Power of Man #385 - Founder of Redwood Christian Ministries, Eric Stephens!!!

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Power of Man podcast. Folks, my name is Roy Pakad.

I know. I know you all know that already. After almost 400 episodes, I'm pretty sure you

figured out who I am by now. Folks, I just like to remind myself and you about how grateful

I am to be sitting here. Folks, I had the opportunity to go full time and do this years

ago. And that is because of you. If it wasn't for you out there doing everything you're

doing, like and subscribe and sending me the DMs. And yes, I'm going to respond all of

my promise of working on it, working on it. Well, we'll get all that done for you guys.

If you're not out there doing what you're doing, I don't get to sit here and do what I'm

doing. So thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. If you are, in fact, friends

of the program, and I know you are, you know what's coming next. We got to pay some bills.

So let me get a quick sip of my preferred beverage. Okay. And just made a fresh whole thing

of this, man. You guys all know we're drinking. That's right. It's Freedom Hill coffee at Freedom

Hill coffee on Instagram. Look them up and check them out. Deep, dark, rich, bold and

beautiful. Just like my wife. They brought me in cup of Joe. It's absolutely fantastic

stuff. And they do all the right things for all the right reasons, including supporting

veterans and folks, you all know how important it is to us here at the Power Man podcast.

If you're a veteran, I want to thank you and your family for your service. If you didn't

go do what you did, I don't get to sit here and have a single opinion, a single thought

or say a single word without getting shut down and believe me. If you've been listening

for a while, I'd have been shut down a long time ago. So thank you for everything that

you've done for us and everyone else in this country so that we can have all the freedoms

we have, including the freedom to worship the way we choose. That's on all of you. And

I'm grateful. And you know who else knows that Freedom Hill coffee. So go check them out

at Freedom Hill coffee on Instagram. Let me get one more sip of my preferred beverage

so I can keep up with this young buck and he has a table from it because I have a feeling

just based on the energy I'm getting from this guy. He's going to run circles around

me today. And I'm going to be groping for more caffeine later on. So let me get a sip.

All right folks, we have fantastic guests with us today. I'm really glad that this gentleman

decided to come by. He is the founder and president of Redwood Christian Ministries turning

pain into purpose through Christ. Okay, this guy's doing great work. He's also the host

of the hit podcast rooted in Christ, which is just about at 200 episodes. He's got some

pretty big plans for that 200th episode. You guys are going to have to tune into that.

He's got all kinds of other things going on. He's a pastor. He's an elder. Please welcome

to the show. Eric Stevens. Eric, how are you doing brother? Man, that was an intro.

I might have to come back and just have you do that again. That was dope. Thank you.

I appreciate that. Not my first rodeo, but hey, you know, we would like to build you up

a little bit because I know you're going to take the reins and just take off like a wild

horse here in a second. Eric, you've got one incredible story, man. Just I mean, even

a little bit I read and a little bit you and I got a chance to talk about. Where would

you like to start? I would say tell everybody a little bit about who is Eric Stevens and

how you got here today? Man, I'll tell you just a follower of Jesus, a husband, a father,

somebody who recognizes the need for a savior. You know, I don't think I would say anybody.

I don't think I'm better than anybody else. I think that I was at a place where as like

I knew I couldn't keep on the path. I was on and keep doing the things I was doing.

So thank God for Jesus. So that's that's the short version. Everything else is the titles.

The podcast, those kinds of promoter, pastor and elder, my church, you know, these are just

the things that God is equipping me to do in this season and the next seasons. Amen, brother.

I love that. Absolute love it. I mean, you could have stopped right there, dropped the

mic and everything would have been great. That would have been it. So now you were not

always on this, this God fear and path from what I understand. You, you got here somehow,

but like a lot of us, we didn't, when God reached out to us when we were younger, not

all of us took his hand. And I think you're one of those, right?

I got to have been trying to reason for a long time. And honestly, man, I sit here to

tell you, like, I'm lucky to be alive. You know, I mean, down the situation of car accidents,

I shouldn't have walked away from. I mean, I stepped outside of a nightclub once and

it was like 11 or 11 or 13 guys waiting for me. I mean, like, so had my own nine millimeter,

my head, ready to take my own life. You know, there has been a number of things that have

happened that have just said, you know what? It's, it's, it's, there has to be another

way. Because if the way is the world, we're hitting so much, then why did I have to keep

going back for another fix and another fix and other fix? You know, there was just things

in my heart that at the time I didn't know it, but the Jesus was supposed to have. You

know, there were plenty of other things. I was worshiping drugs, alcohol, women, party

and nights out, being that neighborhood tough guy, which really wasn't who I was. All of

those, all of these different ideas, identities and personas. And it was all rooted in, in rejection,

you know, as a, as a young kid, my biological father, I was like the age of 11. He, you know,

he was six foot three, fresh out of the, out of the military. And we were at a home with my,

like, I think it was my 11 or 12th birthday. We were at a park in Cleveland. And I remember,

I went out for a rebound and he fouled me so hard. You know, I'm just, it's like, I'm,

I'm literally like this round fat kid. Okay. Like it's just, this was, this might,

this might make me cry today or get up and throw a roundhouse kick. I don't know how,

but it was, it was, it was aggressive for a grown man to act that way towards an 11 year old boy.

