Transformation | Fatherhood | Serving

This episode was originally recorded by Fathers and The Great Outdoors with Jacob Whitley. Jacob asks Reese many questions that he has never been asked before, making this a very intriguing episode so we had to share it with our friends also! We hope you enjoy! 

"Reese Richards is a passionate Christian father, outdoorsman, and founder of Bearded Outdoors, a Florida-based initiative that blends his love for hunting, fishing, and serving others with a deep faith in Christ. Born in 1990 near Detroit to a family immersed in drinking and outdoor traditions, Reese transformed his life after being baptized at Phil Robertson’s property, shifting from a worldly upbringing to full-time ministry, including prison outreach and writing devotionals for veterans and men. A homeschooling dad to his 5- and 8-year-old children, he instills a love for flats fishing and nature while modeling a Christ-centered life, teaching them to see God in creation’s beauty, like snowflakes and breezes. Through his nonprofit, Operation Freedom Beard, Reese prioritizes serving veterans over profit, driven by Proverbs 3:27 and a commitment to breaking generational curses through faith and intentional parenting."

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:18

What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Seek and Find Podcast. I'm your host, Reese Richards. This uh this episode here is going to be a little different. So I'm gonna replay a podcast that I sat down with uh with Jacob Whitley from Fathers and the Great Outdoors podcasts. Uh it's a long one, it's an hour and 40 minutes about. Um, but I'm gonna just go over really quick what this episode is about. Um so we have early outdoor life, family roots, um, first time in a tree stand, and these are all questions he's asking me. Um, my non-godly out upbringing, uh baptism story, where my life changed, my ministry roles, um breaking the chains, uh as you know, a business owner. Uh also we dive into things that I've never really dove into on the podcast, which is kids, um, our kids in in nature and the outdoors, um, Jace's first hunt, our outdoor lifestyle, our kids' faith, um, baptism. And then we dive into serving um through the outdoors, through our family, diving into our nonprofits, uh, all kinds of cool things. So there's a little bit of wisdom things, a little things that I've I've figured out, I guess you can say, and things that I'm still struggling with, things that you know I haven't really spoken about. Um, fatherhood at the beginning versus fatherhood now after following Christ for many years, and and um just a really, really awesome podcast. I believe it would be beneficial for many. Um, but anyways, here you go. Jacob Whitley asking me a bunch of questions and us diving into a really in-depth, um, really informational and I believe beneficial podcasts. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01: 2:12

Today we have Reese Richards. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00: 2:16

I'm awesome. How are you?

SPEAKER_01: 2:18

I'm doing good. Thanks for asking. Um we'll just start with uh what's one of your favorite memories uh from that great outdoors?

SPEAKER_00: 2:30

Um, let's see. There's a lot of memories growing up. I grew up outside of Detroit, and the roots of our family were always in the woods. I have family in West Virginia and Pennsylvania that are uh barrel racers and you know cattle farmers and stuff. So the roots have always been there. But my dad was a Detroit narcotics detective, and we basically we went to the woods probably you know as as many weekends as we could, I guess you can say, but most of the time it was it was uh going out to public land and finding a spot in the middle of public land and throwing up a tent and just walking, walking, walking. And we finally were able to get some private property, but um it was it was few and far in between. My getting into the outdoors, we were always outdoors. Uh that was always something. So being outdoors and being excited and being in that socially outside drinking environment, I guess you could say, is something that that I grew up in, not realizing that the whole reasoning behind loving the outdoors and being outside was the social drinking aspect of it, unfortunately. Um, but the fun and the and the joy, there's many, many. Let's just say I don't remember this because I was too young. But my mom said the first time I was ever in a tree stand was when my dad took me and told my mom that he was going to um put up some stands. Well, it was during hunting season, and she actually found out when I was in my 20s that the first time he ever I was ever in a tree stand is my dad pulled me up with some paracord into his lock-on so we can hunt that evening that he took me to set up stands. So um I don't recollect that obviously, but I was two years old when I got my first lock-on, and it was not the uh the safest way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 4:50

So it's uh it's not not too surprising to hear. There was there was another podcast I did. Um, and the gentleman uh things are are built better these days, but he had like a carrier for his uh I think it was an infant under one while he's setting up uh trail cams and stuff in the tree.

SPEAKER_00: 5:11

Yeah, man, you see it all the time, and I'm finding more and more packs and stuff nowadays, and my kids are five and eight, that I was like, man, if I would have just those times, like if I would have seen this, because there were many times that you know, as my kids were growing up, that like you you want to take your family, but if most of you don't know in in north central Florida, you know, 95 to 100 degree summers when you're setting up your woods um and your stands, I mean, you're talking infestations, like most of the time I was running to my spot and running back or full face, like buff on with long sleeves and long pants. So it's not me growing up. I remember going and feeding and going putting up stands, and it was this, you know, 75, 80 degree leisure-ish, like you're not gonna get you're not gonna get tore up by red ants, you're not gonna get like it was just a great experience, but unfortunately, here it's uh it's not not as I mean, guys, last week were killing bucks the beginning of archery season in 110 degree weather um in South Florida. So it's it was one of those things I wish I would have known about those uh those packs and those backpacks that you can carry kids in because it was uh man, I was doing a lot of it by myself, and I'm like, man, I would have a lot of our episodes that I have is you know me by myself doing these things, and I I wish I would have would have looked into it more to be able to involve the kids when they were that young. But now they're at an age where they don't care, they just want to be out there, they just want to do it, and we take our family everywhere, um and do everything.

SPEAKER_01: 7:00

So it's it's funny the once you're a a parent, the the difference in the the core memories, even for yourself, because like I I spent I don't even know how many times I went into a tree stand last year. Um and I went fishing, I think I've been fishing about three times so far this summer, um just between work and everything. And I took the kids fishing. I obviously didn't take them with me hunting, and I have uh with less time, but the kids were there, better memories of that than I do um sitting in uh the stand by myself. I mean, there's there's certainly things about it that I like watching the sunrise and all that, but um it's interesting how the the the the difference of what sticks out in your mind.

SPEAKER_00: 7:48

Yeah, it is. Um, I mean the the really I've been asked these questions lately, um, you know, about my family and I, we just started full-time serving, and you know, a lot of our videos have to do with us being together and a lot of our our things that we're doing, and um that is something that I'm starting to really, you know, at eight years old, my son just turned, and last year, unexpectedly, Scott, my best friend, we were out at the cabin in Mississippi, and he's like, Man, it's like, why don't you take this rifle on a bipod and go sit up at the top of the gas line with Jace? Jace is just turned, I mean, I was about to turn eight, and I'm like, why didn't I even think that Jace possibly could get behind a gun at this point in his life? And I didn't think of that because I'm so used to doing everything on my own. And it was just a weird. So, moral of the story is we spent the next two nights with Jace behind a gun, and he ended up shooting three times, one at the biggest buck that I've seen in Mississippi. But you're talking never behind a rifle. I mean, he shot BB guns, but behind a scoped gun, my son's never been behind it. He's never shot a rifle or felt a rifle like the kick, none of that. And it was just it was cool because one, it wasn't a sitting there for you know 30 minutes and then, hey daddy, when are we gonna go home? It was an hour and a half, two hours of sitting there, him intently focused, because he realized that I'm the man, like I'm the one behind the gun, I'm the one behind the harvest. If this actually happens, like this is a big time experience, and it happens so fast. Um, but that those kind of memories are now transitioning into dude. I don't even want to like, I want to be behind the camera, and I want to be just documenting every single person that we come across that has this experience, whether it's a veteran, a disabled kid, my own kids, my wife. I want to be behind the camera or behind the mic, and I want to just make this visual experience for them and for everybody that follows us way different than what anybody's used to seeing. Like, I want that experience to be other people. I've been in front of the camera, I've been in front of the mic, I've I've had the limelight, and now it's like I want to use this following, I want to use everything the Lord's blessed us with to glorify him through the visual experiences and through just like why you you know you have your podcast, these these conversations that you and I might have in a Walmart for 20, 30, 40 minutes, you probably got to a point where you're like, man, these need to be other people need to hear these conversations. Like, those are always the best conversations, is when one, you're not expecting it, and two, it's like I'm at a tire place, get my tires changed, and I'm talking to an old man sitting next to me. It always ends up being the most genuine and greatest conversations, and that's those are the kind of podcasts I like too. That's why I like these kind of podcasts, also.

SPEAKER_01: 11:15

But it's why I like working with my uh my dad. We we uh run a carpet cleaning business together that my grandfather started, and every single day I I'd get I go in someone else's house, and they're usually uh our clientele are usually older, so I get to hear all these life experiences and stuff, and it's it's probably one of my favorite parts about the job.

