Catching Up With Christians: EP: 11: With Lee Thomas, Kuts for Christ

What does it take to turn a childhood love for video games into a ministry of service and faith? Join us for a captivating conversation with Lee Thomas, the dynamic 28-year-old entrepreneur and co-founder of Kuts for Christ. Lee shares his journey from Galveston to Houston, highlighting how his Nintendo 64 provided a vital escape amidst family challenges. Learn how his passion for gaming and IT work at a Christian media company paved the way for his involvement with Proper Excel, a platform connecting with artists through Christian hip hop. Prepare to be inspired by Lee's testimony of faith, which developed without traditional church guidance, and discover how these experiences drive his mission to serve communities in need.

Explore how video games became a lifeline during the tumultuous year of 2020, offering more than just entertainment. Lee sheds light on the unique intersection of faith and gaming, where Christian communities flourished online, providing much-needed fellowship and support. He offers thoughtful advice on balancing gaming and spiritual growth, emphasizing self-control and discernment. Through Lee's insights, we recognize the potential of video games as a powerful tool for emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits, fostering connections and sharing experiences that transcend traditional boundaries.

Find out how Cuts for Christ expanded beyond church walls to meet people where they are, providing free haircuts, hygiene kits, and the gospel to underserved communities. Reflect on the delicate balance between serving and sustaining a livelihood, as Lee candidly discusses the challenges of maintaining financial stability in ministry work. Discover the transformative power of intentional service and hear Lee's heartfelt appeal for genuine connections. Celebrate the impact of his Christian hip hop collaborations and exciting future projects, including a potential national outreach tour, all while resonating with the message that every act of kindness can make a world of difference.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's going on everybody?
It's Coach McCarty back withanother episode of Catching Up
With Christians.
You know we have a specialguest today, lee Thomas.
How are you doing, brother?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm doing good.
I'm doing good.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
What about yourself?

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hey man, I'm great, Even better now that you're here
For all the listeners.
You know a little background onCatching Up With Christians.
No-transcript what you do.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well, hello everybody .
My name is Lee Thomas, I am 28years old.
I am a entrepreneur, to say theleast.
I've been in ministry, it andall these different things for a
while now.
But I guess I'll go first withsaying that I'm the co-founder
of a nonprofit called Cuts forChrist.
And Cuts for Christ is anonprofit ministry that provides

(01:12):
free haircuts, hygiene kits,resources and anything for those
in need.
Whether you're homeless,whether you're growing up in a
rough area of town, we want tobe able to provide you a service
that can change your situationand also pray for you and share
the gospel with you as well.
So I'm the co-founder of that.
My sister is the founder ofthat, chloe Evans, and we just
believe in being a hands-free toJesus and loving people right

(01:33):
where they're.
At Outside of that, I work inthe IT field for a Christian
media company.
I have the honor of just workingwith so many great believers
and just using one of my othertalents, which is IT.
I love computers, I lovebuilding them, I love how they
function, I love how they work.
It is honestly a pleasure towork for a ministry where I get

(01:54):
to see people's lives changedthrough music and other facets
of media and lastly, I get achance to work for Proper Excel.
That is a Christian mediacompany, another Christian media
company that's more tapped intothe Christian hip hop space and
I'm the honor of, you know,capturing a lot of content and
just really being the hands andfeet of Jesus and just
connecting with other artiststhrough a relationship, through

(02:15):
music.
And there's so many other greatguys on the team who just love
Christian hip hop and see thatJesus can be used through
Christian hip hop and just trulymeet people where they're at
through music.
So that's a little bit aboutmyself.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
That's awesome dude.
You know I was telling him alittle bit before we started.
You know I was like man Lee.
You're based out of Houston,right Texas.
Texas H-Town yeah that's awesomeman, you know, and I'm in here
in Las Vegas and the thing is Iwas telling him earlier I was
like man, you and I would be adangerous team for Jesus, bro,

(02:49):
if we were in the same area,because the amount we have in
common is incredible.
I mean, from what you, fromyour video game passion to your
music passion same type of genreas well as your passion for
sports.
But I want to dive into.
You have one of the coolesttestimonies, as a gamer myself,

(03:10):
that I've actually heard of.
Would you mind telling theindividuals, whatever you feel
comfortable with sharing, alittle bit about your testimony
and how you came to Christ?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah.
So just to give you guys alittle backstory, I didn't grow
up in the church at all.
My mom did when she was youngerand she tried her best to still
implement that.
And so our childhood me, mysister, my brother but we just
believed in God and try to begood people.
That's kind of the premise thatwe kind of had.
We go to church occasionallybut there was no relationship.
Now, I didn't grow up in agreat household.

(03:41):
You know my mom and dad wasthere.
It was just a lot of you knowit wasn't a good home.
Life balance, a lot of arguing,things like that Wasn't really
a good environment for me.
My dad and my mom.
They definitely took care ofthe bills and made sure me and
my sister and brother had, youknow, clothes on our back, food
on the table, video games andstuff like that.

(04:03):
To my first console, which wasan Nintendo 64, um, and it was
amazing.
It was honestly amazing.
It blew my world.
I got Super Mario 64 and I was.
I was like, wow, amazing, and Ihave it on my uh, I have it on
my switch right here, which iswhich is crazy my um, my switch
light, I have it on here.
So gotta go back and play thatfrom time to time just to kind

(04:23):
of, you know, have that, uh, youknow, like the nostalgia, but,
uh, I've always played videogames.
That was always my way toescape, um from the negativity
in life that I was dealing with,um, and it was just a way for
me to kind of get away fromother things in my life and it
was just a form of entertainment, really, really cool time to
just play with my cousins andjust friends and really just
have a good, you know, have ablast.

(04:44):
But I, I play games all the wayfrom like five years old.
Now I'm 28 years old, so that's13 years, no, 23 years, 23
years, um.
And I want to say, when I was15 years old, um, around that
time, you know, my mom and dadsplit.
We moved to houston'moriginally from Galveston, texas

(05:05):
, that's where I was born movedto Houston in 2010, moved to
Houston, went through some other, some other hard times in my
life that really pushed me in areally dark place, you know, and
the video games is alwayssomething that I I would always
go to right just to get toescape from school, family
issues and etc.

(05:25):
Etc.
It was just something I always,you know, picked up um, and
this one particular day I had myxbox 360.
My work for three just came out.
Right, mw3 just came out.
It was it was huge just cameout.
I remember going to the um.
This story is hilarious.
I remember going to, uh, togame stop in the mall, because I

(05:47):
live really close to the mall.
The apartments that we livedthere was like right across the
street from the, from the mall,um, and I go in to the game stop
and I pick up the games.
I want to buy this game.
The guy's like you're not oldenough to get this game, where's
your driver license?
And I was like I need this game, bro, don't do this to me.
Like I need this game, like Ineed this game.
So I was like you know what?

(06:08):
I'm going to find a way to getthis game.
So I literally step out ofGameStop and go into the food
court.
I find a random guy.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
I'm like go, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
So you know, yeah, oh , yeah, oh, yeah, you know what
to do.
Yeah, you know so I, yeah, ohyeah, you know what to do, you
know.
So I asked my bro can you buythis game for me?
He was like, yeah, man, I gotyou.
So I give him the money, hebuys it, gives me the game, the
receipt.
I'm like bet bro.
So I literally go home, I'mplaying the rest of that game
man, for like two weeks straight.
And then on that third week Iremember playing, playing, and

(06:41):
this guy invites me to an XboxLive party.
We had a few common friends, Ibelieve.
Maybe I can't really remember,to be honest at this point, but
he's asking my name, where I'mfrom.
I'm like it's kind of weird man.
It's very sus, you know, it'svery, very sus.
Why are you asking my name,where I'm from and all this?
So I'm like you know what heseems like a cool guy, I'm going

(07:11):
to all this.
So I'm like you know what heseems like a cool guy.
I'm gonna give him some vagueinformation about myself, not
too much, you know, but justenough.
Right, yeah, um, and I tell himall that stuff, right, and he
asked me are you a Christian?
I'm like, yeah, I'm a Christian.
Um, and then he asked me whatdoes it mean to be a Christian.
And I was like go to church andbe a good person.
That was my response.
And he nah, bro, it's so muchdeeper than that.
And I was like well, what doyou mean?
And he was like following Jesusis an everyday thing and we

(07:33):
must pick up our cross daily andfollow him.
And at that moment it was likea light bulb went off.
It's like what?
Because I've gone to churchbefore you know, I've sat in
Baptist churches before.
What?
Because I've gone to churchbefore you know I've sat in
Baptist churches before,especially here in the South
Church service would be a longtime, man, it'd be a very long
time.
You know you'd be in aboutthree, four, five hours, man
looking around, it's all hot,it's yeah.

