This is the transcript of Restitutio episode 665: Why I'm Starting a Church in Texas with Alex Ticer This transcript was auto-generated and only approximates the contents of this episode. Audio file 665 Alex Ticer - Journey 2.mp3 Transcript 00:00 Sean Finnegan Hey there, I'm Sean Finnegan and you are listening to Restitudio, a podcast that seeks to recover authentic Christianity and live it out today. 00:12 Sean Finnegan Last time we learned about software engineer Alex Teicer's terrifying health crisis and the healing he received. 00:18 Sean Finnegan This set him on a quest to dedicate his life to serving God. 00:22 Sean Finnegan But how? 00:24 Sean Finnegan He had no idea what he was supposed to do. 00:28 Sean Finnegan So he quit his job and intensified his study of the Bible and praying. 00:32 Sean Finnegan After discovering Jesus' identity as the human Messiah, not a God-man, he embarked on a journey to find others with like precious faith. 00:42 Sean Finnegan His odyssey took him to three states seeking fellowship. 00:46 Sean Finnegan Finally, at the Converge Festival of 2025, he and his wife Becky came to perceive God's direction for them to start a church right where they lived 00:56 Sean Finnegan in Round Rock, Texas. 00:58 Sean Finnegan This is the story of how One God Church came about. 01:10 Sean Finnegan Alex, what happened after you came to this understanding and you went online and you started to try to find another community that you could join? 01:21 Alex Ticer So after we, my wife and I had kind of come to the same conclusion, that was really important. 01:27 Alex Ticer That was then, after we talked to the pastor and had many traction, we listened to some online videos and there was just the mystery, the mystery. 01:35 Alex Ticer And we were like, no. 01:37 Alex Ticer Then I think we finally said, okay, who else believe, does anyone else believe this? 01:42 Alex Ticer Because I think all I knew of was like Jehovah Witnesses, but I knew they thought Jesus was an angel. 01:47 Alex Ticer And so I was like, there's got to be other people, right? 01:50 Alex Ticer And 01:51 Alex Ticer I won't get into it, but we found the first stuff we found was sort of discouraging where I would have said, oh, that's wrong. 01:58 Alex Ticer So I feel like you then naturally associate, well, is this belief then that the father is the only true God also wrong? 02:05 Alex Ticer So that was sort of discouraging at first, but God's good. 02:08 Alex Ticer We eventually found Pastor Steve Taylor's teachings. 02:13 Alex Ticer He was the pastor out there at Lakeshore in Tempe, Arizona. 02:17 Alex Ticer We found that, and that was something so aligned with kind of where we were at. 02:21 Alex Ticer He was reading through, I think it was the book of Acts at the time, or maybe it was a different book, but he was going through it, and that was kind of something that resonated with us. 02:29 Alex Ticer He seemed like he loved Jesus, and again, that was truly a deep-rooted concern of mine. 02:35 Alex Ticer I can't tell you how long, and maybe even still kind of is in the back of my mind sometimes when I talk to people that I want to make sure they understand that this is only in obedience to Jesus, that I come to this belief, and 02:47 Alex Ticer No way was this a, let me belittle him or he's not so great. 02:51 Alex Ticer It's like, no, it's basically as simple as if he's my Lord, meaning my master, then I must obey him, what he said. 02:57 Alex Ticer Again, he says, you know, like his words, right? 03:00 Alex Ticer If you love him, you will keep his words. 03:02 Alex Ticer So that's why I'm where I am. 03:04 Alex Ticer And it's because of my love for him that I say, dude, if he says it, I believe it and I want to honor what he said. 03:09 Alex Ticer And if he didn't say it, then I don't want to disrespect him and put words in his mouth. 03:15 Alex Ticer Anyways, so Becky and I were on the same page. 03:17 Alex Ticer We're watching those, we're watching their sermons. 03:19 Alex Ticer We were even watching some of the ones in the previous annual history or whatever. 03:22 Alex Ticer And we were like, this is big. 03:24 Alex Ticer But it was hard because we both agreed, like we need to have fellowship. 03:27 Alex Ticer We want a community that believes this, but that doesn't make it any harder to leave. 03:32 Alex Ticer So my family had followed me out. 03:34 Alex Ticer So we came from California, they came out here. 03:36 Alex Ticer My parents moved to the same community. 03:38 Alex Ticer My grandma moved and bought the lot right next to us, like living right next to us. 03:43 Alex Ticer Like that was a thing where 03:45 Alex Ticer she's still alive at this time. 03:46 Alex Ticer And that killed me a lot. 03:49 Alex Ticer I have a whole thing in my life about abandoning or letting down people. 03:54 Alex Ticer It's very hard. 03:55 Alex Ticer And I had that in my mind all the time. 03:58 Alex Ticer I'm like, I'm going to leave my grandma. 03:59 Alex Ticer She's so old. 04:00 Alex Ticer And like, she moved out here so she could be near us. 04:03 Alex Ticer Like, I would presumably take care of her when she was older. 04:06 Alex Ticer And I mean, she was in her 90s at this point. 04:08 Alex Ticer But she had she was, I think, 93 or something at the time. 04:11 Alex Ticer But 04:12 Alex Ticer I still thought she might live for another like 5 years or something. 04:15 Alex Ticer So I remember the words of Jesus when that guy says, hey, let me go bury my father. 04:20 Alex Ticer And he says, let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God. 04:25 Alex Ticer I felt like that really kind of hit me in the face with, I love her beyond measure, but if there's work to be done, like I can't, you know, I was spared. 04:35 Alex Ticer I mean, I shared all that stuff about where I was and how God had really 04:39 Alex Ticer moved in like an incredible way that I'm like, I don't think I have the liberty to just say, hey, I'm gonna chill for five years and see where my grandma's at. 04:48 Alex Ticer It's like, dude, there's work to be done. 04:49 Alex Ticer Get out there. 04:50 Alex Ticer So I told my family and that was pretty hard, but yeah, we sold our house and we moved out to Tempe. 04:57 Alex Ticer Well, I think we moved to Gilbert first, but anyways, it's really close by the Phoenix area, Phoenix, Arizona to be out there at Lakeshore and to join Pastor Steve Taylor. 05:07 Alex Ticer I kind of forgot a little tiny detail. 05:09 Alex Ticer When I talked to Steve, I bet I can never probably get his honest truth of what he thought of me when I first emailed him or whatever, because I bet I sounded like a lunatic, just like, you know, all the questions I asked him, like, do you love Jesus and like this, and do you believe the father is the only true God? 05:25 Alex Ticer And like that, I mean, I just was like, just point blank asking all these crazy questions and whatever. 05:29 Alex Ticer So he tells me, hey, there's actually a church in Texas, you know, because you're out there in the central Texas area, you know, everyone always says that Texas is huge though. 05:35 Alex Ticer And he goes, yeah, there's a church up there in 05:37 Alex Ticer And so I said, cool. 05:38 Alex Ticer And at the time it was Pastor Greg Dimmett. 05:39 Alex Ticer He's since passed, but he was out there. 05:42 Alex Ticer And I said, okay. 05:43 Alex Ticer So I wanted to go. 05:44 Alex Ticer My wife says there's not a chance. 05:45 Alex Ticer I'm not driving. 05:45 Alex Ticer I think it was about an hour and a half. 05:46 Alex Ticer I'm not driving an hour and a half to go to church every day. 05:48 Alex Ticer And that's one way. 05:49 Alex Ticer So it'd be about a three hour drive. 05:51 Alex Ticer And I said, dude, again, it's like seeking, right? 05:52 Alex Ticer So I said, okay, I'm not gonna go this week. 05:55 Alex Ticer I think the next week I was gonna go again. 05:56 Alex Ticer I told myself there's nothing that's gonna stop me. 05:58 Alex Ticer I got crazy sick. 06:00 Alex Ticer I was sick for like a month. 06:01 Alex Ticer I think the third time I then got kind of scared when I said, I wonder if God's telling me don't go there. 06:07 Alex Ticer it's really weird. 06:07 Alex Ticer But anyways, I just wanted to throw that out there because there was a church here. 06:10 Alex Ticer But after the second time, I remember being really scared and I said, I think we should just go to the Phoenix one. 06:15 Alex Ticer Let's just do that because I do feel like sometimes God does kind of gently push you and go, I don't want you going here. 06:22 Alex Ticer But I think the next question was a little bit about, are we to stay here or not? 06:26 Alex Ticer No. 06:27 Alex Ticer And that was kind of hard. 06:28 Alex Ticer So we stuck around for another maybe nine months. 06:31 Alex Ticer I think it's important sometimes to recognize that God has us on different paths and that he is equipped like the body of Christ with so many different functions and purposes. 06:39 Alex Ticer And that sometimes like this piece is here for a time and it got what it needed. 06:47 Alex Ticer And then it's like, no, there's work to be done. 06:49 Alex Ticer You know, like Jesus, when he said the fields are truly ripe for the harvest, but the workers are few. 06:54 Alex Ticer And that church is an established church, in my opinion, like for our, belief, that's a great foundation, like that church seems solid. 07:03 Alex Ticer It's not going anywhere. 07:04 Sean Finnegan Yeah, it's probably been there for a long time too. 07:06 Alex Ticer Yep, it has a history in this and I thought. 07:09 Sean Finnegan Do you know it's like from the 1900s or something or? 07:14 Alex Ticer I would just be guessing. 07:15 Alex Ticer I forget, but it's. 07:17 Sean Finnegan Definitely decades for sure. 07:18 Alex Ticer Because no, for sure. 07:20 Alex Ticer Like Steve Taylor was a pastor for 15 years. 07:22 Alex Ticer Greg Demmett before him was the pastor there for 15 years. 07:25 Alex Ticer And then I forgot there was a couple other pastors and then even more. 07:28 Alex Ticer So yeah, at least like 40 years or more. 07:30 Sean Finnegan Yeah, So very well established. 07:33 Alex Ticer Yeah, and so that was another thing that made it a little bit easier for me was I thought, you know, 07:39 Alex Ticer they have something here, but I feel a little called to help those who don't have something. 07:46 Alex Ticer Because I didn't forget that I just came halfway across the country because I didn't have anything. 07:51 Alex Ticer And I'm thinking there are probably a lot of people out there who come to this faith and then go, where is anyone? 07:57 Alex Ticer Can I go anywhere? 07:58 Alex Ticer Can I meet with anybody? 07:59 Alex Ticer And then they find out no. 08:00 Alex Ticer And then they maybe withdraw and they go, oh, okay. 08:04 Alex Ticer And they realize if I continue with this belief, I'm gonna be kind of a loner. 08:07 Alex Ticer And I didn't want that. 08:09 Alex Ticer So 08:09 Alex Ticer We were struggling with it, but I kind of kept all these thoughts in my head because I had, this wasn't even a year. 08:14 Alex Ticer We hadn't even been there a year. 08:16 Alex Ticer And again, I'm working now, so I seem a little more credible, but I still was like, I grabbed my wife and family, moved us all the way over here, did all this stuff. 08:24 Alex Ticer And Becky and I, one night, date night, we were looking for like a house to buy. 08:28 Alex Ticer And it was just weird. 08:29 Alex Ticer We were just like not feeling anything. 08:31 Alex Ticer We're like, man, I just don't know. 08:32 Alex Ticer This just isn't working. 08:33 Alex Ticer Why can't we find a place? 08:35 Alex Ticer Anyways, she just blurts it out. 08:37 Alex Ticer I don't think God wants us to be here still. 08:41 Alex Ticer And I was like, oh man, I'm so glad you said something because I've been feeling that for a long time. 08:45 Alex Ticer And I said, I just didn't have the stones to say it because I feel like I already used up all my cards, you know, doing all this other crazy stuff. 08:52 Alex Ticer But I go, I don't know where we're supposed to go. 08:54 Alex Ticer But I said, I feel like we're trying to force something because I kind of liked it here. 08:58 Alex Ticer And you know, selfishly, it's an awesome church. 09:00 Alex Ticer You got this thing, it's already established and all that. 09:02 Alex Ticer But I said, let's pray about it. 09:04 Alex Ticer That night I had a dream about my grandma. 09:06 Alex Ticer So my grandma was still alive. 09:07 Alex Ticer She was back in Texas and my folks. 09:10 Alex Ticer And in the dream, it was essentially like a comforting thing that she didn't feel like you left her or abandoned her. 09:17 Alex Ticer And 09:18 Alex Ticer that this was God's will. 09:19 Alex Ticer Because if you had stayed, your relationship with your dad would have been strained because he would have been like, why is she getting sick? 09:25 Alex Ticer Why just take care of her? 09:26 Alex Ticer Just do it, just do it. 09:28 Alex Ticer Versus now him and I getting to have that preserved. 09:32 Alex Ticer So however it was, that dream was very comforting. 