SPEAKER_00: 11:36

Yeah, that's that's awesome. I that used to I used to have similar, I've had 30-something jobs in my 35 years, and that's there's many jobs where that's probably what kept me around the longest was the interaction um with folks. And I was a power pole inspector, and you know, there's a lot of times where I'm going into these 10, 20 acre farms that no one really has been in in maybe a few years. I'm talking these you drive in and there's no trail marks of tire tracks or nothing, and I'm inspecting their power poles, and it's numerous times these gentlemen come out with guns, like, who are you? And it's like instant, instant, you'll get that favor of Christ upon you, and it's just like this light, and you guys just start conversating, and it's like 40 minutes, 40 minutes later, we're having this conversation about Jesus and and his glory, and it's just like man, it's uh people that there needs to be more of it. There needs to be more of it. The time, people just people are so busy, and just you know, nobody has time anymore, and that's what's failing in churches sometimes. That's what's failing in men's ministries, that's what's failing in, you know, these big brother, big sister groups. It's like, man, so many people lack and don't make priority for others with it, which is is time. And we all see how short it is, and it's just getting shorter, and uh, you know, taking that time to have conversations and reminisce on things, and a lot of the times that's the only time people hear about Christ is is having a conversation. Yeah, so if it gets a little loud with rain or something, let me know because it looks like it's starting to rain and being inside this car, it might actually uh it might actually sound really loud, but well, hopefully it's just a fun ambience, but I'll let you know if it uh gets too distracting.

SPEAKER_01: 13:34

Uh um I was actually just down uh my family took vacation down there in the uh Orlando area. Um there was a lot like throughout the week we were there, it was like the the classic Florida, here's a little thunderstorm, and then the rest of the day it's just sunny.

SPEAKER_00: 13:50

It is um it's hard to even explain it right now. I mean, it's when you start feeling those humidity, uh, the humid, humid days, um, like the evenings, then you start to realize, okay, the rain is gonna start, and it's I mean, there's I do a home improvement business, uh mailbox installation company, and I own a um softwash and roof rejuvenation company, and I I plan everything before nine o'clock in the morning. Everything is as soon as you can wake up, and really when that sun starts peeking over the trees, like I try to be done. One because it's super hot, but two, you really don't know. Like the radar right now probably shows hardly anything, but we have lightning and thundering popping off a hundred yards from us, and it's about to downpour. Well, it's kind of downpouring now, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 14:59

So um they it sounds like your your son had uh had his first rival uh deer experience recently, but how how did your kids in general get started in the outdoors?

SPEAKER_00: 15:12

Uh well I guess you could say they were forced into it, but no. Um well my wife and I, Amber, we started Bearded Outdoors at in 2017, and that was November of 2017. My son was born in May of 2017. So let's just say when we started bearded outdoors and started getting involved, not just as a leisury thing, but like you know, kind of really putting ourselves out there in the outdoor industry. My son, like they they don't know, they don't know anything else. Um they just feel because we've always lived in the country, um, and we've always involved ourselves with people that I mean everything has been country living for them. So really it's just uh it's just a natural thing. Um, there's been numerous times we went to a city and my kids are just like, it's how do I how does anybody live here? Like you can't do this, you don't have dogs that are running all over your backyard, you can't, you know, go pick blueberries or black, I mean uh blackberries. Um, you can't run down the road, like down your driveway to the mailbox, like all those things that they're just used to knowing. Um it's just a natural thing. So as we're traveling more and more now through the outdoor industry and and seeing going into cities, seeing different um ethnicities. That that was one big thing for my kids is you know, North Mississippi, where where Scott lives. Um, I we we talk about that a lot because that is kind of like our second home during hunting season. Uh my buddy Scott Hennett, he does our show and our podcast with us. They have a cabin out in the mountains, I call it mountains, but the hills in North Mississippi, basically the town where Mossy Oak is founded, um in West Point, Mississippi.

SPEAKER_02: 17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 17:20

And they're it's predominantly black in that area. Um so being from Trenton, Florida, which you know, there's a couple a couple colored kids in in school that Jace goes to, but like he doesn't he doesn't interact and get involved with with other ethnicities. And when he was three years old, you know, that was when we started really going to the cabin. That's when we started introducing to all these different foods and all these different um, you know, skin tones and different things. And, you know, then it falls into disabled kids, you know, you start doing these hunts or you start getting involved with disabled kids and like putting yourselves out there purposely so that your kids interact with it. Um that's something that uh has really been eye-opening, and it's really amazing to see the natural love that children have for things that adults make very known, if that makes any sense. Like yeah, it's go ahead. No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01: 18:36

I I was just gonna say that like my son's always asking about certain things. Um the like the biggest one he kept asking for recently is he wanted a telescope, and not like he doesn't want the kids' version, he wants like the the nice glass metal that comes apart and things like that. And I'm like, you're still throwing your yeah, what's that?

SPEAKER_00: 18:56

Is that he don't want it to break or nothing, he wants to be able to do some real big boy stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 19:01

He does, but he's still throwing his toys on the ground, and I'm like, until you stop doing that, I'm not gonna get it for you. Yeah, yeah, that's the hard thing, the hard transition. I just age appropriate things in general. Like my wife and I, I have a um little weekend trip coming up, uh, where I'm gonna go do some clay shooting with my uncle, um, who lives in Florida. He's gonna be driving up meeting uh me at his uncle's house um down in Myrtle Beach, and there's a clay shooting place over there. And I wanted to bring my six-year-old, my wife and I are going back and forth because he's never really been around guns, which is partly my fault. I need to get a little introduction with that. And uh, I'm like, so I brought him in the garage, and I'm like, here, hold, hold uh both both the shotguns that I have, and he can barely hold on the uh reach the trigger and and hold on to the um the grip. And uh so then I immediately started looking into um like the youth ones, and it occurred to me a friend of mine um who actually he's been on this podcast, but his uh son has one, so I asked if I could borrow that. So we're gonna find out this weekend if that'll work for him or not. Um but but what's that?

SPEAKER_00: 20:16

Is it a 410?

SPEAKER_01: 20:18

Um, I don't think he told me what it was, the the specific one that my friend has. Um I saw one. Let's see. It's probably a pump, but the one that I was considering getting was um a I can't even remember the name of the brand, but it was um like just like a double barrel, like two-shot.

SPEAKER_00: 20:44

Okay, yep.

SPEAKER_01: 20:46

Um, but yeah, anyways, he's he's eager about that, and um even going into like TB and stuff, like I'm a big fan of Star Wars, but my wife and I are concerned about showing a six-year-old even a new hope because a guy's arm gets cut off at one point and things like that. Um, I did realize though, he will be uh I believe it was nine by the time the 50th anniversary comes around. And I guarantee they're gonna put that in theaters, so that'll be a fun experience if I can take him to that.

SPEAKER_00: 21:15

Yeah, yeah, that's that's something in the age, the age appropriate stuff, and also like you know, I've been doing I've been doing a lot of studying and and really diving deep into I I had a little kick of of financial stewardship, um, but I really got into I'm not a self-help guy, I'm a what does God's word say guy. Um when it comes to health, when it comes to um all of that. And I read a book one time, and this is a very good father book. I don't I blast it once in a while, but it needs to be blasted more. And I'll send you the link of that, and maybe you can post it in in the description because I haven't done it enough.

SPEAKER_02: 22:00

Yeah, I can do that.

