At 70, This Is My Testimony of JESUS | #404

0:00Well, you know, it's interesting that I became a Christian because initially for years growing up I was Catholic and really I used to go to church until I became a teenager and of course, you know, when you start your teenage life, you rebel, I don't care who you are, you're gonna rebel. So I rebelled and I stopped going to church and you know, my mom who used to take us of course, continued, my dad would never go to church so he was my model and so therefore I didn't go to church. I didn't see him going to church so I didn't go to church. Let's move forward. I got married young, my wife was 18, I was 19 and we have been seeing each other already. We grew up together as brother and sister. Interesting, she was always a good Catholic girl and she was going to a youth group, a Catholic youth group.

1:06I remember walking in with my buddy and you know, and we thought we were, you know, gangsters, hoodlums, you know, just hanging out. So he was going to go see his girlfriend and he asked me to go along but then when he began telling me where we were going, I was hesitating and finally he goes, hey, they always have a, like a little party afterwards. So I said, I, so I went and of course, you know, I had to sit there through all the, well at that time it was mumble jumble but I saw this girl and I went over to this girl and before I knew it, I asked her out and so now about 60 years down the road, she's still my girl, that's who caused me honey. But it was because of honey that I was compelled

2:08to look toward God. My wife being a good Catholic girl, I was just working at it. I was an alcoholic, I used drugs and it affected everything obviously but one thing, my wife, my wife was very wise and there was one time she decided to not be home and it wasn't as if she went away so to speak to get a divorce or separation. She just gave me a wake-up call and after that we started looking for a church and we did different things and we finally came to a church where she was invited prior to us going to a service to a luncheon and this church was having a luncheon for women obviously and they had a great time and my wife enjoyed it. So she asked if she could go to church

3:10and that would be her gift for her birthday. So we went to church. I liked the flow, I liked how it made me feel. I don't know why it made me feel that way but I liked it so we continued to go. And over time I began to look at a Bible that my wife gave me which was a Bible that was in street language because that's all I knew. And I was able to begin to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that was not alien but gave me thought, gave me reason to think about this. And then this church was an amazing church. This church had a drama team, it had music. And so this drama team put on a play called a Christmas Carol according to the gospel.

4:11Obviously if you're familiar with Charles Dickens they took the Christmas Carol and they used it to present the gospel of Jesus Christ for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son. And so here we are watching this, my wife and I and my children and I gotta be transparent. I was high watching this play but it was a great play. The Christmas Carol, I knew the Christmas Carol obviously. And I'm watching this play and people are getting quote unquote saved. You know they were going from one way to another, you know from being sad to happy all that. Then at the end the main character comes out and says this. So what do you say?

5:11In other words, what do you say to this message? And this haunted me for weeks until December 31st, 1989. Now remember I'm an attic, working attic. But I've blown money, I've done everything, I've done everything wrong. The only constant thing has been the mercy of God and my wife. And so on the 31st, I decided I was going to go to church. I had already decided that this God thing, I was going to check it out. And so I told my wife, usually we go out to parties or you know somewhere to bring in the new year, drinking and all kinds of things. And that's when my wife, this year we're going to go to church. And of course my wife was taking a bag and we went to church that day.

6:14And I went with my mom and my mother-in-law who their spouses have passed away in my children. And I'm a church and I'm going to tell you I didn't hear the music, I didn't hear the message because I was waiting for that moment. I had been going to church for about four or five months and I knew that there was going to be a moment where they would ask the question, what do you say? And so I waited, but then I began, became nervous because what they do is make you stand up and walk forward. And if you've ever been in the church like that, that's what they do. They don't say, okay, just raise your hand. This is a church where, okay, you serious? Come on up. And I was concerned because I was hesitating.

7:16And don't you know that the pastor said this? You don't even have to come up. You can kneel down right there and accept Jesus Christ. Let me lead you in a prayer. I didn't have to go up. So I knelt down, eyes closed, prayed the sinners prayer. Father, I have sinned. I've come against you. I accept your gift of your son Jesus Christ into my life, but then I said this. And this is me not knowing theology, not knowing anything. Father, if you take away the taste of alcohol, of drugs, of tobacco, I'll serve you forever.

