One80 Podcast
Episode 26: Share Your Story, Transcript
Highlights from Season 1
This transcript may have errors that do not reflect the actual show. You can select each guest name for a link to the specific episode they are featured in.
[00:00:00] Ryan Henry: Hey friends, welcome to the 180 Season one Grand finale. Not only are we sharing compelling stories of life transformation, but like we always say, God wrote your story, so it’s already awesome. So why not share it?
We’re showing you how to share your own story just by listening to 180. We’ve walked you through the five points of every testimony so that you can have a way to give an answer for the hope that is in you. We’re going to explain how to share your story from the BC to the 80 with actual excerpts from the show as we highlight season one, today on 180.
[00:00:41] Ryan Henry: Where do you start when sharing your story?
We like to call it the BC: Before Christ. Start at the beginning. What was your faith background? What was your view of God? What misguided theology did you have? Explain what life was like before you did it with Jesus. Here’s some examples from our season one guests.
[00:01:01] Robert Lee Select his name to a direct link to listen to his show: You have different denominations and it’s the same way with Muslims. You know, you have shia Muslims and, and you know, all different types of sects right Muslim. And so the Nation Islam is, you know, ran by Farakkhan and we would go to the mosque and, you know, we prayed all the time, prayer. We even had a room in our house that we prayed and we didn’t eat any pork, you know,
I just couldn’t believe what these guys were saying. And so I, I could not even put my mind to that. There’s a God, like I could not put my mind to it at the time. Mm-hmm because how could that be with what I was seeing? Mm. I just could not believe like this could not be the God we’re worshiping.
[00:01:49] Gerald Aloran: And so right walking through the neighborhood, you’re forced to see the things that. I guess my mom tried to protect me from, and it was normal for me.
[00:02:00] TC Boyd: I guess the younger I was, I think God was like when it would rain outside and then you’d be thinking like, oh man, God’s angry.
You know what I mean? Like, just like just stuff like that, you know, like freaked out as a kid. I guess the younger I was, I had that kind of like fearful kind of like, God, it’s like scary type of thought of God.
[00:02:18] Jacki Chaidez: We went to church. Um, not just Sunday morning, but Sunday night, Wednesday night, any other time the church was open. We were, we were pretty much there.
[00:02:28] Malik Ali: Initially I was actually born in Karachi, Pakistan, and at a young age, at the age of three, my family won the lottery for citizenship. So we were all super lucky and blessed to come over to the states okay, I’m a Muslim and I can fully dedicate myself to that. And that’s what I did.
[00:02:47] Rick Pierson: My father and my grandparents on his side were Christian Scientist and his family, which were five kids all grew up as Christian Scientists.
[00:02:59] Ahmed Joktan: So they will show us how the jihadists there would go and kill the soldiers invaders and how has that glorious? There are books there and curriculums that teach you how to hate the Christians, the Jews, and you know, other things.That’s not, it’s not based on love.
[00:03:17] Harann Z: My mother prayed to idols, a lot of Hindu idols So I would pray to the elephant god and to the god of money, to the god of education. So gods, I will pray to, for a specific need.
[00:03:33] Micah Wilder: So Mormonism is a, I would describe it as a works based righteousness to where the individual, although there is an emphasis in faith placed in Christ and his atoning work on the cross, that faith in Jesus’s work alone is not sufficient for an individual to have eternal life in the presence of God.
[00:03:53] Austin Delgado: He is creator and judge of the universe and all people, but like, all you have to do is not be as bad as that person, you know what I’m saying?
[00:04:08] Margaret Ereneta: You think I just grew up believing, you know, all the things in the Bible, but I didn’t understand it. It might’ve been told to me and I just didn’t have the ears to hear it, but I did not connect with Jesus.
[00:04:21] Zoe Yu: I followed my parents as Taiwan, traditional religion, which I not believe it, but I just follow them. And I don’t think I believe anything when I was in that period.
[00:04:33] Stevo Thompson: In my childhood, I’d say I was a pretty good kid. I had a really good upbringing; I lived in a really good neighborhood.
I had great friends. I loved playing outside, yeah. Sports were kind of my life growing up.
[00:04:43] Thaddeus Maharaj: I remember very distinctly as a boy, my grandfather saying to me, “You know, I was born a Hindu I’ll die Hindu.” So it was that sort of just staunch Hinduism, within the home.
