0:00

Get it going All

0:02

right . So this week I've got a really good friend

0:04

of mine , john Hugh Tate . John Hugh

0:07

is during

0:12

our tough time . John Hugh was our pastor

0:14

I can still consider him my pastor

0:17

and he is now

0:19

in Paris , france

0:21

. Him and Linda

0:23

are having ministry there and

0:26

I'm not gonna get into that . I'm gonna let him kind of tell you

0:28

what he's doing and

0:31

but , looking forward to this , talk , john

0:33

, you there .

0:35

I am man , yes , all the way from Paris

0:37

, france , and it's great

0:39

to be with you . As always

0:41

, carter , any time with you

0:43

just will spent , brother

0:46

. So glad you're doing this , as I've encouraged

0:48

you , and glad I could be part of it .

0:50

Awesome man , I'm excited

0:53

. So tell me what's going

0:55

on this week with you all in Paris

0:57

, France .

0:59

Man , that's funny . You should mention

1:01

that just this week . What is our life like

1:04

this week ? Y'all

1:06

start there , then I'll give some background

1:09

to you this week well , opposite

1:11

to Christmas season , and

1:13

we also don't have Thanksgiving over here

1:15

, so you know we

1:17

had to do Thanksgiving on our own with

1:20

some other Americans , but we're fully

1:22

in Christmas services

1:24

at our church , our

1:27

family of churches . I've planted

1:29

one church that is part

1:32

of a network of two other

1:34

churches and already

1:37

got some , got a Christmas party Saturday

1:39

night . I think we're gonna have

1:41

some people over at our apartment

1:44

. Our life has changed a lot

1:46

to go from a , you know , a larger

1:48

home in Mississippi

1:51

where we lived for 17 years , to

1:53

an apartment here right

1:55

outside of Paris , france . And

1:58

this week the kids are in school

2:00

. My youngest son

2:03

just had a French tutor come

2:05

over and today

2:08

I picked up another son

2:10

who is our special

2:12

needs son at an

2:14

autism academy in Paris . I

2:17

had a couple meetings , worked on the

2:19

sermon today , but

2:21

yeah , we're in the full throws of Christmas

2:23

leading up to Christmas Eve where

2:26

we'll have a service and then maybe

2:28

a little little downtime to catch

2:30

our breath after that . But that's a week

2:32

in December for the Tate

2:34

family right now . But

2:38

, yeah , like I said too and Carter

2:41

, I mean you shared that , was

2:44

honored and blessed to get to know you , your

2:47

family , megan

2:49

Lila , and we

2:51

lived in Jackson 17 years and

2:54

one of the ways

2:56

I think Carter and I connected was a

2:58

real servant heart , whether

3:01

that's local or

3:03

international , and

3:05

for us , we always

3:08

had a big

3:10

global heart with the needs of

3:12

the world and really

3:16

felt called to look for something more full-time

3:18

, and

3:20

God opened the door here in Paris

3:23

back . Well , really , it was the year before COVID

3:25

, it was 2019 that we accepted and

3:27

then we were planning to go in 20 , and

3:30

the world changed as it does as

3:33

that although those years aren't regular

3:36

, but the world can change for you and

3:39

so it pushed us back almost a year . But

3:42

we landed in Paris August

3:44

of 21 , and

3:46

we served as a resident pastor

3:49

at our mother church , a manual international

3:51

church , and then we planted

3:53

last fall , started

3:55

a small group so

3:58

that would be fall of 2022

4:02

, and then we had our first service

4:04

at a cafe . We

4:06

needed a local cafe , or what

4:09

in French is called a braserie , which

4:13

basically is a cafe that serves food , kind

4:16

of like a Broad Street cafe or that we met

4:18

so many times and

4:22

, yeah , we meet there on

4:24

Sunday afternoons and fellowship

4:27

and usually

4:29

have dinner afterwards there . So it's

4:31

a good deal . It's been a win-win for both

4:33

of us the cafe and the church and

4:35

now we've

4:38

got a good community , a good solid

4:40

core group . Honestly , it's

4:42

a really young crowd . It

4:46

kinda you know Linda , my wife , linda I mean

4:49

we might be the oldest well , not

4:51

exactly , but we're some of the oldest people in our

4:53

church now , so we're spending

4:56

a lot of time ministering to students , young

4:59

adults , people

5:01

in their 20s . It's a very

5:03

, very international , what

5:05

we might say cosmopolitan community

5:09

, because the nations

5:12

really come here to Paris . I think if you can

5:14

reach and connect with Paris and

5:16

serve here , you can reach the world . So

5:18

, for example , in our

5:21

church , I mean we have I

5:24

don't know how many countries , but I can think off the top

5:26

of my head China

5:28

, brazil , philippines

5:31

, south Africa

5:33

, iran

5:38

, france , the

5:40

UK , america , liberia

5:43

, the Congo , nigeria

5:46

, singapore

5:48

, malaysia , indonesia

5:51

, so

5:54

it's Holland or the Netherlands

5:56

. So

5:59

it's just a very

6:01

diverse community that

6:03

we feel blessed to be a part of .

6:07

Man , I tell you that's serious . I

6:11

mean , and earlier when we talked I

6:14

can't remember for September or when , but

6:17

you were telling me that one

6:19

France , you can't

6:21

have religious meetings , right , you can't

6:23

have like a , you

6:27

can't like just have like a church like

6:29

we do here , right ?