8:19I felt when I opened my eyes, it was a done deal. When I stood up, I knew I stood up a new person. Now, my family may have seen a guy getting down and getting up, but then months turned into years and they all began to realize that God had gotten a hold of me in a way that has been an extraordinary journey. So my testimony is that God can use anyone. It doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what you've done. God can use you. And he started using me in ways that were amazing. For instance, I was a musician. I was a musician that by the age of 13,

9:22I was playing an adult orchestra. I had the word with all the ability to play. And so I was among men for all of my teenage years. So guess what I learned? I learned bad men things to do. So I played, I even recorded an album. And so I had done all that. So when I came to the church, right away, they heard I was a musician they wanted me to play in the band. I was going to say yes, and something stopped me. And I heard myself saying, no, thank you so much. I think I'm going to possibly go another route. And all of a sudden I felt again, compelled to become an usher. In the beginning, I didn't know why, but as we

10:24served, I realized what God was doing. Number one, he was telling me, it's not about you. It's about me. So you don't have to be up there. People looking at you. And then number two, I came alongside a man who was an amazing man of God. And he was the head usher. And he had been doing this for years. So he taught me what to look for in people, how to approach them, how to comfort them as they come in, how to see them. All good things that I didn't know that years later, I would apply to my pastoral ministry, to my ministries and churches. So God had a plan for me from the very beginning.

11:27As a matter of fact, he showed me a couple of times that he saved my life. One time, of course, it was, I was in a band playing. This is before I became a born again believer. And born again only means this, that when you accept Jesus Christ, there's a new birth in you and you're able to begin again. But with the God, going back to my story about being saved by God. First time as a musician, I was in a band, a real van. And we were just hanging out, you know, smoking, refur, drinking and all that. And there was a guy that was in the band and, you know, shady character and he was talking smack. So I started talking, you know, smack back to him because that's my personality. I don't back down from anyone. And I don't know what happened, but quickly my musical director,

12:33who really is a father figure to me, grabbed them and pushed them out. And without me knowing what was going on. And he told me when he came back in the van that the guy had a knife, which was like us, a dagger and he was going for me. And I believe that that was God using this man to save me. Second time was a miracle that a lot of people saw. I'm leaving work crossing a main thoroughfare, you know, on main road on the street. And there's buses coming by after work, you know, tons of buses. And I'm thinking about things. I'm not looking up. You know how it is when you have a cell phone and, you know, looking up. It was like that, but I didn't have a cell phone. And I'm walking and all of a sudden I get to the corner and I don't realize I'm going to step out.

13:39And I felt someone pull me back. And as I was stepping out, I felt the pullback of bus goes right across. And everybody that was waiting for the light were a gas. But they were, they were just what just happened. And no one could explain it, but they said, wow, you have great reflexes. So as I was going to the car and I got to the car, I came to realize, nah, that I think was something else. But then I forgot about those things. Years later, as I was serving God, he reminded me that before I said, yes, he had already said, yes. And he was protecting me so that I can do the things that he wants me to. And that's the gamble.

14:40Because you don't have to. You can really just, thanks God, you saved my life. Now I'm going to do my thing. But my wife and I, we decided, no, we're going to serve God just like your prayer said. And so that's what we did, served God. But from an early time, we knew we were destined to serve the church. But in particular, young people, children, teenagers, young adults, young Mary couples. And through the years, that's what my wife and I have done. We have gone from a time pre-self-phone to a time of post-self-phone. And so we've seen all these transitions. We have seen all the things that affect culture over the last 40 years of ministry.

15:48We've seen it all. You know, the only thing that doesn't evolve is God. God's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And that's what He's shown me over the years of our ministry, my wife and I, that He is faithful. As a matter of fact, my wife's favorite hymn is, how great is thy faithfulness. Now, guys, if you've never listened to hymns because you like the CCM stuff and all that, that's okay. But every once in a while, I ask you to find a hymn and let it talk to you. Because my wife, greatest thy faithfulness is an incredible song for her, which translates to her life. And guess what? My wife is a woman of great faith, not just faith, great faith.

16:52And I thank the Lord that I have a wife like that because she will have its God to the untenth degree. Now, my testimony is one that has everything to do with serving God, whether it's through suffering or through having a good time. Because when you are a Christian, but in particular when you are serving the Lord in your church and doing things, there are going to be good times and bad times. And so God, in both of those times, what He's taught me is that He teaches me, me, not anyone else, but me if I allow him to. And that's what it's all about. This ministry, this testimony has shaped Carlos.

17:55So at this age of near 70, I have a better understanding of who God is. Now, again, I don't have a complete, I have a better understanding. So my wife and I are going to go to Florida and we really feel that our time has not finished. Obviously. And so we're going to go to Florida and we want to reach young people again. But from the perspective of being elders, you know, the Bible says to honor your mother and your father. And then it gives you a promise. And today, the word honor means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But honor is really a Rev. Runchle look at the person.

