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- [00:02]
Narrator
Tetragrammaton,
- [00:18]
Interviewer
Technogram.
- [00:24]
Bryce
I grew up in church, so I kind of knew a lot about basic Christian things. I went to a Southern Baptist church, so it was like, dress fairly nicer, you know, khaki pants, button up. We sang hymns, we sang songs, and they would preach at the end. We would take communion about once a month. And it was a lot of people that I would see throughout the week, too. It wasn't just like I would only see them on Sunday. So, yeah, I grew up there. Then we kind of stopped going every Sunday about fourth or fifth grade, and we were just going every now and then. Holidays, that was about it.
- [01:01]
Interviewer
How many people in the church?
- [01:03]
Bryce
Oh, man, a couple hundred maybe. Then that would be like on a holiday. So I think consistently maybe a hundred people.
- [01:11]
Interviewer
And what would be the feeling in the room?
- [01:13]
Bryce
I don't know. I guess for me, when I was young, it was. It was just a lot. It was more routine. It was just, oh, you know, we're coming here, we're singing a few hymns, singing a few songs. We passed around the offering plate. There's 20, 30 minute message and then we close. And then as I got older, it felt. I don't know how to say it, like, weird. Weird. I guess that's the only word to describe it. It was just kind of difficult because I was starting to learn more and just kind of understanding, like, okay, I'm having a hard time because, like, I'm seeing you at church on Sunday and you're encouraging me to live my life one way, but then I'm seeing you outside of church doing something completely different. So it felt like you're holding two north magnets together and they're like repelling against each other. And I'm like, I don't know how to feel about this right now.
- [01:55]
Interviewer
And you think most of the people around you felt the same way?
- [01:59]
Bryce
I think if they were being honest, yes. I think even outside of that church in my hometown, yeah, I grew up in Georgia, so most everybody went to church.
- [02:08]
Interviewer
But you think people went out of the ritual, not out of the. The love?
- [02:14]
Bryce
Yeah, I don't think to the core that's like completely inherently bad. You know what I mean? Like, discipline is a good thing. You know, sometimes I don't feel like going to the gym, but I choose to go to the gym. So, you know, obligation may not be necessarily bad, but think there is in the south in particular, this. They call it the Bible Belt for a reason. Everybody goes to church and everybody does the thing. And so I definitely Thought it was interesting when I met the first few Christians that I could see actually really loved God. And I'm not dogging on people and I don't know everybody else's faith standing, but like from an outward appearance you could go, wow, that person really loves God. Kind of like caught me off guard because I wasn't used to that charisma and excitement about Jesus.
- [02:55]
Interviewer
And then when did you first feel like your own personal connection?
- [03:00]
Bryce
So I had two encounters with Jesus. One of them was just a moment, and then the other one fueled me into being a believer. The second one is really the most important. The first one was kind of vague. I just remember feeling like an overwhelming love in my car, driving home from school and recognizing that it was so hard. It was amazing. And then, you know, you like ride that high for two days and then you kind of forget and you're like, wow, God, even there. And then it just went back into the world.
- [03:29]
Interviewer
Do you know what sparked that one?
- [03:31]
Bryce
No, nothing really sparked it. I remember just driving home. I've always been a thinker. I like to think that can, you know, harm you and help you sometimes. But I was driving home thinking after sports practice one day, and I remember experiencing the love of God in the car. And that was like the most addicting truth I've ever felt. And I'm like, wow, this is amazing. That was the first time I'd ever felt God. And so I was overwhelmed. I just began to weep in my car. That's all I remember is weeping in my car. And then I called my grandma because she was a saint, loved Jesus, and just as such a servant still is, which is like, I don't know what's happening to me. But it, but it lasted that car ride. And then a couple days went by and it was almost like I had forgotten who Jesus was. And I went back to doing whatever I wanted to do. And that left me off worse than before because I had experienced truth. And then you leave truth for deception or a lie and leaves you hanging. But the second time was more intense, more vivid, more I can't forget.
- [04:36]
Interviewer
How old were you the first time?
- [04:37]
Bryce
I was 17 still. So I was 17 both times.
- [04:40]
Interviewer
Both times, yeah. And then you don't know what led to the second one. It just happened.
- [04:43]
Bryce
Well, I do know what led to the second one. So about the eighth grade, I developed depression and anxiety and I'm like self diagnosing this. But it was every day I would come home and I would cry and be extremely sad in my bed. Not Want to leave and complain. And I was having hardships with friends, hardships at home, and I didn't even know who Bryce was. And I lost myself. I was drowning myself in sports and busyness and all these things. But I would come home and just for lack of better terms, hate my life and hate what I was doing. And so When I was 17, I planned on taking my life because of the depression and anxiety, not because I wanted to die, but it was just because I thought it was the only way to get the pain to go away. It was on December 25, 2020, on Christmas. nighttime, I went to Waffle House because it was like one of the only things open and it was slam packed in this Waffle House. And I was the most lustful, sinful, depressed, anxious version of myself walking into this Waffle House, trying to escape one last time. And I couldn't sit down because everyone's with their families and they kept giving the booths and stuff to the family. So I grabbed this random guy and I'm like, hey, I'll pay for your meal if you'll be my partner so we can go sit down. He was like 30 something years old. And we, we sat down and I'm just sitting there eating. And he started dumping all of his life issues on. He's like, my wife's divorcing me, she's taking my kids and it's our last Christmas and I'm losing my money and I'm losing everything and. And I'm sitting in there thinking, yeah, I tried to escape my problems one last time and here I am and this random guy is just dumping his issues on me.
- [06:19]
Interviewer
Why do you think he felt like he could talk to you?
- [06:21]
Bryce
You know, maybe sometimes it's easier to open up to people that you don't know. You know, maybe he was keeping it all in. And then he just sees me and he's like letting it loose and. And I was just letting it in one ear, not the other. Wasn't really listening to it. I don't know, I don't remember the specifics, but I just vividly remember I'm sitting there eating and he said, I love my wife, but she doesn't feel the same about me. And then he said, there's no growth in a relationship if the love isn't mutual. And when he said that, it was like all of time had stopped and all these Bible verses that I had learned in school or vacation Bible school or in church or whatever it may be were coming to my brain. And I always say, the 18 inches between my head and my heart finally connected.
- [07:05]
Interviewer
And.
- [07:06]
Bryce
And I get this supernatural revelation of, well, maybe I don't know that God loves me because I haven't given myself a chance to love him back. Like a relationship, you know, we're hanging out for the first time here, but we'll grow in relationship as we continue to hang and do things that you like and do things I like and eat meals together. And it was like I had never done that with Jesus. And I let other people and things define who Jesus was. But that's not fair to Jesus. That's not fair to you. If I asked a hundred people that have run into you, hey, what are your thoughts on Rick? Some people have good things to say, some people have bad things to say, but I won't know who you are unless I hang out with you. So I just began to cry, and I threw money on the table for the bill and kind of ran out. And I ran to my car and I just said, jesus, if you're real, take away my anxiety and depression. And even though I was the most broken, I was the most honest I had ever been. And that crippling anxiety or depression I haven't had since that day. It's been over five years. That was my foot in the door.
- [08:02]
Interviewer
But before that, had you been praying regularly or was this kind of an unusual thing to do?
- [08:06]
Bryce
This was an unusual thing to do. I had actually looked into other religions other than Christianity because I was hurt by hypocrisy. So, like, I told you about the church stuff. And then I would see people in my hometown sometimes I would see people involved at my school doing stuff outside of school. And then when I was in the eighth grade about that time, I started depression, anxiety. My grandfather had pancreatic cancer, and my family was like, you go to Christian school, you know, you need to go talk to him about Jesus so he can go to heaven kind of thing. And I understand the heart now, being older, but at the time, like, I didn't really care about Jesus. He wasn't like anything to me other than the guy on my Bible quizzes and tests. So I didn't make it a priority. And one day he. He passed away. And so I blamed God for killing my grandfather. And so my perceived notion of Jesus was, well, if these people claim to love Jesus, but they're doing this, and you must be a hypocrite, and you must have killed my grandfather. If pastors are cheating on their wives and stealing money from the church, you must be Doing a bait and switch in some way. So I had looked into other religions three months before because my junior year of high school, the Bible class we did was on other religions. So they were teaching you from the perspective of, like, hey, here's these religions and what they believe, and here's them in comparison to Christianity and how they may contradict. But I was, like, intrigued. So I would look into them outside of the class with no bias of, like, I'm going to try to figure out how Christianity combats that. So I was looking at Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism, atheism, agnosticism, everything. And outside of, you know, atheism and agnosticism, it was all about how much I could do to get to perfection in some way. Hinduism and Buddhism, it's like, I want to build good dharma, but don't, don't, don't get karma, you know, it's so hard. I make a bunch of mistakes and I'm broken. And I remember sitting there thinking, if I can't even fix my broken heart in a broken world, there's no way I could work to perfection. It's impossible. And so that left me really hopeless and sad. But that night, perfection met me when I was 17. And that's my big appeal to Jesus. That's why I love him.
- [10:19]
Interviewer
How long was it between that prayer and the feeling of depression lifting immediate.
- [10:25]
Bryce
It felt like something had come off
- [10:27]
Interviewer
my chest in the car.
- [10:29]
Bryce
Yeah. And there's other things God didn't take away from me, but he took that away from me. And I'm like, wow, this is incredible. And I feel like the most broken person on the planet sometimes. So I was like, wow, if he can do it for me, he can really do it for anyone. And so that's kind of where it all started.
- [10:44]
Interviewer
And then when did you begin sharing the message?
- [10:47]
Bryce
Immediately, really. So I was on Christmas break, and I had locked myself totally unhealthy, maybe, I don't know, locked myself in my room with my Bible. And then I had this book called a big, thick textbook called Systematic Theology. It was just like, doctrine about Christianity because I wanted to know what I understood. And I made a video online that was like, hey, I had this encounter with Jesus, and I don't know what to make of it, but I'm gonna tell everyone about him. Give me a couple weeks, I'll come back and I'll start sharing what I know. And so online, offline, at the restaurant, in front of the iPhone, camera, whatever it may be, I was talking about Jesus. Talking about Jesus Talking about Jesus because he had saved my life. And that has been a consistent rhythm for over five years.
- [11:28]
Interviewer
And then how did people react to this?
