Darrin Gray + All Pro Dad

[00:00:03] Welcome to the Ask About My Faith Podcast, where our hope is to inspire everyday faith conversations.

[00:00:09] I'm Jess.

[00:00:10] And I'm Abbey. Today we're thrilled to welcome Darrin Gray, a dynamic producer, emcee, speaker,

[00:00:17] and author with profound influence in pro sports, ministry, and media. Darrin shares his insights

[00:00:24] from his partnership with Tony Dungy, investing in fathers and coordinating prayer and faith

[00:00:29] focused initiatives across the NFL. His stories are going to include his journey from media

[00:00:35] to ministry, his passions for uniting people in their faith, and his leadership marked with

[00:00:41] gentleness and prayer. Just to note, this episode does include discussions of suicide, but we

[00:00:47] don't want you to miss out in this powerful and hope-filled conversation. Let's jump in.

[00:00:56] Darrin, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today.

[00:01:01] Hey, Abbey and Jess. Nice to be with you.

[00:01:03] Oh, we are so looking forward to hearing your stories because you have a very different platform

[00:01:09] than many people. And we're excited to see how that translates for our everyday listeners. So,

[00:01:17] Darren, tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are today, and if you could,

[00:01:23] share about how you came to faith.

[00:01:29] Well, thanks for asking. You know, I grew up in the media business back in the day when they used

[00:01:36] to toss something in your father's front yard every morning, and he'd go out and he'd probably go

[00:01:42] first to the sports section and read it. And, you know, that newspaper that was sort of the centerpiece

[00:01:50] of truth-telling and community cohesion in the early 90s, that's where I landed after studying and

[00:01:58] getting a degree in theology in my undergraduate work. And I thought I might go directly into the ministry,

[00:02:05] but as the Lord would have it, I landed in the media business and found a welcome place for me to

[00:02:11] express my leadership talents and grow people and learn media and multiplication. A great message

[00:02:19] married with media can reach a whole lot more people. Not that the audience of one doesn't matter.

[00:02:26] We serve an audience of one, and we want to serve someone individually, and sometimes a few is

[00:02:33] better than more, but more is just more. So I learned the media business, and along that journey in 2002,

[00:02:42] I got a phone call from the Indianapolis Colts. I was the general sales manager. I had, you know,

[00:02:49] multi-million dollar budgets and lots of employees, and none of that matters other than to say

[00:02:54] we worked with all the sports teams in town and all the advertisers in town, but the Colts called,

[00:02:59] and they had a new head coach. And they said, you got a new head coach, and he's got this little

[00:03:05] charitable project that he wants to do around fatherhood.

[00:03:08] Wow.

[00:03:09] Would you like to help?

[00:03:10] And at first, you know, we really had a very strong market position with fathers. And so it was less

[00:03:17] critical that we invest in fathers. We invested in mothers because moms made most of the shopping

[00:03:24] decisions as it related to all forms of things. So you'll get that as two awesome moments. But,

[00:03:31] you know, I looked deeper at who Tony was. I had my staff study him. Oh, by the way,

[00:03:37] his name was Tony Dungy. Now the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl,

[00:03:41] and he's on Football Night in America. Some of your listeners may know him and admire his Christian

[00:03:48] faith walk. But I got to know him and his nonprofit activities and what he was trying to get done

[00:03:55] through an organization called Family First. And I stepped away ultimately from what I was doing

[00:04:02] in my safe little media perch in the city, you know, working in the tapestry of Indianapolis.

[00:04:11] And I sort of went national. And at that moment, I began building relationships with NFL players,

[00:04:17] coaches, alumni, and I call it the good guy club. It's just all those good guys that are in and around

[00:04:23] the league. And there's so many of them, faithful men and women and the whole ecosystem around sport.

[00:04:29] Uh, uh, and, and I just sort of fell in love with that and, uh, began, uh, embarking upon that journey,

[00:04:37] which was to learn how I could be a sports media minister. And I didn't fully know how to enliven

[00:04:43] that at the time, but it was just take the next prayerful step. So that's how it began. And you ask

[00:04:51] the other question is, Hey, where did Jesus fit into this? You know, I grew up in a super faithful

[00:04:57] household and, uh, made a decision as a child, but my adult decision really came in 1999 in kind of a

[00:05:05] hokey way. It was at a giant promise keepers convention inside the RCA down, which is funny

[00:05:12] that it was inside sort of iconic, uh, facility now long since gone. It's Lucas oil stadium now,

