March 19, 2025 • 38 mins
In this powerful episode of The Covenant Eyes Podcast, hosts Karen Potter and Rob Stoddard sit down with the incredible Steph Carse. Steph's journey is nothing short of inspiring, from living in his car to becoming a six-time Emmy Award-winning video producer and a successful Christian music artist.
Steph shares his heartfelt story of faith, resilience, and God’s amazing grace as he recounts his life-changing moments, including his struggles, breakthroughs, and the deep relationship he formed with Christ. He talks about his incredible success in both country music and Christian worship, with his song Almighty reaching over 1.2 million views on YouTube.
Listen as Steph reveals how his faith led him to produce a groundbreaking music video for Amazing Grace that touched lives, including an unforgettable encounter on set. He also shares the latest projects he's working on, including his anti-bullying ministry, Why I Count, and the upcoming film Undone, which tells the story of God's transformative power in a woman’s life overcoming abuse and addiction.
You'll also hear about his new worship music, a moving Christmas film, and his continued efforts to spread hope through the arts. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation about faith, music, and the incredible work God is doing through Steph’s life.
Check out Steph's anti-bullying ministry and free educational resources:
Why I Count Website
https://www.yicount.org/
Connect with Steph Carse:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/stephcarseuptv
Website: https://www.stephcarse.com/
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Introduction to the Episode
01:20 - Steph Carse's Journey from Country Music to Christian Music
05:00 - The Role of Faith in Steph's Music Career
08:30 - Living in His Car: How Steph Found God in the Toughest Times
12:00 - How a Prayer Led to the Amazing Grace Music Video Miracle
16:30 - Upcoming Projects: Christmas Film & New Worship Song
23:00 - Steph's Anti-Bullying Ministry: Why I Count
29:00 - The Story Behind Undone: A Powerful New Film
34:00 - Closing Thoughts: Trusting in God's Faithfulness
If you were moved by Steph's story, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to The Covenant Eyes Podcast for more inspiring stories of faith, redemption, and transformation!
#StephCarse #ChristianMusic #FaithJourney #AmazingGrace #CovenantEyesPodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Hey, everybody, welcome backto The Covenant Eyes Podcast.
It's Karen Potter, your host ofThe Covenant Eyes Podcast.
And I've got Rob Stoddard,the other host
of the amazing podcast,joining me today.
How are you, Rob?
I'm doing great.
Good morning.
Good morning guys.
Season four.
We made it came fast.
It has.
I know today is going to bea great episode though.
(00:28):
Today's guestactually has a unique story
that I think our listenersare going to find fascinating.
Our guest actuallywent from living in his car
to a winning an Emmy Award.
Like, how do you do that?
That's amazing.
Only God can pull throughand do that
in such an amazing way.
So with that,I'd love to introduce
today's guest.
(00:48):
We've got,Steph Carse joining us.
How are you Steph?
I'm good, I'm good.
Thank you. Welcome.
Welcome to The Covenant EyesPodcast.
Now you're a Christian musicartist.
You've got an amazing newworship song
that is called Almighty.
It's doing reallywell on YouTube.
I see that it's up there overI don't.
Last time I checked,350,000 downloads
(01:09):
or views on YouTube.
Is that correct?
Well, yes, but now we're at1.2 million, I believe.
So that's pretty.
Amazing. It's amazing.
God is good.
That's great.
He is, he is.
Now, you also have done musicspecials.
You've been on DaystarPure Flix.
You've been on Christian cinema.
(01:30):
You actually are a successfulcountry music artist as well.
Like, I would love to talka little bit about that,
how you are able to,you know, do I.
Started that way. Yeah.
Is that okay? Well, great.
Well, with that, let's jumpinto talking a little bit
about how you got into musicand what is your back story.
Well, I grew up on a farm.
(01:52):
And, strangely enough,grandma was next door.
She was an opera singer.
And as she's saying, well,she sang opera, right?
So she or I had great,great uncle
like her brothers were.
We had those big vinyl78 records, you know,
those that were beforeeverybody's time right now.
But, so.
(02:13):
And then dad was a,was a fan of, of Elvis Presley,
and mom was a fan ofgospel and country.
So I grew up with all of thesetypes of music.
And so that was my baggage,I guess musical baggage
I always wanted to be.
I already knew thatI was going to be a singer
at a young age.
(02:33):
I think my mom recorded me.
I was three and a half years oldwhen she first recorded me.
So it's it'sjust something I have to
I had I had to think about.
It's something that justI just knew and,
and, but my career started,in the 90s and, then my,
(02:54):
first album, we had a pop album.
The first albumwas not a success.
Well, it was a semi success.
We went to Franceand we, in a contest, I think.
And with my gosh,I forgot what year.
But that was thevery first song.
It was a French song.
And so we went to France to,one of the big network.
(03:16):
And then it wasfirst performance in front of 17
million people.
So, so that was my first break.
So the songdidn't win the first place,
but it got second place.
So that wasis that my good beginnings
somehow.
But but then I recorded,an album of country music.
Some of the cover songsthat are familiar
(03:38):
to all of us here.
And we did differentversions, different,
you know, differentversion of the songs.
And, and it took off.
And that'show my career started.
Stef,can you tell us a little bit?
So you startedin secular kind of
country music?
There's some faith there,but mainly secular, genre
and opera music, certainly.
(03:59):
But you're a man of deep faith.
Where did that faith comein, and how did that kind of,
come about with your music?
Well, I grew up, we were,Baptists, so we were probably
the only French Baptistin the area.
And so I accepted Jesus Christat the age of six.
(04:20):
But actually, for me,I, I don't know, mom.
Always.
My mom always wanted me to beeither a pastor or, you know,
a Christian singer and do.
And that the timeduring the teenage years,
I just didn'twant to hear about that.
I, I, you know, I justI had different ideas,
(04:43):
which is funny today, butI guess, you know,
the rebellious year, right?
So, and,so I then was and I think,
I think we were, we grew upwith a very strong
religious spirit,if you know what I mean.
And we're in and I you know,I used to watch people
(05:05):
acting a certain way on Sundayand differently than
the rest of the week. Andso I wasn't
sure I was still searching.
And then, and I had,I don't know
if I had a lot of thingsto prove
to the family or something,but with the grace of God,
you know, even though as,as a country artist,
starting as a country artist,I would honor my Lord
(05:28):
Jesus Christ on every album.
And I had alwaysa Christian song in it, but
I wanted to.
I guess I started wanting todo more country pop,
you know, differentgenre and Christian music.
I didn't like the hymnswe sang in church at the time.
So that's the honest,but strangely enough, you know,
(05:53):
we've we've had a great success.
We sold a few platinum albums,over half a million records
in, in my hometown,which we haven't mentioned.
My hometown.
I grew up in Montreal.
So, so, and and so I over therein the province of Quebec,
we sold halfa million records, and it was
(06:14):
they went really fast,but I started I was so green.
We had a farm,so I grew up on a farm as well.
So very naive.
I didn't know anythingabout business.
All I knew is I wanted to sing.
So I had a managerwho was the manager
who has a record label.
He was the publisher,he was the agent.
So they ended up makinga lot of money.
(06:36):
But I was performing every day,but just didn't know
what was going on.
So I think thatjourney led you to having,
like, living in your car,like, talk to us about how that
how that happenedand how God walked with
you through that tough time.
Well, when I, I decidedand I think it was 1997,
(06:58):
I left thisafter realizing that, you know,
we we generated $3.2million, and I didn't
get much out of it.
So but, so I left for Nashville,Tennessee.
I wanted to start fresh, and,I didn't, you know, at the time,
(07:18):
Canadian dollars was $1.50for a dollar
for a dollar American dollar.
So it would go fast.
So I would keep my moneyfor recording studio.
So it was it was a choiceI decided yesterday.