[00:04:53] Ryan Henry: So after you’ve established where you were before Christ, go to your Rock Bottom, the part where you felt the furthest from God. Think, was there a point where you actually were at an all time low, where you cried out to God or maybe realize the sin that was in your life.? See a lot of folks, they really like to skip this part, but when you’re sharing your story with someone, it’s important to share this part because it helps them connect with you. So here are some Rock Bottom clips from the show.
[00:05:20] Abbey R.: I was in so much pain that. I guess I prayed, like I said to God, ” I get it. You’re there.” Hmm. “But I won’t follow you because you’re not good.” Whoa
[00:05:33] Randy Schoof: if something, and I don’t know what that something would be, but if something didn’t happen, if something didn’t change, that I would be dead. Within a year.
[00:05:42] Paty Campodonico: I remember walking in there, I was terrified because you know, you see all these statues made of clay and they looked terrifying, but I remember just sitting down and one of the pews by myself and just. Crying and saying, “If there’s somebody out there, rescue me, take me out of here. I don’t want this life.”
[00:06:03] Malik Ali: So, as I’m going through life wearing this mask, it’s kind of taking on a role of its own, losing my identity . I start behaving in ways that I normally wouldn’t, being rebellious at times. And then, consequences would come in.
[00:06:18] Shema Innocent: And there’s a point I almost beat my mom. Wow. There is a time in life. I actually, man, I’m like, “God, thank you. I never did it!” Yeah. My grandma was, was yelling at me and I walked over to grab her throat and she was like 80 years old.
But as I was walking to grab her throat, I tripped on an sheet and it cut my toe. And I couldn’t reach her and I’m like, “God, maybe that’s you trying to prevent me from killing my own grandma.” Cause you never know what would have happened. Yeah.
[00:06:50] Harann Z: And I enjoy sin that taste of sin is tasty. And I don’t want to give that up though. If He exists, then He would punish me and I don’t want to lose out on fun and pleasure of sin.
[00:07:05] Micah Wilder: And so we’re talking about rock bottom moment. Well, my rock bottom moment was, the church is not true. The, the very institution to which I have dedicated my life is not built on the true saving gospel of Jesus. It is built on a false gospel and I was terrified and I was terrified because everything that I knew and believed and avowed was, was washed away.
And so my rock bottom was, well, what do I do now? I mean, this, this whole life that I know and love is so invested culturally relationally into Mormonism and this understanding that Mormonism isn’t true. It means that my life moving forward will never be the same that I can never go back to the only life that I had ever known and loved.
[00:07:57] Austin Delgado: That which has been so good, so I thought, has left me empty desolate, utterly enslaved, captive to this needle.
10 years of thinking that like I living the life and within a couple months I am the scum of the earth. Are you serious? You feel where you’re at? You know, what’s coming tick tock, tick tock, tick, tick. That’s what on in the mind of a heroin addict every day. Yeah, this is not a beloved anymore.
[00:08:31] Margaret Ereneta: Well, when I got back to my car, 5, 5 30, and the snow had melted, I saw my car was so far off, in every direction from a actual parking spot. And the Lord told me, this is your life. And I was like, This is your life. You are missing my mark because you are setting up next to other people. And other people, aren’t mark.You’re not a goody two-shoes.
[00:08:59] Andrew Neal: Oh, wow.
[00:09:00] You are missing my mark, my mark is far from where you are living your life.
[00:09:04] Zoe Yu: Like when you go to the ocean and then you’re going deeper, it’s warmer. So it’s like a, a huge black hole. And then you try to fill something in, you throw a lot of stuff in there, but it’s still empty.
[00:09:17] Thaddeus Maharaj: As you’re diving into the things that the world has to offer, you don’t want to actually believe something that will cut you off from that. It becomes something that you see as a hindrance to spoil the fun basically. So I feel like that was sort of the impulse behind, that period of time where I was a functioning atheist and actually trying to disprove Christianity
[00:09:35] JD, MD: I remember that night when I was the first one to go to the hospital And saying to God, I don’t have the strength to deal with you right now, you know, but, but I would like to this is so. but when I, when I do have the time and the energy and the strength to really deal with this I do have some questions for you.
[00:09:56] Ryan Henry: Okay, so after you’ve shared that you were far from the mark, now you tell your story by explaining how you got out of the pit. And don’t just go to the part where you became a Christian and without taking the person that you’re sharing it with, um, you know, on the journey with you.
Uh, we call this the Turning Point. Think about what people or situations helped point you in the direction of Jesus. Was there an event that got your attention in a powerful way? Was there something that was starting to help you see?
Here are some more examples:
[00:10:27] Abbey R.: And then, um, the next day she started taking me to church. She asked me if I wanted to go to church and I was like, “Okay, you guys gimme lunch afterwards? Like sure.”