SPEAKER_00: 22:02

It is called The Doorkeeper. The guy's name is Sonny uh Guess. Guys, guess G-U-I-E-S-S, I believe. Guys, maybe. Um, it's not a very popular book, but I was handed this book, and it speaks about a father being the leader of a household, but in a very different, not very different, but a different perspective than you would read in God's word. So you can read about parenting and fatherhood in God's word, but he puts it in a perspective that is very bold, and it's it's just it's about what comes in my house, what comes in my doors. If it's not from God, it will not come in my doors. You're talking this guy went as crazy as like his daughter having a boyfriend, and the boyfriend could never come in to his house because they had a relationship that her dad didn't agree with, and he only believed in you're only dating to look for marriage, not just dating for the fun of dating, as the world puts it out to be. What you know, dating is I am basically testing the spirits for marriage. So you have a 14, 15, 16-year-old daughter, and you have a boyfriend. He he that is not from Christ at that time and what they were doing. And man, it went deep as like my daughter would have posters on her wall of like you know, a pop artist or something. And if that pop artist was not Christian, he would have her take it down. And it it sounds crazy, it sounds wild, it sounds like something that if I was 15, I'd be like, Man, I'm running away or going to stay at somebody else's house. But I look at it now as it was never mean, it was never, it was portrayed Christ-likeness, like it wasn't, it wasn't portrayed as pointing fingers, this, this, this. It was, he said he brought it up in a way of love, in a way of like, and she would get upset, he said, but there would be a week where she wouldn't really talk to him, and then she would come to him and be like, Dad, I really have taken the time to see where you're coming from in this situation, and I'm really happy that you are this way. I'm upset because I couldn't do this, this, or this, but I am understanding and seeing where you're coming from. And it's just that taking the time, getting on that level with your children and speaking to them, really, my mind continues to circle every day on what you know. I have a WWJD bracelet. What would Jesus do? Well, I think of what did Jesus do? What does God's word say? You know, the fruits of the spirit. If we don't have the fruits of the spirit, then what fruits are we do we have? You know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, all of those things. I can name five of them right now that I fail every day at and have to be like, man, why did I just raise my voice? But the thing is, working on those things, pointing those things out and realizing those things and being bold with your kids about them. Like being bold in a sense of, hey, Jace, come here. I know, man. I just walked in. I'm telling you not to yell, but I'm raising my voice as I'm telling you not to yell. I'm sorry about that. I'm gonna talk to God right now and ask him to forgive me for it. Please understand and forgive me. And like that little bit it the thing is, it goes back to time. We act like we're too busy and don't have enough time, and especially parenting nowadays, it just seems like everybody's becoming lazy with everything but what they're doing and focused on. So anything outside of their focus, there's there's no time for it. And the priority has just gotten completely out of whack. And I'm saying all of these things coming from a non-godly home. All of this is all of this is just within probably eight eight years, six to eight years of full-time ministry, and really growing and really realizing my issues and my faults, and then really focusing on I don't want to be this way, and breaking that generational curse of how the world wants you to be, how the world wants your kids to be. You know, we pulled our kids out of school and we homeschool now, and you know, instead of having our business focusing on, you know, sell, sell, sell, we now are focused on serve, serve, serve with an open, armed, loving heart. And you realize the fruits of that. I just got done sending a message to there's a there's a kid that messaged me, be still camo, uh, be still apparel. He messaged me, um, sent me an email that just responded about an hour ago. And he asked me his opinion on their brand and this and that. And it was just one of those things where I really implemented, like, I've been involved with camo brands, I've been involved with all these brands and things, and I can tell you the ones that focus on money and sales, I've been in marketing divisions with them, I've been in business development. The ones that truly focus on making their decisions based off of money and sales, and I don't care what scale of business, I don't care what product you're selling, if you go from I believe in my product, I want people to believe in my product also. If you sway away from that and start making while you're doing something because of money or because of the benefits, you're eventually you're going to fail. And I'm realizing that in my life. And you know, we've transitioned bearded outdoors, the beard care products, selling those on e on our website and all that. We've transitioned that into uh giving now. Now it's you know, we're not forcefully pushing selling, we're literally transitioning into bearded outdoors is now the beard product creator that we use to give to veterans. That's a whole that's another podcast, or it might be a question you you might have lined up lately.

SPEAKER_01: 28:49

So I'm not gonna talk too much into that, but you could yeah, we I mean we since we're on the topic, you can dive into it more.

SPEAKER_00: 28:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 28:59

My questions are not necessarily in order.

SPEAKER_00: 29:01

Yeah, well, it's it's a whole long podcast about you know how we started, where we started, but I also don't want that be that to be the focal point. I I want I'm on this podcast for you. I want I want you, you know, your theme of your podcast. I want to stick to that as much as possible just for the sake of you and your followers and stuff. Um, the links and everything that you're gonna provide in the description are going to basically there's a story on there of us, there's everything, there's everything on there. So let's not spoil that, I guess you could say, or or spend too much time on it, because um I'm here for you. So I want to be uh um, I want to answer your questions and and uh hopefully you know hit any of these fathers out here that that uh maybe I could help somebody.

SPEAKER_01: 29:55

So very good. I did I did want to touch on um The the whole the home thing that we mentioned about the book. Um, one of the things I've always found. Um I want to say interesting, but that's just the word that comes off the top of my head. Um and I don't want to say disturbing because I feel like that's too harsh. But there are homes of people that I've cleaned for, they're Christian families, and because I'm in everybody's bedroom cleaning the carpet, I notice the kids that are probably high school, maybe even a little bit younger, and some of the stuff they have up on their walls is just shocking knowing how drastically different their parents are from a Christian perspective. Like almost like, why would they allow that? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00: 30:45

It is interesting. Um well, I I think with you know, I haven't been a parent longer than eight years, um, and we all parent however we know how, which is either how you were raised or what God's word says, and that goes in too deep about that. Can go deep into um how much of your priority is making sure that how your parenting is biblical. Um, saying you're a Christian versus living out God's word, we know is two completely different lifestyles. Uh that's two completely different. So what I'm getting at is the whole what people say about you're not your kid's friend, you're their parents. I believe that is 100% a worldly statement, and some folks might get upset with me about that or not. But I was raised with the raising your voice very loudly, obnoxiously, putting your hands on my chest, on my face, on my neck, punching. I mean, I was raised on this. I am pouring my anger out onto you because I'm angry at you. Not I want to speak to you seriously about something that you did, and I want to tell you why it's bad. But not only that, I'm gonna tell you how to better that so you don't make the same mistake. That's not how I was raised. I was raised, don't talk back to me, don't do this, don't do that, and I was left in tears and in pain in my room, wondering, sometimes wondering what I did. And on the other hand, following that up with, well, I don't want that to happen again, but I wasn't told, like, how do I not do it that way? How do I like I wasn't I wasn't never got on a level until after the punishments with the I'm I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't want to do that again kind of thing. But like that stims into parents wanting to be friends, but not laying down biblical ground rules in explanation, and that's the important part, in my opinion, which isn't important, but I believe the explaining because I've done parenting, I've experimented with parenting these eight years. I have not just been parenting my kids by how I was raised, I've literally experimented with parenting, doing things completely different and seeing what the results are, and then when you have those good results, that that seems like a good way to parent. And it's it's that fine line, you know, the being a friend, but then being a parent also. I have you know many friends that never their parents were always, oh, come to me, tell me everything. If you're too crazy at a party and you can't drive, call me. But those are the same parents that they catch you doing something or whatever, they're whipping you and grounding you for two weeks. It's holding that anger, being the fruits of the spirit, not just in your in your you know, business life or anything, but bringing that home from church, but also the fruits of the spirit showing in your bedroom, the fruits of the spirit showing in your relationship with your wife and your kids. Fruits of the spirits aren't an on and off switch. Fruits of the spirits are of the spirit is a life style that has been transformed through your heart naturally. It's yes, you work on it, but you don't work on it with your own self-control. Your own, it's all if you're not feeding yourself, your spirit, your spirit will not produce what God wants you to produce. And that is the busyness and the and the unfortunately the reality of parenting in today's world. And it's uh it's scary, but I've been around it all. Like I said, I've had 30 jobs in in 35 years, I've been around Christian businesses, non-Christian businesses, I've been around huge corporations, I've been a laborer, I've been uh, you know, uh vice president's assistant, I've been the CEO of my own businesses and nonprofits, like I've been there, and you see it over and over. You can tell the folks, you can tell the folks by their demeanor, by their fruits, the ones that diligently wake up in the morning, read God's word, pray, the ones that actually focus on and you just see it, you see that light, you see that that vibe, that that feeling when you're around them, when you're especially in businesses, man. You you see CEOs that are calm, that have their doors open, that are, you know, not bright red faced from all the drinking the night before, and just go, go, go, go, go, all about the dollar bill, like the ones that care about their employees. If you speak to them, they more than likely have some kind of spirituality inside of them. It's it's such an amazing thing to see. But the problem is your eyes have to be open, your ears have to be open, and your mind and your heart has to be open to be able to see those things. And everybody's just too busy anymore, man. It's it's a it's a sad, sad thing to see. But hopefully, what we're doing here, what you're doing, and all this it opens up. Oh, you know what? Maybe I need to focus on this, or you know what? I want to reach out to Reese to see like what book that was, or he said something about you know this Bible verse. I want to reach out and see, and those connections, those testimonies, those interactions, man, it's it's powerful. People won't know unless you tell them, and it's it's like that in any aspect of your life, whether it's business, selling, the gospel, anything, if you don't tell them, they won't know.

SPEAKER_01: 37:21

You see you seem very uh passionate about your faith. Have you always had a faith like this as strong?

SPEAKER_00: 37:29

Uh no, no, no. Um, yeah, no, it's it's been many years, many uh man, I could tell you it's it's a long, it's been a long journey of um me moving to Florida, meeting my wife. I mean the whole story of before even bearded outdoors. So I have a testimony that I actually put in my books. I have I'm a self-published author. Um as of a few months ago, I have a veteran devotional that I wrote, a men devotional, and a teen devotional. Um, and I put my testimony in the men and the teen book. And those are also crazy fruits that I never used to journal, never used to do any of that stuff, even when I would, you know, do Bible studies, never used to write down anything. And next thing you know, God is like, hey, uh, I want you to write this for veterans, because at that time we were giving beard care products to veterans, but that didn't guide them to Christ. So like I had this conviction of like, man, these beard products are awesome. And our logo might intrigue people to ask about Christ. But like, besides me speaking about it, how is this guiding someone to Christ? And before that next year, I I learned how to do it and did it and wrote this veteran devotional. And um, man, it's been it's been wild. Our whole story, our whole life. If we had a three, about a three-hour podcast, my wife and I uh we met at 19. She from 19, she's been journaling my life also. Um, absolutely wild to think about. But let's just say she's been journaling my life and journaling our life. And when I wrote the Men of Purpose book after the veteran book, she decided to give me what she's been journaling and writing since we were 19. And we ended up coming up with a short version of the testimony. Um, there will be a long book of our life and everything, and all the God moments and all of the craziness. We were baptized in front of Phil and K. Robertson's house um in the river.