You know what I'mand I didn't have
much money left. Right.
So I would live inmy car and I had a small car.
I would sleepthere, would shower
at the YMCA and,you know, eat a dollar
(07:41):
menu from Wendy's.
But because of thethe sales we've had,
we did in Canada, I was sort of,you know, respected in my field
and in Nashville somehow.
And so I was working with very,you know, known personalities
in country musicand also pop music,
(08:02):
actually, Donna Summer,do you remember Donna Summer?
Well, I used to workwith her husband,
Bruce O'Donnell.
So I would go in their homeand record their.
Well, Donna Summerwas the first record I bought
when I was a kid, so.
So it was veryintimidating at first.
But, I guess in the carwith all of this thing,
(08:26):
these things arehappening to me.
I always say thatthis is where I met God.
This is when I understoodthe difference between a
religion and a relationship.
And asking the right questions.
I guess.
You know, when you're in a placewhere you.
(08:46):
You really seek for the answer.
Why is this happening?
And why am I here? Why?
What am I supposed to do?
What's the purposeof all of this?
And, so at the same time,you know,
we had some great breaksworking on dealing with those.
Some you never remember.
I'll tell you somethingfunny. I remember
(09:07):
it was very intimidatingto sing in front of her.
And I remember calling mommy mom, and she would say,
you know, honey,God tells us that a king
is just a drop of waterin his hand,
that he could dispersewherever he was.
And that was alife changing first
that I really was ableto implement in my daily life,
(09:31):
because then I thought, if I'mif I have a relationship
with God, then he couldyou could lean towards
handing me favors.
And so that was a lifechanging verse for me.
And I never gotintimidated after that.
But that's basicallywhat started it.
What started was I call itthe hunger years.
But there werethe very formal years
(09:54):
that that shaped what I became.
It feels likeduring that time, you know,
it was hard and challenging.
You had to leaneven more into God
and trust in his abilityto take care of you
and to guide you.
That I think oftentimes,you know, when we're in our
toughest places, I think that'swhen we look to him
(10:17):
and lean into him,and we can see his glory
and trust him more than we everhave in our entire lives.
I just think that's powerful.
And I think that probably helpedshape your career from there.
So how do you go fromthat place of struggle
and challenge to you'rea six time Emmy Award
winning video producer.
You just, produceda great Christmas film
(10:39):
with your wife.
On Prime, like,talk to us a little bit.
How now?
I mean, your life iscompletely different.
And how has God really movedand shaped your life?
Well, it was a, you know, it wasa slow process.
It's a very slow, I guess.
I was, like one of the Jews.
I had to walkmy 40 years in the desert.
But it was it was slow.
(11:01):
I had a lot of great moments,but also a lot of,
a lot of, deep valleys,I would say, You know, I, I,
I don't mind saying, I think,I believe
I was a slow learner, butthe process, I think, for me
was always to get myselfout of my own way
(11:24):
and understandingthat the less of me
and the more of God,it was it's a moment
to moment decision, you know,and, but I had a lot of
good breaks in the meantime.
I mean, it was it was amazing.
A lot of good moments,like in 1999, they needed,
they they were looking forAndrea Bocelli to open
(11:45):
Portofino in, in, Orlando.
And, so for some reason,but Kelly could not be there.
He was at the peakof his career and, and the agent
I had at the timethat found from my friend
in Nashvilleand was here in Orlando,
and he heard me singsome operatic song.
(12:05):
So he said, could you do,could you do under Bocelli?
And I guess I was so hungry.
I said, yes.
And without knowing whoand Kelly was.
And, soI had two weeks to learn, 2
or 3 weeks to figure out exactlythe learning the songs and learn
(12:27):
learn Italian so thatit was an interesting thing.
You know, it's always been amy career has been like
a roller coaster ride.
So but that led me to say,well, you know what?
No, I've done country havesucceeded in some ways. And
and coming back in 98, we didan album
for the Special Olympicsthat that sold
a lot of records tofor in Tennessee and in Canada,
(12:49):
which, ironically,Donna Summer was part of it.
Two and Kevin Baconand Leann Rimes. So,
but now it was it was moving.
I was moving toa different career,
a different style.
And so that thing with Boccelli,even though it was very nervous,
it opened doors to, now producea show and get me to Las Vegas
(13:13):
and do a mixture ofopera, pop, rock.
And basicallyI was going through
different genres of music,which was my background,
which is it wasit was a good thing,
you know, it was it was,if I had to prove myself
something,that was one of the good.
That was one of thegood break to do that.
And, and that led toa PBS special.
(13:36):
And, so after that,not interesting enough.
There's anotherperiod in my life where nothing
really happened.
And,going back and forth to Vegas
doing shows.
You know,I was kind of getting tired.
The same thing.
But what happened, it was no,we're talking 2011, 2012, 2013.
(14:00):
I was losing my voice.
Performing in Vegasis very demanding
because it's dryand, you know, so
in the range of those big operasongs are huge and doing
two shows a daywhere it was very demanding.
So I was losing like an octave.
And, I, I said to God,said, God, I'm
tired of being a Christian ina closet, so to speak, meaning
(14:21):
being a Christianand apologizing in my
field for what I believe.
But, if you restoremy voice, I will.
I will just devoteeverything that I have to you.
And so my voicewithin months was restored,
and I held my promise.
Actually,I still have on my screen,
(14:41):
on my phone screen here.
The prayer that I wrote in 2013on the wall of a church
in Las Vegas,it says, dear Lord,
I pray that I wouldrecord a bold city that will be
heard around the world,and I will bring glory to you,
Jesus Christ,Lord God, and my Lord
Jesus Christ.
That was August 25th, 2013.
(15:02):
And so that led me to recorda new project.
And the first song fromit was Amazing Grace.
Yeah, yeah.
I wanted to ask you about that,because that rendition
of That AmazingGrace is my favorite.
It is amazing.
Your voice is amazing.
So that cameright out of that time
period in that prayer.
(15:23):
Was that that projectand Amazing Grace,
which you won an Emmyfor that arrangement? Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
Tell us a little bitabout how that
all came together.
Well, this is a beautifulmiracle story on this because
it was a big project, becauseit's a big production.
If you saw the music video,at the time,
(15:44):
it was a big productionfor us, you know, and,
so I was spendinga lot of money on that,
and I was asking God.
Okay.
So maybe the fact that I'm,I think, you know,
I've I've been a slow learningall these years as a learner
all these years, I thought,am I supposed to do this?
(16:05):
Is that somethingyou want me to do,
or is that somethingI'm instigating again?
And,So I needed a sign, and I ask
if it was a signthat he would give me a sign
because the visionI had was given on
that was to doa multi-generational
and multi-cultural versionof the song, to invite everybody
at the banquet. And,so which led
(16:27):
me to produce different,you know, groups of ethnicity.
And so there wasa big production.
So one morningon the first day of shoot,
it's 4 a.m.
and I'm walking on the beach.
We're preparingthe last scene of the video
where you have about 100,choir members and choir robes.
You know, on the beach,shaped in the form
(16:48):
of a cross at sunrise.
That's the lastscene of video. So.
So as we're preparing forthis is about 4 a.m.,
I'm walking up to God.
I need a sign.
Is I need to knowthat I'm supposed to do this,
that you really areinstigating it, not me.
That's so.
Whatever purposeyou have for this,
please allow meto understand that
I can really just delegateand just
(17:11):
be used this time completely.
And, As I'm praying that then,there's a there's a woman
that walks on the sideand comes to me
as I'm getting readyfor the scene.
Because, you know,when you're directing a scene
with the sunrise,you have a very short
window, right?
(17:32):
If you miss it, thenit's the next day. Right.
And we got about 100people there.
So.
But this woman comes to meand said, I need to talk to you.
I said, I really don'thave a lot of time,
but I'll give you two minutesbecause she was very insistent.