[00:10:38] Robert Lee: I went to jail just so God can have a conversation with me. Hm. Because, going to jail a Muslim and then I ended up getting. I don’t know how, but I had favor come on favor in jail. That’s something new. And, uh, I ended up in the kitchen and a guy in my, in my division, said, “Hey, come to church with me.”And I’m like, “I’m a Muslim, you know, I can’t go to with you.”
[00:11:07] Randy Schoof: He was like, “Oh man, thanks. But you know, I’m not doing that anymore. Things are good.” And I was like, “Ah, come on you, you know, Jesus freak. So let’s at least go drink some beers or something.” He was like, “No, it’s all good.
You know, things are great.” Fast forward the couple months to my crisis time, I’mlike man, who, who has the answers, who has it all together? Then I thought back to this friend of mine wow. Who had gone through this drug rehab? Wow. called Teen Challenge..
And so I was like, okay.
[00:11:37] Jacki Chaidez: And I remember going in and just screaming, “somebody is shooting, please. Please somebody call 911!” And everybody just looking at me like I was absolutely nuts. Oh my gosh. And wow. just saying it again, like, “What are you people staring at? Like, why is nobody moving?”
[00:11:55] Malik Ali: And so we start hanging out and, you know, he’s sharing different stories with me. And I have a lot of questions about the faith and he’s explaining things
[00:12:04] Rick Pierson: One is the billboard advertising sign along the highway, “Christ is Coming. Are You Ready?” We, we went by that sign multiple times every day. And I remember being with my dad and all it had, and that’s all I had on it. So it was kind of scary. Um, and I’d ask my dad, like, “What does this mean?”
And he goes,” I don’t know.” And the Christ is coming part. We thought, okay, we’re okay with that. But are you ready? Part is what threw us off. I’m ready for what, what do we have to be ready for? And what is this about him coming back? What’s he going to do? You know, type of thing, even though we did not believe he was, God, it still kind of scared us a little bit and made us question. You know, like, Hey, are we believing the truth?
[00:12:49] Karen Felton: I want you to come to church. And I said, you’re withholding food. So I come to church, like, is that the way you guys roll? And she was like, I’ll make you a whole corn beef dinner just for yourself. You can take home all the leftovers.
If she’s like, you can come over, we’ll eat, . If you come to church on Sunday, I said, “You’re bribing me to come to church?” And she’s like, yeah, “I just don’t think you will.”
[00:13:14] Austin Delgado: This was the turning point Darkest place in my life, utterly helpless, utterly enslaved, six months of prayer of tossing up these Marley influenced from dead, That’s all I got. That’s all I got tossing up these prayers.
[00:13:29] Sara A.: And our neighbor was actually a teacher in Sunday school there. And I will go with her every time she goes.
[00:13:36] Ryan Henry: And now here’s the part where you can tell how you started following Jesus. We call this the Coming to Jesus. And it is different for everybody. So just share how it happened with you. Um, it’s unique, you know, and it’s okay. Uh, this is the part where, you know, a lot of times a new believer starts to read the Bible like crazy, or they learn a spiritual truth, or they start understanding something they never understood before.
Share that and you’re Coming to Jesus part.
[00:14:01] Robert Lee: And I saw my life, all of it. Everything. I did everything I got away with the times I just barely made it free from a bad situation. Hmm. I saw my life pass before my eyes. Hmm. I call it God playing the tape. Hmm. And, um, that was the first time I had experienced, God’s love,
you know when I got saved I didn’t experience the the that like everyone says that God’s gonna give you this big hug Mm I got if the if the the ax of the Lord at the base of your tree and I stood and I accepted Jesus Wow And um because I I I just felt that God was saying I’ve given you all these chances
[00:14:45] Randy Schoof: and so, uh, but then they told me, Hey, well, you know what you get for this here, read this verse in the Bible. And they had it highlighted for me and handed me this Bible. And I was like, uh, the wages of sin is death.
I was like, man, that’s what I deserve, you know? Yeah. And something inside of me was saying, yeah, what these guys are saying out of the Bible, it’s all, it’s all true. And you need to listen. So, but the, the wages of sin is death, but then they said, well, read the last part.
But the gift of God, the gift of God. His eternal life through Christ Jesus and Lord. And that just really blew me away.
[00:15:18] Gerald Aloran: I wasn’t scared. I was resting in the very presence of God. And, and after that, I don’t know how long it was, but I remember distinctly you are going to share this love.
to everyone you encounter. And then I, I woke up, I was still standing in the middle of that room and it was daytime.
