Memories and Friendship With Micah Solomon

Micah Solomon 0:00

We would literally sing all the time . We worked hard , we took that serious , so we got up there and Rhett blew the pitch pipe . He was a pitch pipe blower . Thank you for your ministry .

Rhett 0:08

You're welcome man .

Micah Solomon 0:09

Yeah , you were phenomenal pitch pipe blower .

Justin 0:12

He was so good with that pitch pipe .

Micah Solomon 0:13

Justin was always in the middle . He sang lead , and so Rhett and I are waiting , and because Justin started a lot of songs .

Rhett 0:25

And Rhett of songs and yes , rhett and I are like humming pitches and like doing everything in the world putting our arm around him , rubbing his back you know , like hey , buddy you got this , you got this man like you .

Micah Solomon 0:30

Everybody thought it was a skit because we were .

Justin 0:32

We were fun guys I thought we were mixing it up .

Rhett 0:34

A little bit mixing it up , I'm so yes , I just appear with my hands in the air .

Micah Solomon 0:38

It's a little embarrassing for me and I'm like come on , man . We only practiced 759 times on this song . He was a mind block . Sing the dang note , you know , and miraculously , justin finds the note and starts to sing and the whole place erupts , stands on their feet . We start having church on this song and we have revival yeah , literally brought the house down .

Rhett 1:13

What is going on ? Friends , it is so great to have you back for another episode of the podcast here at Armchair Authentic , with your friends Rhett and Justin . It truly is our hope to steward our stories and our relationships in a way that serve you , by having real conversations about real life with real people , and today we're really excited to begin a conversation that we recently had with one of our dear friends of over 26 years of doing life and ministry together . His name is Micah Solomon . Now , what we captured in today's episode is really reminiscing and even rekindling our friendship . So we welcome you today to join with us in this personal conversation that , honestly , was a long time in the making , this personal conversation that , honestly , was a long time in the making . So , before we jump into this conversation , though , always want to take a minute and say thank you to every single one of you who have taken the time to follow us on social media . In fact , if you're new today and this is your first episode welcome friends , it's so great to have you At some point .

Rhett 2:22

Would you do us a huge favor ? Go to Instagram or Facebook and find us at Armchair Authentic . That's Armchair Authentic . Or you can go on over to X and find us there at Armchair Off Pod , that's Armchair Off A-U-T-H-P-O-D . All right , friends . Now onto a conversation with a guy we've known and done life with for over 26 years , the one , the only , micah Solomon . You guys ready , here we go , justin . It's unbelievable . Today we have the one and only Micah Solomon with us in the studio today . This is amazing .

Justin 3:03

I can't believe it because everybody has heard us talk about our third guy like our best friend and you're going to hear him in the studio today . So Micah Solomon , welcome . This is awesome . Thanks for having me on A friend of 31 years of our life .

Rhett 3:19

We've been 39 , 40 years of friendship and Micah , in 1993 , man been 39 , 40 years of friendship and Micah in 1993 , man , he stands apart and , bro , we can't I can't over enunciate , over express this , but you and your family were such a huge part of my life and my walk with the Lord and I would , I don't think I would be in ministry today if it had not been for your dad , your mom , you , your sister , your entire family and the vestment . And we can get onto all of that , Like I think we were talking before .

Rhett 3:45

Just even we hit record how multifaceted and how long of a conversation we could have with this episode . So if you're new to the episode and you're joining us , welcome to the friends and family we're . This is kind of like a mini reunion for us that happens once a year we mentioned this a couple of episodes ago .

Rhett 4:02

We were like Thanksgiving week . We're going to hopefully have the opportunity to sit down with one of our best friends that we've known forever and just shoot the breeze and allow the Holy Spirit to do what he does and to lead and guide this conversation , Because there is so much to be said about your heart , your dedication , your sacrifice , your investment , your family ministry , your testimony that we'll all get into .

Justin 4:23

And man .

Rhett 4:24

And it really is worth listening to and diving into . But I think I don't know where we want to go .

Justin 4:28

But I just catching up for a minute

High School Memories and New Friends

Justin 4:30

would be great for me . Well , even first of all too , like Micah Solomon , he is one of the most talented guys I've ever met , no doubt as a musician and as a worship leader . I remember we would always joke when we were younger that it just isn't fair to have the range that he had , even on singing . It's just always been this God-gifted deal . Obviously , he got a lot from his parents . I didn't inherit those genes as well .

Rhett 4:54

Well , let's be real . We don't do a video podcast on this thing , maybe for a reason because it was one of those like dear God , he got everything , he got the gifts .

Micah Solomon 5:03

He got the girls and he got the looks .

Rhett 5:06

I mean he got the Lebanese . Look the dark skin . Your whole family's just unbelievable Models . It's ridiculous . I didn't get that , but I was like we would go hang out as friends and I would think a girl's looking at me and they're like , oh no , they're looking at . Michael . We'd be waiting in line at the amusement park somewhere and we're like , oh , those girls are cute . They're like they ain't looking at us , they're looking at Michael .

Justin 5:26

And in those early days we would be spending the night in our apartment and just kind of talking things . Yeah , and in those first days when we met Michael , we were like man Michael's so cool man and in the most manly ways , like God .

Rhett 5:42

how ?

Justin 5:42

did we not get there ? We're embarrassing him .

Rhett 5:44

Yeah , Lee .

Justin 5:45

Well , micah's like I've never heard this before .

Rhett 5:47

Yeah , see we're catching up Micah's hearing things he's never heard before . We're like oh , this is a counseling healthy set All that to say he's a good-looking dude , good-looking man , your family's amazing . Talk about your family for a second .

Micah Solomon 6:00

Yeah , I've got an incredible wife , been married 24 years and Jessica , and we met when I was in college and kind of on the road and been together ever since . And so , yeah , four incredible kids . Micaiah is 21 , and he's finishing up college here in spring 2025 . That's crazy , yeah , it's crazy . And then Judah is 19 , and he's incredible and working on his music career and works for me at the church as a content creator and does website stuff . And then you've got Justice and he's in college , graduated , uh , high school year early . He's 17 and he wants to be an aviator , um , so he wants to fly that's awesome jets , and so he's working on that . And then you've got , uh , jocelyn lolly and she's my baby girl , 15 , and so she's my baby girl 15 .

Micah Solomon 7:03

And so she's a freshman in high school .

Rhett 7:07

That's insane , it's crazy and to date us .

Justin 7:14

You were well I think I was 16 when we first started going to the church . We grew up in .

Rhett 7:16

Yeah , I was 15 and .

Justin 7:17

Micah would have been 14 , turning 15 .

Rhett 7:19

Yeah . So how does that make you feel to know you've got a 15-year-old daughter and this is about the year that we all met ? It's crazy , it feel to know you got a 15 year old daughter , and this is about the year that we all met he would have been 15 by the time we were really

Justin 7:28

hanging out . That's true , yeah , because we um . Yeah , micah was with me . He's one of those few people . Uh , just to give a little background because I can remember at the school , we all graduated from the same school parkway christian academy .

Rhett 7:40

Boo , it doesn't exist anymore I know we were the pioneers by the the way . Come on , that's pretty prophetic . Yeah , we were the pioneers . Are you telling me we had a theme song and I missed it ? I did not know we had a theme song .

Justin 7:52

We are the pioneers , pca pioneers . We love our Lord , country and school . You've got to be kidding me . Give courage day by day and learn his word , indeed , na na , you've got to be kidding me .

