The Surprising Power of Community in Supporting Your Faith Like Redwood Trees

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Hello Hello everyone, thank you again for joining me on another episode of the DOSUR show. Today's guest is Eric Stevens, who is an ordained pastor, elder, life coach, and the founder of Redwood Christian Ministries through his weekly show, live talking, guest speaking, and missing strips. Eric quit and inspired followers of Jacobs to work really in Christ,

Welcome And Meet Eric Stevens

SPEAKER_00 1:06

having overcome addiction, depression, and a suicide attempt through a powerful encounter with Jacobs in 2010. He now shares his testimony with passing with an authenticity to help others come alive in their faith. Everything is for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

What's going on, man? I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Absolutely. As the founder of Redwood Christine Ministries, your motto is we see a need, we feel a need to show the love of taking to our community. How has that simple guiding principle shaped the ministry's growth from life coaching and the podcast, guest speaking, and missing trips?

SPEAKER_01 1:59

I mean, for first and foremost, has helped us to be intentional. Um, I believe your yes validates your no, and your no validates your your yes. So um,

The Redwood Mission And Three Pillars

SPEAKER_01 2:09

my nonprofit, Redwood Christian Ministries, we have three pillars salvation, discipleship, and church unity. And the main mission, like you said, is see a need, feel a need. So if something doesn't fall within those three pillars, it's a goalmine if we hit all three. But if it doesn't touch one of those three pillars, then we don't get involved. But to take it back to the to the very start, when the Holy Spirit gave me the whole thing for the nonprofit, you know, mind you, I'm in Cleveland, Ohio. So that's why this story was so impactful for me. But the redwood trees in California grow to be about 400 or 450 feet tall. And each one of these trees, their tree roots are only six feet deep. But these tree roots are interlocked and intertwined and they go on for for miles. So these trees literally are intertwined, so they uplift, support, and hold one another up. So if you see a redwood tree down, that means it got isolated somehow because these trees also battle storms together because they're so massive, they funnel the storms out. The other thing is they're their own ecosystem. They take care of the birds and animals that live on it. They water and nourish the area that's around it. And when the Holy Spirit gave me that, I said, this is the way that Christianity is supposed to be. It's not this church versus that church. It's like, oh, come to my church, don't go here. You speak in tongues and I don't. You have tattoos and I don't. It's this isn't about any of these things. It's about what did you do with Jesus? And are we really following Christ? Are we following his ways? Are we truly following the rabbi? Are we following his message and not looking for all these differences? So that's where the three pillars, that's where the three pillars came from. So yeah, it's it's helped us do that. Like you mentioned, I host the um the Rooted in Christ podcast. It's a weekly show. We might be going to two episodes a week. So this is the first time you're hearing me talk about that anywhere. So um we might be doing that sooner rather than later. Because uh, thanks to PodMatch, I have an entire backlog of recordings now. Shout out to them. Um, I'm actually taking a team through my church to New Orleans again um this year to do some uh cleanup efforts down there, feed the homeless, do some advantages on Bourbon Street. So yeah, man, we we just really want to get out and be the hands and feet of Jesus. Um I also here I host a Christian hip-hop and R ⁇ B concert at the House of Blues every year here in Cleveland called Beyond the Walls. And, you know, um it was a blessing to see about 40 or 50 people give their lives to the Lord last year. So we're gonna do the concert again this year, but then we're gonna have a men's conference um probably a few months after that just to catch, just to catch those guys and just you know, really pouring to them. So, yeah, man, it's all about being the hands and feet of Jesus for us.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

That's awesome. The name Redwood is powerful. What does that symbolism mean to you and your mission?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Honestly, it means just to literally stay rooted in Christ. It the the Redwood trees are they stand firm. They're they're they're not living life alone. They're not, you know, they they are literally standing in a community. Oh, and I think that that that that follows an example that Jesus set. You know, Jesus didn't walk alone. He had his 12. So if he didn't walk alone, why would I walk alone? You know, if he didn't do life alone, why would I do life alone? You know, I think he modeled exactly how we're we're supposed to live and live our lives, you know. So each one of these trees is so massive. However, they're in a community that is supporting one another, you know, so it's not to think that, oh, my platform is this and somebody else's platform is that. It's like, no, God has blessed us with with the blessings that we have to for his work, his glory, his honor, his praise, and to accomplish his mission here on earth. Like it's a blessing that we're able to partner with God and his mission. So since we're being used to partner, you know, we try to honor that with as much character and integrity as possible.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Tell us a little bit about your own background and how you, you know, you're growing up and how you became a pastor and a life coach and everything. What m, you know, what made you and what what pushed you to become a pastor and a life coach?