18:58You know. And your elders, regardless of what or who they may be, are in God's estimation and his economy, people that are to be honored. They're to be taken care of. There to be not house. Should I say not house? We're housed. In some place. And so my wife and I, we have two sons and our two sons have families. And their families have produced children. So we have five grandchildren. Three girls and two boys. And one of the things that I have always given as a testimony is how young I got married to my wife.

20:01Again, I'm not saying everyone can do that or should do that. But what I am saying is that marriage is still very important to God. Not hooking up, not living together, not checking each other. I have to see if it's going to work. No, taking the plunge, getting married. And so my wife and I over the years, we have married about 20 to 25 people, couples, I should say. And it's amazing. We have now not only spiritual children, we have spiritual grandchildren because now they're having children. And what a legacy, what a testimony of that. And so we're taking that mindset to Florida so that God can use us wherever he wants us to land.

21:01And again, that speaks of the faith that we have in God and in the ability for him to take us where he needs to take us next. Interestingly, we have been a couple of my wife and I that have believed the Word of God. We actually believed what the Word of God says. And now we're the much better for it. Today, the Word of God is distorted. It's taken out of context. And I was talking to the interviewer, Jennifer, and I told her the importance of people understanding the Word of God, being students of the Word of God. And I told her church is great. I'm a pastor. So a full church is always a great thing and the Bible is clear that we need to get together.

22:06But it's for the encouragement of one another. That's what the Bible says. But then the Bible talks about being able to rightly divide the Word of God, being able to understand the Word of God. And so I encourage everyone, just like myself, I became a student of the Word of God. And I was the much better for it when I did go to church on Sundays. You know why? Because I actually understood what the pastor was talking about. Instead of just waiting for what made me feel good, I understood. And so I encourage you to do the same thing. As a matter of fact, if you would indulge me, I also believe in God giving people life scriptures. These scriptures are scriptures that give you a way forward

23:08in what God wants you to do. So that's why my phone rang because I had my phone. And the reason why I had my phone is because I forgot my Bible. I was actually going to bring my heart copy. And it stayed at home. Because I like heart copies. I like writing in the margins. I like doing all that kind of good stuff. This is not bad. The phone is not bad. But the only thing I would recommend with the phone is just knock out the notifications. Well, you're doing it because it's going to distract you. So the Lord, He gave me this scripture. One day I was praying. And He gave me this scripture. And I've been living this scripture ever since. And it's found in first Corinthians. That's in the New Testament. If you're not too sure. Verse, I mean, I should say chapter 9.

24:11And it's in verse beginning 19. And it says this, For though I am free from all I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them. To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law. Not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people that by all means, I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them. And it's blessing. That's my life scripture.

25:12I do whatever God wants me to do. You know, I used to say years ago when I was a youth pastor, I would be willing. And I'm probably still. If he asked me dress like a clown, I would do anything as far as sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because that's the most basic and most important thing that someone can do to his fellow man or woman, is to express the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that they would understand. And that's what the scriptures all about. I became whatever I needed to become in that moment, so that I can become a vessel, an instrument of God, to touch other people. Because the gospel is really simple. You don't have to be a fielosian. You don't have to be someone that understands all of the Bible,

26:15which no one does, by the way. All you need to know is John 3.16. And beyond that, you learn. You go over to the book, let's say, the difficult book of Romans. And you read some of that. And you go, ah, hey, I can use that over here. And that's how you begin to do it. But initially, the first step is for God to love the world. That's what you have to do. But once you begin on that journey, my wife and I, our testimony is that we left a legacy in our wake. We were able to touch the lives of people. As a matter of fact, we're leaving to Florida and being here in Maryland for 20 years, we built relationships. And so we got together with the couples that have meant the most to us in our years here.

27:17And reminiscing, of course, and talking about the early years, when they had children. And those children went through our ministries. My wife and I, children, youth, young adults, I ran and my wife, those ministries, under the watchful eyes of God. And these are starting reminiscing of all these things that these young people have become. And I thank the Lord because we were obedient. Even though there were struggles, there were hard times. Even though the things in the church, I'll call them the politics of the church. They get in the way of what you sense God is saying. You stayed true to who you are in God.

