Ways to Reach Out to Armchair Authentic

Rhett 0:11

Hey everybody , welcome to Armchair Authentic , a podcast with Rhett and Justin , with real conversations about real life with real people and today , really excited , to finish our interview with Justin . But before we jump into the rest of that interview , I just want to take a moment and say thank you so much for all those who have been joining us on this journey up into this point . We want to remind you that , hey , if you've not reached out to us yet , we sure would love to hear from you your comments , your questions . Why ? Because we want to make sure that this is a great experience for you , the listener , our family and our friends . And so how can you reach out to us ? Well , you can reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram , at Armchair Authentic , or on X , which was formerly known as Twitter , which is at Armchair Auth Pod . That's Armchair Auth Pod . And , of course , you can always email us at info at armchairauthenticcom . That's info at armchairauthenticcom . Well , all right , you guys really excited .

Rhett 1:17

Continuing an episode from episode three , we're now on episode four . We're riding this journey out . It's part two interview with my best friend for 38 years , justin let's

Origin Story of Infuse

Rhett 1:32

go January 07, .

Justin 1:34

new life , new mindset towards ministry . We've had the three meetings . High speed internet is finally at my house . Never had that . I always had that 56K stuff .

Rhett 1:48

Nobody listen if you didn't grow up with that man you're missing out .

Justin 1:52

I'm on the internet checking things out and really , man , just in this different kind of mindset , certain words gravitated towards me in a season of what was brokenness now shifted into humility and a fresh sense of purpose coming . Me and my wife are no longer in this neediness state . We're just like whatever's next , God . We're in that mode of we're all in until our next becomes our next , all in , Whatever it is . I didn't have this longing to be on staff . None of that existed anymore .

Rhett 2:22

I was very back in the wonder .

Justin 2:24

I was back in the wonder . I was content at being a medical adjuster . That also provided me flexibility . I would come in and spend hours . On certain days . I was a part of our worship ministry and we would do meetings . I got to spend like three hours and we would do meetings . Every once in a while we would audition people for the stage , the musicians and the vocalists who would play on our stages . All this would happen within those times of a couple of years . Well , now it's like I'm back and I'm seeing it through different lenses again .

Justin 2:56

And so , in January of 07 , this word hit my head because the definition of it was just so wonderful . It was talking about just like a creating of something new . It was all about pouring into something , infecting something , doing something that actually causes change in a very positive way . And so I would read that definition and it described very much what I thought my mandate was , and the word was infuse . I first saw this word infuse and I thought , hmm , sometimes you see something and you realize that's an assignment . In that moment there was something that attached me to that word . I began really planning ministry Rhett . There were some pastors , there were different artists , there were different leaders that I would interact with and I would think back to the agenda side .

Justin 3:47

I didn't probably maximize those moments as a help to them and I just literally got on the phone All the influences that I had with different people all these years and I would give them a call with a different mindset . It was no longer hey , what would you think about getting together and having a booking , me coming to your church , our band coming to your church or your venue , whatever it is . Instead , it was like hey , you want to grab some coffee , you want to grab some lunch and catch up , you want to just spend some time together ? Hey , is there anything that I can do for you ? It's really good . And conversations would come up and they would say man , honestly , I can't get my band , they're not executing . Well , it's like now you're talking my language , that's all we'd ever done , and I would go to the church and I would just work with these different teams and help them get to a level .

Justin 4:34

But then , rhett , what happened is these different pastors , artists , leaders they began to open up and that's when I started realizing , wow , there's a lot of pastors , there's a lot of leaders out there going through some junk . And they found a safe place in me and they would just talk and I didn't give my eyes wide open , acting shocked . There was a grace there to understand . Man that sucks . I hate that for you and we would listen . And what ended up happening ? I just started naturally coaching . I remember it's like you got to have a name for everything , the word on my mind I call it infuse . It was that mindset of helping people deliver on their God assignment and that really was the mindset . Their assignment as a youth pastor , as a worship leader , was to take care of what they've been given .