Rhett 8:08

Give courage day by day and learn his word . Indeed , where's the dedication ?

Justin 8:09

man , you don't remember the lyrics . Teach us , oh Lord , we pray . Our values in the sky , our brother's keeper evermore . I've never heard that Unbelievable P-I-O-N-E-E-R-S , p-c-a-r school . Okay , so , wow , wow , good job , micah . How about that ? That was before y'all's time . All right , so now we all went to Hold up , hold up .

Rhett 8:35

You've been to Parkwood . You were a part of that school for like a very long time , like when it first started like kindergarten or something they did we had weekly assembles , assembles , assemblies .

Justin 8:50

There we go , we have weekly assemblies okay , and one of our teachers her name is was mrs lied , and she would get and play the same piano we had in our church when the school was at the church at parkway . Okay , and weekly we would sing the school song . Wow , there you go . That was pre-me .

Micah Solomon 9:07

Pre-me baby .

Justin 9:07

Oh yeah , you guys , that was pre-y'all , I can't believe we've never talked about this .

Rhett 9:12

Yeah , all I remember was Mrs Frank's dad , who dressed up as a pioneer . I do remember that he would come out with that musket and go pow .

Justin 9:20

At every basketball game . And that was about it , and then it was time to make a legacy and shift the pioneer to another person . Do you remember ?

Rhett 9:31

that Was that you they did to you .

Micah Solomon 9:33

Yeah , that's right . You were the mascot for half a second .

Justin 9:37

Oh , I never put on the uniform . My cool points are about to go down and I'm not doing this Because you remember that we had something called the bleacher creature and it had like the basketball , with the eyes cut out and you put a basketball over your head , I remember that and I went and did oh yeah , and they like rode me out , like I'm kind of standing on this thing and people carried me out like a king would kind of Like I'm surfing to the middle of the stage .

Justin 10:02

Oh , you loved that . Oh , surfing to the middle of the stage .

Rhett 10:04

Oh , you loved that .

Justin 10:05

Oh yeah , he was all about that . That was some attention right there , but I pulled out my I had a poem that I had written about our upcoming homecoming game against our rivals .

Rhett 10:12

Is it a poem or a poem ?

Micah Solomon 10:14

A poem .

Justin 10:14

A poem and every line that I read the crowd would just cheer , and so that felt really really good .

Micah Solomon 10:30

But then they were like but we got to be the pioneers yeah , and so they had a custom pioneer outfit made for me and I put that thing on it was at my house and I'm looking in the mirror ready for the first game and I remember thinking I can't do it , I'm not , I'm not gonna say put on the basketball court and and so I never did it .

Justin 10:42

And at that point it died , it never happened .

Rhett 10:43

again it never happened and I just it died it never happened again .

Justin 10:44

It never happened and I just it was like I didn't want to confront , saying I don't want to do it , I just left it unspoken , I think they knew .

Rhett 10:50

I think they figured it out pretty quick and I think I gave it away to Goodwill , did you four years later I ?

Micah Solomon 10:54

was going to say did you return the ?

Rhett 10:59

uh , His tuition went up about another $25 . No one ever asked me about it , so I'm like I guess it's mine to not wear .

Justin 11:06

But getting back to the hallways of our school , we weren't a huge school , so you knew when there was a new person . And I remember , micah , when you first came . We never really talked , but I would always see you were a grade lower than me and I'd pass him in the hallway and just thinking , like you know who's the new guy ? He and his georgetown hoya hat .

Rhett 11:26

Yeah , he didn't have that . Yeah , oh , I thought he did . That's when I remember , that's when you met him , yeah but he was more of a .

Justin 11:31

I always thought he looked kind of like this patrick swayze looking guy . I was like , oh yeah , who's the patrick swayze looking guy ? Now , just kind of keep it to myself . And then when I finally visited parkway yeah , a girl invites me and we go to Parkway and that's when I saw Micah . I was like dude , this is his church .

Justin 11:51

That's when we met that whole crew and that got me in the mix and you befriended me . Micah , you were one of the reasons . We've talked about this . On a previous episode where we had gone , me and Rhett were just checking things out , we met a youth leader at the gym . We episode where we had gone , me and Rhett were just checking things out , we met a youth leader at the gym .

Justin 12:12

We decided to go check out , you know , the youth group one night and , just just like a lot of places are , we didn't fit in , like we were not a part of the country club vibe , so we just kind of never came back . What I remember is when I came back the second time without Rhett , I met you and a couple other people and it really made an impact on me where I felt like , wait , I actually belong here , and you know we never really just talked about that , but that kept me coming back . And I remember the girl that I came with . She invited me to the beach trip , like our youth beach trip , and I'm like , well , sure , I'm going there's going to be girls , and it's the beach , let's go .

Justin 12:44

She backs out at the last minute . I would have totally backed out , but I didn't because we had established enough of a friendship where I didn't feel like I was going to be alone . I never knew that , and he's one of the reasons because , rhett , you backed out too , because your girlfriend didn't go Really .

Rhett 13:02

Yeah , really , is that why I didn't go ?

Micah Solomon 13:04

It's such a blur to me .

Justin 13:05

I don't remember that that was pre-Jesus for me Some things I remember well , Because the girl I was dating I wasn't serving Jesus at that time no , you weren't , and I wasn't either . But I had met some friends and I thought I could go and if she's listening .

Rhett 13:16

You're awesome , you're a good person . Yeah , everybody's awesome . Pass is a pass , pass is a pass .

Justin 13:21

Yeah , but

Memorable High School Memories and Friendship

Justin 13:22

I had a connection with .

Rhett 13:22

Micah , I just remember getting dumped before going to the skating rink and we can laugh about it . Now I felt like I was the guy that was being dated because I had the car and it was accessed .

Micah Solomon 13:35

With lights under it . Yeah , and all that .

Rhett 13:37

And then once school was getting ready to start , back , you know Low rent .

Justin 13:40

Yeah . Well , me and Mic guy many a times riding around in a black Honda with lights underneath it 1982 Honda Accord Hats Back .

Rhett 13:52

It was originally baby blue .

Justin 13:53

Modified . Yeah , yeah .

Rhett 13:55

Ended up putting purple lights underneath it and inside Big subs .

Micah Solomon 13:59

CD changer 12 inch .

Rhett 14:02

I had two or three different subs . I lived in an apartment complex that got stolen every couple of months . Let me test your memory here .

Justin 14:11

Micah , do you remember this ? Obviously , we'd have to get in the car . There's three of us , so someone is not going to be in the front , do you ?

Micah Solomon 14:18

remember those initials G-I-T-B .

Justin 14:22

No G-I-T-B Goob in the back .

Micah Solomon 14:25

Oh my .

Justin 14:25

God . Do you remember that Do ?

Micah Solomon 14:26

you remember that ? Yes .

Rhett 14:27

I ain't been no GITB . Rhett never had to be the GITB because , he was driving .

Micah Solomon 14:34

I was the GITB a lot I was the GITB . You got the front two yeah .

Justin 14:40

It was you know , we would have our times as we would hang out .

Rhett 14:56

You know , we'd always hang out great , but there were those seasons where certain ones of us would have a little more hangout than the third , so that determined who was the GITB . That's funny , but we fast forward . We ended up at Parkway , the church , and that's where we kind of got our feet wet in ministry , and Mike was a huge part of that . And do you remember meeting us for the first time ? Or is that all a blur ?

