Welcome back to the Millennial Mustard Seed. Yeah, today actually is the completion of five years hosting, creating, producing this podcast, ministry, whatever you want to call it. Ripple effect, airwave effect, I don't know the new radio, whatever podcasting. I started this journey long time ago, but it was in 2020 that I released the first episode and today marks A5 year completion and into season 6. Now early on God spoke to me about Year 5 powerful things happening.
That's where it would start to take off. So much has happened over the last year, I don't even really know where to begin. So many victories, so many battles fought, territory gained back into the rightful hands of where it belongs. Relentless warfare. I'm talking the middle of the night. And this is not every night. Like it's not, you know, daily horrific. And then to this extent, I'm sharing climaxes, but literally fighting with demons,
principalities, powers. It's it's been it's been a journey. God has shown me that I am here for a reason. And when I still have breath, while I still have breath in my lungs, I'm here to do exactly what I'm here to do his will and accomplish that. I don't want to ramble, didn't randomly just say things on this, but but this is a personalized message where I'm just going to talk a little bit about the last couple years, some of the reviews, some of the emails.
I'm not going to read emails per SE. I don't really have permission to do that. And even if I did do that, I wouldn't use the person's name and e-mail address. But we've gotten encouraging emails. But I think just doing a quick overview, you know, for me, I've learned a lot of lessons in the last few years. One of them is there there shouldn't be a secret backdoor to Christianity. A lesson that I learned is the ancients knew they had a
mindset. They had framework that understood the complexities of the nations around them and the ideas that were in the world around them. And it wasn't like a sacred secular divide with the ancient worldview that like God was combating and defeating the lowercase G gods of the nations around them.
Most Christians today don't hold that worldview, although it's swinging in favor of them discovering it's much more complicated than they've been taught in their seminary or their 30 year journey within the building of a denomination. It's way more complex than that, and I congratulate that. I don't judge anybody who comes out of that place. It's like we all have a little something wrong. We all have a little something right.
We're all waking up to this reality that we've been hoodwinked and it's OK to wake up and look around and find other people like you and and to make the best of it, allowing the Word of God to be the ultimate authority, but not being afraid to put in the time and take that journey. So what I've really learned is that you got to do it with a tribe, but you have to be willing to do it alone first. And you have to be willing to come back to that at any point
in time. You have to be malleable enough to understand people will stab you in the back. People will switch up on you. You're not always if you can't do this alone, and I don't mean alone like as in God's not with you. I mean, if you're not willing to take this journey and, and let the truth be the truth and just get all of your preconceived notions out of the way, it you're not going on the journey. That's one thing I've learned.
Another thing is you got to be honest with where you're at and what you've been through. You got to be honest to God first and foremost. If you can find a tribe, a group of people, a band of brothers who can do this with you, it's even better. But that that's complex as well. It's not always as easy as you might assume. Another thing that I've learned is that this information that that satiated me that would fill these gaps and voids of me not
understanding or not knowing. But but as soon as I would learn these things and study it out and see that it's really as it has been presented to me in my deep research, in my seeking and searching out, I would understand that the rest of the world does not hold that view. So I would I would have to train myself to be like the measure that I give people is what I perceive they're able to handle because I can get as weird as
you can possibly get. I can sit around the campfire and have an extreme conversation and not even miss a beat and then laugh at a joke like it. It doesn't disturb me anymore. I can, I can get weird, but I don't have to get weird all the time. Learning how to gauge that is something that's been really important for me. Like I don't need to run around and hit people with, you know, this perspective that, that I'm learning that that's the ancient
Near Eastern perspective. And I've learned to stop expecting people to reciprocate me a certain way. It's like you get so excited, you learn, you get the answer finally, after all this time, you start getting the answers and you're just excited. You want other people to understand that also. So your energies, like you're just hoping that they can, you know, pass the, the, the understanding back and forth and sharpen you. And that's not for everybody. I've learned that the hard way.
Sometimes you just got to understand less is more. That's totally fine. I'm just being transparent that I've been learning this. I think all of us have some experience in this area of growth and just understanding how to gauge our environment and, and sometimes it's too much for other people. And, but if we can go through that journey with the Lord in sincerity, with a true and pure heart, he will work together all of it for the good.
And some of the other things are, I don't agree with everything I've heard on my show. I really don't. I am not planning on creating content that points out the flaws of people's perspectives and and understandings and teachings around the world. I try to highlight what I agree with or what's interesting to me. And you guys are taking that journey with me, capturing the growth journey, wading through the million messages and signals that cause confusion and chaos.
The premises, the original premises of the show here, you know, back six years ago when this was just in the planning phase and God was giving me the name of this podcast. I, I was literally thinking like, I'm starting off I feel like an imbecile. I feel I feel smaller than a mustard seed and not much has changed. Although I have to give myself some credit and not be my own worst critic. A lot has changed at the same time. And now the clarity.
I've just learned what I feel like a young man would have learned in the ancient Near Eastern mindset, but in my in my 30s, like how to navigate the harder conversations and how to understand the biblical worldview and totality of everything going on around us. The the spiritual war. It's it really should be the standard for men and women to have the upbringing where they understand what God has been conveying to us since the beginning.