(07:56):
Yeah, two-piece suits on, youknow, slacks, dress shoes,
button up.
I was just like I'm not reallyfeeling this right now, but at
that moment it was like God usedsomeone I played Call of Duty
with.
We're up there playing the gametogether, getting MOABs and
getting killed with the ACR, theMP Center for my M3 player, my

(08:19):
other M3 players.
You know what I'm talking about.
You know, ACR the depressor thatwas a laser beam, yeah, um, but
it was god using that moment tojust capture me right where I
was at and it was really himjust meeting me where I was at
and just truthfully, um,touching me, because at that
time I was addicted topornography, I was smoking weed

(08:42):
every day.
I was really in this really badplace and and the Lord met me
right where I was at and ittruthfully changed my life and
it still is playing in my heart.
And about two years later,through fellowship and just
through prayer because that wasmy church community, that was my
Christian community that I hadwas people I met online, right,
and most of my friends I metonline, you know, and we still

(09:04):
are friends to this day, right.
But after about two years ofjust having fellowship and
praying with each other,eventually the Lord met me where
I was at Almost, took my lifebecause life was, even though I
knew the gospel, life was stillhard.
I was still having dad issues,I was still having insecurity
issues, I was still dealing withpornography, I was still

(09:25):
dealing with all these struggles, right.
But the Lord met me where I wasat and he was like son, you
don't have to take your life.
I have a plan for your life.
And the Lord met me right therewhen I was going to take my
life and I knew at that moment Ican't do this anymore.
I have to give it all to you.
And I kid you not, I rememberpraying.
I was like God.
I cannot do this by myself.
I cannot do this by myselfBecause at the time, I was the

(09:47):
only person in my householdfollowing God my sister and my
mom.
Every time I did something, theyhad a magnifying glass on it.
And I'm like yo, I'm only 15years old.
I ain't got no pastor.
All I got is friends on Xbox.
And I got the Internet.
You know, that's my fellowship.

(10:09):
That's how I get theinformation I needed.
I didn't have a car.
My family didn't want to go tochurch at the time, so I was
kind of like it was hard for me,right.
So it was just very hard forthem to always, you know, you
know, criticize me and judge melike that.
It was very tough.
So I remember praying like Godif you want me to truly follow
you, unashamedly and justtruthfully, with all my heart,

(10:32):
can you save my mom and mysister?
And he did just that.
Literally a month later theyboth gave up the Christ,
following Christ still to thisday, and the Lord just moved
through that whole situation.
So, as you can, can see the 106, you know the crazy death, huge
, huge role in the back, rightthere.
Being broke made me rich.
That's another quote, rightthere, man.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
I always do.
Don't get bitter, get betterbro.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Hey, hey.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
I love that one.
He said I would still work onswitching them letters.
That's what he said, man, Ilove that one he said I would
still work on switching themletters.
That's what he said.
Woo, he got some bars man.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Bars for days.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Dude, that's such a powerful story I mean from the
beginning to the end, talkingabout you know God meeting
people where they're at.
You know, and that's ultimatelythe whole purpose of this
podcast to the listeners is wejust hope that if you just take
something from his testimony orwhatever the spirit puts on
either one of our hearts, it'sjust remember like he's gonna
meet you where you're at youknow, and I think that is such a

(11:32):
powerful, powerful thing tounderstand.
And just so the listeners havesome understanding reference, if
y'all did not play xbox 360back in the day, most parties
about 99.9 percent like when youtried to chat with someone on
an Xbox Live party, they weretalking reckless bro.
If Christianity or Jesus orfaith came up, it was going nuts

(11:56):
bro.
Like these conversations wererare.
So like what I mean by that guysis that that was a god thing.
There was nothing else youcould say, because I guarantee
you, if you went to any otherlobby or any other game chat and
you joined, they were probablygoing to talk some crazy stuff,
because that's what happened inthese lobbies back in the day,

(12:16):
and so I think it's so powerfulhow god you know met you right
there and that's such abeautiful testimony, man and and
and you can tell me if I'mwrong here but even now, now the
community in gaming, there'slike a Christian gaming
community out there now and Isaw even, like on Discord,
there's even church servicesgoing on like gaming, church

(12:39):
services going on like on theweekend, like could you kind of
talk a little bit about now fromyour perspective because I know
you game a lot more, I'm sure,than I do nowadays, or we and or
whatnot?
Um, just how the christiancommunity is in gaming has it
evolved since then?

Speaker 2 (12:55):
so your understanding oh yeah, man, definitely
evolved now it's.
If I had that how it is now,when I was younger and it would
have been big mad um, becausethe lord really is moving in
that space.
Video games have changed somuch to now where it's a part of

(13:19):
all of our lives, especially2020.
Everyone's home, everyone hasto, you know, bought a console
to spend time with their family,so now we're really a part of
all of our lives.
Now, whether you have an xbox,playstation or switch, pc,
whatever you know, everybodystarted picking them gaming,
even if it's on their phone.
You know, like you know, weit's a part of it.

(13:41):
Yeah, you know, um, and thenwhen you're able to incorporate
faith and fellowship, that partAmazing.
And then I do have a couple offriends who are pastors, who
stream and they have theirservices online and they pray
for their community, no matterwho you are, whether you're
saved or not.
They welcome everybody, ofcourse, if you respect what they
believe.
But, yeah, man, it's, it'schanged so much and it's

(14:04):
truthfully beautiful how thelord is moving through
technology and I've met so manygreat believers all over the
country, all over the world man,and I have a few friends from
the uk, from europe, um, justall over the the world man, and
we're all the body of christ andit's truthfully amazing to hear
their, their stories and, youknow, their testimony, their
families, like maybe two daysago I was catching on my boy jay

(14:26):
.
He, uh, he lives in europe.
I don't even know how topronounce his country, you know,
but it's just like he's amazing, like and just being able to
hear his story and just pick upright, pick up right where we
left off.
I haven't talked to him in likethree, four years, um, but able
to just catch up with him andjust, he's married now and you
know he has two children, he hastwo step-sons, you know, and

(14:48):
it's just like man, that's howGod moves and it's just able to
just pray for him and just helphim and encourage him and vice
versa.
It's truthfully amazing,honestly, gaming is.
It has a huge, huge space forChristians.
We just got to be willing toput in the work.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Absolutely man.
So what would your advice be tomaybe a family or a parent you
know, maybe their kids lovegaming and they're not
necessarily you know, they'restill early in their walk.
You know, maybe a teenage kidor high school or you know and
whatnot.
You have any advice for a kidwho's trying to grow in their

(15:26):
faith, but also a big gamer.
What would you give them?

Speaker 2 (15:30):
I would say definitely get on Twitch and
check out some of theseChristian streamers.
I would say Pastor Stoozy, godSquad Church the list goes on.
Myself I go by TheParadox116 onTwitch.
You can reach out to me.
I would love to connect youwith other believers as well.
We play a wide range of videogames, from World of Warcraft
all the way to Call of Duty,madden 2K, mlb the Show the list

(15:54):
goes on.
There's a space for anybody toget into.
There's a game, there's aChristian gaming community for
every game type, every gamegenre.
So whatever you're looking forI don't know the person, I can
find somebody who does, you know.
So it's like there's acommunity for you.
And I know sometimes parents maylook at video games like, oh,
that's wasting their time.
It that there has to be abalance with it.

(16:15):
Right, you know, like, becausegames can become an idol, just
like anything else can become anidol.
That requires it requires, youknow, maturity, responsibility
and just honestly, being realwith yourself.
You know it takes a lot ofself-control.
You know you can't be on a gamefor eight hours and only give
God one hour.
You know, you know like.
You got to definitely make sureyou find that balance, you know

(16:36):
, like that you're not gamingall day and you're able to spend
time with God, spend time withyour family, your friends, your
lover.
You know everything like that.
You know you got to definitelyfind balance and that's the key.
You know, definitely be wiseand use discernment right.
Some video games are definitelywild.
Some games are very dark.
Some of them are very demonic.
But definitely watch what yourchildren listen to and what

(16:58):
they're playing.
But not every game is bad.
I will say that right now.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
You know, not every game is bad for that.
I will say that right now.
You know how do we get withthat for sure.
I love that and I want to goback a little bit.
You said something reallyawesome.
You're talking about how and Irelate this and I'll share this
because I don't think I'veshared this with the podcast yet
is you talked about how, whenyou're gaming as a younger
teenager, how is an escaper foryou?
It was a way to kind of get outof some of the things that were
happening around you and yourhome, and I can relate to this

(17:26):
so much too.
Like as someone who's reallycompetitive, as someone who
loves sports but wasn't able tophysically play sports, playing
video games was an outlet for meto compete.
I mean, I would love playing 2Kand MLB and Madden and all that
growing up because I could takecare of business on that.
Like I couldn't play in reallife, but on the game, it was a

