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Faith Stories with Pastor Joe Coffey is a podcast about the real stories of real people and the real ways God moves in and through our lives. Each episode shares honest conversations of breakthrough and struggle–stories of faith, failure, drift, redemption, and the slow pull back to Jesus. From seasons of success to moments of darkness, these testimonies are reminders that no one is too far gone, no story is beyond redemption, and Jesus is still in the business of restoring what feels lost.
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Hey everybody, welcome to our podcast, Faith Stories, where we look at how Jesus can change anything and everything.
I'm Joe Coffey, I'm your host, and this is Lentrail Abston, my good friend and church planter. So welcome Lentrail, thanks for coming. It's a pleasure to be here. All right.
First thing, I tell everybody what you're doing now.
00;00;21;51 - 00;00;52;13
We'll start with and then we'll go back. Yeah.
So today I get the privilege of being married to Ingrid and the father of three kiddos, Amir, Amaya, and AV.
And also had the privilege of leading a church, Clearview Community Church. Okay.
And so if they came to Clearview on the weekend, we'll see about 35 people, diverse group of people who all are committed to this mission of helping people see Jesus clearly, to follow him fully.
00;00;52;13 - 00;01;25;10
Cool. And that is in Euclid and Euclid, right? Which is also where you grew up.
I grew up in East Cleveland, so about ten minutes away from where our church is, right?
So tell me how. Tell me what your life was like growing up. Yeah.
So growing up, I was I had a very common family, unfortunately for the city of Cleveland, where it was a single mom, you know, raising three kids on her own.
00;01;25;15 - 00;01;57;35
I was a pretty angry young man. Growing up, there were a couple of things I think that really spurred that on, if you will.
One of them is just growing up hearing about my father.
So my father got my mom pregnant with me and had another relationship with another lady.
And one day he was with her and got into an argument and he was getting ready to leave, and she actually stabbed him and killed him.
00;01;57;40 - 00;02;21;48
Oh, okay. So your birth dad. Yeah. Was murdered? Yeah.
How old were you when I was still in my mom's womb? Oh, okay. Yeah. So?
So I never got to meet my. Yeah. Meet my father so very early on.
See, not having a dad, but then hearing what happened to my dad really hard on me and kind of lived my early life.
00;02;21;48 - 00;02;41;41
It was just an angry young man. I got into a lot of fights in school.
I was the middle child and the problem child. Yeah. What kind of student were you? That's a good question.
I was actually a good student. Yeah. When I would lock in and do the work.
But oftentimes I would get in trouble from, like, fighting or something like that.
00;02;41;41 - 00;03;06;53
So kind of sabotage, you know, school. But when you're talking about fighting, like, how old were you when you were thinking about this?
Yeah, I remember second grade getting suspended for fighting. Okay. Yeah. So you were angry, like, early on?
Very early on. Okay. So you you go through, do you get through high school?
No. So the last grade I technically completed was the the seventh grade.
00;03;06;55 - 00;03;30;28
Is that right?
Well, I say that because I'm going to get to I'm going to get to how brilliant I think you are.
But go ahead. Okay. Get to seventh grade. I completed the seventh grade, but I think that was the last grade I completed successfully.
So in eighth grade, the principal called me to her office and she said, you did not pass this year, but I can't deal with you another year.
00;03;30;28 - 00;03;56;55
So I'm promoting you to high school. Okay. So that's the way you got the high school.
That's the way I got to the ninth grade. Okay. Yeah. And then, yeah, just through more bad choices.
I would drop out that ninth grade year. Okay. Tell me bad choices. What does that mean?
So around the eighth grade, I, I was still carrying the the the bad guy, angry guy.
00;03;56;57 - 00;04;15;22
Kind of know the gangs and stuff. Are you? Yeah. They are. So are you involved with that?
Eighth grade is when I started to get involved on the street level and started to join a gang, start using like, marijuana, and had some older guys in the neighborhood said, hey, you want to get some money?
This is a way.
00;04;15;22 - 00;04;34;25
And they put drugs in my hands.
And so if grade going into the ninth grade, especially that summer, I was involved in it all.
Now is anybody is your mom and trying to fight for you, like get you out of that?