09:34 Alex Ticer I wake up that morning, my dad calls me and says, my grandma passed away. 09:39 Alex Ticer And that was crazy. 09:41 Alex Ticer I remember like crying a little. 09:45 Alex Ticer because I still kind of had a tinge of guilt. 09:48 Alex Ticer Like I won't deny, like I still had a little bit, like she died and you weren't there. 09:54 Alex Ticer But at the same time, I'm like, God gave me that dream, I think on purpose, because he knew I probably would have been like really in guilt and to go, I think this was his plan. 10:04 Alex Ticer and that my relationship with my dad now could be preserved. 10:08 Alex Ticer And it's crazy. 10:09 Alex Ticer So anyways, we were talking about something. 10:10 Alex Ticer It might have been the next day, I don't remember. 10:11 Alex Ticer But anyways, it kind of came up quick. 10:13 Alex Ticer So we both owned the house and we were letting her stay there and just kind of mentioned like, well, what are you thinking of doing with it? 10:19 Alex Ticer He goes, I don't know. 10:20 Alex Ticer What do you want to do with it? 10:21 Alex Ticer I said, I don't know. 10:22 Alex Ticer And I said, well, we're not sure we're going to stay here in Phoenix anymore. 10:25 Alex Ticer And he just said, well, hey, why don't you just come back? 10:28 Alex Ticer I go, stay in the house? 10:29 Alex Ticer I go, I'm not sure I want to pay rent or anything like that. 10:33 Alex Ticer don't worry about it for now. 10:34 Alex Ticer We'll just figure it out, right? 10:35 Alex Ticer So I said, okay, all right. 10:37 Alex Ticer And I was like, because we're probably going to leave again though, right? 10:39 Alex Ticer Like, are you all right with that? 10:40 Alex Ticer Because like, I don't know where God has us going, but I don't think it's there. 10:44 Alex Ticer And he was pretty cool. 10:45 Alex Ticer Just said, no, you know, my wife, my mom too, and Becky was cool. 10:48 Alex Ticer Everybody seemed all right with it. 10:49 Alex Ticer And I said, all right, let's just do it. 10:51 Alex Ticer Because, you know, I just felt like, I'm not sure what to do, but this could help us have a little bit more balance. 10:58 Alex Ticer PetSmart was cool with it. 10:59 Alex Ticer They said, yeah, you can go back, whatever, you know, it doesn't matter. 11:01 Alex Ticer So 11:02 Alex Ticer I still was working for them. 11:04 Alex Ticer And we came back and I think less than, we came back in August of 2024. 11:10 Alex Ticer I may be butchering this, but I'm pretty sure that's right. 11:12 Alex Ticer So we came back in August of 2024. 11:15 Alex Ticer So humid here, so humid. 11:17 Alex Ticer I missed the dry heat of Phoenix. 11:19 Alex Ticer I said, it's hot. 11:19 Alex Ticer It's like 120 out there, but it's a dry heat, you know. 11:21 Alex Ticer But anyways, so Becky gets in touch with a lady out there in Boise, Idaho. 11:27 Alex Ticer And they had just been thrown out of a church for this belief. 11:30 Alex Ticer They had held firm. 11:33 Alex Ticer The church had said, I think the husband was a worship pastor or something, or the leader, worship leader, and was just like, hey, look, you got to denounce this or whatever. 11:41 Alex Ticer And they held to it. 11:42 Alex Ticer I couldn't believe it. 11:43 Alex Ticer And she's telling me this whole story because I wasn't talking with the woman, but Becky was telling me all this stuff. 11:47 Alex Ticer And I'm like, wow, good for them. 11:49 Alex Ticer And I'm like, I can't believe they did that. 11:51 Alex Ticer And from what I was hearing, it was like, they want to meet in person, and with other believers, like-minded believers. 11:58 Alex Ticer And I felt like this seemed almost like, dude, God's given you your next orders, right? 12:03 Alex Ticer And I just prayed, we prayed, and I think we had a little talk. 12:06 Alex Ticer Hey, y'all want us to come out there and we'll try to get something going? 12:09 Alex Ticer They were like, yeah. 12:10 Alex Ticer So we went. 12:10 Alex Ticer I think, was it November? 12:13 Alex Ticer And I delayed it just a little because Pastor Greg Demmitt got very sick. 12:17 Alex Ticer And he got sick so fast. 12:19 Alex Ticer So he, sorry, I kind of skipped that. 12:21 Alex Ticer He was the pastor at Cornerstone here. 12:22 Sean Finnegan So that was in Texas. 12:27 Alex Ticer Yeah. 12:27 Alex Ticer So we were coming there. 12:28 Sean Finnegan What's that drive time from where you are? 12:31 Alex Ticer So it was about an hour and a half there, hour and a half back. 12:34 Alex Ticer So 3 hours every day. 12:35 Alex Ticer But God's so good that trip to Phoenix, 12:38 Alex Ticer our girls had developed a bit more longevity for driving, but I still think it's a miracle. 12:42 Alex Ticer It's a miracle. 12:43 Alex Ticer So we start going to Gatesville because that was still big. 12:46 Alex Ticer We came back and that was the only reason I was okay with coming back was I knew there is a church around here. 12:51 Alex Ticer And when I say around, truly like being very broad. 12:53 Alex Ticer Most people would not drive an hour and a half one way, 3 hours every Sunday. 12:56 Alex Ticer But I was like, dude, I'm so committed. 12:58 Alex Ticer I would drive 4 if it took it, you know, like I'm serious, you know, like so by this time Becky's really on board though. 13:05 Alex Ticer She was the same woman before who had said I'm never driving that. 13:07 Alex Ticer there's not a chance. 13:08 Alex Ticer She's all down now. 13:10 Alex Ticer And so again, God was working, right? 13:11 Alex Ticer The timing, it's all about like how when we're ready and then it's like we are ready. 13:15 Alex Ticer My girls, I couldn't believe how many times they would be excited to go. 13:18 Alex Ticer And I'm like, are you kidding me? 13:20 Alex Ticer Like, I can't believe you girls are excited. 13:22 Alex Ticer I almost be in tears sometimes. 13:23 Alex Ticer And so I'm like, you guys are excited about going to a church and how you're driving an hour and a half. 13:29 Alex Ticer And then we get there. 13:30 Alex Ticer And we're probably only there for a couple hours and then drive an hour about, right? 13:33 Alex Ticer So it was like, it was just crazy to me. 13:35 Alex Ticer God was too good. 13:36 Alex Ticer But I kind of knew this wasn't a very long-term thing. 13:38 Alex Ticer So anyways, yeah, that's when in the meantime, Pastor Greg Dimmitt had cancer. 13:43 Alex Ticer It happened so fast. 13:45 Alex Ticer And so anyways, we delayed our trip a little bit. 13:49 Alex Ticer We were there at the funeral. 13:50 Alex Ticer That was quite devastating. 13:51 Alex Ticer And I remember even having some doubts, like, am I supposed to stay here? 13:55 Alex Ticer help the church here or not? 13:57 Alex Ticer And I just thought, no, this church is kind of established too. 13:59 Alex Ticer There are people here. 14:00 Alex Ticer There's some families. 14:01 Alex Ticer This family out there in Boise has no one right now. 14:03 Alex Ticer So it seemed kind of clear to me, like, you should go out there. 14:06 Alex Ticer So we did. 14:07 Alex Ticer And we go out there in November, probably the worst time to ever go out to Boise, like November, December, you know, during this time. 14:13 Alex Ticer And yeah, it was interesting. 14:16 Alex Ticer I think that was a time of like blessing and maybe even a little bit of doubt. 14:21 Alex Ticer So we get there and I've 14:24 Alex Ticer never, I'm not a pastor. 14:25 Alex Ticer I'm not, that's not like my thing. 14:27 Alex Ticer I'm a software engineer. 14:28 Alex Ticer I'm still working for PetSmart and all that. 14:30 Alex Ticer this is my deal, right? 14:31 Alex Ticer But I thought I can be a catalyst for getting people to come together. 14:35 Alex Ticer But I was trying to look for a pastor out there maybe or something or just a leader guy. 14:39 Alex Ticer And I thought, well, maybe the husband here, there was another guy maybe. 14:43 Alex Ticer I was like, there seems like there's some options. 14:44 Alex Ticer I meet another family out there who would like within the same month had the same thing happen. 14:49 Alex Ticer He got kicked out of this big church out there. 14:51 Alex Ticer And I was like, are you kidding me? 14:53 Alex Ticer God's doing stuff, man. 14:54 Alex Ticer So I got 14:54 Alex Ticer this other family now that's like three of us. 14:56 Alex Ticer There's this other one, maybe 4. 14:58 Alex Ticer And I kept having people come up to me like, are you a pastor? 15:01 Alex Ticer I'm like, no, I'm not a pastor. 15:03 Alex Ticer But I'm like, do you want to talk about Jesus? 15:04 Alex Ticer And then it's like, yes. 15:05 Alex Ticer So I go, let's talk. 15:06 Alex Ticer And always, always, I think like I would sort of bring it up at some point, you know, I'm just like, hey, you know, I love Jesus too and all this. 15:12 Alex Ticer And I go, but I got to be honest with you. 15:14 Alex Ticer There's probably something that might kind of cause us to split or maybe for you to get angry at me, you know, you know, and they're always like, what are you talking about? 15:20 Alex Ticer I go, I'm just, I'm just telling you, like, when I'm like saying I follow him, 15:24 Alex Ticer I follow him to like the Nth degree. 15:26 Alex Ticer So if he says it, I believe it. 15:27 Alex Ticer And he said some things that a lot of people don't accept or would be angry about. 15:30 Alex Ticer And then we get into it. 15:32 Alex Ticer And it was crazy. 15:32 Alex Ticer Every time I thought I'm gonna get like punched in the face, like every time. 15:35 Alex Ticer I'm like, oh boy, you know, but nothing, And every time they're just like, oh, that's interesting. 15:39 Alex Ticer And really? 15:40 Alex Ticer And I'll be like, yeah, turn to it. 15:42 Alex Ticer Look, it's in your Bible too. 15:43 Alex Ticer It's not some special Joseph Smith Bible, you know, it's like, it's the real deal, you know? 15:46 Alex Ticer And it was crazy. 15:48 Alex Ticer It was crazy how many times this kept happening. 15:49 Alex Ticer Other people were like, hey, yeah, 15:51 Alex Ticer it was crazy. 15:53 Alex Ticer are you starting a church or something or whatever? 15:54 Alex Ticer And I'd be like, not quite, but kind of like, maybe. 15:57 Alex Ticer And so I just thought, God's doing something. 15:59 Alex Ticer This is so exciting. 16:01 Alex Ticer I'll just cut to it. 16:02 Alex Ticer kind of didn't happen. 16:03 Alex Ticer And, people didn't really want to commit to coming. 16:07 Alex Ticer And I get it. 16:07 Alex Ticer I get it. 16:08 Alex Ticer It's so hard. 16:08 Alex Ticer And that's what I mean. 16:09 Alex Ticer It sounded so crazy to begin with. 16:11 Alex Ticer So I then kind of went into maybe a depression a little, because I was like, I felt like I saw all this stuff happening, all these things coming together. 16:20 Alex Ticer And this is now February. 16:21 Alex Ticer And it's just not happening. 16:22 Alex Ticer My wife's really sick. 16:24 Alex Ticer She hated it there, the weather and all that. 16:26 Sean Finnegan February in Idaho. 16:30 Alex Ticer Yep, I was telling you, I bought all these thermals. 16:32 Alex Ticer I'm running because I'm like, I'm going to run. 16:33 Alex Ticer I don't care if it's like minus 10. 16:35 Alex Ticer I'm going to get out there. 16:36 Alex Ticer And the little icicles on my eyelashes and stuff, you know, it was really cold. 16:40 Alex Ticer But I would have handled that. 16:42 Alex Ticer I'm totally fine with that. 16:43 Alex Ticer But what was crushing to me was like, I did this again. 16:48 Alex Ticer And it didn't happen like this. 16:50 Alex Ticer This didn't. 16:51 Alex Ticer And I just think I've moved now. 16:54 Alex Ticer How many times am I going to move? 16:55 Alex Ticer And how many times is my wife going to be willing to move? 16:59 Alex Ticer And I'm tired. 17:01 Alex Ticer This is some real work. 17:02 Alex Ticer And fortunately, God's good. 17:03 Alex Ticer We didn't sell the house this time. 17:04 Alex Ticer We just moved. 17:06 Alex Ticer I kept my domicile still in Texas. 17:07 Alex Ticer So I'm paying all my taxes there. 17:08 Alex Ticer We were only there for a few months. 17:10 Alex Ticer So, you know, it's all legal and all that. 17:11 Sean Finnegan Yeah, what was the amount of time you were there? 17:14 Alex Ticer So I think I was planning to be there. 17:17 Alex Ticer So I think I was planning originally like five or six months. 17:21 Alex Ticer maybe we're going to come back. 17:22 Alex Ticer I was like, whatever it takes, because I thought it might take a year or two to kind of get it going. 17:26 Alex Ticer I thought maybe we just start it and we kind of come back to Texas and then maybe we come back again. 17:29 Alex Ticer You know, whatever. 17:30 Alex Ticer I was flexible, but we were only there for four months. 17:33 Alex Ticer We were there and we left in February, I think, before it was even over. 17:36 Alex Ticer So maybe it was like 3 to 4 months. 17:38 Sean Finnegan It's got to be so discouraging. 17:41 Alex Ticer It was. 17:41 Alex Ticer It was so hard. 17:42 Alex Ticer And. 17:44 Sean Finnegan Arizona thing and then you had the whole Idaho thing and you're back where you started. 17:49 Alex Ticer Yes. 17:50 Alex Ticer And I think I'm probably not going to give enough. 