May 29, 2025 • 27 mins
National Day of Prayer Series: Courage and Worship with Pastor Dawn Damon and Eddy Mann
In this inspiring finale to our National Day of Prayer series, Pastor Dawn Damon and musician Eddy Mann come together to share messages of courage, calling, and worship.
Pastor Dawn speaks on the power of prayer to ignite boldness and purpose, while Eddy Mann offers heartfelt reflections on worship as a lifestyle.
Together, they encourage viewers to walk fearlessly in faith and let prayer lead the way. A beautiful close to a powerful series!
In this inspiring finale to our National Day of Prayer series, Pastor Dawn Damon and musician Eddy Mann come together to share messages of courage, calling, and worship.
Pastor Dawn speaks on the power of prayer to ignite boldness and purpose, while Eddy Mann offers heartfelt reflections on worship as a lifestyle.
Together, they encourage viewers to walk fearlessly in faith and let prayer lead the way. A beautiful close to a powerful series!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Now, you guys know who I am. I'm doctor Angela Butchester,
and you know what I like to do on my show,
Say it with me. I want to enlighten, inspire and
empower you to become your best self. Now, Scripture reminds
us that the tongue is a small thing that makes
grand speeches, but a tiny spark can set a great
forest on a fire. And that's what we want to
(00:37):
do today. We want to get you fired up about
the National Day of Prayer and our guest, we'll be
spending a time today with Dawn Damon and with Eddie Mann.
We're talking church, we're talking media. So go get comfy,
get cozy, get your coffee or get your tea, because
we are about to get started. Hello Hell Pastor Donne,
(01:01):
Hello Eddie, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thank you for having us. We're looking forward to this
opportunity to spend some time with you and to pray.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
So, don there may be some people that are unfamiliar
with you and the work you do, so could you
tell us just a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, I've been in pastoral ministry for thirty years and
just recently I retired from full time pastoring. I am
a coach, an author, and the CEO of Brave Hearted Woman,
which is a coaching enterprise for women. And I have
been speaking nationally and internationally for more years than I
want to claim.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So I realized, Eddie, that there may be some folks
out there that are on a familiar with you and
what you do. So before we get into the questions,
tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Sure, I'm Eddie Man. I'm from the East Coast, Pennsylvania.
I grew up there, was a secular musician for the
first pretty much half of my half of my life
and had a moment one time, had a major epiphany.
One day I wrote a piece of music and it
(02:15):
just I was overcome with I don't I don't want
to call it guilt, but I was overcome with this.
Why haven't I been doing this my whole life? Why
haven't I given God this gift? And the downside was
it was pre cell phone. I had to wait until
I got home that night to explain it to my wife,
to make this simple and kind of wrap it up.
I'm a man of God and E's changed my life.
(02:37):
I'm a worship leader, singer, songwriter that focus is solely
on spreading a message of love and compassion.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Oh, I love that both of you are just perfect
for today. We have the word and the word in songs.
So I love it. I love it, I love it.
So one of the things that I want to talk
about today is media. We know that we can get
media in traditional forms and fashion, like on our television
(03:05):
local broadcast including cable, and now thanks to us having smartphones,
we are able to get our news and information via
social media as well. So when it comes to media,
how do you believe that media is playing an inte
cool part in spreading the good news of the Gospel
(03:29):
and keeping people on in the know.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, that's a great question. I just recently returned from
the National Religious Broadcasters Conference in Dallas, and I was
so blessed and surprised, I should say, maybe not surprised,
but caught off guard by the vast amount of broadcasters
people in media that are indeed doing that very thing.
They're sharing the good news. They're sharing it powerfully and
(03:55):
boldly and without excuse, And it was just exhilarating to
be among what I would say my tribe, my people.
Since I've been in media off and on for many,
many years, but very intensely the last four years. What
a great thing we experienced. And there were people who
had their booths set up, so there was podcasters and
(04:17):
broadcasters and TV shows going on throughout the whole day,
just broadcasting that news. So it's a very powerful day
for Christians, for Christian communication. Conversely, it's also a very
powerful time for the powers of darkness that want to
try to control that airway. You know, the devil thinks
(04:38):
that he's the king and the priest of the airwaves,
and maybe he's been given that authority. But there's a
lot of negative things going on at the same time.
So our voice has to continue to be large, powerful
and vocal.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I could not agree with you more, Pastor don We
definitely need to keep up the good fight of what
we are doing because there are still people out there
that want to hear the message, that want to be reminded.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Absolutely, And you know, I used to be a pastor
of a church, the lead pastor of a church. I
feel like I'm still pastoring. I'm still ordained, but pastoring
through the media now. Congregations, women, groups of people, my
tribe that will come and listen to me. But the
pastors of today, you were going to talk about church
in a moment. But the leaders, the voices of today,
(05:27):
they might be coming through TikTok or YouTube or Instagram.
It the small end of the funnel has been busted
wide open. And what the millennials and other generations are
listening to it is media. It is digital media. It's
all the things that they can connect to quickly on
their iPhone. And you know, we know this too. We
(05:48):
don't have a lot of time. We have thirty minutes
or less. Really, honestly, we got about sixty to ninety
seconds to get that powerful message into their hearts and minds.
