Faith in Action

In this episode, we present Pastor Garrick Matlock of the Freeway Gospel Empowerment Center in Warren, Ohio. Born and raised in Warren, Pastor Matlock opens up about his journey—from his roots to his calling in ministry and his work today. This episode is filled with powerful moments of faith, resilience, and purpose, showing how one person’s mission can create a lasting impact.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• Growing up where community felt like "a big family"
• Founding Freeway Gospel Empowerment Center
• Helping students experiencing homelessness
• Introducing "Sawubona" as a philosophy for seeing others' full humanity
• Challenging the narratives of the black church
• Pastor Matlock's "One Word"
  
  Visit Freeway Gospel Empowerment Center at 403 Atlantic Street Northwest. Scripture School meets Wednesdays at 7 p.m., Sundays at 9:30 a.m., and Sunday worship at 11 a.m.

So press play and be moved by Captain Cole's inspiring story. Ladies and gentlemen, Sound United Presents... Pastor Garrick Matlock!

Be sure to subscribe wherever you vibe with podcasts or visit our website. www.soundunitedpresents.com

Sound United Presents is a community-focused podcast powered by Sound United Podcast Studio. Produced by Kimberly Gonzales and D. Lee Scott

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello, ladies and gents, welcome to Sound United
Presents, a diverse andinclusive podcast focused on
local entrepreneurs,professionals and unsung
community heroes.
Within each episode, our guestswill candidly share their
stories filled with triumph,failures, humor, lessons learned
, insight and some nuggets ofwisdom.
I'm very excited about this andI hope you are too.

(00:34):
Let's get started.
Hey folks, thank you forhitting the play button once
again on Sound United Presents.
I'm your host, deshaun Scott.
This is co-produced by KimberlyGonzalez.
Once again, we got a wonderfulguest here.
As I tell y'all all the time,I'm your host, deshaun Scott.
This is co-produced by KimberlyGonzalez.
Once again, we got a wonderfulguest here.
As I tell y'all all the time,I'm batting a thousand and, as

(00:56):
usual, I want to give you alittle backstory on this
individual, because this onehits home.
This one is like a straight tothe heart type episode here for
so many reasons and you're goingto enjoy the conversation.
This individual like the otherones, but you're really going to
enjoy this conversation, so letme prime this for y'all just a
little bit.
So this gentleman, warren,everybody here in Warren, we

(01:19):
know each other for the mostpart Now.
I can't remember if it was aschool thing because I was
skipping class a lot, so itmight've been a scene and that,
but you know I was a habitualclass skipper.
But fast forward into adult ageI would see him a lot in
community events doing somewonderful things Youngstown City
School District where we wereworking with the communications

(01:40):
team and when they had eventsand things like that, you know
I'd see him and stuff like that.
So it was always.
You know, you know how you seepeople and you you know, hey,
what's up, and you just catch upand you know find out what they
doing.
And then you know, you go onand I want to say hope my
brother don't kill me on this.
Uh, I think it was 2019.
It was crazy because my brotherasked me to be his best man, for

(02:02):
his wedding Wasn't a bigwedding.
He just wanted to, you know,solidify, get married.
And I said, yeah, man, like OK,no problem.
And then he was like, oh, bythe way, can you ask E if she
will be my wife's?
I think it's made on her, youknow the closest one to the
bride, I think made on, orsomething like that.
And I was like, oh, yeah, Imean mean like they knew each

(02:24):
other, but that kind of honor.
You know, it's like that waskind of weird.
Me as the best man yeah, mywife is the, you know.
But we did it.
And so I said, well, just giveme the details.
And then we got closer, he hetold me where, and it was a
church.
And I'd never, you know, I'dnever seen this church before.
I think I might have passed ita couple times, going to Packard
Park or what have you.

(02:44):
And so I was like, ok, fine, wego in there and we sit and we
chill, and you know, mybrother's there, his wife Dee is
down there doing a thing withmy wife, and Pat's pastor comes
up looking regal and I said, youknow, I just I can't even tell
you, because I did the look andI was shocked, I didn't, I

(03:08):
didn't know, it was a surprise.
Like hey, you know what I'msaying.
Like you know, we about to dothis ceremony and I'm running
into this brother like, oh man,this is, this is great.
And so it was a beautifulceremony, you know.
And then that was.
I might have seen him one moretime after that, but it was some
time, and I think then thepandemic hit.
I think it was, so it mighthave been him one more time
after that, but it was some time, and I think then the pandemic
hit.
I think it was so it might havebeen 2019.
And this is where it getsreally really interesting.

(03:31):
More interesting, so in 2021,you know, y'all know, I've
shared with you, at least ifyou've heard the trailer that
you know my wife had passedSeptember 17th of 2021.
Catastrophic in so manydifferent ways because you know,
from being a surprise happeningto having to make decisions on

(03:52):
the spot of you know whatfuneral it was, it was a super
blur.
And if you've been through thisstuff whether it's a spouse or
whatever, you know it's a superblur and part of that, you know
the calling hours and all thisstuff I'm preparing for this
Cause it's, you know, mydecisions that need to be made.
You know it's like acelebration of life.
You know what.
How am I going to do this?
And and I said, well, I'm gonnado it in the park and, you know

(04:15):
, in the garden, because that'swhere she was happiest and no, I
hope the weather's going to befine and so many things going on
.
And then I reached out to abrother who was really, who is
really close to our family, um,through his uncle God rest his
soul to uh Rob.
But, um, uh, mario, and youknow, I needed somebody to speak
at my wife's celebration oflife, um, and me and her would

(04:37):
always talk about that Cause Iwould tell her look, if you get
somebody to speak at mine,please make sure they say
Deshaun and not Del Sean.
And you know, like we wouldalways talk about this stuff and
I would talk about it in a waythat I felt it would be me and
and so I was like I wantsomebody that that kind of knows
Erica and, you know, knows thefamily and all that.

(04:58):
So I put in a lot of work,asked Mario, he, he was great
with it Me and him talked and Ithink a few days before the
celebration of life, he, hecalled me and he was under the
weather and he was like brother,you know I don't want to.
You know I can't be there.
You know, this is important tome.
You know, like I got to send, Ijust it's the thing a husband
does, right, I'm sending my wifeoff.

(05:28):
I'm already still numb, and youknow, but I just want this to
be right.
And he refers this gentlemanyes, sir, Going back to all the
other times that we've connected, and then it's here and I was
like, yeah, and we spoke,because I remember how you spoke
at the, at Mario's, at Mario'swedding, so it was.