6:32

Well , you can have . I mean , there are churches , but

6:36

it's a very secular

6:38

society , meaning like they

6:40

want to have a strong separation

6:42

of church and state . It's

6:46

very difficult to establish churches , which

6:48

is why we came into an existing church

6:51

and planted out of that , and

6:55

they have this French phrase called lais-e-tay

6:58

, which is tied

7:00

to the word laise , which

7:03

means to basically leave

7:05

it alone , and so it's saying church

7:07

and state leave it alone and

7:10

leave each other's

7:12

religions alone . So they're

7:14

very , very particular about

7:16

hey , are

7:19

you evangelizing

7:21

or are you publicly , you

7:23

know , what someone might call proselytizing others

7:26

? And

7:29

that's why we take a very sensitive , a

7:31

culturally sensitive approach to

7:34

not do that and just be part

7:36

of the community . Even in the cafe we

7:39

have a good relationship with the owners and

7:41

their clothes , so they just let us

7:44

reserve the space for

7:47

a couple of hours on Sunday , so

7:52

that makes us able to do what we're doing as

7:54

a church . But they're very strict , very

7:56

secular . My wife read somewhere the three

7:58

most when

8:01

I say secular too , just very

8:03

non-religious countries that

8:05

the top three were China

8:07

, france and the Czech Republic . Wow

8:10

, which is interesting . So

8:12

I tell people too , even though we're a church , we're

8:16

not just a drop in the bucket . We're

8:18

like a drop of a drop in the bucket and there's

8:21

just very few churches . Many

8:24

of the old Catholic churches are

8:27

monuments or museums . And

8:30

then there are very few Protestant churches

8:33

, even fewer , but we would think of

8:35

as evangelical churches , where

8:37

there's a more robust teaching

8:40

of the Bible , preaching of

8:43

the Gospel , and so we

8:45

feel very called to be in

8:47

a place that is in need . I

8:49

mean , there's a very strong

8:51

, distinct need for the Gospel

8:53

here , and that's , you

8:55

know , we're planting our life here , not

8:58

just planting a church .

9:00

Yeah , I mean . So you have that many

9:02

countries coming together in

9:05

that cafe . Obviously

9:08

you probably don't have everyone

9:11

with the same religious

9:13

beliefs , right , I mean

9:15

you have a different way

9:18

of looking at . I

9:20

remember you telling me back last time

9:22

we talked that and

9:25

if I butcher this , just that

9:27

people don't really care what

9:29

you know until they care , until

9:32

they know you care about them . So

9:34

how does that I ?

9:35

think yeah , yeah

9:37

, I know where you're going . What I ? I

9:39

think what I told you , one of the big things I

9:42

learned is that no one really cares

9:44

what you know until

9:47

they know you really care . And

9:50

it's kind of a tricky phrase , you have to

9:52

think about it to say it . But needing like

9:54

even and I

9:56

think that applies to Mississippi , I

9:58

mean thinking back

10:00

to our time there and relationships

10:03

. You know I the

10:05

best teachers and coaches I ever

10:07

had . I

10:10

knew they cared about me as a person

10:12

, I mean as a human being , and

10:14

that builds trust . And

10:17

if you don't have trust in any relationship

10:19

, you can't do anything . You

10:22

may have a false sense

10:24

of trust or trust

10:26

maybe forced on you , you know where

10:28

, like maybe you have a job and

10:31

you've got to do what your employer says to keep your

10:33

job , and so you're going to give trust

10:36

. But if you have genuine

10:38

trust , that is like this person

10:40

cares about me . Even if

10:42

he has something difficult

10:45

or a hard truth to say , I know

10:47

he's doing his best in my best interest

10:49

not to harm me , not

10:51

to get a dig in , but instead

10:54

to just be like you know , this is this

10:56

will better your future than yeah

10:59

, I want to know what

11:02

he thinks , so

11:04

by having that approach

11:06

, you're basically allowing

11:10

all these people to come in and have

11:12

an open mind of

11:14

your beliefs and you also have an open

11:16

mind of their beliefs to

11:19

get to know them right .

11:21

Kind of , in a way .