SPEAKER_01: 40:05

That's fun.

SPEAKER_00: 40:06

And yeah, it was 55. What's that?

SPEAKER_01: 40:10

My fell or or just at the property?

SPEAKER_00: 40:13

No, it was it was in the it was in the river on their property. Um, they live on the river.

SPEAKER_02: 40:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 40:23

And I um we short story there, we uh Gordon Dasher is Phil Robertson's, was Phil Robertson's younger sister. She was married to Jan. She's married to Gordon Dasher. Gordon Dasher Dasher used to live in Trenton, Florida and teach my wife in high school. So we happened to be going on a travel job to Texas for my wife. And hey, we're only an hour away. You want to come by and stay the night and visit? And Gordon's one of those really quirky, you might have seen him on a few Duck Dynasty episodes, and he's the author of Phil's books and Willie's books and stuff. Um, but Gordon's very quirky and like funny, and so he he reached out, was like, hey, you guys want to come by and see us before you get to Louisiana? I mean, uh, before Texas, like awesome. Now we were 27, 20, 27 or 28, I believe. Maybe 26. My wife is very good at this. Obviously, she wrote uh wrote it all down. But um, we went there, we pulled up to this giant gate. This giant gate, I mean, it was probably 15 minutes to even get to this gate. Spotlights and a video thing and some numbers. And Gordon's like, yeah, these are the numbers. Type them in. We typed it in, a loud noise came up, and the gates open, and all of a sudden, we're driving, and I'm looking over, and you see this little white terrier running in the front yard, and all these things started popping up of watching Duck Dynasty, and it was the weirdest thing. And we're driving past their house, and right next to their house, it's a two-story log cabin, and that's where Gordon and Jan lived. So we pull up in there, and I'm kind of like, I'm like, this is really cool, and all this stuff. You see his truck and their dog and their house that they showed at the beginning of the show, and it was um, it was very, very humbling and very, I wasn't at that point. I wasn't uh we weren't following Christ. We were kind of like, we know about God and we know the people that know God are very good people, but I don't want to change the life I'm living right now because I'm having a lot of fun. That's basically where my mind was, and her mind was. Well, we get there, we stay the night. That night it's about 55 degrees, pouring down rain, the river's high, and Gordon's like, we just got done eating dinner, and Gordon's like, You want to go see Phil and Kay? We're like, sure. Knock on the door, open the door. I remember seeing an AR-15 just laying up against the inside of the door opening. And um he pauses the news, and there's Phil Robertson sitting there with camo pants on, a white t-shirt with a little bit of stains on it, and there comes Miss K, Miss K comes out in a you know, big t-shirt, no makeup, just like just chill, just average, just like this is how this is how they live their life, no matter if you were a stranger or not. To to know it was nine o'clock at night, the weather was how it was. Where are you gonna find folks that are that famous that just allow now? Granted, Gordon is at that time, you know, Gordon is their caretaker, best friend, like awesome. So if Gordon's gonna text me and say, hey, I'm bringing people over, then they they obviously trust Gordon in that sense. But it was very cool, man. It was very just relaxed, chill. We sat on the couch and he just started talking to us about uh the gospel a little bit and asking us if we knew about it and all that stuff. And then he pulled the big word out, which was, What if you know, he said, Are you guys baptized? Are you guys sick? And we're like, No, we just haven't, you know, haven't had, didn't know it was the time yet, you know. We we wanna, we thought the whole we have to be good and we have to be, we have to get rid of these things, but fellow Christ. And um, he said, What if you die tonight? Never been asked that. It sounds like such a simple question, but never been asked that. And we kind of me and Amber looked at each other and were like, Yeah, yeah. And he's like, No better time than now. And we were like, What do you mean? He's like, You get you ready to get baptized like that? And dude, it was it was so he walked us through prayer, and it was just like uh he made sure we knew what it meant, and we he was like, Meet me down, meet me down at the end of the boat launch, and um basically he got in his truck, shined his lights, turned around in his driveway, went to their boat launch, which wasn't wasn't visible at the time because the water was so high. It's 55 degrees raining, and the very first video I ever saved on my Facebook page is actually that video. Um, it's so so surreal. So I have this video, and it's me with no shirt on, the headlights on a river being hit with rain. Gordon, so Phil didn't baptize us because his waiters had a hole in them. So Gordon waiters, he we the video is Phil right there, me in the water, walking out in the water. Gordon asked me if I asked the Lord in my heart and dunked me in the water, and Amber, the same thing, and um I remember that that feeling was it was surreal, but man, you're talking you're talking five, six years of living exactly the same way before transformation, but in those five years, I had the Lord in my heart. So that is how the power of transformation can either happen in small little steps preparing you for something greater, or can happen instant. And I've heard so many stories of man, I got dunked in that water and I came up and I am completely a different person and completely changed and spiritually, uh visually, you can say that, but for me, it was it was five, six years um until we truly started realizing, um, realizing and and seeing the power of Christ. And man, the testimony, our testimony, it's weird, it's crazy, it's abnormal. It's kind of like how our lifestyle is now. Like, you know, we have the weird homeschool kids and we don't do anything normal. We both don't work a nine to five. Like we just we're we're trying to for us, it's us chasing this uh, you know, this freedom of serving with our whole family type deal, but nobody understands, nobody gets it, nobody, nobody is ever like, oh yeah, that's that's great, man. Sounds good. Like it's always a it's it's hard. It's hard being a Christian following the Bible, following God's word in a world that is the opposite. Yeah, you know, the it's it's so the opposite. So that's a little short, short thing of our of our baptism. Um, and uh we'll we'll put the links down to there's a few podcasts I've been on. We have a few podcasts on our podcast from the beginning of talking about it, and um it's just it's a it's a wild, crazy thing. And and you know, that led into um we we've been a member of Pine Grove Baptist Church over by us for about eight years now, and that went into them seeing our transition to hey, we have this Bible study, men's Bible study. Do you want to help become a leader? And then on the same side, the woman's side, them asking my wife if she wants to be a leader. And then I was asked to lead a prison ministry at our local prison. And at those times, I told Christ and prayed, anything you want me to do, I am here for it. And I want you to break any chain that I have. That was the biggest prayer I've ever prayed. Please break any chain that is taking me away from you. From that point forward, it was everything that I was always afraid of. Speaking in front of people, leading, standing on stage, singing, singing in front of people, all of those things. It was like the next two, three years. I'm leading a group, I'm singing, lead in as a man on stage in our band uh at church. Um, I'm going into prisons and you know, ministering and speaking about Christ and the transformation in prisons. And it just transitioned into parenting and like the passion of man, this is more important than anything that I have planned for my life. Anything that I feel is important or my wife feels is important. What we're doing right now, this time of you know, in our kids' lives, is the most important thing that God has blessed us with to manage. God gave us something He owns and said, here, son, manage this. And what are we to do about it? Are we to focus on our jobs, you know, 80 hours a week? Are we to focus on all these other things the world distracts us with? Or are we gonna man up and are we gonna say, I want to spend every second of my life raising my children and and growing my wife and I's relationship to be the best that we can biblically? And that's why I'm passionate. Uh, that's why I speak a lot without hesitations and I get yelled at a lot for like, okay, okay, okay. You went from this to this to this. What's going on? I'm working on right before this podcast. My wife actually texts me and was like, remember, listen. That's what she said. And I said, Well, he's gonna be asking me questions and wants to hear from me. So I'll listen as much as I can without social awkwardness, but if he asks me questions, I'm more than likely just gonna go for it.

SPEAKER_01: 51:15

So it's good for the content to just just keep talking as long as it's relevant. Um so uh curious question about the praying for um the uh the chains to be broken. Um have you ever had like a distraction that was like um another interest, a hobby, or something like that that was getting in the way, and then you that there was something that God did that broke that?