So our message never changes, but the method sure is changing.
So media today is a very powerful, very powerful thing.
(06:09):
And I would encourage anyone that maybe you've been thinking
about it or toying with it. You think, what does
my voice have to do with this? Go for it, speak,
open up, communicate, you have a message, share it.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Although I think it's really it's really important that we
keep we offer a balance as to what most people
are hearing on their regular stations. We hear very little
of faith too often. I'll put it that way. A
lot of the stories and things that we hear aren't
framed that way. So I think I agree we need
(06:43):
to be loud, we need to be bold in our statements,
and I think that we need to be able to
find a way to wake up people to the other
options that have to find a different point of view
than some of the spin our major stations.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Shoes Absolutely, absolutely, Oh, I love you. I love your answers. No,
I think this question is a great follow up to
what you both have said. If there's someone out there
that feels that they want to add their voice to
the conversation, what do you think are some things that
(07:18):
they can do to make sure that they're adding their
voice to the collection of spreading the word.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Well, we mentioned a moment ago, there are opportunities you
can jump into this podcasting world. You can get on
your phone iPhone and create a thirty second video and
put it on your Facebook. There's a lot of ways
you can start a blog. You can speak and write
your message, and then you can even open a book
of a page of a book and read something that's
(07:48):
meaningful to you. If you feel like you don't have
your own information, but you want your voice to be
heard if you have a following, so ask God, the
god of all creativity, to fill you. I love what
we're going to hear from Eddie in a minute. He's
a songwriter. Sing your message, but use your voice for
the glory of God. I feel like the enemy does
want to silence us for sure, for sure, so we
(08:09):
got to push back and put our voice out there.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Great idea. I love it.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah. In today's network of Internet, I heard this quote earlier.
Someone had asked their pastor should I go back to
seminary and get ordained? And he said, you already have
a pulpit. Oh, just every social network that you whatever
your favorite one is. Let's put it that way. Everybody
has a favorite whatever favorite one you have is an
(08:39):
enormous avenue for you to express your faith in just
your everyday comments and your everyday outlook on things that
are happening in your life and in the world around you.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Absolutely, and let that be your pulpit. Let that be
your stage. This is great advice, great advice. Now, we
unfortunately impastor don you earlier, there is some misinformation out there.
How do we as kingdom builders make sure that we
are providing correct proper true information on our platforms and
(09:15):
sharing that with those who follow us or are looking
to us for some form of guidance.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
That's a powerful question and such an important one to
think about. First of all, our guide for living for
truth is the Word of God. If it doesn't line
up with the Word of God, get rid of it. Verify, verify, verify.
See are these what other Christian leaders that I agree
with and know that they are theologians and voices of today?
(09:44):
Does this gel with what they're saying? Am I in
alignment with this? Is it solid? And then pay attention
to the comments you get our other Christian people saying yes, amen?
Are they saying hm? I don't know about that. And
so it's important to Oh, boy, I really say, stay
out of the mix if you can. With all the
nasaying and the arguing. It's not a platform for that.
(10:06):
And you know, Jesus' words are so important, Doctor Angela,
A house divided against itself cannot stand. My heart for
our country is that we've got to somehow stop the
fighting and offer a unified front. We Oh, that's such
a huge topic, but so make sure that you're following
(10:28):
truth in the Word of God. And let love and
compassion be your guide. I know truth without grace is error,
so combine them both and you'll you'll do well.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I love that. I love that answer. You know, there
are so many people that are nodding their heads in
agreement with you right now, saying yes, we want to
just stand together as best we can, even with those
we love. We're gonna have moments where we disagree or
we don't see eye to eye. That's human. If we
(11:00):
can try to find those things that we agree on
most and start there, then I think that will open
the dialogue. You are, You are so right there.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, I think we regardless of where we start from,
wherever point A is and how we connect, God's word
is always common ground. It should always be common ground,
so everything can filter back to that point. And I
think that makes it a little bit easier sometimes to
to not be as not let the world be as
divisive as it wants to be, because how we get
(11:34):
to common ground is different for all of us. But
as long as we get there, and whoever we're listening
to or whoever is preaching singing, we want to we
want to be able to meet that come in that
that place that common ground.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Oh you are, You're as right. And I like how
you said that we don't have to be as divisive
as we want to be right, that we don't have
to feed into that. We can look at the things
that are positive, that are of good report. We have
to make sure that we put on the full armor
of God. How can we pray for those that are
(12:12):
standing in that media, that media spotlight today?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, so all the things you just mentioned and then
the scripture that comes to mind, and I'm all things
brave when we talk about brave hearted women. But God
told Joshua when he was about to take new territory
or step into an area that he wanted to possess
and claim, he said, be very strong and courageous. And
so I pray for our journalists that they be strong
(12:39):
and courageous and fearless. And you know what, put the
earplugs on. We're not going to listen to the naysayers
that come at us, because you are going to put
a target on yourself the minute you step into this area.
