Did you know Priscilla’s sister and two brothers all serve in ministry, too? When your dad is Dr. Tony Evans, one of the nation’s most respected evangelical leaders, though, are you really surprised? Chrystal Hurst, Priscilla’s sister, is a writer, speaker, and worship leader that has learned a thing or two about how to love your life even when it’s not easy. Her new book dives into how to rescue that girl inside you that you thought you lost. Anthony Evans is one of Christian Music’s premiere male vocalists and songwriters, and worship leaders. He leads worship for Priscilla Shirer Live, The Fervent Tour, and other leading Christian events. Jonathan Evans, former NFL fullback, is now a mentor, author, and speaker serving alongside his father in the local church and with the national ministry.

have you ever had a conversation with

somebody and you’re excited about the

conversation but you’re also a little

nervous at the same time because that

person knows you I mean like for real

really knows you and you know they know

all your business you know all their

business so you’re not exactly sure how

the conversation is gonna go this is

going to be one of those conversations

because I’m talking to my siblings today

members of my own family it’s going to

be a good one

so stay tuned

[Applause]

[Music]

hey welcome actually this is a welcome

back because this is a conversation

we’ve already been having if you didn’t

see part one please take an opportunity

to you know search around a little bit

find part one of this conversation

because it was really great we had a

conversation together my sister and I

about some great things that are going

to help you in your life

and we had a lot of fun too and I

figured we want to amp up the fun in the

conversation by adding a couple more

people from from my family and so I

wanted to help you or what want to ask

you to help me to welcome my baby

brother’s help me to welcome Anthony and

Jonathan to the program today we hugging

ok these these are let’s see are we in

birth order we’re not in birth order ok

crystal outline the birth order

situation ok I’m number one you’re

number two three and four best position

in the house Jonathan why is number four

the best position in the house y’all

know the parents are already tired by

the time I get there I can do anything

get away with anything it doesn’t matter

anymore I’m I get there so it’s good

okay so Jonathan while you’re talking

about parents being tired and parents in

general tell them who our parents are

for people who don’t know and sort of

about you know our upbringing

well doctors Tony and doctors Louis

Evans they’re our parents our upbringing

was great there’s a lot of things I

don’t know cuz a lot of things happened

before I got there all I knew is when I

got there the party was already

happening it was really fun something

that we all talk about is the table you

know that was the most fun for me

because being at the table and having my

parents sit down and teach us all the

things getting all in our business my

dad would pull out the Bible and have

everybody read a verse and then try to

tell him what we thought it meant and

then he would be like aunt wrong now let

me tell you what it really means so he

would do that and so we had fun the

dinner table he said my mom would be

like three or four times a week mom

would make sure and Dad will make sure

we were around the dinner table so it

was cool

but I mean great parents most people

asked what does it like to be pastor’s

son I mean you don’t know any different

but at the same time to most people

surprised it’s not it wasn’t overbearing

daddy was very gracious a lot of truth

but a lot of grace yeah and so my mom

was the same way

so our mom was the same way so it was

really good it was really good I got to

join at the right time

good you made the dinner table very fun

though yes oh yeah

there was no boundaries for me yeah

danced at the dinner yeah Jonathan how

would y’all describe John John other

than a character that’s that’s a

character yeah he’s a he’s just funny

well he was really loud growing up he

was a great Michael Jackson impersonator

Jonathan can you just do one Michael

Jackson like that you would do with the

dinner give us 36 now I want to tear my

[Laughter]

[Applause]

[Laughter]

