A LIL INTRO

Yeah So so Hebrews 13 3 says remember those in prison as if you were in prison with them And so as Jimmy mentioned and Carl and myself along with others Homer and a few others in the room we've been able to go out through the prisons across Texas and do ministry and Walk with people men and women who have been incarcerated And so it's been beautiful to walk with them and come alongside them and see people come to know him You know when a man or woman's incarcerated they're issued a tablet it's almost like an iPad and on that tablet that's how they they Correspond with family members or or get different mail but they can also download different approved apps and one of those apps is called the Pando app and Because of the generosity of this church. We've been able to purchase a Subscription to this Pando app and so we're excited because not only are men and women You in this room are those that are watching online But now men and women all across this nation and across the state who are currently incarcerated Will be able to be a part of the services and what we're doing here and so we're excited people that are hungry to know Jesus and be Discipled and be a part of the Antioch family are gonna be able to do so by watching in on services And so Carl and I'm actually to stand to your feet And so what we're gonna do is in a second We're gonna give them a big welcome, but I'm asking we're not asking for a golf clap You know saying we're asking as a room of people whose eyes that were blind have now are now seeing people who are being Transformed who have been raised from dead and walking a brand new life to give them a warm welcome So on that cue we want you to go ahead and respond to that All right to all of those of you who are watching right now on the Pando app We just want to say we see you we believe in you. God loves you You You Doing some amazing things all over the prison and you know, it's it's beautiful when you have a team and so any oc We got a team of people that are not only in one part of the state right now in Texas But also down in another part as well

And so all over the state being able to go into different units walk with men and women and our hope in our heart is to Walk with people to have an encounter with Jesus and become a disciple of his and follow him And so as we're doing this God's doing some amazing again some amazing things people are getting free But not only people getting free out the gates, but they're getting free on the inside They're getting free in their heart. They're getting free from bitterness anger resentment, you know places of abandonment and rejection But then learning to have an authentic walk with God and so out here where we're doing the same We're walking with God learning to walk with God authentically and making disciples of people out here But also walking with brothers and sisters in there to be disciples of Jesus as well So I got my man CJ right here who has been pioneering and going after it and laying down his life and Getting to do it together as a family and so I want to have him Encourage us a little bit and share with us Some of the things that's going on and some of the units he's been walking in and some of the people he's getting to come When I say the units or the people I'm saying our brothers and sisters our family Every time we encounter you brothers and sisters every time we get to go see you walk with you We see you as our family the church as a whole and so hey CJ Why don't you share with us a little bit? Some of the amazing things that you've been seeing and some of the breakthrough you've been witnessing and getting to be a part of Really when you say that word family, that's one of the things that I really like to focus on because When I gave my life to Christ in prison, you know, I prayed I'm like Lord You got to give me a new family and he did that He did that through the church and a lot of times we're like, you know when I go home or this or that but it started within the church on the inside and man, so many of those relationships have Overlapped or transitioned from prison to the free world, you know So many brothers are getting out and you know, that's always a goal You know as an inmate Regards to what your time she says, you know, you know when I get out, you know But man, we really start living when we find our purpose or we start walking in and our calling You know

Our prison ministry was born when I said yes to Jesus and answered the call and started on the Darrington unit So really man seeing God move. So what's exciting for me? Is when men and women have eyes to see and ears to hear and a lot of times, you know as Prison ministers or and ministries will say this, you know, we go there to minister to y'all But we leave set on fire and renewed and encouraged because of your faith I mean words can't describe, you know, we're classified as volunteers But you know a little piece of my heart is still in prison I feel more comfortable in prison than I do in the free world and i'm not saying that I'm institutionalized or nothing like that, but I know that man, there's good brothers and sisters in prison And all we need is another chance, you know as a second chance ministry or a second chance god we serve The most exciting thing for me is seeing a brother or sister get it and then the next thing is seeing god restore their family or Relationships and that's why as a ministry we try to do so much with the family dynamic Or the goal is to see you discipled or enter into authentic relationships And then see the overflow from that Flow to your family because we can't reach all your families But you can Your family knows you better than anybody they see if you're authentic or not And truth be told a lot of us are good actors. We even fooled ourselves for so good But you can't fool your mama. You can't fool your brothers and sisters That's why it's so important when we say that we're new creations or we've given ourselves away That people see a difference in our own lives as we share about a god who can change hearts or renew minds So that you know, that's a broad question. Like what's exciting? What's exciting for me is, you know Seeing brothers own the call and then do it in community Because a lot of times we get saved or we get vision from god and we just take flight and we expect everyone else To hear our vision and get in line or to serve what god's called us to do. Well, sometimes that's not the case Sometimes we're just called to serve man Whenever I have questions or i'm not really sure on what god's saying

