January 5, 2025 • 30 mins
What happens when a dedicated single mother's love and a grandmother's wisdom intersect with the hardscrabble reality of growing up in South Central LA? You get a man like our guest, Paul Rangel, who turned these influences into a foundation for success and service. This episode is an intimate conversation with Paul, as he recalls his nostalgia-tinged childhood, from Batman marathons on the big TV to bus rides downtown for movie outings, and how these memories shaped his resilience and work ethic. As we explore his journey from corporate America to starting his own company, you'll be moved by his deep love for his community and his unwavering dedication to service.
Ever wondered how powerful the Bible can be in transforming lives? Let's discover together. We invite you to embark on an enriching journey of reading the Bible from start to finish, even suggesting handy Bible apps for those on-the-go. Hear from Paul, a devoted pastor, who uses his furniture store as a ministry, a refuge for those seeking prayer and his platform to share God's word. Together, we ponder on the courage it takes to live out one's purpose without fear and the vital role faith can play in the business world. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of faith, resilience, and purposeful living.
Ever wondered how powerful the Bible can be in transforming lives? Let's discover together. We invite you to embark on an enriching journey of reading the Bible from start to finish, even suggesting handy Bible apps for those on-the-go. Hear from Paul, a devoted pastor, who uses his furniture store as a ministry, a refuge for those seeking prayer and his platform to share God's word. Together, we ponder on the courage it takes to live out one's purpose without fear and the vital role faith can play in the business world. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of faith, resilience, and purposeful living.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
How's going, family and friends?
We're here with the FeelingFaith podcast.
I have my guest, paul Rangel.
Paul, how you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Doing fantastic, doing really good.
Thank you for asking.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Awesome.
Thank you for coming in.
This man is a beacon to thecommunity.
He's super involved.
He loves his community, loveshis people.
He's always out there promoting, encouraging, inspiring,
sharing the good news andultimately just being a light to
this community.
So I'm excited to get yourstory today, oh thanks.
(00:31):
Make sure to stay till the end.
I know he's got some excitingstuff to share with us.
So, paul, tell us a little bitabout you.
Where were you born?
What was your upbringing like?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm homegrown.
I was born in Los Angeles,california, back in the 1963.
Yeah, there was a hospital downthere, actually an official
hospital called the CaliforniaHospital, and I was born there
and I grew up in the streets ofLos Angeles, out in South
Central LA.
So yeah, that's kind of myupbringing bringing back.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
South Central, yeah, south Central.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yep straight out of LA baby All right, yeah, I love
it.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Tell us a little bit about your family life.
What was your upbringing like?
What would you experience as akid growing up?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Wow Grew up with my mother, who worked in a
sweatshop in Los Angeles and shewas the sole provider for our
home and at the same time shewas taking care of my
grandmother.
So I grew up basically with mymother and my grandmother and
(01:41):
it's just.
I grew up in the time, in thatera where you know you rode the
bus, you know you can look left,you can look right, no
complications, you didn't haveto worry about anything, even
though it was still in SouthCentral, you still had to be
cautious.
But I grew up in that era wherethings were just really calm,
(02:03):
really peaceful.
We enjoyed life to the fullest.
Of course, in those days therewere no, you know, internet or
phones.
So I grew up with one of thosebig giant TVs watching Batman.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You know, robin, you know any Batman fans out there?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yep, that was me watching that in color with the
kapow and the kaboom type ofthing.
So I grew up there.
You know, in that era,Unfortunately, my mother and my
father.
They parted ways when I wasabout a month old so to this day
I never got to meet my father.
So my mother was my all.
(02:39):
She was my, my father, mymother, my everything growing up
.
And one thing that I do recallgrowing up is is I picked up the
, the work ethic that she exudedby taking care of us, you know,
making sure that there was foodon the table.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Right, and how many siblings did you have?
It was just me, just you, justme.
All right, so you, mom andgrandma, me mom and grandma.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
All right, the three of us.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And so through my childhood I grew up in LA and
when I was in my teens flashingforward now in my teens I
learned to be independent and Ilearned to grow up rather
quickly, especially in LosAngeles.
Back in those days we lived inthe south central area, so you
can literally take a bus fromwhere I lived straight to
(03:31):
downtown LA.
One bus would take you rightinto the heart of Los Angeles,
on Broadway there, and in thosedays you can watch a movie or
two for like two dollars.
So my goal, my goal, was totake that bus, and with mom's
permission, of course, after Idid the chores, which was
(03:54):
vacuuming and, you know, hearingAM FM radio, kids don't know
about that.
Yeah, they don't know about thatbut, you know, vacuuming and
doing the dishes and whatever,just to earn those two dollars
so that I can go sit at themovie theater for a good six
hours, because the movies wereabout three hours long each in
those days, plus a middlecartoon in between and then plus
(04:17):
, you know, the second movie.
So I would start like at 10 amand come back like around four
or five pm and there was noworries, I can just take the bus
and do that.
So that's kind of how I grew upin Los Angeles.
But one thing that I doremember again is is the work
ethic that my mother left behindfor me.
So I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, what did your mom do?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Again, again.
She was working at thesweatshop, sewing what I mean by
sweatshop.
She was a.
She sewed bundles of patternson a sewing machine, you know,
and it was like a, it was like aassembly line.
So she would sit down and shewould even take me to work.
Actually sometimes, and I wouldwatch her she would be sewing
(05:03):
two pieces of fabric together,putting them through, you know,
and then boom, next, next one.
Just all day and all day.