[Applause]

but it’s carpet how you gonna slide on

carpet kind of light-hearted always just

sort of down for whatever kind of

brother

okay I’m you know let Jonathan describe

no let me describe me yeah go ahead

well

no Anthony Anthony loves family yeah

okay so this one thing he loves and

protects is his family the other thing

that he loves and protects is his stuff

don’t mess with his stuff I used to go

in his room and I would going we shared

a room it was our room right but I’m

going in there from the den okay and I

try to sneak in there while you weren’t

watching so that I could play with some

of his toys he was older so he had

better toys you know so I got bored with

mine real quick and you know I’d reach

out to touch and tell me don’t touch my

stuff but I mean I understand it now cuz

I have two boys at home and the younger

one is always breaking the older one

stuff so now I’m learning why I was I

was having to deal with it but Anthony’s

real protective of a family he loves his

family who loves his nieces and nephews

I mean he’s just a lovable guy yeah most

of you know Anthony probably in some

foreign fashion from music so Anthony

talk to us a little bit about music and

how that sort of became a part of your

life like why why did you fall in love

with music and how did that become your

career it wasn’t a thing growing up I

was kind of kind of to myself a little

bit quieter I enjoyed animals a lot I

wanted to be a large animal vet when I

grew up that’s what I wanted to do and

my dad heard me singing and at our

church you can’t go to our church

without being involved in a ministry

like you can’t you have to do something

and they heard me sing it and thought I

thought like you’re gonna sing at the

church so long story short I sang my dad

recorded it sent it off to Liberty

University did all this behind the

scenes work and then said hey you have a

full ride to Liberty to be a part of a

PR group and so it’s a full ride so God

says you’re going there yeah so that the

passion for singing followed after that

like my feelings followed my feet on

that one because I was not into singing

at all that my first year I didn’t like

it because I was it was like rigorous in

for singers wasn’t into it I remember

the directors tell me when I was 18 if

you want to do this for a living you can

he said it way back when I first started

and he knew I didn’t love it that much

but the passion came later on and it’s

the eight albums later and a lot of

events with my family and a lot of tours

and stuff of and I

juliette now yeah that’s awesome that’s

great that’s great

and so how would you describe crystals

personality no no your name isn’t why

don’t have to be me cuz you’re not going

interviewer yes but we’re going in order

so right so who’s gonna describe me I

will do it so for those of you who are

wondering Priscilla growing up out of

the four of us she got in trouble the

most which I know we’d all agree on that

she’s trashy was like oh my god I used

to hang this yeah so

Priscilla got in trouble the most but

it’s cuz she had this unbridled huge

personality and it was just unbridled so

she talked to whole bunch and now what’s

amazing to me we do these events

together because she talks now she talks

to say him out but it just all makes a

lot of sense it’s it’s it’s great so she

just had a huge person she still has a

big personality and very independent you

weren’t few weren’t

outwardly fearful of much to me like you

wanted to do if you wanted to do

something you would figure out a way to

do it that’s just that was the bottom

line

you you you knew what you wanted and you

would just go after it and that’s that

was kind you me I’m gonna get you yes

okay well I kind of already described

Olympic crystal as a perfectionist

overachiever overachiever for sure super

smart super smart yeah we just kind of

were all underneath Crystal’s shadow of

perfection in our house right yeah yeah

but it’s not about you set a high

standard though okay that’s right

what are your fondest okay that’s a good

thing

what are your fondest memories of what

are you well let’s see I was gonna ask

you you said of crystal so that made me

think what of our fondest memories of

each other and the reason why I’m asking

that question is because people really

do ask us a lot about our family they

want to know about our parents so we’ll

talk more about them but they also want

to know why we’re so close we have a

very very close-knit family which which

I thought was really normal I thought

that was normal – yeah I thought that

was normal and I thought pastors stayed

at their churches I thought yeah like

and

I went to college did I realized that

pastors switched in and out because our

dad started that church 40s 40s 41 41

years ago yeah he just stayed there so

and and he also instilled in us that

family is that’s it that’s the bottom

line that’s what’s at the end of the day

after ministries and books are honest if

families what it is so it would be like

Anthony play with your brother and I’d

be like no I don’t want to play with

your brother he’s the only brother you

have in the world like that he would

instill that in me and now that’s that’s

what I think I have one of these in the

whole universe that’s how I think of him

and I have two of them so I can pick

which one you know but no so daddy was

just real big on the family thing my