But like you know, the prophet said to his servant Gajeesi,
God opened his eyes that he will see that there
(13:00):
are more with us than those that are against us,
and so I would pray Joshua one to nine. I'd
make the journalists, the media people, podcasters, broadcasters very strong
and courageous, not belligerent, not prideful, but a holy spirit,
velvet covered steel, that they are speaking truth in love.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Oh, I love that. I love that. Pray for them.
Add them to your Wednesday prayer Day or your Sunday
prayer Day. Go to the altar, go up and pray
for those that are bringing us our information. I love that.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah. I would just add to pray also for the receptors,
the people only that are hearing this stuff too often.
I think it's easy. It's easy to turn it off
and run away. It's harder to stay there and pray
for the person that's speaking, Pray for the person that's
not aligned with you, that's not aligned with God. There's
so many of us who are sitting and just either
(14:04):
We're bombarded with all kinds of stuff all day long,
and I think it's way too easy to run away
from it, turn it off. Jesus wouldn't have done that.
Jesus would have went toward it. Jesus would have taken
the time to be in prayer about it right then
and there. So I'm going to pray for those people
that are receiving all this, all this what do I
(14:25):
want to call it? Just noise? A noise. I'll just
leave it at noise. How's that?
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Absolutely? And you're so right, Edi, because I think about
our teens that we remind them, especially on social media,
to don't fall into the trap of the distraction. Right
that there is a noise is a word that I
think is being used in the collective. You know, don't
let the noise distract you from what God has given
(14:54):
to you. Stay on your path and do that which
you have been called to do. Do not fall or
be pulled in the direction of the noise. All that
glitters is not gold.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I love it. Well. It is time for us to
take a very short break, but don't worry, we are
going to continue this conversation on the National Day of Prayer.
We'll be back right after this.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Welcome to Daily Spark TV. Are you an author with
a faith based book, be a guest, serious about your
product or service and want to try something new? Sponsor
an episode? I see you're ready to get started, so
visit Doctor Angela Chester dot com. Thanks again for watching
Daily Spark.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
TV and we are back. Thank you so much for
joining me for Daily Spark. So I want to shift
gear just a little bit, if you will, and talk
a little bit about church. We're hearing that church might
(16:09):
not be the same for this next generation. Do you
have any suggestions on how we can continue to encourage
not only those that are there, but the next generation.
That church is and will always be a place for
us to find our footing and to stay grounded.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Well. I think that a lot of I wouldn't say
young people, but also adults tend to think that one
church is like another. And I think what gets lost
a lot of times in the conversation is because you
went to a church and the pastor didn't touch you
your heart, that you don't want to go back. Instead
(16:56):
of going maybe the church that you should be attending
is the one down the street. God has provided all
these different type of preachers, all these different types of
worship leaders, and I think people tend to want whatever
their church is, well, this is my church. I grew
up in this church. They wanted to be all about
them instead of being all about Jesus. And I think
(17:21):
it's been lost a little bit over the years that
it's not a journey. I really subscribe to this thought
that it's not a journey. If you're in the same
church your whole life and they have the same pastor
and they have the same worship leader, you are not growing.
You're only growing as far as that one person can
take you. As opposed to sometimes we feel like I
(17:44):
think I might need to move on a little bit.
Every time I've when I felt that in my life
and I've moved on, I've been enlightened, I've been inspired.
Now there's times where I've wanted to the wrong place.
But to just round that out a little bit, I
think that we need to let people know that just
(18:05):
because you had one bad church experience doesn't mean they're
all like that. Find the church that God wants you
to be and when He wants you to be called to.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Absolutely. I find that in having conversation with those that
are de churched, that the common denominator is someone hurt
my feelings in church, so I don't want to go
to church, and I try, I try to remind them
that just because that person hurt your feelings, it doesn't
(18:38):
mean that you should turn away from God. That God
isn't still the same awesome and amazing God that he was.
So I love that that you have said that.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
M the spirit offense is alive and well in most churches.
I know so many people have said the church is
filled with hypocrites, and I say, that's okay, there's room
for one more. Come on in. It's a hospital, it's
there for sick people. But I like what Eddie was saying.
You know, just because you tried one church and maybe
(19:07):
had a bad experience, but you can have a great
experience in the very same church if you'll try it
maybe two weeks or three weeks. So we used to
give that three week challenge and say don't judge us
on the first week. You never know what could happen
because the spirit of offense wants to trip you up
because why you're taking territory, you're stepping into a promised land,
and the warfare is right there to convince you, hey,
(19:30):
don't be a part of this. And I also say
this quickly when it comes to young people. We used
to call churches, you know, first Assembly of God, third
Reformed Church, first Baptist. Now it's called impact tribe, thrive,
love church. That's what the millennials are looking for. They're
looking for an experience, They're looking for a family, and
(19:51):
so inside the church we do have to change some
of the aesthetics to reach that generation.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I couldnot agree with you more. They're
depending on the denomination in which you attend. There is
definitely different vocabulary, and I know that when I am
sharing in a ministry sense, sometimes I try to use
the words interchangeably, you know, so you may call it
(20:20):
cell group, or you may call it tribe, or you
may call it like you said, And we need to
make sure that we are reaching our target audience and
that is the next generation, and making sure that we
are raising Kingdom kids right and that we're continuing to
do that thing which we have been caught to do.