That's all she was doing.
And it was hot.
There's no air con in there,you know, fans blowing, if you
can just picture that it was.
That's what she did.
Just like the movies.
Just like in the movies, yeah,but here in the streets of LA,
(05:24):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Right, yeah, wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So you saw mom mom's here.
She's doing probably things shedoesn't want to do to take care
of me, Take care of thenecessities, put food on the
table and you got your workethic through that and through
that experience.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And so you, you own a company, right.
Yes A little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, you know, I worked for corporate America for
quite a few years, in fact allmy life, since I was age 17,.
All the way to you know, now inmy fifties, and you know about
eight plus years ago, my wifeand I my wife Lisa and I we were
(06:07):
in conversation and somebodywas trying to recruit her,
because she doesn't hear youdesign by trade.
And they were trying to recruither to go work at a company.
And at that same time, we werediscussing about maybe an
opportunity for us to use ourfunds, our money that we had
saved up, to open up our ownbusiness.
And so, instead of having hergo work and drive from you know
(06:35):
where we live here, marietta,all the way to Ontario, we just
made, took the plunge and saidyou know what?
Lord, guide us, lead us.
It's is it time now?
And we just continued to prayabout that and it was a time to
To open up our business.
So that lady was trying torecruit us here you ready for
(06:56):
this?
This is this is not me, this isGod, okay.
The lady that was trying torecruit my wife Was the actual
owner of a factory that builtsofas.
Wow, and when we told her thatwe were going to open up our own
business.
She was like no way.
And I said yes, we're gonnaopen up our own business.
(07:19):
She goes okay, I'll tell youwhat.
I will help you.
I'm going to help you guys openup, and that's how we got
started, you know, and with herhelp, it was truly a blessing
from God.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It was just amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Praise God.
That's super cool, yeah, supercool.
So I want to jump into yourstory, like how did you find God
?
I want to get get sometestimonies of what, what Christ
has done in your life, what,what's kind of walked me through
the sure, the entry point andyour relationship with Christ.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Well, I grew up Catholic, like a lot of us.
Okay, we would go Twice a year,you know, maybe Easter, which
was exciting because I finallygot some new shoes and a pair of
new jeans, you know typically,and then, of course, for maybe
maybe another time during doingChristmas.
Those were the.
(08:12):
That was it.
We didn't go, you know,ritually every Sunday.
We weren't that Catholic but wedid, you know we did go on
those, those particular.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I relate to that.
We did the same thing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So, naturally, as a kid, you know you really don't
know a lot about God.
You don't know a lot, you know,you know you don't know a lot
about Jesus.
The only thing that I doremember vividly is every time
we would walk into those doorsat the Catholic Church, man, it
was kind of a weird feelingbecause you see all these
statues and you know, you know,you see the, the statue of Jesus
(08:50):
Christ hanging on the cross,and it just a certain kind of
reverence that you just felt,you know, when you were in there
.
It's like you know, you neededto, to, to, to, to pay that
reverence.
And of course, you follow whateverybody else, you know, did,
which is the sign of the cross,and there was always a little
water there that you know.
I always wondered what that was.
So I didn't really get a lot oftraining on what this all meant
(09:13):
, but I, I just followed, Ifollowed the lead and basically
that's that's what I did.
So and through the years I grewup, in my teenage years, there
was a neighbor of ours that wasa pastor of a church and he took
us to his church, just as likea fellowship for children and
stuff, and that's where I reallygot to know God a little bit
(09:35):
more.
That's when I got to know Jesusa little bit more.
Still not a hundred percentbecause I'm still young at 12,
but yes, that's when the youknow, the seeds were planted, so
to speak, right.
And of course, you know theyalways ask would you know, do
you want to be baptized?
And you know everybody else isdoing it, so you're gonna do it
(09:55):
too.
So they give you a whitet-shirt and then they dunk you
in the water.
But still, that was just Notquite.
I didn't feel like that was thetransformation period for me.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right, that was very surface level very surface level
, the relationship yeah verymuch so.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So now you flash forward into the Young adult
years, which is my 20s, maybemid 20s, 27, 28.
You're a little bit now moreknowledgeable.
What's out there?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
right.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And we attended a Calvary Chapel in West Covina.
It was pastor Raul Reese'schurch.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Reese's church yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Raul Reese's church and that's when he first started
in a little market in WestCovina and we would attend there
and then one of the services hedid an altar call and that's
when I just man, it, just the,the Holy Spirit just overpowered
me and I accepted, you know,the Lord Jesus Christ into my
life.
Full surrender, full surrender.
(10:58):
So I thought so I thoughtbecause when you're young and
you're eager to grow, your eat,your, you're hungry to do the
best for your family.
Because now you get married,now you have kids and Now you
attend church, maybe one Sunday,maybe other every other Sunday,
(11:19):
and you still Accepted the LordJesus Christ.
But you know what that thingcalled life does get in the way,
and then what happens is youstart to backslide.
Yeah anybody familiar withbacksliding?
Oh yeah, been there, done that.
So you start to backslide, andnow for just one year, but for
many years, many years and thennow flash forward about 15, 16
(11:44):
years ago when we decided tojoin a small church in Temecula,
and that's where we grew themost.
My wife and I love it.
Regroup, because we're nowattending on a Every Sunday
basis, now we're involved inministry and Now we're reading
(12:07):
our Bible more and more andwe're starting to understand and
go deeper Into our faith,because we're building not a
religion, but we're building arelationship With Jesus Christ
and a lot of people out there,you know, Especially with with
the world that we live in today.
