Using the Power of Belief to Rise Above Adversity - Benny Perez

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In this episode of Relentless Hope, Benny Perez unravels the extraordinary story of navigating through life's toughest seasons, and how a steadfast commitment to faith can lead to transformative outcomes. In the midst of life's challenges, we'll uncover the key to maintaining a routine that anchors us in truth, the art of overcoming fears, and the beauty of trusting in a higher plan. Through the valleys and peaks, we emerge stronger, with our eyes set on a future brimming with promise.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray follow peace with all men, and holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord Hebrews twelve fourteen.
Dear Father, help me to strive for peace with the
relationships in my life consistently. It doesn't help me to
hold negative feelings in my heart toward others. There's no
benefit in having any feelings that can keep me back

(00:22):
from fulfilling my real purpose and calling. Allow me to
surrender to You instead of seeking control. Allow me to
strive for peace instead of having resentment. Allow me to
forgive when feelings of anger arise. Father, remind me to
always pursue and grow in my faith. Amen, thank you

(00:47):
for joining us in prayer. Now for the Relentless Hope podcast,
where we bring you true stories and personal testimonies that
will help you love your life, lead with purpose, and
leave a legacy of helping others.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Life as we know it is a tapestry woven with
triumphs and trials. It is in these ups and downs
where we need to let our faith shine and guide
us through the path leading to our spiritual fulfillment a
life in God. In this episode of Relentless Hope, Benny
Perez unravels the extraordinary story of navigating through life's toughest

(01:30):
seasons and how a steadfast commitment of faith can lead
to transformative outcomes. In this episode of Relentless Hope, Benny
Perez unravels the extraordinary story of navigating through life's toughest
seasons and how a steadfast commitment to faith can lead
to transformative outcomes in the midst of life's challenges. We'll
uncover the key to maintaining a routine that anchors us

(01:53):
in truth, the art of overcoming fears, and the beauty
of trusting in a higher plan. Through the valleys and peaks,
we emerge stronger, with our eyes set on the future,
brimming up with promise. Amidst the chaos of life, Benny
has clung to the belief that there is a divine purpose,
an unshakable destiny that transcends earthly confines. Through adversity, he

(02:18):
learned the art of resilience, forging relationships that fortify the
soul and carve a path toward healing. Growing up in
the heart of Los Angeles, Benny discovered the art of
entrepreneurship at an early age, peddling avocados and learning life's
valuable lessons on sale at a time. An upbringing filled
with faith and an encounter with God revealed a path

(02:39):
that led him to where he is today. Through perseverance, dedication,
and the willingness to face fears head on, Benny has
seen the impact of unwavering belief. Join us as we
explore the essence of faith, the power of relationships, and
the rule of discipline in shaping destinies. After starting his

(03:01):
own church in two thousand and three, Benny Prez was
hit with a number of struggles and challenges all at once.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
My father in law was battling cancer, and he fought valiantly,
but he transitioned from this place into heaven, and he
did not win totally here on earth, but he's won
obviously totally in heaven, and so he passed on. And
at around the same time, I remember my wife was
pregnant and you know, with our fourth child, and she

(03:31):
had a tragic, tragic, you know, miscarriage as the baby
died in her womb, and then the baby had to
be taken out, and then the surgery didn't go well
and my wife was almost lost on the operating table.
And then my wife hemorrhage and she almost died literally
at her house. And so now my father in law passed,

(03:51):
almost losing my wife, and there's difficulty going on in
the economy, and everything hit us so fast.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
On part one of this three parts series, we embark
on a journey through the life of Benny Perez, a
man whose path was marked by both triumph and adversity.
From the inception of his own church to battling personal
tragedies and challenges, Benny's unwavering faith and determination led him
through a transformative journey of growth. As we trace his

(04:23):
steps from his early days navigating entrepreneurial ventures to the
profound encounter that brought him back to God's purpose, we
find inspiration in his story of resilience and the power
of relationships.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I'm
one of five kids. I'm the middle child, two younger,
two older. So I've learned how to navigate some things
in my life as a lot of maybe middle children
had to do. And I grew up in a great family,
loving family. Unfortunately, you know, when I was younger, my

(05:02):
mom my dad, their marriage didn't make it and he
decided to go his own way. But I have a
great mom, and she raised me and my siblings, and
then she got remarried to my dad, who basically raised
me for the rest of really the rest of my life,
growing up from about eight nine, you know, all the
way to about twenty one and still married today. And

(05:23):
I love him and I love my mom. You know.
I grew up in really in an area called piker Vera, California.
I learned to be an entrepreneur at a very young age.
It was kind of interesting that we had avocado trees
and and I would pick the avocados and go door
to door and really learned how to interact with people,

(05:47):
make some sales, make a little bit of money. It
was kind of fun as a you know, young kid,
ten years of age and selling avocado's door to door
and making myself some money. And in that I I
learned what it was to actually now manage some money.
And my dad taught me some things in regards to
managing money. And one of the things that he taught

(06:08):
me was whatever you do, give the first ten percent
to God. And that's where I learned how to start
tithing and putting God first in my life. And so
it was kind of fun even at a young age,
learning what it was to put God first and to
make sure that understood what that meant. And so it
was just kind of fun, you know, growing up. I

(06:28):
went to Christian school from third grade to twelfth grade
and just really had an encounter with God, even at
his young child. As a third grader, that's where I
said yes to Jesus Christ. And it was in that
moment that I begin to realize that God had a
plan for my life. It is even as a third grader,
and I was the first Christian in my family. And

(06:50):
what I did decided to do was I continue to
pray for my parents, my mom, my dad, my brother,
and my sisters. And after about two years, my mom
got saved gave her life to Christ. A year after that,
my dad, who was a bookie, barner drinker, smoker, gambler,
owned a bar. He gave his life to Christ, and
his life begin to change pretty dramatically within that first year.

(07:12):
And before you know it, you know, he was no
longer doing what you know, he really wanted to do.
And so he found out that God was speaking to him.
And it became a trying time in my family's life
because you know, he had to go find a regular job,
and I remember him, you know, finally getting a job
driving a truck and barely making you know, any money,

(07:35):
making enough just to pay the bills. But we we
were still you know, being provided for and just exciting
to note that in the midst of growing up, you know,
that we saw God's provision you know, take place in
our life. And and so I just began to realize
that I could trust God and and really, you know,

(08:00):
with my faith and hope in Jesus Christ. I remember
many times that our family, you know, was barely barely
gonna make it, and yet God would come through, as
somebody would come and just randomly bless our family or randomly,
you know, do something for us. And now I know
it wasn't random. I know is actually God that was
making that happen. And through that, I just begin to

(08:22):
see God's hand in my life and my family's life
growing up. And so I just saw that more and more.
But I think one of the things that impacted me
the most in my life was when I got hit
with some tragedy, even personal tragedy in my life. When
I was in eighth grade, I got hit with multiple
diseases from hyperthybridism, graves disease, marpha syndrome, being diagnosed with