So I love that. Now, speaking of that division, what
(20:42):
are some of the ways in which the churches, the ministries,
the organizations, the associations that we are a part of.
What are some ways that we can pray that there
is more community.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I think sometimes ownership has has been something I've had
to deal with as a worship leader, and certainly in
the last five ten years as a traveling worship leader.
I'm visiting and doing concerts and things that I want
everyone there to have some ownership musically, and I think
it carries over. It's not just the music, but for me,
(21:18):
the focus is the music. I don't want to play everything.
I don't want to play all this new music. I
want to at least revisit some hymns that I maybe
have reimagined so that the older generations feel some ownership
to it. And I'm also recognizing the history of the church.
It's one thing to get rid of all the liturgy
(21:41):
and a Bible church without some of the trappings of
our other churches. But I don't think we ever want
to walk away from tradition. I think it's good that
we continue to maintain a connection to what has gone
before and recognize at the same time that the world's
changing and the church needs to change with it. The speakers,
(22:04):
the way, it's the aesthetics of the church itself. I mean,
I love a lot of new music. I don't necessarily
like smoke and lights and stuff in my worship station
or my worship experience. But that doesn't mean that that's bad.
It just means it's pulling a different group of people
to Christ. That can never be a bad thing. I'm
(22:26):
the guy who wants to go into church and be
quiet first and have a time of prayer, and I
tend to start with things that are quiet and reflective.
And there's always someone will call and say, well, it
was really dragging in the beginning, So they're just they're
just I mean, it's just again, we're trying to reach
everybody's different and they're not all going to fit in
(22:47):
these little spots, but we want to be aware. I
think of the fact that we want to do our
best to embrace everyone that's in that building. That Sunday church.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Is thriving because you're able to get with your group,
with your track, your folks, and enjoy the all that
God has in store for us.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
When I was pastoring Tribes Church, we had these beautiful windows.
Some of them had stained glass, not all of them.
It was contemporary, and I just loved how the sunshine
came in. But my worship leader was a millennial, and
one day he came to me with a proposal and said,
Pastor Dawn, this is what it'll cost to blacken out
all the windows and get the fluorescent lights, and I'm thinking,
(23:27):
why are we doing that? But then again, you know,
so we learned early on we wanted to be all
things to our congregation, but we also understood that there
had to be specific services that would really minister to that.
There are contemplatives, and then there are those that want
to shout and joyfully sing and clap their hands, and
(23:47):
then there's others that don't want to lift their hand,
but they want to sing maybe some of the you know,
hillsong type songs. So whatever speaks to a person's spirit,
I think is all if it brings you closer to
an intimate relationship with Jesus than yeay and amen agreed
to you that.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Now we are just about out of time, but I
do not want to skip over. How do we pray for?
What is one way that we can continue to encourage
our pastors, our ministry leaders and keep them in that
heade of protection as well?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Well. I think there's never a time that's bad to
pray for our church leaders. I know I need as
much prayer as I can get. When I'm going to
a church, I often will ask people to pray for
me before I get there. If I can contact somebody,
I'll ask them to be in prayer, not just about
travel mercies, but a lot deeper than that. I want
to you know, we want to pray for clarity, that
(24:46):
people hear the message clearly, that they can deliver it clearly.
There's just the their health. You know, all these people
tend to work too many hours. Early on in my minuish,
I told I told my lead pastor. I said, you know,
I know I'm working too many hours and too hard.
And he said, oh, you know, we all are. It's
(25:07):
the job. It's the job itself. You know, if you
have a passion, then you're going to put in, You're
going to push yourself. So I think it's my home
pastor down here where I'm at right now in Florida.
The first thing I ask him whenever I see him
on Sunday, whenever i'm whenever I text him, whenever we
send email, the first thing I always ask him are
(25:29):
you healthy? Are you taking the timing? Are you listening
to your body and you're listening to what the spirit's
telling you it needs?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Absolutely what a great question. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
You know, I would say since COVID, there's a lot
of pressure on our pastors who stand as the mouthpiece
on a Sunday morning, so much pressure. Everybody's saying say this,
say that, and then the racial divides that happened after
COVID and I was pastoring at that time. The scripture
that came to me from revelation is all throughout. Let
(26:03):
him who has an ear here with the Spirit is saying.
And so I pray right now for pastors that they
will hear what the Spirit is saying for them to
minister to their flock. And it may not be the
same that the pastor down the street is getting. Listen
and be bold to speak what God is giving you
for your church congregation.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I love it. I love it. Pastor Don Eddie, you guys,
thank you so much for coming on and speaking to
these important topics. Now. I know that you both have
projects that you are working on. You both have your
own ministry. With that being said, Eddie, if someone wants
to reach out to you, what is your website? What's
(26:45):
the best way for them to do so?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Eddieman dot com is always the best place to start.
E ed d y M A n N dot com.
Anything and everything can be found there.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Absolutely Now, Pastor Don We know that your book is
available on Amazon and wherever books are sold, but if
someone wants to reach out to you, what is the
best way to do that?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Brave hearted woman dot com and I have all kinds
of free resources and I can communicate to you that way.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I love it. Thank you both for being on Daily Spark.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Thank you God bless.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
And thank you listener. Thank you viewer for spending time
with us here today as well. You could have been anywhere,
but you chose to spend it with me, and I
thank you for doing so. I hope that we have
once again enlightened, inspired, and empowered you as always made.