11:23

Yes . So what I would say is we

11:25

do a lot of just building

11:27

relationships . I mean , like all those people

11:30

don't

11:32

just show up at the cafe

11:34

because they

11:36

want a coffee or a sandwich . You know

11:38

, we've spent time now , you

11:40

know , two years with some of them building

11:43

relationships , earning

11:46

their trust , and some

11:49

of them , yes , have not been from

11:52

a Christian background at all . I

11:56

friend from Iran you

11:58

know I would not name him

12:01

because that

12:03

would be threatening to him but

12:10

yeah , I mean , he became a Christian , he converted to Christianity

12:12

. There are atheists

12:15

and agnostics who come

12:17

to our church and we openly

12:19

welcome them and we openly welcome

12:22

that . They say , hey , I'm an atheist and agnostic

12:24

because we are really

12:26

trying to plant and grow a church that

12:29

is unapologetically for

12:31

the non-Christian . And

12:34

so when you do that

12:36

, that impacts everything

12:40

you do . So I'm trying to communicate that to our people

12:42

who are Christians to say , think about what does

12:45

the church look like ? That we , you know what we do

12:47

is everything for non-Christians

12:49

. I mean trying to you

12:52

know it's a cliche but it's true . You know

12:54

expand the territory of

12:57

the gospel of the kingdom . And

12:59

so we're culturally sensitive

13:01

, we really

13:04

value relationships , so

13:06

that's both one-to-one and small groups

13:09

, but we do a service . I mean there's

13:11

a sermon , there's worship , you

13:13

know . I mean we have a three or four song set . You

13:17

know you can find us on and

13:20

we put videos of our service

13:22

at EIC that's a manual

13:24

international church Reeve

13:26

Gush , which is French for left

13:28

bank EIC Reeve

13:30

, goes on Facebook and Instagram

13:33

and we'll have videos of our services

13:35

. But , yeah , we do about an hour service

13:37

and but the

13:39

sermons too are , or the messages

13:41

of the teaching is focused

13:44

on , you know , focus

13:46

for people who you know would

13:49

not consider themselves Christians . And

13:51

one thing I've learned too that can apply

13:54

to Mississippi or

13:57

Paris-France or

13:59

just wherever you are in the world all

14:03

human beings have the same questions . We

14:07

all start and go through life with the same

14:09

questions when do I get my hope ? Where

14:12

do I find my purpose ? Why

14:15

is life worth living to me ? And

14:18

we'll put different things in there . Maybe

14:20

it's a job or a career

14:22

, or a spouse or

14:25

a child , and they're good things

14:27

. But

14:29

you know , one of the big lessons

14:33

of faith is that even

14:35

those good things will never fully fulfill

14:38

us or complete

14:40

us . Only

14:43

Christ will , I mean , or only the Lord

14:45

will , god will in Christ , and

14:48

you know

14:50

some people don't believe that

14:52

, but you that

14:56

doesn't stop us

14:59

from living that , communicating

15:02

that . But it may take a while

15:04

for me to say that because

15:07

you know

15:09

, I think if you just say

15:11

that immediately people don't connect to that . But

15:13

if you say immediately , you know , I really think all

15:15

human beings have the same questions , people

15:19

connect with that . I mean you've been

15:21

connected with that when you and so you're like you

15:23

know you're right and so then

15:25

that's a base to say like what are our questions

15:28

and where do you find your hope ? And

15:30

I think you

15:32

know sometimes we wanna start with the

15:34

right answer and

15:37

when people have different answers that

15:39

brings division . But maybe

15:42

if your starting point is

15:44

we have the same questions , you

15:47

know that can that's a unifying place

15:49

. And then

15:51

talk about you know

15:54

how we have found or how we get to the answers

15:56

that we have , that answer those

15:58

questions .

15:59

Yeah , so let's go into that . I

16:02

think that's a really big deal because

16:04

a lot of people don't know really

16:06

truly how to communicate

16:09

. A Christian communicate

16:11

with an atheist , and these things

16:13

like how is that ? What does

16:16

that actually sound

16:18

like ? If I come to you in your

16:20

cafe and after your service and

16:22

I get to know you and it's like , yeah , I

16:24

don't believe that there is a God , what

16:27

would you say to me , well

16:30

, how would we have

16:33

that conversation ? What would you say , I

16:35

mean to me when

16:37

I hear that I'm like , okay

16:40

, cool , okay cool , like I wanna hear what

16:43

you believe and I want to like

16:46

truly listen to you and

16:50

love you for where you're at

16:52

and the beliefs . I've got to have friends that are

16:54

not believers , that are not ever

16:57

gonna . You know they

17:01

have , you know they just don't , they

17:03

don't want that . But I believe

17:05

that if I can create a relationship

17:08

that I

17:10

might not be the one

17:12

, that I might just be the seed

17:15

setter , but

17:17

I still I think for being

17:20

a believer , when

17:22

you hear those people

17:26

like that , I love it Because it's like it's

17:28

who they . They're not hiding who they are , this

17:30

is who they are and I wanna

17:32

meet them right there and

17:34

learn . You know I'm not saying that I

17:37

don't need anyone to convince

17:40

me about my faith . You know

17:42

it's not gonna . It

17:44

doesn't put me in

17:46

a bad place Like , hey , you're an atheist

17:49

, I'm a Christian . How

17:52

do we have that conversation ?