They, they, they call itreligion, but it's not.
It's not religion, religion manmakes religion.
(12:30):
It's about a relationship withJesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Amen, I agree with that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So, through that involvement, the pastor saw that
, you know, we were hungry, wewere working together as a team,
and then he asked me to startholding a Bible study in my
house and I'm like man was Lord,am I ready, am I not ready?
And you know, you just,sometimes you just don't know
(12:56):
when you're going to be put in asituation where you need to
jump off that cliff and go forit.
I, we jumped off that cliff andwe went for it.
You know, through his grace,through his guidance, and that's
when we began to facilitate ona weekly basis in our home, and
that's where you start to growsome more.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, so you guys started a small group at your
house, started a small group.
Through that, you led that, youand your wife, my wife and I,
we led that along with you knowa few other couples in the
church.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
They started their own as well.
And then that's how you really,Because when you go to church
on Sunday it doesn't stop there,it should carry on into the
week, so that you can grow 100%,so you can become stronger,
because the world's going tocome at you.
That's right.
And how are you going to buildyour shield?
Amen, how are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
that I want to rewind a little bit.
What was that transformative,pivotal moment in your life, for
your life?
You know what?
We haven't been going to church, we haven't really truly, you
know, invested in thisrelationship with God.
So about 15, 16 years ago, whatwas it?
What was that spark, what hadhappened at that time that
(14:09):
encouraged you guys to reallystart getting involved?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Well, I think what happens is, as you start to age
and your children start to grow,you tend to figure out you know
what?
Am I leading my kids, you know,in the right path?
Am I?
Are they seeing mom and dad?
Because kids are going tofollow what mom and dad do.
There is no way around it.
(14:34):
So am I doing what I need to dofor my family?
And I think that was a pivotalmoment.
You know, not to mention that agood marriage needs to be
strengthened by faith, and whenyou start to have disagreements
or you know not too manyreconciliation periods and for
(15:00):
those of you that are marriedwill understand this you can't
just rely on your own free willto work things out.
You need Jesus Christ to be inthe midst of that.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
And so, when that was the turning point, when you
know you, you, you, you, you,you, you, things will get in the
(19:02):
way.
But if you have God, who can beagainst?
Who can be against?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Amen, I agree.
I think that's a great pointand actually I think we should
challenge everybody that'swatching this.
If you haven't, if you'rewatching this or listening, if
you have not read your bibleEven my video guys over there If
you have not read the bible,start to finish.
We want to challenge you, guys.
So challenge you if you acceptthat challenge, comment below or
(19:29):
or send us a DM.
We'd love to hold youaccountable to that.
Reading the word is soimportant, it's very.
It's under, underestimated,right.
It's, it's truly the mostpowerful thing you will ever do
in your life.
And here's the truth.
Whether you believe it and takeit as truth or not, it will
(19:50):
still transform you.
You will still grow.
There's so much about faith,finances, health, family and
relationships, all there Law,direction, order, values, like
everything that you.
It's the syllabus real estatereal estate.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, wealth it's, it's all there you want to be
rich, you'll be rich there.
I mean, it's all there and nowit's all there.
And I wanted to, just for the,just wanted to say one Another
thing about this is for youtechie fans out there that are
watching this or listening tothis this show is the big book,
(20:31):
the bible, right, it's it.
Can it be intimidating?
Would you say it's intimidating, of course.
It's very intimidating how manybibles are out in the homes,
you guys that's collecting duston the top.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
How many are out there?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Okay, there's a lot, right?
Yeah, don't let that intimidateit.
Open up your word.
Yes, don't be afraid tohighlight and scribble, though
you know what out of it.
Okay, scribble, highlight it,use it it's, it's a.
It's a Book.
It's a.
It's a.
It's pages.
Go for it, write notes in it,leave it as a legacy for your
(21:06):
kids.
Love it, leave it as a legacy.
Hey, mom and dad, this is whatthey did.
They were highlighting, this iswhat touched my dad this day.
This is what touched my momthis day.
That's how powerful this bookcan be.
It can be a legacy that you canleave behind to your family, to
your kids, to your son, to yourdaughter.
(21:26):
It's amazing.
And going back, not not to, uh,uh, I want to, just to share
you techie fans.
There's no excuses.
Okay, download the apps.
Yeah, holy bible.
Okay, uh, bible dot is Dabs,which is d abs daily audio bible
.
You guys, go to your settings,download those apps and you can,
(21:49):
if you don't have time to readit, listen to it.
Yes while you're going to work,believe me, you will be
transformed in no time.
Go for it, you guys.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Amen, I got mine here at the bottom.
There it is my daily bible.
Yep, I'll go, I'll read the,the verse of the day, and I
listen to it.
Look, check this out, it's soeasy.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for thelord so techie guy.
It's that easy.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Look, I just did it like that.
That's it, just download it.
There's no excuse.
There is no excuse.
Challenge yourselves and go forit.
You guys, amen, you'll bedifferent.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yeah, no, I love it.
Thank you for sharing that, andthat's a good pastor Uh to to
challenge you guys, uh to readthat.
So I love it.
Well, I appreciate your story.
I want to hear now what's your,what do you feel your purpose
is?
What is your purpose in thislife?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Yeah, my purpose is to uh, share god's uh word, you
know, because we are called upon.
That's commandment Is to sharehis love, to share his word.
And you, you were given a gift,and that gift is eternal life.
Okay, so why are you holding onto it?
So our goal is to give thatgift to others.