28:19My testimony is this, if you stayed true to who you are in God, God will see you through. God will make a room, as it says, for your gift. All you do is be faithful, be obedient, and above all, be loyal. Because you're under the leadership you chose of whoever you're under. And so loyalty, honor, respect, must be there in anything that you do. And anything that you do. And so that's been my thing. I've been a maverick. That's who I am. If you remember, remember my drug days and all that. Those were my crazy days. I've always been that kind of guy. I still am. I still take risks. I still do all of that. But now God has tempered and allowed me to do it under what we call

29:22in the church world, function. All that means is that he is causing me to have a desire to do that. And since I am obedient, I do that. And so we have to understand that God is more than able to do whatever he has called you to do if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. And early on, I've already given you the simple thing. At the end, I'm going to pray for you. And then we're going to pray the sinner's prayer. That's what we call it. And if you're willing, you today can accept the Lord Jesus Christ and begin a journey that's extraordinary. Again, my wife and I, 40 years, he's telling us to move to Florida. We could have moved anywhere in the country for that matter in the world.

30:23But he told us Florida. Now, you may say, wow, you guys are, oh, that's where you're going. That's what's happening. Okay. That's what they said the last time we moved. That's what they said the time before we moved. That's what they said the time before that we moved. We moved about five times for the kingdom of God. And in all those moves, just imagine moves, we had to deal with all kinds of things. But because of God's grace, God's mercy, God's love, we're able to do these things that people that did not have that ability could do. We did it. And now we can do it with our eyes closed, not because we can do it, but because God has trained us so well, God has given us so much that my wife and I are able to do what we do because we love Him.

31:25It has nothing to do with people in general. It has everything to do with Him. People are the ones that are blessed by God and by what He does with His people, how He uses His people. So I'm here to encourage you that at the age of 70, I've learned one thing about church. The most important thing that anyone can do, as they say, is be the church. See, by will cause each of us collectively, corporately, the bride of Christ. And it's important for us to understand that as a bride, as a bride, as my wife, she's supportive.

32:30She comes alongside in good or bad. Good health, bad health, riches poor. Do you think those vows change when we're married to Jesus? No. When you accept Jesus, it's for the good and the bad. Now, most people will tell you the gospel is going to bring you all kinds of good stuff. Joy and all that. No, what the gospel does is it brings you what we call abundant life. It's a lot different than good life. Now, abundant life is not a ton of money, a ton of things, a ton of everything. Abundant life is that you live your life to the fullest, no matter the circumstance. And that's why my wife and I have done over the years.

33:31We have lived our lives to the fullest, but it all begins with a simple prayer. That's it. God did the rest. He just needs to hear that it comes out of your mouth. It's in your heart and you say it out loud. That's it. Are you ready? It's really easy. Please repeat after me, Father. Today, I ask you to forgive me. I am a sinner, but you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross. Not only did he die, he rose again. And he sits at your right hand, waiting for me to say yes.

34:34Father, today, I say yes. Now, Holy Spirit, come, help me to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His name, I pray. If you pray that for the very first time, I'm going to encourage you to reach out to this ministry and let them know that you have accepted Jesus Christ. Interestingly, that's the first step. There are other steps that you need to take that are important. Of course, getting a Bible, reading the Bible, finding a good Bible-believing church and finding a community that will embrace you in your infancy and help you to grow. I want to encourage you. As PC, I have had so many young people that have been a blessing to me

35:41that many of them are adults now. And as I said, because we were faithful to God, my wife and I, now we are seeing the fruit of what we've done. And as a matter of fact, there was a young man that he was my worship leader. And he, by the way, his name is Brandon Canfer. And he was a young little guy. And he became my worship leader. I just saw something in him. Well, I'm so very short. Now, he had moved to New York, decided to go to Brooklyn Tabernacle to be part of the choir and lead in the choir. And when he went to Brooklyn Tabernacle, they did exactly what I would do. Basically, put them to clean the bathrooms. See, they did the same thing. God, God did,

36:42God the Father, God the Son, God the Lord. They did the same thing to him that they did to me. Instead of playing the bass, I became an usher. And so when he called me and said, Hey, PC, man, I don't know. I'm not feeling this. This is kind of crazy. You know, I got the gifts. I got the talents. They're making me do this and that and the other. I said, so wait a minute. Let me ask you a question. Are you a singer or are you a servant of God? See, because if you're a servant of God, you'll serve them in whatever capacity. But if you are just this, now you are putting a demand on God, never put a demand on them. So that's why I told Brandon. I said, be faithful and what they told you to do. And one day, well, one day came Christmas. Christmas, my wife and I were getting ready for church. That's when we had our church. And you know, we're getting ready. We got to have