No one should stumble into this through hardship and through misunderstandings and and bad lessons dealt. But that's the way it all panned out for me and so I don't regret any of my decisions and journey. If anything I would have I should have walked a little bit more of a narrow path. But it's not in my heart to deceive any of you or to lead anyone astray. As quickly as this podcast
started, it could end. I don't have a confirmation on how long this will go. I have new visions and ideas that have been birthed, and I'm trying to facilitate that in the midst of a lot of change. The geography of the world is changing extremely, but the geography of my heart has changed extremely over the last six years in a good way. And so just as an overview, it's like what I wrote in my book.
The words are salt. I had these original quotes in the first like I think 7 to 10 pages, just quotes that I wrestled through and I wrote down that I thought might be helpful for someone else who's on a similar trajectory as I am, which is seems to be like many of you, I said growing and learning while healing and hurting is only for the wild at
heart, and it stands true. I'm going to shift into talking just a little bit about how the podcast has been perceived via ratings and responses from people. On a personal note, I've had much rejection over the years and I've been told even in person and at a distance, many things. Stay away from that. You know, I've heard, I've heard a little bit of all of it, you guys. But on a positive note, you guys have made a difference by sharing this and making this an
international show. I mean, I'm not a big numbers guy, but I looked at it and we hit 112 countries and all 50 states, fair to say. And in total, we're getting close to the half a million download marker across all all spectrums. That's crazy. I never really thought that would be that would be. So in the beginning, I was just happy if like my mom and one or two of my friends would have listened. And sometimes it's a little bit surreal that so many people do
TuneIn and resonate with this. It's humbling to me. It's not a major focus. I've had that adjustment and shift as to being tender and hard to people. You know, I don't want to hide money behind a paywall because I want this to resonate with people and help people just like it's helped me. And so the way that it's been received is much greater than I originally anticipated.
And then on a personal level of reading through the emails and the reviews that you guys write has, has just been an emotional roller coaster. It's been a game changer in a lot of ways. I'm going to read a couple of the newer reviews from Apple podcast. I don't remember, it was maybe 20-30 episodes ago. I did one of these, you know, me talking speak pieces and I, and I read some reviews. I don't know where I left off so if I don't read your review, don't be offended or be like oh
Rod didn't like that. It's just I'm just taking a shot here at reading a couple of the new ones. So March 11th, 2025 C Colton back-to-back Bangers episodes 2:12 and 2:13. Doctor Sanger is on point with everyday mortal life we are living and then Ryan Peterson takes us into the unseen realm and gives us a clear context to the word. Rod does a great job directing the pace of both interviews. Both episodes could have gone
another hour. February 24th, 2025. Love this show Joel SW. I'm a new listener, but I'm thoroughly blessed and enjoying Rod's podcast. He's an excellent interviewer with fascinating guests and I love the Christ centered focus and he has amazing hip hop tracks. I love Christian hip hop and lo fi. Keep it up brother. February 13th, 2025 CHIG 77889999. I love this show. I'm intrigued with every episode and I'm always happy to see a new release. January 2nd, 2025. Darwin.
I hopefully I said that right. Weekly staple. This podcast continues to deliver provocative knowledge for truth seekers. As I have been learning to exercise my spiritual authority, I've appreciated the depth, integrity, and humility of Rod and his guests who have challenged my paradigm and encouraged me to investigate my full potential and purpose. I am here in this world, in this season for a reason, as are we all. How can I better understand how to apply all that I am for the
glory of Yahweh? How can you listen to this weekly staple and join the journey? December 21st, 2024. So relevant Doc Rock Dottie, Dottie Rock Rod and his guests are doing great work, very interesting and relevant to equip God's people for the days ahead. October 25th, 2024 Philip. Official, official pain. Hopefully I said that right. Sorry Philip. Awesome, the title says it all. October 5th, 2024. Rod, keep going. I really appreciate this podcast.
Rod is generally into whatever subject he is discussing. He approaches the discourse intelligently, enthusiastically, and thoughtfully. I would not miss an episode. Keep doing what God leads you to do and keep saying what God leads you to say. September 19th of 2024. I love the Vicky Joy episode. Dang, that was a keeper Rod. Make sure you get her on again. I'm going to stop there. Those are the written reviews on Apple Podcast.
And if you're listening to this and you want to write a written review in the future, I may end up reading it on the show. But it's a great way for people that are finding us through the algorithm or through word of mouth or through just sharing these podcasts that they, they have a representative of a reference point to go and say, when I go to Apple podcast, a public podcast catcher, I can read and see the reviews and, and you know, all the people that have written in about this
podcast. That's our first line of defense with people that are finding us randomly or or referred to us. Now Spotify does not have that option for you guys to write a review, but you are able to grade me by giving me 5 stars and many of you have done that as well. Over 100 people have given us a five star rating on Spotify and I really appreciate that. But what's more important is some of the emails I've gotten, which I'm not going to read, and maybe someday I should. I don't know.