So she says, well, last nightwould have been
the 30th anniversaryof what would have been
my daughter,that I had bought it
(17:54):
30 years ago,and I couldn't sleep.
I was crying all night,and I asked God
for a sign that I'm forgiven.
And, now picture.
Remember what I prayed for.
And now what she prayed forwas that now picture this.
After she prayed for that
around 4:30 5 (18:14):
00, she's walking on the beach,
pitch blackbecause we're, you know,
we were pitch blackright at 4 or 5 a.m.
and she's hearingout of nowhere, Amazing Grace
because we had huge speakers.
Right.
And as she's approaching,she sees people dress in a robe
(18:39):
like angels, soto speak, shape in, in,
you know,form in the shape of a cross.
So can you imagine what sheyou know,
how God is using all of uswhen it was just
an amazing moment.
So she certainly got her answera prayer
and answered and mine too.
(19:00):
And so whenyou watch the video again,
that woman with a black t shirtwho's not wearing a
robe, she that's her.
So because I wantedher to be part of the
that of the cross. Yeah.
So wow.
That is incredible.
I mean, that story givesme chills.
I mean, that is it is amazinghow God uses situations.
I mean, you were prayingfor confirmation
(19:23):
and you know thatthis would be for his glory.
And this woman had a completelydifferent prayer
and it all came together.
God is so good.
I am just I you know, it isamazing to see how through
the course of your career and,all of the accomplishments
that you've had,God has been with you
the entire way.
And I want to talk a little bitabout some of the
(19:44):
the fun projectsthat you've done
recently as well that you've gotyou you actually incorporated
your wife into a film.
I believe it's called The TrueMiracle of Christmas.
And I think that's amazingbecause now
you can do this togetheras a family
and it's it's got greatmusic in it.
It's a fabulous,amazing, heartwarming
Christmas film.
But talk to us a little bitabout that film and about some
(20:05):
of the other thingsthat you're working on.
Well, that film came about,during some of my breaks,
we were filming inin different parts
because whenever that,because we filmed,
filmed it at home.
Most of it.
And, I remember that year we hadI had to put up
the Christmas tree three times.
So, but my wife is not it.
(20:29):
And I knowit's fooling everybody.
She's not an actressor a singer.
She sang in the choirand she's good,
but she's in a wholedifferent world.
She's a she's actually inthe world of finances. So.
So it's a, you know,it's like spreadsheet,
meaning creativity.
So it's acompletely different world.
We're very different.
But one day I was justI was just playing on the piano
(20:50):
and singingsome song that I wrote,
and she was harmonizingand I said, oh, honey,
you have such abeautiful voice. And then
and I kind of tricked herjust singing for me
in the studio,and she sounds so beautiful.
She has a, you know,that's that's
what attracted me to my wife.
(21:12):
Her speaking voiceis such a beautiful tone.
I was so attractedto her, her sound,
so her speaking sound, you know,and that's when we met.
And and, but,over the years, you know,
I didn't know thatshe could sing that. Well.
And then.
So I said, would you, you know,would you mind
(21:32):
just doing this for me?
And then we'll just filma little bit
and see what happens, you know?
And she she was game for usas if you're directing it.
I'm okay.
You know, because I know you'llyou'll, you'll cut it.
If it's not good,then you're not going
to make me look bad.
And so,and that's how it started.
And then we have,we have a little.
Can we readyto star of the movie right here?
(21:56):
Mr.. My leash.
This is our little dog.
He's this isthe star of the movie.
He plays the he playsthe brat in the movie.
And he's he's not a brat, but,Yeah.
So, but, it was a family affair.
It really was my thing.
That's awesome. Did the.
Did your dogget some special treats
for being such a wonderful partof that film?
(22:17):
Or when you watch the filmand you see him chew on cable?
No, that they were dipped in,they were dipped
in a chicken broth.
So that was.
Tricky. Oh. That's great.
I wondered how you did that.
That's amazing.
Well, before we letyou go, Steph, I definitely want
to hear a little bit about,a ministry you started,
(22:39):
at anti-bullyingministry called.
Why You count.
Can you tell ushow that came about,
how that started, andand what that's all about?
Why I count,it was worth it in 2016.
And that at that time, I hadas I was finishing the project,
The Light Shining Hour project,which started
with Amazing Grace,which led us, that
(23:01):
led us to Daystar, I have a songthat I wrote called Awesome,
and it didn't fit.
It was more of a pop sound.
It didn't fit thethe rest of the album,
but I liked the songand I didn't want
to give it up in it.
So, God, you must have a planfor this song.
And then somebody sent mea letter, an online letter
(23:24):
that was foundfrom a young child, 14 year old,
that had committedsuicide due to bullying.
And he left this letterhoping that
somebody would, you know,do something about that.
And that brought me backto my childhood
because I as a kid,I was bullied.
I was very introverted,you know, very shy.
(23:46):
Our home was a foster homefor mentally challenged kids.
So you can imaginethe name calling.
And so I could relate tobullying, but I didn't.
I said, what could be so badthat somebody at 14
would take their life?
And, and it was veryhard to understand.
So I started digging into itand, and understanding
(24:08):
the psychology of, of,of what happens.
And the first thing I learnedis that the frontal part
of the brain of a childand even a teenager
is not formed a partthat's able to reason
is not developeduntil the age of 22 or 23.
So everything that they thinkabout is fueled by emotion.
(24:29):
So when you tell your child,what were you thinking?
Well, chances arethey were not thinking.
They were just feeling.
And so and then goingback to me, well,
when I was bullied in school,you know, it involved
2 or 3 guysand then you get in a fight
and that's the end of it.
And we go homeand home was a safe place.
But now the difference is,you know, this home is no longer
(24:52):
safe place.
First of all,parents are busier or
or there's more singleparents today,
so there's less timewith the child.
The child is left on himon his own more often.
And and the worst part isthat they're coming home
with their device, whichis the cyberbullying.
And sothey're being bullied online.
(25:13):
And we didwe did a few movies on that
one call isis there a future for me?
If you go to the website,I suggest anybody who
has a teenagerto watch this film
and also the seriesThe Secret Hero,
because it gives usit's an eight episode series,
and it gives usfor the parent and the child
how to deal with situations,you know, like that.
(25:35):
So it's I,I strongly because it's free.
It's available.
We made it free for everybody.
It's the nonprofit.
So but the bottom line isthe peer pressure is so huge
because of cyberbullying.
So the kid doesn't go,you go, he goes home and
not fully aware ofwho knows what. Right.
(25:55):
So so he enters into schools andfor all he knows, everybody
in the school might knowwhat he's been called
the day before on social media.
So the peer pressure is too hardfor them to handle
so they can't see.
And if they're not ableto communicate with the parent
because they have, because it'sa, you know, I as a kid,
I wasn't talking about it.
(26:16):
You know, kids are notgoing to brag about
being bullied. Right.
And so, so now it's it'sreally the number one
cause of suicideamong children under 14.
And so, so that so then I said,you know, Lord,
I'm going to use this song.
Awesome.
Because, and we reworkedsome of the lyrics to make
it based on Psalm 139 (26:38):
14.
I am depending on whatversion of the Bible you read,
but I'm wonderfully, made.
But also I'm awesomely madein the completely
Jewish Bible it says, andso I wanted to
use that, that song as a way,since it was pop,
it would allow meto get into secondary school
(26:59):
and share the message,and I wanted
to approach a music videoas well in this series.
As afrom a scientific standpoint,
if you've ever readthe book creation,
it tells us that we come fromone cell in three days,
we're 16 cells and 16cells becomes 100,
you know, trillion cells,and then there's 60,000 miles
(27:22):
of blood vessels in the bodythat the heart has to push blood
throughout every day,60,000 miles, a blood vessel
every dayas I go around the earth
two and a half times every day,the camera that the
the eyes are ableto to receive information,
a million bits informationper second,
sending it at 300mph.