[00:05:19] but inside of that was convicted, uh, to do more, be more, uh, and as for me and my household,

[00:05:28] we will serve the Lord. And I needed to reorient, make the long walk from the top, top, very top,

[00:05:36] all the way down to the lower level and kneel down and just say, you know, God, you take control and,

[00:05:43] uh, imperfectly as, uh, it is. And as, uh, I, I effort toward being the Jesus follower that I choose

[00:05:51] to be, uh, that's where it began. And it's been a really interesting walk. So marry all that together

[00:05:58] and I'll give that back to you. Yeah. Well, that's pretty cool that you said 1999 was when that promise

[00:06:05] keepers, um, meeting convention, whatever you would call it. That's when that was. And then just three

[00:06:11] years later is when that opportunity. Yeah. 2002 was it? Yeah. Oh, two is when I got the call from

[00:06:17] the team that was Tony Dungy's first year in Indianapolis. And he inherited a pretty good team

[00:06:22] that Bill Pullian had created with Peyton Manning, uh, that, you know, he had to come in and architect

[00:06:28] around the, the, the, the culture code inside of that. That's really what Tony did a lot of, but

[00:06:34] it wasn't until 04 that I left. I took a stint, uh, in deep, uh, in the Indianapolis Colts organization

[00:06:42] as a contractor helping to build out what was, uh, uh, in essence, the Blue Nation tour and more than

[00:06:49] would, would be understood in a short time that we have, but that then led to a contract role with

[00:06:57] Tony's nonprofit. Uh, uh, ultimately, uh, all pro dad might be the brand that a few of your listeners

[00:07:03] will know that's underneath a family first, Mark and Susan Merrill, wonderful godly people. But

[00:07:08] all that is to say that journey then began. And I ultimately then did go full time. And now I make

[00:07:15] my home inside of athletes in action, uh, which will even confuse your listeners a little bit more,

[00:07:20] but that's the godly organization that allows me to do, uh, in a more, um, uh, global sports media

[00:07:29] and ministry, uh, in and around, uh, uh, all kinds of professional sports. So there you have it.

[00:07:36] Yeah. Yeah. And it's, I mean, it is cool how all these organizations have, have fit together,

[00:07:41] have joined in a kind of, I mean, a similar vein of bringing the, the athletic realm and faith

[00:07:49] together in just in different niche ways. So that's very cool that you've been able to

[00:07:54] get into a lot of them. Um, if we were to rewind a little bit and back up, um, it sounds like you,

[00:08:03] um, were a chaplain for 12 years versus, um, a high school football community. Can you tell us

[00:08:09] about that time? Cause that sounds like that's kind of where you first really stepped out to begin

[00:08:15] sharing your faith. You know, I'd certainly shared my faith before that, but you're right.

[00:08:20] That was the systematic understanding of how to share the gospel. When I look back at my,

[00:08:27] I don't have my study Bible with me, but if I open it up, uh, it's just marked full of, uh,

[00:08:33] sports themed notes that, you know, that I could use to train up, um, high school, middle school

[00:08:43] and high school kids, uh, uh, and coaches and their parents and the administrators and the

[00:08:51] cheerleaders. Uh, and so I didn't look for that. It, it chased me down and they pursued me to say,

[00:08:59] you should do this. And I'm like, okay, that sounds like a giant time commitment. And it was,

[00:09:04] but it was so worth it, you guys, uh, because it gave me practical application of the word of God

[00:09:09] in new ways that I could then use to, to be held to account for my faith in Christ and why I might

[00:09:17] want to speak about him. Now that was in a systematic way sharing at chapel services and all

[00:09:23] that, but it was really, uh, my truest, um, sort of, uh, in indoctrination or just as I went deeper

[00:09:33] into like, how do I share my faith with regularity? Yeah. Good training ground too. I imagine

[00:09:39] what you're doing now and sounds really holistic. It wasn't just the football player. It's really

[00:09:44] family, friends, the other people on the field. Um, do you have like a favorite story from that time

[00:09:51] where you got to have, uh, an impactful conversation with someone?

[00:09:57] When we tell a hard one, sure. Hard stories. A hard one. Okay. I'm so curious.

[00:10:04] So one of my, uh, all three of my boys, two biological, uh, and my God's son, Prince Majestic

[00:10:10] Michael Johnson, uh, um, played on those teams over the course of that 12 year period. And, um,

[00:10:20] one of the boys, uh, who we happened to be in a home church with at the time, uh, every Sunday we'd

[00:10:26] make our egg casserole, go to the water's house for church. Uh, and it was just a real beautiful

[00:10:33] time to continue to live out our faith as a family. Yeah. Uh, but Matthew, uh, is his name,

[00:10:40] uh, had a frontal lobe moment, you know, where he didn't make a good decision and he killed himself.