The Lord continue to shine his face upon you when
you receive his grace and his mercy in all that
you do. Until next time, everyone remember that you are
(27:42):
blessed in the Lord. Have a great day everyone, Bye bye,
Now, you guys know who I am. I'm doctor Angela Butchester,
and you know what I like to do on my show,
Say it with me. I want to enlighten, inspire and
empower you to become your best self. Now, Scripture reminds
us that the tongue is a small thing that makes
grand speeches, but a tiny spark can set a great
forest on a fire. And that's what we want to
(00:37):
do today. We want to get you fired up about
the National Day of Prayer and our guest, we'll be
spending a time today with Dawn Damon and with Eddie Mann.
We're talking church, we're talking media. So go get comfy,
get cozy, get your coffee or get your tea, because
we are about to get started. Hello Hell Pastor Donne,
(01:01):
Hello Eddie, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thank you for having us. We're looking forward to this
opportunity to spend some time with you and to pray.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
So, don there may be some people that are unfamiliar
with you and the work you do, so could you
tell us just a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Well, I've been in pastoral ministry for thirty years and
just recently I retired from full time pastoring. I am
a coach, an author, and the CEO of Brave Hearted Woman,
which is a coaching enterprise for women. And I have
been speaking nationally and internationally for more years than I
want to claim.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So I realized, Eddie, that there may be some folks
out there that are on a familiar with you and
what you do. So before we get into the questions,
tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Sure, I'm Eddie Man. I'm from the East Coast, Pennsylvania.
I grew up there, was a secular musician for the
first pretty much half of my half of my life
and had a moment one time, had a major epiphany.
One day I wrote a piece of music and it
(02:15):
just I was overcome with I don't I don't want
to call it guilt, but I was overcome with this.
Why haven't I been doing this my whole life? Why
haven't I given God this gift? And the downside was
it was pre cell phone. I had to wait until
I got home that night to explain it to my wife,
to make this simple and kind of wrap it up.
I'm a man of God and E's changed my life.
(02:37):
I'm a worship leader, singer, songwriter that focus is solely
on spreading a message of love and compassion.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Oh, I love that both of you are just perfect
for today. We have the word and the word in songs.
So I love it. I love it, I love it.
So one of the things that I want to talk
about today is media. We know that we can get
media in traditional forms and fashion, like on our television
(03:05):
local broadcast including cable, and now thanks to us having smartphones,
we are able to get our news and information via
social media as well. So when it comes to media,
how do you believe that media is playing an inte
cool part in spreading the good news of the Gospel
(03:29):
and keeping people on in the know.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, that's a great question. I just recently returned from
the National Religious Broadcasters Conference in Dallas, and I was
so blessed and surprised, I should say, maybe not surprised,
but caught off guard by the vast amount of broadcasters
people in media that are indeed doing that very thing.
They're sharing the good news. They're sharing it powerfully and
(03:55):
boldly and without excuse, And it was just exhilarating to
be among what I would say my tribe, my people.
Since I've been in media off and on for many,
many years, but very intensely the last four years. What
a great thing we experienced. And there were people who
had their booths set up, so there was podcasters and
(04:17):
broadcasters and TV shows going on throughout the whole day,
just broadcasting that news. So it's a very powerful day
for Christians, for Christian communication. Conversely, it's also a very
powerful time for the powers of darkness that want to
try to control that airway. You know, the devil thinks
(04:38):
that he's the king and the priest of the airwaves,
and maybe he's been given that authority. But there's a
lot of negative things going on at the same time.
So our voice has to continue to be large, powerful
and vocal.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I could not agree with you more, Pastor don We
definitely need to keep up the good fight of what
we are doing because there are still people out there
that want to hear the message, that want to be reminded.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Absolutely, And you know, I used to be a pastor
of a church, the lead pastor of a church. I
feel like I'm still pastoring. I'm still ordained, but pastoring
through the media now. Congregations, women, groups of people, my
tribe that will come and listen to me. But the
pastors of today, you were going to talk about church
in a moment. But the leaders, the voices of today,
(05:27):
they might be coming through TikTok or YouTube or Instagram.
It the small end of the funnel has been busted
wide open. And what the millennials and other generations are
listening to it is media. It is digital media. It's
all the things that they can connect to quickly on
their iPhone. And you know, we know this too. We
(05:48):
don't have a lot of time. We have thirty minutes
or less. Really, honestly, we got about sixty to ninety
seconds to get that powerful message into their hearts and minds.
So our message never changes, but the method sure is changing.
So media today is a very powerful, very powerful thing.
