B (3:11)

Great question. The Fire is for you title. The book. The book is not. It's not a. It's not a book of. It is about what happened and things that I've been through. The book is for you. The book is for the reader. The book is because every one of us, every one of us go through fires. Right? So you just said like you have a business and, or, you know, you're chased. We all do that, man. Like, man, I want to build a great company. The church is a business. The church is a ministry, but it's a business. It is a, it is a corporation. It has money coming in, money going out. You know, we've got, I've got 50 full time employees, probably another 50 part time employees. Like the, the, the church is a business. You growing the church. Yes, it's ministry, but there is this business. We have HR department. We gotta, you know, conform and abide by laws and all these things, you know, so impact church. My church, it's entrepreneurial entrepreneur. Birthed out of a Bible study for the Arizona Cardinals. So the Arizona Cardinals football team, you know, start a Bible study for the football team, eventually open it to the public and the rest is history. So going back to your question, my church is flooded with people going through fires. So is this nation, so is this world, man. I'm going through depression. That's a fire. Anxiety, Fear, Guilt. Worry. Shame. Shame. Oh my gosh. The times that we've done stuff in our life that, that we're not proud of and we know other people that hurt them and we can carry this shame, this guilt. And so those are fires, man. Cancer. My stepfather was diagnosed with cancer. Given two to five years to live. It's my mom's, you know, third marriage, her first great marriage. He's a good man. That's a fire. My sibling who is fighting fentanyl addiction, that's a fire. Like, we all go through fires, man. Addiction, alcoholism, brokenness, divorce, failure. My business, dude, I. This is the fourth time I've tried to get a company off the ground. And all four of them have, like, that's a fire, right? So what, what. What I have learned in my own life is that God, God, there are no wildfires in life. There are only controlled fires. Meaning scripture, whether somebody believes in it or not, you can't. You can't deny the things that it says, the truths, the little nuggets of truth, like thou shall not murder. Maybe you don't believe in God or Jesus, but, I mean, that's a pretty good rule to live by.

A (5:44)

No matter if you don't believe in God. Yeah, don't murder.

B (5:47)

Don't commit adultery. I mean, that's kind of good. Don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, don't. You know? But. But one of them, One of those scripture, a couple of them, but it talks about how we. We get put in the fires to be tested and that that fire purifies us, right? It refines us. So the fire of brokenness that I went through, the fire of that failure, that's going to refine me because I'm not doing that ever again. So that's refining me, right? The fire of whatever, infidelity or the fire of cheating or. And I get. You get caught. Okay, well, that sucks. We're human, man. We all. We have all done human stuff, but hopefully we learn from that and we go, man, I need to change some things about who I am. Maybe I need some therapy. Maybe I need some. Some counseling, right? And so the fire, the fire being for you, it purifies you. It, hopefully it burns out.

A (6:40)

The omega doesn't feel like it, though.

B (6:42)

And the moment it's hot, it burns. It feels like the house is going to burn down. See, in the Bible, it uses three metaphors for trial. It uses storms, it uses valleys, and it uses fires, right? And so the. The fire is for you is a book for people to go, dude, I've. I've gone through some. Some hell. And this book is going to help you get through your hell. I've gone through some hell too. You know, being a man of faith doesn't exempt you, doesn't put an umbrella of like, you know, like, dude, this is life. This is in heaven that, you know, it rains on the just and the unjust and good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. And so going back to your story, the fire is for you. That's what, that's what that title means to me. Because like two years ago, I went through the fire of my life. My family, we went through the fire of our life. And it almost killed me.

A (7:35)

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B (12:02)

How do you. And life's going to happen.

A (12:03)

Fire is going to happen to you. But it is how you Come out on the other side of it. So.

B (12:07)

So how did you.

A (12:08)

How did you come out on the other side of. Of that dui?

B (12:11)

But I do want to. And I'll answer that question. I do want to say you, you literally just. You literally. You just. You were a preacher for a second. Because, Because. Here's why. Because you say, you said it's not if, it's when. Yeah, Right. Well, David said and saw what the. One of the most famous chapters in the Bible that, that every rapper has done a, A segment on this chapter is. Even though I walk, Even though I walk through the valley of shadow of death. Right. I shall fear no evil for you. You are with me. What does he say? He says, even though I walk. He doesn't say, I hope. I don't. He doesn't say, maybe hope, like, it might. No, he says, even though. And, and, and those are valleys. And so going back to that dui, I wouldn't be who I am today without it. I always say I went from jail to Jesus. Like, like, that was a wild day. I went from, like, I had this cool accolade and, you know, got an award to, like, dude, I got arrested, put in jail. To, like, dude, I just discovered my purpose in life. And, and, yeah, it, it did. It did. It did shape me. It did define me. Um, God has no. This is what I've learned, dude. I'm in the people business. Yeah. I, I have, I have billionaires in my church. You know, 500 millionaires, 200 millionaire. Like, it's Scottsdale. It's the entrepreneurial hub of the nation.

A (13:28)

It's a very, It's a very wealthy.