[00:10:47] Wow. Man. Whoa. Now I had been through this a little bit with Tony cause I was working in and

[00:10:55] around all pro dad. Some of your listeners may not even know that he lost his oldest biological son,

[00:11:02] Tony Dungy, uh, Jamie many years ago to suicide. And that's a really, really hard thing to begin

[00:11:08] to get credentialed in. Yeah. But as the chaplain there, everybody's looking at me like, well, surely

[00:11:13] you have the answers. Surely you, I'm like, well, we're going to look at the father cause I don't

[00:11:18] have all the answers, but I'm willing to study and I'm willing to go deep and I'm willing to press

[00:11:24] myself up against this really hard thing. And this is my son's, it's Evan, my oldest teammate.

[00:11:31] Okay. They were close. We're like, you know,

[00:11:33] around each other and that sort of rock the world moment inside of this ecosystem called the Lions

[00:11:41] homeschool football club. Uh, you know, how do we go on? How do we play the next game? How do we

[00:11:47] go on in the midst of life struggle? And that afforded me so many opportunities,

[00:11:52] not just speaking at the funeral and these things and, uh, but really helping the organization and

[00:11:58] each of the boys to reconcile, uh, um, their own faith. Uh, and inside of that, I'll never forget.

[00:12:07] And this was the, the, the moment for me as we're leaving the waters house within a day or so of the

[00:12:16] incident. And Evan, my oldest is with me. And I, I remember, uh, as we drove home, I stopped the car.

[00:12:24] I'll never forget the place that I stopped the car. And I said, this is going to be the moment.

[00:12:29] And we got out and we walked out onto a pier. It's called Geist Reservoir in Indianapolis. And we

[00:12:35] walked out into the water and it's just, just to set a moment. And so that it felt different than,

[00:12:42] hey, we're driving home or driving to and from someplace. And hey, Evan, dad's going to, uh,

[00:12:47] really invite you at this very moment right now, right. To receive Christ so that, you know,

[00:12:54] wholeheartedly, like no questions, like, let's do this. Do you want to do this? And,

[00:13:00] and in that moment, uh, you know, as he's just crying and, you know, cause of all the mixed emotions

[00:13:06] and yet the moment and the gravity, uh, that he might receive Christ in that moment. And like,

[00:13:12] what more important ministry you guys do I have into my own family? And so in that moment, uh,

[00:13:21] a sort of a homecoming and yet, you know, a home going all at the same time, those are the hard

[00:13:28] places that chaplains across the country and all kinds of different teams, uh, are, are faced with

[00:13:37] because there's epidemics of loneliness, of hopelessness, the epidemics of suicidal ideation

[00:13:44] of all of these things. And even as my thumbs made the lightning go off, uh, unintentionally,

[00:13:51] uh, I wonder, uh, you know, isn't that just how God works taking us to hard places so that we might

[00:13:59] be brought to our knees so that we might be bold enough to do hard things, to invite those we love,

[00:14:05] to know Jesus the way that we do and to get on the journey, uh, as imperfect as it is in order to

[00:14:12] be closer to him and reconciled for all eternity. So there's a hard one.

[00:14:17] Do you remember your son having, um, a lot of questions in that time? You know, gosh,

[00:14:25] it was simple and, it was simple and tender and tearful. And sometimes, you know, Jess,

[00:14:32] that's enough. It's like, you know, I'm sure there were tons of questions around it that needed,

[00:14:38] but see, that's the head, like the head stuff that keeps our heart from reconciling. And if you get

[00:14:43] someone in a moment where their emotion and their love just begin, just use those moments as how do

[00:14:53] we get people in those heartfelt places beyond the superficiality of modern culture and the anger that

[00:14:59] Matthew had died and the frustration, all these things, because that could get him all caught up.

[00:15:04] But it's really a pretty simple decision. Do you believe and do you want to trust in Jesus?

[00:15:10] Yeah.

[00:15:11] Not. And, uh, you know, if not now, okay. But, you know, if now, let's do this thing,

[00:15:19] uh, to secure his, uh, eternal destiny. So.