So we explainto kids the complexity of what's
(27:42):
going on inside of them,that no matter
what's happening outside,nothing can affect the inside
because they are awesomely made.
And so it's it's about a,a class of self value, a self
worth of, of our identity.
Because there's sucha rub of identity today,
especially through social media.
(28:05):
So it's, it's reinforcingwhat's unique about them
and what's great.
And, and then we teach themthat the only way
that the inside canbe effective is,
is what you say to yourself,because we teach them
in a disguised waythat your words of power,
you know, we knowscripturally that
the words can bring lifeor death. Right.
(28:25):
And and soso we tell them, I said,
you know, Oftentime we hear thatwe become what we believe,
but we often end up believingwhat we are told repeatedly
and accept this truth.
So.
So it's a whole new approach.
You know, it'snot to eradicate bullying
because bullyingis going to be there
forever, right?
We know it's been well foreveruntil the return of our Lord.
(28:47):
Let's put it this way. But,but if we can build self
value and self-worth,then we can teach them
how to deal with thisand not to become a victim
of bullying or cyber bullying.
I think that's so importantand so valuable.
And our listenerscertainly are going to,
you know,definitely want to check out
your ministry and learn more.
(29:08):
How did they find out more?
How do they get their handson the documentary movie
that you are providingfor free on your website?
Yeah, I'm going to I'mgoing to promote
one website today.
I don't want to promotemy own stuff.
I want to promote thisbecause it's so important.
So it's Why I Count,and it spells with a “Y”.
(29:29):
we're trying to be coolhere, YICount.org.
And if you go to YICount.org,all these videos
are available and freein a series of eight episodes,
and then also one for teenagegirls
that are wrestling with bodydysmorphia and self-harm.
So and we were justpromoting kindness.
(29:49):
We're promoting how to reactand, and and to teach the value
basically, you know, it's it'sit's, it's,
it's to pay it forward.
Right.
So it's the golden rule.
I love that.
Thank you for your workin your ministry.
And for all of the contributionsthat you've made culturally,
(30:11):
I think it's so importantthat we have strong Christians
out in cultureand in entertainment,
providing amazing music and filmand, and
organizations and ministrieslike you are.
So thank youfor your work on that.
It just it really makesa difference out there.
Well, well, I'm gratefulthat God has been patient
(30:32):
enough with me to allow me to,to do work for his,
for his kingdom, because that'sthat's what
we were called to do,like what you guys do.
We're expanding God'skingdom on earth
as it is in heaven.
This is our.
This is the only thingI'm interested in.
We're living at a very specialtime in history, and there's no
time to be wastedand have wasted so many years.
(30:54):
We all could say that for sure.
But you're making a difference.
Is wonderful ministry,wonderful things.
Before we go, justwhat's next for you?
What's coming up?
Well, I'm.
I'm actually tonightwe're recording a new song,
a new worship song, and, and,we're going to be filming
this next week, probablyif we finish it tonight
as the choir part. And,I've already done the vocals.
(31:18):
Have already,so I do a lot of vocals
here, actually.
But and we're working ona film called Undone.
It's a, it's,producing this movie
on the life of Sherry Damron.
We we need to raise the fundsfor the movie,
but we're we're, we're very,passionate about this film.
This woman has beenshe grew up in a church, was
(31:42):
sexually abusedby a church member
at the age of five,bullied in school,
very low self-worth,self-esteem.
She had a guy friend.
I'm just going tosum it up quickly because.
Because you're goingto love this story.
She had a guy friendthat was a little
older than her, and shehe was kind of her protector.
But when he turned 18,he went to the aviation.
And so she ended up marryingthe first guy who paid attention
(32:04):
to her at 17,which in turn abused her
during their entire marriage,which they were married
for ten years, abusedher to the point that
she was sent to the E.R.
seven times and to the pointthat she couldn't have children.
So there's a clickthat happened in hers.
That's what's your Jesus's.
I'm not interested.
And then she leftthe church, left a marriage,
(32:26):
and she walked into a worldforeign world for her,
which is drug, alcoholand prostitution.
Now, she ran as a prostitutefor ten years.
And one day, one of herfriends changed her life
and invited herto her own baptism.
And she said, oh, I'm.
(32:46):
You're not going toget me in church.
You know, so she.
So on a dare,she walked in church
as high as a kite.
But during the worship,when I admitted to say
that she always loved thecountry music,
she always loved music.
So being a worship,the Holy Spirit user,
she had one of thosePaul inversion,
you know, experience andand and you know,
(33:10):
wondering like somethingsnapped her out.
What am I doing here?
You know.
And so her lifethen changed instantly.
Obviously.
And no one does.
I mean, evenPaul had to wait for 40,
14 years. Rights of the all.
There's always a period.
I guesswe're all slow learners, but
she had thethe grace God sent her.
(33:31):
A woman who was athe wife of a pastor
who helped her understandthe different
the difference betweenreligion again and relationship.
So that's also why I'mconnected to her story.
And then, so she,you know, walked her
through the book of Ephesians,the first three chapters,
(33:53):
all about who we are in Christ.
And she wouldpersonalize these verse
instead of we.
She would writeher name, Sherry,
and, accepted inheritance.
And, you know, all theseterms of who she is in Christ.
And so God started torestore her life in a, in a it's
(34:14):
such a miraculous way.
And somebody called herafter a while from the,
the place where the foster careand they had found
this child, four year old kidwalking
by himself on the street,ran away from home
because his parents weredrug addicts, and they were
now put in rehab.
And so they called herbecause she was next of kin
(34:38):
and, she,so she went to see the child,
and fosterfostered him for two years.
And the movie is aboutthat is how through
healing him, she gets healedand and,
it's how God uses people,you know?
That's why we're all together.
We're all the body of Christ.
And then through the healingand all of a sudden, I mean,
(34:59):
there's a lot of thingsin a lot of different layers,
to the movie.
But youremember the aviation guy?
Well, she'd been marriedfor ten years.
Prostitute for ten years.
So 20 years it went by.
So he retired from the aviationlooking for a house,
happen to knock at her door.
They fell in love, got marriedwithin six months,
(35:22):
adopted the child,opened a ministry
to help women together.
And he had her recordalbums in Nashville
country and gospel albumand it gets better.
If you're familiarwith Loretta Lynn country music,
You ain't Woman Enoughto Take My Man,
which is her biggest hit.
Well, just for fun,she changed the lyrics to
(35:46):
You Ain't Devilenough to change God's plan
and recorded in Nashville.
And somehow I got tothe ears of Loretta Lynn
and Loretta.
What we didn'tknow is that she had a heart
for the brokenin the heart aholic.
And so she followed her online,gave her the rights to her song,
her biggest hit to record,and given royalties
(36:09):
for the new versionto record a song.
So when you talk about,you know, the restoration
of what the looks of devoured.
So she's experienced this.
So this is the movie we,we want to make sure that we,
we bring it in a waythat it's going to be
not just biblical,but very practical,
because we have so many drugissue
drug problems out in Americaand worldwide.
(36:31):
Now that we want it,we want to show
not just do this, this, this.
We want to showthe real thing, meaning that
how do we implementthe Word of God?
How do you do itin a practical way? Today?
For somebody that are dealingwith in that world
that wants to get out, you know,so this is
(36:52):
the movie is called UndoneI don't know if you seen
have you seen the trailerof the movie.
I have, yes, actually, yes.
And I would love to sharewith our listeners
how they might beable to support.
Are you funding?
Kind of like in an AngelStudios way?
Are you crowdsourcing? Yeah.
We're crowd, we're crowdfunding.
So I could, I could actually,send you a link for that.
(37:14):
That would be great.
Let's put that inthe show notes.