Micah Solomon 15:04

Not the first time . I remember when we started to really connect . If we're okay to go there like the bus ride to Beach Freak . Did you say Beach Freak , or what was it ? What was it called ? Did y'all call it ?

Rhett 15:18

Beach Freak . I don't ever remember . Beach Freak I was like oh my God , Is that another minute ? Maybe that's a separate trip . That was a separate trip . Yeah , yeah , the Panama .

Micah Solomon 15:27

City trip . Okay , there you go , the youth camp .

Rhett 15:29

That's funny .

Micah Solomon 15:30

Beach week . Beach week there you go .

Rhett 15:33

Florida and week mixed together is freak . There you go .

Justin 15:38

Right here on Armchair , authentic . You are about to bypass so much time . I have a feeling what you just said you're going to move so far ahead .

Rhett 15:44

Go ahead and say it no , no , no . I want to know where you're going .

Micah Solomon 15:49

So yeah , I do not have Justin's memory . I don't either , but I would imagine maybe the second year , so not the year Justin just talked about .

Rhett 15:56

He is on it the second year .

Micah Solomon 15:58

He's right . Us three were on a bus and we had started singing a little bit . Yes , and we sang a lot . Yeah , and then we got our name Because we had always wanted a name and we couldn't find the right name for our group . Yeah , we would sing at church a little bit and stuff , but we were singing stuff like .

Rhett 16:15

Churchy stuff Well , maybe churchy stuff , but I remember on the beach trip I thought we were singing old love songs or something . Boyz II Men and stuff oh yeah , a lot of Boyz II Men .

Micah Solomon 16:25

Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah keep going .

Justin 16:26

Yeah , keep going , you're right .

Micah Solomon 16:28

Yeah , so our little group got our name 24-7 . They were like you guys won't shut up , you sing 24-7 . I remember all of us looking at each other like that's the greatest name ever .

Justin 16:39

Matter of fact , if I remember her name right , it was Danielle , yeah , carlton , who was from up in Kansas City .

Micah Solomon 16:46

Am I making that up ?

Justin 16:47

Yeah , danielle Carlton , that's . Right so she Unbelievable .

Rhett 16:50

My mind , just my brain , just opened a little bit . I totally forgot about Danielle . Yeah , and we're singing in the bus .

Justin 16:56

Wow , and she's like my gosh , y'all sing 24-7 .

Rhett 16:58

Yeah , yeah , yeah .

Justin 16:59

And we looked at each other .

Rhett 17:05

Yeah , it to the beach . Yeah , because Pastor Scott was our . It was going to the beach , for sure , that's right , and he was driving way past all these cars .

Justin 17:14

He drove that bus like a hot rod . Yeah , yeah , but yeah , you're right , mike , I remember that that was in 1994 .

Micah Solomon 17:22

Yeah , so that's probably .

Growing Up and Finding Faith

Micah Solomon 17:24

That's some of the earliest memories I have of you guys . I don't really remember you coming to the church for the first time . I just remember all of a sudden it was like when you guys came we must have really connected because you were my buds .

Rhett 17:37

Well , I think the church went through a major transition . The youth group dwindled and then we ended up leading worship somehow , and I think that's when we all started singing together a little bit . Correct me if I'm wrong , but you never wanted to sing . You kind of like were I don't know if you were rebelling against your parents or whatever , but it kind of felt like I don't want this , I don't want to do this . I don't have nothing to do with church singing at all , it's so funny . You know , now you're an executive pastor .

Micah Solomon 18:00

Everybody in my family sang aunts and uncles , grandparents , great-grandparents , cousins literally , and dad and mom .

Micah Solomon 18:09

always back in that day it was big for the families to sing together , right Like Southern Gospel and stuff the family , and so he always tried to get us to sing in church together as a family , and a few times I would go and sing , but I'd never . I was like I'm going to do anything but that , and it wasn't even rebelling against a calling or anything . I just wanted to do anything but that . And it wasn't even rebelling against a calling or anything . I just wanted to do anything but um , seeing and so , uh , but then came to Parkway and actually when I was getting um checking in like classes and stuff Right , and I had a big friend , darren Darren .

Micah Solomon 18:44

Rogers , darren Rogers and he played basketball and we we connected there and , of course , he went to the church .

Rhett 18:49

Yeah .

Micah Solomon 18:50

And so he was like my friend that was in my grade at the time . And he was like , hey , I'll hang with you on the first day , or whatever .

Micah Solomon 18:56

So his mom was actually a receptionist and she was helping us with classes and it was like either gym or choir with Mr Counsel and he really formed a lot of what we do today too he affirmed this great guy and uh , so anyways , um , yeah , darren was like you know , it's jim or choir , and I was like uh , that's funny , and I remember even joking , like because I loved yeah , I was like man , dude jim , he goes . No , he was like , all the hot girls are in choir . I'm serious , I'm serious and he goes and we go on trips during the year and we get to leave school and like it's a big deal and you're going to need to join the choir .

Rhett 19:41

Good job .

Micah Solomon 19:50

Darren , I'm not recruiting . Yeah , there you go . So , yeah , I kind of got in there because of that . And then , of course , those choirs and ensembles that , mr Counsel , was amazing and really helped us develop our gift Big time , as much as probably the church did , and that's where we got to sing a little more together . I remember the guys' ensemble , the disciples , the 12 . Do you remember that ? The 12 guys ? Oh well , I remember the guys ensemble , the disciples , the 12 .

Rhett 20:10

Do you remember that ? Uh-uh , the 12 guys ? Oh well , I remember that . I don't remember us having a name Oton , and Bomb baby , I remember , yeah .

Micah Solomon 20:16

We sounded that was amazing Oton and Bomb Don't start singing , yeah , that was amazing . Don't get Justin started out , yeah .

Rhett 20:25

Y'all make me come alive Did you go to Carnegie Hall with us ? Yes , I can't remember that you went to Carnegie . Yeah , yeah , okay .

Micah Solomon 20:31

That was a trip . Yeah , I know they had all our grades kind of together , so we weren't hanging out , then I guess , yeah , wow . How did I not go to ?

Justin 20:37

that thing if y'all two went .

Rhett 20:39

Well , that was a little bit pre-Jesus for me scared to fly we talk about that on another episode .

Justin 20:52

You can listen to it and then we played soccer together .

Rhett 20:53

Yeah that was right .

Justin 20:54

My senior , my senior year together , yeah , yeah , that's true we had a lot in common so one of the things I remember first , if you take it back a year in 93 , you know we'll talk more about your dad too , because you can't help it no two men , huge part of our life . Who helped us become who we are as vocalists is Mr Council .

Rhett 21:11

So Tom Council . Who is ?

Justin 21:12

still at Toccoa Falls the college that's awesome and your dad , rod Solomon , and so I can remember back . I had just been picking at the guitar a little bit . I hardly knew what I was doing . This is even really before my surrender to Christ .

Justin 21:29

I was coming around and and hanging out with , uh , pastor randy's daughters and obviously the solomons yeah and I remember playing just some , me and my cousin who we had we had actually interviewed previously matt caplan . We had wrote a song together called I need you now and I'm singing this love song in the youth room just because it's cool to play guitar , and your dad came in and listened to me and then he came up when everybody kind of stepped out . He came up to me and just started saying um , he was like man , I'll tell you what . You're really going to notice a difference when you begin singing . Basically , he was expressing this love that you can have towards God in a way I'd really have never heard of it , that you sing a love song to God . And he planted that seed . I didn't obviously do it right then , but he planted that seed . It's going to come alive for you . He didn't know I wasn't a believer , but he probably figured I'm this rough boy off the street .

