100. 4 Freedom Future and Updates

Welcome to the For Freedom Podcast. This podcast exists to bring the freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with everyday issues. Now here are your hosts, John Holyfield and James Safer. Welcome everybody to the For Freedom Podcast on the 100th episode of the podcast. And it is good to be here with James, our co-host and also a new face, well, new voice for the podcast. We've got to wait. Oh, okay. We haven't introduced that yet. You've got to wait on the mystery voice then. Okay. Got to wait. So, well, John, 100 episodes. Who would have thought that the For Freedom Podcast would have made it this far? What are some of your highlights over the last 100 episodes? What are some things that you've enjoyed? What are some things that maybe an episode that you really thought was powerful and impactful? Or any statistics? What do you want to talk about for a minute? Yeah. So it's been a few years. I think we started in 2020. I started the podcast. Interesting thing is I was wanting to write a book. And the book was moving slow. I had written a couple of chapters, had somebody edit the chapters. And there was this voice inside of me after seeing all the edits that I was like, I should not be writing a book. But I had done all this. Sorry, that was really loud. I had done all this research and a lot of information and had a lot of things I wanted to say. And Nathan and JC and Brian had already started doing the RFP. And I thought, you know, they're covering some things, but maybe we could go a little bit deeper. And so I decided to start off with just like the history of the IFP movement. And those still to this day have been some of the best performing episodes that we did. And, you know, just really trying to just be a help and bring the word of God to bear on a lot of those that have gone through these types of situations and coming out of it. And then about episode 20, 21 or so. And James came on as a co-host at episode 20 or 21. But he was involved in the podcast because I had recorded like one or two episodes and I could not figure out how to get it on Apple podcast. So one day I'm like out at James's place in North Carolina. And we literally spent like four hours, right? We did. Trying to figure out how to get it uploaded. And then he figures out it was because of some setting that I had made. And he's like, John, you're killing me. John had uploaded a picture on the website platform that he was using. And the picture was too large. And I'm like, John, it's saying here that it won't upload because there's an image that's too large. And I'm like, I changed every single sticky image that I can find. We went back to your computer and re-edited it like three times. I did. And finally, John's like, oh, man, I forgot about this one page. And I put it on there. And I mean, I literally almost threw the mouse that I had in my hand across the screen. It was so bad. I was so frustrated because literally, John, I remember I changed that picture and I hit submit and immediately uploaded after I did that. And then I was so mad. And so we were off running and so was using the Apple platform for a little bit. And then I found out about this new platform called Anchor, which is now Spotify for podcasters. And, man, we jumped over there. And that is so much better. I don't know if James does a little ad for him at the beginning. But if you are thinking about doing a podcast, I highly recommend it because it's so easy. It's free. They spread it out among all podcast platforms for you. And it's free. But anyways, advertisement aside. There you go. So, you know, I think I interviewed James or James came on and did an episode and we realized that it just clicked. So I was like, James, like, do it with me. So then we were we were doing the podcast together. And, man, we've had an opportunity to just really interview some cool people, make some connections. You say highlights. I think I love doing when we first started. We did the King James only episodes. Yeah. And I really enjoyed that doing that. I getting to probably I'd say I'm going to say this. This is for me. Just me. But I'd say highlight number one was being asked to join the RFP network. Absolutely. And then getting to know JC, Nathan and Brian. Then I'd say if you could include all that and highlight number one, highlight number two or continue to highlight number one is just getting to know the other podcast hosts in the network. We've developed some really good friendships with with a lot of the different podcasts there. Some great. Years to come. And then for me, there were two. God, there are probably three interviews, three guests that we've had that like to me are like all time. Not well-known people to a lot of people, but for me, just reading their material and how their material has helped me. Jim Neuheiser. Getting to meet him and really establish almost a mentor relationship with him since then. He's been able to come to my church. So getting to interview Jim Neuheiser. We interviewed him twice. Getting to interview Dr. Michael Kruger from