(05:55):
It was yeah, yeah, okay.
So, man, you spoke and andbefore we even talked about the
ceremony, you asked about how Iwas doing and we talked, uh,
some scripture, and we just, andin a way, that wasn't scripture
, it was a conversation wherescripture was included in it.
That it wasn't.
It wasn't an emphasis on that,it was just.
It's hard to explain, but it'swonderful I'm getting to
introduce him.
Y'all just bear with me,because I got to lay this primer

(06:15):
down for y'all.
Yes, sir.
So, the the celebration of lifehappens.
He comes and I am over watchingmy kids.
I'm still shocked because we ina garden where I seen my wife
happy, talking to plants andgrowing tomatoes.
I am looking at all the peoplewho loved her, who loved me, who

(06:38):
loved us.
I am still shocked.
All this stuff is going on.
It's a nice attendance, and weget up and speak, my son gets up
and speaks, my daughter youknow she spoke and then this
gentleman comes up and I got totell you as much as my mind was

(06:58):
running and trying to payattention to my kids and just
trying to make sure everythingis right and for me to try to
appear strong on the outside.
Get a little choked up, it'salright.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
It's alright.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
That this gentleman gets up and gives this.
I don't want to call it aeulogy, I don't, I don't, I
don't know what to call it.
It was just, it was beautifulbecause with all that going on,
that was in my head, it stopped,yes, sir, and as you spoke

(07:56):
about Erica, it was if we hungout, it was if you, you knew her
.
You, yes, sir, uh, but I wantedto give you that primer.
So you understand, it is not.
This isn't the reason why he'shere.
When I speak of Erica and Ispeak to that, it's just this
connection.
And then all the stuff that hedoes now and he is an incredible
gentleman, probably theprototype of what you know sound

(08:18):
United presents is all about.
So with that, ladies andgentlemen, now that I've given
you that primer and you caughtme on on choking up a little,
bit because we're not going todelete that.
It's authentic.
Yes, uh sorry.
United presents, pastor garrickmatlock.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Thank you so much.
Welcome to the show.
I'm glad to be here and it'sokay to get choked up yeah, well
, that was not an intent.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
I'm saying, you know, but you replaying stuff and I
and I remember it vividly, youknow, and it was just, and what
you did and how you did it andyour wife and just the way it
was just, it was just great man,and I'll never forget that and
I remember.
I have it recorded too.
I just can't watch it for awhile.
It might it might be some timebefore I watch it, but I got it
up here.
Yes, sir, take your time withthat one right there.

(09:03):
I remember.
So as we get started I normallylike to let our guests kind of
you know, give them their oneminute about themselves.
You know I want to read offeverybody's bio.
I like to give the primerthings so people know.
So tell the audience aboutyourself a little bit.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Sounds great.
Thank you very much and I'mglad to be here on Sound United
United.
My name, as you said, isGarrick Matlock.
I'm the lead pastor andvisionary pastor of Freeway
Gospel Empowerment Center.
But, most importantly, beyondall of those things, I'm a
husband.
July 1st of next year will be30 years.

(09:38):
I am a father and a grandfather.
A father and a grandfather, andyou know I'm a son, I am a
brother, and those are thingsthat I really like people to
know about me, not so much thethings that I do, but the things
that really make me who I am,and those people who have
contributed into my life, whohave supported and encouraged me

(09:59):
to be who I am.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, Okay, all right .

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Do you grow up in Warren?

Speaker 1 (10:04):
I did.
I grew up in Warren.
Yes, sir, so you were a Warrennative.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
I am a Warren native.
Grew up on the east side, firstfour years of my life in the
Fairview Gardens, yeah, and thenafter that on the east side on
Woodbine.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Wait, you grew up in the Fairview Gardens.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yes, sir, wow, first four years of my life, fairview
Gardens and then we moved overon to Woodbine 1659 Woodbine but
a lot of my time also was spenton the North End because, being
that both of my parents worked,and literally like nine to five
jobs, my brothers and I wouldcome home from school and we

(10:39):
would actually be over at ourgrandparents' house over on the
North End.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
Okay, Okay, Wow, that's Fairview Gardens.
My grandmother was one of theas many of them that come up
from you know, down southArkansas, what have you but she
was one of the first residentsin there and I actually spent a
lot of time in there, especiallywhen I got back at 16.
But I spent a lot of time there.
So when you said that I'mFairview Gardens, Fairview
Gardens.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yes, sir, and then I didn't know that your family
came out of Arkansas, because myfamily comes out of Fort Nice,
arkansas.
Matter of fact, my greatgrandfather who was a pastor
here in the city.
He was a pastor in Warren,arkansas, and then became a
pastor in Warren, ohio.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Wow, yeah, yeah.
On the paternal side, pineBluff, arkansas.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
Pine Bluff is the same area that my family is from
, so the uh jacobs in theeddington, so we're gonna have
to have some more talk man, youjust yeah, because my mother's
doing a lot of genealogyresearch, so she's actually
trying to get to pine bluff touh connect some dots yeah, yeah,
pine bluff, arkansas.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
So how was life growing up?
You mentioned the.
You know being on the east sideof the North End.
But how was life growing up foryou?
It was beautiful.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
I had my three brothers that I was growing up
with and all of our firstcousins and then all of our
friends, and in that day andtime, community was like a big
family.
I really, really enjoyed mychildhood.
I enjoyed my teenage years.
Outside was a playground,walking through the woods, my

(12:11):
mother always said for mybrothers and I said that we was
like country boys growing up inthe city.
So yeah, so I love.
I tell my children, even rightnow, to this day, I really don't
ever say the word bored.
I was never bored.
Even to this day I'm still.
I'm never bored.
It's all.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
There's too much too much to happen.
Yes, no, wasn't no screen timeback then?
No sir, outside running, in,you know running and playing
which is you know what?
I wonder if that's a thing,because I'm the same way like I
don't there's always somethingto to do.
I don't get bored.
I mean, even when I was onpunishment as a kid, which was a
lot, and I say that a lot,which is very true y'all I'd

(12:48):
find something to do in thatroom or something you know what.
I mean yeah, you, just you stayactive.
Where'd you go to school at?

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Elementary school I went to Roosevelt and then
junior high school, went to HBTurner Junior High School, then
high school, on to Warren GHarding.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
So you full Warren G Harding, you didn't do the
reserve Harding.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
You were just tradition.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
because you was on the side, I forgot all about
Roosevelt.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yes, sir, went to Rose and the crazy thing about
it is that I tell a lot ofpeople that that's how time is
Everything that I knew growinggrowing up?
As far as structures, they'renow gone.
You know, roosevelt elementaryis now a community garden.
Where hb turner was, it is nowa?
Uh, a skate park, wow.

(13:33):
And then what's left of warreng harding?
Uh, the one that I attended isactually it's a, it's a monument
?

Speaker 1 (13:40):
do you say the warren g harding?
I have no dog in the fight Icame up in 89 and part of it was
reserve and part of it was aHarding, and you know.
So I don't have a dog.
I thought people would be likethe.
You know, I got a friend whosays that.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Yeah, no, the Warren G Harden.
No, my wife was the firstconsolidated class coming back
to being one high school, so shewas a reserve girl.
And I always joke about it andsay you know, those West Side
girls love these East Side guys.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
In high school.
I mean, were you in anyactivities, Did you?