- [11:31]
Bryce
The first year of my life, I lost a lot of friends, and I went to private Christian school. Being a Christian at private Christian school, you would think that's like.
- [11:39]
Interviewer
That'd be fine.
- [11:40]
Bryce
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, and I don't blame people. I think, you know, most people my age back then would, you know, get caught in the rhythm of. You go to school five days a week, football game on Friday, practice after school, parent makes you a meal at dinner time or whatever. You get meal at lunch, and it's, you know, you're calling your own world. But I think people thought I was the righteous police. I think people thought I might have thought I was better than them because I had. I was giving up things I wasn't doing or giving up things that most people were doing and stopped hanging out with certain people and was careful what I said and was spending my time other places. And so I can. I can understand maybe why people felt that way, but I lost a lot of friends and got bullied. I remember my senior year had started in August of 2021, and first football game, I got food thrown at me in the student section. Students didn't want to sit with me. Sometimes people would ignore me at school or wouldn't want to be my partner for a project or wouldn't want.
- [12:34]
Interviewer
At a Christian school for preaching gospel, essentially.
- [12:38]
Bryce
Yeah. And at the end, second semester, my junior year, after that Christmas break, people were just kind of. Kind of confused. I think people thought it might have been, like, a high. No one really gave me a hard time for it during that, like, back few months after that, that encounter at Christmas. But then summer came, and I had gone to a few states and met up with some Christian friends I had met on social media and just out outside of social media. And we'd go to Kentucky or San Antonio and we'd talk about Jesus and in the street. So I'd come and I was. People were like, oh, this is real. I remember, like, the. We would do a retreat at the beginning of every. Every year, the first week of school, the whole high school would go on a retreat. We went to this, like, campground, and we're there. And I remember in my free time, everyone's playing sports, and I'm reading my Bible, and kids would come up and slam my Bible shut in front of me. Like, while I was reading it, I had been out reading my Bible on this bench. And I came back to my room, and my bunk in the bunk bed room was a disaster. People had, like, smeared food all over my pillow and stuff like that. And I'm just like, what the heck has happened? And so it would just be, like, stuff like that. People would kind of, like, poke fun at me for it, and I would go get ice cream in my hometown, and people would make fun of me for talking about Jesus online or saying something here. And someone drove by one time at the ice cream shop and, like, threatened to beat me up. And I'm just, like, so confused and discouraged. But I had peace. And that. That was really what I was after, and that's really what other people are after.
- [14:07]
Interviewer
You were really sharing what was working for you. You were suffering, and you're sharing what gave you peace.
- [14:14]
Bryce
Yeah, yeah. Because I had tried everything. And deep down, like, as a Christian, like, I believe that Jesus is the way. I'm like, man, I want everyone to follow Jesus because I think he's the truth. And I mean, he said it. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. But essentially, yeah, I'm like, I've tried everything. This is what has worked for me. And I think it's the truth. Like, check him out. And everyone's like, dude, I don't want that.
- [14:33]
Interviewer
Or, that's funny to hear in a Christian school that. That would be the case.
- [14:36]
Bryce
Yeah, it's kind of ironic, you know.
- [14:39]
Interviewer
Tell me about the world of Christianity on social media.
- [14:43]
Bryce
I think it's. It's grown into a lot of different things. Two months after I became a Christian, I met 100 people that talked about Jesus online in some form or fashion from the iPhone that, you know, whether they made funny skits about Jesus or preached or whatever they did, typically on Instagram or.
- [14:58]
Interviewer
Where would it be?
- [14:59]
Bryce
TikTok. And sometimes Instagram, YouTube, kind of. Not really. It was just more like the short form. So mostly TikTok? Yeah, mostly TikTok. It was because it was, like, booming in 2022 and 2021, especially during COVID To Covid, it really boomed. And then after Covid, it was, like, super popular. I think now maybe half of those people aren't Christian anymore. And, you know, that's hard. That's like. That breaks my heart.
- [15:28]
Interviewer
Not something to do with COVID in particular.
- [15:31]
Bryce
No, because we. This was kind of after Covid, so I. We. We all met in 2021 and 2022 and stuff like that. And it. It was kind of sad. I don't think it had to do with COVID I think it had to deal with quite a few things.
- [15:43]
Interviewer
Was everyone your age or approximately your age around there?
- [15:46]
Bryce
I was the youngest at the time, so I was like 17. I was the youngest. I think outside of me, It'd be like 18 to 25 people would be. And I'm still friends with most of them today.
- [15:56]
Interviewer
And they're people from all over the country.
- [15:58]
Bryce
All over the country. I. I moved in with one of them. When I moved to la. I met some more friends out here. But these guys in particular, I think half of them aren't even Christian anymore. And I don't care if you post on social media or not. That's what I care. I'm just like, man, like, I breaks my heart. We started and it was awesome. And then, you know, you're gone. I think that's the hard part.
- [16:16]
Interviewer
Are their stories similar to yours?
- [16:19]
Bryce
Some can be, some might not be. Some people were raised in the church and then love the truth and you follow it. Like, that's. That's so beautiful. I'm glad that you didn't have to make a lot of crazy, crazy mistakes. But I had friends that had dabbled in atheism that had encounters with Jesus. One of my friends had an encounter with Jesus watching the movie the Passion of the Christ. Like a really intense encounter with Jesus in the room. And he's been following Jesus and he's one of my close friends and everything in between. I mean, so many different testimonies of how people have come to know the Lord. But that was really, like 2021 was like Christianity on TikTok was like a thing.
- [16:58]
Interviewer
Do you think people were copying each other? How did it happen?
- [17:01]
Bryce
Well, my buddy David, that one that had that encounter with the Passion of Christ, he was reaching people like I had never seen before. It was like millions and millions of views. Every video he posted, and he was posting multiple times a day, preaching about Jesus and talking about Jesus and teaching the Bible. I mean, the natural thing is a lot of people see, oh, someone preaching to the camera. So, like, that's what worked. I didn't preach like David, but I had been preaching to the camera in general. So we had that in common. And there were other people that had been doing it. But David really paved the way of, like, wow, people want to know about the Bible and about Jesus. He ended up getting banned on. On. On TikTok. And for what? I actually can't remember what he got banned for. I think he was talking about, about, like, other religions, and then they had, like, Mass reported him or, or something. But he had like 2 million followers and millions of people every day.
- [17:52]
Interviewer
And what's so interesting about all of this is that for probably the last 80 years, church attendance had been going down, especially with young people. The only people going to church 15 years ago were people in their 60s and 70s. People in their 80s. Yeah. And something is changing where all of a sudden now young people are embracing Christianity, wanting to go to church, feeling the energy. What do you think's happening?
- [18:23]
Bryce
You have access to everything you want in such a quick amount of time through the phone. So if you want to sleep with someone outside of marriage, for example, you can do it.
- [18:34]
Interviewer
There's an app for that.
- [18:35]
Bryce
There's an app for that. There probably is. There definitely is. Multiple, there's options. I think 50 or 60 years ago most people were dating and married in a five mile radius. And now it's like you have options everywhere. Adultery through the roof, because you have so many options online. And, and I'm just using that as one example. You can find people that sell substances online, you can find ways to have sex online, you can consume sexual content online at your fingertips. I don't think human beings were designed to have access to every human being on the planet. And so that has created people to get access to sin very quickly. And they realize it's letting them down very quickly because they get access to
- [19:15]
Interviewer
it very quickly, maybe through abundance. They realize the emptiness of it. Yes, before they may have wanted it, but it was hard to get. So they didn't get to feel the abundance and then recognize ultimately this is empty.
- [19:28]
Bryce
Yes, I think so too. And I think that's, that's what's killing people. And now to news spread so fast online and stuff gets past the algorithm that is really, really intense. Really intense. And so I think it's just a combination of people experiencing the real world through online stuff and stuff like that. Just what is the truth? If I can't find the truth here, here, here. I really deep down think everyone's on a quest for love. So they say, oh well, sex might be love because maybe the movie I watched, the couple was having sex all the time. And that's what love looks like. So I need to just have a bunch of sex. And then it's like, well, if sex would have satisfied you, it would only take one time having sex. But it didn't. That's why you keep falling down the rabbit hole. And so then the question is like, well what, what does work? And I don't think it's tangible things. Sometimes I think it's. I think it's Jesus, a supernatural being who we believe was God in the flesh, who lived the perfect life, died on the cross, died a death he didn't deserve. That blows my mind. And I think that's why people are attracted to Christianity.
- [20:34]
Interviewer
I think the idea of this mystical experience bigger than we can really truly understand, there's some real pull in that, because so much of the worldly stuff, we see how empty it all is.
- [20:49]
Bryce
Yeah. Yeah. As over the years, a lot of the hungry people I've met for truth and for Jesus are people that have had everything. And I think there's a lot of truth to that.
- [21:02]
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- [22:55]
Interviewer
Tell me about some of the things that you've learned or experienced along the way that have really hit home with you and deepened your experience.
- [23:06]
Bryce
So I talked about how I haven't had crippling anxiety and depression since that day. It's been over five years. And last year in the fall, I had heard of someone that I used to be friends with. We just hadn't hung out in a long time. I don't know why. Had spread a rumor about me in front of some friends, and it had really hurt me. It was just something completely out of character. Then I had seen them the next day after I'd heard about it, they came up to me and talked to me. Like nothing was going on because they had no idea that I knew. And I. I treated them like normal and loved on them. And I remember leaving, having so much anxiety on my chest. And I remember going home and laying in bed. I couldn't get out of bed for a full day. And I remember that whole time I'm laying there struggling with anxiety, can't get out of my head. I just keep hearing Satan go, well, God never set you free from anxiety because you're battling with it now, and you're just a big hypocrite. And you can't talk about Jesus anymore, and you can't tell people that Jesus saved you from your anxiety and all this other stuff. And I'm getting in my head and I can't get out of bed. And I literally am sitting there thinking, I can't remember last time I felt like this, and I felt defeated. And I remember finally getting myself out of the bed to go on a run. And I'm going on a run, and I start praying, you know, Jesus, I don't know what's happening to me. And I. I try to be cautious by saying, well, I heard the Lord say, but I very heard clearly Jesus say, you're not a hypocrite. You're just human. And that rocked me to the core. And I start crying on this run. I'm like, wow, you're so right. Like, it caught me in a moment where I had hidden pride, maybe where I was like, oh, I've with my chest out, I've defeated anxiety and depression through Jesus. I don't struggle with it anymore. And then I get hit, and it's like, are you a hypocrite? No, you're just human. And being honest about it, like, yeah, I had a moment of anxiety. That's a moment. It doesn't make me a hypocrite, just makes you human. And that's life. That's what it looks like to be human. What does it mean? We're all broken. And that's what it looks like being a Christian is. You're leaning on Jesus. You're trusting that his way is better, that his wisdom is better, that what he has in store for your life is better than what you think is best for your life and everything in between. And that was a big testing moment to go, wow, am I really trusting Jesus right now? Because I'm hurting. And that was something I had learned. It's like, wow, you're just a human. And that's not an excuse to make mistakes on purpose. But that's just the truth of going, you're not perfect. You're broken. And that's even more of a reason to lean on someone who was perfect and knows everything about you and had intentionality in making you that. I think that's been the biggest thing.