RTS. We interviewed him on his book, Bully Pulpit. But I would love to just talk to him about the canon because he has done probably the premier work on the canonicity of scripture of our day. And then getting to interview Dr. Daniel Berger. And so those are probably the highlights. And then just all the fun times going to the RFP conference with James last year. So there's – I rambled, but there's some highlights there. My highlights, my favorite interviews, John, so far to date, of course, Jim Neuheiser. I think the world of him. Just got my certification through level two of the IBCD. And his teaching and seeing him teaching to me from those experiences, but then being able to interview him on a one-on-one level those two times was awesome. I love the Daniel Berger as well, so I appreciate you saying that. I forgot about him. But the other one, man, that I really – two other ones I wanted to mention that I so much enjoyed was the Gospel Treason, Brad Bigney episode. Dude, love. Yeah, that was good. Brad Bigney was just so down to earth. Like he was so personable, just related to us, was able to just have a great conversation. But then I think for me personally, my all-time favorite interviews were two of them that we did, same person, which was Sean Perot. Sean. Sean's a great guy. Love Sean. He's such a – again, down to earth. He's our age. He's so wise in his years of ministry with parenting and marriage that we did there. And so I'm just thankful that we were able to do some of those things and able to have those guys a part of it. And then our top performing episode, John, I wanted to mention this because it's interesting. Our – the majority – we get to see analytics. We get to see numbers of people and our vast audience. I think it's like 60 or 70 percent male audience. And they're like between the ages of like 30 to 50 or something is our most listened audience. Which makes sense because we're two guys that are between 80 to 30 and 50. Yeah. So it just – it does make sense. But our top performing episode is about modesty with the female. Yeah. Okay. Amy Miller, fantastic interview. Awesome lady. Love to have her on again. That's our number one performing episode. It's like 1,400 or 1,500 downloads almost, which is phenomenal that we – we're reaching people in that episode that isn't really our clientele. Not that we have a clientele. Not that we care that we want everybody to listen to it, especially with our new format that we're doing. But it's been great to see those things. It's been great to get messages and emails. I know, John, you have had a couple of people that have joined your church because of the podcast, which is a great thing. Right? Am I right on that statement or –? Yeah. Yeah. We've had some people come through that heard the podcast first and then found our church. Yeah. So that's a great witness and opportunity that we've had. And then, you know, and we'll share something else here in just a minute. But, John, 100 episodes in. And what is the future of the podcast? Well, the future, without upsetting James here, the future is that I am stepping away from the podcast. It is going to continue. James is going to take it on. Actually, I think that the podcast is probably going to perform better going forward than it ever has been because this is something that I've just struggled with. Actually, James can tell you. I've talked to him about this probably at least four times in the past year and a half. Yeah. And each time it's sort of like, well, no, I'll keep going. I'll keep – I'll try it again. Who talks about it for whatever time? Yeah. Yeah. And just – This guy. Yeah. I'm a bivocational pastor, and the church is actually – God's been blessing our church, and it's doing well. It's just become too much for me right now. And I'm also doing counseling as well. So I've decided that – my wife and I have talked. It's best that I step away, but we didn't want to – I talked to James. James definitely didn't want to stop and felt like in some ways there's still a whole lot more to discuss and be out there. And even just the Starving for Truth podcast guys that just came in. I mean we talked to them about all the different things that has been beneficial with the podcast. So I suggested to James, I said, you know, why don't you just get a new co-host? And so we thought about this person. I said, this could be perfect. And so we decided to reach out to – Hold on. We're not going to mention it yet. John. Good grief. All right. Well, that's all I got to say. I gave you show notes, son. I gave you a couple of things we're going to talk about. Oh, I totally forgot about that. All right. So we've given John's update in his life. We've given John's things that's going on there. We are going to introduce our new co-host here in just a minute. Okay. We're going to talk about James's ministry. We're going to keep you on the edge just a little bit longer. And I won't be long either. And then we'll jump in with our new co-host. That's twice I've tried to bring him in. I know. Hey, I'm excited too. And I know he is as well. But