fondest memory is every August we would

get packed up into a van it was a

minivan sometimes and we would drive

from Dallas all the way to Baltimore

where my dad grew up because every year

drive the whole way he drive through the

night and we would have these crystal be

reading a book I’d be watching a movie I

don’t know what you’d be doing I don’t

know Brighton the boy a letter or

something and no so he instilled in us

just family is what matters so that trip

to me and spending all of our time

Rexton and family in Baltimore that is

my fondest memory of growing up what he

instilled in us is it really I think

just to be clear I think we should

describe like you just said I was a lot

of work for our parents growing up I was

a lot of work but I think we should

describe a little bit more what we

looked like for example at that dinner

table or in that minivan and the reason

is because I think people see us now and

they have this vision that we must have

been just we must not be like their

family you know what I mean where their

kids are rowdy or there they can’t even

imagine having devotions with their kids

because their kids won’t sit still long

enough and so they think that we must

have been sitting around the table like

little chair and we’re giggling and

cracking jokes yes and you need like

crystals stop it I’d be like no that

kind of situation right yeah yeah we

weren’t sitting there taking it all in

we were we were being kids yeah we’re

being kids right this is out of control

this is out of control as my house is

now I have a nine year old a seven year

old

we roll in a two-year-old exactly we

thought it was all good when we had to

but we didn’t know that that was

man-to-man defense that third one but

now we’re at the table and and I’m

redoing the same thing because that’s

what we knew so I’m sitting at the table

my wife sits down you know I’m trying to

have Jonathan the second we called him

Jay to just throw a little swag on it

John Jay to he’ll try to pull out the

chair for Kelsey so we we’re doing that

table stuff but it’s a disaster I mean I

literally have two to three minutes and

then I find myself getting up doing a

song and a dance to keep their attention

there’s food flying across the table and

now I realize how dedicated my our

parents are yeah you know to the same

thing over and over again and when they

had to say Jonathan and my dad would

always check with my mom to see if it

was okay you know what we’re gonna do

here you know so it was chaos but but

now that’s what we remember yeah we

remember and that’s what we’re still

doing so that’s a big deal I think I’m

so glad you said that because I really

think that frees a lot of people up to

know that it’s okay for it to look like

chaos your kids still catch this dude

can they catch what you’re doing

intentionally and deliberately over the

long haul even going on vacation we look

back on it fondly now but those long

road trips in the minivan with all four

of us is chaos it was chaos you know but

they were just they just did it every

summer whether we you know we didn’t

have to like it that was their choice as

parents one that rubbed off on I think

our parents were not discouraged with

with them with things that would come

across as mundane or super repetitive as

a kid like they they just kept our dad

especially he’s very like stick to it

things don’t bother they don’t throw him

way off and I think them continuing to

do that same thing even though things

were chaotic with us still instilled in

us like what what it is now like they

didn’t go these kids aren’t paying

attention let’s not do this anymore they

kept doing it and and we now cherish

this more than anything

yeah so what what’s um something that is

actually hard for you now because of

because of the way we were raised

a challenge that you haven’t made me it

made me naive well we’re talking

speaking about at the beginning I didn’t

understand how to do ministry or had it

because I didn’t understand what people

were going through or I would go to it

like he said about pastors coming in and

out and stuff like that was like what is

this

you don’t mean or someone what they felt

with not having a father around and all

of those different things so I had to

learn those through experience and I had

to learn to be you know more grace and

not less truth but more grace on top of

truth where I would be like well this is

this is kind of the way it is and you

know God had to take me through my own

set of circumstances I realized you’re

not better than anybody and just because

you came from that little house where

you know everything the Brady Bunch

that you have your own set of issues and

once I realized that I was able to

minister better so he had to actually

take me out of that nest you know to

allow me to have my own experiences

where I wasn’t riding the coattails of

my parents relationship with God I had

to have my own yeah because I didn’t

realize until I left the nest that I was

riding there coattail I didn’t have a

relationship it’s exact so that that’s

kind of exactly what I have to say I

realized in college that God does not

have grandkids which is what you were

just saying about that photos yeah like

if that was the hardest realization for

me to realize that oh god doesn’t have

grandkids after figured this out myself

and I felt this total despair when I

realized that me being Tony Evans jr.