Okay, when we open up ourfurniture store uh, that was the
(23:06):
main ministry is.
It was an empty shell.
We had my wife and I wereholding these two large banners
that said sofa spectrumfurniture on there, and guess
what we did?
We invited the whole church, weprayed there.
But one thing that my wife andI did is we decided when we
first opened that that was goingto be a place of ministry, a
place of love, a place, a safeplace for people to come and
(23:28):
they can feel the genuineAuthenticity about blessing.
So guess what, through theyears and we've been in business
now for eight plus years Ican't tell you how many people
we have prayed for in our, inour store.
You can't do that in corporateamerica because they call you a
jesus freak or a crazy person,but in sofa spectrum you can bet
(23:52):
you can be assured that we willnot shy away from scripture.
We're not going to shy awayfrom sharing god's love to
people.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Amen, no, I love that .
I love that.
That's amazing.
And I feel like there's so manypeople out there and I've had a
lot of conversations withbusiness owners who are like
Kyle, like I can't mix my, mybeliefs and my relationship with
jesus and my business.
I'm gonna lose business.
Yada, yada, yada, excuse,excuse, excuse.
(24:20):
And I always tell them the samething.
I say look, here's the truth.
You have one mission in thislife.
You were created on purpose,for purpose and with a purpose.
Your business is not yourpurpose, do you agree?
And they'll always say like,yeah, I've you.
Do you have a bigger purpose?
Yeah, I do.
So why are you not living thatout?
(24:42):
If you're, if you truly believein god and you truly believe in
eternal life, you believe thatjesus died on the cross for your
sins, that he rose three dayslater, that he died for you, why
are you not sharing thatmessage?
Right In your business?
Your business is your ministry,your business is your ministry.
The truth is, there's only acertain percentage of people
(25:04):
that are called the ministrywithin the four walls of the
church, right, yeah, what aboutthe other 90%, 95% of people,
the business.
And so it's so important thatwe keep that straight and we
have our priorities in line.
If we're putting our businessbefore God, that's scary.
(25:25):
I've been there.
I've done that.
This is like when I startedmarketing Empire Group.
I was here to build my empirewe're looking at.
You know I was the CEO and youknow we just had this
conversation right when you gothere, like I released that
control to God.
This is God's empire, this isGod's company.
He's the CEO.
He's allowing me to steward myteam.
(25:47):
He's allowing me to steward,you know, a amazing studio.
He's allowing me to be asteward of these things, but
it's not mine.
At the end of the day, it allgoes back in the box, just like
the game of Monopoly.
It all goes back in the box.
So we're here to be stewards ofwhat God has blessed us with,
and he should be able to trustus that we're gonna live out his
(26:08):
purpose for our lives, not ourpurpose, because if we do things
our way, man, we're broken,right, we're broken, it's like
you'll be in that hamster wheel.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
if you want to do it your way, just keep going around
in circles as opposed to beingout of that wheel and spreading
your love and sharing to others.
That's why I'm out.
You know, blessing thecommunity and uplifting and
encouraging those are thingsthat God gives you to give to
others.
Share the love to the community.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Paul, before we wrap this up, got one last question
what's your encouragement topeople who are going through
kind of the same experience asyou?
You know, maybe going throughthe same experience you went
through where they weren't goingto church, they thought they
had a relationship with God, butthey weren't really in a
relationship.
(27:01):
What's your encouragement tothem?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Submit, submit, sell out.
Don't touch the water.
Jump in and surrender, becausewhen you're dabbling at trying
to do this, it just doesn't work.
You've got to be all in.
I think that we're alldifferent.
(27:29):
We were all created in our ownunique way.
Find your gift.
Learn what your gift is If youhave the gift.
If God gave you the gift of gab, then that's what you use.
If God gave you a gift to do amedia production, that's what
(27:50):
you do.
If God gave you a gift to findyour gift, find your gift
because he gave that to you.
Surrender yourself and let Godlead you and guide you.
It's complete surrender.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Amen, I love that.
Find your gift Fully submit,fully surrender.
Yes, that's it All right,that's a great way to wrap this
up.
Paul, appreciate you being onon the show here.
Thank you, appreciate yourstory, your testimony,
everything you're doing in thecommunity for God, continuing to
live out your purpose andsharing the good news.
Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
We're at sofaspectrumfurniturecom and you
can just Google that.
We have our handles onInstagram.
We have sofaspectrum excuse meat
sofaspectrumcustomdesigncenter.
That's where I share my lovefor the community.
I get on the video, I don'tcare what I look like.
If I put it in my heart, I'msharing it, you guys?
(28:46):
He's the best.
Yeah, so I'm out sharing thatat
sofaspectrumcustomdesigncenter.
You can also find me atsofaspectrumfurniture.
That's where I teach.
I share benefits of purchasingand buying sofas or furniture or
massage chairs or mattresses.
And then there's a new one thatwill be starting out soon,
(29:07):
which is Paul Rangel'ssofaspectrum, and there I will
be sharing more personal,intimate things.
Maybe it'll be consistent ofmaybe talking about nonprofits,
military, hitting certain strongavenues in that one.
Also on Facebook,sofaspectrumfurniture and
(29:29):
LinkedIn, of course,sofaspectrumfurniture or Paul
Rangel.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Love it.
Yeah, right on, make sure youguys follow him, support him.
If you need some new furniture,he is definitely the man.
He's right up the street here,located in a beautiful city of
Temecula, marietta.
He's right there on the border,so make sure to show him some
love and make sure to engagewith his stuff.