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yes, I was in two, as a matter of fact, to the point
to where my parents told medon't sign my name on another
thing.
So I was a Madrigal singer, Iwas an acapella, I was president
of Madrigals, I played football, played basketball, just to my
freshman year, but then, after Iwas involved in everything I
could possibly be in, there weresome theater productions where

(14:33):
they consolidated students fromboth Warren Harding and Warren
Western Reserve.
So I was involved in a lot.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Wow, ok, no trouble.
You didn't get any trouble,nothing like that.
Well, just asking.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
I can tell you what I was.
I had a serious case ofsenioritis and probably my
senior year of high school wasprobably the most dissatisfying
year of school.
I was kind of done with it.
It was the only thing I reallyloved back at that time was I
did love Madrigals, I did loveacapella and I did love all of

(15:11):
my Spanish.
I was in Spanish four by thattime.
I had acquired the language soI was able to speak fluently.
My Spanish teacher, fromSpanish one through Spanish four
, never allowed us to speak aword of English.
So I was pretty much almostfluent after my second year.
But there was an extra work Idid Back then.
There was a such thing that wascalled a phone book, white pages

(15:34):
and yellow pages, but in thewhite pages I would look up
every Hispanic surname that Icould find and I would actually
call them on the phone, just sothat I could practice Spanish.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Wow, yes, yes, yes.
Yes, you used the phone bookfor educational purposes.
I used to use the Yellow Pagesto prank call.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Well, now, we had our share of that too.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Ordering something, or yeah, yeah, anyway, that's
another Deshaun discussion there.
So, going through, even whetherit was when you were younger or
when, you know, you startedhigh school or middle school,
did you have a?
I like to know like did youhave a dream career?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Like did you want to grow up?
And the years of watching theCosbys, seeing an
African-American family of adoctor and a lawyer, and I can
say in high school, the dreamwas always college, matter of
fact, my parents had put thatinside of my brothers and I that
you were going to go off tocollege.
And then, you know, the Cosbyshow follows up with a different

(16:42):
world.
So we think that college isgoing to be a certain thing.
So myself and a great friend ofmine, jeff Butts, who you know,
at one point we had talkedabout that we were going to be
attorneys.
So by the time I got to collegeI thought that I said you know,
I want to help people and Ithought that the way to help
people was through psychology.

(17:05):
All it took me was about onesemester and I decided no, I
don't want to do psychology.
So I became a political sciencemajor.
So political science and publicpolicy analysis.
But eventually, within thatmajor, there was a time that I
had gone off one summer for tobe a leader at a youth camp.
To be a leader at a youth camp,and one night in the tent I

(17:28):
just was in some time in prayerand I just began to pray and
just really told the Lord thatwhatever you want me to do,
wherever you want me to go,that's what I'll do.
And he told me to start a Biblestudy when I go back on campus.
So I founded a Bible study,started off with three
individuals in my apartment,including myself, and then by
the end of the third semester weadministered to well over 200
students on campus.

(17:48):
So it was a very, very powerfultime in my life, so my first
jump into college.
As a matter of fact, I can saythat it was a very powerful time
.
I've met people that are stillfriends and brothers and sisters
to this very day.
But my father called me one daywhile I was at school because

(18:14):
during college, you know, lifestill happens In 1991, my cousin
Rekia.
She had passed away.
She had had leukemia.
We had saw her going throughremission several times, but
then eventually she did lose herlife.
Many things after that.
But then my father called meand told me that Packer Electric

(18:35):
was hiring and asked me I wasabout to enter into my final
semester and said would you liketo take this job?
And I took the job.
I took the job and I had a lotof credit hours up under me, but
I had an opportunity as well.
So I took the job and I didn'tfinish school at that time.
And I didn't finish school atthat time.
But since that time I had goneback to seminary and I went to

(19:01):
Trinity College of the Bible andTheological Seminary and ended
up graduating with highdistinction, with a degree in
Christian philosophy andapologetics.
Ok, how did you?

Speaker 1 (19:11):
So where did you when you started college?
Where did you go?
The University of Akron, ok.
Is it the Zips?
The Zips, okay, yes.
And then you got close tograduating.
Yes, a lot of credit hoursunder you, the opportunity came
to work at Packer.
What year was that?
When that?
I'm trying to think 94.
, because I was going to say itwas a year when Packer started

(19:32):
hiring like crazy.
Yes, started hiring like crazy.
Like you know, everybody wasgetting.
You know, the smart ones wentand took the opportunities.
The ones like me was like nahstreet is street is where it's
at.
You know you working folks goright ahead.
That kind of takes me to mynext question.
Because what I mean, whatinspired you to just to, to go

(19:53):
into ministry?
Because you on a college campuswith activities galore good and
bad, yes and you decide you hadthis calling to to do this.
Was that the beginning?
Did you see that?
Did you see that, even goingdown further into the future,
even with with Packard, right,right there, you know that

(20:15):
opportunity.
But did you have something likeyou know when I get, you know
when I get in my 30s or when I'mgoing to be doing this?
I mean, was that on your heart,in your mind?

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Not at the capacity that it is right now.
However, back then I had beenactive in ministry since I was
about 12, 13 years old.
My parents were active inministry and they brought my
brothers and I along so early on, and that's one thing I love
about the black church tradition.
A lot of people, even when Ihad entered into public

(20:47):
education, they looked at theamount of skill that I brought
to the table.
But a lot of those skills werelearned inside of the black
church and where we learned howto serve From a young age.
Children were promoted, whetherit was through music, whether
it was through oratory.
Back in the day, we all hadEaster speeches.

(21:07):
We learned public speaking inthe church.
So we didn't we didn't haveeffective oral communication
courses.
What we had was you have thisEaster speech and you're going
to start off with a short onewhen you're younger and you're
going to say happy Eastereverybody.
And then, as you get older,you're going to get, and we were

(21:28):
promoted inside of the churchand we were encouraged inside of
the church to do a lot ofthings.
But my parents were always onesthat were active in the
community as well.
So that portion of literallysaying faith without works is
dead.
They understood that theirfaith was not just for the

(21:48):
building, that their faith wasactually for the community as
well.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
So I don't want to, I don't want to gloss over what
you you know, because there isthe ministry, yes, but you also
like with Youngstown City School.
So you're a counselor.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
Well, I'm actually I'm an administrator and I work
for Well I'm a McKinney-Ventoliaison.
So what that means is that Iactually work with all of the
scholars inside of YoungstownCity School District and their
families that experiencehomelessness.
So homelessness is defineddifferently according to

(22:24):
McKinney-Vento than it isaccording to HUD.
Yeah, so let's just define anytime that a student does not
have a fixed, adequate orregular nighttime residence,
they're considered asexperiencing homelessness.
Okay, and that's called whatnow?

Speaker 1 (22:40):
McKinney-Vento, mckinney-vento, yes, okay, all
right, I just want to, because Isounded right.
I thought first it was McKinley, but it's McKinney-Vento,
mckinney-vento.
Okay, yes, and how long haveyou been doing as an
administrator with the schooldistrict have you been doing as
an administrator?

Speaker 2 (22:56):
with the school district.
How long have you been doingthat?
This is going on my third yearwith Youngstown City School
District, okay, okay, were youdoing anything with them prior?
Before that, I was actually inMcKinney.
Well, and that's where it comesdown to.
I was working formerly MauriceClaret under the red zone.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
That's when I was yes , okay, yes, so and at that time
I was a qualified behavioralhealth specialist.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Cool, cool.
Okay, that makes sense now.
So a little clarity.
You was with, was it Red Zone,the?

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Red Zone Right.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
And so that's when I would see you often.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
At some events, it was under that, yes absolutely,
and at that time, yes, I wasdoing a lot of behavioral
intervention through the RedZone.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Do you got any, because we'll move to ministry
in a minute, but is there anyexciting highlights of you in
that realm of education, workingwith students and stuff like
that?
Oh, it's beautiful.
I've had the opportunity hererecently.
Back last June I spoke at anational conference that had.
You know, some of my heroes arethere Principal Baruti Kafele.
I had a chance to meet with himand speak with him and hear him
talk.
But then I also was able to doone of my presentations.