SPEAKER_01 6:03

I mean, for me, it was because I I hit rock bottom. I was raised my mom, my grandmother. My biological father was not around very much in the early years of of my life. And around age 11 or 12, uh was the first time I had seen him in a long time. And mind you, he was about six foot three, fresh of the military at this point. And uh, we were playing basketball up at Woodhill

Rejection, Rock Bottom, And A New Start

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Park, and I was a short, fat kid at this point in time. And I went up for a rebound, and he fouled me so aggressively, I hit the ground and started crying. Too aggressively for an adult to a child, in my my personal opinion. Okay. But, you know, he told me he's like, You're never gonna be like me, you're not gonna get girls like me, you're not gonna, you know, you don't have muscles like me. You're on the ground crying, this is embarrassing, all of these things. And that's one of the early seeds of my life that I can remember that planted the main struggle that I had, which was rejection. You know, I was going to to Catholic school and and a Baptist church at, you know, growing up. And when I got to college, I remember telling my mom, my stepdad at the time, like, I'm like, I'm walking away from all this. You know, I'm gonna go be what the world says I should be, because I was constantly seeing like people doing bad things and getting ahead. I'm like, it was in all the music, it was in all the movies, like the bad guys are just winning. You know, that's what I that's what I'm seeing. You know, and I that's like, you know, I'm gonna start emulating this. Like, all these rappers are doing this, all these actors are doing this, all these sports entertainers are doing this, like, and they're getting money, they're doing all of these things that like he said I wouldn't be. All right, I'm gonna go do these things and prove them all wrong. So I end up losing myself, becoming something that I wasn't. When I tell you we were that generation of people and that group of people who like pregame harder than most people party, that was us, you know, and I'm not bragging about that. Oh, but we were, I was probably buying weed by the ounces. I was drinking whiskey through a straw, you know what I mean? Like doing a lot of things. I was that neighborhood tough guy who you didn't want to run into on a Thursday or Friday night, you know, just not really being who God created me to be. So when I was one group of people, I was one way. When I was another group of people, I was another way. But, you know, it's crazy because even when some of those nights got scary, I remember I would still pray. But my grandmother at the time, you know, you fast forward several years on the road. She had she had been diagnosed with cancer and she had beaten cancer. But you fast forward to about 2010. Um, she had got diagnosed with bladder cancer, and I got a phone call from my mom, and she told me, she said, Hey, you're um, you know, you're based off what we're seeing and what we're hearing from Hostis right now, your um, your grandmother has about five to seven days to live. And I'm sitting here thinking to myself, you know, because I had never really processed my emotions or my feelings the way I should have. It was all through substance abuse and addiction and those kind of things. And, you know, I'm I'm devastated. I'm like, my hero's gonna rise again. She'll be fine. She'll be fine. You know, she's been through this before, she'll be all right. But I got a phone call from another family member who then said, Hey, I don't know who started this rumor. Your grandmother's not gonna die, she's gonna be fine. So I'm sitting here shook because why would my mom call me to tell me that her mother is about to die and lie about that? But at the same time, I'm like, on this other hand, why would my other family member call me to say everything's gonna be fine? You know, and I want to believe the other family member because why would I want, you know, somebody I looked up to to pass away? And, you know, my grandmother at the time, you know, she grew up in an era where like being black and being a woman was like strikes against you, you know. But she had 10 kids, worked two jobs. I never heard her complain, you know, I never saw it. And maybe they just kept it away from me because I was a young kid, very possible, but I still never saw it. So that's where I got a lot of my grind and my work ethic from was because of her. Um, at least that's what I was thinking at the time. Again, this was the way I was thinking then. So I went in my bedroom at the time and I just remember I fell to my knees and I was living in Lakewood, Ohio, and I just started praying. I just started praying and I said, God, if you're real, I need a sign. I need to know when my grandmother's gonna die, and I will serve you. I may not be good at it, but I'll serve you. And if you lived in Lakewood where I was living, like hearing the Lakewood train go by was just like white noise. Like you didn't even like pay any attention to it. Like you could just fall asleep to it. You heard it so often. But this train went by so loud, I jumped out of my skin. And then before it finished passing by, it blew its horn three times. And something inside of me just