17:55

Yeah , I mean that's a great question . I

17:59

think more people and especially more Christians

18:02

. We need to be thoughtful about how

18:05

we communicate with those who are not

18:07

, because

18:10

, you know , at the end of the day , I mean

18:12

we do want

18:14

to see people come to Christ

18:16

and there are people who are not

18:18

Christian and I

18:21

really believe I mean we're , once

18:23

we become a Christian , we have a purpose

18:25

to this life , and

18:27

it is to be different

18:33

aspects of that seed throwing

18:35

and

18:41

scattering and nurturing

18:44

. So I may be the

18:46

first , you know I may scatter the

18:48

seed , but you

18:50

may come and nurture it , and

18:52

then someone else may , you know , bring

18:55

it to fruit . I

18:57

don't have to be , you know , both the starting

18:59

point and the cultivator

19:02

. And then you know helping

19:05

them , being there when they

19:07

receive Christ . You know , as Lord

19:09

and Savior , that can be different people

19:11

, or you can have , you

19:14

can play all those roles with different people . So

19:16

I do think it's important , though , to scatter

19:18

the seeds , and to do that you

19:21

have to do what you said very well there you

19:23

have to listen to the person . You know

19:25

it takes a different vision . So first

19:27

you have to see the person

19:29

not as a project but

19:32

again as a human being with

19:35

the same questions that

19:37

you have . They just

19:39

, you know , come from a different perspective

19:41

and they don't have to come from a different tribe

19:44

. Or you know , the Bible says try

19:46

different tribes , tongues , languages , cultures

19:49

, and they can be , you know you're

19:51

, if you're in Florida , I mean they can live in Canton

19:54

or Jackson or

19:56

Madison and just come from a different place

20:00

or mindset or belief system . But

20:02

you need to look at them as a human being . You

20:05

need to ask questions , you need to

20:07

be curious about them . I

20:10

do think you need to be soft , as in you

20:13

know , not only are they not a project

20:15

, but you're not trying to press

20:18

your , your

20:20

belief system on them . You're

20:23

instead just trying to listen , to

20:25

receive and and

20:28

then see

20:31

where they're at , hear where they are , where

20:34

they're coming from , what they do believe

20:36

. That can lead you to

20:38

you know further questions . I mean , you're a

20:40

very curious person so you know one answer

20:42

can lead to three other questions and

20:46

just be intentional , to

20:48

, frankly

20:50

, to be kind . I mean I

20:52

think we need you know

20:54

more people who

20:57

are simply just kind , and

20:59

you know that's a tact . That's

21:02

a tact where I

21:04

know some people , some

21:06

Christians , would be like well , you know , you've really

21:08

got to be , you know , even more intentional

21:10

, or to present

21:13

. We don't see it like that . I mean

21:19

I

21:25

trust the Holy Spirit that he will open

21:27

the door . I'd rather be

21:30

curious , and I think

21:32

that's the Lord , I mean , I think that's the Holy Spirit

21:34

working on them and their heart to

21:37

prepare them to receive

21:39

.

21:43

Yeah , you kind of broke up a little

21:45

bit there , but I understood what you were saying

21:47

To me . I think that the

21:50

power that we have is we

21:52

have the Holy Spirit , we have the Lord

21:54

. He is going to , if

21:57

we can use Him . We don't have to

21:59

focus on the fruit . We don't have to focus

22:01

on okay , this

22:04

guy is not a believer , I got to go get him

22:06

and I got to go and to me , sometimes

22:08

I think we focus so much on the fruit that

22:10

we miss the actual seeds

22:13

and the pulling the weeds and the and

22:15

the nurturing of that soul . But

22:18

at the end of the day , the Lord is the one that's

22:20

going to take that fruit . You know

22:22

, and how

22:25

do you think is

22:27

different To

22:29

me ? It sounds to me like you

22:33

have people that genuinely want

22:35

to be there . Sometimes I look at and

22:37

wonder do I

22:39

really ? Sometimes , from

22:42

a Mississippi perspective , everyone

22:45

goes to church , everyone

22:48

kind of gets their Sunday's

22:50

message . How do you see it different

22:52

from serving and being a pastor

22:55

in Mississippi compared to a pastor there

22:58

? Do you see a lot more genuine

23:01

search

23:03

for what they're looking for compared to here

23:05

?

