00:00:02.000And if you're wondering who I married and what we have in common, what's going on, we are re-airing a fun episode I had with my wife, Erica Kirk.
00:00:11.000If you want to give us a wedding gift, charliekirk.com slash support is the place to do it.
00:00:17.000Or you can go to proclaimstreetwear.com and support Erica's venture.
00:00:20.000This is brought to you advertiser-free bonus episode.
00:00:23.000Our team said, Charlie, we got to do this.
00:00:40.000His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:00:49.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:01:11.000And we are super thrilled to do this episode.
00:01:13.000We've had a lot of people ask us about this episode to do something together sitting down.
00:01:17.000World Meet Erica Francfe, who has an amazing podcast, Midweek Rise Up, and an incredible, let's say, fashion line that we're both wearing called Proclaim Streetwear.
00:06:29.000Because these young men, they wrap a tap dance around the issue and they are never actually, I should say, never, but far too often.
00:06:38.000Yeah, I mean, don't be so direct where you are just a jerk, but you can be assertive to the point where you're like, look, I don't want to hurt your feelings.
00:07:44.000It's a video on YouTube where this guy, this homeless guy, is sitting on the subway freezing, and someone else on the subway sees him and puts over.
00:07:54.000walks over to him, puts on him, the freezing man, his sweatshirt and his t-shirt and clothes him and has zero dialogue with the homeless man.
00:08:03.000And to me, it just showed how powerful it is, how your actions speak more than your words.
00:08:10.000And so for me, I was in and out of sleep on that train, and Isaiah 61 kept being talked about in my dream.
00:08:18.000And so when I woke up, I read Isaiah 61, and it was just beautiful.
00:08:31.000But what am I, you know, I'll go about my day.
00:08:35.000So then it wasn't until my grandfather had passed away in October of that year that I came across really the mission and purpose of Proclaim Streetwear.
00:08:47.000We've always had a soft spot in our heart for our grandparents.
00:08:50.000And so when he passed away to cope with that, he passed away at 3.11 p.m.
00:08:56.000And I went through every single Bible verse of chapter 3, verse 11 and came across Luke chapter 3, verse 11 that says, if you have two shirts, give the second one away to someone in need.
00:09:09.000And that's a paraphrase, but long story short, I started to pay attention more to the unnoticed in the city of Manhattan.
00:09:18.000And all these people in the streets during the colder seasons who didn't have really anything.
00:09:25.000I mean, they had a t-shirt or, you know, a blanket or a comforter to keep them warm, but a lot of them are just on the streets freezing.
00:09:32.000And I remember even just taking pictures on my phone to just remind me of either where they were on the cross street so I could bring them something if I passed them again, or just to be able to use that as fuel and as a drive to continue to push towards getting Proclaim going.
00:09:48.000And so I was like, this is the mission.
00:09:53.000Isaiah 61 and Luke 3.11 blended together.
00:11:05.000So for the sweatshirts, when you purchase a sweatshirt, you're given the option of accepting the second sweatshirt as a gift and you taking it upon yourself to go gift it to someone in need on the streets during the winter season, someone who's cold that you see needs something or someone that you feel like you can interact with.
00:11:23.000And it's up to you to proclaim to them whatever God has placed in your heart, whether that's anything about Jesus, whether that's anything about scripture.
00:11:32.000But we are a Christian clothing line and that's something that we are unapologetically very proud of.
00:11:38.000And so if you decide not to pass out your second sweatshirt, the Proclaim Street team does it for you.
00:11:43.000And we had several outings in Manhattan over the past few years prior to COVID.
00:11:49.000And it was so powerful to witness just everyone out there handing out the sweatshirts and being able to talk to people.
00:12:55.000I think a lot of people get frustrated with the season of waiting.
00:12:58.000And I think that's something so powerful to be able to be in that season of really letting God mold your heart and mold you into the man or woman that he needs you to be for your spouse.
00:13:09.000And sometimes we rush that, but I think seasons are so important.
00:13:12.000And every second that you live your life is connected to a season, but a season is not your whole lifetime period.
00:13:20.000And I think that having just that intentional time with God to be able to just stay focused in the word, to literally pursue what he has placed on your heart, he knows who you're supposed to be with.
00:13:34.000And I think when we rush that and we put our faith in algorithms like Bumble and what are the other ones?
00:13:40.000I know I've never been in the group before, Tinder, all those apps, you are just constantly swiping.
