Ep.247 The Pace Of Peace With Brock Stamps Of Stone Oaks Church

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Where'll you be going? Next is where'd you find this? Go on, make it happen. And now here's Steve and Michelle.

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Welcome to Malida Michelle. Today is the first day of fall. I'm Michelle that slept with a sweaty baby on my chest all night. And here's Steve. You probably got 10 hours of sleep last night.

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I wish I did. I didn't sleep very good last night. I actually uh got cleared to uh not sleep sitting upright in bed, and I thought it was gonna be glorious, but it was a little bit difficult to uh to adjust to.

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Do you sleep in a dark closet like this?

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Like hanging upside down in the closet. Yeah, yeah.

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He's a man of God. Hey, starting a church from the ground up takes faith, vision, and probably a pretty high tolerance for uncertainty. Brock Stamps is the new pastor of Stone Oaks Church, a new church putting down roots right here in Dripping Springs. Today we're talking about why he felt called to start something new, what it takes to build a church and a community from scratch, and where he hopes Stone Oaks goes from here. Welcome to the show for the second time, Brock. Number two. Let's go. Let's go. You were back, you were on in uh episode 11, 230. I know.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

I was a lot younger.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Weren't we all?

SPEAKER_02 3:36

A lot less gray hair.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

That was the creepy closet days.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Yes, it was. Yeah, we we have graduated from that. But it's great to have you here. And uh you are you're starting out on a new thing. You've uh you closed one chapter in your life and now you're starting a new one.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Tell us about what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Man, it's uh it's a crazy season for our family. We are uh stepping out and planting a new local church in the dripping springs community, and our first Sunday is this week. So we've got two services at 9 and 11 at Wildwood Springs Elementary School. Okay. We are a portable church.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:20

Don't ever ask me when church starts because I showed up last weekend.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

You were very excited about it. So you showed you at the school last Sunday morning for church.

SPEAKER_05 4:31

I did, and I I stood in the parking lot and I was like, hmm, well, it's 10 30, 1045. Maybe people are all late.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Maybe this church is struggling. Ain't nobody showing up.

SPEAKER_05 4:45

Nobody showed up.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Oh Lord, don't let it be like that this Sunday.

SPEAKER_05 4:48

No, no, no. But how long has something like this just been kind of rattling around in your brain?

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Yeah, that's a that's a an amazing thing. Um so I was 16 years old whenever I felt called into ministry. And I was at this church service at my home church, and there was this fiery evangelist that that came in. And uh I, you know, back in the day, you know, people would go down to the front, down to the altar area and and pray. And, you know, I was a 16-year-old kid and and went down to this altar area and was just praying, and I felt the Lord put in my heart that, hey, I want to use you in ministry. I want, I think the the what the language that I remember was, I want to use you in my ministry. And so I didn't really know what all that meant, but I went home and told my mom, hey, I felt this when I was at church tonight. And um, you know, she she thought that was amazing and told our pastor, and he was excited, and and so um it kind of cooked for a little while and you know, drifted from it, graduated from high school, and a lot of my friends were going to different schools around the country. A lot of them were going to Alabama and Auburn. I grew up around the Birmingham area.

SPEAKER_05 6:07

Oh, yeah, we remember, we remember uh Hayes and you when last time you were here about Alabama. Roll Tide.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Roll Tide. But um, yeah, I I I went to a local university and I thought, okay, I'm gonna be a physical therapist or go into business. And um I was miserable. I was sitting through all these classes, and you know, everybody else seemed to be getting with it and doing well, but I was just so struggling. And my youth pastor, who was with me at the time, whenever I was, I felt that first nudge, said, Hey, I want I want you to go on this missions trip with me. And um, so I went on a missions trip to Venezuela, and uh when I was in Venezuela, I that calling uh just began awakening in my heart again. And I had prayed right before the trip. I I sensed God really doing something in my life. And um before the trip, about two weeks, I said, God, if it is your plan for me to be in ministry and physical therapy is not it, business isn't isn't it, then make it really plain on this um on this trip to Venezuela. And it was one of the days um and we were hanging out with some of the kids in the village. There was this basketball court, and and um I was sitting courtside resting a little bit. This American missionary comes walking down the street, and um he came over to me, noticed that there was some American kids playing in the neighborhood, and he sat down beside me and said, Hey, you know, I'm a missionary. I live in the community, and uh, we've got church groups that come in and out of here all the time. And I thought, well, okay, we're not the first ones that have done this. And um, so he he's just talked to me, to me for a little while, and and then eventually he said, Brock, there's something different about you. You know, are you are you going into ministry? Are you are and I and when he said that, it was just this confirmation of you know, that's what I prayed for. God, on this trip, make it plain. And there was a guy that sensed a call into ministry in my life, and um, so I went back, withdrew from the local university, enrolled in a Christian university in Tennessee, and um went through, met my wife Stephanie. And my senior year, I had to write this paper, and it was like, okay, what's your future plans going to be? And in this senior paper, I remember writing, uh, I'd love to go work in a church for a little bit, and then after a few years of ministry, like just getting the experiences and learning what it means to be in church world, um, I'd like to plant a church. And um that was 23 years ago. Wow. And so earlier this year, you know, as I was going through a season where I did had no idea what was next in my life, and I just said, um, that that that came to my heart 23 years ago. You put that down in a paper. And it's just the coolest thing when God awakens these dreams and desires that you've had for a long, long time. And I just felt the Lord say, um, it's go time. And so we talked to my wife, Stephanie, and she was on board. And, you know, we've lived in the dripping springs community for 13 years, raised our kids here. Our boys started out kindergarten, dripping springs elementary. They'll graduate this next year.

SPEAKER_05 9:30

And she's a teacher in the district Cypress Springs Elementary.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

And so um, we're doing this.

SPEAKER_05 9:36

It's funny because one of my questions I had was about Stephanie, and did she ask you or did she say, Have you lost your mind? or let's go for it.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

And I was terrified. So when I I first started feeling, okay, this is the time, this is the moment, I knew I had to have a conversation with her. She grew up a pastor's kid. And, you know, she had seen her dad go through some really painful experiences. You know, uh churches can eat up pastors and, you know, spit them out. And uh so her dad went through some really difficult times. And I thought, well, if I share this with her, she's probably gonna say, heck no.

SPEAKER_05 10:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Um, but she said yes. And it was just like God had been working in her heart as well, preparing us for something new in in dripping springs.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

Aaron Ross Powell What uh you just said eat them up. Um I think probably most people don't understand that how pastors get chewed up by this. What what's all what causes that?

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Yeah, there's so many things in there the pastoral ministry is so weighty. I think I read a statistic the other day that said, you know, most people in their entire lives, they uh lose seven significant relationships through the course of their entire lives. Most pastors lose seven significant relationships every year. Oh, geez. Um so it's the the loss of people that that that come and stay and then and you invest in them, and then they, you know, for whatever reason, they they they may move somewhere or they may, you know, drift or and it's just the cumulative effect of of people moving in and out of your life. That in and of itself is difficult. Uh preparing um a message week in and week out, there's a weight to that. Um and there's just so many things that um that are that are very, very challeng very challenging.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

Having the vision, the heart for your community and in the midst of all that planning and then the relationships that come and go, there's the fires that pop up, somebody that you know has a a death in the family or a marriage or uh somebody's in the hospital, you deal with all that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yeah, you're you're dedicating babies one week, you know, five, six babies that are on stage, and you're it's the most joyful time. And then the next day you're you're doing a funeral for someone, uh a young person that's passed away.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

That is hard.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

I want to talk about um the elephant in the room. Okay. And a little bit about the past and where you came from and where you are now. What did you learn from your past experiences as pastor, excuse me, here in the Dripping Springs area? What do you want to bring to the table to Stone Oaks Church? And what do you really kind of just want to leave on the floor? What do you want to start anew, start afresh?

