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October 8, 2026 | Chris Pepper shares his personal testimony of faith, including his upbringing in South Africa, a powerful encounter with Jesus at a church camp, and his journey into full-time ministry. The episode emphasizes reliance on Jesus as the true prize of faith and the call to let the light of Christ shine through authentic life change.
Bellevue Baptist Church College Ministry
Amen. I'm excited for tonight, tonight's gonna be a fun night. I don't know about y'all, I'm in a good mood because there's just those days, y'all have those days where you just like wake up and you're just like happy that like Jesus woke you up. And I think it's like, there's the seasons in our life where we just remember what God's done in our lives and how far he's taken us. And we remember like all of the past sins and addictions and like downfalls in our life and how far God has brought us. And we're just like filled with joy, like I'm just like thankful that Jesus woke me up this morning and that he put breath in my lungs. And so anyway, I'm in a good mood because I know a good God and we're gonna talk about him tonight. And so tonight is special. We are, you see this other chair, you see we're doing something different. I am not gonna just sit down and preach to you guys, but last week we've been going through, not really a series, but we've gone through some things of like that are pillars for what we want this ministry to look like. And last week we talked about how Jesus Christ came full of grace and truth. He came full of grace and truth. And that means that you and I should be filled with grace and truth, seasoned with salt. And so we're about to enter into a series on the Sermon on the Mount. And I thought it'd be very fitting to start our night reading from a passage of Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter five. You don't have to turn there, but if you have your Bibles and you're really feeling it, you can turn there. Matthew chapter five says this, verse 13, this is Jesus speaking. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, then how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown down and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Guys, I want so badly for this ministry to love to celebrate the things of God. I want us to start to cultivate and get used to saying yes and amen and praising the Lord for doing good things. And I'm not just talking about incredible revivals or when someone comes to faith, praise God for that, but celebrating the small wins. There was a couple of weeks ago, we commissioned off Preston to go serve in Poland for a few months. Like, how incredible was that? Like, I want to do more of that. I want to hear about how God's moving in your lives and my life. And so I want us to be a ministry that loves to brag on Jesus. And so that's what we're going to do tonight. I'm going to invite my friend, Chris. Chris is over here. Y'all know Chris Pepper. Give it up for Chris. Hey, tonight, Chris is going to share about what God's been doing in his life and how he got here to The View, serving y'all and leading this ministry. And so I do want to be really clear, man. This, like, we were just singing. There's just no greater name than Jesus. He's the greatest. He is the highest. There's no one better. And so I love Chris. He's incredible. But what a waste of time if he just sat up here and talked about himself. Like, that's just not what this time's about. A couple of weeks ago, when we did a Q&A with me and Kendall, what a waste of time if you walked away and were like, oh, they're kind of cool. Like, the whole reason, anyone who steps on this stage, anyone who has this microphone, like, the whole point is to glorify Jesus, is to brag on what he's done and show you how far he's taken us. And so tonight, I want to spend some time with you guys because some of you don't know Chris. Chris is awesome. He's super fun. And so you're going to get to know his story a little bit. And he has a really cool story. You guys may or may not know this. If you were here back, it was like four or five weeks ago, we did the Q&A. I was born in Africa and that's like my fun fact, but I did not live there. I was there for like six months. Okay, Chris actually lived there. And so we're going to hear about that in a little bit, but I want to start with some fun facts, Chris. Okay, well, first, what is your favorite food? Basic question. Yeah, my favorite food, it's the only food that ever made me get emotional because it was so good, was steak. I love ribeye steak. I was in South Africa visiting family and y'all seen Ratatouille? How many of y'all seen Ratatouille? You know the scene where like the guy eats Ratatouille for like the first time in a long time and he like has this like flashback. That's what I felt like when I had this steak. Like I didn't know food could taste that good. So a good steak, good ribeye steak from Longhorn Steakhouse specifically, that's my jam. That's my favorite food by far. That's incredible. Did y'all know Ratatouille is like squash? It's like colored squash sliced up. That's the name of that weird looking food. It's not just the name of the rat. Okay, anyway, I learned that like a couple of years ago. He wasn't eating the rat in the movie if you're not familiar with that. Ratatouille is like a squash thing. Anyway, ribeye is phenomenal. Good choice. Where would you go to get it here in Memphis? Like you said, Longhorn Steakhouse. The outlaw ribeye is like, same, how many is 24 ounces? We go often, we go often. That's why I'm asking. It's like 24 ounces. I