we're trying to give some suspense here. We want people to listen longer than 10 minutes today. All right. So my ministry, John, you ministry there. You're full-time. You're bivocational. And as some of our listeners know. And by the way, that's not an oxymoron. James, the way James said that is exactly right. I'm full-time and bivocational. If you don't understand that, try being a pastor and bivocational. You're still full-time. You're right. You're right. But you still got to work something else to provide that income. So it's like, that's a perfect way to say it. I know. So in my situation where we're at is over the last two years since COVID, really two and a half years, the Lord has been dealing with me to become a senior pastor. And we have been praying about this. We've been seeking the Lord on it. And this last Sunday when we recorded this, so August 20th, I was voted in at a church just 20 minutes from my house to be their next senior pastor. And so starting in October, October 1st, will be my first Sunday there. And that'll be the first Sunday that I take over as their senior pastor. We've got some things that we're transitioning over the next few weeks that we'll be doing. And so bear with us as we, our season, our new season starts in September. So we're trying to get some things in the backlog to help out with that. But with me transitioning as well, there may be some weeks where we fail to have an episode out. And so we apologize for that in the future. But we are trying to work through some transitioning things, which brings us now, John, to the transition to our new co-host. Do you want to do the honors of announcing your replacement, John? Yes. Since you've been trying to say this twice now, I'll give you the third time to go ahead and do it. Yeah. So we reached out and asked the RFP legend, Brett Martin, to come on and be the new co-host of the For Freedom podcast. And he has graciously agreed. So, Brett, welcome to the podcast. Great to be here. Glad to be here. I've been looking forward to this for a while now. So good deal. Yeah. So I reached out to Brett a couple weeks ago when John told me that he was going to become a butthole and no longer be on the podcast. And I just said, hey, what are your thoughts? The Ginger Brothers getting together and having this podcast and run with it. And Brett said, Ginger's Unite. Ginger's Unite. Yes. Brett said, hey, I've been actually wanting to start a podcast, and I just haven't been able to figure out who to do it with or how that's even going to look. And so give me some time when we pray about it because Brett's full time as well. He's a full time pastor. Not that any pastor is not full time, but he's full time as well. And so he's got a church there in Mississippi. Me and Brett are going to Israel again together in a couple of months. We've got a team that's going over. We are so excited about that as well. And so the Lord has divinely in our life put me and Brett together in several different situations with the RFP, with the things that he's doing, with us going to Israel together with the pastors, with the RFP guys. And then even at the convention this last year, able to hang out and spend time together. And so for me, me and Brett have become super close friends, and we talk to each other weekly. And so it's been a blessing to have him in my life, an older man that's an older man. He's like, what, two years older than me, three years older than me. You're not older than me in that much. But someone that's been a little more seasoned in ministry than me. You know what it is, Brett? The reason he says that is because whenever we're around you, your wife calls us the boy. Like behave voice. So it sort of feels like, you know, she's mama. Yeah. So I'm pumped about this next chapter that we're going to flip in the next couple of months, next couple of weeks with this new beginning of the For Freedom podcast. And so excited about having Brett on board with us. John, we're going to still have John come on for some interviews as a guest. Okay. Reserve the right. Yes. Call John back. At any given time. Reserve the right to bring me on so you can just blast me for leaving to begin with. Right, right. He's going to be host emeritus. Right. We're going to keep him on the website. We do have a website. If you've never seen it, go check it out. Got some resources on there as well. But Brett here, we're going to do an episode here in the next couple of weeks, and we're going to have it released. It won't be the first episode with Brett, but it'll be a little bit in. But what we're going to do is we're going to do a full expanded episode just on Brett Martin, who he is, where he raised at, the independent fundamental Baptist movement that he came out of, the experience of legalism that he had in ministry. So you're going to get a full take of that. But right now, I just want Brett to come on, share just a tidbit of what his ministry has been like, what his raising through the IFB was like, just so you sort of know a little bit about who he is. And then we'll conclude the episode. Not