SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to the Faithful Warriors Podcast, where courage meets conviction. Each episode shines a light on the powerful testimonies of veterans, first responders, and godly men of faith who have walked through the fire and found strength in Christ. These are real stories of real-life warriors on the battlefield and in life who share their journeys of struggle, redemption, purpose, and unwavering faith. Join us as we dive deep into the heart of what it means to be a faithful in the fight and anchored in hope. So welcome in, y'all. And welcome, Chuck. Welcome, Chuck. How are you doing, brother?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

I'm doing good, brother. Another beautiful day given by our God. Amen, brother.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Amen. Well, man, I'm sure I am glad to have you on the show today.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Yes, yes. Just a little bit about Chuck. He's a TikTok influencer. He has uh his TikTok name is Church with Chuck. He's on every day. And I met this man about 11 months ago through social media, and uh we have chatted it up off and on um over those 11 months, and uh man, what a powerful story he's got, uh testimony coming up. So, Chuck, just introduce us, let us know who you are.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Hey everyone, I'm uh church with Chuck. Uh I'm a 38-year-old man who loves Jesus and uh loves his neighbors, loves his friends, loves his family, but that's not the man I was until I met Jesus. That's not the man, and I'm on fire for God, and he's calling all of us. He's calling all of us, and he's lighting a fire in our bellies, and I'm just ready to speak about our Lord, and if this can change one life or bring one person to Jesus, I'm here for it. That's my motto.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Amen, brother.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

That's right, that's right. So, man, so uh, man, you mentioned uh in in a brief questionnaire that we had that you were you were growing up with a single mother who kept you in church. Man, you want to tell us what life was like when you were growing up?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Uh well, first of all, before I before I talk about my childhood, I just want to say I have the most awesome mother and the most awesomest father, and they love me. Um and and through the story, through what I talk about in my childhood, I just want to I just want everyone to know that they love me with all of their heart. But just like most of us, we didn't know Jesus, we didn't understand Jesus, so we walked different ways. So none of the none of my childhood was meant to hurt me or or or pull me off of the track or anything like that. But um, yeah, man, um one of my very first memories and one of my and something I would always go back to, and it was like I didn't re remember where it was from, how it happened, but I remember being like shooken off of somebody's leg. Like, and I remember a door shutting, and and it always stuck with me, this memory, you know. Um, and I didn't know what it meant, I didn't know why it was there. You know, I was three years old when this happened. Um but my father and mother met when they were 18. My my father and mother had me when my when they were 30. So they were together for 12 years, married, had a life. I have an older sister, but that's not even seen much in today's time. Like they were together without any kids and building a life. They built a home, you know, all of these things. Um, and as a kid, you don't know your your parents' exact relationship. You know what I mean? Um, but uh things were happening. Supposedly, my father was not faithful to my mother. Um I wish you could meet my mother, man. I wish everyone could meet my mother because she's she's full of faith. She's full of faith, she's she's full of uh good outlook. And you know, she had uh brothers and sisters, you know, telling her, telling her what she was, what he was doing. And uh she didn't believe it, you know. Um, but anyway, they weren't working out. They weren't working out, and my father was coming, and my father ended up leaving, but the memory I have was holding on to his leg. Holding on to his leg and him shaking me off and leaving. Um and and you know, that played a role in my life, and I it never really got explained to me till recent. Till recent, and I kind of put the pieces together myself, and then it was explained what happened, you know, your father left and stuff. And and you gotta think, I found this out at 34, 33. Um, so that's a long time just with this memory, you know. Um, but immediately after that, I remember church. I remember my mother jumping into church. You know what I mean? Like that's uh that's a memory, one of my first memories, but I also have memories of going to church and a loving mother and my father, you know, he we seen him every other weekend, and he was always there, and he and he would, you know, and they got along in that part. Like, you know, some people live with their parents and it's back and forth, and they they got along. Um, but that memory really held with me, and and and as we go out through talking and doing this podcast, you're gonna see that there's a lot of things that I held on to. Um, and I'm not, you know, exactly where we're gonna go leading. Um, but there's a lot of things that happened that I held on to, and they they ended up affecting me. You know what I mean? Um, but yeah, uh parents got divorced when I was three. Um we lived with a single mother, and and she dove right into church, and we we started attending church right down the road from our house, like most people do. You know, most people go to the church right down the road. She was not raised religious, she was not raised in church. So it's just something that God must have put on her, had to to go to church out of all the other options. You know what I mean? She went to church, um, brought us to church, and listen, man, I was I was a ball of energy. I was uh I was a ball of energy. She she used to get me dressed for church. I'd go out and get play in the dirt, get all muddy. She dropped me off at Sunday school. She could never get me to the service. I'd be running around like a madman filled with cookies and juice. Um, but another memory I have of this time, um, you know, is with my mother being uh a single mother, she she stayed consistent and she she brought us to church.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Yeah, man, you know, carrying around carrying around those burdens. We all seem to do it. We try to just put them in the closet and just push them away, but ultimately we're carrying them every single day.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah. Um and and what happens is you bury them, and they affect you, and you don't even, you don't even, you're not going back to them, you don't remember them. But there's things that build up inside of you. Um a lot of different things. Just, you know, I would remember getting dropped off after the weekend with my father, and just like as he was leaving or something, you know, I'm an only boy. I have a sister and a mother, and we ended up moving in with my grandma. I'm I'm the only boy. And I remember looking out my window on like a Sunday night with, you know, the sun going down and it's just quiet, and you know, it's the mid-90s, and I just remember being upset and I didn't have a boy to play with, I didn't have a father to play with, I didn't have, you know, that consistent. And I'm feeling these things at six years old, five years old. You know, that that's a time of growing, that's a time of of, you know, Jesus talks about innocent children. You're innocent and you're you're having these emotions, you know what I mean? Um and and and again, these things stuck with me. These things stuck with me throughout my childhood, you know. Um, but to say that there's also things of of a glorious God and a loving God that stuck with me too, you know what he did in my mother's life, you know. Um, she tells me the story of she was not ready to keep going. She didn't want to keep going. And she called this pastor of the church we started going to, and she always tells me this he said, Don't let go of the rope. Don't let go of the rope. And and you'll hear me say it at times in my lives and stuff like that, because you know, you can let go of the rope and and what what it what is left, where are you going, what's gonna happen. But if you hold on to that rope, there there's glory to be seen, there's God to be seen, there's love to be seen, there's hope to be seen. And and she's so distraught, she has two children, and and she's gotta worry about that's how bad it was. That's how that's how hard darkness can come in and flip up your whole life. Now, I told you that they were together, they were high school sweethearts. You know, that was the man she knew, that was the man she loved, and and they got separated, and then you finally start building a family, and then the separation happens, you know, waiting for her children. But um, you know, she she should these moments uh of moments of seeing my mother hold on to the rope are one are the reasons why we're gonna get later to why I'm here now, you know. Um, so there's so many glorious things, and my childhood, man, listen, she she we did a bunch of stuff. It would, I I talk about those things and I held on to, but I had I had an awesome childhood. You know what I mean? I had I had a cool childhood, I had friends, and she tried her best. She brought me to youth group, you know, I played sports, all of these things. Um, but now we're getting into you know where I'm 18 and I'm I and and I'm going in high school and stuff like that. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

And and let me ask you here, because um I have a same uh a similar situation with not knowing my father growing up. And and can you tell us how did you feel, especially through your teenage years, of only having a sister and a mother there, of of not having a father or knowing who he is?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