23:07

Yeah , I mean , I think it's . I

23:10

think both are great places , both

23:12

have great

23:15

benefits . I mean , you know

23:17

, one of the things in Mississippi that

23:20

even I took for granted is

23:22

there's so much community

23:24

. I mean I

23:27

know there are people who go to church in Mississippi that

23:29

are not Christians , but

23:31

often they'll go for the community and

23:34

look , that's a good thing , they're

23:36

going to churches . They're not , they're

23:39

looking for relationships in a church

23:41

. For the most

23:43

part they're probably hearing the gospel and

23:47

also we believe the Holy Spirit's at work , as

23:50

you said . So we

23:54

do in Mississippi and I know this from live

23:56

there we take it , we take

23:58

for granted that we have so

24:01

many Christian communities that are churches

24:03

. So

24:06

there are many , I

24:09

think , per capita , more legitimate

24:13

, real Christians in Mississippi

24:15

than I know , and that doesn't mean just

24:17

if everybody goes to church , that doesn't

24:19

mean they're Christian . But I mean I know a lot of people

24:21

who are genuinely trying to

24:23

grow in the Lord here

24:26

and you get a place like here , you're like , wow , I really took

24:28

for granted all the churches . I

24:30

mean here loneliness and isolation is

24:33

a real deal and

24:35

it's a big deal especially for

24:39

a lot of the people that we minister to One

24:41

. You're very isolated excuse

24:44

me , you don't think that

24:47

you're lonely or isolated in a city of 11

24:50

million or a metro area of 11 million

24:52

? And to give some context , so Paris is

24:54

11 million , the whole state

24:56

of Mississippi is 3 million . So

25:01

that just gives some context . But being

25:05

a big city like that , it

25:08

takes a long time to get anywhere so

25:11

easily . I

25:14

take our middle son to school

25:16

every day and it's like driving from

25:18

Jackson to Wynonna every

25:20

day . They're back because

25:24

it's an hour and 15 minutes on

25:26

the train and that's

25:28

normal , that's typical . So

25:31

you're isolated because it's hard to

25:34

get to places . And then when you have

25:36

friends and they

25:38

live in different areas of the city , it's hard

25:40

to connect with them . So it's

25:42

just harder to connect and build

25:45

relationships . You have to be intentional

25:47

. So church is a very good

25:49

thing here because you've got a meeting

25:51

place and then when

25:53

that place is a cafe and

25:55

you can hang out afterwards and eat and

25:58

get coffee or drinks

26:00

or whatnot I mean people we've

26:03

seen the blessing of that , the benefit of

26:05

that . So I

26:09

think one thing is we take for granted in

26:11

Mississippi the communities

26:13

that we have and

26:22

here I think there is . People

26:26

won't take it for granted and

26:28

they also don't take their faith for granted

26:30

. So , for example , they really

26:33

need Jesus because they are

26:35

lonely and they really want to grow

26:37

in Jesus . So some of the trappings

26:40

that make life , I

26:44

would say , even easier in Mississippi . I

26:47

would say my life was easier in Mississippi . It's

26:49

just harder here

26:53

and even people say , well , paris , everything must

26:55

be great . It's a real

26:57

hard city . It's a greedy city , it's

27:00

very urban and

27:02

you have to

27:04

live on less . So

27:07

people are more in need

27:09

and when you're more in need

27:11

you tend to get on

27:13

your knees more and

27:16

look to Jesus . You

27:18

know that personally . So I

27:20

think it's been a really good move

27:22

, a good challenge for us , and it's certainly

27:26

grown our faith , and probably all missionaries

27:28

would say that wherever

27:33

they are . But looking

27:35

back to Mississippi , I

27:37

think there hopefully

27:39

people can know you or

27:41

know other missionaries , or listen

27:44

to this and realize , hey , there's

27:46

some real blessings here

27:48

, but there's also . Have

27:51

I gotten to let

27:54

me say the word . I'm going

27:56

to try to say it's the right way if I've gotten

27:58

too soft . Have I gotten too

28:00

complacent in my faith that

28:06

I'm not seeing the needs here because it's

28:08

so comfortable ? I am a Christian

28:10

, I've got a good church , a good community

28:12

, but is

28:15

this all there is ? And it's not . You

28:17

can go deeper and you can expand

28:19

further outward , and you

28:22

have to . Sometimes

28:24

we need to get shaken up . Hopefully

28:27

it's like listen to a podcast and not having

28:29

something traumatic

28:33

happen in our life , like occurred

28:35

to you , and I've

28:38

told you this

28:40

to quarter and I think you agree that

28:42

the trauma in your life I

28:44

mean God uses

28:46

it as a blessing to wake you up and

28:48

really see totally different

28:50

from others , and I do think that's true

28:53

.

28:53

Yeah , man , to me . I think that

28:57

what's awesome for me and

28:59

for my trauma and

29:01

all the suffering , all the craziness

29:04

in the last 10 years , is when

29:08

you're desperate and when you need

29:10

the Lord , you get to a point

29:12

really , over

29:15

time , like the longer you

29:17

suffer , the more likely

29:20

you are to stay when you find

29:22

Him and you truly find Him , and for

29:24

me it's . I remember

29:27

having those conversations with

29:29

Meg and that , hey , I

29:31

promise I will keep it going , I promise

29:33

I will , you know , do

29:36

whatever the Lord's calling me to do

29:38

. You know , for me now

29:41

, it's crazy that you

29:44

know my prayers in the last

29:46

year have been Lord

29:49

, use me , lord , allow

29:52

me to be , to do

29:54

what you want me to do and

29:56

be able to like where

29:58

I'm at today is . I work four

30:01

days a week . I do

30:03

not work on Fridays . Fridays

30:05

I serve downtown

30:08

and that ministry has

30:10

completely opened my eyes

30:12

to what we talked about a few

30:14

months back that loving

30:18

people where they're at , even if they're

30:20

on drugs , even if they're homeless

30:22

, even if they don't believe

30:24

what we believe . I

30:27

think my job is to love

30:30

them , love God , love people , you

30:32

know , and now , being able

30:34

to have a few months in

30:36

, I'm able to learn . That

30:39

it's

30:41

allowed me to be more disciplined

30:44

in how I

30:47

go about sharing the gospel , how

30:49

I go about loving old people

30:51

, because when I started at that ministry I

30:54

was so like it was like a kid in a candy

30:56

store . I see , all these things that I

30:58

can do and I just I had

31:00

to . You know , those people that I

31:03

work with , I work under , they

31:05

taught me how to be , how

31:07

to slow down , take

31:10

the need and slowly

31:12

, if you truly love them , you're

31:14

going to slowly help them get that

31:16

need . You're not going to immediately jump

31:19

into you need . You desire , let's do this , let's have

31:21

a baptism , let's do this . Instead

31:24

, it's like , hey , let's just , let's slow

31:26

things down a little bit , let me just love on you a little bit

31:28

, and then you're going to direct

31:30

this conversation and you're going to . You

31:32

know , if there's something that you're asking and

31:35

that , even if it's an agnostic or

31:38

atheist , it's like , hey , I don't believe

31:40

that there's a God , well , good , let's

31:42

talk about that . You know , tell

31:44

me what you believe . And

31:46

I've been in some conversations the last

31:49

few months where someone

31:51

might not believe truly

31:53

in what I believe , and

31:55

sometimes those conversations can

31:58

get heated , and

32:00

one particular conversation

32:03

was you know this person's

32:05

not saying that they believe in Christ . You know

32:07

there's certain things that they don't believe in . Does

32:10

this not bother you ? And I'm like , no , this

32:13

is the . This is . These are

32:15

the conversations where we

32:17

prepare to be at

32:19

peace and being able to have

32:21

a normal conversation in that do

32:24

you shoot does or do you shoot , but you

32:26

know , it's like , and

32:29

going on another , I just threw deer hunting in there

32:31

, but it's like allowing

32:33

people to have different views and

32:36

meeting them right there and

32:38

saying tell me more , you know .