And I'm sitting there crying at the park. And he just, you won't be like me. You won't get girls

like me. I don't believe you're crying. You're not this. You're not that, and I was just one of those

moments where I'm like, I've had enough. Like I've had enough. I was already not fitting in

school. I was already looking for my identity because I wanted to, to fit in. That was like

one of the last things for me because at the time I was going to

Catholic school. So I had Mass on Friday, Baptist Church on Sunday.

So if you fast forward, that's how I got to college. I said, I'm done with all of this.

Like being good didn't get me quote unquote, but anywhere. I said, I'm just gonna become the villain.

I'm just gonna be the bad guy of the story because I grew up watching pro wrestling. And I know

everyone says how corny and lame that is, but they know how to make the bad guys look appealing.

I'm like, I said, you know what? I'm gonna go this route. I'm just gonna become

what everybody else wants me to be. And I just really lost myself in my identity in that whole

process. And that's that's again, quite a story here. The, no, this stuff with your father,

was that ongoing for a long time? Or was that just sort of a breaking point moment where you said

I have had enough? He wasn't in my life very much. Not in my life now, biological father would be

very clear about that. He was not around too often around when I was younger, you know, and he,

he was doing his thing in the streets, you know, he was doing his thing. I wasn't, I was not a part of that.

So got you, got you, I understand. I'm sensitive to that because I have one of those two. So I understand

I say what you said. All right. So you're the bad guy now. All right. And it's in the story,

the bad guy, you're all dressed up, you know, you're playing the part, you know, the whole bit.

What changed? My grandmother, my grandmother died. That is what, that is what changed because I was,

I was always looking for something, but I was always looking for examples. And this is what I,

what I always try to tell to tell men, sometimes we deal with the symptoms before we deal with

the root problem. And my root problem was rejection. The symptoms were the nights out, the

partying, the, the looking for, for women, the, the wanting to be the tough guy. My symptoms was

dealing with that rejection I never really, really dealt with. And I got a phone call from

my mom one day and she said, you know, your grandmother has, has cancer. And at the time, I'm not thinking

much of it as she's starting to share this conversation. But then she said,

due to some of the symptoms, hospice has said they're giving her five to seven days to live.

Oh my gosh. And I said, wow, this is the second time she had cancer. She had already beat it once.

And you know, I'm sitting there and I'm like, my world has like stopped because at this point,

I mean, I was drinking whiskey through a straw. I mean, we, that whole phrase about how people use,

we pregame hard in the people party. Like that was us. That really was us. I'm not can don't

annette at all. I'm just giving you an idea of the fact I never really dealt with my feelings and

my emotion at that point. It was either the alcohol or I was buying weed by the ounces. And I was

probably smoking anywhere from 20 to 35 hours a week. I mean, it was a part time job. So

dealing with me internally was not something I was, I was effectively doing. I got a phone call

after this call from my mom from another family member who said, you know, I don't really know who

started this rumor, but your grandmother is going to be fine. And I don't know how I was to say this,

but the 80s baby in me was really hoping that my action movie hero like came back again and,

and just beat this again. And this is, this is it. You know, she's going to, she's going to ride

off in the sunset. She's going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine. But my head is spinning.

My head is spinning in a way. It's like, I don't believe these two conflicting stories. One,

while my mom lied to me about the state of her mother. Two, I don't know the family

lied to me about the state of this in general. And I just remember one in my room, I shut the door.

In his crazy, I got down on my knees and I said that prayer that's so many people pray. God,

if you're real, I need you to make yourself real to me right now. And I was living in Lake

Little High. At the time, and anybody who lives in Lake Little High, you hear the trains depending

on where you are. And where I was at, I heard the trains all the time. It was like white noise.

You know, you fall asleep, didn't even wake you up anymore. You just get so used to hearing it.

But this train went by and blew his horn so loud. I literally jumped out of my skin. I just

remember I just stare at the window. I was like, this isn't saying. I hear why is this, and it

blew his horn three times. And something inside of me just said, I just, I knew it in my knower.

She's gonna, she's gonna pass away in three days. She's gonna die in three days.

Kid you not three days later, six a.m. My grandmother was gone. And I said,

all right, Jesus, you have my attention. And the crazy thing is that following son,

or that next day with that Sunday, I had got a text message from a pastor at new life church

because I had a visit there the week before. And he texted me seven days later and said,

hey, I noticed you weren't a church today. I hope everything's okay. This man met me one time

and knew I was missing. I said, all right. And I didn't know the verse of the time,

but the shepherd knowing his sheep, you know, knowing that someone was supposed to be somewhere

under not there anymore. And I said, okay, we're going to start walking this walk out.

It wasn't easy at all because my sin was still too close to me. I would tell you I back so

the few times I still had habits that I had to deal with. Things I did not turn the cost to me

later in life. But yeah, that's what it was her passing that brought me. I tell people her death

brought me back to life. Yeah. Well, not at that point where you devoted into it, you know,

because I mean, especially with what happened around money, or was it still just, okay, here I am,

I'm not quite bought in, you know, maybe down the line I will be. You know, what was the status of

of your faith at that point? She gave her life, she passed away in May of that year. I gave my life

to Christ in August of that year. So it was kind of just like slowly walking, walking out. I knew

something had to change. But I didn't know. I mean, I was not, I cannot say I was fully surrendered.