SPEAKER_00: 51:47

Yes. And that's that's um that was one of the biggest moments. Biggest let's just say in my faith journey that might have been the make or break of my current life. And that is um, that's something I think I need we need, I need to do a complete podcast on, but to make it short, which it's pretty short, um, we were, you know, we own three businesses now uh and a nonprofit for veterans. When we started Bearded Outdoors, we were money chasing like I want to make it to where, like most small business, you know, you have that idea and you're like, I want to make it to where I don't have to work this nine to five anymore. I just want to do this. We were focused on that, but it was also at a at the peak of social media and influencing and all those things that are now big. It was so much focus, but the whole time it was, I'm doing this for God, and and everything we're doing is for God. But then my buddy one day, my buddy asked me, Have you ever cleared your mind before praying? And I was like, he kind of asked more questions after that. He's like, when you read your Bible or when you pray, this is kind of like before I really had a ritual of a morning routine. He said, Have you ever cleared your mind before praying or reading the Bible? And I said, I could say, and I started crying when I was on the phone with him, and I said, Dude, I could I can honestly say no. And he, man, it was like it was this crazy epiphany as he continued to speak, and I I speak a lot about it now because it's so pivotal in my life. Um and it was how can you fill your spirit if your spirit is filled? How can you fill your mind with Christ or with God's word if your mind is filled? How can you fill your heart with the goodness of God if your heart is filled with other things? And like the analogy of filling up a cup, and like your fruits of your spirit are the overflow of what Christ is filling in your spirit, the overflow of joy in you should pour out through light and through that what we were talking about earlier, like that favor that that that sense you see, that's overflow of of the fruits of the spirit through you to others. And I didn't have that. And I thought this whole time, like, you know, I'm guided by Christ, we're guided by Christ, we're doing bearded outdoors, and and that like everything that's coming up is I'm getting calls to be an influencer here and uh and uh hey, you want to review this? And our YouTube channel started getting really big and popular then. And I sat there pacing in the street in front of the house with tears in my eyes, sitting here, like, I cannot wait to do this clearing of the mind thing. What does this even mean? And bro, I'm telling you, the first time ever, this was a Friday or Thursday, first time ever, I went to my wife and I said, babe, we are doing nothing business for the for this whole weekend. Nothing business. I said, we're gonna put our phones down, we're not going on social media, we're not if we get any orders, the question started happening. Well, what if we get orders of beard products? Like if we get any orders, we put the orders together, but we're not we're not doing anything outside of you and I connecting with our children. And what we thought was going to be a weekend ended up being seven months. We took a unbeknownst to us, didn't even realize it, a seven-month fast of podcasts, of video, even recording videos, even editing, you even anything for YouTube, um, social media, posting. Um, I'm talking just a seven-month. We enjoyed it and grew so much that it lasted seven months. And our minds in those seven months of being one with our children, like see, we were able to get filled with the fruits. That is what what you were speaking earlier. Have you ever been this passionate? Besides that, uh, this prior to that conversation, no, prior to the clearing of my mind before praying, and now consistently every morning I wake up, coffee, Bible, not Bible for five minutes, not reading a devotional for five minutes, not reading one scripture, an hour of, and I purposely do it. I have to do it. It is on, I have a scheduling app. The first things in the mornings are always the same every day, and the same things in the evening after seven o'clock is always the same. It is not Bible in the morning, Bible in the evening. It is Bible in the morning, understanding what the Bible is saying to you, being meditating, because if you're not meditating in God's word, which means clearing your mind, reading God's word, you know, maybe one or two verses over and over again, and literally waiting to hear what God has to say. Waiting to, because reading God's word and hearing it, but not implementing it in your life, it's it's pointless. It's the scripture about it's like looking yourself in the mirror, but then forgetting what you look like. And that's um that is what has truly been a pivotal moment in my life, um that truly has to do with where anything is right now, where I am in faith. Um, and I've stepped back from from a lot uh in that time. You know, I I I prioritized. I saw the there's an umbrella, Christ umbrella, which you might have seen, which is Christ, the father, husband, the wife, and then the kids, and then the church, and then the community. And I was doing so many things backwards, and I prioritize that during that seven-month fast and that break to growing, you know, myself. If if I don't have the knowledge of this, and my wife comes to me for that knowledge, and I don't have the answer, you're like, I realize how important me, how many, not me, I am not the important one, but how important God's guidance is to the life of my wife and my children, let alone once all of that is is kind of steady, then you're talking your church and your community. But being saved and then going and serving instantly in your church or being saved and then instantly jumping on the street preaching God's word, that is backwards, according to God's word, filling yourself, filling your spirit so that your overflow pours into your wife and your kids. Um, so that's what we've been working on for a few years now. And that is the reason behind this nonprofit serving full time, the beard care products going into like 100%. Like, yes, we are selling them on our website, but our focus isn't on selling anymore. It is on. I have this product and I want to serve and give and show. And that's basically what I told the gentleman that reached out to me about his apparel company. Um, was man, if you're doing it for a dollar bill or to hope to strike it rich one day, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. You need to do it with a clear mind, with an open mind. Um, and you need to do it 100% for serving. If that means every one of your hats and your shirts you give out for the next year, then that's what it means. But living in God's will for your life is not putting a dollar sign first, it's serving and loving like Christ did first.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:42

Yeah. So um, with that extra time that you ended up putting in with your kids, uh, what would you say your kids' relationship with God is?

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:54

Man, um we've gotten it to when I heard this before was really powerful, and it was uh, what do your kids see in you? What do your kids see you doing? So you think of parenting and you think of, you know, disciplining. Okay, what do your kids see? Do they see you yelling at your wife, but then you telling your kids not to yell at each other? Um, but then it goes deeper into when your kids wake up in the morning, what is the first thing they see? And if you ask my kid that right now, mommy and daddy are reading the Bible every time I wake up. When I wake up, I grab my Bible and my little devotional and I read too before I have to do, before I do anything, I want to read the Bible. They don't, I don't believe they would say that they have to read it because we've we've parented in a way that they realize it's fuel for their day, their their joy and their happiness and their drive every day comes from God's word. God's word tells you. I tell my son in simple terms, God word, God's word tells you how to live, God's word tells you how to react with your sister and all those things. So it intrigues him to like, man, if I'm going to read God's word, it's gonna make me better, it's gonna make me a better, you know, kid and a better. So they um homeschooling, uh, which incorporates God's word in everything, uh, but that also allows us to teach our kids. Um, you know, it's I can't, I really in simple terms, brother. I'm telling you, it's how you parent will teach your kids how to be more like Christ. That's I think that is the simplest way. Instead of sitting here trying to figure out how you're going to raise your kids in God's word and raise fill yourself, be how God designed you to be, show that and speak that. Your relationship with your wife will ultimately, if you have a son, your relationship with your wife will ultimately tell your son how you are as a man and how Christ is. Because me speaking to my son, saying we're supposed to act like Jesus, we're supposed to be like Jesus, the only way to do that is to fill our spirits. Um, then how can I how can I not be like Christ, which holds me accountable for my son and my daughter to be like Christ also. So my son, um, he's eight, he just got baptized. He got baptized, um I would say almost a year ago, and that was one of those things of we're driving home from hunting, just me and him, he's in the backseat, and we're always listening to Christian music, whether it's country, whether it's you know, bluegrass or whatever, it's always um Christian. And there was a song that came on, which I don't remember what song, but he just starts asking questions. Why do you get baptized? What does baptism mean? And you know, if you're not baptized, can you go to heaven? And he asked the question. Um, and something with that question didn't sit right with him because I basically said, um, he moral of the story is he thought that he already had Jesus in his heart. And when I kind of boldly said, Have you asked Jesus into your heart? And like his answer was like, No, what does that mean? And he truly didn't understand. I I'm like a hunter. When somebody I want my kids to know what they're doing before doing it, I don't want to put my kids behind a gun and harvest an animal unless they know why they're doing it, just like Jesus. I don't want, you know, I want them to know what they're doing before getting into it. So we had a conversation 40 minutes on the way home, and he was just like, he was kind of disturbed. He was like, Well, if you know, if Jesus really, if Jesus isn't in my heart, then I he has to get in my heart. And I'm like, You want to ask Jesus in your heart and you'd be saved? And he just was like, Yeah, I have to. I I and he was like disturbed in a sense, and um it was great because you know, I am a ver firm believer in when you pray, if you don't have the spirit of the spirit inside of you, your connection to God, which is Jesus, which is the Holy Spirit, your prayers and your connection will not get to God. And that's that's your the bridge gap between you and God is Jesus. So when he kind of realized, like, holy smokes, why you know what am I even doing breathing any more than I am? Like, I need to ask Jesus into my heart. So on the way home, when we were hunting in the back seat, he asked Jesus into his heart, and he was like, So, when do I get baptized? And I told him, and he's like, Um, talked to our pastor Jared and all that stuff, and he was talking about baptism and the reason behind it. And I was like, you know, it's it's a public announcement to let everybody in the church know, and you know, it's a symbol that your old body, you are now new. And I I explained all those things to him, and he was all excited, and then he goes, Do you think Bam, which is my mom, his grandma, do you think Bam would want to get baptized with me? Well, my mom got saved a few weeks prior, she never got baptized. Um, and she was always scared, and this was just like because of my son saying and doing that he wanted to call his bam and ask her if she would get baptized with him, which basically was like it was such it's a crazy thing. So I 100 to answer that question, I answered it within that first sentence or so. Um but it's just it's just showing, showing and acting how you want your kid to be. 100% that that's the fruits start with the father, then they go into how the father treats the wife, and then it goes into you know the bold, the bold Bible verse about men treat your wives, you know, Jesus treat your wives as as uh he loves the church. And I screwed that Bible verse up, but that's it's so crazy to hear that because that is a big responsibility. That and we're talking just as men, let alone two little humans that are witnessing and seeing and soaking and hearing every single aspect of your relationship with your wife, every aspect of your relationship with strangers in the in in church or strangers in public, it is so huge. I saw that responsibility and completely was like, dude, remove all of me, remove all of me because I I have failed to the biggest, I I want nothing to do with myself in a good way because I knew what Christ could do through me. I was like, please remove any selfish desires that I have for myself, and it went from dude, just 100% serving everything, just I don't care why or where you're calling me. I want to say yes and I want to go and I want to just serve. And sometimes it's not joyful, but you want it to be joyful, you want it to just be this glorious thing. Sometimes you are like, why do I want to go do this? And you just have to be obedient. And at the end of the day, you're sitting here like, man, thank you, God, for giving me this opportunity to go and do this one thing that I just thought was gonna be so miserable. Um, but yeah, that's I know your podcast isn't isn't too long, so I don't know if that's you're all right, they vary in length for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:30