(08:44):
rumorichard arthritis, and at one point a doctor saying I
would be in a wheelchair by the age of twenty five.
At that moment, I began to really think about my life,
and I remember saying, Okay, God, if you're real, why
don't you supernaturally heal me. And through a series of
my mom taking me to different meetings and it not happening.
And I actually got bitter and angry towards God because

(09:06):
he did not do what I asked him to do
on my timetable. Even though I prayed, I didn't have
a maturity to realize that, you know, God's timing isn't
my timing and his ways aren't my ways. And so
I literally just got angry and bitter walked away from
God from you know, ninth grade to twelfth grade, and
then begin to do my own stuff, begin to make
myself the center of my life. And you know, I

(09:27):
went out to do some things from partying to experimenting
with some things, and and really was not just walking
away from God, but actually was really antagonistic towards the
things of God. The only reason why I went to
church and continue to go to church is because I
could get free rent and free food if I continue
to go to church on Sunday morning. So I did,

(09:48):
and it was it was a good trade off. I figured, Hey,
you know, free rent and some food to stay with
my parents, and I just went to church on Sunday
morning and I would go there not really really being
open to anything that God had for me. Was I
was really more just kind of just doing what I
was supposed to do so I didn't have to pay anything.

(10:09):
But something happened, you know, when God came after my life.
I want to just really make this point and introduce
this thought to maybe somebody who's listening. It's not so
much we are going after God. God continue comes after us.
I was not looking for God. I was running away
from God. But God was looking for me. And in

(10:30):
the month of July and nineteen eighty six, I was
on a beach in southern California where I had a
God encounter. Literally, I had a God encounter in the
afternoon where the presence of God came and began to
invelop my life. As I was walking along a beach
with a friend of mine. Literally felt the presence and
power of Jesus himself, and I heard his voice inside

(10:51):
of me saying, Hey, it's time to come home. It's
time to come home. I remember kneeling down on that
beach so many years ago, at San Ao Free State
Beach on the California shoreline, right there, and wondering why
God would want me back after all the things that
I've said and even blasphemed his name. But I'm grateful
for the grace of God, the mercy of God that

(11:11):
decided to come after me when I wasn't worthy. And
I begin to realize I was never worthy, and it's
all God's grace, it's not my performance.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
And at that moment, I now down.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
And said, God, I give you my life back again,
and even if you want me to, I'll go into
being a pastor working at a church, because at that
time I was actually a senior at cal State Fortune,
pursuing a business degree in accounting and just trying to
do my own thing. But you know, that wasn't really
God's calling for my life. It was my call for
my life. And maybe for somebody listening, you know, business

(11:43):
is your call and you know it's God's call in
your life, but it wasn't mine. And at that moment
I realized I was really running away from God and
trying to do my own thing, trying to somehow, you know,
make it my way. And remember at that moment, I said, man,
you know, I'm in my senior year at cal State
at Ford to being recruited by a big eight accounting
firm and this would be a big step. And to

(12:05):
be honest, I was like, Okay, God, this is if
this is you, you got to really speak to my parents
and other people to confirm this, because it was a scary,
scary moment. One of the most scariest and pivotal moments
in my life is hearing that I'm not supposed to
do business. I'm supposed to go into the ministry. And
at that moment, I'm saying, okay, God, you you got

(12:26):
to make this clear. And so I remember God spoke
really as my mom and my dad prayed, and they
confirmed what God was supposed to do in my life.
Even supernaturally, God spoke to my mom and my dad
before even said anything to them, and they confirmed literally
as if they were watching a DVD, you know, video
of what happened to me on that beach. God spoke
to them and I knew it was a supernatural confirmation

(12:47):
from God at that moment. I finished up the semester
at cal State four ten. I then dropped out of
cal State four ten, re enrolled at vank Guard University
in southern California, Coasta Mesa, and had to actually do
two more years to get my degree in religion and
finish up my degree in business. And I learned a
lot of things. I learned what it was to, you know,

(13:08):
stay focused. I learned that, you know, I had gone
my own way and I'm going to have to maybe
spend two more years because I just kind of did
it my way. But I realized that as I stay focused,
I worked hard, and God's grace was all my life.
I begin to realize that, you know what, even though
it's taking a little bit longer, I'd rather have something
taken a little bit longer and me be in God's

(13:31):
perfect will than me doing what I want to do
and not being in the perfect will of God. And
so I was, I was, you know, going for it
full time, and I finally graduated. Come on, it took
me seven years to get a four year degree. But
I graduated in nineteen ninety and immediately after that, I

(13:53):
found myself at a small church and in Apple Valley, California,
where I was a youth pastor there. And I was
there for two years and it was just amazing what
God did. Took a small youth ministries of about seventeen kids,
and within eighteen months it had grown to two hundred
and twenty seven kids, and God was doing something special.

(14:14):
I learned what it was to raise the volunteers cast vision,
I learned what it was like, you know, to really
ask questions from people that had been in the ministry,
and I just wanted to do my very best for God.
And while I was there, I met a friend of
mine who eventually would become a pastor in Seattle, Washington,

(14:35):
and invited me to come up to Seattle and to
be his youth pastor. After praying and talking with people,
I realized, Man, I'm supposed to go to Seattle, Washington
and be a youth pastor up there. And so I
left in nineteen ninety two and moved up to Mary'sville, Washington,
at a small church called Mary'sville Firs Assembly of God.
And there is where I was a youth pastor to

(14:58):
about twenty some kids, and it was a youth ministry
that wasn't really vibrant or live and the church needed
some needed some life back again. I remember praying saying, God,
I believe you could do something great in the Pacific Northwest,
even though everybody is saying that it can't happen. And
I remember praying and saying, Okay, God, how are we

(15:18):
going to make this happen? And God said to me,
I want you to teach young people how to pray.
So I remember, you know, asking a couple of young people, hey,
come and learn how to pray. Just come and maybe
at the church to pray. And they didn't know what
to do. So I would tell them, hey, just do
what I do, copy what I do. And so when

(15:39):
I would walk, they would walk and I and I
would say some things. They would just repeat what I
would say. But they were learning how to pray verbally
out loud, how to pray and use the word of
God and declare things over their life, declare things over
literally the city and the church that we were in.
And I remember believing and asking God for some great things,

(16:03):
for like a big revival to take place, and little
did I know that he would actually answer you know
that prayer. And within a short number of years, from
nineteen ninety two to nineteen really ninety eight, for six
almost seven years, a revival would breakout where the youth
ministries would grow from about twenty seven young people to

(16:27):
over a thousand young people coming on Wednesday and Thursday
nights at Marzo First Assembly of God. And I had
to actually really learn a lot of things I didn't
learn before, you know, just in regards to now how
do I handle.