The Train Horn Sign And Loss

SPEAKER_01 10:10

clicked, like had never clicked before. Um, and I said, okay, you are real. And I now know my grandmother's gonna die in three days. Three days, 6 a.m., she was gone. And, you know, and mind you, God had been trying to reach me for a while. Like there were some nights I never should have made at home. You know, there was, there, there was just some uh I had a car accident that I should not have walked away from. I've had some other life and death moments I should not have walked away from. I was outside of a nightclub once and there was 11 guys waiting for me. Should not have walked away from that. You know, like God had been trying to reach me for a while. And I just felt like this was it type thing. Like this was time to give your life to me. So once she passed away, I started going to a church in Lakewood called New Life Church. And, you know, the morning after she passed, the head pastor had texted me and he said, Hey, I noticed you weren't at church today. We just want to check in to see if you were all right. This man had met me one time and he knew I wasn't at church. He met me once and he knew I wasn't there. So the shepherd knew one of the sheep went missing and been going there ever since. Um, you know, I wish that I could say that I learned my lesson in those moments. Um, I backslid, you know, and it cost me a lot, you know, my because I didn't put my sin far enough away from me. But, you know, I would really say around that Azusa conference in 2016, 2017, I had really rededicated my life. And I just said, and that was a verbal confession to me. And I said, it's just time to get serious, and just started running hard after God after that. Um, really did put a lot of my bad habits away, put a lot of the things that were keeping me from God away, and just started pressing in for him and just letting him change me and just started digging up the problems with him by the roots one thing at a time as much as I possibly could, you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Now you said, and I even in the introduction about attempted suicide that you had, and then you had an encounter with Giga, can you hear that story?

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yeah, in that backsliding moment, like I, you know, like God let me, now that I'm alive in Christ, you know, when you start, when you get, you know, when you're when you don't know Christ, and I'm only speaking for from my experience, like I was enjoying what I was doing. I was, you know, I was I was out and sinning and it was just like, oh, this was fun, because I hadn't paid any price for it. Once

Suicide Moment And The Call That Saved Him

SPEAKER_01 12:19

I got saved, though, and then backslid, God let me feel the weight of my sin. And he he made me very aware of the damage that my sin was doing and this damage the sin of my life was causing. And I felt so unashamed at that moment that I distinctly remember getting in my bed and putting the blanket over my head because of how ugly and dirty, and I didn't want to be seen by anybody. And there was nobody else in my apartment at this time. Um, and it the the weight just got so heavy, and the voices, voice of the enemy just got got so heavy that I picked up my own nine millimeter and I put it to my head. And I just said, I don't want to be here anymore. Like, I can't get this Christian thing right. I can't get this whole being good thing right. Like, I just I don't want to do this. And one of the pastors from the church had just happened to call me, and I just say, just so happens to call me. And he got the talking, me and I got the talking, and he was telling me, like, hey, you know, there's just some stuff in your life that I really feel like needs to change. And he was just, I mean, he was laying into me. Like he was like really hammered to nail, like he was laying into me. And I never told him I had a weapon to my head. We got off the phone and I was like, wow, that's exactly what I needed to hear. Put the gun down. I saw him like seven days later, maybe something to that effect. And I said, Hey, remember that day you called me last week? It was like, yeah, I said I was gonna take my own life in that moment. But the Holy Spirit really used you to tell me some things about myself that I really needed to hear and how to deal with some of those, some of those things. So um, yeah, man, it was once once God makes you aware of of your sin, like, and that that it just hit me so heavy. It hit me so heavy. And in that moment, I truly believed the enemy was was wanted to take me out while I was still, you know, not as a threat at that point, you know, as much of a threat to what he's trying to do at that point.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Yeah. And it seems like, you know, your pastor had really, you know, to a heart for you and you know, and and for the people, and that I'm sure, I'm sure, you know, to recognize, hey, you weren't there that day, and do recognize, hey, he need he needs, you know, to somebody to speak into his life. Let me call him, you know, not knowing what you were about to do.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

I think that what it is is like you have a heart for for Jesus first and foremost. And I think that's that's what it was. Like they were being obedient to what he was calling to do and telling them to do. And you know, we always we reap the benefits of of that, you know. So thank God for Christ-centered people, thank God for putting Christ first above ourselves, you know, because I may not be sitting here right now having this conversation with you.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

You describe your passion as helping people not become fully alive in Christ, but live fully for him. In what ways do you see this happening?

