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“Mentorship is amazing; it’s discipleship at it’s finest.” More true words could not be spoken. If you look at Jesus’ ministry, it WAS mentorship with his disciples. He was teaching them a new way of life. He taught them new ways to approach old situations. He changed their perspective. When that’s done well, it impacts both people in a mentoring relationship. Gabriel Prusmack, a local artist in Galveston, TX speaks these words in this week’s episode of Unsung Heroes. He joins John to talk through his inspiration for his artwork, how he got started making art, and who the unsung heroes are in his life that have influenced both his artwork and his walk with Christ. Tune in to also find out what a seven foot banana has to do with anything on this topic.
Check out Gabriel's work:
https://gabrielprusmack.com
https://www.instagram.com/gapsmack87
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Check out Gabriel's work:
https://gabrielprusmack.com
https://www.instagram.com/gapsmack87
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Hey, mentors. Just a reminder about the You Can Mentor book. It's titled You Can Mentor, How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses. The whole point of this book is to equip and encourage mentors with new tools and ideas on how to make the most of their mentor mentee relationship. If you're a mentor, hey, go pick it up.
Speaker 2:And if you're a mentoring organization, pick some up for all of your mentors. If you would like to order mass copies, like more than 20, send an email to me, zach@youcanmentor.com, and we will get you guys a special price. But go and pick up that book. It's good. You can mentor.
Speaker 3:Welcome. You can mentor listeners. This is John, and I am so excited today to be able to have a special episode of unsung heroes with my friend, artist Gabriel Prussmack. Gabriel Right on. Welcome.
Speaker 4:How are you? Good.
Speaker 3:Doing great. Doing great. Now what this is really cool. We should tell our listeners that right now, this is a special time because you are making dinner.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Well, my daughter's making dinner. I'm just kind of guiding.
Speaker 3:I love it. So you guys are gonna enjoy some community right now as you guys get supper going, and we're just gonna talk. And I'm so thankful that you agreed to to sit down with me even though I'm sitting down, you're standing at the stove.
Speaker 4:I'm fine with that.
Speaker 3:This is so so special. Gabriel, I've known you for a few years now. I think we had a mutual friend who introduced us
Speaker 4:Oh, that's right. Because of skateboarding. What is it? What's his name, John? His name's Johnny.
Speaker 4:Right?
Speaker 3:I think so. I think he's a fellow Galvestonian. Is that not right?
Speaker 4:Yeah. That's right.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:That's right. I knew a couple peep you we knew a couple people that we didn't realize we knew.
Speaker 3:Mutual friends. Yeah. That's true.
Speaker 4:Yeah. He kinda gave me your number or gave you my number. I can't remember, actually, how that got all set up, and we just started talking.
Speaker 3:It happened.
Speaker 4:It happened. Yeah. That was, like, I think, what, like, 10 years ago?
Speaker 3:Well, not not quite. I don't think that far, but I'm gonna say about 7.
Speaker 4:7? Okay. It's been
Speaker 3:a full 7 years. So this is what's cool, Gabriel. Some people are going to say, man, who is this guy? I don't even know. I don't even know why we would why we would talk to Gabriel Pusmack.
Speaker 3:Well, this is what I would say to those people is that if you've ever driven from Houston into Galveston, we have seen your handiwork because it is on either side of that bridge on the way into Galveston Island. And how long has it been that you painted that mural mural there?
Speaker 4:It's been 5 years now since I painted it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right. And, again, I can't go anywhere probably on the island without seeing your your work. Have you got any idea of how how many murals at this point you've got up in the At
Speaker 4:least a 100.
Speaker 3:Goodness. I
Speaker 4:mean, some of them you can see, and some of them you can't see. A lot of them you can't see.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's right. So, Gabriel, not only do you do Private work. Yeah. You do public murals, but you also do studio works, and you also do commissions as well.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. All the time. I'm doing basically, the private work is usually the commissions
Speaker 3:Gotcha.
Speaker 4:That I'm doing for people anywhere, but B and Bs or or just just making paintings and hanging them on the walls. You know?
Speaker 3:So let's go back. Let's go let's go back before you were Gabriel, the the really proficient muralist and artist. Before you got all this work and before you really even maybe before you even kinda got your style, what what was it, you know, and what how how old were you when you really thought that and kinda found art and knew that this is gonna be something that you wanted to maybe, obviously, didn't think it was a career, but you started to love it.
Speaker 4:I kinda I started loving it when I was, I mean, at 6, 7 years old when my brothers would draw a lot. My grandma was an artist. I just I thought it was the most freeing thing to do. I mean, nobody was telling me how to do it, or they kinda told me how to do it, but it didn't really matter. It wasn't it wasn't being graded.