Speaker 4 (16:40):
A bigger group and.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
And you know, how do I how do I handle,
you know, being alone and single and and really in
an area that I was not familiar with. And so
I just learned a lot of things in that area
just about my own life and begin to realize a
few things of my life. And hopefully this is going
to be encouraging to somebody that's out there. I learned

(17:04):
to have a routine in my life, I really did.
I learned what was that that my life was not
just a random kind of instances happening, but I could
take control of my life. And I'm a morning person,
so I begin to realize that I got up early,
and I would get up early, and I would go

(17:26):
pray and read the scripture and meditate on God. And
so the very first thing I would do in my
life that I still do today is I get up
early and I will pray and read the scripture. I
begin to realize that, you know, for my life, that
what's important is I got to keep the important thing,
the most important thing that I needed to continue to

(17:47):
you know, put God first even in my time and
not just in my resources. And so I begin to
realize that routine was important, discipline was important in my life.
And and so, you know, little did I know that
God would surprise me the way that he did. You know,
people say, what has surprised you in your life? I'm

(18:08):
surprised how God has blessed really the ministry that I've
been a part of, and my youth ministry traveling, and
even the church that I'm in right now that has
exploded in growth and running thousands of people in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And so I've just really learned, you know, that God

(18:29):
would use anyone anytime if they're just open and they
are just willing to be obedient to what he said
to do, and so I had a great time in Marysville.
God blessed it. I traveled full time. God blessed it.
And then I was surprised when God said, moved to
Las Vegas, Nevada, and we moved here to travel from
And little did I know that God would actually be

(18:52):
telling us to start a church literally in two thousand
and three. And me and my wife Wendy Perez started
at church in two thousand and three, not knowing very
many people and with a short number of years. Uh,
it just exploded and God began to bless us again.
And in the middle of all that success, though, there
was some challenges, some trials, and some people asked, what

(19:12):
is what is a What are some of the toughest
things that ever happened to you? I remember it was
probably a two year season and my father in law
was battling cancer and and he fought valiantly, but he
transitioned from this place into heaven, and he did not
win totally here on earth, but he's won obviously totally

(19:33):
in heaven, and so he passed on. And around the
same time, I remember my wife was pregnant and you know,
with our fourth child, and she had a tragic, tragic
miscarriage as the baby died in her womb, and and
then the baby had to be taken out, and and
then the surgery didn't go well, and my wife was
almost lost on the operating table. And then my wife

(19:56):
hemorrhage and she almost died literally at her house. And
so now my father in law passed. I almost losing
my wife, and there's difficulty going on in the economy,
and everything hit us so fast, and I remember thinking,
am I going to make this? Am I going to
make it? I was under so much stress and didn't
know what to do. And people said, how did you

(20:19):
make it through that time? Well, Number one, I made
it through that time because I really did depend on God,
and I don't think I ever prayed as much as
I prayed during that time. Also, I just didn't pray,
but I reached out to people and I needed friends
in my life. I needed somebody to talk to you.
I needed somebody who's going to say, Hey, it's going
to be all right. God's got this. And I remember

(20:40):
taking the time to really forge some good relationships in
my life. And I've learned from me that when I'm
going through some difficult times, I need to really really
connect in the relationships that I've built over time. My
life is a summation really of relationships that God has

(21:00):
brought into my life, and your life is going to
be a summation of the relationships you have in your life.
I often tell people your life are going to be
shaped by the people you know and the books you read,
the people you know you do life with, and the
information that you take in because it impacts how you believe,
it impacts your emotions, and it packs everything about your life.

(21:25):
And so we got through that season and got through
the other side of it and begin to realize that,
you know what, there's gonna be some tough seasons and
you're just gonna have to learn to walk it out
and by God's grace and just taking it day by day.
We got through that season, and now we're in a
great season in our personal lives, in our professional life,

(21:48):
as our church now is growing. We've purchased a second
building and we're going to open up a second campus,
and really the last few years have been really reinvigorating
time for us as we recaptured vision believe that the
best is yet to come. And not allowing negative thoughts,

(22:10):
negative emotions, negative feelings bring us down. But to realize
that you know, with God, all things are possible. And
I realize that my feelings they come and go, and
I can't allow my feelings to really dictate my life.
And I want to encourage you right now that you know,
if you feel like you're not gonna make it. If

(22:31):
you feel like, man, I just feel like it's my
life is is not going anywhere. Don't go by your feelings.
Don't go by your feelings, go by what you know.
Listen to me. Your feelings come and go, but you
must have a belief system that's anchored in truth that

(22:53):
doesn't change. And for me, that's the Word of God.
For me, that's a scripture, that's the Bible. And so
I've been anchored in that I'm not going to allow circumstances.
I'm not going to allow things to come into my
life and somehow, some way, you know, tell me that
my life is over or my best days are behind me.
I've learned what it is to stay in the game

(23:17):
and don't quit, don't give up. What it means to
overcome you know, my fears. People ask me, do do
you have any fears? I said, every day. And that's
what I do is I learned to overcome those fears.
You know, anytime you try something new, you got to
learn to overcome those fears. And so what I'm doing
in my own life right now is I allow myself
to be challenged again and just believing that, you know what,

(23:41):
something would not come up unless God gave me the
ability to overcome it. And so I just want to
just encourage you in that in my life, I have found,
you know that to be true. You know, somebody asked
me recently what five things are most important to you now?

Speaker 4 (23:58):
Really?

Speaker 3 (23:59):
Number one, keeping my thoughts right, thinking right, that's really
important to me. Number Two, keeping good relationships that give
and pour into my life and I could pour into
other people's life, you know. Number three, and this may
not be in order of importance, but keeping my relationship
with God fresh in a life, my prayer life fresh

(24:20):
in a life, you know, making sure my marriage and
my personal life with my wife and my kids, and
taking time for my family, you know, that's important for me.
And really you know, exercising and keeping my physical body
you know, in shape and wanting to as I get older,
to take care of myself so I have energy as

(24:41):
I still have. I believe the best years of my
life are still ahead of me. And so these are
some of the things that I would really want to
impart unto you and just encourage you and just believe
that no matter what's happening in your life, if it's good,
you know, be excited about it. But even good seasons

(25:04):
aren't going to last forever, and bad seies are gonna
last forever. I want to encourage you to keep dreaming,
keep having vision, don't stop, and just believe that you know,
especially if you follower of Jesus, that he has great
plans for your life and that He's going to bring
about some incredible things in your life.

Speaker 4 (25:24):
I would encourage all of us to believe that.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
Literally, you know, I'm not going to try and change
my behavior, but change your beliefs, because you know, how
you think is how you behave. What you believe is
how you'll behave. So I want to encourage us, all
of us, in our lives, get the right belief system,
renew your mind by the word of God, Understand who
you are, Understand that you created the image and likeness

(25:50):
of God understand that motion creates emotion. Don't stay stagnant,
don't just stay in depression or discouragement, but rise above
with changing your thoughts and focusing off yourself and putting
your eyes on God, who says that with Him all
things are possible. So I want to give you these

(26:10):
thoughts and hopefully you're going to encourage you. And I
just thank you for really listening and being a part
of pray dot com. And I want to encourage you
in your own personal life to spend some time in
prayer meditation. And because we found out even now doctors
are telling us that prayer relief stress and meditation relief stress.