I, I'm still trying to understand what to do with this, but I've, I've set it out in my heart to, to give up on this more times than I can count. I, I've literally thoroughly have been frustrated. There's no time, I mean you, no one gets in this Christian podcasting game and revealing the truth to get rich. That's like the opposite. It cost money to do this and spiritual warfare and you're belittled and estranged to most people.
But some of the emails there, there's been times where I felt like giving up and just walking away from this whole thing. It was just too much to bear year after year after year and all the things to wade through. And it's been heavy. But I've gotten emails from some of you out there at very specific times and I would read it and man, on the other end, I'd just be weeping tears are just streaming down. I'm reading it and I'm like, man, I was going to give up on
this and not forever. Not like I'm walking away from my faith, but I need to walk away from the complexity and the the how laborious this is and intensive. And, and I would see how much an episode or something I said or someone else that I interacted with on the show said or did, and how much it helped that person. And it was like genuine, like this person. Most people are not trying to just, you know, get their message out there or something. It's like a private e-mail.
Hey, I want you to know, I was going through this and this is what I needed to hear. And, and I've been weeping and crying and, and, and God is moving in a different way of my life. And it would be these like personal emails. And I have a whole library of
them now. I have, I have audio messages, emails that you guys have just blown me away with comfort and reassurance through some of my own doubts and difficulties navigating some of the most complex things that have been hidden in Christianity. Many of you out there have been an encouragement to me and I just want to make that known As far as the podcast game goes, I I love podcasts because it's hands free listening like YouTube.
You know, you're draining your battery on your phone if you put your phone in your pocket while listening to YouTube and you have a headset on or you know, for example, and you're out doing yard work. Yeah, you're just next thing you know, you, you pull your phone out of your pocket and you're on some ad, you're about to purchase some new insurance upgrade because, you know, one, one touch to the screen and, you know, launches you somewhere else and you you lose that.
But with podcasts, I love the fact that you guys get this audio library and the video contents cool too. Obviously I'm not up to par with editing video, although I have invested in equipment where I can do that. It's just a time restraint right now. But I really like the idea and the fact that like, I travel a lot. And when I do that, it's just hands free. I can listen to podcasts. So I'm biased. Although some people say, Rod, you need to do video content, you need to start a YouTube.
Yeah. Any of you out there, try doing what I do for six years and then tell me if you can add more on to it while juggling everything that needs to be juggled in life. But I love podcasting. I love the creativity of it. I love having the ability to create. I mean, I'm made in the likeness of my father. I'm fearfully and wonderfully created and I love to create. And I get that ability to do this here with no opposition, with nobody telling me what I
can and can't say. And it's podcasting is amazing and I love doing this, but I also feel like it might slow down a little bit. And that's not to be discouraging. It's just if you guys don't get your two or three episodes a week, which you've many of you have been very spoiled. I've produced a ton of content. If it trickles down to 1 episode a week or less than that, don't be offended. But things are shifting in my life right now. So I may slow down a little bit.
I don't know, maybe it explodes and and it picks back up again. All's I know is that my main ministry is my my family and that has been jeopardized through a lot of my learning process. And I need to come back to the heart of what's the most important thing first. And that's my household, my children, all who I love dearly and fine tune that and make sure that that's OK and make sure I'm doing the right things there and then I can increase.
But the new visions and ideas that are birthed within me, I don't think it's ever been done before. I have things I will not talk about with other people because I don't want the ideas stolen. But I have communed with God and I've seen glimpses of what it very well may be like in the future and it's exciting to say the least. I'm going to wind down from this rant with asking you guys to like, share and subscribe to the podcast. Leave us a five star rating and review.
If you click on the option that is 999 a month. It helps us keep the lights on. That's super important. We got 7 people now, which is helpful. I mean, it's very helpful and if you want to do a one time donation, you can find those options in the details of the show notes. And my book, The words are Salt is still available on Amazon. And it would be an honor if you guys would leave me a review for my book if you've purchased it, that is on Amazon. And I couldn't do this without
you guys there. I have so much gratitude and humility no matter how big we get or what happens. I'm just the guy next door who loves the Lord and I'm trying to be the voice for the people who don't have a public voice. I always wanted to relate back to a real, genuine, authentic, hard working population, which all of you guys are as my listeners. Some of you are the best moms and the best dads, the best small business owners in the world. Listen to this show and I don't
take that for granted. My only pledge and sincerity is I will capture my growth journey and I will always give God the glory and recognize that He is the author and the finisher of my faith. Everything else is dangerous territory. And I'm just kidding. I mean, you know, a lot, a lot of weighty topics get talked about here, but I, I want to give you guys something and, and I want to pass these audio journey of my life.
This, this audio discovery of the truth on to the next generation and be like, I want to walk away from it being like I gave it all I had, which might not be much to some big production companies out there that are capable and have a team. But for me, I know that I have strived and ran the race and put in the effort. I know that I had because I believe in this and I'm thankful
for every single one of you. So with that, that's it coming to you from an undisclosed location somewhere on the East Coast. Share this episode because it's just the right thing to do. God bless and goodbye. Music. None.