You know, um he he he he was there every other weekend and listen, he he he did support me. He I played baseball and he would go to my games and stuff like that, but it's the it's the not knowing exactly who to model my life after. You know what I mean? Who uh man, I can't say it enough how important it is to have a godly man around your life, in your life. Um and and and listen, he showed up, he he he he loved me, you know, but we actually built a better relationship after all that when I grew up. Surprise to everyone's story, my parents got remarried and got back together when I graduated high school. Oh, wow. My parents got back together, they ended up getting back together, and uh, I used to have a little joke, oh, you just didn't want to raise me, dad. But it was a joke, you know. But you know, um, but uh um listen, man, it's just it's just not how God created the family. It's not how God created the family to have a father or a mother out of the home. We need both. We need both. And and and our God is so mighty and powerful that we need both, but without both, he still leads you to him. He still leads you to him in a mighty way. Um, so you know it hurts and it bothered me, but I did get the chance to build a relationship with him in my 20s, and and and and now we talk. I but a whole slew of other issues has happened since then. Um, you know what I mean? Um listen, my my father, my grandfather, my grandfather, gamblers. OTB, I don't know if you know what that is. Um in in the off-track betting horses, I was there in preschool. I was there in preschool. My mom said, Don't, you know, don't take them. My grandparents used to watch me after preschool, pick me up, used to bring me there. My father used to bring me into the casino um when I was 16, 17. Um, and it's almost like just spending time. Listen, he's lost. He he's not doing it to hurt me, you know, but he doesn't understand what hurt in the right way is yet, you know. He's not trying to destroy my life, but he's bringing me there. He's bringing me there. So, I mean, you got you got high school, I'm starting a drink. My first time, my first time using marijuana was was eighth grade in the ninth grade, right? Eighth grade in the ninth grade at my cousin's graduation party. Um, and I listen, also part of my story, I'm the youngest of like 25 cousins. I have 25 on my mouth on my mother's side. And we used to be a very tight-knit family, and we used to all get together, but with that being, all through my high school, my cousin would buy us beer. He would, he would, uh, you know, we would smoke with him, women, all this stuff, all through high school, right? Um, and then again, these are things that that are breaking me down, and I'm I'm burying inside my heart, and I'm burying in inside of my life, and they're affecting me without seeing them. They're affecting me, and they're and they're they're building doubt in me, they're building negativity in me. Uh I'm a gambler, I'm gambling all the time. I'm going to the slots. I had a job at ShopRite. Um, and I'm blowing every check. And and one thing I've learned with with through the gambling addiction is that you're already making an excuse why you lost the money before you lose the money. So I became very good at that, at lying and everything else. It's always someone stole my wallet. I lost my money. I had this bill. You know what I mean? And uh it just it just tore me down, and and I I I kept gambling and losing my money. And I recently had a uh I had a child at a young age. I had a child at 20, turning 21. I had my first son. He's already about to be 18 this summer. You know, I tell people that and they're like, what are you talking about, Chuck? Yeah, I have a son that's about to be 18. So I'm I'm living on my own accord. I'm living by the flesh. I'm living however I'm smoking, I'm drinking, I'm partying, I'm looking for love, but it's lust, and it continues to go, and it's just like a it's like a tiny snowball on a hill that just keeps growing and growing and growing and growing. And and it it's almost like this is how you're supposed to live. This is how you're supposed to live. Gambling, partying, everything. Who's telling me this is not how you're supposed to live? Who's telling me?

SPEAKER_04 16:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Um now, thank God I did go to church. Thank God my mother was talking to Jesus because there would be moments. There would be moments of going to God, there would be moments of seeing God see what I'm doing, you know, throughout this. We're talking now my early 20s, right? My graduating high school, everything. And and and the list goes on. We could do an eight-day podcast of just 18 to 21. You know, I drop out of, I drop out of school, I drop out of college, not high school. I got my, see, my mom stuck with me with that. She's made me go to school. She said, You're getting that diploma. You know what I mean? But uh yeah, man, she she wouldn't let me stay over friends' houses on the on the weekdays, all of this stuff. Very, very strict, very, very um, you know, with that. You're getting your diploma, but signed up for college, dropped out. My father's business burnt down. Um, had to rebuild that, tried to go into business with him. Um, but that's where I got to know my father. You know what I mean? Um, but all of these things going on, and I don't I don't know how to be a godly man. I don't know how to follow God. I don't know how to talk to God, but God is still showing up for me, God is still calling me, and and and he's allowing me to go to him and and and ask him for things and and and and when I need him, I can go to him. Um so so right now we're at like my my early 20s.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Yeah, can I ask you a question on that? Because you mentioned the the gambling addiction. Yeah. And I want to ask you, how did that affect your relationships or your faith and the view of yourself?

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Um, you know, this was a time, listen, I still struggle with gambling addiction. I still get the urge to go. I'm in Tampa, Florida. There's hard rock right down the road. There's all these apps on your phone. So it's still something the enemy tries to bring into my life. Still, and I still have to fight it off from something I learned about in preschool. You know what I mean? This is the enemy's tactics. Um, but at that time we're where at this part of my life when I'm gambling, it's I'm by myself. I'm by myself. I have my son, I'm not with his mother, I'm living at my parents' house, I'm partying and drinking with my boy still. So it's just me being broke. But go to later years, you know what I mean? Um, later years, uh, you know, that's where it becomes, it all becomes a problem. And and and and and and I'm taking money and I'm using people and I'm just blowing it and making up lies and excuses. But this is this is where we're leading into with the gambling, the addiction, everything is is everything's coming to a head. Everything's coming to a head, right? Um but uh like in that in those days, they weren't really a problem. I just had no money. You know what I mean? I just didn't have no money. Um, and you know, man, uh during this podcast, I speak about my parents, but through I went through a custody battle for my oldest son twice. I I forgave her and went back, and my parents were paying for a lawyer. My father was paying for a lawyer, 5,000, and this is this is 2010. $5,000 is a lot of money. So he's he's trying to help. Listen, we come together and we become, you know, they've always supported me and tried their best with me. You know what I mean? And again, we're all just lost, we're all confused. We we need Jesus. We need Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Yes, yes, so so with all this going on, let me ask you this. You know, every testimony has a turning point. What began the change for you?