Micah Solomon 22:25

But I would end up giving my heart . Yeah , the bandana .

Rhett 22:28

Yeah me and Rhett and our our , our socks yeah . As one who's wearing a beanie right now . That's true . I'm trying to figure out is your , are you good up there ?

Micah Solomon 22:40

on the top . Oh yeah , okay , I hadn't seen any hair . I haven't .

Rhett 22:44

no , you're not , I'm like it's been two years since we've seen each other .

Micah Solomon 22:48

We are getting a little bit older .

Rhett 22:50

I'm like you need to peel that back a little bit . Let me see what's underneath there you got a fully head shape .

Justin 22:54

God , let him bald , so me and Rick can have something on him after 31 years .

Rhett 22:59

I would never pray that , but you know , yeah , yeah yeah , no , I mean it would .

Justin 23:06

Micah would be like that . Have you seen some of those memes on socials where there's like the friend and it's like the , the real good looking person falls and trips and the other friend's trying to capture it like , haha , I finally got him and they'll take a picture definitely be right they take a picture

Justin 23:21

and then they go back and look at it like showing them , and the during the fall it made it look like this amazing photo , like yeah , oh , I haven't seen it and it's ticking off the person taking the pictures he's like dang it even looks good when he falls . Yeah , so , micah , if micah balls he's gonna be like this stud that it's like all right , never mind , give him his hair back sorry .

Rhett 23:42

So , bandana , sorry , this is , uh , the rabbit trail that ret can throw us on . This is what we do , but your , your dad planted that seed . Yeah , when I went on . This is what we need , your dad planted that seed .

Justin 23:51

Yeah , when I went on that trip and came home completely in love that was the best word in love surrendered , but also in love with Jesus . Yeah , and I remember I don't know if we've ever talked about this before , but I would come to your house spend the night . We were making this new connection . Rhett was really about to come around . You had this encounter not long after , but he was still hanging out in the Taco Bell parking lot with the guys with their lights under their car .

Justin 24:20

But me and Micah were hanging out in his room and I remember just asking Micah because I had been around charismatic churches , I had heard it , so it didn't weird me out . But I noticed that Micah and some of the people my age actually , when they were praying they had what would be a prayer language and I never understood it . And I remember we're sitting in your room and I'm like tell me about this . You're praying , what are you doing there ? Are you just kind of making up some words ? And then you had began to tell me about that's a gift that the Holy Spirit offers , and all you got to do is be , you know , be eager to ask yeah , wow . And then I remember you prayed for me in your room and I don't remember receiving that gift in that moment , but it opened me up to . It , planted a seed .

Justin 25:05

It planted a seed and we had , you know , church night and I'm sitting in worship and I'm just praying and I begin to articulate and I have this prayer language that I begin to pray in oh wow , I mean , and to this day , obviously , we have so many different audience people who love Jesus , and we have a lot of listeners who you are not a Christian , but this is our life and this is our journey , and this is part of my journey , 31 years ago .

Justin 25:32

It's your experience To explore that gift and it's been such a wonderful gift . But as I look at my friend over here , like you were part of that journey to help us get you know , really help me get started on that journey , yeah , and so it's just really really cool when I take . That's why I had to go back the year before that , because there were major things happening in my life . And then we get to what Rhett's talking about . We had our youth pastor . He went and planted a church but it really ended up . You had really kind of a church , I mean really kind of a break , if you will . There were a lot of people who shifted out , so we had a pretty good and to clarify , it wasn't Pastor Scott .

Justin 26:10

We're talking about a different one . Yeah , that's right . Pastor Scott came back and resurrected .

Rhett 26:14

Yeah he was a huge part of our ministry at that point , but this was pre .

Justin 26:20

Yeah , and even with that , the pastor meant well .

Micah Solomon 26:23

I mean , it wasn't no villain once again .

Justin 26:26

but what it did is it was just different philosophies and ministry . But what it did is it was just different philosophies and ministry . Yeah , but it calls people to kind of draw a line in the sand . Not that one is good and one's bad , but people went to be part of this new church but you also had here's Parkway that we didn't have any frills , really not really have a budget to do anything .

Rhett 26:46

Yeah .

Justin 26:51

But we went from probably 80 students at that time and we dropped to about 12 , 12 , 15 . Yeah , and do you ?

Rhett 26:54

remember that and then it was , it was us , and of course you know your dad's on staff , so you can't go anywhere for you , carmen and melissa , and you know , and your sister and a few other people , yeah , and I think , I think , yeah , you know that rip kimley at that time .

Justin 27:07

Oh yeah , tom tom , yeah , yeah , tom tom Kenley was interim . Yeah , yeah , he kept us going . Yeah , took us to the zoo , took us to the mall .

Rhett 27:14

Thanks , tom , but it was amazing , but it was in those moments that , out of not I don't know , 80 people back then was huge , you know , and to us as kids , we didn't know how resourceful we became- and what opportunities it set up for us to be able to take steps towards singing and leading and doing different things , and I remember , though , in that time , us leading and singing , and for some reason again this is where Justin comes in and connects dots for me , because it's all just a big blur , but I felt like , after every service or stuff , you would come up and hang out and be like dude , we need to do more like the band thing and start singing with the band .

Musical Bond and Family Lessons

Justin 27:50

Because you and I had a band that we were playing .

Rhett 27:53

Yeah .

Justin 27:54

And we had done a few youth functions .

Rhett 27:55

But we had no name . We had zero name to it . Right yeah , or did we ? We did , we redeemed .

Justin 28:01

Redeemed by the blood . Yeah , yeah , yeah , because we had a rap that we did .

Rhett 28:05

That's right .

Justin 28:06

R-E-D-D-E-M-E-D , by the B to the L , to the double O-D . Now .

Rhett 28:10

You remember that ? Do you remember that ? Yeah , sputnik , to you Rapping on the mic , telling the old brothers about Jesus Christ . Well , I'm going to kick it off .

Justin 28:18

And you know me . My name is Juddy . I've come in here to rap and sing and give my testimony .

Rhett 28:25

I'm like you know I'm not a movie . Okay , Wow , I know , so we had this rap white thing going on .

Justin 28:32

Yeah anyways , but you're right though . Micah came up to us after , I guess , a few outings and had expressed this openness to hey .

Rhett 28:41

Maybe we could sing some stuff together and I think that was the initial us singing and starting to sing and harmonize together . From what I remember Is that correct .

Justin 28:54

Yeah was the initial us singing and starting to sing and harmonize together from what I remember .

Rhett 28:56

Is that correct ? Yeah , because it was such a special bond with us three . I mean , I don't even know what happened with the band . I think we brought brian keenum on the drums and uh on the bass .

Justin 29:01

Stop with them and we sent something special and me . You and micah just began gathering at micah's house . Yeah , because , yeah , we did . I've said this often and your dad was a huge part of gathering .

Justin 29:12

Oh , because small groups are such a major thing now , right , but they weren't then . But Micah's house was small groups , like his dad started small groups before small groups were small groups , and so we were hanging out at your house . It's not hard to get people over when you're , when you're grilling steak every night , steak , uh , jalapeno baked beans and french fries in the fire . Man , oh man , this I can just and then right there , your table playing cards , playing spades , yep , watching michael jordan . Yeah , that's right , that was the only part I did .