Justin 5:22

I would go to their church and work with them or I would help them if they're stuck and they just need to talk out some stuff . Maybe they just need encouragement . And I ended up Rhett having the time of my life . Me and Summer were having just so much fun . And then I had my local , my home church . I'm getting to serve and lead worship . And then the summertime , probably six , seven months later ,

Implementing Infuse As A Small Group

Justin 5:45

I just started really praying about still , what's the next step ? Where do we go from here ? There was actually an opportunity that came open from someone that I trusted so much in ministry and I looked up to , I had the deepest love for , and they offered me a job . And on paper , rhett , it looked like a no-brainer and I really thought that me and Summer were going to step into this certain role . And there just wasn't peace . Matter of fact , we went to our place of choice . We went to the mall to celebrate .

Justin 6:16

I thought I was actually going to take it , so we were going to have more of a celebratory . Let's talk about this next season of ministry .

Rhett 6:22

This is awesome .

Justin 6:23

Non-peace , non-peace . It's a no . I just knew that we end up turning down that role that was being offered to us and we just stayed locked in to the local church . But I still had this moment inside of realizing whatever , that fresh purpose I was feeling .

Justin 6:43

I went through another season of frustration . Well , I just said no to an obvious job . If I don't have that , I'm at my insurance job . What am I going to like ? I know I feel like I'm called to what we would call full-time ministry . Some of you that's going to be working your jobs . You know your nine to five , but I knew specifically it had to do with pastors .

Justin 7:05

It had to do with artists , it had to do with leaders . That was our world . When is that going to come along ? Yeah , again , I just turned something down .

Rhett 7:13

Yeah .

Justin 7:14

And it was in that season of brokenness I mean , find that common theme how revelation comes . But in that season of brokenness or frustration , I should say that same voice . Here's what I heard in my heart Do what I've called you to do in the place that I've planted you . And I knew instantly what that was . It wasn't go lead worship at your church . That's probably in the past .

Justin 7:38

I would have always seen it right , right , a front man of something . I always wanted to be out front . I always wanted to be that guy , get through the lens of humility . What I saw was do , infuse that you're doing outside , implemented at your church . That's the clarity that I had . And so , after I processed it a little bit , I went to the person who's overseeing the worship ministries . His name's John , kind of shared a vision of a small group that I'd like to do , where I could have some musicians come out and just have some time to pour into them . And I knew I needed a stage . And at this time we had just moved into a brand new facility and you know how people are on their new stages .

Justin 8:21

You ain't gonna get access to that stage . But I remember creating , you know , the good old win-win negotiation and I said what would it be like if could I use the stage ? If , think about it this way we'll be cannon fodder . You can let the sound guy work out all the feedback as he's getting used to this new system on us , so it'll sound great for the regular rehearsal . I got it approved and announced just word of mouth hey , if you're a musician and would love to come jam out with us , we'd love to have you . And they did and it scratched a major itch . You probably had 20 people show up this first night .

Justin 9:00

And let me go back on something that I think is a great principle from this . That at least my heart was stirring in when we used to do auditions . Rightfully so . You're auditioning people to see are they going to be ready for that stage , because you don't want somebody sounding terrible vocally or instrumentally , right . But in my heart there were certain people I remember just auditioning , thinking to myself when I'm not looking through the lens of , are they going to mess up and are they going to make me look bad on the stage ?

Justin 9:30

I did used to think that , by the way through this other lens , I began looking at it saying if I had a season with this person I could get them ready . Now some people no , they , it's not their gift , but there's some people , they just need to be developed . And so I went back to that mindset on what if we could give people a season to be developed . And I did it through this small group and you had about 20 people show up on the first night . I will admit about 10 of those never touched an instrument before . So I did have to quickly implement even an audition into that process , but we did it and about 10 people came the next week with some songs . We had them learn . Of that amount , five people really were developable began developing those people and over the course of time it went from sounding really , really bad to actually just sounding bad and then the next week it began to sound fair . Until one week you realize they can make it through an entire song together .

Justin 10:30

And then one day you realize , god , they actually sound good . And what ended up happening ? Which was not the plan ? Right , they hit a level that we began to look at , and even from a church standpoint . This was a small group , but at that time even the leadership came and said wow , they actually sound good . I'd love for them to come play . Imagine that .

