Surprised By Revival, Mary Kemp Smith's Story

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Welcome friends to the Her God Story podcast where you will always hear a good story to

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encourage and inspire you in your walk with the Lord.

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I'm your host Jodie Chiricosta, ministry leader at Somebody Cares America International, author

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and traveler on this journey of faith.

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If you haven't done so yet, make sure to like or follow this podcast on your favorite streaming

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platform so you won't miss any inspiring episodes.

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You probably know by now that I always ask my guests what woman of the Bible has inspired,

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encouraged, or taught her something, but what about you?

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I'd love to hear what woman of the Bible has helped you in your walk of faith.

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So email me at hergodstory@somebodycares.org and tell me why.

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I just might read it in a future episode to encourage others who are listening.

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Remember, email me at hergodstory@somebodycares.org.

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Verse John 5:20 says a startling thing.

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The NLT reads, and "we know that the Son of God has come and He has given us understanding

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so that we can know the true God.

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And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with His

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Son Jesus Christ.

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He is the only true God and He is eternal life."

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My guest, Mary Kemp Smith, has made it a priority to know God, to fellowship with Him, and to

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make Him known.

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I've been acquainted with Mary for many years and have seen in action her love for God and

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her servant's heart.

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Mary has been involved in loving and serving the people of God as a pastor at New Life

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Church in Houston, Texas for over 30 years.

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As a wife and mother of four, Mary has a mother's heart to nurture the body of Christ to maturity.

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She's led women's ministries, children's ministry, and hospitality at the church.

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And since the passing of her first husband, Dusty, she serves as senior pastor of the

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church with the support and help of her husband, Brett.

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She believes that the good news of Jesus changes lives and her great joy is to see people transformed

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by His love.

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Welcome, Mary.

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Good morning, Jodie.

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Thank you so much for having me on today.

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It is an honor.

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Mary, you're a pastor and you spend your life introducing people to Jesus.

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But to do that, you had to first be introduced to Him yourself.

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Tell us a little about your background and how you met the Lord.

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I grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and we were a member of two churches.

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One was the UPC and the other was a Methodist church that my father liked.

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We went to both.

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My father traveled a lot, so I was in and out of both churches.

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My parents had a very traumatic divorce when I was in fifth grade, and it split our family.

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And I only went to the Methodist church.

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But we had a youth pastor that was filled with the Holy Spirit, and it was a secret

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from the leadership.

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So on any outreaches and some of our NYF meetings, we would have a lesson and we would pray,

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and it would be about the Holy Spirit.

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So I had an encounter with Him at a very young age where I was very introverted and really

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traumatized, and Jesus was my everything.

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I wrote journals to Him every day, read my Bible, and really it was my life at that age.

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Now when I came to my twenties, I was backslidden.

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I always had the guilt.

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Could not enjoy anything because I knew too much, and He was always wooing me, always

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wooing me.

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So my history with Jesus goes back to when I was 11 years old.

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So a lot of people have that salvation experience when they're young, and then another really

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defining moment as an adult when they determine to follow Christ.

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So you said you backslid kind of in your teens, and I think you had another defining moment.

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How did that happen?

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I was an adult in my late twenties, and I decided, you know what, I don't like this.

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I don't like myself.

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I don't like this life.

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I'm going to go back to church.

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I had visited churches, but I ended up with John Osteen at Lakewood and got very involved

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in that church, and I loved him and Doty, and that's where I was, and very happy there.

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Got my life back serving, totally involved in Lakewood when I had a friend that kept

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telling me, you know what, I love Lakewood too, but you ought to come over to this church

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and visit.

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It's right where you work.

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It's off Britmoor.

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You should visit Dusty Kemp's church.

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You'll love it.

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That's where I go, and I'm like, well, I'm not really looking for another church, but

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I was intrigued.

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So I visited the church on Christmas Eve, loved it.

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It was smaller, and I felt connected somehow, and I loved it.

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So I started going, and I was introduced to Dusty because he was building a new church

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at the time, and my mother was a commercial interior designer, and I heard him complaining

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about the parking lot costing so much money, and Doty, you know, Dusty was very funny.

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So I went up to him after church, and I said, do you have someone helping me with this?

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And he said, my sister.

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Yeah, talk to my sister, and just blew me off.

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I'm like, okay, all right, that's fine.

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So anyway, I did, I called the office because I wanted her to have the business, and I really

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wanted to help them because it looked like they were kind of doing it on their own, and

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she had all the resources to help them.

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And so I set up a meeting and walked in his office where he interrogated me.

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My mother was late.

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He interrogated me about when did you get saved, or are you filled with the Holy Spirit?

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And he was actually very funny, but I was scared of him.

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And at that meeting, my mother came in, and we talked, and she ended up getting the job,

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helping them, and she invited him over for dinner, and I lived with her.

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And I was so embarrassed and just completely out of sorts with that.

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He was not married.

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And here she's inviting this single man pastor to our church.

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So I got through that, but then we became close, close friends, and I attended his church,

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and then we started dating and got married a year later.

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So that was my entry into the ministry full-time.

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After you're married, you jumped right into the ministry with Dusty.

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But after a few years, because of all the demands, you're both wiped out, and you were

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able to take a week away for a vacation in Florida to rest.

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And God had a remarkable encounter for you there.

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Cher, what happened?

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Yes, he did.

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It was 96.

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We had a one-year-old, and I was tired.

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We were tired.

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And we had a vacation to Florida, and my mother called us and said, hey, you should go to

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this revival in Pensacola.

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We were an hour down the road from Pensacola.

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And we're like, we don't want to go to church.

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We're tired.

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We're going to do nothing.

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We're just going to rest and be.

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And around, that was the beginning of the week, Monday.

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And then on Saturday, Dusty said, you know what, let's go to church.

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Let's go check that out.

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And I'm like, OK.

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All right.

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He'd been reading about it.

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So we drove, left the baby with my mother-in-law at the condo.

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And we drove to the church and got there, and there were 1,000 people in line in the

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parking lot.

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And we didn't know anything about it, really.

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We had no idea.

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We hadn't seen that before.

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People in line to go to church.

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And we were, wow.

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OK.

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There was no parking.

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We drove around, finally found a place, got in line in the back of the line.

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These people had been there all day.

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So we're talking to the ones around us, and they're telling us their stories.

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Many of them had been multiple times.

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It had been going on for a year.

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And we were really excited.

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And they said, you know, you probably won't get in the main sanctuary, but they have overflow

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in another building.

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And we're like, that's fine.

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We don't care.

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So we're standing in line, and here comes this man walking down the line saying, senior

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pastors, any senior pastors?

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And we're like, no, we're not raising our hands and getting in front of all these people

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in line.

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We're, no, no way.

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And so we just put our head down, didn't say anything.

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But the people around us were like, right here, right here, because we've been talking

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to them.

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We're like, no, no, we're fine.

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We're good to stand in line with y'all.

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We're good.

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And the usher said, no, we bring all the pastors in.

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You all have seating in the front in folding chairs.

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We're like, we don't, we really don't want to do that.

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We don't want to do that walk in front of all these people have been here all day.

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And they said, no, you have to come with us.

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And we're like, oh.

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So we'd had that walk of shame in front of the whole line.

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Getting, we went on and got in the church and sat in the folding chairs down front.

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And it was, they opened the doors.

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People streamed in.

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It was very loud, very exciting because everybody was just excited about what was, we had no

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idea what to expect, but it felt good in there.

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And the minute that Lyndell Cooley came to his keyboard and started playing, the presence

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of God fell.

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And we were, I cried.

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It was so amazing because I could see tears fly out of my eyes.

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Like forcefully, that had never happened to me before.

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Fly out and like, what is happening to me?

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What is this?

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And it was just beautiful and so healing.

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The heavy presence of God.

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There were people that were crying and shouting and lots of stuff going on in the room, but

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we were quiet and just happy to be there.

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We heard a great message, amazing worship, great message from Steve Hill.

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He had an altar call.

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We had to pick up our chairs and move it to the side.

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So we got to stand there and watch as people flooded to the altar, falling on their face,

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on their knees, crying, crying, crying, and just weeping loudly.

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And Steve said, hey, hang around, we're going to pray for you.

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We're going to lay hands on everybody.

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The prayer team is ready to lay hands on you.

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Well, we couldn't get near Steve or any John Kilpatrick, Michael Brown.

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We couldn't get it close to any of them.

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They would, he would say, follow us around, pursue, pursue the anointing.

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We couldn't get close to them.

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There are crowds of people surrounding them.

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So we got prayed for by a member of the prayer team and mine was a little old lady.

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I loved her.

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She was so sweet.

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She laid her hands on me and prayed for me.

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I thanked her.

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I didn't feel anything.