32:41

Yeah , and also I love , I mean I

32:44

love deer hunting and I really miss

32:46

it , as you know . But I also like

32:50

the example . You know you're trying

32:52

to create common ground and

32:55

I think that's . I

32:58

think our world is so

33:00

divided now and you

33:04

know we don't , you

33:06

know we don't , we

33:09

don't focus on our shared humanity

33:11

enough , as in , like we're

33:13

, we still have the same questions , and

33:16

I say that as a Christian , that

33:18

you know there's a

33:20

, there's a basic tenet of our Christian

33:22

faith , which is

33:24

called a mago de

33:27

, which is that all human beings

33:29

, regardless of their Christian or not

33:31

, are made in the image of God , and

33:34

you know , and they're worthy of

33:36

our , they're worthy of dignity

33:38

and respect , and you

33:41

know that whole principle is really what our , what

33:43

the Declaration of Independence was , the

33:46

starting words for you know

33:49

, were based on . And you

33:51

know , again , you have to get to what's your starting

33:54

point ? Is your starting point a

33:57

goal ? Is it a relationship

34:00

? Is it curiosity ? Is

34:02

it ? And I think

34:04

, I think our goal should be wanting to spread the love

34:06

of Christ . How do we do that ? And I think

34:08

, finding that common ground

34:11

, you

34:13

know being salt and

34:15

light , but don't forget the salt too

34:17

and what does it mean

34:20

by that ?

34:20

what does it mean by the salt ?

34:22

Well , the light , you know shining the light of Christ

34:24

. But salt , you

34:27

know salt cultivates

34:29

meat and salt

34:31

was , was

34:33

definitely , you know , used a lot for

34:35

for meat and Jesus time

34:37

. So you know you're adding

34:39

salt to the creation to

34:42

better it . So I mean God's creation

34:44

, so you know you're

34:46

both , and then the light

34:48

is is the light of Christ showing

34:51

them the light , but your salt

34:53

too , where you

34:55

know the salt holds

34:58

the meat , keeps it well , makes

35:00

it better , and so

35:02

it's just this , this

35:04

example of you know

35:07

you're taking God's creation and cultivating

35:09

it and making it better by

35:12

your life .

35:13

You know , going back to the beginning of this conversation

35:15

, you said you try

35:17

to find the common ground . The

35:20

common ground is not Jesus

35:23

died on the cross . The common ground

35:25

is something else . That right

35:27

, I mean that .

35:30

Well , you know that's . I think that that

35:32

I

35:34

think you know Jesus down on the cross is

35:37

, is , is part of the gospel

35:39

and part of what saves

35:41

us . And

35:44

you can look , god can do anything

35:46

at any time . I

35:48

do think that you've got to own trust

35:50

, you've got to build that relationship

35:53

. You've got to

35:55

have people see this

35:57

person cares about me . You know he's

35:59

not . He's

36:01

not trying to give what

36:04

they would see as his religious message

36:06

or political message . There's

36:09

not an agenda here . I mean there's

36:11

so much distrust out there

36:13

that we've got

36:15

to be beacons of trust

36:18

and to do that

36:20

you know we've got to . We've got

36:22

to show trust , our own trust , and

36:25

you

36:27

know that can take some time as well . So we have to be patient

36:30

. And so if you have

36:32

a , an agenda of , or

36:34

set a set goal , you know

36:36

we've also learned to be a lot patient

36:38

here , much more patient to

36:41

just , you know , let the Lord work

36:43

. I

36:46

mean , everything happens slower here , even

36:48

relationships , starting

36:51

churches , and you've got to just

36:53

trust , trust the Lord and be

36:55

patient and you know he'll .

36:57

He'll do it in his own tiny you

36:59

know , one of the things that I enjoy

37:01

more now than I

37:04

think that in the past

37:06

is I

37:08

just love having

37:10

relationships with people that have different

37:13

religious beliefs , because

37:17

we , because I , am actually

37:19

interested in what they believe

37:22

, I'm actually interested to hear . You

37:24

know , I'm one

37:27

client of mine . I've

37:29

been able to get to know them and

37:31

find that some

37:33

of their religious beliefs are

37:37

our culture . Beliefs has

37:40

helped me in my wildlife

37:42

management . There's like

37:44

for instance one thing that we we

37:47

do now on our properties is give

37:50

at the end of the year , at the really at the end

37:52

of the season , I

37:54

want February 1st

37:57

, through three

37:59

months , to leave those farms

38:01

and give them rest , to

38:03

give that one of those wildlife rest and and

38:05

not put any , any

38:09

kind of , a lot of any kind

38:11

of machinery out there , because and

38:14

it's I wouldn't have

38:16

had that alone

38:19

has done so much

38:23

for opening my eyes to wildlife and what they , what

38:25

they need , and I wouldn't

38:27

have had that and had that if

38:30

I wouldn't have sat down with them

38:32

and say tell me more , you

38:35

know , yeah yeah

38:37

, being curious and listening can take you a long

38:39

way .

38:40

Really can't , really can't so

38:43

. But yeah

38:45

, you know a lot

38:47

of us are . You

38:51

know , we got a plan , we got a goal

38:54

, got an agenda . We're gonna

38:56

make it happen . And

38:58

I think there's wisdom

39:00

often , and just taking a step back

39:02

, listening

39:05

, being thoughtful , trusting

39:08

the Lord , and

39:10

I think it

39:12

it also it

39:16

also makes you less stressful , right

39:18

? So you think that you ?

39:19

know , do you think that Mississippi , like either

39:22

the US , is less patient than other

39:24

countries ?