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Yeah, that's a great question. I think people um long to have a a shepherd. And my heart, I think, for Stone Oaks Church is to create a a culture of shepherding where people feel uh like they're known, um, like they're cared for, and uh that that someone comes alongside them to help them grow and their and their relationship with the Lord. And so I think that's really kind of one of the things that I want to continue. I th I I got that from my dad. My dad uh uh he was a UPS man. I'm the son of a UPS man. Um so my dad wasn't in ministry, I'm a first generational you know, minister, pastor, but the way that he loved people was just shockingly um uh deep and significant, amazing. He was a UPS guy, and um he he ran this rural route out in the country, and the people on his route loved him so much they would bake pies for him, he would drop off packages, they're baking pies for him. Um, he did funerals and weddings and preached in churches. Oh, he was like this circuit riding UPS guy. He was a pastor without the title, he was a pastor without the title, but people loved my dad. And uh I thought I want to love people the way that my dad loved people. And so I I that shepherding heart has always been there.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Um and so I think the how what did your dad do? Because it's easy to say people loved him. What did your dad do that made people love him? What what stood out him him over anybody else? What was what were you know he somebody new moves onto his route and he comes to deliver him a package? What did he do that made them give him a pie?

unknown 14:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

I think he treated everyone like they were really important. And so there's just um, you know, that he was not a uh he he didn't have favorites, there wasn't a risk he wasn't a respecter of persons. But he just anyone that was that that my dad was around felt like my dad really cared about them. He saw people, and um, I think that that is such a high value for me, and I want to impart that to my kids, and I want that to be the keystone culture of Stone Oaks Church. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

Yeah, I I the reason I asked that is because I think it's important for people to know how to show each other that they love each other. Sometimes it's hard for people to sh say it or show it. And uh it I I think you just said just listen, just pay attention, just give them, you know, make them feel like they are important. That's it's not really that hard.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Yeah, I was talking with um I was talking with a group of our ministry team leaders, people that are going to be volunteering and helping to start the church and build ministries, and I said there's three things I think are really, really important that are are in creating that that shepherding culture so where people feel valued. It's uh it's no names, it's meet needs, and it's help people grow. I think those three things, especially no names. Like if you can call someone by their name, you make them feel so important, so valuable. Um and you know, God it says that He He brings out the starry host one by one, calling each of them by their names. Star is an inadequate object, but he knows their names. And I think it's so important that we call people by their names and people feel known and seen. And so um, you know, it's hard work. I'll I'll be in I'll be in H E B and I I see someone from the church, and um it it is I'm like, what is the opportunity? I've got I'll pull up Facebook, I'll I'll do all kinds of acrobatics.

SPEAKER_05 16:37

Oh yeah, I guess I nudge who's that who's that so I have a couple of questions about the whole start, the beginning of a brand new church. And have you heard the statement there's already so many churches in dripping springs, like like banks and and pizza joints. Like, why do we need a Stone Oaks church? Who is it for?

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yeah, I think every church has a unique um vision, has a unique fingerprint, and there's so many different people in Dripping Springs and in communities all around the Texas Hill Country. And every church has this uh unique heart print, and it's led by a unique local shepherd. And different churches reach different uh people, and it is it's proven that new churches reach new people. I think that's uh I I read a statistic somewhere that you know that that uh that's new churches bring more new people who have never been exposed to a local church. Um that makes sense than anything else.

SPEAKER_03 17:45

That makes sense to me, though, because like going into an established church where there's 500 people there and then you're the new person and and you know 25 people come up to you and say, hey, welcome to church. That's probably a little intimidating, but being there from the ground up, you feel like you're you're a part of building something. Well, yeah, that's more attractive.

SPEAKER_05 18:02

And along with the part of building something, there is the whole financial aspect and the practicality of it. How does one even start a church? Like if you had that moment, you're going, like, this costs what? Wow, how much how much did that cost?

SPEAKER_02 18:17

That's the crazy thing is that you know, I'm I'm a visionary by nature, I'm a shepherd by nature, I am not um administratively gifted. My my executive skill set is not so I've in starting something though from the ground up, you have to wear multiple hats. And so I've had to uh get into legal filings, you know, just to create the the nonprofit and to move those things forward, uh submitting documents to Texas Secretary, the Texas Secretary of State and all that.

SPEAKER_05 18:51

Oh, is my arch nemesis? Oh my arch nemesis, try to get your notary notary.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Takes a year.

SPEAKER_05 18:58

I'm working on nine months.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

But you know, when you start something from the ground up, yes, you value it so much more. It means so much more to you.

SPEAKER_05 19:07

And so it there's just um when you're signing that name from the Secretary of State, it feels heavy.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

It's a heavy pin. I don't think most people know how hard it is to start something up from scratch. It takes you you can lay it all out, and then along the way, all these things pop up and they go, Oh, I didn't know I had to do that, and it gets you know gets super complicated. Um you mentioned a second ago that new people come into church. So they're not plugged into a church already, they're not maybe going to church. How are you reaching those folks? How are you gonna get in front of them or get you know entice them or draw them to the church?

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Yeah, I think that word of mouth is the most powerful thing. And so many people, you know, they they are around other folks that that attend a church. Yeah. And just that just that buzz in the community of, hey, there's something new coming. And um, I think that that is very attractive. And so that will give us an opportunity to connect with people that have that have never been, or it's been a long time since they've been to church.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

Are you gonna plan to, you know, maybe say that, you know, and bring a friend next week, or how because yes, may people may do it, but sometimes they don't think about it unless you prompt them to.

SPEAKER_05 20:23

Well, talk about the first night that you that you kind of opened it up. This idea came to fruition and you said you thought maybe a hundred people would show up.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Yeah, we we said, okay, well, how do we get the word out about this church? And so we, you know, both my wife and I were on social media and Facebook and dripping neighbors, and so we just we said, let's do a couple of worship and vision nights where we allow people to come in and just get a taste of what the church kind of would feel like. And uh we put it out there and and had our first one in the summer. And I think it was late July. We did another one in late August, but we I fully expected maybe a hundred people to show up and uh were just shocked at how many people that came to experience the church. And the second one was even more people.

SPEAKER_05 21:12

Even with the lights out the first time. I remember the lights went out, and you were like, There's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

I got up. I got up to speak, and five minutes in the lights went out, and they never came back on. And I thought, oh, we don't have any, we don't have any signs, we don't have any lights. We there's no there's no flash to Stone Oaks Church.

SPEAKER_05 21:32

I have to tell you, that was the thing when I showed up Sunday. It was like, well, he did say they didn't have any signs yet. Maybe I need to get them some signs.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

I think we will have four signs this Sunday morning. I I mean it's been, you know, we we got the word out on June 1st that we were planting this church, and we called up this um this this uh group called Portable Church, and they specialize in helping churches start in elementary. Schools and different portable locations. And they said, This is the shortest runway that we've ever been given. I don't know that we can make it happen. And so, you know, they came back and said, we will give it our best shot. But so we will have our first services this Sunday, but we do not have it all together. That's okay. There are so many things that that are just in the process in development. So it's just like, okay, I hope that that people see our hearts and our passions.

SPEAKER_05 22:32

Beauty and the chaos sometimes, though.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

There's gonna be some chaos. Brock, speak to me about uh live church versus piped-in church. There's a real trend towards uh a big church, a lot of little campuses, and maybe somebody comes up and does the announcements and the music and then and then a big TV screen comes on. How do you feel about that? And is is that trend going away? Is it getting bigger?

SPEAKER_05 22:58

I I I I'm gonna piggyback on that question because uh I had one of that's one of my most important questions also. And I l I love, I don't love the whole church model where you drive to a campus, you sit down, and then the pastor appears on a giant television. I feel like it's very impersonal. And if I'm going to church, I want my pastor, I want that I want to be able to shake hands with him or her at the very end. You know, I want to be able to see them.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

What do you see that the future of that?

SPEAKER_05 23:24

Or are we old-fashioned?

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Yeah, I well, I know I am.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

Yeah, I think both of those, I think both of those methods and models can work. Uh I think it's really important if if that is the the method, uh, whether it's uh a large church that decides to expand their footprint into different communities, um, if they do the the video, the the teaching by video, it is so important to to create that shepherding culture that I was talking about. Um, because people have to feel known and seen. Uh so there has to be a strong pastoral presence. And those ministries have got to be really, really rich and impactful for families at those churches that are uh that are that are communicating through video messages. I think that it has shown itself to be a super effective way for churches to to reach people. I think at the end of the day, people would prefer a a live local shepherd um if if if they could. Um so you go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

Yeah, well, I was gonna say uh, you know, the the one of the main things you've said two or three times is building a sense of community and and people feeling connected. It's real hard to do that through a TV screen. Uh so I don't know. I I've never I haven't enjoyed churches as much when it's been on a TV, but I don't know if it's I guess it will continue. I don't know if it's going away or not.

SPEAKER_05 25:02

I have taken it as for myself that some churches are prioritizing the production of the whole service over the pastoral intervention with their congregation. That's just how I took it. For me, it was very impersonal. But there are times, you know, like COVID, that's when it it bounced, and that's when you came on. That's kind of when it started, right? It was kind of a lot of people. But it was, it was it was nice to be able to have the home church, and if I wasn't able to be in person or, you know, I have a busy Sunday and I'm just you know crazy and I just want to have it on, you know, there's that, but I can still go to my home church.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Yeah, yeah, there's no there's no substitute for being in the room. And you know, when it comes to multi-site church, uh there's there's a lot of different models that are out there. There's so many ways you can do church. Um I think at the end of the day, people would love to be in the room with um pr very present local shepherds who are speaking to the needs of that particular uh congregation. And the person that is communicating up front, it's so important that they know their people, that they know their community, they're super aware of the culture. And it just it hits, let me say, it hits different. Yes. It hits different when you've got someone that it that are saying, Hey, these are my sheep, these are the people that I'm trying to lead into green pastures that I'm I'm trying to help them grow and and and so I think live is is probably best. But um multi-site video venue is can be impactful if it's done really well. I've seen it done well.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

Yeah. Uh there's probably a lot of people that can't get to church that you know they can get on their computer or their iPad and and go to church. That's to me, that is huge. Because I know my my sister has really advanced MS. It's hard for her to get out of the house. She can go to church every Sunday via video. I think that's that's real important.