(26:34):
So take the time out today. I know I do
every day in my life. I take time to pray,
to talk to God, to listen to him, and I
find out that my emotions and my outlook are better
because I take time to be with God. Learned a
lot about leadership, and one of the big things that

(26:55):
I learned a lot about is is I can cast
compelling vision, could let out lay out the pathway in
the road to what I believe the organization is going.
But unless I have the proper leaders over a campus,
over a department it is not going to work.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
On part two of this three part series, Pastor Benny
delves into the essence of leadership and the transformative power
it holds. Join us as we explore his insightful reflections
on the lessons learned in casting compelling visions, embracing risks,
and conquering worries. Discovering how to become a true leader
involves not only making decisions, but also embodying a mindset

(27:43):
of growth and faith, leading to impactful transformations both within
yourself and your organization.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
When I say leader, what comes to your mind? Is
it just a dis decision maker? Is it just somebody
who's been chosen out of a random group or a
group to maybe lead a discussion or lead a department.
When I say a leader, it is much more than
just leading something. It's becoming something. I don't think people

(28:18):
are born leaders. I think I've learned that people become leaders.
And that's a big issue because some people say why
can't lead. First of all, don't ever say that you
can't lead. Say you know what, I'm going to become
a better leader. So let's talk about leadership and what

(28:40):
it means to lead. Number one leadership does not mean
you will never ever fail. I think some people look
and say, Wow, if I was a great leader, I
would never fail. I would never make a bad decision.
I would never ever do something that is detrimental at times,

(29:01):
maybe not make a bad decision. But I've learned sometimes
that the greatest lessons I've learned is not for my successes,
but from my failures. I keep telling people over and
over again that just because you fail doesn't mean you're
a failure, and in fact, fail failure is not fatal.

(29:21):
And the only kind of failure that is fatal is
one that you don't learn from. And so I've made
some great decisions, and I've also made some decisions that,
you know, looking back, some people say, well, he failed,
he he made the wrong decision there, and so I
wonder if he's a good leader or not. But what
I do is when I make a decision that I

(29:44):
really didn't get right, you know, instead of being discouraged
and getting down, I step back and I say, Okay,
what can I learn from this decision? Should I have
included more people, Should I have waited a little bit,
should I've gotten more information? What can I learn from
what I would say is a failure in the moment,

(30:06):
but a great lesson for a lifetime. And so I
want to encourage everybody that you know, doesn't matter what
you have gone through, doesn't matter what is going on
in your life, that you can begin to realize that
you know what no. I'm going to lead and I'm
going to make some decisions sometimes that are not the

(30:28):
right decision, but I'm going to learn from those decisions
and move forward in my life. One of the decisions
that I would say really comes to my mind was
when we were expanding an organization. We're a church and
we're going to open up a second campus, and we
decided to go to southern California. We had worked out

(30:49):
a deal with a pastor and we now got another
campus in Orange County, California. And I remember calling somebody
and this individual who has many camps, this is, you know,
all over the country. He said to me, he said,
I would not do it. And a lot of times
we've tried this, Benny, and it doesn't seem like it

(31:10):
works out. And so my advice to you would be,
don't do it unless you've prayed and you feel like
God is telling you to do it well. I think
the opportunity was so good and I really wanted to
be in southern California. I actually talked to our team
and they felt like, okay, let's do it. Let's let's
let's go out and and see if this is really
going to work. And we all prayed. We felt good

(31:31):
about it, and so we started on this journey, and
you know, the campus started doing well, and then we
started hitting some hard times and it wasn't growing anymore,
and there were some challenges with the leadership down there,
some challenges with people, and after about a year and
a half, we set some goals and we said, if
we're not going to be at this number bringing in

(31:53):
this amount of money, then we need to shut down
the campus and realize that we gave her very best,
but it doesn't like it's working. And so, sure enough,
I remember when we came to that moment where it
was that due date and we realized we weren't hitting
the numbers that we wanted and we weren't really bringing

(32:13):
the finances that we had set a goal for that
we knew. The decision was to now just stop and say,
you know, we're not going to do this anymore, We're
not going to continue this campus. And I remember thinking
and just wondering where I missed it. I honestly felt
like a failure. Honestly felt like, man, how come it

(32:33):
didn't work? And I felt like it was the right decision.
I felt like, you know, that it was really something,
even what God was saying to us. And in the
midst of all that, I realized that I'm not going
to get every decision right as a leader. I'm going
to get a majority right. But the ones that seemingly
I think I get wrong, I want to turn those

(32:53):
into great lessons. And so we learned from that, and
we ended up selling that building and hooping our money
and learned a lot about leadership. And one of the
big things that I learned a lot about is is
I can cast compelling vision. I could lay out the
pathway in the road to what I believe the organization

(33:15):
is going. But unless I have the proper leaders over
a campus, over a department, it is not going to work.
And so I didn't really leverage leadership really well. I
couldn't find a campus pastor that was really a good
fit for that environment. I didn't have anybody looking back

(33:38):
that was really a leader at that level that could
lead a campus out of state. And so though it
was a good idea, I could have done better by
training people, waited till I had the right campus pastor
to really lead that campus. As a result of all that,
we had a lot of lessons we learned and a

(33:59):
lot of things we are not going to do in
the future, but a lot of things that we will
do in the future. And so I wanted to make
sure now that as we move forward that we're always
going to have the right leader in place, and not
just a person that has a leadership role, but has
a leadership capacity, and that we empower people, you know,

(34:20):
to really really make decisions and not micro manage. That
leads me to my second thing is micromanaging. One of
the mistakes that I have made in leadership is that
sometimes I have two hands on And what I'm learning
is if I believe in somebody, I'm going to let

(34:41):
them lead and even make a bad decision, because they're
not going to learn unless they make some decisions and
are always right. In fact, one of my friends tells
me over and over again, if somebody can do seventy
percent of what you can do, then that's a good leader.
And so I'm not stressed out anymore. People making all

(35:02):
the decisions the right decisions. Now, I ask somebody, whether
department lead or or maybe somebody that's leading in a
certain capacity in an organization, and I ask, if you
feel good about this, Have you done your homework, have
you gotten all the information? Have you asked other people
their opinion? And if they say yes to all that

(35:23):
and they still feel like this decision to be made,
then I say, okay, I'm going to let you make
that decision. I back your decision, and if the decision
is right one, you get the credit.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
If it's the.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Wrong one, we all learn from it. And I'm choosing
to empower people and believe in people, and encourage people
even when they don't make the right decision, to let
them know that we all are learning really from not
just our successes, but even from our failures. And so

(35:57):
I want to encourage you right now. Don't play safe
because you don't want to fail. Don't stay in the
boat because you don't want to fail, you know, which
brings me to really my third point and leadership is
take risks. Take risks. You know, life is too short
to play it safe. Now, when I say take risks,
I'm not saying just do something you have not researched.