meant nothing I don’t know why I thought

that what thought it did but just my

environment was super and I realize I

had to make decisions for myself mm-hmm

as it relates to my relationship with

the Lord that was a weird a weird phase

in my life and then I realized that

church unintentionally I had a loud

church environment not my parents to

build up a lot of pretense and me and or

guarded or present this thing make make

everybody think everything’s good and I

was kind of at a point I’m and I’m the

super emotional kid I say this all the

time like out of all of us I’m the the

edgy one that has all these emotional

issues it was like I look like a

football player but some days I have the

emotions of a ballerina or whatever

I had to deal with a lot of a lot of

things inside of me and had to be honest

vulnerable and authentic with myself

where I was at that time and what I

needed to do in spite of how good I was

at pulling it up and putting it together

because that’s how we grew up

we’re just preachers kids you got to

just you just know how to do that so

that was very you say about trash in the

back you hold it like you oh yeah I had

a friend in high school who like it’s I

should yeah I’m not gonna say the name

that’d be weird

their house was not very clean but their

mom didn’t want to put the trash out on

the sidewalk so everybody would know how

much trash was in their house so they

necessarily cleaned the house so they

kept a bit just gave became like a

hoarding situation like a horrible

situation because they didn’t want

everybody outside to see what was going

on in the inside and I did that with

myself I kept a lot of stuff inside

because I didn’t want to put the trash

out and let everybody see that with all

that trash was in there and what I have

had to realize is that my objective and

it’s not concerned anymore with what

everybody’s gonna think I need to be I

need to make sure that I get stuff out

and know that the ultimate trash man who

recycles everything is coming by and

will grab it and repurpose everything

that I put out and give to him okay do

you think that your kids can be in too

much of a bubble that in some way it it

hampers their ability to function well

when they leave to go to college for

example because none of us went to

college and were Saints by the way for

anybody that might be thinking you

wouldn’t do self no I was great you were

great in college for all four of us not

me here the rest of us you know didn’t

go off to college and make all the right

choices so do you think that the fact

that we were in a little bit of a bubble

meaning that our life sort of revolved

around Christian circles you know we

were youth group you know what I mean

we were in private school up until our

freshman year or so did you go to public

school before freshman year

you did what did you went to a lot of

schools if it well I was at a dill

Turner and the subway third grade that’s

what y’all made fun of my laugh yeah and

then after that yeah I went to another

school where I had to get a little help

there hit the five grade twice but not

because I failed I had started school

early I started school when I was four

so my parents said well you started too

early so they repeated so they made me

repeat the fifth grade twice which was

kind of weird friends friends wise but

that does good for you but but it was

good yeah it was good and so but yeah I

did a different track yeah last kid yeah

we heard about that that you also got to

eat out a lot

yep we’ve never eaten never ate out and

you were like we never ate at home we’re

always out we’re spending money having a

good time about time by time I got you

know kind of in high school y’all were

all gone yeah and basically Anthony was

kind of there so my mom was like I’m

done we’re going on where we going yeah

every day so what’s next say this my my

oldest son I’ll never forget we were

watching TV he was probably about eight

years old and and and we were talking

about color and race and I used us in a

sentence to describe us being black

people okay and he looked at me and he

said I’m not black and I said what do

you mean you’re not black and he said

I’m not black I’m brown my skin is is

ten and because of just of where we were

and whoever hanging with it like he

didn’t have just to your point about the

bubble is and I think that’s kind of how