SPEAKER_05 27:06

Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, back when we had you on in in 2022, you talked about at the time how badly young people were affected by the pandemic and they were isolated. So now we are four years past that. I want to ask, what has happened to those kids that you know that you kept in contact with? Or we're talking, you know, we're talking about four years and now they're either young adults, they're they're seniors in high school, the or they've they're in college. What are these adults, these young adults, like now due to that isolation that you saw?

SPEAKER_02 27:43

I I think that there is such a hunger in young adults. I think there's a hunger in so many people right now for community, for being together. I think there's so many men in dripping springs that are desperate for brotherhood, that are br desperate to have other men in their lives, uh, for encouragement, for uh just friendship. Um and I think that there is a there's a longing for people. You know, you mentioned being in the room. There's a there's a there's a longing for people to be back in in community now. And you're seeing that especially in young adults. Uh young adults, um, this generation is leading the way back to church, uh, which is a shocking statistic. Um even in Europe, even in non-religious Europe, you're seeing a a real longing to get back into um into local church communities.

SPEAKER_05 28:48

I actually have a statistic about that said 57% of self-identified Christian teens have attended youth group in the previous three months, but only 18% of Christian teens met with a broader benchmark for active full faith across several areas of life. And us being a very affluent community, dripping springs, um, can comfortable kids also still be hurting kids?

SPEAKER_02 29:16

For sure. Without a doubt. For sure. Um everyone has a need, everyone has an ache, everyone has something going on down deep, and you can't fix it in and of yourself. And so there's something so incredibly powerful about being around a community of people that care about you, that love you, that come alongside you and pick you up when you're going through difficult moments, and there's that deep need that I think that um that Christian community, the local church, is best positioned um to help with. And so I think that's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about being a part of what I what I believe God is doing in Dripping Springs. There's some great local churches, and we can't wait to come alongside them and help people in creating that community and fellowship that they need in order to to to flourish.

SPEAKER_03 30:14

Yeah. I'm glad you said that because one of the things I was going to ask you about is this responsibility to the greater Dripping Springs community, not just to the people that show up to your church. And how do you how do you build that and and what is that, what does that look like, that responsibility to the greater population of dripping as as a new church?

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Yeah. I think that um coming alongside great nonprofits in the community that are already making a huge impact, uh adding the fuel of a local church to those nonprofits can be such a huge difference maker. We have great nonprofits in Drip, some great local churches, and I think uh we want to be part of helping to lead the way at getting local churches involved in their nonprofits. And um, but I think beyond that it's it's connecting to local schools, your elementary, middle school, high school, um, volunteering, helping.

SPEAKER_03 31:12

Are you gonna be part? Uh I don't even know if it happens anymore. For years there was a group of pastors all got together and dripping like for coffee or something once a week. Is that still going on?

SPEAKER_02 31:23

That is still going on, and I look forward to being a part of that. Yeah, yeah. I think that'd be great.

SPEAKER_05 31:28

We talk a lot on this show about the evils of social media. Yeah. Right. And what it has done to our to our children. But the newer parents that are coming up, I feel like more parents now are becoming more and more distracted. They're on their phones. I have a granddaughter and I'm at the park a lot with her. We feed, we've um we are overfeeding turtles at high point. So if there's a lot of uh fat turtles out there, you'll you'll know it's because of my granddaughter. But um I see, not not to judge, but I see a lot of parents just on their phone and not as present with their their kiddos. And what are you hearing from kids or or kids telling pastors that they're really aren't telling about mom and dad and how distracted that they are by social media?

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Yeah, it's a it's a huge, it's a huge issue. I mean, even at home, we're we're trying to get our kids off of our phones, but then we look at our in our own hands and our phones are in our hands too, and you know, we'll be in the living room and we're all looking at our phones. Um it is such a hard thing because so much of our lives revolves around um uh around our phones and emails and checking messages and uh Facebook and You have to be intentional. Gotta be so intentional to to push that aside.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

It drives me crazy, Brock. Uh Michelle will say, hey, I just did this Facebook or this Instagram post. Can you go reshare it? And then I'll get on my phone and I'll reshare it. And then half an hour later I'm flipping through Instagram. Just brain-numb.

SPEAKER_05 33:04

You get into the vortex of of the black hole. But you know, we talk about the social media aspect of it with the kids watching the parents. Um, I was reading another study, is that's why these kids are going are going back to church and going back because it's community. It's not some algorithm telling them how they should feel, look, think, talk.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

And that's i you're seeing young adults, you're seeing high school students break away. Um they're leading the way in breaking out of that of the of the social media culture and uh the disconnected culture. You're seeing them lead the way back into community. I think that's one of the most encouraging things. It's convicting. It's convicting for adults to see um to see their their teenagers, their young adults, um put the phone aside and head back into community.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

And and so I hope it's a trend. I I do too. I hope it's not just a blip in in the blip in time that it actually starts happening that way. I got a simple question for you. The church name, did you spend a lot of time? Like, was there did you have focus groups and why stone oaks?

SPEAKER_02 34:23

Yeah, I was reading um Isaiah 61, and it just it's a it's a passage that talks about the year of the Lord's favor. And it was the passage that Jesus, whenever he got up in the temple, um, he pulled out the scroll from Isaiah and read this this passage that talks about hey, this is a year that God's gonna do amazing things, that chains are gonna be broken, that prisoners are gonna go free. And it's just this incredibly encouraging passage. And toward the end of the passage it says that the people of God will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor, for the display of his glory. And so when I read that, it just jumped out at me. This this idea of God's people being known as oaks, strong, enduring. Um and I love that the Texas Hill Country is full of these incredible heritage oaks, and it's uh it's a bunch of limestone. Yeah, growing out of rocky soil. Growing out of limestone. And so I thought stone oaks, and it just seemed to fit.

SPEAKER_05 35:36

I'm gonna ask you a question that you probably wouldn't even expect me to ask, but I want to talk about the role of AI.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

I think you were gonna ask him boxsters or briefs.

SPEAKER_05 35:44

Boxers or briefs, not asking that question.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

I have a great friend that's an AI expert.

SPEAKER_05 35:49

So the role of AI in church service, I could see the usefulness of it where you are um trying to put together thoughts or sermon structure or whether it's, you know, meeting with your staff. But would you ever do a full sermon totally AI? And I would give you a challenge just to see what it would come up with, asking your AI or your chat.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

It won't be very good.

SPEAKER_05 36:15

What you know about me, what do you think I should, you know, but would you ever consider something like that? Or do you feel like people would be so turned off?

SPEAKER_02 36:22

I mean, that is a great question. I would never consider a full sermon written in AI. I just think that there's something so special about um being a local shepherd and hearing from the Lord and reading his word and getting and going through the labor of okay, God, what do you want to communicate to the people this week? What what what unique message do you have for the people that are in front of me this week? You gotta love the people in the room to be able to lead them well, and then you've got to have a great relationship with with God in order to discern what he wants to say and then stand in front of people that you love and share that message. Uh AI is super is a super quick shortcut. It's saying, okay, well, give me a great message from Isaiah 61. Give me a great message on the Beatitudes, and it can work up something really, you know, really fascinating.

SPEAKER_05 37:22

I actually have a little project on my AI. It it's it's labeled Bible. And, you know, when I've gone to church and I've heard something that I don't quite understand, I'm like, okay, explain it to me, you know, in terms that I would understand. I'm like, oh, okay. It's kind of like, you know, the message, you know, the message version. I get it. I understand it. So now with saying that, let's get down in the dirt. How is the church going to be structured? Are you going to be fully Bible-based? Are you going to be sermon-based? Are you going to go start at Genesis and go to Revelation? How, what am I going to expect on Sunday morning? And I will show up on the right Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Yeah. So there's there's uh several, there's a couple of significant ways that that pastors preach messages. There are pastors that go expository preaching and they start in Genesis and they'll cover the entire book, then they'll move to Exodus, and they do entire books at a time, line by line, verse by verse. I I love that method. I think it is an incredibly impactful method at developing biblical knowledge. Um, I think when you look at the teaching of Jesus, when you look at uh the the communicators, the preachers uh in in the New Testament, what you see a lot is um a lot of topical messages where Jesus discerns what is the the topic, um, what's a hot button issue that's being that's happening in the community, and Jesus will get up and speak to it. The apostle Paul will speak to those unique things. Um my heart, I think, is to do both. So we will go, you know, expositor expositorily through different books of the Bible, but then I'm also going to do topical messages, discerning, okay, what do the people need to hear? I think both of those methods are really good. When you put them together, I think it's um it's a very good method of helping people develop biblical knowledge, but then also hit certain topics. Um and there's just there's there's moments where there's things that are happening in the culture, there's things that are happening in the world, and as a leader, I think you have to speak to those things. And um, right. And sometimes those things, you know, come out of the passage that you've been planning on preaching for weeks because it's in the plan. But then sometimes I I believe that the spirit will give you a message in the moment that is unique and it it is okay to stop the plan and go with um a word, a word that you feel like God has put on your heart in the moment. And so I will do both. I'm gonna leave room for the spirit to speak to me of okay, what do people need to hear this week?