[00:15:24] And unfortunately it's, it's too common for parents to have to navigate those conversations

[00:15:31] with, um, with kids these days, but even, you know, dealing with grief in general,

[00:15:36] it really is kind of an open door to choose. Am I going to lean into the Lord or am I going to

[00:15:43] stay angry and bitter and like, hold on to those? So I imagine it was so helpful for him and the rest

[00:15:52] of the team to have you to look at, to be like, how do I process this really hard, really, uh,

[00:15:59] bad thing that happened, you know, with gentleness and respect. Yes. You know, first Peter three 15,

[00:16:07] how do we just realize that people like there, you know, people have this sense that sports is

[00:16:14] heavy handed and hard hitting and, you know, be broken bones. There are broken bones in the sport of

[00:16:20] football and, and, and many others. Uh, and, and yet, uh, in that brokenness, you know, if you go in

[00:16:27] with gentleness and respect, uh, uh, and then invite people to trust in, in Christ, you know,

[00:16:34] Hey, you know what? They might surprise you and just say yes. And then, Hey, that's pretty cool,

[00:16:40] but no more or less important than being at target, no more. And, and sharing your faith in the aisle

[00:16:47] or being present in other places. It's just an ecosystem that creates repeated opportunities

[00:16:54] for folks to see the walk of the chaplain and to trust like, okay, I can't trust Christ yet, but

[00:17:02] I kind of trust that guy. Like I know that he's gentle, he's respectful, uh, and loving. And so

[00:17:08] it's strong and determined. Oh yeah. All of the, all of the things. Yeah. I was going to say,

[00:17:15] because when you're in relationship, watching someone walk through a hard thing, well,

[00:17:20] it does build your trust in the thing that you're leaning on, which is the Lord. So yeah,

[00:17:26] it's kind of a little bit of a ripple effect that way. So, wow, that's tough. Thanks for,

[00:17:30] thanks for sharing that story. Do you, this is kind of a thought that just came to my mind. Um,

[00:17:37] you know, I can imagine a lot of, you know, players or just people in the game, uh, you know,

[00:17:42] and around the game of football that they might think of, Oh, a chaplain, you know, he's soft.

[00:17:50] I don't really, you know, I don't really think much of him, right? Like, I don't, I don't know.

[00:17:53] Is that a, is that a thing? And B, have you had any of those, um, encounters where maybe they think

[00:17:59] that at first and over time, they realize this other side and the value of having that gentle spirit

[00:18:07] and still, you know, strong and gentle, right? This, um, to this other side, they,

[00:18:14] they come around to respect you or start asking those questions because we run into those people

[00:18:19] every day, don't we at the store? Yeah. You know, first of all, my thesis is, uh, very

[00:18:27] Dungy-esque, which is the superpower that matters most is the unique blend of strong confidence in the

[00:18:34] Lord and deep personal and professional humility. Now get that. I like that. You know, like the Lord's

[00:18:40] going to come through. I know he will. I trust he's done it before I trust. Yeah. And yet deep

[00:18:46] personal, professional humility. This is not about me leading a chapel service and yet like,

[00:18:54] why me Lord? And, and in the middle of that, I suppose that there are some, and those are the

[00:19:00] ones that probably stay away. They don't come to chapel, right? They're self, uh, um, reliant and

[00:19:06] so be it. Like they need to go find their bottom. They need to go get their hard knocks. Like I can't

[00:19:12] control all of that. Uh, but we can just make the invitation that they might come. And in an NFL

[00:19:18] context, you know, I I'm glad you've got it at the high school context. Like it's the whole ecosystem.

[00:19:24] NFL is no different. It's the players, the coaches, the wives, the girlfriends, all of the, it's the

[00:19:31] front office. It's all of these, it's the coaches study, the wife study, the couple study, all of

[00:19:37] those things really makes for a healthy and a vibrant, uh, opportunity inside the NFL. And I'm not

[00:19:44] responsible for all of that. I don't take any, any credit, but I do have sightlines, uh, at the very

[00:19:50] center of that through the wonderful leadership team, uh, at Athletes in Action, Fellowship of

[00:19:57] Christian Athletes, unassociated, unaffiliated chaplains, the team supported chaplains are so

[00:20:04] many different ways that those 32, and in some cases far more than just 32 teams because they've got,

[00:20:11] or far more than 32 chaplains because there are other spiritual support centers in many ways.

[00:20:16] Tony Dungy and a man named Clyde Christensen in many ways were that for the Indianapolis Colts.