Then i'll be like, you know what? Where can I serve? Where can I serve in an area that's in line? With the vision that god gave me and I say that because getting seasoned or being discipled or being groomed as a leader Man, it's so important because I think about the flash pan burn or just the big bonfire with the big But then I think about the wick The the the long burn and that's one of the things over the years, you know, I gave my life to christ in 2011 And I wasn't looking at the the long journey. I was looking at man. What can I do today? But then I started realizing over time i'm like, you know what man this thing is eternal This walk with christ, you know, it's It I want to set myself up, you know to be able to serve in the valley and on the mountaintop In order to do that. I try not to get high and try not to get too low That way the long burn will keep me in the seasons when there ain't no fire That's good, you know that that's so good because this is this is the long game it isn't about the immediate result And throughout the bible if you're watching this and you're you're keeping up you're starting to Track with some of this stuff and you're engaging with god You're you're starting to have a conversation with them that it's all about a relationship with the lord It's learning to talk to the lord walk with him read his word listen to him but throughout the word God would use parables and he would talk about things like planting and sowing and and it takes time But it's cultivating it's cultivating the ground. It's you know, we was we was out at the hughes uh Recently we go out there every week, but or one of the units in texas and if you're watching this but around the chapel It's always dry and hard ground gatesville. It's got some hard dirt out there But man, I tell you what about a month ago that thing had so much color out there It was so many plants and so many flowers out growing it's because the guys were cultivating the ground out there And it's the same thing about cultivating this relationship with god to take us from this broken man or broken woman broken Individual that has had a life of pain disappointment regret shame and all these things but then meeting god meeting god and then Experiencing his grace that man you mean to tell me that no matter what i've done And how much shame and regret and pain that i've brought that someone still loves me and then start this journey of being transformed And we do that by one receiving his grace receiving his love but then doing it in the context of family the community

Of with the other brothers and sisters what other men women that are there that are seeking god authentically going after him Like this really ain't no game. It's like being for real. So for like CJ and myself and Carl, CJ and myself, we didn't walk with God. We didn't grow up following Jesus. We didn't grow up, you know, reading the Bible or having grandma pray or having an aunt or, and, but in our brokenness one day, cried out like desperate, like a desperate place. Like, God, I need your help. Come take me by the hand. And I tell people this all the time that I had cried out one day and asked God, come take me by the hand, pull me out of this. I need your help. I want to follow you. And he pulled me out. And that same prayer that I prayed 17, 18 years ago is the same prayer I pray today when I get up in the morning. God, I need you. I want to know you. But you know, here we are on the journey with this prison ministry and getting to go into different units. And it's just been an invitation from God. Like God has made a way for our lives to be restored and healed on the inside and get transformed. And it wasn't an overnight thing.

This wasn't something like, hey, we got free. And then now, boom, we're getting to go back in and do all these things. God might do that for some people, but for us, that wasn't our journey. We started a journey of taking step by step and seeing the restoration of God and starting life over, going down to the place and getting jobs at the places that we said we never wanted to work, but that'd be the door that the Lord opened for us. And we stepped into it and in humility. You know, in the scripture, Matthew, in the book of Matthew chapter 18, the disciples, they're asking amongst themselves to Jesus, who's going to be the greatest? Who's going to be the greatest? And Jesus said, unless you become like one of these little children, he says, you won't enter the kingdom. See, the greatest in the kingdom is humility. And so for us as learning as well, still today, God, I need your help. I want to be humble and I want to walk with you. But God led us, I must say this, God brought us both of us to a church in our hometowns called Antioch. And so I didn't really know about Antioch, but I got Carl here. Carl's on our team. Carl helped start the church of Antioch

