บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ FCA Williamson County - July 2026

youth as well. So I've been these last few weeks been helping out with the with the church, the spending time with high school students and some middle school students. ⁓ but now today they actually left for camp so that That's gonna be the I'm I'm in break now, kind of. ⁓ but yeah, I I I miss it a whole lot. So I'm really looking forward to you know, going back into the schools. But right now, just like Michael said, just like planning. this upcoming school semester, me and Emily, we've been talking a whole lot about like directions and tasks, things that we want to achieve. So it's been a lot of just sitting down and praying on what the Lord wants us to do. So it's been it's been pretty chill. Good. That's awesome. Quick clarification on that was all of our interns serve ⁓ in the local church And he was saying the youth, he's serving at his at Awakened Church shout out in Round Rock. And ⁓ and then they're also of course serving with FCA. So just an a c just a little clarifier there. So Well, so as you are, you know, h now here, let's dive in a little bit with you, Mr. Carson. I'd like to know a little bit more about your background, if we can. where'd you come from? Are you native Texan or are you ⁓ like the the rest of us here? ⁓ a a someone who's chosen to come to this wonderful free state? Yeah. What's your background like? Where did you go to school? Yeah, history and background ha have a have a ⁓ mom and dad, that's where I came from. ⁓ so that was fun. I don't remember much of that, but that's amazing. Good for that. Yeah, it's it's it's really cool. so no ⁓ grew up in ⁓ Bovina, Texas actually. Little small town, ⁓ let's see, ⁓ just inside the Clovis, New Mexico border. ⁓ and about forty miles within the the New Mexico border there. ⁓ up in the Panhandle of Texas. Very, very flat. ⁓ no trees I like to say a lot of times you can watch your dog run away for three days and ⁓ yeah, just ⁓ that's that's kind of land I grew up on, man. So farming and ranching. ⁓ you know, had some ⁓ about four hundred head of Charlie bred cows and thirty head of horses and three combines and two tractors and so grew up Yeah, man, just getting it on the old farm and ranch, you know. I I like to say my you were like a proper cowboy. Yeah, like a real one, man. Like I actually rode horses and and You like a real proper cowboy. A hundred percent. All day, every day. Yep. I used to have a saying, man, if it's got hair on it, I can ride it. ⁓ yeah. Yeah, I row. I I rode bulls and rough stock. Do all that stuff too? ⁓ used to. Yeah, used to. Yeah. How's my connection, guys? Is it bad? All right, I'm gonna take a timeout. Time out. A little longer than a few minutes later. Time in, we're we're we're back, Michael Carson. Woohoo! Okay. Back in it, yes. So how did you get to North Austin? Yes, North Austin. ⁓ man, well, ⁓ in while in West Texas, I joined ⁓ the United States ⁓ army. ⁓ spent a total of nineteen years Five months, twenty two days in the US Army, got medically retired. And ⁓ yeah, a couple of tours overseas. ⁓ man went down a pretty dark path when I got back from combat and ⁓ you know, got got out there, got got to doing a big old piece of stupid for a little bit when I were ⁓ you know, trying to handle things on my own. 'Cause I'm a I'm a cowboy, you know, I can handle anything and ⁓ a lot of pride and lots of things of that nature. Yeah, real man don't cry and you know, cowboys don't cry, and so you can just take care of it yourself. Pull yourself up by your bootstrap, boy. Be a man, you know, and so I tried doing that through exactly ⁓ multiple different routes, ⁓ w all of which helped for a moment but didn't f fulfill or satisfy. And so ⁓ ended up in a really dark place and ⁓ and a man named Jesus Christ found me in the midst of all of that and I began to transform my life. ⁓ which was really amazing. ⁓ got to ⁓ Houston, Texas, went to an inpatient facility, spent some time there, ⁓ about ten months, ⁓ and then worked my way back around into ⁓ the Austin area. My children, I was I went through divorce and ⁓ got re ⁓ currently remarried, but I wanted to be back in my children's life and be the biblical father that I that I wasn't. And ⁓ man, God gave me that opportunity. And so Yeah, found myself up here in in ⁓ the great state of Texas, ⁓ still, but in the central part, ⁓ being in Austin, not a city boy at all. Not very I still don't necessarily like the city much, but ⁓ you know, when God calls you. Yeah, there are trees here. They're not very tall, but there are trees here. They they ain't like they like my buddy Slacks in Oregon, you the big old huge trees he's got out there. But ⁓ yeah, there are some trees here and there's ⁓ ⁓ and ⁓ there's a there's a target rich environment, if you will, from my military experience of of the need for Jesus in this area. So so you didn't grow up in a in a Christian household then? ⁓ actually I did. well that's a great question. Yeah, I don't hm yeah, I'll I'll answer that question in a in a in a gentle way as I can. ⁓ I grew up in a home that that went to church sometimes. ⁓ And so I I was actually baptized at at the age of fourteen, ⁓ believing I was a Christian, just simply by saying the Lord's prayer or not the Lord's prayer, sorry, the sinner's prayer, ⁓ getting baptized and ⁓ you know, then going to church and and and I thought that it was a message to go to heaven someday, more than it was about a transformation of life, ⁓ like living a different lifestyle. And so I would have called myself a Christian, and yes, I believed that I grew up in a Christian home. I believe they were still teaching biblical principles. ⁓ but my understanding of it was not what what a true follower of Jesus is. So yes, I grew up in a Christian home, but at the same time, like we did not live the way that necessarily the Bible says to live. ⁓ you know, but we but we would have to, you know, go to church on Sunday. And so I don't wanna, you know, dishonor my family in

any way. you know, I believe they they tried to do the best they could with information they had at the time. So yeah. Yeah, sure, sure, sure. And I think that's pretty typical. be honest. I think that's that's probably the majority of Christian households. Yeah, I actually run into that a lot. Braised on Christian values. The the idea of Christianity. ⁓ but but maybe the the fruit isn't as fruity as it could be. Yeah that's a good way to put that maybe a little bit stunted on the vine. Sure. It doesn't grow to its its full ripeness. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well and the difference between you know relationship versus just, you know, religiosity or some kind of ⁓ formula, you know, show up to short show up to church on on Sunday and then you're good to go. Top deal. So ⁓ yeah, so yeah. That's ⁓ growing up in in in that kind of household. ⁓ we believe we could party on Saturday and and party hard on Saturday because we was going to church on Sunday and we can report. So Wow. And and and going through all that you went through, ⁓ you know, I've I've worked with I've l worked with vets before, but in England with British soldiers. ⁓ real soldiers. You know, it's it's it's a hard road, right? And and you know all about that. Finding Jesus or Jesus finding you and all of that, how did that change things for you? It's a great question, Drew. the the biggest thing for me is I really did try everything that the world had to offer. ⁓ when it came to healing from things, ⁓ from from combat trauma, from you know, those kind of things. ⁓ and so for me, the there was there was a relational aspect that happened where I had a true encounter with a living God. There was no other pe I mean, I I experienced peace at such a level that I had never experienced before that I couldn't manufacture, I couldn't come up with on my own. And when it entered into my room, into my space, into me. ⁓ I knew that it was real. Like there was you know, it wasn't just some thing that my parents lived by or something that we did on Sunday. This became something that was a a very living, breathing, right now, in the moment, ⁓ encounter with God. And so when that happened, ⁓ I I knew that it was real. And so when I when everybody was it was like, ⁓ you're actually real, this isn't just some theory that could be, ⁓ now I have to do something with this, you know. ⁓ and so when that happened, ⁓ now I I started to begin to to study the word 'cause I did you know, being that I did have some seeds planted from growing up in that Christian home, ⁓ that, you know, I knew that answers could be found in the Bible. Not that I'd ever read the Bible, but I knew that that was a space where I could find, you know, answers or a church and in that time that I was in, I did not want to go into a church. I didn't really think that I'd be welcome in a church actually. And so, you know, the cliche, ⁓ it's gonna burn to the ground and you know, catch fire if I go in there. And so ⁓ really was I was fearful that they would judge me, based on how I looked and the things that were going on in my life. So yeah. So grabbed a hold of a Bible, ⁓ man, I started just saturating myself in God's word. And ⁓ it's amazing how when you open up the word of God, how he just walks off of the page right into your life. These things like stories of prodigal son and, you know, I loved you even though that yet you were still a sinner and I mean it's just verse after verse and man that began to really just transform me from the inside out, knowing that there was nothing that I could do to prove or earn my love, which is kind of how I grew up. I just simply had to be. And that he just loved me because he loved me, not because of what I did or didn't do. Not to say that he didn't necessarily dislike the things that I was doing, but he it's not that wasn't based on his love for me. And so ⁓ man, when that started to change me and I started to understand that I just wanted more. I was so hungry. ⁓ and through that process, that's what actually started to transform my life. ⁓ from there, man, just continuing to get around some brothers and sisters ⁓ in arms who'd been through, you know, some of the same things, who'd found a way out using Christ centered solutions, ⁓ began to help, you know, veterans and first responders. And then, man, the next thing you know, God called me into, you know, full time ministry. ⁓ just being I I understood I I'd say the first thing that stood out to me the most, like the thing that that really kind of was like solidified it for me of like this is what I'm supposed to be doing is Ephesians six. When, you know, when it's when he's talking about Ephesians, we're talking about spiritual warfare. And to me, I was like, Warfare. I understand warfare. Okay, I that I can get behind, right? The the thousand those and and the lineage and all of the different sobs so big got so you I got to like I'm gonna read the whole Bible. That was the first I was gonna do. I got through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and I was just like, by like, by then I was like, I'm not gonna read this whole I don't even know what this means, you know. I was having such a hard time understanding it. But when I got to Ephesians, I just opened it up, man, and all of a sudden it changed. I was like, ⁓ there's there's like warfare that's happening. I understand that. So if there's God's armor, that must mean that there's an enemy. And then I started to understand the enemy. being Satan and that there's, you know, sin nature and all these things that that we don't fight against flesh and blood and I was like, okay, well man, if I've got armor, that makes sense to me. And then I was like, the one thing that I had learned in the military is like we we check our defensive weapon systems or or like our defenses, which is our body armor, our Kevlar, you know, all of the things that are listed in this in the armor of God, you know, the the helmet of salvation, the s the sword of spirit, excuse

me, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness and the shield of faith, right? The belt of truth. Those things are all like kind of an offensive type weapon, whereas the word of God would be the the ⁓ the offensive weapon. Th the other ones are defensive, excuse me. And the the word of God was offensive and I figured out really quick that I didn't know the word well. And so, you know, I'm if I don't know the word of God, I'm not an effective fighter for the kingdom. And so I wanted to be just as much a spiritual warrior for God's kingdom as I was as a United States Army soldier in in in the army. And I was a really good soldier. I had, you know, t you got a ton of awards and all those things and I'm very, very, you know, grateful and proud of my military experience. But man, compared to this, I was like, I've got to do this. And so I started studying God's word. ⁓ went to school, went to, you know, seminary school, went to Bible college seminary school. All the you know, got and just got just saturated in the word. ⁓ there's a little bit of a danger in this. I wanna just, you know, speak to this for a minute, is I was ⁓ doing really good in school, getting A's, which is crazy 'cause I had like dyslexia in high school that God did a whole healing deal on my mind and my heart and just transformed my life. But ⁓ so I'm doing really good in school. And then I I had stopped though, ⁓ really I'd stopped kind of doing my spiritual disciplines that David was talking about earlier. And I was writing a paper and I wrote this amazing paper, man. It was the best paper that I had ever written. I was like, this is amazing. The scholarly sources were like top notch, man. I was like you using my we were using Turabian writing style. And so I was like I had it all listed out. You talk Drew. He's over here, like, yeah, I know exactly where you're at right now. And so I'm like, Yes, this paper is awesome. And I turn it in and I get the grade back and it's a C. And I was like, What? What is happening? Right. And I was like, I'm mad, I'm stomping back and forth. My wife's like, what's going on? I'm like, there is some knucklehead at this school that probably got an intern that doesn't know what they're doing. This is what I'm thinking, right? And I'm like, ⁓ man. And ⁓ so I'm I'm like, man, what's going on? What's going on? And so I finally pause and I get to where I should have been, and