Um, I think I had one almost three hours once.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09:34

That's awesome. I listened to a podcast today that was well, it's taken us three days to get through it all, but um George Janko, George Janko is I'm telling you, people are for or against, I don't know, but I listened to a podcast with him and Dr. I think his name's Dr. Fox, and it was about eating healthy, and it was about like natural healing his his uh grandma or his mom of cancer through natural healing and all kinds of stuff, and it was very powerful biblically. Um, but that's it was I think two hours and 40 minutes, and it's taken us three days. But like a podcast that is that good that it's that long, and you're determined to finish it. Like that's that's what I'm hoping it comes out of stuff, but yeah, hopefully they're all good.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:23

It's the hope. Um, where would you say you see God in the great outdoors?

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:29

Man, when I I I saw one day a picture of a snowflake, and that changed my changed my perspective on on a lot. I saw that picture when I was actually in college when I was 19 before Christ, BC. Um and it was a microscopic, and this is college, so you're you know, nothing was godly spoken about this microscopic picture of a snowflake, but I saw it and I just was like, no way. I'm like, man, it just looks like a dot of snow. But when you look at it, a if you don't, if anybody listening has never seen a picture of an actual snowflake, you know, when you're growing up and you have those paper paper, you fold the paper all together with scissors during Christmas time and you make the snowflakes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:20

Or a jack skeleton does it and it's a bunch of spiders.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:23

Exactly. A snowflake looks exactly like that, and there's no exaggeration. A small tiny snowflake is the most beautiful thing, and then and then you look at an eyeball and you're like, holy smokes! Then you look at it times 10, times 20, times 50. All of these things point to Christ. The trees, I heard this before about the trees are so high, and the true the roots are so wide that keep this tree standing, but they don't go too tall to where they fall over. Like, just to think of all of that, the photosynthesis, the water in the trees, and like watching, I watch 100% nature shows and documentaries on like all kinds of different things with my kids, and it is so eye-opening about penguins, about all of that, and then that transitions into me sitting in the woods, you know, by myself. It's like you can't help but to just think like, man, the gravity, it's just that amount to where you're not getting smushed, but you're not also floating, um, you know, the what the rainwater and you know it's just so if you're it goes back to this if your mind is clear, your heart is clear, and in your eyes and your ears are clear to hear and see and feel the goodness of God, he's going to make that evident. And when I started that the whole transition, that whole break, and that whole phase of seven months and really getting closer to God, all of that from when I was 19, it just all started molding back into like, dude, I am telling you, every time I am outside, it is just it is I hear a bird that most people won't hear, I feel a breeze that most people won't feel. I I am so aware and alert of everything in tune, and it's not because it's because I asked for it. I asked for Christ to show me his goodness every day. I pray. Prayer is is such a wild thing, and I just went through a study with it, that's a whole nother thing, but it that's your connection with Christ. And when you're talking to God, God has all these things for you, blessings every single day, and he's only giving you what you ask. People don't realize he's only he's only providing and giving and blessing you with these things that that you need to survive, but all of these amazing blessings that you're really like really hoping for, you hold those back, and you you he has this drawer of all these blessings that when you're 80 years old, that drawer might not have ever been opened, and it's crazy to think. Um, and that goes into nature, it goes into every aspect of like I'm sitting in my dark car right now, and just you're probably seeing it in the background, just lightning and thundering and stuff popping off. It's just like that is beautiful to me. Like that it's such a weird concept, and that's what why I have such a passion for filming and for filming hunts and for filming, you know, veterans and experiences and all that, because I see this visual of and at the end of the day, it never comes down. It's crazy, never comes down to the hunt, to the harvest, to the fishing, to the the hike, to it. It always comes down to my visual of that experience. I'm looking at like the way the tree looks in the background of the person to like, oh, that snow looks really cool. I want the shiny, like I just envision God's God's presence in what I film. And it's it's just so phenomenal, man. It's it's uh it's an amazing, passionate thing that like it's it's hard to explain. And all I want to do is just have my family together and just guiding and bringing people deeper and deeper into those things. And that's that's the route we're starting to go now with our nonprofit, veteran nonprofit and stuff. And we're having an event September 5th, a banquet, um, a veteran banquet for a nonprofit. And this is, you know, the passion that you hear is is what I those are the experiences that I want other people to experience and the joy that I want people to to feel, and the books that I create, like that kind of stuff, that guidance towards Christ, the true joy, the true, you know, without all the worry and the craziness and the stress of the world, like what is true joy? And that's I want people to experience that because it's sad every day knowing there's folks that don't know the presence of God, they live in it every day, and they just think that they were just all of a sudden popped out. They don't, I don't believe, I truly don't believe that because God created these people, whether you're a believer or not, I believe there is a deep, deep, deep. I don't care how much of a Satanist or whatever, there is this deep connection that you know there is a higher power. And everybody's goal every day is to figure out what that is, and they don't find it in themselves, they don't find it in all these other things. Eventually they get to a point where they're like, there has to be more. And guess what? You could be that one person that if you aren't obedient and you don't speak Christ, and you don't smile to show that presence of Christ to that one person for them to ask you a question, or you don't take that time in your busy day to really ask somebody what's wrong or give them a hug, you could be the difference between that person never ever witnessing God's love. And it's it's powerful.

SPEAKER_01: 1:17:34

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's pretty deep. Thinking back to um your comment to Phil about how you didn't feel like you guys kind of that misconception that you have to be perfect to be a Christian kind of thing. Um I it was actually Phil that helped me realize there were people in the church um that weren't perfect, and it it broke that uh theory from my end, having grown up in the church, and and basically my parents are very uh have very strong faith. And so I I've never really had kind of that testimonial moment, but I sort of did almost in reverse. And it was actually while reading Phil's book, is when it first happened, because like I knew he was like a leader of the church of Christ and things like that. And then I come to find out that before that he was a drunk and cheat and all these different things, and it was almost like a shock to my system like, am I reading the right book? This can't be the right guy. And and then I started looking into that more and more, and I'm like, okay, so it it shattered that belief, and then I finally realized that that the church is full of broken people, and it's where broken people come just to lift each other up, iron sharpens iron kind of thing. Um, I've actually been wanting to get my uh original background. I used to I used to live in California, worked in Hollywood, so I've I I've gotten uh I dropped most of that because those people are not good people to work with, but I still dabble in documentaries and I've been wanting to do one called um uh crisis for sinners that helps get that message across that um that it the whole concept is for the broken, essentially, for the lost.

SPEAKER_00: 1:19:24

Man, that's powerful. And and the thing is, man, we get so wrapped up sometimes in our own faith, our own faith walk and our own growth that we sometimes forget, at least me, where I came from. And it's like, you know, that's why these men's ministries and stuff now, and like the outreach is what a lot of churches are really missing. And it's a lot of the reason I feel that I swayed for so long and was broken for so long, even though I'm still broken, but not saved and a non-believer. I wouldn't say non-believer, I believed in God, but follower. Just say, um, why I did it for so long was because of what I was surrounding myself with. And like I go to Gainesville, downtown Gainesville, I went to college here, and sorry about that high volume uh with my little thing there, anyways. Um, and you're seeing churches that are planting in downtown Gainesville, and I'm sitting here like I do not remember, I do not remember seeing meeting any folks like this at all. And it's just it comes down to what who you surrounded yourself with. Like I I could have walked into a place or I just didn't I was a club promoter and drank every other night as a club promoter in Gainesville, Florida when I met my wife at 19. Um, so that is I I grew up around drinking everything. I mean, it was like water in my family. My uncle had you know three kegs in his garage at all times, and it was like it was a normal everyday thing, and it's it's a wild concept to know. Like, if I had, which I did, I had one kid that I went to school with that their family were Christians. Now they still partied and they still drank, but there was something about that family at that time. I called it weird, but I see now what it was. It was the presence of Christ, it was that Christ, it was the light. The smiles that they had were not normal smiles, they weren't broken smiles, they were they were full of joy smiles, they were true intimate like handshakes, true intimate hugs. Like you you just saw and felt the glory and presence of Christ, and it's crazy, man, because I surround myself with people like that every day now, and I I don't see I don't see as much of the brokenness that I lived in every second of my life, and it all has to do with do you want it? You know, do you want to have that relationship with Christ? Or do you just think that what you're doing is fine? Well, the thing is, that's the difference, is when you meet somebody like me that can say, Man, I was doing that, I was living that. The only difference is I didn't get caught, you know, talking to a lot of these guys in prison. Um and then having these testimonies and stuff coming out and just interacting with folks, and then talking to these vets that feel like when they come out of the military, that you know, they don't have what do I have to live for? All I know is the military. They literally broke me down to be this robot, and now they throw back in the civilian world, and I'm just supposed to know how to live with no guidance. I'm talking no guidance besides the VA, which are guys that are just going to be filling you up with meds. But having an organization that comes in and grabs those guys and gives them guidance through Christ and gives them opportunities to serve kids and to do like that is just I saw and met brokenness where I didn't expect to meet and see it. And I knew, and my wife knew that we have to do something, like we we have to what can we do? And the first thing we thought of is money, and we're like, we didn't have that, and it was like beard care products, and from that point forward, past year and a half, it has been that transition. Um, I don't even know what the original question was, but I just get so passionate about what was the original question? I answered it, but I think I answered it with with some uh extension.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24:09