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I didn't know what I was supposed to feel, but I was thankful to get prayer and have

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that deposit from her.

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And we left and drove back and got in very late.

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I think it was one in the morning and went to sleep.

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No change.

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Woke up the next morning.

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Dusty was already on the balcony and I got up and walked out and stood at the door and

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looked at the water.

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I'm like, Whoa, look at how beautiful the water is today.

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It's so, it's so bright and everything.

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Wow.

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Did something happen?

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It just feels fresh and clean.

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And he looked at me and he said, what's, what happened to you?

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I'm like, what?

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And he's like, why are you acting like that?

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I'm like acting like what?

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It's just, it's so beautiful.

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He said, Mary, we've been here all week.

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It's no different.

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I'm like, well, it looks different.

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Okay.

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Well, he just looked at me weird.

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So I went in, I said, you know what?

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I'm going to go get in the bathtub.

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I'm going to go take a shower, grab my coffee, went in, wanted, I really wanted some alone

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time.

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So the minute that I got in the shower, I said, Oh Lord, thank you.

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I love you.

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Something descended upon me in the shower.

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Just, I mean, came down on me.

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I started shaking all over.

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It kind of scared me.

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I didn't know what it was.

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I, I just started praising him.

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I started praying, praying in tongues.

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I did not know something was happening to me.

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My hands were shaking.

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I'm like, okay, I'm going to put my robe on, wrap up my hair.

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I went back outside and I said, something's happening to me and I'm shaking all over.

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And he said, yeah, what, what is it?

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He said, put your, lay your hands on me.

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I want it.

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So I just laid my hands on him and pray for him.

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And he's like, Whoa, my mother-in-law came out, lay your hands on me too.

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I want it.

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I'm like, I don't even know what this is.

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Okay.

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Pray for her.

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She falls.

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We're just, you know, lay my hands on my baby.

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You know, we're just, we're praising the Lord.

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This is wild, feels so good.

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But I know it's something fresh and new.

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It's just the fire of God.

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Everything that they had talked about the night before was happening to us, but we didn't

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really understand it.

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But okay, we're just, we're going to go with it.

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Lord, whatever you're doing.

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Yes.

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So that day we're like, we're going back to church.

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We're going back.

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We stayed another week.

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Every night we got more.

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It was more.

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We're laughing.

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We're just ecstatic because we have been revived and we didn't even know that we needed to

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be revived.

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But this was fresh and new.

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We were tired.

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Ministry, we had been, you know, just really hitting it.

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Of course, I was a new mother.

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I was exhausted, but I was refreshed.

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My energy just renewing, renewing my mind, my body, my spirit was, I can say it was more

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alive.

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I looked at things differently.

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Things were brighter, just totally new and fresh.

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So we brought all of our staff up that next week.

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Rented vans, brought them all down.

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We all went to church.

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Everybody had the same experience.

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It was just wonderful.

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And so then we had to go home and we were excited to be back in church and tell everybody

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what we had experienced and just to lay hands on everybody like that had happened to us.

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Yes, I'm still shaking and I was the only one that was.

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My hand was very just shaking.

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And then I had this new thing of bowing, which really I was uncomfortable with because I'm

281
00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:12,440
very, I wouldn't say stoic.

282
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I'm not stoic, but I am very quiet, if that's a good word, not prone to outburst of any

283
00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:26,400
emotion, you know, very traditional.

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So I was doing all this stuff that I didn't understand, but I went with it because it

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was the Lord.

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So we walked in the back door of the church for that Sunday morning after being gone two

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weeks and it was different when we walked in.

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It was, there was almost like his presence in a mist in the sanctuary.

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You could see it.

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We felt it.

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It's like, oh, he's, he's already here before us.

292
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And that was the beginning of revival for New Life Church.

293
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And it was September 8th, 1996.

294
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So we went through revival for five years.

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People would hear heard about it.

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We started praying for people.

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Things started happening.

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People started being healed.

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We started, we needed help.

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We started asking for, you know, people, we had our prayer team, but we started asking

301
00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,880
for, you know, to build the people to help us pray.

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00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:33,880
People standing in line.

303
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:38,400
It was the same thing that was happening in many churches in Houston.

304
00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,520
And anybody that wanted it could have it.

305
00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,940
And there we started reaching out to our friends, Steve and Becky Riggle.

306
00:17:45,940 --> 00:17:51,120
It was happening in their church, Grace Church on Gulf Freeway.

307
00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:54,480
And so we were comparing stories like, what, what are you doing, Doug?

308
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What's happening?

309
00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,320
And we went through years of that.

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It was beautiful.

311
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We had different people come in.

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We had Michael Brown in.

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We had John Kilpatrick in.

314
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Never worked out for Lindell Cooley.

315
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He was very, very busy.

316
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And well, they all were.

317
00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,960
We all were, but we just went with it.

318
00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:21,600
And we had Carla Santacondia, different people from Argentina, Pablo Batari, who taught us

319
00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:26,280
how to have a deliverance ministry during that time.

320
00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:32,240
He ran the deliverance ministry for Carla Santacondia in Argentina for their revival

321
00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:33,880
many, many years.

322
00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:42,800
So he taught us just, it was a beautiful time of learning about revival and the presence

323
00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:48,380
of God in his manifested glory and signs and miracles and wonders.

324
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It was all of it.

325
00:18:49,380 --> 00:18:53,280
It was just the most amazing years of my life.

326
00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:59,400
You know, Mary, many people are sensing that there's a new move of God coming, a new harvest.

327
00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,920
And looking back, when you look back at that season, is there anything that you would have

328
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:05,340
done differently?

329
00:19:05,340 --> 00:19:07,160
We learned so many things.

330
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:12,480
We learned what not to do.

331
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:19,200
It transitioned into, after many years, it transitioned into us becoming a church again.

332
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:24,840
We had lost a lot of members because we were a revival church and it was, you know, a lot

333
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:27,560
of different people coming in all the time.

334
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:34,640
And we weren't taking care of our families that had been members for a long time.

335
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:36,680
As many of them drifted off, they needed more.

336
00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:43,320
They needed, you know, to be outside of a revival church and all of the hoopla that

337
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:44,320
went with it.

338
00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:48,640
There was a lot going on in those years.

339
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:54,160
To do it over again, and I believe that the Lord has prepared all of us in this way, to

340
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,640
what does sustained revival look like?

341
00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:58,640
You've got to have discipleship.

342
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:05,000
You bring in all these people, they get changed, they get transformed, and then what happens?

343
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:09,320
You know, what do they do with that new life?

344
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:15,000
So you've got to have things in place to disciple them, to know the Word of God, to know what

345
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:21,240
this all means, to help them in their walk with the Lord and to know Him.

346
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:25,000
And we didn't have any of that in place.

347
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:33,200
I think that many churches now have course corrected and they have prepared to have teams,

348
00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:39,600
to have people that know the Word, that are strong in the Word, stable, steadfast, faithful.

349
00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:49,440
We have done this in the last ten years to become a discipleship training center.

350
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:50,440
We always have been.

351
00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:56,880
Dusty was school ministry, he was a teacher, he wrote curriculum.

352
00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,400
It's been in all the prisons.

353
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,800
We have all of that.

354
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:07,960
And we will be ready for the next influx of people into the kingdom.

355
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:15,000
You mentioned, you know, when kind of it ran out, you know, when the revival ended, you

356
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,000
went back to being a church.

357
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,520
Was it a letdown to you or did you sense God was doing something new?

358
00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:27,920
And what did it look like when you went back to, it wasn't really business as usual, it

359
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,760
was a new way of doing things for church, for you?

360
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:32,020
It was.

361
00:21:32,020 --> 00:21:35,640
We transitioned slowly into that.

362
00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,800
Dusty started his school of ministry again.

363
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:46,480
We started getting our groups back together and getting people connected with each other

364
00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:52,040
in relationship instead of it being just so much of, you know, in and out, people in and

365
00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,880
out the flow.

366
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,120
We had to rebuild our church and that's what we did.

367
00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:05,760
We focused on our discipleship programs and groups inside New Life Church and became a

368
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:07,880
new church.

369
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:14,920
So we, by that I mean, Somebody Cares, partnered with New Life Church and other churches around

370
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:21,200
Houston after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston to meet a lot of needs.

371
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:26,880
Share one or two of the things that you saw God do in that time.

372
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,400
It was the worst, the best and the worst of times.

373
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:39,100
It started with Katrina when so many of the evacuees from New Orleans and Baton Rouge

374
00:22:39,100 --> 00:22:44,600
came to Houston and they flooded every hotel.

375
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:45,960
Flooded is not the right word.

376
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:52,400
They were, they were evacuated here and they were in every hotel around our church.