B (13:30)

City, very wealthy city, very affluent, that I, I, I pastor pro athletes. I have for 23 years. The biggest names in sports are in my church. They're in my phone. I pastor them, right? This is the thing. When you talk about mine, mine was jail. I was like, dude, I, I screwed that up. But a lot of times people have everything, and it looks seemingly good realizing, dude, I have nothing. And a great example of that is a friend of mine that I had on our stage in year three of the church is Rev Run from Run dmc, right? And I interviewed him, and I go, dude, like, when did you become a Christian? Because he's obviously very vocal about his faith. And he goes, my top. He goes, my top was my bottom. And I go, tell me. He goes, you know how a lot of people, they hit rock bottom? And then like, oh, I found God. And I'm found. Really, I'm like, yeah, that. Yeah, I know about that. I know. And he goes, well, mine was the opposite. I'm Run. Run DMC at the peak of like, Run dmc, right? He's like, dude, I got everything you can buy. I bought it. I've got everything money can buy. I've got any. Any earthly thing that you want in this world. I got it. And he goes. And I felt so spiritually bankrupt that in my bathtub, I. Right then and there with a pile of. A pile of weed on the bathtub, he's like, I. I said, you know what? I'm gonna give this. This Jesus thing a try, you know? And I think, what. What are we trying to do? I can tell you story after story after story, Scott. I could tell you hundreds of stories of people who are trying to chase what many of us are trying to chase, and they've got it. I can tell you the hundreds and hundreds of people that have gotten it, and they go, dude, this is empty. This is lonely. I'm broken. I have 30, 40, 50, $100 million, $200 million in the bank. I'm. I'm broken. So what actually is the meaning of life? You know what I'm saying? And. And that. That's what I discovered from. From. From. From me being put in jail. You know, it was like, dude. And it wasn't my first time in jail, dude, I. I told you, I partied my face off. I. You know, I got. I got in trouble for stealing, and I got in trouble. Like, he's just brokenness. And so the fire is for you is like, yeah, that was a fire. The DUI was a fire. Disappointing my mom, man. That was. Dude, like, that was a fire. And. But at the same time, there was a fire going on before those moments. And the fire was just like, dude, who am I? What am I supposed to do? Why am I here? What is this? What it's about? Win awards, get on a starting team, be a star. That's what life is about. And I can tell you, star after star after star. NFL, mlb, NBA, wnba, who they look, they're all stars to us. But like, I know the truth. I know what's going on in their lives. You know what I'm saying? And, like, life is tough, man. Hurt people, hurt people. Broken people break people. Like, that's what life is. And so for me, the fire is for you is not about me. Yes, I'm telling many of my stories, but it's giving people tools to get through the fires that they're going through right now. Tools, like, real tools. Like, how do I do this, man? How do I do this? Like, I had. I had a player one my first year in the. In the, in the. In pro sports, and I won't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm. I'm 25 years old or something like that. And, you know, I'm walking in the hallways of an arena and I'm like, dude, there's Shaq, there's Kobe, they're on the Lakers, and they played the Suns that day. And I was star, you know, like any. I'm like starstruck. I'm like, dude, that. I'm 25. I'm like, this is my first time ever doing this. I didn't sleep the night before. Before I was like, this is crazy. And I called Natalie. I went around the hallway. I'm like, dude, Shaq's the biggest dude I've ever seen in my life. Like, I'm literally as big as his leg. You know, Natalie's my wife. And. And so I'm starstruck until like the third game. And we in the NBA, we have chapel before every game. By the way, the NBA is a business. The NFL is a business. Major League Baseball is a business. The wnba, it's a business. They're a business. Multi, you know, million billion dollar businesses. Right. I think it's fascinating that they make space for like, people to like, have. Have a little devotional.

A (17:47)

I think it is interesting. I've never heard of this before I. Before I heard of you, to be quite honest. I didn't know. I didn't know that exist.

B (17:52)

I didn't either until it, you know, until I got invited to be a part of it, I didn't even know it was a thing. But like, so for the NBA, before every game, one hour before every game, we have a little 15 minute window of chapel and it's. Both teams come, are invited and you know, in that moment, we'll talk maybe a verse of scripture. But just like, you're getting centered, you're about to go perform. So no matter. It's all, it's all. It's all centering. It's all like, it's centering. It's routine. So, hey, I might own a company. I might own a McDonald's. I might own an Arby's. I might own 15 of them. I might own 3,000 of them. But like, how. But. But don't. Don't miss out on this, this, this kind of power to go. But you know what I. I do need, I need to center myself because we just go. And then, you know, and then pretty soon, like what you said, we're going and blowing. And then it's like, dude, now like, man, I lost my marriage. I wasn't there for my children's games, and man, I made a lot of wealth.

A (18:50)

Yeah, but then you wonder, what's it for?

B (18:52)

And then you wonder, what's it for?

A (18:54)

Thanks for tuning in. If you found this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you want to dive deeper into this conversation, check out the links in the desc Description to watch the full episode. See you in the next one.