I think I made a comment and we were just diving off that. I don't think it was a question. Phil Robertson and yeah, yeah, we were talking about Phil Robertson. Uh so one of the things we haven't touched on is uh fishing. Is that something you do a lot with your kids?

SPEAKER_00: 1:24:24

Yeah, so my kids actually they love fishing more than hunting because obviously it for eight-year-olds and stuff, hunting is boring, especially if you still hunt. It's boring, and I get it. Uh, fishing, my wife is absolutely passionate. Um, we do a lot of flats red fishing. We have a little jom boat, and we'll hop in the jom boat, we'll go to the local coastal town, which is Cedar Key, 30 minutes away, and we'll just hop around to the island. So we'll pull up on the island and we'll explore the islands, look for crabs, all that stuff, and we'll cast and we'll, I mean, we're catching reds, we're catching trout, we're catching everything, and that is uh we do that. We do, I mean, it depends what we're doing. We just got back from the panhandle. Um, my really good friend Festus Hoti, which is not his real name, uh, but he's he's a sergeant major in the army, and he they have a pond down the road, and we love, I mean, we caught huge catfish, and and um we're we just really love anything outdoors we'll get into, and that's that's really how we live our life. Um, I put in your form earlier. I said you give us ten dollars for our gas tank, and we will we will show anybody a good time. Like we just we know that anywhere we go, um yeah, my kids, my kids love fishing. My wife is very passionate about fishing. Um, financially, you know, we haven't been able to get a boat to be able to do a lot of the you know good fishing that we that everybody does, but for what we have and for what we've been given, um, we've been good stewards of it of it, that's for sure. We we make every experience we can um with what we're given. And that's that's a lot of things that people miss also in their life. And that could be another podcast is being stewards of what you've already been blessed with and people wanting more and more and more. And it's like, man, just look. Like I'm looking at a yellow canoe right now, leaning up against a tree that I haven't used a lot, but I can sit here and I can tell you so many things that we could do with that canoe, but it hasn't been touched.

SPEAKER_01: 1:26:42

So, yeah, yeah, no, I I get that. I I uh was looking for like a really nice kayak and then ended up finding a used one for about$300, and it's it's nice because I'm about 15 minutes from my local river, and I've been able to take my son on that to to go fishing. Um and uh I could I could buy or rent a boat and and go to one of the lakes out here, um, but I I don't have that kind of money and I'm not gonna put myself in debt over it, so I'm gonna use what I got.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27:15

Yeah, man. We have um being here on the coast of Florida, you know, we have a lot of we're blessed really, really big. Um, we have friends that have boats. Uh we I mean, I've been blessed lately with a bunch of connections that you know, we can really get involved in anything that we want to get involved in. I mean, I have connections to iguana hunt down south, to gator hunt, to I mean, anything we can do, but that's just opened up, you know, now that experience for my kids and my wife to be able to experience for me to film it. Um, we have a trip. My cousin actually just uh we have a cousin that is is got involved in some drugs and stuff, and he's he's been pretty bad with it and is doing better now. But he has a son the same age as my son. My other cousin, Kenny, he has a son that's about the same age as my son. So Kenny came to me, and Kenny's really big in his faith and in the woods and stuff. And he came to me and is like, Reese, let's plan a canoe trip. We start in North Georgia and we come down this. There's uh the Santa Fe River. It's uh about I'd say 100 to 200 yards wide at some points, has a lot of curves and turns, and there's a lot of sandy shoals on the edges, and it's calm, it's a beautiful river, and you can basically put in at a boat launch and do like a 20-mile, three-day just camp on the side of the river, float, fish, camp, float, fish, camp. And he was like, Hey, you want to do that? We need to get, we need to get uh the cousin that's not doing so well, you know, we need to get him and his son back together, we need to do this fellowship kind of thing and really show him what you can do and the things you can enjoy. And that's something that I've thought about doing with my son before, but never really went out of my way to do it quite yet. And having that experience now, it's like, man, I can't wait to do it. This canoe right here has been sitting here forever, it's about to be a memory that my son is never going to forget. Like, it's something that we haven't done as a YouTube channel or anything. We haven't done an episode like that yet. And we watch a lot of YouTube channel episodes like that where guys are doing these floats, and it's like, why haven't we thought of doing that before? And it all just comes down to you know, just like your faith, how bad do you want it? How bad do you want to make that experience for your kid? Is it gonna be hard? Is it gonna be easier just for you to go by yourself and do it? I said that every day before I went hunting. Oh. Oh, I'm not going to wake them up, Poby Grumpy, and I'm just going to go by myself until you do it. And then you're like, how can I do this without my kids? Like, this is, and you have to enjoy it. You have to have patience. You can't go into it upset. You know, you if it's hot out, you can't be frustrated before you even get in the car to leave because it's hot out. Like, there's so many aspects that start with filling yourself, filling your spirit, and and just reading God's word and being in tune with Him before you start your day. That's that's one of the most important things that I always can tell in my life or my wife or somebody else's life. Have you read God's Word today? Because something isn't right. Guess what? Man, I didn't get to, or I didn't get to do what I normally do. And you always can tell.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30:51

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:30:52

It's taken a lot. It's taken a lot, man. It's taken a lot of failing. It's taken a lot of, you know, mentors that I've met. My best friend Scott Hinnes, one of my one of my guys, man, that he's an older gentleman in, you know, in his 40s. Uh, I'm 35. He has 20-year-old kids that are out of the house now. He's been there, but from day one, he has never given me, he never gives me opinions first. He says, Well, what does God's word say? Well, God's word says you're supposed to do this, this, and this. He's like, Do you do that? I'm like, Yeah. He's like, What is God telling you? And I instantly am like, He's telling me that. Then why are you worrying? Why are you calling me, asking me what you're supposed to do? God's already telling you what you're like, he just he always gives that wisdom. And everybody needs that, man, especially in your in a faith walk at at the beginning. I didn't have that the first years of my life. And and because of obedience and because of me wanting to become more pure in Christ, he has thrown these folks in front of me. And if obedience was never there and stubbornness filled it with pride, I would have probably never said yes to going and meeting him. I never probably would have like it's so it all stems back to you know pride and stubbornness and self-control, and it's it's wild, it's wild.

SPEAKER_01: 1:32:16

Yeah. Yeah, I've been thinking more lately too that uh I haven't really been focusing on trying to find those mentors, and I I think that's an important thing to connect with, even even when you feel like you have a lot of knowledge on your on your shoulders, there's always something new to learn.