fast the whole day, not for spiritual reasons, but just so that I can eat the whole ribeye when we go. Longhorn is my jam. That's great, that's really good. Okay, if you had a Saturday where you had nothing on the docket, what's your perfect ideal Saturday? Yeah, so now it has become, it used to be, I just wanted to stay home and not talk to anybody, but I actually just got engaged recently. It's my fiancee, Lucy, sitting over there. Everybody say hi, Lucy. Woo-woo, what's up, Lucy? Anyway, now my ideal Saturday, she lives out in Millington. It's like 45 minutes away, and so like during the week, I'm here a lot, and I'm here all day Wednesday, all day Thursday. Ideal Saturday for me is just doing anything with her, whatever that is, whether we're going on a date or we're going to dinner or we're just watching, we've watched like the X-Men and like Fantastic Four because she hasn't seen some of those and getting ready for Doomsday. That is my ideal Saturday, any day that I get to spend with her. That's sweet, that's a good answer. Hey, Lucy, am I blocking your view of Chris? I know you want to see him. I want to make sure you can get a better view for sure. Okay, what are some fun hobbies? What do you love to do? Yeah, I recently, I've been getting back into Pokemon Go, so Cory, who's in the room, he got me into it the other day, so don't let him, if you're going to make fun of me, make fun of him too. Cory O'Hara, next gen bastard. Again, recently, I don't know that I would call that a hobby. I used to play guitar like a lot, like for like a decade I played guitar. Yeah, Owens in the back, like what? I haven't played in a long time, but I used to love that. I really want to get back into that. But other than that, I think hobbies-wise, I love when I get to go to like students' games and it not be work. It's like sometimes there's always something there that's like work-related or whatever. I love getting to go watch student like sports, basketball, volleyball, football, all of that kind of stuff, and it's not work. If it's like, for example, Lucy's younger sisters play basketball, I love getting to go to their basketball games because it doesn't feel like something that's part of work. That, I don't know if that counts as a hobby, but it's one of my favorite things to do. Yeah, that's for sure hobbies, we'll definitely say that. Okay, last question, favorite movie? It's between Remember the Titans and The Dark Knight. I love those two movies, very similar. No, they're not at all. Some of you haven't seen either of them, so you don't know. But those two movies, top two favorite of all time, I love them. I think Dark Knight, Dark Knight for sure, 100%. Okay, all right, well let's spend some time bragging on the Lord. So Chris, the Lord has taken you from not knowing him to being saved, and he's taken you from not knowing him to now sitting here and like leading the view. So tell us a little bit about your story. Tell us about, first we wanna hear about Africa, we wanna hear about your childhood, because that is super cool. Yeah, so I was born and raised in Johannesburg, so the same city that Brian was, and my dad is actually like from Jacksonville, Florida. And he moved down there when he was 13 as a missionary kid, and then my mom is like 100% Italian. I'm almost certain my grandfather was in the mob at one point, like we are like Italian, Italian. But then her parents moved down to South Africa shortly before she was born. And so we have, I have three citizenships. Me and my brother are, we got American citizenship, Italian citizenship, and South African citizenship. I'm pretty sure we had to renounce, or whatever, get rid of one of them. But we grew up there for a long time, and then we moved here when I was 12. And in South Africa, there's a lot of Christians there. It's one of the countries that I would argue probably needs missionaries the least now. Like, it's a pretty green country on the board when it comes to people that believe. But I don't know that it was as much when my grandparents moved, and so we knew a lot of believers. We had a good church there and all of that. My brother and I grew up Christian. We were always Christian. I was always so terrified that I hadn't actually been saved, so I would pray over and over and over and over again that God would save me, just in case I said it wrong the first time. And so that was kind of my story growing up, for sure, was like, I'm a Christian, I believe. I go to church with my parents. And like, I genuinely meant that stuff. But when I was in the ninth grade, we're in the U.S. now, and I went to a church camp. It was probably my second church camp ever, because we didn't really do church camp in South Africa the same way we do here. And I was so excited to go, but two weeks before, I'd been praying. I was like, God, I don't, I see all these people around me that I feel like they understand a relationship with you in a way that I just don't. They seem to feel like you actually know them. Like, they seem to feel like they have a direct line of communication with them. Like, you see them in a way that I don't necessarily feel like you see me. And I said in this prayer, I was like, God, sometimes I feel like you were on the cross, on the mountain, and there's just bazillions of people out in front of you, and you're dying for all of them, and I'm included in that. But I don't always feel like you know me, and so many other people feel like you do. And so I want to know what that's like. I don't know how to know what that's like. I've read all the verses, I've experienced all the church services, but I want to know what that's like. And then, again, two weeks later, I forgot that I even prayed that. We go to the camp, and I want to say this before I tell this story. I'm not like a charismatic, or I'm not like, I don't know, this is going to sound, what I'm going to tell you is going to sound a little unusual, and just understand, I don't fully get it either. So there's no claims here, there's no weird spiritual stuff. But I go to this camp, and the worship pastor, for like session one, night one, he gets up on the stage, and he says, I want everybody to close their eyes.