[00:15:44] Shema Innocent: . I felt the joy of God in my heart all over me. I felt the holy spirit.
Speaking to me, speaking inside me, it was, it was just wonderful and, and a powerful moment I had with God over there. The altar. Wow.
[00:16:00] Ahmed Joktan: And then I close my eyes and I remember, you know, all of sudden they heard a loud noise and I opened my eyes and the doors of the balcony at my hotel open and a light shine into the room at a voice saying, come to me, and I’m on my bed. I can see that black kids don’t meet and I can see the, the doors of the balcony on my right side. And I was scared. You know, it’s like bride light shine into my face. Imagine yourself walking into the street and someone, you know, dark streets, someone shine the high beam in your face.
So it’s clear to me with the sound. And so I’m like, come where I’m on my. And as I’m trying to avoid this bright light, I, you know, looked at the other side of the room and it’s still a picture of a house with white pillars. I’ve never seen that picture before in my life. So the voice said, go to the house with the white pillars.
[00:16:57] Juni Felix: I started reading and I couldn’t put it down and there in the pages of what I now know to be God’s word, I met the most kind and compassionate and loving human being who had ever. It was through the pages of God’s word that I met. Jesus
[00:17:12] Austin Delgado: I looked up in the ceiling. I melted, bro. You are real. You are really real. That’s what I I’m dead serious. I it up. I’m like you heard heard
[00:17:27] Margaret Ereneta: So, you know, here’s the, here’s the thing. Really no people are at different progressions. God’s writing everybody’s story. For me, it was a pre. I consider myself a process, Christian, God is real. Oh my gosh. He let me stay. So now I need to believe him all my life, cuz yeah.
[00:17:47] Andrew Neal: Yeah.
[00:17:48] Sara A.: There’s a burden that God took away from me because he wants me to be better person that changed my life. I couldn’t resist that love. I couldn’t resist that forgiveness.
And I said, you know what? That that love, how can I say no to it? For sure. It is the right one. Yeah, for sure. He deserves to be God, because he’s the one who’s paying it. Wow. Instead of me, he knows I cannot do it. He did it for me. And that night I just gave my heart to him and I said, you know what? I surrender. I want you to lead me and help me to know more about you
[00:18:22] Stevo Thompson: I don’t wanna live with these secrets and these lies and this deception anymore.
I just wanna be free, be free of all that. And. Like give you my life and start living the way that you want me to. Wow. I think it was really that simple, like for me, yeah. Like I just kind of took that step towards him and that’s when I start that’s when I started seeing him, really start to change me.
[00:18:44] Ryan Henry: friends, you might be tempted to end your story here, but remember, coming to Jesus is just the beginning of your new life, so make sure to share the next part too. We call this the 80 after deliverance. Explain here how your new life has fulfilled your hindrances or your hangups from your BC life. How does life have a new meaning? How did you change? What happened?
[00:19:09] Abbey R.: like I really came alive. we did evangelism every day. I loved it. Like I felt. I was like, this is like what I’m made to do. Like this is like the call.
[00:19:18] Robert Lee: Getting, uh, they wanted me uh, for good behavior three months. Wow. And I remember that the warden had, uh, sent for me that I could get out and I said, I didn’t want to get out. Wow, because I was sold out.
[00:19:35] Ryan Henry: Yeah,
[00:19:38] Robert Lee: come on. And I said, we’re gonna, and so I had a meeting with the warden and I said, “we’re gonna empty this prison.
You’re gonna have to look for a job.”
[00:19:48] Paty Campodonico: I used to walk my neighborhood. I used to walk the apartment complex and every door that was open because somebody knock on my door. I wanted, I wanted to do that.
It is incredible because when I filled out the whole application, I sent all the paperwork. I never lied. I told them I really am a missionary here. I’m walking the streets. I’m doing church planting with my parents, which we were, and I’m telling people about Jesus. And this is why I want to stay in this country.
[00:20:18] Gerald Aloran: I gotta solidify this. Started going to more regularly to Brooklyn Tabernacle with my uncle. And the things that I saw there, you just can’t unsee their Tuesday night prayer meetings were just powerful.
[00:20:33] TC Boyd: After their experience with God, I just started diving deep into the Bible, really? Like I just studying like reading, like day in, day out I was skipping meals.
[00:20:42] Jacki Chaidez: A very aha moment. And it goes back to the, was it the Ephesians raise your children up right? Where you go? Yeah, so I did, I, I knew, I knew where to go. Yeah. And that’s whenever I started being like, okay, God.