Rhett 10:54

Imagine that imagine a process of mining the gold and somebody not having a final product but having potential in somebody's willingness to grow but also somebody's willingness to meet them where they are and to create an environment , a small group , to help them grow and to be honest and to be honoring and to have those conversations and obviously to get them to a place to where somebody might not have seen what they see now , hadn't that process not been their development and that's exactly what .

Rhett 11:23

God does to us . It's exactly what God is doing to you , walking you through a journey and taking the gold , if you will of helping somebody else's dream come true . Find somebody who has the ability you know obviously talent and ability .

Rhett 11:36

Not everybody can't . There's great scuffs , yeah . And to say you know what , I'm willing to invest into you . Let's go into pouring into them and create a , create a safe , protective environment really to get them to a place to where , in my from what I've seen and experienced and been a part of and even developed as well Alongside you and implementing , is really to get people to a place to where it's like , man , there's gold in you and we see it .

Rhett 12:01

You can't see it right now , but get you to the place where you're really being able to fulfill a God assignment in your life .

Justin 12:07

That was the beautiful thing we were discovering , because , if anything I say this for myself I know what the prideful side of me is capable of , which means this process was helping save somebody from me . It was keeping me accountable as well , because I may have written you off based on first listen and I should . If my first goal is to see you on stage that week , right , you know , if we're on Broadway in New York and you come to audition , you're not going to be getting the spot or the part on that stage If you don't actually have the ability . This was something to see . Could we think like more , like a crock pot ?

Justin 12:48

not like a hot pocket .

Rhett 12:50

Yeah , that's really good . You know what I mean . So it's like I would much rather eat a crock pot food than a hot pocket . No offense to my brothers and sisters who love hot pockets .

Justin 12:57

We grew up on that .

Rhett 12:58

Let's let let . I would much rather eat something that has been you know crock meals got better you know so much more .

Justin 13:06

Well , and that is really a great example of what happened , because it wasn't a plan to become a process , it was just an outlet that I was doing at other places and I brought it through a small group form , which at our church that's how you really start things just to provide a place for , in our case , musicians .

Rhett 13:25

And what happened was our pastor .

Justin 13:27

We didn't know that campuses were our future . Matter of fact , outside , what's our broadcasting location is a footprint of a 6,000 seat auditorium , because that's the way you used to grow right . You built a bigger building and in this case that was the same plan as it should have been . But campuses began to come open . That really opportunities presented themselves to us .

Rhett 13:47

Yeah , there were already small groups in those communities that were meeting and watching and leaders developing and growing in that community .

Justin 13:54

Yes , or the pastors were literally handing off like what they're doing , asking if we would dissolve what they're doing and take it on , and I remember on an occasion that we needed a couple of bands worth , because one value we have for campuses live bands . Even if it's a video you're watching , we want the live host , if you will , a campus pastor .

Justin 14:14

we want the live music in the early days . That was a component we would not launch , wouldn't have a lot of music , and what was beautiful about this is this small group is compiling a group of people , and I remember one night losing sleep thinking I've got all these musicians now ready . What's the next step for them ? I knew the Highland stage , if you will , at our congregation there was only so many .

Rhett 14:37

Yeah , there's only so many platforms , there's only so many platforms , and so here's .

Justin 14:41

Here is how I ended up helping myself sleep at night . I thought all the pastors that I talked to they have a huge need in this area . We're going to become a place that blesses the local community , the local churches . We are all about blessing them , and here's how we're going to do it . These people I've built relationship with , we're going to start sending some of our musicians out . We're going to go out and minister to some of these churches Small group of musicians that are attending a small group .

Rhett 15:10

they have Church of the Highlands as their home are making themselves available to serve the body of Christ , the capital city church that's right in the church of God , across not the denomination but , like the church , kingdom-minded across the board .

Justin 15:24

And that was an easy way for me to think , because I come up under PC .

Justin 15:28

Who very much he empowers that and that is his that's his life is empowering you and empowering leaders . So that was an easy thought . Well , what

Infuse: A New Highlands Process

Justin 15:37

ends up happening ? These opportunities come open Of our own potential campuses . And when I was able to tell our worship pastor , hey , when he asked me , do we happen to have anybody in that small group ready , I remember telling him there's like two bands worth . Yeah , he's like dude , that's awesome . He checked him out , just to make sure you know he had to filter it too .