- [25:48]
Interviewer
And I guess progress is when something hits you like that, the faster you can get back to that relationship. The recovery. That's what it's about.
- [25:59]
Bryce
Yeah, I like that.
- [26:00]
Interviewer
And so much happens that's out of our control. That's another part of it. It's hard.
- [26:04]
Bryce
Yeah, it is hard. Life. Life is hard. And it can be.
- [26:08]
Interviewer
Tell me about talking to people about Jesus in the street. Strangers.
- [26:12]
Bryce
I love it. It's one of my favorite things ever.
- [26:14]
Interviewer
When did you start doing that? Right away.
- [26:16]
Bryce
Right away. I would run up to people and be like, jesus loves you. And then I'd run away before they could respond because I didn't have the answers to their questions. And then I would finally start standing there, and people would ask me difficult questions. And it honestly challenged me to go deeper into my faith. Like, oh, what do I. Do I really love Jesus? Do I not even just, do I really love Jesus? Like, do I really believe he's the truth? I need to. I need to research. So I was grateful for that. I faced everything in between. I've seen people cry and fall into my arms and want Jesus. And I've seen people go, I don't want anything to do with it. Stop talking to me and leave. Middle of conversation. But I can tell you one thing, is that we do not purposefully cause anger. And that's something that breaks my heart, that I see a lot of, for lack of a better term, street preachers, there's truth in their message, but they think they're getting persecuted. When they make someone angry, it's like, you're not getting persecuted. You're just provoking anger out of someone. And a lot of times, we'll go into similar environments that street preachers are at, and we'll stand 50ft from the street preacher, and someone will be pulling the middle finger and cussing them out. And then they'll walk by and I'll go, what do you think about that? Like, oh, that is so crazy. And I'm like, what do you think about Jesus? I don't know. I mean, grew up in church, and we. We have the conversation that they're trying to have.
- [27:33]
Interviewer
The real conversation.
- [27:34]
Bryce
Yeah. So I think that's. That's just been the most fun part, is getting to talk to People from all walks of life that have all different belief systems and get to have a gentle conversation and attempt to plant the seed. You know, it's not my job to save someone, but it's my job to plant a seed.
- [27:52]
Interviewer
And do you spend more time talking one on one to people or do you get to talk to big groups of people?
- [27:58]
Bryce
I think now we've been getting invited to more group settings, but I love more one on one or more intimate settings. I just love talking to people one on one because it's so intentional. And if you're not a Christian and you're hurting, you don't feel seen. And to stop and see someone as a human being and not for their mistakes or not for the clothes that they wear or not for the person that they're trying to be, but just as who they are, I think that's powerful. And I think more people need it. I think we need to do it with more people.
- [28:27]
Interviewer
What's the first time you spoke in front of a big group?
- [28:30]
Bryce
I preached in front of a big group within the first year I had become a Christian. But I would definitely say after we started our ministry and talking to people online and posting the videos of us talking to people online, what's it like
- [28:42]
Interviewer
to talk to a large group of people?
- [28:45]
Bryce
It's an honor. I don't feel like I have to prove anything to anyone.
- [28:48]
Interviewer
And it's not really about you when you're not there to talk about yourself.
- [28:51]
Bryce
Yeah. I can just feel like, brag on God for 30 minutes and be like, all right, yeah, have a good day, you know?
- [28:57]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [28:57]
Bryce
I think that's been. That's like the coolest part about it is you don't. It's not about you. In fact, I like to tell on myself a lot about how many mistakes I've made, because I think that's even more relatable. I think one of my favorite things about getting to talk in front of a group, it's one of the hardest things I had growing up is I felt like I had heard a lot of preaching where a lot of preachers and pastors, I felt like they had it all together and I don't have it all together. And I want to be vulnerable about that and be like, I'm broken, I hurt, I suffer, I make mistakes, and I try as best as I can to. To model that. I also don't wear nice clothes when I talk to a big crowd or whatever that may be. Whatever you mean nice clothes? Like, yeah, I'll wear crocs and a T shirt.
- [29:41]
Interviewer
You dress like yourself.
- [29:42]
Bryce
Yeah.
- [29:43]
Interviewer
Give me some examples of talking to people in memorable connections.
- [29:47]
Bryce
One of my favorite ones was at Venice Beach. I was doing an interview with a Christian ministry from South Korea. And they were, like, filming this interview. And we had set up somewhere, but this live band was playing. It was super loud. So they were like, we have to move locations. And so we were moving locations and off camera, I didn't realize the guy was recording, but the guy had kept the camera record. But he was, like, walking by his side, so it wasn't like a real shot. And the guy that was interviewing me was just asking me. He was like, how do you guys fund all this? And I was talking about how, like, people just give to our ministry, and there's no requirement, but if people have been impacted, they can give. And so believers send us out. That's, like, how it works. And this homeless guy was pointing at me from really far away and just kept yelling, you're gonna die. You're gonna die. You're gonna die, yelling at me. And everyone was walking past this guy, avoiding him, like, yo, this guy's crazy. What is this guy doing? Whatever. And I remember, like, the camera guy and the guy interviewing me, they're, like, seeing this guy, and they're totally trying to avoid him, but he's pointing at me and he's, you're gonna die. And I walked right up to him and I said, hey. Hey, man. How's it going? He said something like, oh, it's going good or it's going fine. Or I was like, when's the last time someone told you that they loved you? He's like, it's been a long time. And I was like, well, I love you, man. And he starts crying, and he just goes, pray for me. Falls in my arms, started praying for him. And that moment marks me because I'm like, we walk past so many people because we go, oh, that guy looks crazy because he's just yelling something right now. Is he crazy or is he just hurting? Because do we not do crazy stuff when we hurt sometimes? I know I do. I make a lot of mistakes, and I say sometimes hurtful things when I'm hurting that I don't mean. And, you know, whatever it may be, you don't know what that guy's going through. You don't know if he got to sleep last night. You don't know what he's doing. Why are we going to walk past him? And that is literally, the heart of Jesus is constantly throughout Scripture Jesus is looking at the one. He goes to the pool of Bethsaida and there's a bunch of physically sick people there with physical ailments that think if they can be the first one in the pool, that the pool water will heal them. And he. He walks over people just to get the one guy. It's not cause he's neglecting other people. He's just on mission for the one guy. And I'm like, why do we. We see Jesus do that, but we can't do that. Another similar experience. It was like we were. I was out eating kind of something similar. I was just out eating in an outdoor venue, and this homeless guy comes up and he's yelling at me, and he walks up to the railing that's separating the table from the sidewalk and he starts screaming. And he's screaming and yelling at me and I'm like, hey, bro, are you okay? And he kind of like shakes his head and sobers up and he's like, bro, I don't know what's going on. I'm like, ODing right now on substances and I need help. And I was like, let me pray for you. And he falls in my arms right there at the table. And my friends is. I had a non believing friend with me who wasn't a Christian. He's kind of like afraid because he's like, this guy just came. He came out of nowhere. I have no idea where this guy came from. And we pray for him. And he gets done. He's like, I feel completely fine. I don't feel anything. Like, I don't feel anything wrong with my body. I don't feel overwhelmed. I don't feel anxiety. And I was like, sure, Jesus with him and gave him a big hug. And he walks away. And so many times we turn those people away. I'm like, why do we turn people away? I don't understand that. Yeah, those moments really have marked me.
- [33:14]
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- [35:15]
Interviewer
Can you remember the first time that you went up to somebody where it felt like it could have been confrontational?
- [35:21]
Bryce
So I had a friend went to Christian school with me when I moved there in the fourth grade. And this guy had given me a hard time. Fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade. And then he kind of mellowed out a little bit. But then he left our school after freshman year and moved to another school. Then he dropped out and started selling drugs and getting involved with gang stuff. And I remember a few months after I became a Christian, he was posting on Snapchat talking about how he had become Muslim. Now, my Muslim friends, they respect Jesus as a prophet. They don't worship Jesus as God. And so I just hit him on Snapchat and I said, hey dude, have you ever looked into Jesus? It's like being God starts cussing me out over the phone and he kept saying he was going to kill me. He's like, I'm going to kill you. I don't know. When you follow Jesus, especially at the beginning, God gives you this weird boldness that's like you just feel like you can run through a brick wall and you're going to come out with no scuffs. And so I told him, I was like, look man, I would love to meet up with you for lunch and just hear how you're doing and talk to you about Jesus if you're down. And I sent him my favorite spot, favorite Mexican restaurant. And he said, if you show up here this time, I'm going to kill you. I said, okay. And I pulled up, he pulled up right next to me in his car and I got out and he got out, he came up to me and gave me a big hug and started crying. Yeah, that might have been confrontational. He was like, yeah, I'm going to hurt you. And it was really intense. But oftentimes those people are the ones that really want to be seen. You know, they really want to. They really want to experience love from people, love of God. And yeah, there's been, there's been a lot of instances, stuff like that how
- [36:57]
Interviewer
does God speak to you and through you?