17:54 Alex Ticer I think I've tried to distance myself from a lot of these feelings because they're kind of hard. 17:58 Alex Ticer I can even feel my eye twitching a little bit. 18:01 Alex Ticer It was hard when I was coming back. 18:02 Alex Ticer I remember my wife saying, just say how you feel. 18:05 Alex Ticer And I was like quoting Proverbs, I think, where it's like a fool gives vent to his emotions. 18:09 Alex Ticer but a wise man holds his tongue. 18:11 Alex Ticer And I said, I feel like Job a little where the wife saying curse God and die. 18:16 Alex Ticer And I go, I don't want to curse God. 18:18 Alex Ticer I know he's good, but I'm so frustrated. 18:20 Alex Ticer And I go, I just don't want to say anything because I'm so like confused, but I know he's good. 18:27 Alex Ticer So it was really hard where I'm like, he's good. 18:30 Alex Ticer I'm the idiot. 18:31 Alex Ticer I'm confused. 18:32 Alex Ticer And I go, but I really just would hope he would just give me clarity because 18:37 Alex Ticer I kind of am tired of feeling like an idiot. 18:39 Alex Ticer Like I'm tired of feeling like a fool, like doing these things. 18:42 Alex Ticer And, I won't name names, but I have people telling me, well, that was stupid. 18:46 Alex Ticer Oh, look how that turned out. 18:47 Alex Ticer Yeah, that was a great idea, you know, and stuff like that. 18:50 Alex Ticer And you're just like, how can I argue with it? 18:52 Alex Ticer does look stupid, right? 18:53 Alex Ticer But I'm like, I'm convinced God wanted me to, but then you're like, well, what was the fruit from it? 18:56 Alex Ticer And you go, I don't know. 18:57 Alex Ticer I'm still confused. 18:58 Alex Ticer Like, you know, it's hard. 18:59 Alex Ticer So it's really, it's really tough, but I don't want to downplay how hard that was. 19:02 Alex Ticer So when I got back to Texas, I don't even keep count now how many times we come and I'm 19:07 Alex Ticer I kind of would say I went to sleep. 19:09 Alex Ticer I think my addiction, it could be like working. 19:13 Alex Ticer And I think I then went all in on that. 19:15 Alex Ticer And then it's what I told myself I wouldn't do. 19:18 Alex Ticer And then I was starting to kind of like have more responsibility, be one of the leads and stuff. 19:24 Alex Ticer And anyway, so I started getting sucked into that. 19:27 Alex Ticer And flash forward to now, May of like 2025, 19:31 Alex Ticer or maybe it was a little bit before that, maybe it was April, but all of a sudden I really was feeling like a kind of a wake-up call again that I'm like, look, God's so patient, but you need to get going, like there's work to be done. 19:43 Alex Ticer And I'm like, but what, is it? 19:46 Alex Ticer So at the very least I knew, okay, this thing at Cornerstone, it's awesome and I'm so grateful for it, but three hours of driving every Sunday, that's not community really, you know, like 19:57 Alex Ticer I want my daughters to be able to hang out during the week with the families and things. 20:02 Alex Ticer And we need to either move up there or we need to move. 20:06 Alex Ticer And we had looked at moving up there so many times and every time it's kind of like pacing. 20:09 Alex Ticer I pray about it. 20:10 Alex Ticer I go, I didn't, I don't feel like this is it. 20:13 Alex Ticer You know, it's kind of like a prison town slash like military base. 20:17 Alex Ticer Like, I don't know. 20:17 Alex Ticer And I was always like, I'm convinced there are so many people who will come to this if they were just to hear it clearly and know that there's a church they can go to. 20:25 Alex Ticer And I go, I'm not sure this is it though. 20:27 Alex Ticer I think a lot of people, this Dutch church has been there for generations. 20:30 Alex Ticer This is a really old church. 20:31 Alex Ticer I'm like, I think everybody who's kind of known has heard here. 20:34 Alex Ticer Anyways, that was just my opinion, but I really was like, I don't think this is it. 20:37 Alex Ticer So I met a guy and he is a wonderful guy. 20:42 Alex Ticer I actually still see him as a brother in Christ and he had a church. 20:45 Alex Ticer They have a church out there in Kashmir, Washington. 20:48 Alex Ticer And he was so gracious. 20:48 Alex Ticer He's like, hey, yeah, like, why don't you come out here? 20:51 Alex Ticer I was pumped, but then I realized, hey, I've heard some things about this church. 20:55 Alex Ticer And so, you know, I kind of was trying to vet that a little bit, but I'm kind of a guy who wants to know. 21:00 Alex Ticer I'm like, I want to know. 21:01 Alex Ticer And so I'm going to go do it. 21:02 Alex Ticer Like, I think God's watching over me. 21:04 Alex Ticer I'm not going to get like snatched or drugged or chloroformed or anything. 21:06 Alex Ticer So I'm like, I'm going to go because I want to see and I want to hear for myself. 21:11 Alex Ticer And because I'm looking for zeal. 21:13 Alex Ticer I'm looking for like people who are like disciples and making disciples. 21:18 Sean Finnegan People that have fire in their belly. 21:20 Alex Ticer Yeah. 21:20 Alex Ticer And they're like excited about that. 21:22 Alex Ticer Like, cause again, I'm just like, I feel like there's a difference in my mind when I was like a Trinitarian. 21:26 Alex Ticer I'm like, everybody's heard this. 21:28 Alex Ticer when I think of this, I go, I don't think a lot of people have heard this. 21:31 Alex Ticer Like, I never heard this. 21:32 Alex Ticer No one told me. 21:33 Alex Ticer And I'm just like, so there's a funny thing in my brain where I go, for some reason, like even more so, I go, no one's heard this. 21:40 Alex Ticer Like, I'm telling you how many of my friends I've told, they're all the same thing. 21:43 Alex Ticer Like, oh man, I've never even heard this. 21:44 Alex Ticer Like, I can't believe I've never heard this. 21:46 Alex Ticer I go, I know, right? 21:46 Alex Ticer Like, this is crazy. 21:47 Alex Ticer Like, how has no one like ever been telling us about this or something? 21:51 Alex Ticer Or like, how can there be so few who believe this? 21:53 Alex Ticer Right? 21:53 Alex Ticer It's crazy. 21:54 Alex Ticer So 21:55 Alex Ticer actually, unfortunately, I've had friends who have come to accept this, but they're in isolation still. 21:59 Alex Ticer They're out in the middle of nowhere, not middle of nowhere, but there's no church around. 22:02 Alex Ticer So yeah, it was a, kind of a difficult thing, but we knew like, okay, this isn't going to work. 22:08 Alex Ticer So we're going out there. 22:09 Alex Ticer We go there to Washington. 22:11 Alex Ticer And at this time, again, I know the world and most people will say I'm an idiot and I am. 22:15 Alex Ticer I really am kind of stupid. 22:16 Alex Ticer But 22:17 Alex Ticer I didn't want anything distracting me. 22:19 Alex Ticer And so I put in my 2 weeks at PetSmart. 22:21 Alex Ticer I said, no, I'm going all in because what I'm afraid of is I'm going to go up there and then kind of only partially check them out because, you know, I'm busy. 22:30 Alex Ticer I'm working lots of meetings. 22:32 Alex Ticer Like we had tons of meetings. 22:33 Alex Ticer It was crazy. 22:34 Alex Ticer It was my fault. 22:34 Alex Ticer I had let responsibility build up. 22:37 Alex Ticer And now I didn't have a lot of free time. 22:38 Alex Ticer Before I used to have a lot of free time. 22:40 Alex Ticer And I said, okay. 22:41 Alex Ticer So I just cut the cord. 22:42 Alex Ticer I said, once I get there, I'll figure it out. 22:44 Alex Ticer Like software can be remote, whatever. 22:46 Alex Ticer God will provide again. 22:47 Alex Ticer Jesus said, if you seek first the kingdom of God, all these things will be added to you. 22:52 Alex Ticer That was food and clothing. 22:53 Alex Ticer And so that was the promise, not again that he'll give you everything you want, but need. 22:57 Alex Ticer And it's when you seek first the kingdom of God. 22:59 Alex Ticer And I thought, that's what I'm doing. 23:00 Alex Ticer I'm absolutely seeking first the kingdom of God. 23:03 Alex Ticer So we left, we went there. 23:05 Alex Ticer We had some differences. 23:07 Alex Ticer They had some pretty strong positions on things. 23:09 Alex Ticer And I realized this not only was not compatible for myself, 23:13 Alex Ticer because I was fine if they believed certain things, but there was an adherent, like a necessity for everyone to believe it. 23:18 Alex Ticer And I thought, I'm not gonna be able to bring people here. 23:20 Alex Ticer Like, no one's gonna receive this. 23:22 Alex Ticer And so we went down and visited Pastor Steve. 23:25 Alex Ticer He was still out there in Payson. 23:27 Alex Ticer And so that was wonderful. 23:28 Alex Ticer Jill and his wife, they're so wonderful. 23:29 Alex Ticer So that was kind of a bit of encouragement. 23:31 Alex Ticer I was also hopeful that maybe God would say, this is it, you know, now's the time, right? 23:35 Alex Ticer Because sometimes it's not now, but later. 23:37 Sean Finnegan Maybe it wasn't before, but now it's now. 23:39 Alex Ticer But now, but no, I didn't feel we were praying real hard. 23:43 Alex Ticer I said, no, 23:43 Alex Ticer but that was such an encouragement still to see them because, I actually was sad to leave Kashmir. 23:49 Alex Ticer They were so warm there. 23:51 Alex Ticer Well, in my opinion, again, I'm sure everyone's experience could be different, but I really felt like there were some wonderful families there and it was hard. 24:00 Alex Ticer So again, like every time this happened. 24:01 Sean Finnegan You were there for about two weeks in Kashmir, Washington. 24:05 Sean Finnegan And basically your conclusion was that 24:08 Sean Finnegan you're not really compatible with that church and that was a no-go as far as moving there. 24:16 Alex Ticer Yep, So then we. 24:18 Sean Finnegan Have Arizona, Idaho, Washington. 24:23 Alex Ticer Washington. 24:23 Sean Finnegan Back to Arizona. 24:25 Sean Finnegan Back to Arizona. 24:27 Alex Ticer No. 24:27 Sean Finnegan Back to Texas. 24:29 Alex Ticer Kind of, yeah. 24:30 Alex Ticer And at this point, I won't lie, my heart was starting to get kind of stubborn. 24:33 Alex Ticer I was starting to look at just getting a house out in the mountains or something, because I like the climate, the more dry climate and stuff. 24:40 Alex Ticer And I was like, I'm just going to buy a nice cabin and just live out the rest of my days. 24:45 Alex Ticer I'll maybe post some YouTube, whatever nonsense. 24:48 Alex Ticer But I'm getting frustrated. 24:49 Alex Ticer And if this isn't working out, might as well be happy with whatever I can do. 24:56 Alex Ticer And I felt crazy convicted because truly, if you heard the other part of my story, I'm not my own. 25:02 Alex Ticer Like I'm not, God didn't save me to just go live up in the mountains. 25:05 Alex Ticer But it just shows how childish I was getting. 25:08 Alex Ticer I was getting pretty frustrated. 25:09 Sean Finnegan And understandably so. 25:11 Sean Finnegan I mean, this has been a saga. 25:13 Sean Finnegan Maybe at first it's an adventure, but like after a while, it's like, this is just real life and it's not turning out over and over. 25:20 Alex Ticer God, what are you trying to show me? 25:23 Sean Finnegan You must have been asking yourself that. 25:25 Alex Ticer Yeah. 25:26 Alex Ticer So that's such a good thing. 25:28 Alex Ticer Is that, okay. 25:28 Alex Ticer So yes, the thing show me like we're praying Becky and I, and so we come back very discouraged from this most of the summer, our car gets totaled. 25:36 Alex Ticer I think, and it's crazy. 25:37 Alex Ticer I don't want to get too far into that, but I was driving back from Cornerstone and I was sort of telling myself too, okay, fine. 25:42 Alex Ticer We'll just stay here till you do something. 25:44 Alex Ticer You know, father, you're going to do something. 25:45 Alex Ticer And I'm just going to keep doing my thing until you and the car, like it was just barely drizzling. 25:51 Alex Ticer And then the car, like the brakes stopped working. 25:53 Alex Ticer It just spun and spun. 25:54 Alex Ticer We smashed around. 25:54 Alex Ticer The car gets 25:55 Alex Ticer destroyed, like crazy destroyed. 25:57 Alex Ticer And not one airbag goes off. 25:59 Alex Ticer Nothing happens. 25:59 Alex Ticer Everyone's fine. 26:01 Alex Ticer It was the craziest thing ever. 26:02 Alex Ticer And I remember thinking, okay, like literally, I think you are telling me, I'm talking to you. 26:09 Alex Ticer I don't want you going back to sleep. 26:12 Alex Ticer But then I'm like, but what is it? 26:13 Alex Ticer What is it? 26:14 Alex Ticer Like, I want to know, what is it? 26:17 Alex Ticer And so Becky and I are praying. 26:19 Alex Ticer We get connected with Spirit and Truth Fellowship. 26:21 Alex Ticer But it's like an online ministry. 26:23 Alex Ticer And I was like, okay, this is kind of nice, but I want to be in person. 26:27 Alex Ticer So I'm kind of frustrated. 26:29 Alex Ticer We get off one of those calls. 26:30 Alex Ticer We hear about this conference in Converge that's in Cleveland, Ohio, and that was 2025. 