(17:47):
way for me to escape my physicalsituation and still be in an
equal playing field and compete.
And so the reason I bring thisup is I love how you said that
it can be an escape for someonewho's going through a difficult
time, but the imbalance is soimportant but to all the parents
, or maybe if the people arelistening that video games can

(18:08):
be a really good outlet as well,and it's not just a time waste
or a time you know uh, what'sthe word?
You throw it in a time shoot,you know just all that stuff.
It can be very beneficial foryou emotionally, mentally and
even now, spiritually, whenyou're connected with the right
people, and I think it's havingthe right community that you
surround yourself with, as wellas, um, the balance, how often

(18:30):
you do it.
I think it's such an importantaspect for sure.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
You hit it all in the head, man.
You hit it all on the head.
It definitely was an escape, umfor me, because I did like
playing sports.
I did, but the area I grew upin it wasn't like I didn't grow
up in the hood, but the hoodnext to me was the hood, you
know.
So I had a bunch of friends whowere in the hood, you know, and
I would play sports with them,you know, outside, barefoot

(18:55):
playing football, man, like youknow, I was slipping butts in my
head or bust my, you know likethat was fun.
But when it was time to comeinside, man, it was game time.
It was game time when I finallygot Xbox Live, I was able to
put my friends online.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah, whole new world bro Whole new world?
Absolutely, man.
It changed my life.
I used to have a really weakimmune system I even do now.
I would miss so much time atschool and I was able to like
play with my friends outside ofschool, you know, be another,
hop on the game and and I'vereally grew so much, um, you

(19:33):
know, emotionally, and beingable to have that um, what's the
word?
Being able to be social withoutbeing social in person, because
I missed so much school.
So video games definitely havea place in this world.
They're here to stay To anybodylistening.
Just make sure you're pluggedin with the right people.
Try to find those Christ-likeindividuals and plug in with
them.

(19:53):
Amen, bro.
I wanted to back up.
I feel like I didn't even touchup on this, my apologies.
How we know each other, bro, itwas a quick little time time,
but it was one of those uhmoments where I was like man,
this dude's awesome want toconnect.
So, um, I kind of talk about myperspective on how we met and

(20:14):
just kind of the way I felttowards you and your sister when
we first met.
Man was just um, there's a biguh rap festival called Holy
Smoke.
It's, yes, still holy rightthere, bro, and it was awesome.
I went last year.
I believe Was last year, thesecond year or third year that
it was going.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
It was the second or third, I can't remember.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
I'm not too sure.
It was my first time going.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
It was awesome.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
And I love Christian hip-hop and I know lee does too
and it was just one of thosethings, man, we're like we were
going hard for the music, Idon't know, like we kind of
bumped into each other.
I was sitting somewhere and hecame and introduced himself.
I don't exactly remember thisthe moment, but what I do know
is, quickly, when we startedtalking the passion for serving

(21:06):
others, the passion for jesus,the passion for christian
hip-hop I was like this issomebody him and his sister,
these are people I want to bearound.
These are the people you'retalking about fellowship.
You're talking about people youwant to surround yourself with.
You know lee and his sister,chloe are, are the examples of
those people.
Right and um and right afterthat interaction, I was like,

(21:29):
hey, man, we got to stay intouch.
And then, when you startedtelling me about cuts for Christ
and what you guys do, I waslike, bro, this is wild, like
that is such a cool concept andand speaking of that, I need to
cut right now too, bro, butwe'll we'll change that topic
later.
But even if it's just a quickinteraction, you know what

(21:50):
people are going to be in yourlife.
You know what I'm saying.
Like God will make that soclear.
Like sometimes you meet someonejust by them walking past you
and you're like, oh, that dudeseems cool or that lady seems
cool, I want to get to know them, you know.
Next thing you know that's alifelong friend and then
sometimes it's just a longerconversation.
We got to talk a lot that time,a couple days there, but that

(22:11):
was kind of my perspective.
I don't know your perspectiveon the whole interaction, but
y'all are awesome and I'm superglad I ran into you all yeah,
man, that was a great time man.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Um smoke man, holy smoke man it was.
It was fire, it was honestly avery, very fire.
Um event, man, it was probably,it's probably the best.
It is the best Christianhip-hop concert in the universe.
I've gone to a lot of Christianhip-hop concerts over the years
and nothing holds a candle nextto how great Smoke is.

(22:42):
So shout-out to those guys atIndie Tribe no big deal.
Mike L, john Heath, everybodyover there on that team, man,
they're killing it.
Tory Deshawn, that whole teamis killing it.
Man, it's great man.
The marketing is good, thequality of the music, the space,
the fellowship, the food trucks, the merch, the cypher,

(23:03):
everything is just top tier,amazing.
And it's a great time, man, toreally just hear from the Lord
man and connect with otherbelievers.
And I remember running into DanI think it was like I think it
was intermission, I want to sayand they had the merch labels
and I saw you kind of in theback by.
I think it was by Lecrae'smerch table or it was somebody's

(23:24):
merch table, I can't rememberexactly.
It was Lecrae and Holby's merchtable.
And man, I saw it.
I was like man, this dude is,it was a crayon holies merch
table.
And man, I saw you know, likeman, it was cool and I I don't
know what, you, I can't rememberwhat you had on, bro, but I
have the picture on my phone andI saw you.
I was like man, just having aconversation with you and just
what's your name?
Like where are you from?
Like, where'd you come from?
Like, are you from texas?

(23:44):
Are you from tennessee?
Like, and you were telling me,you're coming from ohio right at
the time.
Yeah, you were telling me fromohio and we had a conversation
talking about chh and what we do, and, uh, we got into cuts for
christ and what that stands for,and he told us about how you're
a coach.
And it was just honestlyamazing, man, and just you kind
of really poured into me mysister, and it is blessed as

(24:06):
truthfully, that moment wherewe're just kind of able to hear
your heart, you know, and howthe lord's been using you, you
know where God is taking you,where you're at right now, and
it just honestly was a dope timeto really catch up with you,
man, and just see who you seewho you are.
And that's my thing, man, toclose my phone, get fed.
So me, I'm going to go talk toanybody.
I'll talk to them.

(24:27):
If the Lord tells me do it, I'mgoing to do it.
But yeah, man, that was a HolySpirit moment and I just thank
God, man, for you being veryapproachable and just being easy
to talk to.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
I appreciate that.
Yeah, I do remember we got theopportunity to pray.
That was a rougher, an awesometime in my life, but I was also
going right before surgery.
I had that surgery the monthafter, and so it was kind of my
brother and I did it as a youknow, kind of get the mind off
of it, you know, and I had noclue.
Like to be honest, I'll blamemy ignorance on this I thought I

(25:01):
was only like the super big,like Christian hip hop fans.
I had never met many peoplethat loved Christian hip hop
like I did.
And so going through thisfestival I was like was like,
wait, I'm not the only one thatlike rocked people, you know,
like, yeah, who has experiencedto be around people that love it

(25:22):
just like I do?
Because I thought I was justlike, uh, sticking out like a
sore thumb, bro, because, likeyou know, this is no disrespect
to anybody but like I've gone toa bunch of christian concerts,
especially christian rap thatisn't this festival and you just
have a bunch of people thatjust know a few songs, right, or
they'll know the artist by onesong and they're just back and,
you know, just chilling.
But, bro, you're likemoshpitting at this Christian
festival, bro, like there arepeople going hard, know every

(25:44):
word, and like I always feltlike that was me at a regular
concert.
I'm like everybody's looking atme because I could rap every
song by Holby or I could rap thesong by Lecrae and I'd go to
their concerts just them alone,and people would just look at me
like this Like what are youdoing?
And seeing all theselike-minded believers and
like-minded individuals thatlove the same type of music was

(26:05):
such an amazing feeling for me.
But I say that to also say thatalso was a transition for me to
then have to go into a prettypainful surgery there and being
able to run into you all and wetalked about that and you all
prayed with me and everythingwas just super powerful that
moment.
But you know, you never reallyknow what someone's going

(26:26):
through.
You don't know what they'reabout to go into.
You know you ever you hear thatsaying it's like you're either
in the the storm just got out ofthe storm, or getting ready to
go into or into the storm.
Right, it's like one of thosethings in life where I was about
to go into one right, like Iwas just you know, and running
into you all really just gave methat extra glimmer of like man,

(26:46):
they're great people out hereare going to support me through
this you know, and every aspectlike that.
So I really appreciate that.
That was a really meaningfulmoment for me and my walk.
I want to transfer intotransition here to Cuts for
Christ.
I think the concept isbrilliant.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
I mean, that is the coolest thing, dude, and you
know I have a small concept ofwhat it is but I'd love to hear
kind of the origin of it, how itoriginated, you know what,
where you guys are at now, whereyour goals are in the future

(27:27):
and how we can best support it.
Yeah, so, like I said before,cuts to Crush is a nonprofit,
it's a ministry.
It's a ministry before it's abusiness, because I know
sometimes, know sometimes people, you know they see ministry
more as a business first.
Amen, it's a ministry first andit's a business.
Um, so, honestly, cuts forChrist, our goal in our business
to meet people where they're at.
You know whether you're you'rehomeless.