39:26

I do , compared to France , but

39:29

I mean patients . I mean they say it's

39:31

a fruit of the spirit , you know . So I'm trying

39:33

to grow in it . So it's

39:35

. You know , it's not like I know

39:37

no patients because it's in me , but

39:40

I definitely have had to be

39:42

, have forced to have been patient here . And

39:45

yeah , I think

39:47

the US , I mean we're we're . You

39:51

know it's kind

39:53

of a hard driving , you know , pull

39:55

yourself up by your bootstraps , you know

39:58

let's go , you know . So

40:03

patience has to be cultivated

40:05

. That's awesome and

40:07

often , unfortunately

40:10

, I mean it's cultivated when trauma

40:13

or tragedy strikes . And

40:16

you know a lot of us and we

40:18

know people who you know , I mean they don't

40:20

say it , but I mean they really think and live

40:22

like you know they can do anything . And then

40:25

when you realize you can't and you

40:27

hit bankruptcy or

40:29

you know there's a

40:31

divorce that you never saw coming , and

40:35

when a spouse says , you know I'm out

40:37

, or you get a

40:39

bad diagnosis like

40:41

your family had , and

40:44

you just realize you're not in control and

40:47

yeah , go ahead .

40:49

Yeah , I mean , I think that when you're not in control

40:51

, it forces patience on

40:53

you and you have to hit . You're at

40:55

a bottom , that you

40:59

now are not in control of anything

41:02

and the only thing . That's where my

41:04

faith . You know our conversation

41:06

. I don't know if you remember this , but that time

41:08

that I had on the river going , coming

41:11

back and telling you about it and telling

41:13

you this experience , and you telling me go

41:16

back , go back to where you experienced

41:18

him . And that

41:20

journey was

41:24

impatient . It

41:26

was I need this . Now I'm

41:29

fixing to do some incredible work

41:31

for the Lord and he's going to heal my wife and we're

41:33

going to get back to a normal family . We're going to

41:35

and we're going to share the gospel . It's going to

41:38

be amazing . And then , falling

41:40

on my face , thinking that

41:42

I was doing something for the Lord

41:44

, and reality , lord was just , I

41:47

think , was just allowing me

41:49

to see some things that he had planned

41:51

for me down the road , four

41:53

years . You know , I think that a lot of times , when the Lord

41:55

puts something on

41:58

you , it's not the Lord doesn't

42:00

work in short term , he works

42:02

in long term , and for

42:04

me it seems to be three or four years down

42:06

the road and now I'm able to say

42:09

, okay , I'm hearing the

42:11

Lord . I think now

42:14

I'm going to sit down and wait , and

42:16

if it's the Lord it's going to , you

42:20

can literally sit down and wait , he's going to do

42:22

it .

42:24

Yeah , yeah . No

42:26

, the Lord wants something to happen . I mean it's going to happen and

42:29

it's . You know that that on

42:31

earth is going to stop that , but

42:35

it's in his timing . And

42:37

ultimately , like the proverb says , you

42:39

know he directs our steps . So

42:41

you know we have to , you know he

42:44

doesn't serve us . I mean , it's Christmas

42:46

season , I'm pretty sure . On Mary , in

42:49

Luke one this this Sunday , and

42:52

you know , at the end she said you know , behold

42:54

, on the Lord's servant . I mean , often

42:56

we look at our faith and

42:58

we want God to be our servant

43:01

and it's

43:04

really , it has to be a role reversal

43:06

. So you know , like

43:08

Mary , like you know , behold

43:11

, you know I'm your servant . You know I serve

43:13

you . You know , wherever , whatever , and

43:16

you know what's interesting about that . And

43:19

again , this is at Christmas . But

43:21

at that point she

43:24

didn't know . Joseph had a dream too . She

43:28

didn't , when she said that she didn't know . All

43:30

she knew is like I'm

43:33

pregnant now and I

43:35

have not had relations

43:37

, and this may disgrace

43:40

me and cast me out , and

43:43

I don't know what's going to happen and

43:45

Joseph will probably , you know , break

43:47

it off and

43:49

but I'm the Lord's servant . That's good . She

43:52

didn't . You know , we think of it all you know working

43:54

out . But when you know , when they

43:57

first told her , you mentioned nothing . It just said

43:59

you know you're going to be , you're going to

44:01

have the child you're going to , you know name of Jesus

44:03

. And

44:06

she said you know I'm going to be the Lord's

44:08

servant . So I

44:10

do think that . And

44:13

oh , and then in the same chapter , it's

44:15

only when she goes

44:17

to Elizabeth that

44:20

she experiences joy . If you read

44:22

Luke one , again the angel

44:24

comes , tells her she's like you know I

44:26

will follow , and then she goes to Elizabeth and then

44:28

she has joy . And I think

44:30

that's very insightful

44:32

about our own even

44:35

conversion . Like initially

44:37

we're like , well , how is this

44:39

going to happen ? You know who's this God and we

44:41

were thinking about it . And

44:44

then you know we receive , we say , okay

44:46

, I'm , I'm in , I'm going to serve the Lord

44:48

. And then we have to have

44:50

people around us , like Elizabeth , saying

44:52

you know it's so great , you know Christ

44:54

in you and what he's going

44:56

to do , and then you experience the

44:58

joy . So it does take

45:01

a community , it takes people around you

45:03

, but it

45:05

also takes that commitment to

45:07

realize God's

45:09

not here to serve me , I'm here to serve

45:12

him . And so All right

45:14

.

45:15

So we've got about five minutes left and what

45:17

I usually do with people , with guests , is

45:19

just ask to what

45:21

if you could give any advice on

45:24

where ? Any advice ? But but

45:26

really to me is like , what

45:28

have you learned through your ministry

45:31

, from day one when you were called

45:35

to be a pastor to

45:37

today ? And then also

45:39

, how can we , how

45:42

can people that are listening to this support

45:45

you ? Because the reality

45:47

is is that we have to support

45:49

you financially

45:51

in order to keep this ministry

45:53

going , and it takes money

45:56

to run ministry . So how can we , how

45:58

can we support you ? And so

46:00

give me , give me a little bit of advice and then how

46:02

can we serve you ?