Rhett 15:59

He's like , hey , these expect what you expect . Yeah , as he should have .

Justin 16:03

That's why he's so good at what he does . But he said , okay , this is legit . And so we were able to have teams ready . The moment that that happened , rhett , it was no longer just a small group . Our pastor was like how did y'all have these people up front ready ? And we began to talk about the infused process . And that's the day it stopped being just small group . It became like the pipeline . Well , whatever that infused thing is , that's what we're gonna start doing .

Justin 16:32

And that was so cool because what it did it was helping a dream come true and when that ends up happening , it's amazing how fast things began to happen to me that I never thought were possibilities and so infused , as we called it then . Now , for the past five years , we've called it development , so you might hear both of these words , with infused or with development . It started just taking off , meaning we had more campuses , we were developing . It became an actual process , so there was a more accountability we had to put .

Justin 17:03

We started developing leaders within our teams , which , ironically , here's a cool thing , musicians , we can be very territorial .

Justin 17:10

And that could be any leader who has really their awesome at what they do . It's hard to empower somebody else because you don't know if they're gonna do as good as you . I get it and our team . They began popping into the room wondering what is this thing that's going on before our rehearsal and I remember just asking them and saying hey , would you mind ? When this song ends , I usually go coach these electric guitarists or I go coach these drummers , but I'm not a drummer .

Justin 17:35

You do so much better . And here's what happened these territorial musicians who are awesome at what they do would come early and they would go develop an electric guitarist , let's say , and they would come back . And I remember the first time he said , hey , if you want me to come back next week , I can . And I was trying to play it cool . I was like , yeah , I mean sure . Inside , inside , I was doing a happy dance inside . But here's what happened . Rhett , that musician , discovered what it was to pour into somebody else .

Rhett 18:07

Exactly , and something came alive on the inside of their hearts .

Justin 18:10

It awoke something and what happened that we weren't planning on . It wasn't just developing musicians and vocalists , it became a leadership development pipeline that to this day there's even people who are campus pastors , directors , worship directors whether it's our church or all across America who initially started coming through the development process as an acoustic guitarist . But when it did , it started to bring out this gold and so because of that , at the same time you have Highlands beginning to gain some influence in certain circles . It's like the whole qualifier . I hate to talk numbers , but the fact is I'm not being a good steward if I don't tell the true story .

Rhett 18:53

Absolutely , but the fact is You're not being armchair authentic . Let's go . It's true and you have to talk about it , that's what's great about this podcast ?

Justin 19:00

It's forcing me to talk in ways I usually I don't . It's hard , but that's my own development that I'm growing in . But Highlands has influence with probably I mean easily 18,000 churches who utilize the process we use . And so what came of that ? Our team started growing like crazy . The churches from the outside began wondering and that probably happened because PC would go travel a lot and he would say if you wanna know the greatest process , we have it with our worship team . We need to reach out . And he would give my name because I was getting lit up on emails from people . It was really , really cool because it used to be people . I'd be listening to their music and I had to have a phone call with them acting like it's not a big deal that I'm talking to you , just being straight up . I had to play it cool . But it began to grow so much . And what happened through that ?

Justin 19:51

Without ever trying , I was happy being the medical adjuster or launching a little coaching business and music business . That I did when I did finally leave my insurance company . That's the whole other story . But I did leave .

A Pre-Created Resume Becomes A Reality

Justin 20:07

But I launched a little business and I did it to free up hours . I went from working 40 , 50 hours a week to this coaching business . I gave 30 slots and that was either teaching lessons or it was coaching or going off and doing infused stuff , and I did that so I'd have more time to pour into it my deal of infused , but also the church infused small group that I launched . And what ended up happening was , as it grew , our worship pastor came to me and said hey , I need you to pray about something . There's a role that's coming open and I think you'd be the right guy for it . He said it's an associate worship pastor in red . Here's the cool thing about that About a year before , when me and Summer were going through just this , we're comfortable in our skin .

Justin 20:49

We have nothing more to prove . We're growing , but we are who we are . Summer . We were out in the backyard one day and she said just write something down . Like just what are you dreaming ? Like she's so cool , we'll get her on here one day too .

