Welcome to the Ocean Water podcast. I have with me today my good friend Ryan Latham. I wore my Raiders jersey today to remind you of California. 1984 Marcus Allen Super Bowl MVP Raiders jersey, the last time the Raiders won the Super Bowl. From the streets to the beach bro. Alright, we get that out of the way. So I've known you, all joking aside, I've known you since 1995. You were a freshman in, I'm sorry, you were a senior at Listerine High School.
And I remember when Chris Legan first brought you to youth group. So I've known you a really long time. I did your and Sarah's wedding. And so it's just an honor to be your friend all these years, man. Here we are still kicking. And you have been in Oklahoma for 10 years now? Nine. Nine, sorry, I knew it was close. And you've been raising your family out there, loving life, just got a new house. And been a pastor for a really long time. And just a great 20 short years, 20 short years.
So you've learned some lessons from the school of hard knocks, the good, the bad, the ugly. So we'll talk a little bit about that in a minute. So when you're at home, and you can go out and eat, where do you go and what do you get? Alright so if I could choose, it would be 100% no doubt in and out for sure. But I'm not in the region of in and out. The closest internet to me is about two, about three hours. So it's a little bit too far out of my reach. But here, there's two places.
One would be Fuzzy's Tacos, Killer Nachos, and then second would be Ted's Mexican Cantina. So those would be the two spots that I'm jamming. Or if it's just like a quick lunch, I go to this place called El Pollo Chulo. It's like grilled chicken, some rice, killer spot, man, killer. Three Mexican food places. I love it, dude. I stick with what I like, man. I know. Me and you both, dude. Maria made this chili last night. It's just out of this world, dude. So that's good.
So what are you doing these days? And how did you get into it? What are you doing right now? Yeah, that's great. So right now, we're doing a lot of staffing and resourcing and coaching churches around the nation. So we do that in a couple of different ways. One is staffing through the Slingshot Group, so just helping churches in time of transition, and then doing coaching and resourcing through a nonprofit that we started to call Renewed Leadership.
So for example, we just put out a new resource. It's called How to Keep Your Job and Help Your Pastor During COVID-19. So just 10 tips on how pastors can help their church. It's even for even business owner or employees, how they can, in the marketplace, kind of think differently in this season, how they can make some small sacrifices that would have a big impact. Podcasts, blogs, all that stuff, and then staff development through workshops, conferences, things like that.
So yeah, man, just working with the local church. How I got into it is, man, I've been a local church pastor for 20 years, but I've been a leadership guy that whole time. So even how I ran my youth ministry was always leadership-focused. John Maxwell coach, whole deal. And so leadership's just my passion. And so I wanted to help the 98% of churches that are under 1,000 be resourced without the financial strain. And so we started a nonprofit, and I love networking and helping people connect dots.
And so Slingshot was a rad opportunity for me to just help people find jobs in time of transition. So I love what I do. I get to work with lots of churches around the nation and partner. So it's pretty awesome, man. Well, it certainly runs in your blood, man. A lot of people may not know this about you, but your dad was actually the mayor of Santa Fe Springs, Fred. Yeah, man. City manager, chief, run the police department, all kinds of stuff, man.
So leadership's been a part of what we do for a long time, man. So it's been awesome. Yeah, it's been part of your DNA. And that's been cool to see how God's used like, and your mom has had a counseling practice for, at least since I've known your family, she's amazing as well. So it's really cool. When I was in junior high, my mom went back, got her master's degree, and opened up counseling. And now she teaches at University of Phoenix.
And so just teaching, leadership, development, all that stuff has been a big part of my growing up. Just that public service and teaching has been all I've known. Well, you know, I've always gotten along great with you and your family. Part of it is because our two football teams shared the same stadium for a while, the Trojans and the Raiders. I just want to sneak in there for my guys. You got to fight on, man. Fight on. Fight on.
You know that I'm a real fan because we're in some serious drought days, and I'm still fighting on. So I'm a true fan, man. Yeah, it's never too late to hope that they'll bring Pete Carroll back. But we know that's not going to happen. That's okay. So, so you've been at this for two decades. So one of the reasons why I'm starting to have these conversations is so that people can start to get advice and wisdom from people that have learned a lot from the school of hard knocks.
You have two decades in the bank, leadership experience, pastoral experience. So what are a couple things you wish you knew like when you started out that you like if if current Ryan could talk to younger Ryan, what would you say right now? I would say, you know, I mean, we all know it. I mean, it's it's it's not anything new. But you know, show me your friends and I'll show you your future.