(27:48):
You know whether you're in thehood, whether it's a
back-to-school event.
You know, whatever you are, wewant to be able to provide you
with a service that will changeyour life.
You know we really want God tocome down, you know, and we want
to be an instrument for hisglory.
And we just don't do haircuts,you know we do.
We do hygiene kits, we do freeBibles, we get food.

(28:10):
We really try to partner andcollaborate with other churches
as well, because one thing aboutCuts for Christ is one thing we
believe is we're bettertogether.
You know, we're the body ofChrist.
You know, if we know somebodywho has something similar or
they want to come together,we'll come together and we'll
partner together to, you know,to have something bigger.
You know, truthfully, we'reabout building a relationship

(28:30):
too.
You know, don't think that youhave to be a barber or, uh, you
know, anything like that to be apart of cuts of christ and
support.
You know, if you want to pray,if you want to follow our social
media team, we're alwayslooking for ways to, you know,
pour into somebody and use theirgiftings and talents for the
glory of god.
Right, um, and that's what westand on, that's, truthfully,
what we stand on and that's whatwe believe is we're better

(28:51):
together as the church, as thebody of Christ.
You know, we all have gifts andtalents and we should all be
using them to glorify Godbecause he's the one that gave
them to us in the first place.
Right, and I wasn't even cuttinghair at first because, for
Christ, I was just the guy withthe clipboard, you know,
sweeping up the hair off theground, you know, and I saw my
sister was struggling doing allthese haircuts by herself back
in 2016.
We made eight years, march 14th, by the way.

(29:13):
Praise God, yeah, praise God,man.
He gets all the glory for that.
But when we first started Iwasn't cutting hair and I saw my
sister was struggling and shewas like, here, take these
clippers.
And I was like, oh, what do Ido?
And you know I messed up a fewheads.
Before I'm not going to lie, Imessed up a few heads, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If no one was pushing back herelike yes, sir, I said yes, sir,

(29:34):
right here.
You know, but you know it's atrial and error, you know, and
over time I got way better andI'm still getting better,
because I always want to beteachable.
I don't know everything.
Yeah, man, it's truthfullyamazing being the hands and feet
of Jesus from behind the scenes, getting a board of directors,
now our own office.
The Lord has really been movingin a way that we didn't even

(29:55):
know was possible.
You know, because we thought wewould just be cutting hair and
praying for people.
We had no idea it would grow tobe what it is today.
You know it's off of ourobedience.
You know God can only move offof your obedience.
He can only move.
If you're being disobedient,god can't move.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
So, yeah, Dude, I love that.
You know I was doing a workshopa couple weeks ago and one of
the points I was talking aboutwas just kind of knowing you
have a purpose right and walkingin your purpose.
And one of the things that I'vementioned were two things in
that concept is you have to onebe available to your purpose but

(30:35):
ultimately you have to beobedient when he calls you to
walk into that right.
And and that's an apparent withthe growth that God's provided
through Cuts for Christ is youguys were available, you, you
did, you walked it out, you'rewalking it out to this day and
you're being obedient.
And look at the obedience hasallowed you to make such a big
impact on so many lives, whichis incredible, seeing the

(30:58):
vessels that you guys are forchrist, which is amazing, um.
But what I want to touch up onthat, I think, is a I certainly
had this misconception, um, theearly on in my faith was that
ministry was combined to thefour walls of the church, but
ministry is day-to-day living.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
And.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
I think customer Christ is kind of a niche, right
.
It's haircut.
That's the first time I'veheard of the ministry giving
haircuts.
You hear like now that you guysare doing it.
Now you do more than just that,but at the beginning, right, I
assume that's kind of what theprimarily thing was the haircuts
.
And you hear a lot about foodbanks and clothing banks and all

(31:39):
these other resources.
But I love the concept ofministry being not within the
church and kind of how you walkout, you know your ministry with
cuts for christ and how youcontinue to serve the people in

(32:02):
that aspect yeah, great man,your transition was fire.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
By the way, um, I would like, before I even go
into that, I cuts for christ.
It's spelled with the k, it'sk-u-t-s.
For christ.
It's not c, it's k?
Um, keeping up the salvation.
That's what the k-u-t-s standsfor.
It's all about salvations.
You know, um, we could be doingall these great things, but if

(32:27):
nobody's getting saved, ifnobody turns in their old ways,
what?
What are we doing it for?
If it's not about kingdom, whatare we talking about?
If it's not turning towards God, what are we talking about?
Truthfully, to answer yourquestion, man, we are the church
.
It has a name.

(32:47):
It's in a building.
There's air condition, there'swater, there's food, there's
seats and chairs, it'scomfortable.
But we're called to go out andmake disciples.
We're called to do that.
We're called to pick up ourcross daily.
You know, we're called to dothat, and doing it in such a

(33:07):
unique way.
I've learned and I love how theword never says the gospel has
to be presented one certain way,one certain way.
We have so many people withgreat silence and great giftings
doing and sharing the gospel insuch a very unique way, and
it's changing people's lives.
Yeah, there's people that I canmeet that you can't meet.

(33:29):
And there's people that you canmake that you can't meet and
there's people that you can meetthat I can't meet or touch.
You know, and I love that, Iknow Christopher Christ can't
reach everybody.
I know it's not going to be foreverybody.
I get that.
But if I know somebody who canmeet somebody, I will point them
to that person or thatindividual or that organization
or that church or whatever.
You know I will do that.
We are called to be the hands ofJesus and meet people where

(33:52):
they're at.
We must go to these places thatneed Jesus.
It's so easy to hop, you know,on a plane and go to Africa or
South America and do thesethings.
I'm not knocking you If you dothat.
Please do that.
People need it.
But people need you to hearyour own neighborhood, in the
slums of your city.

(34:12):
You know, if you live in abigger city downtown houston,
downtown dallas, downtown newyork, downtown chicago, downtown
la where the host is huge, yeah, and that's only a a part of it
you have those who be in sextraffic.
You know, that's a whole otherthing.
You have people who are prettymuch in slavery, yeah, who need

(34:33):
Jesus.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
We must go to these places that aren't comfortable.
We must go to the hood.
We must go to these places, hmm, and if you're afraid, do it
afraid.
Hmm, I've learned that.
Yeah, I've been afraid plentyof times.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
I'm sure.
Do it afraid, never forsake you, man.
You've been right there thewhole time, right.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Right, yeah, and my prayers have changed.
I'm a God.
I don't say God, take me out ofthis.
I say God, walk with me as I gothrough it.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Oh, come on somebody Because if not me, then who?
That's what I was about to say,bro.
Oh, what god revealed me islike if it's not going to be you
being the vessel in this area,then who's going to be?

Speaker 2 (35:19):
who's it going to be?

Speaker 1 (35:20):
who's going to be bro .
That's so all glory to godright there, and that was just
on the on my heart too.
I was going to say that whenyou're done.
I was like my encouragement tothe listeners and I will
reiterate what he just said Ifit's not you, in wherever you
are being called to do in thatarea, then who is it going to be
?
That is such a beautiful partabout being the body and hands

(35:42):
and feet of Christ.
He's going to use you and yourgiftings and where you are
placed right now to glorify himand lead people to him and do
the work of the kingdom on thisearth.
And another aspect I just oh,man, that, just that blew me
away, bro, because I wasliterally about to say that and
that was awesome but low-keylost my train of thought because

(36:06):
I had something else I wantedto transition into.
But, that was so amazing, beingable to, um, really just
understand that aspect.
But you talk about, you know,sometimes fear right getting in
the way, uh, or not even in theway, just the enemy trying to
discourage you.
You know, and you talk abouthow your prayers change.
You know what are some thingsmaybe day to day you know,

(36:30):
because you are going intodifferent areas maybe that you
weren't used to, or reachingpeople that you know, maybe
going through a really hard timeand whatever the case may be,
and the enemy could use that asa fear factor in your life.
What are some things maybe thatyou do to just re-up your faith
.
Man, make sure the cup's full.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Oh man, that's a good question, great question.
Well, I can say for mepersonally, I know this kind of
goes.
It's kind of counteractive.
To be honest with you, it's sowild how it works sometimes.
But when I'm going throughthese moments where I need to be
poured into, somebody will callme, right, somebody will call

(37:16):
me like, hey, I'm going throughit, and it happens almost every
time.
It can be my mom, it can be mysister, it can be a friend, it
can be whoever right, I'malready going through it at that
moment.
Like god, do I pick up the phonebecause I'm already going
through it myself.
Right, pick up the phone andthey're telling me through it
myself.
Right, pick up the phone andthey're telling me what's going
on and they're like, bro, canyou pray for me?