Justin 21:02

But , she's just like what's in your heart , man . I pulled out a Word document and I start typing out a job description and I still have never even told John this . Who is my guy interviewing me ? And he was the worship pastor . I created a job description Fast forward to the time that we took a few months , just seeing what it would look like if I came on staff and I knew it was . I was like from my end , if they want to offer it ? There was so much peace versus , I told you , a ministry opportunity that happened before , which you could have forced .

Rhett 21:31

Great , great role .

Justin 21:33

But it just wasn't no . Well , here I am and he offers it and there's so much peace and we go out to eat one day to do the official interview and he just pulls out the job description to hand it to me and read I take it from him and he doesn't know why , but he probably just assumes I'm grinning because he knows how much I love it and I'm just grinning and wanting to cry at the same time . I'm telling you verbatim it's the job description I created a year before in my backyard . It was just a pipe dream job description . And there it was , sitting right in front of me being offered to me . I mean , I thought that he called summer and asked that's her is there a job description ?

Justin 22:16

And so that was 2008 . So I served as a volunteer for seven years , loved every minute of it , went through tons of hardship and hey , there's hell . Yeah , you go through two . And but once again , that's a set up to later and I've been a part of some of that .

Rhett 22:31

Yeah , yes , you have , and in 2008 .

Justin 22:34

Yeah , I just now celebrated October of 08 . I just now celebrated 15 years being full-time staff and I spent the majority of that time having the privilege of being a pastor to pastors .

Justin 22:47

Yeah artists , yeah , and leaders . What happened in that was , without calling myself pastor , I just naturally was interested in people , intending to what's

No Longer Ladder Climbers

Justin 22:58

going on in their life . I really took the genuine interest in others and I live that to the full and I remember till in summer back in 2007 we're not gonna try to climb a corporate ladder . We're done with the climbing thing . We're gonna be faithful , yeah , and we're gonna be all in who we are so that wherever that attracts if that attracts you , it's helping us know we're at the right place . We are David with our sling , we're not throwing on the King's armor , and so the beautiful thing about not being the ladder climber is we just did what we did and we often just kind of laugh saying it's amazing what we get to do .

Justin 23:35

Yeah because we know we did not have an agenda trying to get in any room , and so I would develop some of these musicians . We'd have tons of coffee and conversation , a lot of hearing what they had to say and just inadvertently , without trying to , I had Become their pastor .

Justin 23:51

Yeah the stuff that I used to would have wanted to be to people Without ever trying .

Justin 23:57

It just naturally

A Dose of Pastoral Care

Justin 23:58

happened and so there was a large Dose of pastoral care that was happening and I used to just think pastoral care is weddings , funerals , hospitalizations , which that's definitely a part of it . Pastoral care is a holistic deal of helping people and for so long the different staff leadership will come up and say , man , just the way that you handle people with pastoral care , like that word was always thrown out because that used to be a trigger for me , like , oh , I don't know about that , I don't know if funeral's , weddings and hospital , I don't know if I'm good at that , but that's not that's . Obviously they weren't seeing through that lens like I was . But pastoral care was happening and then a couple of years that had transitioned into hey , would you pray about shifting out of what you're doing with worship ? By the end of that I was like our staff pastor for our worship team and production team , and so I was asked if you would extend that more To the congregation and help our staff with pastoral care .

Rhett 24:55

Take , they take the same heart in the foundation of loving people .

Justin 25:00

Yeah .

Rhett 25:01

And serving them in a way that helps their dreams come true . Yeah and listening . Yeah , and no agenda . No agenda and being available .

Rhett 25:09

Yeah , not that you're perfect , because you're not I know , walking through even the issues and growing and even all those things , but just the basic foundation of developing people , the way that Christ has developed you and you're taking that and helping other people . Yep has helped advance . If you will not the corporate ladder , not the church ladder , but God has elevated you because you've humbled yourself To position yourself to steward relationships in a way that honor people with putting their best interest above your own .