SPEAKER_03 40:15

But then also create plans so that people can be discipled in growth in their That's gotta be it's very freeing, but also a little intimidating because the only person telling you what to preach on is God. It's a great responsibility. You don't have a head pastor going, okay, this is what we're focusing on. You're you're coming up with that, you and God are coming up with that on your own.

SPEAKER_02 40:37

And I'm in this seat for the first time ever, Steve. So, you know, I've been uh uh an under-shepherd, I guess you could say, for you know, many, many years and served under great, great pastors. Uh this is uh a new season for me. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

I want to ask you about Stephanie. All right. Uh so obviously you had to get buy-in from her to your wife, Stephanie, to do this. What do you both bring to the table? And you know, is it more like is it but with the church? I know obviously not in life. Is it like a partnership where she's got her role and you've got your role, or are you guys just figuring it out together and rolling with it?

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Yeah, Steph has definitely got that very type A personality. So she is the organizational person in the family.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

It sounds like you're not.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

I'm not. So I'm I'm the dreamer, I'm the visionary.

SPEAKER_05 41:29

You're the idea guy, the communicator.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

Um, I'm the shepherd. I'm very relational, but she's the one that keeps us grounded, keeps us organized. And um, so she is a teacher right now at Cypress Springs Elementary, and she will hand our boys their diploma next May, and they're gonna walk off the stage, and then she's gonna join us at the church on staff, Lord willing, if everything works out. So I look forward to having her on the team.

SPEAKER_03 41:58

Oh, that's great. Yeah. Sounds like you guys have a great vision together to get this thing rolled. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:03

So throughout this new season of life that you and your family are both in, who currently is pastoring the pastor?

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Oh, that's good. Oh, that is. I've got um I've got about three or four guys that are in my life that I would consider my band of brothers that are that are mentors to me, um, that are uh I've got a couple of them that are, you know, 15, 20 years older than me. And then I've got a couple of guys that are around my age, but I sit at a table with those guys and they pour into me. And I'm so thankful for that because every every leader needs somebody that's around them that they can be real with and that that that they can hear hard, hard things from. And uh, I can remember a conversation just a few months ago. I'm sitting around the table with that band of brothers and they're letting me have it. And uh it was super uncomfortable, but uh I'm so thankful for that. And every you can't get isolated as a leader when pastors and leaders or anybody gets isolated. Um usually things don't go well.

SPEAKER_05 43:16

If you're in an echo chamber and you're just hearing the things that you want to hear, you're not growing, you're stagnant. Like, like grow with me. Grow, help me grow.

SPEAKER_03 43:24

Help me grow. Help me grow. Brock, uh, five years from now, when you look at this, uh, what would have to happen for you to say this was worthwhile doing, this was a success? What would that look like?

SPEAKER_02 43:37

So our uh the mission of Stone Oaks is that we we lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. That's that's our heart, that's our mission. That this is something that we're doing collectively. And this is not just me and Stephanie, but everyone that's a part that calls the church home. This is what we do. We lead people. Yeah, we lead people in. To a growing relationship with the Lord. That's our heart. Our vision is to build strong faith in Jesus Christ in every generation. So I think five years from now, if I can look back and say, hey, we helped a lot of people begin a relationship with Jesus, and we can see growth in their lives over these five years. I think if we can see that we have been able to build strong faith in Jesus in every generation represented in the church at any given moment. Young adults and single adults and senior adults and kids. We don't want to be a pop-up, you know, here today, going tomorrow, storefront church. We want to be um a strong, enduring church that's here in the community, blessing the community, pouring out into it for years to come. If we weren't here, we would hope that the community would just mourn, would miss us.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

So the thing that usually prevents those things from happening is drama church drama. Oh man.

SPEAKER_05 45:17

Oh, don't look behind the curtain and church like that. Well, but I'm just I know, I understand.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

Well, and and you know, it's churches are full of broken people.

SPEAKER_03 45:24

I yeah, I get it. I get it. Normal human brokenness. How do you navigate that? How do you deal with that drama? Somebody's always hurt, somebody's always mad. So uh how do you deal with that?

SPEAKER_05 45:35

Or somebody's grieving. I I I I have come to believe my belief is that I became a Christian not too um I I was I'm given tools, right? My it's a toolbox for me. And it but it's also I've been a struggling Christian, I've been a questioning Christian, I've been a faithful Christian, but I also am a Christian that worries way too much, right? And uh so I'm I'm kind of with you in that in that sense.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

Like the Yeah, I I I from what I see, it's the thing that that either destroys or damages more churches than anything is a drama. So what it's thought about that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

It's gonna happen. And anytime you get a uh lot of people together, there's gonna be drama and there's gonna be stuff.

SPEAKER_05 46:22

Let's get a drama box, stick them in the box. Come on, put the comment box.

SPEAKER_03 46:28

It just comes right, it shreds it right out the bottom.

SPEAKER_02 46:32

I think um such an important thing is developing a team of shepherds. So all of the ministry staff, all of our group leaders, anyone that's serving in leadership, developing that that authentic heart for people. We are not just trying to build a big program or build this big thing, but our hearts are to serve and love and care for people. And it's so it's it's taking people out to coffee, it's listening to their issues, their struggles, it's walking with them through the painful moments of their lives. If you just create that culture of love and family, it just it that bleeds out all into the church and it can become such a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

But Pastor Brock, when I was at church this week, you did three songs that I don't like. I'd like you to pull your songs from this hymnal going forward, please. But you know, answer that. No, I I want to hear it. So, because that's the kind of stuff you get. Oh, yeah. So I say that, you know, you're not sure. Or I didn't like that shirt. And I go, Pastor Brock, you know, I really don't like the music. What are you gonna do about that? Why aren't you wearing a suit?

SPEAKER_04 47:42

Oh, well, that's answered that. I don't like those shoes. Exactly, exactly. Why are you wearing Nike shoes?

SPEAKER_03 47:49

Like, you know, how do you choose what you wear now? You know, somebody's always got to complain. But tell me, in my my particular example, hey, I don't like the music. How do you how do you address that as a leader of the church and make that person feel okay about it?

SPEAKER_02 48:02

Yeah, that that is such a hard thing because there are moments that you just have to choose. Like this is this is who we are, yeah, this is how we sound, this is how we look, this is the culture of this church, this is the vision of our church. And so you do have to make decisions as a leader that you know are going to make people uncomfortable or are going to disappoint people. Um, you know, when it comes to building a generational church, though, um, which is our heart is to build a generational church, um, you want to create a a sound that is embraced by multiple generations. But at the end of the day, there's gonna be people that are like it's too loud, it's not loud enough. They're jumping all over the stage, or we need to get some life into them, or you know, there's always gonna be those things, and it's just you know, in those conversations, you just have to say, Lord help me.

SPEAKER_05 48:59

Yeah, Steve, I I fully believe like bless your heart. Suck it up, buttercup. Um, you know, back to the drama question that you were asking. I really think that hurt people, hurt people. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_03 49:11

I I agree with that 100%.

SPEAKER_05 49:13

And so you know, you you do have the little the blue hairs that will have the opinion.

SPEAKER_03 49:18

Maybe sometimes they just need a hand on their shoulder to say, I hear you. I'm gonna I'm gonna really pray about that and thank you for bringing it to my attention and just leave it at that.

SPEAKER_05 49:27

Well, don't you think it's kind of like being a politician? Remember our lunch last week? It's like you're not you're too much of this, you're not enough of that, and I need you to fit in my little mold that I have created in my head, regardless. I know I have voluntarily come to this church, you know, you're you're gonna get it, you're gonna get it all. I mean, Stephanie, oh Stephanie, why did you wear that shirt? Stephanie, why did you do this? You know, why'd you do that?

SPEAKER_03 49:50

Yeah, um it all rolls up hill. It it does.

SPEAKER_05 49:53

Why it all rolls up hill rolls. Why don't you tell us how someone is going to find this church besides follow me to church?

SPEAKER_02 50:02

Yeah, I I you know I've been intentional to not um create any ads, marketing ads for the church. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_05 50:13

I reached out to you. I think I forced you to do this.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

Yeah, I think that um I I we could do that. I don't want to do that. Um I want to see what happens organically, and I don't uh that may be super unconventional, but I just feel led to see what will happen to Stone Oaks if we just let it happen. And so um I have really had to hold my horses because I could run, I you know, I've got 20 plus years in ministry, I've seen a lot of things, and I know that there's certain plays that if you run them, there could be a great return. I for whatever reason, I I think I'm in a season where I just don't want to run those plays. I would rather um the Lord build his church. Jesus said, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell won't prevail against it. And so I have really just had that heart of God, I want to see you build your church. And so I'm available and I do sense you calling me to step out and do this, but I don't feel the pressure of you know throwing a bunch of glitter and flash into the community.