(36:20):
I'm not saying just make a decision kind of just
in a moment. But once you've done your research, and
once you've investigated, and once you've done everything you know
to do, you know there's always going to be that fear.
There's always going to be that anxiety. Am I making
the right decision? But I've learned this. Once you've done
all your research, now you make the decision and go

(36:43):
forward with it. Don't look back and don't say, oh, man,
I hope I made the right decision. Once you make
the decision, Listen, once you make the decision, don't look back.
Keep moving forward and believe that you've done everything that
you're supposed to do, and now you're not gonna be

(37:04):
a wood should have could a well I should have?
I would I could have, would should have could as
don't get anything done. Leaders make a decision and they
take risks. A lot of times the risks are gonna
have a great reward, but sometimes the risks aren't gonna
work out. But I often say this as a story

(37:26):
in the Bible about Jesus calling this guy named Peter
out onto the water to walk on water. Can you
imagine that, to walk on water? Nobody's ever walked on
water except Jesus. There's a great storm, and Peter says,
if it's you, Jesus, call me to walk on the water. Well,
first of all, Peter is crazy, because who would ever

(37:48):
ask to walk on water? It is impossible in the
natural realm to walk on water. But Peter says, if
you tell me God, if if you empower me God,
I believe I could do the possible. So what does
Jesus do. Jesus calls Peter and says, come on, Peter,
I'm calling you, And Peter steps out of a boat

(38:08):
and he begins to walk on water. As long as
he was focused on Jesus, he began to walk on water. Well,
the story goes that Peter got distracted by all the
challenges around him and he begin to sink, and he
cried out to Jesus, Jesus, please save me, and Jesus
reached down and grabbed him and pulled them up. Can

(38:32):
you imagine there's Peter. He's literally drowning in this lake
in the sea the water's over his head. But listen
to this. Whatever was over Peter's head was already under
Jesus's feet. See, Jesus was walking on what was drowning

(38:54):
Peter in Peter cries out to the right source, which
is Jesus. Jesus reach it down and picks him up
and they both walk back to the boat and Peter
gets back in the boat. I wonder what the other
eleven disciples were saying. Oh, Peter, who do you think
you are that you could walk on water? Peter, who
do you think you are that you really thought that

(39:15):
you could do something like that?

Speaker 4 (39:17):
Peter? Look at you.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
You took a risk and you're drenching wet and you
almost died taking that risk. Come on, Peter, who do
you think you are? You see the eleven disciples chose
to play it safe in the boat, But there was
one disciple named Peter that chose to take a risk.
And he said, God, if you tell me to do it,
I'm going to do it. And yes, Peter did sink

(39:41):
in the water. Yes, Peter almost drowned, but Peter cried
out to God and God lifted him back up again.
I'd like to say it this way. I'd rather be
a wet water walker than a dry boat talker any day.
There's too many dry boat talkers. What I mean by that,
there's too many people that are critical and negative about
those of us that decide to step out of the

(40:03):
comfort zone, to step out of the ordinary and reach
for something extraordinary, reach for something that is bigger, that
is larger than what we know right now. And in fact,
if you are a leader, and you're called to be
a leader, you're not called to play it safe. You're
not called to stay in the comfort zone, because the
real reward is when you step out, as we say

(40:26):
in church, in faith, trusting that God is leading you
and guiding you. And now the risk zone is where
you get the greatest reward. Over and over again, we
see in scripture that Jesus called people out of their
comfort zone into a place of great faith, into a
place where they had to trust Him, into a place

(40:49):
that was outside of their own realm and they.

Speaker 4 (40:53):
Needed to believe.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
Okay, God, you're calling me out, then I'm going to
trust you. Oh, I want to encourage you. Take a risk.
Don't play it safe. Is it in your business, is
it maybe your career change. What is it that is
calling to you out of the ordinary before you do anything.

(41:16):
Come on, we're talking on pray dot com podcast. You
better pray, you better hear a word from God, and
you better just say Okay. Once I do it, I'm
going to go for it and I'm not looking back.
Some people think, wow, it's just easy. Once you make
that decision, you're not going to feel any anxiety or worry.
But it brings me really to another point, is that

(41:37):
you will always battle worry and anxiety as you move
forward in your life. Why do people worry? Why do
people have anxiety? Because we are facing the unknown. You
really don't have anxiety or worry over things that you
have control over. You only face anxiety and worry over

(41:58):
things that you have no control over. That I only
worry about things that are outside of my control. And
if they're outside of the control, then I probably should
not worry because even my worrying cannot change what I have.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
No control over.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
There's a story in the Bible where Jesus is speaking
disciples and he says like five or six times, and
Matthew chapter six says, don't worry, don't be anxious, and
he says this to his disciples. He says, because if
your a heavenly father takes care of the birds, and
your heavenly father takes care of the flowers want to
take care of you, are you not more valuable than

(42:36):
the birds and the flowers.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
Jesus goes on to.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Say, hey, if you worry about your life, having anxiety
about your life, can it add anything to your life?
And Jesus says, it doesn't even add anything to your life.
In fact, we know now that worry, anxiety, stress actually
take away from your life. It actually will cut your
life short. It will cause disease, it will cause your
immune systems to be suppressed. And so anxiety and worry

(43:04):
that hits you and it will is only there to
take from you, to rob from you. But Jesus said, listen,
the way you overcome it isn't well, I'm not feeling it. No,
Jesus never said don't feel it. He said, don't become it.
Let me tell you this principle that I've learned. Just
because I feel something doesn't mean I become something. Just

(43:26):
because I feel road rage doesn't mean now I become
road rage. Just because I want to give somebody a
piece of my mind. Doesn't mean I give them a
piece of my mind just because I want to hit
somebody or or physically just kind of look at somebody
and say you know what. No doesn't mean I have
to become it. And though you're feeling anxiety and worry,

(43:47):
you can make a choice to say no, I will
not become it. I may feel it, but I may
I will not become it. Feelings are fickle. They come
and they go. Your feelings, your emotions can be impacted
by what you eat, not enough sleep, by circumstances around you.
So don't let your feelings listen, don't let your feelings

(44:10):
lead you and guide you your emotions. Your feelings should
be indicators, not dictators. They should tell you, hey, something's wrong,
but your feelings, your emotions, cannot make it right. Right
believing leads to right living. So Jesus says, the reason

(44:31):
why you can overcome and not become anxious and not
become worry a worried person is when you change your focus.
Change your focus, and he says, look at provision. Look
that God takes care of the birds, Look that God
takes care of the flowers. In other words, don't look

(44:52):
at lack, look at the provision around you, and then
also realize that you have a heavenly father, that you
have a God in heaven that is watching out for you,
that you can trust him. You could pray and put
your faith in Him to bring you through.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
You.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
See, I believe we can do all that we should do.
But then there's a realm that only God can do.
I'm not going to stress out over the realm that
God could only do. That God knows the future that
once I prepare, once I do my best, once I
give my presentation, then I transfer my trust to God

(45:32):
and say, God, I'm not going to worry about this.

Speaker 4 (45:35):
I'm not going to be anxious about this. But I'm
going to put my trust in you.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
And as I change my focus from lack to provision,
as I change my focus from myself to a God
in heaven that is working all things out for my good,
it's amazing. The scripture is true when it says that
God would keep our mind in perfect peace if it

(46:01):
is stayed on Him. So I want to encourage you.
If you're facing something right now, come on, take Him
in it. Stop and turn towards Heaven and take a
moment to pray and begin to understand that you're not
in this by yourself. You know, I've learned a few things.
You know, leading a church organization with really working with volunteers.