close their eyes, and I want them to envision Jesus on the cross. And I'm, at the time, sitting there thinking, like, okay, I guess. Like, I don't know, he was very, like, hipster worship guy, and I was like, I just thought he was kind of a dork. And so, anyway, I go along with him, and I close my eyes, and in this moment, like, my hearing goes, and my sense of surrounding is gone. And in, I guess, my mind's eye, like, what I'm seeing in my mind is just this huge white room, just enormous white room. And it's just me, and then 10 to 20 feet in front of me is Jesus on the cross. And I can't make out his face, it's even in my memory, it's, like, blurred almost, it's weird. And he's on the cross, and he's bleeding out, and he's, like, he is on the cross, and he motions for me to come closer. And there's a step ladder to his right and my left. So, I go up onto the step ladder, and I'm, like, shaking. Like, I can feel this, like, as real as I can feel this moment right now. And I step up on the step ladder, and now he and I are, like, face to face. Like, we're looking at each other, but I still can't make out what his face actually looks like. I mean, it was wild. And he looks at me, and he says, Chris, I am dying on the cross for you, and for everything you've ever done, and everything you're currently doing. And I was in some stuff, and everything that you are ever going to do. And in that moment, I was, I mean, I'm, like, speechless, as I would imagine we would all be. And I couldn't say anything, I couldn't get any words out. And then, like that, I'm back in my real mind, I guess. I'm back in the moment, I'm back in the room. We're at, like, the end of song three, and, like, in my mind, this felt like a 20, 30-second thing. And we're, like, 10 minutes in now to the worship set. We're at the end of song three, and I can barely hear, like, my hearing slowly starts coming back. My eyes, like, I could barely open my eyes. Like, it was an insane experience. And I'm, like, 14, 15. Like, I am a kid, and I have no idea what is... Like, it just, it shattered me that night. I'm, like, crying the whole night. Like, I've never experienced anything like that in my life before or since. But in that moment, I fully believe that I was saved prior to that. I fully believe that had I died before that day, that I would have spent eternity with God in heaven because I did believe that He was who He said He was. But that was the moment that I recognized and realized, this is the greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of the universe. There's nothing better than this. And that was the same moment that I decided I'm going to pursue this with my life. My whole life is devoted to ministry, and then, more specifically, student ministry, and that now includes college as well. But yeah, that, I think, not quite my salvation story, but that was the moment that changed my life. That's incredible. Yeah. Y'all didn't know Chris had the gifts of visions, did you? We can talk about that later. But that really is, like, such an incredible story. Like, I don't know many people who have that type of experience, but we hear about this, like, overseas. We hear about encounters with Jesus, and if there's any mistake we can make is that we would limit Christ and, like, put a box on Him in ways that, like, He wouldn't move. And that's an amazing way to encounter the Lord and for Him to call you. And you're here for a reason. So, like, obviously, that encounter was real, like, that the Lord had called you in that moment. So, tell us about that. Tell us about, like, what drew you to Christ and, like, what was life like after you surrendered? Yeah. Yeah, that's a great question. So, after that moment, I tried to figure out, like, what does it look like then? I know that I want to pursue this with my life. I know that there's nothing more important than this now. What am I supposed to do? I'm, like, 14 or however old ninth graders are. Like, I'm a kid. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. And so, I just, I tried to serve any way that I could at the church that we were at. And I tried to find ways to serve in there. And God started blessing the things that I was doing in ways that I did not recognize at the time. I thought that it was, like, the natural progression. At one point, my sophomore year, there was a group of, like, 100 students that would come to a Bible study I was leading on Romans. And, like, I barely had any idea what I was talking about. And so, God was just blessing all of these things that I was doing in the student ministry. And I got a big head, naturally, because I'm a child. And God was blessing these things. And there was this season of my life where there were so many things that I was doing. I've never even said this on the stage. I did, like, a Christian TikTok for a while, and you'll never see those. But I did that for a little while. We're going to find this later, guys. No, you won't. It's gone. It's eradicated. Yeah, Lucy hasn't even seen those, I don't think. Isn't TikTok dancing? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're dancing for the Lord? I did not do any of that. But I would make these, like, Christian-themed TikToks at the time, and that gained a pretty large following. And I had gotten so lost in the sauce of everything. I'd gotten so lost in what I guess I began to believe that, like, following Jesus could give me. And I lost sight of what I had originally done. And God, long story short, in one fell swoop, I mean, took everything away. And it was, like, shattering for me. Like, by the time I got to, like, my junior year, and it was just hard to walk through this of, like, God, you were blessing all these things, and then out of nowhere, you take everything away. And at the time, I couldn't understand why. I didn't know why I did it. It took years before I realized, oh, it was my fault. I was the problem in that I had become prideful. I had become self-centered in the ministry that I was doing. But that whole junior year was just so hard because of that. And then I get to my senior year, and I start to feel like, okay, maybe God isn't done with me. Maybe he had to humble me. Maybe there's some things he had to work on me in. But that doesn't mean that he's finished with me. That doesn't mean that he doesn't want me to be in ministry. That doesn't mean that the calling that he placed on my life in that ninth grade shifted all of a sudden. And so I had still been, the whole time, I was a small group leader at our student ministry back home in Charlotte, North Carolina. That's where my family lives now. I don't think I mentioned that. And I was a student or a small group leader there. In my senior year, they asked me if I would be the team leader of the small group leaders. I said, okay, I'd love to do that. I said, but if I'm going to do that, I want to have the group of boys that is the most difficult. Because if I'm going to lead the other small group leaders, then I ought to have the hardest group. Because if they experience something difficult, I've probably already experienced it. And so I had this group of guys, and this is in, like, banker, lawyer, North Carolina. These guys were, like, so unusually problematic. I mean, they were getting into some wacko stuff. Like, I'm not going to mention everything they were getting into and all the trouble they were getting into. But, like, stuff that was, like, borderline... Traumatizing is probably not the word, but, like, heavy, really heavy for me to know that was going on in their life kind of stuff. And I'm sitting there the whole year, and I'm like, God, I do not know what to do with these guys. I am a senior. I am 18. They're, like, sophomores. I don't know if I have anything to give them. I don't know what I'm doing. I've barely led any groups before. And they're dealing with some stuff that is, like, top-tier heavy. Like, I'll give you one example. One of the guys was crying in my car the one night because his girlfriend had had her second abortion of his, and he is a sophomore in high school. And I'm an 18-year-old trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do in navigating this. And so I prayed every day, God, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to navigate this. I don't know how to navigate this. But I really want to see their lives change. So all I would do every week is I would just show them a little bit of love, a little bit of love, and a little bit of love that they weren't receiving anywhere else in their lives. And we get to the end of the year, and I still, to this day, am baffled by the life change that they experienced. Three of them, or four of them, became small group leaders the next year because they so drastically shifted in their lives. One of them who was total druggie, he tells me the one night that him and his buddies were all about to shoot up and whatever they were going to do, and he just breaks down crying. And he's so convicted over his sin. He's like, guys, what would our mothers think? What would God think? What would the God of the universe think? And then all of his buddies start breaking down crying, and they're breaking all their stuff, and they're throwing it away. And, like, it was, like, insane stuff. And I realized in that moment, again, this is after God had taken away so much of the ministry that I thought he had given me. After that, I realized in that moment that I am not the center of anything that God is doing because I had no idea what I was doing with this group. I prayed fervently, and I showed them the love of Christ, and their lives changed as a result of that. And all the ministry I was doing before, when I look back on it, I realized nobody's life was changing in that. There were good numbers, and people thought highly of me, and they called me Pastor Chris when I was a sophomore, but nothing was actually happening. It just looked good. Then in the moments that people didn't see and recognize, when I wasn't the center of the show is when actual life change happened. And it was from that moment forward that I decided, okay, God, I'm going to devote the rest of my life. There are probably millions of other students and people that are in the exact same boat. And so you have the rest of my life to try to bring more of those people to me. One incredible story. I think, really, God has a knack for taking really ordinary people and doing extraordinary things, hence, like, the 12 disciples and Chris Pepper, and all the ordinary people that the Lord has called to do amazing things. So, okay, it's a pretty big leap from Africa to then church camp, being saved. Now, you're in full-time ministry. Tell us about your