That's a great question, pastor Joe. My mom, she she tried to fight for me, but in her own way.
00;04;34;30 - 00;04;55;46
And now it makes sense to me. But back then, it didn't, because her method of fighting for me was to call the police.
And so I remember one time she knew I was doing wrong, and I had drugs on me and stuff like that, and she called the police.
And when they searched me, they found marijuana on me, and they booked me for it.
00;04;55;46 - 00;05;16;24
And I spent some time in juvenile for it. And how old were you then?
I was 15. Yeah. Now, you know, when you went to juvenile, was. Did you did that scare you?
Did that make you angrier or. I don't I don't want to say it scared me because I have friends who had gone and it almost seemed like a part of the lifestyle.
00;05;16;34 - 00;05;36;14
It was just so it wasn't expected. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. How long were you in juvie?
Just for a couple of weeks. Okay. And then I got out and was on probation for for the marijuana and went through some programing and stuff like that.
And don't they say you have to go back to school, but you don't? Yes, I try.
00;05;36;16 - 00;06;02;02
I try to go back to school, but it doesn't really work. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
And so I violate my probation from continuing to use.
And so with that violation, they sent me to a place called Palmdale.
And it's a in-house facility where you have to stay there.
And while I was there, I turned 16 and I was able to take my GED, and I take my GED and I pass it.
00;06;02;02 - 00;06;20;25
And so here I am now, 16 years old, with your high school graduate. High school graduate. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. All right. So then what? And so now, does that make you think I can do something?
I wish that was my pastor. Pastor. But it was it. Was it? Okay. It was.
Now I don't have to go to school.
00;06;20;27 - 00;06;43;09
I'm going to I'm going to be outside with the.
Yeah, full time hustling. And just in the neighborhood now in. You're still in the gang now. And a gang.
Do you like move up like in rank or how does the gang work? So there's kind of two. Two.
I used the word postures for the gang. There was the hustlers.
00;06;43;09 - 00;07;03;36
And then there were kind of the more aggressors, the more violent type. And so.
But we're all there's different street gangs. But in our street gang, there were the guys who hustled and the guys who were kind of like their enforcers.
And sometimes, you know, the hustlers were fine security even in having them forces with us.
So I joined more in with the guys who were hustling.
00;07;03;41 - 00;07;22;18
And, and so there was two guys specifically that I really drew close with.
And, and that was really the lifestyle. We, we saw drugs and would stay up, would call it all nighters.
So all night doing that kind of sleep during the beginning of the day and come out and that was the lifestyle.
Okay. And how long did that?
00;07;22;20 - 00;07;41;09
I mean, what was the next stage, what happened next?
So I'm, I'm doing that and like going to to my mom's house here and there.
And she just gets tired and she gives me an automotive one day and she says, Lentrail listen, you know, I'm tired of this.
You're going to have to stop this or you're going to have to leave our house.
00;07;41;14 - 00;08;04;48
And so I chose to leave. And sure, that broke her heart.
And that wasn't the the response she was anticipating. And so I spent the next almost a year living at a friend's house, living on the street, but just going deeper into the lifestyle.
And at this time you're howled. I'm, I'm, I'm, I turned 17. Okay. Well, okay.
00;08;04;55 - 00;08;29;37
So I'm 17, I'm living on the street, I'm in the gang and I'm getting a little money.
Not a ton, but enough to be able to, you know, buy things.
And if I need to get a, you know, a motel this night and that.
And so those things are happening. But I'm also around that other group of guys that I said were more enforcers and, and they would rob guys, and it was just a ton of brokenness, if you will.
00;08;29;51 - 00;08;50;52
And so and the enforcer seems like that would fit your anger and everything to. Right. Yeah.
And I could get there. But in that season, the money compelled me more than trying to get it that way, you know, from taking it.
But I was with a guy who really that was his. That was his posture.
He was he would rob guys.
00;08;50;52 - 00;09;09;41
And so we were driving in the car, we stopped and pulled over somewhere, and there was a guy who actually had a cross necklace on and just kind of looking at him, there's a friend in the back seat, one guy who's driving, he gets out, he goes upstairs and we're just looking at this guy and his his chain.