(24:02):
One of my presentations wasbecause, you know, I've been a
professional storyteller as wellfor some time, so my
presentation actually was calledFrom Story to Glory Creative
Connections that FosterSchoolwide Success creative
connections that fosterschool-wide success.
So I enjoy, and I did that backin June of last year in Atlanta
and then in February of thispast year.

(24:22):
Well, this year I was able tospeak in New York City and I was
able to do the exact samepresentation.
So it's been a good ride.

Speaker 1 (24:29):
So what prepared you for doing all this?
I know the answer is becauseyou mentioned it earlier, but I
just want to hit it back again.
As you said, did the churchkind of help you with the oral
communication like the?
You know the build up to dothis national stuff.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
now it did the church did, but then also the black
home grew up in a day to where,as there weren't all of these
what I like to call divisivedevices, right now everybody has
a TV in their own room.
That wasn't something we grewup with.
Tv was in one room andeverybody spent time together.

(25:03):
And there was a time the TVwent off, literally Not because
it was just turned off thathappened too but because once
the national anthem came on,once the national anthem came on
, the TV went off and you had towait till the next morning
until programs the programmingstarted again if you wanted to
watch it again.
So that meant that there was alot of time in the home that was

(25:25):
spent doing storytelling and Iloved entertaining my parents
and my brothers with just makingup stories and doing different
sound effects and doingimpersonation.
So storytelling in the homealso helped me with what I do
today.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Okay, so, as you're working at Packard and then you
know you're doing stuff with theschool, so I'm trying to, I
want to forward this off veryclearly because I want to get to
the church.
And when you, when you foundedthe church, or, um, you know
when did that happen?
And it wasn't the cause, thename I have for it now freeway

(26:02):
gospel empowerment center, right, yes, but you had other things.
Like, when we spoke, it wassomething else, cause I remember
it was rest, restoration.
I want to get this rightRestoration, life, christian
life, christian life right,ministry, ministry.
So I remember that because whenI called you, I was like, hey,
I want to make sure this and youinform me that you know, cause
we hadn't talked, for it's beena while, since October 2nd of 20

(26:27):
.
No, no, I won't say thatbecause we we followed up, even
after Erica's event.
So it was some time there,right?
So tell us about this when didthe, when did the church form?
When did when did you decide tostart to do this?

Speaker 2 (26:44):
So I got the vision for the church in April of 2003,
while I was still working atPackard.
We officially launched thechurch February, the 11th of
2007.
And it was called RestorationChristian Life Ministries and it
was coming from this passage.
We got the name from thepassage in Isaiah 58 and 12,
where it says that you will becalled repairers of the breach,
the restorers of cities in whichto dwell.
And it really resonated with mebecause I saw my community

(27:06):
needing a lot of healing.
And when I say my community,I'm saying that my community in
all of its nuances and variances, the community that was outside
of the church as well as thecommunity that was inside of the
church.
There's a very uniquephenomenon that we say inside of
the church, which I don'tnecessarily resonate with, that
we call church hurt, which wedon't call anything else by that

(27:29):
.
It's a unique type ofterminology that we have, but I
do understand.
We were talking about pain thathappens inside of community and
inside of the church community.
So I wanted to be a placeinitially and this is how God
started us off initially reallybeing able to heal people who
had been hurt inside of churchcommunity, and we began to work

(27:50):
through that.
Ok, yeah, so that wasRestoration Christian Life
Ministries.
Sixteen years later, februarythe 11th, we changed the name.
The name Restoration ChristianLife Ministries is still a part
of our ministry, it's an activepart of what we do, it's one of
our pillars to say, but our nameis Freeway Gospel Empowerment

(28:11):
Center.
Now, and what?
And that comes from Galatiansfive and one it is for freedom
that Christ has set you free.
Be therefore steadfast anddon't be entangled again by a
yoke of slavery.
So freeway, where we are givento really teach people and help
them live in a way that's free,to try to live their lives as

(28:34):
burden free as possible.
That's where freeway gospelempowerment and there's a few
different pillars that we havewith that.
So we have Restoration ChristianLife Ministries.
We also have the Way OperationBible Institute, which is our
center for theological,ministerial and missiological
training, and then from that wealso have what we call Coffee

(28:54):
Life Outreach.
So coffee we use as a pneumaticor as an acronym.
There was a gentleman that hasa restaurant in Sharon named
Joseph.
It's called a Haitiansensations, and I saw a sign in
there one day about coffee,which I really love.
I love coffee.
So the coffee was a pneumaticand it stood for Christ offers
freedom for everyone, everywhere, wow.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Wow, what's the so the mission like?
What's the overall mission?

Speaker 2 (29:25):
The overall mission, our mission and our vision
statement for the church is loveGod and all people, transform
lives, deploy saints and we'retalking about deployment.
That we're talking aboutdeployment of the word.
Saints means holy people.
That means that we don't justgo out with knowledge of the
word, we go out and we embodywhat the word is.
We go out and do our best tolive clean, pure, holy lives.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
So one of the things about you and because, going
back in history, so we never asa family and I just say you know
, me and the kids, we I rememberwe got baptized, I think in 20,
maybe 2017 or something likethat, but we wasn't frequent
church.
You know, going to church andthings like it was more.
So my defense was always it'sin my heart, right, it's in my

(30:10):
heart.
Or, if you know, if I want totalk to God, I'll go in my
closet.
I can talk to him in the closet, I can talk to him anywhere.
But the underlying was like Ijust didn't want to go to church
.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
That was the thing right.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
So I'm finding all these other justifications.
So what I like about you andthere's a few other pastors?
The church I remember growingup was the Temple of Love.
My grandmother would take usthere.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
I don't know why.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
I remember the stories, but I remember some of
it.
I was little when I say thisy'all, so I wasn't like in my
teens or nothing, but I used torun down the pews and touch all
the ladies legs, got you andit's probably why I'm a leg man,
oh yeah.
And then they you know mygrandma they say uh, stop.
My mother say stop, leave that.
And they'd be like he all right,let leave him be I'm just doing
that but then I remember thepolyester socks I have to wear,

(30:58):
those shoes I have to wear It'dbe hot.
And you know, soon and verysoon, you know, I remember all
of that stuff there and I thinkthat's probably why because I
didn't understand it then I justknew I didn't want to be there,
right, and I would go with mygrandmother when I got later my
teens, and because it's mygrandmother, we go across the
street and sit and I'd be likeyou know, man, I wonder what

(31:19):
they're doing around the corner.
Or you know, Duke Street.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Like what's happening over there.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
You know I'm in this church.
You know what I mean.
I'm ready to get out of here,so, but I always had faith and
my decisions and a lot of timeswe raised our kids to fear God
and stuff like that.
But talking to you, a lot oftimes and I'm getting to the
point there are some men of thecloth, ministers, that they're

(31:43):
very, it's just very rigid,right, in my experience, like
just very rigid.
When I talk to you and a fewothers, the way that you, it's
more understanding and inclusive, it's I guess that's the way
I'm trying to put it.
So, having conversations withyou about you know what we're
going to talk about it's justmore like you're not offended

(32:03):
and you're not going to youunderstand, right?
It's just not.
It's uh, what's the word?
It's, it's not structured, it'sjust very dogmatic sometimes.
Yeah, yeah, like you're scaredto ask certain questions because
it's like an offensive thing orsomething.
But but you know what I meanand so this is part of the
reason too.
I really want to get yourbecause I'm curious about that,
concerns about, like, where wego on in the world and why are

(32:26):
things happening, and thingslike that.
So I'm very this is just like avery good Peaceful conversation
that I can have with you andthen your feedback talking to
you before, so I know you'regoing to have good answers for
this and your insight.
So I'm going to I'm going tostart these off.
The role of religion how do you, how do you see it evolving
today?
Because it seems to me likeit's so.