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Well, I think the I always talk about this because I hear this mentioned a lot. You know, there really there's a difference between evangelism and discipleship. You know, giving my life to Christ was the start. But being a disciple, following Christ, you know, following the example of Christ, being more and more like him takes takes intentionality, you know, and it doesn't mean that once I give my life to Christ, the fight is is over. You know, it's really just starting at that point. Yes, your eternal seat has been secured. However, that

Discipleship Over Hype And Lasting Change

SPEAKER_01 15:32

doesn't mean there's no work left for us to do. There's that doesn't mean there's not something left for for me to to do. So the reading the Bible, the the going to church, the the finding a community to be a part of, having people in my life I can talk to, having people in my life I can pour into, people who are pouring into to me, you know, those those kind of things. Like it doesn't, it doesn't just stop with salvation. You know, I don't think the I'm sure the enemy's mad when we when we give our lives to Christ, but he really, he doesn't want us to be the church. He doesn't want us to live out our faith. He doesn't want to see that execution. So, and I'm not giving him any power and any credit, you know. I just know that spiritual warfare 101, you know, we're not battling against flesh and blood. So salvation is just so it doesn't stop there. So like I try to really mentor people and and pour into people to help them, you know, along that walk. And then, you know, also be some of those things that, you know, that I know that I needed that maybe I didn't ask for or maybe wasn't available. And God let me go through those things to learn a lesson to help other people not learn the lessons the way I learned them, you know. So I went through that so they don't have to go through that.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Tell us a little bit more about the program that you have and how someone's life can be changed through that ministry.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

I I don't believe anything, and I mean anything will change you the way that Jesus will, because there's nothing out there like that. There is nothing like the saving power of Jesus because the only way to the Father is through the Son. There is no other way to get back to heaven. There, there is it. There's we're not all going back to heaven. That is the only way back to the Father is through the Son. So I don't believe that there is anything that can transform us the way that surrendering our lives to Christ can. I believe the word of God is alive. I believe in every, I believe every word that the Bible, that the Bible says, and I believe it was put together with intentionality, you know, by the Father. So, you know, I think that if people want true change, try Jesus, follow Jesus, live for Jesus, read his word, just pick up that book, open it, read it, and do what it says. And I'm not telling you to sit there and read a hundred passages a day. I'm telling you, start somewhere, you know, start in the gospels, mix in, mix in, you know, proverbs and psalms so you can learn the gospels and then learn wisdom and learn how to pray and worship, you know. Um, but I believe real transformation comes from the transformation of the heart, which is what happens the point of salvation, which is what happens as a point of justification when you give your life to the Lord. So I, you know, there's a million self-help books out there. There's a million, try this or or try that. Or, you know, I'm not knocking those things. I'm just saying nothing is going to bring that true change, that true peace, even the conviction that we need until we surrender our lives and our hearts to Jesus. That's where I believe true change happens.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

What are some of the biggest younger people are facing in their faith right now?

SPEAKER_01 18:23

I'll pick one. I'll just say noise, you know, because this this could be subjective to anybody who who's listening, but I would just say distraction. There's so many things going on around us all the time. We've got, you know, we've got screens, we've got noise, we've got light, we've got we we are so busy all the time. And busy doesn't mean productive, and busy doesn't mean we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. So I'm gonna I'm gonna say noise and distraction. You know, I think that today people really need to just stop,

Noise, Distraction, And Finding Quiet With God

SPEAKER_01 18:50

sit still, and literally just ask God the basic question, Lord, what do you want me to do today? And where do you want my life to go? Because it's yours. You know, I think that we have so much noise. We have everything at our fingertips. You know, we can hit a button like we just did and record a whole podcast. We have we have many computers in our pockets 24-7. You know, we there is constant noise. There, there's traffic. You know what I mean? I just I just think that we've we don't spend enough time with with God. And I think that sometimes we're we're looking for that pastor or that preacher or that podcast person to say that one thing we want to hear. And that's not bad to do that, but I think that nothing can replace that intimate time in the secret place, that one-on-one time spending time with Jesus. You know, how often are we praying? How often are we fasting? How often are we in our word? How often are we living out our word? How often are we really just not giving in to our flesh? So I'm I'm gonna say noise and distraction, I think, because we're we're so connected, but we're so disconnected because of how connected we can be.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Yeah. What are some applicable ways to get away from that distraction or get away from that big enough isn't as simple as turning off the phone or turning off the TV or turning off the computer?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