00;09;09;41 - 00;09;28;54
And so we had a gun in the car and I grabbed the gun.
And I'm looking at him and in this necklace he had on.
And so when the other guy gets back to the car, he reaches for the gun because he sees the guy's chain as well.
And it just seemed like, you know, something of value that that could be taken.
00;09;28;54 - 00;09;44;51
And so when he's saying that I had the gun, he kind of gave me the, the head.
And I like going head if you're going to do it.
And so I rob that man for his wallet, his possessions in that, in the necklace he had, which happened to be a cross, happened to be a cross stitching.
Okay. So then what happened?
00;09;44;51 - 00;10;10;56
So we get we get back in the car, we get away.
For the most part. The police gets behind us. We're in East Cleveland and we all jump out of the car and we have some gates.
I get back to my friend's house and I thought I got away, but there was the building manager who sees someone running the building and looked outside.
00;10;10;56 - 00;10;30;58
And by this time there are a ton of police cars and they're looking for us.
And so the building manager said, I think someone came into this building and he led them to the door and police got to the door, knocked on the door, and I gave myself, turned myself in in the sense that I knew I was I was caught in that apartment building.
00;10;31;00 - 00;10;54;47
So you're 17. I'm 17. You get tried. That's a felony because you had it's armed robbery.
Armed robbery. Right? Yeah. So then so then you get tried as an adult. Yeah.
So because of my juvenile record and the nature of the crime, they try me as an adult.
And there's actually a juvenile pod in the county jail in Cuyahoga County jail.
00;10;54;47 - 00;11;21;39
And so 17 I get sent to the county jail, and I'm awaiting the trial. Okay.
And then what do you get? You get sentenced to be guilty, like. And how long do you get? Yeah.
So I get two and a half years. Okay. But something really significant happened before I get my time and shipped off to Mansfield.
I was in a pod where they had a juvenile lock down for 23 and one.
00;11;21;39 - 00;11;41;43
We didn't, so we only came out of our part for for an hour or less.
There was some kind of programing. And so we all went to this church service just to kind of get up ourselves and, and, you know, to get something to do.
And I want to say this to growing up, I had a o call it a reverence for God.
00;11;41;43 - 00;12;04;55
I wasn't an atheist, and I had a brief season in my life where we lived in 105 in superior, and I went to a church there, and I had again a reverence for God, but didn't understand the gospel, didn't understand Jesus.
And it never really took root in my heart. Right.
So but going to that Bible study, I wasn't opposed to it.
00;12;04;55 - 00;12;20;57
And so I go to the the Bible study. I'm sure the guy was giving us a word.
I didn't really catch the word or anything like that.
But we get back to the cell a couple of days later when we're out of our pots, me and another guy get into an argument and we end up getting into a fight.
00;12;20;59 - 00;12;41;00
Okay? And I get sent to the whole people don't know what the whole is. The whole.
It's like jail inside of jail, you know, it's like solitary confinement. Okay. Yeah, yeah.
And so I'm in my cell in the hole, and the correction officer coming knocks on the door and said, you have a visit.
And I'm kind of like, you know, you don't get visits in the whole, who could this be?
00;12;41;03 - 00;12;59;14
And I go out to the table and it's that man who taught that Bible study.
And so he was coming back and checking on the pods. He must have asked, like, were those two guys?
And they say, oh, they got into a fight and he came to visit us.
How about that in the hole? And I stay with me.
00;12;59;16 - 00;13;20;16
You know, I was kind of processing like, man, this man came to visit me.
He must have asked, just kind of thinking through him coming to visit me and that really it really did touch me.
And at that point I started to read the Bible. Okay. Yeah.
And so I get ready for sentencing and I get two and a half years as a sentence.
00;13;20;19 - 00;13;41;10
Is that what you expected? Well, no, I was expected.
So I was in between 2 to 6 years. And so I had in light of what I did, I took I took the role and I acknowledged that I was guilty.
So I wasn't trying to like take it to, to trial or anything like that.
And so yeah, I was really expecting to get a lot more time, but I got two and a half years.
00;13;41;13 - 00;14;07;03
Okay. And then you get shipped to Mansfield to Mass Field. That's big boy jail. Yeah. Okay.