46:04

Okay , what I've learned is or

46:06

some of the things I've learned is God

46:09

really is bigger than

46:11

we think . We

46:15

really need God more than we realize

46:17

, and God

46:19

loves us more than we'll ever know , as

46:23

it says . That's simply put , but I break

46:25

it down quickly . God really is bigger

46:27

than we , than we ever imagined , like

46:29

he's in every situation . He

46:32

really is . I mean he's , you know , if you

46:34

believe , as we do , christian

46:36

doctrine , you

46:38

know he's omniscient on knowing , he's omnipresent

46:41

, he's everywhere and

46:44

he's omnipotent , all powerful , and so

46:47

, like I said , he's going

46:49

to do whatever he wants to do . Nothing

46:51

on earth can stop what God wants , and

46:54

there's great trust and faith

46:56

that I have in that . The

46:59

other thing is is you know we're , we're worse

47:01

off than we ever think ? I mean there's a need , you know

47:03

we , the reason of Christmas

47:05

and Easter and any other Christian

47:08

holiday days is the gospel , and we

47:10

need the Lord . I mean

47:12

we're , we're sinners . I mean , and you

47:15

know we have to have that humble

47:18

, that

47:21

humble need and to

47:23

confess and repent and

47:26

then , but God really loves us and he

47:28

loves every human being , and we should

47:30

too . And if that's the case , then we

47:33

, we do need

47:35

to love others , as in like Thinking

47:39

about hey , they have the same questions that they

47:42

. They want to have a hope , they want to have

47:44

a purpose and we

47:47

can Build some , some

47:50

bridges instead of walls , and our world

47:52

needs more of that , amen . So

47:54

that's that's generally . You know a lot

47:56

of Things that I've learned , whether from

47:58

France to Mississippi . Yes

48:01

, we , you know , we're mission here , thankful

48:06

for yours and other support

48:08

people can get . We have a personal

48:10

blog , which is the tapes in Paris

48:12

, and and that also

48:15

shares how you can support us with

48:17

prayer , with financial resources

48:20

. And then we have

48:22

a church newsletter at EIC

48:25

. That's a manual international church EIC

48:27

Paris org . We

48:32

clear sometimes every other week

48:34

. You know updates

48:37

, emotions

48:39

, you know what's going on at the church , but that

48:41

that lets you know who

48:43

we are , where we are in Paris , and then

48:45

we keep our personal blog too , but

48:48

that's more living as missionaries

48:51

in in France . So

48:53

, yeah , and then , oh

48:56

yeah , eic , eic

48:58

, read Goche , instagram and Facebook , and

49:02

then also the tapes in Paris , instagram

49:04

and Facebook . So there are lots of ways

49:06

to connect and stay

49:08

connected with us . And and then we

49:10

would love for you to join

49:12

Carter and come and visit

49:14

us and and see

49:16

what all is going on here with your own , with

49:20

your own eyes .

49:20

I'm coming , I'm coming , I'm coming

49:23

. All right , so if we wanted

49:25

to hear you preach , do

49:27

you can ? We will hear you preach live , or how

49:30

does that work ?

49:31

Yeah , not live , but it's record

49:33

, every sermon is on our website . So , yeah

49:35

, again , eic Paris org

49:38

. And then you would go to Reeve

49:40

Goche and all my sermons are

49:42

. All my sermons since Easter

49:44

, which we started , are there downloaded

49:47

and you can hear me , but not

49:49

live , not watch . Maybe we'll get there one

49:51

day , but there's a time difference

49:53

and you know say , but they're the podcast

49:55

, I guess you call those , but this is

49:57

a podcast to , but all those are the sermons

50:00

on there . You may hear some traffic

50:02

noise in the background , since we're in the cafe

50:04

, but it's , yeah , it's pretty cool

50:07

.

50:07

Awesome man . Well , thank you for doing this . I tell

50:09

you , you've been a man

50:12

. You were , you had , you were there

50:14

for me and Megan To

50:16

help us find the Lord , to help

50:18

us get through those

50:20

days , and not only get through them but but

50:22

flourish in our faith and get

50:25

to know the Lord and meet us right

50:27

there , and all those

50:29

organized events

50:31

that you did for us for , to help us raise

50:33

money to , to support

50:36

us , is he . I'll never

50:38

forget that .

50:39

I will never forget that well

50:42

, hopefully we'll have a lot more time

50:44

to , you know to to

50:46

serve together . But you

50:49

know God used you all

50:51

in a great way and that was a special

50:53

time and you

50:57

know it's honored to be a part of it , a small part

50:59

of it , and we'll always be here for your family

51:01

and and Lila too , even though

51:03

you know she grows and you

51:06

know will . Maybe she'll come to

51:08

Paris for you will .

51:09

She's gonna come with me . Yeah , we're gonna do it . So

51:13

, man , I thank you , brother , brother

51:15

, I love you and and

51:17

thank you for for you and

51:19

Linda , and Just

51:22

support y'all and everybody that's

51:24

wants to know more . If you want to find

51:26

out how to invest

51:29

in John , hugh

51:31

and Linda , please reach out and

51:33

I'll get you and get you in

51:35

touch with them and we can further

51:38

the kingdom and in

51:40

Europe .

51:42

Yeah and around and I say this

51:44

last if you reach Paris , you

51:46

, you reach the nations

51:48

, because the nations do come here . So you

51:52

want thank you quarter .

51:54

Yeah , thank you , bro . So hold

51:56

on , just say all right , I .