But it is it looks likeit's going to be a powerful
and moving film.
And with so many peoplestruggling with addictions
and just things that happenin their life
that really are traumatizingand that way to see God's,
you know, redemption and healingand the power to restore lives.
And it's justit sounds like an amazing
(37:34):
film stuff.
This is going to be amazing.
God is still a Godof restoration.
He's still who he is.
Everything aboutGod hasn't changed.
He's still in command.
I was watching this morningwith the fire in California,
this guy who was saying,this entire block is
he, you know, the praying man,but his entire block is burned
(37:56):
except this housein the middle of it.
God is a faithful man, you know,we don't know why things happen
the way they do.
Don't have it.
Know no one knows the answer.
But we know he's faithful.
Well, Steph, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
Your stories,your music, your film,
they're inspirational.
And, we look forward toto undone and in what
(38:19):
you're going to do next.
And, we'll share all of thiswith our listeners.
So to our listeners,thank you for watching today.
If you like this, pleaseshare it.
And, and like it. And,look for more from Steph.
Thank you.
Hey, everybody, welcome backto The Covenant Eyes Podcast.
It's Karen Potter, your host ofThe Covenant Eyes Podcast.
And I've got Rob Stoddard,the other host
of the amazing podcast,joining me today.
How are you, Rob?
I'm doing great.
Good morning.
Good morning guys.
Season four.
We made it came fast.
It has.
I know today is going to bea great episode though.
(00:28):
Today's guestactually has a unique story
that I think our listenersare going to find fascinating.
Our guest actuallywent from living in his car
to a winning an Emmy Award.
Like, how do you do that?
That's amazing.
Only God can pull throughand do that
in such an amazing way.
So with that,I'd love to introduce
today's guest.
(00:48):
We've got,Steph Carse joining us.
How are you Steph?
I'm good, I'm good.
Thank you. Welcome.
Welcome to The Covenant EyesPodcast.
Now you're a Christian musicartist.
You've got an amazing newworship song
that is called Almighty.
It's doing reallywell on YouTube.
I see that it's up there overI don't.
Last time I checked,350,000 downloads
(01:09):
or views on YouTube.
Is that correct?
Well, yes, but now we're at1.2 million, I believe.
So that's pretty.
Amazing. It's amazing.
God is good.
That's great.
He is, he is.
Now, you also have done musicspecials.
You've been on DaystarPure Flix.
You've been on Christian cinema.
(01:30):
You actually are a successfulcountry music artist as well.
Like, I would love to talka little bit about that,
how you are able to,you know, do I.
Started that way. Yeah.
Is that okay? Well, great.
Well, with that, let's jumpinto talking a little bit
about how you got into musicand what is your back story.
Well, I grew up on a farm.
(01:52):
And, strangely enough,grandma was next door.
She was an opera singer.
And as she's saying, well,she sang opera, right?
So she or I had great,great uncle
like her brothers were.
We had those big vinyl78 records, you know,
those that were beforeeverybody's time right now.
But, so.
(02:13):
And then dad was a,was a fan of, of Elvis Presley,
and mom was a fan ofgospel and country.
So I grew up with all of thesetypes of music.
And so that was my baggage,I guess musical baggage
I always wanted to be.
I already knew thatI was going to be a singer
at a young age.
(02:33):
I think my mom recorded me.
I was three and a half years oldwhen she first recorded me.
So it's it'sjust something I have to
I had I had to think about.
It's something that justI just knew and,
and, but my career started,in the 90s and, then my,
(02:54):
first album, we had a pop album.
The first albumwas not a success.
Well, it was a semi success.
We went to Franceand we, in a contest, I think.
And with my gosh,I forgot what year.
But that was thevery first song.
It was a French song.
And so we went to France to,one of the big network.
(03:16):
And then it wasfirst performance in front of 17
million people.
So, so that was my first break.
So the songdidn't win the first place,
but it got second place.
So that wasis that my good beginnings
somehow.
But but then I recorded,an album of country music.
Some of the cover songsthat are familiar
(03:38):
to all of us here.
And we did differentversions, different,
you know, differentversion of the songs.
And, and it took off.
And that'show my career started.
Stef,can you tell us a little bit?
So you startedin secular kind of
country music?
There's some faith there,but mainly secular, genre
and opera music, certainly.
(03:59):
But you're a man of deep faith.
Where did that faith comein, and how did that kind of,
come about with your music?
Well, I grew up, we were,Baptists, so we were probably
the only French Baptistin the area.
And so I accepted Jesus Christat the age of six.
(04:20):
But actually, for me,I, I don't know, mom.
Always.
My mom always wanted me to beeither a pastor or, you know,
a Christian singer and do.
And that the timeduring the teenage years,
I just didn'twant to hear about that.
I, I, you know, I justI had different ideas,
(04:43):
which is funny today, butI guess, you know,
the rebellious year, right?
So, and,so I then was and I think,
I think we were, we grew upwith a very strong
religious spirit,if you know what I mean.
And we're in and I you know,I used to watch people
(05:05):
acting a certain way on Sundayand differently than
the rest of the week. Andso I wasn't
sure I was still searching.
And then, and I had,I don't know
if I had a lot of thingsto prove
to the family or something,but with the grace of God,
you know, even though as,as a country artist,
starting as a country artist,I would honor my Lord
(05:28):
Jesus Christ on every album.
And I had alwaysa Christian song in it, but
I wanted to.
I guess I started wanting todo more country pop,
you know, differentgenre and Christian music.
I didn't like the hymnswe sang in church at the time.
So that's the honest,but strangely enough, you know,
(05:53):
we've we've had a great success.
We sold a few platinum albums,over half a million records
in, in my hometown,which we haven't mentioned.
My hometown.
I grew up in Montreal.
So, so, and and so I over therein the province of Quebec,
we sold halfa million records, and it was
(06:14):
they went really fast,but I started I was so green.
We had a farm,so I grew up on a farm as well.
So very naive.
I didn't know anythingabout business.
All I knew is I wanted to sing.
So I had a managerwho was the manager
who has a record label.
He was the publisher,he was the agent.
So they ended up makinga lot of money.
(06:36):
But I was performing every day,but just didn't know
what was going on.
So I think thatjourney led you to having,
like, living in your car,like, talk to us about how that
how that happenedand how God walked with
you through that tough time.
Well, when I, I decidedand I think it was 1997,
(06:58):
I left thisafter realizing that, you know,
we we generated $3.2million, and I didn't
get much out of it.
So but, so I left for Nashville,Tennessee.
I wanted to start fresh, and,I didn't, you know, at the time,
(07:18):
Canadian dollars was $1.50for a dollar
for a dollar American dollar.
So it would go fast.
So I would keep my moneyfor recording studio.
So it was it was a choiceI decided yesterday.
You know what I'mand I didn't have
much money left. Right.
So I would live inmy car and I had a small car.
I would sleepthere, would shower
at the YMCA and,you know, eat a dollar
(07:41):
menu from Wendy's.
But because of thethe sales we've had,
we did in Canada, I was sort of,you know, respected in my field
and in Nashville somehow.
And so I was working with very,you know, known personalities
in country musicand also pop music,
(08:02):
actually, Donna Summer,do you remember Donna Summer?
Well, I used to workwith her husband,
Bruce O'Donnell.
So I would go in their homeand record their.
Well, Donna Summerwas the first record I bought
when I was a kid, so.
So it was veryintimidating at first.
But, I guess in the carwith all of this thing,
(08:26):
these things arehappening to me.
I always say thatthis is where I met God.
This is when I understoodthe difference between a
religion and a relationship.
And asking the right questions.
I guess.
You know, when you're in a placewhere you.
(08:46):
You really seek for the answer.
Why is this happening?
And why am I here? Why?
What am I supposed to do?
What's the purposeof all of this?