Rhett 29:44

I was like I'm not a jordan fan well , we rooted against him .

Justin 29:46

I love michael jordan , but I would root against the Bulls on those nights . And then his dad goes and builds a basketball court in the backyard and we got to go play on that all the time .

Rhett 29:56

Do you remember that he paved it ? He had the pool , had the hot tub and the basketball court .

Micah Solomon 30:00

And dad grilling steaks on the deck .

Justin 30:03

Steaks on the deck .

Micah Solomon 30:03

Yeah , I got a great story . See , if you guys remember this .

Rhett 30:06

Hey guys , red here Just wanted to take a moment and ask if you're enjoying this podcast . Could you do us a huge favor Would you take a moment to copy the link from your podcast platform and then text that to a friend man ? That would mean so much to us . Thank you , okay , guys . Now back to the conversation . I got a great story .

Micah Solomon 30:25

See you guys remember this Talking about food at my house . So yeah , we had people come all the time , our door was wide open , which was great , and we loved it that way and of course , mom and Dad set it up that way . Well , we have a friend , ryan , and he was with us a lot . Actually , at one point sang played with us and stuff also later , ryan jennings rj .

Justin 30:46

Shout out to you , buddy .

Micah Solomon 30:49

Yeah , okay , love ryan so , ryan , maybe you'll remember this , but he came over one day and we're all sitting in the kitchen just talking and I guess ryan was comfortable and hungry . And so he reaches into the closet you guys remember this and grabs a bag of cookies and just starts eating . Oh , my god . No , I am telling you right now . Ryan text me and ants start coming out of his mouth .

Rhett 31:11

Oh no , and there was ants in this ant , your mom would have been like petrified Tripping out man ?

Micah Solomon 31:17

Yeah , I bet she was . But anyway , that's one food story .

Rhett 31:19

Moved out of the South .

Micah Solomon 31:28

Like what's up with all these bugs in the south ? What in the world ? Yes , man , yeah , my gosh and uh , so I'm interested to see if uh ryan remembers that .

Justin 31:32

It'd be hard to forget . But ryan jennings , yeah , we're calling you out today .

Micah Solomon 31:34

Reach out , yes . Do you remember the ?

Justin 31:36

ant incident yeah , yeah so yeah , I have heard that ants are actually high in protein . So yeah , well , I just remember .

Rhett 31:43

I remember your mom like being like a mom to me , like a spiritual mom , and teaching , and your dad like a mom to me , like a spiritual mom , and your dad was a part of this too , as a spiritual father . But we would eat , but then the expectation was all right , boys , it's time to clean .

Micah Solomon 31:54

You know what I mean .

Rhett 31:56

I was like , wow , I was learning what it was like to be a part of a family .

Justin 32:00

It was true . Because , I love my dad , like with a mom and a dad together in this .

Rhett 32:05

you know , and no family's perfect . I get that , but for like , for me , it was like the ideal family . Oh , my gosh dinner . And yeah , I love to serve . How can I clean , you know ? And teaching me how to clean dishes and stuff you know cause all I ever had was paper up to that point .

Justin 32:19

Do you throw this in the garbage ?

Rhett 32:21

So those are the things that those , those are the small but huge moments in my life that were just so pivotal . You know , teach me how to become a man Well .

Justin 32:31

Mike , I remember me and Rhett . Obviously we didn't grow up with this mindset of structure being on time . We just kind of we were on island time Like we really were all the time , and so we finally get involved , really because of you and your dad , we just love being with you guys . We get involved with the choir .

Rhett 32:49

It was total lack of self-awareness , too , we lacked . Let me speak for me .

Justin 32:55

I say we , but I lacked so much , holy moly , I lacked so much self-awareness .

Rhett 33:00

Oh , I did too .

Justin 33:01

And I remember Pastor Rod bringing us into his office because we were late to every choir practice . But not only that , not only that . Mike has got a huge smile on his face , me and . Rhett like so much awareness Not only were we late to sneak in . We walked in there like we owned the place .

Rhett 33:17

We would come in like what's going on ? We're giving everybody five Yo , we can start . Now we're here .

Justin 33:23

Pastor Rod is literally up there , probably in the depths of sharing something . And he's just being so patient watching us , and we're greeting every road every choir member ? Oh , absolutely . He never called us out in front of anybody . He was so kind he would say good to see you , boys , Boys is always his word . He pulled me and Red into his office , probably after the fifth .

Rhett 33:43

In a very loving , kind , fatherly way and he said yeah , and he basically said yeah , it was time management .

Justin 33:50

He said you've got to be a man of your word . That's going to take you far , but you have to be a man of your word , and when you say you're going to be somewhere on time , that's the first time .

Rhett 33:59

I heard that , yeah , first time I ever heard that in my entire life . It was awesome . Ch , it was awesome .

Justin 34:02

Changed my life . Wow , I mean like I know Rick can say it too I'm known by being on time and detailed with things , and I always attribute it back to that , by that time , probably a 16-year-old sitting in Pastor Rod's office and him teaching me these lessons .

Rhett 34:19

Well , his self-awareness was huge . That was one of those . But also never in my life had I ever thought about a timeframe of calling somebody or showing up . Showing up at somebody's house , and I'll never forget . We would sit around and talk . I don't know if you remember this , but it's like man , I don't know why you guys call past nine o'clock Like nobody does that , Like that's too late . We're like going to bed and y'all are like calling and stuff . Like what do you mean , dude ?

Micah Solomon 34:41

Like we're friends , we're friends , we can just like can't we just stay up till like midnight ?

Rhett 34:45

nobody can just show up at your house . You're like man , this is a southern thing that we don't do this in the north and it was probably .

Rhett 34:50

It's probably a very bradshaw varden thing , but no it was , but it was , it was like wow , I'd never thought about that before I didn't think about boundaries and family time and family night . I just thought the world revolved around us and just whatever you know sometimes I still do and I'm working on that . But you're right . Yeah , but those are the . I think that's .

Musical Journey and Funny Memories

Rhett 35:10

I think that's . The beauty of this friendship is that it is so deep .

Justin 35:13

It goes back to how impactful your parents were in our life and you too , man and Danielle , both all of y'all just being a part of that family was , was amazing , and so we began singing together . Take it from there . I mean , you were talking about how you remember that bus trip when we actually got our name , but from that point we just began singing . But we have zero direction . Your dad steps in to help us understand what harmony is , how to schedule bookings , all this stuff .

Micah Solomon 35:44

Yeah , I think to fast track it . I mean we started singing in church because our church had church specials during the offering offering specials and we fastly became a favorite for the offering specials . And there's lots of stories there . I don't want to rabbit trail there .

Justin 36:03

But anyways , oh , you can bro .

Micah Solomon 36:06

Make it magical baby . Yeah , probably . Okay , one of the greatest stories ever there's two , but this is one was at Parkway and we came on stage to sing a song and we worked really hard , we practiced , a lot .

Rhett 36:20

Yes , we did . We would literally sing all the time . We worked hard , we worked hard .

Micah Solomon 36:23

We took that serious , and so we got up there and Rhett blew the pitch pipe . He was a pitch pipe blower . Thank you for your ministry .

Rhett 36:31

You're welcome man . Yeah , you were phenomenal pitch pipe blower .

Justin 36:34

He was so good with that pitch pipe .