So what was that like? Yeah, yeah, it was definitely intimidating, but I knew I had to do the tie, you know, and around that time, like walking into a prison like Mansfield when you're 17 and I turned 18 in that in that time as well.
00;14;07;06 - 00;14;31;21
Yep. How do you how do you feel walking in? It's got to be scary.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was definitely scary. But at the same time, there's this phrase a lot of times, and unfortunately, sometimes it's a pessimism that creeps in. But the phrase is it is what it is.
And so I couldn't do anything, you know, I had to do anything I could do.
00;14;31;23 - 00;14;56;15
What's the time? Right. And so I go in my first day.
And so Mansfield has a shut down unit, but then they have another facility where it's like a warehouse with beds and, you know, two officers there.
But so my bed was on the top bunk on the first street, if you will.
So it was a big warehouse in the rows are divided by four foot walls.
00;14;56;15 - 00;15;17;15
You could see over the wall, but these divide the the rows.
And so first row, first street, first bed at the top.
And I'm sitting on my bed and I have my Bible on the wall.
And I have been reading the scriptures and praying. Of course, when I was getting ready to get my sentence, I was praying.
And I got for for grace and mercy.
00;15;17;15 - 00;15;32;50
And so I got the Bible on the wall.
And this older gentleman, he walks by, he's an inmate, and he kind of backs up and he says, I see you have a Bible there.
And as we talked about, you know, my first day in prison.
So I'm kind of like, you know, kind of puffed the chest out like, yeah, I got a I got a Bible.
00;15;32;50 - 00;15;49;27
So what he said, well, I'm going to be keeping my eye on you.
I'm going to see if you're going to walk the walk or just talk the talk.
And he walks off and I'm kind of like, you know, who is this guy? Wow. Yeah.
And so a couple days later, he came back to me and he said, man, do you need anything?
00;15;49;27 - 00;16;09;13
And I kind of humbled myself. I needed some toothpaste.
And so I said, yeah, I really need some toothpaste. That's a legitimate need I have.
And he said, well, I'm gonna get you some, but I want you to come over here and let me share my story with you.
And so his name is Jersey. And at that time he had been in prison for 36 years for murder.
00;16;09;23 - 00;16;32;10
And for 20 of those years he had been following Jesus and serving the Lord in prison.
And so as he's telling me his story, I'm kind of blown away.
And at the same time, he begins to tell me about the different programing there in the facility.
That immense camp. There was four days out of the week where Jesus name was being proclaimed, wow.
00;16;32;12 - 00;16;57;35
Yeah. And so he told me all about the service times and stuff like that.
And yeah, and at that time we really started a kind of a mentor relationship.
I started going to the church services and reading the Bible more and just getting acclimated into really what was the Christian community there in prison?
Okay. So did you end up giving your life to Christ then?
00;16;57;37 - 00;17;20;42
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
And for my just just how that took place, oftentimes in those services, especially on Sunday, there'll be an altar call.
Right. And they'll kind of lead us in prayer. And every Sunday, every time I prayed that prayer and I was yielding myself to the Lord, I was wrestling with this idea of like, Lord, I, I knew I jacked my life up.
00;17;20;47 - 00;17;41;00
I was kind of wrestling with this idea that Jesus wanted my broken life, that he was not only going to forgive me, but this message.
And they proclaimed a lot. You would hear it a lot. Jeremiah 2911 I have plans for you.
I have plans for you. And so it was hard for me to really reconcile my brokenness in the Lord's plans for me.
00;17;41;12 - 00;17;59;42
And I remember specifically one day just going to the shower and taking a shower, and I began to pray, and I pour my heart out to God.
And I told him, you know, I know I'm a sinner.
I know I don't deserve your grace, but I believe you. I believe your son.
And if you want my broken life, then here it is.
00;17;59;44 - 00;18;29;39
And I believe that was really like, wow, wow. Yeah. My conversion.
Now, you met somebody important around them. Who was that? A man named Bob Rae.
So I mentioned the four days or four times out of the week, there was some kind of service where Jesus name was being proclaimed.
So on Fridays, Bill glass prison ministry, they sent, you know, guys in and one guy name was Bob, and he, he taught the Bible study.