Speaker 4:It was just something that I knew, well, I don't have anything to do. I wanna draw. I wanna paint. I wanna I'm gonna do that. And it doesn't matter what I draw or paint.
Speaker 4:It doesn't I look back at some stuff that I furthest back, didn't care what I was growing. Mhmm. But I knew I was gonna do it for the rest of my life. I didn't know I was gonna do it for a living, but I really I just enjoyed it. It's still the same.
Speaker 4:I enjoy it. If I mess up or do something weird, it just kinda doesn't matter. You know?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, you know, I grew up skateboarding. You grew up skateboarding surfing?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Skating and surfing. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Pretty much all about that. I was very much influenced by some artists, Vincent Johnson, Phillips from Santa Cruz. Like, looking at skateboard art was really kinda it for me. What was your inspiration early on? Was it was it more surf stuff?
Speaker 3:Was it skate stuff?
Speaker 4:I don't know. That's such a weird question to me. I I can't ever answer. It's like, I don't know what inspired me. I didn't I didn't stand on a cliff, Sedge, and say, gosh.
Speaker 4:Look at this stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You
Speaker 4:know? I just went. I just painted because I wanted to paint, just because I wanted to do it. It was there was nothing that inspired me. I just did it because I was doing something, and I liked it.
Speaker 4:And it looked cool to me. You know what I mean? When I when I started getting into middle school, I I did it more because I saw, like, skate brands, and I wanted to draw the skate brands because I like the skate brands and the surf brands and Mhmm. You know what I mean? Like, the way they drew Think skateboards, and I was like, oh, I wanna draw that.
Speaker 4:That looks cool, the way it's drawn. But it wasn't like I was doing my own thing. I was just copying everything at that point. And until I realized I wanted to just do my own thing, see artists doing their own thing. I'm like, oh, they're they're painting their own way.
Speaker 4:That's cool.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:Just seeing people be people and seeing styles made me think everybody was original, so I needed to have my own originality. You know what I mean? They were probably copying a 100,000,000 things, and I didn't even know it. I just thought I need originality. That's that's what I need.
Speaker 4:I wanna create something no one's creating.
Speaker 3:Well So
Speaker 4:I don't even know what really stems from that inspiration.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:I think I have more of a of an inspiration now of, like, oh, I wanna stay a kid. That's my inspiration. My kids. I wanna be a kid all my life. Sure.
Speaker 4:I don't know how what inspiration that is, but that's my own thing because God says, be a child. He told me to be a child. So it's even more encouraging that God actually said that. So I'm like, well, I can be a kid and that's not an excuse, but that's a great way to live. You know?
Speaker 4:So, I mean, that's kind of, I guess, an inspiration. You know? I I don't know if that is or is it.
Speaker 3:Well, I think you bring up a really good point in terms of what you said even when you started to draw, and that was that you kinda just directly copied what you saw in front of you. And so, man, like, that's a really easy parallel for us to even think about when it comes to mentoring and investing in the lives of others because aren't we kinda programmed, like, to copy kinda what we see around us and what we see ahead of us in terms of those people who are older or that we live life with. And so all the more reason why I think it's so important that we that we mentor and that we equip and encourage mentors to do to do their work that way. So, hey, you also said a really important thing, which you said that it's really freeing. So, obviously, freedom, be free.
Speaker 3:I mean, these are some this is what you're all about.
Speaker 4:Right? That's what I do. Yeah. So, I mean, just different things like that that I don't know if they're necessarily inspirations, but I think I think inspiration is a weird word Mhmm. To be honest.
Speaker 4:I think inspiration is a better word to use for, like, getting fit or or, I don't know, like, encouraging somebody. That's what inspiration that word is to me. It's like, I don't know if I'm inspired. Like, get better at artwork. I mean, you know, like, it's not a competition.
Speaker 4:So how do you dissect that? You know? So it's like, it's not like it can get better, but you can do it differently. I don't that's always been a weird word to me. I'm like, I don't know what inspires me.
Speaker 4:You know? Yeah. Like, that's just go put some paint on the wall. What are you what are you thinking of the whole time? You know?
Speaker 3:For sure. So this idea, though, of freedom, I mean, I think that it's pretty integral to artists. I think it's important to skaters, surfers as well. You you you mentioned the idea of, like, no one telling you what to do. Right?
Speaker 3:About it not being really regulated or regimented, but instead, you could just really be free to, like, express yourself however you wanted to. So Yeah. Is that what kind of even led you to, like, like board sports that way? Is just because you could just do it without kinda having to be worked in this this system?
Speaker 4:Board sports just kinda came from doing it and putting me on a board. I never really had a thought process on it, honestly. I just thought it it felt cool. It felt good.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Doing it felt amazing. And then when I got into the technical side of it, I thought, wow. I wanna be able to do that. I wanted to I wanna be able to manipulate the board. I'm seeing them manipulate the board.