SPEAKER_05 51:34

You're not gonna stand out in the corner like this for no way.

SPEAKER_02 51:37

We want to do things well, yeah, but I think we want to do things um very, very much real. And um, you know, I don't know, you've probably been in seasons of your life where you're just you got so many things going on and you're frantic. And I think about that. People live and they're just like, oh, one thing to another and the next thing and the next thing. And um I really sense the Lord just say, Hey, this is gonna be at the pace of peace. The pace of peace. I thought, ooh, okay. I heard that and I thought I've never heard that before.

SPEAKER_05 52:12

I need the pace of peace because I'm in the blessings, not burdens.

SPEAKER_02 52:16

And so if you look at the life of Jesus, he didn't rush around anywhere, he just moved intentionally and he touched people's lives as he just went along. So he didn't rush. There was somebody that that came up and said, Hey, my you know, my my son's sick and he's dying, and you know, I need you to come right now. And he just okay, I'll get there, you know. And it Lazarus passed away. And they said, Hey, your your friend Lazarus, your friend Lazarus is dying. Get over here. And Jesus, you know, it was two or three days later before Jesus shows up. And so I think that um sometimes we rush around to do things, and uh it's just not a healthy pace, and we're broken and messed up, and um our families are are live at such a pace and we don't really get to choose. I if I want to do if I want to plant this church and I want it to be enduring, I want it to be for the long haul, then I I want it to be at the pace of peace, and I want it to be organic. I'm okay with it starting small. I'm oh I'm okay with it with the first service being 50 people. I don't know what's gonna happen. Um it may happen quicker than we thought, but I want to keep the mindset of the mindset of uh uh a pace of of peace.

SPEAKER_05 53:36

So you're gonna have child care also.

SPEAKER_02 53:39

We will.

SPEAKER_05 53:40

You will have two services, nine and eleven o'clock at Wildwood Elementary, which is in Headwaters, all the way at the back of Headwaters.

SPEAKER_02 53:47

All the way in the back.

SPEAKER_05 53:49

So you will have child care, you will have youth ministry as well as we will.

SPEAKER_02 53:53

We will have middle school, uh, the first service, so nine o'clock service. We'll have middle school. Uh there will be kids ministry at both services, uh, from nursery all the way up through through elementary.

SPEAKER_03 54:05

So and then what about, excuse me, what about let's say the website Stone Oaks Church.

SPEAKER_05 54:11

Stone Oakschurch.com. What about um uh you know Sunday school or uh uh small youth or small group services? Is is that all in the works too to be it it's all in the works.

SPEAKER_02 54:25

Um definitely we'll have small groups throughout the community uh that are available for a variety of things, whether it's Bible study or interest groups or um, you know, all kinds of stuff. We'll have opportunities for people to connect and get in relationships. Um and there will be youth ministry for sure, and um all those things.

SPEAKER_05 54:48

You're not just the man behind the curtain. I I love your authenticity and that you have come here today. You know, you believed in us very early on when we started this podcast, and both of us believe in you, and we believe in this community, and we are so grateful and blessed that you and Stephanie have decided to stay here and plant yourself here. I'm really I I I'm really touched. I told you early on before we started recording that um you helped me in a time in my life with um my daughter who is a time, you know, an evil teenager. And I I feel like you have so much more to give to this community, and we are so blessed. And what I would what I would love right now for you to do is if you would give us a prayer for dripping springs and we can close out. And but before you do that, Brock, thank you so much for for joining us here once again in podcast, and we would love to have you as a three-time guest at some point.

SPEAKER_03 55:47

I I want to applaud you for coming out of a very difficult situation and praying about it and being at peace, and then something great's coming out of that. And I think that's not that's a lesson for you, but it's a lesson for me and Michelle, and it's a lesson for anybody listening that sometimes these really tough times create great opportunities and and wonderful things.

SPEAKER_02 56:10

For sure, Steve. And you know, I I don't think I've ever felt my life less adequate. I I've I've never felt, you know, weaker than just stepping out and planting this church. And, you know, there's been so many moments that I thought, God, I I don't know that I can do this. And I've just sensed his voice, and he just just keep taking steps and then let my spirit lead. And so that's that's what we're doing is just keeping, you know, we're just taking steps. There's a great verse in First Corinthians chapter two, and it says, um that I came to you in weakness. This is the apostle Paul talking to a church, and he said, I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. And I think that's kind of how I feel. Like I I I I feel weak, and I, you know, I'm just like trembling every step. Like, okay, God, if you don't show up, I got nothing. You know, I I don't have the resume, I don't have it all together. The church is not gonna start and have everything, you know, together. But we're just trusting you. The lights may go out, and we'll just keep going.

SPEAKER_03 57:25

God God uses everybody in a very special way. He's got big plans for you. So go ahead, go ahead and please pray us out of this show and thank you for joining us. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 57:34

God, thank you for everybody listening today. Thank you for our amazing community, the community of dripping springs, full of young families and single adults, kids and students and grandparents, and so many people that make this place come alive week to week. And so, Lord, I just pray that you would do something new, something new in all of our hearts. You do something new in our community. There's nothing better than when uh a community is full of love and hope and encouragement, and there's awesome things that are happening. Uh we don't have any time for division. Um, we don't have any time for um being separated and anxious and um moving at such a crazy fast pace that we can't just slow down and enjoy life. And so, Lord, I pray that you would do something new and fresh and wonderful in Dripping Springs uh through Stone Oaks Church and through every church that's a part of our community. Help us to love one another more, help us to grow in relationships. And Lord, let this be just an amazing town. Um, keep your hand on it. Uh, be with our city leaders, uh, guide them in all wisdom, Lord, to make decisions to make Drip better than ever before. Be with all of our um our schools and administrative staff, be with all of our city workers, everyone that's a business owner trying to make it in this community, be with workers that are driving in um from Kyle and Butta uh that that can't afford to live here, but would love to live here. Lord, open up a door, make it better than ever before. We trust you. And there's something powerful when we we lift up our voices and say, God, we need your help. And so, Lord, I pray uh that's what we pray today. Lord, we need your help. Uh, we don't want to do this without you. And we've seen what happens when we try. And so, Lord, uh, give us wisdom and strength uh to build a great community here. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 59:38

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 59:38

Yes. Thank you, Brock. Of course. We've enjoyed it once again, and yeah, we're gonna get you back in a year and hear how great it's been going. All right.

SPEAKER_05 59:46

Absolutely. Yes, Lord. I'm gonna say my my brother in Christ, Brock Stamps, Pastor Brock Stamps. I'm very excited. Yeah, see you Sunday. See ya. Deep Eddie Vodka just gave your espresso martini a serious Texan upgrade.

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SPEAKER_03 1:02:02

And we're back. We're back. Brock Stamps bringing it, bringing a little Jesus with him.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:07

I am so excited about this church opening here. I think that this is something definitely that the community needs. And he is always such a wonderful communicator. You know, I we kind of mentioned it on the podcast. I knew him as um my daughter and son's youth minister. And I love to see the growth of anybody but to see, and he kept calling himself a shepherd, which I really love that.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:31

And he really has-I the thing he said, the pace of peace, that really stuck with me. And you've said that a number of times. That's that's a really cool thing to hold on to, the pace of peace.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:41

I I think so. And I just want to say on a personal note, for those of you that have teenagers that think your child is possessed, Brock does mini exorcisms because now she's a functioning adult.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:57

Hey, I found out today a new restaurant's coming to dripping springs. One of my favorite is opening a location.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:04

Loubies.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:05

Well, yeah, okay. That's on the list now, too. Never been there before until you took me there for my 63rd birthday. Taco Deli's coming to Dripping Springs. They signed a lease. The only thing is, it's at the corner of Canyonwood and 290. Was that where Garbo's? No, it's where that uh Christian Automotive is. I think they signed a lease for that new strip center that's been talked about where they're doing which hasn't even broken.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:32

So maybe the grease from Christian Auto Center will be made tacos.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:36

Your tacos would be in some automotive.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:39

You love taco deli.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:40

I love taco deli. I never get sick of the donia sauce is everything. You gotta come back for that every time.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:46

You know, they're opening up a new sushi place, and I am thrilled. It's called Sakura, and it's my favorite. Once again, I hate sushi. No, no, no. I'm not gonna I'm gonna take you're gonna have rolls. I'm gonna introduce you to a world. California rolls Sakura is my my favorite sushi place in Lake Wait, and they're opening where the Dos Olivos place used to be. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

I'll try nothing too fishy.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:10

No, no, no, no. It's like I'll give you a roll with like some frab. And you're you're you came from California, you got like a California roll you want to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:21

I I went to a sushi party once. It was all you can eat sushi, and I starved. I didn't want to eat any of that stuff they were coming out of the kitchen with.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:28