(32:53):
I don't know, man, it's sosometimes, sometimes not
everywhere, but it can be sodivisive, or have you?
Or there are people who justyou know they lose in faith
because of all this externalstuff going on.
Like, where do you see itevolving?

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Today what I tend to see and it depends on what we're
looking at One thing I tend tosee happening with the church
and let me, let me let me dosome things.
Historically, 2015, I saw somethings really, really change.
And let me go back even alittle further in 2008, with

(33:28):
then candidate Barack Obamarunning for president, I saw a
very clear divide that in someinstances, used theological
terminology to veil politicalaspirations and it was phony

(33:50):
concern about the stances ofwhere then candidate Barack
Obama, and what I really saw wasthe stench of racism.
2015, with the death of MichaelBrown and the conversation that
surrounded it and that wasamplified by way of social media

(34:12):
, which many people sat behindtheir keyboards as keyboard
warriors and really pushed a lotof divisive type things, sadly,
some within side of the churchcommunity who may have been In
position to do certain thingsreally great, but we're not

(34:38):
schooled on the subject matternor the history of those who
have experienced the pain, ofthose who look like Michael
Brown, and it became a wedgeinside of the church.
So there are, in a lot ofplaces, some healing that's
going on, but we have a lot ofwork to do.
There's been a lot of damagedone that we have to go back to

(35:00):
and look at.
What was the church's responseto Trayvon Martin?
What was the church's responseto Tamir Rice?
How do we respond with MichaelBrown?
How do we respond as it relatesto George Floyd A lot of very
popular African-Americanevangelical preachers?
They found themselves dividedwith those that they were at

(35:23):
once really close to, and theproblem was this is that people
passed each other using the sameterminology but really talking
about two different things,about two different things.
When we were speaking ofhistoric pain, many of them were

(35:43):
speaking in terms of theology.
We were talking about ethics.
How does your gospel ethics andyour faith ethics respond to
the very real pain that's beingfelt amongst this specific group
of Americans, whereas some said, well, the answer is simply
just to give these theological.
At that time we didn't reallyneed a bunch of scripture

(36:06):
quoting.
What we needed was scripture inaction in the form of the
pursuit of justice justice verywell spoken.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
And this this goes back to my long explanation of
just being having you here andhaving this discussion.
Why very, very well spoken?
I remember michael brown, umbecause I grew up in u city and
um where he was, which isferguson yes, isn't, isn't far
from there at all, but Iremember man, I just remember
seeing that young man, thatcheat over him for a long time,

(36:43):
yeah, and then you know it comesout.
You know the issue he may havewith the police officer I forgot
that police officer's name butbut, to your point, the media
took it over and it waseverywhere.
You know it was it.
It made me angry.
And with President Obama, whenthat was happening, when he was
a candidate, I remember that Iactually canceled my cable.

(37:03):
We had, we had cable and mykids, my kids, can testify to
this it was getting.
So because I used to like CNN.
I mean CNN was was differentback then, a lot of different
back then.
I mean CNN was different backthen, a lot of them were
different back then.
But I remember it just startedgetting so race heavy and how
they did the pastor and I don'tknow if he was a pastor, I don't

(37:24):
know his official title, butyou know they were labeling him
this and that he was too extremeand all this other stuff.
I remember seeing that and Iremember making a decision and I
told Eric.
I said I'm about to cut it was.
It was going into the summertoo, because it just started the
whole political cycle.
You know, yes, I said I'mgetting rid of cable, like that
was the only thing that I coulddo to detach.

(37:45):
And I said if I want to doanything, I can go online.
At that time, if you remember,it was Earthlink, that's what we
had.
I got rid of Spectrum orwhatever it was called and just
rocked online with that, but Iremember it was so divisive man.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
It was and it was, and the ripple effects of it.
They're still here today.
We still have a lot of healingthat we have to do, and it can
only happen in genuineconversations.
Whereas we can't go in the echochamber, we have to be in a

(38:21):
place to where, as we literallyNelson Mandela and Bishop
Desmond Tutu at the decline ofthe apartheid regime, they
developed the truth andreconciliation groups that
actually came together underthis Zulu and Osa philosophy
known as Ubuntu.
And Ubuntu really deals withand the wording says I am
because you are, and what itdeals with is that we have to be

(38:41):
able to genuinely see oneanother's humanity.
I was speaking with somebody theother day and said that
admittance is not repentance.
We have these, these reallycatchy one liners, where we say
things like you know, slaverywas America's original sin.
Ok, that's admittance.
Repentance deals with turning adifferent way.

(39:02):
But we have to ask the questionwhat residue from that brutal
institution?
What still resonates today?
What still affects people today, today, what still affects
people today?
Let me tell you this when yousaid that about Michael Brown's
laying there in the street withthat sheet over top of him, my

(39:23):
wife is the the youngest of nine.
My mother in law was born in1933.
She lived in the Greenville andGreenwood areas of Mississippi.
She remembers going down in theMoney Mississippi after Emmett
Till was killed and sheremembers him being under a tarp
, his body being swollen.

(39:43):
She said it's swollen, lookedlike a mule.
Same thing with my wife'sauntie, juanita.
God rest her soul.
But here it is.
We have individuals in ourfamilies that we've sat with.
For some people, emmett Tilland the pictures of Mamie Till.
They're pictures in the Jetmagazine or they're a motion

(40:07):
picture that has just beenbefore us.
We sat in the living room withthose who breathe the air of
Emmett Till.
It's not far from us.
My great grandmother, lydiaMatlock.
She was born in 1902.
She was a sharecropper down inGreenville, alabama.
My mother-in-law used to haveto pick 200 pounds of cotton See

(40:33):
, because we can call it JimCrow, but it was just slavery by
a different name.
And we have to look at thosethings today and to see how.
What is our Christian responseto the mistreatment, the
oppression of peoples?
And I'm not just talking ofthose who are of our you and who

(40:54):
look like us, of those who areof our you and who look like us,
those that are down at thesouthern border.
One way that you're guaranteedto mistreat people is when you
misidentify people, when youbegin to reduce them as no
longer being people, and you doit with imagery and you do it
with words.
That's the reason why I lovethe Zulu concept.