He's huge on the community.
He's supporting our fellowbusiness owners and continuing
(29:55):
to just be doing a good work andbeing a good steward of what
God has blessed him with.
So anything else before we wrapthis up, no, thank you for the
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Marketing Empire Group.
You guys are the one-stop shop,and so I'm glad you brought me
in so that we can share the loveto the community and feel the
faith.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Amen.
That's the Feeling FaithPodcast.
Thank you guys for tuning in.
We appreciate it.
If you want to share yourtestimony or you know somebody
who has amazing testimony thatthey need to share, make sure to
reach out to us, feeling FaithPodcast, and also follow us.
Hit that subscribe button soyou can stay tuned for the next
episode.
Thank you guys, love you, godbless.
How's going, family and friends?
We're here with the FeelingFaith podcast.
I have my guest, paul Rangel.
Paul, how you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Doing fantastic, doing really good.
Thank you for asking.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Awesome.
Thank you for coming in.
This man is a beacon to thecommunity.
He's super involved.
He loves his community, loveshis people.
He's always out there promoting, encouraging, inspiring,
sharing the good news andultimately just being a light to
this community.
So I'm excited to get yourstory today, oh thanks.
(00:31):
Make sure to stay till the end.
I know he's got some excitingstuff to share with us.
So, paul, tell us a little bitabout you.
Where were you born?
What was your upbringing like?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm homegrown.
I was born in Los Angeles,california, back in the 1963.
Yeah, there was a hospital downthere, actually an official
hospital called the CaliforniaHospital, and I was born there
and I grew up in the streets ofLos Angeles, out in South
Central LA.
So yeah, that's kind of myupbringing bringing back.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
South Central, yeah, south Central.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yep straight out of LA baby All right, yeah, I love
it.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Tell us a little bit about your family life.
What was your upbringing like?
What would you experience as akid growing up?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Wow Grew up with my mother, who worked in a
sweatshop in Los Angeles and shewas the sole provider for our
home and at the same time shewas taking care of my
grandmother.
So I grew up basically with mymother and my grandmother and
(01:41):
it's just.
I grew up in the time, in thatera where you know you rode the
bus, you know you can look left,you can look right, no
complications, you didn't haveto worry about anything, even
though it was still in SouthCentral, you still had to be
cautious.
But I grew up in that era wherethings were just really calm,
(02:03):
really peaceful.
We enjoyed life to the fullest.
Of course, in those days therewere no, you know, internet or
phones.
So I grew up with one of thosebig giant TVs watching Batman.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You know, robin, you know any Batman fans out there?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yep, that was me watching that in color with the
kapow and the kaboom type ofthing.
So I grew up there.
You know, in that era,Unfortunately, my mother and my
father.
They parted ways when I wasabout a month old so to this day
I never got to meet my father.
So my mother was my all.
(02:39):
She was my, my father, mymother, my everything growing up
.
And one thing that I do recallgrowing up is is I picked up the
, the work ethic that she exudedby taking care of us, you know,
making sure that there was foodon the table.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Right, and how many siblings did you have?
It was just me, just you, justme.
All right, so you, mom andgrandma, me mom and grandma.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
All right, the three of us.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And so through my childhood I grew up in LA and
when I was in my teens flashingforward now in my teens I
learned to be independent and Ilearned to grow up rather
quickly, especially in LosAngeles.
Back in those days we lived inthe south central area, so you
can literally take a bus fromwhere I lived straight to
(03:31):
downtown LA.
One bus would take you rightinto the heart of Los Angeles,
on Broadway there, and in thosedays you can watch a movie or
two for like two dollars.
So my goal, my goal, was totake that bus, and with mom's
permission, of course, after Idid the chores, which was
(03:54):
vacuuming and, you know, hearingAM FM radio, kids don't know
about that.
Yeah, they don't know about thatbut, you know, vacuuming and
doing the dishes and whatever,just to earn those two dollars
so that I can go sit at themovie theater for a good six
hours, because the movies wereabout three hours long each in
those days, plus a middlecartoon in between and then plus
(04:17):
, you know, the second movie.
So I would start like at 10 amand come back like around four
or five pm and there was noworries, I can just take the bus
and do that.
So that's kind of how I grew upin Los Angeles.
But one thing that I doremember again is is the work
ethic that my mother left behindfor me.
So I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, what did your mom do?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Again, again.
She was working at thesweatshop, sewing what I mean by
sweatshop.
She was a.
She sewed bundles of patternson a sewing machine, you know,
and it was like a, it was like aassembly line.
So she would sit down and shewould even take me to work.
Actually sometimes, and I wouldwatch her she would be sewing
(05:03):
two pieces of fabric together,putting them through, you know,
and then boom, next, next one.
Just all day and all day.
That's all she was doing.
And it was hot.
There's no air con in there,you know, fans blowing, if you
can just picture that it was.
That's what she did.
Just like the movies.
Just like in the movies, yeah,but here in the streets of LA,
(05:24):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Right, yeah, wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So you saw mom mom's here.
She's doing probably things shedoesn't want to do to take care
of me, Take care of thenecessities, put food on the
table and you got your workethic through that and through
that experience.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And so you, you own a company, right.
Yes A little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, you know, I worked for corporate America for
quite a few years, in fact allmy life, since I was age 17,.
All the way to you know, now inmy fifties, and you know about
eight plus years ago, my wifeand I my wife Lisa and I we were
(06:07):
in conversation and somebodywas trying to recruit her,
because she doesn't hear youdesign by trade.