26:36 Alex Ticer And so we hear about this, but after the call, Becky, my wife is in tears, like devastated and is basically like, I don't know if God like cares about us or, you know, I'm probably given the horrible, you know, but the gist of like, if he cared, wouldn't he tell us? 26:53 Alex Ticer Wouldn't he like show us? 26:55 Alex Ticer And I remember almost like, I think God almost speaking through me because I didn't even really know I was saying, but I said, babe, what if he is, but we don't like the answer? 27:03 Alex Ticer Like, what if he's telling us something, but we're like, no, like, you know, that can't be it. 27:09 Alex Ticer And I feel like without even elaborating, she said, are you trying to say we're supposed to stay here? 27:14 Alex Ticer I said, I don't know, but I'm just saying, like, what if he is telling us, but we're just hardening our hearts and we're like not listening. 27:22 Alex Ticer And I honestly meant, I didn't know what that meant. 27:24 Alex Ticer I meant that could have been, that could have been going, moving up to Gatesville to go to Cornerstone. 27:28 Alex Ticer I just, I was trying to now step back and be open to maybe there's something that we just immediately go, no, but that is there, right? 27:35 Alex Ticer Like maybe that is it, because I do believe God's like moving, but like, how could it be this long that he hasn't made it clear, right? 27:41 Alex Ticer So anyways, 27:42 Alex Ticer The Converge conference, I said, I think that there's something there. 27:45 Alex Ticer I think God had us on this meeting just to hear about that. 27:48 Alex Ticer And I said, I think we're supposed to go. 27:50 Alex Ticer I look online, it's already registration's closed. 27:53 Alex Ticer And so I almost said, well, and I was about to just take a little nap in depression, kind of. 27:59 Alex Ticer But I said, you know what Jesus said, seek, knock, ask, right? 28:02 Alex Ticer Like that unrighteous judge. 28:03 Alex Ticer And I said, hey, I'm just going to send an e-mail. 28:05 Alex Ticer I'm going to send an e-mail to this guy here, Jerry Warewell. 28:07 Alex Ticer I didn't know him at all, but I said, hey, I didn't realize how important and busy he is. 28:12 Alex Ticer That's even more miraculous that he even responded. 28:14 Alex Ticer But I sent an e-mail and within like an hour, he's like, yeah, here, I opened up the registration. 28:19 Alex Ticer If you can do this in the next like 2 hours, I haven't submitted the things to the university yet, but I'm about to do it this evening. 28:26 Alex Ticer So I'm like, typing away, like, my goodness. 28:29 Alex Ticer I tell Becky, how crazy is this? 28:31 Alex Ticer Like, God kept the door open, right? 28:33 Alex Ticer So we're getting ready for that conference. 28:35 Alex Ticer I think it was only a few weeks away from that point. 28:37 Alex Ticer Got our flights, did our thing. 28:39 Alex Ticer And that night before, I get crazy sick. 28:43 Alex Ticer Like, all of a sudden, I just like, I woke up and I had shivers. 28:47 Alex Ticer I was like, cold and hot. 28:49 Alex Ticer I was sweaty. 28:49 Alex Ticer I was like, what's going on? 28:50 Alex Ticer And I was like, almost like- It's the middle. 28:52 Sean Finnegan Of the summer too, right? 28:55 Alex Ticer Our house is air conditioned. 28:56 Alex Ticer Like it's climate controlled. 28:58 Alex Ticer Like there's no reason. 28:59 Alex Ticer It was like a fever of some kind. 29:00 Alex Ticer And I just remember saying, oh no, oh no, I wanted to go. 29:05 Alex Ticer I can't fly like this. 29:06 Alex Ticer And so I forget, I woke up or something to maybe tell Becky and then I see her on the floor somewhere. 29:12 Alex Ticer Oh, I don't, she wasn't shivering or something. 29:14 Alex Ticer I don't remember what was going on with her, but she was just like, I can't sleep. 29:16 Alex Ticer I feel bad or icky or something. 29:18 Alex Ticer I go, we're both dying here. 29:19 Alex Ticer This is crazy. 29:20 Alex Ticer And I just said, okay, I'm gonna pray real quick. 29:23 Alex Ticer And if it's God's will for us to go, we're gonna both wake up like fine. 29:27 Alex Ticer And I go, but if not, we're sick as dogs. 29:29 Alex Ticer Like there's no way we're getting on a plane. 29:30 Alex Ticer Our flight was early too, like 5 in the morning or 6 or something. 29:33 Alex Ticer I was like, there's no way this is gonna happen. 29:35 Alex Ticer or I went to bed. 29:35 Alex Ticer I don't know what she did. 29:36 Alex Ticer I woke up feeling perfect, clear mind, nothing, this. 29:39 Alex Ticer And I just said, oh, baby. 29:40 Alex Ticer I went up to her. 29:41 Alex Ticer I go, how are you feeling? 29:42 Alex Ticer She's like, I feel great. 29:42 Alex Ticer And I go, dude, I think God wants us to go, man. 29:45 Alex Ticer I go, I think that was a spiritual attack. 29:47 Sean Finnegan Or that it was a healing? 29:48 Sean Finnegan I do. 29:49 Alex Ticer I think it was a spiritual attack. 29:50 Alex Ticer I think the enemy was trying to punk us and to get me to think too practical because I'm like, I can't go on a plane like this. 29:57 Alex Ticer is wrong. 29:57 Alex Ticer This would be inappropriate. 29:58 Alex Ticer But like when I woke up like, oh, fine. 30:00 Alex Ticer I thought there's no way that was like a real fever. 30:03 Alex Ticer You know, and it was weird too. 30:04 Alex Ticer It came out. 30:05 Alex Ticer of nowhere. 30:05 Alex Ticer Just like, it was almost over the top, I felt. 30:07 Alex Ticer So anyways, we get there, we're on the plane, we fly in, and they lose our bags. 30:14 Alex Ticer They lose our bags. 30:15 Alex Ticer And there's like only three other families that lost their bags. 30:19 Alex Ticer And actually, that's a really cool story. 30:20 Alex Ticer One of the ladies who lost her bag, we actually ended up on the same flight back home. 30:24 Alex Ticer And I got to kind of preach to her a little bit, witness. 30:27 Alex Ticer Anyways, I think I really encouraged her a little. 30:29 Alex Ticer We never connected afterwards, but that was really cool. 30:32 Alex Ticer So anyways, 30:33 Alex Ticer I'm the only person there actually like laughing. 30:36 Alex Ticer Everyone else is like riled, right? 30:38 Alex Ticer Like how could you lose our luggage? 30:39 Alex Ticer Where is it? 30:39 Alex Ticer And they're like giving us the worst answer. 30:41 Alex Ticer So like we have no idea. 30:42 Alex Ticer And I go, what do you mean no idea? 30:43 Alex Ticer Like it's either in Austin or the connecting flight was in Miami, right? 30:49 Alex Ticer There's no way to know. 30:51 Alex Ticer What kind of answer is that? 30:53 Alex Ticer So anyways, I'm kind of laughing what I just said, man, God's too good. 30:56 Alex Ticer I think the enemy is trying to bash us. 30:57 Alex Ticer And I go, babe, guess what? 30:59 Alex Ticer Guess what's in my backpack? 31:00 Alex Ticer I had almost nothing on me but my Bible. 31:02 Alex Ticer And I forgot one other thing. 31:03 Alex Ticer And I said, that's all I need. 31:04 Alex Ticer I go, we're good. 31:05 Alex Ticer And so we showed up a day early too. 31:07 Alex Ticer And I said, God's good. 31:09 Alex Ticer I'm always kind of trying to be prepared. 31:11 Alex Ticer I said, I was thinking we would just hang out and enjoy ourselves. 31:13 Alex Ticer But I said, tomorrow we're going to go shopping, buy a bunch of clothes. 31:16 Alex Ticer I'm not going to let this stop us. 31:17 Alex Ticer So 31:18 Alex Ticer We woke up that morning, they still didn't know where our luggage was. 31:20 Alex Ticer It said basically like, I'm making a joke, but there was like 5 steps in the process. 31:24 Alex Ticer It was still on step one, like with a big old question mark. 31:27 Alex Ticer And I just said, all right, I'm not waiting on that. 31:30 Alex Ticer Let's go, we'll go to Target or whatever, buy a bunch of hygiene stuff. 31:34 Alex Ticer We'll go to the whatever store, buy some clothes. 31:37 Alex Ticer I go, I'm not going to let this stop us because I think God wants us here. 31:39 Alex Ticer And I think the enemy's working extra hard to keep us from going. 31:42 Alex Ticer Because that's the thing, right? 31:43 Alex Ticer If you're stinky and smelly and stuff, you don't want to be around people. 31:46 Alex Ticer But I was like, no, we're not going to let that happen. 31:48 Alex Ticer So we go, I'll try to fast forward a little bit. 31:51 Alex Ticer We're hearing the messages and yours, I can't remember if yours was the first one we heard, but yours definitely was the one that I knew we were there to hear. 32:00 Alex Ticer So when we are listening, Becky and I both in the same moment and you were talking, 32:06 Alex Ticer you were pretty on fire for the one God too. 32:08 Alex Ticer Even in that message, you were talking about that. 32:11 Alex Ticer And I thought, yes, that's why we're here. 32:13 Alex Ticer We're all here for the one God. 32:15 Alex Ticer This is the only common faith we kind of have. 32:17 Alex Ticer So it's a big thing. 32:18 Alex Ticer And you said, if you have a church, you go to it. 32:21 Alex Ticer And I thought, that's what we're doing, Cornerstone, best 3 hours. 32:24 Alex Ticer You said, if you don't go move to one, move to a community. 32:29 Alex Ticer And I'm like, that's what we've been doing all summer. 32:31 Alex Ticer And then you said, or you start one. 32:33 Alex Ticer And I remember thinking the second, you gave three options really. 32:36 Alex Ticer And I thought, it's the second one. 32:37 Alex Ticer That's what we've been doing all summer. 32:39 Alex Ticer That's why we're here. 32:40 Alex Ticer God's gonna show us a church that's, you know, here or somewhere. 32:43 Sean Finnegan Yeah, you'll find someone that's a good fit and you'll be able to move there. 32:46 Sean Finnegan Yeah. 32:47 Alex Ticer And this is it. 32:48 Alex Ticer And I said, oh, I was so excited. 32:49 Alex Ticer I can't tell you how. 32:51 Alex Ticer Both of us pointed at you like, there it is. 32:53 Alex Ticer This is it. 32:54 Alex Ticer This is why God had us come. 32:56 Alex Ticer And we're gonna find some family. 32:57 Alex Ticer So I'm all pumped. 32:59 Alex Ticer there was other people there that we knew and were talking and stuff, but I was like, okay, we met this family, met this other family. 33:04 Alex Ticer Well, now it's near the end. 33:06 Alex Ticer And I was, I won't lie, I'm starting to, I have faith, but I have little faith. 33:10 Alex Ticer I'm starting to panic now because I'm going, 33:13 Alex Ticer We haven't found the family yet. 33:14 Alex Ticer We haven't found the church yet. 33:15 Alex Ticer I'm like, okay, they have this church in New York, but again, it's kind of like an established church. 33:20 Alex Ticer Like I guess we could go, but then it's kind of, I feel like it's selfish. 33:24 Alex Ticer Like I could just go to Lakeshore. 33:25 Alex Ticer Like I could go to, you know, I feel like I'm supposed to help or something like, you know. 33:30 Sean Finnegan Play a meaningful role. 33:32 Alex Ticer Yeah. 33:32 Alex Ticer And not just kick up my feet and say, thanks. 33:35 Alex Ticer Like I found you guys. 33:36 Alex Ticer I'm lucky. 33:37 Alex Ticer So it was crazy. 33:39 Alex Ticer I won't get into it, but there was one other church y'all had. 33:42 Alex Ticer We talked, it was clear it wasn't gonna be a good fit. 33:45 Alex Ticer And I said, oh man, we're going to our room and we need to clean up. 33:49 Alex Ticer I forgot what the move out time was, like noon or something or two o'clock, whatever it was. 33:52 Alex Ticer And we're getting our stuff and we're driving to the hotel. 33:55 Alex Ticer And I tried all my best to keep staying optimistic. 34:00 Alex Ticer And I was like, I wasn't crying, but I was like, I am so like tired. 34:06 Alex Ticer I don't, 34:08 Alex Ticer What was this? 34:09 Alex Ticer I don't get it. 34:09 Alex Ticer I'm so convinced we were to be here, but what was it? 34:13 Alex Ticer And I was thinking about what you said, and I truly almost just ignored your last thing, which was to start one. 34:19 Alex Ticer But after I kind of went through it again, I go, oh my goodness. 34:23 Alex Ticer Remember what I said before we left, when we heard about the conference? 34:27 Alex Ticer And I said, what if he's telling us, but we don't like what he's saying? 34:30 Alex Ticer Like we're not listening, because it's like, that's not it. 34:34 Alex Ticer And I had that in my head because there was a couple of people during the summer who had said, why don't you start a church? 34:39 Alex Ticer I go, why would I start a church? 34:40 Alex Ticer I'm not a pastor. 34:41 Alex Ticer Like, that's not my thing. 34:42 Alex Ticer Like, no, what are you talking about? 34:45 Alex Ticer So I have this in my head. 34:48 Alex Ticer She then, Becky says, I think we're supposed to start a church. 34:52 Alex Ticer And I said, that is the craziest thing. 34:55 Alex Ticer But that's exactly what I was thinking. 34:57 Alex Ticer But I go, what does that even mean? 34:59 Alex Ticer What does that mean? 35:00 Alex Ticer Start a church? 35:01 Alex Ticer And we both kind of were laughing because we're like, I don't have a clue. 35:05 Alex Ticer But what if that's the thing we didn't want? 35:07 Alex Ticer Like, what if that's, what if that was the answer the whole time? 35:09 Alex Ticer And we were like, I don't want it. 35:11 Alex Ticer Like, it's like you didn't even listen. 