calling. Like, how are you here, and what do you do? Yeah, so I found Bellevue. I went to Liberty University, and I studied youth ministry there. So this was, like, after my senior year that I just talked to you about. And I was like, okay, I'm going to go to Liberty, and I'm going to study youth ministry. And I thought it was going to be so easy. And all my friends made fun of me, and they're like, well, are you just going to read the Bible all day? And I was like, I think so. Like, I don't know what I'm going to do there. My final paper was 200 pages, so we did not just read the Bible all day. But I went there, and I studied that, and I started to fall in love with it more, and more, and more, and more. Like, I loved what I was doing there. I loved what I was studying there. And I wanted any opportunity that I could get to actually do the ministry. I eventually got tired of just writing papers about it. I wanted to go do it. And so my first summer, I went back to that home church in Charlotte. I served with them for a summer, got some good experience there. And then the second summer, I interviewed with Bellevue. Now, Bellevue at Liberty, I mean, none of you all are Liberty folks, I don't think. And so you wouldn't know this, but Bellevue's like a big deal at Liberty.
150 churches that come to this church fair, and Bellevue's right at the front with the biggest booth. And so everybody tries to interview with Bellevue. And I interviewed with like 10 churches that summer, or that fall, and Bellevue was the only one I wanted. It was the only one I was like, God, I really wanna go there. It just seems like a great place to go. I've heard good things, all these things. And it was the only one that I was certain I was not gonna get. I was like, I'm not. That interview went terribly. They did not like me. I'm not gonna get this job. And I accepted that. And then two days later, my former boss, he calls me and he's like, dude, your interview was so great. We'd love to have. Like it shook me. Like I was so shocked by that. But I came for that first summer, and I was just a regular summer MA. Many of you are MAs and have been MAs. And I came for just that one summer. And I hated it at the beginning. I was not a fan at all. I experienced some really hard stuff right at the beginning of the summer. Some things that really, I felt so alone for a long time when I got here. And I didn't like Memphis. I saw somebody get shot. There was like a car bomb the one day. And like it was just some, like I was like, God, you have, I felt exiled is how I described it to God. I would say, I would lay there on Monday and say, God, you have exiled me here. And I don't understand why because I'm trying to follow you. What are you doing? By the end of that summer, it was like a 180. The relationships that I built here, many of you were, a couple of you guys were like sophomores at Beach Week when I got here. And I just loved being around you guys. And I loved getting to connect with the church. And so, and I actually fell in love with Memphis too. I fell in love with the area around Memphis and the other churches in Memphis and the other places in Memphis. And so by the end of that summer, I was like, God, I really want to go back. And so I prayed through that. I didn't interview with anybody else. I didn't get a yes to come back until November. And I was desperately like, God, I want to go back. I'm not even going to try going anywhere else. I'm either going to be jobless in December or I'm going back to Bellevue. Then God made a way for me to come back to Bellevue. I then came back as a year-long resident in the high school ministry. Loved every second of that. I learned so much and I grew so much. And I was so challenged and stretched in that. And then I was like, man, I really want to stay for another year. So they re-signed me on for one more. And that contract was going to end in December. And I would have been done as an MA. I would have had to gone somewhere else. But by the grace of God, I had been praying the whole year and a half that God would make a way for me to stay. That he would make a position for me that did not previously exist because I'm young and unmarried. So I'm not going to be a pastor here. That's probably not the best decision they would ever make. And all of the director positions are for women. And last time I checked, I'm not a woman. And so I didn't know what was going to happen. I was like, God, I'm not going to be able to stay. And by his grace, he's created a position for me to stick around, both in the high school ministry that I knew and loved and in the view ministry that I have learned to love so much over the past few weeks. I've been shocked at how quickly I've fallen in love with this ministry as well. So that's how I got here. That's awesome. Well, Chris is officially the high school slash view director and so we get him on Thursdays and then we share him on Sunday mornings for high school and us. And so we're really excited you're here. Glad you're on the team. If you had one piece of advice for everyone in the room, what would it be? Yeah, I thought a lot about this question. I've been in a boat recently where as I've been transitioning, some really big transitions in my life. I've been here for two years now, I guess. And the whole time is kind of under the assumption that I'm going to go back or I'm going to go somewhere else. My parents live in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is like 12 hours away, 11 hours drive away. And when I accepted this position and then I got engaged, I started to realize I'm like, man, I'm like, I am an adult