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Brother, hey, I've I I'm I'm the one guy that can sit here and say, God's gonna forgive you. To every single person I meet, God's gonna forgive you. I don't care who you are, I don't care what you've done, God is going to forgive you. Um, I've been forgiven by him more times than I can count. I've been forgiven and I've gone back to him and I've turned my back and walked away more times than I can count throughout my life. More times than I can count. Um I mean, I he the gambling, it's nothing, all these things, man, but they led to a point, a little bit of of you know, um using using harder stuff. Using harder stuff than um I didn't even notice I was getting into. I just like the feeling. I like the I like the energy just with work and everything else. But uh again, while I'm doing these things, I know that I know that they're not good in his eyes. Again, we can always go back to being a child and just seeing the Bible on my mother's lap. Um, that she had faith in something that got her through raising me and my sister, then got her through losing homes, then got her through having to go to work and find a babysitter, then got her through putting food on the table, then got her through, you know, the loss of her father, then got her through all of these things. She had she was holding on to some kind of rope. You know what I mean? She was holding on to something that then got her through these things with no, you know, no help, uh, spiritual help, spiritual help, you know. Um, but uh the all these things were were a huge man, it's just it's just it's just going down the wrong path, going down the wrong path. And and I speak about this in my lives, brother. Um the fear of death, the fear of the end. And and and I remember being a little kid, and I would used to count how old I would be in the year 2000. You know what I mean? Like I always it was always on my mind, the the fear of the last breath. What am I gonna do? But what happens is you consume yourself with all of these things so you don't have to think about it, right? Um and then you you you you uh you you actually end up fearing it even more. Like I'm literally, I'm getting to the point with my addiction. All right, um so with my with my I used to in my late 20s, in my in my mid-20s, I used to pride myself on only drinking and smoking. I never done any psychedelics, I never done any pain pills, I never done anything, anything. I used to pride myself, I'm not an addict, I'm not this, you know, almost give myself glory because I only smoked and drank, you know. Um but I uh I tried it, you know, like most addicts do. I had teeth pulled out when I was younger, so I knew what Viking was, you know. Um when I when I was in my early 20s, you know, I I I was good, but I I never I was like, I'm not an addict. And uh man, how it started for me with what was so weird. Again, it's just no identity, no, no, um, no, no Jesus seeing him in my life, no seeing him standing with me. You know what I mean? It's just and then I would get to the point, I'm kind of a guy that says, I'll do it tomorrow, I'll take care of it tomorrow. I'll I'll do the I'll use these substances today and I'll deal with the consequences tomorrow, you know? Um, and and of course, like like most people, they start off with with with with taking pills and and buying pills. And I remember, man, so listen, me and my father had a couple opportunities to own a business, right? Uh a mechanic shop, a body shop. My dad's an amazing body man. He's well known in the area we live in New York, where I grew up. Um, and we tried twice, right? And they didn't work out. And the third time we started doing good. Like we were doing good, we were making good money, and I ended up buying out the guy who was the mechanic, and I didn't even have to work. I didn't have to get my hands dirty. I just hired people to work for me. I had a detailer, I was buying and selling cars. I I had good money, I had a good money. Um, but I had these little dabbles of addiction um that I would go into and and I would break off and I would be clean for months. You know what I mean? And even then, when I would go through the withdrawals of the addiction, I didn't know what it was. Like I'd be sick. I I I could I had my legs, I was I was staying up all night. I didn't know what it was. You know, I wasn't that far in. Um, yeah, so now we're owning a business, and the one mechanic, I walk in one day and I see him crushing something up. I see him crushing something up, and I'm like, what is that? And I go up to him and I'm like, I'm like, what's that? He's like, here, you want to try something, brother? That's a day that we'll live in infamy. Like FDR said. I believe it was FDR. Um, you know, I I tried those things, man, and and and listen, like I said, we could do hundreds of different podcasts talking about a hundred different things um on how and why and where and what it led and exactly what my mind was thinking. But either way, I was off to the races. I had money, I had money, I I owned my own business. I'm telling myself, I'm good. I'm good. It is what it is. But a year or so go, a year or so go, and like everybody else's addiction story, the pills get too expensive. And I've had people trying to give me um heroin. I don't know if I can say that, uh, but I know sometimes they're strict with things. Um, giving me heroin, offering me heroin, and no, I only do pills. No, I only do pills, no, I only do pills. And and and one day a buddy came up, he's like, you just try it. And and I I was a guy that would sniff them. I never injected, I never used needles, and I I sniffed them, and they were the same if better, um, than pills, then pills, and cheaper and easier. And I'm sitting here a year and a half ago priding myself, then I I never did no drugs. And a year and a half later, I'm sniffing heroin. You know what I mean? And and yeah, it happens quick. And and I was working with my father at the time, and brother, this this this is where my testimony with God, um, this is where I see him. This is this is where I again tell you, anybody can be forgiven. I had this on my heart the whole time. I shouldn't be doing this. This is not good. I have a mother that went to church, I have a father that loves me. He knew every time I was high, he could tell me. He said, Your face changed. You changed. He's like, you would look like a different person when you were high. My eyes would be different, the way I acted would be different. And this went on for a good two years. This went on for a good two years, brother. Um, but my mom would come downstairs and check on me and see if I was still breathing, worried. Like she, I because I would sleep different, because I'd be so high. She imagine living with somebody you love, your son, and every morning you gotta worry, then they might not wake up. You know, she's getting books to read, she's getting all these things.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Um now let me ask you this if you don't mind. Is there a specific moment when you felt God's love, grace, and mercy during this point where it was the changing point for you?

SPEAKER_01 29:59

You know, brother, I I'm gonna say this. I thought I got myself clean. I thought I got myself clean. I met I'm I I fully surrendered to God years after my addiction, like three, four years after my addiction. But I thought I did it this whole time until I met God and I started building a relationship with him, and I see fully then God did it. Our Lord and Savior clean it got me clean. He saved my life, he changed my heart in those days. And and this is why I speak on that. And you're not going to him, you're not listening to him, you're not following. He is in your life, he is in your life, he is loving you, he is caring for you, he is keeping your heart alive because no matter what plan you think you have, he has a plan for you. He has a he has a plan for you. It's his breath in our lungs, it's his breath in our lungs, and he decides if you keep breathing or not. You know what I mean? Um, yeah, but but but what what kept me holding on, brother, was when I wanted to get clean, when I listen, when when you're coming off of this stuff, any addict will know they say it's the flu times a hundred, right? And I'm the I'm the addict, man. I I got tried getting clean 80 times, a hundred times. That means going through the withdrawals, that means going without and then going back. I'm the worst kind of addict. I'm the worst kind of addict. I didn't do a four-year binge of always being high. I would literally go a month and then and then hide up in my parents' basement, get clean, go through withdrawals, and my parents would be like, all right, you're doing good, and I would go right back. Now, while I was going through these withdrawals, while while every time I had a I had a uh spiritual experience, every single time, brother. I I I could tell you times where I'm just begging to God, I won't ever touch these things again, I won't ever use these things again. Let me sleep through the night, Lord. Let me sleep through the night, let me feel better, let me feel normal, let me feel normal as I'm not using and I'm getting clean. And he would do it, Dwayne. He would do it, brother. He would do it, he would do it that night. All of a sudden you feel the feeling in your belly, you'd feel alive again, you feel yourself again. You're no longer, and I would go back, and I would go back. It was something in me, man, and I seen God doing it, and I would keep going back and I would keep falling for it. Um, what ended up happening, brother, is um I met my wife that I'm with now, right? And I'm losing the business, I'm sick, I'm I'm using, I'm I'm all over the place. I got no money, and I meet my wife. Obviously, it wasn't my wife at the time. Um I'm running with a bad group of dudes, you know. I'm running with with dealers and everything, because that's the life it comes with. That's the life it comes with. I end up going partners with my dealer. I ended up selling him my business for a bag of uh of drugs and and uh $800. Uh multi-thousand dollar business. You know, uh a week making tons of money. I just give him it, and he don't gotta pay no bills, no rent. I think about it to this day. What was I thinking? We you don't gotta pay no bills. Here's half my money every day. Like, like, dude, it's so lost, so so gone, so focused on one thing, getting high. That's it. That's it. Using that was my main focus, right? And again, if you hear, if you if you listen, go back to this podcast from the beginning, you're gonna hear moments of God. Moments of God in my life, moments of God forgiving me, moments of God showing up. Um and yeah, I'm all these things are going on in my life, and then I meet my wife, and I'm single before this, I'm alone before this, I'm not really dating. Maybe a little date here, maybe a little hangout, go to a bar, no relationship, nothing, nothing. Um, I meet my wife. I meet my wife, and about, you know, she kind of thinks I'm acting a little funny. She has kids too. I got kids, she got kids. So it's also a reason why we kind of came together. Like she's seen me with my kids. You know, I love my kids. I was always, you know, but uh we came together, and and maybe a month or two in, I didn't have anything. And she's staying at my house. Um, I don't have anything, and I can't sleep that night. I I'm kicking, I'm I'm I'm not feeling right. I'm I'm I'm staying up, I'm sweating. And she's like, What's wrong with you? And I just bug out on her. I'm an addict. I'm using, I'm using this. I can't sleep, I'm all messed up. And I just like pour out. This is what I do, brother. Like I said, it we keep uh the even as a child, like I hold all this stuff in and I just pour it out and I get angry or whatever it is, you know, and I just pour it out, and she's like, like, wow, like this is her chance to run away, or her chance to her chance to stick by my side. And we're only together for three months now. We're you know, we're two, three months. We're together. She has kids. Who wants their kids around somebody? But she saw something in me, you know, God, and God's telling her something, you know. Um, the next morning, uh, she wakes up and and I'm puking, and she she's helping me. She goes up, tells my mother, you know, your son's addicted. My mom kind of knows already, obviously. My mom knows. Um, and my mom's just praying for me and and all these things. Um, and uh so so so they're trying to help. Now I have family involved. Now God's brought me family to help me, but I'm not done yet. I I'm I'm stealing money from my wife. I'm I I she I had her go to the other end of the house and I stole her keys and I took her car and drove off. Like, like these wild stories, brother. Like, like I couldn't, I I couldn't. Um, so it came to a point where I went to my mother and I said, I can't be here. I can't be in this New York State, upstate New York, I can't be here because I know too many people, I know where to get it, I know how to go. I can't be here. I said, get me a plane ticket to go to my sisters in Florida. Get me a plane ticket, a one-way. I don't even want a return date, you know? Right. And this is this is this is God. This is God. All these things are God trying to save his child, putting it on my heart, giving me, telling me to have responsibility and own up to it. And and and just just the moment of him putting my wife into my life, then she opened it up. She's listening to God and opened it up. So now I feel okay with my family. Now everybody knows. Now it's out in the open. Now I'm not hiding it. Now I could speak on it. You know what I mean? I'm not hiding everything. Um, so my mother buys me a plane ticket to go to my sister's. I think it was um June or something, and I ended up staying down there for three months, no use, got clean, um everything. And I came back home. I came back home on on uh Halloween. My wife, I just met her, and I and she stayed at my house with my mother. Like it was just it was just a whole like like emergency service for me. Like, get him clean, you know what I mean? And I thank God every day for the people in my life, brother, that that she could have walked away, she could have turned her back, you know. Um, and she never did. And my mom could have turned her back. I I listen, I got a I got a quick story that I wanted to share. This is my worst moment of addiction right here.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Let's hear it, man.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