00;18;29;39 - 00;18;58;42
And at the same time as I was going, he observed me.
He seen this young kid in prison. And he he the first time I went to the Bible study, he was like, man, what are you doing here?
You know, but Bob watched me in and just my growth.
There was a point in time I want to highlight this because it was Jersey, the other inmate who, shortly after I prayed that prayer in the shower, the Saturday morning study was taught by an inmate.
00;18;58;42 - 00;19;15;50
And this guy had some issues going on. And so he withdrew from teaching.
And Jose came to me and said, I want you to teach the Saturday morning Bible study. Oh, wow.
And I'm kind of like, you know, you know me. You know, I'm a new believer.
I don't really know the word. And if I'm honest and I gotta be honest, I'm a pastor, Joe.
00;19;15;53 - 00;19;42;46
You know, if I'm honest, I taught that Bible study in that season.
More to honor Jersey than Jesus. Okay, but it was Jersey encouraging me.
And I see, you know, not literally saying, but him seeing something in me and encouraging me to teach that Bible study.
So here I am at my rack, you know, with the Bible.
And I think we had some kind of study materials, a concordance, and I'm trying to put this lesson together.
00;19;42;46 - 00;20;03;07
And as I'm doing that, I'm falling in love with with the word, I'm falling in love with the process.
And I teach that Bible study. And I think it went well, you know, though, I stood up and said heresy or anything like that.
But afterwards Jersey came to me and he said, I want you to keep teaching this Bible study.
00;20;03;07 - 00;20;19;13
And so I would teach that Bible study for the next year and a half in prison.
And God used me in that. And I really believe that was my call to ministry as I would prepare week in and week out, I just fell in love with the Word of God.
How about that? And so Bob, back to Bob.
00;20;19;13 - 00;20;38;19
He's kind of seeing this.
He sees me come in as a young man and, and and the Lord has drawn me to himself, and then I get saved.
And now I'm becoming a leader in the church, and I'm leading studies and stuff like that.
So I'm but now it's Jersey and African-American. He is okay. But Bob is is white.
00;20;38;21 - 00;21;00;31
Yes. Okay.
Good. I just wanted to. Yep, yep. And so, when Bob is watching me, unbeknownst to me, he's talking to his community at Berean Baptist Church in Mansfield about me.
And he said this, this young guy, and he knows my story and he's telling this community that, and he's also telling his community.
I'm thinking about inviting him to come and live with me.
00;21;00;31 - 00;21;18;06
And they're, you know, they're thinking he's crazy.
And there's some people praying for him, but there's just this, this wrestle.
And so he approached me one day and asked, where are you getting where are you going?
Where you get out of jail? And I said, well, I'm going back to Cleveland.
And he said, what do you think about coming to live with me to get a fresh start?
00;21;18;18 - 00;21;49;31
Wow. Yeah. And what did you think I was? I was taken back, honestly, by it.
Like I wasn't expecting it. And so maybe just in that moment with a little bit of like, is this real?
You know, what's going on here? I told him I'm gonna pray about it. And how old is Bob? Bob?
Bob was around 57 at the time, so he was both Jersey and Bob were for the first time.
00;21;49;31 - 00;22;06;50
You had an older male influence like a dad. Yeah. Right. So.
So you get out and you go to live with Bob. Yeah. Yeah, I go to live about.
And he was like the father I never had. I mean, this man loved me. He discipled me.
I remember him showing me this is how he put the the bed cloth on.
00;22;06;50 - 00;22;31;51
He put your head on this and you folded over the bed and and he taught me how to drive and encouraged me to get my first job at Denny's, and most importantly, his community, who were kind of up in, you know, in the air about me came alongside.
And he encouraged them. He had couples invite me over to their house for dinner, and they just modeled to me what a Christian household looked like, what a Christian marriage looked like.
00;22;31;51 - 00;22;53;38
And so, man, the Lord used Bob very greatly in my life. And how long did that last?
So I lived with Bob for about six months, and I stayed around for the next year or so in that area.
So that following year I'm at work, and so I move up the chain a little bit.
I was working at Denny's.
00;22;53;38 - 00;23;13;00
I got a job at a million.
So it's making a little more money and I'm working to rhythms. And I also had enrolled into college.