377
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:59,200
They were on our property as Somebody Cares knows you immediately started finding your

378
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:00,960
churches to start serving in.

379
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:01,960
It's beautiful.

380
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,100
Somebody Cares is amazing.

381
00:23:04,100 --> 00:23:10,880
And Doug called us and we became a, the Western hub for Somebody Cares and the food bank.

382
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:17,520
So we immediately started getting 18 wheelers of food, supplies, water, and it would come

383
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,720
in and go right back out.

384
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:22,520
It was the most beautiful thing.

385
00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:23,920
Churches worked together.

386
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:25,880
We had food.

387
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:30,240
That was Katrina Ike and then Harvey, same thing.

388
00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,200
Somebody Cares, you're so organized.

389
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:40,220
Y'all immediately come in with your cooks, your supplies and your organizations nationwide.

390
00:23:40,220 --> 00:23:44,880
To many churches in the city, we all worked together to get the food out, get the supplies

391
00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:46,380
out.

392
00:23:46,380 --> 00:23:58,240
We worked with the police union and Ricky Bradshaw and all, you know, all of the gallery

393
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,000
furniture.

394
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:01,320
He was feeding people.

395
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,360
We would send meals just back and forth.

396
00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:09,700
Hey, it was, it was amazing because it very quickly got, got into place and we were calling

397
00:24:09,700 --> 00:24:10,700
each other.

398
00:24:10,700 --> 00:24:14,000
I called Mattress Mac and said, Hey, I've got 800 meals from the police union.

399
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:15,260
Do you need them?

400
00:24:15,260 --> 00:24:17,360
And he said, No, I've got all this food too.

401
00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:19,200
Do you need it from us?

402
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:20,400
We just all worked together.

403
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,560
We were so many phone calls to everyone in the city.

404
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:24,560
What do you need?

405
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:25,840
Okay, we've got this.

406
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:27,480
I'll send that.

407
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,360
And it was, it was an amazing time.

408
00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:36,840
We worked, everyone worked so hard and worked together with the first responders, the Cajun

409
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:37,920
Navy.

410
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,560
We were feeding them, housing people.

411
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,320
They were the responders were staying in our church building.

412
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:45,320
It was beautiful.

413
00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,160
It was a wonderful time.

414
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:52,580
And it was also a tragic time, especially during Katrina.

415
00:24:52,580 --> 00:24:58,480
We reached out to all the hotels and sent teams in to find out who was there, what they

416
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:03,560
needed, find out their stories, pick them up, bring them to church so we could love

417
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:04,560
on them.

418
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:10,600
And their stories were so many of them had to leave elderly in their homes that were

419
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,080
flooded that filled with water.

420
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:17,760
And they knew that, you know, they had to go back home at some point and find their

421
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,200
loved ones in the house.

422
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:21,200
And they did.

423
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:27,200
And we were able to be there for them and see help them through all of that, the grief,

424
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:28,200
the trauma.

425
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,800
It was just, it was horrendous.

426
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:38,280
Their stories of being rescued on their roofs or jumping into the water as it rose and flooded

427
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:43,960
their second story of their house and they would float down.

428
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:49,440
And the stories of provision that they had is the most amazing stories.

429
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:54,360
We're thirsty and we look over, oh, there's an eight pack of Coke.

430
00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:55,360
Grab it.

431
00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:58,040
And they're just floating, keeping their heads up.

432
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,440
They're all going with the flow.

433
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:05,960
And then they see a bridge that people are on, you know, they try to get to the bridge

434
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:12,080
and hands lifting them out of the water, bringing them to the, you know, up on the bridge and

435
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:16,160
food, you know, just there's so much in the water.

436
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:25,640
And getting on a bus coming to Houston and just the hand of God upon them all is stories

437
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:29,760
I will never forget the rest of my life.

438
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:39,280
The provision and hand of God on them and us during every storm, Katrina, Ike, the flood,

439
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:45,640
all the floods of Houston and Harvey being the worst and the last one that we had.

440
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,360
And I was just glad to be a part of it.

441
00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:51,880
Glad to be a part of somebody cares during that time.

442
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:57,640
We have a saying after so many, many disasters and we watch churches in their neighborhoods,

443
00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:02,600
reaching out to their neighborhoods and we have a saying that if God can get it through

444
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:06,840
you, he will get it to you.

445
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,600
And you know, that has certainly been the case with New Life Church and many of the

446
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,240
churches around the country that we've worked with.

447
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:18,200
I remember one story you and I were talking, we had heard about, I don't know, a thousand

448
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:23,400
meals that were at maybe at the police union and you went and picked them up not knowing

449
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:24,920
what you would do.

450
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:30,120
And then shortly after you got a call saying we need a thousand meals and you had them

451
00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:32,960
right in your car and took them right over to wherever they were needed.

452
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:34,520
I don't remember exactly where they were.

453
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:36,760
It was in some park nearby.

454
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,120
They were at the mall, Memorial City Mall.

455
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:45,920
They were responders living in trailers and their cars in the mall parking lot and they

456
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:47,640
didn't have food.

457
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:55,640
So yeah, that was and it was also the staging area for them to bring people from their homes

458
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:57,760
that they were rescuing in boats.

459
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,920
They would bring them to the parking lot of Memorial City Mall.

460
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:02,440
So they also, they had nothing.

461
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:08,120
They left their homes and so they needed clothes, shelter, food.

462
00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:13,960
That was the main points, the main things that we were searching for and finding and

463
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,240
bringing and it just snowballed.

464
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:18,200
I mean everybody started having food.

465
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,280
We got people places to stay, put them in homes.

466
00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,840
It was just an amazing time of God's provision.

467
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:31,640
So you're serving and you're seeing so many lives changed and people are maturing in their

468
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:37,460
faith when you experienced a sudden tragedy.

469
00:28:37,460 --> 00:28:38,840
What happened Mary?

470
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:43,280
Dusty was diagnosed with stage four cancer.

471
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:46,320
We kind of put everything on hold to deal with that.

472
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:54,360
He had to have a major surgery for his liver, three fourths of his liver removed.

473
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:58,540
And then he had the second surgery, came through that fine.

474
00:28:58,540 --> 00:29:09,280
Second surgery was removing most of his colon and digestive system and that was a 10 hour

475
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:10,280
surgery.

476
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:19,280
He might not live and I couldn't tell him that I had to keep him going and he made it

477
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,360
through that surgery.

478
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:25,320
That was really a touch and go time.

479
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:30,640
And then we brought, I brought him home and basically took care of him for five years,

480
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,380
five, six years.

481
00:29:32,380 --> 00:29:39,680
He got through all of that, all of the chemo radiation after the surgeries and was doing

482
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:48,480
well and had been told he was cancer free except for a small lesion around his lung.

483
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:54,560
Didn't think it, they didn't know if it would be anything, but he was on a chemo break vacation

484
00:29:54,560 --> 00:30:00,480
and on not taking anything strong, hair grew back, back in the pulpit preaching.

485
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,600
He never really missed only during the surgery times.

486
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:10,000
Otherwise he was in the pulpit if he had to sit in a chair on the floor, that's what he

487
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:11,000
did.

488
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:12,080
He wanted to, that was his life.

489
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,720
He loved it.

490
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:18,120
He was committed to being in the pulpit no matter how he felt.

491
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:25,760
And it really was a beautiful time because his theology about healing changed and he

492
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:32,440
started preaching what God, he also became a lot calmer and loving.

493
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,560
He would take money with him, cash everywhere he went.

494
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:38,480
He tipped and gave money to everybody he came in contact with.

495
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:44,040
He just couldn't get enough of talking to people and giving his testimony, the goodness

496
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,000
of God, he heals, all of that.

497
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:53,400
It was a wonderful time at the end of his cancer journey.

498
00:30:53,400 --> 00:31:00,060
And a Sunday morning he came in to preach, he felt good, lots of energy.

499
00:31:00,060 --> 00:31:05,680
He had, he walked over to me during the beginning of the service and he said, what is this on

500
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:06,680
my hands?

501
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:08,520
I'm like, what did you get into?

502
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,440
It looks like, is it gold paint?

503
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,800
And he wasn't really big on all the gold dust stuff.

504
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:17,280
He's like, I don't know if I believe it.

505
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:18,280
He hadn't seen it.

506
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:24,520
Well, he had gold dust on his hands and it was all over his hands and face.

507
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:25,520
And I just marveled.

508
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,520
It's like, okay, well, this is, you got the gold dust.

509
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,120
Do you believe it now?

510
00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:31,120
We laughed.

511
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,000
He was wiping it on people all over, wiping his jeans.

512
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,000
As soon as he wiped it off his hands, more would come.

513
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:38,000
He's like, I don't know.

514
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,520
I'm not going to make a big deal of this.