One of the times I'm trying to get clean, right? I'm at home. My son comes over. My son's like six or seven. Uh he would come over on the weekends. At this point, you know, everyone kind of knows whatever. I'm getting clean. Um, I'm just going through a draw. My son comes over. Somebody comes to my house and drops off money for my father. Um, drops off money from my father. It's like $200. And I see out the corner of my bedroom window, someone's giving my mother an envelope. My dad's not there, nothing. And as soon as I see money, brother, I'm on the phone with my dealer. And I'm like 40 minutes away. I'm like, bro, bring something up here. I got $200. Bro, I go in my mother's room, I steal my dad's money out of the envelope, right? I call this guy, and then I tell my mom, listen, I want to go on a walk. Well, my mom knows my games. My mom knows my tricks. She's like, we'll go with you. This is at the point. We're like two years in. We're two years in. So she knows every little trick. She knows basically hide everything from me, lock me up downstairs, you know, and that was my way of getting clean too. Um, just just completely isolate, completely isolate. Um, even with moving to Florida, but uh, I have the money in my pocket, right? And I go out on a walk, and I'm like, mom, leave me, mom, leave me. I'm good. I just want to be alone. Anyway, I miss my dealer. My mom comes, uh, she's like, you took your father's money. You took your father's money, and this is something I will always hold on my heart. And and and you're talking about a changing point where where one of the ways it came to a head, this had to be like two, three months before I went to Florida. I blamed my son. I blamed my six-year-old son. I told my mother that my son took the money. My son took the money, brother. I want to cry right now. I blame my six-year-old son that he went up in their room and took their money with my son there. My son was there. And his father's blaming him. This is how bad addiction is, brother. This is how bad it is to not be following Jesus and dedicated. I'm telling you right now, I'll take every day going out here, speaking the gospel, going live, working my butt off, keeping my hands busy, praising his name, than a day, one of those days. I'd rather, you know, be out here in the heat. I'd rather nonstop. I'd rather whatever it is, brother. I'd rather be doing it, uh 90-hour work weeks, whatever it is, whatever struggle I have to go through, whatever mountain I have to climb, these are things that I like I said, I was holding on to things. I was holding on to things, and and now, you know, there's things that God has put in my life that will never send me back. Will never, you know, I'll never go back, right? Um, but that's one thing that brought it to a head that I had to live with. Um, but I so I go to Florida and I come back. I come back from Florida, I'm clean, it's Halloween, um, it's all the all this stuff, whatever. Um they won't let me back to the shop. You know what I mean? Uh I can't go back to the shop. I lost the shop, all this stuff, so we lose the shop. Um it's October, and and still not going to God, not building a relationship with God, not not surrendering to God, not having him in my life, right? Still, so I'm my whole thing is isolation. My whole thing is isolation. My whole thing is don't go out in public, right? But but listen to how listen to how our God is. This is how good and awesome our God is, because he's got a plan for me. You know, he's got a plan, and he he he needs me to do something, and he's calling me to do something, and I'm over here still making my own plans. I'm here still deciding how I'm gonna do things, right? Um so let's just say the winter goes by, May comes around, 3 a.m. in the morning. Boom, boom, boom, on my door. So what the heck is that? I get up, I just finished smoking, I probably passed out like an hour ago. I wasn't using anything hard. I was still smoking weed and drinking, though, you know. Um I go to my door, 2530 federal agents at my door. At my door at 3 a.m. in the morning. Under covers, people without uniform, holds up a big piece of paper. We have a warrant for your arrest, you know, everything. And I say, I dude, I walked out on the porch. I was like, you all could have just called me, I would have came down. You didn't have to send this many people to come get me. Like I'm being a jokester, like I'm not even taking the seriousness. Um, just the way I live. But I thank God because I'm clean. I'm not using. You know what I mean? Like, I'm clean now. He he's he's he's got me clean. Um, but anyway, they take me down to a firehouse, and there's like 30 people that I was running with. They got the head guy, they arrested all of us like two, three months later. I got sales put on me, I got, I got everything. So now I'm paying for my my choices. A year and like two months, brother, I had that sale. A year and two months later, after I get myself clean, after I get rid of my business, after I meet my wife, after I start changing my life, boom, boom, boom. Here comes, here comes uh, you know, uh a rest and a and a thing on my record and everything. Um but uh I got I got listen man, if anybody's ever been to court, man, that you're good when you leave. The court, but when as it starts getting closer, and these things go on time after time, you got to keep showing up. And I probably had this show up like eight times, but but when it gets closer and closer, it's anxiety through the roof. You don't know what's gonna happen, you don't know if you're gonna get sent away, you don't know, and and I'm struggling with this because I've changed my life, so-called. I've so-called changed my life. I I've gotten clean and I'm paying for mistakes I did a year and a half ago. You know what I mean? Um, but anyway, I get sentenced to probation. I get put on probation. Um now, when you when you get on probation, you need to get out the house, right? Remember, I told you my whole plan was to hide. So I have to go out the house. My whole plan was just to hide down in my basement with my wife and her and the kids and and find some way to survive and make money, just live like a little hermit. That was my way of being clean, you know? So I get put on probation. I get put on probation. You got to get a job. You guys, you can't just sit around in your basement, Chuck. You know what I mean? So I apply, I I apply. Um, this is all God. This is all God moving, this is all God putting things in place, this is all God bringing me to Him. All of this is bringing is bringing me to God, letting me see His plan for my life, not my plan. Um, so I go, I get I get a job. I end up getting a job at Home Depot. Um, you know, and at first, now you gotta think, I own my own business. I had money, I had everything. Now I'm going back to work at Home Depot, brother. At 32, 33, it's a big demoralizing, it's a big knock to my ego, it's a big everything. Um and what do I do there? I I uh I meet somebody who works in the same department as me, the garden department, and guess what he does? He does pills. So I'm clean, I'm clean this whole time, and I gotta go out and work, and now I got money. Now I got money, brother. You know, I'm working, I got money. Here we go again. Round 88, round 97. I start using, brother. Um, I start, it's just pills this time. It's just pills, but I'm on probation. I'm on probation, brother. Um, and we're coming up on the big turning point with God, and then we're maybe go a little longer and then at just a complete surrender, you know. Um, but uh I'm trying to hide it from my probation officer. But what ends up happening is my wife gets her some of her taxes and it's gone in like two weeks because I spend it all on pills, and pills are expensive. They're like 25 for one. And I'm meet, I end up the guy, the guy who literally introduced me, I cut him out. I'm going straight to the source now. I'm getting deeper and deeper. I'm going into probation, oh pissing, peeing just a little dirty, and he's looking at me, and all these things. Um, but basically, I gotta own up to my wife again. My wife's always the one that I'll go to, and and you know, God put in my life to feel comfortable, to be able to, and she's gonna go and and and and this is this is what God, this is one of the reasons for a marriage, for a relationship, brothers and sisters, is that we are to bring each other together. And and a lot of times your weakness will be their strength, and and and your strength will be their weakness, and and our God is a mighty God, and he knows just what to do. Um, and also one other thing I want to say is you want to be equally yoked and you both want to be Christians, but there are times where that's God's plan to bring you both to Christ. Um, you know, and and and you don't obviously I made a lot of mistakes because I wasn't following Jesus at this time. I wasn't fully surrendered, so I was being lustful and we weren't married yet. But it comes to that. It comes to that, you know. Um, and and God definitely put her in my life to uh to make me realize and what see what true love is and and know that I have somebody because that's the thing. Remember, I told you about my father shaking me off the leg? I'm I'm sitting here my whole life, nobody has my back, nobody cares about me. You know, even if people do, even if people do care about me. I'm by myself. You know, I already have two baby moms, I have two kids that she left me, you know. I know who's gonna want me is what I'm saying, is what I'm thinking. And a lot of the reasons I started using who's gonna want me? I'm by myself. Who cares what happens to me? If I go away, who cares? Nobody cares. I'm not a good person. I'm this, this is all my mentalities because of all these things that were happening, right? But again, God's always working for his good, he's always working for his good. Um, anyway, I gotta I I don't get caught, I don't get caught um red-handed using, but I end up calling, I tell my wife and everything, and I end up calling my probation officer and tell him that I'm using.