that was on my knees, right? And I was praying. I was like, God, what are you trying to show me in this? And he was just real gentle and soft and kind was like, Michael, you're spending so much time learning about me that you forgot to spend time with me. And I was like, ⁓ my gosh, man, it about ⁓ like weeping tears. I was like, ⁓ my goodness, I missed it. I was learning. so much about him that I just I was I wasn't spending time in prayer. I wasn't spending time with him. And he just revealed that to me really quick. Like, ⁓ you can write a great paper. But without me, it ain't gonna be no A I rewrote the paper with him and it was a lot better, I'll just put it that way. But ⁓ anyway, it was all of those things, you know, and so ⁓ and I'll speed up here real quick 'cause I do get long winded. So ⁓ but yeah, ended up getting called. Already had a snack. Yep. No, we're doing good. All right. Yep. Everybody take a little bathroom break. We'll be back. No, I'm just kidding. Everyone was warmed. Yeah, this is true. This is so true. ⁓ so anyhow, but got yeah, I got ⁓ got called into working for ⁓ the youth ministry at one of the churches here in Round Rock. Shout out to little ⁓ to to our one of our churches, City View Bible Church. ⁓ was there and and actually went on staff there for a year, was there men's ministry coordinator, ⁓ got to serve ⁓ some great and cool places. They helped me with like all the veterans ministry. ⁓ got you know ⁓ went to core, gotten back, you know, to my kids' life again, both of my girls, ⁓ actually baptized them, both of them in that church. ⁓ they have a working relationship with Jesus ⁓ right now, you know, some some some stronger than others in the moment, but ⁓ you know, they're still working towards it and ⁓ got ⁓ married to my current wife, amazing, amazing biblical Proverbs thirty one woman, biblical woman. Has three boys. I got three stepsons now. And just, man, God has really blessed us in so many different ways. ⁓ got called out of ⁓ working on full-time staff and got called out. I was working for the Freedom Fighter Foundation for a little while. ⁓ helped them co-found that. For like three years, I helped veterans of first responders struggle with PTSD and depression and all the different things that go in with with ⁓ you know combat and ⁓ post-combat. And so ⁓ but COD called me out and then he and he It was really specific too, 'cause I was looking for I like, Well, I guess I'm gonna get a different job. I don't know, he's kinda calling me out of all this. And so I Googled ⁓ FCA because that's what I heard him say. And so I was like, Well, I don't know what FCA is. I didn't come up through FCA. I didn't you know, I didn't really know I mean I kinda I heard of it, but I had no clue really what it was. ⁓ and so I Googled FCA and what popped up was actually it was a finance ⁓ like kind of and I was like, God, you're calling me in a finance like what? I don't know if this is But, you know, luckily God factors in my stupidity when he called me, so praise the Lord for that. He had me scroll down a little further and and it was a job listing ⁓ that I just posted in Round Rock, which is where kind of my steel influence was. And it was Fellowship of Christian Athletes. And so ⁓ really cool story on how that all happened. I ended up getting hold of one of our old guys, ⁓ older ⁓ former actually director for Williamson County. ⁓ and his name was Greg Knight and ⁓ I'd known Greg through some veteran stuff I did, spoke at a couple of events for him and man, I was calling him and and

he's like, Dude, are you going to FCA? And I was like, ⁓ I don't know, you know? And ⁓ he was like, Well if you're gonna go, man, I'm I'm gonna tell you like you're you're gonna do great. And so I actually called Jeffrey Rodant too, I'd met him before. It's like, Jeffrey, tell me about FCA and he was like, ⁓ we wanna you know, we're we're here to help every coach and athlete grow in a relationship with you. I was like, Don't don't give me your mission statement, bro. Don't don't give me a message to say, what do you do? What do you really do? Boots on ground, point, tip of the spear, what do you do? He was like, Michael, best is word. I was like, one word. And he said, discipleship. And I was like, where you're speaking my heart. That's what I love. Disciple making. And so ⁓ Greg had me call Andrew Slack. I had met Andrew actually ⁓ what five years before that, I think. Andrew, is that right? Yeah, about five years prior. But ⁓ I was in a Rudy's. Five years prior, helping some like giving some some stuff to some vets, like doing a Bible study, I think. And ⁓ Andrew was doing a Bible study with a group of ⁓ first responders. ⁓ he was leading a Bible study for there. And I just walked up to him and was like, Hey guys, and kinda shared a little bit and so Andrew and I had actually already met prior to that. So when I called him I hadn't I don't remember meeting him, but but God's cool like that, you know, he kinda brings things back around circle, full circle. And so ⁓ he was like, I remember you and I was like, ⁓ Pre following Jesus or get a Michael Carson. Yeah, you don't forget a Michael either like B C pre Michael like pre Jesus Michael or post Jesus Michael was kind of the ones that I was just wanted to make sure that that's the one he was meeting. He was like, No, definitely post you know, post Jesus. And so man, and so got some interviews, began our venture, ⁓ got to, you know, meet you, Drew, and man, just it's been a really cool year. I've been here with FCA now and and man, we are running and gunning and God is moving and we're seeing transformation in students' lives and it's it's it's truly awesome just to to be working with God on the mission that He's called us to. So that's a little bit of my history. Two thousand years later. I'll be quiet now for a little bit. It's a great story though. Woo ⁓ good stuff, man. It's always it's always fun to to hear you talk because On one hand, yes, I'm now exhausted. But on on the other hand ⁓ you know, you're you're s you'll you remind me of Cassie. You two I don't think I could hang out with you both for more than maybe half an hour. Because you your energy and your love for Christ and your love for the mission is is so good. I think I'm a I'm way more chill than that. And I I think Slack's pretty ⁓ pretty chill too. So when you or Cassie come in the room It's always just so good to hear It's like lightning. It's like night It really is, man. You just can't hold on to it though. I love it because