Micah Solomon 36:36

There you go , and Rhett and I . Justin was always in the middle , he sang lead , and so Rhett and I are waiting , because Justin started a lot of songs and yes , he had to start the song for us to come in and it had to be on pitch and and we're waiting and all of a sudden little snickers throughout the crowd and because we're looking at each other and all of a sudden it becomes a comic thing that they're not singing .

Micah Solomon 37:02

And then Justin or Rhett and I are like humming pitches and like doing everything in the world putting our arm around him rubbing his back .

Rhett 37:09

You know , like hey , buddy you got this , you got this man . Everybody thought it was a skit .

Micah Solomon 37:14

now they all thought it was like fun and good . Because we were fun guys .

Rhett 37:18

I thought we were mixing it up a little bit .

Micah Solomon 37:19

Mixing it up and they're like laughing hysterically .

Rhett 37:21

This is the first time this has ever happened to us .

Micah Solomon 37:23

Yeah , there's only one guy that wasn't laughing hysterical , and that was the lead pastor the senior pastor , pastor Randy , we've talked about this and you know , of course he had to preach after this . So he's probably looking at the clock saying , okay , this comic relief thing has gone like five , six minutes now Like you guys , you boys , need to start singing my , my hands are in the air .

Rhett 37:42

By this point .

Micah Solomon 37:43

I'm like dear Jesus , I'm just not trusting you , Holy Spirit . I just shut my eyes .

Justin 37:46

I just sit there with my hands in the air and Micah Hallelujah Rest in worship .

Micah Solomon 37:51

Micah is judging me , oh yeah .

Rhett 37:54

I'm not worshiping at all Out of the corner of my eye , I see Micah's anger .

Micah Solomon 37:57

I'm probably frustrated .

Justin 37:58

Why has self forsaken me .

Micah Solomon 38:01

Yeah , it's a little embarrassing for me and I'm like come on , man , we only practiced 759 times on this song .

Justin 38:09

He was a mind block .

Micah Solomon 38:09

Sing the dang note , you know , and so yeah .

Rhett 38:14

Tom , how about you ?

Micah Solomon 38:15

Yeah , and he starts to walk on stage and , miraculously , justin finds the note and starts to sing and the whole place erupts , stands on their feet . I think Jack Bryant at the time was the drummer . He starts playing the drums and he jumps on the drums , joey Sanford jumps on the piano .

Rhett 38:33

We start having church on this song and we have revival . Yeah , it breaks out into revival .

Micah Solomon 38:38

We literally brought the house down . Oh , literally . And then walked in the back and I think we were so embarrassed that we had a whole uh choir robes like a hundred choir robes right and we had these little shelves like these that we would hang these robes in right , these closets , cabinets , yeah these cabinets and I think we hid in the choir oh , yeah , because we didn't know what else to do and we were like talking to each other behind the choir , like what just happened ?

Micah Solomon 39:05

I didn't know . Do we have to go back out ? Yeah , was that good ? Was it bad ?

Rhett 39:10

Were they standing because they thank God , they made it .

Justin 39:13

And do you remember when we walked out everybody ?

Micah Solomon 39:15

was telling us .

Justin 39:17

I love that skit y'all did before this song . Yeah , we just ran with it . Of course we owned it . It was like , oh yeah yeah , yeah .

Micah Solomon 39:23

So I mean long story short , though . We went from singing at church to going around and singing at other churches to see your poll rallies , to bigger events and sing national anthem for a few teams .

Rhett 39:36

We went to Kansas City and sang a special there and we had the Cowboy Radio .

Micah Solomon 39:40

That's the next greatest moment of all time we're in the .

Rhett 39:43

Midwest man , you got these Southern boys with their little Packed out man .

Micah Solomon 39:46

Yeah , yeah , man , you got these Southern boys with their suits and tie that all match . I can remember thinking we went to a big youth conference , massive youth conference , and it was up north .

Rhett 39:59

And I remember at this point .

Micah Solomon 40:01

We've been singing around a bit and I don't remember ever having a big head that we thought we were something . But when we go to a church event , typically we would sing at some point and so I think we were excited to sing , especially for youth , because we're all used to singing for old people . So I remember even thinking , if we didn't say it , I'm thinking , looking around , going , this would be fun .

Rhett 40:25

This would be good .

Micah Solomon 40:26

I do remember talking , I think , when we finally got the call and whether Pastor Scott or somebody set that up , but some they were like , hey , yeah , your boys , they can sing , they can open up the second night or something . And I remember us talking and you know saying , hey , we are from the South and whatever we do , let's not look like we're from the south yeah , I think it was more mike .

Rhett 40:49

It was more geared toward justin I think it was a little bit .

Micah Solomon 40:52

I do remember me .

Justin 40:53

We're like we gotta talk to justin yeah , it's like okay , listen , I'm learning new things now y'all are having conversations my mannerisms , it was it was , I think it was more mike .

Rhett 41:05

Then I thrown you under the bus . Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , I'm sure it was .

Micah Solomon 41:08

I'm like , hey guys this is up north , and you know a lot of cute girls in the room and you know let's just not walk off the stage like three boys from Alabama , you know , let's not do this .

Rhett 41:23

And it didn't work out .

Micah Solomon 41:25

Justin did not get the memo .

Rhett 41:27

Well , at least he remembered the starting pitch .

Micah Solomon 41:28

He did remember the starting pitch , and I think that's what threw it off because he got so excited . He got so excited , he started pulling a rodeo on us . I literally guys , you can't see it ?

Rhett 41:37

but he was literally rodeoing .

Micah Solomon 41:39

He had a lasso , a lasso , and his hips were doing this right here .

Rhett 41:43

He had a little hip action in there .

Micah Solomon 41:45

Everything but the cowboy chaps were happening ?

Rhett 41:48

Oh my God , yeah , but the eruption was like amazing .

Micah Solomon 41:52

They loved it , they loved it , they loved it . Three boys from Alabama .

Rhett 41:56

We kind of turned away to our side of the stage For shaking me again .

Micah Solomon 41:59

Yeah , and we were , like Justin's , out there doing this all by himself .

Rhett 42:02

I'm on the right stage .

Micah Solomon 42:03

I don't know if I'm on the right stage or on the left stage . I remember thinking you know , we did great .

Rhett 42:06

We're not getting dates off of this thing , but we did great .

Micah Solomon 42:10

Let's just go home and take our win .

Justin 42:15

I remember it well , that was a pack room and we came off and I was mirror-miking .

Rhett 42:19

oh dear God , were you doing the cowboy ?

Justin 42:22

What was that I did ? Yeah , it was like the lasso .

Rhett 42:27

It boy , what was that I did ?

Justin 42:28

yeah , I was like , it was like the lasso , it just came out , it just came out , naturally , felt , natural it did , oh I felt so good during that performance and I came off the stage and y'all let me hear it right away we're like are you serious , right ? Now , what were you thinking it was ? It was definitely some . What were you thinking ?

Rhett 42:41

that's awesome yeah , oh my gosh .

Micah Solomon 42:45

So it's great good times . Yeah , we had great times .

Justin 42:47

Oh , my gosh a my gosh , so it was great Good times , yeah , we had great times , oh my gosh , a lot of good memories , it was best times really , oh my gosh . Okay , this is funny . I mean , I at least got to talk about this .

Rhett 42:56

It better be , because you're setting it up that way .