SPEAKER_02 49:20

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 49:21

Like, I don't think that's ever happened in the history of probation. No, it don't happen. You hide it and you try not to get caught, but I ended up calling him. I ended up calling him and saying, listen, man, I fell back in. I fell back into addiction. Listen, this this built a relationship with me and him and a rapport that somebody could do that. So there's good in me, brother. You know what I mean? There's there's a there's something in my heart that you know that I anyway, he he he lets me go to a he lets me go to a rehab instead of arresting me and all this stuff. And it was honestly life-changing. I went, I was working at Home Depot, I went and it was on my birthday, probably about six years, five years ago, six years ago, it was on my birthday, and I remember going into this rehab and being like, Oh, my kids, and this will always stick with me, brother. My kids are gonna miss me on my birthday, they're gonna be wondering where daddy is, and this will always stick with me. Then the nurse said, Would you rather miss this birthday or the rest of your birthdays? That's what she told me. Because it yeah, yeah, right here. So I'm like, all right, now I'm doing this. Now I'm getting clean. And and I've been clean ever since. I've been clean ever since, right? Um I've been clean ever since, man. Um, I just got God God is in my life, God's God's calling me. God's God's put listen, brothers and sisters, God will put you on probation. God will put you on probation. Go. God will what? Go, go. The enemy. Um, God will put you on probation, God will get you arrested, God will put you in jail. You need to see him, you need to see Jesus, brothers and sisters. Um you need to see him. You you gotta get to him anyway.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

Yeah, so uh I'm I'm gonna ask a question. Yeah, because you said your mother has been there and your wife, and now you're talking about your probation officer. And they didn't have to, and and that's compassion and love. Yeah, and I think I've heard you talk about it, I heard you say it before. The love. The love. What love what has God taught you about his love and using those people to reach you, how how has that um taught you through your journey? How is God's love through your journey?

SPEAKER_01 52:12

It doesn't take into an account a wrong. It doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't it it's forgiving, it's uh it's consistency, it's showing up, it's it's it's it's sacrifice, it's believing, you know, um, with my wife having faith, then then I'm a good man. Then then what the the what God's putting on her and saying, you know, he loves his children, um, he he tries to work hard. She's seeing that instead of the addiction. You know, that's what God shows. God, God shows who a man truly is, you know. Um He he speaks about what comes from the heart can defile a man, you know, but what comes from the heart can also show the glory of a man or the honor of a man or the love of a man, right? Um, it doesn't just have to be only evil comes from us, you know what I mean? Um but but and and and and and it's in my entire life, I have people that truly love. Then truly love, not fake love, not using me love. I also have a lot of people that did that too, but they're no longer in my life. You know what I mean? God removed them. But you know, my mother truly loved me, and and my father truly loved me. Um, my wife truly loved me. My sister, I have a sister who let me just come live with her. You know what I mean? Anything to get me clean, you know, to to just support me. And and and that, that brother, man, it God is we we gotta open our eyes and see see why are these people loving me? Why are they forgiving me? You know what I mean? It did these things aren't coincidence, these things aren't luck. These are his divine plan to bring his children to him. You know, these are all part of his plan.