And they were trying to recruither to go work at a company.
And at that same time, we werediscussing about maybe an
opportunity for us to use ourfunds, our money that we had
saved up, to open up our ownbusiness.
And so, instead of having hergo work and drive from you know
(06:35):
where we live here, marietta,all the way to Ontario, we just
made, took the plunge and saidyou know what?
Lord, guide us, lead us.
It's is it time now?
And we just continued to prayabout that and it was a time to
To open up our business.
So that lady was trying torecruit us here you ready for
(06:56):
this?
This is this is not me, this isGod, okay.
The lady that was trying torecruit my wife Was the actual
owner of a factory that builtsofas.
Wow, and when we told her thatwe were going to open up our own
business.
She was like no way.
And I said yes, we're gonnaopen up our own business.
(07:19):
She goes okay, I'll tell youwhat.
I will help you.
I'm going to help you guys openup, and that's how we got
started, you know, and with herhelp, it was truly a blessing
from God.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It was just amazing.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Praise God.
That's super cool, yeah, supercool.
So I want to jump into yourstory, like how did you find God
?
I want to get get sometestimonies of what, what Christ
has done in your life, what,what's kind of walked me through
the sure, the entry point andyour relationship with Christ.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Well, I grew up Catholic, like a lot of us.
Okay, we would go Twice a year,you know, maybe Easter, which
was exciting because I finallygot some new shoes and a pair of
new jeans, you know typically,and then, of course, for maybe
maybe another time during doingChristmas.
Those were the.
(08:12):
That was it.
We didn't go, you know,ritually every Sunday.
We weren't that Catholic but wedid, you know we did go on
those, those particular.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
I relate to that.
We did the same thing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So, naturally, as a kid, you know you really don't
know a lot about God.
You don't know a lot, you know,you know you don't know a lot
about Jesus.
The only thing that I doremember vividly is every time
we would walk into those doorsat the Catholic Church, man, it
was kind of a weird feelingbecause you see all these
statues and you know, you know,you see the, the statue of Jesus
(08:50):
Christ hanging on the cross,and it just a certain kind of
reverence that you just felt,you know, when you were in there
.
It's like you know, you neededto, to, to, to, to pay that
reverence.
And of course, you follow whateverybody else, you know, did,
which is the sign of the cross,and there was always a little
water there that you know.
I always wondered what that was.
So I didn't really get a lot oftraining on what this all meant
(09:13):
, but I, I just followed, Ifollowed the lead and basically
that's that's what I did.
So and through the years I grewup, in my teenage years, there
was a neighbor of ours that wasa pastor of a church and he took
us to his church, just as likea fellowship for children and
stuff, and that's where I reallygot to know God a little bit
(09:35):
more.
That's when I got to know Jesusa little bit more.
Still not a hundred percentbecause I'm still young at 12,
but yes, that's when the youknow, the seeds were planted, so
to speak, right.
And of course, you know theyalways ask would you know, do
you want to be baptized?
And you know everybody else isdoing it, so you're gonna do it
(09:55):
too.
So they give you a whitet-shirt and then they dunk you
in the water.
But still, that was just Notquite.
I didn't feel like that was thetransformation period for me.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right, that was very surface level very surface level
, the relationship yeah verymuch so.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So now you flash forward into the Young adult
years, which is my 20s, maybemid 20s, 27, 28.
You're a little bit now moreknowledgeable.
What's out there?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
right.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And we attended a Calvary Chapel in West Covina.
It was pastor Raul Reese'schurch.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Reese's church yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Raul Reese's church and that's when he first started
in a little market in WestCovina and we would attend there
and then one of the services hedid an altar call and that's
when I just man, it, just the,the Holy Spirit just overpowered
me and I accepted, you know,the Lord Jesus Christ into my
life.
Full surrender, full surrender.
(10:58):
So I thought so I thoughtbecause when you're young and
you're eager to grow, your eat,your, you're hungry to do the
best for your family.
Because now you get married,now you have kids and Now you
attend church, maybe one Sunday,maybe other every other Sunday,
(11:19):
and you still Accepted the LordJesus Christ.
But you know what that thingcalled life does get in the way,
and then what happens is youstart to backslide.
Yeah anybody familiar withbacksliding?
Oh yeah, been there, done that.
So you start to backslide, andnow for just one year, but for
many years, many years and thennow flash forward about 15, 16
(11:44):
years ago when we decided tojoin a small church in Temecula,
and that's where we grew themost.
My wife and I love it.
Regroup, because we're nowattending on a Every Sunday
basis, now we're involved inministry and Now we're reading
(12:07):
our Bible more and more andwe're starting to understand and
go deeper Into our faith,because we're building not a
religion, but we're building arelationship With Jesus Christ
and a lot of people out there,you know, Especially with with
the world that we live in today.
They, they, they call itreligion, but it's not.
It's not religion, religion manmakes religion.
(12:30):
It's about a relationship withJesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Amen, I agree with that.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So, through that involvement, the pastor saw that
, you know, we were hungry, wewere working together as a team,
and then he asked me to startholding a Bible study in my
house and I'm like man was Lord,am I ready, am I not ready?
And you know, you just,sometimes you just don't know
(12:56):
when you're going to be put in asituation where you need to
jump off that cliff and go forit.
I, we jumped off that cliff andwe went for it.
You know, through his grace,through his guidance, and that's
when we began to facilitate ona weekly basis in our home, and
that's where you start to growsome more.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah, so you guys started a small group at your
house, started a small group.