here in Waco, Texas, which then planted churches in Houston and other areas. And so I wanted to ask Carl, like, hey, like we're on this team and we getting to walk with the Lord, but God has brought us to a family and then we got rooted and got grounded with the people that have a passion for Jesus and his purposes in the earth. And so here we are, we're living new lives as men who were rescued, saved, and loved and invited to discipleship, but then brought into a family that has a passion for Jesus. And so I want to ask Carl, Carl, tell us about this, about this family that we've been brought into and that you have helped lead from the beginning and is now in the prisons. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, our stories are different in that I grew up with a, you know, a dad that's an alcoholic and addict and anger freak. And then you got a mom who's Mother Teresa praying deeply over me and praying over my four younger brothers. So you got, I had kind of a dual picture. I never know what's worse. Is it worse to have no Jesus in your background

and so when you find him, everything's holy and grace filled, or it's like, it was such a mixed bag for me. It was like, wait a minute, we're all being taught about Jesus, but then this picture I have is not actually following it. And so you're going to church a lot, hearing about God. I was in church every Sunday. I mean, and Wednesday night, I was not allowed to miss. I mean, you had to be carrying your arm around in a lung or else you were going to be at church. And so, but I'm thankful for that because it put me in God's presence. It marked me. But at home, it was just so, it was hypocritical. So I couldn't quite understand what I was supposed to do. And so then I start hearing this group of people. And in those days, early nineties, people are talking about God, the Bible, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But there was this group, they would just say the word Jesus. And they would be like, I love Jesus. I want to follow Jesus. I want passion for Jesus. And I'd be like, what? Like, I hadn't heard. It was like their words were, it sounded different.

And it mirrored a lot of what I heard from my mama. But I was like, something's different about those people. That guy's name was Jimmy Seibert. And he had spent a year discipling a guy named Sean Richmond and Sean Richmond had become my youth pastor. He starts meeting with me. He starts discipling me. And they start asking for a move of God. And we had a significant, not like a tent out on the yard, seven day revival. I'm talking about a couple of years of a significant outpouring of the Holy Spirit where God's presence was so real. And you either had two options, get on your face and repent because he's in the room or run out and say, I want to run my own. There was no middle ground. He was just like, there was no lukewarm. And I was like, that's what I've been looking for. And it was those people then they weren't just all about getting in the room and encountering God We get done with those services and they'd be like now, let's go to the streets and let's preach the gospel I mean one time we're in a we're in a prayer room We're in a prayer meeting Praying for this guy who's about to leave to be a missionary to Germany in a couple weeks and we say the last prayer in Jesus name Amen girl Runs in the side guys keg party three doors down We got to go and we're all been praying for the nation's to be reached I'm like, I'm not gonna keg party, you know I'll go to Germany, but I'm not going to the keg party and I remember that guy looked at me and said man

How are you go around the world? We're not gonna go three doors down And we all walk out there and not all of us but a few a lot of like yeah I gotta go steady. I was like dang it. I don't go steady So like three of us we walk in this keg party And we just start loving people sharing Jesus Praying for people and I bump into One of my guys that I used to one of my boys used to roll with it He had stopped going to church. He hated God church all this stuff and He was drunk as a skunk and he was just out of it. Anyway, we show up at church. He's there He's like dude. I just couldn't shake it. Y'all came into our house and brought Jesus and I can't shake it I don't know what to do. He started coming. He gave his life to Jesus. He got baptized So Jimmy's baptizing him our college pastor at the time. He baptizes this guy and He says in the name of the Father Son the Holy Spirit bear to them in baptism Raised to walk in newness of life. He pulls him up and we hear in the back this booming voice say my son was dead But he's now alive Bless the name of the Lord and we didn't know his dad was back there We all in the room just erupted. They bring the worship team My brother Jays mark was like 19 years old got an afro and you know Learning to write songs and he starts worshiping we go back into it It was like a revival and we learned that lesson. Don't say you're gonna go around the world You're not gonna go three doors down so then we just had this desire what would look like for little communities to pop up all over our city not just in Around the in the nation's but all over our city and that's what we became life groups discipleship. It was just Brushing shoulders. So in 1999 we we decided to start our church We didn't have a place to meet so we met all over eventually bought an abandoned grocery store in Waco, Texas and everybody pitched in to help fix it up and We'd have on a given Sunday. We'd have homeless people walking in we'd have you know people from really really hard backgrounds and then we'd have Some guy who's the head of counseling at Baylor, you know, and you'd be like man, they're all sitting here together