515
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:41,520
He just laughed.

516
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,880
Didn't even talk about it.

517
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:45,120
That was a Sunday morning.

518
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,440
That afternoon, watched some football.

519
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:48,440
We had dinner.

520
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,360
He had, you know, don't feel very good.

521
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:51,360
I'm like, what's going on?

522
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,360
He's like, I have indigestion.

523
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:54,720
Do you think I'm okay?

524
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:56,760
I'm like, well, let me give you something for it.

525
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:58,720
And he's like, yeah, it's not bad.

526
00:31:58,720 --> 00:31:59,720
Okay.

527
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,520
I'm going to finish the football game.

528
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,520
And I went upstairs to read and fell asleep.

529
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:10,600
He slept all over the house because he didn't sleep really well.

530
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:15,360
And I never knew if he was going to come to bed or be up, you know, four in the morning.

531
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:16,360
I never knew.

532
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:22,680
So I fell asleep and woke up at four realizing, okay, he's not in here, but I hear noise.

533
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,760
So I'm going to get up and see what he's doing.

534
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:27,640
He would often be having breakfast.

535
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:28,640
I'd walk in the den.

536
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:29,640
Hey, good morning.

537
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:31,760
Four in the morning, five in the morning.

538
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,520
So I went to the stairs, listened.

539
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:39,660
It was, no, he was in the, it was his radio in the guest room.

540
00:32:39,660 --> 00:32:45,840
So I walked in, the lights were off and I'm like, honey.

541
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:46,840
He didn't answer me.

542
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:50,080
I'm like, he fell asleep with the radio that loud and a fan.

543
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:53,240
He liked that room because it was cold.

544
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:54,240
Coldest room in the house.

545
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:58,280
So I was like, okay, I went over and I turned on the light, tried fumbling, trying to turn

546
00:32:58,280 --> 00:32:59,280
off his radio.

547
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:08,640
I couldn't turn on the light and realized, oh my goodness, he's gone.

548
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:09,640
And I touched him.

549
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:10,640
He was cold.

550
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,600
And I said, are you kidding me?

551
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:14,600
No answer.

552
00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,440
I went around and stood at the foot of the bed.

553
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:22,760
I couldn't believe it, but I knew.

554
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:28,320
I walked out of the room, walked down the stairs and I said, what do I do?

555
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:29,320
What do I do?

556
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:30,320
I called Brett.

557
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:32,800
Brett was our closest friend, lived down the street.

558
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:34,760
He was always at our house.

559
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:41,600
He was his assistant and I called him and all I could say was come, come, come now.

560
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:43,120
All right.

561
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:44,120
Hung up the phone.

562
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:45,560
I sat on the stairs for a minute.

563
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:49,040
I went, Lord, what do I do?

564
00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:50,560
And went back and stood at the end of the bed.

565
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,760
I'm like, okay, no, no, no, no, I'm going to raise him from the dead.

566
00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:55,760
This is too soon.

567
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:57,320
He's just well.

568
00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:58,880
No.

569
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:00,120
Stood at the point of my finger at him.

570
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,800
I said, in the name of Jesus.

571
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:09,960
And when I said that next to me, a male voice said, I didn't see anything.

572
00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:11,960
Don't.

573
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,520
And I, I, I, I glanced, you know, to my right.

574
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,160
I'm like, okay, all right.

575
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,060
And I just, I backed up.

576
00:34:21,060 --> 00:34:23,840
It was so quiet and still.

577
00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:32,520
And I tell people today that his skin glowed like gold and it, his, his skin was beautiful

578
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:34,080
and he was peaceful.

579
00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:39,200
His eyes were shut, just gone.

580
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:43,680
I walked out, turned off the alarm at the house, sat on the stairs and waited for Brett

581
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:44,680
to get there.

582
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:47,040
It was not long flew by me.

583
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:48,200
He said, what's going on?

584
00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:50,080
I said, he's gone.

585
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:57,480
And he said, no, flew by me up the stairs, went in the room, came out, called 911.

586
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:03,320
So I called 911 and our house became a crime scene with the police, paramedics.

587
00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:07,200
They even put the yellow tape up outside.

588
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:09,440
And I just sat on the sofa upstairs.

589
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:15,440
I called a couple of my friends who came over and sat with me, prayed, just held my hand.

590
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:20,480
We sat there and we waited and they, they pronounced him dead.

591
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,720
Coroner's office called and said, based on his history, do you want to have an autopsy?

592
00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:26,480
And I said, I can't bear it.

593
00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:27,480
No.

594
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:32,600
And she said, okay, based on his history and I'm going to sign off on this if that's the

595
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:33,600
best thing for you.

596
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,040
She was so sweet.

597
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:40,560
And then we called, it was a while they got all his medications.

598
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,840
You know, they had to take all of that.

599
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:48,400
And I called the funeral home that I'd already been through this with my dad.

600
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:49,400
So I knew who to call.

601
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,600
I called Klein Funeral Home, who's amazing.

602
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:59,120
They came and packed him up.

603
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:06,920
And by that time staff had shown up and some of our leaders and we had, they had to carry

604
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:13,560
him down the stairs and I stood at the bottom and they ringed the stairs on both sides and

605
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:14,720
we didn't plan this.

606
00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:16,140
We just did it.

607
00:36:16,140 --> 00:36:21,000
We brought him down as a general out the front door.

608
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:31,240
We followed his body to get in the hearse and that was it.

609
00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:37,780
And I came back in and sat on the floor, numb in shock, could not believe it.

610
00:36:37,780 --> 00:36:40,600
Just couldn't believe it.

611
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:41,600
Never cried.

612
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,120
Not yet.

613
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:49,220
So after that you had a memorial service and had another shock after that.

614
00:36:49,220 --> 00:36:51,320
That was a Monday morning.

615
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:57,880
And that day with all the leaders there, I started planning his memorial because his

616
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:03,040
kids, our daughter, they were all in California that we, you know, I didn't make any phone

617
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:04,040
calls.

618
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:05,040
Brett took care of that.

619
00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:06,640
They all took care of that for me.

620
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:10,280
They started, they were coming in the next day.

621
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:15,560
And we planned the memorial service that day because I could.

622
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:20,200
And I said, no, we need to, I want it to be this way.

623
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,280
I want this person to talk.

624
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:30,040
You know, my, Mario Murillo, Corey Russell, different ones, Ben Priest, his closest friends,

625
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:32,440
ministry friends for years.

626
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:42,760
And I planned it and then went to our associate pastor, been with us for years, Ed and Johnny

627
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,560
Hearn went to their house and spent the night with them.

628
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:50,960
And the next morning got up and came home and started crying.

629
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,080
And all the kids came in.

630
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:54,800
I just got through the week.

631
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:58,240
I was, I knew what I wanted for his memorial.

632
00:37:58,240 --> 00:38:01,720
I wanted it to be a revival service.

633
00:38:01,720 --> 00:38:04,320
I wanted a celebration of his life.

634
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,680
And I was very in control of it.

635
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:13,600
I had to be, I wanted to be, because I knew what he would want.

636
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:19,160
And that was on Friday after his leaving us on Monday and Friday morning.

637
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:25,160
Well, I walked in Thursday night and we've had a huge picture.

638
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:28,760
He was cremated, did not have that back yet.

639
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:37,680
So I had a huge picture of him in front and all the different worship team, Rick Pino,

640
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:42,480
Aaron Crider, sort of long time friend, different worship leaders that had came in that were

641
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:45,000
going to do the worship on stage.

642
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:50,640
And when I saw his picture, I just had a hard time holding it together.

643
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:52,400
I just, I was in disbelief.

644
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:54,360
I couldn't believe it.

645
00:38:54,360 --> 00:39:00,120
But we're going to, we're going to honor him for the amazing man he was.

646
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:05,800
And so the funeral on Friday morning memorial and Corey Russell standing next to me, very,

647
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:09,160
very close friend, as well as Mario.

648
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,920
And they're, they're concerned for me, but I'm strong.

649
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:17,920
I mean, it was just the, the, the Lord on me to get through this.

650
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:19,720
And Corey said, I can't do it.

651
00:39:19,720 --> 00:39:24,480
I can't do the, I can't get up there and do talk about him.

652
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:25,480
I'm going to preach.

653
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:26,720
I'm like, go for it.

654
00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:27,720
Okay.

655
00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:29,400
Cause it was moving in that direction.

656
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:32,480
He said, I'm going to talk about Dusty and I know what to say.

657
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:34,040
I'm like, great, do it.

658
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:35,880
Mario was the same way.

659
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,820
Ben Priest, you know, all of the speakers were just honored him.

660
00:39:39,820 --> 00:39:42,220
The place was packed.

661
00:39:42,220 --> 00:39:43,220
Standing room only.