Through that, you led that, youand your wife, my wife and I,
we led that along with you knowa few other couples in the
church.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
They started their own as well.
And then that's how you really,Because when you go to church
on Sunday it doesn't stop there,it should carry on into the
week, so that you can grow 100%,so you can become stronger,
because the world's going tocome at you.
That's right.
And how are you going to buildyour shield?
Amen, how are you going to do?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
that I want to rewind a little bit.
What was that transformative,pivotal moment in your life, for
your life?
You know what?
We haven't been going to church, we haven't really truly, you
know, invested in thisrelationship with God.
So about 15, 16 years ago, whatwas it?
What was that spark, what hadhappened at that time that
(14:09):
encouraged you guys to reallystart getting involved?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Well, I think what happens is, as you start to age
and your children start to grow,you tend to figure out you know
what?
Am I leading my kids, you know,in the right path?
Am I?
Are they seeing mom and dad?
Because kids are going tofollow what mom and dad do.
There is no way around it.
(14:34):
So am I doing what I need to dofor my family?
And I think that was a pivotalmoment.
You know, not to mention that agood marriage needs to be
strengthened by faith, and whenyou start to have disagreements
or you know not too manyreconciliation periods and for
(15:00):
those of you that are marriedwill understand this you can't
just rely on your own free willto work things out.
You need Jesus Christ to be inthe midst of that.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
And so, when that was the turning point, when you
know you, you, you, you, you,you, you, things will get in the
(19:02):
way.
But if you have God, who can beagainst?
Who can be against?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Amen, I agree.
I think that's a great pointand actually I think we should
challenge everybody that'swatching this.
If you haven't, if you'rewatching this or listening, if
you have not read your bibleEven my video guys over there If
you have not read the bible,start to finish.
We want to challenge you, guys.
So challenge you if you acceptthat challenge, comment below or
(19:29):
or send us a DM.
We'd love to hold youaccountable to that.
Reading the word is soimportant, it's very.
It's under, underestimated,right.
It's, it's truly the mostpowerful thing you will ever do
in your life.
And here's the truth.
Whether you believe it and takeit as truth or not, it will
(19:50):
still transform you.
You will still grow.
There's so much about faith,finances, health, family and
relationships, all there Law,direction, order, values, like
everything that you.
It's the syllabus real estatereal estate.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, wealth it's, it's all there you want to be
rich, you'll be rich there.
I mean, it's all there and nowit's all there.
And I wanted to, just for the,just wanted to say one Another
thing about this is for youtechie fans out there that are
watching this or listening tothis this show is the big book,
(20:31):
the bible, right, it's it.
Can it be intimidating?
Would you say it's intimidating, of course.
It's very intimidating how manybibles are out in the homes,
you guys that's collecting duston the top.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
How many are out there?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Okay, there's a lot, right?
Yeah, don't let that intimidateit.
Open up your word.
Yes, don't be afraid tohighlight and scribble, though
you know what out of it.
Okay, scribble, highlight it,use it it's, it's a.
It's a Book.
It's a.
It's a.
It's pages.
Go for it, write notes in it,leave it as a legacy for your
(21:06):
kids.
Love it, leave it as a legacy.
Hey, mom and dad, this is whatthey did.
They were highlighting, this iswhat touched my dad this day.
This is what touched my momthis day.
That's how powerful this bookcan be.
It can be a legacy that you canleave behind to your family, to
your kids, to your son, to yourdaughter.
(21:26):
It's amazing.
And going back, not not to, uh,uh, I want to, just to share
you techie fans.
There's no excuses.
Okay, download the apps.
Yeah, holy bible.
Okay, uh, bible dot is Dabs,which is d abs daily audio bible
.
You guys, go to your settings,download those apps and you can,
(21:49):
if you don't have time to readit, listen to it.
Yes while you're going to work,believe me, you will be
transformed in no time.
Go for it, you guys.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Amen, I got mine here at the bottom.
There it is my daily bible.
Yep, I'll go, I'll read the,the verse of the day, and I
listen to it.
Look, check this out, it's soeasy.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for thelord so techie guy.
It's that easy.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Look, I just did it like that.
That's it, just download it.
There's no excuse.
There is no excuse.
Challenge yourselves and go forit.
You guys, amen, you'll bedifferent.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yeah, no, I love it.
Thank you for sharing that, andthat's a good pastor Uh to to
challenge you guys, uh to readthat.
So I love it.
Well, I appreciate your story.
I want to hear now what's your,what do you feel your purpose
is?
What is your purpose in thislife?
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Yeah, my purpose is to uh, share god's uh word, you
know, because we are called upon.
That's commandment Is to sharehis love, to share his word.
And you, you were given a gift,and that gift is eternal life.
Okay, so why are you holding onto it?
So our goal is to give thatgift to others.
Okay, when we open up ourfurniture store uh, that was the
(23:06):
main ministry is.
It was an empty shell.
We had my wife and I wereholding these two large banners
that said sofa spectrumfurniture on there, and guess
what we did?
We invited the whole church, weprayed there.
But one thing that my wife andI did is we decided when we
first opened that that was goingto be a place of ministry, a
place of love, a place, a safeplace for people to come and
(23:28):
they can feel the genuineAuthenticity about blessing.
So guess what, through theyears and we've been in business
now for eight plus years Ican't tell you how many people
we have prayed for in our, inour store.
You can't do that in corporateamerica because they call you a
jesus freak or a crazy person,but in sofa spectrum you can bet
(23:52):
you can be assured that we willnot shy away from scripture.