35:12 Alex Ticer It was like, God is getting, trying to get your attention and tell you, but you just immediately dismiss it. 35:17 Alex Ticer Like, you just throw it in the trash. 35:18 Alex Ticer Like, and I just said, you know, I need to be careful because if this is it, and I've begged, I've begged and pleaded all summer 35:26 Alex Ticer for him to reveal his will for us. 35:27 Alex Ticer And if now I'm going to sit here and go, garbage can, no thank you. 35:33 Alex Ticer No. 35:34 Alex Ticer So I said, we need to really pray about this. 35:37 Alex Ticer And we did. 35:38 Alex Ticer And then I won't lie, I started getting a little giddy. 35:40 Alex Ticer I go, because here's the thing, it sounds like the craziest thing possible. 35:43 Alex Ticer And you know, the Bible is full of crazy stories, but they're true. 35:46 Alex Ticer They really happened. 35:47 Alex Ticer Gideon was a real man. 35:48 Alex Ticer That really happened. 35:49 Alex Ticer And I'm starting to think like, is that possible? 35:51 Alex Ticer Is that what's gonna go down here? 35:53 Alex Ticer Is this the craziest thing you could ever think of and it's gonna actually like happen? 35:56 Alex Ticer And I go, boy, so we're flying back. 35:58 Alex Ticer I mentioned the lady who was on the trip out, happened to be on the flight that we were going to, back to Austin. 36:03 Alex Ticer That was wonderful. 36:04 Alex Ticer So I'm telling her and I'm almost like, I'm almost wondering if this isn't it. 36:09 Alex Ticer We get back. 36:10 Alex Ticer So the conference ended, was it Sunday or something? 36:13 Alex Ticer And we flew back Monday or something. 36:16 Alex Ticer Yeah, I think that's right. 36:16 Alex Ticer Flew back Monday. 36:17 Alex Ticer Tuesday morning. 36:20 Alex Ticer I don't like to test God. 36:21 Alex Ticer I'm not really advising this as like a practical way to live life. 36:25 Alex Ticer But at this point in my life, again, going to Lakeshore, going to Boise, going to Kashmir, all this stuff, I said, Father, if this is your will, I'll do it. 36:35 Alex Ticer But if it's not, please don't have me waste any more of my life and time. 36:39 Alex Ticer I feel like I've been so ridiculed and I'm exhausted. 36:43 Alex Ticer I'm so tired of doing stuff. 36:46 Alex Ticer But I'm like, if this is your will, 36:49 Alex Ticer I'll be all in, 100%. 36:52 Alex Ticer I will give everything, but I just want to be sure it's your will and not some dumb idea I've come up with or someone's planted in my head. 37:02 Alex Ticer So I asked for a sign, kind of like Gideon. 37:04 Alex Ticer I was just like, Father, please forgive me. 37:06 Alex Ticer I'm not trying to test you, but I just said, I just have to be sure. 37:10 Alex Ticer And I said, there's this neighbor across the way. 37:13 Alex Ticer He kind of knows where I'm at on the one God. 37:16 Alex Ticer He knows this, and that's pretty wild. 37:18 Alex Ticer We've only talked maybe two or three times in the last couple of years. 37:21 Alex Ticer And I've been all over the place and stuff. 37:24 Alex Ticer And I said, so there's every reason for this guy to not even listen or answer my text. 37:31 Alex Ticer But I'm going to text him and say, we're starting a church this Sunday. 37:35 Alex Ticer And if this is your will, he'll say yes. 37:38 Alex Ticer because that's crazy. 37:39 Alex Ticer Who would do such a thing, right? 37:41 Alex Ticer He doesn't know me. 37:43 Alex Ticer People won't even go to a church if they were good friends, let alone a guy you don't know. 37:46 Alex Ticer Like, that's the weirdest thing, right? 37:48 Alex Ticer I'm not gonna go, like, are you crazy? 37:50 Alex Ticer Who are you? 37:50 Alex Ticer I don't even know you, dude. 37:51 Alex Ticer We're not even friends yet. 37:53 Alex Ticer And last time we talked, what you were saying sounded kind of like heresy or something. 37:58 Alex Ticer I don't want anything to do with you. 38:00 Alex Ticer No, thank you, right? 38:01 Alex Ticer So that was the thing I said, and Father, if it's not your will, have him say no, have him say, you know, maybe, 38:08 Alex Ticer I have him just not respond, but I said, just make it so clear, because this is so wild that only if he says yes, then I'll know for sure this is your will, because there's no way this guy's gonna say yes. 38:23 Alex Ticer That's too crazy. 38:24 Alex Ticer This is so insane. 38:24 Alex Ticer So I texted him, less than 15 minutes, he says, yes, what time? 38:30 Alex Ticer And I was like, baby. 38:32 Alex Ticer And I won't lie. 38:33 Alex Ticer I actually start getting excited now because now I'm going, is this real? 38:37 Alex Ticer I mean, I feel like this is too. 38:39 Alex Ticer And I say like very humbly with 10, because I'm saying this Sunday, so less than seven days away. 38:43 Alex Ticer And I'm like, would 1030 work? 38:45 Sean Finnegan Yeah, you kind of box yourself into doing something, right. 38:50 Alex Ticer And I'm like, 38:51 Alex Ticer I tell Becky, I say, you're never going to believe this. 38:54 Alex Ticer And she's all pumped too. 38:55 Alex Ticer And we go, I think all we did was get a TV though or something. 38:58 Alex Ticer I got hooked up like up above the fireplace so I could kind of show stuff as I was talking. 39:03 Alex Ticer But you've seen our message. 39:04 Alex Ticer It's up on our website or whatever. 39:06 Alex Ticer It's on the website and YouTube or whatever. 39:07 Alex Ticer It's just me and him sitting on chairs and stuff. 39:10 Alex Ticer He came. 39:11 Alex Ticer He and his family came. 39:13 Alex Ticer And that was that last affirmation was I said, if they don't show up, 39:18 Alex Ticer then this wasn't. 39:19 Alex Ticer But if they come, because he said he would, but then it's another thing to actually do it. 39:23 Alex Ticer He did. 39:24 Alex Ticer And I was on fire. 39:25 Alex Ticer So I said, boy, then we went and bought chairs with all this stuff. 39:28 Alex Ticer We went like all out because I said, this is crazy. 39:31 Alex Ticer And another family came the second week. 39:33 Alex Ticer It was so exciting because I think for so long, I had been like, I know you saved me for something. 39:40 Alex Ticer And I want to serve you. 39:42 Alex Ticer I really do. 39:43 Alex Ticer And I will give it everything. 39:44 Alex Ticer But I think I felt like I was like wandering in the wilderness. 39:47 Alex Ticer Like I'm an idiot. 39:48 Alex Ticer I'm confused. 39:49 Alex Ticer I can't hear you or something. 39:50 Alex Ticer What's wrong? 39:50 Alex Ticer Why am I not hearing you? 39:52 Alex Ticer And to finally feel like 39:54 Alex Ticer this doesn't make sense, but it makes sense that it doesn't make sense, right? 39:57 Alex Ticer Like he's gonna use an instrument that gives him all the glory. 40:00 Alex Ticer Like this makes sense now. 40:01 Alex Ticer I go, yeah, I'm so unqualified for this. 40:03 Alex Ticer I'm a software engineer. 40:03 Alex Ticer I spent like the last like 15 years of my life behind a screen. 40:08 Alex Ticer I might have led teams, but it led them technically. 40:11 Alex Ticer They're like, it's so different. 40:13 Alex Ticer These people are professionals. 40:14 Alex Ticer It's just so different. 40:15 Alex Ticer And I just thought to myself, this is so funny to me. 40:19 Alex Ticer And yet it was so exciting because it's like, 40:22 Alex Ticer In my mind, it was so clear. God's doing this because there's no way these people should be coming here. Every week they kept coming back. I thought, this is crazy. How, like, why are you still here? It might have been a, let's do that weird thing. That guy has that church, right? Let's go see how that happens. 40:37 Sean Finnegan Yeah, maybe they'll check it out once or twice. 40:39 Alex Ticer Yeah, and just laugh about it, tell a story about, hey, one time we went to this guy, he's a nut, you know? But yeah, we became bonded. We became like a family, like all of us. And I just thought, 40:49 Alex Ticer wow, he is beyond anything I could ever begin to describe because our living God, he does the impossible and he chooses to invite us to join that. I think that's what blew my mind away too as I go, every morning I think I wake up thinking that. 41:05 Alex Ticer how blessed am I that I get to be a part of like his plans? Like a coach who tells him, yeah, go out there and play. You're like, really? Me? Like, oh, dude. Oh, okay. Like, yeah, great. Like you actually get to go out there and do it. You know, that's huge for me. 41:21 Sean Finnegan Yeah, absolutely. So where did the name One God Church come from? 41:28 Alex Ticer That's great. Yeah. So literally, I think the first few times we met, 41:31 Alex Ticer I didn't have any name for it. Although this was important, I think. I told you during the summer I met someone, or I talked with them on the phone, and they told me, hey, look, if you're gonna do, and again, I wasn't even one to start a church. It was the weirdest conversation. Hey, if you're gonna do a church, you gotta be committed to it. And if you're gonna do it, own it. Don't say it's just some Bible study. It's just some group getting together. Oh, we're just hanging out, reading the Bible. No, it's a church. And you own it from day one. You're the shepherd. You gotta like, you know, really own it in every sense. And I heard him, but I was like, okay, actually what you're 42:01 Alex Ticer saying makes sense for you. Okay, so anyways, that was stuck in my head though when we did this. So I think it was the second week, one of the families had said, so are you guys thinking of doing this every week or is this kind of just like a thing? And I love Becky so much, but she just said, oh, you know, like, and it's the normal answer. We don't want to seem like we're insane and crazy. So it's kind of like, well, you know, we're open to whatever, you know, if you guys don't want a constant week. And I was like, no, I'm sorry. No, we're going to do this every week. Like we're committed every single 42:31 Alex Ticer week. Like we'll be here, even if nobody's here, we're going to do this. And I said, and so if you ever come or someone I invite randomly on the street, if they ever come, they'll be certain to know I'll be here because we'll be doing this. Like that's how committed I was. And it was crazy because honestly, a lot of people don't like commitment. They're like, oh, I don't want to sign up for nothing. They were like, that's great because we want a church, like a real church, like something that is like every week and we can like commit to that. So great, because that's what we wanted to hear. 42:59 Alex Ticer And I remember just thinking, God, you're too good. You're too good. Yeah, I feel like conventional wisdom would have been like low, like downplay, you know, whatever. 43:06 Sean Finnegan Yeah, just take it easy. 43:09 Alex Ticer So we didn't have a name. We didn't have a name. Like it wasn't something that I, again, this was so organic in my mind that I truly every week I thought no one's going to come. And if no one comes and it just turns into nothing, you know, I truly was like, maybe it was just a witness to that guy across the street and his family, you know, they're coming a few times, you know, I'm like, I'm not trying to pretend I know God's plans. 43:27 Alex Ticer But at some point, I think it was a few months in, I said, boy, I think it's a real thing. And I think I should like submit this with the state. And so I said, I need to have a name. And so I think I created a website is such a, it's like a page, but it was like godis1.com. So I owned that domain. And I said, yeah, I kind of like that. You know, God is 1, right? But I'm like, God is 1 church. Like, that doesn't even make sense. Like, you know, it sounds like he's one church or something. I don't know. So I was struggling for a name. 43:54 Alex Ticer And it was the funniest thing when I'm like, one God church? And I was like, and I was thinking of Paul in 1 Corinthians 8, 6, yet for us there's one God, the Father. And so I was like, yeah, one God church. And I said, boy, this, because I wanted this to be generational. I want this to be long after I'm dead. And I thought to myself, I'm going to give it a name, in my opinion, that will be hard to ever deny that this is what you believed, right? The one God, the Father, the only true God, right? This idea. So I was like, all right, yeah, like this will be good. This will be a name that like really 44:23 Alex Ticer will force us to never try to hide this truth. Like never try to walk around it or pretend it. What I'm hopeful for is someday people go, oh yeah, they're crazy, but there's this one God church down the road. And everyone will know, oh, they believe in the Father, the only true God, and his son Jesus is the man, Messiah, you know, the Son of the living God. That'll be just such a colloquialism that people go, oh, it's one of those one God churches, and everyone will know what that means. Like it'll be universal, you know, but anyways. 44:49 Alex Ticer and then the domain was available and I said, no, that's nuts. The name wasn't taken in the state of Texas or anything. And I thought, that's crazy. Not even a derivative of it or anything. And I was like, okay. So yeah, that's what we did. I prayed about it, of course. And I just said, I think God's put it on a platter for me. So I bought up both the.com and.org. 45:05 Sean Finnegan So now you've been meeting weekly since Converge, which was August 10th. August 10th. Okay. So you meet every week. People are coming. 