting.
00:47:29.240
And all of a sudden I hear four words, dad, are you there?
00:47:42.040
And we got back on track and we walked back and we had this incredible moment.
00:47:46.240
And that was a moment that shaped the writing of this book because I thought about those
00:47:50.860
three instructions and how many times I've forgotten them in my life that he will never
00:47:56.720
I can ask him anything and I should only listen to the sound of his voice.
00:48:01.280
And so that was the heart of this book of me coming back to those three principles and
00:48:06.300
remembering that I have a God who's always with me, that he loves to hear the sound of
00:48:09.900
his children's voice, and that he is the only source of strength and guidance in my
00:48:17.240
Not a social media influencer, not anything else that tries to vie for my time or attention.
00:48:25.840
And a lot of times if it's a song or a book, when I'm writing something, I'm like, I need
00:48:29.700
I think there's a chance maybe somebody else does too.
00:48:39.220
So maybe by the time people watch this, they can go on Amazon.
00:48:46.300
By the time they listen to this, it will be out.
00:48:55.220
There's someone out there and they're like, okay, all of this sounds good, but I'm really down
00:48:59.220
I don't even know if I can hold on to my faith right now.
00:49:02.540
You have 30 seconds to try to pull that person out of the ditch.
00:49:08.740
I know some people are just listening too, but hey, I would just want to encourage you
00:49:18.180
And the Bible says that you will seek him and find him when you seek him with all of
00:49:22.760
And another powerful promise in James says that if you draw near to him or if you come
00:49:31.220
Not he might, or he might squeeze you into his busy schedule.
00:49:34.520
He leans into you because he loves you that much.
00:49:38.200
He'll give you the strength you need to face whatever is going on in your life.
00:49:42.140
The things that are bigger than you, they are, but they're never bigger than the God
00:49:47.120
He's going to give you the strength and the courage to stand up for what is right and
00:49:52.420
And you can be a bright light in a dark world, just like Charlie was.
00:50:17.120
I got to see Matthew West just a few years ago.
00:50:21.500
And over the years, I have been so grateful for his willingness and for his courage and for
00:50:29.040
his clarity in a culture that is very often chaotic and confused.
00:50:43.360
Thank you so much for watching me do this and how much you can do that.