- [37:04]
Bryce
God speaks to me a lot through His Word. So when I read the Bible, I get a lot of revelation. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is sent to teach us things and bring conviction in our lives. So when I read the Bible, I ask the Holy Spirit to teach me and bring conviction. It's John 14. So every time I read, I like to do it. God typically speaks to me when I'm in the shower. I don't think that's a coincidence. I think for two reasons. Number one, everything's on the table in the shower. You're fully vulnerable. But God's voice is compared to being as still and calm as the water. And so obviously that can be in a metaphorical, in a sense. But I love being by water. I love the beach. God speaks to me in the shower. God typically speaks to me intrusively. And I believe God can speak to everyone intrusively. So not every thought you get is from God. Right? Like, if I'm like, oh, I'm going to punch Rick in the face right now, we'd both be like, I don't think God's telling us to punch Rick in the face. That's why the Bible says, take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. Is this something that God's speaking or is this something that is not from God? You know, would this align with God's character and draw you towards God, or is this not what God's character is like and draw you further? So he speaks to me intrusively. And so sometimes, like, God speaks to me. I think primarily God speaks through me through action. And I think he speaks through everyone through action. You know, it's. We like to talk a lot, but not a lot of people like to live it out. And I make mistakes, but I want to try to live it out to the best of my ability. I think secondly through. Through the way of communication. I've always had a heart to make complex ideas simpler to understand because I'm not a smart guy. I have a hard time reading Shakespeare and complex literature. So I like doing that. But sometimes I'll be sitting talking with someone and I feel like God tells me something about the person. They're struggling with something, or if they've got a physical ailment and I'll ask, and sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not. I'm not discouraged if it's right or wrong, but if it's right, sometimes God speaks through that way. Those are a few ways God speaks through me, but the intrusive thing is so beautiful because I think he can speak to everyone intrusively. And it is so sweet when it happens. And it was. It was happening this morning to me in the shower, which is so sweet and beautiful.
- [39:11]
Interviewer
You know, describe today in the shower.
- [39:13]
Bryce
I struggle a lot with what people think about me because I've always struggled with people pleasing before being a Christian. And so, you know, if I'm misunderstood or someone takes something in the way that I didn't say it, I get hurt because I'm like, oh, I didn't mean it that way, or, you know, whatever. So I'm kind of talking to Jesus and I'm in the shower praying, and I'm going, man, God, I want to be more like you. I want to be how you want me to be. I want to love you, and I want to be your son, and I just want to focus on being yours. And I don't want to care what other people think and this, this and that. And Jesus was speaking to me about some practical things I needed to do. Like, it would help you if you, you know, stopped looking at what people say online. It would help if you deleted Instagram, and it would help if you did this. And. And it would help if you would just trust other people to do what they're supposed to do so you can focus on being mine. And I'm sitting there in the shower going like, wow, this is so good. And it's so hard, but it's so good. It's like I want to and I don't. And I'm like, talking to God and he hears my heart and it's beautiful. And I even remember the other night I was really down and having a hard time going to sleep and getting in my head. I'm a big thinker, and I was telling you I get in my head a lot.
- [40:19]
Interviewer
What would be the kind of thing at night that would be keeping you
- [40:22]
Bryce
awake in a good way? Things that keep me awake or reach of people. I'm like, man, I want people to know Jesus so bad, but in a bad way. It can be if someone misunderstands me or if I made a mistake and I'm in my head about it. I have a hard time forgiving myself for mistakes I make or worrying about things. My mind oftentimes goes to a mega extreme because I've had years of hurt before leading up to being Christian. I've been hurt being a Christian, but years of hurt in different ways. And so I'm afraid that some of those things might happen in a new form or fashion. Now I remember I was worrying about a plethora of things. It was like 2am I was on the east coast and one of my mentors sent me a Bible verse from the west coast and was like, hey, this made me think of you. I thought of you when I was reading this. I just wanted to send it to you.
- [41:10]
Interviewer
Do you remember what it was?
- [41:12]
Bryce
Yeah, it was First Timothy. I could pull it up if you want me to. And I remember it rocked me to the core because I'm sitting there thinking and I'm like, I feel like. So Paul's writing to Timothy is like his prodigy is minty. And he's encouraging him in First Timothy. And I love Paul so much because Paul has written most of the New Testament. And if anyone has anything to brag, it's this guy. I mean, you used to kill Christians and now you don't kill Christians anymore. And you're the most radical and a cool way about Christians and you've encouraged so many people and you have everything in rhyme or reason to brag. So, you know, if anyone's going to brag, you should brag Paul. And he writes in First Timothy, chapter one. And he starts in verse 15. He says this in verse 15. Here's a word you can take to heart and depend on. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I'm proof public sinner number one. And I stopped and I'm thinking, I'm public sinner number one. That's me. Of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off evidence of his endless patience to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. And gosh, that hit me to the core because I'm like, I am public sinner number one. And God, for some reason, when I was 17 years old, decided to stop me from taking my life. I feel like if you're the God of the universe, you got everything on your plate, but you care about me. And he shows me off as a reason that people can be saved for the sake of other people that are on the edge of trusting Jesus. And I remember reading that verse at 2am and I started to cry in the bed because I'm like, man, none of this noise matters right now. It's just like, I am God's child and he has saved me. And I know I'm like, Paul, you think you're public sinner number one. I'm public sinner number one. You wrote half the New Testament. I have a hard time remembering some of the stuff you wrote. You know, you stopped killing Christians. And I still wound people with my words sometimes. But God, you have chosen to love me and choose me despite my mistakes. And I couldn't help but cry because I'm like, this is so powerful. And so I love God's word and I love when he speaks to me intrusively and calms me with his voice, because he is the Prince of peace. And it is beautiful and I love it.
- [43:38]
Interviewer
Tell me about the Trinity.
- [43:40]
Bryce
Oh, my gosh. I think it's the greatest, greatest display, most beautiful thing of love. So the Trinity, the best way that I have heard it in First John. First John writes that God is love. And universally every religion would say God is love. The Trinity is. We believe that God is one essence, one being, three distinct persons that are all co. Equal, all 100% God. So God the Father is 100% God, God the Son is 100% God. God the Holy Spirit is 100% God. And that sounds complex, but the best way that I've heard described is if God is love. The purest form of love is to both give love and receive love. So if God was only one being and one person, he would not be the purest form of love because he could only receive love. Who would he give the love to? If before everything was created, God has always existed, but he's one being and one person. Who does he have that love to give to? No one. So he wouldn't be the purest form of love. But if the God of Christianity is true and the Trinity is true, and the three persons of the Godhead have existed always, they have all both given love to each other and received love from each other, I think it's so beautiful. God the Father has such a unique role. I mean, how cool is it that we can look at God as a father and not a dictator? Jesus says, I no longer call you servants. I call you friends. That is such a beautiful comparison. And then it costed God something to ransom us from hell. His own son, his only son. He didn't have like a hundred sheep and he chose one. He's like, all right, I'm counting the cost here. I got 99. You know, he's like, oh, I've got one son and I'm giving him for you. And the Holy Spirit. I love the Bible because it goes, you know, we're made. We were always designed for relationship from the garden. That's what the garden is. We're designed for relationship. And then sin separated us from that. But God's like, you know what? You're not done yet. So I'm gonna give you the law, 613 laws and 10 Commandments through Moses, bam, here you go. Gives it to him. And then they go, well, this is great. But then God goes, let's create the ark of the covenant, which was this beautiful structure that was intently made that only the Levites could carry. And they would carry it from city to city that housed the presence of God. The presence of God is in this box. And they go, well, we're going to do one and better. And the Holy Spirit would only go on one person at a time. It would choose one prophet. And then Jesus comes. He's like, no, God is going to enter into time and space where he always receives glory, into a space where he will be spit on, mocked, beaten, backstabbed by friends, gossiped about everything in between that we experience, he experienced. So it'll be as close to you like a friend, like us talking. And then he ascends into heaven. And I think all the time, like, the disciples are like, wait, Jesus, you can't leave us. I'm be doing the same thing. No, no way you are leaving us, Jesus, we have you right here. No, it's better for me to go, because now I'm not just going to be next to you. The Holy Spirit will live inside of you. I will send the Holy Spirit to anyone who puts faith and trust in me to be the seal on your heart. So that you know, that you know, that you know you have confidence in your salvation, but to teach you things and bring conviction and he can live inside of you. God has always desired to become as close to us as possible. And that's the beauty of the Godhead, is they all work together so beautifully and magnificently. And it's the purest form of love on display.
- [47:20]
Interviewer
Tell me more about the Holy Spirit.
- [47:22]
Bryce
Oh, I love the Holy Spirit. I don't think we talk about him enough. I think we should pray to him because he's God. I think we should talk to him daily. I talk to him like a friend, you know, I love when Jesus is like, you know, the Pharisees like to use lofty fancy words, as if those words help them get their prayer faster. Sometimes I'm talking to God, like, man, I am pissed right now. I'm so frustrated. And that honesty. I think God loves the honesty. The Holy Spirit's unique because you can grieve or quench the Holy Spirit Sin grieves the Holy Spirit because he's like, why do you choose that over me? You have me and you can quench the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit's moving and you decide to stop what God's doing for the sake of the program or for the sake of, oh, keeping the day going on, you know, you don't want to move past that moment until the Holy spirit goes. John 14, his teacher that teaches you things and brings conviction in your life. And so oftentimes I pray to the Holy Spirit, I go, holy Spirit, give me conviction. Teach me your word. Speak to me daily. Don't let me lose your voice. Don't let me lose sight of you. Would you let your word be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path? Like as I read the Bible, please teach me so I can let this guide my feet. Because they have different roles, the persons have different roles. And it's beautiful. We need the Holy Spirit. And I think we sometimes Christians get scared to talk about the Holy Spirit because it's easy to talk about Jesus. We have his words and we have his life and things like that. And I think it's careful, you know, you always want to be careful and don't want to say the wrong thing. But Holy Spirit is beautiful and we need to talk to him more.
- [49:14]
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- [50:41]
Interviewer
Which Bible app do you use?
- [50:43]
Bryce
Well, I use a couple different ones. I use the the basic Bible app because it has all the translations on it. But I love the Halo app. This is just like a personal thing I like to do. The guy that plays Jesus from the Chosen series, he reads audio. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Gospels. I love listening to that. I don't like the robot voice. I like it somewhat. A real person reading it. And it just. The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word of God. And I just like to take that into practicality sometimes and listen.
- [51:15]
Interviewer
Tell me about the difference between reading the Bible and listening to the Bible.