45:19 Sean Finnegan Now you have multiple families and you have a meal afterwards and it's kind of like a whole, at least half or more than half a day kind of gathering. Bring us up to the present. What are you about to do? Obviously I know what I'm looking for, but tell us about the exciting new development. 45:43 Alex Ticer Yes, God is so good. As you said, we have had families, more and more families coming, and it's been great. we have worship, we go through a message, we have prayer time, we have the fellowship. And that was great, here, but we were reaching a point where we had about 24 people coming consistently, and then some weeks we'd have about 27. And it's at my house. 46:07 Alex Ticer The problem, actually, we have so many children that the children's rooms were overflowing, all this stuff. And so we've been looking. I've been looking for a new building for five months. And just when I was about to give up on that, God provided. We met a wonderful lady, and they have a church, and that's going to be our new building. And we're literally going to have our first service this coming Sunday. So that's going to be, what, the 26th? 46:33 Alex Ticer Yeah, it'll be really awesome, the 26. And so less than a year from when we started, we now have a building and it's a great building. It's a church, it's designed to be a church and so it's wonderful. Like everything's already set up. They have all the instruments and the screens and 46:48 Alex Ticer stuff and they have rooms for the children. We have, I think it can fit up to like 80 people. They don't have all the chairs set up, but they have them in the back and there's like this space and I'm like, oh, you could easily set this up. And I was like, this is great. Like this is wonderful for like growing and to invite people. I think it's easier sometimes for people to come just to a public space than to a house that's so personal and intimate to come to someone's house and hopefully to give it a little bit more legitimacy too. So people don't think like, oh yeah, these guys are nuts or cult or something crazy. 47:17 Alex Ticer It's like, no, we're reading the Bible. You know, this is like genuine, you know, followers of Christ. So yeah, that's super cool. 47:25 Sean Finnegan The church that you're renting is Church of God, seventh day, Spanish edition. And because they meet on the seventh day, which is Saturday, they're available. It's open Sunday. But when you first had 47:44 Sean Finnegan come across this church, somebody else is actually renting it on Sundays, right? 47:48 Alex Ticer Yes, yeah, I forgot. So it was maybe five months ago when we first looked. It was one of like my top three first ones, because as you mentioned, those that meet on Saturday are like a huge, you know, like, oh, that's a great fit maybe. They not only had a church also meeting on Saturday, so they meet on Saturday, they have another church meet on Saturday, and then they had a church meeting on Sunday. And so I remember like, oh, okay, well, that's not gonna work. I know some people have floated, hey, we should meet on a different day or time. And I don't know why I've been kind of a stickler 48:14 Alex Ticer I said, no, I don't want to be meeting Friday nights or something, because then I feel like it's like people's minds will go, well, that's not really a church. Like that's not really a church. You're just hanging out or something. So again, it's kind of weird, but I would pray about it. I'm like, no, I feel convicted. Like this is legitimate. We just need to wait for God. God will do something. And as you said, it was like a long time and I was pursuing other paths that I'm so glad we did not go down. 48:38 Alex Ticer But then all of a sudden Becky spots it and goes, hey, remember that one church? And I had this whole list and I had stopped updating it because it was just depressing. It was like red, red, red, red, red, all the like things. And at some point I was like, this is hilarious. I thought I was going to have lots of maybes and this one's good or that one's better. And it's like, I don't need a list. They're all, they're all no. So yeah, she brings it up. I go, let's go. And like, we try to meet there. We call, we had to keep going. We went like 3 times. My girls are hilarious. They're like, we've been to this church like 3 times now. Why do we keep coming? Are we going to go? 49:08 Sean Finnegan was all these different groups meetings. So you would go to the Friday night service and it wasn't the people in charge. And then you went to the Saturday morning service and it wasn't the people in charge. And then, eventually what was the Saturday afternoon service is when I finally met the lady who owned it and had the decision making capacity. And she didn't really, doesn't seem like she even liked you very much. But tell us about that conversation. I love this part of the story because it shows your tenacity. 49:38 Sean Finnegan And if there's one thing that comes through in all this, it's that you don't give up and then God shows up. And I think people quit too soon, so much in life. So tell us about the story about this Spanish lady and how. 49:55 Alex Ticer My dad has a way of saying it sometimes. He means it in a kind way, but it's like, you're too stupid to know any better. And I'm like, yeah, I kind of get that. I've met a lot of people. God is good. Like you said, he's coming through. But yeah, so I found it and they were hard actually. The church, the only digital presence I found, I think was on Google Maps. And there was no website. There was no email. 50:20 Alex Ticer but I think there was a phone number there. So I could be wrong, but I think that's how I got this number, because I was trying so hard to find them on a page or something or whatever. And I was like, boy, cold calling a random phone number, the success rate is probably really low. And as you mentioned, Spanish edition, their whole title is, you know, what is that? Iglesia de Dios Septimo Dia. 50:44 Alex Ticer Alpha Omega, it's like, it's all Spanish and all their writing on the walls, it's Spanish. Like, I'm like, I'm not sure if they speak English. So, you know, like someone, if someone called me and was speaking like Vietnamese, I might just hang up like, oh, sorry, dude, you got wrong number. So I prayed real hard and I barely know any Spanish. 51:02 Alex Ticer But I think God helped me a ton because I just called and I didn't say English. I just started speaking in Spanish about, are you this church in here? And she's like, yes, and I'm like, oh, I'm sorry, we're a church and we're at a house and we're looking for a place to grow to and we'll pay you to rent it. Are you open? And so then, yeah, she starts talking, but then it was like the disconnect. My brain is like, okay, 51:28 Alex Ticer I don't know anymore what she's saying. So I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry. I don't really speak Spanish. I just, you know, whatever. So eventually she says like, yeah, all right, I have another call. Bye. In English, you know, but hangs up. And I'm like, okay, I don't think she's going to call me back. She doesn't. So the next day I texted her. I'm trying, because she never said no. I think this is really important. Sometimes if people tell you, please respect my answer, I said no, don't bother me. 51:56 Alex Ticer I think you need to respect that, right? Like, don't be a pest, right? But she never really said no. So I texted it, she doesn't answer, and that's when I said, okay, babe. 52:06 Alex Ticer I really would appreciate, if you don't want to, you don't have to, but if you all, you and the girls could come and we meet in person, maybe she would realize we're not just freaks or something. I don't know, but she's all like totally on board. She's like, oh, for sure, you know, and yeah, that's what you were mentioning about. We went on Friday, because they had it posted that they meet on Friday. No one was there Friday. We go then Saturday morning, which was what I would have thought. 52:29 Alex Ticer But that was the other church. That was the Seventh-day Adventist church. We got to meet Pastor Enoch and he was really nice. He was sharing some things and he was the one who told us, oh, actually it's Olga who owns the building. And I remember like, oh, that was the lady I actually talked with. What are the odds? Because I didn't really know who I spoke with. Like, I think she didn't say much. She just was like, I don't really know. The board will have to decide, oh, I have a call. So 52:48 Alex Ticer I thought to myself, wow, that's really interesting. The phone number I got was actually hers. So that was promising. And so we then come again. My girls, there was nobody like, this is like the third time we've come to this church. And I'm like, just be patient. So we come and yeah, the lady, I think God is too good. She, I think like had that look as soon as I come in and she sort of had this like, are you the one who called me or something? And I was like, yes. And she's like, oh, 53:19 Alex Ticer I thought I got rid of you. This does not look good. So I'm trying with so much humility. It's like I really know this probably is irritating and kind of annoying. I just said I just wanted you to see like 53:34 Alex Ticer we're not like weirdos or something, like we're a real family, this is a thing. And we have these other families and we're just really struggling to find a place. Like I've looked everywhere and I said, I'm willing to pay, I'm not trying to look for a free ride. I said, but just, I can't find anything that is even close to being affordable. I said, usually just like astronomical. And I said, 53:56 Alex Ticer So I just said, I keep praying about it. Like, are we supposed to be? And I said, I think the father's telling me like, we're supposed to meet. But I said, I just thought like this could work. You used to have one. And oh, actually, before I got to that, she said something like, well, actually, we already have a church. And I was like, a meeting besides us. And I said, oh, yeah, that's the one in the morning. I met with, or no, I said something like, wait, on Sunday? And she goes, no, or something. And I'm like, okay, so she wouldn't lie. But then I'm like, oh, yeah, I met with Pastor Enoch in the morning and stuff. And then she's like, 54:24 Alex Ticer And I was like, he told me you were the one to talk to. And she's like, even more. So I'm like, oh goodness. And I'm like, hey, look, what if I served you guys? Like, you need a website? I'll put together a website for you. I was like, if you want, you know, this fence, there was no fence. And I said, we could put a fence up here if you wanted. You know, is there any, like, what would be something that could be useful for you also? You know, I feel like I can learn almost anything. So 54:50 Alex Ticer I don't know if there's a need. And it was just really great. And so we kept talking and eventually says, let me show you the building. That was a very good sign because I was like, okay, if she's thinking just to boot you, why would she bother even showing you around? And then she changed the whole thing from originally saying, I don't know, the board and the pastor's in Mexico and who knows when he'll be back because her husband was the pastor and he passed away about two years ago, which was really heavy. She even said like, that's been so hard to kind of come back here and all this. So anyways, yeah, but then at the end 55:20 Alex Ticer the end of it. She said, before the week's over, I'll let you know. She calls me on a Friday and tells me, yeah, I felt truly called and I remembered what my husband said, never deny the work of God and that he'll make it clear and don't try to get rich off of it and all that. So she was so generous, so kind and was just like, yeah, you can come 55:41 Alex Ticer and I don't want this to be a financial burden to you. She laid out a number and I just, and I remember God telling me too, it's like, if she calls you back, don't get greedy. Don't you dare try like whittling that price down because it's kind of like a thing in my head. Back in my old life, I used to be very aggressive with like negotiating and stuff. I was like, don't you do that. Don't do it. Don't do it. So as soon as she said it, I said, that's such a gracious price. And she was so kind too. She says, yeah, and if that becomes a problem down the road, you know, we can talk about it. And I said, that's so wonderful. I was like, I can't thank you enough. 56:10 Alex Ticer So anyways, we came to this agreement. I heard that they were going to put up some kids' children's play equipment, like a playscape and all this stuff. And I was like, how blessed are we? So I said, let me help. And she's like, oh, it's all right. But we showed up anyways. 