(41:19):
There's a word that I reallyresonate with, and it's Sawubona
.
We say it at church Sawubona.
Sawubona means I see you.
That means I see all of you.
I see your pain, I see yourfailures, I see your hurts, I
see your aspirations, I see yourdignity and your worth.
And because you are human, I'mgoing to look first at the fact
of who you are before I reallybegin to dive into what you may

(41:43):
be doing.
We call it in Christianity theImago Dei.
Every human being is the ImagoDei.
God said let us create man inour image, male and female.
He created them.
So every human being is, by wayof God's design, designed to be

(42:04):
an image bearer of who God is.
So when I look at you, beyondwhat you're doing, my supervisor
, dr Martin Freeman, onequestion he asked.
He says we need to stop askingthe question of people.
What's wrong with you?
He said we need to ask thequestion what happened to you,
because many people have adversechildhood experiences and there

(42:28):
are things in life that triggercertain responses.
So how can we?
A gentleman I work with namedLarry Thompson, with
Responsibility Center Discipline, says that how do I reprogram
the brain, how do I coach thebrain into a place that it can
go from autonomy of justdesiring self-control and moving
into mastery, to where we areable to say that the God given

(42:51):
self-control that he has givenme has put me in a position that
I can make healthy decisionsfor myself as well as for my
community.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
How this brings up a great follow up to this question
.
Because you know, when I I hadsome church doing, we exposed
our kids to some church, right,but it was always we knew what
was right was wrong.
We raised them that way.
But out in the neighborhoods,when I talked to the youth the
still, you know, talk to youthevery now and then on certain

(43:25):
things, it seems like there isjust just I don't know.
I look at crime and kids.
I watch a lot of YouTube.
That was the one thing I wasgoing through with grief.
I was watching, I was watchingthis stuff that Erica would
normally watch and I'd be likeyou need to turn that off.
That made no sense, right?
And it was these crime thingsthat happened Young man dating a

(43:45):
girl and because she wanted toget out of the relationship, he
kills her.
Young man does Like it was,like I'm sitting and I'm looking
like how can these kids justtake a life like that just blows
my mind when you think about.
It's not in a defense positionwhere you it's either me or you.
It's literally like you'vetaken a life and and and there's

(44:10):
no, there's no fear.
Like you know, I'm going to goto hell for this.
I mean, there's nothing.
You know what's going on herein this world, and so my
question to you is how do you,as far as when it comes to young

(44:32):
people, how can the churchremain relevant?
Because a lot of what I, youknow, see like, if you have some
of these young kids out here,hey, you going to church, nah,
what?
Nah, I ain't going to church.
You know what I mean.
Or there's no fear.
Maybe it's just my generationand I look at it.
Maybe our generation was theone that did it wrong.
You know what I mean.
I have no idea, but how can youknow you engage the youth?
What?

Speaker 2 (44:51):
needs to be done.
We need to think of what we'redoing.
We cannot just put togetherprograms.
We are too program centric.
Yes, we put together programsand we don't talk about
lifestyle.

(45:18):
There was a famous gangster inNew Jersey and a pastor got in a
car with him and he wrote oneday and they saw a young boy
walking down the street and heasked that gangster.
He said tell me something.
What would make that young boyright there choose you over me?
And the gangster told thepastor.
He said it's simple.
He says it's a matter ofpresence.
He said because when his mothersends him to the store to go
get a loaf of bread, he has towalk past me and I'm going to
give him an extra $5 to go andpick up something for himself.

(45:38):
He says he's not going to seeyou until Sunday or at a funeral
.
So the reality is is presence?
The church cannot make itselfabsent.
We cannot come into communitiesIn our own community, jump into
the church, go in, shout,praise and cry and then drive

(46:01):
out with our eyes blinded, asthough we don't see what's all
around us.
We can't see the young boythat's standing out there who's
angry angry about why my fatherwas not engaged in my life,
angry about the fact that mymother's working three jobs and

(46:22):
this teacher got the nerve to bewondering.
I just watched my brothers andsisters all night long and the
teachers are asking me aboutwhere my pencil is or why I'm
tired.
So we've got to be present.
I can say in my life and whatI've learned?
There's nothing.
Humans need humans.
That's just a reality.

(46:44):
Humans need humans.
The question is is that willthe right one show up?
Because there are those who aregoing to speak into your life
so that you can be the best you,or there are going to be those
that come into your life thatwant to use you for some purpose
that God never designed you for.
So there's a twofold thing thathas to happen is that we got to

(47:07):
stop having church and startbeing church.
The word is the Ecclesia, thecalled out ones of God.
The commission is go ye.
Therefore, jesus first sayscome to me, follow me and I will
make you fishers of men.
Matthew 28 says now go and makedisciples of all nations.

(47:29):
The church has left this and wethink that we can use something
different to reach people otherthan literally going out to
reach people.
Different to reach people,other than literally going out
to reach people.
We can reach them with just arecognize sign saying you know,
sinners are welcome.
Well, try that same logic witha fisherman that gets into a

(47:53):
boat and say fishes, fish arewelcome.
But he doesn't have a fishingpole.
See how many fish he comes homewith that day.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Chances are not, so we got to be actively involved
in the lives of those that wedesire to reach.
Do you I mean just briefly, doyou off the top of your head,
are there ways like, do you haveyou know tactics that that may
be?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (48:14):
yeah, there's this real good skill that I've
learned a long time ago.
It's called kindness.
Right, you know when you're inthe store.
How about not looking down atyour cell phone just so that you
don't have to engage withpeople?
How about turning around andseeing that child in the buggy

(48:35):
and saying that you know, I likethose shoes you have on?
Wow, is that Spider-Man on yourshirt?
That is excellent.
Be intentional about payingattention to somebody and to let
them know that they're noticed.
Purchase a coffee for the carthat's behind you.
We can be intentional.
You see some children outsidewith a lemonade stand.

(48:57):
Even if you don't want to drinktheir lemonade, it looks like
it's been sitting out there allday.
Well, that first sip is syrup.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
I ain't got no pancakes.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
That's exactly it.
You don't know if you'relooking at a parfait or lemonade
, there's just layers to it.
But the reality is, is that youactually go engage with those
children?
Yes, you know, do something.
I watched my father as a childthat you actually go engage with
those children.
Yes, you know, do something.
I watched my father as a child.
Our neighbors they were somedirty young men, I mean.
They looked like they justrolled in the mud.

(49:28):
But I watched my father one daysay that we were going to go
get ice cream and that he wasgoing to be taking our neighbors
with him.
And we was like Dad, you know,we like playing with them, but
you're going to literally takethem in the car.
But my father did everything.
He said look, I love you guysand I want you guys to
participate in getting this icecream.
He said so what we're going todo is I'm going to bring you in,

(49:49):
I'm going to get you allcleaned up.
And my father washed those guysup one by one.
We watched our parents in themiddle of the night.
We watched our parents in themiddle of the night.
They would get up and, yeah,they would get up in the middle
of the night and they'd go outand some of our friends and
those that were part of ouryouth group that were going
through very, very dangerousthings, volatile things, hurtful

(50:12):
things in their home, theywould go up and they would go
and get them.
We got to be actively engaged.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
I spoke to him.
We got to be actively engaged.
Do you think the black churchhas the same or more power
regarding social injustice thanin earlier eras?
And the reason I ask that isbecause, when I think back and
it's to the civil rights, andeven before then the black
church was, it was a powerhouse.
Yes, sir, what's your thoughtson that?

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Is it the same now or is it less?
Is it more?
Eddie Gillard wrote a piecesome time ago and he said that
the like basically that thechurch has lost his powers, lost
his prophetic edge.
If I look at the media cyclesand things like that, I would.
I would think so because ithighlights certain black
churches, because it highlightscertain black churches, but I

(51:03):
don't believe that they look atthe whole picture.
There's things that the blackchurch is still doing.
We say, well, where's the blackchurch when there's black on
black violence?
Yeah Well, I'll tell you wherethey are.
The black church when there'sblack on black violence, we're
on our knees.
We're in the homes and in theliving rooms of those that have
been affected.
Sometimes we are actually downon our knees with the victim,

(51:30):
with their blood literally onour hands.
Where's the black church?
The black church on one Sundaymorning gets called, and that
was my church got called whenyoung people were drowned over
on Pine Street around BuckeyeCurve, and these were my
students.
I called them my kids.
These were young men that wouldcome up to me before school
starts and say Mr Matlock, canyou show me how to tie a tie?
Mr Matlock, can you come andpick me up for church.