- [51:20]
Bryce
Our eyes and our ears are the windows to our soul and what we consume is what we become. And I think we can get legalistic sometimes. I don't want to get legalistic, but I remember the first two weeks after becoming a Christian, I could feel depression creeping up on me. And I remembered one of the reasons was because I loved listening to sad music. And I was still listening to it mainly because I liked the instruments. It wasn't because I was trying to be sad. I just liked the instruments. But then I moved to jazz because I'm like, wow, they have great instruments too. Nothing against sad music. I was just like, this is. I'm having conflict in my heart with it. And so I stopped listening to it. And so I love listening to the Word because sometimes I catch things that I didn't catch when reading it, or vice versa. I catch something reading that I didn't hear. We don't realize how much the outward world affects our soul just from what we see and what we hear. And so even if I'm not paying attention, like a lot of times in the gym, I listen to that audio Bible and I'll ponder what I'm listening to, or I'll just let it enter into my heart. Just ask God to write it on the tablet of my heart. God, write your word on my heart so that I can live this thing out and let me remember it and dwell on it and sit on it. And so Jonathan Roumi has blessed me on the Hallow app by being able to listen to the Gospels. And it's been amazing.
- [52:35]
Interviewer
How would you compare the different translations?
- [52:38]
Bryce
Well, it depends, you know. So like, I like to read out of the esv. So it's a typical. It's more like word for word translation. That translation I read out out of that first Timothy was message translation. And I typically don'. Read the message translation, but it's more of like a personified version of the word. So it just like sometimes the phrasing on certain things sounds great. I love the nlt. It's interesting because, like in the Greek language, which the Bible was written in Greek, Hebrew and a little bit of Aramaic, the Greek language has like five different words for love, one word for God's love, one word for like I love pizza. One word for like, I love your friends. But like in the English language we just have love. And that can mean a plethora of different things. And so the different translations, they preserve the message, the transmission of what's going on across the 66 books. But the translation, it's beautiful in a way that we have different words that can be able to understand what is being shared here. You're trying to conceptualize the unconditional love of God. Well, Greek word is agape, but in English it's just love, love, love for everything. So I like to read different ones. But I've always grown up reading the esv. A lot of the stuff I've memorized is esv, so I just stick to it. But CSB is great. Nlt, I love NIV is great. My grandma grew up on kjv, new nkjv, so she reads that.
- [54:01]
Interviewer
Tell me about building a ministry. What's entailed? I know very little about that.
- [54:05]
Bryce
I don't know, it can be, it can be a lot of different things. It can be fun, exciting, it can be scary. Ministry can become a monster. It can be hard. I think practically it's hard. I have a hard time raising money because I'm great at casting vision, but I always get weird about asking people for money because I'm like, I feel so weird. Like, you know, this is a, it's, it's just interesting to me. But you know, that's, that's the reality of like having a non profit and trying to start. It's like, hey, you know, because people have different gifts. You know, I'm not, I'm not a good businessman, you know, I'm not a good mathematician or professor. So if God's called you to be a professor, go be a professor. Like, you know, not everyone has to become a pastor. If you become a Christian, go be an incredible producer for music, you know, amazing stuff. But God has called me to go be in the street. And if you want to be a part of that, you don't have to leave your job, you know, you can partner with us. And that's always been hard for me because I always want to. I've also seen money corrupt a lot of people and I've seen some dirty stuff in ministry. People that I love and people that many people know, big ministries that just breaks my heart and how they've treated money and treated people. So I always want to be cautious and careful. But I love vision casting with God because it's not my ministry, it's His. And I'm not doing God a favor for preaching the gospel. God doesn't need Bryce to start a ministry. He can use somebody else. God has allowed us to do it, and I don't understand why. So it's fun, and building a team is fun, and it's hard. And I'm 22, so I'm like, I don't even know what I'm doing. But it's uncharted territory. And it's fun. And I always like talking to other people because they've made a lot better decisions than I have. And I want to be able to learn from other people.
- [55:42]
Interviewer
Tell me about your daily practice of faith.
- [55:45]
Bryce
My daily practice of faith is in the morning. I don't start anything until 10am time.
- [55:50]
Interviewer
Do you wake up?
- [55:51]
Bryce
I wake up about 7.
- [55:52]
Interviewer
So what happens from 7 to 10?
- [55:54]
Bryce
So 7? I immediately walk my dog. I have a dog. His name's Moses, coincidentally. So, you know, that's cool. But we go on a prayer walk. So I take Moses on his walk and I pray. Thank God for waking me up. Thank God for having me alive. I. I don't try to get on my phone during that time period. The first time I really try to get on my phone is when I start walking on the treadmill. But I'll get to that. I wake up and I walk the dog and I come back. And after I come back, I've got to go to the gym. I just love trying to keep my body healthy. My body's a temple, and so I want to take care of it. So I go work out and I go sweat. And when I get on the treadmill, that's when I begin to first check my phone and see what's going on. And as I'm in the gym, I either listen to worship music or listen to the Word. After that, I come back and I go into the shower and I pray more. In the shower, I talk to God. That's where he speaks to me a lot. It's where I get a lot of vision and stuff like that. And that's always fun. And I get ready in the morning, and as I'm in the shower, I have a waterproof Bible and I read a proverb of the day in the shower. I love that. Practical wisdom. And then after the shower, I get out and I read the Bible a little bit more on whatever I want to read. Then it's about 10am and it's time to go. If it's not 10am I'll check on my wife. And you Know, see if she wants coffee or something and get that for her. But once 10am hits, it's whatever's on the agenda. If it's, we're gonna teach the Bible on a podcast, we're gonna go talk to this person, we're gonna go to the street, we're gonna go do whatever, you know, have a call, whatever it may be. But that crucial moment from 7 to 10 is so important for me because if I don't get that, I'm the most selfish, prideful, not godly version of myself. But if I get that time, it's like that time fuels the rest of my day.
- [57:40]
Interviewer
What happens at the end of the day?
- [57:42]
Bryce
So after about 5 o', clock, I really try to stop. I love doing what I do, so I try not to bind myself the time. But towards the end of the day, I like to wind down, spend time with my wife. I walk my dog multiple times a day, so I love those breaks. But towards the end of the day, I like to reflect on the day in my brain and think about things I could do better and things that were wins. I will call oftentimes, David, my manager towards the end of the day or something like that. I'd love to spend time with friends and have conversations, get meals, get meals with my wife, get meals with our friends. But towards nighttime, that's when I really start winding down. And I've tried to get back into reading just in general. So I've bought a couple of C.S. lewis books. I think he's incredible. I just started the great divorce. I'm excited about that. And then at nighttime, this is always so sweet. But at nighttime I like having little conversations with my wife, like when we're laying in bed getting ready to go to go to sleep. And I love just encouraging her at night, talking about how I love connecting with her, I love talking with her, I love spending time with her and just encourage her and leave us on a high note. Going to bed and things like that.
- [58:53]
Interviewer
Pray before sleep.
- [58:54]
Bryce
Yes, absolutely. Pray before sleep, pray before meals and those. And the prayer time is oftentimes on my walks, when I go on walks with Moses. That sounds like so holy. It's like I'm going on a walk with Moses. I love to pray when I go on walks, especially at nighttime. And last night I was actually cherishing with God on that walk, going like, wow, it feels so good outside. You're amazing. And it's interesting. We have a balcony in our apartment. I've been sitting out there lately at night and I'LL think and talk to God. And I really try to guard my heart at night because I think at nighttime, again, you know, that's when you can get in your brain. And just in general, scientifically, your willpower is the weakest the longer the day goes on. And so I think that's sometimes why I get in my head too. Naturally, my morning routine is the most important, and that typically fuels me throughout my day. And if I get that proverbs, that proverb time in the shower and that little Bible time before 10, I find more moments throughout my day to sprinkle in more prayer and Bible time.
- [59:50]
Interviewer
Do you have a favorite proverb?
- [59:52]
Bryce
I really like Proverbs 8, 9, and 10. They're all about wisdom. I read Proverbs 10 yesterday, and it was talking about storing up wisdom, treasuring wisdom. Can you read it for us? I would love to.
- [60:04]
Interviewer
I'd love to hear it.
- [60:06]
Bryce
Proverbs 10 starts off by saying, a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich man. I love that verse because it's like we ask God to do things that we can practically do. Like sometimes we gotta take action steps. He who gathers in the summer is a prudent son but he who sleeps in a harvest is a son who brings shame. Blessings are on the head of the righteous but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. The wise of heart will receive commandments but a babbling fool will come to ruin. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, and a babbling fool will come to ruin. The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses so powerful. On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found But a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense. The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near. A rich man's wealth is his strong city the poverty of the poor is their ruin. The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked to sin. Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life but he who rejects reproof Leads others astray. The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a foolish. When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many, but the fools die for lack of sense. The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers. The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.
- [63:12]
Interviewer
How important is gratitude in prayer?
- [63:16]
Bryce
Oh, if we lose gratitude, we lose everything. The Bible says in the book of Psalms, we enter his courts with praise and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving shouldn't just be a holiday. It is a weapon against sin. You know, scientifically, the same receptor in your brain for anxiety is gratitude. So a lot of people say, you
- [63:36]
Interviewer
know, I didn't know that.
- [63:37]
Bryce
Yeah. So if you be. If you become grateful, oftentimes you can practically combat anxiety. But gratitude is a weapon. And that's what I love about Old Testament Israel is they would get in a bind. You know, the cycle is like they. They worship a golden image, and then they. Something bad happens to them, and they go, God, we're sorry, save us. And then God saves us. And then they, like, worship another golden image. And you're like, how's. How did that just happen? But every time they had circular thinking, we think linear, so we think the past is the past, now is now, the future's to come. Whereas Israel would go, okay, we're in a bond, but God has helped us out before, so if he's done it before, he'll do it again, if not with more power. And I think that's how we need to think. That's a sense of gratitude. So I try to be grateful for the small things and the big things, like, man, Mattie, I love connecting with you, God, I love connecting with you. I love connecting with you in prayer and small things like talking to my wife and big things with God, like, man, God, I'm just grateful that you woke me up. Thank you that the weather's nice. Thank you that it's not too hot, it's not too cold. Thank you that I have clean water. Thank you that I have shoes. Thank you that I have. And a lot of people, we. We neglect the small things until we go and see someone without something we've taken for granted. And then we go, wow, I didn't realize how important that is. You know, like, when's the last time we thanked God for the dentist? You know, we don't, we don't think that until we have a toothache or we, we haven't thanked God today that we don't have a sore throat, but we don't start praying for that sore throat to go away until the soreness comes instead of thanking God for not having the soreness. And so gratitude has been one of the biggest weapons against the devil, because the devil will try to discourage you. The devil is seductive. He's not just a red guy with horns and a pitchfork. He's in a tuxedo with slicked back hair. He knows what you like, he knows what you don't like. But we're oftentimes choosing between a good door and a God door, and that's difficult. And so being grateful for the good decisions, being grateful for God helping us through the bad decisions, being grateful that God is always with us, you know, we can't just rejoice with God at the top of the mountain. We have to learn to suffer with him as well, because Christ suffered so he's experienced suffering and glory. And we need to be able to learn to be grateful in all circumstances.