I would, I would not tell you that I was going to heaven at the point of her passing away. You know,

I would tell you, my life was not surrendered to Christ at that point. Interesting. And I understand,

I understand. One of the comments that are one of the lines that is in your bio here is about how

Jesus met you where you were. Yeah. How did that happen? What, what do you mean by that exactly?

He, I mean, he met me in my place of just where I felt unaccepted. He met my place of brokenness.

He met me in my, in my sin. He met me in thinking that I couldn't be touched that nothing could

could happen to me. He met me in my pride, my, my rejection, my, my anger, my depression. He

met me exactly where I was at. And he showed me that I love you right where you are. But you won't

be staying this way. This is where you are. But let's go. Yeah, this is where you are. But I'm really

going to need you to follow me. We got something really got to work on. I love it. That's a powerful

line. That's why I asked because that, that type of thing could have a lot of meetings, a lot of

folks. And I just, when I read that, it kind of struck me, you know, I can see how that could apply

to me. I know there's a lot of other men who I think feel that way, you know, about how they came

to Christ. Now, when you gave your life forward to Jesus at that point, you said it was August.

Yeah, when that happened, is that when you became active in the ministry, you know,

that you were involved in or was even that still more of a process to kind of, you know, lead to

to where you are now? I will say this too, because I want to, I want to jump back for one second to

the main, because that you that you mentioned, I think that we should never wait to come to Christ

until we're good enough or we're clean enough or we're ready. It's never going to happen. Like we,

we're born spiritually opposed to God. We, we are not born into this. We, we are born into that

original sin. So it's one of those things like, I don't wait until I'm motivated to go to the gym.

Let's just go, you know, I, if I waited till I felt like it, I would still be over 300 pounds.

You know what I mean? So we, I think that he, the idea that he loves you even in your mess,

that doesn't mean he loves your sin. You know what I mean? I think the Bible is clear about how

God feels about sin, but him just loving me right there where I was at to say, I see value in you

because I put it there. Come follow me, pick up your cross and come follow me because this is,

this will be death for self. Um, I started getting involved in my church. The, the ministry that I'm

in right now is, uh, was birthed in about 2020. Um, when you see Redwood Christian ministries,

you see the root in Christ podcast. That's when all of that started. Um, it's crazy that that

ministry started when everything else in the world shut down. So you're talking about salvation

was about 2010 for me and then 10 years later is where my, my individual ministry stopped or excuse me

started, but I've been, I tell everybody, I love the local church. I, I believe in certain local

church, I believe in serving honor in your, your pastor, um, to whatever degree that looks like

using your time, talent and treasure to, to strengthen the kingdom because we all got a part to play.

And that part isn't always light's camera action. My head pastor told me that a long time ago, um,

he taught me a lesson early on. We were, we were one of those mobile churches that, that used to,

like, have to tear down the speakers and set the stages up. And I remember one day I saw him preach

and he, he took the microphone off when he got done. Him but the first two buzz and shirt,

he got off the stage and he grabbed a broom and started sweeping the floor. And I was so brass

when I first got saved. I walked right up to him and I asked him, like, what are you doing? Like,

you're in charge of this. Like, why are you sweeping the floor? He took me to school so fast about

what being a servant meant. I took the broom from him. And I said, I, I got it. I, I got it, you know,

exactly. I mean, Jesus is washing feet and you're talking to the pastor about a broom, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I didn't, you know, I didn't get it now. Now I'm the one telling people, if you're

not willing to clean toilets, you shouldn't be preaching sermons. So, I love, I love the hard

posture, man. I really do. I love where you're at with the whole thing. Um, we got to dig

restroom in it, though, because you threw something out there very, very casually. I didn't realize

you had some huge weight loss story. I mean, that's, that's spiritual awakening. And it's fine. This

if you, uh, if you'd test something like that, go now, you said you used to be over 300 pounds.

I used to weigh 315 pounds. I'm, I'm walking around today at about 220 normally. I'm 205. So,

when this replay is holding the account or that loses 15 pounds, um, I actually think I'm 218

right now. So we're going to get this accurate as positive. I had two Achilles injuries,

which slowed down my, my kickboxing more time, my cardio routine. So, um, I'm making excuses

because I didn't have to eat the snacks that I was eating, either in that time, but I did.