[00:20:22] And that's the case on a lot of teams. Uh, so it's, it's pretty fun, uh, to be a part, uh, and just

[00:20:28] watch and bear witness. Uh, um, and Hey, if you want to judge me as being weak, uh, I'll take that,

[00:20:38] right? You know, I'm just trying to live out Christ in me. My weakness made strong, but you're just

[00:20:45] echoing back to me what it is that I'm actually trying to do.

[00:20:51] And this, I mean, this reminds me of, you know, the interactions with neighbors where, you know,

[00:20:56] there are people that you see regularly and they might have kind of their, their own little

[00:21:03] preconceived ideas about who you are and your lifestyle. And if they, if it differs a lot,

[00:21:07] you know, they might just kind of keep their space, but when hard things happen and we're,

[00:21:12] and we have to lean on other people or, um, you know, whatever, whatever that looks like,

[00:21:17] I feel like there's often a moment, there's a time, there's an opportunity, um, for us to,

[00:21:24] to demonstrate and really share with them.

[00:21:27] You mean when your dog goes and craps on your neighbor's lawn and they get a big green patch

[00:21:32] in the middle and they know it's your dog and you like, Hey, how do we be accountable?

[00:21:37] That sounds like a personal experience.

[00:21:40] Right. How do we make, uh, uh, amends and do it repeatedly? Lord, remind me again and again and

[00:21:48] again. I am not the center of the universe. Uh, you know, how do we just love our neighbors well?

[00:21:57] Yes. Yeah.

[00:21:58] Is that a personal story where your dog had a room in someone's yard?

[00:22:03] No, no, no, not so much. Just a metaphor.

[00:22:07] Got it. Okay. I was going to say, I want to hear that story. Um, so fun. Okay. So,

[00:22:13] you had mentioned that the most recent story of sharing your faith is with the pro players

[00:22:18] prayer project. Can you share a little bit about that with our listeners?

[00:22:25] Um, you guys remember when there was a player for the Buffalo Bills, um, about a year and a half ago,

[00:22:32] his name was Damar Hamlin, uh, and he got, you know, injured in the field of play and in essence

[00:22:41] died depending on how you, uh, look at his medical condition. Uh, and then rushing, you know,

[00:22:49] what happened that week and really month in the country was quite remarkable when people knelt down

[00:22:57] and pray. I mean, hundreds of players, coaches, all of the ecosystem around sport literally knelt down

[00:23:06] when they prayed. And I just began wondering like, you know,

[00:23:12] Hey, Lord, the tragedy has to be the forebearer of this deep prayer that's happening, but so be it. Um,

[00:23:21] what shall we do next? And, you know, when you talk as I have to the man that put him in the game,

[00:23:26] his name was Leslie Frazier, uh, you know, Leslie's like, we prayed and I knew he was going to be okay.

[00:23:34] Okay. And so again, strong confidence in the Lord, you know, humility, like in the middle of that.

[00:23:40] Uh, and as we began thinking about that, I'm like, man, maybe I could just make a little drop,

[00:23:47] a little ripple in sort of the broader ecosystem. What if I stopped and I organized a system to pray

[00:23:54] for every single NFL player by name, in the name of Jesus, in a systematic way so that there would be

[00:24:02] this simple ripple that happened and God orchestrated things such that, uh, we were able to pull off the

[00:24:09] first pro player prayer project. We did it at the museum of the Bible. Uh, we literally did what we

[00:24:16] said, uh, which was, we broke into prayer huddles. We brought in pro athletes from all sports, uh, and in

[00:24:24] the boardroom of that really special place where, uh, uh, the Bible is on display in all of its, uh,

[00:24:31] uh, grandeur. Um, we stopped and we prayed, uh, and, uh, uh, some would ask, you know, well,

[00:24:41] you're just praying for them. And I go, you know, prayer changes things. And oh, by the way, my mentor,

[00:24:48] uh, uh, my daily devo for years is a guy named Oswald Chambers. Some of your listeners may be

[00:24:55] familiar with that name, but Oswald just says a simple phrase, you know, prayer is the greater work.

[00:25:02] You know, we think that, you know, like what it changes us, it changes the folks, it changes

[00:25:09] circumstances. And when we make our collective needs known before the father, then other people can

[00:25:15] respond. They can hear, they can, they can be the hands and feet of Jesus, just like Jess,

[00:25:22] your family who helped to support the second annual pro player prayer project. Thank you.

[00:25:29] We're leaning in and helping to make the next one come to pass. Uh, that was in Nashville, Tennessee.