- [65:50]
Interviewer
Would you say any hardships you've had in life have always led to something good?
- [65:56]
Bryce
Yes. And it may not always be something big or, you know, financial or something grand, but it's led to friendships, it's led to connection, it's led to peace, it's led to whatever it may be. Suffering produces good character. And the Bible says God works all things together for the good, for those who are in Christ Jesus. God didn't inflict depression and anxiety on me, but if I had never gone through that, I wouldn't be able to connect with a generation that really struggles with anxiety and depression. So much. And so I'm grateful for that. What do you mean you're grateful for depression and anxiety? I'm just grateful that I went through it. God brought me out of it and I'm able to connect and understand. I've personally never done drugs or alcohol, so like, I can't connect with someone who's had substance abuse. I can deliver the same message because the same message is for everyone, no matter what you struggle with. But you know, whether it's someone who was an addict, who isn't an addict can connect better with that person. And so, yeah, Jesus always tends to work things together for the good, for those who are in him, and for his purpose, for his glory. And I always thought that like following Jesus would be like, I'd get a girlfriend, get a big fat bank account, I'd get this. And it was like, no, I actually lost friends. I actually had a hard time. And it was all these things, but it led to finding good friends. I have a wife, you know, all of these things. And so yeah, it's God is so good.
- [67:27]
Narrator
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- [68:56]
Interviewer
How is praying with others different than praying by yourself?
- [69:02]
Bryce
So people get the Matthew chapter 6 passage wrong. When it says, I don't pray in public, it talks about public prayer. It's like it was Jesus condemning public prayer. No, he talks about public prayer if you want to be seen by other people. If your whole reason for praying in public is to be seen by other people, he's like, you already got your reward. You got eyeballs on you. Public prayer is a beautiful thing. I think we should come together and pray More actually, it shows our dependence on Jesus. It shows our connection to Jesus. It says, hey, we actually want you to do something about it. God James 5, 16, 17 says, the fervent prayers of the righteous person conquers much. Prayers move God's heart because it shows that we want to talk to him and it shows that we want him to do something about it. But praying in public is beautiful because we're inviting people into communication with God whether or not they believe in Jesus. And prayer can be so practical and tangible because then if you pray with someone that's never prayed before and they go through something hard, they might go, well, I remember praying with Bryce to Jesus one time. So I'm going to pray to Jesus, praying with families, coming together. Because when you also pray with people, even if it's a room of believers, you're all agreeing in the room. Amen. We're all agreeing on what was prayed. God, thank you for this. Would you bless this food for the nourishment of our bodies? And God, thank you for friendship and thank you. Amen. Collectively, we are agreeing together. But then going home in private, that's the difficult one. That's the difficult one, because now, let's say this has happened countless times. We share Jesus with someone on the street. They don't want to believe in Jesus. We pray for them. Now the real test is going home and praying for them when no one unsees and going, God, would you move in their heart even though we can't be there, even if we never see them again, God, would you send other people to them? And so that is always the challenge is our public prayer life should fuel us to pray more in private or else we've missed the point. Prayer now becomes a performative thing and not a personal thing. And so I think that's the caution.
- [71:03]
Interviewer
Tell me about the appearance of faith versus true connection and faith.
- [71:07]
Bryce
Wow, that's a beautiful one. Because cultural Christianity is the killer, A lot of people believe that they are Christians because they go to church or because they pray or because they read a devotional. They read a devotional a month, whatever it may be. Jesus says In Matthew chapter 7, many will come to me on that day and say, well, Lord, look, I prophesied in your name. I cast the demons out in your name. I healed the sick, or I went to church every Sunday, or I read a devotional every month. And he's going to say, depart from me. I never knew you. And that sounds intimidating.
- [71:36]
Interviewer
And we go, whoa.
- [71:37]
Bryce
Well, because those people put their trust in the things that they did for Jesus rather than their trust in what Jesus has done for them. They put all their poker chips in on their works and not on what he did on the cross. So there's a big difference there. But following afterwards, we take, like, verses out and we wrestle with them, and we forget that the verse numbers and the chapter numbers are there to help us navigate the text. It's one big letter. And then immediately after that passage, it goes, yeah, so build your foundation on the rock, which is Christ. Wow, that's pretty practical. Let me build my foundation on him so that that doesn't happen. Don't let me build my foundation on my stuff. And people want authenticity. God wants authenticity. That's why he says God doesn't look at the outward appearance. He looks at the heart. And that was Jesus's criticism to the Pharisees. He's like, the outside of your cup looks clean, but the inside of your heart is deceitful. No one is going to look at a cup on a shelf. I just did this yesterday. We went in our podcast studio. I was filling up a mug, and I look inside the mug. I'm like, the mug's dirty. I'm not filling this up. No one's going to drink out of a dirty mug on the inside, you know, and it's like, we don't want that. The. The heart is deceitful. We need God to change our heart. That's what matters. And so I think we need to be cautious about what it looks like being a Christian. And I think that's like, the pros and the cons of, like, Christian social media. The pros is, wow, you can display your boldness of faith publicly, and it encourages other people, whether publicly or private, whether they post on social media or not, to be private with Jesus. On the contrary, faith can now become a corporate thing than a personal thing. And Paul writes to the Church of Ephesus in the book of Ephesians. And sometimes Paul's letters are criticisms to the church. Like, hey, church of Corinth, you guys keep doing a bunch of crazy stuff. You guys need to chill out. Church of Ephesus. He's like, hey, I love what you guys are doing. You guys are doing great ministry. You're having great impact for. For God. But look, he's like, if there were two choices, and I could only choose one, and choice A is, you guys keep growing a great big ministry and you keep doing your thing, or choice B is that you actually cut the ministry out, but your heart remains Pure for the Lord in your personal relationship for Jesus, without the shadow of a doubt, I would kill the ministry for the sake of your own soul. And even Paul is like, if I could lay my salvation on the line for other people so that I would go to hell for them, I would. So how important is it that actually the corporate stuff doesn't matter? The private life matters. But corporate worship in church, local church, is so important because when we go through bad times, the community comes around us. When we go through good times, we celebrate together and we come into agreement in the room worshiping God. God's in the business of building soldiers who love him, building children who love him personally, rather than people that want to publicly say, hey, I'm a Christian. I do all these things, but privately they're wicked.
- [74:19]
Interviewer
Several times he said, since I become Christian, did you not think of yourself as a Christian prior to that?
- [74:27]
Bryce
No, I did not.
- [74:28]
Interviewer
And that's when you were growing up, going to church and in a family that probably thought of themselves as Christian.
- [74:34]
Bryce
Yes. And the practical things, reading your Bible, prayer, going to church, I think those things are important, and I think those things are why people leave the faith. Structure and order is a beautiful thing, but my hope wasn't in Jesus. My trust wasn't in Jesus. And so I wasn't a Christian. I didn't believe it. You know, if I looked at you and I said, man, I love God, I love Jesus, but I'm cheating on my wife, and I'm getting drunk every night. I'm doing all these things. You go, wow, Bryce probably doesn't really mean what he's talking about, but fruit is evidence of the seed that you've planted in your heart. And so, like an apple tree doesn't have to try hard to grow apples, a Christian doesn't have to try hard to bear fruit. It just naturally bears fruit. Because you love God. I don't do things because I have to for God. I do things because I want to, because I love him. And so my question for anyone and for myself is, does your life look different before you claim to have met Jesus? Until after you claim to have met Jesus? And if it doesn't look different, then I would argue we might be worshiping a different Jesus. Because the Jesus that I believe in and according to the scripture, is the one that shows grace. John chapter 8 to the woman called adultery and says, your sins are forgiven, but then also says, go and sin no more. So your life does look different. Hey, I've forgiven your sin. I've canceled the debt. But, hey, don't do that again. So, you know, that's the big question is, does your life look different before you've claimed to met Jesus? Until after you've claimed to met Jesus?
- [75:57]
Interviewer
Tell me about the Amen.
- [75:58]
Bryce
It's a beautiful word. It's a powerful word. I also love the word selah. It's in psalms. You'll see it in the bridges. Selah.
- [76:06]
Interviewer
What is selah? What does it mean?
- [76:08]
Bryce
Just means rest. Like rest or a break rest. I have a tattooed on my chest because I'm like, man, we forget to rest. But amen, it's so powerful. I don't think we realize how powerful it is because we'll sometimes say Amen not verbally, but in our heart to things that are wicked. We'll agree that this thing is good for our life, or we'll say, oh, yeah, I'm agreeing that this thing is okay, but amen is let it be so. And so when you're trusting Jesus, your life is one big amen to whatever God has in store for you, let it be so. Whatever you say, wherever you call me, whatever you may have me do, and I was so encouraged by that, is just the amen lifestyle is. I met a homeless guy. I'm friends with him. He's in Woodland Hills, and he reads his Bible every day. Every day out there. Super sharp, loves Jesus. And we were talking the other day and he was like, yeah, you know, I save everything that people give me. I save all the money that people give me. Because if God asked me to give all the way, all my money away to another homeless person, I would. And if God asked me to give it away here, or if God asked me to spend it on this thing, I would. And I'm like, wow, that is a big let it be so God, whatever you have, let it be so. I just love that.
- [77:15]
Interviewer
Have you had any mystical experiences?