(37:37):
And it's so wild.
They call me, thinking that I'mgoing to encourage them,
they're encouraging me, and theLord taught me something in that
moment Always be available,always be available, always be
available, always be available.
Because you don't know what'son the other side of your yes,

(37:59):
your obedience, and a lot oftimes we feel like we're going
through it.
I can't really make it, I can'treally go, I can't really pick
up that phone call right now.
That's the thing that's goingto help change your moment right
there.
And then, and then and mysister told me something today
from our pastor, um hope city,um pastor Dan, pastor, um pastor

(38:21):
Daniel.
Um he said don't allow one badday to make you feel like a bad
life.
And a lot of times we allowthese moments or these bad days
to really dictate our purpose,our future.
That part, and just hearingthat just kind of really hit me

(38:41):
like man.
We have these seasons, in thesemoments, where we get so
drained and we get so tired.
You know, we get so justexhausted, right, right.
The Lord has always told mejust be available.
Just be available and allowyour heart to be open, and that
truly helps me get poured intoit and obviously, even doing

(39:03):
Cuts for Christ, there's beenplenty of times where I don't
feel like going.
I'm being honest, it's probablythe hottest time of the year
here in Texas.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Woo.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
It's Montana here, bro, I get it.
It's see, I got that dry heat,we got that human heat down here
, man, we got mosquitoes andbugs.
It's, oh yeah, it's nasty man,it's diabolical, it's nasty word
remind me why I don't livethere.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
Nah, it's cool, but uh, you know that.
You know what I was justthinking.
It just came back to me.
The song starts right here byCash and Crowns.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I think it's.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Cash and Crowns.
It's about serving.
He's basically like we talkabout we want change in this
world, but it starts right hereand he's saying we want coffee
in the lobby and we got worshipon the big screens.
I believe I'm bossing the lyrics, but essentially he just said
we have people on the streetsthat need to hear the good news,

(39:56):
but we just go to the churchevery day.
Basically, he was kind oftalking about just bigger
churches and how it's gotten sogreat and advanced in the
building.
But what are we doing outsidethe building?
It starts right here.
That's what resonated with mein the building.
But what are we doing outsidethe building?
It starts right here like andand that's what resonated with
me he actually did a uh um thesong with kb's in it too.

(40:19):
They did a remix with kb inthere too, but I don't know if
you know that song, but anywaysit reminded me of that song, uh
yeah, yeah, man, you gotta serve.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
You gotta serve in those moments where I'm tired,
I'm hot, I'm sweaty, I'msmelling all the smells hot, I'm
sweaty, I'm smelling all thesmells.
Man, I'm seeing, I'm smellingall type of smells.
You know, it's like man.
It humbles me every single time, it brings me down to earth
every single time, and it's likeI've gotten to the point now
where I'm excited to serve.
I'm excited to go come here,I'm excited to go to here, I'm

(40:49):
excited to go pray, whether I'min the heat or I'm in the AC.
Yeah, I'm excited to go out andserve, because when you serve,
it's not about you, it's notabout me, it's not about Dan,
it's not about us.
Nope it's something else Ilearned to that helped change my
whole perspective.
This this really blew my topoff right here.
Well, they're not my lifechanged when I realized I'm not

(41:13):
the main character.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
I'm not the main character.
I never was, I never will be.
Come on, I'm just a tool inGod's toolbox to be used However
he wants me to be used.
It's not about cuts for Christ.
It's not about my job.
Everything else I'm attached toit's not about any of that.
It's not about Cuts for Christ.
It's not about my job.
Everything else I'm attached toit's not about any of that.
It's about Jesus and being thehands and feet of Jesus To those

(41:44):
in need.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
That's part, but I'm about to throw a wrinkle in here
and it's totally just came offmy heart and this is actually
more so for me.
I'll just be completely honestheart and this is actually more
so for me.
I'll just be completely honesthow you.
Everything you do, from youknow work to serving it's quite
faith-based.
How does?
But you also have jobs, right,that is really important.

(42:08):
How does, I guess, getting paidfor some of the ministries that
you do because everything's aministry when you're doing it
for Christ?
Right, you're an IT for theradio station.
That's faith-based and you'redoing the proper Excel content
creation.
One of the things that I'vepersonally been struggling with
is charging people for some ofmy services because I am

(42:31):
faith-based.
So how does that work for youand what are some of the ways?
Maybe that God's kind of helpedyou with that and I know the
customer of Christ is nonprofit.
But the other two things I'massuming that's how you pay your
bills right, but it's stillChrist-centered.
So how do you balance thataspect?

Speaker 2 (42:48):
Well, let me just go in order my nine to five.
I'm getting paid for what I do,like I'm on a salary.
Let me just go in order my nineto five.
I'm getting paid, you know, forwhat I do.
You know, like I'm on salary.
I'm getting paid monday throughfriday, technically um the
christian media company I workokay, okay, that's nine to five,
okay, okay, that's my nine tofive.
That's salary, that's ministry.
I just do it stuff.
I'm very technical.
That's how I get paid.

(43:09):
That's my salary, right?
Okay, that's for christ.
I'm part-time.
My sister's full-time.
She's on salary, right.
Um, I don't get paid forcustomer service.
I do it as a service because Iwant to help and I want to be
the hands-free.
Jesus, right, my sister doescustomer price full-time.
I can't do full-time right nowbecause I have my non-advant and
I love these.
I go on right.
Yeah, you, proper Excel.

(43:32):
I don't do it for the money, butsometimes I do get a, you know,
an in-kind donation.
You know for what I do.
You know I'm not doing it forthe money because I truly want
to be able to capture contentand build relationships.
You know, within the CHH space,you know.
So, to answer your question aswell.
Going back to you know, puttingaside my main job, my nine to
five cuts for price at we woulddo everything for free,

(43:57):
everything, everything for free,every single thing for free.
You know people, and it's crazy, when you're doing it for free,
everybody's calling.
When you're doing it for free,everybody calling.
When you're doing it for free,everybody calling everybody.
All the churches, all thenonprofits, all the
organizations, all the schooldistricts are calling and
blowing you up.
Blowing you up, but as soon asyou say, hey, I have to charge

(44:22):
you for this.
Because, one, everything we payfor is out of pocket.
Our clippers, our trimmers, ourcombs, the brushes, the
cleaning materials, the, themats, the aprons, the broom, the
duster, everything costs money.
So for us to come out andprovide you a haircut, we look

(44:46):
at two different models.
Right, if we pull up andnobody's getting paid, cool,
we'll pull up.
But if somebody's getting paid,cool, we'll pull up.
But if somebody's getting paidto come out there, for example,
if we go to an event, right, andthere's Christian artists out
there who are getting paid fortheir services, we don't have

(45:06):
the flexibility to pull up withgas money to get there and all
these other things, and we can'tdo that for free.
Because our motto is this Ifnobody's getting paid, we're
going to help the community forfree.
But if people are getting paid,we expect to get paid as well,
some type of compensation.
And if it's not financially, itcan be free Bibles that we can
give back to the community,something to help us advance the

(45:28):
kingdom of God, because themoney that we get is going back
into custom price anyways, tobuy new clippers, to buy new
brushes, to buy new combs, tobuy new everything.
Because clippers and trimmersdon't last forever, especially
here in Houston, especially ifyou're cutting hair and the hair
gets all sweaty and theyhaven't shampooed their head a
long time.
That's grime and dirt allcaught up in the clippers and

(45:50):
you got to clean them, you gotto disinfect.
That's the whole process.
The engine clippers and you gotto clean them, you got to
disinfect.
That's the whole process.
The engine gets all worn out,the Clippers are hot.
It costs us money and I get it.
I understand we want to provideand help out everybody.
We do, but we have to pay forthis out of our own pockets.
I, I tithe and everything likethat, like everybody else should

(46:13):
, as as yes, I pour in thecustom quest financially.
I pour in the custom cross of mytime.
We have to be able to sustainourselves because if we, if we
did free for everybody else, wewould not be where we are today.
And it's hard as christiansbecause we want to do everything
for free.
You want to help everybody out,but we've burned ourselves out

(46:34):
doing that before and, as I'msure you know or you've heard of
or seen in ministry, people canget burnt out absolutely.
I've been burnt out plenty oftimes.
I'm only one person.
That's why I'm so big oncollaboration and coming
together as a church.
It's coming together as thebody of christ, because we can't
do it all alone, together.
I I mean we can't do it alone,by ourselves.