We're all being family together and the message is still the same We care about people around the world who need Jesus We care about the person who's down the street and then one day Jason, that's when you walked in, you know and that's what we wanted we wanted you to feel like you could walk in and sit next to the head of counseling at Baylor and they could say come to my life group and let's do family and And so that's kind of how it all started and for me I was I just started trying to give away what I got So I was youth pastor. I was college pastor I just serving in different ways and I remember the way and so I'm really grateful Jason for Our relationship because you and I were on staff, but we didn't hang out a whole lot But I felt like you would like come up to me and say Things like hey, I need like 2,000 bars of soap, you know, so I'd get up in front of the church to be like man, we need 2,000 bars of soap and some toothpaste and the church just give and then Maybe six months later. You'd be like bro. I got to get about 2,000 Bibles But we got to get 2,000 Bibles of the church come through and so I remember I came we were talking in 2022 I was like you need anything and you were like, yeah, I need you. I Was like, what do you mean you need me that I need you to go with me We're gonna go to a prison and I was like, I don't know that I'm gonna relate a whole lot You know, I don't got I mean, I don't got too much of a story to tell and you're like, it's a women's prison You'll be fine Remember, I was still just like I bet with the day we go is the day It's gonna be a riot and my ninja skills are not strong So I was just like I'm gonna get beat up when we jumped in a women's prison At a women's unit, you know and I walked into the Lane Murray unit shout out to all the ladies over there at Lane Murray and my I just my wife and I we walked in not know what we were doing and our heart just gotten it to those ladies and we were like we love these ladies and And it was soon after that when you were like, hey, you want to go to the Beto unit with me in, Texas? and we're gonna help out at this Mike Barber ministry event and Got there, I'm gonna still we were walking up and you were pulling You were pulling like the big card of all of our like Bibles and resources and stuff and introduced yourself as you had been at Antioch

Houston I didn't know you but your pastor Fred had been on staff with me And so me and Fred had done family and done year we had moved in the neighborhood here to serve people We'd and then he went to Houston and did that and I was like, you know weird how God just does this, you know and Next thing, you know, you and I are going to Hughes My family's still going to Lane-Murray. I just feel like I'm following you guys around. I just tell people, I'm with CJ. And they're like, come on. Or even this last week, I was at Hughes and Jason had to miss. Let me tell the whole world why Jason had to miss. Jason had to miss because he was hanging out with our governor, the governor of the state of Texas, Governor Abbott. If you look closely at this picture, Jason and his twin brother are right behind him. So this is how famous, like I said, I just tell people, I'm with Jason. He hangs out with our governor. And so I'm just like, hey, I'll be over here if you ever need me, you just hook me up. And so anyway, this is where Jason was this last week. And guy walks into the prison, he's just like, who are you? And I'm like, I'm just with Jason. That's what I say, I'm with Jason. And I go, you know, I'm with CJ. I'm with his wife, Rita. And it's just, God's just been changing my life as we just keep trying to live out that mission.

We want to go around the world, but we want to go three doors down and we want to go to any unit where people feel like they're not free. And I remember when I first met you, CJ, you said that you told the story of how Jesus met you in your cell. And I remember you told those men, I didn't get free when the state of Texas said I got free. I got free when Jesus became my Lord and Savior, when he became my king, he got free, and you got free. And man, I know that some of these people, they've heard your story, either because you've been on their unit or maybe they've seen you online or something, but I'd love for you to share, CJ, what did that freedom story look like? Because we want to keep going to places where people aren't free. Actually, that's what we say all the time on the Pando, our intros, we'll say, long before you get free on the outside, we want you free on the inside. And I stole that straight from you. Like I said, I'm just following you and Rita around. But talk a little bit about what your freedom story looked like, because you give your life to Jesus after you're reading The Purpose Driven Life and God meets with you and speaks with you. But it doesn't mean that all of a sudden