- [77:19]
Bryce
Yeah, I've seen healing not only in my physical healing, not only in my life, but in other people. I've prayed for physical healing for other people. I've seen broken bones and ACLs healed. The craziest one was I was at Saddle Ranch, the restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. When I first moved to la. I'd been here for like two weeks. And I'm talking to this guy who had a torn acl. He was having surgery the next day, but he was an atheist. And he was just yelling at me in the Saddle Ranch. And I was like, all right, dude, I'm going to pray that God heals your acl. And if he does, you got to give your life to Jesus. He's like, whatever. And I pray for him, and nothing happens. He's like, I told you. Walks out. And I'm like, all right, that's whatever, you know, I'm not discouraged. The next day, he messages me on Instagram. Don't know how he found my Instagram. We hadn't been posting any videos or anything like that. And he's like, dude, I'm freaking out right now because I woke up and I walked downstairs, and I realized I'd walked downstairs, and I don't feel any pain. I'm freaking out. And so he went to the doctor, and he was like. The day of the surgery, he's like, I need to get an MRI scan because I'm not in pain anymore. And they scanned his knee. As the ACL was completely healed. They had no idea what had happened. Met another man in West Hollywood, outside of all that, that strip of bars. And this man came up to me, and we were talking about Jesus, and he was talking about homosexuality and all this other stuff, and he wanted to talk about some Bible, and he had seen our videos online. I prayed for him, and then I felt like God had spoken to me about his lower back. And I was like, do you have pain in your lower back? And he started to cry. He's like, I have this weird muscle disease that eats at the muscle on your bones. And I've had pain in my lower back for over seven years. Never goes away. We prayed for his back. We have this on video. And he bends over and he started crying. He's like, I haven't had relief like this in the first time. A couple of days go by, he comes to church with me. He's like, yeah, my back feels great. I was like, I'm still not in pain. I'm like, okay. The following week. But he didn't give his life to Jesus. Following week, he goes to the doctor, they give him an MRI scan. On the doctor's report, they go, I don't know how it's possible. The disease is completely gone from your body. There was no cure for it. Nothing. We have no idea. He gave his life to Jesus that day because God did something in his life that was physically impossible, but supernaturally not impossible. What's impossible for man is not impossible for God. And those things are beautiful. And God likes to soften hard hearts in that way. You know, people that, like, reject the message, but then God does something supernatural, and they're like, whoa, maybe Jesus is Real. But I had gotten convicted because I was going after that stuff a lot in the early years of our ministry. And then I'd walk away and we would see tons of people get healed physically, but then they would leave with a sick heart still. So we still pray for stuff like that. But I really want to focus on, like, your heart. I would rather you be struggling with a broken bone or migraines or be a paraplegic, but love Jesus.
- [80:13]
Interviewer
Why do you think people are afraid to talk about their faith?
- [80:17]
Bryce
I think they're afraid of backlash. I think they're afraid of opinions. Proverbs says, if the fear of man is like a snare, that thing will keep you immobile. Fear of man, like a bear trap. I keep you from moving forward in your faith, keep you from telling other people. People are so afraid of what people think, of what people have to say. Am I going to lose this friend? And, you know, Jesus speaks so clearly to this. He says, yeah, it costs something to follow me. You've got to deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me. It costs something. Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He says many different things. He talks about. If you even look at the narrative of Scripture, Palm Sunday, people are laying palm leaves at your feet. You're the Messiah. Hosanna. Hosanna. You're the best, Jesus. You're the goat. Five days later. Yeah, kill that guy. Same people. You're like, how does that even happen? How did you get. How did you just get there? Like, I don't even know. So there's all of that in the scriptures, and it costs something to follow him. And that's why Jesus is, in my opinion, the best option out of everything, because he's experienced everything that we will face in some way, shape or form. But people are afraid of what people will have to say. They're afraid of what they'll lose. And ultimately, I think people want control because deep down, people think they know what's best for their life. And so they go, well, I know what's best for my life. I can't do this thing unless I, you know, smoke. Smoke this joint every time. So I need to smoke this joint because that's what's best for my life. Or, well, I have to do this thing and I. I have to have this job because I have to have this amount of money because that's what's best for my life. And it's like, well, we just need to take a second and go thank God. What do you you have in store for me? The guy that knows the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. He can see our birth and our death at the same time. He exists outside of time and space. Maybe that guy knows what's best for our life.
- [82:11]
Narrator
There's a long tradition of reading sacred text slowly, allowing each word to settle, echo and reveal meaning over time. Rather than rushing to conclusions, this practice invites reflection, listening and attention. For centuries, this repetition has been used to stay close to wisdom, not by studying words as information, but by receiving them as something lived and experienced over and over again. This tradition is known as lectio divina. Emerging in early monastic life, it engages scripture through four gentle reading, reflection, repetition, and rest. A short passage is read, a single phrase is held. Silence becomes part of the practice, creating space for insight to surface. Natural Lectio 365 brings that ancient rhythm into the present moment. Designed for modern life, it offers brief, guided scriptural reflections throughout the day. To begin with intention, pause at midday and wind down at night. The readings are less about information gathering and more for returning to wisdom again and again, letting familiar words meet new moments. A modern way to keep biblical wisdom close, quietly present, steady and alive within everyday life. Lectio365 is a free resource. Find inspiration there now and always learn more at lectio365.com.
- [84:27]
Interviewer
When did you first begin to pray out loud?
- [84:31]
Bryce
When I was very young. 4, 5, 6 years old. Sometimes I would catch myself praying, even growing up, because that was just like second nature. That's why I think childlike faith, being a child, the innocence of a child. How easy it is for a child to believe something. You tell a child to pray, they pray. You know, you tell a child about Santa, they grip onto Santa. You tell a child about anything, you actually have to fight them and convince them that that thing is wrong, you know, once they believe it and grab onto it. So Jesus says, you gotta have faith like a child. Don't be childish, but be childlike. So I think about 4, 5, 6 years old.
- [85:07]
Interviewer
Tell me about the different denominations of Christianity.
- [85:12]
Bryce
I have a lot of friends that are Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian. I'm non denominational or interdenominational, whatever you may call it. You know, Christians like to preach against mental health, but I believe the body of Christ cuts itself a lot when the different denominations argue over secondary issues that don't matter. And we act like one is better than the other, or we hate each other because of this, this and that. Like we have to check the core beliefs of Christianity. If we believe the core, then yeah, let's. Let's have respectful conversation about what's going on or what's this about, or, you know, what do you think about Communion? What do you think about this? And I know, you know, Catholics and Orthodox may have a little bit more of a, you know, a necessary approach to those topics, but there's other things that we disagree on, like, once saved, always saved. Like, who gives a rip if you believe once saved, saved. Like, let's just see people know Jesus. It doesn't matter at the end of the day if we die. If one saved, always saved was true. It's like, do you love Jesus and put trust in him? That's what matters. But, you know, I think it's beautiful. There's aspects of Catholicism that I love, and there's some things that I still wrestle with. There's aspects of Orthodoxy that I love, and there's things that I wrestle with. There's aspects of all of it that I love and wrestle with. And so I think denominations are also a sign. And I love this. About it is people are trying to understand the truth about everything in between, about Jesus and Christianity.
- [86:35]
Interviewer
Have you been to an Orthodox Church?
- [86:37]
Bryce
I've been to. Yeah, I've been to a Coptic Orthodox Church.
- [86:40]
Interviewer
What's that like?
- [86:41]
Bryce
You know, it's interesting because there's no light package or smoke machines in there, but it's so holy. And they have this beautiful reference for Jesus Father Lazarus. He's based in Long Beach. He's a Coptic Orthodox priest. He's one of the holiest men I've ever met.
- [86:58]
Interviewer
Beautiful.
- [86:58]
Bryce
And one of the sweetest men I've ever met. And he has the coolest beard I've ever seen. And he has a pure devotion for Jesus. He actually texted me this morning, and it was just beautiful. Like, I love the tradition and the art, especially in Catholicism, too. The churches and all of that is beautiful and magnificent. And the devotion, you know, something beautiful about Catholicism is they really try to make sure that you really believe what you say you believe before you get baptized and all this other stuff. And that's. That's such a beautiful thing, I think. And, yeah, I love the deep respect for tradition and early church history that these guys have, too.
- [87:38]
Interviewer
Were you baptized?
- [87:40]
Bryce
Yeah, I've been baptized.
- [87:41]
Interviewer
When was that?
- [87:42]
Bryce
Well, so I got baptized when I was in the fourth grade, but that was like a. It was like a popular thing. And also I had to do this school assignment where I had to write about what it meant to be baptized. And I'd never been baptized, so I just, you know, Willy nilly went and got baptized. But when I became a believer, I got baptized about a month after. And it was powerful, it was holy.
- [88:01]
Interviewer
Tell me about that experience.
- [88:02]
Bryce
I got baptized in a bathtub a month after I became a believer at a house where I said, I met about a hundred Christians that were talking about Jesus in some way, shape or form. I met them all there and I got baptized in that house. And that was so fun, just being surrounded by people that loved God and that loved me. And they wanted to see people know Jesus. Baptism is such a holy thing and it says that we get united with Christ, we're buried into death and brought up in the resurrection with new life with him. And I don't know what all that means, but it's got to be holy and powerful and magnificent in a way that we connect with God in no other way we can but baptism.
- [88:45]
Interviewer
Tell me about your relationship with your parents.
- [88:48]
Bryce
I have phenomenal parents. They raised me in the right way. I Remember from about 17 to 20, we had a few rough years, a hard time, just some things going on in our family and things that were brought to life. And I was having a hard time wrestling with a few things that happened growing up. And no family's perfect. Every family has their hardships and my parents have great morals and great people. But I remember that Those few years, 17 to 20 were hard. Yeah, our family was falling apart and I remember thinking like, I love everything else that's going on in life, but for some reason, when I think about my family and God doing something in my family, it seems so far fetched because it's like, those are the people closest to you. And they also knew all my junk growing up. So, you know, I always wondered if you guys think I really love Jesus because you guys know all my mistakes and the darkest parts of me. But we started our ministry in 2024, and I remember Christmas in the 23. I gave my mom her first personal Bible and a Bible plan to read the Bible in a year. And she read the Bible in that year all of 2024. My mom has become an incredible woman of faith and is loving Jesus through the past couple of years. And then I remember we started our ministry and we were started this podcast where we were teaching the Bible and we were putting it on YouTube and Spotify and Apple, and I remember going like, well, no one's really listening to it on Spotify, so we're going to take it off. The day we were going to take it off, my dad randomly called me, which at the time, he would call me once every now and then. He was like, hey, I switched from Pandora to Spotify and you got recommended to me on Spotify, so I'm going to start listening. And I'm like, okay, Spotify is priority number one. And God used our podcast in my dad's life to ignite this faith in him and this honesty and this integrity in him that I admire. And I am closer to my family than I've ever been before. And God's done miraculous work in my family, and I love my family and my parents are incredibly supportive and they are kind and fun and involved and everything in between. And I'm so blessed for what God has done in my family's life.