Anyway, um, all right. I wondered about the kickboxing because you said something about kicking

somebody and I went, no, wait a minute. That's not something I ever would have said was kicking

somebody. So, you know, you don't, you don't do that unless you know the dude because it,

there's consequences. Exactly. The, it was one of those things like I had to completely change my

lifestyle. I was probably facing a heart attack in my late 20s, early 30s. Um, I'm 6, 1, I'm 315

and I was not, I was not planning sports. So, none of that was healthy weight. So it came down to

a matter. I'm one of those people like I start with the end in mind. I start with the, the, the end

goal. So the goal was to, was to lose weight to get down to it. At the time was about 240. That was

the original plan. But systematically working backwards to achieve the goal. So I never lost

sight of the why and I never lost sight of why I was doing what I was doing. Um, at the time,

it was just to get, to get healthier. So I was making notes of what am I eating? What is my color

intake? Because all calories are not created equal. You know, you and I can both eat 2,000 calories a

day. But if you're having steak potatoes of vegetables and I'm getting mine from McDonald's,

these things are not created equal. This isn't even real food. You know, so, um,

it was making sure it cut in certain things out. You know, like I quit drinking pop. I stopped

eating fast food. I started cooking my own food more. Started paying attention when I'm cooking my

food in how I'm preparing it. Um, going to the gym on a consistent basis, minimum five days a

week, even now, um, keeping, keeping that going. So, um, I'm 42. So I'm trying to age as well as

I possibly can. You know, so copy Brian said age well. So I heard him loud and clear.

Right on your 42. Yes, sir. Get out of town. I never would have guessed 42.

Turn it for good. Good. That's, I would love to have you on my show just based on that comment

alone. I need people like you around. There you go. Right on. No, man, I seriously never in a

million years, I would have guessed 42. But I mean, congratulations, because you know, that's,

that's more spiritual, you know, shedding, you know, of, of all of that. Also, you know, a lot of

that is spiritual warfare wrapped up in, uh, self sabotage and things like that to keep you from,

you know, having that relationship with Jesus that you need to have. So I mean, you, you went

all through the whole thing, physical transformation, the behavioral, the, the life change. Um,

that's a lot, man. Yeah. Yeah. I tell you how hard headed I was.

Like, I, I wish that I'd be like, Oh, yeah, I got it all right away. This is all

penis and cream. They told me this one time and I just got it. No, it didn't. I lost the weight

and I gained 40 pounds back. You know what I mean? It's like, I, you know, I, I got saved and then I,

I did my toe back and worldly things. You know, it was just one of those things of like, I,

you know, I, I try to use my story to tell people that just keep going, just keep going.

But put up boundaries and guardrails so you don't go back to the very things that Christ

delivers you from. You don't want to be that dog returning to his own vomit. You don't want it.

What you want to do is can even even if it just continue to have some kind of forward motion

in progress. I'm not telling you to sit there and read the Bible like cover to cover every

single day, but I'm telling you to make sure you're getting your daily bread for what that needs

to look like for you. Wow. So the rude and Christ podcast, the Redwood, um, Christian ministries,

this all sort of happens at the same time is, is one built to support the other, do they support

each other? Uh, how did you, what was the synergy of those two things when you put them out there?

What was the goal? Yeah, I was working at, um, at bottom Wallace University. I think this was

2017. And I was doing major, you're fundraising. And I was flying all over the United States. I'm

talking like I was racking out flyers. I was like, you would not believe. And we, it was yet,

it was 2017 and my church had brought back our encounter retreat, but we brought it back for

the leaders first. It was just a time just to get filled up, get recharged. Slady at my church

comes back from California at the time. She's telling me about her vacation and everything

that she was doing in, in California. And I'm one of those people because I was traveling for a living,

traveling did not appeal to me. Like, so when people were coming to tell me about their

vacations, like it went in one ear and out to other. Like I'm like, I'm happy for you. That's great.

But to me, travel was just a schedule. I got to be here. I got to be here. I got to just,

I got to this one. I once I land, I got to go meet this donor, meet this donor secure. This

donation, it was just, you just had to land and keep it pushing. But I was like, I was captivated by

her story. I was, and she was telling about these trees in California. So much so when she stood

up and walked away, I wrote it, I wrote it all down, wrote down what she said, came home that night,

finished writing down what she said, put the notebook on a shelf. But when I tell you once a month

for probably two or three years, I would randomly think about her vacation to a point where I'm

driving a work one day and like, why am I thinking about what this lady did in California? Like,

this is crazy. And she's like a good family friend. I'm sitting there, but like, why do I care so

much? I couldn't, I couldn't shake this thought about what she was doing in California. And so

2020 hits everything is shut down. My wing is the eclipse. I'm not traveling. No one is in

the Holy Spirit. It's like, take that notebook off the shelf one night. And I'm like, what?

All right. Okay. Fine. And I'm reading this. And it says, the Redwood trees in California,

they grow to be about four hundred four hundred fifty feet tall. Each one of these trees,

their roots are only about six feet deep, but their roots go on for miles. And these tree roots

are interlocks and they're intertwined. So each one of these trees is uplifting and supporting

the other one. These trees are so massive. They're their own ecosystem. So each one of these trees

waters the area around it, take care of bars and animals that live on it. It's nourishing the area.

The fire helps with purification for these trees. These trees also battle storms together.

So if you see a redwood tree down, it got isolated somehow for one reason or another, but they fall

on all out storms. When the storm comes in, comes in and they help push it out.

And I said, this is the way Christianity is supposed to be. It's not this church versus that church.

It's not you speaking tongues and I don't. It's not you eat fish on Fridays. And I think that's

crazy. No, what did you do with Jesus? Okay. Let's just keep the main thing the main thing. We

can deal with the doctrine of the dog was later. Maybe I agree maybe I disagree like do it.