37:47the TV on and we have David Jeremiah. He always has a Christmas thing. So he's doing his thing. He's got musicians coming out. All son, I'm getting dressed and I hear a voice. That's a familiar voice. And when I turn around and look at the television, it's Brandon Canfer. He is on stage with four, no, three other people from the Brooklyn tabernacle. And they are lead worshipers. I didn't know that happened over the few years. I called them up. He goes, PC, it was just like he said, I just served in whatever capacity. And God made room for my gift. And that's what he does. That's really what he does. And so I just want to encourage you whether you're going for a career like that or most

38:49importantly, you're getting married. God, the father, the son and the Holy Spirit needs to be the central point of your marriage. My wife and I married 50 years. I am not an easy man. And she was, Proverbs 31 woman. She was, you know, you read Proverbs 31 and your Bible, you see that the wife makes her man look good. And that's what she's done over the years. She's made me look good. As a matter of fact, she, a woman of this age would have left me a long time ago. But because of her commitment to God, not to me, to God, she would stood the bad times. And now she's reaping the benefits of having my complete attention. And so that's really what it's all about

39:57when you come to the end of the day. God takes you through the seasons of your life if you allow them. And those seasons become precious, special, not because of the hardship, but because of how it's brought you through. And then you get to where we are now. And we look back. And what we see in our rear, you mirror, is fabulous. It's wonderful. We have touched. We have loved. We have corrected. We have challenged people all of our lives to live godly, to live holy. And this day and age, it's not easy, but it's doable. The Bible says, with God, nothing is impossible. So what's stopping you? You know, they're allowing me to do this testimony, which is great.

41:01But I'm a man of God. I love Jesus. And so it's really not about me. It's about him. And so that's why I keep going back to it because yeah, I can talk about myself all day long, but this is a flawed human being. So I can tell you about my flaws, drug addict, alcoholic, wife, abuser, schemer. I mean, I can go through it. Like I used to tell the kids, I was a bad man. But then God got to hold him in. And that bad man, he eradicated not my wife, not a therapist, not a doctor. He did it. So my challenge to you today is what do you see? He see, who is Jesus to you? Jesus is a man

42:10and God. And let's talk about him as a man. As a man, he was obedient to his parents. He took up the trade of his dad. He became knowledgeable of the word of God. He was a guy that lived with his parents. And then at the age of 30, God called them into ministry. And so if you study Jesus as a man, you see what he needs to go through to do what God wants him to do. Then Jesus as God, you begin to see the connection of the Old Testament with the New Testament. And you begin to see how he begins to integrate the two and how he begins to speak about the kingdom of God and the things of

43:13God. And so being God and being man, he was able to show us who God is and who man is. Now Jesus, he did not sin. But let me tell you, there were opportunities. But he did not sin. Now as a man, you may say, wow, that's incredibly hard. Yet is, but Jesus in my estimation was a man. And so men disciplined themselves. And so I disciplined myself to my wife. And that has been my way of life. That's what Jesus has shown me over the years. And Jesus said,

44:16I'm going to open the doors to heaven for you if you accept me. But while I got you down here, let me do something with you. Allow my spirit to just kind of work on you as a guy. Everything's not going to be good, but you're going to get by and by. And that's what happened to me. I became someone that was unrecognizable to my friends of old, because I had completely changed my outlook on life. Now my speech changed because I went to school and became a, you know, the illusion and all that. But your vernacular has nothing to do with it. It really has to do with who you're talking to. Because I can go to a lecture and speak, but I can talk to my friend who's

45:19from the neighborhood and talking away that he's going to understand. So God doesn't take things away from you in that they are the right things to have because they are bad things. But the right things to have to share with your loved ones, your friends, those that you care about, those that you don't care about. So I'll leave you with this thought, who will be the first person that you reach out to as Jesus, man, and God. That's who he is to me. Amen. PC, I know that you mentioned that you know a lot of the years that you spent even living here in Maryland, we're spent in children's and youth ministry. And so do you have anything that you would like to share as whether it's encouragement or just wisdom for those that are watching your testimony right now that are a youth leader or a youth pastor and if dedicated, they're serving into serving the next generation. So I became a youth pastor at the age of 30, 31.