(46:26):
We have hundreds and hundreds of volunteers. Is that I
need to continue to lead in faith. I need to
continue to encourage them. And one of the ways that
I've learned to inspire people is to tell stories. You know,
if you're listening right now and you say, well, how
can I get my organization to move forward? Tell stories
how your organization has impacted and changed people's lives. So

(46:50):
people don't want to come and do a job. People
want to be part of a vision. Do you hear that?
People don't want to come and be just do a job,
even if it's volunteer or even if it's paid. They
want to be part of fulfilling a mission, a dream,
being a part of something that's bigger than themselves. So
I've learned to cast compelling vision to tell people this

(47:13):
is why we are doing what we're doing, the why
behind the what. And it's amazing when people begin to
see how what they do adds value to the organization.
What they do begins to impact people's lives for the better.
It's amazing how they literally begin not just to perform better,

(47:35):
but have a better attitude, begin to say, you know what,
it's not just about a paycheck, it's not just about
making money. It's about making a difference in somebody's life.
And so I want to encourage you today. You know,
as you're leading people, listen, cast a compelling vision, tell
them the why, behind the what, tell stories of how

(47:58):
people's lives have been impacted. And you're going to see
people rally around your vision, the dream, the mission that
your organization has been put up, has been put on
this planet to really really accomplish. And so I just
want to encourage us as leaders today that we continue

(48:22):
to lead our communities. And last point I want to make,
and I've learned this. Somebody asked me, you know, how
do you have a healthy organization? How do you have
a healthy church? I learned this a long time ago
that really, if you want a healthy organization, you need
a healthy leader. So if you're leading something an organization
right now, fortune, five hundred company, a church, you know,

(48:45):
whatever you're leading right now, as you become healthy the
organization becomes healthier. Take time for yourself, take time to
get better, Take time to get help if you need help.
Take time to read books, take time to have a vacation, recreate,
take time.

Speaker 4 (49:04):
And as you get healthier.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
As you get your soul healthier, your organization, your family,
everything around you will get healthier. I personally have people
in my life that I go talk to and I see.
I have a counselor that I see and he helps
me just to think right and to make sure I
process right because I want to become healthier as a leader.

(49:31):
So remember, a healthy leader will produce a healthy organization.
And health takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't
happen in a few days. It doesn't even happen in a
few weeks. Sometimes it's months in the making. But I
love what the Bible says, do not grow weary and
well doing for a new season. You will reap a
harvest if you don't quit, if you don't give up,

(49:54):
if you don't faint. I literally believe that as we
become healthy, as our soul gets better, as we think right,
we live right. As we don't let our emotions lead
us our feelings aren't going to lead us. They will
inform us, but they won't lead us. As we look
to God and say You're my source. As I look

(50:17):
towards provision, God takes scare of birds and flowers. When
I trust him, He's going to take care of me.
When I realize that things are outside of my control,
I'm not going to worry about them. I'm not going
to be anxious about them. But I'm going to transfer
trust to God. As I realize all these things, my
life begins to fall now in the right place because
I'm fallowing the right pattern, because I believe that God

(50:40):
is literally leading and guiding me, not just my own
personal life, but even in my organizations. So as I
wrap up this part of this podcast, I want you
to begin to challenge your thoughts and things that are
negative in critical and don't line up with your belief system.

(51:04):
Then you need to say, you know what, I'm not
going to allow those thoughts to run my life anymore.
If you're a Christian, if you know God's word, I
would ask you to renew your mind by the word
of God, gets some promises from God's word and begin
to realize that if God is for you, who can
be against you. I tell myself this every day. That's

(51:25):
a scripture. I tell myself that God has opened up
doors that no man can shut, and shutting doors that
no man can open. I tell myself that my steps
are being ordered by the Lord my life. Your life
is not a bunch of random incidences. If we're followers
of Jesus, we can believe that literally our life, he said,

(51:47):
I don't believe in Jesus. Well, I believe that God
then is ordering our steps. You can put your faith
in trust in God and just realize that I'm not
just living this life randomly. I put my trust that
as I make the right decisions, I've been led by
God and things will work out in my life. So

(52:07):
I hope this has helped you. I hope this is
encouraging you, and I just want to leave you with
that thought.

Speaker 4 (52:13):
Thank you so much. I look forward to speaking with
you again. God, bless you.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
I don't want to just be remembered. I want my
life to count, and I'm very passionate about this now.
I want people that I lead to go further than me,
to do more than me, to experience more than me.
My job is to look at the next generation and
generations to come and say, listen, what is my ceiling

(52:41):
has become your floor? Did you hear that what is
my ceiling has become now their floor?

Speaker 2 (52:51):
On part three of this three part series, we delve
deeper into the profound thoughts of doctor Benny Perez as
he reflects on the significance of leaving a life legacy.
Doctor Perez shares his passion for helping others and guiding
the next generation towards greatness. Join us for an inspiring
exploration of how a life lived for others can transcend

(53:12):
time and make an enduring impact.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
In the next few moments, I just want to share
really about legacy and what will you and I be
remembered for in our lives as you speak to you
right now, I have crossed the fifty year mark. I
can't believe where the time is gone. And now I'm
talking like an older person when they said time goes

(53:42):
by so quick, and it really does go by that quick.
And so when I think about legacy, I'm really in
that phase of my life thinking, you know, the next
forty or fifty years, I plan to live to be
one hundred. I don't know about you. But I want
a long life, a fruitful life. But as I think
about legacy, I want to just you know, share, you know,

(54:03):
a few thoughts with you. I am a pastor of
a church in Las Vegas, Nevada. I am a speaker
that travels all over the world. I've been to Australia
forty nine times. I've been to Europe, I've been to Asia.
I've spoken in Latin America, Canada, I've spoken in I

(54:25):
think at least you know so many countries I can't
even remember how many to over the last thirty five years,
to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people, and so
legacy is a big deal for me. One of the
things that I really want to leave behind is I

(54:46):
don't want to just be remembered. I want my life
to count. I don't want to just be remembered. Oh
I remember Benny Perez. I want my life to count.
Now what does that mean. Well, I think it's okay
to be I was a good speaker, or man he
helped a lot of people, or he was funny, or

(55:07):
oh yeah, he was a guy in Las Vegas.