Rhett 25:37

Yes and Doing that and getting it right , and getting it wrong , but getting it right , but going through that process , god has opened up doors for you that only God could open . That has put you in a position to do really what you were doing with the musicians , which , if me knowing you for 38 years , going back to even high school , yeah , in the lunch room of us hanging out with our friends at the lunch table , right , yeah , and all the people that we chose to do life with , trying to call out the best in their lives , yeah , that's what God has used consistently in your life to position you to a place you never could have ever been or would be if you would have tried to .

Brightest light: On You or In You?

Rhett 26:12

Christine Kane is the first person that I've ever heard say this , so I'm quoting her .

Rhett 26:17

I'll give her credit once and then after that it's mine , okay but , if the light that shines on you is Is brighter than the light that shines in you , than the light that shines on you can crush you and kill you .

Rhett 26:28

So what I hear from that is God developing a process within you to put you in a place to where , now that the light is shining on you , if you will , with what you're doing and how you're serving the vision and mission and values of Church of the Highlands and ministering to thousands and helping artists , leaders , pastors in-house first , obviously , but then across the country and around the world If you would have been in that place not having the character development , that platform , that position would have killed you and crushed you .

Rhett 26:57

Not that you've arrived , because you haven't , but you're in a place that God can trust you because you've stewarded things in such a way that honor him , that honor others , loving God , loving people , to where he can trust you with a platform that you know have . Not because you think you're anything , because I know you , you don't and you could care less with whatever title or whatever you're doing . But you're in that position for a reason because God can trust you with it and the principles that I pull out in me knowing and , by the way it's so hard for me to sit here and not interject because you're so like . I've been a part of this journey for so long with you and there were so many things I'm like oh , yeah , in this and that like what , and .

Rhett 27:31

I'll have this , and so letting you tell a story and me trying to shut up and listen is so amazing to me . Just the principles of just loving God and loving

Taking Off Saul's Armor

Rhett 27:41

people and not trying . You mentioned putting on Saul's armor and again , I don't want to assume that everybody understands what that means . But David and Goliath most people know that story , right .

Rhett 27:51

David grew up as a shepherd boy and what he was best at was slingshot and he had an opportunity to defend his people by defeating Goliath , which is this huge enemy , and whatever that is for your life , right ? Whatever that represents . And so the king is like wait , there's a kid who wants to defeat , like somebody brave enough to step up . All right , I'll call you up . But the king started to say , hey , you can't fight with that . No , you need this .

Rhett 28:14

This is how you do things , this is how it looks , this is how you should speak , this is how you should communicate , this is how you should be a leader , this is how you need to start your business , this is how you like all those things . And David put that armor on and think like and probably out of honor and respect to the king , didn't want to disrespect him and in that he was so uncomfortable . He's like I can't like king like here . This is my paraphrase . I appreciate this very much and I could see how this would help somebody that grew up understanding how to use this armor . But I've seen God do this , this , that and the other in my life .

Rhett 28:45

You name it , you label it , kill this , kill that , whatever . And it was just me and this little sling . I can defeat this guy by me being me . The king was like I don't understand it because he was dealing with his own issues at the time , but David stepped out on that field and defeated something that seemed absolutely impossible , being who he was called to be in his own skin , not trying to be anybody else , but being the truly unique individual that God created him to be , and destroyed this massive giant with one rock and one little sling . And huge battle was one that , I mean , is amazing . What happened ? And then , of course , the rest is history if you read it .

Rhett 29:20

But when you hear us referencing the Saul's armor , it's this idea of putting on something or not . And when I hear your story , there are these moments where it's like you have to make a decision , like I could either go this route and climb this ladder and do it this way and try to put A plus B equals C , and that's how you advance . People do that every day , but you're like you know what . That is not who I am , this is who we are , and every time you've humbled yourself in keeping things simple loving God , loving people , loving your family obviously , right , all of those things . It's amazing how you've humbled and then God elevates . That's how it works in the kingdom of God and you can force things .