46:28And it was quite the experience for me, quite the learning curve and all that. But what I would encourage people to understand is that I'm going to be careful here, but I'll say it. Most churches, you know, they love their children, they love their youth, but the money goes elsewhere. It usually goes to, you know, the main body, the building, you know, those kind of things. And I'm not saying churches don't give money to their children, but there are times that, you know, when we were running children's ministry, we had to take it to the next level so that you can minister to the children in a way that's meaningful. And so we began to do just that without the financial things. And all of a sudden, guess what happened? The parents began to volunteer, donate to all the

47:39things that turned the youth ministry into what it was when we left. It had to do with the vision that God gave us and how we shared it with the people. And then once we began to do that, the leadership at the church began to realize that we were on to something. And so then they became interested. And so they began to see it was, you know, one of the better ministries in the area and we were doing well. And then I did the same thing with the youth. I started with the youth that we were meeting at a high school in a music room. And I said, okay, no more. When I came, you know, on as youth pastor, we're going to meet in the cafeteria and we're going to have church. We're not going to have fun time. We're not going to have Q and A's. We're going to have church.

48:41We'll do Q and A's at another time. And so really, if I can give people consult advice, is you have to have a vision. And that vision has to be written out. And it has to be written out in a way that people can understand. Because people will follow you, but they have to understand your vision. They have to know where you're going. Because if they think you're just kind of shooting in the dark, then I'm going to follow you. They might help you once or twice, but that's it. When we were doing our children's ministry, we decided we were going to do it through a job application style of entrance to work in the youth ministry. Now most people thought that was a little bit overboard, but we thought it was important to let them know right away how important we felt for our children that we were going to watch who was coming in. And how they were going to

49:46treat our children, how they were going to teach all of those kinds of things. And so we would take them through a job application interview. And we were able to acquire the better people. See, because you can always ask people, can you help? But sometimes those people, they can help. But they're not the ones you need. So you're going to need people to come along, side of you, that see the vision and know how to work it. You're going to need a administrator, all those kind of people that know naturally what to do. The Bible talks about the gift of administration. You need someone like that. Someone that knows what to do on paper that what you have in your heart. That's very important. Youth ministry is more difficult. Children's ministry is easy. We used to run a children's ministry with standard service. We taught them worship. We taught them how to listen to the word of God. We taught them how to pray. We taught them how to come

50:48up to the altar. We did all of that because we wanted to teach our children so that when they went into the youth ministry, they already had the foundation. And so the youth were difficult just because the culture is ever changing. And so as a youth pastor, you have to be current. You have to understand. You have to look at things that you normally would never want to look at. And the reason why I'm saying that is because guess what your kids are. And if you're not careful, they will look at you and you will think they are the best kids in the world. But underneath. And the only way for you to discern that is for you to be able to know what's going on because they will get around you. And youth ministry, it's very hard. You have to be a student of popular culture. And that's where some youth pastors have a hard time because, you know,

51:52they rightfully so don't want to expose themselves. But let me tell you, re-Jesus the man. And see what he put himself into. Where the people of the church said, does he know he's having dinner with his center? And youth pastors are like that. They have to be the ones that do things outside of the box. And though it's okay with God, those in authority will go, what are they doing? And that is the most dangerous ministry. Is youth ministry. Because that's where you have to do things outside the box. You know, we used to do a thing called the gig, called the acronym for

52:54God, Get into God. And this gig was a monthly thing we used to do. And we used to, you know, produce it. It was a production. For instance, one year we did the Matrix. And we produced set designs. We did everything. And we used to have youth groups come from all over the area. We were at that time in Medzlville. And people used to come from Baltimore all over the place. Just to see what we were doing. Because it was like left field. And yet it was centered in God's word. And again, once you have that man, you're cooking. No matter who comes into that room, you're cooking. And with young people, that's what they need. They need that type of energy so that they can get charged up. So no matter what age you are as a youth pastor, if you're a young youth pastor,

53:58I would ask you to get an older person to come alongside of you, just to love up on you, just to have someone to talk to. If you're an older youth ministry, I would ask you to reconsider create yourself. Spend some time with God so that you can come back fresh to your children, to the ones that God gave you. So that's my advice. PCD, do you have any last words for those who are watching your testimony right now? Yes. My greatest testimony is my marriage. God instituted marriage. And it has become an option. And I'm here to tell you that 50 years, 57 plus with my wife has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. My wife and I, we are truly in a place called oneness. But that only can happen

55:04because of marriage. God instituted marriage. He says the two shall become one. And let me tell you no matter how old you are, marriage is very important. And I'll tell you why, God wants you to procreate. He wants you to have children. And he wants you to teach those children about the things of God so that then they can teach their children. See, God wants an expanding legacy. And the only way he can get that is by marriage. That's the only way. So if you're out there hanging out doing nothing, get married. It'll be good for you. God bless you.