now, like a real life, real world adult. And that is really scary. And it really did scare the junk out of me for a little while. And this is not even, it's like three or four months ago when this started, when I started to feel these things. And I was reminded by my dad, I was decorating my office. I got an office, I felt really cool about that. And I was decorating it and my mom was up for the weekend and she's helping me decorate it. I bought this painting or picture, I guess, of Jesus and he's holding a little kid's hand. And I loved that because I thought, well, I'm doing, obviously you guys are older, you know, I'm not saying you're little kids, but like I do student ministry. It's like the next generation is what I'm ministering to. And so this represents what I love is leading the next generation to Christ. And my dad had to remind me the one day I was on the phone with him and I was just struggling. I was like, dad, I'm really nervous about all this. I'm scared. Like, I gotta be like you now. I gotta provide, I gotta live on my own, I gotta do all these things and that's scary. And he reminded me, he said, Chris, I know you bought that picture because you thought that it represented the people you're serving and I think it actually much better represents you. And I think that would be my best piece of advice to you guys as well is that I think there's this pressure when you're college, especially early career, which a lot of you are also in or about to enter into, that you have to have gotten to a certain place or a certain place in your faith or a certain place in your life or a certain place financially or whatever that might be. And I know that I, again, so recently was also found in that trap where I stopped relying on God as my father and now God is my boss. It's very easy for him to become the boss who's expecting things from me, who's putting pressures on me, who needs me to get to a certain place in a certain, and that's just not how he operates. I was operating out of a spirit of slavery, like I was still in bondage and I'm not, I'm free. My father is holding my hand and he will give me everything that I need. Jesus says it directly in Matthew 6, I'm preaching on that, next week in high school. He says, like, look at the birds of the sky. Look at the flowers of the field. Do I not dress them and do I not feed them? Will I not do the same for you? And that doesn't just apply to the people you might be serving. If you're serving in positions, that doesn't just apply to your younger siblings. It doesn't just apply to the people around you. That's like, that's for you and that's for Brian and that's for Ben Mandrell and that's for me. Like, I am the little kid in the picture and you are the little kid in the picture as well. And we are called to be in awe and wonder of our dad. What good advice. Last thing and then we're in 30 seconds. So what are you most excited about with the Ministry of the View? Yeah, I think the thing that I'm most excited about, I've realized more and more over the years, just like I said in 10th grade, I have not a whole lot to give. Chris Pepper is not a great product for anybody. What I do have to give is Jesus. The only thing that we can give you that no other place can give you is Jesus. And so I am really excited. Even tonight, I get emotional every time that I can hear your voices in worship, whether it's in the view or in the high school ministry. I am so excited to get to be a part of what God is doing in your lives and to get to see that and hear about that. I am so excited to hear the kinds of things that God is doing through you, the kinds of things that you're experiencing. I'm excited to get to the point where you leave every week wanting to invite your friend because you're encountering God consistently every Thursday night and not because we have some cool Nintendo Switches in the back, which are fun and cool and I enjoy playing them. But I'm so excited to get to that point where you're bringing new people, you're bringing non-believers, you're bringing those that have yet to encounter God because you're encountering God. That is what fuels me, that's what gets me excited, and that's what gets me up in the morning. I think you mentioned this in your testimony, but one of the things that we can so easily fall into is the temptation of the best thing we can get from Jesus are the things we get from Him. But the reality is the best thing about following Jesus is that we get Jesus, Jesus is the prize. And we have Him right now, we don't have to wait to heaven. I don't know if y'all realize that, we have Him right now, what a privilege. And so I actually wanna spend some time with us as a ministry just praying over what Chris just talked about, praying over this vision that we have for this ministry, for us to not be longing for the flashy lights or the it person or just a crazy sermon that knocks your socks off. I want us to crave Christ. I want us to be able to celebrate what Jesus is doing. I want us to be a ministry that is bold, that is filled with grace and truth, seasoned with salt, and that Memphis, Tennessee never looked more like Jesus because of every single person sitting in this room. So we're gonna spend a little bit of time, maybe like five to six minutes, that's kind of a long time, but I want us to quiet our hearts. And the band's gonna come up and they're gonna play in the background for a little bit. But I want you to pray for that. I want you to pray for this ministry. I want you to pray for your own hearts and just spend some time asking the Lord to do what He would want with this ministry. Let's pray.