you don't have those old desires or you don't have those old ways of thinking. What'd it take for you to come to the place where you're like, Jesus set me free? Yeah, so when we talk about being free on the inside, man, one of the things that I had to really guard against was, man, walking with Christ. I thought that Lorne Daigle was gonna play every day whenever I got up and everything was gonna go right. But I faced so many seasons where I was disappointed with situations. I wasn't ever disappointed with God. I had to learn this, because I was always looking at what I wanted to happen. If you know my story, you know my dad died in prison. He was waiting on me. I was supposed to get out and it never, it didn't. Your dad died while you were in prison. You were supposed, that's what you mean, right? Yeah. Yeah. Did I not say it? You said your dad died in prison. Your dad didn't die in prison. Yeah, yeah, okay. Gotcha. Rewind. Yeah, if you know any of my story, my dad died while I was still in prison and I was praying for him to see me walk out.

And for unforeseen circumstances, I ended up not getting out and then he died three days later and I was really disappointed. And you know, that really kinda just seasoned and it seasoned me to understand because maturing while staying free, I understand that I'm not always gonna get my way. I got multiple setoffs, but what God did was something special in my heart so that I could go from being, hey, I want this my way, me, me, me, to okay, Lord, what are you doing in this season? It helped me to be able to take a step back and not think in my flesh or let my emotions rule me. Instead, okay, Lord, what are you doing in this moment? Because you know I wanted that, I prayed for that, but you're also holy and all-knowing so there has to either be something better or that just wasn't for me. Wow. And it just helped me, man, to see because we're gonna be disappointed and that's one of the things about maturing is when I don't get my way, can I still praise his name? Amen. When I don't get my way, can I still love my brother whenever we, or can I still focus on the assignment that he's given me when I'm like, man, Lord, you could've did this,

this, or this, like, do we honestly think we can run the world better than him? I realized that I couldn't. Well, exactly, because then you get the scripture saying, Jesus said, in this world, you're gonna have trouble, but take heart, I've overcome the world. It's just hard to remember that in that moment in mind, body, soul, they always talk about there's those things you can control, those things you can't. Can't control the past, can't control others, I can control my responses, but I think disappointment's a big deal, CJ, because it's like, right when someone usually gets really passionate about Jesus, disappointment comes quick. It's like, family problem happens, you know, I get, middle of the night, I'm woken up and I move to a different unit. I'm like, man, I just found Jesus. Whatever it is, disappointment comes. And I know, Jason, you've even dealt with that with some situations you were going through where it's like, it looks very disappointing on the surface, but later you can look, later is when you look back and you go, oh, God was doing something underneath the surface. Yeah, so I love in John 15 how Jesus says, so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. And it's like, Lord, I need your joy that isn't circumstantial. Because I can tell you what, this life of walking with Jesus, I have faced a lot of disappointment, have lost people, have been rejected, have been hurt, but I've seen a lot of highs as well. And it's been this journey of amazing things and low things as well. But it's all been in the walk with God. And so something Carl's talking about is, specifically, I had went on this journey to apply for a pardon and was close, was right there. And it was like, yes, it's going to happen. And then all of a sudden, one day, I was on my way to a dinner. It was like 4.55. I got an email. I opened it up and it said, boom, didn't get it.