662
00:39:43,220 --> 00:39:44,220
I was so thrilled.

663
00:39:44,220 --> 00:39:51,360
A lot of our ministry friends, pastors, leaders of the city were there and former members,

664
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:52,480
you know, everybody came.

665
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:57,680
It was home, a family gathering to see him off.

666
00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:59,120
It was beautiful.

667
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:07,280
After that, we had some food in the castle room and our board was there.

668
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:13,240
Our attorney was there from Tulsa and he said, Hey, let's, let's have a meeting while we're

669
00:40:13,240 --> 00:40:14,240
all together.

670
00:40:14,240 --> 00:40:15,240
Is there a room we can go in?

671
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:16,240
I'm like, yeah, sure.

672
00:40:16,240 --> 00:40:17,380
Brett put it together.

673
00:40:17,380 --> 00:40:20,360
I went in there and he said, okay, I have this succession papers.

674
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:21,360
I thought you'd want to know.

675
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:22,360
I brought them all with me.

676
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:24,480
I said, you have succession papers?

677
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:25,480
Really?

678
00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:27,480
I didn't, I don't know anything.

679
00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:28,480
I know nothing.

680
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,480
I was not part of the ministry in that way.

681
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:33,680
Plus I'd been taking care of him for five years.

682
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:36,960
So I wasn't even in the office much.

683
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:42,820
And he had met with our attorney and said, in the event of a couple of years before,

684
00:40:42,820 --> 00:40:45,380
this is my, this is what I want.

685
00:40:45,380 --> 00:40:47,720
And so I said, okay.

686
00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:49,280
I hadn't even thought of this.

687
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:56,880
I was just getting through the memorial and he said, Mary, you're the senior pastor.

688
00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:00,360
And I said, no, that can't be.

689
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,840
He said, no, he said you would know what to do.

690
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:07,640
He appointed his wishes are for you to become senior pastor and that you would know what

691
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:09,360
to do.

692
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:16,920
I sat there just in complete shock and they said, yes, you know, we're for this.

693
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:17,920
It was unanimous.

694
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:18,920
Yes.

695
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:19,920
Okay.

696
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:20,920
You're senior pastor.

697
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:21,920
Everybody signed.

698
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:22,920
We had to look at that.

699
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:25,600
And I literally just, okay.

700
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:27,560
All right.

701
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,920
If that's what he wanted, I don't have a clue.

702
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:34,960
But if that's what he wanted, I will try my best.

703
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:42,880
So after the memorial, I went to California for a week with my daughter and literally

704
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:45,600
it was before Christmas, a week before Christmas.

705
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:49,160
And I had all his journals, all the stuff that he'd been writing in.

706
00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:53,880
I took them with me and I would get up in the morning in her condo and go find a place

707
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:57,080
to sit at a hotel as a breakfast place.

708
00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:58,600
And it was quiet, nobody there.

709
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:03,220
And I was sitting there for hours and look at his journals and he had his Christmas message

710
00:42:03,220 --> 00:42:09,000
he'd already been working on his sermon for Christmas, what he wanted to do.

711
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:14,740
And I knew I was coming back on Christmas Eve because I wanted to be in church to talk

712
00:42:14,740 --> 00:42:16,580
to the church.

713
00:42:16,580 --> 00:42:19,760
And honestly, I just started there.

714
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,180
I just started with that one service.

715
00:42:22,180 --> 00:42:27,880
I gave his Christmas message, what he would have said to the church.

716
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:29,260
And it was beautiful.

717
00:42:29,260 --> 00:42:34,800
And it was then I came home and I was by myself.

718
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:42,280
I went to my brother's house later that evening and I literally started the ministry on Christmas

719
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:44,320
Day.

720
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,960
And I had no idea what I was doing.

721
00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,840
I just did the next thing he told me to do.

722
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:54,360
And that is what I've been doing for seven years.

723
00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:57,880
Do the next thing he tells you and be obedient.

724
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:01,200
I didn't have a clue how to be a senior pastor.

725
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:04,400
It wasn't easy.

726
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:06,120
I got a lot of flack.

727
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:10,920
I had people leave the church because they could not receive from a woman.

728
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:15,960
And you know, I had to, I just had to get through it.

729
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:22,680
I had a beautiful Godhead already because the five years that Dusty was sick, he had

730
00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:26,520
developed the fivefold ministry in our church.

731
00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:29,840
We had a prophet, prophet Ron Thwadi.

732
00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:39,160
We had a prophetic intercessor director that is Leanne Vance, who's amazing.

733
00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:45,600
All these people, you know, they were my closest friends, the DeVayes, Dr. Oscar and Diana

734
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:46,600
DeVayes.

735
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:48,520
She's a teacher.

736
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:52,200
Been with me for many years, 25 years.

737
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:57,000
We had the whole front row of leaders, Rory.

738
00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:58,320
We had our worship team.

739
00:43:58,320 --> 00:43:59,400
It was all set.

740
00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:02,720
We just kept, we just kept going.

741
00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:05,920
He wasn't there, but we were.

742
00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:07,760
And so different people started preaching.

743
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:11,600
Corey Russell came in once a month and did a service.

744
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:12,600
Different ones came in.

745
00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:18,320
Doug helped us and we just, you know, kept the church going.

746
00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:20,160
It was an amazing time.

747
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:28,560
The Lord was very kind to me and asked me in the beginning, do you want this?

748
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:30,400
And I'm like, I don't know.

749
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,640
I don't know how to be a senior pastor.

750
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:38,120
And I only know how you've made me.

751
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:40,600
And he would tell me, just do that.

752
00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:44,400
I'm like, well, I don't, what does that look, it doesn't look like what Dusty would have

753
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:45,400
done.

754
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:46,720
He said then, but Dusty's not here.

755
00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:48,600
So you be you.

756
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:51,840
And I started, okay, well, we'll just, we're going to eat together because that's what

757
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:52,840
we do.

758
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:53,840
I'm hospitality.

759
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:56,440
We're going to start eating meals together every Wednesday night.

760
00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:57,720
That'll be our Wednesday night.

761
00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:02,560
We family, we're going to grow family and we're going to stay really close together.

762
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:07,720
And a lot of people were as upset as I was crying.

763
00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:10,480
And we mourned for a good year.

764
00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:12,140
We really did.

765
00:45:12,140 --> 00:45:14,120
My mother died three months later.

766
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:17,560
That was another, could not believe.

767
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:23,320
You know, it was just kind of a mess, but he gave me a church full of people to love

768
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:30,520
me and help me through it and leadership to help me lead and tell me who I am, how to

769
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:32,400
do it, we'll help you.

770
00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:39,440
They lifted up my hands and we just kept going, not really knowing the direction of the church.

771
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:46,800
What do you do when the senior leader is just suddenly gone and we're left, you know, without

772
00:45:46,800 --> 00:45:50,360
really a direction and not knowing.

773
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:57,960
But our mission has always been to know Jesus and make him know.

774
00:45:57,960 --> 00:45:59,760
And we didn't have a school of ministry.

775
00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:01,760
We weren't doing discipleship.

776
00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:09,520
And honestly, we just jumped in and kept it going because it was our life and it was his

777
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:12,080
kingdom and it was his church.

778
00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:16,520
I knew right away it's not Mary's church.

779
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:17,800
It's a kingdom.

780
00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:18,840
It's his church.

781
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:20,480
He's going to show me how to do it.

782
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:22,240
It's his people.

783
00:46:22,240 --> 00:46:23,960
I belong to him.

784
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:25,640
I want to do his will.

785
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:28,240
I'm going to learn what that is.

786
00:46:28,240 --> 00:46:30,520
I'm going to learn to hear his voice in a new way.

787
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:37,680
And literally, he has walked me through seven years of leading a church.

788
00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:41,800
So you lost your husband, pastor, friend.

789
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:43,400
That was difficult enough.

790
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,720
You became the senior pastor and the Lord taught you how to do that.

791
00:46:46,720 --> 00:46:52,600
But you had the weight of the church on your shoulders while you were still grieving and

792
00:46:52,600 --> 00:46:57,660
maybe even somewhat angry that the Lord took him away.

793
00:46:57,660 --> 00:46:59,280
How did you deal with that personally?

794
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:06,360
What did the Lord speak to you or do in your life personally that allowed you to move forward?

795
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:11,340
I right away said, you know, Lord, I don't understand this.

796
00:47:11,340 --> 00:47:13,160
And he was silent.

797
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:14,520
He never gave me a reason.

798
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,840
He never told me why.

799
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:22,200
And I had many, many prophets come and tell me stuff.

800
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:27,960
And there was one in particular that did not know me, showed up in church on Sunday.

801
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:31,120
And he said, may I talk to you after the service?