One I I say, you know, I'm a I'm a backwards thinker. I always start with uh with the end goal in mind. So if your goal is to get closer to Christ, I would look at all the things that you could, and this is this is subjective again, but I look at all the, you know, what you need to do could be subjective because of what could be distracting you. But I would look at what is keeping you from Jesus, what is keeping you from achieving the goal of more intimacy with with Christ. So first and foremost, I tell everybody fast more often. Start fasting. I mean fasting from food, you know, and in those times of hunger, sit down and actually pray and read his word. Schedule that time to die, schedule that time to die to yourself and to die to your flesh, but incorporate the word of God with that because there is God is always talking. Are we listening? God is always moving. Are we moving with him? You know, I don't believe there's a such thing as I'm just standing still in my Christian walk. I don't believe that. I think that you're either you're either moving with him or we're falling behind. You know, I don't believe there's any standing still, the word of God is alive, so we should be growing. So often we'll say, well, we feel distant from God. Well, how have you been spending your time? And well, maybe you are doing all of those things. Well, are you living in the direction that God is asking you to move in? So I will always tell people if they feel far from start with fasting and prayer. Start with that.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

How do you personally stay grounded and spiritually strong while leading others?

SPEAKER_01 21:30

I have people who hold me accountable to make sure I'm living the things that I'm talking, who really don't care about lights and cameras and shows, any of these things. They care about the heart and condition of the man. They care about the soul and the spirit of the man, they care about the actions of the man because I can honestly say if I wasn't doing the things that I'm doing, I would still be honoring my pastor as often as I possibly could. I would still be serving in my local church. You know, I'm that person, I'll tell you, I've I've cleaned more bathrooms and my church than sermons I've preached. Maybe not lessons I've taught, because I've taught a

Accountability, Prayer Habits, And Renewing The Mind

SPEAKER_01 22:04

lot of lessons in that church, but you you get my teaching is one of my favorite things to do in the kingdom. So that's a little bit different. But I think just having people in my life who are willing to just who I've opened up to to say, hey, these are my struggles. I need you to help keep me humble here. I need you to help keep me accountable here. I need you to help keep me on the straight and narrow path here and keep me in remembrance of why I really do the things that I do. Um that's that's one thing is having that accountability. So having that community and having those people you can trust there. But make and tell. Time to get, I'm gonna say it again, making time to get in the word. If you know, old school, they used to tell me like read a proverb a day because there's 31 of them. So in a month you can read all the proverbs. So Proverbs on April 1, read Proverbs 1, April 2, read Proverbs 2, April 3, read Proverbs 3, so on and so forth. And they say if you want to learn how to pray and worship in that same time, you read five Psalms a day, right along with it, and now you're through the whole book of Psalms. So I think that's staying in the Word because not just reading it, but then thinking about what is actually saying, and then how can I apply what I just read to my life? And just understanding really what it's saying in the context is being stated, being stated in. I think those are some key elements there.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

You do you prefer morning time, nighttime, middaytime? Does it or does it really not matter to you as long as you're having that time with God?

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Yes. I I I'm a night owl, so I take like I'm enrolled in Portland Bible College, so I always take my classes at night. My brain just works differently at night. But I pray all day long. If I'm in my office, I'm sitting there probably talking to God. If somebody calls me on the phone right now and say, hey, I'm going through some wanna talk while they're explaining what they're going through, I'm praying. I pray in the morning in the shower. I pray on my way to work. Like I'm just constantly in a state where I'm talking to God. Honestly, I don't, I don't really care. I will talk to God whenever I get a chance to talk to him because he he's my priority, you know. And I know that's easily said in the microphone, but there's a good chance if you see me loading clothes in the washer, I might be praying in tongues. There's a good chance that if you see me sitting there reading a book, I'm probably praying. Like I it's just I made it a habit just to really talk to him to get out of my own head. Most of my now I would say a lot of my a lot more of my reading and devotional time is has come in the morning. And like, especially when I take my rest and my Sabbath day, you see that in the morning and the afternoon. But man, I don't, I like when we're done, I may go upstairs and end up listening to an audio book or something on, you know. I'm reading Pattern of the Way right now, which is a solid, which is a great book.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

So what do renewing your mind mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 24:46