going to be super long today, but just wanted to give you just a brief talk about where we're going and what the podcast is going to hold. So, Brett, turn it over to you. Talk as much as you want or as little as you want. Well, my name is Brett Martin, and I'm very thankful to be here. Just a little bit about me. I've been in the ministry for 16 years. Eight years of that was is as a senior pastor. I grew up independent fundamental Baptist. But from my perspective, I was a bus kid. So while I was in the IFB, my family wasn't. And so that was an interesting dynamic. And I'll be able to talk more about that in the future. I surrendered to preach at the age of 13 at First Baptist Church, Hamden, Indiana, under the great orator of the faith, Jack Scott, his famous message, America, America. And I went to college there when I graduated high school at Howes Anderson College. That was an experience, to say the least. After two and a half years at Howes Anderson, I transferred to the Tri-State Baptist College, which is in Walls, Mississippi, right outside of Memphis, Tennessee, which is actually where Matt Dudley went to school. Him and my wife went to school together for a little while. And his assessment of that college is it's a mini Howes Anderson, which I would agree with that assessment. And that's where I met my wife, Emily. And we've been married for 17 years. Got two boys, Colin and Caleb, 15 and 13. So I don't have kids anymore. I just have teenagers. So that's going to be interesting, raising teenagers in the coming years. After Bible college, I went back to my home church, which is Open Door Baptist Church in Summit, Mississippi. And I was an assistant pastor there for eight years. And then I became pastor of Chespro Baptist Church in Kentwood, Louisiana, which was kind of my transition out of IFB. I was at that church for six years. And a lot of transitional things happened while I was at that church. When I took that church, I was still hymns only, no contemporary music, King James only. My wife was still wearing skirts. And so, you know, I was still clean shaven. And so, you know, there was still some there was some transitional things going on there. And then, John, I understand what you're talking about as far as whenever you're bi-locational, you're still full time. Because I ran an oil shop during this time in the ministry, my first part of the ministry for 15 years, I ran an oil chain shop full time. And so I was full time doing that for 15 years and pastoring at the same time. And so after I left Chespro Baptist Church, I came to Rocky Point Baptist Church in Carthage, Mississippi, which is where I'm at right now. We've been here a year and a half. And let me just brag on my current church just for a little bit. I have no idea that a church could treat a pastor and his family the way our current church has treated us. Me and my wife were absolutely blown away by the love and support that Rocky Point had showed me and my family. And we're excited to be here. We're excited to be in the will of God. I'm looking forward to co-hosting this podcast with you. I'm excited. I've got a lot to say. I've got a lot of ideas. I'm working with James right now on ideas for the future, for future direction. I'm chomping at the bit to get started. And I just can't wait. Yeah, that's awesome. And so I'm so excited as well. Brett, I can fully relate to you. The church I'm currently at that I'm leaving announced my resignation this last Sunday. And it has been a whirlwind of emotions because the church that I'm at, they do love me and I do love them. And it is the hardest thing for me to do, to leave where we're at. But it's also the thing that we know that this is where God has for us. I've never been treated better as a pastor than where I'm currently at, at Sulphur Springs Baptist. And I want to accommodate them so much because they have truly loved on this young man as a pastor over the last almost six years now. And it is a hard thing to leave a church that does love someone like that. I don't know how many people have told me, today's Thursday when we're recording this, that has told me in the last four days, we don't accept your resignation because we don't want you to leave. And it's heartbreaking, but it's also honoring at the same time because I know that they love me and I know that I love them. But at the same time, I've got to follow God. And so this next church I'm going to has huge shoes to fill as far as loving on their pastor. And I want to love them as well. But I do know what you mean. It is a breath of fresh air when you have a church that does love and appreciate you because they see the hard work that it does take to become a pastor and to be the pastor that loves people. And so I can very much resonate with what you're saying there. Yeah. And I will say that even and I want to add to what you're saying, because my last church that left before I came here, man, the last thing I wanted to do was leave that church. I mean, I knew it was time. I knew that the Lord had said it was time to go. The man standing up there and reading