And I started going back to church mm-hmm and I started reading my Bible again and actually having conversations that weren’t at God. Yeah, yeah. Listening to God, talking to God. Yeah. About things. And he slowly started guiding me.
[00:21:10] Ahmed Joktan: HmmMake it look like I was enjoying the weather, although it was really hot, like 120 Farenheit, so nice, nice drive. So I drove there and I was just praying. Lord, make a way you are the way, make a way for me, if that is your will.
May your name be glorified. So I, I went through the security and they didn’t even look at me. They scanned my ID card and let me in and the UAE side the same did, did not notice the car was pieced together with a duct tape.
[00:21:37] Karen Felton: And I believed him and that was like the cincher for me, that he has made that all new. And I was ordained. I every morning, I wake up still in awe that I get to do the work that I get to do that I get to combine God and helping.
[00:21:56] Micah Wilder: Thinking to myself, you know what? It doesn’t matter what I lose or what I give up or what I walk away from, because I have found something that is infinitely greater than anything that this world has ever offered me. And I had tasted everything religiously, academically athletically, and, you know, I had reached the pinnacle of, of everything that I had done in my life.
And I had never found anything that had fully satisfied me until Christ had filled that void in my heart. And so I knew that Jesus was the all sufficiency of my every need.
[00:22:31] JD, MD: Would they ask me to renounce my faith and, and thinking about Shadrack, Meschach and Abednigo saying, “Even if our God doesn’t save us, we will still not bow down. ” And so what does that mean for me right now? Would I renounce my faith? Now this is quite possibly sure death that I’m walking into, but in spite of that could I hold strong to what God is doing at this moment? And that was a pivotal moment for me to say, I’d say to God “I will be thankful.”
“I am appreciative of all the lessons you’ve taken me through. Um, and this will, this moment will count.”
[00:23:06] Ryan Henry: Friends, we have so appreciated you all listening to 180. If you wanna see which guests said what and where to find the show, check out the transcript on our website.
The link is in our show notes.
Remember, God wrote your story, so it’s already awesome and it’s definitely worth hearing. We actually have a handy tool on our website that can help you write your story. In just two minutes, you’ll find helpful writing prompts so that you can write your own 180, so that you will have an answer for the hope that is in you.
And maybe you will be able to be a guest on our show. Find it at one80podcast.com. That’s O-N-E 80 podcast.com. The link is in the show notes.
[00:23:46] TC BoydtheArtist: Sending us off. Today we have TC BoydtheArtist with his song, “Open the Door,” inspired in episode 16 with Micah Wilder’s story.
[00:23:56] TC Boyd: I know you feel like you’ve been searching, but all that pain has still like, and the surgery surgeon to cut out all that heavy burdens to try to keep your heart from hurting. I’m telling you that you can be free if you just believe, then you receive. But how can you believe if we never teach and we’re good is an arm, if we never reach, Lord, help us be your like.
That’s hurting in the world. We, y’all know somebody. We’re all just people and we need somebody. God, can you help us all just to reach somebody’s life? I know we, y’all, fuck, but I can hit a savior call, tear down those walls. I can hit a savior call. It’s our job after raw to open the door. I know the world feels cold.
Cold, cold, cold. Yeah. And sometimes you don’t know which way to go. Go, go. I’ll open the door. I’ll open the door. I’ll open the door. If you knock, I’ll come. I’ll open the door. I’ll open the door. I’ll open the door. Just wait. I’ll come open the door. I know sometimes your life feels crazy. You want to get ghosts like Swayze.
The future looks haz. No motivation coming lately. You know you need a change. Suck in the thoughts of your mind. Now you wishing you had time to rewind all the re regret of your mind. Meanwhile, church folks just chatting no mind and never reach out. While aside, they don’t know you’re dying. Why? Lord, help us be your light to somebody that’s hurting in the the world.
We, y’all know somebody. We’re all just people. Then we need somebody. God, can you help us all just to reach somebody’s life? I know we y’all. But I can hear a savior call tear down those walls. I can hit a savior call. It’s our job after raw to open the door. I know the world feels cold, cold, cold, cold. Yeah.
And sometimes you don’t know which way to go. Go, go. I’ll open the door. I’ll open the door. I’ll open the door. If you knock, I’ll come. I’ll open the door. Open the door. I’ll open the door. Just wait. I’ll come. Open the door. Open the door. I know. Open the door. Call. Call. Call. Open the door. Open the door. I just The door.
No. Open the door. Open the door. I’ll come. I’ll open the door. Open the door. Open the door.
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