(51:52):
There was times that I wouldfill my car up with seven and
eight kids that were lapped ontop of each other just to drive
them to church.
So is the black churchresponding the same?
Yeah, but the cameras aren't.
Yeah, you know, just becausethe cameras aren't present don't
mean that the black churchain't present and powerful.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
One hundred One hundred.
I agree with that too.
You know the media, and nowsocial.
You know social media has itsgood and its bad, but it's just.
It's that sensationalizing orthe only focus of one thing, but
that was powerful.
The church is involved.
We're just on our knees withthose.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yes, sir man, this goes back to why, you know when
I said just having theseconversations with you about
this and that's why when PastorMario, when he called me and
said our brother Deshaun Scott,he's hurting, his wife has gone
on and he needs you, it waswithout hesitation.

(52:50):
In the movie Harriet thecharacter that played Harriet
she says that I've learned tolive now in my life, that when
God speaks, that I move withouthesitation.
It was without hesitation.
My brother was hurting.
Whatever assignment that I wasdoing in that moment, god said
it's over.
This is the new assignment foryou to go.
He said you've completed whatI've done, what I have for you

(53:12):
to do.
Then get to Deshaun, get to hischildren, because our people
are in pain, they're insuffering.
I don't mind Programs, eventsand things like that, I don't,
but if it's not making impact inthose areas where it's most

(53:33):
important, then what are wereally doing?
We need to make an impact.
We need to be able to betrusted enough to go into those
very fragile areas of life andthose individuals to trust us
there, to know that we're thereto do no harm, but rather to
build them up.

Speaker 1 (53:54):
So with all this stuff, with all this stuff, you
got going on the calling, youknow the ministry and the
education and just helpingpeople in general.
How do you?

Speaker 2 (54:08):
balance that out just for some you time and with your
wife and things like that.
Well, one thing with my wife wejust had a discussion and I
told her.
I said sometimes I don't do itwell because oftentimes I have
to have the wisdom.
I need the wisdom to be able todiscern between what's good
versus what's best.
And there's been a lot of timesI've given my time to what's

(54:33):
good, even when it wasn'tnecessarily necessary for me to
be engaged in that.
Someone else probably couldhave taken that up.
So I grow up, I mature, I learn, and one thing that I've come

(54:53):
to learn is how to prioritize mypersonal health and my personal
peace, because it's only thenwhen I can be the best for my
wife, Because it's only thenwhen I can be the best for my
wife, for my children, mygrandchildren, for the church,
for the community.
So I'm very intentional.
I'm just now actually gettingback in the pulpit after taking
off about like seven weeks justto just to rest.

Speaker 1 (55:13):
OK, that's important right, yes, sir.
So what do you like when?
Do you you when?
Rest, is that just like resting?
Do you take up any like?
Do you golf?
Do you you kind of I?

Speaker 2 (55:25):
like sleeping me too man, I sleep.
I I like watching um, some good,inspirational television.
I enjoy reading.
I like going to explore, seeingdifferent things, taking in
some aspects of nature that Imay not have seen before.

(55:45):
I like some dining.
I like going to sit someplacewith my wife.
We just went to this reallycool restaurant in Cleveland and
celebrating our anniversary.
It's called the RH RooftopRestaurant.
Man, it is fabulous, is it?
Yes, it is.
What kind of food they got Good, good restaurant.
Man, it is fabulous, is it?
Yes, it is.
What kind of food they got goodgood, no, they have.
That.
It's a a really um, distinguishme.

(56:07):
It's a lot of things that Itend to like.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
They have a espresso bar that is just like you did
say you like uh, yes, yes, sir,so they have espresso bar there.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
they have um some fine wines that are there, but
then they also.
The food was just exquisite.
My wife had a wonderful salmonand that's my yeah.
There you go.
Oh, my goodness, it was it wasgot to go.
Nice.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Nice.
What nugget of wisdom would yougive the 18 year old Garrick
Matlock?
Would you give the 18 year oldGarrick?

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Matlock, keep dreaming, continue to keep,
always, always, love people.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
But don't give anybody permission to waste your
time.
I like your one word.
You know I always explain thisthat everybody has a one word,
something that closely connectswith them, completely or closely
.
What is your one word and why?
Sawabona.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
I see you, we're in this thing together.
So Sawabona and the way thatyou respond to Sawabona, I see
you is Shiboka, which means Iexist for you.
Shiboka, shiboka, okay, orSibona, and Sibona means I'm
here to be seen, that means I'veshown up, I'm fully present,

(57:31):
that we're here, I got you.
So from those two words and Iuse, I mean, sibona is just the
key of all of it, but I see you.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
And to be seen.
That's a beautiful thing, andthe other one, shibuna.
That's the response to it.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
Sibona, sibona, or you can say sibona or shiboka.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
See, I feel like everyone a lot of my friends
know dashawn always just gettingrandom t-shirts made.
You know, I got one that saysineligible bachelor gotcha.
I bought three of those.
It's another discussion there.
Uh, non-verbal communication.
Yes, yes, yes, you know the oneI'm wearing, but he was around
when I got this done in 2019,but I feel like that's a, that's

(58:18):
a powerful to put on there, andI got one that says babu.
So I always got to brag aboutthis because my, my, uh, my
daughter, uh, when she just hadmy granddaughter, she was like
um, you know what do y'all wantto be called?
And you know, erica was likeI'm gonna be called gg.
And I was like, oh, here we gowith this one.
And she said no, grandma,goddess, so it's just the letter

(58:39):
G, that was her thing.
Got you Deshawn being who he is.
I said I'll get back with youin about a week and a half.
So I'm researching because Idon't want to be called pop, pop
grandpa, I don't want to beanything that is normal.
So I'm going down and Idiscovered the word Babu.
Yes, sir, and in Swahili it'sgrandfather yes, indeedy.

(59:02):
See, thank you very much.
And my grandchildren call me.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Babu.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Yo.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
And my wife.
They call her Bibi Yep.
Bibi is grandmother.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Yep, because I tried to get E.
She was like nope, grandma,goddess, b and E, right, I was
like, but it'd be dope, you know.
And then I told my son.
I said you also know that hewill call me babu before he
calls you dada because of the b,it's easy to right.
Yes, so, and I was right, youknow.
I mean, so there's somestrategy in that, you know.

(59:32):
But it's crazy because mygrandkids, uh, especially my
granddaughter, she's at thatpoint she'll say babu you know,
and you know as a grandparent.
That hit your heart.
Man, like you know you could beanywhere.
You hear that, you know that itis dedicated to you right, oh,
they're getting what they wantyou know they say granddad, you
know you.
A sea of people.
Everybody might turn around,but babu, yes, sir that's you,

(59:55):
that's you, babu.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Can I have ice cream?

Speaker 1 (59:59):
of course you man, that is a small world, so I'm
not the original now, but that'sokay.
Sorry, I'm in a good group, butgreat mind yep, yep, because I
sure said, I'll get back withyou.
And they was like oh, here go,dad, with this.
You know, I was like yeah, letme find something.
There was another one too, butthat, uh, babu, and I got it on
a shirt, you know, and I put thetwo dots over the a, you know,
because people, babu, I'm likeno, no, no no, that's not right.