Let's keep this heaven and hell. Let's keep this unity amongst the body.

So in the Holy Spirit game that I said, all right. I don't know what you want to do with this.

And then I just started writing stuff down and said, form a nonprofit. And I was like, okay.

Went to the Ohio Attorney General site, typed in redwood Christian Ministries. Nothing came up.

Bought the name, filled out all the tax stuff, got the EIN, filled out for the 501C3, which at the time

took like six to eight months because it was COVID. Everybody was starting podcasts at that point.

Everybody was starting some at that point. Like, so that's where the name came from. And we

stand on salvation discipleship and church unity. Those are my three pillars. So I don't do anything

that doesn't fall into one of those three buckets. So this is one of those when how people

say make it make sense. If it doesn't fall into that, we don't show up. It's that simple. So

luckily we're gonna talk about advancing discipleship and church unity. We can cover a lot of ground

with it. So launch the nonprofit just to really try to make a difference. Start a small

life coaching business out of that, which I'm really getting ready to rev up coming up in this

season now. But then one day I'm sitting there and guys like, I want you to start a podcast.

And I literally told him, no, I said, I'm not doing this. When I said I was brass early on in my

walk, clearly there was some stuff that didn't change. You know, you're just cocking off the

tell God, but you're not going to do fast forward this. This never ends well for me. When I tell

God, I'm not going to do something. It does not go well. So we ended up obviously coming out of

COVID. It's probably a year or two later. And I'm flying to North Carolina. I think it was South

Carolina for work. And God's like, I told you to start his podcast. I'm not and I told you I'm not

doing it. Like I'm just not going to do this because I don't want to. I don't want to be in

that microscope. Who's going to listen to me? There's four or five million podcasts. Like,

why? Why am I going to do this? I said, and Lord, all this equipment looks the same to me.

I don't know what I'm doing. Excuse me. This is like that Moses moment where he's like,

gosh, he's like, he irritated. Yep. Thank God he didn't send somebody else because I wouldn't be

sitting here talking to you right now. But one is airplane. And I'm like, and I was already in a

bad mood that day too, because I was just tired. I didn't feel like traveling like late at night.

And I said, you know what? I'm going to make this count. I'm going to witness and share my faith

the person the airplane who's sitting next to me. Let's try to lead it. Let's just try to lead

someone to Lord. Let's just make this plane. Let's just make this count. I start talking to guy.

I sit next to me and I say to him, hey, you know, just, uh, hey, how you doing? He's as he,

that's how I was doing. I was like, I'm good. I'm a little tired. I was at church today. You

know, just we're out. I'm trying to see how he reacts to the word church. You know what I mean? I'm

that person that if you make eye contact with the grocery store, I'm going to find a way to talk

to you about Jesus. Like, that's what I, that is what I enjoy doing. So I was just waiting to see if

he flinched. If he, you know, anything, if he like, start falling with the mouth, I don't know

whatever he could have done. But he was like, oh, you went to church and I'm like, yeah, he's like,

so you're, you're a Christ follower. Yeah. So you're a believer. Yeah. He's like, oh, so you're,

you're a Holy Spirit filled. And I'm like, maybe I should just listen to one of his guys about

sick because this is not normal language, even amongst Christians. So yeah, he starts talking

and he's telling me how he, you know, his wife's pregnant. He wants to go back to school to start a

nonprofit, but he doesn't want to pull away from his family. And I'm starting talking to him about,

you know, my nonprofit and God tell me to start this podcast and how to want to. And it just turns

into a bunch of excuse session between me and him. And I said, again, I said, I was going to make

the most out of this trip. I said, you know what, man? I actually just kicked off a nonprofit.

I've been doing major gift fundraising for 20 some odd years at this point now. I can tell you how

to start a nonprofit in 15 minutes. You don't have to go back to school for two years to do this.

Like I can walk you through this very quickly. I'll give you a blueprint before we before this

plane lands. And he said, if you do that for me, I will tell you exactly what equipment to buy for

your podcast because he was a producer trying to get a Christian TV series on Netflix. I was like,

are you kidding me? You got to be kidding me right now. This can't be real life. Like at all.

So amazing. Yeah, it's all God totally all God. So he gives me everything I need to do by the

podcast. I ordered all the stuff. And it sat in a box for like another six months. Right.

Now I was one of those people who I didn't catch COVID during 2020. But in 2021, I did catch it.

And I really feel like this is God allowing something in my life to just get me to stop.

So after he tells me all the equipment to buy, I buy the equipment. I start trying to book guests

for the podcast. I actually did get active a little bit. I even tried to book one of my best friends.

Man, him just started miskilling. Like he we miscued like four times, which from he and I is

unbelievable. I reached out to another one of my friends to see if she wanted to show she ended

up dropping an album and couldn't make the date that we had set up. I mean, this was like a mess.

And I said, there's no way I heard from God on this. This is no way. 2021 hits take another trip.