it I'm I'm the kind of person that would I'm I see myself as maybe like the the the toy maker. Right? I'm I'm gonna wind that clock at the the the thing at the back of your back and wind up that little clockwork and then send you out and I'm gonna Woohoo See ya, Michael. That's that's kind of my job is to wind you up and just let you go. Because people like you and and Cassie just it it always ⁓ amazes me because of your energy for all of this. Completely different to mine. So I I love the way that Slack has brought in people of of this talent that you have. You know, Roe is a little bit more chilled as well, but he's he's really like he's got such a heart for God too. ⁓ man So I I love all of these people you bring in Slack because you've got such a a wide variety of ⁓ awesome people. And yes, I I do need a nap now after listening to you, Michael. But I'm I'm so thankful for you, brother. I really too brother Drew. Man, it's really an honor. So who's this other guy we got on here? ⁓ yeah, we forgot about that one. He might have got offended when Michael said about an intern. on his his seminary story, you know, we don't we definitely don't think of you that way, David. Don't we're that silly intern. We we leave the best till last as always on on this podcast. but yeah, I'm I'm super happy to know you, Michael. I'm I'm glad you got through what you got through and I'm glad that it was Jesus you found and not something else. Because, you know, the transformation you know your transformation better than any of us and I'm sure it's it's pretty much night and day. To where you were to where you are now. And the the influence you can have on on these young people is just astronomical. It's so good. Thank you, Drew. So this wasn't said, but let me just clarify this too for the listeners. So Michael is currently serving the area of Round Rock, Taylor Huddo areas. And so ⁓ at the end of this fiscal year in August, Michael will be moving up to more of a director position and and then really hopefully it's our prayers that we're gonna ⁓ God will help us identify more workers in the in that area to start serving underneath Michael and continue to really layer out missionaries across Williamson County. And so ⁓ yeah, so really excited for the next what what the next year will bring will what it'll bring for a lot of reasons, but ⁓ organizationally, that's where Michael sits. Amen. Thank you for claring. I have no doubt that that you'll accomplish all of those things, Slack. You've done So much in the short time that I've I've known you in this position and it's just crazy how you've just transformed this whole whole area with everything that you do and people you choose to do the work. It's amazing. Well, praise God, because I don't know what I was doing when I started. But I think that that's I think there's probably a strength, right? Because you attack this completely new. there's Michael's Michael just he just got He exhausted himself. He couldn't take it anymore. You can't even listen to left pink. But anyway, let's let's leave the superlatives a alone for a while and let's go to Mr. David Campo, how are you? ⁓ and are you ready to spill the beans and tell us about your young life, where you're from, what you're doing here, and what your hopes and dreams are for the future. Sounds good. Yeah. Like start from the start. Yeah, where'd you come from? Are you are you a Texan? Yeah, well yeah, so I ⁓ born and raised Yeah off the night. ⁓ but yeah, I mean like in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And then Texas it was it was formless and empty and not playing up Yeah, no, ⁓ yeah born and raised family were ⁓ you know they had ⁓ just ⁓ first American in my like parents. They came in from El Salvador, so ⁓ life at first was really was really rough just because they were they were young. They were they I think they were barely like in their twenties, like twenty and eighteen, something like that. It was they were really, really young when they came to the States for the first time. So life was was rough. ⁓ remember growing up in ⁓ in Austin and just like spending time with my mom and then ⁓ parents separated at a very young age and I d I didn't really understand any anything at all what was happening. I was just a child. My mom took me to El Salvador with her. So I lived part of my life in El Salvador. I was going back and forth. ⁓ but I did not grow up in the church. I never went to church at all growing up. ⁓ the only reason I knew of a person named, you know, called Jesus was because my great grandma and my grandpa would always talk about him and that was it. That was all I knew was just there's someone named Jesus and they talk about him a lot. and yeah, so man, high school I my my father was an alcoholic, ⁓ also construction worker, so he would leave before I would wake up and come back home by the time it was from ⁓ you know nearing bedtime for me. So, ⁓ as an alcoholic, the little amount of time that I had with him at home was just ⁓ wasn't wasn't the best. ⁓ so in high school I just felt empty looking for a purpose and started doing a lot of things that I shouldn't have done. ⁓ yeah, just lot of things and trying to do things to myself as well to ⁓ remove myself out of the you know whole existence. But anyways, ⁓ after high school I went straight into working construction with my father and ⁓ there was just this there's this day where ⁓ he was not having the best day and he I didn't do anything, I was just asking to get, you know, my paycheck because I had worked the whole entire week. And he got mad and called the cops on me, kicked me out of the house. So months after I I was able to find, you know, live with my aunt for some months and then I had to move out, so I got my own apartment. And ⁓ I think I was like six months or maybe five months into my lease. And I had a job and I was one of my coworkers was ⁓ an uncle of mine. And my uncle ⁓ got mad because I had requested a

day off to go get my passport. ⁓ so I ended up losing my job because he didn't want me to have a day off. and anyways, I was supposed to go see my mom. ⁓ the following month. It was like the middle of the month. So rent was about to be due. And man, I just did the same thing I would always do when I was stressed out and worried. I just went to the back porch of my apartment and I got got high. and I went man I always I always feel like people don't whether they believe me or not I don't really care, but it just sounds insane. But this is what happened. right after smoking, I went into the shower. And I would always ask God this question, Matt. I would always be angry at God and I would always ask this question, but this time I genuinely wanted an answer from him. And as I turned on the water and the steam was coming off, ⁓ I asked God, I was like, Lord, why why have you forsaken me? And at that, at that very moment, I felt a pillar of fire just come down and consume me. And it was like it was coming down, and I just felt the high just go away. And at that very moment that I felt that pillar of fire come down on me, I heard a voice tell me, I have not forsaken you. I love you. And I knew that that was Jesus. Like I had I did not I again I didn't go to church at all. I didn't I wasn't taught about Jesus or or of God at all by my parents. But I knew that this this voice that I heard that that was Jesus and I felt someone holding me and from that that day I I knew that God was real and that Jesus is is real. ⁓ And that he is God. And ⁓ man, I ended up getting a job that month. I ended up with more than enough money to pay for rent. I went to my mom in El Salvador, and I went to church for the first time. And at the end of service they made a a call to baptism and ⁓ I felt that fire again. Like I felt a fire inside of me and I heard the same voice telling me to stand up. ⁓ but the people ⁓ you know, that were ministering to the church, they were like, Don't