Speaker 4 (55:09):
But I want my life to count.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
And the way your life counts isn't always what you accomplish,
but what you do to help other people accomplish their dreams.
In other words, as I now have passed the half
century mark, I want to see and invest in young leaders.
I want to find some pastors. I want to find

(55:34):
some business people. I'm finding people that I look at
them and say, I can help you. I want to
invest in you. So my life is going to count
even more because as I invest in other people, now
my influence, my wisdom gets multiplied out. Listen, you should

(55:55):
not die with all the wisdom inside of you. I
don't want to be that person that I lay in
the grave knowing that I didn't give everything that had away.
So right now I'm working with young leaders, young pastors
across America. I'm spending time with leaders at my church
and young preachers at my church and talk to them

(56:16):
about their marriage, talking to them about their personal life,
talking to them about ministry. I don't want to just
be remembered. I want my life to count, and I'm
very passionate about this now. I want people that I
lead to go further than me, to do more than me,
to experience more than me. My job is to look

(56:37):
at the next generation and generations to come and say, listen,
what is my ceiling has become your floor? Did you
hear that what is my ceiling has become now their floor.
Where I have now kind of tapped out is where
they begin. I have the baton, I've run my race,

(56:59):
and when it's all over, I want to make sure
the next generation is further the next generation is more equipped,
the next generation has the wisdom from me, so they
don't have to make the same mistakes. I don't want
to be that guy that said, well I told you
should have done that. I want to be preemptive and

(57:21):
tell young men especially, and even young ladies, you know,
here's the mistakes that I made. You don't have to
make the same mistakes. You don't have to learn by experience.
But you can learn from my wisdom. You can learn
from other people's wisdom, which is really other people's mistakes.

(57:42):
So when I think about legacy, when you think about legacy,
don't just say I want to be remembered. Come on,
you just want to be remembered. You want to make
an impact. You want to do something that outlives you.
So what's going to outlive you is the people that
you invest in. What's going to outlive you. It's the ideas,

(58:04):
the thoughts that you have helped people form and shape
in their lives. It's it's, it's it's it's it's people saying,
I would not be here today unless it was for
Benny Perez. I wouldn't be here today unless Benny Perez
gave me an opportunity. And I'm grateful for that. And
so now you continue to live on. Even when you
pass from this planet, you continue to live on because

(58:25):
of your influence. That's what I want to do. I
want to continue to live on again, not be remembered,
but make an impact. And so as we, you know,
continue to have a church here in Las Vegas, Nevada.
You know, one of the things that we are passionate
about is we are passionate about justice. We we want

(58:47):
to help people. You know, we're involved in fighting sex trafficking.
We're involved in feeding people, clothing people. We're involved in
any way that we can to somehow bring change, both
in the natural and in the spiritual. You know, I
live in a city it's called Sin City, and everybody
comes from all over with the world to do things
that they shouldn't do, or they won't do anyplace else.

(59:10):
And so we have a passion to literally see people
encounter Jesus, become followers of Jesus and help fulfill his mission.
And what was the mission of Jesus. The mission of
Jesus was to bring light into dark places. The mission
of Jesus, he said it to us, so us to
be salt, to be difference makers in the world today,

(59:31):
to share with people that there's a God in heaven
that loves them, that cares about them, that sent his
only son to dine across so that their sins, my
sins can be forgiven, and that we can experience a
brand new life found in Jesus Christ. I'm passionate about
sharing the gospel about the good news that God is

(59:52):
not angry at you. God is not against you, but
God has made a way for you to have a personal, real,
deep relie relationship with Him. And so I believe that
I believe that it's our mission to share the good
news that God said it's his will that none should perish,
but that all should come to eternal life. And so

(01:00:13):
that's what we do. I'm passionate about that. Every weekend
wherever I go.

Speaker 4 (01:00:17):
I want to give people hope.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
I want to say, listen, your best days are still
ahead of you. Yes, you're going through a tough time.
Yes it's difficult right now, but I really believe that God,
and by his power, by his grace, you can actually
overcome the obstacles in your life.

Speaker 4 (01:00:39):
You see.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
I want people to realize that they are not their mistakes,
they are not their failures. That's what they did, that's
not who they are. Many prayers you can leave a legacy.
What would it be to tell people you are not
what you do, You are who you believe you are.
So you make a mistake, so you did something you
shouldn't have done. Quit beating yourself up. Don't let condemnation

(01:01:03):
guilt ruin the rest of your life. You can get
back up again and say, you know what, that's what
I did, but that's not who I am, and begin
now to have right thinking leads to right believing. I
am really really passionate my kids. I want them to
understand I have three kids. I tell them who they are.

(01:01:24):
I don't let their circumstances tell them who they are.
I don't let culture tell them who they are. I
look at them and say, you know what, You're a
child of God. The hand of God is on you,
the calling of God is on you. Because I know
that the greatest battle they're going to face that I
have faced in my life is my thinking. And so

(01:01:44):
I want to help others to get the right thinking,
the negative thinking, the critical thinking, the one that always
puts you know, yourself down. You know those negative self
talk all that you know what can change as you
mean Jesus and you begin to realize his plan and
his purpose for your life. In fact, if I could

(01:02:05):
go back, I've been asked this over and over again,
if I could go back in my life, what is
one thing that I would change? And to be honest,
I would change being too hard on myself.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
You know, I'm my.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
Worst critic, and I think everybody at times is the
worst critic. You know, just kind of sit there and
say why did I do that? And beat yourself up?
And I've done that. In fact, I would say I've
wasted you know, sometimes months, maybe even years if you
compile it all and just putting myself down. I realize
this life puts us down. You know, people put us down.

(01:02:42):
We don't need to put ourselves down, and so I've
learned that I would just not be so hard on myself.
I would definitely learn from my mistakes. I would definitely,
you know, just decide, you know what, I'm going to
learn from that. I'm not going to do that again.
And so I don't want people to live in their past.
I want them to live in theirs, and I have
a great vision in future, you know, in their mind

(01:03:04):
for what God.

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
Has for them.

Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
I often say, you cannot drive a car looking in
the rear view mirror because you're getting to get to
an accident.

Speaker 4 (01:03:11):
Again.

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
You glance in the rear view mirror and you gaze
out the windshield.

Speaker 4 (01:03:18):
See listen, the.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
Legacy I want to leave is glance at the rear
view mirror, but gaze out of the windshield. In other words,
let's move forward. I want my kids to say, I
want my grandkids one day to say, you know what,
my dad faced a lot of battles, he faced the
recession in Las Vegas. That that took a lot of
people out, but it didn't take my dad out, didn't

(01:03:40):
take my mom out, didn't take the church out. I
want them to see that I had, you know, some perseverance,
some tenacity. I want them to realize that I learned
from my mistakes, I didn't keep making them. I want
them to realize that even if you get knocked down,
you could get back up again. I want them to
realize that people are going to talk and there's going

(01:04:01):
to be haters. But the only reason people hate on
you and people talk about you is because you're doing
something with your life. If you weren't doing anything with
your life, people won't be hating on you. I want
my kids, my grandkids, I want people to know that
you can move forward in your life. I want you

(01:04:22):
to know that. I want you to know that you
can move forward with your life, and for those that
seems stuck in their life, that you can help others
move forward in their life. You know, a great passion
of mind is to get other people unstuck and to
live in a place where you don't have to stay there.
You can get back up and move forward. I often
remember a story that happened with my church, and it

(01:04:44):
was kind of just an amazing story really of just
compassionate people. Remember going by a car wash and a guy,
an older guy, was there drying cars and it's like
one hundred and five degrees, and I'm like, man, what
causes man in the sixties to have to dry cars?
And I didn't really know his story, but I felt
kind of compelled to do something that I've never really

(01:05:07):
done that often. And I remember him drying my car
for me, and I gave him one hundred dollars and
I just felt like I should have done that.