I come back from that trip. I have COVID and COVID hit me hard when I got it. I lost 15 to 20 pounds

in about three or four days to a point where I thought and I was in shape. I was healthy at this

point outside of the in catching COVID. I'm like, I feel like I might actually die. Like this is

crazy. How the paint like I've never felt a sickness like this before. And I was like, and then I

had one of the podcast guests that I had reached out to. Maybe back in 20 right one right again with

the plane landed. Never got back to me, but I could see that she had read my messy on Instagram

and left me on red. I was like, I don't believe this is going on. So I'm laying there praying. That's

an important part of the story that I didn't want to leave out. So I'm laying there on the

couch for COVID. I'm praying. I said, Lord, if you want me to start this podcast, I need you to give

me a sign because I swear you know, I've tried to do this and I already didn't want to do it. So make

it clear. Seven minutes after I got done praying that prayer, the lady I had originally reached out

to do the show, hit me back up and said, I'm sorry. I'm just now getting back to you like six to eight

months later. I have an assistant now. I was so busy. My ministry took off, but I'm willing to do

the podcast. And I said, thank you. Absolutely meant to be absolutely set up for you. God's

in everywhere. And we're here now almost 200 episodes later. And I'm talking to you about my

disobedience to God because the late obedience is still disobedience. But that is where the

Rudin Christ podcast came from. That's absolutely beautiful. I love the story. You know, God knows who

we are, man. God knows who we are. No, so you, he knows me. So when we do things like that,

he already knows we're going to do it. Yep. He already saw it happen. He's like, really,

you can play this game because you know I'm going to win in the end. That's the problem. Like,

that's that's the issue. It's like, why did you even try? Like, why didn't you, like, why would you

even bother? Like, it's just insane. Yeah, there's no end result in which you win that battle.

I've lost every time. That's the thing about God. You think you want to, he's like, no,

I'm just allowing this in your life to teach you that you really, that there's a reason why the

Bible calls you a sheep. Okay, because you're not half as smart as you think you are.

I love that. I really do. Well, congrats on the podcast that 200 episodes. That's fantastic.

The ministry that, right? So you decided to start the nonprofit. That's where this all goes

through now. Tell me about the actual ministry. What does it you do through it and how?

So right now, we take mission trips around the United States to go help our basic,

our mission, same as we see a need, we feel a need. So through that process, if there's an area

that we can feel like, hey, we can really just take the love of Jesus to this area, then we do

that. So I've taken mission trips to New Orleans through my church. I'm actually taking a team

back down there to do evangelism on Bourbon Street. They're a doctor block program because they're

still ravaged from Hurricane Katrina, feed in the homeless, you know, all of those, all those kind

of things. In our, our local community, there is basically, I've kicked off with my wife, a

Christian hip hop and arm b concert called Beyond the Walls. And I take a portion of all the ticket

sales and donate them back to another Christian organization who's working in the community.

I do a lot of guest speaking where, where I can, like I, like I was just the commencement speaker,

the city mission here, whereas our one of our homeless shelters. I don't want to even just say

just a homeless shelter because they do so much there as far as rehabbing these men to get them

back out on their own two feet. So yeah, we look to serve in the community anywhere that, that we can,

donating buy-offs to places, all kinds of things. So it's great. So a lot of it is kind of what

you're called to do. Like you said, when you see an age, you feel an age and see your little flexible

in that way. Yeah. It's an interesting mission statement, you know, for a not-for-profit. I'm not sure

I've heard, I'm not sure I've heard one, I act that way. Everybody has very rigid because they're

so worried about the not-for-profit status that it's like everything has to be perfect and we've

got to have all these plans put in. But that's the need that you can be sort of flexible and say,

hey, if we have to go here, we have to go here. That's what we do. I don't, if someone wants me to

come somewhere, I don't put a price tag on it, which is why the, the 501c3 status on the business

side can stay intact. Jesus, we want to just be the hands and feet of Jesus. So if my church,

for example, I'm the outreach pastor there, so we make sure 500, 200,000 kids of you have a Christmas.

So that's that side of it. But my nonprofit may get buy-offs or books donated for free for these

kids that we can put in the presents and went with the bags. So same person, two different spots.

But we're just one is just feeding, helping feed to the other. So yeah, man, I, this, the unity

and the body of Christ piece is important. I think there's too much division amongst the church.

And I just, I think we need to do anything we can to tear down some of those walls and those silos.

Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Now, have you met any resistance, for instance? I've talked to a lot of

guys who have done their own ministry who would do an not-for-profit, you know, it's a little more

flexible. It's not the stationary church with the, you know, proverbial, you know, head of church

and whatnot. Have you got any blowback from any traditional churches or folks around, you know,

the community saying, hey, you shouldn't be doing this. You should be doing it through us or

through them or that type of thing. No, because I would have ignored them. No, I would have, I don't,

I don't care. I didn't say do you care. There's a difference there. I went to my head pastor,

first of foremost, Friday, any of this and ran it past him. And that's why if you look at my,

like my non-profit, like bylaws, they actually match my church's bylaws because I didn't want anybody

to think I was out here doing my own thing and trying to build my own platform. I'm literally

doing the very thing that God has called me to do and doing it out of, and I, it, it always

birthed out of disobedience. My wife and I really rely on him to keep the funding for the concert,

to keep the funding for the podcast and all of those things, those things going. This is not a,

this isn't a, I was the word I want to use. This isn't a look at us seek attention kind of thing.