(46:55):
We have to come together.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
That's how we really invest.
The kingdom of God is if wecome together.
But it's so unfortunate becauseit's so divided.
Sometimes, unfortunately,that's a whole nother topic.
You know, um, but it's like youknow.
I know God has me in my ownlane and I'm going to stick to
it.
You know, and do what Godcalled me to do.
I get it.
I'm not for everybody, that'sfine, but I know what God called

(47:19):
me to do and I'm going to beobedient to it.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
So, man, you killing it.
That was so.
I'm going to be honest, butthat was a totally a me question
.
That's something I'm open with,the vulnerability.
That's what this podcast isabout.
That's something that I'mpersonally working through right
now, like god's working through, like it's okay to charge for
your services, like right, likemy public speaking and my
mentorship, you know, lifecoaching, you know this is what

(47:44):
god's called me to do, and I'vebeen able to journey with a lot
of people, but even if they havethe finances to do so, it's
taken a lot of um, I don't know,just like courage, I guess.
I guess to just be like, hey,these are my rates, you know,
because it's like, but thenagain it's like, okay, god
understands what I need, heknows I need to pay my bills, he

(48:05):
knows I need to live and heknows my heart posture and knows
why I'm doing it, and so Ithink that's ultimately all that
matters, right, and Iappreciate your transparency,
for that question Kind of justthrew you in the hot seat on
that one.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
If you are a person who has a service and you're
labeled, as you know, ministry,don't be afraid.
You know, definitely pray aboutyour rates, your invoices and
things like that.
For us we have tiers Right,depending on the service.
How many haircuts are beingdone?
I've learned to a lot ofchurches have a budget.

(48:40):
They have a budget for thingsto be done.
You know, if you work with abudget I mean if you work for a
church they have a budget.
Don't be afraid to stand tostand firm on what you know,
what god calls you to do, and ifyou're, if you're, if that's
your main thing you have to takecare of yourself.
You have bills to pay.
You have a family to take careof.
Do not be afraid to stand firmon that.
Truthfully.
Some people want to say, no, Ican't do it.

(49:00):
Okay, that's fine.
Thank you so much.
I pray the best you know.
If you ever want to work withus, here's our rates, here's our
invoice, whatever you know, andkeep it moving.
You know it sucks, but itdoesn't.
You know it is what it is, youknow.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Absolutely absolutely .
And I love that aspect.
You know, I appreciate that andhopefully that resonated with
some of the listeners too.
You know, and one of theamazing things about the ability
to evangelize and beministering to other people is
it doesn't matter where you are,what your career path is.

(49:39):
You know where you grew up.
Whatever that looks like, god'sgoing to use you where you're at
, and I think that's such animportant aspect to remember
that, even if your job isn'ttechnically designated ministry,
you can still minister at yourjob.
Right, and I think that'ssomething I want the listeners
to take away from this as well.
It's like, whatever your jobtitle may be, where you work or

(50:02):
whatever you do in your everydaylife, he will give you
opportunities to minister topeople all around you, day in,
day out.
If you seek him above all elseand you're obedient, you get to
pour into other people.
So don't think, just becauseyour job's not labeled ministry
or you're not a non-profit orthe case maybe you don't get the
opportunity to pour into others, because god will use you where

(50:23):
you're at.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
So yeah, that's so huge man.
Can I say something else?

Speaker 1 (50:28):
really quick all right, we got all day.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
I'm ready oh, man, like you hit it on the head bro
so many times.
Don't feel like that to be at achurch to serve or to do
ministry.
If you're a doctor, if you're aphotographer, you still can do
ministry doing those things.
Yep, if you're a police officer, you there's so many times,
like my best friend, he's a,he's a police officer.

(50:51):
He does ministry all the time,all the time, all the time.
Don't ever let your situation orwhere you at dictate how god
can truly use your giftings,because he can.
He can use it wherever you work.
If you're at mcdonald's I knowthat's cliche people saying you
can do it at mcdonald's familydollar, you know.

(51:11):
Working for a college, you know, obviously I know what schools
and being a teacher, you have to.
You know watch what dollar youknow.
Working for a college, you know, obviously I know what schools
and being a teacher, you have to.
You know watch what you say.
You know if you think God's notdead too.
You know what I'm talking about.
You know what I'm talking about, but it's like God can still
use you in that and I once heardsomething and it's so powerful.
So so good, so good.

(51:32):
Oh, my God, just so good.
Share the word of god.
How does it go?
Crap, how does it go?
I believe it goes.
Share the word of god, but mostof the time do it in silence.
I can be butchering a quoteright now, but it's not the

(51:52):
words you know, it's the wordsyou do.

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Yeah that part.
It's the words you do, yeah,that part.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
It's the words you do .

Speaker 1 (51:57):
People watch your feet, not your mouth.
You know when are you going,like what are you doing.
You know and I think that's oneof the most important parts you
know I don't like I don'talways tell everybody I'm a
Christian, like if they ask I'llbe like, yeah, I'm a follower
of jesus.
But you should tell, by the wayI act, by your way, but, but,

(52:18):
but exactly the fruit that I'mbearing, the fruit that I'm
producing, right, so that thatis ultimately what should be
shown.
You know, um, by your actionsof being a follower of christ.
Um, you know, and getting downinto this, these last you know,
five, ten minutes here is justI'd love to just kind of hear.
You know, you got a lot goingon.
You're doing so many greatthings.

(52:38):
You're on fire for the lord man, you're impacting your
community.
You're impacting people allover with the stuff you're doing
with the CHH community.
But an impact in my life, um,like we mentioned a little bit,
you're talking about fillingyour cup up.
One of the things that I loveabout serving right is and I say
this in almost every episodebecause it's true, but when you

(52:59):
serve, I used to, to be honest,I used to get mad when people
would be like, oh, serving, youknow, serve because you'll get
filled up, you'll get to knowmore people.
I was like, yeah, okay, but whatI truly realized, when you do
serve, you get to see like I'mon the prayer team at my church
so I get to pray over peopleevery weekend.
The coolest thing, man and evenif I don't necessarily see God

(53:22):
moving in my own life or feel itwhen I get to see be a vessel
for him to pray over someone andsee someone lay their burdens
at his feet, and it's like thatfirst time releasing something
and they cast their burdens onthe god and then I see this like
emotion, like just leave them,like they're just like oh you
know, and like they get thatchildlike faith you know again,

(53:45):
and that's what revives mesometimes in my faith is like
man, keep going, god is moving,he's just, you know, he's all
loving, all knowing, all, allpowerful God, and being able to
pray with people and serve themis a way for me to also feel him
move in my life as well.
So what are some things?
Maybe I know you're talkingabout being available, someone

(54:06):
will call you, but what'ssomething you do day to day that
you try to implement to keepJesus at the center of your life
, man to keep Jesus at thecenter of your life.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Man.
Man, truthfully, when I wake up, you got a decision to make.
We all have a decision to make.
Are we gonna live in the liesor live in the truth?
And the one thing that's helpedme in my day-to-day life is
showing love, even if I go youknow my morning routine
sometimes I go to get breakfast.
Right, even the cashier ishaving a conversation with them.

(54:41):
If I see their name tag, callthem by their name, like thank
you so much, jason, for helpingme.
You know how's your day going.
And they're so taken aback bythat Like what.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
Yeah, say that again.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Yeah, how was your day, how's your day going?
And it's just like showingsmall gestures like that to
people go a long way and it'struthfully just being present,
being intentional, you knowmaking eye contact.
You know truly being present inthat moment, those light years,
you know truthfully, um, togive you something else, to kind

(55:15):
of throw into that as well, Iwent to something called Flitter
Fest yesterday with one of myfriends, camille Dope guy.
I would love for you to connectwith him too.
Great, great guy.
I went, you know, to network andconnect with Cuts for Price, to
really connect within the CHHspace.
And just for you guys don'tknow, proper Excel is a

(55:36):
Christian hip hop network, youknow, outlet.
You know we cover a lot of theCHH artists, whether they're
smaller or bigger ones.
We just want to be able toconnect and just really tap into
the CHA space because it'sgrowing and it's moving fast,
you know, and God is definitelymoving in it and through it.
And I had a chance to reallyconnect with so many different

(56:00):
chh artists, you know, who areup and coming, who don't have a
big following, you know, and Idon't ever want to make it seem
like I'm big, because I'm aproper excel.
You know like look, no, I wantto be approachable, I want to be
able to meet people wherethey're at, because we're all
the same.
You know we just love jesus.
You know we want to be like him, or that that should be the
goal, right.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
Yeah, that part.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
That should be the goal, right, and I don't want to
ever make it seem like I'melite or I am this person who
you know.
Just because I've talked tocertain artists, that doesn't
make me better than you.
You know, I'm just like you.
You know I just have a passionto serve and really meet people
where they're at.
And that's the key man.
Really be intentional withpeople.
If you want to call, if youwant to meet with somebody, be

(56:36):
intentional about meeting withthat person.
Be a man, be a woman ofintegrity, be a man or woman of
your word, truthfully, andpractice it, because it's going
to be hard and these threeprinciples have stuck with me
forever.
It stands for God.
I know I'm a Caldwell fan, Iknow I'm a Colby fan.
I know Consistency, obedienceand discipline those three

(56:59):
things right there, man, youlive by those three.
Consistency, obediencediscipline.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Those three things man have shaped me as the man of
God I am today.
That's real.
That's real, bro.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Now I got to ask you, bro, I don't know if you're
going to get flack for this, butwho are the top three CHH in
the game right now in youropinion?
Man on the spot, like that manOn the spot, like that man.
I knew this was coming, I knewit, I knew it, I knew it In the
game right now.