it works for us it’s like what do you

mean there’s there’s people out here who

really don’t know Jesus like outside of

the church like well you know that but

being engaged so so I think our parents

did a great job of being intentional

about connecting us with other people

but I think that’s one of the things I

think that I’ve tried to do even more so

with my kids just just getting them out

of the because I’m not you know on staff

at our church in the sense where this

our whole life and we’re doing other

things I think you have to be

intentional about exposing your kids and

the best way to expose your kids is to

expose yourself that whatever you’re

doing whoever you’re engaging with that

your kids are engaging the in the same

way okay so do you think that do you

think in a way that we were kind of

protected too much from or from the

exposure that you’re talking about just

exposure people that are just lived

differently than we live could have been

what could have been but I don’t think

that they were trying to do I think they

were just living their life that deal

but you know I’m kind of big on this we

talked about this from time to time but

and I think y’all talked about it a

little bit but you got to be careful to

not try to take God’s place right you

know God is the one who’s gonna you know

he’s sovereign he’s gonna make these

things happen for them and take them use

everything recycle it to get it so I

think we try to create these

environments to try to pigeonhole to our

kids and to what we see them becoming

and when when it doesn’t happen that way

we feel like we failed but that’s

because you tried to be God and you

can’t do that you can’t try to take his

place and sometimes we have those

situations I was reading I think there’s

Chuck Swindoll grace awakening it’s a

great book yeah and it says for grace

sometimes you have to let people go

because if you don’t get out the way

they won’t experience God you know what

I mean and so we put that weight on

ourselves so I’m raising these kids and

I’m saying I’m gonna teach them I’m

gonna pray for them but you know if Adam

and Eve can mess up the garden what

better environment can you get you know

yeah so so I think that we take their

pressure off of ourselves not to not do

our job but to understand that God will

do his job you sound like you should

pastor a church Don John yeah I mean I

think our parents did a good job I think

we know we all went to public school in

high school and you know then we made

the decisions about what colleges we’d

go to and I don’t I don’t think that

they you know hung on and tried to

protect to the nth degree just by virtue

of who they were and what they were

doing that naturally influenced a lot of

our environment so so I just think that

in the same way that’s what’s going to

happen who

who you’re around as a couple or parents

or whatever that’s what your kids are

gonna be around a lot but I think you

can also be intentional not so much

about getting your kids out there but

getting yourself out there and letting

your kids be engaged with you in that

process what Anthony you said something

interesting a few minutes ago you were

talking about dad

you know recording you and sending it to

Liberty University and really that’s

where your singing career started

because from there Kirk Franklin called

you and wanted you to travel with him

and sing backup for him and then from

there or truth came first your saying

with the singing group called truth I

mean it just dove tailed from there and

now you’re in this career and I’m

wondering if you guys can speak to

because I have a similar story I’ll tell

but speak to how your parents were

influential and where you are now what

what are little connective tissue little

dots you can look back to and see that

maybe you didn’t realize until years

later that they were sort of behind the

scenes helping orchestrate something

that you just thought at the time was

organic but actually no your parents

were there helping you oh sorry no you

were you talking to me everybody okay

yeah well I as you surmised that

question and I thought about the fact

that daddy did put a lot of the dots on

the paper and everything but us watching

him him and our moms work ethic is why

I’m doing what I’m doing today he did

send me to Liberty he did do all that