That means, like, look, there's we are either being conformed or transformed. And if you look at Rome, who Paul is talking to, Rome thought they were the greatest thing of all time. They wanted, they were a civilization that wanted to make other people and other civilizations more like them. And Paul wanted to make Rome more like Christ. He wanted to bring the message, the gospel, and spread that message to them. So the thing is, we're born spiritually opposed to the Father. So we're already being, and we're already being in the state of being conformed. So how do I be transformed? By the renewing of my mind, I give my life to Christ, and then I follow what these scriptures say. So renewing my mind, and I talk to people about this all the time. Not being like the world does not mean we hate the world. We don't, we're Christians are not hating people with this verse. What we're saying is, I'm not going to let worldly patterns and habits and thoughts and activities and worldly ways dictate the way and the pace I'm going to go and live my life. I'm going to live my life the way that the Bible says I should, I should live it out. So I'm going to be transformed by the renewing of my mind through that spirit, through the word of God. So I think a lot of people hear that, oh, you guys hate the world. No, we don't. We just follow Jesus because we know we need a savior. We're not hating you. There's no hate here. That's not what that says. It's just I'm not going to let worldly logic, worldly ration, rationale, worldly reasoning influence how I do things. I'm going to go to scripture and weigh whatever circumstance situation I have to that. And then you'll hear people say, well, what if the Bible doesn't explicitly say it? The Bible does explicitly talk about making the wise decision and using wisdom. So if I don't know what to do, I can always make the wise choice. And that's what the other accountability partners are for in having people who may be even wiser, you know, about the area or the situation than me.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

What next for Redwood Christian ministry?

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Man, that's a load of questions. Let me see. So my wife and I just recently launched Redwood Christian Creative, which is our LLC. So that's where you're going to see the life coaching come out of. She teaches voice and piano lessons. And I also think that she's going to, you know, she's really into homesteading. So she's probably going to start teaching them like, I don't know. She's got beehives and there's chickens in the backyard. So we got all, you know, she's going to start teaching how to grow and farm and all this stuff. I'm probably butchering the vocabulary

What Is Next For Redwood

SPEAKER_01 27:11

or something because you can see I don't do it. I eat the honey. I don't take care of the bees. So we are planning a tour in 2027 for the Beyond the Walls concert. That's in the very early stages. I'm looking to do mint conferences around the U.S. as as well, hitting in 2027, uh, you know, for the remainder of 2026. We got Beyond the Walls coming up November 7th. Uh, KB is our headliner for this year. So I'm looking forward for to that. Come out of the House and Blues in Cleveland if you're if you're in wanting a good time. But there will be an ultra call. So bring your tissues because it's a powerful moment. The podcast, the Rooted in Christ Podcast, might go to two episodes a week very, very soon. You can expect more content coming from us, coming out of that way. And yeah, man, we got a missions trip to New Orleans coming up July 18th through the 24th. Um, so we'll be down there ministering and preaching the gospel. And yeah, man, I think that's I think that's what I got for you for right now. Bring it back in the show. I'm gonna have something else to tell us.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

All right. I always want to ask my guest, what what what one word of encouragement that you would give to my audience?

SPEAKER_01 28:16

The word that God has in my heart right now is just surrender. I don't know why that hit me while I was talking. So I'm hoping I'm praying this for somebody in your artist, but I would just surrender. That thing that God is telling you to give up, just give it up. Like that thing that He's telling you to do, just give in and just do it. Because that blessing, that breakthrough is going to be on the other side of your of your obedience. So, and I know that sometimes we we sometimes struggle to just let go, and I'm guilty of that. But man, giving my life to Christ has

One Word That Changes Everything

SPEAKER_01 28:43

been, you know, it's been nothing but freedom. Like it's been freedom from that, though, those bondages. So, and it's not always a bad thing. Sometimes he's telling us to let go of a great thing so we can go do a godly thing. But I would just surrender, surrender your will and let his just pour over your life, you know. So I would, I don't know why that's on my heart for your audience, but I would just say, whatever you got to surrender, just let it go.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Amen. Well, Eric Stevens, thank you so much for coming on the show today. We greatly appreciate having you.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Man, I come back anytime. You just let me know. You just let me know.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Absolutely. Well, guys and girls, thank you so much for coming on and for listening. Please go and like and check out Eric's uh information and his website. We'll have all the links on the show notes and go and check out this episode and share and review and send uh you know, send share it with others

Where To Connect And Final Sendoff

SPEAKER_00 29:38

and until next time. God bless. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

There you are.