Speaker 4 (01:05:17):
I remember seeing him and he had tears.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
In his eyes and he was wondering why I had
done that, and I just felt like, hey, God, bless you.
I wanted to do this for you. I was actually
telling the story to my church because it happened in
the morning on a Sunday, and I told him what happened,
and the guys at the car washing right across the street,

(01:05:40):
and what happened was after church and all these services,
people went and got their car washed, and even those
that didn't get their car washed stopped and gave this
man some money and blessed him so much so that
I found out later that this man had his car

(01:06:01):
that was the repair shop and he needed a certain
amount of money to get that car fixed and that
he could have his car back again. And the people
didn't know the story totally, but they went and just
wanted to be a blessing, and they ended up giving
him from this church enough money where he could actually
get his car out of the repair shop and begin

(01:06:21):
to drive it again. I remember just being so proud
of my community of faith because they begin not just
to hear about Jesus, but actually be Jesus to a gentleman.
You know some of the stories in our church of
us of people helping others with groceries or helping others
with you know, a ride of helping others, you know,

(01:06:42):
they need babysitting, helping others fixing things at their houses.

Speaker 4 (01:06:46):
Over and over again.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
When people serve other people, I'm telling you, Heaven takes notice.
I'm telling you God takes notice. And you know, I've
learned this and.

Speaker 4 (01:06:56):
It's so true.

Speaker 3 (01:06:58):
And this is the legacy again that you know, when
you do things for others, it's more of a blessing
than when you do things for yourself. The Bible says
is more blessed to give than to receive. And so
our church wants to be known in the city that
we're a church that cares, We're a church that loves
We're a church that moves forward helping our community. Every month,

(01:07:22):
we're helping hundreds and hundreds of people with our free market,
giving away free groceries and clothing and shoes, and being
a blessing to our community. Every month. We are making
a difference in the lives of elementary school students and
helping with the schools and bringing blessing to the schools.
And so I want the legacy of my life to

(01:07:44):
be one where I help people, encourage people, loved on people.
And if people remember me or not, hopefully they will,
but they're going to remember what I did and what
we did. And this has caused me, as I've crossed
the fifty barrier to really look at people differently, to

(01:08:05):
really realize people are people and people are going to
make mistakes, and not to be so hard on people.
I think to hold people accountable, but to realize that,
you know, sometimes we just need to keep helping them
up over and over again. I would definitely make sure
that I put people in the right place. If somebody

(01:08:27):
is not in the right place, you know, then I
need to change their position to make sure that they
have the best chance that succeeding out whatever they're doing
in the organization, and so you know, I just want
to do that and hopefully help other people. So for

(01:08:48):
those of you that are lestening, don't.

Speaker 4 (01:08:50):
Be so hard on yourself.

Speaker 3 (01:08:52):
Don't keep telling yourself all this negative self talk. Realize
that you're work in progress. Realize that you know what
You're going to look back in your life and you
just see, Wow, I've done a lot of great things,
and there's some things that you wish you would have done,
but that's not your legacy. Keep moving forward, keep being
a person that is getting better, that is wanting to

(01:09:14):
make a difference.

Speaker 4 (01:09:15):
In somebody else's life.

Speaker 3 (01:09:16):
And what happens is as you keep one one step
at a time, moving forward, keep helping people, keep a
positive attitude. Keep you know, Jesus the forefront of your life,
and what begins to happen is is that you are changed.
You become a change agent, and now your legacy is

(01:09:38):
going to be. Wow, man, look what Benny Perez did
with the church lvy. Look what this group of people
are doing in the community. And I just think that
that's the biggest, biggest thing that we could do. So
get ready to close. You know, I've been asked over

(01:09:59):
and over again. If he had the power to solve
one and only one problem in the world, what would
it be and why? That's a big question. Here's what
I would say. The problem that I think the world
has is that it is self centered. It revolves around us,
revolves around me. If we could get people focused off

(01:10:20):
of themselves and onto first of all God, first of
all Jesus, and get their perspective to change, and now
it's not just about me, but it's about God and others.
A God first life produces a different kind of a life.

(01:10:43):
I remember Will Smith just recently, I was reading a quote.
Will Smith said this that he had all the sex
that he ever desired and he ever wanted, and he
realized he didn't make him any happier. In other words,
Will Smith recently came to conclusion that life, when it's
just all about him, it didn't bring real fulfillment. So

(01:11:05):
what brings real fulfillment when you look back in your
life is what did you do for others?

Speaker 4 (01:11:10):
What impact did you make in somebody else's life?

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
So if I could change you know one thing, it's like,
let's quit looking at ourselves and look at our creator
and realize that He has a bigger plan for our lives.
He has a greater plan for our lives. And it's
just not about me. Is not just about me. So

(01:11:34):
when we live outside of our life, we begin to
realize that, now, guess what, my life can be different.

Speaker 4 (01:11:41):
My life can make a difference.

Speaker 3 (01:11:43):
When I look back, I could live life with less
regrets and more rejoicing. And when my kids and my
grandkids look back, I want them to say, you know what,
my dad, my grandfather, did his very best. He lived
his life with the glory of God. He fulfilled his mission,
and whatever his ceiling was became our floor. And so

(01:12:07):
that's what I wanted to encourage you with today. I
hope this helped you, and I hope this encouraged you.
And really I just want to say thank you to
pray dot com and I pray that you'd be part
of this community of faith. I pray that you would
take time to pray, that you would be a part
of what pray dot com is about.

Speaker 4 (01:12:25):
God bless you wellbye.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
Thank you for joining us today as we listen to
an inspiring journey of faith, resilience, and unwavering determination. Benny
prays his story as a testament to the power of faith,
the strength of relationships, and the transformative nature of embracing
challenges through trials and triumphs. Benny's life has been shaped
by his unyielding commitment to his calling and his deep

(01:12:51):
connection with God, from his early days of navigating personal
struggles and setbacks to his pivotal encounters with God that
set him on a path of purpose and ministry. Benny's
story resonates with the idea that even in the face
of adversity, we can find hope, purpose, and strength to overcome.
His emphasis on importance of routine discipline and cultivating meaningful

(01:13:14):
relationships serves as a reminder that our lives are truly
enriched when we prioritize what truly matters. Benny's journey from
a youth pastor to a pastor of a thriving church
as a testament to the incredible impact one individual can
have when they choose to walk in faith and step
into their purpose. So, as we conclude this episode, we

(01:13:36):
encourage you to reflect on the insights and lessons shared
by Benny Perez. Remember your journey is unique, and no
matter the challenges you face, there is a path forward.
Embrace the power of faith. Surround yourself with positive relationships,
and never underestimate the impact of renewed mind and heart
centered on God. I'm your host, Matthew Potter, and I

(01:13:59):
want you to remember to give hope a voice