Rhett 29:54

And I think it's interesting when you mentioned that opportunity that came and I think I know what opportunity you were referencing . When that opportunity came , you could have easily stepped into that and have done what appears to be kind of what you're doing now , but you , you were quick to not take an opportunity based off what it could do for a career advancement or on paper , you didn't force something . You literally generally waited and heard God and God spoke and say hey , yeah , I'm going to be doing these things for you in the future . You know that , but I need you right here , right now , to develop even more and you're willing to sacrifice something . That could have been , you know , what we would call an Ishmael that's good , you know and force something and God could have used it and moved through it , obviously . But because you did , it's just amazing how God

Journey: Faith, Peace, Development, Wiring

Rhett 30:36

worked it all out .

Justin 30:36

And I think about what you said a while ago . If the 2005 2006 version of me would do what I'm doing now , I mean he'd be crushed Absolutely . Here's the deal If David because he still had a choice in that moment if he would have kept the armor on yeah he would have been killed . Totally we would be reading a different scripture .

Justin 30:59

Totally different story , Okay and so I know this isn't scriptural , but let me just kind of go with it . David makes it to heaven and he tells God I could have swore you told me to go fight the giant . And God's like I Did . And he's like well , how come you didn't like help me ? He's like I didn't recognize you .

Justin 31:18

I didn't know , I didn't know that was . You see , the David that I've been working with was the guy who went out into the field as a shepherd and One sheep would get lost , or the lion would take one sheep and you would track that bad boy down and kill it Just for the one , when most people would just Let you go , take that one . I mean , y'all seen a lion and then the same thing . And then I gave you another Opportunity and a bear came and took a sheep and , david , you chased that thing with that sling and you rocked it .

Justin 31:49

Yeah well , I thought , now that the giant was in your path , I thought for sure you would have used the tool that I had Equipped you with . Yeah , but you decided to listen to what the people said you needed to do , and they weren't even willing to fight the giant . The leader wasn't even ready to fight it . The people , the yeah , yeah crew , yeah , they're good in the stands in the arena Telling you how to go do things . But until you get out of your seat and come down onto the battlefield , into the field of play , and try to help me do it , I do not need your opinion on how to fight this giant if you weren't willing to go fight him yourself .

Justin 32:25

And that's the story of David and Goliath . So when we utilize this story which we're gonna do it a lot , yeah , absolutely , it's one of my favorites because it was one of the most unlikely scenarios . But it is exactly how you allow God to work in your life , where you follow that piece . You even look at a progression of your path . When I look back to , as I referenced in episode one , being in the laundromat , writing songs because we like the acoustics . Yeah , there's so much of your life you can weave in and weave through and realize mm-hmm .

Rhett 32:57

Wow , that was a wiring what I think is really cool about the whole David and Goliath thing and is the fact that it wasn't David's first time to use slingshot . I mean , like you're referencing the lion , the bear , it was in the , in the desert places , out in the middle of nowhere , when nobody was watching , nobody was looking . It was he and his staff , sheep and you know taking care of what he was called to take care of in that season , what he was stewarding . Well , in the seasons outside of the spotlight , I could just imagine David when he was kind of bored sitting there , just like I was set up a rock over here .

Rhett 33:27

Yeah , it's like it bang bang and missing , and missing , and missing and then hitting and whatever do right you know I get it . And he's practicing when nobody's looking and he's not . He's not doing any of this , thinking in his mind at one day I'm gonna kill a giant with it . No , he's probably just thinking I'm faithful with our aim . If I get good with this , I can .

Rhett 33:43

I can not go lying out or a bear he's living in the wonder of where he is doing what he's called with . He's faithful with what's in his hand and it's not sexy , it's not appealing , it's right , it's just a dude , it's a slingshot , I mean , come on .

Justin 33:54

Right , and then when ? Then , when he gets tired , he sets it down , he picks up the heart and the brother got good at some stuff . That same harp would be sitting in the presence of the king Playing and relieving the oppressive spirits that were coming on him . There's so much that could be said on all of this stuff .

Rhett 34:10

It's a process , a long , but in our world , of Instagram and tiktok and Facebook , you know , and all the other social media platforms where people want it . I gotta have a now , gotta have a now , like I mean there's , we want to skip the process of development and we want to jump right to the platform or to the light and guys like , no , no , that's not how it works in my kingdom .