This is a, I know God has called us to this. We've been praying a fast and about this for such a long

time at this point that I didn't get it, I didn't get any pushback. My, my head pastor basically

said, just be clear. You know, make sure your mission is clear and he would ask me why and he,

he asked me those critical thinking questions that are, that is, that a, that a spiritual mentor should

be, should be asking. I'm far more introverted than I come across. So, which I know is hard for a lot

of people to believe. I recharge by reading books and sitting, sitting pretty still. But that's just,

that's just me. So the, the idea of what has come with a lot of these things is not something I

would have envisioned. So I, but I'm having the time of my life. So I thank God for it. But no,

pushback, I've not, I've not gotten a lot of pushback. I've seen obviously some, I've recorded

podcasts. For example, that were not Christian podcasts or any kind of biblical foundation that

didn't air because I talked about Jesus too much. Well, you know what, those seeds at least got

planted in the people I was talking to recording. That's how I view it. You know, hopefully it,

it touched them. That's, that's probably more of, of what I've seen is like they rejected Jesus.

So they reject me. But I haven't seen a lot of, of, of pushback from, oh, you have a podcast.

Oh, you have your own nonprofit. So good. I'm glad to hear that. I mean, I, all I did was start a

podcast called Wicked the Lions. And I, the, the hate was just coming from all angles. It was,

it was like a firestorm. So I'm glad to hear that. You know, and I think it's really awesome that

you had such a blessing in your relationship with your spiritual mentor to be able to go to him.

And say, Hey, this is what I want to do. Let me run this by you. You know, let's, let's run this

by a couple of times, you know, and, and see where it lands. That, that's a huge blessing for you

to have had to be able to start that way. I didn't, I didn't want to start about talking to him.

I run every major thing that goes on in my life past him. Even if I was getting a new job tomorrow,

I'd still call him and be like, Hey, what do you, just so you know, you know, what do you, just in

case, sometimes those people who are just like the people of wisdom in your life, I've seen that

sometimes he sees things. I don't see. We have a perspective that I don't have just because he's

been at life so much longer. So I just always think it's worth it. I just always think it's worth it.

So wonderful. I want to talk to you about the, the splintered faith, you know, but I think

I'm we're going to save that for another podcast. So on this one, all right. I'm curious because

my sons are both incredibly active in their faith. They're both very devoted. My youngest son is

looking at becoming an associate pastor. They're both business owners and whatnot. Very independent,

but that's their faith and their faith leads their lives at this point. I'm incredibly proud of

what they've done and where they are. But what I've seen through them and not like is the old guy

looking on, but as through them and through their, their friends and their associates is that

there seems to be kind of a movement among young men. Now, are you seeing that at all? Maybe

where you are in Ohio or through your travels? Is it just me seeing this or are you picking up some

of this too? No, I'm picking up some of it. I think people, I think this generation, specifically

like mine, your generation, like we got tired of seeing a lot of stuff we were seeing. I think this,

this generation now is, is, is seeing that, you know, like I think they're seeing a lot of the,

I think this is where all of this exposure to the world, the technology and everything else and

all of this information, you have your fingertips. You can look up whatever you want to look up

and realize, you know, this is not what I thought it was. You see all these things that are going

on in Hollywood, what movies and TVs. See, now you see, we see more behind the curtain now than we

ever did before. And some of this life, that lifestyle is not appealing. This is not as appealing

as it was. And I've seen, I've seen a lot more young people really want to see things of Jesus.

And I don't know if it's just because I'm so invested in the Christian hip hop and R&B scene.

I see a lot of it there that there is just good, clean music to listen to. There is more, I think

quality Christian programming out there to listen to. I think there's more. I think we're starting

to see, I think that emphasis on the family is starting to come back more and more too. So,

no, I'm definitely, I'm definitely seeing it. And I'm, Jesus, use me to help keep that going.

How have you seen fit? Amen. Absolutely. I'm present. All right. I tell you what, I want to respect

your time because you've given me a ton. And I love it, man. I really do. But I know you got a

kind of a hard stop and I got to get you out of here. So let me, as we start to kind of wrap this up,

I do have another question that I want to ask you. But before we get there, give everybody your

contact information. I want to make sure I don't forget that. How can they reach you, find out about,

you know, you're not for profit, your, your podcast, so and so forth.

Yeah. The podcast with a rooted in Christ podcast, we are in all major podcast platforms every Monday

at 3 p.m. We have a new episode. We are a weekly show. I have guests come on to share their,

their testimonies, their life stories. And you know, we get, we get into it, you know, whether they

been in jail for murder, whether they have been selling drugs, whether they were digging the alcohol,

whether they had miscarriages, whether they are authors, whether pastors, kids, we have everybody

on there. Because if you have a Jesus story tell, I'd love to have you on, on the show. Because

there's power in every testimony. And I believe that that is exactly what can encourage somebody to

keep going and set somebody else free. So, you know, that's really, it's really what it is I have

guests come on and just talk about the stuff that, you know, God is doing and has done in their lives.