I would just say, man, we've got to be very intentional about who we are around, because they shape how we think, they shape where we're going. They just shape our life in so so many ways. And so I would just say that I would remind myself, encourage myself to really keep your friends close and choose them wisely. I mean, that's why I've fought so hard to be friends with you for so many years and where we lived in different states.
And I mean, like, you just got to be intentional about who you choose to be around. Another thing I would say is slow and steady, man. It's a marathon and not a sprint. You know, pick a pace that's sustainable. Over 20 years, I've seen so many friends and leaders rise to the top, you know, blow it and just fall. And so I would say choose a pace that you can sustain that's sustainable for you. And that pace is different.
You know, like when I run a marathon, my pace is not going to be in the front page of the newspaper. Right. Like that's not my marathon pace. My marathon pace is I finished the crop, you know, the line. Right. And so that's the goal for me is to hear well done, good and faithful servant. You did what you were asked. And that's what we've been called to do.
The Bible talks about like being obedient to the calling in which you've been given, not to the calling at which that you wish you had or the calling that somebody else has, but to be obedient with the calling that God has given you. And so if that's in the local marketplace, then be obedient, be the best boss, leader, whatever it is. If it's a pastor, be the best pastor, best like be the best of what you've been called to do, your family, your kids, whatever it is.
And so I would just say to myself back then is man, choose a pace that's sustainable. Stay in this for the long haul. Choose who your running partners are, you know, that's helping you set that pace. Don't pick someone's running too fast. Don't pick someone's running too slow because you got to run your pace with the people that are going to get you across the finish line. And so my goal in life is to hear well done, good and faithful servant.
And while I'm here on earth, the plant, good roots and seeds that take fruit, you know, that make fruit. And so I want to be able to do things here that remain. And so leaving things that have a legacy, it's not just about me, it's about leaving a legacy. So those probably be the three things. Pick your friends wisely, pick a pace and leave a legacy behind. So that'd be the three things I'd probably tell myself. I love what you said there about like, you know, it's your race and also your pace.
And I think, you know, a lot of the stress that you can create for yourself after you've been a leader for a while is you get tempted to not run your race and not run your pace. And that could be a whole message in and of itself about your race, your pace. And it's absolutely true. I'm coming up on I'm at day 363 of ocean water. And the startup year is always it just is what it is. You know, it's it's a lot.
And now that this COVID-19 hit it, kind of the last month of our first year, I've done a lot of reevaluating and and now I've never been happier. But now just settling into a pace that's going to be workable for for myself and my family and making sure we're really just happy and connected doing all of this. Totally. And that's so much so much wisdom there. You know, how many times have we seen guys just, you know, not burn out, man. Yeah. So those are some really wise words there.
So what are you what are you curious about now? I mean, you've been a leader for 20 years, been a pastor for 20 years. I know you run all the time. And what are you just interested in? Like what are you interested in these days? What are you? So I'm I mean, I'm a dad of four.
So a lot of my interests revolve around my kids interest, you know, so but some things I'm curious about right now, I mean, obviously, like right now, I'm just really curious about how COVID-19 is going to impact our new normal because normal is dead. Normal was a blivler, you know, like destroyed. Right. So what is the new normal look like?
And so I think just I'm really just kind of thinking through dreaming through what is what does this look like in the church, you know, in my context, mainly in the church, but even for families, you know, my hope is that people don't just go back to over scheduled and over programmed and over, over, over, over, over, but that we have found some pace, right. That's a little bit more sustainable. I can't talk to you.
I have friends I've talked to said, oh, my God, I didn't realize that I was so over scheduled until I had to had to leave it all go. And so I'm just kind of dreaming about that. I'm also, you know, every once in a while, you know, Craig Rochelle talks about just dreaming about the future, about random things that help stretch your imagination. So I mean, like, what is what is the future of auto driving, you know, self driving cars look like? You know what I mean? Like, what will we know?
What does that look like? So once I just dream about things that are random like that, just kind of helps my imagination. I love it. I just one of my favorite questions to ask people is what are they curious about? What are they interested in? There's no right answer. Just it's but it's important to have things that you're curious about things that interest you. It's part of staying sharp. It's part of growing. It's part of, you know, curiosity is a wonderful gift to have.
Yeah, it's important that we don't die before we die. So staying curious, staying innovative is the key to that, man, that's for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So what is what are a few things you have failed at? Oh, gosh, a lot. The list is mighty, man. Yeah, I would say this. I mean, it's cliche, but like, I don't really regret. I wish I would do things differently, but I don't regret them because they've made me who I am.
But I think a couple of things when I've looked back at some of the churches that I've been a part of, I feel like I failed a couple of times at being fully in line with the mission and vision and value of my my leadership. I feel like when I especially when I was younger in my leadership, I really felt like I knew what was best for my ministry, and I really held on to like my things and felt like I knew what was best.