And, so at the same time,you know,
we had some great breaksworking on dealing with those.
Some you never remember.
I'll tell you somethingfunny. I remember
(09:07):
it was very intimidatingto sing in front of her.
And I remember calling mommy mom, and she would say,
you know, honey,God tells us that a king
is just a drop of waterin his hand,
that he could dispersewherever he was.
And that was alife changing first
that I really was ableto implement in my daily life,
(09:31):
because then I thought, if I'mif I have a relationship
with God, then he couldyou could lean towards
handing me favors.
And so that was a lifechanging verse for me.
And I never gotintimidated after that.
But that's basicallywhat started it.
What started was I call itthe hunger years.
But there werethe very formal years
(09:54):
that that shaped what I became.
It feels likeduring that time, you know,
it was hard and challenging.
You had to leaneven more into God
and trust in his abilityto take care of you
and to guide you.
That I think oftentimes,you know, when we're in our
toughest places, I think that'swhen we look to him
(10:17):
and lean into him,and we can see his glory
and trust him more than we everhave in our entire lives.
I just think that's powerful.
And I think that probably helpedshape your career from there.
So how do you go fromthat place of struggle
and challenge to you'rea six time Emmy Award
winning video producer.
You just, produceda great Christmas film
(10:39):
with your wife.
On Prime, like,talk to us a little bit.
How now?
I mean, your life iscompletely different.
And how has God really movedand shaped your life?
Well, it was a, you know, it wasa slow process.
It's a very slow, I guess.
I was, like one of the Jews.
I had to walkmy 40 years in the desert.
But it was it was slow.
(11:01):
I had a lot of great moments,but also a lot of,
a lot of, deep valleys,I would say, You know, I, I,
I don't mind saying, I think,I believe
I was a slow learner, butthe process, I think, for me
was always to get myselfout of my own way
(11:24):
and understandingthat the less of me
and the more of God,it was it's a moment
to moment decision, you know,and, but I had a lot of
good breaks in the meantime.
I mean, it was it was amazing.
A lot of good moments,like in 1999, they needed,
they they were looking forAndrea Bocelli to open
(11:45):
Portofino in, in, Orlando.
And, so for some reason,but Kelly could not be there.
He was at the peakof his career and, and the agent
I had at the timethat found from my friend
in Nashvilleand was here in Orlando,
and he heard me singsome operatic song.
(12:05):
So he said, could you do,could you do under Bocelli?
And I guess I was so hungry.
I said, yes.
And without knowing whoand Kelly was.
And, soI had two weeks to learn, 2
or 3 weeks to figure out exactlythe learning the songs and learn
(12:27):
learn Italian so thatit was an interesting thing.
You know, it's always been amy career has been like
a roller coaster ride.
So but that led me to say,well, you know what?
No, I've done country havesucceeded in some ways. And
and coming back in 98, we didan album
for the Special Olympicsthat that sold
a lot of records tofor in Tennessee and in Canada,
(12:49):
which, ironically,Donna Summer was part of it.
Two and Kevin Baconand Leann Rimes. So,
but now it was it was moving.
I was moving toa different career,
a different style.
And so that thing with Boccelli,even though it was very nervous,
it opened doors to, now producea show and get me to Las Vegas
(13:13):
and do a mixture ofopera, pop, rock.
And basicallyI was going through
different genres of music,which was my background,
which is it wasit was a good thing,
you know, it was it was,if I had to prove myself
something,that was one of the good.
That was one of thegood break to do that.
And, and that led toa PBS special.
(13:36):
And, so after that,not interesting enough.
There's anotherperiod in my life where nothing
really happened.
And,going back and forth to Vegas
doing shows.
You know,I was kind of getting tired.
The same thing.
But what happened, it was no,we're talking 2011, 2012, 2013.
(14:00):
I was losing my voice.
Performing in Vegasis very demanding
because it's dryand, you know, so
in the range of those big operasongs are huge and doing
two shows a daywhere it was very demanding.
So I was losing like an octave.
And, I, I said to God,said, God, I'm
tired of being a Christian ina closet, so to speak, meaning
(14:21):
being a Christianand apologizing in my
field for what I believe.
But, if you restoremy voice, I will.
I will just devoteeverything that I have to you.
And so my voicewithin months was restored,
and I held my promise.
Actually,I still have on my screen,
(14:41):
on my phone screen here.
The prayer that I wrote in 2013on the wall of a church
in Las Vegas,it says, dear Lord,
I pray that I wouldrecord a bold city that will be
heard around the world,and I will bring glory to you,
Jesus Christ,Lord God, and my Lord
Jesus Christ.
That was August 25th, 2013.
(15:02):
And so that led me to recorda new project.
And the first song fromit was Amazing Grace.
Yeah, yeah.
I wanted to ask you about that,because that rendition
of That AmazingGrace is my favorite.
It is amazing.
Your voice is amazing.
So that cameright out of that time
period in that prayer.
(15:23):
Was that that projectand Amazing Grace,
which you won an Emmyfor that arrangement? Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
Tell us a little bitabout how that
all came together.
Well, this is a beautifulmiracle story on this because
it was a big project, becauseit's a big production.
If you saw the music video,at the time,
(15:44):
it was a big productionfor us, you know, and,
so I was spendinga lot of money on that,
and I was asking God.
Okay.
So maybe the fact that I'm,I think, you know,
I've I've been a slow learningall these years as a learner
all these years, I thought,am I supposed to do this?
(16:05):
Is that somethingyou want me to do,
or is that somethingI'm instigating again?
And,So I needed a sign, and I ask
if it was a signthat he would give me a sign
because the visionI had was given on
that was to doa multi-generational
and multi-cultural versionof the song, to invite everybody
at the banquet. And,so which led
(16:27):
me to produce different,you know, groups of ethnicity.
And so there wasa big production.
So one morningon the first day of shoot,
it's 4 a.m.
and I'm walking on the beach.
We're preparingthe last scene of the video
where you have about 100,choir members and choir robes.
You know, on the beach,shaped in the form
(16:48):
of a cross at sunrise.
That's the lastscene of video. So.
So as we're preparing forthis is about 4 a.m.,
I'm walking up to God.
I need a sign.
Is I need to knowthat I'm supposed to do this,
that you really areinstigating it, not me.
That's so.
Whatever purposeyou have for this,
please allow meto understand that
I can really just delegateand just
(17:11):
be used this time completely.
And, As I'm praying that then,there's a there's a woman
that walks on the sideand comes to me
as I'm getting readyfor the scene.
Because, you know,when you're directing a scene
with the sunrise,you have a very short
window, right?
(17:32):
If you miss it, thenit's the next day. Right.
And we got about 100people there.
So.
But this woman comes to meand said, I need to talk to you.
I said, I really don'thave a lot of time,
but I'll give you two minutesbecause she was very insistent.
So she says, well, last nightwould have been
the 30th anniversaryof what would have been
my daughter,that I had bought it
(17:54):
30 years ago,and I couldn't sleep.
I was crying all night,and I asked God
for a sign that I'm forgiven.
And, now picture.
Remember what I prayed for.
And now what she prayed forwas that now picture this.
After she prayed for that
around 4:30 5 (18:14):
00, she's walking on the beach,
pitch blackbecause we're, you know,
we were pitch blackright at 4 or 5 a.m.
and she's hearingout of nowhere, Amazing Grace
because we had huge speakers.
Right.
And as she's approaching,she sees people dress in a robe
(18:39):
like angels, soto speak, shape in, in,
you know,form in the shape of a cross.
So can you imagine what sheyou know,
how God is using all of uswhen it was just
an amazing moment.
So she certainly got her answera prayer
and answered and mine too.
(19:00):
And so whenyou watch the video again,
that woman with a black t shirtwho's not wearing a
robe, she that's her.
So because I wantedher to be part of the
that of the cross. Yeah.