- [91:05]
Interviewer
When you were 17 and just getting started, what did your parents think about what you were doing?
- [91:09]
Bryce
I remember the first couple years, they were kind of like, oh, this is just like a. You know, he's become. He's following Jesus and it's a passion. But then when I started talking about how I wanted to do it full time, talk about Jesus full time, they were kind of like, what? And scared. And it's like social media and it's like, you know, Christianity and social media, it's like a combo for like, what are you. What are you doing? And my dad's a big entrepreneurial guy, so he was like business guy. So he was like, how are you going to live? And then I felt like God called me to LA when I was 18, and I was like, I'm going to move to LA and talk about Jesus. And they were like, what? Like, that doesn't make sense. And they were just confused. But I was like, I got to do it. Like, you just gotta.
- [91:49]
Interviewer
And you didn't do it for commercial reasons. You just knew it's what you had to do. Yeah, you had a calling.
- [91:53]
Bryce
I had a. I went. I was at a conference September 22, praying I was actually supposed to speak. So I graduated high school in May of 2022. Three days later, running from problems and running from hurt, I moved to Florida and was working on boats. And I love the beach. So I thought the rest of my life I was going to, you know, work on boats and, you know, be some Christian, you know, beach rat that worked on boats. And I still love the beach. I'd fallen into some old, bad, bad habits when I was there as well. I was working seven days a week, about 11, 12, 13 hours a day literally didn't take a break, but maybe once the whole time it was like a three day break. I was literally working every day and had run from problems and my problems followed me and was trying to chase money and be successful and all these things. I was like, well, that didn't work. So I went to this conference and I was supposed to speak and I'm like, God, I just want to do whatever you want me to do. I can't live there. I just. Where do you want me to go? What do you want me to do? I'll do anything you want. And I'm about to speak and I walk on stage. I was going to do like a 30 second prayer at the stadium and I get hit by the presence of God. I didn't even say anything, I just passed the microphone and all in my mind just, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Los Angeles. And where I'm from, small country town, you don't go to la. It's like LA is going to fall in the ocean, you know. So I was like, well, I know this isn't selfish because I've never even been to la. I've never had a desire, but I was like, no, no way. And throughout my day, that day, random people would come up to me and go, I think you should move to la. I think God really wouldn't use you in la. And I'm like, what the heck? And so I, that night I'm like, no way. I had like five people come up to me, no way. And that night, one of two friends I had in LA calls me, pray for me. My roommate moved out and so I have an empty room at our house, I need someone to come stay in. And I'm like, okay, don't give that room to anyone. I'm coming. A week later I moved out there and they were confused and I told them I was only going to stay from, you know, the end of September until January. And I've been out here for three years. Coming up on four years, and how
- [94:03]
Interviewer
much culture shock was there? Coming to LA for the first time,
- [94:06]
Bryce
My first day in la. I remember I was in a Santa Monica pier and I was inside the McDonald's just getting a quick bite and this lady in front of me had her dog and I just reached down to pet her dog. She pet everyone's dog in the south and she yanked her dog out of the way and I fell on the ground and she was like looking at me, we're like, I tried to pet her dog and I was like, oh, okay. I'm sorry, I'm not used to the city. I'm not. I wasn't used to the traffic. I wasn't used to the gas prices. I wasn't used to a whole lot of stuff. But you can't beat the weather and it has really grown on me. And actually I really do love this place. I. I love the people and, you know, I think, I think LA is a special place. And there's so much rich Christian history in California, particularly Southern California with Christian revival history. You got Azusa street that happened in like the late teens, early 1920s, the Jesus Revolution in the 60s and 70s. Now we have more revival happening now. I don't think it's a coincidence.
- [95:09]
Interviewer
Tell me about the music in the church.
- [95:12]
Bryce
Oh, I love it. I think there's so much beautiful music. I mean, there's this purity in Christian music right now that I think is so holy and powerful and magnificent. Like. One of my favorite, favorite worship leaders is Abby Gamboa. I don't know if you've ever listened to her.
- [95:28]
Interviewer
I met her. She's incredible, isn't she?
- [95:30]
Bryce
The sweetest soul and she's so pure. There's another worship artist that leads worship at the same church she does sometimes. His name is Aaron Tedeschi and he is, it's called Extravagant by Upper Room. There's an eight minute section and then there's an hour long worship set called Son of God by Upper Room. And he's got a thick black mustache and a striped shirt on, in the picture on the YouTube video. And I just love how he leads a worship because he just lets the Holy Spirit flow. He lets Holy Spirit lead him wherever he goes. And he starts singing this bridge. And I would listen to it every day for a year, every morning I would listen to this thing. And my roommates to this day would always poke fun at me being like, yep, you know, Bryce is up and moving when you hear Extravagant playing in the shower and you know he's in there worshiping. But I love the Christian music and I think it's powerful.
- [96:25]
Interviewer
Have you ever practiced Sabbath on a regular basis?
- [96:28]
Bryce
That's something I'm getting into more of a consistent rhythm on.
- [96:31]
Interviewer
What does it look like?
- [96:32]
Bryce
So I got convicted of it because when I looked at people moving from the east to the west, when they started exploring the western part of America, the people that survived and didn't get sick and die on that sojourn were Jews and Seventh Day Adventists because they were resting. And so many people are in a rush now. How often do you hear, how are you doing? I'm good, I'm busy. Like, is it really a good thing to be busy? And I really believe if the devil can't make you sin, he'll make you busy because he wants to keep you distracted from what you really need. And so Jesus makes a very good point. He said that the Sabbath is for man, not man for the Sabbath. And so like the Sabbath is designed for us as human beings. We weren't designed to conceptualize the Sabbath as into the system. Like, yeah, there's systems that you can put into place. But like, but like the Sabbath is for us. God cared about us. And that one Sabbath day can look like, can fuel the whole six days of your week. So for me, it looks like local church, it looks like being around life giving people, it looks like sweat. I like to work out, it looks like doing life giving hobbies. I'm not good at surfing. I try. I get pummeled by the waves. But it was fun. It's fun when I do it and it's honestly intimidating. Pickleball, going on a walk, spending time with my wife. Spending time with your friends, Spending time in the Word, spending time in prayer and worship, doing things that honor God and that give life to you are beautiful. And I'm not talking about, you know, work. I'm like, go, have fun and play pickleball. Go, go to the beach, lay out in the sun, take time and chill out, Cut your phone off and exist with people and the Lord and let that fuel your day. And for me, I just love doing what I do. I bet you love doing what you do. So for me, it can be hard to be like, what do you mean? I need to take a break. You need to take a break. But even in the awkward tension of like stopping and standing still, I'm so grateful the day later going, wow, I feel sharp, ready and ready to run. And it's important.
- [98:37]
Interviewer
Tell me about the best way to read the Bible.
- [98:43]
Bryce
Number one, inviting the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, teach me, bring me conviction, tell me what this is saying, not only in the context of what's happening, but practically. So the Bible was written to Jews, but for believers. So sometimes we need to understand historical context of what's going on. You know, like when Jesus in Matthew 25 gives the example of the ten virgins, five with oil in their lamp, five without. Like, that wasn't just a random number he thought of. Like, that was the amount of women in a bridal party, in a Galilean wedding, when he uses certain language, he's appealing to language that they would hear and understand. When he calls himself the Son of Man, that's a prophecy from the book of Daniel that the Messiah would call himself, you know, so there's things that we need to learn there. But I think the biggest thing I would say is I mentioned this earlier. We pull three verses out, we wrestle with these verses, or Jesus will explain a parable, and we wrestle with the parable. But if you read the passage afterwards, he oftentimes explains what he just said or you get the full context when you read it in one flow. And so I would be like, man, read the whole chapter or read the passages around it, the few verses before, the few verses afterwards. And I think Bible plans are great. I think we should read, you know, create some sort of rhythm of Scripture. But also at the same time, like, we shouldn't have to put a legalistic pressure on ourselves. Like, oh, you have to, to read 10 chapters a day and if you don't, then you're doing something wrong. And it's like sometimes If I read 10 chapters, like, I don't really digest, yeah, what is going on? It's like, I would rather you digest eight verses and let that sit in your heart and you dwell and meditate on the scriptures than read 10 chapters and go, yeah, I've read through the Bible five times, but I can't tell you what, what's happened. So I, I think that, don't just cherry pick the verses, like read that surrounding context. And, and our Bibles are so unique because even at the bottom of most, if not all Bibles, it'll be like, yo, this verse from the Old Testament and this here is a cross reference and it hints to here and follow the rabbit hole. Jesus just wants us to love him. That's why he, he summarizes all 613 laws. The Pharisees are which, which law is the greatest? Because if he could say one was better than all 612, they could arrest him. That's what they wanted. But he summarizes them all from the book of Deuteronomy by saying, love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength, because that's how you naturally obey the law. In quotations, it's like you, you just focus on loving God and you are naturally loving your neighbor because when you see yourself the way that God sees you, you realize he sees everyone else with the same price tag he put on your life. So when you love God, you love people and you love his commandments. And you love his word and you love the statutes and you love prayer. And so that would be the last thing I would want someone to do is like, just to try so hard to be a Christian. Like, don't try hard to be a Christian. What does that even mean, to try hard to be a Christian? Just love Jesus. Tetragrammatin is a podcast. Tetragrammatin is a website. Tetragrammaton is a whole world of knowledge.
- [102:14]
Narrator
What may fall within the sphere of Tetragramma. Tetragrammaton counterculture, Tetragrammaton Sacred geometry. Tetragrammaton the avant garde. Tetragrammatin Generative art, Tetragrammaton the tarot. Tetragrammaton out of print music. Tetragrammaton Biodynamics. Tetragrammaton graphic design. Tetragrammatin mythology and magic. Tetragrammatin obscure film. Tetragrammatin beach culture. Tetragrammatin esoteric lectures. Tetragrammatin off the grid living Tetragrammaton alt spirituality. Tetragrammatin the canon of fine objects. Tetragrammatin muscle cars. Tetragrammatin Ancient wisdom for a new age. Upon entering, experience the artwork of the day. Take a breath and see where you are drawn.