worry, like we're not gonna baptize you today. We just wanna pray over you. and so when I felt that fire and that and I heard that voice, like I just stood up, I got prayed for. And ⁓ you would think that after experience such an incredible and such an intense moment that I would immediately give my life to Christ. Well, that's not the case. That was not the case for me. I was right back where I was smoking and drinking and doing all these things. until one day my aunt gives me a call. She was like, hey David, we're gonna have this event. It's gonna be for a whole entire week at church. They're gonna have Food and gain ⁓ and prizes. Do you wanna come? I was like, You had me at food. So sign me up, like I'm gonna be there. ⁓ each day, I didn't go every day of the week, but each day that I would go throughout that day, I would have it would just be a terrible day. I would just have a unique problem and ⁓ just a unique situation. And every night that I would go to church. The the pastor would preach about the situation that I had just dealt with that day. So I knew I was like, ⁓ this is God right now. Like He's He's speaking to me right now. ⁓ and at the end of the week, ⁓ they made a call for baptisms. And ⁓ they're like, hey, like stand up if you want to get baptized tomorrow. But I ⁓ this time I didn't feel that fire. And I did not hear a voice, but I knew, like, okay, now this is a choice. Like I can, I can, you know, either finally lay this all down, give my life entirely to Jesus, or I can continue living this life of pain. And ⁓ I stood up, I I got baptized the next day, and I remember sitting. Down in the front row waiting for my turn, and the pastor sat down next to me. He was like, David, ⁓ I just want you to know that just because you're giving your life to Christ does not mean that the problems that you face will fade away, that you won't deal with anything anymore. Like we will face trials. There will be trials that come, but this time you're not the one that's gonna be. ⁓ fighting these you know going through this test like it's it's the Lord like the Lord is the one that will handle all of that you know so you just have to have faith and man I got into that water came out I felt the spirit I wanted to yell so loud ⁓ and in my mind I was like Lord how could I ever fail you Lord how could I sin against you and ⁓ man, ⁓ it's been a lot of of learning, of growing, of trials, of faith being tested. and ⁓ just the Lord just like like nope, that's not what I want. That's not what I want from you and just like steering me back towards this path. and ⁓ now man it was maybe like Two years after being baptized, I was in ⁓ well actually, because this will tie into to FCA. ⁓ after I got baptized, I started reading the word a whole lot, just studying the word, ⁓ really diving deep. I bought ⁓ a study Bible, ⁓ New King James, just sentence after sentence, just deep studies. And ⁓ after service, we would always they would always like set these long tables. They would serve food and I would sit with my family, but they're long tables, so you know, other people would sit next to us and I would share with my family what I've what I had learned throughout the week studying the word. There would always be people coming up to me after, they'll be like, David, you really need to consider, you know, become like being a pastor. And I would I would be like, No, like don't tell me that. Like, if the Lord wants me to do that, he's gonna appear to me in a dream. I'm gonna hear his voice. I'ma know without a doubt that he's calling me to this because I knew that there's a weight to delivering the word. ⁓ so I would always just like shrug people off that would tell me that. Now I was in ACC studying to be an engineer. ⁓ this was man, this was a year ago. and ⁓ I met this guy. Yeah, that has Bible studies at ACC. And we were talking about something completely random. And he brought up James chapter three verses no Philippians. Philippians chapter three

verses seven and eight. And it's just basically saying, like, I count all things rubbish. You know, like I I I count it all as a loss. and when he read that verse to me, I f I I heard the spirit Ask me, like, if I were to call you into this, are you willing to give up everything that you're doing right now? And ⁓ man, I was I I cried for like three days. I didn't even want to, I didn't, I didn't want to pray, I didn't want to open up my word because I felt so ashamed. Because here I am, you know, almost two years of of following the Lord, and I finally realized that. I was holding things in and not really giving it all to Jesus. so on the third night, man, I had watched this ⁓ sermon from Piper. ⁓ and he was ⁓ it's titled like how to how to know that you're called to be a pastor, or how you how do you know that you're called to pastoralship, something like that. There are questions that you need to, you know, meditate on. ⁓ and ⁓ So I was third night, I was praying to the Lord and I was, I was like, I was like, Lord, like if you're if you're if you call me to this, I am willing. Like I am, I will give everything up for the for this calling. Call me, Lord. I'm here and I'm ready. And as soon as I said that, I the spirit reminded me of that, of that teaching from Piper. ⁓ his second question, I think it was, and it and it was like, you need to know that you can lead people onto death or onto life with what you teach. And and I just that weight just like crushed me. And I was like, immediately I was like, Lord, don't call me onto this. Like I I'm not worthy of this calling. you know, so but but I knew like after that night. ⁓ I knew like this is what the Lord wants me to do. ⁓ you know so I prayed to the Lord and I was waiting just just to see like what what he wants me to do. You know, where where is it ⁓ that like where where do you want me to go? ⁓ and part of me ⁓ part of me was was still wanting to get my own way into ⁓ engineering and and God was just like making it really difficult for me. And then I was talking to my youth pastor. ⁓ and I shared with my youth pastor and and with the other pastors just like my desire for, you know, to to share the word and my love for the for the lost ⁓ and for the church as well. ⁓ you know, and share with that And ⁓ one day he was just my youth pastor was like, Hey, there's a ministry opportunity with FCA. I had obviously I was lost in high school, didn't grow up in church. I'd never heard of FCA. Told me about it a little bit, and then ⁓ set up a meeting. I set up a meeting with ⁓ with Andrew. ⁓ and I knew I was like, like this, this is what I've been waiting for. you know, to be able to serve, you know. ⁓ and man, like I've been doing a whole lot of I've done a I've done a whole lot of unlearning and a whole lot of learning in in FCA and man like the goal is for me is still the same for for the world, like for all to know who Christ is, to have a real relationship with the Lord, you know, to not just be hearers of the word ⁓ the word, but actual doers, people that are willing to you know, man, to to actually to you know if it if it cost them their lives like to be bold and stand firm knowing that at the end there is a gift that's so great and nothing in this world can ever compare