(57:39):
Oh man, I got to go with Hoviman.
Hovi, hovi, hovi.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
Hovi.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
Number one.
Number two Miles Minnick.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
Oh man.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
I'm hoping to get Hovi on the pod in the future
bro.
Oh yeah, Definitely got to makethat happen.
It's going to happen.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Oh yeah, it's going to happen.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
It's going to happen.
They killing with Christlightman the merch.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Oh, that is fire, bro .
Go check out Christlight, ifanybody likes the hat you got
right here, bro, they're not.
I don't think he's dropping theGrace hat again and that's
making me salty, bro, I needthat hat.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
He's going to drop it again, bro.
He's going to drop it again.
He's going to drop it again.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
They sold out so fast .
They sold out so fast.
So fast, bro, so fast.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
So he's mildly winning number two Okay, the
third, the third.
I've got to go with CalebGordon.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
Ooh, I got to go with .
Caleb Gordon Ooh, first of all,I love that song.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
Caleb man, caleb Gordon.
Caleb is killing it, man, he is, he's killing it man.
What about you, man?

Speaker 1 (58:43):
You got to give me your top three All right, I got
to go Hovi number one for sure,because he's been there a minute
, man.
I mean I've been with him sincehis freestyle.
He did like way back Now I'mblanking on the word, but he was
talking about when he used toscrub toilets.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Man going through the motions.
I'm tired of going through themotions.
That broke.
That was a great song beforethat I got to look at my phone.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Now it's going to make me mad.
It was one of the first thingshe dropped.
I got to look at my phone.
Now he's going to make me mad.
It was one of the first thingshe dropped.
What's the song called?
This was his old, old Hold on.
This is funny.
When I first met him it'scalled.
Let me find it here Got to findit.
What was this one called it's?

(59:39):
uh, let's see the underdogfreestyle in 2020 oh yeah, oh
yeah he said who's doing thisrap name, my last name, my rap
name?
Yeah, bro, but that bro.
When I met him, I met him atthe elad festival the first time
okay, I want to say in 2021,and he's like hey, man, I
appreciate your support.

(59:59):
I said, bro, I've been with yousince the underdog freestyle.
He looked at me.
He's like ain't, no way, bro.
I said and I started rapping it.
And he's like bro, we got toget a picture, so it's cool, but
always the always the man, umman, you know, I have this shirt
, bro.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
I have the underdog t-shirt you do when we first got
signed and reached.
I have that t-shirt.
It says underdog on it bro.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
Yes, bro, that's fire .
That one was one of myfavorites.
I like Aja Gazelle.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Oh, okay, I've been an.

Speaker 1 (01:00:29):
Aja fan for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
He's tough, he's tough.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
And then I'd have to, probably.
I don't know, bro, the he'stough, and then I'd have to,
probably.
I don't know bro, the song thatI've been really I like DKG Kai
bro, I've been on him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Yeah, he's tough, you said who DKG Kai you know, oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah, dkg, yeah,yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
He got that song Cut Different bro.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
He's tough, I don't know.
It resonates with me differentjust because of like my physical
situation, like being, and I'mdifferent, but like I could
still be, you know, a, a vesselfor god being used.
Like he said, I'm a range overwith a benz engine because I'm
built different and I was like,oh, come on somebody bro, like

(01:01:11):
that's a bar.
Nah, I think those threeprobably are my favorite right
now.
There's so many bro I can namelike 10 that I rock with Miles
Lil' Heart.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
That's crazy.
You say that, though, becauseyou said top three in CHH, my
all-time fave.
If I had one artist to listento forever, it's going to be my
boy, ty Brazel.
I am a huge Ty Brazel fan.
Ty, if you ever see this man,I'm probably your biggest fan.

(01:01:42):
I'm not going to lie.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
We already got a lot.
I'm going to tell him that yousaid that, bro.
He's going to be on the pod.
We're trying to get it with hisschedule, but he's already
committed to it and everything,bro.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Man Ty is my guy.
I'm good friends with hismanager 2, chris Chicago Ty, hey
, he got a song called Airborne.
If my life depended on it and Ihad to sing one song, word for
word, the whole thing through.
It's going to be Airborne.
I know it from the top, bro.
Acapella, no beat, acapella, nobeat, acapella, no beat.

(01:02:16):
That's my new song.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
He's got one song that changed my life.
That was meant for me bro, thatsong changed my life.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Life.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Because people don't understand.
Like if God puts something onyour life bro people will look
at you like you got threedifferent heads and like for me,
my health, bro.
They're like, oh no, you deadin the water or no, you can't do
that.
You know you're not gonna beable to, bro.
That song built meant for me,bro, I would turn it on and
that's how I met him, bro.
It was the coolest thing I met.

(01:02:45):
That uh, holy smoke last yearand I was like bro, hey, man, I
just want to let you know that,like your song came my life.
He's like word, word.
I'm like, yeah, it meant for me.
He's like no way, bro.
I'm like, yeah, I startedrapping it to him.
He's like, bro, that's tough.
You wanted to.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
That's crazy, bro.
That's crazy.
I rapped airborne to him, bro,like man bro.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Ah, so good this, but I want the listeners to
understand this.
I grew up in an era and Lee's alittle bit older than me, but
not by much but when I was goingto school, bro, people were
listening to all the mainstreamrap, bro, right, and I'm a very
like pump-up type person.
I'm very motivational,inspirational.

(01:03:33):
I like the rah-rah-rah, I likethat, but I want it to be about
good things.
I hear this music be talkingabout drugs, money, sex, women,
whatever the case may be, allthis stuff that's in mainstream
music.
I'm like, yeah, the beats are,but what are we really talking
about on these songs, bro?
And then, one of my favoritelines, bro, of a christian hip

(01:03:56):
hop song is lecrae, the songunashamed, he said.
Uh.
He said we don't do no rhyme.
Uh.
He says uh, we don't rhymeabout money, guns, sex or drugs.
80 of these dudes are fictionalthugs and I was like I was, like
I tried to tell all my friendsthat growing up I was like, bro,
if y'all understand, thesepeople that you listen to ain't
even about the life they talkabout anyway, and it's dragging

(01:04:19):
you down with them and it's likewe got to do something that
glorifies God, and so I went ona deep dive.
I went on a deep dive because,I'll be honest, bro, mainstream
CHH back in the day wasn't thatfar.
It was kind of just a little, alittle cheesy.
So I was like, okay, I went ona deep dive and I found like
underground.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Who now?

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
we're not underground , but I was with aha back in the
day, bro and I was green peasand tuna fish man.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
Green peas and tuna fish yeah, yeah, like he.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
Uh, he's got dirty dan bro.
That's all dirty, man bro dirtyman like like that that people
are like bro, that's hard andI've actually brought people to
Christ through Christian rap bro, like the dude, my maintenance
guy here at my apartment complex, bro, is like what are you
listening to, bro?
I was like, bro, let me put youon.
Bro, I was listening to RichDan Famous Try to Get Active.

(01:05:10):
I don't know if you know thatsong, but I was putting them on
to just different Christian rapmusic bro.
But, anyways y'all.
That's so far.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
You say that bro, not to cut you off, bro, we're
always playing CHH at ourOutreach's Met for Cuts for
Christ, and people be like yo,is this Christian?
Like yeah, yeah, man.
We had a chance to meet Martyand Fernie man with Social Club
and we told them about Curse ofChrist and they really just
resonated with it Because Ithink Fernie, he's a barber

(01:05:40):
actually, he used to be a barberactually so like they follow us
and everything.
It was like yo, like y'all getit, because, like when you're
cutting it, like you're cuttingtheir hair, like they trust you,
you know.
So CHH has changed so much, bro, like so, so so much.