I did not go, it wasn't a sushi party, but it was a corporate party, and there was a lady laying on a table with sushi.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:35

Oh god. Yeah. I've seen that in the movies, never seen that in the movie.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:38

Yeah, it was it was weird. I'm not eating sushi after.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:43

All right, you have a big announcement.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:44

I do, I do. After um like a lot of deliberation, a lot of consideration to our sponsors, our vendors, and our attendees, we have decided to postpone Boots Barrels in Heroes. And we are going Which was next weekend. Which was next weekend. We have found a new venue, um, or we're working through the details of finding a new venue. Um, and we will continue our partnership with Fireside Chat Support Network. It had nothing to do with that. We were having some severe logistical issues at the venue that we were having, BBH, and I myself and my partner decided that we could not continue with the way it was. And um we just wanted to be transparent and be true to our You know what?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:29

Kudos to you for not allowing a half-assed event to go off. Because a lot of people would have just kept going with the flow. You guys pulled the plug on it because it didn't you had this great vision for it. Instead of doing it sort of halfway and just getting through it, you said, you know what, let's postpone it a little bit, make it right, and have a great event.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:47

Well, I I appreciate that because there's a lot of hard work that went into that six to nine months or so of planning. And we were doing the final push and and uh we had to work through our artist contracts, uh Josh Abbott band and Kinfo. And the Logan Pep band. So um once we figured all of that out, we it took us a little bit longer to kind of make the announcement. But if you have purchased a ticket, full refund. Full refund. If you were a vendor, full I've already refunded your money, so you can't come after me for that. I sat there and refunded your money.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:17

That's the way to do it though, because uh your reputation's everything, and you you've worked real hard to maintain that. And that that keeps that keeps that reputation.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:25

I appreciate it. Two of our um, or actually three of our biggest sponsors, South Star Bank, Patent Tidal, and Black Slate Construction and Roofing. Um, they support um our podcast and they supported uh with the exception of Patent Title, we share an office building with them. Um but I truly just wanted to give them a shout out and thank you so much. And you know, I heard from every single one of them. Let us know when the next one is.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:50

Yeah. Well, it'll have it'll happen soon and it'll be a great event. I can't wait to wait to go.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:54

Yes, and I and I want to give a quick shout out to the drip swag shop. They were one of our big vendors there, and they were gonna do oh, they were gonna do embroidered um uh uh handkerchiefs and and a hat bar and everything.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:08

Holly and I were talking, we're gonna do all our Christmas shopping there. What a cool stuff.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:11

You know, I I love Katie. Katie is um family adjacent, right? Family adjacent. And uh she told me, I said, Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, you must have ordered all of this stuff. And she said, you know what? We're doing the willpower event. We're gonna transfer all our things over there. And she goes, You let us know, we will support you for the next one. So shop local. Thank you guys. If you guys have any questions, you can reach out to me directly, Michelle at corner of crazy media.com. Don't bother Steve because he'll just forward you.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:37

I have no idea. I don't have any idea what's going on. Hey, you had a story about uh kind of piggybacking on Brock stamps coming in here. Is church cool again?

SPEAKER_05 1:07:46

Yeah, it was like basically, you know, church is kind of having a moment right now, but really not for the reasons that that churches thought it would be. You know, we talked about the um the resurgent of young men joining church or like going back to church, and they found out that 40% of men ages 18 to 29 attending religious services at least monthly or up roughly seven points from 2022 to 2023, which I think is great. I don't know if you saw this interview with Jake Tapper the other day. It was kind of funny, you know, Jake Tapper was CNN. Yeah, he said that basically, you know, he's his son is a uh young man, 15 years old, plays football, um uh, you know, is a gamer, listens to music, and he said that there is a you know, the Democratic Party really isn't speaking to him anymore. You know, he's a Christian, and it was like, oh, that's interesting. And you know, wants to go to the church.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:42

There's a lot of people saying that.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:44

So, you know, is church cool again in that age, Gen Z, do they want chat GPT kind of out of the pulpit? And we kind of talked a little bit about that with Brock, and but here's something that neither of us kind of saw coming. Some of the youngest adults in America are actually showing signs of going back to church, and they say one in three Gen Z and millennia adults say they're attending church more often than they were a year ago. And what I find really interesting is why they're going. The number one spirit the number one reason or spiritual reason wasn't the music, the coffee bar, the cool lighting, or the you know, the pastor flying through the sky or the pastor wearing skinny jeans. It was prayer. They want prayer, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:09:29

Well, I think they want to f they want to feel like they're they have something bigger in life than just getting through the next 24 hours, playing a game, going to a football game. They want something, they want to feel like they have a they want a connection.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:42

They want yeah. And so at the same time, young people are looking for something real. Pastors are embracing AI, which we talked about, and only about 13% of pastors' surveys say they don't use AI at all, and in nearly a quarter already using it to help write or edit serve sermons. But the generation that is most uncomfortable pastors with pastors using AI is Gen Z.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:05

Which generation is that?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:06

Which is like the younger.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:08

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:09

It's Gen Alpha, kind of like what's the the youngest right now, and then the G Z, which is kind of like Kendall and Grace, right? They're the but they're the ones probably more using it than than us. They can probably run the world. But uh, you know, they're basically saying, yeah, we'll take Jesus, but we want the sermon written by an actual human, please. And I really do love that. I love the fact that I like that too. You know, Brock Brock stated that he's the shepherd and that the word, that the word, he wants the word to come through him. He wants God to speak to him and talk about something that's relevant. And, you know, we all know, we've we've put into chat, and you're like, that is completely wrong. A hundred, hundred percent wrong. But you know, I think that these young adults are we talked about the social media aspect and the connection. Everything is on Instagram and Facebook.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:59

There's no rebellion against that. They want to actually sit and talk with somebody face to face, shake their hand, have a real relationship.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:06

Yeah, and like a real, real relationship. And and you know, a lot of these kids, they grew up like do you remember when we were younger? Now, granted, it wasn't around when we were single, but all of the online dating platforms, the match and the Tinder and the what grinder, if that's your thing. Um, all of the all of those kind of online dating platforms, these kids now they want, they want to meet somebody and sit in person with them.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:34

And some of the the uh those platforms that people are on, some of those people are freaking nuts. And you have to go sit with them on a date, and they're just freaking insane. You I want to meet somebody that has similar interests, sees the world a similar way I do, that I have a connection with, having to filter through all that. And then some of the things that there people are looking for in partners, like if if the number one thing you're looking for is they need to make a certain amount of money every year, you're probably a terrible person.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:04

Six four finance. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:06

That's yeah, but but there's uh unfortunately there's a lot of people that it's like the number one thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:12

It's shallow, but I I think you know, for me, the number one thing would be would be their um faith. And if I'm looking for somebody that um I would like to be, or I would want to be a Christian, well, what better place to find them than in your church home? Yeah, your church home or a church. And so um I I applaud that. I applaud what is kind of happening. You know, when you and I had uh he's now since graduated, and I think he's probably already started at NYU, uh, Jack McLean. Remember, he was the president of the Dripping Springs um student body.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:47

Student body.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:48

He was so impressive to me in that sense. You know, we we we're on opposite sides of the spectrum of of certain beliefs. That's fine. But his his ideals, he was hungry for knowledge.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:00

I almost said he's a great kid, but he's a great young man.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:02

He's a great young man. And so I I think we should all strive to be like Jack.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:07

Yeah, yeah, there you go. That's hey, well, well, church isn't boring, but Elon Musk has a company called the Boring Company. And I don't know if you saw this news story, but Elon Musk is pitching a hyperloop tunnel between Austin and San Antonio.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:22

Is that kind of like what is in um Vegas? You know, they have that Tesla tunnel underneath.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:29

Oh yes and no. Uh the Boring Company, which is Elon Musk's company, he he calls his company Zoom.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:37

I know I asked you right before we went on there if it was called the Boring Company.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:41

Okay. He that the Boring Company dug those tunnels, but there's no trains, and they have people-driven Teslas that will drive people in those tunnels underneath the convention center. Okay. The self-driving cars, like you see those gold cars, like they don't work underground. I I don't know why. But so it's basically just a bunch of underground roads. But this hyperloop he's talking about, so that he's saying that that trip from downtown Austin to downtown San Antonio, depending on the time of day. If you're trying to do it at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, he's saying that's a two and a half milk. Yeah, good luck. Yeah. He's saying we can do it on this hyperloop at 200 miles an hour and cut that trip down to 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:23

Wait, do you get to drive 200 miles an hour? Okay. Oh, it's a train. Okay, I'm sorry. He's he's financing all of this, Steve?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:31

Um it's actually they've raised $23 billion. It's very heavily funded by UAE, uh, which is over in the Middle East. Um, and the there's been a bunch of studies showing that a lot of people are looking for alternate ways to get between Austin and San Antonio, because uh, you know, m almost any time of the day you choose to get on the freeway now and go down there, it's just wall to wall to wall. There's six lanes wide and everybody's going 10 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:01