Rhett 34:30

That's how it works in this world and that's why we see so many artists in creatives and people who aren't serving the Lord or even maybe did it one time . Go do how to do things the world's way . It's the rise to start them , they get fame and then they fall white because the light that shines on them is Brighter than the light that's shining in them and that light is crushing them , and God doesn't want that for his kids . He loves us enough , he loves you enough , he loves all of us enough to put us on this journey , in a process of development , to get us to a place , to where what he's called us to do we actually have the ability , the authority to walk in it in such a way that it doesn't kill us or crush us . Because I'm telling you , man , if , if , if , we would have been on platforms and we were 20 something years old , 1918 with the drink like literally dude yeah , just been another story .

Rhett 35:13

You know we did not have all the stuff you need , not only in your walk with God , the truth of God , but just the ability to go through some stuff . And I could care less if I'm ever on another platform . I really could . It's not a desire , yeah , but God still uses me in it and he's using you in it . It's at a really cool level . And

Crockpot vs Microwave Principles

Rhett 35:30

so back to the question of why would you listen to this podcast , why would you go on this journey ? It's not that we think we know everything , because we don't , but we've learned some stuff along the journey , along the process of life , of ups and downs and goods and bads , and Making some good decisions , making some bad , but like seeing God's hand in it . And it puts you at a place , to now , where a lot of people Look man , I'd love to have that , I'd love to do that , I'd love to read well , yes , but are you willing to do ?

Justin 35:58

these things always a price to pay and , yeah , what I would say is it started with Infused , it had a lot of momentum and so , just naturally , it would filter into different areas , and so we would launch a college in 2011 . Yep and I was asked to go launch our worship practicum , which I was so honored to do . I thought it was the greatest thing in the world . It was so fun launching that Development process , getting into the college even more help launching our mindset of development , and what we began to see was some of our future pastors and leaders . We would put them into this process , where it even passed music . Now .

Rhett 36:37

Yeah , it was foundational development process , the principal supply , no matter what it was , a crock pot principal , that's versus microwave ?

Justin 36:45

Yeah , flash in a pan . And

The Nutshell of the Last Two Episodes

Justin 36:48

so where we're at today , I Overseer our pastoral care , get to help with helping our staff as well . Infused , there's still coaching that I do at other churches . Obviously , highlands is my priority . I considered a luxury because I love this . I can't believe I get to do what I get to do . I'm also part staff with our college and get to teach our evening programs and our Majors in the pastoral care . I'm sorry . In the pastoral area , obviously , music never leaves and we haven't talked a lot about music . I play more music now .

Rhett 37:20

Then I ever have is the one thing you haven't mentioned is Justin is a songwriter and Through just him , you know , having a heart for the local church , being faithful in that gifting , just like David was with his sling and his harp , justin has been , you know , ever since 16 , like you mentioned at last episode where we were talking about music yeah , how to play and Justin has gone to write and co-write great songs that have gone around the country , not on a country , but in the world . Honestly , there are people singing songs and churches right now that you might not even know . If you looked at the little line at the bottom , it's got Justin's name on it .

Justin 37:51

What it's cool .

Rhett 37:54

It's cool . But I mean like again is a process , it was and it , and now it's like . Well , I mean yeah , I mean I just saw right , no big deal .

Justin 38:01

I mean you know , but it .

Rhett 38:03

It's just a proven , beautiful process of what God wants to do in people's lives and in your great example , you summary all of that . It's yeah , thank you . It's so beautiful and I just feel like the best isn't behind us , it's right before us , it feels like it's just getting started .

Reach Out: Info@ArmchairAuthentic.com

Rhett 38:21

All right . Well , that was part two of an interview with my best friend , justin . I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did , really looking forward to the next episodes , justin .

Justin 38:31

Yes , same here . And first of all , just for me , that was a blast getting to dive in . I mean , you asking me some of these questions . It made me take it back 38 years of our relationship and really in my ministry life , the past 30 years . So how to blast doing it . Look forward to what's upcoming . And we just want to remind you guys once again , we want to hear from you if any of our conversations Create any kind of comment or just it jogs maybe a thought or a memory with you . We want to hear about it . So reach out to us on Facebook or Instagram at armchair authentic . You can also reach out to us on X , formerly known as Twitter , armchair off pod , and once again , that's armchair off a UTH pod . Or simply email us at info at armchair authentic comm .