that resignation letter behind the pulpit was like one of the hardest things that I've ever done in my ministry. And I want to just read it straight. But man, I broke down. There were tears and they weren't crocodile tears. I was trying not to cry. They were real tears. But when you invest in people and you see people come to the Lord and you see lives change and these are people that you love and these are people that you you've invested in. No matter what else the situation, it rips your heart out to leave them. But like it's like you said, you know, you come to the point where you have to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. And if he leads you to go to another ministry, that's the will of God. And you got to do it. Yeah. John, what were you going to say? I was just going to say, I think this is going to be. All right. All right. As my mic falls and gets disconnected and I get back on, I was just going to say, I think this is going to be a great move for everything. And I think that great things are ahead. I do think that you guys sort of got a clean slate to it. You can you're going to cover what you really have a desire to cover. And these are going to be topics, I believe, that really help people. But I do have a suggestion that you change the graphic, the podcast graphic to the picture of you guys from Israel. The Titanic picture from Israel. We'll put it out there so that people can see it. But yeah. Hey, as we get ready, we're going to we're wrapping this thing up in two minutes. I want to share where we're going over the next couple of months and even in the next year, because we're already planning that far out. Next month in the month of September, we'll be talking through sexual sins. We've already got an interview lined up, already recorded, ready to go for that. And in the month of October, we're going to be talking about depression. And we're having a returning guest, Christina Chappell, who's going to be coming on, talking to her new book, Midnight Mercies, specifically addressing ladies and women who have had depression postpartum and specific. But also to everyone that's dealt with depression. And then December, we're between two different topics, between abuse and addiction. And so we're leaning more toward abuse and what that looks like and freedom from abuse. But then in January, we're going to take James. Yes. It's the last episode I'm going to be on as a post, so I got to correct you. Go ahead. You always do. So Christine's book, Midnight Mercies, is on. It's actually a new biblical resource on depression. I don't think it necessarily deals with postpartum, but it deals with depression and motherhood. Motherhood. Okay. Okay. I read that wrong when I was looking at it. Okay. Perfect. Great. And then December, we're looking, leaning more toward abuse, talking about abuse and what that looks like in our life. But then January, we're going to take months of December off, planning month. And then January, we're looking at me and Brett talking through freedom in church and what this looks like with structure of church, styles of church, deacons, elders, services. One of the things that me and Brett talked about was, you know, transitioning from the IFB, that free to thrive mentality. When you leave that structure, the guilt that is inside of you, even looking at a new church and wanting to visit other churches, what that looks like. And also, we're looking at maybe even next year doing a topic on music, freedom in music, and discussing what that music style should be and how it should look and what is appropriate in church and how to do that in our own personal life as well. So we're super excited. We've been talking through these. I've had several conversations over the last couple of weeks, just brainstorming. And so bear with us as we transition here. But John, I hate to see you go. And I know it will be the last time you're on here. But we are excited for your ministry and for our ministries as well and for the future of this podcast as well. We are staying a part of the network. And so we'll be at the next, the meetup, the RFP meetup that's planning that's coming up here soon. Me and Brett will be there. And we've got some things we'll be giving out, some free resources for you as well. And so hopefully you'll be able to come to that. John, any final words on your final edition of the Far Freedom podcast? No, but I think it's a good way to sign off on this one with the classic sign off. To God, not the pastor, be the glory. Amen. I found my new name. I found that good grace. I found that healing. And the tears fell down my face. When I found my beginning that has no ending. I found that second chance. I found my best friend. I found my forgiveness. I found my happiness. I've been singing ever since. I found my freedom in you. Thanks for listening to the Far Freedom podcast. If you enjoyed the content of the podcast, please do us a favor by liking, subscribing, or sharing the podcast on whatever podcast platform you listen to. I will do it.

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