(01:06:00):
And my favorite quote fromLecrae I forgot what song it was
, but he says if I'm wrong aboutGod, I waste.
No, if I'm wrong about God, Iwasted my life.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
If you're wrong about God, you wasted your eternity,
and I'm like Yo, that's a bar.
I tell people all the time well, not even all the time, but
when I think about this, whensomeone asks me, and I'm like,
bro, being on fire for God issuch an awesome thing, because
and I believe it with my wholeheart and soul but even if it

(01:06:40):
wasn't, even if this didn'thappen, even if it wasn't, bro,
what we're doing is changinglives, being vessels for God,
bro, the power of what God'sdone through his people.

(01:07:03):
You can just see his evidence inevery little creation and,
being that there is on aday-to-day basis, if you truly
seek him, for sure, for sure.
Well, bro, I want to end thiswith this.
Bro, two things, or threethings.
I asked you that one question,but I'd like to know what is?
Three hobbies that I know,maybe that people don't know
about you, or, if they do, justyour three favorite hobbies.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
One thing someone doesn't know, or that people
don't know about you, and thenthings you're working on, things
to look forward to from theviewers, like it's a project or
an event.
Y'all do an upcoming oranything like that.
So hobbies that I have are thecollect things as you can see up
here Funko Pops I got like 40of.
So hobbies that I have aren'tthe collect things.
As you can see up here, I gotFunko Pops.
I got like 40 of them, John,this is probably my favorite
ones right here.
Which one?
What is that Fallout?
It's a Fallout one, oh, okay.
Huge Fallout fan and this is OGlike.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
OG, I got it.
Funko Pops bro.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
We need like a Lecrae woman while you're playing man.
That'd be tough If I'm notcollecting that.
I'm a big sneakerhead.
I love J's, I love shoes, Ilove new balances.
I like the Hype V stuff.
I like the low-key stuff aswell.
What else?
I'm a big gamer, of course,Huge gamer if you get it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
What's your main three games Main three games.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
Ooh, X-Defiant.
They say it's the cod killer.
That's what they're saying.
They call it the cod killer.
I like it.
It's tough.
Fortnite I know I'm going toget some flack for it.
I'm a Fortnite fan.
I like Fortnite.
And outside of that, Call ofDuty, what about the?

Speaker 1 (01:08:34):
new NCAA.
You going to be on that when itcomes out?

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
Hey man, you know I got to tap in.
I got to, I'll run the fade.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
You give me the fade with the clippers, I'll give you
the fade on the controller.
Hey, I don't want no smoke man.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
I don't want no smoke man.
I don't want no smoke man.
I don't want no smoke man.
I don't want no smoke, pleaseNah that's fire, bro.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
So gaming and collecting, and what's last one?

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
Gaming, collecting, what else.
I just love really finding outnew CHH man.
Going to events really going toevents man is super cool.
I don't care if it's on a smallscale or big scale.
I love going to Christianevents, man because, truthfully,
being told, the Christiancommunity as a whole is not that

(01:09:27):
big.
It's not that big.
You go into one of these places, you're going to see somebody
that you know, you're going tosee somebody that knows somebody
that you know, and it's just agreat time to connect with
fellowships.
I love just traveling and justtrying out new spots like new
events.
Smoke, like how I met you,that's now a new monster's
tradition.
We're going every year.
Now that's a part of the game.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
I'm trying to make it happen.
I don't want to go so bad bro,it's hard.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, that's awesome.
You mentioned something elsetoo.
You said three hobbies and whatelse.

Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
Something else Like something maybe someone people
don't know about you Like,what's something like a fun fact
or something goofy or cool.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
I try to keep this on the DL, so like I am a singer,
Okay, so I'm a singer, so I'm asinger.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
I heard it on the gram when you were singing.
Was it the Urban Hymnal?
Is that what it's called?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
Urban, urban.
Shout out to my people at Urban.
Yeah, lohanala man.
Shout out to y'all.
Man for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
I think your sister was recording you sing.
One time I saw yeah, I wasfired, bro, keep doing it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Yeah, yeah, I wanted to get into Christian R&B songs,
so we're going to see.
We're going to see.
Are you going to use?

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
your name or are you going to drop some dope name for
us, like you know some?
Are you going to use Lee Thomasas your artist name?
Or you got something?

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
cool Lee Thomas, he's going to be Lee Thomas?

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
What about Lee T?
Lee T up for Christ boy.

Speaker 2 (01:10:51):
You know, hey, there we go.
You know, there we go.

Speaker 1 (01:10:55):
And then, man, so you're up and coming.
You said about the artists.
Are there other things maybeyou want the listeners to look
out for?
There may be, you know, aproject or something Cuts for
Christ got going on or an eventthat ProperXO is doing.
Is there anything, maybe tokind of follow along on or to
kind of keep up with what you'redoing?

Speaker 2 (01:11:15):
Man.
So I'm going to say this Cutsfor Price is in the works of
doing something that's going tobe national.
We want it to be something huge, man, huge.
We want to be able to tag alongon a potential tour I don't
know who, I can't know who, Ican't say who and provide

(01:11:38):
haircuts and do an outreach ineach city that that tour is in.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
That would be fire.
Hey if it's Lord's will for meto go on tour on speaking
engagements, we'll make ithappen too.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
You going to be on the tour too.
We'll make it happen too, we'llmake it happen.
You're going to be on the tourtoo, you're going to be there
too.

Speaker 1 (01:11:59):
I'll be doing speaking engagements.
Man, spreading the good newsman.
That would be so cool.
You talked about this earlier.
But what I love, man, is thecollaboration aspect.
One of my buddies was sayingthis earlier and I completely
botched it, I'm not even goingto try to say it, but
essentially just the importanceof joining together.

(01:12:20):
Don't use people as competition, especially in the ministry
space.
Use it as a way to just reachmore people.
For sure, and I think that'ssuch an impactful aspect,
because I think our flesh wantsto take it as competition, or a
flesh wants to take it as youknow, people are maybe stepping

(01:12:42):
in our lane, or whatever thecase may be, instead of
realizing, like, what are wedoing this for?
Why are we doing it and what isour ultimate goal?
That is, to lead people toJesus and get more people you
know to him.
And how do you do that?
Collaborating with other people.
I think that's awesome that youguys are doing that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:58):
This is collaboration , me and you, that's
collaboration.

Speaker 1 (01:13:03):
This is awesome.
You never know, maybe get yoursister up on the pod, bro, I'll
be fired.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
She got her own stuff .
She got going on too.
She got some cool stuffhappening on the back end
outside of Cuts for Christ.
We can going on too.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
She got some cool stuff happening on the on the
back end, outside of customprice.
So, yeah, we can make it happen.
No, I'll reach it.
I'll reach out to her.
We'll make that happen, bro.
But hey, look, I reallyappreciate you taking the time
with us.
I know this episode was kind ofall over shout out to my adhd
but and god, but, uh, you knowit's.
Uh, it's been awesome.
Man, it's been a minute sincewe, since we've catched up and
and caught up here, and man, I'dlove for you to pray us out,

(01:13:35):
bro, if you wouldn't mind.
Just a prayer, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
For sure.
Let's go to God, father, god,thank you so much, lord, for my
brother here, dan God and all ofhis listeners.
Thank you so much, god, for thepodcast.
God, just catching withChristians, lord, catching up
with Christians, it's a greatway, lord, to just meet people
where they're at Father God,hear their story, hear their
testimony.
I've always been a believer, god, in the idea of it's about

(01:14:01):
getting to know people andhearing their story.
Father, we don't know whatpeople have gone through, lord,
we don't know what they've dealtwith, what they've seen, what
they've heard.
We don't know, god.
But, lord, I pray that somebodyis touched today, father, that
their lives is radically changed, that you just open their eyes,
god.
Give them a new perspective,god, on how your glory can be
used in someone's life through avideo game, through a podcast,

(01:14:22):
through a conversation.
Encourage somebody, god, today,lord, that just because they've
seen all these podcasts pop upand all these different things
pop up, doesn't mean theyshouldn't do it.
Give them the encouragement,god, to do it.
Lord, because if it's just forone person, god, that's a win.
That is a win, lord.
So, god, I pray for my brother,god, that you bless him.
I'm so honored to be on here,god, to be a part of an episode

(01:14:45):
and just share my testimony, god, and share my heart.
Lord, I pray that you blesseverybody who's listening to God
.
If they catch a sound bite ofthis or they kill us the whole
thing, they have it going on thebackground as they're doing
their life driving to work,cooking, cleaning whatever God.
Touch the Lord and help them intheir situation.
Father God, whether it's good,bad or ugly, pray that you bless
and you keep them and grow them.
Father, I pray this in yourson's holy, precious name.

(01:15:06):
We pray Amen.

Speaker 1 (01:15:08):
Amen.
Thank y'all for listening.
Y'all stay blessed.