802
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:32,120
Kerry McMahon.

803
00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,760
I knew of him from Facebook.

804
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:39,640
He went to some churches here in the Spring Branch area.

805
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:41,200
So I knew of him.

806
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:46,120
He was very respectful of me, did not try to talk to the church.

807
00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:47,680
I had a lot of stuff happen.

808
00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:49,600
A lot of people came in.

809
00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:54,120
I had a lot of things said to me that should never have been said to me.

810
00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:55,760
One prophet, I don't know, I never knew him.

811
00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:58,880
He sat on the front row, was there for a couple of weeks.

812
00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:02,640
And I was really a little scared of these people because I didn't know them.

813
00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:04,800
I didn't know what they were, you know, what did they want?

814
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:06,400
I'm not letting them talk to the church.

815
00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:08,320
I don't know you.

816
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:12,280
And he would come over and came over to Brett and he said, who's the pastor of this church?

817
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:15,040
And he said, Pastor Mary right over there.

818
00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:17,120
And he said, oh, that's too bad.

819
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:18,360
And left and never came back.

820
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:22,380
So I was very wounded by a lot of this stuff, but I didn't understand.

821
00:48:22,380 --> 00:48:24,200
So I had to keep going.

822
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:25,800
And I was mad.

823
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:29,040
I got mad that Dusty left us.

824
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:31,760
I got mad thinking that, well, he wanted to go.

825
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:33,080
He must have wanted to go.

826
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:34,080
Why?

827
00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:35,840
Why did you leave me?

828
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:41,320
Why did you never talk to me about this and prepare me?

829
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:43,080
And I would go through stages of that.

830
00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:44,560
And then I was mad at God.

831
00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:46,680
Like you didn't tell me anything.

832
00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:48,960
I always know stuff.

833
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:57,760
I always, you know, I see and know since revival, I've seen so many miracles and talked to him

834
00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,560
and Holy Spirit has walked with me.

835
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:04,380
And yet I had no inkling that he was gone.

836
00:49:04,380 --> 00:49:08,560
And they told me that he probably just stepped over around 11 o'clock.

837
00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:14,400
By the time I found him all night long, I slept through that.

838
00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:15,400
Why didn't I know?

839
00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:16,880
Why didn't you tell me?

840
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:20,000
And I got silence, silence.

841
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:21,000
So I was writing.

842
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:22,040
I was writing in my journal.

843
00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:27,320
I was very busy trying to keep everybody together.

844
00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:30,120
And I was upstairs one morning.

845
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:31,120
Brett would come over.

846
00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:32,160
Brett lived by us.

847
00:49:32,160 --> 00:49:36,560
He was, you know, my right hand helper.

848
00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:38,560
He would come over and say, you need to get dressed.

849
00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:39,560
You need to get up.

850
00:49:39,560 --> 00:49:41,400
Come on, we're going to go.

851
00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:42,760
We're going to drive to the beach.

852
00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:45,040
We're going to talk about all of this.

853
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:47,480
We're going to get it out of you.

854
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:49,840
And did a lot of that.

855
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:56,260
And that particular day that I went up, sat upstairs and wrote a letter to Dusty.

856
00:49:56,260 --> 00:49:57,800
And I said, I forgive you.

857
00:49:57,800 --> 00:49:58,960
I have to forgive you.

858
00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:00,200
I don't understand.

859
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:06,760
I can't believe that you never discussed it by pages of pouring out my heart.

860
00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:08,880
Then I wrote a letter to Jesus.

861
00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:11,720
I've been writing letters to Jesus for years.

862
00:50:11,720 --> 00:50:18,080
Wrote a letter to him and said, you know, I don't, I know better than to question your

863
00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:22,120
sovereignty and the way that you do things.

864
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:23,920
But I don't understand.

865
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:28,000
And I'm not going to be, I know not, you know, forgive me for being angry at you.

866
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:29,720
I let this go.

867
00:50:29,720 --> 00:50:32,600
You know, Lord, you're, you're my everything.

868
00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:34,760
You know, poured out my heart.

869
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:37,000
Another five pages.

870
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:40,840
And I set it apart and went to the church.

871
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:44,200
Just put it on the ottoman, went to the church.

872
00:50:44,200 --> 00:50:52,640
It was in a, a new, just school type notebook with paper, you know, like kids use.

873
00:50:52,640 --> 00:50:55,360
And I just left it, left it there.

874
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:57,840
And later that evening, Brett came over and we're talking about it.

875
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:01,360
I said, you know, I did something significant today and I feel better.

876
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:03,120
I just let it, I had to let it go.

877
00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:07,840
I wrote a letter to dusty and I wrote a letter to, to Jesus and I let it all go.

878
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:08,840
Do you want to read it?

879
00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:10,360
And he's like, do you want me to read it?

880
00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:13,720
I'm like, you can if you want.

881
00:51:13,720 --> 00:51:15,620
And he said, okay.

882
00:51:15,620 --> 00:51:16,840
So he's across the room for me.

883
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:23,840
I got up and I opened the notebook and, and looked for it and I couldn't find it.

884
00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:27,040
I'd written some other things in that notebook.

885
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:31,000
And the pages that I wrote were gone.

886
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:34,520
And I'm like, has anybody been at this house today?

887
00:51:34,520 --> 00:51:36,000
No, I've been gone all day.

888
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:37,000
No one's been here.

889
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:38,000
Brett, they're gone.

890
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:39,000
They were right here.

891
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,000
And he's like, let me see.

892
00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:45,400
And he felt, he said, I can see from the back of the page where you wrote, I can even see

893
00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:49,200
some of the things that you wrote, but the ink is gone.

894
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:54,680
And I was just, oh my gosh, what happened?

895
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:58,320
And I knew, I knew in my spirit, he took it.

896
00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:00,720
He accepted it and took it.

897
00:52:00,720 --> 00:52:05,440
Now that's, you know, that's a supernatural thing, hard to understand.

898
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:09,680
And he said, put the notebook away and don't open it again.

899
00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:14,680
And so I put it down in my credenza, put it away and that's that.

900
00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:16,880
It's still where I put it.

901
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:21,380
And I knew he received it and that was done.

902
00:52:21,380 --> 00:52:30,120
So then I had to move into a new phase of the ministry of him teaching me to steward

903
00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:33,880
a church, a ministry, the financial, the staff.

904
00:52:33,880 --> 00:52:36,800
We had huge overhead, money dried up.

905
00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:42,020
We didn't have any money, couldn't afford salaries, couldn't afford, you know, a lot

906
00:52:42,020 --> 00:52:43,060
of things.

907
00:52:43,060 --> 00:52:45,120
We never missed a bill.

908
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:48,120
So I had to look at it and I had to be taught how.

909
00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:51,360
Met with our bookkeeper, Brett, helping me through this.

910
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:52,500
He didn't either.

911
00:52:52,500 --> 00:52:55,120
We had to reduce our staff.

912
00:52:55,120 --> 00:53:00,000
We had to reduce salaries, mine first.

913
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:01,600
Brett reduced his too.

914
00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:03,560
He's like, no, we'll be first.

915
00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:08,800
It really, we, the Lord walked me through every step of the way.

916
00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:13,920
We started doing our own landscaping, Brett and I, and the staff every, and if we, if

917
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:17,120
I was out there, here they come, they're helping me.

918
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:19,800
We're planting, we're doing the beds.

919
00:53:19,800 --> 00:53:28,000
Brett really saved me by getting my hands in the dirt of the dome and our land, all

920
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:35,800
of our beds, just taking dead stuff out, renewing, cleaning, cleaning the property, you know,

921
00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:44,240
and then he walked me through, literally has walked me through every room of our property,

922
00:53:44,240 --> 00:53:52,480
updating, cleaning, rebuilding what he did in the Lord's genius by having dinner every

923
00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:53,760
Wednesday night together.

924
00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:58,560
We put tables on the back of our sanctuary and you know, that we'd never done that.

925
00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:04,800
Dusty would never have liked that, but this me now, and I wanted tables so we could sit

926
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:08,080
and eat in the sanctuary and they were everywhere.

927
00:54:08,080 --> 00:54:13,320
And people like to sit at the tables with their children for church, occupy the kids.

928
00:54:13,320 --> 00:54:16,760
They could write in their own mess, you know, their own books.

929
00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:19,600
And so we, I just left them up year round.

930
00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:26,000
Wednesday night, he built a family church through having meals together.

931
00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:30,860
And it was really just a miracle.

932
00:54:30,860 --> 00:54:32,080
Our church is a miracle.

933
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:36,200
New Life Church is a miracle church that we're still going.

934
00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:41,440
And Brett and I started acting weird with each other.

935
00:54:41,440 --> 00:54:42,440
He was my best friend.