People in San Antonio do not know how to drive. I used to call it periodic braking syndrome. Yeah, yeah. Where they will just break all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:09

I know, yeah. Just yeah, just hit the brake lights and then everybody 100 cars back slows down. So the boring company's newest tunneling machine, Elon cracks me up. It's called the Prue Froc 5, and they're doing a test tunnel right now in Bass Drop. So there's never been a hyperloop tunnel built. A test like they're digging a tunnel to test this train right now in Bass Drop. The machines are built in Bass Drop. Um But you know, I I think this is interesting. He's been talking about it since 2013, and he's been pitching it in different places and nothing. I mean, they're they're they're making progress. They built the machines, they have dug some tunnels, there's no trains yet.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:47

I have questions.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:48

Uh yeah. Uh well my question for you is Would I take it? Yeah, would you take it?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:54

I think I would. I would take it. Um, because uh you know we go to San Antonio to see my in-laws. Um but I I would take it. But I think I would too. But I have a question. So as a real estate agent or as a landowner, right? As property, if this train is dug underneath your property, good question. Do they have to get permission? Kind of like fracking, right? They have to get permission. Like, you know, we have family land in East Texas, and they want to they want to horizontally drill. But they have to get they have to get permission from us. They have to lease, they have to get a lease from us.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:28

So are they gonna I don't know this, I don't know the exact legal um description of that, but my belief is you own an acre of land, you own down, you know, I don't know how far, I guess, as far as the yeah, until everything's molten. Uh that's your land. It's not just the top little layer of one acre. You own what's underneath it. So, yeah, that'll probably be the biggest obstacle because he's gonna have to go through thousands of properties to dig this.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:59

I want you to figure, okay, I've got some homework for you. I want you to figure that out because that would be interesting. And how do we go buy land of where that's Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:08

Yeah, just sort of. But that's the thing. He hasn't shown any kind of maps about where it would be. I mean, maybe if this train goes 200 miles an hour, it'll go way out in the hill country or something, it won't go down that I-35 corridor because that's where things would be the way.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:21

Well, as the crow flies, right? That would make sense. As the crow flies from downtown Austin to downtown San Antonio.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:28

I've I th I think I'd take it. I mean, you know, you go out on a date night, you hop on a train in Austin. Go eat at the river walk? Yeah, 30 minutes later you're at the river walk. You know, you have a nice dinner, you hop back on the train, a half hour later you're home. I think it'd be cool.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:41

How long is it gonna take them to build it, did they say?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:43

I bet you, I bet you they wouldn't even break ground before 2030, 2035. So it'll happen probably in our lifetime, but uh, I'll I'll probably need a wheelchair.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:54

I was gonna say they better have wheelchair access. And will they have snacks?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:58

Yes. But I mean, you know, I I don't I hate going down to San Antonio. If I could go down there a lot easier and then just get an Uber or a cyber cab down in San Antonio and go to the riverwalk, I'd do it.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:11

Yeah, I like I would too. Or go to a Spurs game.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:14

Uh exactly. Yes. Yeah, I know. The hardest part of going to a Spurs game is dealing with all the traffic. Yeah, I'm I'm with you.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:21

That's a good idea. Let's let's think about that for a second. Okay, did you know that October is domestic violence awareness month? I did not know. No, no comments from the Peanut Gallery. I told him I he told me he was gonna need the number for for me. Um, it's a nationwide effort to bring awareness to domestic violence and how it affects us all. The Hayes Caldwell County Women's Center, and I've talked about this before, I'm a big supporter of them, love those guys. Um, they are doing these take action toolkits that you can get free. Uh they have them in English and in Spanish, and these tool kits include activities for community members of all ages to wear to raise awareness and be a part of creating safe homes and safe communities for everyone. And so I thought I would give just a couple of little sorry, my glasses are I just need you know what I decided.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:16

Granny glasses, you got them on the tip of your nose.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:18

Do you know those welder things like you just need a face shield?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:22

I need a face shield. I'll just get you one that attaches to your headphones here and you just flip it down.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:27

Flip it down, and then that's that's what I need.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:30

I'll get you one where you don't even have to hold it. You just like hit your head like a like a welder. You just pops right back.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:35

Okay, I'm all about that for sure. So domestic violence does not discriminate, it affects men and women, young and old, and people at every income level and every community. And domestic violence isn't always a black eye, it can co include physical violence, sexual violence, stalking threats, psychological abuse, and controlling behavior. Well, I have two of the ten right there towards you, Steve. I'm sorry. Thank you. According to the latest Bureau of Justice uh statistics numbers, there were an estimated 1.1 million domestic violence victimizations in the United States, which is amazing. 1.1 million. And of those, nearly 783,000 were intimate partner violent victimizations, meaning the offender was a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend. And here's something important not all of those crimes ever make it to the police. About 61% of those intimate partner violence victimizations are reported to police. Flip that around to roughly four out of ten or not. And over a lifetime, the CDC says more than one in three women have experienced contact, sexual violence, physical violence, and stalking by an intimate partner. For men, it's one in six. So, you know, men are it's still happening with men. When we're talking specifically about severe physical violence, the domestic National Domestic Violence Hotline puts it roughly at one in four women. That is insane, Steve. Out of every four women, one of those four women have experienced severe physical violence and one in seven men during their entire lifetime. And abuse can start incredibly young. About 16 million women and 11 million men report their first experience intimate partner violence before they were 18 years old. Um, I experienced that um with my very first boyfriend, who at the time in the it was like 86, 87, something like that. Uh he punched the living shit out of me. Right smack in the face. Yep. And you know what I did? I took my foot and I bashed in his stereo in his car and got out of the car.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:49

I was hoping you kicked him in the nuts.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:51

I did. I was we were driving at the time. Yes. And so I can understand how it happens with teenagers. Um, it was happening with his own parents, and so I can understand how it happened. But domestic violence can also be deadly. CDC data shows that roughly one in five homicide victims is killed by an intimate partner. Domestic violence, oh, I'm sorry, I already read that. And among female homicide victims, more than half are killed by a current or former male intimate partner. So when somebody says, why didn't she just leave? Why didn't he tell somebody? Remember that what you're seeing from the outside may be only a fraction of what is happening behind those closed doors. And domestic violence can involve fear, financial control, isolation, stalking threats, children, housing, and safety. And getting out is rarely as simple as packing a suitcase.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:39

That's what I had a question about is uh I I see it mostly on TV, so who knows if this is real or not. But sometimes there's a domestic violence situation going on. A neighbor calls the police, the police show up, and the person that's being abused says, no, no, no, no, no. It's okay. You know what? He just came home, he had a hard day at work, and that's very sad to me.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:02

Well, and and you think the reason why that is, because that person's gonna spend a 24-hour home and they're gonna come home and then they're gonna beat the crap out of them again.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:09

So that and they're also sometimes in a really a bad situation, and them not having that person there to do some of the things that, you know, maybe bring a little extra money to pay the rent or whatever, that the the other side of that, they there that scares them. But there's help that is. There is Caldwell. Yeah, I mean you can go to places to get help when you really feel stuck.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:32

Locally, um, if you are a female, yes, you can go to the Hayes Caldwell Women's Center. But if you need help nationally, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can call 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-SAFE. Or you can also now text start, just start S-T-A-R-T to 88788. And if you're in immediate danger, obviously call 991. I'm sorry, 911. October may be domestic violence month, but for someone living with abuse, this isn't just an October issue. It's just not a one month, it's every day. And sometimes the most important thing that we can do is recognize it, believe someone when they tell us, and make sure they know where help is available. And even in an affluent community here, you know, you remember, I have told you this before, that, you know, I worked with Child Protective Services, I did safety and security audits, and I'm sorry, not safety and security audits. I did I did safety and security audits, but I was a um oh gosh, I totally forgot what it was I was I was a court appointed, I did supervised visitation. And so I had a lot of domestic violence um families that I dealt with. And when it happened in Dripping Springs or in my community, I would take dripping springs cases, but I got a couple of cases that happened in my own neighborhood and I would not take them. I had to tell the judge, nope, that's too a little close.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:58

Yeah, people have people have the wrong idea that this only happens in poor neighborhoods to poor people. It happens, it happens to people on welfare all the way up to people making a million dollars a year. Yes. It happens to everybody. Yeah. So go get help if it's happening, go get help, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:15

Tech start at 8878.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:18

Yeah, there you go. I've been following this story for about six months. Uh this there's a uh border wall construction begins in Texas Big Bend region. So about six months ago, this kind of popped up on my radar. One of my friends said, Hey, you're a big fan of going down to Big Ben. Do you know they're gonna build a great big 30-foot wall right through the middle of Big Ben National Park?