stuff but my dad and my mom worked

really hard and and thinking now about

how it was back then like we grew up my

dad did Promise Keepers a lot like when

that was real big and he was on a lot of

radio stations that at that time we’re

not playing any African American

anything like Preet nothing so thinking

about that now in how the 80s what that

was for him to be so immersed in that

and be doing that how much work it took

how much criticism came that we didn’t

know because we were protected and

sheltered we I think watching our dad

push into his calling and my and my mom

pushed into his calling in spite of what

people around him are saying that is why

I’m here and why you’re here and why

you’re here and why you’re here yeah

yeah I think my parents well I you know

I knew I was capable in an educational

such

raishin what they called out of me was

one of the it’s the same thing he said

even when I found out I was pregnant he

was just like you’ll be able to keep

climbing they always told me oh crystal

if you’re gonna you’re thinking about

being a lawyer okay well let me let me

connect you with this judge I know like

and he would always say it for me it was

always whatever you want to do your you

had the capacity to go to the highest

level of that so don’t settle for this

God has blessed you with a brain that

works a certain way make sure you shoot

for the top it was always the way he

communicated and I mean if I can just

steal the thunder a little bit just real

quickly he always said to you and you

would get in trouble for talking okay

but you’re a good talker so God can use

something with that Anthony he called

out the singing Jonathan you were always

interested in sports and what our

parents did very consistently and still

do they still do this they see the best

side of whatever is happening and they

call out the best version of that they

say you should do something with that

you should work towards this and if they

have the ability or the capability of

helping us connect the dots even if they

can’t physically do something they say

in the spiritual world I think they do

something because they they speak those

things as though they are they

understand that the power of life and

death lies in the tongue and they have

regularly and consistently spoken life

over us and picking me up in the area

you know and you guys – in the areas

where you’re you’re not good well as for

me it was school right you know my mom

would always you know tell me Jonathan

yours you’re smart as a whip and you’re

gonna be something I’m telling you

you’re gonna be something that’s gonna

be something I don’t know what does home

be there’s gonna be something and so she

was speaking today because I talked

about going all of these different

schools because they were trying to

figure out what to do with me

educationally yeah I was struggle I

wasn’t picking up stuff it started

reading real late you know so they were

trying to figure out what to do they got

me tested and all all types of stuff

that I had to go through and and figure

that out but you know with my dad I just

saw it you know as what does what does

Romans 8 said if God is for you then who

can be against you and in my mind I was

like but do you know who

my dad is though kind of mean like I’m

not doing well but he’s gonna find a way

yeah you know what I mean and so I

failed my AC T so here I am

I’ve got 15 Division one scholarships

for football and all of them are going

away because I can’t pass my SAT and a

CT

so the scholarships are leaving and I’m

like I’m the last kid and Here I am I’m

gonna have to go to Community College

and she went to U of age she was at

Texas A&M he went to Liberty all full

scholarships and I’m gonna fail the

family type thing because I can’t get

the school thing down and Here I am a

senior I still can’t get it down and my

dad was working behind the scenes our

dad was working behind and say I got

four keeper baby I’ll keep saying my

parents might get there but that’s good

because we have this you could preach on

this we have our own individual

relationship so yeah he was working

behind the scenes and he figured out a

way due to the testing that I had when I

was six to get me a no time test right

because the doctor said that the problem

was the time and the pressure if I could

sit so I took that a CT from 8 a.m. to 4

p.m.