936
00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:46,000
I totally depended upon him and knew him well.

937
00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:47,000
He knew me.

938
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:49,560
I mean, we were best friends.

939
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:50,560
He would argue with me.

940
00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:51,920
I'd argue with him.

941
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:54,840
He came in one day and said, all right, you've got to make some decisions.

942
00:54:54,840 --> 00:54:56,200
I'm like, about what?

943
00:54:56,200 --> 00:55:00,360
And he's like, you've got to, you've got to decide who's going to be the teaching pastor.

944
00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:04,320
I wasn't a teacher and that wasn't my gift.

945
00:55:04,320 --> 00:55:06,120
I could share, I could do it.

946
00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:09,240
I did it, but I wasn't the one.

947
00:55:09,240 --> 00:55:11,560
And he said, you've got to a point.

948
00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:13,720
You need, you need to do it.

949
00:55:13,720 --> 00:55:15,200
I'm like, I don't know.

950
00:55:15,200 --> 00:55:17,000
I really don't know.

951
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:19,480
And he made me mad about it.

952
00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:20,840
I'm like, all right.

953
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:22,840
He walked in the kitchen.

954
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:24,320
I said, okay, all right.

955
00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:25,320
All right.

956
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:26,800
I've got, I've got an idea.

957
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:28,400
Let me run it by you.

958
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:29,480
And he's like, okay.

959
00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:32,780
I said, you, you are the teaching pastor.

960
00:55:32,780 --> 00:55:34,160
You know all this.

961
00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:35,560
You have written his books.

962
00:55:35,560 --> 00:55:37,160
You have done his school ministry.

963
00:55:37,160 --> 00:55:38,520
You've edited everything.

964
00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:39,520
You've been by him.

965
00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:44,200
You know him more better than anyone you can teach.

966
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:49,000
And he got up and walked out of the room and wouldn't speak to me.

967
00:55:49,000 --> 00:55:51,480
I didn't know it the night before the Lord had told him.

968
00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:55,360
And he said, I can't, I'm not, I would never suggest that to her.

969
00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:57,960
You'll have to tell her as she confirmed it to me.

970
00:55:57,960 --> 00:55:59,800
So I did.

971
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:03,260
And he, he was, he was very afraid.

972
00:56:03,260 --> 00:56:06,820
It was an area that he had not ever done.

973
00:56:06,820 --> 00:56:08,240
He didn't like to be in front.

974
00:56:08,240 --> 00:56:10,480
He was a behind the scene person.

975
00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:13,320
He could do it, but he had to start slow.

976
00:56:13,320 --> 00:56:16,720
And he said yes to God and he became the teaching pastor.

977
00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:22,520
We were still having our five-fold team helping doing the services.

978
00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:24,860
One would teach.

979
00:56:24,860 --> 00:56:27,280
We have a lot of teachers in our church.

980
00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:33,400
Dusty replicated himself well in our church with all the teachers that he trained that

981
00:56:33,400 --> 00:56:36,560
were in our school ministries and assisted him.

982
00:56:36,560 --> 00:56:38,200
And they were all still there.

983
00:56:38,200 --> 00:56:43,200
And we just, we put our hand to the plow and did it.

984
00:56:43,200 --> 00:56:44,200
That's all I could say.

985
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:45,200
Brett and I got married.

986
00:56:45,200 --> 00:56:49,160
We, as I was telling you, we got weird with each other.

987
00:56:49,160 --> 00:56:51,720
And I started asking him, why are you acting this way with me?

988
00:56:51,720 --> 00:56:53,480
And he's like, why are you acting this way with me?

989
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:55,040
I'm like, I don't know.

990
00:56:55,040 --> 00:56:56,040
I don't know.

991
00:56:56,040 --> 00:56:57,040
This is weird.

992
00:56:57,040 --> 00:56:58,040
You know?

993
00:56:58,040 --> 00:57:03,680
And he's like, we just, the more that we talked over a period of time, we knew that we loved

994
00:57:03,680 --> 00:57:09,240
each other and our relationship with each other was changing.

995
00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:15,760
And we took it before our leadership team and my friends and all of them unanimously

996
00:57:15,760 --> 00:57:17,340
said we knew it.

997
00:57:17,340 --> 00:57:19,320
We know, we saw it.

998
00:57:19,320 --> 00:57:20,320
What are you waiting for?

999
00:57:20,320 --> 00:57:21,600
And I'm like, I don't know.

1000
00:57:21,600 --> 00:57:22,600
This is weird.

1001
00:57:22,600 --> 00:57:24,560
I never thought I would marry.

1002
00:57:24,560 --> 00:57:27,320
I said, I told Brett I'm never getting married again.

1003
00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:28,520
No, this is my life.

1004
00:57:28,520 --> 00:57:29,880
This church is my life.

1005
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:30,880
I'm happy.

1006
00:57:30,880 --> 00:57:36,960
I got, you know, Dusty got married, got Josh, got a son-in-law, got kids, got grandkids.

1007
00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:37,960
I'm happy.

1008
00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:40,000
This is what I, this is my life now.

1009
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:46,520
Well, God had other plans and he knew I needed someone to take care of me.

1010
00:57:46,520 --> 00:57:48,400
And Brett takes very good care of me.

1011
00:57:48,400 --> 00:57:49,400
We got married.

1012
00:57:49,400 --> 00:57:51,560
We got married in a revival tent.

1013
00:57:51,560 --> 00:57:55,580
I know that we've had this talk and you know my story that I'm just kind of moving very

1014
00:57:55,580 --> 00:57:57,960
quickly toward that area.

1015
00:57:57,960 --> 00:58:03,440
I called Mario and I said, all right, I think that Brett and I want to get married.

1016
00:58:03,440 --> 00:58:05,840
And he laughed and he said, I knew, I knew.

1017
00:58:05,840 --> 00:58:07,760
I'm like, everybody knew but me.

1018
00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:08,760
Y'all all knew.

1019
00:58:08,760 --> 00:58:09,760
Is that me?

1020
00:58:09,760 --> 00:58:10,880
Is this God?

1021
00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:11,880
I think it's God.

1022
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:17,040
He's like, yes, you need Brett and Brett needs you and the church needs you.

1023
00:58:17,040 --> 00:58:18,040
I'm like, okay.

1024
00:58:18,040 --> 00:58:19,040
All right.

1025
00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:20,040
All right.

1026
00:58:20,040 --> 00:58:21,040
We're okay.

1027
00:58:21,040 --> 00:58:22,040
Will you marry us?

1028
00:58:22,040 --> 00:58:23,040
Yes, I will.

1029
00:58:23,040 --> 00:58:25,640
Come, come this week to the revival tent.

1030
00:58:25,640 --> 00:58:27,280
And I'm like, this week?

1031
00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:28,280
Oh my gosh.

1032
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:29,520
No, we got too many people to tell.

1033
00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:31,760
We'd already told our leadership team.

1034
00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:34,440
And he said, no, I think this is the Lord.

1035
00:58:34,440 --> 00:58:35,440
You need to come.

1036
00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:36,440
And it was in Vegas.

1037
00:58:36,440 --> 00:58:41,240
I don't like Vegas, but it was a revival tent in a different area of Vegas.

1038
00:58:41,240 --> 00:58:42,240
I'm like, okay.

1039
00:58:42,240 --> 00:58:46,340
So I called Brett and he's like, I knew God told me that it was going to be quicker than

1040
00:58:46,340 --> 00:58:47,960
I would be comfortable with.

1041
00:58:47,960 --> 00:58:48,960
Are you serious?

1042
00:58:48,960 --> 00:58:51,880
I'm like, yeah, I think so.

1043
00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:55,920
So we, you know, we talked and we planned it and we got on a plane Monday and we got

1044
00:58:55,920 --> 00:59:04,520
married Monday night in a revival tent at 6 PM with a whole bunch of homeless people

1045
00:59:04,520 --> 00:59:06,420
that were cheering us on.

1046
00:59:06,420 --> 00:59:12,400
And we did communion and it was Mario and his wife and some of his people that were

1047
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:15,440
friends with me also that stood up for me.

1048
00:59:15,440 --> 00:59:17,400
We were in our jeans and it was great.

1049
00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:19,240
But that day it was fun.

1050
00:59:19,240 --> 00:59:20,240
Mario calls.

1051
00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:23,320
He said, listen, I'm not legal to marry you in Nevada.

1052
00:59:23,320 --> 00:59:24,880
You're going to have to go to one of those chapels.

1053
00:59:24,880 --> 00:59:27,080
I'm like, are you kidding me?

1054
00:59:27,080 --> 00:59:28,560
Nothing like last minute.

1055
00:59:28,560 --> 00:59:29,560
Okay.