So wow.
That is incredible.
I mean, that story givesme chills.
I mean, that is it is amazinghow God uses situations.
I mean, you were prayingfor confirmation
(19:23):
and you know thatthis would be for his glory.
And this woman had a completelydifferent prayer
and it all came together.
God is so good.
I am just I you know, it isamazing to see how through
the course of your career and,all of the accomplishments
that you've had,God has been with you
the entire way.
And I want to talk a little bitabout some of the
(19:44):
the fun projectsthat you've done
recently as well that you've gotyou you actually incorporated
your wife into a film.
I believe it's called The TrueMiracle of Christmas.
And I think that's amazingbecause now
you can do this togetheras a family
and it's it's got greatmusic in it.
It's a fabulous,amazing, heartwarming
Christmas film.
But talk to us a little bitabout that film and about some
(20:05):
of the other thingsthat you're working on.
Well, that film came about,during some of my breaks,
we were filming inin different parts
because whenever that,because we filmed,
filmed it at home.
Most of it.
And, I remember that year we hadI had to put up
the Christmas tree three times.
So, but my wife is not it.
(20:29):
And I knowit's fooling everybody.
She's not an actressor a singer.
She sang in the choirand she's good,
but she's in a wholedifferent world.
She's a she's actually inthe world of finances. So.
So it's a, you know,it's like spreadsheet,
meaning creativity.
So it's acompletely different world.
We're very different.
But one day I was justI was just playing on the piano
(20:50):
and singingsome song that I wrote,
and she was harmonizingand I said, oh, honey,
you have such abeautiful voice. And then
and I kind of tricked herjust singing for me
in the studio,and she sounds so beautiful.
She has a, you know,that's that's
what attracted me to my wife.
(21:12):
Her speaking voiceis such a beautiful tone.
I was so attractedto her, her sound,
so her speaking sound, you know,and that's when we met.
And and, but,over the years, you know,
I didn't know thatshe could sing that. Well.
And then.
So I said, would you, you know,would you mind
(21:32):
just doing this for me?
And then we'll just filma little bit
and see what happens, you know?
And she she was game for usas if you're directing it.
I'm okay.
You know, because I know you'llyou'll, you'll cut it.
If it's not good,then you're not going
to make me look bad.
And so,and that's how it started.
And then we have,we have a little.
Can we readyto star of the movie right here?
(21:56):
Mr.. My leash.
This is our little dog.
He's this isthe star of the movie.
He plays the he playsthe brat in the movie.
And he's he's not a brat, but,Yeah.
So, but, it was a family affair.
It really was my thing.
That's awesome. Did the.
Did your dogget some special treats
for being such a wonderful partof that film?
(22:17):
Or when you watch the filmand you see him chew on cable?
No, that they were dipped in,they were dipped
in a chicken broth.
So that was.
Tricky. Oh. That's great.
I wondered how you did that.
That's amazing.
Well, before we letyou go, Steph, I definitely want
to hear a little bit about,a ministry you started,
(22:39):
at anti-bullyingministry called.
Why You count.
Can you tell ushow that came about,
how that started, andand what that's all about?
Why I count,it was worth it in 2016.
And that at that time, I hadas I was finishing the project,
The Light Shining Hour project,which started
with Amazing Grace,which led us, that
(23:01):
led us to Daystar, I have a songthat I wrote called Awesome,
and it didn't fit.
It was more of a pop sound.
It didn't fit thethe rest of the album,
but I liked the songand I didn't want
to give it up in it.
So, God, you must have a planfor this song.
And then somebody sent mea letter, an online letter
(23:24):
that was foundfrom a young child, 14 year old,
that had committedsuicide due to bullying.
And he left this letterhoping that
somebody would, you know,do something about that.
And that brought me backto my childhood
because I as a kid,I was bullied.
I was very introverted,you know, very shy.
(23:46):
Our home was a foster homefor mentally challenged kids.
So you can imaginethe name calling.
And so I could relate tobullying, but I didn't.
I said, what could be so badthat somebody at 14
would take their life?
And, and it was veryhard to understand.
So I started digging into itand, and understanding
(24:08):
the psychology of, of,of what happens.
And the first thing I learnedis that the frontal part
of the brain of a childand even a teenager
is not formed a partthat's able to reason
is not developeduntil the age of 22 or 23.
So everything that they thinkabout is fueled by emotion.
(24:29):
So when you tell your child,what were you thinking?
Well, chances arethey were not thinking.
They were just feeling.
And so and then goingback to me, well,
when I was bullied in school,you know, it involved
2 or 3 guysand then you get in a fight
and that's the end of it.
And we go homeand home was a safe place.
But now the difference is,you know, this home is no longer
(24:52):
safe place.
First of all,parents are busier or
or there's more singleparents today,
so there's less timewith the child.
The child is left on himon his own more often.
And and the worst part isthat they're coming home
with their device, whichis the cyberbullying.
And sothey're being bullied online.
(25:13):
And we didwe did a few movies on that
one call isis there a future for me?
If you go to the website,I suggest anybody who
has a teenagerto watch this film
and also the seriesThe Secret Hero,
because it gives usit's an eight episode series,
and it gives usfor the parent and the child
how to deal with situations,you know, like that.
(25:35):
So it's I,I strongly because it's free.
It's available.
We made it free for everybody.
It's the nonprofit.
So but the bottom line isthe peer pressure is so huge
because of cyberbullying.
So the kid doesn't go,you go, he goes home and
not fully aware ofwho knows what. Right.
(25:55):
So so he enters into schools andfor all he knows, everybody
in the school might knowwhat he's been called
the day before on social media.
So the peer pressure is too hardfor them to handle
so they can't see.
And if they're not ableto communicate with the parent
because they have, because it'sa, you know, I as a kid,
I wasn't talking about it.
(26:16):
You know, kids are notgoing to brag about
being bullied. Right.
And so, so now it's it'sreally the number one
cause of suicideamong children under 14.
And so, so that so then I said,you know, Lord,
I'm going to use this song.
Awesome.
Because, and we reworkedsome of the lyrics to make
it based on Psalm 139 (26:38):
14.
I am depending on whatversion of the Bible you read,
but I'm wonderfully, made.
But also I'm awesomely madein the completely
Jewish Bible it says, andso I wanted to
use that, that song as a way,since it was pop,
it would allow meto get into secondary school
(26:59):
and share the message,and I wanted
to approach a music videoas well in this series.
As afrom a scientific standpoint,
if you've ever readthe book creation,
it tells us that we come fromone cell in three days,
we're 16 cells and 16cells becomes 100,
you know, trillion cells,and then there's 60,000 miles
(27:22):
of blood vessels in the bodythat the heart has to push blood
throughout every day,60,000 miles, a blood vessel
every dayas I go around the earth
two and a half times every day,the camera that the
the eyes are ableto to receive information,
a million bits informationper second,
sending it at 300mph.
So we explainto kids the complexity of what's
(27:42):
going on inside of them,that no matter
what's happening outside,nothing can affect the inside
because they are awesomely made.
And so it's it's about a,a class of self value, a self
worth of, of our identity.
Because there's sucha rub of identity today,
especially through social media.
(28:05):
So it's, it's reinforcingwhat's unique about them
and what's great.
And, and then we teach themthat the only way
that the inside canbe effective is,
is what you say to yourself,because we teach them
in a disguised waythat your words of power,
you know, we knowscripturally that
the words can bring lifeor death. Right.
(28:25):
And and soso we tell them, I said,
you know, Oftentime we hear thatwe become what we believe,
but we often end up believingwhat we are told repeatedly
and accept this truth.
So.
So it's a whole new approach.
You know, it'snot to eradicate bullying
because bullyingis going to be there
forever, right?
We know it's been well foreveruntil the return of our Lord.