Speaker 4:That is interesting. I wanna figure out how to do all this. I wanted the physics of it in my my palm of my hand. You know? Like, that was kind of my mindset when I skated and and surfed.
Speaker 4:It wasn't it wasn't necessarily like a punk attitude. Like, I've seen a lot of that, but it never really was that for me. It was just, oh, I skate. It's it's my thing. It's my own thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Or maybe I can't, like maybe it was subconsciously a punk thing or a, hey. I'm doing something nobody else is doing kinda thing, but, obviously, I was in another box.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So Everybody was doing it.
Speaker 3:So teenage teenage Gabriel, like, what kept you from did you play sports in school?
Speaker 4:No. I skated and served. That's it.
Speaker 3:That was it. Are you are you from Galveston originally?
Speaker 4:No. I was just raised here. I'm from Houston.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:I was born in Houston.
Speaker 3:Gotcha. Well, certainly makes sense to where that you live in Galveston now. Seems like everything that you do, and I'll say this as well. It feels like from my vantage point, and I've always kinda felt this way, is like, you're just good at stuff. You're just one of those guys that's that's good at things.
Speaker 3:Is that Thank you. Do you agree with that?
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay. And that's coming from a guy who, like, has to work at things really, really hard because I'm not good at stuff. I'm not a natural at things. But
Speaker 4:It's okay.
Speaker 3:Right. And I'm at yeah, man. I'm I'm good with it. I'm used to it. Almost 50 years going strong of just working really hard at things to be as mediocre as possible.
Speaker 4:So I'm sure you're great at things. Looking about stop putting yourself down.
Speaker 3:Oh, man. It's my it's my thing. So, Gabriel, tell me this, man. Let's talk a little bit about maybe not those who inspired you, but tell me something about somebody who who invested in you. You know?
Speaker 3:Whether it's you have these different facets of your life. You have obviously your faith, which which is overriding. It touches every part of your of you. But, you know, at the same time, an artist, an athlete, a community member, you know, a husband, a dad, all of these things are kind of informed by others. Right?
Speaker 3:So maybe take us back. Who who is somebody in your life that that mentored you well, that invested in you?
Speaker 4:That's a good that's a great question. She just pulled the foil out, and we have, like, this Oh, man.
Speaker 3:I hate when you find 4 inches of foil left.
Speaker 4:That was like that's why she started laughing. That's a great question because I've had lots of mentors that I didn't realize some of them were mentors to me. I was doing artwork at home in high school, like, really doing it, like, focused on it. Nobody was telling me to do it, and I was just like, oh, this is so fun. It works like this, and this is working because this works.
Speaker 4:And these colors are good, and I was figuring out color combinations and theories. And and my one of my art teachers found figured that out, and she asked me, she said, are you doing artwork at home? That's awesome. And I was like, yeah. I can't get enough of it.
Speaker 4:And she's that's amazing that you're actually doing it. No. Not a lot of people do that. In high school, they just I mean, sure. I was hanging out, skating, everything.
Speaker 4:But I was I was, like, focused for hours at my house outside of school, and she just kind of encouraged it and gave me ideas and gave me advice and kind of helped me figure out the future. And, I mean, I I towards the end, I was just like, wow. This this teacher is really helping me. This is awesome. And her name is miss.
Speaker 4:She was really she was really a big help. She still works at Vol High, and she was just a huge help. And at one point, I remember I was in welding 1. And the 2nd year I went to welding 2. And my 2nd year, I said, man, I don't wanna do any of this stuff.
Speaker 4:I wanna do a sculpture. Like, I really wanna do a sculpture. And the the next year, there was another teacher, and he was really mean. He was just mean. I don't know why.
Speaker 4:He was always negative about everything. And he said he could find the bad in it, and I was just like, man. I looked him in the face one time, and I said, you're really mean. He's just like, yeah. That's who I am.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I'm I'm that guy. And he just started going off on me. I was like, man, this guy is just rude. And so he was just like this character in my head that I was just like, man, this guy's like a mad cartoon character.
Speaker 4:And I remember he wanted us to make barbecue pits, and I thought I am not gonna make a barbecue pit. I don't even barbecue. I just and I told him, hey. I wanna make a sculpture. He's like, what?
Speaker 4:What is that? No. You're not doing that. And all this stuff, and I went and I and I went and told the teacher not right after. I I didn't go tattletale or something.
Speaker 4:But I was I was telling the teacher about it. I was like, man, I really wanna make a sculpture in welding class. I wonder if they they would let us do that. And she said, what? They should definitely let you do that.
Speaker 4:And I'm like, really? Like, I was just I was just kinda talking to her. I wasn't, like, going I didn't even know that was a thing that I could do in high school. And she went down. She said, tell them that you're gonna do a sculpture for me, for the class, for your, like, end of the year thing.