1056
00:59:29,560 --> 00:59:33,640
Well, we had to go to the courthouse there to get a marriage license.

1057
00:59:33,640 --> 00:59:37,120
And so we just drove, we went around and I looked at the Elvis chapel.

1058
00:59:37,120 --> 00:59:38,120
I loved that.

1059
00:59:38,120 --> 00:59:45,920
I really wanted that, but you have to do 24 hour, 48 hour reservations for Elvis to marry

1060
00:59:45,920 --> 00:59:46,920
you.

1061
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:49,820
And really it just got to be funny at that point.

1062
00:59:49,820 --> 00:59:54,200
So we went in to a drive through chapel.

1063
00:59:54,200 --> 00:59:56,920
Only place we could get last minute.

1064
00:59:56,920 --> 01:00:05,000
And we got married there and then had our spiritual service that night in a revival

1065
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:10,700
tent with Mario Morillo and a whole bunch of people that got saved and healed.

1066
01:00:10,700 --> 01:00:12,200
And we got to be a part of it.

1067
01:00:12,200 --> 01:00:14,200
It was beautiful and wonderful.

1068
01:00:14,200 --> 01:00:15,200
Wow.

1069
01:00:15,200 --> 01:00:20,920
So Mary, after all you have been through, what are you hearing God say to his people

1070
01:00:20,920 --> 01:00:21,920
today?

1071
01:00:21,920 --> 01:00:26,320
I hear God saying to his people today, and this is where he has brought us after all

1072
01:00:26,320 --> 01:00:27,320
of these years.

1073
01:00:27,320 --> 01:00:35,120
We've been married five years and he has rebuilt our church and is doing so much in the body

1074
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:36,760
of Christ right now.

1075
01:00:36,760 --> 01:00:42,040
What he is saying right now is to be obedient.

1076
01:00:42,040 --> 01:00:44,840
We know he is going to move.

1077
01:00:44,840 --> 01:00:47,360
We know the harvest is coming.

1078
01:00:47,360 --> 01:00:55,120
There is a lot going on in the world and a lot of people are fearful and scared.

1079
01:00:55,120 --> 01:01:03,760
And it is time for our light to shine as Christians, Christ followers, to help people know him,

1080
01:01:03,760 --> 01:01:12,000
know who he is, and to do the next thing that he tells you to do to stay very close and

1081
01:01:12,000 --> 01:01:19,400
obedient and to know him and bring as many people with us as we can.

1082
01:01:19,400 --> 01:01:20,400
Amen.

1083
01:01:20,400 --> 01:01:28,440
Mary, as we close, what woman of the Bible has inspired or encouraged or taught you something?

1084
01:01:28,440 --> 01:01:34,120
My favorite woman of the Bible is Mary, Martha and Mary.

1085
01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:35,640
I used to be a Martha.

1086
01:01:35,640 --> 01:01:39,800
I was an extreme Martha and had to learn how to be a Mary.

1087
01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:48,760
And he has over and over and over told me when I get weak, when I'm tired, when I'm

1088
01:01:48,760 --> 01:01:51,240
weary, sit at my feet.

1089
01:01:51,240 --> 01:01:52,960
Stay close to me.

1090
01:01:52,960 --> 01:01:54,680
Listen to me.

1091
01:01:54,680 --> 01:01:57,240
Keep our hearts connected.

1092
01:01:57,240 --> 01:02:03,040
So Mary that sat at his feet in Luke 10:42, she is my role model.

1093
01:02:03,040 --> 01:02:05,820
I think about that over and over.

1094
01:02:05,820 --> 01:02:13,440
She chose to sit at his feet when there is chaos around her and disagreement around what

1095
01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:15,020
she was doing.

1096
01:02:15,020 --> 01:02:16,240
She sat at his feet.

1097
01:02:16,240 --> 01:02:18,000
She did what he told.

1098
01:02:18,000 --> 01:02:23,480
She listened to him and captured his heart.

1099
01:02:23,480 --> 01:02:30,980
And that is what I want more than anything is to just be close to Jesus and to hear him

1100
01:02:30,980 --> 01:02:40,240
plainly and stay in relationship, intimacy with him all day and night.

1101
01:02:40,240 --> 01:02:42,480
So I pray that for you.

1102
01:02:42,480 --> 01:02:49,280
Anyone listening, I hope that you've been able to be blessed by my story.

1103
01:02:49,280 --> 01:02:58,200
It's not been an easy one, but it has been a redemptive, loving, kind story with Jesus.

1104
01:02:58,200 --> 01:03:04,040
And I pray that you seek his face.

1105
01:03:04,040 --> 01:03:07,100
You seek a relationship with him.

1106
01:03:07,100 --> 01:03:13,320
There is nothing else that will be as fulfilling or satisfying as knowing his will for your

1107
01:03:13,320 --> 01:03:17,840
life, knowing what the next thing is he wants you to do.

1108
01:03:17,840 --> 01:03:19,780
He will give you direction.

1109
01:03:19,780 --> 01:03:21,220
He will prosper you.

1110
01:03:21,220 --> 01:03:29,120
He will give you the plan for your life and speak into you over and over and over and

1111
01:03:29,120 --> 01:03:35,100
settle your heart and send people to help you, the right people.

1112
01:03:35,100 --> 01:03:42,880
So I just pray that over you in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1113
01:03:42,880 --> 01:03:49,760
I pray his abiding peace and presence over your life and your loved ones.

1114
01:03:49,760 --> 01:03:52,160
In Jesus' name, amen.

1115
01:03:52,160 --> 01:03:53,160
Amen.

1116
01:03:53,160 --> 01:03:57,800
You know, Jesus was so blessed that Mary chose to sat at his feet.

1117
01:03:57,800 --> 01:04:04,340
Luke 10 42, which we just mentioned a few minutes ago, Mary has chosen what is better

1118
01:04:04,340 --> 01:04:08,140
and it will not be taken away from her.

1119
01:04:08,140 --> 01:04:09,600
Think about that.

1120
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:16,760
Sitting at Jesus' feet, hearing his words, being in his presence is something we can

1121
01:04:16,760 --> 01:04:23,460
all do, no matter who we are, what we've done, what you have or what you don't have.

1122
01:04:23,460 --> 01:04:27,160
If you sit at Jesus' feet, he will be there.

1123
01:04:27,160 --> 01:04:30,560
He won't send you away or get up and leave himself.

1124
01:04:30,560 --> 01:04:36,200
He will help guard that precious time between you and him and it will not be taken away.

1125
01:04:36,200 --> 01:04:40,580
You know, friends, there are orphans as well as widows all over the world who need to experience

1126
01:04:40,580 --> 01:04:43,720
the tangible expression of God's love right now.

1127
01:04:43,720 --> 01:04:47,440
Many have special needs that we as a company of women can help together.

1128
01:04:47,440 --> 01:04:50,020
Would you consider joining us with a special gift to help?

1129
01:04:50,020 --> 01:04:54,600
Just go to HerGodStory.org and click on the widow and orphan tab at the top of the page.

1130
01:04:54,600 --> 01:04:56,060
And thank you for tuning in.

1131
01:04:56,060 --> 01:05:00,800
In our show notes at HerGodStory.org, you'll find scriptures and other information we talked

1132
01:05:00,800 --> 01:05:01,800
about.

1133
01:05:01,800 --> 01:05:05,960
You can also get a six week devotional on Women of the Bible that you can download for

1134
01:05:05,960 --> 01:05:11,320
free or purchase a 12 week devotional that we'll send to you for just $12, knowing that

1135
01:05:11,320 --> 01:05:14,560
all the proceeds go to our Widow and Orphan Fund.

1136
01:05:14,560 --> 01:05:17,680
We'd love to pray with you on our 24 seven prayer and text line.

1137
01:05:17,680 --> 01:05:27,480
So give us a call or text anytime at 855-459-CARE or email us at prayer@somebody cares.org.

1138
01:05:27,480 --> 01:05:32,520
And now dear friends, I bless you from Isaiah 46:3-4.

1139
01:05:32,520 --> 01:05:37,360
May you hear the voice of the Lord who says to you, I have cared for you since you were

1140
01:05:37,360 --> 01:05:38,360
born.

1141
01:05:38,360 --> 01:05:40,920
Yes, I carried you before you were born.

1142
01:05:40,920 --> 01:05:45,520
I will be your God throughout your lifetime until your hair is white with age.

1143
01:05:45,520 --> 01:05:48,720
I made you and I will care for you.

1144
01:05:48,720 --> 01:05:52,160
I will carry you along and save you.

1145
01:05:52,160 --> 01:05:56,180
Her God Story is a ministry of Somebody Cares America and International.

1146
01:05:56,180 --> 01:06:14,360
To find out more about or support the ministry, go to somebodycares.org.