(06:09):
And I would encourage anyone that maybe you've been thinking
about it or toying with it. You think, what does
my voice have to do with this? Go for it, speak,
open up, communicate, you have a message, share it.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Although I think it's really it's really important that we
keep we offer a balance as to what most people
are hearing on their regular stations. We hear very little
of faith too often. I'll put it that way. A
lot of the stories and things that we hear aren't
framed that way. So I think I agree we need
(06:43):
to be loud, we need to be bold in our statements,
and I think that we need to be able to
find a way to wake up people to the other
options that have to find a different point of view
than some of the spin our major stations.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Shoes Absolutely, absolutely, Oh, I love you. I love your answers. No,
I think this question is a great follow up to
what you both have said. If there's someone out there
that feels that they want to add their voice to
the conversation, what do you think are some things that
(07:18):
they can do to make sure that they're adding their
voice to the collection of spreading the word.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Well, we mentioned a moment ago, there are opportunities you
can jump into this podcasting world. You can get on
your phone iPhone and create a thirty second video and
put it on your Facebook. There's a lot of ways
you can start a blog. You can speak and write
your message, and then you can even open a book
of a page of a book and read something that's
(07:48):
meaningful to you. If you feel like you don't have
your own information, but you want your voice to be
heard if you have a following, so ask God, the
god of all creativity, to fill you. I love what
we're going to hear from Eddie in a minute. He's
a songwriter. Sing your message, but use your voice for
the glory of God. I feel like the enemy does
want to silence us for sure, for sure, so we
(08:09):
got to push back and put our voice out there.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Great idea. I love it.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah. In today's network of Internet, I heard this quote earlier.
Someone had asked their pastor should I go back to
seminary and get ordained? And he said, you already have
a pulpit. Oh, just every social network that you whatever
your favorite one is. Let's put it that way. Everybody
has a favorite whatever favorite one you have is an
(08:39):
enormous avenue for you to express your faith in just
your everyday comments and your everyday outlook on things that
are happening in your life and in the world around you.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Absolutely, and let that be your pulpit. Let that be
your stage. This is great advice, great advice. Now, we
unfortunately impastor don you earlier, there is some misinformation out there.
How do we as kingdom builders make sure that we
are providing correct proper true information on our platforms and
(09:15):
sharing that with those who follow us or are looking
to us for some form of guidance.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
That's a powerful question and such an important one to
think about. First of all, our guide for living for
truth is the Word of God. If it doesn't line
up with the Word of God, get rid of it. Verify, verify, verify.
See are these what other Christian leaders that I agree
with and know that they are theologians and voices of today?
(09:44):
Does this gel with what they're saying? Am I in
alignment with this? Is it solid? And then pay attention
to the comments you get our other Christian people saying yes, amen?
Are they saying hm? I don't know about that. And
so it's important to Oh, boy, I really say, stay
out of the mix if you can. With all the
nasaying and the arguing. It's not a platform for that.
(10:06):
And you know, Jesus' words are so important, Doctor Angela,
A house divided against itself cannot stand. My heart for
our country is that we've got to somehow stop the
fighting and offer a unified front. We Oh, that's such
a huge topic, but so make sure that you're following
(10:28):
truth in the Word of God. And let love and
compassion be your guide. I know truth without grace is error,
so combine them both and you'll you'll do well.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
I love that. I love that answer. You know, there
are so many people that are nodding their heads in
agreement with you right now, saying yes, we want to
just stand together as best we can, even with those
we love. We're gonna have moments where we disagree or
we don't see eye to eye. That's human. If we
(11:00):
can try to find those things that we agree on
most and start there, then I think that will open
the dialogue. You are, You are so right there.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, I think we regardless of where we start from,
wherever point A is and how we connect, God's word
is always common ground. It should always be common ground,
so everything can filter back to that point. And I
think that makes it a little bit easier sometimes to
to not be as not let the world be as
divisive as it wants to be, because how we get
(11:34):
to common ground is different for all of us. But
as long as we get there, and whoever we're listening
to or whoever is preaching singing, we want to we
want to be able to meet that come in that
that place that common ground.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Oh you are, You're as right. And I like how
you said that we don't have to be as divisive
as we want to be right, that we don't have
to feed into that. We can look at the things
that are positive, that are of good report. We have
to make sure that we put on the full armor
of God. How can we pray for those that are
(12:12):
standing in that media, that media spotlight today?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, so all the things you just mentioned and then
the scripture that comes to mind, and I'm all things
brave when we talk about brave hearted women. But God
told Joshua when he was about to take new territory
or step into an area that he wanted to possess
and claim, he said, be very strong and courageous. And
so I pray for our journalists that they be strong
(12:39):
and courageous and fearless. And you know what, put the
earplugs on. We're not going to listen to the naysayers
that come at us, because you are going to put
a target on yourself the minute you step into this area.
But like you know, the prophet said to his servant Gajeesi,
God opened his eyes that he will see that there
(13:00):
are more with us than those that are against us,
and so I would pray Joshua one to nine. I'd
make the journalists, the media people, podcasters, broadcasters very strong
and courageous, not belligerent, not prideful, but a holy spirit,
velvet covered steel, that they are speaking truth in love.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Oh, I love that. I love that. Pray for them.
Add them to your Wednesday prayer Day or your Sunday
prayer Day. Go to the altar, go up and pray
for those that are bringing us our information. I love that.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah. I would just add to pray also for the receptors,
the people only that are hearing this stuff too often.