SPEAKER_02 54:19

Um and and and now I want to move over, uh, if you if you don't mind. Now now you spend your time encouraging people on TikTok and building unity within the the body of Christ. And man, I'm telling you, the opportunity that is to use social media platforms to spread the gospel. I want you to tell us about that and how how it affects you, how God has called you to use the TikTok platform and social media to share your testimony and what God's doing in your life. Tell us about that and like what platform you're on, what days, and how people can find you there.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Alright, let me let me start by going back, because this is something that I've only talked about with my wife. Okay, and I've kind of mentioned it um, you know, to my mother as a kid, but let me take you back to being six years old. Um one night we left a church service. Um, I believe it might have been um like I think a Christmas service. And we come home and we used to go carolin and we have the little candle with the light at our church. And we came home and I used to be, I used to have fear and be scared in the middle of the night. Um, so I would always run to my mother's room or or my sister's room from like ages three to like seven. You know what I mean? Um but so that night I'm uh I'm in her room and she's sleeping, and I get up, I get up, and there's a big window there. There, I remember always playing by the window. Um, brother, I looked out that window, and in the sky, there was an angel playing a trumpet. In the sky, way out in the sky. There was an angel playing a trumpet, and um it was so vivid, and I knew what I seen, and I go, I knew I knew what I seen, brother, and I've held on to that my whole life, and I've never fully understood it until recently, till till um surrendering to Jesus and all these things. Um I advise everybody to look up trumpets and and what they mean and angels. I mean, I mean, they brought in the laws of Moses, they're bringing in the revelation. Um, trumpets are used, you know, to to call in soldiers, um, all of these things. And I remember, brother, I and I don't speak about it to many people because it's something that I know happened, and I know, I know it was from God, and I don't need to prove it. I don't need to uh have proof for it, you know what I mean? I don't need to explain it. I'm telling you, brother, that I take that that what I seen as our God has always called me to speak his word, to rise up, to be the light of the world, to love on my brothers and sisters. Um, and and my my life has perfectly played out to be where I am right now. Now I know a lot of people who go through addiction, parents being divorced, um, losing businesses, restarting life, children out of wedlock are gonna have a lot of regrets. But and I did, I did. When I first surrendered to God, when I finally fell on my knees and I poured out and I said, Lord, I'm never gonna turn my back on you. I'm never gonna not listen to you. I'm going to follow you, Lord, at any cost, at any cost. Um, I uh I uh, you know, just just say that I had regrets, but I now know that all of those regrets led me to him, led me to this very moment. I I were worried about wasted time. I worried that I should have done it sooner. But would I be on fire? Would I be going on TikTok live every day if I didn't have these these things? If I didn't have this walk, if I didn't have this brokenness, if I didn't have this hurt and pain and emptiness and and all these times of him forgiving me, would I have this fire for Jesus? And the answer is no, brother. The answer is no. And and and and and everything he's done, everything he has called me, and and and I'm here to encourage our brothers and sisters, then a broken home, then an addiction, then a gambling addiction, then children out of wedlock, then lust, then drinking, then partying, you it gets you closer to Jesus. If you see him, if you believe, if you surrender, you get closer to Jesus. That the enemy's whole attack is to make you not see him, brothers and sisters. The whole enemy's whole attack is to make you sit there and say, You're not worthy, you're not worthy, you can't do it. But I'm telling you right now, brothers and sisters, if he did it in me, he can do it in you. And if I did it, you can do it. Plain and simple. I don't care how big, I don't care how small. You start today, you start today talking about Jesus because I got a hundred percent and faith in our God that he got a testimony in your life. And he got a testimony that you have a God story, that your story can bring someone to Jesus. Plain and simple, plain and simple. Anything, anything. I it we hold back on the things that went wrong in our lives. We hold back on, oh my father left. We hold back on I cheated on my wife, we hold back on I was an addict. But those things are testimonies that your brothers and sisters and his children are dealing with today, that we are all dealing with. We are all dealing with it. And I'm telling you, that is no reason to shy from God. It should be the reason to go to God, it should be a reason to go to God. And and brother man, I moved down to Florida and and I see him calling me. I see him calling me. And I listen, sometimes you don't hear him when he's doing it, but when you get to a certain spot, you see who brought you there. You see who who led you there. You know what I mean? And that's what's going on with me. I'm looking back and I'm seeing God all over my life. I'm seeing him, I'm seeing him in every moment, I'm seeing him in every breath. I'm seeing him when I look out the window, I'm upset. My my dad, he says, I have you have a father. You have a father. I love my dad, but I have a father. Do not be upset, my child. You have a father. And he sent, he shows me his angels playing trumpets. Come, my son. Come blow the trumpet. Let them know my name. Let them, let them praise me, let them see me, let them, let them hear me, let them blow the trumpet. Blow the trumpet. If you heard a trumpet right now, would you not look? Would you not go? Would you not be like, what is that? Brothers and sisters, the whole enemy is to say to not believe, to not see God, to not know God. But he's true, he's a living king. You right now, who's ever listened into this, you can look back at your life and see God. You can see God. Every single person watching this clip or watching this video can see God. Can see God in their life. He's done something, and he's calling you, all of us, for one thing. One thing. And you'll hear about it in my TikTok, you'll hear about it in my life. I bring the same message. Today will be 252 straight days, praising God, on live, going on TikTok. 252 straight days. And brother, I brought the same message every day. Not some new message, not some keep your butts in the seat, not no tickle your ear, not wait till next time, not see you later. You gotta stay here for chapter eight. No. Love your neighbor, believe in God with all of your heart. Bring the good news, walk as the light of the world, brothers and sisters. That is it. That is it. Over and over and over again. Fully surrender. Remove that tiny little seat of doubt. Remove that tiny little seat of doubt, brothers and sisters. When you're when your car's not running, when the bills stack up, when you're when your wife's not listening, when your children aren't listening, stop running from God and go to God. He's a healer, he's a fixer, he's for you. Too many of us want to run from God in those situations. I lived it. I walked it. I I I I had God doing good things in my life, and I went, God, why? Why, God? It wasn't Him. He was calling me, not pushing me away. He was calling me. And He's calling you. We're all His children. There is no capacity to heaven. We can all go. I don't care what religion you are, I don't care what skin color you are, I don't care what you got going on. I don't care what you have going on. He is calling his children today, right now, right here, he is calling his children to come home and praise his name and give him glory and walk as the light of the world. And and and most importantly, brothers and sisters, is love. I'm telling you, I this walk wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here talking right now. I wouldn't have nothing to say. My words would have no meaning without love, true love, not fake love, not fake love, not love so you love me, just love. And I'm a man that didn't love. I used to get mad at homeless people. I used to say, go get a job. I gotta work, I gotta deal with it. I used to get mad at all these things. I used to be angry with all my brothers and sisters. I used to get me angry at the world. But that's the first thing, brothers and sisters, is that love. That love and believe. And and and you know what, man? I didn't want to do TikTok. I didn't, and you hear it, you hear people saying, I had no, nobody called me to do. I did not want to do social media. I I wasn't intending on praising God. But I but but but but what he's doing in my life, I said, people need to hear this. People need to see me, and that's how it started, really, is just praising God. I worked at Home Depot, I would put up my camera, I would play a song, and I would just praise God. And listen, I lived in this fear. I lived in this fear of what people would think my whole life, but I wasn't created that way. Remember in the beginning, I told you I was jumping up and down in church, I was screaming hallelujah. I I wasn't created that way. I wasn't created to live in fear, brother. I was created to sing his name. I was created to scream his name. I was created to to praise his name on every mountain and every valley. That's what I was created to do. I was created to blow the trumpet for God. To blow the trumpet, to call people to God. That's it. That's it. And and and I lived in this fear because of addiction and hurt and pain and things holding on to my father's leg and divorce and all these things that are sins of the world. All these things that are sins of the world kept me in a fear where I wouldn't go out and speak Jesus' name, where I was afraid to bend a knee, where I was afraid to go in the middle of Walmart, set up my phone and listen to a song and get on my needs. I would be afraid. But brothers and sisters, when I would do these things, when I do these things, when God Kept telling me to do these things. When I get up after bending my knee, when I get done making a video, 99% of the time I got a brother or sister I don't even know saying, Go, God. I love God. You keep going, brother. We needed to see that. You don't know who is asking God for something. You don't know who God is calling. You don't know where He's calling them. But, brothers and sisters, until we get out there and we praise His name and we lift it up. We got brothers and sisters that need to see you. He's He's combining us. You might be calling for a sign, and He might be telling me to go out and praise. You know? You might be you might be on the fence about believing, and He might he might be bringing me to come preach the word in this parking lot. This is our God. He's perfect. He's perfect and He calls us from all directions. Uh one more quick thing, brother. How however old you are, brother, I'm I'm 38, right? We've had a life, a testimony, ups and downs, um, all these things. But you know what's so awesome about our God? All the stuff you've been through. We're here right now. We're here right now. He brought us here right now. This is him. Right now, out of all the places you could be, out of all the things you could be doing. I know a little bit of your testimony, brother. You you could be so far gone and somewhere else, not here. But look what this is why I continue to say love your neighbor. Live, do not live in fear, preach his name, shout his name, love, bring the gospel, bring the good news, be the light. What's brighter? One light boba, a million, right? Be the light, brothers and sisters. Be the light. Love on people. Stop living with that fear that the enemy brings in your life. Stop living with that fear and get on TikTok, get on YouTube, get on Facebook, make a video. I don't, if you have one follower, you have a whatever it is, get on, tell your story. Start going to God. Put God first in the morning, right? Start reading your Bible. Start getting to know God so you can know who you are, brothers and sisters. And and we're gonna keep going. Listen, there's days I'm tired. I go out and do Uber every day. I have kids. I have my wife. I have all these things going on. And there's days where I'm like, oh, like, you know, what's that one song? All I have is a hallelujah raising my hands. But but but you know what keeps me going is God never took a day off with me. God never took a day off. God always showed up for me, brother.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:46