That was something Bob encouraged me to do. He heard my burden for ministry and he said, well, you need to get you need to get some schooling for it.
So I had enrolled into Liberty University online, and so I was doing that.
00;23;13;00 - 00;23;36;03
I'm working me and Bob, we would have fellowship on the weekends, but I had my own place and he was in his place.
And so September was around and I'm at work and I get a call from Bob and he's saying, hey, I'm in the hospital and you should probably come.
Oh, wow. What had happened? He had cancer and it was spreading really quickly.
00;23;36;15 - 00;24;00;25
And at that point the doctors were saying there was nothing that they could do.
So he got admitted to hospice and then within two weeks, he was gone. Wow, wow.
Now, how did you process that loss? Because that can still it can see it still impacts you. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah it does. I don't know. It's only by the grace of God that I've made it through that season.
00;24;00;25 - 00;24;29;43
And part of his grace came through Ingrid, who I met that May. How did you meet Ingrid?
And so. Yeah. So if we rewind, Bob passes away in September.
But that May, I met her in Baptist church, and there was a Sunday school that happened right after the first service.
There were two services, so I'm in a Sunday school class and working my rhythms where I'm supposed to be, and a man named Ron Kit, well said in the back of the class.
00;24;29;43 - 00;24;49;49
And he started elbow and me like, hey, you want to get married?
We going to get you hitched? Oh, you know, like what's hitch, right.
And so it's like, we're going to get you married, we're gonna get you married.
And I'm like, you know, the guy's teaching the lesson. And so I'm thinking, he's just teasing with me.
And when we walk out of the Sunday school class, his wife Faith walks up and he.
00;24;49;51 - 00;25;08;06
Ron tells Faith, I think we should introduce Lentrail to Ingrid.
And Faith says, okay, I'll go get her. And she shoots up the stairs.
And so now I'm like, wait, there's a person here? And my who would be?
My wife, Ingrid was here visiting from the Dominican Republic. She was an administrator at a Christian school down there.
00;25;08;20 - 00;25;34;50
And Berean Baptist Church really supported the school.
So she was up giving kind of updates from the school, looking for sponsors for the school, kind of like a, like a better terms of business trip here on behalf of the school.
And so when Ingrid walks up, she thinks I'm a teacher, I'm something to do with Christian education.
And Ron tells Ingrid her and Faith walks up.
00;25;34;52 - 00;25;57;51
Hey, this is Lentrail.
He's looking for a wife. Okay. Yeah. So that's your introduction? That's our introduction. Yeah. So you.
But you end up going down to the Dominican? Yeah. Yep. Afterwards. Yeah.
We ended up going to the doctor in that moment when we were introduced, I thought, I'm in. I was attracted to her, but I didn't think anything was going to come of it.
00;25;57;53 - 00;26;25;12
Right. And so, she goes home. It was a weird encounter, and she really washed her hands and just thought like, what was that?
But God started to kind of stir her heart a little bit and kind of bring me to her mind.
And I think we just added each other on social media, but that was it.
And so a couple weeks go by of the Lord really just kind of prompted Ingrid, kind of reminding her of of me.
00;26;25;12 - 00;26;47;18
And she sent me a message on, on, on social media to just said older.
And so we started to talk from there. And now, did you speak Spanish?
No, no, she speaks really good English. Okay. Right. And so we started to talk through WhatsApp and get to know each other and pray for one another.
00;26;47;21 - 00;27;17;33
I think it was like around June where she reached out to me.
And so July, August going around now we're really talking and praying and getting to know one another to the point when Bob passes away in September and me and her have a substantial relationship, and she was there for me when Bob passed away, there were times where we would be on the phone and I would just be processing in week and hurting, and I really since, like, she put me on her back and walked me into the presence of God.
00;27;17;35 - 00;27;43;21
Yeah. Okay. So you are continuing at liberty and working and then how do you get the how do you continue this relationship with Ingrid?
I know you end up in the Dominican. Yeah, yeah.
So coming out of that season, God really used Ingrid not only to pray for me, but to remind me and to really to proclaim to me great truths about who God is.
00;27;43;24 - 00;28;10;55
And God really used her in that season.