(28:47):
Let's put it this way. But,but if we can build self
value and self-worth,then we can teach them
how to deal with thisand not to become a victim
of bullying or cyber bullying.
I think that's so importantand so valuable.
And our listenerscertainly are going to,
you know,definitely want to check out
your ministry and learn more.
(29:08):
How did they find out more?
How do they get their handson the documentary movie
that you are providingfor free on your website?
Yeah, I'm going to I'mgoing to promote
one website today.
I don't want to promotemy own stuff.
I want to promote thisbecause it's so important.
So it's Why I Count,and it spells with a “Y”.
(29:29):
we're trying to be coolhere, YICount.org.
And if you go to YICount.org,all these videos
are available and freein a series of eight episodes,
and then also one for teenagegirls
that are wrestling with bodydysmorphia and self-harm.
So and we were justpromoting kindness.
(29:49):
We're promoting how to reactand, and and to teach the value
basically, you know, it's it'sit's, it's,
it's to pay it forward.
Right.
So it's the golden rule.
I love that.
Thank you for your workin your ministry.
And for all of the contributionsthat you've made culturally,
(30:11):
I think it's so importantthat we have strong Christians
out in cultureand in entertainment,
providing amazing music and filmand, and
organizations and ministrieslike you are.
So thank youfor your work on that.
It just it really makesa difference out there.
Well, well, I'm gratefulthat God has been patient
(30:32):
enough with me to allow me to,to do work for his,
for his kingdom, because that'sthat's what
we were called to do,like what you guys do.
We're expanding God'skingdom on earth
as it is in heaven.
This is our.
This is the only thingI'm interested in.
We're living at a very specialtime in history, and there's no
time to be wastedand have wasted so many years.
(30:54):
We all could say that for sure.
But you're making a difference.
Is wonderful ministry,wonderful things.
Before we go, justwhat's next for you?
What's coming up?
Well, I'm.
I'm actually tonightwe're recording a new song,
a new worship song, and, and,we're going to be filming
this next week, probablyif we finish it tonight
as the choir part. And,I've already done the vocals.
(31:18):
Have already,so I do a lot of vocals
here, actually.
But and we're working ona film called Undone.
It's a, it's,producing this movie
on the life of Sherry Damron.
We we need to raise the fundsfor the movie,
but we're we're, we're very,passionate about this film.
This woman has beenshe grew up in a church, was
(31:42):
sexually abusedby a church member
at the age of five,bullied in school,
very low self-worth,self-esteem.
She had a guy friend.
I'm just going tosum it up quickly because.
Because you're goingto love this story.
She had a guy friendthat was a little
older than her, and shehe was kind of her protector.
But when he turned 18,he went to the aviation.
And so she ended up marryingthe first guy who paid attention
(32:04):
to her at 17,which in turn abused her
during their entire marriage,which they were married
for ten years, abusedher to the point that
she was sent to the E.R.
seven times and to the pointthat she couldn't have children.
So there's a clickthat happened in hers.
That's what's your Jesus's.
I'm not interested.
And then she leftthe church, left a marriage,
(32:26):
and she walked into a worldforeign world for her,
which is drug, alcoholand prostitution.
Now, she ran as a prostitutefor ten years.
And one day, one of herfriends changed her life
and invited herto her own baptism.
And she said, oh, I'm.
(32:46):
You're not going toget me in church.
You know, so she.
So on a dare,she walked in church
as high as a kite.
But during the worship,when I admitted to say
that she always loved thecountry music,
she always loved music.
So being a worship,the Holy Spirit user,
she had one of thosePaul inversion,
you know, experience andand and you know,
(33:10):
wondering like somethingsnapped her out.
What am I doing here?
You know.
And so her lifethen changed instantly.
Obviously.
And no one does.
I mean, evenPaul had to wait for 40,
14 years. Rights of the all.
There's always a period.
I guesswe're all slow learners, but
she had thethe grace God sent her.
(33:31):
A woman who was athe wife of a pastor
who helped her understandthe different
the difference betweenreligion again and relationship.
So that's also why I'mconnected to her story.
And then, so she,you know, walked her
through the book of Ephesians,the first three chapters,
(33:53):
all about who we are in Christ.
And she wouldpersonalize these verse
instead of we.
She would writeher name, Sherry,
and, accepted inheritance.
And, you know, all theseterms of who she is in Christ.
And so God started torestore her life in a, in a it's
(34:14):
such a miraculous way.
And somebody called herafter a while from the,
the place where the foster careand they had found
this child, four year old kidwalking
by himself on the street,ran away from home
because his parents weredrug addicts, and they were
now put in rehab.
And so they called herbecause she was next of kin
(34:38):
and, she,so she went to see the child,
and fosterfostered him for two years.
And the movie is aboutthat is how through
healing him, she gets healedand and,
it's how God uses people,you know?
That's why we're all together.
We're all the body of Christ.
And then through the healingand all of a sudden, I mean,
(34:59):
there's a lot of thingsin a lot of different layers,
to the movie.
But youremember the aviation guy?
Well, she'd been marriedfor ten years.
Prostitute for ten years.
So 20 years it went by.
So he retired from the aviationlooking for a house,
happen to knock at her door.
They fell in love, got marriedwithin six months,
(35:22):
adopted the child,opened a ministry
to help women together.
And he had her recordalbums in Nashville
country and gospel albumand it gets better.
If you're familiarwith Loretta Lynn country music,
You ain't Woman Enoughto Take My Man,
which is her biggest hit.
Well, just for fun,she changed the lyrics to
(35:46):
You Ain't Devilenough to change God's plan
and recorded in Nashville.
And somehow I got tothe ears of Loretta Lynn
and Loretta.
What we didn'tknow is that she had a heart
for the brokenin the heart aholic.
And so she followed her online,gave her the rights to her song,
her biggest hit to record,and given royalties
(36:09):
for the new versionto record a song.
So when you talk about,you know, the restoration
of what the looks of devoured.
So she's experienced this.
So this is the movie we,we want to make sure that we,
we bring it in a waythat it's going to be
not just biblical,but very practical,
because we have so many drugissue
drug problems out in Americaand worldwide.
(36:31):
Now that we want it,we want to show
not just do this, this, this.
We want to showthe real thing, meaning that
how do we implementthe Word of God?
How do you do itin a practical way? Today?
For somebody that are dealingwith in that world
that wants to get out, you know,so this is
(36:52):
the movie is called UndoneI don't know if you seen
have you seen the trailerof the movie.
I have, yes, actually, yes.
And I would love to sharewith our listeners
how they might beable to support.
Are you funding?
Kind of like in an AngelStudios way?
Are you crowdsourcing? Yeah.
We're crowd, we're crowdfunding.
So I could, I could actually,send you a link for that.
(37:14):
That would be great.
Let's put that inthe show notes.
But it is it looks likeit's going to be a powerful
and moving film.
And with so many peoplestruggling with addictions
and just things that happenin their life
that really are traumatizingand that way to see God's,
you know, redemption and healingand the power to restore lives.
And it's justit sounds like an amazing
(37:34):
film stuff.
This is going to be amazing.
God is still a Godof restoration.
He's still who he is.
Everything aboutGod hasn't changed.
He's still in command.
I was watching this morningwith the fire in California,
this guy who was saying,this entire block is
he, you know, the praying man,but his entire block is burned
(37:56):
except this housein the middle of it.
God is a faithful man, you know,we don't know why things happen
the way they do.
Don't have it.
Know no one knows the answer.
But we know he's faithful.
Well, Steph, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
Your stories,your music, your film,
they're inspirational.
And, we look forward toto undone and in what
(38:19):
you're going to do next.
And, we'll share all of thiswith our listeners.
So to our listeners,thank you for watching today.
If you like this, pleaseshare it.
And, and like it. And,look for more from Steph.
Thank you.
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