to just his glory just all the Yeah. ⁓ so that's that's a little bit about me and you know FCA, me with the FCA and just the my heart. So Ain't that something? Quickly tell us, David, I want you to go back into that scene. It's me, it's Michael, it's Craig Jones. We're sitting in a classroom in Cedar Ridge High School. ⁓ man. I want you to go back into that classroom that was two months ago. Tell us what you were feeling and why. Man. I'll set it up a little bit. We're s we're in the school. We've got a teacher that wants to get an FCA started at the school. So we go there, we meet the teacher, gives us the tour, we come back into the classroom, we're talking. We're we're talking about what could happen, we're kind of praying about what that might look like, all that things. We're going around sharing, we get to David. David's David, bring us right there. What were you feeling and why? Nah, man, Andrew. When I parked, when I when I was at the parking lot. Like when I walked inside the building to sign up, I wanted to just cry. Because I was lost there. Like I I wanted to that was the darkest that I was it was I was just man, I was depressed. Like I didn't want to be here anymore. And for me to now be transformed and to know what life is and and to and to you know, know what it's like to live without knowing what life is, you know, to be lost and to be in that in that and just man, in that room, seeing that there's teachers that are getting together, praying for students, you know, that are wanting to to see transformations of man, hearing that there's kids. that are starting their own Bible studies like inside the school, like that's how bad they want it. It I was like, man, like I was just I was it was so s ⁓ man, like it excitement, ⁓ just a lot of just emotion, just like like yes, let's let's do this right now. Let's let's do this. and man I'm I'm ⁓ I I'm ⁓ that's that's one of the reasons why I'm I'm I'm just pumped for this for the school to just school year to just start already. Because I wanna go and train these students to go out and be the light and to look for the ones that are in similar situations that I was I once was in. Like I I just want I want that as fast as we can, like as fast as the Lord will allow it to to be done. ⁓ But man, like just thinking about it is just a blessing. How how how good is God? God is so good. Like he's you see, Drew, I think about FCA and it's like I get to reach I get to reach these kids. Drew, like man, I I didn't think about it that much when when when FCA was brought to me, but now just like I've been reflecting on like, ⁓ like David, man, just like the Lord allows us to go through things and we might not understand why.

Many times the Lord will not make it known why these, why we go through these trials. But man, the the the times where he makes it clear is just like, wow, Lord, like you, you planned this whole thing out, you know, and ⁓ I I know what it's like to be lost in these schools and now I get to be the light for these kids that man, it's just amazing. Yeah. my gosh. So let me let me put you on the spot. Because I think we can all guess that you're pretty pumped up for this. Right. I think we we pretty much know where your heart is, all of this, and we got a clear idea of your background being pretty rough. So knowing what you know about, you know, your your life, your age group, what is the let's say the one main thing that stops people your age from trusting in Christ. Yeah. You know, Michael mentioned this a little bit, just like feeling thinking that they will be judged. You know, ⁓ I think that's that's the biggest thing. I mean that they'll be judged. Yeah, that they'll you know, they won't be accepted because they do these things. ⁓ whatever whatever it is that they do, ⁓ whatever it is that they think of themselves, ⁓ you know, they'll think that they will be judged ⁓ by us believers. I think that that's the that's the biggest thing. ⁓ So what is it about that that stops a young person from You know, I I know it's a it's a hard thing to give up habits, right? You've you've both talked about things that you know, when when we get into self soothing and stuff like that, we get into habits and habits are very hard to break because they just become our normal, our way of dealing with the world, the crutch that kind of makes everything okay for that that five minutes, that ten minutes, right? Mm-hmm. And And I and I get that. And I'm I'm just wondering about this idea of judgment that that being judged means that I'm going to reject Christ, I'm going to reject Christianity. What is it about that specifically that you think makes it hard for them? This idea of judgment? Yeah. Well you see, I think The best way for me to explain this is by talking about something else. ⁓ so for the we're planning a I know we'll talk about this later, but we're planning a student leadership retreat and and ⁓ we're we're thinking about like taking students to actually take action and have conversations with people they've never met before. ⁓ you know, and I I I I've done that plenty of times myself, but ⁓ This two days ago I was in Austin with ⁓ with someone and and I approached ⁓ Jehovah's Witnesses, they had a stand and ⁓ I was I was talking with them and having a genuine conversation. ⁓ but once it once I start asking specific questions about ⁓ you know Christ is they they start getting just They they started getting aggressive. ⁓ and and the thing is is that there's a lack of relationship, you know. So For for the student leadership retreat, like, yeah, it's good to be bold and to approach people outside of the church, but are you just wanting to prove your point or

are you actually wanting to have a relationship with a person? You know, and I think, you know, for the Jehovah's Witnesses, like they ended up man, I was I was trying to be as, you know, gentle as, you know, just hearing them out, asking them questions, just Not just trying to be calm ⁓ and all these things. But what I got from them is that one of the reasons that they got ⁓ they shut me off and they started getting aggressive was because they've had ⁓ previous interactions where the believer was not as nice, you know, and ⁓ a lot of people, I mean, not a lot of people, I haven't talked to a lot of people. ⁓ I've maybe just talked about well my family and and one other person that I've met for the first time ⁓ a few weeks ago, like those are the only people that I know that have church hurt, you know. So it's like there's there's all these there's all these different things, right? Like you I think ⁓ people that have not experienced the love of Christ. Right. we'll look at Christians that come up with them as just like, ⁓ you're wrong, I'm right, although, you know, you know Well here's the thing, here's here's why I asked that question. Because you know, your background wasn't brought up in the church, nor was Michael's, nor was mine. I don't know about Slack, but the the reality is in America ⁓ Umly about six percent of the American adult population profess to be atheist. Eight percent don't believe. Whatever. And six percent are agnostic. So th the rest are either believers or as you said there, they are they they tend to believe in