So coming out of that season, I really had two big convictions.
Number one is I'm going to marry this girl, right?
And then number two, I just really wanted Bob's investment in me to not be in vain.
And so that kind of fostered this, this, this burden and passion to serve the Lord even more in gratitude, my my grief kind of shifted to gratitude for the sake of Bob and how the Lord had used him in my life.
00;28;10;55 - 00;28;32;27
And so I went to meet Ingrid's parents, which was a really big step with the ring in my pocket.
Wow. Yeah. Okay, so I think I met her father or like a Saturday. Now. Did they speak English?
No, we had her sister translated the conversation. I hope she said what I said, you know, evidently it worked out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00;28;32;27 - 00;28;55;50
So I met her father on that Saturday.
I proposed to her on that Sunday that I was back to work on that Tuesday.
So we had a really quick trip just to go down and and to meet her, her parents.
But once we get engaged, we started to pray about where we would live.
And she had this community, and it was a church there, and there was a school there, and there was just so much going on.
00;28;55;50 - 00;29;13;14
And she was, you know, heavily involved. And I'm just a single guy.
Wait, when you went to the Dominican, was that the first time you've ever been out of the country?
It was. Yeah. I was going to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So you've been Euclid in Mansfield and also in the field. Okay.
So so you're trying to decide she's got a community.
00;29;13;17 - 00;29;29;47
You decide. Yeah. That's the one.
Yeah, yeah, that's the one. And that's where we should live, at least for now.
It just made sense because I could do. I was still doing my studies with Liberty.
I could do the studies wherever there was internet. And so, yeah, we made the decision to to move there and would live there for three years.
00;29;29;49 - 00;29;49;29
So did you get married down there? We by the grace of God, we had two weddings. Okay.
Yeah. So we had one here, then one there. So you get married, you moved down to the Dominican.
You don't speak Spanish? No. Right. And you finish up down there. You finished Liberty? Are you working? Yes.
In the school. Okay. Yep.
00;29;49;31 - 00;30;10;37
Teaching Bible in the school. Teaching Bible how? With the translator. Okay.
So you teach. You teach Bible with a translator, and you do that for one year? Yeah.
Over a year and a half. Yeah. And then? And then you just teach it in Spanish. Yeah.
I started teaching the Spanish. Now, did you take did did you take language classes or you just pick it up?
00;30;10;42 - 00;30;33;43
So I had a season where Ingrid sister taught me some of the grammar and how, you know, the language worked, but just being immersed in the culture.
But you are fluent in Spanish. Yeah. And you became a teacher. Yes, that's what I mean. Like it's interesting.
It doesn't surprise me that you got your GED with the seventh grade education and then.
00;30;33;46 - 00;30;53;54
So.
So now you're teaching. Now, how do you decide to come back here? Yeah, that's a great question.
So we had two kids while we were there and quick. Right. Our youngest was you got pregnant in February.
We were made in December. She got pregnant February. And then right after our first son, she got pregnant again.
And so here it is.
00;30;53;54 - 00;31;18;18
I'm working. She's working. We have these two kids.
And then just set me down one day, like, I'm tired and I want to be at home with our kiddos.
And so as as Providence would have it, I was getting ready to graduate, and I wanted to take that responsibility.
And so with graduating, I started to look for opportunities to to work here with, with my degree.
00;31;18;18 - 00;31;38;22
And that happened with Berea again. Yeah. So right around that time, Berean actually got a newly pastor and unbeknownst to me, he had gone to a barbershop.
And a friend of mine told him, like, hey, you got you got a missionary down in doctor, you got to remember him.
And then another pastor had mentioned him to me. So he's like, man, I've heard this guy twice.
00;31;38;24 - 00;31;58;32
I'm going to reach out and see you know, who he is.
And so in our first conversation, we talked and I kind of let him know, like him getting ready to graduate.
And this is what's on our heart. And so he invited us to come and serve at Berean on a pastoral residency.
He still needed to get to know me, but they moved us, you know, from the doctor back to Mansfield.
00;31;58;32 - 00;32;23;23
And I went on staff at Berean. And that's where we found you. Yeah, yeah. And then.
So then now you are. You became part of the Orchard program, and now you went back to Euclid. Why?