Speaker 4:And I was like, what? That'd be awesome. And I did it. And I spent 6 months in that class senior year working on a sculpture. I made this giant 6 foot flower, and it impressed the teacher, him.
Speaker 4:I didn't make it to impress anybody, but it impressed him so much that he allowed he allowed sculptures in the class. And I was like, wow. I can't believe teacher helped me, like, make an impact on this guy that Yeah. His teacher was mad about everything. And she was just a big help in that, and and it kinda it helped me figure out more things.
Speaker 4:Actually, this past summer, I got to get back into welding again. It was a blast. I loved it. And I made a 7 foot banana for an art show that I did. My my wife was in a my wife was in a biz I was my wife was in a meeting that that week, and the I was like, what are your what's your husband up to?
Speaker 4:What what is he doing? And then she was like, oh, he's making a 7 foot banana. And they're like, what the heck? What does that mean? I not
Speaker 3:only wanna name this podcast episode 7 Foot Banana, but also I want us to form a band and and called it 7 Foot Banana as well. Seriously?
Speaker 4:Really? You did?
Speaker 3:No. No. I'm saying that we should. Dude, that's hilarious. So, Gabriel
Speaker 4:So it just kinda like a it was a good effect from, like, past and future. You know? Like, I got back into it, and I, yeah, I just a friend up that does welding sculptures for a living, and he he kinda, like, tutored me again. He was like, hey. I was like, man, I'm soaking this up.
Speaker 4:I love doing this, but I wanna re know how to do all this again.
Speaker 3:And Yeah.
Speaker 4:I actually wanna do more of those, but that was that was one mentor that was just very effective. It's still affecting me. You know? Like, somebody that said, well, I'll just talk to them. And when she said that, I think of that now, and I'm like, what?
Speaker 4:Well, yes and no. Those are the only answers. Mhmm. That's it.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Who
Speaker 4:cares if the person's rude or mean? Like, I'll just go see if what's the case. Some something could change their mind.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So their character is so twisted or whatever, going against the grain. The that's just an effect that that gives you a confidence, you know, like, more confidence to think, well, why not try? You know, why not try this? Try that? You know, like, with people.
Speaker 4:That's a big deal with people and in general. And then I and then I got out of high school and I I I started working at a church that I was going to, it was Island Church. And because the pastor reached out to me and he said, hey. I want you to I want you to come work with us. I don't know.
Speaker 4:Just come work. Because he knew a lot of the same people that I did, the older crowd that he grew up with. And he, like, he knew them back in the seventies, and he was like, oh, man. They're still doing the same stuff. You need to come hang out with us.
Speaker 4:Come work with us. Come work at the church. I'll give you a job. And I was like, go to college too? He's like, yeah.
Speaker 4:I'll let you go to college and work, and I'll give you give you time to go to college. And I was like, cool. Alright. And my brother was gonna do it, but then he, like, he wanted to go do something else after that. He was like, I don't really wanna do that.
Speaker 4:And I just stuck I stuck there for a long time, and his brother was the one I really worked with, which he was like the assistant pastor, I guess, Alan. And I just kinda hung out. They didn't they didn't say this is what we're gonna do. You better down. It wasn't it wasn't really like a mentorship or apprenticeship.
Speaker 4:It was just, hey. Be present. You know? Be here. Listen.
Speaker 4:Watch. Pay attention. And and the whole time I was doing that, I was learning how to love people. I was learning how to forgive people. I was learning how to forgive myself.
Speaker 4:I was learning that Christ did so much more than just save me. He set me free from sin and death and and just different things like that. And I just watched I watched Alan always going and serving, and I thought that that's something that's so and I was there with him. I always go there with him, and I was praying. We'd go to the hospital.
Speaker 4:Just different things like that. And we just I just watched him for 12 years, about 12, 11, 12 years. And I watched just different things. You know? I I paid attention.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And he might have not known that, but he was he knew he was leading an example and not necessarily saying, hey. I'm leading the example. He was just being him. It wasn't a it wasn't a for show thing. It was just somebody loving Christ and somebody watching somebody love Christ right up close.
Speaker 4:I mean, I I did everything with him. I went to his house and ate dinner with him, and I I we did all kind we serve. He serves. So we serve. He fishes.
Speaker 4:So I fish with him kinda stuff with him. And to this day, I even I support his ministry. He's a he's a traveling minister. Mhmm. He goes to Nicaragua a lot.
Speaker 3:Cool.
Speaker 4:So, I mean, in in one part of it, I I went to Nicaragua a lot with them when they when I first started there. And then we didn't go to Nicaragua for, like, a few years. And I'm like, why don't we we need to go on mission trips. We need to go do something. I had this momentum that was gone from their end on at a certain Nicaragua was on my heart.