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:50

God never took a day off with me, brother. Not one day, not one day, and and and and listen, you're gonna hear the same message. If you come to my life, if you come to my page, you're gonna hear the same message, the same message. It needs to be heard. It is the message of this book. Love your neighbor, bring the good news, be the light of the world. Praise his name. We were made to praise. We were made to praise. And it and and and and people are like, you know, we we think of praising, like God just standing there, like, praise me. No, no, he's almighty God, he's almighty God. We praise him, we praise him, brothers and sisters, so we can become the light, so people can see God in us. That's why we praise, that's why we give him glory, that's why we all gather and we love on each other. He don't need us to be like, wow, you're you know what I mean. He's God, he's he's omnipotent, he's alpha and omega, he he holds all things, he created us, he put us here. We just need to praise so the laws can see. It's not about the 99 brothers and sisters, it's about the one. It's always been about the one. You know why it's about the one? Because I was the one and you were the one. We were all the ones, and some of us like some of us like to get with Jesus, some of us like to get with Christ and and think we're we we just now we just praise him and and and and live our lives and we're saved, and you are saved. You are saved, but our Jesus came to bring us a message. Jesus was saved, Jesus was God. He he still went out and and had disciples write down every word he said, and he still went into places where he could be harmed, and he still traveled, he was God, he was saved. So we're all saved, we're just gonna stop. I'm telling you right now, brothers and sisters, darkness is rising up. Darkness is trying to get us, and he is calling his children to rise up, and we are on the winning side. We are on the winning side. We are on the winning side. And and listen, he said, my my my yoke is easy and my burden is light. My yoke is easy. He doesn't want us jumping through hoops, he doesn't want us, you know, you gotta do all this crazy stuff, and just be with him and believe. Remove that tiny little seat of doubt where you question him on a Tuesday morning. Remove that little tiny little seat of doubt where where when your car breaks down. I just had it happen. My my car broke down. And and for 37 years, I would have said, God, I've been on TikTok. God, I've been I've been praising your name. God, I've been reading the Bible. Why would you let my car break down? But no, it's thank you, God. It's you're a good God. See, he is a good God. See, he is a good God. He could be saving me, he could have been brought in me here today. He's got the plan. He has the plan, not me, not you. He has the plan. And the only way to follow his plan is to fully surrender, lead with love, and and and and pick up your cross and follow him. That's the only way to follow. It's the only way. I know, I know, I know we we get these callings, we get these things. Listen to God. Listen to God. It might not be exactly what you pictured in your head when you get there, but you will see that he led you there. And and there's nothing from stopping us, brothers and sisters. There's nothing from stopping us. We serve a good God, and he is a living God, and and and and his grace and mercy, his grace and mercy, you have been forgiven so many times. He has shown you grace and mercy all over your life so many times. And brothers and sisters, do you know what his grace and mercy is? His grace and mercy is his love. He loves you, he loves you, he overwhelmingly loves you. Now tell me a brother or sister, and you could steal their car, you could steal their money, you could not listen to them, you could turn your back on them, you could not read their word, they could tell you the exact way to go, you don't listen, and they're gonna stick around in your life. Jesus sticks around. Jesus is always here. Whether you're turning your back, I don't recommend it, but but I want you to know that that the life you have lived and and the wrongs you have done, and the the things you have built up inside of you, and the darkness and following and all of your mistakes are only doing one thing, are leading you to our our Lord and Savior. They're leading you. Stop letting them push you away, stop letting them push you away, and start letting them bring you to Jesus. And there's only one way to get them out. There's only one way to heal. There's only one way, and that's hand them over to Him. Who else in your life can you hand over all these burdens? You don't even want them. You don't even want these burdens. Yet we hold on to them. Yet we grip them tight. And well, I can't let this go. This this is my job. This is what feeds my kids. This is my car. This is this is this, this. We hold on. We don't even want it. We don't even want it. Hand it over to God. Start praising his name, start being the light of the world, start loving your neighbor, remove the seed of doubt, and and and keep going and keep going and praising his name. And and and one more thing, brother. Unity. Unity. Unity in the body of Christ. We have a million different denominations. We have a million different churches. We have one that's saying just a little something different. I'm telling you right now, this is why God called me to praise him. This is why I say love your neighbor. I say be the light of the world. I say bring the good news. I say surrender. Because all of those things are common in all of those everything. You have to keep, those are the things. Those are the things. You can't steer nobody wrong. You can't, you can't hurt no new Christian. You can't, you can't turn them away because he says, woe to the man who makes one of these little ones stumble. You're not gonna cause nobody to stumble by telling them to be the light of the world, to bring the good news, to love their neighbor, to surrender, to remove the seed of doubt. This is why I stick. This is why God has me playing that trumpet and saying these things. Because the thing is to not turn nobody away from Jesus. Nobody away. No matter what they prior believed, no matter what they went against, no matter what denomination they are, we need to come together. We all need to come together. I can't say it enough. And if you want to join us, if you want to come together with us, if you want to bring unity to the body of Christ, I go live every day. It's Church with Chuck on TikTok. I have TikTok, I have Facebook and Instagram, but I don't post much on there. Um but it's church with Chuck everywhere. Just search Church with Chuck. Find me, come to our lives, message me. We have group chat. We we're trying, brother. Listen, we we don't always get caught up in in we we we make sure we just praise God. We make sure we give God the glory every day. And you are welcome, and and and you are welcome if you're a kind of inbeliever, if you're on the fence, if you're not sure, um color, race, uh nationality, prior religion. We're coming, and I'm gonna say it one more time. We're coming, we're surrendering to God, we're removing the seed of doubt, we're we're we're sitting at Jesus' table, we're getting to know him, we're walking at the light of the world, and we're bringing the good news and we're loving our neighbor. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:57

That's it.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:57

And you're welcome to join us, and and and I've met our brother Dwayne through this. And when you're walking in that manner, you can see your brothers and sisters. You see if they're faking it, you see if they're not, you can see their hearts, you can see their love, and and and and we're not called the judge, but inside the body of Christ, we use discernment and we see it only so we can help. If a brother or sister isn't fully in on Jesus, we don't kick them out. We we see that, we judge that so we can help. That's what the judging is for. So we can help bring unity, not to kick people out, not to say you're not worthy, but you have to use some discernment. And I see the love of Jesus, and I see Jesus working all in my brother's life, and uh and the people he surrounds himself with, the people that Jesus have called to your life are are are all doing the similar thing, and it's an awesome thing to see. And and I'm I I'm I'm thankful to God every day. He's using me and bringing these people in my life. And there was a time where I did feel alone and I didn't have nobody, and he's completely brought me to this place. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:03

Amen, amen. And listeners, I'm just telling you, what you just listened to for about the last 10 minutes, that fire, that passion from Chuck, that's what he brings every single day in his lives on TikTok. I'm telling you, check him out. He comes in there, he plays this worship music, and he comes in and just shares what the Holy Spirit lays on his heart and it flows. And I'm telling you, he is he is making a change in this world. He's a world changer because you can go into his lives, and there are hundreds of people in there watching, engaging, having that seed planted. It's absolutely amazing to watch, man. And and I just want to say thank you. Thank you for your obedience to what God is calling you to do. So, for our listeners, man, if if you have not watched or heard Church of Chuck on TikTok, man, you need to be there. He is so passionate, he brings the fire, he brings the word just like you heard for the last 10 minutes, for the last hour. But man, you you do not want to miss it. I'm talking about he is reaching so many people. There are hundreds of people in his room every single day, just looking at his content, getting that seed that he's planning, man. I'm just telling you, worship music, a good time with him. And and Chuck, what what times are you on every day? Do you have a set set time that you're on?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:43

Um, forever we went, we were going live. Like I said, we've uh today will be 252 days straight. Um and I keep saying that, but I want everyone to know it's not in a boastful manner or or anything. We we we we started going live every day because we serve a consistent God. Um, before I say the times, I do want to say why I go live every every every every day. Um, real quick, I I just God just called me to praise him on on social media. I started going live and I started on a Monday, and that Sunday came around, and uh that Sunday came around, and I uh that Saturday night I was like, you know, I'm not gonna go live. No one's gonna listen, no one's gonna show up. Everyone has their own church, everyone has their own thing to go to. It'll be my day off. Oh, I I won't, I won't do nothing. And and immediately the Holy Spirit came to me and said, What about the ones who don't? What about the ones who don't have a church? What about the ones who don't have a home church? What about the ones and what about just one person who might want to hear the word of God or praise God that day? Um, and I I I listened to the Holy Spirit, and after so many years of not listening, I I begin to listen. Uh that that's really where all this is coming. Um, I listen to the Holy Spirit now. I let the Holy Spirit lead my life. But I went live that Sunday and it was it was the biggest live of the whole week. You know, we were having 20, 30 people. This is when we first started, and we almost hit 100 people on that Sunday. Um, that's that listen, you listen to God, he he shows you that you're listening. He he gives you people to hear his word if you speak his word, if you love them, all of these things. Um, but what what it really starts is uh 10:30 in the morning. We were doing lives um every day. Um, he recently the Holy Spirit switched it to at night. Um, I've been praying a long time that then God slows me down. I was going nonstop. I do Uber. Um I have the kids, they had school. Um, so he switched it to at night. Um, it's 8 30 at night, and we've recently left my house and we're now doing it in random parking lots every night. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:07

Um just showing up yeah, 8 30 p.m.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:10