Euclid? It was really close to my old neighborhood. My mom lived in Euclid, and a lot of the people I grew up with in East Cleveland has have migrated there.
00;32;23;28 - 00;32;45;38
And so it was almost like a, a, an area that if we target well and reach well, we could then reach back into East Cleveland, my old neighborhood, and reach East Cleveland as well.
And so that's part of our our big vision to not only see, you know, the people in Euclid come to know Jesus, but also back in East Cleveland.
00;32;45;41 - 00;33;09;34
And I would say it's the Lord works in in our life.
Sometimes me and Ingrid, we kind of step back and look at his amazing grace, even in how Bob's son went on a mission trip years ago and were was a part of the mission team when Ingrid became a Christian.
And so she kind of had a connection to Bob.
00;33;09;36 - 00;33;34;16
And so there's been the providence of God and the grace of God, you know, all over our lives.
But I wanted to church, plant, go into Berean Baptist Church when I first moved with Bob and being exposed just to a biblical church, much like Christ Community Chapel, where Jesus is proclaimed and community is authentic.
And I just had the question like, why aren't there churches like this in my old neighborhood?
00;33;34;30 - 00;33;59;16
And so that's kind of how the burden of church plant got started in my heart.
And going through some classes at Liberty, I was taught that church planning actually is one great way to fulfill the Great Commission.
And so all of those things are brewing. But when God connected me with Christ Community Chapel, I began to tell the senior pastor at Berean, I would love to church plant.
00;33;59;16 - 00;34;18;46
And he was like, well, let's keep our hand open.
You got work to do here, but let's see what God does.
And so he took a great move and he said, okay, if you want a church plant, we should get you assessed.
And to see if you're wired, if you know, you and Ingrid are, you know, competent to do this.
00;34;18;48 - 00;34;41;01
And so we were scheduled for a church planting assessment.
And a couple weeks before the assessment, Berean got an email from someone on Orchard at that time.
And the email basically said this because Orchard had in Christ did this great work of looking at like minded churches and also areas where there weren't churches and where they needed churches.
00;34;41;01 - 00;35;10;13
So through that research, the email basically said this hey, we across Community chapel, we see your church is like minded and we're seeking to plant biblical churches in Northeast Ohio.
Do you know anybody who may be interested in in church planning? Yeah.
And so Dan is kind of like, yeah, I may I may know a guy.
And so at that time, Paul Turner and Richard White, who were on staff at Orchard, actually came down to my assessment in Orlando.
00;35;10;13 - 00;35;27;10
And when me and Ingrid were assessed and we kind of got the green light like, you know, you guys are crazy enough.
I mean, you guys are, you know, you guys are thinking, right, about church flooding. It was only right.
You know, it almost felt like this was the next step in God's process to go and plant a church.
00;35;27;12 - 00;35;55;10
And I have to believe that, I mean, God's fingerprints are all over that. But it's interesting.
When you started early on in the shower saying, here's my broken life, do with it what you will if you use it here.
God takes a broken life in Euclid, takes it away, redeems it, educates it, puts a passion in it, and then brings it back to your place.
00;35;55;10 - 00;36;20;32
So I'm so glad I love your story.
I didn't know all of that story, but every story of redemption is just an amazing story.
And yours is right up at the top of the trail. So glad that you're here.
So glad that you are doing the work in Euclid.
Just want everybody be praying for Clearview and for Lentrail and Ingrid as they do what God has called them to do.
00;36;20;32 - 00;36;53;32
Now, as we sign off, what would you tell somebody who's who feels like their life is is broken right now?
Yeah. There's this phrase that comes from Nancy DeMoss, who really has a great story as well.
But she she says God writes good stories. And and that's what I would encourage them with in the chapter of brokenness makes the story beautiful.
00;36;53;32 - 00;37;14;23
And so there may be chapters of brokenness.
There may be chapters of of being low or anger or depression, whatever those chapters are, God is using those those are not throwaway chapters.
Right. And I would just encourage them to know that God writes good stories for his glory. Amen. Amen.
Thanks for the Lentrail.
00;37;14;28 - 00;37;39;14
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00;37;39;17 - 00;37;40;29
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