Speaker 4:And so I remember we went to this conference, and there was it was a missions conference, and there was these missionaries from Nicaragua. And God said, give whatever you have in your pocket to that mission. And I had, like, $60. I was like, well, that's a lot of money. I just it was a lot of money to me.
Speaker 4:And I was like, well, I gave you all the 6 here's this here's the $60, and I I gave it to them. They're like, oh my gosh. Thank you. We didn't expect that. We just we just want you to have a newsletter.
Speaker 4:And so I from then on, God told me, start supporting them. And I was like, oh, okay. I guess I'll start supporting them. And that turned into a mission trip, like, couple years down the road where and and no one knew them from my church. I had just met them, and I saw Nicaragua, and I was like, wow.
Speaker 4:That's cool. I wanna I wanna support Nicaragua, people that are going to Nicaragua. And then they then they asked me, they said, hey. Do you wanna come down here and do few days or whatever? And I was like, yeah.
Speaker 4:I kinda do. She was like, Ed and Jenny is their name. They're the inviting the branch ministries. And I was like, yeah. I do.
Speaker 4:And so one of my good friends was like, hey. What I was talking to him about it. He's like, hey. Let's go down there. Let's go let's go on a mission trip.
Speaker 4:And I was like, that'd be awesome. Let's go. And then my sister was like, in the in the same area. She was like, y'all already go on a mission trip. Can I go?
Speaker 4:And I was like, yeah. Let's all 3 go. And so week 3, we that. And I asked them a church. I said, yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. You can go down there on a mission trip. That's cool. And I went we went down there for, like, I think it was, like, a week. And, man, they pulled everything out of us because we were we were talking to everybody.
Speaker 4:They were like, here. You're gonna talk to these people on this church. Hey. You're gonna talk on the radio, but there's nobody there. You're just gonna talk into a microphone.
Speaker 4:I was like, oh, this is interesting. So we're just sitting in sitting at the chair, talking to the microphone, and that was fun, actually. I like that. It was like it was like less pressure, honestly. Mhmm.
Speaker 4:All 3 of us, she was just they were just pulling everything out of us, but it was it was really good for us because we hadn't really been in that type of an environment. None of us really had. And and then when we came back, the whole youth group wanted to go to Nicaragua. And and and when we went to the youth group, when Alan came came with us and he met them and they hit it off. And since then, he's been going to Nicaragua.
Speaker 4:That's been his main connect and it's been awesome to see that I was just this little stepping stone for God to carry them back to Nicaragua. You know what I mean? Like, all I all I did was have a desire to go on this mission trip. That's it. And then, sure, faithful to support.
Speaker 4:But all I did was watch my mentors, and they were faithful in giving, and they were faithful in supporting people. Because, sure, the gospel it it needs money to be rich people, you know. You need money to go places. God's not gonna throw out 100 out of the air, you know. I mean, that would be pretty awesome, but that's not gonna happen.
Speaker 4:Just being faithful, and that was kind of the case. I talk to Alan pretty much all the time. He lives at Gala. He lives, like, 4 blocks from me. It's funny that I live right down the road from him.
Speaker 4:But he's been a mentor to me, and and he knows it. I've told him that, and
Speaker 3:I've Yeah.
Speaker 4:I've I just appreciate it. When you appreciate it, you really when you're supporting it, that appreciation, it's not even like it's money anymore. It's like a it's not even a bill. It's just like, oh, I gotta go give this to him. Oh, I gotta go support this.
Speaker 4:And and the same with the that ministry in Nicaragua. It's the same for them. I'm like, I see their newsletters, and and I see I see what's happening in for you too, man. I see what's happening with you, and that's awesome to see that. You see fruit.
Speaker 4:When you see fruit Mhmm.
Speaker 3:See that
Speaker 4:avocado? And that can preach right there.
Speaker 3:That's it, man.
Speaker 4:Seriously. That's perfect. Yeah. Like, you get hungry. You you you you wanna do more.
Speaker 4:You wanna be able to give more. That's inspiration right there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. For sure.
Speaker 4:That's the definition. You see that fruit, you wanna go after it. You know? And I think that's just special. That's mentorship is is amazing.
Speaker 4:It's discipleship at its finest. You know? That's that's the all this to do is to to disciple people. You know? I gotta just disciple these little girls.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And it's a learning experience, and it takes years years years, and I'm still learning and learning and learning. And, yeah, actually, the other day, he he invited me. He was like, hey. Would you be wanting willing to go to Nicaragua again? I'm like, maybe so.
Speaker 4:I mean, my wife wants to go on a mission trip. She's never been on a mission trip, actually.
Speaker 3:Oh, that would be awesome.