I think it's easy. It's easy to turn it off
and run away. It's harder to stay there and pray
for the person that's speaking, Pray for the person that's
not aligned with you, that's not aligned with God. There's
so many of us who are sitting and just either
(14:04):
We're bombarded with all kinds of stuff all day long,
and I think it's way too easy to run away
from it, turn it off. Jesus wouldn't have done that.
Jesus would have went toward it. Jesus would have taken
the time to be in prayer about it right then
and there. So I'm going to pray for those people
that are receiving all this, all this what do I
(14:25):
want to call it? Just noise? A noise. I'll just
leave it at noise. How's that?
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Absolutely? And you're so right, Edi, because I think about
our teens that we remind them, especially on social media,
to don't fall into the trap of the distraction. Right
that there is a noise is a word that I
think is being used in the collective. You know, don't
let the noise distract you from what God has given
(14:54):
to you. Stay on your path and do that which
you have been called to do. Do not fall or
be pulled in the direction of the noise. All that
glitters is not gold.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I love it. Well. It is time for us to
take a very short break, but don't worry, we are
going to continue this conversation on the National Day of Prayer.
We'll be back right after this.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Welcome to Daily Spark TV. Are you an author with
a faith based book, be a guest, serious about your
product or service and want to try something new? Sponsor
an episode? I see you're ready to get started, so
visit Doctor Angela Chester dot com. Thanks again for watching
Daily Spark.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
TV and we are back. Thank you so much for
joining me for Daily Spark. So I want to shift
gear just a little bit, if you will, and talk
a little bit about church. We're hearing that church might
(16:09):
not be the same for this next generation. Do you
have any suggestions on how we can continue to encourage
not only those that are there, but the next generation.
That church is and will always be a place for
us to find our footing and to stay grounded.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Well. I think that a lot of I wouldn't say
young people, but also adults tend to think that one
church is like another. And I think what gets lost
a lot of times in the conversation is because you
went to a church and the pastor didn't touch you
your heart, that you don't want to go back. Instead
(16:56):
of going maybe the church that you should be attending
is the one down the street. God has provided all
these different type of preachers, all these different types of
worship leaders, and I think people tend to want whatever
their church is, well, this is my church. I grew
up in this church. They wanted to be all about
them instead of being all about Jesus. And I think
(17:21):
it's been lost a little bit over the years that
it's not a journey. I really subscribe to this thought
that it's not a journey. If you're in the same
church your whole life and they have the same pastor
and they have the same worship leader, you are not growing.
You're only growing as far as that one person can
take you. As opposed to sometimes we feel like I
(17:44):
think I might need to move on a little bit.
Every time I've when I felt that in my life
and I've moved on, I've been enlightened, I've been inspired.
Now there's times where I've wanted to the wrong place.
But to just round that out a little bit, I
think that we need to let people know that just
(18:05):
because you had one bad church experience doesn't mean they're
all like that. Find the church that God wants you
to be and when He wants you to be called to.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Absolutely. I find that in having conversation with those that
are de churched, that the common denominator is someone hurt
my feelings in church, so I don't want to go
to church, and I try, I try to remind them
that just because that person hurt your feelings, it doesn't
(18:38):
mean that you should turn away from God. That God
isn't still the same awesome and amazing God that he was.
So I love that that you have said that.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
M the spirit offense is alive and well in most churches.
I know so many people have said the church is
filled with hypocrites, and I say, that's okay, there's room
for one more. Come on in. It's a hospital, it's
there for sick people. But I like what Eddie was saying.
You know, just because you tried one church and maybe
(19:07):
had a bad experience, but you can have a great
experience in the very same church if you'll try it
maybe two weeks or three weeks. So we used to
give that three week challenge and say don't judge us
on the first week. You never know what could happen
because the spirit of offense wants to trip you up
because why you're taking territory, you're stepping into a promised land,
and the warfare is right there to convince you, hey,
(19:30):
don't be a part of this. And I also say
this quickly when it comes to young people. We used
to call churches, you know, first Assembly of God, third
Reformed Church, first Baptist. Now it's called impact tribe, thrive,
love church. That's what the millennials are looking for. They're
looking for an experience, They're looking for a family, and
(19:51):
so inside the church we do have to change some
of the aesthetics to reach that generation.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I couldnot agree with you more. They're
depending on the denomination in which you attend. There is
definitely different vocabulary, and I know that when I am
sharing in a ministry sense, sometimes I try to use
the words interchangeably, you know, so you may call it
(20:20):
cell group, or you may call it tribe, or you
may call it like you said, And we need to
make sure that we are reaching our target audience and
that is the next generation, and making sure that we
are raising Kingdom kids right and that we're continuing to
do that thing which we have been caught to do.
So I love that. Now, speaking of that division, what
(20:42):
are some of the ways in which the churches, the ministries,
the organizations, the associations that we are a part of.
What are some ways that we can pray that there
is more community.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
I think sometimes ownership has has been something I've had
to deal with as a worship leader, and certainly in
the last five ten years as a traveling worship leader.
I'm visiting and doing concerts and things that I want
everyone there to have some ownership musically, and I think
it carries over. It's not just the music, but for me,
(21:18):
the focus is the music. I don't want to play everything.