56:24 Alex Ticer I mean, they already did like 99% of it. So unfortunately, we didn't really get to help too much. But I really wanted to show them like, dude, I'm like, I want to be not just a leech or something, or like, we're like, oh, these guys, they keep bothering us. It's like, I want to serve too, because I want to, you know, show the love of Christ like as a servant's heart. And so anyways, it's been awesome. So yeah, we paid for July, but we'll literally only be meeting this first time. But 56:52 Alex Ticer It was still worth it to just make sure they knew we were serious and that we went out to the camp there for Living Hope and I knew like this is going to get complicated. And I said, I don't want to make this too complicated. Let's just wait till after we come back from that trip and then we'll start a new building. 57:06 Sean Finnegan Yeah. Bright future ahead. We'll have to wait and see what the next chapter is in the developing saga, right? But I think the takeaway is persevere, 57:19 Sean Finnegan Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Don't give up and be open to an unconventional outcome. You know, like you were looking, looking, looking for something to join. And in the end, it became clear that actually you're supposed to start something. And look, most people, they say, oh, I want to start a home group or a Bible study or just even something smaller than what your vision is. 57:49 Sean Finnegan And it takes them years and they can barely get to 5 people or maybe 10 in the living room. And less than a year, you're over 24, 25, 26, 27 people and you're already moving out into a traditional church building. So like to me that is clear evidence of God's blessing on this, that it's not just 58:14 Sean Finnegan Alex's stubbornness, but this is actually God behind it. And I'm eager to see what comes next. But that's all the time we've got for today. And I'll give you the final word. Anything you'd like to say as far as just concluding, putting a bow on it, wrapping up the story? 58:32 Alex Ticer Sure, I think what you said was very wise. I would say, yeah, first seek God's will. Always seek God's will. That's really important. We can become frustrated. But once 58:42 Alex Ticer You think you've had it, like don't be afraid to walk on the water. Like Peter, he asked Jesus, command me to come out to you. And when Jesus said, come, then you come. You know, don't be scared. You know, don't stay in the boat and die of regret, but like live it, walk it, do it. I think God will provide and he does. And he has. 59:01 Sean Finnegan Very good. Well, thanks so much for your story and your walk with God and sharing it with us today. 59:07 Alex Ticer Thank you. Thanks, John. 59:13 Sean Finnegan that brings this interview to an end. What did you think? Come on over to restitudio.org and find episode 665, Why I'm Starting a Church in Texas with Alex Ticer and leave your thoughts, questions, comments, and feedback there. Now, before moving on, I did want to mention that he does have a website, onegodchurch.com, and he would surely appreciate your support. 59:39 Sean Finnegan Not only your support in praying for him and his wife and his family and the church that is starting there, but also monthly financial support, which even if you can only give a little bit, adds up over time. So if you are in a position to help this church plant, you want to see this church succeed, it is far from clear that that's going to happen at this time. It is just getting started and he's going to need a ton of support, both people moving there and being 1:00:09 Sean Finnegan part of what he's doing, but also financial support. 1:00:13 Sean Finnegan So if that's you, if you feel God calling you to participate in some way, either by moving or supporting it from a distance, go to onegodchurch.com and click on the giving button there or the contact button there to learn more to get in touch with Alex and his team. 1:00:33 Sean Finnegan This is especially relevant if you have musical abilities. 1:00:37 Sean Finnegan I think the last time I spoke to him, he was looking for help in that area. 1:00:43 Sean Finnegan So if you could sing, if you can play the guitar, if you can play the keyboard, whatever, drums, then this may be a huge opportunity for you to step out in faith and be part of something that is just starting. 1:00:59 Sean Finnegan Now in recent comments on episode 662, the Nicene Creed is a forgery with Sam Tiedemann, Paul Robson of Australia wrote in saying, fantastic research, Sam. 1:01:10 Sean Finnegan I was on the edge of my seat all episode. 1:01:13 Sean Finnegan Figuratively, of course, I was driving. 1:01:16 Sean Finnegan It is a remarkable turn of history that we have ended up with this creed and this pervasive, misguided, extra biblical belief in the Trinity myth. 1:01:26 Sean Finnegan I look forward to asking our Lord why he let the church go this way. 1:01:31 Sean Finnegan While I think I understand it theoretically, this question was a major roadblock on my journey toward accepting the apostolic account of Jesus's relationship with God, i.e. 1:01:42 Sean Finnegan BU-ism. 1:01:43 Sean Finnegan Thanks, Sean, for helping put this fascinating material out there. 1:01:47 Sean Finnegan Always love Sam Tiedemann's stuff. 1:01:49 Sean Finnegan He's a proper diamond in the rough. 1:01:51 Sean Finnegan God bless you both and thank you for all you do. 1:01:55 Sean Finnegan those of you who regular listeners to Restitudio may recognize Paul Robson's name because I had interviewed him in episode 653 back in May. 1:02:09 Sean Finnegan And that was his journey of faith from mainstream evangelicalism to a biblical Unitarian faith as well. 1:02:19 Sean Finnegan So take a look at that. 1:02:20 Sean Finnegan That's episode 653. 1:02:22 Sean Finnegan why I'm convinced that Jesus is the human Messiah with Paul Robson if you haven't already listened to it. 1:02:27 Sean Finnegan It's a great story to listen to. 1:02:30 Sean Finnegan As far as your question about why God lets the church get off track, I honestly don't know either. 1:02:38 Sean Finnegan But he is in the habit of doing that. 1:02:41 Sean Finnegan And we know that from the Bible itself. 1:02:44 Sean Finnegan Frequently in scripture, we read about Israel as a nation, the majority, falling into idolatry, going after the gods of the nations, falling into unjust business practices, falling into incredibly immoral, sinful patterns. 1:03:02 Sean Finnegan And God does send prophets, but it's up to the people whether or not to listen to the prophet. 1:03:08 Sean Finnegan And there's always a remnant. 1:03:09 Sean Finnegan Actually, I would almost flip the question. 1:03:11 Sean Finnegan I would say, if it's the majority position, maybe it's wrong. 1:03:14 Sean Finnegan I don't want to be too cynical here, but popularity has no correlation with truth. 1:03:21 Sean Finnegan There are lots of truths that are popular. 1:03:23 Sean Finnegan And there are lots of lies that are popular. 1:03:26 Sean Finnegan And so it's just not a good gauge. 1:03:28 Sean Finnegan If an idea is popular, it may be true, it may be false. 1:03:31 Sean Finnegan It's just not correlated. 1:03:33 Sean Finnegan So I think really the question is what does the Bible say and what was the story of development? 1:03:40 Sean Finnegan And if we can tell a story of development that lasts centuries, an evolutionary tale of this doctrine, then I think it does rightly cause us to question if we should believe in something 1:03:52 Sean Finnegan that took so many centuries to develop and in the course of its development involved so much political consideration rather than honest and open-hearted Bible study. 1:04:05 Sean Finnegan Thanks so much, Paul, for writing in. 1:04:08 Sean Finnegan Now, in last week's episode, 664, engineer risked everything to find the one God. 1:04:14 Sean Finnegan That was part one of this Alex Teicer two-parter. 1:04:18 Sean Finnegan Username, the truth will set you free said, if Jesus was just a man, then he would not be a suitable substitute to die for our sins and we would all be going to hell. 1:04:31 Sean Finnegan I'm gonna just pause it right there. 1:04:33 Sean Finnegan Why? 1:04:35 Sean Finnegan is that the case? 1:04:36 Sean Finnegan Why can Jesus not be the sacrifice for sin if he's a human being? 1:04:43 Sean Finnegan That's just a bald-faced assertion. 1:04:46 Sean Finnegan I know that 1:04:47 Sean Finnegan if you are in the habit of believing Jesus is God and hearing people say that only God could pay for sins and that human life is invaluable enough, okay, these are, again, just assertions. 1:04:59 Sean Finnegan Where is the Bible reference? 1:05:01 Sean Finnegan Where does God talk like that? 1:05:03 Sean Finnegan Anywhere. 1:05:04 Sean Finnegan It's not there. 1:05:06 Sean Finnegan So really the question we need to ask is what makes a sacrifice efficacious? 1:05:12 Sean Finnegan And the answer is that God accepts it. 1:05:15 Sean Finnegan That's what makes it effective. 1:05:17 Sean Finnegan You look at Cain and Abel. 1:05:18 Sean Finnegan God accepted Abel's sacrifice, but he did not accept Cain's sacrifice. 1:05:22 Sean Finnegan You look at other sacrifices in the Bible where somebody offers something and God does not accept it, even though it's the proper sacrifice given at the proper time and the proper way by the proper priests and so forth. 1:05:37 Sean Finnegan Like in the time of Isaiah, for example, God says, I hate your sacrifices. 1:05:40 Sean Finnegan I hate your festivals. 1:05:43 Sean Finnegan My eyes are tired of it. 1:05:45 Sean Finnegan Read Isaiah 1. 1:05:46 Sean Finnegan If you think that sacrifices are just some mechanistic thing that makes God accept you, it's just not how it works. 1:05:55 Sean Finnegan What makes a sacrifice effective is that God accepts it. 1:05:59 Sean Finnegan And if God's plan is to have a human born, live perfectly, and then die for the sins of the world, then guess what? 1:06:06 Sean Finnegan He's going to accept it because it's his plan. 1:06:09 Sean Finnegan The commenter goes on, he says, he also would be lying when he claims to be sinless, because the Bible clearly states, what then, are we better than they? 1:06:18 Sean Finnegan Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, as it is written, there is none righteous, not even once. 1:06:25 Sean Finnegan This is 1:06:27 Sean Finnegan him quoting from, I'm not going to read it all out, but from Romans 3 where Paul stitches together all of these different statements about humanity in general that, basically we morally stink and that we're all full of sin, which I don't doubt and I wouldn't challenge. 1:06:43 Sean Finnegan But guess what? 1:06:44 Sean Finnegan Jesus is the exception to that. 1:06:46 Sean Finnegan And we cannot read the Bible as a legal text or a science book. 1:06:54 Sean Finnegan You have to recognize that when somebody makes a sweeping statement that there are oftentimes exceptions that are not explicitly mentioned. 1:07:03 Sean Finnegan Okay, yes, all of humanity has been sinful. 1:07:06 Sean Finnegan We already know Paul doesn't believe Jesus is sinful. 1:07:10 Sean Finnegan And we know that Paul believes that Jesus is human. 1:07:13 Sean Finnegan So I don't think it's fair to use Paul's statements against Paul. 1:07:19 Sean Finnegan And that's really what this commenter is doing. 1:07:22 Sean Finnegan And it's an invalid method of interpretation. 1:07:26 Sean Finnegan He goes on to say, for Jesus to be a suitable sacrifice to pay for all of our sins, he has to be sinless, all right? 1:07:32 Sean Finnegan And he has to be, by definition, more than a man. 1:07:36 Sean Finnegan But I know that people who read this and deny that Jesus is God are going to see what they want to see. 1:07:43 Sean Finnegan All of these people who say that they started it as Christians but somehow found this great truth that contradicts the traditional Christian beliefs are just showing us that they were never Christians to begin with and they are leading other people astray. 1:07:57 Sean Finnegan And if you deny who Jesus is and are not found in Christ on Judgment Day, your actions will have eternal consequences. 1:08:04 Sean Finnegan And that's really sad to me. 1:08:06 Sean Finnegan I'm praying for you. 1:08:06 Sean Finnegan Oh, well, thanks for the prayer. 1:08:09 Sean Finnegan I'm not sure I really want prayers from somebody that is this misguided, who even departs from Trinitarianism, because within the Trinity way of thinking, Jesus is a man, fully human. 1:08:24 Sean Finnegan This commenter is actually departing from Orthodox Trinitarianism, if you could call such a thing Orthodox. 1:08:30 Sean Finnegan Now his comments about Jesus having to be more than a man are not sustained here. 1:08:36 Sean Finnegan He did not quote a verse that said Jesus had to be more than a man. 1:08:41 Sean Finnegan He quoted verses saying that there's a lot of sin and that humans are all under sin. 1:08:47 Sean Finnegan Yes, that's true. 1:08:48 Sean Finnegan He also quoted Mark 10.18, which says, and Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? 1:08:54 Sean Finnegan No one is good except God alone. 1:08:56 Sean Finnegan He may be taking that to mean that Jesus 1:08:59 Sean Finnegan is claiming to be God here? 1:09:00 Sean Finnegan I think the face value reading of this verse, Mark 1018, is actually the opposite, that Jesus is denying that he's God. 1:09:07 Sean Finnegan He says, why are you calling me good? 1:09:08 Sean Finnegan No one's good but God alone. 