Speaker 4:Not, you know, the the mission trips we do in the states. Yes. I mean
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:It's good. It's needed always. Yes. But it's good to get out of the country too. There's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3:100%. So, Gabriel, what I really appreciate I've obviously, I appreciate everything that you share. But to to hear about Alan and just that kind of ministry of, like, accessibility. Right? He just opened up his life to you for, I mean, over a decade.
Speaker 3:You really were there just kinda gleaning from him and learning what it meant to be a Christ follower and, I'm sure, a husband and and just Oh, yeah. Learning from his life.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's it's interesting. I I appreciate it. I'm not I'm not doing the same things I was when we were working together, but I can still see the fruit in his life. You know?
Speaker 4:I can still see what's happening. You know? It's like I'm not up close anymore with him and hanging out and doing everything, but I like, I own a house now, and I'm married, and I have kids. And now I recognize the things that I saw in him in my life now, like well, I can you're saying. But now I'm like, oh, wow.
Speaker 4:I can I gotta apply these things here now? Like, I have never been in this stage of my life, not until the past couple years ago. I mean and now it's even more because it's like, oh, now I'm having a kid. So I was like or now I'm having a we got a baby on the way, and it's like, wow. Things that are saturated in me that I've never even picked up.
Speaker 4:You know what I mean? Like, I've never even I've never even touched that, and they're still there. It's like that nutrient that's still like, alright. When are you gonna pick me up and and and use these nutrients? You know?
Speaker 4:Like, it's interesting. Like like a tool that you're like, wow. I can't wait to use that. Mhmm. But you ain't gonna use it for another 10, 20 years.
Speaker 4:And it's just interesting because that really hard. Mentorship goes so much further than the year of or the week of that you hang out and that that even the the next 5 years, you you probably won't even see anything. It's like now. You know? And I haven't we haven't worked together in 6 or 7 years.
Speaker 4:I think it's 6 been 6 years since we've actually worked together, and that's that's been a long time. Mhmm. But it's it's just powerful what what mentorship has done for me. You know? Really just subconscious mentorship.
Speaker 4:You know? It wasn't like a a mentorship I signed up for or a label on it, But just following somebody that loves people because they love God and they love themselves, and they're faithful. That's it. They're faithful, meaning they know their heart is ready for what God's gonna do. Whenever God says something or whenever God's doing something or Mhmm.
Speaker 4:Like, hey. Go go love on that person. Go give that person a hug. They don't even know who you are. You know?
Speaker 4:Or whatever. You know? It sometimes God's wild like that. I don't know.
Speaker 3:No kidding. And it's that and it's that being available and and open and ready.
Speaker 4:Available. Yeah. Yeah. Being available. That's that's huge.
Speaker 4:That's that's one of the biggest things I learned, actually. That's perfect. Well said. Being available. For sure.
Speaker 3:Well, I think you also make a really good point too to say sometimes we can overthink our programming and say, well, okay. I'm your mentor. You're my mentee, and we will meet at this time, and this is what I will share, and I need to be prepared. And although that's really important because we do wanna be intentional. Gabriel, I think that you really raise a good point, which is just to say there is so much being learned outside of what we can kinda think that we're teaching.
Speaker 3:And so all the more reason to just kind of understand that this is is it's an organic relationship. It certainly should be intentional, but also lord is gonna speak through so many things. And just being available and just being open to communicate well and to answer questions and and just kinda living your life out in front of your mentee is is really the way to go.
Speaker 4:I think before I went in, those are those are awesome that's an awesome way to put it. I think about before I started working at that church and and just kind of, like, really understand was and is, I had a mindset that I thought I knew what and who God was and and how we're supposed to act at church and how we're supposed to do everything. And, you know, I I had I had this, like, religious mindset, and I wasn't even really that close to God yet even. I was barely even, like, starting to have a relationship. And I already had this religious mindset because I saw how they lived and I'm like, oh, y'all laugh and hang out.
Speaker 4:This is this is regular living. This isn't a religious thing. You know? It was it was interesting that that, like, that 1st year or 2, I was like, wow. I'm the most religious person here, and I'm not even I'm not even really like that.
Speaker 4:I haven't even been in this game that long or been knowing God that long, and I'm and they've known God for forever, it felt like, because they were they were 25, 30 years older than me. And I was like, oh, well, Jesus is normal. A better picture of who Jesus is because they gave a good example.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And that that's that's the world sees. Do we give a good example of who Jesus is? Are we relaxed? Are we constantly worried? Or you know what I mean?
Speaker 4:Like, where where is our example? Like, can can we be down to earth a little? You know? Can we relax? Can we or are we always uptight about everything?
Speaker 4:Oh, that person just kinda stopped. You know? Like, is it and I watch I watch The Chosen now even more because I love it because I because he gives me, like, a visual of, like, wow. Jesus is laughing and joking and gosh. How, like, normal is this?