Justin 42:58

Well , maybe funny is not the right word . I do remember on our way to one of our beach trips , remember we would stop , and there were a couple of years where we stopped at a church on our way and we would you know we'd actually sleep in the church auditorium all the students , but it's almost like we stopped and it was like yeah it was like almost it turned into a 24-7 concert .

Rhett 43:22

Is this the one where we did the worship in the round ? Is it the church that had the auditorium , where the stage was in the center and the audience was around ?

Justin 43:30

us . I remember that service . No , that was on our way home from a trip in Montgomery and that was a different church . That was pretty cool .

Rhett 43:37

Because I thought they had the youth room that had the 50s diner floor where we were all dancing and stuff , and you'd feel like celebrate Jesus . Oh yeah , yeah , okay . So this is a different one , never mind , yeah .

Justin 43:50

This is a different one . I blanked out when I was talking because I started getting different concerts in my head , okay , but I remember this one specifically . It's on our way to the beach , okay , it was supposed to be a youth event and we were going to sing a couple of songs and there were going to be human videos . For some reason , on this night it got turned into a straight up 24-7 concert . Your dad was on the piano , we played basically most of the stuff there was really not anything the youth did .

Justin 44:18

It was a youth choir , though , right , we had the choir , didn't we ? I don't remember , I just know . Here's how I remember we go on to the beach trip . Know , here's , here's how I remember we go on to the um , the beach trip , and I won't give any details , but it's like we combine two youth groups . Yep , there was a bit of friction . That happened because youth group a , let's say , in youth group b were we a part of youth group a ?

Rhett 44:39

let's say we were a part of youth group a , so here we go , thank you youth group b decided .

Justin 44:43

Some of the girls in the youth group decided we want to look nice for the final gathering of this . I mean , they got in there . I mean just looked great in their dresses like beachy dresses . It wasn't like inappropriate , sure , but they got decked out . It wasn't something you'd think you're going to go into a student service either , but it looked great .

Justin 45:02

Youth group A over here some of the girls were a little jealous because of how the other ones had got decked out and the others are just in their normal pants , shorts , I mean just no washed hair . We've had a blast , we're in the sand , I mean we're having a great time . And youth group A says something to youth group B and it was very harsh and it hurt a lot of feelings . And so there was this tension between the two youth groups . So here we are now . We go into service . It's thick . How much tension is in that room , so much that the guy that we brought in Charlton to lead worship , he's leading and he can sense within the first song that nobody is actually engaged in worship , because he can just sense there's tension .

Rhett 45:46

And as a kid I had no idea he stopped . I'm just sitting there like what is happening . I don't remember the tension . Oh bro , I remember him . That's what I'm saying . As a youth I had no idea , y'all he stops the service .

Justin 45:58

I was good . Yeah , I know , all right . Well , okay , hold on . We , we were good , oh .

Rhett 46:03

I know where you're going . He stops the service .

Justin 46:05

And he says hey , we cannot move forward until we reconcile this tension . And he gave a word from the Lord setting it up . It felt really spot on . I'm on the front row thinking like for real , let's work this out . Probably a bit holier than now I'm acting , and I don't know that I am at that season , but I'm like they need to work this .

Rhett 46:26

He's like if there's anything between you and your brother .

Justin 46:28

You need to go and reconcile and ask for forgiveness .

Rhett 46:31

So that was kind of on the front row .

Justin 46:33

It was us three kind of chilling on the front row . We're sitting on the ground , but we're always up front , Just excited . He starts to play a little music in the background no singing and he wants everybody to work out their stuff . I just remember thinking let's wait until they get all this over . Maybe these girls can reconcile . So we're waiting there .

Rhett 46:49

And I'm searching my heart . Going man , I'm good , Everybody's good .

Justin 46:52

I'm good , I ain't got nobody no beef with anybody .

Rhett 46:55

Yeah , we're good .

Justin 46:57

Well before you know it . I don't know if you remember this Take a ticket , please . We've got a line .

Rhett 47:08

I do not there is a line .

Micah Solomon 47:09

Maybe it was just Justin and I , but either way , maybe they didn't have problems with me . Hey , will you take a number ?

Rhett 47:15

No , I'm sure . You're going to ask for forgiveness for these guys . Take a number .

Justin 47:19

Take a number I assume Micah would have had a line going somewhere too , because I know for a fact we did . We have

Reflections on Youth and Growth

Justin 47:25

a line . Forget these girls that are thinking they coming up to us in line . The studs , the college athletes , the people we looked up to .

Rhett 47:40

We were like God . We can only be like them . That's what I'm remembering . Yeah , yeah , yeah .

Micah Solomon 47:43

I wish I was big and strong and tall and cool . They were the ones we thought were awesome .

Justin 47:49

Yeah , exactly , and there's a line of those guys and they're having to ask for forgiveness that I have held stuff against you . I remember that . Y'all have been getting all this attention . I had no idea . You've been on this stage and I've held this against you and I'm like so caught off guard and I remember the whole room is ready to worship but , they're having to wait for us three to get people done talking to us .

Micah Solomon 48:16

So in the end it was like we were kind of the ones yeah , we caused all the problems . I was like what ? I was like bro , like I'm sorry , I've heard , I forget , I forget , I'm waiting , my finger at everybody else and it's like , oh , it was me , I get at the point where they started coming in . I don't even have to hear that on our team anymore . Yeah , it's all good .

Rhett 48:31

We got a service to continue .

Justin 48:32

I forgive you , I forgive you , I forgive you , I forgive you . You're forgiven . Charlton's like just start the dang music . It's going to take all night .

Rhett 48:39

That was like okay , you three over here you in the line you go outside over in the corner , y'all work your stuff out .

Micah Solomon 48:54

We got a idea , sure , sure , neither I thought everybody was happy to hear us sing for an hour and a half , even though they thought they were coming to perform some kind of human video .

Justin 48:57

You mean , you're not okay that we got to take over the whole show . Really , didn't you enjoy our singing ?

Rhett 49:04

well , let me think about that for a second . We were we . We , you know . We created our own little world , like one that didn't exist . We took steps as leaders . We didn't think of it as leadership and we started using our gifts in ways , and we never asked for the platform , we just took our gifts and stewarded it between us three and doors open and we just , yeah , why not ? We would ?

Micah Solomon 49:23

sing anywhere . I mean anywhere , Anywhere , man Literally .

Rhett 49:26

But we always had open hands and open hearts , and we never did it , thinking that we were better than anybody else , we were just having a blast , but it's amazing how the enemy will use that you know in people's lives and I was like golly I'm , so I don't apologize for what we're doing , but I hate that it's made you feel that way , yeah .

Justin 49:42

I had no , no idea .

Micah Solomon 49:44

Yeah , yeah , I mean unintentionally um , I remember probably 90% of my youth days with you2 . And so we probably cut a lot of people out completely unintentionally , totally , man . But even practicing you know the hours we practiced it was like no , we can't go hang .

Rhett 50:04

We can't go to .

Micah Solomon 50:04

Taco Bell , we've got to go practice , yes , but we pushed a lot of people out .

Justin 50:09

But you know , micah , I remember feeling a sense of I think it's the combination of surrendering our life to Christ . As Rhett said earlier , we're experiencing family like we never have . We're experiencing in your dad , pastor Rod , a guy who sees potential in us and who's trying to set us up where we're doing way more than we could have ever imagined . Doors are opening . We felt a sense of mission , I know , for me . I want to speak for me because me and you , we had an interesting conversation a couple of years ago and it took that long to have it and it opened my eyes Because I can remember me and Rhett obviously grew up the same way .