a spiritual ness. Right, spiritual but not religious. And the real reason is for that is around about sixty five percent of American adults do not go to church because of church hurt, because of hypocritical Christians, because Christians say one thing but do another. Right? So I I really appreciate you say that, and the that idea of judgment is a pretty big one because We can be Christian and loving, we can be Christian and gracious, we can be Christian and have mercy. But I think one of the things that often comes forward is Christian and judgmental. Mm-hmm. And and that especially young people who may have even grown up around a church household is that when you when you preach one thing, love and acceptance and you know, justice. All those things which are necessary. But you don't act that way. Yeah. So Christianity, I think for young people, the the data is pretty clear. Most young people want a relationship with God. Most young people are spiritual. What most young people are not is interested in the religiosity and the the kind of church culture that we have going around. So I I like that you say judgment because I think there is a big element of people not wanting to feel judged because they have been judged. Mm-hmm. Judged harshly or unr fairly. And as Christians we have to be clear that we are we're in no position to judge anybody. Right? We we really aren't. And so I I think as you as you go through with the young people, what I what I hope that you'll keep bringing, which I hear from you, is this idea of My experience has been this and it has changed me and it has changed me in in great ways and I would love you to experience this but I'm not going to force it on you. I'm not going to say that you have to do this. I'm not going to say if you do the things I used to do you're a bad person. Because that often comes across. So I I'm appreciative of both you and Michael because you have come from the the depths, right? You've you've been in a bad place before you found your faith. For you way with faith. And I think that's a an asset as well. And and for everybody listening, I would just just caution everybody. Christianity is not about judgment. That's not our job. We're we're not the judge. We are we are the we the ones who can invite, we're the ones who can show the light, but we're not the ones who who should be the hypocrites. Right. And so I would encourage everybody to be thoughtful, be thoughtful Christians. I think what made that so powerful ⁓ experience that I was watching David at that school was because to your point, Drew and David, what you guys are talking about, judgment, our students feel that judgment and what's their response to that judgment. Sometimes they want to get away from that judgment. Of course. And one way they do that is to commit suicide. And that day we found out that there was a student at Cedar Ridge that had committed suicide. And why that was particularly powerful I think in that s in that scenario was that David admitted that he was one of those students walking those hallways feeling that way. And I know Michael has a history with suicidal ideation. as a paramedic I've ran on a lot of suicidal at I mean, Drew, you've dealt with so it we see it and I think the judge I think there is a little there's a rabbit trail right there you could go down that says, hey, what What's our response to that? Like there's also the interesting thing, Slack, is that this age group that you're dealing with, right, and this this is one of the questions I have ⁓ that I'll be posting up on FCApologetics.com. That's ⁓ the new website. there is this this this tension of young people where they are they are between childhood and adulthood. Right? And there there has to be this this this breaking away from being a child to to become the adult with their own identity, their own individuality. And the problem with that, if we don't create households that are supportive, that are listening, that are are helping young people make that transition, which means that y a lot of young people will have doubts about life and God and meaning and all of these kind of things. And so you're gonna get a lot of people in high schools are in in no other terms, they're trying to kill the former self to become the new them. Right? And this is why suicidal ideation is very prevalent amongst young people. It's because the brain is trying to come up with

an answer for how do I solve this problem? How do I break away from this this thing that is maybe holding me back? And how do I become the new? But if I don't know what the new is like, if I don't know that there is a there is a Jesus there, there is there is a a ⁓ hope for me in the future, then the options are stay as I am or end it. Because there are no other options unless you realize that that ending it is not the best option. But you have to break away from the child you to become the adult you. And it's a very complex situation that a lot of young people are going through. And if you have a very difficult family life, dynamic is not one that's healthy when you can talk about things, it's going to be harder to break away. Right? Because you're not going to be supported in the fact that you feel as if you can go forward and be an individual. So what I love about your your story, David and and you, Michael, is that You know, you c you c once you look over the precipice, right, you you know that there are most people know there are two options. But you know there are three options. And one of the options is the best option. And one of the options is the worst option, right? But most people don't want to stay as they are. They they just don't want to stay as they are, but they don't know what the alternative is. And so what I love about the FCA and what I love about what you do Slack and and create in environment for these young people to go into the schools is look, hey, there's there's another answer to this. And it's a way better answer. It's not going to solve all your problems. It's not going to make everything easier. It's not going to make you, you know, rich and successful and and popular overnight. But it's going to give you hope and it's going to give you direction. And I think that's the message that ⁓ young people need to hear is that it's not about putting rules and restrictions on you. But it's about creating a boundary where you can thrive and succeed. And I think they need guides to show them sometimes. Yeah, too. Yeah. So I think that couples all together with like, okay, show me the show me the way, you know, or at least point me in the right direction. And that's what I'm looking at right here, Michael and David, Andrew, right, and myself, guides, pointing them away. Hey, I'm not the You know, but but I I can point you in the right direction, absolutely. Come along with me. I'm not the source, but I can point you to the so I I'm I'm a resource that can point you to the source. Yeah. And I and I think that's that's something that ⁓ you guys are gonna do well. And and next year when it comes is going to be another great year for FCA in Williamson County and and I'm I'm here for it. I'm here to see it. Yeah. We've got some Yeah. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. That's a great lead in right there to what we got c how who are they looking at? They're looking at themselves. Tell us what's going on, Slack. Let's go, man. We got some we got some stuff coming up. Student leadership retreat. And and just just for anybody who may be listening or or watching or knows somebody who isn't a Christian, still bring them along to an FCA event. Right? You you don't have to be a believer to come along. Right? Just come along. Even if it's you come along for fellowship, if you come along to hang out with people that are gonna love you for for for no reason that that you're just special because you're the nimage bearer of God, just come along. We're we're not gonna, you know. Not gonna hold you down and ⁓ make you make you say the sinner's prayer or anything nonsense like that. Jesus is king right now. We're just gonna love on you. We're just gonna just be friends. And then if you find your way to Christ, excellent. If not, we're still gonna love on you. Amen. So give us the roundup, Slack. Yeah, that's good. So ⁓ we've got some this is this is some exciting stuff. This is this is movement stuff that's going on. I can't control it's not I'm not controlling it. It's just a movement that feels like God is ⁓ well I know God is moving and so we're just going where he's going. So as most of you guys know, revival week happened last last fall. So we thought that was that was fun. Let's do that again. So so revival week is gonna be we're targeting September 14th week. Now we'll we'll reel back from there. ⁓ we have an interest form that we're sending out across the city to anybody that wants to know more about this. So, all you gotta do is subscribe to our email chain and you'll get this link. You'll see it. We'll post it on our you know website, social media even. But because we want to get you guys informed, everybody who wants to be a part of this, we want to see more campuses with more student leaders leading people. to to life and to killing what is the dead parts of you, shed that off and find life. Like you don't need to believe in the false identity anymore. Believe in the true identity that God has given you. And so like we want to see more students across all of our campuses in Greater Austin do this. ⁓ I really believe that, you know, in in a year or two we're gonna see this happen across the nation. It'll just be a revival week in every single city, every state across our nation. And so ⁓ Leveraging the FCA relationships and the ⁓ good favor within the schools to have these club events during the week will be revival week. And so we're gonna gather on April, April, not April, August. We're gonna gather on August 22nd for the student leadership retreat ⁓ where we're gonna equip you. ⁓ hang on. He could move around a little bit. We're getting close to ending this thing, I guess. August 22nd is our student leadership retreat. We've done this now for the fifth or sixth time, and it's all about equipping student leaders to go back out into your school and be a light, be a good news to somebody to your campus. And so August 22nd, we're inviting everybody, student leaders, and then

separately, but same location, we're inviting ⁓ pastors, community members. parents, anybody to come together to pray and receive details about this revival week event. Because we need help. We need help from churches to partner with the school, ⁓ to provide Bibles, pizza, etcetera. ⁓ and so we're gonna we're gonna kick things off. Really we're kicking things off now because I've got the form circulating out. And then August twenty second we'll gather and then we're gonna do weekly outings until that's that September fourteenth week. training our students how to be bold, how to have conversations like David and Michael were talking about. Like we're not trying to get you to say a sentence. Like that, like here, you trade your sentence in for my sentence. Like that's not what we're doing. Okay. We're, we're, we're peeling back the false layers that you believe in and showing you truth. And so how to have real, genuine, authentic conversations leading people towards that. It's a person whose name is Jesus, have you met him? And so like that's that's what I'm excited about for the next three months until I God calls me home. I mean, that's what that's what we're we're gonna be about here in Willington County. So Questions. Anything else, Slack? Anything else coming up in July? We n well, if you've got a third to sixth grader, we have this awesome basketball camp going on in Cedar Park. I sent an email out, but ⁓ for anybody to listen, third to sixth graders, ⁓ they're capping at around forty to fifty students. They've got college athletes, basketball players coming in to sp to coach. And it's a local father-son helping put this on and we're partnering with them because man what they're doing is awesome. And so that's coming up July thirteenth week. So there's still some time if you want to register for that. ⁓ we're scholarshipping some students that wanna ⁓ that want to participate. So ⁓ again if you want more info, subscribe to our email, DM us on Instagram or Facebook. I mean that's that's really the best way to get a hold of us. We'll get the website sorted out one day. Yeah, we'll get the websites for it up. All right. So we we're coming I think we've Yeah we've run nice and long today 'cause we've got two chatter boxes with us. Man So any any final thoughts, any final words from you two guys before we wrap it up? Don't give too long. ⁓ All right. Okay. Well you took your chance and and you said grateful to be on the the this podcast and grateful to man, just to know what I know that there's man, there's gonna be s there's a lot coming from this. This from what you're you're putting together, Drew, and and and and helping us with this and you know, I just I sense that from the Lord that this is this is gonna be a way that we're gonna be able to reach a lot of people that maybe wouldn't have gotten reached otherwise. ⁓ touch a parent's life, touch a coach's life, touch a student's life in some way to draw them into a right relationship with Christ. So man, thankful thankful for you, thankful for what you continue to do with the Fellowship of Christian athletes and all the the time spent. So, ⁓ man, just ⁓ blessings to you, to your family, to ⁓ that next ⁓ PhD you're gonna get, whatever that looks like. So no, grateful to be on here. Okay, good man, good man. David, anything before we we kick you out? Yeah, no, no. I mean, same thing, just it's ⁓ it's been a blast, it's been nice. So thanks. Thank you so much. Well we'll we'll as as the social media guy we'll be ⁓ hoping for you to to get us out there so we can get rich on all of this social media money that's going around. If there is such a thing. And just to remind everybody Just been working on FCA apologetics. If you have a question about faith, identity, doubt, life, anything, go to the website. There's a way for you to ask a question and and hopefully we can get a an answer for you up on the website ⁓ as soon as I can record them. All right. It's great seeing you guys. Yeah. ⁓ let's get out of here and let everybody get on with their day. Okay. All right. Thanks everybody. See you guys.