Speaker 4:Like, this isn't some crazy religious experience. It's it's a life experience. You know? So it's just interesting to see the the the changes in yourself and in just what happens whenever you realize the big picture. Don't be so close minded, I guess.
Speaker 4:That's that's a big deal. That was that's kinda what I was getting to in a nutshell.
Speaker 3:It's almost it's almost like be free.
Speaker 4:It's about being free. That's what it really is. That really sums it up right there.
Speaker 3:You you know, anybody will will look at your I mean, goodness. Now is probably the time, Gabriel, when I say so people need to find I I want people to see your your artwork because it's beautiful. And, I mean, I'm sitting even now right now.
Speaker 4:You want people?
Speaker 3:As I'm sitting here in my studio, on the other side of this wall is
Speaker 4:one of your murals. Oh, yeah. The skatepark. That's right.
Speaker 3:That's right. And then right here on this wall Is that a housewife? It is. And so you were so gracious to come, and you did the you did the free indeed there. And then Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm looking at 2 of your pieces here, one that I purchased from you, one that my wife purchased from you. And it's it's the Porsche 356, and it's the Volkswagen Beetle. And so I get to look at your work each and every day, and it just Awesome, man. Gives there's just such positive energy to it, you know, and that's, I think, the truth of all your work. So people can go to gabrielprussmack.com.
Speaker 3:Is that correct? Uh-huh. That's your website?
Speaker 4:Dot com. It's just my my first and last name.com.
Speaker 3:And they can also look you up on Instagram as well and find your work there. And we're gonna put that in the web. We're gonna put that in the episodes caption as well, so people can click on that. Because I really just want people to enjoy who you are. And I think that you, you produce such wonderful kinda life giving you know, you you love colors and the way that you that God really creates through you is is a beautiful thing to see for me.
Speaker 3:So that's that's just one of the things that I enjoy whenever I see your your stuff kinda pop up on my feed. It's always it's just always a blessing.
Speaker 4:I know. That's awesome. I I think just having childlike faith and, like I said at the beginning, just being being like a kid, man, that's I I learned from my kids. I mean, they I learned from my kids, but I also learned from just watching people. Like, it's interesting when when when you see your kid get hurt, and they're like, ah, messed up.
Speaker 4:And then 5 seconds later, like, laughing about something else. I'm like, what just happened? Why? What? They're like, this is so easily, like, changed.
Speaker 4:You know? Just we can easily just switch switch to something else and and, like, get over stuff easier and get through stuff easier. Sure. There's some things we gotta work out, but it's it's just good to remind yourself, like, man, just be like a kid. Like, play again.
Speaker 4:You know? Like, live, play, you know, do things even if it's 5 minutes and and be silly. You know? We forget that stuff, and it's just something that's I just see the girls doing that all the time, and that's fun. But I do I can do that too.
Speaker 4:You know? We can all do that. We can all have fun like that, and and god wants that. That's that that's the thing that I had to learn a lot of when I was when I was saying that I was just saying that I had to, like, free myself from myself. You know?
Speaker 4:Like, wow. I gotta get out of my here because I don't need to learn to play again. This is this is I get too serious or you get too one track minded or tunnel vision of something. You know? And everybody does.
Speaker 4:And we have to remind ourselves. And I write be free everywhere because it's my sticky note that I write for myself. Literally, I put it everywhere so that it reminds me, and I write it everywhere.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And it's just a reminder, like, god set to be free right now. I remember I was doing a mural. This was like this was like two and a half weeks ago. And the mural is called love is an ocean. And and it's about a guy in a, the old submarine or the old, scuba tanks.
Speaker 3:A diving massacre.
Speaker 4:The big the big scuba tanks.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:And on on it, it it says lost in love. It says lost in love, but it looks like he carved it with a knife. Like, he's in survival almost.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:But he's lost in love. And he and he has a he has his hand out, and his hand is giving out a bubble that has a heart. And and I'm doing all this, and I'm almost done with it. And I got all irritated in my head because somebody asked came up and drove and said some stupid thing to me. Like, you missed the spot or some goofy thing, and I'm just like, ah, that's so irritating.
Speaker 4:I don't even feel like I'm like like, that's the cheesiest thing in my head. And I looked down, and I and I look at it, and it says lost in love. And I'm just like, why do I love this person? I can't sit here and get mad at them because they just said a cheesy thing, and I'm just, in my head, being serious, forgetting what I'm even painting, you know, while you're doing something. You're like, wait.
Speaker 4:The whole big picture is that I have to love people. Like, that's the whole point of the painting, is you're lost in love because you're you're you're up in love that you're loving every possible thing, that you forget yourself, and it's complete selfless love like Jesus. That's the whole point of that. That that that idea of Jesus being in you, you know, that or not the idea. The action of Jesus being in you is more of an idea in you.