I don't want to play all this new music. I
want to at least revisit some hymns that I maybe
have reimagined so that the older generations feel some ownership
to it. And I'm also recognizing the history of the church.
It's one thing to get rid of all the liturgy
(21:41):
and a Bible church without some of the trappings of
our other churches. But I don't think we ever want
to walk away from tradition. I think it's good that
we continue to maintain a connection to what has gone
before and recognize at the same time that the world's
changing and the church needs to change with it. The speakers,
(22:04):
the way, it's the aesthetics of the church itself. I mean,
I love a lot of new music. I don't necessarily
like smoke and lights and stuff in my worship station
or my worship experience. But that doesn't mean that that's bad.
It just means it's pulling a different group of people
to Christ. That can never be a bad thing. I'm
(22:26):
the guy who wants to go into church and be
quiet first and have a time of prayer, and I
tend to start with things that are quiet and reflective.
And there's always someone will call and say, well, it
was really dragging in the beginning, So they're just they're
just I mean, it's just again, we're trying to reach
everybody's different and they're not all going to fit in
(22:47):
these little spots, but we want to be aware. I
think of the fact that we want to do our
best to embrace everyone that's in that building. That Sunday church.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Is thriving because you're able to get with your group,
with your track, your folks, and enjoy the all that
God has in store for us.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
When I was pastoring Tribes Church, we had these beautiful windows.
Some of them had stained glass, not all of them.
It was contemporary, and I just loved how the sunshine
came in. But my worship leader was a millennial, and
one day he came to me with a proposal and said,
Pastor Dawn, this is what it'll cost to blacken out
all the windows and get the fluorescent lights, and I'm thinking,
(23:27):
why are we doing that? But then again, you know,
so we learned early on we wanted to be all
things to our congregation, but we also understood that there
had to be specific services that would really minister to that.
There are contemplatives, and then there are those that want
to shout and joyfully sing and clap their hands, and
(23:47):
then there's others that don't want to lift their hand,
but they want to sing maybe some of the you know,
hillsong type songs. So whatever speaks to a person's spirit,
I think is all if it brings you closer to
an intimate relationship with Jesus than yeay and amen agreed
to you that.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Now we are just about out of time, but I
do not want to skip over. How do we pray for?
What is one way that we can continue to encourage
our pastors, our ministry leaders and keep them in that
heade of protection as well?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Well. I think there's never a time that's bad to
pray for our church leaders. I know I need as
much prayer as I can get. When I'm going to
a church, I often will ask people to pray for
me before I get there. If I can contact somebody,
I'll ask them to be in prayer, not just about
travel mercies, but a lot deeper than that. I want
to you know, we want to pray for clarity, that
(24:46):
people hear the message clearly, that they can deliver it clearly.
There's just the their health. You know, all these people
tend to work too many hours. Early on in my minuish,
I told I told my lead pastor. I said, you know,
I know I'm working too many hours and too hard.
And he said, oh, you know, we all are. It's
(25:07):
the job. It's the job itself. You know, if you
have a passion, then you're going to put in, You're
going to push yourself. So I think it's my home
pastor down here where I'm at right now in Florida.
The first thing I ask him whenever I see him
on Sunday, whenever i'm whenever I text him, whenever we
send email, the first thing I always ask him are
(25:29):
you healthy? Are you taking the timing? Are you listening
to your body and you're listening to what the spirit's
telling you it needs?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Absolutely what a great question. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
You know, I would say since COVID, there's a lot
of pressure on our pastors who stand as the mouthpiece
on a Sunday morning, so much pressure. Everybody's saying say this,
say that, and then the racial divides that happened after
COVID and I was pastoring at that time. The scripture
that came to me from revelation is all throughout. Let
(26:03):
him who has an ear here with the Spirit is saying.
And so I pray right now for pastors that they
will hear what the Spirit is saying for them to
minister to their flock. And it may not be the
same that the pastor down the street is getting. Listen
and be bold to speak what God is giving you
for your church congregation.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I love it. I love it. Pastor Don Eddie, you guys,
thank you so much for coming on and speaking to
these important topics. Now. I know that you both have
projects that you are working on. You both have your
own ministry. With that being said, Eddie, if someone wants
to reach out to you, what is your website? What's
(26:45):
the best way for them to do so?
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Eddieman dot com is always the best place to start.
E ed d y M A n N dot com.
Anything and everything can be found there.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Absolutely Now, Pastor Don We know that your book is
available on Amazon and wherever books are sold, but if
someone wants to reach out to you, what is the
best way to do that?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Brave hearted woman dot com and I have all kinds
of free resources and I can communicate to you that way.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
I love it. Thank you both for being on Daily Spark.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Thank you God bless.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
And thank you listener. Thank you viewer for spending time
with us here today as well. You could have been anywhere,
but you chose to spend it with me, and I
thank you for doing so. I hope that we have
once again enlightened, inspired, and empowered you as always made.
The Lord continue to shine his face upon you when
you receive his grace and his mercy in all that
you do. Until next time, everyone remember that you are
(27:42):
blessed in the Lord. Have a great day everyone, Bye bye,
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