And so for a moment there, and I turned the radio up. And when I turned the radio up, I heard, I turned the radio up and it was like, the song was playing. It was like, you're the name above all names. And I just began to worship. Say, you're worthy of all praise and my heart will sing. How great. And I just said, Lord, you hold my life. And, you know, after I got that, that denial, it was about two weeks later. So CJ and I, we had been connecting a little bit over the year and kept missing each other and kept, you know, trying to connect. But he called me, reached out to me, said, hey, bro. He said, I'm going to be going to Waco for a revival event. You got a place I could stay? You know where I could stay? I said, yeah, man, you could stay. You could stay at my place. And so he said, man, you want to go with me? I said, yeah. So I had been in the units back in 2013, 14, 15, some, and then kind of put the brakes to help lead a men's home. But here we are. It's it's 2023 March. And so we we we roll up at the Hughes and for a revival event. And I remember we went in there and and I remember going up there and Hazel Hood was like, you ready to go up? And I was like, all right. And so I went up and got to share about the the faithfulness of God, restoring my family and redeeming. And it was a beautiful moment. And when we left, I got out the car and had all these text messages. It was from my sister and she was letting me know that my dad had just been shot by the police. And it was at the same moment that I was testifying about the amazing works of God. Something had happened in my own family and my dad made it. He survived. Got got an 18 year sentence after that. And it's been hard, you know, walking with him in that journey. He his health has declined a lot because of because of the wounds and the surgeries. But but I look back and I was telling Carl that the whole purpose that I was wanting to get a pardon because I was going to run for city council. And I said, man, if I would have got that pardon, I would have ran for city council. I would not have gone back into the units like I had been in these last two years. Been all over the state and different units and walking with different brothers and sisters and and helping, you know, build this, helping build the ministry and experiencing encountering God for me personally. Man, I can tell you what, like, man, God has taken me to some deep and amazing places of walking with countless brothers and sisters who are watching this right now, man. And just getting to roll with our brothers right here.

And really, again, seeing Antioch, you know, we're part we're Antioch, but seeing Antioch reach the nations and around the world, but reaching the units and the men and women across the state of Texas and other places to come as well. And so all that to be said in a journey of disappointment, fruit has come from it and life joy, his joy, you know, lasting fruit. That is I'm so thankful that the Lord has invited me to be a part of it and walk with you guys. Yeah, we were in the in the Hughes unit yesterday talking to some of those guys and someone just walked in and they were like, who are you? And they're out talking to me and they look at the guy, the 10 guys that are field ministers and life coaches. And like, how do you know him and what's he been doing? And they actually start talking about you, Jason. They started talking about you coming. And honestly, which I even back it up a little bit more, because when I first went to prison ministry, I was like, oh, man, this is gonna be great. And I remember I called you one time, CJ. I was like, man, we need to get a tent. We get chairs. Like, what do we know what we need to do? And I remember you were like, have you prayed about it? And I was like, why don't you shut up? And I was like, he's like, no, we have a prayer thing that we do. I was like, oh, man, man, I was way ahead of my time. and then Jason and I started praying every Monday at noon here in our prayer house and invite people to pray and instead of going we were going to the units but we weren't like we're gonna impose our program we're gonna we're gonna come we're gonna bring what we have it's more like Jesus we want to abide in you and then we're gonna walk into these different units wherever we go and you just open doors and we didn't come in with our programs that wouldn't do it and all of a sudden doors are flying open we don't even know we can't even hang in all those doors and now we're sitting there yesterday and and while Jason was with in a meeting actually with our governor and this guy is like who are y'all what y'all doing they start talking about Jason how much he would come every week he would just get to know him ask the Holy Spirit what do you have here and they were like Jason we need you to disciple us and

they started talking about Jason came every week he poured into us every week and then he started bringing Carl and he they poured and they were like man we trust these guys and we even had some people say hey we listen to your sermons on Pando not because y'all are the best preachers but because y'all come every week and y'all know us and you love us you know you wouldn't been able to do all that if you've been pardoned put on the City Council taking off or if I had gone and bought a tent and some chairs and we started doing that we I'm just thankful for those disappointing things that led us to go slow find Jesus start initiate everything in prayer so that we're doing it have an abiding relationship and we're watching fruit start to happen that we can't take any any credit for yeah we just posted the cross yeah so we're just excited we're looking for yeah God's moving our goals when we come in to partner what God's already doing right that's my brothers and sisters their leaders y'all are doing it yeah we get to participate thank y'all so glad it shows watch in today hey if while watching that video something's taking place on the inside of you could be that the Lord is inviting you into a relationship with them and you can do so by clicking the accept Christ button down at the bottom and taking those steps to pray a genuine prayer of faith and asking Jesus to come inside and be the king of your life hey we'd love to continue this journey together and we could do so by hitting the subscribe button and seeing the videos as they come out each month hey again we're so thankful that you chose to watch in today and we look forward to more time together