We're not going to shy awayfrom sharing god's love to
people.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Amen, no, I love that .
I love that.
That's amazing.
And I feel like there's so manypeople out there and I've had a
lot of conversations withbusiness owners who are like
Kyle, like I can't mix my, mybeliefs and my relationship with
jesus and my business.
I'm gonna lose business.
Yada, yada, yada, excuse,excuse, excuse.
(24:20):
And I always tell them the samething.
I say look, here's the truth.
You have one mission in thislife.
You were created on purpose,for purpose and with a purpose.
Your business is not yourpurpose, do you agree?
And they'll always say like,yeah, I've you.
Do you have a bigger purpose?
Yeah, I do.
So why are you not living thatout?
(24:42):
If you're, if you truly believein god and you truly believe in
eternal life, you believe thatjesus died on the cross for your
sins, that he rose three dayslater, that he died for you, why
are you not sharing thatmessage?
Right In your business?
Your business is your ministry,your business is your ministry.
The truth is, there's only acertain percentage of people
(25:04):
that are called the ministrywithin the four walls of the
church, right, yeah, what aboutthe other 90%, 95% of people,
the business.
And so it's so important thatwe keep that straight and we
have our priorities in line.
If we're putting our businessbefore God, that's scary.
(25:25):
I've been there.
I've done that.
This is like when I startedmarketing Empire Group.
I was here to build my empirewe're looking at.
You know I was the CEO and youknow we just had this
conversation right when you gothere, like I released that
control to God.
This is God's empire, this isGod's company.
He's the CEO.
He's allowing me to steward myteam.
(25:47):
He's allowing me to steward,you know, a amazing studio.
He's allowing me to be asteward of these things, but
it's not mine.
At the end of the day, it allgoes back in the box, just like
the game of Monopoly.
It all goes back in the box.
So we're here to be stewards ofwhat God has blessed us with,
and he should be able to trustus that we're gonna live out his
(26:08):
purpose for our lives, not ourpurpose, because if we do things
our way, man, we're broken,right, we're broken, it's like
you'll be in that hamster wheel.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
if you want to do it your way, just keep going around
in circles as opposed to beingout of that wheel and spreading
your love and sharing to others.
That's why I'm out.
You know, blessing thecommunity and uplifting and
encouraging those are thingsthat God gives you to give to
others.
Share the love to the community.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Paul, before we wrap this up, got one last question
what's your encouragement topeople who are going through
kind of the same experience asyou?
You know, maybe going throughthe same experience you went
through where they weren't goingto church, they thought they
had a relationship with God, butthey weren't really in a
relationship.
(27:01):
What's your encouragement tothem?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Submit, submit, sell out.
Don't touch the water.
Jump in and surrender, becausewhen you're dabbling at trying
to do this, it just doesn't work.
You've got to be all in.
I think that we're alldifferent.
(27:29):
We were all created in our ownunique way.
Find your gift.
Learn what your gift is If youhave the gift.
If God gave you the gift of gab, then that's what you use.
If God gave you a gift to do amedia production, that's what
(27:50):
you do.
If God gave you a gift to findyour gift, find your gift
because he gave that to you.
Surrender yourself and let Godlead you and guide you.
It's complete surrender.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Amen, I love that.
Find your gift Fully submit,fully surrender.
Yes, that's it All right,that's a great way to wrap this
up.
Paul, appreciate you being onon the show here.
Thank you, appreciate yourstory, your testimony,
everything you're doing in thecommunity for God, continuing to
live out your purpose andsharing the good news.
Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
We're at sofaspectrumfurniturecom and you
can just Google that.
We have our handles onInstagram.
We have sofaspectrum excuse meat
sofaspectrumcustomdesigncenter.
That's where I share my lovefor the community.
I get on the video, I don'tcare what I look like.
If I put it in my heart, I'msharing it, you guys?
(28:46):
He's the best.
Yeah, so I'm out sharing thatat
sofaspectrumcustomdesigncenter.
You can also find me atsofaspectrumfurniture.
That's where I teach.
I share benefits of purchasingand buying sofas or furniture or
massage chairs or mattresses.
And then there's a new one thatwill be starting out soon,
(29:07):
which is Paul Rangel'ssofaspectrum, and there I will
be sharing more personal,intimate things.
Maybe it'll be consistent ofmaybe talking about nonprofits,
military, hitting certain strongavenues in that one.
Also on Facebook,sofaspectrumfurniture and
(29:29):
LinkedIn, of course,sofaspectrumfurniture or Paul
Rangel.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Love it.
Yeah, right on, make sure youguys follow him, support him.
If you need some new furniture,he is definitely the man.
He's right up the street here,located in a beautiful city of
Temecula, marietta.
He's right there on the border,so make sure to show him some
love and make sure to engagewith his stuff.
He's huge on the community.
He's supporting our fellowbusiness owners and continuing
(29:55):
to just be doing a good work andbeing a good steward of what
God has blessed him with.
So anything else before we wrapthis up, no, thank you for the
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Marketing Empire Group.
You guys are the one-stop shop,and so I'm glad you brought me
in so that we can share the loveto the community and feel the
faith.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Amen.
That's the Feeling FaithPodcast.
Thank you guys for tuning in.
We appreciate it.
If you want to share yourtestimony or you know somebody
who has amazing testimony thatthey need to share, make sure to
reach out to us, feeling FaithPodcast, and also follow us.
Hit that subscribe button soyou can stay tuned for the next
episode.
Thank you guys, love you, godbless.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.