(01:00:21):
Yeah, no, that is not be carefulwhat you're saying now.
So we come into the part ofrandom questions, okay, and I
always ask the guest this and Ihave some random questions for
you.
Are you ready to partake?

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
in these.
Let's do it all right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
If you could instantly change something in
the world, what would it be?

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
If I can instantly change something in the world, I
would change racial hostility.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
If you had a superpower but you could only
use it on Monday, what would itbe?

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
I would make the work week not start on Monday.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
If you could wear only one color every day, what
color would that be?
Blue, blue.
Every man should own a.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Riding lawnmower.
And let me explain that one.
Yeah, please do, because myyard's small.
Okay, I don't care how muchwork you do during the day, if
your wife happened to come inand see you sitting down with a
remote control for some reason,that just infuriates them, no

(01:01:39):
matter how much you've done.
So I tell a lot of young menthat invest in a riding
lawnmower because your wife justwants to see you doing
something.
So even if you don't drop thedeck down, even if you don't
drop the deck and you just drivearound the yard and listen to
Sound United Presents it, atleast look like you're doing
something.
And she's going to Sound UnitedPresents.

(01:01:59):
Right right, at least look likeyou're doing something.
She's going to be happy, rightright?
Yep, he working.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
If you could choose a vacation spot, 21 days, all
paid, you ain't got to donothing.
It's your vacation.
You're there for 21 days.
Where would it be?
Somewhere in the Caribbean.
Okay, no distinct place, yetyou just know it's the Caribbean
, yeah somewhere in theCaribbean.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
It's that halfway place, those blue blue waters.
I've been to St Thomas, I'vedone mission work in Belize, but
Megan's Bay in St Thomas, thatis something to see.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Especially when the cruise ships ain't there.
Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
We went every year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Our honeymoon and then a couple of anniversaries
and we stayed at the Sugar BayGot you Because it was all
inclusive.
And once I learned what allinclusive meant, because at
first when we got there I waslike man, I ain't paying $11 for
no hot dogs.
Eric Blake Bay, you have a bandon.
Like what that mean that justmean we paid.
She's like no, it's allinclusive.
Once that mean that just meanwe paid.
She's like no, it's allinclusive.

(01:02:59):
Once I learned what allinclusive meant.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
oh, brother, I was wow, when I, when I was at saint
thomas, my, I had a roommatefrom college uh, good friend of
mine, fellow brother that was atthe bibles, attended my bible
study.
He's from saint thomas, so, uh,I went around with his family.
So when I got there, I didn'ttry, I didn't go as a tourist, I
went as a local and I quicklylearned how to utilize words

(01:03:24):
that they were using.
So when it was time for me topay for T-shirts and things like
that, I said no, man with thepower from La Cosman.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31):
What's the?

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
price for locals Yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
Because we would go down in that shopping district.
Let me just say E would take medown to that shopping district
Because if it wasn't the beachMegan's Bay, smith Bay, which is
another good one and it's morethere's hardly much there.
It's beautiful, just as clear,but it's less people there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Yeah, we would go snorkeling down, like in Kooky
Point.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
Yep, yep, and right there at Kooky Point.
So Sugar Bay was right there.
It was an orange structure.
Yes, sir, that was there.
But that was one of ourfavorite places and we would
continue to go there.
Because I actually pitched themon our honeymoon to do
photography for them, because Iwas like people up in Ohio don't
know nothing about you and theylike to travel.
So I literally pitched to getus to go every year for two

(01:04:16):
years to go down there, just dopictures for one day, and every
year for two years to go downthere, just do pictures for one
day, and we'd stay for, you know, nine days or something like
that.
It's beautiful.
The only thing to stop mylittle eric was like just a side
hustle.
She's like how you pitchingpeople on our honeymoon, right,
and then every anniversary we go, we go to saint thomas, but the
only thing that stopped thatwas, uh, hurricane maria.
And then it got hit with thatother one.
Oh, maria hit him really, yeah,and so know that was like man.

(01:04:37):
That hurricane killed my hustle, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
Was it Hugo?
It wasn't.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Hugo, it was Maria and it was one other one.
Yeah, there was another one,because the one scraped them,
but the other one just boom.
Right, I knew it was Mariabecause it just we didn't go
after that and that might havebeen 2017 or 2018.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Rico, some of them actually came here because of
Hurricane Maria, because so muchhad happened with their schools
that they wouldn't have beenable to continue.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
So they actually, and it was, it was bad.
So you being there, youunderstand like the media they
was.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
They wasn't even touching the surface, it was, it
was bad and there's someindividuals that still to this
day the the residue and thedamage that happened from those
hurricanes, like in as well.
I mean especially I can sayfrom testimonials of my students
, man um puerto rico was hit sobad that it there's still some
lasting effects to this daysmall world man babu, saint

(01:05:38):
thomas this was meant to bebrother.
I'm telling you that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
There's a connection, god's hand.
Where can people get moreinformation about the church or
stay connected with you?

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
The church is on.
We're right on.
Come in and see us.
That's one of the best ways.
That's what we like to do.
During COVID we were on Zoom,but you know, after COVID was
over I had to tell people.
You know, come off of Zoom andcome on inside the building.
You know, don't sit at home onZoom and I'm just looking at
your name and you rubbing yourfeet together eating Cheetos.
You know, christianity wasexpected to be practiced in

(01:06:12):
community.
So we're at 403 Atlantic StreetNorthwest and we meet on
Wednesdays at seven forscripture school and then Sunday
morning scripture school startsat 930.
Sunday morning worship beginsat 11 o'clock.
403 Atlantic Street Northwest.
So come in and see us.

Speaker 1 (01:06:29):
So good to have you on this.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Thank you, this has been delightful.

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
It's an honor for me.
I'm so ecstatic about it, justgreat.
So I thank you for being onhere and we'll have you back to
that round table I was talkingabout confidentially the round
table.
I won't go into details becausepeople, what round table you
talking about?
When is it?
I'm in the works, but thank youfor being here.
Thank you um, you know you, youare very impactful, very

(01:06:54):
impactful and I'm speaking forme because I I can always
remember there's a lot that Idon't remember Just that whole
process, right that, just that,there's a lot that I do remember
.
And on that do remember sidewas just our conversations and
the reach out and stuff likethat, but I do.
Thank you so much for being onthe show.

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
Thank you and I'm a sound United fans.
Oh yeah, you about to sign thething and everything is swag
coming for everybody, everybody.

Speaker 1 (01:07:19):
We gonna hook you up, but hey, folks, thank you for
hitting the play button.
Really appreciate it.
I hope you got a lot fromPastor Matlock and we will be
signing out 3, 2, and 1.
This episode was produced bythe Sound United Podcast Studio,

(01:07:39):
led by Kimberly Gonzalez.
Photography and video wasproduced by the Sound United
Podcast Studio, led by KimberlyGonzalez.
Photography and video contentproduced by the D5 Group.
And be sure to visit ourwebsite, soundunitedpresentscom,
where you can catch up on allthe episodes and get some
behind-the-scenes content.
I'm Deshaun Scott.
Thank you for listening.
Ready to launch a podcast orcreate standout audio content.

(01:08:10):
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(01:08:31):
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