So we are Redwood CM on, on Instagram. I'm Eric Stevens 1983 on Instagram. If you want to

follow me, if you are a fan of Christian hip hop and R&B go follow our new page beyond the walls,

we host a Christian concert here every year in November. This year is November 7th, 2026.

So when is this episode going to air? In the next, probably eight to 10 weeks.

Eight to 10 weeks. Okay. So I can tell you our line up this year is crazy. So if you are a fan,

we have, we have KB headline and we have Bruno, we have Taylor Wells, we have Portia Love,

if you're a fan of Christian hip hop music, come check us out.

Okay. Good deal. Do you think I'm out sooner? Because I might be able to work with that one.

No, please don't. Please don't. Okay. Because I'll violate every contract that I signed, it says

this would not come out before the end of February. That's what I need to know. All right. And of

February, God, your brother. Anytime, anytime after February 24, I'm good.

Perfect, perfect, perfect. No, I wish I could get out that quick, my goodness.

That's wonderful. And yeah, I was going to lead you into the concert, but you picked it up

there yourself. So I wish you all the best with that particular event. I love that you guys do so

much with the community and you know, that it's, it's just such an incredible venture that you're

behind right now. It's so, again, you know, your heart's in this, you're leading with the

the servant's heart. It's amazing. Really is. And especially when you consider that, you know,

you and I both fought hard to not do what God told us to do. And so it's nice meeting the

kindred spirit, but you know, you might, you might have actually held out longer than I did.

I don't know. Yeah, this, um, this is one of those like, I can't take credit for it because I

told him wasn't going to do it. So that's how he's kept me, he's kept me humble. But I will,

I will say this as far as to anybody listening like that whole, the concert piece of it, like we do

a full on alter call at the concert. Um, and we had people give their lives to Lord year one and

year two. And that's why we do it. You know, it's, it's great just to throw a concert and have a

good time. But if there is no element to win souls, I'm, I wouldn't be putting my stamp on it. So

when that part starts to fade, I won't keep doing this. Um, but we can set it up to make sure it

doesn't. So there you go. But we want to see, you know, we picked the house of blues because those

who may not know Jesus, they may not set foot in church. There's also Christians who know Jesus

who got church hurt who would not set foot in the church, but they'll come to the house of blues

for this. So that's another place to grab them. And then hopefully we get them plugged into a local

body. Hopefully we can maybe get them plugged in whatever they need, you know, whatever they might

need for that night. Like we have people ready to minister at that concert. So it's, it's a lot more

than just a hip hop show. Like I said earlier, a great way to meet them where they are. Right.

Exactly. 100%. All right. Eric, I appreciate everything, man. As we kind of bring

us to a close here, is there anything I didn't ask you? Is there anything that you talked about?

You want to double down on or maybe just a parting thought, you know, nugget you want to leave with

our listeners, the floor is yours for the last minute here. Go ahead and wrap up.

I was asking God, what should I share on this podcast in general? And he just gave me

Philippians 16. And I am sure of this that he will begin a good work in you will bring it to

completion at the, at the day of Jesus Christ. I just want to encourage somebody to keep going,

keep going. It may not be what you thought. And I want to be very clear that what is good to God

may not be good in my definition of good, but he knows what we need. He's alpha and omega and he's

all knowing. And the design of the heart knows how to reach the heart. So I know if I told

it, if I wrote my own story, I wouldn't bright pain and strife and all the issues that I had,

I would not have put in there. I would have, it would have been peachy keen and easy and everything

would have been great. But if he started in you, just stay faithful, continue to read, continue to

read your Bible, continue to pray, find a good church community, fast, put keep your flesh into

submission. And I mean food fast, you know, so practice those basic spiritual disciplines. But

if God started that work and you, he will be faithful to complete it because that's his word.

And I believe the Bible for 100% for what it says. So don't quit. Don't give up. It might be

rough today, but those valley seasons don't last. Those mountop seasons don't last. But everything

grows in those valley seasons. Everything that we've talked about today was birth in a valley

season. And we're just seeing the fruit of that right now. So you know, people may not see you

crying. They may not see you broken. They may not see those nights where you're crying out to God.

I don't know what to do. I don't want to keep going, but keep going. And don't try to do it alone.

Beautiful. Great rap. I knew you could do it. I know it was going to be awesome. As soon as I

handed you the mic, I was like, oh, this is going to be great. Here we go. All right, founder and

president of Redwood Christian Ministries, host of the hit podcast rooted in Christ pastor Elder

Eric Stevens. Eric, thank you so much for bringing this for bringing a message and for

delivering it to all the people who listen to this podcast. You've been a blessing tonight,

and I appreciate you. Man, thank you. This was a lot of fun. If you're only coming back,

let me know. I'm down. So this was fun. Invitation is there. You got it. Absolutely.

I'd love to have you back. Folks, that's been another magnificent episode of The Power of Man

Podcasts. And the reason that we have these unbelievably powerful guests with these powerful

messages is because we're united in hoping that you can find a newer power so that you can become

a better protector, a better provider, a better leader tomorrow than you are today, so that you

can become a better father, a better husband, a better man tomorrow than you are today. And the

reason that we want that for you is because you have value. It's because you matter, and it's because

you're worth it. And at the end of the day, at some point, you just have to believe. Until next time.