Navigating Tension and Growth in Friendship

Justin 50:47

So I would say , of us three , me and Rhett would tend to be more agreeable on things . Sure , and you were different on certain moments and I think we had our times where it was more Rhett and Micah , or me and Micah , or me and Rhett , but most of the time I was always the guy in the middle between the three .

Rhett 51:01

Rhett was the blue . I don't understand that .

Justin 51:04

Me and Micah were the fiery personalities .

Rhett 51:06

I was the peacemaker at that point .

Justin 51:07

Rhett kept us together from killing each other . Yeah , but me and Rhett , the way we grew up , just , we were such dreamers , and you were too , but I never realized this , what we talked about later . But here's how we would take it .

Micah Solomon 51:25

Me and .

Justin 51:25

Rhett would dream certain things and it would come across I'm about to give more of the reveal in a minute and we would just get excited and start talking about things and you would almost physically not necessarily shut it down with your words , but your body language would get kind of . You know , like your hands are like ?

Micah Solomon 51:42

I've always been more of a realist .

Justin 51:43

It was more of this realist who did not like that dreaming talk too much . But we never took it like that . I took it as resistance . Like man , what's your like , do you not ? You don't believe in us and it would cause this friction . And , of course , when you're young , you don't know what to do with that . You're just trying to , you're trying to just okay , we'll get through this Cause . I felt so on mission with , with you and Rhett that we'll get whatever through , whatever we need to get through .

Justin 52:12

Yeah , but I remember a couple of years ago , me and you were going and walking . We actually went and walked the soccer field at Parkway , just to reminisce and we drove around our old stomping grounds and Micah began talking . And here's what I remember you sharing . You were like the way I grew up you've got to graduate , you've got to get a degree , you've got to , you've got to , you got to graduate , you've got to get a degree , you've got to . Or even if you don't get a degree , you've got to work hard . You're going to have to have a full-time job .

Justin 52:40

Because I thought for the for years , like , like , micah had this lawn business he built as a teenager . So during the summers on , when we're not practicing , he had a work schedule . We worked around where Micah he went and bought a truck and he would go make tons of money cutting yards . But I never knew it was , I just thought you enjoyed doing it . But what I learned from you is you had this work ethic , like if you don't do this , life's not going to be handed to you , and you would reveal to me that when me and Rhett were dreaming so much , it didn't really gel with you in that sense because you were looking at it like we're going to have to go work really hard on these jobs . We're not going to go tour . That's not really the life of going to go tour . So we never knew , rhett , when we were talking . In this way we're living the dream in our head . Micah had more of this realistic approach and those were tensions we didn't know how to manage as these young boys .

Micah Solomon 53:37

I do remember some of the tension that you're talking about , but before we even go any further , I want to tell you guys , just publicly , and you guys , even today , I feel like that you would have my back 100% no matter what Like , we were truly brothers . You were the brothers that I never had , and very , very few people in life that you probably will go through . But I know , even today , you would tell me what most people wouldn't want to tell me or say , and I would do the same you know , but yeah , so there was tension and I would do the same , you know .

Micah Solomon 54:11

But yeah , and so there was tension . But part of why I was that that talk years ago , a couple of years ago , that we had that was so great for me , was I never I didn't have quite the negative reflection on those moments that you guys did To me . It was brothers hashing stuff out , you know , and part of my personality is , even if we went nuts , yes , if I love you , I love you for life . Yeah , let's go grab a meal and see a movie tonight , like you know what I mean . I just want to knock it out , get it done or whatever . And , of course , with part of my testimony , some of that you're getting into the later years now , right , then a lot of that disappears , you know which we have talked about some too .

Rhett 54:59

So it was really tough . Well , I think you probably had a healthy understanding of how to deal with conflict by watching your mom and dad as wonderful as they are , I mean , all married couples have to work in communication and so you , growing up , you know , I'm sure you saw how they work things out and still loved each other and move forward in areas where I never saw that and Justin never saw that . So for me , I ended up being the Pete and I'm not this way anymore . I say I'm an overcoming people pleaser . Like I had to work at it , I'm very aware of it , but like , for me , whatever I had to do to keep peace within any situation , because we loved each other , yeah , but the trauma that I experienced as a kid losing my mom and then all the stuff you know that I went through I ended up just having .

Rhett 55:41

I felt like , if I don't keep everybody happy , like that's my role , like that's my role , like I don't . I just felt like my role in the group was keep you happy , keep you happy , keep us happy . So like my dream will come true and it was that way , not just with us but with every situation and , of course , I've had to work through therapy and other things and get better through that throughout the years . I'm 47 and I've come a long way from that , but yeah , so that's where I kind of fit in the mix of just the trauma . And so I think , looking back hindsight's 2020 , it was like we're all dealing with our own little issues and we're not even aware that we have the issues and we're just kind of figuring it out . I think that's the beauty of the group was that we were forced , and that's what the beauty of teams and sports does it forces you to confront and to grow and to become self-aware . So I didn't realize all of that , of what Justin just kind of set up in those moments . I had no idea .

Justin 56:33

Yeah .

Rhett 56:33

Because I just thought you loved cutting grass and you're like come help me cut grass , rhett , I'll do it for one or two yards . I'm like no man , I'm good , I'm good . This is hard work , dude , and see .

Justin 56:45

I was a black and white thinker and I'm used to the persuasiveness . If and I was I'm used to the persuasiveness . If I have a dream I was used to , you go along with it , and if you resist me , it means you're against me . And I didn't have the realization to know that the best tension creates I mean tension creates some of the best outcomes . Yeah , and so that's why we would kind of go through almost that , that you almost need a few hours of like , oh my gosh , I'm going to kill him . I'm going to kill him . I'm going to kill him because it was not in perfect agreement with me and I didn't know how to . I didn't know how to reconcile that in my head other than just think , like man you're , you're not wanting us to succeed , right , but then we would tie loose ends up and we come back together because there was that sense of it's worth it .

Justin 57:31

like , yeah , when you're called by god with people , there's that sense of it's worth it . Like , when you're called by God with people , there's that sense of mission , that it's like we're going to get through this , but still , I didn't understand all that then in my own immaturity and lack of just awareness .

Rhett 57:43

But it was huge in our development and just becoming the men that we are today . I think , more than anything .

Justin 57:50

Coming up on the next episode of Armchair Authentic From that accident .

Micah Solomon 57:52

that was a big Coming up on the next episode of Armchair Authentic From that accident . That was a big crush , a big blow , I think , to our entire church . Dad was an incredible shepherd . There's pastors that have different gifts and I think one of the greatest gifts my dad had was he really was a spiritual father to a lot of people and he was a great friend . And so it was a spiritual father to a lot of people , yeah , and he was a great friend , and so it was a big loss . And of course , my mom was at the time the children's pastor also , and so you kind of had two high-level pastors that we just lost in the church and so that was really hard to handle . But I remember the first couple services that we had after that were really powerful . They were powerful for me and I remember us getting back on stage leading worship and in my mind and in my eyes I don't know how it played out in everyone else's eyes , but I remember making the decision that this loss would not define me .

Justin 58:47

We're really looking forward to that episode . But in the meantime , if you enjoyed this episode , would you do something for me ? Would you take out your phone , Would you copy the link and send it to a friend ? We would really appreciate that . Thank you Well , until next time . We hope you have a fantastic week . See you soon . Scene .