SPEAKER_00: 1:32:39

Yeah, lately, uh lately I've been we have Bible studies and stuff that our church runs, uh, which are a lot of it's a lot of folks that are in our church that do it. And I am an outreach believer. I have just I've read a lot of studies and read a lot of God's word that's you know Jesus for his three years, how many countries did I mean, uh how many cities did he go into? You know, he he he didn't just sit in one city for three years and said, Okay, this is good enough for God. Now it's time to be crucified. No, dude, he was everywhere and he experienced everything and wanted to tell everybody about you know God. And I think of that in my life. It's like, man, getting into church, great, serving your church, awesome. But if you only hang around your church people and you only hang around your family and you go to church, your family, you go to church, it's like, what folks are you reaching for Christ? What kind of discipleship are you actually, you know, reaching? And God's word says, you know, baptize people, go to all nations, do all these things. And then you think of what did Jesus do? Well, Jesus had disciples, Jesus had friends, he had partners, he had counsel, even though it wasn't wise counsel to him, it helped him understand what his what his job was. It helped him understand more. These are guys that witnessed, you know, Jesus healing people and all of these amazing miracles that right before his crucifixion still asked him questions and still had disbelief at some point. And we get upset with ourselves when we're like, man, man, why did this happen or why did that happen? And it's like we're doing the same thing the disciples did, but realizing that the disciples still did that and they lived with Jesus for three years. Like, think of that. It makes one, it makes you feel not as guilty because sometimes I'm like, man, why did I just have these second guesses and these negative thoughts about God and his plan? And then you're like, man, his disciples were with Jesus every single day, and they still uh shoot, they still denied him at the end of at the end of the at the end of his life. You know, it's uh it's a crazy thing to think. Um, mentors for me, I didn't I didn't go and find them. I put myself in a position of uncomfortability, and God placed them in my life. Um, I I put myself in positions of I can't do this. Why are they asking me to do this? I can't do this, like who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? But I said yes, and I I put myself out there and I, you know, did things that I normally wouldn't do, um, because God's word says to do those things. And because of that, God has blessed me, and you don't think of them, you know, you don't think of those situations as blessings until you look back and you know, hearing that from you, it's opened my eyes to like, man, these one or two people are just my best friends. I don't really like I haven't really thought of it as man, how powerful they have been in my life. Like, man, I I remember talking to Scott every other day, and most of the time it was me sitting here asking him, like, what I should do, what I should do, what I should do, and how you know, questions. It was always the worry, and that you want to say, you know, it's the wise counsel, it's not because they've been there done that, it's because they point you to Christ. Yeah, it's it's not, it doesn't have to be that that older person that has lived life and has been through life experiences. Does it help? It helps, but all you need is that friend to say, hey, dude, listen, has nothing to whatever I say, it's just my broken opinion. But at the end of the day, have you gone to Christ? Have you prayed before coming to me? Did you pray before calling me? No. Did have you, you know, asked God or have you taken a quiet time? Have you walked away from this this worry that you have right now? Have you walked away from it and cleared your mind? No. He's literally that wise counsel is is not, it's no, it's just literally guiding you back to Christ. And it's it's amazing, it really is. It's such a simple form of of it, but you know, God's word speaks about seek wise counsel, and um that that is something that you know you can joining men's groups. Um what I actually was gonna say is our church does those things, but I actually recently started bouncing around on Wednesday nights to different men's groups, to different churches Wednesday nights. I'm doing a study every Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. with a pastor from a church that I've never even been to. And me and him are really good friends, and we're we literally do a Bible study with three vets and uh two other guys, and this pastor from another church that I've never even been to yet. And that is what has grown me so much, because it's easy to get to just get caught up. I mean, you you think it because you're stepping your foot in that in that church that you know this is what's going to change me and fix me. Well, you have to think what you said earlier. The church is filled with a bunch of broken people, just like the bar is filled with a bunch of broken people, just like uh the school is filled with a bunch of broken people. We're all broken people. The difference is the ones that are in that church are wanting to make a difference. Those people in that church are, I'm gonna say most of the time knowing they need to be in that church. Most of the time. Sometimes it's the normal, you know, member church Christians that smile and are, you know, have always been there. But most of the times, man, we have people that will walk into back the back of our church that you know you can't even tell what kind of shirt they have on. You know, you they they could be still waking out from the night before, and dude, to see just an outpouring of folks coming in, and we may look great, we may dress great, but who's gonna be the bold one? Who's gonna be bold in their faith? Who's gonna be bold to say, dude, I'm just as you know, how I could easily go to everybody and go on my podcast, go on my videos, and just I could portray everything as just being glamorous if I wanted to, but that's not gonna bring people to Christ that because it's gonna show, it's gonna show, you know. I I I don't like speaking just positive, amazing things nonstop because, dude, it's hard. Like, why the devil don't mess with billionaires that have a bunch of money? It's because Satan is is doing his job, and it's uh I this is off subject, but I had that that question was always something for me. It was, you know, what about these billionaires that look like they live this amazing, lavish life and all that stuff, and somebody told me one day, and they're like, Well, in reality, Satan is not attacking them because Satan is already winning that battle, and it's like because I I it was like, Man, if this billionaire that doesn't believe in God can be a billionaire and be successful and all these things and and have all this wealth and all this stuff, then like why do I I had this idea of like, you know, why do I follow Christ then if these people can live just perfect lives? And that's what the visual outside looked. But man, Bill Gates, I think it was, uh, not Bill Gates, whoever passed away on his deathbed, he was a billionaire, one of these big tech guys. And his last words were like, Man, if I could take all this back, I would give every single dollar away and I'd spend more time with my family. And um, you know, that kind of stuff was just that's powerful to me because it kind of puts you into perspective of like, you know, God's wealth will come, but that is what is success to you? What is wealth to you? I'm a rich man, basically. I can easily say I'm a rich man, but when it comes to my bank account, am I? No, absolutely not. But I have what I need right now, and uh, I'm thankful for it. So very good.

SPEAKER_01: 1:41:50

Well, to uh wrap this up, what would you say your favorite Bible verse is?

SPEAKER_00: 1:41:55

Man, I'd say Proverbs Proverbs 27-3. Um do not withhold the good from those that deserve it. And I might have just chopped that up.

SPEAKER_02: 1:42:12

That's all right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:42:12

But it is the main Bible verse for why Operation Freedom Beard is Operation Freedom Beard. Um let me throw that. Um I'm gonna try, let's see here. I would have pulled it up and had it exact, but um, I have I don't have a great memory, so there's a lot of things that my wife and I actually have have started doing for each other, and um that is that is basically we write each other Bible verses and we put them in each other's vehicles, and it basically it allows us to we do it for a week straight, and um, it allows us to memorize a Bible verse um easily, uh more easily, I guess you could say, than just trying to do it on your own, and it gives you accountability, it kind of makes you realize like holy smokes, um, you know, uh so here we go. I got it. Proverbs 327. So sorry, Christ. Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it is in your power to help them, and it is a Bible verse that I never knew of when I found it, and not many folks know it when it's spoken of, but how powerful it is do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it is in your power to help them, and that is obedience, speaking on obedience, speaking on breaking those chains, um, being bold for Christ, being you know unashamed. It's it's super powerful, man. There's people out there that that deserve Christ's love, that need Christ's love, and they might never receive it, and and it might be from you.

SPEAKER_01: 1:44:10

So well, thank you for sharing that. Um there I had other questions, but we pretty much ended up talking about all the topics anyways. Um, so we covered the basis. Uh, was there anything you were hoping to discuss?

SPEAKER_00: 1:44:25

No, man. I I I don't there's so much that Christ has done in my life, and I'm I'm just here to glorify him and everything I do. And you know, if I get asked to have this opportunity, and when I saw your post, I was just like, you know what? This is this is those moments where you're like, man, I don't really have time. Yes, yes, yeah, like you know, I could have easily before when that that um gentleman messaged me about his brand and stuff, I easily could have just not responded. But I said, dude, this is these are the people that if I would have had respond to me when I was first starting out, could have saved a lot of the headache that I put myself through. And that was all because of the stubbornness and all that. But no, man, I I I really I'm happy that you're doing what you're doing with your podcast. And I believe it truly starts with the man and with you know the family and the kids, because that's that's our generation. That is really, you know, if if we're not doing our jobs as men in our family, then the generation just ends up coming up being less and less of Christ. And especially the outdoors, man, you're seeing it left and right where there's grandparents that are passing away, and the the property goes to the millennial son or grandson, and they're selling it for money. And this is happening. We live 30 minutes outside of Gainesville, and Gainesville is a really big University of Florida, is the town. We live outside of Gainesville, and be between our town and our town's a one red light town, between our town and Gainesville used to be beautiful, just farm. The whole drive was farm until you got to the edge of the city. And I can tell you, I d I haven't seen there's maybe one or two open pastures on that 30-minute drive now. It is you're seeing it just this year, this year alone, my 60 acres that I hunted down the road. Uh, he gave his property to his two daughters, and it wasn't but a few months later that property is up for contract. And just last week, I actually made a YouTube episode um of me going and removing all my stuff off the property. So I'm witnessing it in time now, and it's uh it's a sad thing to see. But yeah, I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you uh reaching out and and taking the time. And if there's anything I can I could do for you or anything like that, any other outreach opportunities for you and and for your podcast, um, let me know. I'll probably throw if you could send me the audio of this or something, man. I would be happy to you know throw it on my podcast. I would introduce it basically and just say, hey, listen to a podcast that I was on, and it would be a cool, a cool transition um and stuff. But yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I'll send you some links to to anything other people want to, you know, see or or hear about, and maybe we could do another podcast on on the rest of your questions or anything, man. I'm I'd be happy to just get with you and have some other conversations too.

SPEAKER_01: 1:47:42

Yeah, maybe the next time I'm down in uh uh Florida, we meet up and do it in person.

SPEAKER_00: 1:47:48

Absolutely. That'd be that'd be great for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 1:47:51

Um, all right, uh really appreciate you coming on. Um and uh look forward to the next one.

SPEAKER_00: 1:47:58

Awesome, man. Appreciate you. You have a blessed evening.

SPEAKER_01: 1:48:00

You too. Have a good night.