diligently I looked at every answer I

mean just just combing through it and

ended up ended up passing the test

getting a Scott full scholarship to

Baylor because he was diligently working

behind the scenes in an area where I was

weak and I’ll echo that too with this

because as you’re talking I was just

thinking about that that diligence and

that thought that that thought that they

were putting in that mindfulness to each

of our uniquenesses so as was mentioned

you know if I would get a demerit or

something from school it was it was

because I was talking and I wasn’t

supposed to be talking and so they

didn’t they didn’t ignore the fact that

I wasn’t being obedient and you know

that I needed to follow the rules I

would be disciplined for that but then

in the next breath there would be a

conversation about the ability to

communicate I mean he would always have

a conversation about like you said what

is what’s the useful part of this and

let’s mold this by the Holy Spirit and

see if this is something God actually

wants to

in your life I did not know until years

and years later let me back up and say

when I was in college every now and then

someone would call and say hey will you

come lead a Bible study that’s really

how a ministry started for me I would

just get a call somebody saying hey

there are 10 women meeting would you

come to a Bible study and I would do

that

but right after I graduated from college

I got a call from the zig ziglar

corporation saying we do a Bible study

every Monday morning would you come into

a Bible study for us well I didn’t know

until two decades later that it’s

because dad had called Zig Ziglar and

had said hey i have a daughter who i

would love to come and do a bible study

for you guys if you will have her and so

that connectedness even with with Zig

for a lot of years he’s like a

grandfather to me you know you don’t

know until looking back that it was it

was dad and mom sort of behind the

scenes just saying you know what this

thing is getting this kid in trouble but

actually this might actually be how the

Lord has wired them and if I have to

look back I would say that that’s one of

the main things in my own parenting now

that I’ve taken away is that the stuff

that’s most frustrating to you now about

whatever kid you’re dealing with that

could be the gift like that could be it

if we’ll just steward it wisely you know

so is there anything else more like that

come to come to your mind funny story

that you remember about any of us at

that time I let you hit the wooden floor

whatever that yes girl she told me to

trust her and fall back into her we had

to be like eight and six seven and five

and I did it once and caught you then I

said no do it again just relax just

relax it just was like you just wanted

to share that yeah I know and thank you

for watching the chat well who’s gonna

say I just think – we have all these

great memories but we I mean we thought

we were kids yeah you know there were

times we didn’t like each other I told

you not to touch my stuff I mean there

was that yeah they were both super bossy

yes very very very boss I don’t recall

that I will say however in

I will say that what’s really cool is

when you sort of live long enough that

you start to just see the faithfulness

of God from one generation to the next

so as she mentioned me falling back into

her arms and hitting the floor the

bedroom that they that happened in yes

was in my parents our first home so from

the time we were born to about seven

years old for me my parents lived in one

house then they moved to another house

which is the house they still live in to

this to this day we spent all of our

childhood there but the house that my

parents first owned were me and crystal

shared a room and this incident happened

that house sort of has stayed in our

family a little small house on a little

back road in Oakland Texas and it kind

of has stayed in our family passing

through different hands but now Karras

who we talked about earlier Karras and

her husband just bought their first home

and their first home is my parents first

home so they just moved into that house

in the last few months they have

renovated that house and so now my our

parents great-granddaughter is now

living in the room where me and crystal

had our first experiences of trusting

each other yes but my point in saying

all of that is I marvel for mom and dad

because how many times in that house

when their kids were little you you guys

weren’t even here yet we’re just little

and you’re like about three at the time

or so how many times did they pray and

say Lord we pray for our kids we pray

for our grandkids we pray for our great

grandkids never knowing that if they

just stuck to the task at hand for 40 50

years here they are now looking at their

great-grandchildren living in the house

where they planted those seeds just came

to the housewarming yeah yeah we just

went to the housewarming there so I just

want to encourage all of you who are in

the midst of raising kids we’re

certainly not we weren’t perfect kids

we’re still not perfect kids but

you weren’t perfect oh I started out

that way though but I just want to

encourage you guys that you know your

kids are picking up stuff they’re

picking up stuff you’re just deliberate

and just intentional just faithful to do

the thing day in and day out your kids

are picking up things that are gonna

affect not only their own lives but

really they’re gonna affect their kids

lives your grandkids who are to come so

even if you feel like you haven’t done

it right up until now you know today is

a great day to start just start just

choose the path that you want to go the

vision you have for your family and then

in incremental steps put things in place

so that you can impact your your kids

and the direction of your generations to

come and the way that you that you want

to and that the Lord is leading you to

thank y’all for flying from Dallas to

Nashville to sit down on my sofa I know

y’all are very very busy people but I

appreciate you spending some time with

me would you guys help me to thank my

siblings

[Applause]

[Music]