Eastern, 8 30 p.m. Eastern. Um, and then we show up every day and and we we we let the Holy Spirit move in the live. Um, and and we praise him. I bring my iPad, we listen to some worship music. We just give the glory to God. We lock eyes with the king. Um, he moves us, he brings in whoever he wants. Um he he he leads people there. Um and he's building a uh a very powerful, God-loving, brother-loving, sister-loving, neighbor-loving um community. Um, we're getting to know more people. Um, and it he he's constantly changing it. So you stay a time at night, right now it's 8:30. Um, he could bring me back inside, he could change the time, but but I do know we go live every day. Um, I usually update on the TikTok and then say what time, but right now it's 8:30 at night p.m. Eastern. Um, and if he's gonna change it, he's gonna change it. If he's gonna tell me to do something else. Um, even that is just powerful what happened. Um the morning I woke up, he was telling me to stop. I just kept hearing stop. And I was like, what, what, stop, God? Like, what are you talking about? Stop. Um, but for a couple of days prior, I was having issues with my sound equipment. Um, my microphone and my head, like people couldn't hear the music, and he was just telling me stop. So I, you know, I went live that night and my music wasn't working, nothing was working, and he said, go. He said, go. And I said, Oh, I wrapped up all my stuff, I threw it in a bin, and I grabbed my phone, I grabbed my Bible, I grabbed my iPad, and I got in my car and I started driving. Uh, about five minutes into driving, he said, find the light. He said, Find the light. I said, All right, God, we're gonna find the light. So I see, I look over to my left in the parking lot. There's this big light. I go drive under the light. Um, and uh we we we started worshiping them right there. Um, you know, uh actually the very first night, somebody called the sheriffs on us um in that parking lot, right? Um, and and that's just somebody not knowing what's going on, uh, whatever is going on. But but listen, the sheriff showed up, man, and they the kid was like, This is awesome. We just have to check. He's like, keep going, no one's telling you to leave. So another uh uh affirmative from our Lord and Savior. Another yes, keep listen, I told you to stop, I told you to go, I told you to find the light, and now enemy is trying, the enemy, darkness is trying to stop you. But I'm I'm sending these sheriffs here to tell you, keep going, Chuck. You're listening to me, you're where I want you. Um, and I and and I stayed there and I praised. Um, we move from different spots, but the past two times we went back to that original spot, we've had people come up to us, give us hugs, um, say this is awesome. So every time we're at that spot, he keeps affirming that then that's, you know. Um, but we're we're we're we're just listening to God. It's not like, oh, I think I should go um out into this parking lot and people should hear me. God's calling us there. And that's what the whole live is. That that's what the whole my whole walk is. That's what people want to come and be there because God's calling us. God's leading the live, God's picking the music, God's bringing everybody in. It's all out of our control. We we try to control too much stuff. Even people who fully believe, even people who are fully believing, devout Christians and and live into the word, we still I struggle with it. I struggle with it, giving God control. Um, but the live, the TikTok is a way then I work on that. Then I I give God the stage, I give him the platform. It's all his. Whatever he has to say, I let him speak from my heart. And and I just remain obedient and I remain praising him and I remain loving and I remain open, open. His door is open right now. Um, so I walk through this door and I'm inviting my brothers and sisters to stop walking through the wrong door and start walking through the right door. And that's what it is. And and everyone's welcome. Everyone's welcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:36

Amen. Thank you for sharing that, man, and and thank you for your obedience. You know, you you could choose anything that you want to do in this world. Yep. Yep. Choosing to follow Jesus, man. And I'm proud of you for that. And as we wrap down, man, there's a there's a couple questions here on Faithful Warrior Podcast that we'd like to ask every one of our guests and to share it for a minute. And and the first question is, what is your favorite Bible verse?

SPEAKER_01 1:27:03

Um, the the I have a whole verse. I have a whole whole piece of scripture. It's um it's Corinthians, uh Corinthians 13. Now, in my Bible, it has a title. It's called The Excellence of Love, but it's to teach us about love. Um it's what we need to do this walk. We we need love. We need love. Um, especially if you want to spread the word of God. Um, especially, you know, um, yeah, you could get started, but he's gonna teach you love right away. He's gonna show you love right away. It's something you have to have in your heart um to truly spread the word of God, to truly spread the good news. Um, but the whole verse is just awesome. Um, just just speaking to us of that we're we're noisy gongs. If we don't Don't have love, faith, hope, and love. Most importantly, the is love, um, teaches you how to love, um, doesn't hold anybody a wrong against anybody, is patient, is kind, does not boast, um, is not jealous. Um, when I was a child, I used to think and speak like a child. Now that I'm a man, I did away with childish things. Um, it's such a powerful, it it I all brothers and sisters should should know that scripture, should read that scripture, um, and and and live their life by it. Um, honestly, um it's so powerful. And it and and listen, it it's something, brothers and sisters, I just want to let you know that I talk about things that I have experienced, I've talked about things that I've gone through, I've talked about things that God did in my life. And I'll tell you right now, a hundred percent, you know, I be honest with people, I didn't love. I didn't even love myself. I didn't even love myself. Um I didn't love, man. And and and it's one of the things that listen, God is always with us, but it kept me away from seeing him. It kept me away from seeing what he's doing in my life because I was blocking his blessings by not loving and and and all these other things. Um so, you know, we we use the word love all the time. We always say, I love you. And I I say it all the time, I love you, brothers and sisters. But do you know the definition of love? Do you know what love is? And if you don't, it's okay. Learn it. Learn it. You know, I I uh I never knew to love somebody is to not be provoked, you know? When and and we deal with that a lot in the Christian community. I'm on TikTok, I see lives where people are arguing over the scripture, and and Genesis says this, and Revelation says this, and when is the end and what was the beginning? And it is Jesus our Lord and Savior. And you see people getting provoked. I know the scripture better than you, brothers and sisters. It is the word of God. It should be bringing us together. We should be loving each other, we should be encouraging each other and using it, not battling it out to who knows what scripture the best and and all these things. And and and he's there's a reason why he's teaching us these things. It's all to build up our walk, it's all to be the light of the world, it's all to bring people to Jesus, and and love is the number one way. Love is the number one way, you know. If you have somebody who doesn't believe, you go up, you tell them they're a sinner, you tell them all they're doing wrong, just love them. Love them, tell them you love them, tell them Jesus loves them, be kind to them. I I use this as an example, you know. Go out and and and and be nice, you know how much it means? You know how many conversations I've had with people about our Lord and Savior because I've held a door for somebody walking into a gas station, or or or somebody's dropped something and I picked it up. Like these are all things. And then when we're not loving, we're not doing these things. And and and and most importantly, don't love to be loved back. Now, now TikTok is very known for I follow you because I want you to follow me back, or or I'll act like I like you or love you so you follow. It's all about it's it's the way the app was created. It's all about that. Now, the app, I say this in my lives, the app was created with evil intentions. But whatever is evil, our God can take it and use it for good. And that's what he's doing, brothers and sisters. There's a lot of evil things with the following, with the ranks, with the gifts, with everything, how it's made, to just it's it to have you be fake with each other and not truly love and just you, I need followers, or I'm mad you don't have enough followers, or no one's listening. Bring the word of God, love God through it. Um, speak about God, don't get caught up in the evilness of anything, and and and stay focused on our Lord and Savior. Keep loving, He'll make a way. And I'm telling you right now, we get caught up on the followers, we get caught up on abuse.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:18

He will bring who needs to hear what what you're speaking.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:23

Yeah, what you're speaking, yep. If it's from it, if you're leading with love, and you're and you're sitting here saying, God, I surrender to you, God, I love you, God, I follow you, God, you know what's best, and you're just leading your life in that manner. He will bring the people into your life, into your life, and and he will hear that, they will hear the message. And some days it will be one person, some days it'll be ten, some days you'll have 500 people in there listening to you. You don't know, but it's God's, it's all in God's hands. We just gotta be servants of Christ and love.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:59

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:00

So that's my favorite scripture.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:02

Amen. Come on, all right. The next one is is what does it mean to you to be a faithful warrior?

SPEAKER_01 1:33:12

A faithful warrior? Consistency, consistency, um, and love and uh and and compassion and caring and and and and and when you tell yourself, oh, I'm busy, oh I got a lot going on, oh I gotta get this done. You know, I always encourage the people that come to my life or a part of the ministry, take time out of each and every one of your days. Message a couple people, whether they're random people, just say I love you, just say I'm praying for you, just say God loves you. A quick, it takes, listen, these things take five, 10 minutes and they could change somebody's whole life, they could change somebody's whole walk. Um, I I try I get caught up. Listen, I get caught up. Some days I don't do it, some days I forget it. But I it listen, you're gonna make mistakes, but it's all where your heart is pointed. Everything is where your heart is pointed. If you're if you're truly want people to come to Jesus, and that's where your heart is pointed. The mistakes you make, maybe missing a day, it's okay. You're on the foundation of God, and your heart is pointed towards loving each other. And and that's a faithful warrior to me is having your heart pointed with love at all of your neighbors, being consistent, being compassionate, and and and and and letting the world know that Jesus loves them, Jesus loves them, and you are forgiven. You are forgiven.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:44

Amen. Amen. Amen, brother, amen. And man, it's it's been a uh an action-packed, powerful uh podcast, man, a show, and and again, I just want to say thank you. And uh as we close, man, remember this being a faithful warrior is not about the strongest person in the room, it's about it's not about having it all together, it's about faithfulness to Jesus. No matter what the battle is you face. If you're walking through a difficult season today, don't quit. Keep trusting, keep praying, and keep moving forward. God is not finished with your story until next time. Stay faithful, keep your eyes on Christ, and remember the battle is real, but so is the God who walks with you through it. We'll see you on the next episode of Faithful Warriors Podcast.