[00:25:36] Hey, I hear you might be going to Nashville. Uh, and we had a great outpouring, uh, Tim Tebow joined,

[00:25:44] uh, by, uh, virtual. And then we had a really special guy and I'll, I'll bring it all together,

[00:25:50] uh, here with this. His name was Dan Orlovsky. Now y'all may not know who Dan is, but your listeners

[00:25:57] should study Dan because he is a Jesus follower in big media ESPN for the NFL. And he's so good.

[00:26:06] He played briefly for the Colts, mostly for the Lions. I know y'all, uh, are, are, you know, purple,

[00:26:11] um, Vikings kind of fans, but, uh, Dan loves God. Uh, and he did something really unique that week.

[00:26:20] He decided, uh, to pray on national TV. I remember this. Uh, and that moment when

[00:26:28] he, uh, sort of set, set that up in just the right way. And we tell the pro player watch pro

[00:26:34] player prayer project. It's on my Instagram page. Now you can watch that clip of Dan talking about

[00:26:39] that, but, um, he just shared why he did it. And it was so encouraging to me. And I'm like,

[00:26:46] okay, if he can pray on national TV, big media at risk of, you know, we don't know what the

[00:26:53] repercussions are going to be. Then surely I can organize a couple of people. I'm good at,

[00:26:59] at organizing gatherings with gifted people that come share their giftedness. Um,

[00:27:05] so that's what I did. That's the pro player prayer project. People can learn more pro

[00:27:09] player, prayer project.com. If they care to enjoy, to give to that or be part of that,

[00:27:14] they're welcome to. And, uh, it's just a simple, uh, homage to the most high to say,

[00:27:20] you know what we can pray in the name of Jesus for 1696 NFL players. And we can continue to do that

[00:27:28] in systematic ways just to make a little ripple, make a difference and impact ourselves as we go.

[00:27:35] Do the NFL players know, I mean, I'm sure they know about it, but how are they like communicated?

[00:27:41] Did, yeah, you know, the truth of that is some of them do and some don't, and I can't,

[00:27:47] you know, I don't have the mobile phone number. That really, the only way to reach all the NFL

[00:27:52] players aside from big media tell the story over and over, and it still won't be reached everyone,

[00:27:57] but I didn't text everyone, but I did communicate with 300 NFL players, coaches, alumni directly from

[00:28:05] Darren to them and just say, just so you know, if you want to participate, you can. Uh, and, and so

[00:28:11] it's, there are maybe some follow on activities and things that we can continue to do, but that's not

[00:28:17] the point of the matter. Uh, um, and it's a good question, but the deeper point is, uh, prayer is the

[00:28:25] greater work and the ones that need to know will, and some will be, would be like, Hey, you know,

[00:28:32] I'm another face. So I don't, I don't need your problem. Okay. Uh, uh, but, um, you know, it's a

[00:28:40] funny thing is the most accessible way to share your faith. I believe whether it be with a waitress,

[00:28:47] whether it be, you know, at target, whether it be just, you know, if you, if there's an opening and

[00:28:52] there's some gentleness and respect and there's some exchange, right. You can't be creepy. Uh, uh,

[00:28:57] you know, you just, you know, Hey, could I, could I pray for you? What's one thing I could be praying

[00:29:02] for? You can either way. Uh, and the second one is the easier of the two. Is there one thing I could

[00:29:08] be praying for? And then that doesn't even entail that you're actually going to do it, but they can set

[00:29:13] that need before. And if they become vulnerable in that moment, uh, then you can choose to do it or

[00:29:19] not. But the point is they're now open to a deeper spiritual, uh, understanding of their very day.

[00:29:25] Oh my gosh, somebody prayed for me. And then, shh, leave him a big tip. Uh, you know, you know,

[00:29:32] if you're in a, you know, like surprise them, you know, be the heads and feet, you know, what's an

[00:29:38] extra 20 bucks to you? Nothing. Uh, it doesn't mean anything, but in that moment, oh, there was a,

[00:29:44] Jesus follower that, that went a little extra measure far, uh, and, and they'll remember those

[00:29:51] little things and, and, and just in God's right timing, uh, they'll have an opportunity to come

[00:29:56] before the throne too. That's right. That's really good. Yeah. We talk about often meeting a, uh,

[00:30:02] physical need and then it does open the door for spiritual conversations too. So yeah,

[00:30:07] that's a really good point. Um, I think that's a beautiful way to wrap up part one and going into

[00:30:13] part two, I want to hear a little more about your ministry of availability. So everyone come back.

[00:30:21] Thank you for listening to the Ask But My Faith podcast. We'd love your support in continuing to

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[00:30:37] week as you go out and share your faith.