1:09:10 Sean Finnegan The question is, what do we mean by good there? 1:09:12 Sean Finnegan And as I've said previously, and I'm sure a lot of other people have come to this conclusion, what Jesus is saying is good in the sense of the source of goodness, the ultimate standard for goodness. 1:09:23 Sean Finnegan Jesus is not claiming that. 1:09:25 Sean Finnegan He has a derived goodness of 1:09:28 Sean Finnegan obedience to the ultimate good, which is God himself. 1:09:32 Sean Finnegan And then one last thing that I think I would love to ask is, what if it's really the other way around? 1:09:41 Sean Finnegan What if it's the Trinitarian that's deceived and the biblical Unitarian who has seen the light? 1:09:48 Sean Finnegan Because that's where I'm coming from. 1:09:50 Sean Finnegan And if that's the case, then shouldn't we be praying for this guy? 1:09:55 Sean Finnegan and for these other people. 1:09:57 Sean Finnegan And this is something also that really puzzles me. 1:09:59 Sean Finnegan And I guess I'm just a little under experienced in the YouTube world, having not really taken it seriously for a long time. 1:10:08 Sean Finnegan But I've been putting out more content on YouTube and taking kind of like medium length clips. 1:10:14 Sean Finnegan Everyone talks about shorts. 1:10:15 Sean Finnegan Well, I'm putting out like 10 minute clips of the one hour interview. 1:10:20 Sean Finnegan And some of these are just blowing up and not just in the sense of views, but comments. 1:10:26 Sean Finnegan And I've been amazed at the level of comments on these videos. 1:10:31 Sean Finnegan As I mentioned previously, the one I did with Dustin Smith received an immense number of comments. 1:10:37 Sean Finnegan Let me just pull that up and check and see what the numbers at as of this recording. 1:10:44 Sean Finnegan It's now at 803 comments. 1:10:47 Sean Finnegan And so that was the video I did with Dustin from a couple weeks ago called The Trinity Now A Minority Belief. 1:10:57 Sean Finnegan Obviously people really reacted to that strongly. 1:10:59 Sean Finnegan But then I clipped out a 21 minute section of last week's podcast and I titled it, I studied the Gospels and realized Jesus is not God. 1:11:10 Sean Finnegan And so this is a 21 minute clip 1:11:13 Sean Finnegan of Alex Ticer talking about his story with his aunt and how she challenged him and how he couldn't find the verse where Jesus said he was God. 1:11:21 Sean Finnegan And so that one has now received 600, and this is just less than a week, this was four days ago, has received 680 comments. 1:11:31 Sean Finnegan So I don't know what's going on here on YouTube. 1:11:34 Sean Finnegan I do know that a lot of the comments are like the one I just read out to you. 1:11:40 Sean Finnegan They're people that are coming from a Trinitarian perspective. 1:11:43 Sean Finnegan And so I encourage you, if you are a keyboard warrior, if you are somebody that is a digital native or at least a YouTube person, jump on there on the Rest Studio YouTube channel and join in some of these comments because people are just like battling it out, going back and forth, and I can't possibly keep up with it. 1:12:04 Sean Finnegan So if you're interested, please help out. 1:12:07 Sean Finnegan Now on our audio service called SpeakPipe, we got in a message from Samuel Marinho from Brazil. 1:12:17 Sean Finnegan And I'd like to play that message out for you now. 1:13:39 Sean Finnegan thanks Samuel so much for leaving that voice message on SpeakPipe. 1:13:44 Sean Finnegan Incidentally, if any of you would like to leave an audio message and possibly get played out at the end of an episode here, you can do that at restitudio.org, either on your phone or your laptop. 1:13:55 Sean Finnegan You just go to the little hamburger menu and click podcast. 1:14:01 Sean Finnegan And when you scroll down a little bit, you'll see a big picture that says start recording. 1:14:08 Sean Finnegan Is your microphone ready to start recording? 1:14:10 Sean Finnegan And then you can leave a message up to 90 seconds on there. 1:14:15 Sean Finnegan And well done, Samuel, for not going over the recording time and getting yourself cut off. 1:14:21 Sean Finnegan Excellent discipline. 1:14:23 Sean Finnegan Appreciate that. 1:14:24 Sean Finnegan So yeah, your question, Samuel, was about Jehovah's Witnesses. 1:14:29 Sean Finnegan Now, I'm going to share some of my thoughts. 1:14:33 Sean Finnegan I'm not an expert on Jehovah's Witnesses. 1:14:35 Sean Finnegan I've never been a Jehovah's Witness. 1:14:37 Sean Finnegan I've spoken to a few over the years, but my knowledge is a little bit limited. 1:14:42 Sean Finnegan But anyhow, in my experience, Jehovah's Witnesses are mostly really good Christian people. 1:14:47 Sean Finnegan They're sincere, devout, dedicated Christians. 1:14:51 Sean Finnegan Of course, they also have some bad people, just like any group. 1:14:54 Sean Finnegan And those are the ones that you see in the news and so forth with bad behavior. 1:15:01 Sean Finnegan But you get that with evangelicals, you get it with Catholics, you get it with Orthodox. 1:15:06 Sean Finnegan You get it with Mormons. 1:15:07 Sean Finnegan So I don't think there's anything unique about Jehovah's Witnesses that makes them evil or a haven of bad actors or anything like that. 1:15:16 Sean Finnegan I think generally speaking, Jehovah's Witnesses are sincere people that are trying to live out their faith authentically. 1:15:21 Sean Finnegan Now, doctrinally, I see some major problems, including their stance on blood transfusions. 1:15:27 Sean Finnegan This is a position they take where in Acts 15, it says we should not eat blood 1:15:35 Sean Finnegan And this is talking about the practice of draining blood from animals prior to eating the meat. 1:15:43 Sean Finnegan And this, I believe, was something that was stated so that Gentiles and Jews could eat together. 1:15:50 Sean Finnegan The Jehovah's Witness interpretation of that is that blood transfusions are illegal. 1:15:55 Sean Finnegan Well, you're not eating the blood. 1:15:57 Sean Finnegan It's going into your vein and it's saving your life. 1:15:59 Sean Finnegan So I think this is just a really strained reading of 1:16:03 Sean Finnegan that scripture in Acts 15 and I think it's really sad when people's lives are endangered and people are even dying because of something the Bible never says. 1:16:17 Sean Finnegan It doesn't say no blood transfusions. 1:16:19 Sean Finnegan Guess what? 1:16:20 Sean Finnegan That wasn't around yet at the time of the Bible. 1:16:23 Sean Finnegan So I don't think that is what this verse is about. 1:16:26 Sean Finnegan They also believe that Jesus is Michael the angel prior to his human birth. 1:16:33 Sean Finnegan I think this is dependent on 1 Thessalonians 4 where it says when Jesus comes back you're going to hear the voice of the archangel and the trumpet sound. 1:16:43 Sean Finnegan The assumption of the Jehovah's Witness that Jesus must just be Michael the archangel because 1:16:49 Sean Finnegan Michael's the only archangel mentioned in the Bible, first of all. 1:16:53 Sean Finnegan Second of all, Jesus comes and we hear the voice of an archangel, so therefore Jesus is an archangel. 1:16:57 Sean Finnegan Come on, it could just be that when Jesus comes, Michael also comes and other angels also come and that there is a whole host that is present in some sense to wage the final battle of Armageddon as mentioned in Revelation. 1:17:16 Sean Finnegan So it could be a lot of different things. 1:17:18 Sean Finnegan Again, it's very, very flimsy. 1:17:20 Sean Finnegan And you're going to build a whole doctrine on this and say that Jesus' true name is Michael? 1:17:24 Sean Finnegan Come on. 1:17:25 Sean Finnegan This is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible other than the one verse, 1 Thessalonians 4. 1:17:29 Sean Finnegan And there it's not clear that Jesus is the archangel. 1:17:33 Sean Finnegan It just says that when he comes, there's also the voice of an archangel. 1:17:36 Sean Finnegan So I think that is a totally erroneous teaching as well. 1:17:40 Sean Finnegan Their idea that only the 144,000 could take communion 1:17:45 Sean Finnegan and that they are going to heaven instead of living on earth, I think is totally unfounded once again. 1:17:50 Sean Finnegan I think the 144,000 is a symbolic number, 12,000 from each tribe. 1:17:55 Sean Finnegan It says, if you want to take it literally in Revelation when it talks about that, which is chapter 7 and also chapter 14, the 144,000 are also Jewish virgins. 1:18:06 Sean Finnegan So there's no way they could be Jehovah's Witnesses. 1:18:09 Sean Finnegan I guess unless they're converts from Judaism. 1:18:12 Sean Finnegan Oh, and they've never told a lie either. 1:18:13 Sean Finnegan So 1:18:15 Sean Finnegan Good luck finding those folks. 1:18:17 Sean Finnegan And so when the Kingdom Hall does their communion service, nobody takes it. 1:18:21 Sean Finnegan They have what they call a memorial, but then nobody actually takes the bread and the wine. 1:18:26 Sean Finnegan Nobody takes communion. 1:18:27 Sean Finnegan So I think that's just so tragic to withhold communion from regular Christians who attend your services. 1:18:34 Sean Finnegan And then this whole idea of the 144,000 going to heaven, that's again based on a very flimsy reference in the Bible. 1:18:41 Sean Finnegan It says they will reign upon the earth 1:18:44 Sean Finnegan It's the Greek word, this is from Revelation 5, verse 10. 1:18:49 Sean Finnegan And it's the Greek word epi, which means upon or over. 1:18:54 Sean Finnegan It can mean either one. 1:18:55 Sean Finnegan And so they're like, oh, they're ruling over the earth, so they must be in heaven. 1:18:59 Sean Finnegan Not necessarily. 1:19:00 Sean Finnegan The president of the United States can rule over the US without actually getting in a plane and flying around, right? 1:19:06 Sean Finnegan Like you could rule over something without being off planet. 1:19:09 Sean Finnegan Again, that's just a totally unnecessary assumption. 1:19:13 Sean Finnegan So I think that these are some major doctrinal issues where Jehovah's Witnesses, very much like the Roman Catholics, are building way beyond what the scripture actually explicitly says. 1:19:23 Sean Finnegan Now, having said all that, the biggest issue in my opinion with the Jehovah's Witnesses is their strong belief that Jesus returned invisibly to choose their group as the one true church. 1:19:36 Sean Finnegan This means that they claim total authority and dismiss out of hand all other Christian groups. 1:19:42 Sean Finnegan This can often lead to a high control environment wherein Jehovah's Witness leaders exercise an inappropriate level of control over people's lives, including deciding who you can and cannot be friends with or associate with. 1:19:57 Sean Finnegan This is what I mean by an inappropriate level of authority taking over people's lives. 1:20:02 Sean Finnegan I wish you could find another BU church. 1:20:06 Sean Finnegan And if you would like to hear more about the dark side of the Jehovah's Witnesses and 1:20:13 Sean Finnegan to some of the difficulties that result from their very strong control system. 1:20:19 Sean Finnegan Take a look at episode 437. 1:20:22 Sean Finnegan This is where I actually interviewed an ex-Jehovah's Witness who goes by the name Laurie Jane and it's called High Control Groups and Judging Other Christians. 1:20:31 Sean Finnegan And I think Samuel in particular for you, absolutely have to listen to that episode. 1:20:37 Sean Finnegan 437 high control groups and judging other Christians so that you at least will be fully informed of what the dangers are. 1:20:45 Sean Finnegan Now I wish you could find another BU church in Brazil. 1:20:48 Sean Finnegan Even so, it's up to you to weigh the pros and cons of attending the Kingdom Hall. 1:20:52 Sean Finnegan In closing, let me just give you the same advice I gave Alex Ticer. 1:20:57 Sean Finnegan Move to be part of a BU church or start one. 1:21:01 Sean Finnegan And may God bless you as you discern His will in your situation. 1:21:06 Sean Finnegan that's going to be it for today. 1:21:07 Sean Finnegan Thanks everybody for listening in. 1:21:09 Sean Finnegan You can support Restitudio by sharing this episode with others. 1:21:14 Sean Finnegan That is absolutely such a key way that people find out about this podcast, word of mouth. 1:21:20 Sean Finnegan If you'd like to support us by monthly giving, that is a huge blessing to help us keep going. 1:21:26 Sean Finnegan You can do that at restitudio.org. 1:21:29 Sean Finnegan Next up, we are going to change gears from the one God subject to just kind of looking at some incredible life transformation stories. 1:21:39 Sean Finnegan I've got 3 episodes lined up for you. 1:21:41 Sean Finnegan We're going to 1:21:42 Sean Finnegan Here's some stories about how God is transforming people's lives today. 1:21:47 Sean Finnegan And I believe these will be very encouraging to you and hopefully also build your own faith that God is still alive and working in our lives today. 1:21:57 Sean Finnegan So stay tuned for that. 1:21:59 Sean Finnegan I'll see you next week. 1:22:00 Sean Finnegan And remember, the truth has nothing to fear.