00:13:46.000And I saw that whole hookup culture in New York because I've had friends that lived it.
00:14:09.000So it's just, it's one of those things where I think having that waiting period of, you know, I guess, I guess you could say fueling yourself with things that make you a better person and focusing on doing things for the kingdom.
00:14:26.000And you just keep running your race and running your path, and God will line up someone next to you that's running alongside of you, not someone who's going to take you off track, but someone who keeps you focused on him and doesn't detract your attention from that.
00:14:40.000Young men ask me all the time, they say, well, how do I find somebody?
00:15:35.000And I think a lot of young women, they don't necessarily need an Instagram model.
00:15:39.000They want someone who is willing to take responsibility for difficulty and to go through Uncertainty and the unknown and to tell the truth and to be committed to those ideals.
00:15:53.000Where I think there's a culture that's been created of young men that basically are afraid of responsibility and they just want the gratification without it.
00:16:05.000And then there's another whole segment of women that basically, because of the hyper-feminization of everything, become almost the male figure in the relationship.
00:17:00.000And for women out there who think they don't need a man or don't think they need someone to help them pursue further in life or to have a more complete fulfillment of themselves, it's just, it's, I have seen it firsthand living in Manhattan where women who are in their late 30s, early 40s, their life was their career.
00:17:25.000And there's nothing wrong with that because my mom was a career-oriented woman and career-oriented mom.
00:17:34.000And then by the time you're in your 40s, you're bitter, you're frustrated, you feel like you missed out, and you feel like you are behind the curve.
00:17:43.000And then you're just, you just are, you know, tainted.
00:17:47.000But from a boss babe culture, it forces women to feel like they all need to be entrepreneurs.
00:19:58.000I think it's very important that women have their own, whether that's a career or they're invested in something, or they're invested in something outside of the household, whether that's volunteering your time, whether that's having your own company, whether that's homeschooling your kids.
00:20:14.000I think we all have our own lane and position to play within the relationship.
00:20:19.000What bothers you the most when you look at, you kind of touched on this, but the dating landscape when you look at it.
00:20:57.000And I just knew that there was no reason for me to compromise.
00:21:04.000And the thing that drives me nuts too is when you ask someone who they're looking, who are they dating or who they're wanting to marry, they have this list.
00:22:11.000And again, I think that before looking outward and getting bitter, you should look inward and try and say, how am I going to prove myself worthy of actually wanting to be with somebody?
00:22:41.000And for men, I think it's a different issue because the young men have been beat down so much.
00:22:50.000And I think that women are being pushed in a position that they're not actually always comfortable with.
00:22:55.000I think there's some young ladies that literally just, I don't want to say literally just, but they want to become a mother and a wife, but they feel that's not the right thing to do at age 24, 25.
00:23:12.000And then they start to realize that it's actually a lot harder to find somebody worthwhile to go build a family or go to school.
00:23:19.000Well, and in those cities, especially, that's the hardest thing.
00:23:22.000It's like in those types of cities, it's not like you can just run into someone.
00:23:25.000So a lot of those people that do go to those big cities hope to find someone in the church.
00:23:29.000And that's where it gets kind of messy because when you go to a Bible study that's co-ed and people are single, everyone's just like sniffing each other.
00:23:50.000But, and that's for a whole nother topic at another time.
00:23:53.000But I think there becomes almost this desperation of I'm running out of time.
00:23:58.000And I think people forget that God is the author of time and He knows exactly when you need to find that person and when you need to settle down and where you need to be.
00:24:07.000And I think that for me, that's one of the most precious things is having that relationship with Christ, knowing, okay, where am I supposed to be at this time?
00:24:16.000You know, what am I supposed to be doing to further the kingdom?
00:24:19.000And really being vulnerable and open to making sure that you stay within the confines of God's will and living a life that's glorifying to him.
00:25:26.000It's so, and I get it, and I respect it because there's a lot of people who are excited about seeing, you know, but to me, it was always so tacky when girls would take a photo with their hand in front of their face.
00:26:03.000But no, it's one of those things where it just, I don't, I don't find.
00:26:08.000I look, the most important thing to me out of all of this is that this is a covenant that you and I are making with God.
00:26:15.000And that is where I want the focus to remain.
00:26:18.000Whether that's with us or everyone else that sees us from the outside, it's not, you could have literally have gotten me a piece of thread.