SPEAKER_05 1:25:39

I've heard that same uh narrative.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:42

Yeah, so I I it's really actually very hard to find actual information about what's happening because there are groups already that have glommed onto this as an idea that they can fundraise off of and and protest about and make up their signs and do all that stuff. I did go to the uh the uh Department of Homeland Security, I think it is, DHS website, and there is some information about that. Everything I've read that's official shows that everything going through Big Ben, the actual national park, is technology wall. They're not building a 30-foot wall.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:24

They're building not a physical wall.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:26

No, no, it'll be it, it's it's wall with air quotes because what they're talking about is maybe some cameras. Detection technology. Yes, there you go. There's a map of it right there. That's that's the the part through Big Ben. I think there's a lot of confusion about what's actually happening. I got this headline a couple days ago, and it said uh Trump administration has begun major wall construction in the Big Bend region of Texas. And I was like, Whoa, holy crap. Um and so I read the story and it said uh customs and border protection say the first wall panels were installed September 15th in Hudspeth County. Do you know where Hudspeth County is? No, it's three and a half hour drive from Big Ben National Park.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:11

Spell it HUD.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:12

It's H-U-D-S-P-E-T-H. It's up, it's very close to El Paso. And this headline leads you to believe that they are building the wall. Now it's a big ass wall for sure. But it's in Hudspeth County, which is out in the middle of the desert away from any protected land. There's no there's no parks or anything. There are some people that are a little concerned because you know it follows the Rio Grande Valley. Some people are gonna lose, you know, part of their property. What does that say?

SPEAKER_05 1:27:42

Big bin region.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:44

Yeah. It's like they're lying. If they would have really said, hey, it because it's 500 miles of of fence that they're talking about. Um, you know, you could have said, hey, they started building a wall, but it's pretty far away from Big Bang. So they're saying

SPEAKER_05 1:28:00

So the narrative out there, they're saying it's Big Ben, and you're thinking the beautiful uh huge um rock formations and the beautiful um uh is that the uh it's not the Nuasis, what is it? The Rio Grande. The Rio Grande that is that runs through there.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:16

A border wall is planned for Big Ben. That's fake. That is fake news. So people people are sending in money, they're making their little signs. I think, I mean, there, you know, you could be up in arms about some of this, but at least understand what's happening. There have been some bulldozers in parts of actual Big Bend, but apparently they're building some roads to give access to parts that um yeah, there's a bulldozer there. I'm not quite sure what that's all about. I had a hard time.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:45

Well, they're they're trying to they're trying to imply they're that you have this scenic. Yeah, you have this scenic view out the back side of it. So, I mean, come on, do your do your research.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:58

I mean, I understand it. You know, everybody needs to have a uh a cause right now. This is the cause de jure, and you know, there's a lot of people out there that don't like the current administration and they're looking for ways to get people on the bandwagon. Um, and this has allowed them to do that. So um, you know, I I feel like this is like somebody in Austin being upset about a new freeway being built in Dallas, you know. Yes, there's a wall being built, but it's like 200 miles away from Big Ben National Park.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:27

Well, it's funny that you should say that because um, you know, next door is like a cesspool of um boomers. It's like the boomers Facebook page. Okay, next door. Yeah. And there was a lady the app next door.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:41

The app next door. I thought you meant the people at the next door.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:44

Yeah. Like, no, they're fairly nice. The people at the next story. Um, there was a post that somebody had put about the Darden Hill project, and they had this such false narrative on there about it's gonna, it, it's gonna take out all the businesses, and because of the new schools coming and blah, blah, blah. And someone said, Okay, let me walk you through this. Let me tell you what this really is. Where'd you get this information from? It's just it was scare tactic, is what it was.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:10

Well, it's the same thing happening here. Yeah, somebody just picked up a narrative and started running with it, didn't do any research, you know, said, Hey, we're all gonna meet down at the entrance to Big Ben National Park and do a big protest. And 500 people showed up and they're all crazy and nuts, and you know, and they raise money off that. And so that's that I think that's more what it's about than protecting Big Ben.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:31

Todd has a a really well, I wouldn't say good friend. No, he's a fri a longtime friend. He's known him since he was in high school, and he's an a avid kayaker.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:41

And I have been saying seeing things on his page about how they're destroying, he's never gonna be able to in the wildlife and this, that, and the other.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:50

If I find out that they're gonna build a 30-foot wall through the through Big Ben National Park, which is a national treasure, I'm gonna be upset too. Yes. Everything I've read is they're not doing that. And then the uh uh border and custom uh border and customs actually, when they started doing that road, a bunch of people came out and protested and they were filming and everything. And they said, you know what, let's slow down a little bit. Let's meet with some of the stakeholders here, make sure they understand what we're doing. Kudos to them. That's the way you want to do it. You make sure people understand what's happening. But I also think that some of those people, it doesn't matter what you tell them, they're gonna believe what they want to believe. So that's true.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:30

I mean, we see that every day, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:31:31

Oh, I know, I know. But um, it seems to be something that uh if you hear if you see it on Instagram or Facebook, uh don't believe everything you read there. Do a little bit of research on your own and really figure out what's going on. The headlines that came out this week are are very deceptive.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:50

I'm gonna put that in the bucket of in May, I ordered a refrigerator from Lowe's. Yeah, and every couple of weeks, Lowe's tells me that my refrigerator is going to be delivered. And I go up right now, it's a game. Now I go up to the very last day and I get a call or an email saying, Nope, it now it's December 10th. Okay. And Todd goes, just cancel the refrigerator. And I am I am in it to win it.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:19

Michelle, there really is a Santa Claus.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:21

This is the hill I am going to die on. I'm getting this refrigerator. It's a it's a KitchenAid issue, apparently. But um, so I'm gonna chop, I'm gonna put it in that bucket of my Lowe's refrigerator. There you go.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:33

I don't believe everything you read. Yeah, I mean, I want to pay attention to this because I do love that area of the and uh I don't want it spoiled in any way, but I also think that you know there is some value to protecting our border. Um, and if they could do it without destroying Big Ben, uh that that actual Big Bend area, then that yeah, I hope that that's what they do.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:57

Well, I could see you one day being a park ranger. I could see you one day running running another.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:02

I would love to be a park ranger.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:03

Ranger Steve.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:04

I don't think they'd hire me. I think you gotta have uh a degree in environmental science or something.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:09

I don't know. I could get you a degree real quick. Yeah. I I could hey sign me up. That's right, really quick. I wanted to let you give everybody an update. How you feeling? How you doing? I think you're about to be kicked out of cardiac rehab.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:21

I think so. Yeah, I did my eighth session today, and uh I'm actually very optimistic. I'm finding, and you mentioned it to me the other day. I think this issue that I had has been making me tired and lethargic, and I wasn't able to work out. I'm a month out from surgery and I'm already seeing, man, I can push myself a little harder. I can keep my heart rate up a little bit higher than I used to. Got more energy. Uh, which is a good thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:49

Are you gonna become more inseparable on your exercising then?

SPEAKER_03 1:33:54

You know what? Help me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:55

Help me.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:56

Okay, I'm gonna just say it out loud. Maybe I shouldn't. I uh this morning when I was doing cardio rehab, I was I felt so good. I thought, I wonder if I could do a hundred miler in February, February or March. Because that's when most of them are is in the is in the winter. I would love to do that. I I you know what? I'm hopeful. I'm very hopeful. Yes, I will be I I'll be hard to live with.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:19

But Steve's gonna run by me and he's gonna go, I had heart surgery. What's your excuse as I'm eating flaming hot Cheetos?

SPEAKER_03 1:34:27

I was uh I did the the uh cart the spin bike this morning, and uh I sent a text uh a couple days ago to my buddy Javier when I was on the spin bike, and I said, I'm coming for you, man. I'm getting getting my strength back. I can't wait to go riding and see if I can keep up with things.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:44

Even a month post heart surgery, you could kick my butt. Well, well kudos. I'm uh congratulations. I I think you know, the first two weeks, you were you were not in a good place and you were like, this is Well, I was still in a lot of pain.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:01

I was still taking pain meds. I wasn't, you know, I didn't I couldn't do any kind of working out. I mean, I've only been really working out for two weeks, maybe a little bit longer than that, uh, with walking, but I'm very optimistic. And uh I'm you know, I'm hoping I can get back to 100% where I was before and maybe more than that.

SPEAKER_05 1:35:22

Yeah, we don't want you to get chubby, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:26

Yeah, that that was weird. Uh I've I still have some, I don't know what it is if the surgery, but I still have things that I used to really love that now the thought of eating them turns my stomach.

SPEAKER_05 1:35:36

Yeah, you were saying that your food, your food is kind of oatmeal.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:39

I have eaten oatmeal every every morning for 10 years as my first meal. I get up, I could make a cup of coffee, and I have oatmeal. And the thought of eating oatmeal now just turns my stomach. I have no idea why.

SPEAKER_05 1:35:50

You know what? I'm gonna, I like I said, by the end of the year, we're gonna be eating sushi, we're gonna be going to Lubies, Taco Deli, Taco Deli, and we'll have some flaming hot Cheetos in your body.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:03

So well, thank you everybody for joining us this week, and we will talk to you very soon.

SPEAKER_05 1:36:09

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