And so I think the older I've gotten and the more I've looked back, I've said, man, like, I think I failed at really coming in alignment with with those values of the bigger organization. And I kind of I kind of created my own path, you know, at times, not intentionally necessarily, but just kind of say, man, I'm just gonna go, I'm really passionate about this. And it's not necessarily a passion of my of my senior leadership, but it's passionate of mine.
And so I would kind of go in that direction. And so I'd say that's something I failed in. Gosh, I mean, I've failed a lot of times in just trying things that are just, you know, I've tried things and then I just taint. Right. I think some of it's been good because I think that, you know, like we talked about in the previous thing is you got to be creative. You got to be trying things. But I mean, I've I've failed in some things.
You know, I mean, even like in the stock market, I've definitely failed a few times, you know, taking some risk in the stock market and and failed there a few times. But you know, we're believing we'll recover. So yeah, I mean, even like cycling, you know, so for example, I was doing triathlons. And I remember, you know, everyone was like, man, you got to be clipped in. I'm sure Dellamator, you'd even say I got to be clipped in. Right.
But when you like go sideways, completely sideways and you can't get out and then you're laying in the middle of the street and you're clamped into your bike, you do that once or twice and you kind of start thinking maybe clamped in isn't quite for me yet. Maybe I'm not losing your pedals, bro. Maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm not quite that level of cycling yet. So yeah. So I've also failed at surfing quite a few times. I mean, gosh, I'm just getting tanked and just hitting coral, all kinds of stuff.
So yeah, that's some real things and some funny things. I've failed that. I like what you said about, you know, when when you choose to work for someone, there's the responsibility you have to God, you want to do a great job for God. But then there's also the responsibility that you have to the person that has given you a job. And it's always important that we do a good job for both. And a lot of people don't like to hear that.
A lot of people like to hear, well, a, I'm not going to do a good job for God and B, I'm not going to do a good job for the person either. But it's very important that you learn to do to do a good job for both. Even if you don't like it, then you can just go out and step up and start your own thing. Yeah. So I'm a really big fan of you commit 100 percent to the place that you're at and you let your success at the last place that you work be defined by the people that used to supervise you.
Because everybody goes out and says, oh, yeah, I am the greatest thing that ever happened to this place. Ignore all that. Just go, go talk to the people that used to manage you and used to. And it's really important that we learn how to to to follow well, because when you learn how to follow well, you then then that's those are the lessons that you actually need to lead. You don't you don't learn much.
You learn a lot about leading when you're leading, but you learn a lot about maybe more about leading when you're following. Yeah, I think it's just important to realize that you're only stewarding this one area, but you're a part of something that's much bigger than just your one area. And we're stewarding somebody else's vision. And so if that's your boss in the marketplace, if that's your lead pastor at a church, you're just stewarding this one area.
So we're a part of something that's bigger. And we should be coming in alignment with that, because, you know, when you've got three or four streams going, that's good. But when those three or four streams come together, you have a whole river. And the river is much more powerful than streams. And so I would just say if we can bring all of our streams together, we're going to create a big river, which will create much more power and influence than just a bunch of streams by themselves.
Yeah, absolutely, man. I love hearing you talk. I know you're so passionate about leadership and finding people, like, in their sweet spot, finding people. Because, you know, we all have a culture. It's something that people don't talk much about these days. But we all have a culture. And we all have cultural preferences. And those are all very beautiful things. You know, I don't really enjoy big cities. I don't really enjoy the suburbs. I really like small beach towns. That's why.
And that's not right or wrong. Those are just my cultural preferences. That's why ocean water is such a good fit for me, because I just eat, drink and sleep, you know, small beach towns. And I love missions and I love church planting. And of course, I have a background in public health. And so now I have been able to put these things together.
And that's why it's such a such a fun time in my life that I get to that I get to pursue the kind of the passions that I have, you know, in order to in order to make a difference, which is really what what we all want. For sure. We all just want to use the things that that we really care about to help people. So make a little bit of a right turn here. So what's kind of like your your understanding of like the water situation in the world these days?
I mean, I mean, you've you've been a huge part of my education on that, but even just my own travel missions and around the world. I mean, water is just such a big, big thing that that we take for granted, and especially clean water, obviously. But I think my understanding of it is really that it's it's obviously one of the primary human needs that we've got to have and we have to have water consistently, otherwise we're not going to live. And I know that it's tough.
I mean, in a lot of countries, they don't have it. And even in America, we spend so much money purifying, pumping water in and creating water wells and so not waters, but water lines. And so I just know that it's extremely important. And it's something that we don't talk about because we in America, we take it for so granted that we just you know, we've got our water bottle of choice. You know, we've got water in every area of our house. And so I know that's huge need.