Speaker 4:Obviously, you're not going and dying, but you know what I mean? There were martyrs. But I'm just saying, like, in the day we live in here in you know, we're not martyrs, but, you know, we're like, we have to be those people. We have to be lost in love. We have to be sacrificial and die to ourselves every day to love people and to go after people.
Speaker 4:You know? We're so caught up in Christ that we're so lost in. We're lost. We're gone. You know?
Speaker 4:And in the next and in the next part of that painting, there the image he's underwater in the first part and the next water is just going through him. And that's the other part that's like, oh, it's it's almost like, oh, he's gone. You know? Like, he's it's like lost in the sauce kind of a kind of a flavor. And it's just interesting, like, while you're doing something like that, you're like, ah, you're getting mad at people.
Speaker 4:You know? It's like this, like, goofy moment in in my head. Like, wait. I'm doing this whole thing for a reason. Why am I getting mad?
Speaker 4:You know? And I don't know. I just thought I'd throw that out there, and I just I don't know.
Speaker 3:That's a really incredible perspective because, honestly, you know, we all thousands and thousands of people see your work, Gabriel. Like and they get to be blessed by it. And it's it's really cool for you to be able to share a little bit of insight to say even in the process of creating something so beautiful, you know, and so whimsical or something that's just kinda so about God's goodness and his creativity. Right? Because he's he's a creative creator.
Speaker 3:But even in the process, you kinda have to deal with that. Right? Like, you have to be reminded of, like, oh, okay, lord. I have to be patient. I have to be kind.
Speaker 3:And, you know
Speaker 4:It's all the fruit. Yeah. You have to have all that fruit, and it's it's it's it just reminds you of, like, wow. We're so tiny. What what what are we?
Speaker 4:Like, you know, you come back to you come back and you're thinking, you're like, wow. The whole reason is this is to love people. That's it.
Speaker 3:Yes. Well, I'm going to draw a parallel as we wrap up, Gabriel, and that is the fact that I I truly believe, obviously, and I don't have to make this a really big theory or anything because it's too obvious, but you are in this really special place in our world and that God has called you to make the world a more special place. Like, you get to be you get to take a brick wall, and you get to make it beautiful. Right? And so I appreciate you.
Speaker 3:I want you to continue to just find work everywhere, and I would love nothing more than to go into any city in this country and find a Gabriel up on the wall. Right? Because you bring such joy and and you and, again, you just that's why I personally want to look at your work each and every day.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's awesome, Eric.
Speaker 3:So let me make this connection to our listeners. Mentors, I truly believe that you're doing the same thing, that you have the potential to make this world a better place, in a more beautiful place, in a more creative place. Just as Gabriel shared, it's about understanding that we should have a childlike faith. Our mentees obviously very often get to remind us of that, and so have fun with your mentees if nothing else. You know?
Speaker 3:If you're just gonna go out instead of maybe having that 3 point sermon that you wanted to present them with that day, what if after that, you guys go out and just play football for a little bit? Okay? Yeah. Or draw or paint or just do something silly. So be be mindful of that.
Speaker 3:No kidding. But but, you guys, we we champion you because you are also part of God's redemption story, of his redeeming this earth and making it like it is in heaven. And so as you build those relationships, remember that you are also a skilled craftsman and an artist, and you get to share your life just as Gabriel shared. Just being able to be accessible and just being able to say, Hey, would you like to go to the store with me? And who knows?
Speaker 3:Conversations happen. Great things get remembered years, years past. And one day you may be a part of being able to have someone who does great things for the Lord and all because you just invested in them and shared your life with them. Gabriel That's all. I wanna say so I wanna say thank you for joining me today, and it was cool to let me kinda hang out and watch supper getting made.
Speaker 3:I bet it's probably time to enjoy that with your family. Blessings for you, my friend. And, I mean, I'm so glad to know you even recently being married. Gosh. Being a dad and gonna be a dad for the 3rd time coming up pretty soon.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness. So so thankful to have you as a friend. That's just
Speaker 4:a dad. Likewise.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Just thankful to know that you you're in the world.
Speaker 4:John, I really do. I appreciate what you're doing too, man. That's that's let's just go back to that's inspiring to me, that you. What you do is inspiring to me. Mentoring kids.
Speaker 3:Right on.
Speaker 4:Hoping people to become mentors is even bigger. That's leaving a legacy right there. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, thanks,
Speaker 4:man. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Alright. Well, listeners, thank you so much for joining us today. Again, you can check out Gabriel Prusmack's work on his website through Instagram, and you know what? Give me a call. I'll I'll share his info with you.
Speaker 3:I'll give I'll give I'll give you a cell number. How about that? I'm just kidding.
Speaker 4:We wanna
Speaker 3:we wanna remind you that you can mentor.