I mean, even, you know, we've talked about doing stuff, you know, in Fiji. I've done stuff in Mexico. And so water water is important. Yeah, you know, human beings have to have water to live. I'm sitting in my home in San Clemente today because 100 years ago, William Mulholland worked for the city of Los Angeles and understood that the growth of Los Angeles was going to be contingent upon its abilities to secure its sourcing for water.
And so he underwent at that time, 100 years ago, the largest public works project and at up into that time in US history, and went up to the foothills in the Sierra Nevadas and sort of hoodwinked the locals into securing the their source of water and then built a 227 mile aqueduct, which to this day, still helps transport water to the to this area that the history of water and the state I'm a water nerd, so I can talk about.
Yeah, my my grandfather was a part of bringing, you know, a lot of the water plants and water out in the Palm Desert, Indio area. And so I don't know if we ever talked about that, but we've got I got a little little history of water in my family, too, man. Yeah, the the the history of water and the study of water is fascinating.
And one of the things that I'm just so, you know, passionate about now is, you know, so like in in Palmecito, there's 38 families that that we help get access to to to water for. And and so what is kind of your your understanding of what ocean water does? My understanding is one, you know, it's it's providing two of the greatest needs that humans need. One is water for for our physical life and then water for our spiritual life.
So I mean, those are like two probably the primary biggest things you could ever put together. You've put them together, which is really unique. And so for me, it's what I know when I look at what you guys are doing, it's really providing intimate community around two of the biggest needs that anyone needs. It's pretty awesome to be able to say, hey, we're providing living water and living water, you know, and, you know, the never ending water and then the water from from the guy created.
And so pretty awesome to watch just even the ability to like transform water from the ocean into drinking water and then putting a community of faith around that, too. And so but the other thing I love about it is just the fact that what you guys are doing is so it's so organic. It's so friendly. It's not like we're going to give you this if you do this. It's like we want to just provide this for you. And we're a faith community that is supporting this.
And so I think it's pretty awesome what you guys are doing. Yeah, for a long time, I sort of wondered how God would use just my love for for surfing and my love for the beach and and and now looking forward, I can see that that the church, I think the church is on a really good job sort of reaching into some of the obviously this I would say the cities in the suburbs. We have a lot of we have a strong presence in the in the cities in the suburbs globally.
And I just feel like that the terrain that I'm excited about is the beach and the beach is different than the cities in the suburbs. It's different culturally. The people are different. And so God's kind of been then using my understanding of small coastal beach towns to as a little cultural way to relate and understand the people in that context.
And then also, you know, using that cultural understanding to help solve a practical problem because practically there's there's a billion person problem. When we when we talk about water, it's hard to believe. And the people that actually need the the access and the quality are sort of these little forgotten groups. And there are there are all over the world, there's thousands of these little forgotten groups of people that exist at the coast.
And they're they're 20, 40, 50, 100 families in these areas. And so it's exciting to be able to see how God can use just a love for the beach and the ocean and seeing help people get their water from the ocean and and then also helping us to plant churches where they don't have any churches. So it's an exciting time and it's exciting time to to be friends with you. We've been friends since 1996. Our friendship continues. And and it's you know, change happens. People ask how to change happens.
How does change happen? Well, it's just one conversation at a time. It's one friendship at a time. It's one relationship at a time. And as we keep as we keep talking, as we keep having relationships, as we keep having conversations, God uses that to stir our hearts and then God starts whispering to people and calling people and then and then we can start to see God do amazing things. But I do want to thank you for taking time out of your day to talk with me today, brother.
I look forward at some point for us to begin to to find one of these hundred and eight countries of the world that have a coastline that is on the ocean and praying with you and talking with you and planning with you at some point to go and to go help start a church in one of these places. So I know we're going to do that together at some point. And I hope it's with I hope it's with our kids. That would be awesome. Yeah, that'd be awesome. So, man, you got any last words for us?
No, I mean, I just say fight on and keep keep it real, man. But no, thanks for the opportunity to come on and just share. I just encourage you guys. And we are in great days. And God has put you in this place of influence for such a time as this. If you wanted somebody else to lead your family, if you wanted somebody else to lead your business, if you wanted somebody else to lead your church, you would have chosen somebody else. He's chosen you. And so God will equip you.
God will give you the strength. He'll give you the wisdom. And you know, the Bible is very clear that we will have times of suffering. But in the end, it's going to be good. And so I just want to encourage you guys to keep going. Keep fighting. And man, I'm excited for the future. Thanks brother. Have a great day, Ryan. You too, man. OK, thanks so much. Thanks.